Short Topics

15 minute reading period 30 min writing period- Students had to read a number of sources describing the positive and negative effects of advertising, develop a position, then synthesize sources in an essay to support their claim.

Advertising has a huge impact on each and every person and consumes our way of life.  While advertising may be purely informational, overall, the effects are harmful.

Billboards that advertise the harmful effects of cigarettes have a positive effect in informing citizens of the dangers of smoking.  However, if not for the advertisements for cigarettes, we probably wouldn’t have bought them in the first place and needed to see the billboard of their harmful effects.  The cigarette advertisements actually made smoking more appealing by making people believe they were accepted and the majority of people smoke (Source B).

According to Source C, advertisements are meant to teach us.  They give us “the information in ads [we need] to buy the necessities of life.”  However, not all of the necessities are life are advertised.  As Sesana Renato mentioned in her online journal, flour is a necessity that isn’t advertised.  However, companies spend millions advertising soft drinks.  Do we need cokes in order to survive? (Source F)  Should we spend our money on unnecessary items just because the television makes them appealing?

Not only does advertisement encourage us to throw away our dollars, but advertisement “has led many companies and governments to put aside the necessary moral responsibilities in the age of the global market. ” (Source F) In order to gain the attention of consumers, advertisers will use whatever method they can, even if those methods include totally unrelated topics.  How does a half-naked woman on a motorcycle advertise a toothbrush?  How does a monkey eating a chicken leg relate to that restaurant?  However, when people eat at that restaurant they’ll most likely be thinking of that adorable chimpanzee that ate the same chicken they’re eating, rather than the quality and price.

According to Source E, it is almost impossible to avoid falling into advertisements dirty hands.  Advertisers use every “microscopic detail” as a way to reel consumers into their grasp.  The colorful, flashy and sometimes irrelevant words make the most useless items a sudden necessity.  We don’t decide what we need.  “Advertising tells [us] what [we] need.” (Source D)

Advertisements are intended to be used as a method of informing.  However, ads seem to make life more complicated by making the world a place centered around material objects and unnecessary activities.

Grade based on AP writing scale- 7.5 out of 9

40 minute timed essay- Students had to analyze an article by Leonid Fridman concerning the use of the word “nerd” to describe the intellectually dominant.  Students had to write a style analysis essay describing the author’s tone and the rhetorical strategies he used to develop a position.  To view Fridman’s article click here.

The author’s disappointed exaggeration mirrors his view towards the way some intelligent people are being mistreated and their actions as a result of this mistreatment.

Fridman’s diction over-exaggerates his belief that intellectual people are scared to embrace their academics for fear of social rejection.  If students from a “prestigious academic institution” such as Harvard are “ashamed to admit” “how much they study,” which “nerds” willstand up for themselves?  Students from an Ivy Leaue school are expected to be the best of the best in academics.  However, Fridman implies that social standing greatly competes with intelligence so much that even the smartest students are shamed of their brilliance.  Society does not help this issue by “idoliz[ing] [their] athletes” while “nerds” are “social outcasts.”  Fridman’s strong descriptive terms give him a slightly biased attitude towards the popular jocks and the shunned nerds.  His exaggerations, however, clearly inform the readers that the mistreatment of the intelligent needs to end and that Americans need to get their priorities straight.

Fridman uses many rhetorical questions at the end of his argument.  Rhetorical questions are not meant to be answered, but rather reflect the ideas mentioned previously.  While his questions are slightly to the extreme, they further emphasize his belief that intelligence is a trait to be respected.  Also, the author uses chiasmus to contrast nerds with athletes.  The parallel contrast between nerds and athletes mirrors the equality that needs to occur between intelligence and social/physical skills.  A sense of balance needs to occur with all people.  People need to be more well-rounded and not depend on a certain skill to get them through life.

While his argument may suggest he was one of the mistreated nerds, Fridman still states a cold-hard fact: many intelligent people are bein treated unfairly as a result of their intelligence, while those who are most likely responsible for the mistreatment are worshipped among their peers.

Grade based on AP writing scale- 7 out of 9

Prompt- 40 minute timed writing

In The Great Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan says that she hopes her daughter will be “a beautiful little fool.”  Daisy believes that, in some cases at least, ignorance is bliss.  The contradictory attitude is the commonly-stated belief that “Knowledge is power.”  Write a carefully reasoned. persuasive essay that demonstrates which of these two ideas is the more valid.  Use specific references from you observation, reading, or experience to develop your position.

With knowledge comes power, with power comes responsibility, and with responsibility comes consequences.  Knowledge places a heavy burden upon the soul and sometimes, life would be better to live in ignorance.   While “ignorance is bliss,” I qualify that knowledge is also important.

An ignorant person is usually a happy person.  Life is simple.  They have no worries.  Life is going great.  There is rarely “harmful” knowledge to attack their utopia.  When people are younger, their parents rarely burden them with their problems.  Children who don’t hear about their parents’ marital problems are usually happier than those who do have to listen.  These children are confused and don’t understand why their world is being turned upside down.

With great knowledge comes grreat consequences.  For example, in The Great Gatsby, Daisy comes to realize that Gatsby still loves her.  However, this knowledge tears her apart, for she is married and can’t be with him.  This realization that she can’t have the one thing she wants further rips her heart.  If she was ignorant of this knowledge, she could of been having a semi-happy life.  However, the knowledge of his forbidden love weighs on her.

How many times a day do people say,” I could have lived my life without ever hearing that” ?  Many people want knowledge until they receive it.  Knowledge is extremely powerful, whether for better or worse.  Why are secret service agencies and spy networks so effective?  Why are scientists and lab workers able to produce effective medicines and hospital equipment?  They all have knowledge.  Knowledge is not only used in this way, but can also bring a person inner contentment.  Most likely, Daisy is relieved to hear from Gatsby again.  She didn’t even get to say goodbye to him all those years ago.  Her conscience was put to rest knowing he’d still been fine after so many years.  Knowledge does not only bring power, but can also bring bliss.

All in all, ignorance will most likely bring happiness, and knowledge can be shocking, but can also bring inner peace.

Grade received based on AP writing scoring- 7 out of 9