Persuasive Essay

In 1983, Raymond Carver introduced his short story “Cathedral” to the public. The first-person narrative takes place within the narrator’s home, where his wife is waiting upon the arrival of her blind friend Robert. The narrator, however, becomes more concerned about how Robert’s visit will affect him rather than enjoy the situation. Once Robert arrives, the narrator tries to understand the blind man, but he is unaware of what tasks Robert is capable of performing due to the narrator’s inability to “see”. In time, Robert shows the narrator the difference between looking and seeing through illustrations of a cathedral, drawn by the narrator with his eyes closed. “Cathedral’s” narrator exposes readers to anti-heroic views

“As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands- one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.” – Audrey Hepburn.

Being an athletes is one of the best-paid jobs on Earth. Being that they are paid so much the cost for the consumer is very high. The prices of tickets and sports memorabilia have been steadily rising over the years. The average ticket prices for the NHL, MLB, NBA and NFL all rose 5% to 10% this year, according to Jon Greenberg, executive editor of Team Marketing Report. (Mihoces).

The last time I saw Charlie outside prison walls we were on the run. Charlie was on the run, not I, I just went along for the ride because he was my husband. Charlie was on parole, but he loved to drink his booze. In our state it's a violation to drink while on parole.

With NFL Players kneeling everywhere and soldiers feeling unappreciated, our country is in shock. It all started by a player named Colin Kaepernick, a quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, in 2016. This event persuaded numerous NFL players to continue this process. One by one, players all over the league began to protest to call attention to the issues of "racial inequalities and police brutality". With mixed reviews of this protest, I believe that kneeling during the National Anthem of the United States of America is disrespectful because it is abrasive, selfish, and hurtful. Also, I am not sure that all of those protesting in this manner know the true meaning of our national anthem or the flag that represents our freedom.

Source: CDC, National Center for Health Statistics, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Health, United States, 2002. Flegal et. al. JAMA. 2002;288:1723-7. NIH, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Clinical Guidelines on the Identification, Evaluation and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Adults, 1998.

Is it really worth going to college, owing hundreds of dollars in order to get a degree in a profession to become successful and experienced in the real world? Today, as tuition costs increase students are questioning whether college is fit for them or not. For one, college can be really expensive, for example at the University of Minnesota for an undergraduate during the academic year of 2011-2012, the cost for one credit was $448.08 and $5,825 for a total of thirteen or more credits (“Undergraduate tuition”). A high school graduate that does not have a job may not necessarily have money so the only way to pay would be to take out loans and apply for financial aid. So is it not

It’s college graduation day and the graduates have just finished their walks across the stage. The future looks bright and the stress of classes has finally come to an end for most of the students. This day is a day full of joy for most, but for those who didn’t receive scholarships or grants; this day also marks the day that reality hits. For those who were lucky enough to get student loans now comes the time when those loans need to start being paid on. Through all of the excitement, the elephant in the room still remains; how will they possibly begin to pay the tens of thousands of dollars that they owe for the education they just finished?

Running is everything I do. I wake up, I run. I go to school, I dream about running, then run after school. The feeling of running is indescribable, but it’s something that feels amazing. Discovering new running routes, discovering new places, traveling. Traveling to new places, exploring, and learning new things. Traveling is something I do everyday, even if it’s the regular route to school and the same running route each and every day. It’s the same old, same old, each and everyday, and I want to go somewhere else. Get out of my boring town, in boring old Michigan, where nothing exciting happens. Except for the occasional football game. This town is run down and full of dull and depressing people. Only one year left in this town, but I still have the summer to run and to travel. The two things I love to do.

“Your assignment is to write a persuasive essay and present it to the class in a week. You will be graded based on how convincing it is. Today we will be choosing topics,” announced Mr. Bowerbank, my 7th grade English teacher and ruler of classroom 110. My class simultaneously groaned at the prospect of work. I simply lifted my head with intrigue as it was already May and about time we had our first essay. He then proceeded to give examples of topics we could choose and gave us some time to think before we had to tell him our topic. My classmates were already rushing to tell the teacher their idea lest someone else steal it. That meant the usual abortion, death penalty, or drug use topics were out. I really couldn't think of anything and the teacher was slowly making his way through the remaining students like an executioner beheading criminals in a line. I have always thought that he would make a marvelous supervillain if he had a curly mustache, a tophat, and a cape. Eventually my name was called. I slowly dragged myself over to his desk. Even sitting down, he still seemed to tower over me. “What is your topic Cindy?” As usual in such desperate times, my mind turned to food. “Waffles are better than pancakes.” I figured that a waffle was just a differently shaped pancake with a nicer texture. “Hmm. Excellent topic. I look forward to your essay!” I survived to live yet another day.

