position essay MLA FORMAT no less than 800 words Please keep in mind that outside sources should be used in this essay, at least 1. Also, remember that all of your writing is automatically submitt

position essay MLA FORMAT no less than 800 words Please keep in mind that outside sources should be used in this essay, at least 1. Also, remember that all of your writing is automatically submitt
Here are some position essay topics you might consider for your research essay:   Family, Sex, and Gender 1.         Is acquaintance rape a major problem in America? 2.         Should gay couples be allowed to marry? 3.         Should prostitution be legalized? 4.         Is marriage a doomed institution? 5.         Are traditional families better than contemporary families?   Education and Youth 6.         Should schools teach about contraception in sex education classes? 7.         Are standardized tests good measures of academic ability or progress? 8.         Do home schooled children get adequate educations? 9.         Should classes be offered to non-English speaking students in their own language? 10.     Is grade inflation a problem in American schools? 11.     Will spending more money on schools improve educational achievement? 12.     Will raising standards for teachers improve educational achievement? 13.     Should schools focus on core academic subjects like reading, writing, math and science and exclude less fundamental subjects like art, music, and sports? Health and Medicine   15.     Have doctors and the health care industry become too powerful? 16.     Have insurance companies done more harm than good? 17.     Will health care reform be good for America? 18.     Does America need a national health care system or insurance program? 19.     Should doctors be required to release the names of patients who test positive for aids? 20.     Should nursing homes be paid less if they provide inferior care? 21.     Should genetic engineering, cloning, and other forms of genetic medicine be pursued? 22.     Should Medicare and Medicaid be eliminated? Religion, Beliefs and Values 23.     Has the separation of church and state gone too far? 24.     Does religion create intolerance? 25.     Should hate groups be allowed free speech? 26.     Will restoring traditional religions improve morality and values? 27.     Is America in moral decline? The Mass Media and Technology 22.    Do violent TV and video games increase violent crime? 23.    Should sexually explicit material be allowed on television? 24.    Do corporations and other powerful groups control what is on TV? 25.    Should the internet be restricted and regulated? 26.    Is technology making us more alienated, less sociable, and less human? 27.    Should texting while driving be illegal? 28.    Is Facebook changing our notions of privacy? 29.    Does the media have a liberal bias? Stratification and Inequality 30.    Is racism a problem in contemporary America? 31.    Are gender differences in pay understandable? 32.    Are the aged discriminated against? 33.    Do men do their share of the work at home? 34.    Does American need tougher immigration laws? 35.    Can poverty be eliminated? Work and the Economy 36.    Should American workers be concerned about sexual harassment in the workplace? 37.    Is automation of the workplace beneficial to workers? 38.    Should employers be allowed to do random drug testing? 39.    Is the opening of global markets good for the average American? 40.    Can and should social security be saved? 41.    Should the government bail out large corporations to keep them from failing? 42.    Should the government more closely regulate and control the stock market and financial institutions? 43.    Does increasing government spending help the economy? 44.    Is the budget deficit a threat to America’s future? 45.    Is China’s economic growth a threat to America? Politics and Government 46.    Is American democracy in decline? 47.    Should the Electoral College be eliminated? 48.    Is the two-party system beneficial to American democracy? 49.    Should campaign contributions from corporations and interest groups be restricted? 50.    Is American partly to blame for terrorist attacks on American targets? 51.    Should American troups be withdrawn from Iraq and Afghanistan? Drugs, Tobacco, and Alcohol 52.    Should drug users be incarcerated? 53.    Should people with multiple DUIs have their licenses suspended? 54.    Is prescription drug abuse a problem in America? 55.    Should cigarettes be restricted or outlawed? 56.    Should marijuana be legalized for medical and/or recreational use? Crime and Deviance 57.    Should violent youth offenders be tried as adults? 58.    Does gun control reduce crime? 59.    Should police have more freedom to enforce the law? 60.    Is incarceration the answer to the crime problem? 61.    Can gang violence and crime be stopped? 62.    Is white collar crime a problem in America? Population, Urbanization and the Environment 63.    Should city growth be restricted and controlled? 64.    Has the environmental movement gone too far? 65.    Should America expand its use of nuclear energy? 66.    Should businesses be required to use environmentally friendly technologies? 67.    Should more money be spent on exploring alternative energy sources? 68.    Should offshore oil drilling be increased? 69.    Should Americans be concerned about global warming? 70.    Does the aging of the baby-boomers present a “crisis” for America? 71.    Should Americans be concerned about world population growth?
