Argument Essay- Draft

            As children get older, they are beginning to be exposed to the imperfections and issues in our world. Even though these issues may be scary or threatening to some, sooner or later children need to learn about them and what better way to learn about some of these issues than good literature. The book The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky is a coming of age novel that discusses social issues such as drug and alcohol abuse, sexual abuse, suicide, and other issues that take place in real life. Many parents feel that this book should be banned because the content is too mature for middle schoolers, however this book shouldn’t be banned because children have the right to be exposed to this literature and learn more about these topics if chosen to do so.

            One reason why this book shouldn’t be banned from classrooms is because students can be exposed to much more inappropriate content through the internet and it is their decision whether or not they want to have access to this content. For example, literacy teacher, Lynn Bruno, states “Like it or not, your daughters and sons in eighth grade have heard the word blowjob… What they are exposed to in terms of dialogue, in terms of media…I don’t like it any more than you do, but its (out) there.” This quote shows that a lot of the content found in the book, children may have already been exposed to because it can easily be found online or found in peoples everyday conversations. Another example is that “Per the school’s (Hadley Junior High) literacy curriculum, students could choose to ready a book and put it down at any time.” This shows that no student is being forced to be exposed to this content and that if they are curious in the topic, they can choose to continue reading it without having to ban the book from classrooms altogether.

            Another reason why this book shouldn’t be banned is because it teaches many life lessons and can be a helpful guide to students going through issues similar to what the characters go through in the book. For example, literacy teacher Lynn Bruno states, “Books like The Perks of Being a Wallflower are valuable because of the lessons students can learn from characters’ decisions in difficult situations.” Bruno also argues that, “While many Hadley (Junior High) students have supportive and caring parents…there are students facing issues similar to those depicted in the book and don’t have supportive parents to look to for guidance.” These quotes show that this book can actually be a positive influence for students growing up who don’t have adults for look to for guidance. It can supply knowledge on mistakes and challenges and how to overcome or deal with them.

            It is important to acknowledge that some of the content written about in this story may be too mature or questionable for kids in middle school. A parent from Hadley Junior High states, “I didn’t want to have this conversation with my daughter in eighth grade…our innocent child has already been tainted.” This shows that parents feel that by reading this book, their children are being exposed to things they are too young to handle. However, children do need to be enlightened on these issues, as they are present in our world and this is the age where kids start to become responsible enough to handle it.  

            By banning this book and others similar to it, children are being deprived of knowledge of certain social issues in our world that they are old enough to be exposed to. Children should be indulged in these topics so that they will gain knowledge that is crucial to growing up through an interesting and accurate source.

Table of Contents

·      Project option #2- list of social issues and an elaboration on one . . . . . page 1

·      Project option #4- reading response to a social issue in the news . . . . . page 2-3

·      Project option #5- write an original literary piece about a social issue . . . . . page 4

Social Awareness Project- #2

Social Issues List:

·      Age Discrimination- at home

·      Death Penalty- in my Up Front Magazine at school

·      Illegal Immigration- in social studies class at school

·      Bullying/Discrimination- at school

·      Alcoholism- at local bar in my neighborhood

 Elaboration on Alcoholism

            I have lived in Windsor Terrace my whole life and after 13 years I have come to feel very safe in my house and in my whole neighborhood. However, there is a very popular bar right on the corner of my block and quite recently I had witnessed something a bit frightening happen there. It was around 12:00 am when suddenly I heard bottles breaking, much yelling and police sirens. It all happened very quickly but a few men strongly under the influence had started to fight each other in a drunken rage, right across the street from my house. This experience was a bit unsettling for me and made me feel slightly unsafe.

            I believe that this experience was wrong and unfair for my community and I for many reasons. For example, my neighborhood is full of families with children and adults of many ages and to have to hear and see this fighting caused by alcohol can be frightening for any age group. Hearing this disruption can cause people to feel unsafe in their neighborhood, which is a very negative thing to feel and something should be done about it. Something that can help to improve the situation is to put an earlier time limit on the bar so that the people at the bar wouldn’t cause disruption to as many people. Something else that can be done is moving the bar location entirely so that it isn’t disrupting families.

Social Awareness Project- #4

               In the article To Kill or Not to Kill, the author, Patricia Smith, is trying to portray the conflict of the death penalty around the world. After very recent executions by the lethal injection, new debate arose around the death penalty due to the fact that many Americans were disturbed by seeing the executions take place. The author goes on to discuss many other unsettling examples of the death penalty and how many things could go wrong if we were to keep turning to it, for example, taking the life of an innocent person and not being able to change anything. The author has strongly sided against the death penalty and is trying to teach readers how it is the wrong form of punishment.

               One way the author shows the readers that the death penalty is wrong is by telling of all the different methods of execution to give an example of how disturbing the death penalty is. For example, there is a whole section of the article that tells in depth about how the Hanging, Electric Chair, Lethal Injection, Gas Chamber, Burning/Shooting and other obscure methods work to kill criminals and exactly how many criminals each method has exterminated. This part of the text helped to paint a picture of every quite sickening method that prisoners can be killed and how it can be inapt even for a criminal who has done something very wrong. In the article, another way the author opposed the death penalty is by showing that sometimes it can go wrong, not only just killing their victim but also harshly torturing them on the way. For example, the text states " “Everyone watching the execution of Clayton Lockett last April knew instantly that something had gone terribly wrong. Lockett was strapped to a gurney in the death chamber of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary and had been given an injection when he started kicking, twitching, and then writhing and moaning in agony.” This piece of text showed that no mercy is given to prisoners by their executers even when something so horrible like this happens. This quote used by the author can have a strong effect on the reader because it shows how harsh and brutal the death penalty can be and can draw even sympathy out of someone for the victim.

               Another example of how the author argues against the death penalty is that in the text, the author talks about how the death penalty can actually be viewed as a very hypocritical punishment. For example, "Opponents say that killing is wrong no matter who is doing it, even the government, and that it's too final a punishment in a world where mistakes can happen." This piece of evidence made me think that people are being punished by death after committing crimes such as murder which ironic in a sense because regardless of who is doing the killing, the crime at hand is really being punished with only more crime, which is unfair.

               Before reading this article, I didn't really think much of the death penalty because I felt that if someone was sentenced to death, it had to have been for a good reason. However, after reading this article, the author has able to gear my opinions towards being against the death penalty. I realized how sick and disturbing the ways criminals were killed and it made me feel that no matter the crime, nobody deserves to be put through torture like this, as many mistakes can occur. The whole death penalty itself is very risky and unsettling and there are plenty of other methods that could be more suitable as punishment.

Social Awareness Project- #5

“What About Fair?” by: Sophia Stelboum

Should any kid

Have to be put down

Just because of their looks or interests

What about fair?

Should any kid

Have to come home crying

Because they feel they aren’t good enough

What about fair?

Should any kid

Have to feel the need to change

Because of standards set by their peers

What about fair?

It’s not fair

Reflection

            The social issue that inspired this poem was bullying. Every single day, kids are unfairly judged by their peers and are casted out because of their personality, looks, interests, grades and any other aspects that do not fit the standards that society has set for them. No kid deserves to feel that they need to change to receive anybody’s acceptance because the people that don’t accept them are the ones they do not need in their life. Bullying someone can cause permanent damage and insecurities that last a lifetime. It is truly wrong and unfair to put someone through that is what I hoped to portray in my poem.