Persuasive Paper Ideas

Are students returning to yesterday's schools and ideas? Should blogs replace ...

As most Georgia students return to school today, I want to share a provocative essay about the way kids communicate today and what the future holds for them. ( See earlier blog on how today’s classroom s should build on how kids prefer to communicate, including text messaging.)

Among the discussion points: Rather then assigning and judging college students on term papers, should we evaluate their writing skills on blogs and online forums where they often bring far more fervor and elegance?

The New York Times piece focuses on a new book by Cathy N. Davidson, co-director of the annual MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning Competitions.

In “Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn,” Davidson contends that 65 percent of today’s grade-school kids may end up doing work that hasn’t been invented yet. ( Davidson  blog on these issues. )

The Times column explores a topic we have discussed here many times, whether today’s students — wired from the womb — are learning outmoded skills and being held to yesterday’s standards.

On average, American teens — 75 percent of whom now own cell phones — exchange 1,500 text messages each month. In its survey, Nielsen found that younger teens outpace their older siblings in texting; teenagers 13 to 17 send 3,339 texts per month. In 2010, teens sent 8 percent more texts than a year earlier.

Should schools be embracing texting in the classroom rather than banning it?

I can recall visiting my high school freshman’s technology class during an open house a few years ago and realizing within seconds that the teens in the class were years beyond the material, that the course was designed as if it were 1999 rather than 2009. The instructor talked about technology as a set of basic life skills that teens had to acquire. But technology was not a life skill for these 14-year-olds; it was their life.

According to the Times piece:

Ms. Davidson herself was appalled not long ago when her students at Duke, who produced witty and incisive blogs for their peers, turned in disgraceful, unpublishable term papers. But instead of simply carping about students with colleagues in the great faculty-lounge tradition, Ms. Davidson questioned the whole form of the research paper. “What if bad writing is a product of the form of writing required in school — the term paper — and not necessarily intrinsic to a student’s natural writing style or thought process?” She adds: “What if ‘research paper’ is a category that invites, even requires, linguistic and syntactic gobbledygook?

« Persuasive Essay Ideas

Ideas for Persuasive Essays, Speech and Arguments

In today’s post, we bring you a comprehensive list of persuasive essay topics for essay writing , speeches and argumentative analysis , compiled in order of academic level.

Argumentative Persuasive Essay Ideas Is global climate change man-made? Is the death penalty effective? Is our election process fair? Do colleges put too much stock in standardized test scores? Should men get paternity leave from work? Do we have a fair taxation system? Persuasive Essay Ideas for Kids Who is the new girl in class? What if there was no Harry Potter? Life without my pet 10 things I hate about summer school Pets in school Persuasive Essay Ideas for Students Persuasive Essay Ideas for Elementary School Is praying beneficial? Effect of technology on Human Beings Hoe does divorce effect children? Vegetarians vs. Meateaters. Should uniforms be banned? Persuasive Essay Ideas for Middle School Should the Government Ban Hunting? Is the claim that advertising manipulative true? Do you agree with the role mass media is playing in the society? Are beauty pageants creating discrimination among women? Deforestation should be banned. Persuasive Essay Ideas for High School Should we be taking actions against preventing extinction of species? Are video games too violent? Is a homemaker given the same respect as one would give someone with a job? Should vocational training be made compulsory in schools? Is it important to have role models? Should animal testing be legalized? Do celebrities make for bad role models? Drinking age for alcohol drinking? Should chewing gum in class be banned? Should ragging be severely punished? College Level Persuasive Essay Ideas Has the society accepted the concept of stay-at-home dads? Is the topic of environmental ethics important? Is it wrong to have beauty pageants for kids? Should processed foods be banned? Is it important to introduce a leave-your-vehicle-at-home day? Can flirting with someone be considered as cheating on your girlfriend/boyfriend? Should juveniles be tried as adults? Funny Persuasive Essay Ideas Which country has the prettiest girls? Blondes are actually smart. If I were the President?

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