position essay MLA FORMAT no less than 800 words Please keep in mind that outside sources should be used in this essay, at least 1. Also, remember that all of your writing is automatically submitt
Polito 1 Chris Polito Paola Brown Eng102 25 March 2008 Single Parent Struggle For many years, children growing up in a single parent family have been viewed as different. Being raised by only one parent seems impossible to many yet over the decades it has become more prevalent. In today’s society many children have grown up to become emotionally stable and successful whether they had one or two parents to show them the rocky path that life bestows upon all human beings. The problem lies in the difference of children raised by single parents versus children raised by both a mother and a father. Does a child need both parents? Does a young boy need a father figure around? Does the government provide help for single parents? What role do step-parents and step-siblings play? With much speculation, this topic has become a very intriguing argument. What people must understand is that properly raising a child does not rely on the structure of a family but should be more focused on the process or values that are taught to these children as they learn to mature. Children of single parents can be just as progressive with emotional, social and behavioral skills as those with two parents. People claim that the only way for children to gain full emotional and behavioral skills is to be raised by both a mother and a father. When a topic such as this one has a broad amount of variables it is impossible to simply link these problems to only having one parent. In the article, “Single-parent families cause juvenile crime”, author Robert L. Maginnis states, “Children from single-parent families are more likely to have behavior Polito 2 problems because they tend to lack economic security and adequate time with parents”. The simple statement that raw criminals are products of single-parent adolescence is absurd. What this writer must understand is that it can be extremely difficult for one parent to raise a child by themselves for many reasons. A single-parent must work full time to be able to afford to provide for themselves and their child. They must also be able to still have time to offer an exuberant amount of emotional time for the well being of their child. However, even though this may seem impossible, it can be done. As this subject continues to be looked down on people must realize that single parents are becoming more common in today’s world. Since 1995 the American family structure for children ages fourteen to eighteen consists of forty-two percent living in a first marriage family with both parents, twenty-two percent living in a second marriage step-family, twenty-one percent living in a single parent, divorced or separated family, six percent living in a single parent never married family and three percent living in a single parent widowed family. This is an extremely scary statistic considering that fifty- eight percent of children in America are living in a single parent family. This is a chilling percentage because it shows how little faith is put into a relationship before actually deciding to have children. Unfortunately not all single-parents take the time to perform the vital tasks needed to raise their children. Parents who think they would never be able to provide emotional stability for their children by themselves should have taken the time to think this through before deciding to become parents. Accidents may happen once in awhile but in most cases adults know what is at stake when planning to have a child. Plain and simple, if you’re not ready, than don’t do it. If you do decide to have this child Polito 3 and you love this child, then you can be a good parent. There are many ways to enhance the well being of your child if you simply apply yourselves as parents. Magginnis later states that, “Boys who do not have fathers as male role models suffer especially”. While it is extremely important for a male child to have his father around, there are other ways of teaching a young boy the lessons he needs to become a man. I know from personal experience that what the author of this article is trying to convey is wrong. I never had my father around while growing up and I did in fact have many positive male role models. My Grandfather was always there to help guide me as I slowly blossomed into a young man. Anytime my mother had to work to support us, my grandparents, aunt’s, uncles and cousins would step up and provide the time and attention I needed. Therefore, I had the best support group I could have had as a young man. Being a child with a single mother had its benefits. Although I came to find how hard it really was for her to always meet the needs of her child, she did the best job that she possibly could and gave me the knowledge that I needed to become a successful man without the guidance of my father. I did however have the experience of dealing with a step-parent. Today, twenty- five percent of all American children will spend at least some time of their growing-up years in a stepfamily. This seems fine for single parents because they feel like they can start over in a new relationship and receive help from their spouse both emotionally and financially. A step-parent can cause confusion and emotional stress on the child since they have just had to adjust to only one parent and now have to adjust to a new parental figure stepping into the family role. Another factor of bringing a step-parent into a single family’s life is new step-siblings to get along with. It might not be justified for a step- Polito 4 parent to punish their step-child like they would their own flesh and blood. As long as both parents have an understanding that their family comes first and that it is important to communicate between themselves and with the children, a step-family could survive. Children who are raised with both a mother and a father have more attention from both parents therefore they get the emotional time they need to progress in life. This could be true but not in all circumstances. It would not be beneficial at all to grow up in a two parent family who did nothing but argue and put each-other down. Naturally, a child who sees this from a very young age until they are ready to be out on their own would only follow in the footsteps of all that they have ever known. Children who are raised by one parent who devotes their time and emotion into their child would benefit much more than a child who has both parents showing them that fighting and arguing is acceptable. Not all families are lucky enough to have a healthy structure. It is important for society and government aids to notice these structural differences and take action. There should be government funded programs to help assist single-parent families with childcare and finances for parents who must work and still have time for their children. Whether it’s a mother and a father, a single mother, or a single father, children need guidance. They will only become a product of what they are taught from a young age and these children are deeply affected emotionally by the amount of love and compassion that is put into raising them. Whichever family structure is implied it must be one of respect and strong moral values that they can someday pass on to their family.
