Here's some more info about your op-ed homework, Regents students. One student already e-mailed me asking for help, and this is my reply. If you have more questions, please contact me at mtoomajian@schools.nyc.gov!
The first thing you need to do is to think about what the protesters say. This is Step One: Develop Your Opinion. Do you think it's true that voting isn't all that important, and that you'd need to share your opinion in different ways to make a difference in government? This website has a number of articles about the Occupy Wall Street movement: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/o/occupy_wall_street/index.html?scp=1-spot&sq=occupy%20wall%20street&st=cse. Here's the link to the full text of the article excerpted on your assignment sheet: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/28/world/as-scorn-for-vote-grows-protests-surge-around-globe.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=voting%20is%20worthless&st=cse.
After thinking about it, doing a little bit of research, and taking a few notes, decide what your opinion is. This is Step Two: Form a Thesis. In a sentence or two, you should be able to state your basic opinion about voting and what the protesters believe about it. Something like: "The protesters are misguided and wrong because voting is a vital part of democracy." Or whatever you believe.
Then, Step Three: Develop Your Argument. You should think of ways to prove that your opinion is right. For this, you need to include things we've learned about in class, like social contract theory and the Constitution. You will probably want to especially consider the idea of republicanism/representative democracy. Ideally, you should be able to come up with at least three good reasons that your thesis is right. For my example thesis, one good reason could be: "The Constitution allows all adult citizens to vote to determine who will lead our country." You would need to explain your back up this reason with supporting details and examples.
Step Four: Outline Your Argument. Once you've got ideas for an argument, start writing an outline that organizes it. Ideally, it would follow this structure:
Thesis: The protesters are misguided and wrong because voting is a vital part of democracy.
I. Reason 1: The Constitution allows all adult citizens to vote to determine who will lead our country.
A. Supporting Detail 1:
B. Supporting Detail 2:
C. Supporting Detail 3:
II. Reason 2:
A. Supporting Detail 1:
B. Supporting Detail 2:
C. Supporting Detail 3:
III. Reason 3:
A. Supporting Detail 1:
B. Supporting Detail 2:
C. Supporting Detail 3:
Step Five: Write a rough draft. Don't worry too much about that yet, but at least get started on it before Monday.
Hope this is helpful. Please e-mail me with any questions you have. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
Mr. Toomajian
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