Throughout the year this class was one of my favorites. The culmination of all the things we learned on a single test seemed overwhelming. However, since we were well prepared everything went as smooth as it could.

      For me personally, I became overconfident during my essays and spent too much time on my synthesis essay. In order to manage time I went to the rhetorical analysis without finishing my synthesis. The directions on the rhetorical analysis were different, in the last line it asked how Luce's introduction prepared her audience. I somewhat ignored that and just wrote my essay like I normally would and addressed it in my conclusion. I ended up finishing but with a one sentence conclusion when I decided to go back to my synthesis essay.
      To better prepare for the exam I would of focused on my multiple choice more since it is a matter of timing and skills - something that can be fixed. On the day of the test I finished with only 3 questions left, a lot better than before. Skipping the first passage was a great decision since I didn't really comprehend it well anyway. With all this being said if my multiple choice came through and my essay graders don't mind my handwriting, I'm hoping for a 4.

      P.S This class has been a wonderful experience and thank you Mr. Felder for taking a chance with accepting me into your class. In all of my English classes I basically learned the same things over but in your class I've all learned so much. I know we've all became better writers and it's all because of you. Thank you!

The wind is so cold it hurts as it brutally hits my face. I could only close my eyes in fear that the frosty wind would ice the water in them. While doing this I mentally and physically pushed myself to walk faster, my only goal at this point was to seek warm shelter. At dusk ,the school stands as a massive shadow. It seems a lot more grand with its white massive Greek columns that gave a classical addition to the contemporary sleek glass bridge, both represented  two completely different time periods. The view only holds my attention so long as my mind thinks about the physical pain winter has on my numb fingers and my blood that feels like it’s frozen. I walk with my eyes on the only source of light from within the towering blue doors. Each step carried weight as I walked up the stairs in hopes to not be swept by the 50 miles per hour wind. I walk even faster to catch the door, my numb fingers couldn't bear to hold the icy cold handles. I finally walk in with a few other students who were all quiet. We all had the same goals of reaching the toasty school to shield us from the whiplash of the wind.

The hot air and fluorescent lights immediately hit when I walked through the doors. Everyone could hear the echoing voice “Swipe and check”(or some other inadmissible word that no one has yet deciphered). Inside, the air was stale with a faint smell of cleaning products. We were further forced into the auditorium by deans whose faces showed they  were just as upset as the students that the weekend was over. There were two types of attitudes from the students. Half the class looked like zombies with bags under their eyes, who were still recovering from the loads of homework that caused the common condition of sleep deprivation. The other half chirpy and complained about the weather, the day, and the teachers basically everything under the sun. The bell was about to ring and we were packed like sardines by the doors. It reminded me of the lines during the Great Depression. We all wanted to get to class early, me especially since it would be one of the few times during the week.  

The way up the stairs were unusually clean and even more surprisingly so were the hallways. I ducked my head hoping not to make eye contact with the teachers I would see later today. The gray steep stairways caused students to huff and puff clearly showing our lack of physical ability. The wall had new artwork of abstract circles within circles that gave some color to the bland wide hallways. I finally reached the destination I’ve been planning on since 5 AM, my hard metal seat that had absolutely no support. The trademark signs of our teacher were there, his yogurt, his venti sized coffee to get him through the day and his backpack on the chair. From the back of the room he reverberated “Good morning”. His oddly optimistic attitude contrasted with ours. To each one of us it signaled that if we ultimately sucked it up and had a latte we too could conquer Language and Composition.

Hillary Osei

Mr. Felder

AP English Language

January 3, 2016

Often times as humans we are only concerned with our own lives. We don't realize that the people in the world around us are being cruelly and unfairly targeted. Eventually an event affects our own personal lives and it builds our awareness of the world around us. It is important to realize that discrimination may not have affected you personally, but it is still alive and well in today's society.

Public figures who represent the masses are often found spewing statements that unfairly targets entire groups of people based on their religion. For example, if you turned on your TV to the news during the campaign season it is possible you would find Donald Trump exclaiming the need to stop all immigration of Muslim immigrants because of terrorism. Discrimination is the unjust treatment of people based on race, religion, sexual orientation and more.  By excluding all possible Muslim immigration  this perpetuates the stereotype that all Muslims are liabilities, terrorists and extremists. Not all Muslims are terrorists and by unfairly treating an entire group of people for rare acts of terror creates discrimination . Furthermore, discrimination can result in violent crimes. In 2016, hate crimes against Muslims increased about 70 percent, the highest since 9/11. The drastic increase in hate crimes and the words of public figures show that discrimination is still rampant and engaged in.