position essay MLA FORMAT no less than 800 words Please keep in mind that outside sources should be used in this essay, at least 1. Also, remember that all of your writing is automatically submitt
Liles 1 Student Sample Argument 1 M ark Liles Professor Brown ENG 101 26 June 2008 School Choi ce – An Unwise Option The topic of charter schools and vou chers is an ongoing debate that is currently being argued in places from the loca l school bo ard meetin gs to state sup reme cou rts. Both charter schools and school vou cher programs are coll ec tively referred to as “school choi ce ” initi ativ es, in that they allow pare nts to choose edu cation al options for their child ren that are outside of the tradition al public school system. A school vo ucher program provi des parents with cer tifica tes that are us ed to pay for edu ca tion at a school of their choi ce , rather than the public school to which they are assigned. Charter schools on the other hand are publi cly funded schools that have bee n free d from some of the rules, regulations, and statut es that app ly to other public schools. In exchang e, charter schoo ls have sp ec ialized acc ountabili ty for prod ucing certain results, which are set forth in each school’s charter. As Americans we enjoy choi ces and often asso ciate choi ce as som ething positiv e. Being able to choose a school may sound like a rea son able initi ative on the su rfa ce, but after a clos er look it has serious probl ems. School choi ce turns out to not on ly be a bad idea ; it’s also a vio lation of our constitution. Consid ering the many challeng es facing public schools, it’s und erstand able that many people would be ea ger to pu rsue new options. Suppo rters of school choi ce point out that und er the current public school system, parents with ec onomic mea ns already exercise school choi ce by moving from area s with failing or dangerous schools to neighbo rhoods with better, safer schools. Liles 2 Th eir argum ent is that school choi ce would allow all pare nts the free dom, regardless of income Liles 3 level, to selec t the school that provid es the best educa tion (Chub and Mo e). Schools would then have to comp ete for stu dents by offer ing higher aca demic results and greater safety. Schools un able to mea su re up to the stand ards of successful schools would fail and possib ly clos e. Ac tivists within the school choi ce mov ement can be appl aud ed for seeking to imp rove public edu ca tion, but the changes they propo se would in fac t serious ly damage pu blic edu ca tion as a whol e. One of the biggest dangers of school choi ce is the po we r behind large corporations sp ec ializing in op ening and op era ting charter schools. Two not able comp anies are Gree n Dot, which is the lea ding public school op era tor in Los Ang eles (Gree n Dot), and KIPP , which op era tes 65 schools in 19 differe nt states [KIPP] . Th ese comp anies represent a growing trend of privatization of public schools by large corporations. It is feare d that these corpo rations could grow to a point that public cont rol of educa tion would be lost. Edu ca tion poli cy would be left in the hands of entrepreneurial think tanks, corpo rate bo ards of directors, and lob byists who are mo re int ere sted in profit than edu cating stud ents [Mill er and Ger son ]. Edu cation should be left in the hands of profession al edu ca tors and not busin ess people with M BAs. To do oth erw ise is not on ly dangerous, it defies common sens e. The validi ty of school vou cher programs has met num erous challenges, with results varying from state to state. At the ce nter of the divided opinions is whether or not it is constitution al for the federa l gov ernm ent to give mon ey direc tly to private schools, many of which are religious ly based. Acc ording to the NEA “A bout 85 perce nt of private schools are religious. Vouchers tend to be a mea ns of circum venting the Constitution al prohibitions against subsidi zing religious practice