Autumn Tallman's Rhetoric Blog

TITLE: A Proposal to End General Education Requirements in Universities Purpose Statement: Persuade my audience that Gen-Ed requirements should be removed from university curricula. Thesis: Required General Education classes are repetitive and unnecessary, and go against the fundamental purpose of a college education. INTRODUCTION I. Gen-Ed requirements are a waste of time and money.     A. A study publish ed in  Teaching & Learning Inquiry: The ISSOTL Journal found that a majority of university students surveyed were vocationally-driven, and therefore did not see the purpose of being educated on unrelated topics.     B. I had originally planned to graduate in four years with two majors and a year of study-abroad. I recently changed my major and will now have to stay in undergraduate school for five years, due to a number of Gen-Ed classes that occupied space in my schedule which could have been dedicated to classes required in my major....

Individually: 1. Make a list of two strengths and two weaknesses of each of the samples. 2. Rank these proposals in terms of how well they make their argument. Assume that you were actually evaluating these proposals for real change. 3. Post it to your individual blog. Course Requirement: Extortion Strengths 1. Catchy title. 2. Explains the topic well. 3. Explains why previous solutions are inadequate. Weaknesses 1. Uses topic-specific vocabulary without explanation. 2. Could include what students would realistically have to pay of his plan were put into effect. Off-Campus Spending Strengths: 1. Clearly outlines what the problem is, what the solution would be, and how the change would benefit both the students and the university. 2. Clear, professional organization of the paper.  Weakness: 1. Does not include evidence to back up the claims that her proposal is based upon (women eat less than men, or enough so that the current policy discriminates against them)...