Text Response: A Little Civility, Please

The article “A Little Civility, Please” is a believable article because it was written by Mark Davis, a graduate from Maryland that has been writing for the Dallas Morning News since 2004.  Davis would be aware of controversial issue because the issues would arise in the news that he writes for Dallas.  Also, he uses a lot of claims in his article.  It seems that he uses claims of fact, policy, and judgment.  The claims of fact that he uses are the examples of the Supreme Court cases.  He uses his opinion in the article to support the child’s issues that he wants to argue.  Lastly, he uses claims of policy by stating that the child should be able to have any controversial issue he wants.

The thesis of this article is should schools be able to have rights that would seem to violate the First Amendment rights.  The question if so, in what areas and if not, why not?  The audience of this particular article is adults and parents concerned with the schools rights for or against children.

The strategy that the author uses is examples and stories of other instances.  He uses a more relaxed style of writing and has a negative attitude towards the issue.  His style of writing was catchy and very interesting.  I enjoyed this style of writing better than a traditional style because, it was more interesting and intriguing.  This type of writing relates to readers better and is easier to fully understand.

Left Behind, Way Behind (Text Response Week 3)

The article “Left Behind, Way Behind” is a believable argument.  First of all, the author of the article is Bob Herbert.  He is a columnist for The New York Times that writes on issues such as politics, urban issues, and social trends.  He is a credible source of the information because he has knowledge about the countries educational issues.  The author’s tone towards the article is negative towards the educational issue.  He uses strategies during his writing.  He starts off his paper by saying “First the bad news.”  He wants his audience (parents and school goers) to believe that this is the only bad part about our educational system, but the very next paragraph he hits the audience with “Now the worse news.”  The author states his point of view about the problem at the beginning of the paper and uses facts and statistics to back up those views.  The claims that the author is using is claims of fact.  He uses examples and statistics in the examples to show America’s educational system at its finest.  The percentages show that the school faculties are not doing their jobs of teaching young children and making them successful in life.  Another strategy that he uses is a comparison.  He compares snoop dogg and Paris Hilton as children’s role models.  He shows his audience the startling facts of the affect others have on children.  His strategy is to convince his audience the importance of school for children.  The author ends his article with ways to help the problem.  This type of support gives great evidence towards the thesis that the problem can be reversed with simple steps.

On Facebook, Biggest Threat to Your Private Data May Be You (Week two)

Facebook users were outraged with the new privacy conditions, but in reality the user should be careful about what they expose to the world. Users could limit the amount of personal information they put on the site to keep themselves safe. The users are the only ones to blame. Ultimately, they are responsible for their own actions on this social site. This topic is a serious issue, because many people do not realize the consequences of posting personal information and pictures. Other users could find out where you live and how old you are. If this information is released it could be fatal. You are not only revealing information about yourself but also information about your family. Others could post embarrassing or inappropriate pictures of you that could cause huge consequences for school or even work. I completely agree with the article. The pictures and personal information that you post are in your complete control. The user knows what is acceptable. Facebook should not be responsible for you or be your “babysitter.” Facebook tries to give you freedom without a lot of rules so people can have fun with the site. You can control what happens in your life and the consequences that arise from them. Some may argue that their personal information should be kept private, but really is that realistic. It is completely unbelievable how much information that can be found out about others on the internet. No information that is put online is safe. Have respect for yourself and your family and keep your information private.