Outlines

Here's a bad example, and here's a better one. These two outlines relate to the debate on tuition.

Debate wrap up

Today we had our first debate. Thanks to those who went first. It's always difficult to be the first, but thanks to you we now have a better idea about what is expected.

For next Monday, everyone should bring to class an outline (printed or handwritten) of a potential essay related to the topic of tuition fees. Your outline should have at least as much detail as the example in this powerpoint file. The topic for your outline is:

Student tuition fees risen much faster than inflation over the last 10 years. Students typically oppose any such increases suggesting that high tuition costs are preventing students from getting the education they need. In contrast, the college and the government of Ontario typically argue that without such increases, the quality of education will suffer.
FOR: Tuition should be free for all students

As always, if you don't understand something or are having a problem, contact me and we'll try to sort it out.

Today's debate

Today's debaters should post their sources here. Please, note that two sources have already been posted as comments to this post.

APA style

We'll be looking at APA style in class on Feb 25, but if you need to use it for any papers before then, you can check out this website that creates the reference for you.

Class Schedule

Finally, I've completed a week-by-week class schedule. You can view it here.

Monday's class

We started out with a discussion of coordinators and coordination, which we contrasted with subordination. We also looked at some sentence adverbs. Working from this, we talked about how to find run-on sentences and comma splices. The powerpoint file is here.

Note that most books use the traditional terms coordinating conjunction & subordinating conjunction. I find these ideas to be too vague as they mix together a variety of different kinds of words including prepositions.

After that we discussed how to improve this essay. Here's a file with my edits and comments. Have a look at it and let me know if there's anything you don't understand.

As usual, if you need any help understanding the assignments, getting scheduled for debates, accessing the various file, or paying off your car loan, let me know (I'll listen sympathetically to the car-loan thing.) Don't be shy.

Debate Schedule

The debate schedule is here. Up this Thursday are Phelicia & Able (for) vs. Robin & Marcio (against) with Joe & Sabrina as backups (remember, backups should be ready to argue for either side.)

You'll notice that for most dates there's only one debate scheduled. That's because only 19 people have signed up so far. If you would prefer a different day and can fill a debate (that is get enough people for both sides), send me an e-mail and I'll try to accommodate you, but I can't promise it will work out.

Also, if there's only one debate scheduled on your day and everyone would prefer to debate individually, we can split it into two individual debates instead of one team debate.

Leave a comment or e-mail me if any of this isn't clear. Topics are posted below:

1. Jan 24: Student tuition fees risen much faster than inflation over the last 10 years. Students typically oppose any such increases suggesting that high tuition costs are preventing students from getting the education they need. In contrast, the college and the government of Ontario typically argue that without such increases, the quality of education will suffer.
   FOR: Tuition should be free for all students
   
2. Jan 31: Recently the issue of tasers has been discussed extensively in the news. The police argue that they use tasers regularly in dangerous situations where a gun might otherwise be used with lethal consequences. On the other side we have deaths such as the of Robert Dziekanski or the famous “don’t tase me bro” incident, both available for viewing on YouTube.
   FOR: Tasers should be standard equipment for front line police officers.
3. Feb 7: Environmental concerns and global warming in particular have become very hot issues.
   FOR: We as a society should deal with this issue through legislation.
4. Feb 14: First there were stories. The stories eventually were written down becoming books. In the early 20th century, technology led to the beginning of movies. Then there was TV and now the Internet.
   FOR: Schools, being traditional institutions, should decrease their focus on older media.
5. Feb 28: Different sports allow different equipment and as the equipment improves, athletes achieve better and better results. Recently, Oscar Pistorius, an amputee sprinter who uses prosthetic feet has been denied the chance to compete in the Olympic games because his prosthetics are said to give him an unfair advantage.
   FOR: Disabled people like Pistorius should be allowed to compete as regular athletes in the Olympic games.
6. March 13: The power of organised religion, especially in Western society, began to decline hundreds of years ago. As religion became less important, however, science was blossoming. Today, some scientists such as Richard Dawkins argue that religion is harmful and should be done away with. Others contend that the average person has simply shifted blind faith in religion to blind faith in science.
   FOR: Science is simply a different kind of religion.
7. March 20: It is a commonly repeated truism that power corrupts. Examples can be seen among teachers, police, and politicians. But there are powerful people who a deeply respected and have never been tainted by a hint of corruption.
   FOR: Power does have a strong corrupting influence.