We have now finished our study of poetry, and so we now begin our time digging deep into cold, hard reality: non-fiction reading, state assessments, formal essays. In order to reflect that, this week's blog topic will not be concerned with touchy-feely personal matters, not with delving into your values and idiosyncrasies -- this time, it's just going to be the facts, all the facts, and nothing but the facts.
Actually, this kind of discussion often tells you more about the individual communicating to you than any personal exploration would. But we'll keep that a secret.
For our first issue, I thought we should begin with what seems the most contentious and controversial issue in the country today: health care reform (Thank Eldon Ralls for the suggestion.). Here is a page full of stories, from MSN -- forgive me if this is what you consider a biased source; it is not my intention to suggest you lean one way or the other with your opinion on this. Feel free to suggest another source if you find it more objective and reasonable. At any rate, the page has several articles that explain different aspects of the debate over health care reform, if you want to do any research or don't feel informed enough to state an opinion. Click here.
Some possible ways to respond to this are:
*Quite simply, what do you think our country should do about health care reform?
*What do you think is the real problem? What is the source of the problem?
*How would you describe our national politicians, and/or our political system, after seeing how this issue has been handled? Has this changed, or confirmed, your opinions?
*Since more Americans get their primary news coverage from either Jon Stewart on the Daily Show, or FOX News, how much of this debate, and this issue, is exaggerated? How much of the struggle we are seeing is political maneuvering? How does the media influence our nation's handling of this and other similar issues?
It is not acceptable to simply post that you don't care, don't want to care, and have nothing to say on this issue. I am open to suggestions for future topics that might be more interesting to you, but this is the topic for the week, and you will all post a reasonable response to it. Thank you. Oh, and no: I'm not going to post my opinion.
**Special Note: Since this week's topic is a matter of debate, you will also be required to comment on two posts from your classmates this week. Please be polite and respectful, but also substantive and genuine.
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ReplyDelete......isn't this Topic #8? Just wondering.....
ReplyDeletei think so but could be wrong
ReplyDeleteOkay, Mr. Humphrey, why do you naturally assume that everyone hates non-fiction? I, in fact, love it, and think that it's wonderful, and am quite excited for this unit. And a possible topic would be something along the lines of: Why are guys afraid of girls, and vice versa? Or why are people so down on themselves? Like Anthony's post. He naturally assumes that he has to have "luck" to go to a dance wiht a girl, when he cold ask about anyone, and they would say yes. Idk, just thinking.
ReplyDeleteWhen you said 'click here' there wasn't a link. Is that just me or is it actually not there?
ReplyDeleteYes, it is topic #8. No, that link wasn't working, because I copy-pasted this topic post from the other blog, and forgot to recreate the link. These problems will be solved immediately.
ReplyDeleteAnd Tiffany, when did I say that people were down on non-fiction? I had a specific request to make this week's blog topic something more objective and debatable, rather than personal opinion and individual likes and dislikes; that's all I was talking about. Why do you assume that anything described as cold and hard and factual implies dislike on the part of the describer? Huh? Huh? Because you're a girl, right? Please don't hit me.