Based on your personal experience, on the things you notice about other people, and on your own insights about modern society, do you think that society can and should change these habits? If so, how? If not, why not?

2 paragraphs of this essay needs to be completed 3 hours from now.

Choose ONE of the two topics below and respond to it in the form of an essay.

Evaluation criteria for Essay One:
❑ Your focused response to the wording of the assigned topic.
❑ A clear and specific main idea (thesis).
❑ Organization that is easy to follow with topic sentences and paragraphs.
❑ Detailed development and support of your ideas, using reference (quotations and paraphrases) to ONE reading from the course packet. You may ONLY refer to the indicated reading in the course packet, NOT other readings or research. Ya heard? NO RESEARCH IN ESSAY ONE.
❑ Citation of your references (quotations and paraphrase) using the three elements of in-text citation: signal phrase, quotation marks, and parenthetical citation.
❑ Your use of correct sentence structure, grammar, and mechanical conventions like spelling and punctuation.
❑ Minimum word count of 600, included at end of the essay
Logistical rules:
❑ The whole essay must be typed and double-spaced, with your name, the essay and draft number, and a title for your essay on the first page.
❑ Email your essay to sshen@lagcc.cuny.edu
o It must be either pasted straight into the message box, or attached as an MS Word file (.doc).
o DO NOT email me other kinds of attachments such as .pdf files, links to cloud storage data such as Google Documents, or “invitations to edit”.

TOPIC ONE: “A great luxury that many cannot afford”
Imagine that CUNY is considering reducing funding for the following “humanities” courses at LaGuardia: art, music, foreign languages, history, and psychology. The CUNY Board of Trustees has invited you to come speak about their planned cuts before they vote. Your essay will be this speech. Your goal is to compel their attention and help them make the best decision possible. You may draw from some of your personal experience as a student for this speech, but at least part of your argument must also be based on your belief of the role that educational institutions like CUNY should fulfill for society as a whole, as discussed in Patricia Cohen’s article. If you choose this topic, please bear in mind that the assignment is not to discuss cuts to all college funding, but only to the humanities courses listed above, so your examples should be of specific things studied in any of those courses.

TOPIC TWO: “Deferred obligations and dismembered dreams”
Robert Grudin and Peter Bregman advance sharp criticisms of modern everyday life, arguing that there are ways in which, without even thinking about what we’re doing, we often use inattention, distraction, routine, and procrastination to create distance from the things that should matter to us the most – for example, from the world, from our families and friends, and even from our own memories, thoughts, feelings, and dreams. Based on your personal experience, on the things you notice about other people, and on your own insights about modern society, do you think that society can and should change these habits? If so, how? If not, why not?

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