proposal

Title

Author: Jacob Imsland

Date: 9/31/2012

Topic: Yes on Proposition 30

Exigence: If Proposition does not pass, there will be drastic cuts to our educational system which will effect all schools state wide.

Intended Audience: Californian voters, students, and anyone concerned with school funding.

Purpose: To remind readers the importance of what a yes vote for prop 30 could do to the educational system. 

Claim: Proposition 30 is all about helping our current educational system. Vote Yes on Proposition 30 so our future generation can experience the optimal learning our state once provided.

Writer’s Strategy 1: The logical reasoning I will use in my Op-Ed will be a mix of statistics and facts suggesting the dire need of money for our public schools. Facts about what will happen to community colleges (specifically Cabrillo) like staff reductions, class reductions, and increased tuition. I will include the current money situation that Cabrillo is surviving off and compare it to what they would be surviving off if prop 30 doesn’t pass. Already there isn’t enough money to fund the necessary programs that are currently offered at Cabrillo. Once more money is lost, it might not even be worth it to take classes because of the minimal resources each class offers.   

Reader Effect 1: I want the readers to think about how students can get a quality education from overpacked classrooms and minimal materials and resources. Once the readers realize that schools can’t operate like this, they might think about their own experience in College and come to a conclusion that schools need appropriate funding to make knowledgeable students.

Writer’s Strategy 2: I have experience of how Cabrillo operated 5 years ago because my older brothers were here. The tuition was cheaper and there was more of a choice for choosing classes. Unlike today, classes were much easier to get into because Cabrillo offered much more classes. Also, my dad came to Cabrillo in the early 80s and experienced college with no worries of not getting into classes. As for myself, Cabrillo hasn’t offered all the classes I wanted and has hiked up tuition which has effected my financial situation. 

Reader Effect 2: Once the reader has read how the old Cabrillo operated and then compared it to my current situation at Cabrillo, the reader will realize how important the passing of prop 30 will be. The appeal I am using is ethos which really makes my argument credible because I am using my experience at a California Community College as well my father’s and my two older brothers. 

Writer’s strategy 3: I will give a personal situation of how some college student is denied his or her eduction because of the cost or the lack of room the college has to offer. What would that person do if he or she was not in school? There wouldn’t be a job that would pay more than minimum wage so he or she would be working 10 hour days to make a living. Without a qualified education, it is highly unlikely to earn a decent income or to work in a respectable field. 

Reader Effect 3: Once the reader has read an actual account of a person getting denied their education, he or she will feel sad. The reader might know someone going to a Community College and think about that person and then relate it to my example. 

annotated bib

Harmon, Steve. "California Voters Prefer Gov. Jerry Brown's Prop. 30 Tax Measure over Molly Munger's Prop. 38, but 'prospects Are Partly Cloudy'" MercuryNews.com. N.p., 22 Aug. 2012. Web. 23 Sept. 2012. <http://www.mercurynews.com/california-budgetci_21374874/california-voters-prefer-gov-jerry-browns-tax-measure>.

An article I read from the Mercury News was written by  Steve Harmon.  The  article, “California Voters Prefer Gov. Jerry Brown's Prop. 30 Tax Measure over Molly Munger's Prop. 38, but 'prospects Are Partly Cloudy’” was to inform the readers where both Prop. 30 and Prop. 38 stand concerning support and opposition. This article has good information about the statistics concerning who is in favor or who is not in favor of the propositions. The article had a survey that gave the author credibility. The  online poll by PACE/USC Rossier School of Education, gave a useful statistic that I will use in my research paper which stated that proposition 30 “holds a 55 to 36 percent lead” where as Proposition 38 “has the support of only 40 percent of the likely voters, with 49 percent opposed.” The intended audience for this article would be any person interested in the current situation our state educational system is in and any person who is interested in voting this coming up election. 

Rivera, Carla. "Cal State System to Hike Tuition 5% If Prop. 30 Fails." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 18 Sept. 2012. Web. 24 Sept. 2012. <http://articles.latimes.com/2012/sep/18/local/la-me-0919-cal-state-fees-2-20120919>.

An article I read from the LA Times was written by Carla Rivera. This article is specifically about how CSUs will be affected by the outcome of Proposition 30.  This article had good information about what would happen if the proposition did not pass such as “a $100 per-unit fee for students who want to repeat a class” or “a $200 per-unit fee for any course load of 17 units or more.” The author’s use of different people including students and educational professionals helped create a more credible article. I will use the information about what the students can expect if the proposition doesn’t pass. The article by Steve Harmon doesn’t include the dramatic consequences that students might face so this article will be valuable in that regard. This article will be used when I make reference to the consequences the students might face in the following school year if proposition 30 does not pass. 

"Yes on Proposition 30, No on Proposition 38." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 02 Oct. 2012. Web. 14 Oct. 2012. <http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/endorsements/la-ed-end-prop-30-prop38-20121002,0,2923644.story>.

   An article I read from the La Times was an op-Ed article favoring Prop. 30. This article had good facts about Proposition 38 that I used in my final draft paper. Also I used facts about the "trigger cuts" that it stated in the article. This article was very convincing because it used many different types of appeals to persuade the reader that Proposition 30 should pass. Different from the other articles, this one had a persuasive tone to it in which the others were mainly for information. The audience this article is directed at are people who read the La Times, voters, or anyone interested in current educational issues.

