Overview
Prompt: All three levels of government (federal, state, local) are involved in K-12 education. The appropriate role of each, however, is the source of much controversy. Who should be in control of financing and regulating K-12 education? Write an essay that takes a position on this issue and provide an analysis to support it. Paper requirements: 1. Essays should be roughly 1,000-1,200 words but can be longer if you wish. Please do not use a font smaller than 12-point. 3. Students should focus on the course materials. 4. You should include a works cited page and cite the course readings and powerpoints appropriately. Even though you should utilize lecture material, you do not need to formally cite it. 5. I will grade your paper electronically and use a qualitative rubric to provide systematic feedback. 8. You should include material from the weeks on education AND material from the lectures on federalism generally. In other words, you need to integrate the lectures and course readings on federalism with those on education. 9. Students are prohibited from using their personal experiences as examples. Grading Criteria: Paper will be graded based on the following criteria (not in any particular order): • Demonstrated knowledge of the lecture material • Demonstrated knowledge of the course readings • Essay is well-organized and coherent • Persuasiveness of analysis • Persuasive critiques of opposing arguments
2 Tips and Hints: 1. You have a lot of material to cover in this essay. Because of that, you need to be very concise in your writing. Avoid long-winded introductions, unnecessary examples, and other fluff. 2. Be sure your paper has a thesis statement. 3. There is a lot of course material (both lectures and readings) that is relevant to this question. You do not need to discuss all of it (in fact, discussing all of it would be impossible in a 1,200 word essay). It is much better to discuss a few issues well than covering a lot of issues poorly. Your paper will not be graded on its comprehensiveness, but rather on the quality of the discussion of the issues that you do cover. 4. Don’t oversimplify. This essay deals with many complicated issues that cannot be easily resolved. Also, any position you take on this issue has a counter argument, which you should acknowledge and discuss. 5. Think before you write. Don't just put lots of disconnected ideas in your paper. Before you start writing, think through your argument, write an outline, and proceed with your argument in an orderly manner. 6. One common problem that students have when writing an essay like this is to offer a conclusion without providing the reasoning behind that conclusion. For example, a student might say “I believe that fragmentation of power in the American political system protects liberty,” without explaining how fragmented power protects liberty. Good argumentative essays are not just strings of conclusions, but rather provide an analysis to support those conclusions. This is the difference between simply giving an opinion and providing a sound argument to support a position