and inst ruction [NEA].” One mi ght view a pare nt’s cho ice to send child ren to a religious school using gov ernm ent fund ed school vou chers as acce ptable Liles 4 consid ering that fami ly pays taxes and it’s on ly fair that they have a say in where the mo ney is sp ent on behalf of their child ren. But consid er the many people who have no child ren, or who have grown child ren that no lon ger participate in the public school system. Th ese people still pay taxes to suppo rt public edu ca tion, and it is on ly reason able to consid er that they may ob jec t to the funding of religious schools with the tax mon ey they are paying. It is clear from any point of view that far mo re peop le obj ec t to vou cher programs than benefit. The public school system guarantees an educa tion for every child in our nation. It bec om es appare nt that this isn ’t the ca se after examining the various scho ol choi ce options. One must also consid er the fate of sp ec ial nee ds stud ents which requi re many addition al hou rs of direc t teacher attention. Th ese stud ents could easily be viewe d as “too expensiv e” to edu cate and could face sub -stand ard trea tm ent or even exclusion in profit mind ed, corporate op erated, charter schools. Ev en vou cher programs poss ess a hidd en selec tive element when one consid ers that religious schools are allowe d to choose their stud ents. Pare nts may app ly to the school for admission of their child ren, but the school may choose to not admit them [A TF]. The on ly way to truly guarantee equ ality in public educa tion is to inv est in our public edu ca tion system. America was the first count ry to provide public edu ca tion to all and we must ensu re that it is not erod ed by school choi ce . It can bee see n that charter schools, while attrac tive at first, fade und er clos er examin ation. The dangers of huge corpo rations taking control of edu ca tion are rea l. Consid er what would have happened if En ron wa s involv ed in edu ca tion. And vou cher prog rams, also attractive und er first light, bec ome less app ea ling after cons idering their constitution al legality and the fac t that private schools are allo we d to prac tice a form of “stud ent choi ce” . All of the scho ol choi ce initi ativ es are answer s to the probl ems facing public educa tion. But consid er that for dec ades public edu cation has su ffe red from lack of prop er fundi ng [Ha ider- Liles 5 M arkel]. W ithout prop er fundin g, public schools have never had a legitim ate chance to su ccee d. W hy do n’t people pu rsue a simple ans we r to a simple probl em? America n’s should fund the public schools adequ ately so they ca n get the job don e. It’s a simple ans wer that will work. Liles 6 W orks Cited AFT “The M any Names of School Vou chers.” American Federation of Teachers. M arch 2001. AFT. 22 June 2008 . Chubb, John and Terry Mo e. “The Debate Over School Choi ce .” Constit utional Rights Foundation. 28 June 20 06. CR F. 22 June 2008. . Dee pth Th attai. “A Histo ry of Public Edu ca tion in the Unit ed States.” ServInt. Nov emb er 2001. 22 June 2008. < http:// www .servint free .net/~ aidmn -ejou rnal/publi ca tions/2001 – 11/ Publi cEdu ca tio nInT heU nit edStates.html >. Gree n Dot. “Frequ ently Ask ed Questions.” Gree n Dot Public Schools. 2007. To ny Schen. 20 June 2008. < http:// www .gree ndot.o rg/about_us/ frequ ently_ask ed_qu estio ns>. Ha ider-M arkel, M aier, M cD onl ald, Percy. “Public Schools Funding Issues.” Institute for Wisconsin ’s Futu re. 20 07. W isconsin Alliance for Exce llent Schools. 21 June 2008. . KIPP . “O verview .” KIPP. 19 June 2007. KIPP Corpo ration. 21 June 2008 < http:// www .kipp.o rg/>. Mill er, Steven and Jac k Ger son. “The Corpo rate Surge Against Public Schools.” Scribd. 18 M arc h 2008. 19 June 2008. < http:// www .scribd. com/do c/2304695/Th e-Corpo rate-Surge- Against -Publi c-School s?page= 7>. Liles 7 NEA. “V ouchers” National Edu cation Asso ciation. 2008. NEA. 22 June 2008. .