Against School

Against School

The essay “Against School”, by John Taylor Gatto demonstrates that our school system today, as well as ranging as far back as a hundred years ago doesn’t instill the drive, motivation, and passion that make successful, intelligent people. John Gatto has thirty years of experience teaching in public schools and has witnessed just how unproductive schools can be for both students and teachers. Gatto noticed in the classroom that “boredom and childishness were the natural state of affairs”(149). He thinks school is boring and childish because that is what he saw as a teacher. Many students in school don’t find school to be interesting because they are forced to know the information which doesn’t make learning enjoyable. The students don’t have any say on what they want to study in school. They are taught standardized information that the government chooses which all students have to learn. There is no freedom to branch away from the raw, watered down information that gets passed through the text books, then restated by the teachers, and eventually through and out the ears of the students. 

So what is the purpose for public education? Gatto believes there are three goals that our public education system strives for; “To make good people, To make good citizens, To make each person his or her personal best”(150). I agree that school makes good citizens, but the other two goals don’t seem realistic. It is up to the individual student to be the best he or she can be and school can only be used as a tool to help the student achieve his or her full potential. School doesn’t make good people. Family values and interactions between different people make people act the way they do. School just tells people if they are good people or bad people, smart people or dumb people.The students who have struggled in school have been sized up, picked apart, and tossed aside for better, more educated students. 

The schooling system has its own way of ranking the students. First there are placement tests that determine which level each student is at, then the students are taught by teachers, and finally are tested to see if they learned the information. “Schools are meant to tag the unfit-with poor grades, remedial placement,and other punishments-clearly enough that their peers will accept them as inferior and effectively bar them from the reproductive sweepstakes”(153). It is unfair that schools only give students one chance to prove their potential and if they get bad grades, they are stuck with bad grades all the way through their educational career. Our system is all about finding the bad students and leaving them in the dirt for the good students to run over.

I am a student and I realized that I have to be ruthless, dominating, and assertive to have a chance against all the millions of other students. Through elementary school and high school, I had passionate teachers that cared a lot about all the students needs. I was lucky to have all the help I got because if I didn’t, I would have been toppled over like many other students that didn’t have good teachers. I can see why many students do bad in school. They don’t have any interest in what the teachers teach them. They are only there because they have to be. I can remember being in class and asking myself, ‘why do I need to know this’? Sometimes I would think that I could learn just as much stuff in a school year in a month if I was at a place that got me really interested in learning. Classrooms seem to suck out all the fun in learning and replace it with uneasiness and boredom. If school was a place that got kids excited and motivated to learn each day, that would be the ultimate formula for producing successful, intelligent human beings. 

http://www.mercurynews.com/california-budget/ci_21374874/california-voters-prefer-gov-jerry-browns-tax-measure

Prop. 30


      I read an article from the Mercury News called, California voters prefer Gov. Jerry Brown's Prop. 30 tax measure over Molly Munger's Prop. 38, but 'prospects are partly cloudy' by Steve Harmon. The main idea of this article was to inform the readers where both Prop. 30 and Prop. 38 stand concerning support and opposition. Proposition 30 increases income taxes on the wealthy and increases sales tax by a quarter-cent. Proposition 30 is an initiative by Governor Jerry Brown that if passed, will “raise $6 billion a year, the amount that would have to be cut from schools if it fails.” Schools are already tight on money and cutting another 6 billion would make California’s educational system even worse off. Prop. 38 is similar to Prop. 30 but broadens the income tax hike “on all but those making less than $7,316, with the wealthiest facing the stiffest hike.” If this Proposition is passed, Prop. “38 would raise $10 billion a year for 12 years.”
       Both these Propositions would seem perfect to improve the lack of funding our Californian schools have right now. However, not all residents of our state think so. On an online poll by PACE/USC Rossier School of Education, Proposition 30 “holds a 55 to 36 percent lead” where as Proposition 38 “has the support of only 40 percent of the likely voters, with 49 percent opposed.” Ben Tulchin, a Democratic pollster said that “tax measures need to start out a fall campaign with much healthier support--around 60 percent--to survive voters’ inherent skepticism toward tax hikes.” Governor Jerry Brown’s campaign “has about 8.4 million cash on hand, while opponents have about 1 million.” This means that when campaign gets on it’s way, there will be a greater voice for yes on Prop. 30 which will greatly increase it’s support. On an online poll, “the Field Poll showed Proposition 30 ahead 54 to 38 percent, with support for Proposition 38 split at 46-46.” Things are not looking all that great for proposition 38. As the polls show, only 11 percent strongly support it and 30 percent strongly oppose it. Prop. 30 does a little better in the polls where about 23 percent strongly oppose and strongly support the Proposition. However, Nathan Ballard, a spokesman for proposition 38 says its still to early to call because the campaign still hasn’t started. “‘Once we begin our aggressive campaign on the airwaves, Proposition 38 will climb rapidly in the polls as voters learn about its benefits for our public schools,’" he explained.
      In my opinion, I think when people realize that there is no other way to make enough money to support our schools, they will vote for one of these propositions. I can only assume that there are more people in California that make less than $250,000 a year than there are that do. If Gov. Brown can get his message out to as many voters as he can, I think he has a good chance in passing one of these Propositions.