All of the training and hard work I have done all comes down to this one moment: I can either fail or succeed. Everyday I dream of being the first person to cross the finish line. I dream of my coaches faces lighting up after the race. To achieve this though, I have to be pushing myself as hard as I can: until my legs go numb and taking breaths becomes harder and harder every second. I have to wake up everyday and have motivation and know that it is possible, I could win the whole race.

The United States presidential election, it’s a huge event in the United States and its been seen by some as an example of our democracy, but should it be? In truth, “American citizens do not cast their ballots directly for their favorite candidates for the presidency. Instead, they vote for electors ostensibly (but not always) committed to a given candidate.” (Levinson, Page 83). But, why not let the citizens vote directly for the president themselves? This old idea of not trusting the American people more with knowing how to vote isn’t fair anymore and while at the time it may have been okay and even made sense because it made voting easier since, “Never in the history of the world had a comparable election been conducted in a territory as large as the United States” (Black, Paragraph 14) it’s now (in my opinion) outdated and no longer necessary. This isn’t to say that I would completely get rid of the system we have though, I do agree with how, “Above all, the Founders feared power, the domination of some men over others.” (Critchlow, Page 19), they knew that in this case something would have to be done to keep the few large states from controlling the elections if presidents were elected with the popular vote. I think that we do need to make some changes to take the more of the people's opinions into consideration, though instead of giving all of a states’ electoral votes to the most popular candidate and ignoring the rest of the states residents votes.

Everyone in their childhood dreams of things that they will accomplish in the future. We have the inexhaustible enthusiasm that comes from our heart. The pursuit of that dream is the hope that makes us live. We are happy about what we can become, so how to become worthy of our parents and our family, we will be proud of all of them when we realize our dreams. But we do not know the risk and obstacles that we will face along the way to that dream, or how good or bad it will be to following our personal legend.

Schools are allowed to confiscate phones and search them without a warrant as long as they have reasonable suspicion, but often times, people do not understand what reasonable suspicion is, which leads to phones being searched at unnecessary times, and students’ privacy being invaded. In order for a person to use reasonable suspicion as their reason to search another person’s belongings, they must be able to state specific facts that are significant enough to lead to a search. Rumors or anonymous tips that do not include any detail are not reason enough to conduct a search on a student because they are often false and spread to hurt the individual. Though reasonable doubt has specific guidelines, many people, like professor Amy Vorenberg, do not only have issues with its misuse, but also the legality of it in general. In 2012, Vorenberg wrote an article which argued that warrantless searches of student phones violated students’ privacy and could possibly go against the fourth amendment of the US Constitution. The fourth amendment is, “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” Some people believe that warrantless searches of students’ phones violate the fourth amendment to the US

School come first. If you have ever participated in sport during school, then you have most likely heard that a million times. It used to be so important to have good grades so you would be able to play in the sport that you love to play. Not anymore. Is a “C” average really that hard to maintain? Apparently, the Dayton Public School District believes so. The DPS district recently changed their grade point average (GPA) requirements for students participating in athletics. The new GPA requirement for student athletes in Dayton Public Schools is a 1.0 and they must be enrolled and participate in the Assisted Academic Intervention Program, which is a “mandatory tutoring program for those athletes at the low end of the scale” (Kelley). The previous policy was that the students had to be passing at least five of their classes and maintain a 2.0 which is a “C” average. Superintendent Rhonda Corr said this new policy could ultimately keep some students in school, but is that really the case? The district lowered their standards to a “D” average. That teaches the students that it is okay to turn in maybe two assignments and still be able to play sports. High school is not about sports. It is about preparing for college and a future career. A “D” average is not preparing anyone for college. High school is important, and everyone should be encouraging the students to perform their best in the classroom.