No one ever subconsciously imagines that they’d be purposely be targeted because of their race, at least not by simply walking in your neighborhood. Imagine if you were one of the eighty thousand people who have been victimized by Stop and Frisk. Police officers approach you aggressively and begin to question you while being patted down, there is no explanation about why they are doing this. Your  heart beats so fast you could hear it. The police officers leave with their badges and guns while your dignity and self-respect was left right where they once were.  This is the story of many Stop and Frisk victims. Stop and Frisk enabled police officers to search a person if there was reasonable suspicion. However, Stop and Frisk fell short and a unproportional amount of blacks and Latinos being targeted. Based on racial profiling police officers would primarily go to neighborhoods predominantly inhabited by minorities. There has been evidence of recordings with police sergeants telling officers to purposely target blacks and Latinos. About 90 percent of Stop and Frisk victims were innocent and they were cruelly and unfairly treated just because of their color in the name of justice.
The opposition argues that discrimination isn’t still prevalent in our society. Often citing the recent Supreme Court decision that legalizes gay marriage as progressive. That this law now shows the acceptance and favorable reception to the rights of the LGBTQ community. Opposing views believe that there is  widespread acceptance of the LGBTQ community and thus discrimination isn’t thriving. However, this is largely not the case. Many people acted with defiance to the decision that openly gave civil rights to the LGBTQ community. After this decision many states such as Kansas, Alabama and Texas did not want to obey the law. Government officials blatantly resisted giving out marriage licenses or conducting marriage ceremonies. The fact that widespread powerful government officials can cruelly affect another person’s fate based on their beliefs proves discrimination is alive and well.  
Discrimination isn’t something that people are born with, it is taught. Not acknowledging that discrimination exists will allow it to manifest and grow. The fact that someone could just look at you, stereotype and dehumanize you is actively happening in all corners of the world. The first step is to acknowledge discrimination exists and address the relevant issues. It isn’t really far-fetched to believe that world peace is possible with more acceptance to other people’s religion , race, sexual orientation and more.

Esteemed writer, Mark Twain, in his essay Corn Pone Opinions addresses that people often do not make their own conclusions instead they follow the majority. Twain's purpose is to inform his audience that their opinions derive from what the majority of society believes.

Twain uses irony and an allusion as  rhetorical devices to further expand his purpose. In paragraph 11 line 5 "Morals, religions, politics, get their following from surrounding influences and atmospheres, almost entirely; not from study, not from thinking." Twain suggests that people choose important things such as political views based on the society around them. One would expect humans to use their brain for its actual purpose, instead people conform to society and rely on just that verdict. This expands on Twain's purpose that a person's own perception doesn't derive from their own thoughts but from the beliefs of society. In the beginning of the essay Twain uses the allusion of hoop skirts in paragraph 10 " One woman abandons the fashion; her neighbor notices this and follows her lead; this influences the next woman...the skirt has vanished out of the world , no one knows how nor why, nor cares, for that matter." Using a topic that everyone can relate to furthers Twain's purpose. The reference to this trend relates to how people's  opinions on their clothes aren't theirs but are of society. No one relies on their own opinions or questions why. If society agrees to an idea, to an average person it must be right.

Corn Pone Opinions is still relevant to this day. The analysis on human nature is overall accurate. In paragraph 13 line 9 "the one which can't bear to be outside the pale;cant bear to be in disfavor; can't endure the averted face and the cold shoulder; wants to stand well with his friends..." It is common for someone to alter their opinions in order to be accepted by others. Even if it means giving a piece of ourselves away it is okay because now were accepted by society. This applies to people's opinions on politics, religion, fashion and so much more. A common example is a person choosing a political party based on their parents opinions. Most people never choose to educate themselves on other parties. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-r6qpHmlbAdYndwVms0Rl83eWM/view?usp=sharing

Standardized testing has been an issue in the American education system. Since the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002 which mandated annual testing in all 50 states, the use of standardized tests has escalated. Standardized testing in theory was meant  to have objective results, show an equal measurement on each student, hold teachers accountable on the curriculum set that corresponds with tests, also to give grants and more funding to schools who performed well.

There has been many prolong effects of standardized testing including, racial disparities, exclusion of other subjects, and small improvement in student achievement. Intense pressure causes teachers to feel the need to teach according to the test which results in a lack of critical thinking. Standardized testing usually includes multiple choice, students are now able to guess and multiple choice doesn’t show the students ability to apply knowledge or to synthesize information. Intense test preparation is also at the expense of other classes such as art or gym. If schools do not do well they may receive federal sanctions, such as less federal fundings and grants. This further pressures teachers to do well, so much pressure that may drive them to cheat. In 2011 ,134 Atlanta teachers were exposed for cheating, by erasing wrong answers on the scantrons.  This wasn't the only cheating scandal in America it was found 39 out of 50 states were cheating on state tests. Cheating scandals deprive students of their right to an education, many of these students were only able to read on a 4th grade level meanwhile they were in 9th grade. Racial disparity is also another issue. Inner city schools go through a sad cycle. Most students do not do well there are usually old textbooks, teachers with large class sizes and bad school funding. There is little ability to do better since with the same circumstances schools aren't able to receive more funding. This cycle goes on and usually result in school closures. In Chicago in just one year 54 schools were closed and ninety - eight percent were minorities. The purpose of standardized testing was to further advance our education system with the likes of China, Finland, Canada and more. However, the exact opposite has happened, America slipped from 18th in the world in math in 2000 to 31st place in 2009. This was humiliating and discouraging for a country that had boasted about innovation and technology for centuries.  While America aims to be number one, countries that excel like Canada, Sweden, Finland , France, and Japan either use standardized testing minimally or not at all. These countries also progressed two times faster than America. Rather than America running away from standardized testing we’re embracing it.

To avoid passive voice was a challenge even though most of the events happened in the past. Zinsser says passive voice makes work clunky . Rather than saying students were deprived of an education I wrote cheating scandals deprive students. It logically makes more sense since the same students are still affected.