essay intro

English 12                                                                                Winter 2022

Writing and Researching Stories for Educational Justice

This semester in English 12 you will write six drafts of one essay. Each draft will build upon the earlier ones, adding new information to the essay with each draft, as well as revising and clarifying what you have written before. By the time you submit the final draft of this essay, it must be about 6-8 pages long, follow MLA style citations, and include discussions about class texts and outside research in support of your overarching point. 

The exact thesis and shape of the essay will be different for each of you and will evolve over the drafts, with my feedback and guidance, but the essay must relate to our overall course theme of educational justice. 

Essay Draft 1 | Telling a Story of Educational (In)Justice 

You will begin your essay, similar to the way Appiah begins his essay What is the Point of College? by telling a story about your own (or someone elses) education that highlights an issue of educational justice (or injustice).

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/13/magazine/what-is-the-point-of-college.html

 This is not an exhaustive memoir of your entire educational experience but a zooming in on one crucial moment or anecdote that reveals something important about your pursuit of a just education (or that of the person you are writing about). 

For some of us the moment you want to write about may come quickly to mind. Perhaps it was the day you decided to quit high school. Or maybe it was when your child was placed in a special education class in which you did not believe they belonged. Or maybe it was when you had to leave college because you could not pay the tuition. Or when your best friend was held back because he did not speak English. Or when you became suspicious of the public school curriculum and decided there were other ways to learn. Or when you were diagnosed with a disability and could not get accommodations. Or it might be about something you remember feeling when you were in a difficult class. 

For others, you may need to mull this over with the people in your life until you find a story that you believe is worth telling, that has enough substance to be the focus of your writing and research this semester. Think hard and choose wisely as well be working on this piece for many weeks.

A few specifics to keep in mind:

-Use 12 size font, Arial, Helvetica, or Times New Roman style font, double space, and one inch margins on all sides. 

-Include a heading on top left of the first page with your name, the class, your professors name, and the draft number.

-Target length: At least 1 page.