Keys to Inspiration by Steve Ford

Author:Steve Ford
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: undefined
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2012-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Persuasive Essay

To explain essay writing in general, many teachers invoke this imperative: tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them. This is an apt description of the process, and it should be posted in every writing classroom alongside its partners, beginning > middle > end and introduction, body, conclusion.

This chapter concerns itself with the five-paragraph persuasive essay, which is good practice for young writers. Its strict format discourages rambling, it doesn’t necessarily involve research, it does demand critical thinking, and it draws on emotion for inspiration. (If you want to venture down the online rabbit hole, you can find lots of other types to teach: personal, school, college, compare and contrast, expository . . . it’s all good.)

Below is a sample essay on a topic borrowed from the Kids Philosophy Slam (KPS), a yearly nationwide essay-writing contest. Please read it, consider the bullet points that follow, and then move on to learn how to prepare your students for a similar project.

Which Is More Powerful, Hope or Fear?

Students everywhere see how some of their peers cause others to be fearful of them. Dictators around the world use fear to keep their citizens under control, and the fear of loss often threatens our will to go on. We all experience and observe hope and fear every day, but I believe that hope is the more powerful of these two emotions.

Fear of others can make school life very unpleasant. Physical bullying, of course, is the prime example, but students can also be hurt by verbal bullying (name-calling, rumormongering, and cyberbullying). These examples are disheartening, but they aren’t the norm. Fear is powerful, to be sure, but friends, school officials, and communities are a greater force, and they’re banding together to raise awareness of the problem, protect victims, and inspire hope; meanwhile, in the wider world, people experience fear of a different kind.

Out of fear, people in some countries fall silent. They’re afraid to live the way they want to or speak out against those in power, for fear they’ll be arrested. Government corruption leads to unfair treatment of certain segments of the population, and religious states dictate policies that strike fear in the hearts of those (often women) who dare to violate them. Thanks to modern communications, however, these victims know there are places where people are not oppressed—places that would welcome them and renew their faith in humanity. But there is another fear that all of us share, no matter where we live.

Loss can be frightening in a very personal way. The loss of a child can make parents fear that their marriage might die too, or that they won’t be able to survive the tragedy. A person who loses his job fears a future with no place to live and little self-confidence. People with major health issues are often afraid they won’t be able to cover treatment costs, or that they’ll die and leave their loved ones to pick up the pieces.

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