For my lost chapter in the book Speak I’m going to do Melinda in her English class where she feels like the outcast, and everyone in that class is very open and likes to share the things they write. She is going to have to give a speech on the most influential person in her life and why she thinks so.
What is the author (Jacobs) trying to convince you is true. Quote one sentence in which she clearly states what she believes
The author is trying to convince you that america is getting stupider and loser their intellectual greatness. “Americans are in serious intellectual trouble — in danger of losing our hard-won cultural capital to a virulent mixture of anti-intellectualism, anti-rationalism and low expectations.”
Why evidence does the author give to prove that America is dumber than before? How does baby Einstein prove we’re getting dumber?
The evidence the author gives to prove americans are dumber than before is that our country is getting out of control. Baby Einstein proves we’re getting dumber because the education programs we have are making us stupider and more people are dropping out of schools.
What does Jacobs believe caused dumbness?
Laziness and little to no poor education is causing dumbness in americans.
What does the author mean by “anti-intellectualism?” What is it? What causes it?
Anti-intellectualism is that we are dumb. It’s the lack of effort put into something. The cause of it for example would be playing video games or watching tv instead of using your brain and knowledge from reading a book or doing something else academic.
What is the “erosion of general knowledge?”
The erosion of general knowledge are the things that get in the way of knowledge which is another factor is us getting stupider.
Summarize the 2nd to last paragraph (” That leads us to the third and final factor”).
The second to last paragraph is saying that its not just what we don’t know thats making us stupid its the fact that we think we don’t need to know everything. And we take it for granted the stuff we don’t know isn’t considered important.
Is she right? Explain with evidence from your own life.
I think she is somewhat right, because there has been times in school where the teachers are teaching you something and question and wonder why are we learning this and most of the time we come to the conclusion that it isn’t important, but really you can’t really decide whats important to know and whats not, because there is such a wide range of information with different purposes behind it’s knowledge.
Dear Mr. Dunbar,
I am writing this letter to tell you about the issue of having soda and candy machines at Shorewood. My opinion on this issue is that we shouldn’t get rid of the soda and candy machines, because that’s not going to stop us from still getting soda and candy from other places. If you do take the soda and candy machines out it is just going to get everyone mad and frustrated. Since we have off campus lunch, we would all be able to go buy candy and soda from the store, so it wouldn’t be stopping us in any way from still having them. It isn’t affecting us in any way that hurts what we are learning or doing at school. Not everything in the vending machines is completely horrible for you. If you did in the end decide to take out the soda machines you could replace them with juice or some alternative that is just as good. To replace the candy vending machines you could put in healthier snacks like chips and crackers, but don’t take them out all together or everyone will be make. Thank you for taking this into consideration.
Sincerely, Molly Wakenshaw
