As we’re embarking on our opinion essays for Project 2, let’s talk about what would interest us enough to take the time to read/listen to/ watch. Add a comment with a few ideas, thinking about a few different audiences, including students in your major either here or throughout the country, students at City Tech or City Poly, CUNY students or students in NYC in general, or some other audience along these lines.
Another way of thinking about the assignment is to write an opinion essay related to Nella Larsen’s novel Passing. What might intrigue you to read/listen to/watch either about the novel itself or about a topic the novel touches on?
As you’re commenting, please consider replying to classmates’ comments to amplify or elaborate on each others’ suggestions.
mahendrabassoo 
Tequia Williams 
Nalah E 
Ayo 
Zyelle St juste
27 Comments
Add Yours →I thought about talking to the sports audience, and had the idea of citytech adding sports teams since this cuny doesn’t have any as from chatting with some of my friends, they each have a hobby or passion in either playing or watching different types of sports likewise myself with baseball.
City Tech used to have sports teams! And many other CUNY schools do. What information can you find about athletics at City Tech (athletics but not team sports, unfortunately)? Where are other places near City Tech that have intramural sports or neighborhood leagues? These examples might help you think about what is possible even if your own school doesn’t offer these options.
I like that idea Mahendrabasso. I feel like you should advocate to the student government about it. It would be cool to see sports being played here
Something that I am kind of interest is how majors works? What are the requirements too strict ? Why sometimes they make us have a hard time? A example is nursing it is really hard to get it in.
It would be really interesting to read about what Nursing’s requirements are for admission and why they are so rigorous. You might want to think about what options there are for students who don’t get into the program, or ways that students can improve their chances of getting admitted.
Something that interests me is the human body. The human body is unique and cool to read about. It’s like a civilization living inside of us. How it protects us or how it creates cells. Things like that will make me read and talk about it.
This interest makes me think about how science education can be made more welcoming, more exciting. Perhaps you would want to think about the kinds of texts (written/audio/video/graphic) that help you engage with science.
Another way into this topic might be to ask other students to care about science, more of a “here’s why science matters” topic.
Something that might make me stop to listen and read a text is knowing the reason behind murder because to me everyone is innocent as a child but the environment that people are in changes them. Also every one to me has some type of anger may be anger triggers murder. Or did people grow up around it and what turns some one into a sociopath.
Wow, BIG topic–and I wonder how you might think about this topic in the context of the audiences we’re aiming to reach. What might be interesting (or not) is an opinion essay that wants students to take an ethics class to grapple with these difficult questions. Another approach might be to learn more about how schools provide mental health support for students so that they can grapple with dangerous emotions they’re struggling with. The first of my suggestions is perhaps a more neutral one, an the second might be much more emotionally involved.
I think this topic is pretty bold. Some people usually wouldn’t want to talk about people being murdered, much less the people behind the murdering. I think most people wouldn’t think more of a murderer as just a bad person. This idea goes in depth into a topic people don’t generally discuss.
I would be interested in reading about why students that go to colleges in the city seem to have a hard time making friends or don’t really care to. Another thing I would be interested in reading is how professors attitudes and teaching styles can affect students motivation to do work, especially knowing how hard college is.
It would be great to read something about how students find friends or a sense of belonging at their college, and even how that boosts their learning and helps them move more quickly to graduation.
I’m very interested in how instructors can create a motivating, welcoming environment for students, and how students react to that. I might have some resources about student-centered pedagogy that I can help you with.
I was thinking about something about women’s right or healthcare. I am a very passionate about women rights. Sometimes nobody takes us serious just because we are women. I think women rights would be a good one to do because it would talk about the setbacks, disadvantages, advantages, etc that women faced from years ago until now.
It would be great to know more about how this is taught in college nursing (or other health fields) classes. Maybe you want to argue for curricula to address bias more directly, or for more students in these fields to take on research projects that focus on bias, or on the different needs patients in different identity groups have.
I would like to talk to an audience of students from NYC because I believe we would be able to relate to them more and understand how they feel. They know how their commute can be like, they know how our commutes can be like. It can be thought of as a view of society that we relate to,
That’s a good way to narrow your audience group. But what would you want to argue once you have your audience’s attention? Would it be something about commuting? Or what else about transportation could you make a case for?
If I were to read, look at or listen to something, I think I’d get interested into it if it mentions anything fiction. I like to read and watch well developed fictional stories. One example of literary/art that I like could be anime’s, specifically ones that take place in a fantasy world we could only imagine. However, this form or literary or art doesn’t specifically need to be fictional for it to catch my eye. I’d probably also be interested in an art piece if it’s still able to share a unique and well developed story. A story like this could still be in the bounds of nonfiction.
I was thinking about the mentality of students or just people in general. I find it an interesting topic to choose, and I care about people mental health. Mental health today is not an easy thing to contain, certain individuals go through a lot in their life and need the help. I wanted to write about this to see what I come up with on my research.
Something you might want to look into is what mental health services City Tech provides for students. You might also want to learn more about trends in mental health, both in terms of what troubles are more prominent and what treatments are more frequently offered. Another angle is what people struggling with their mental health can do for themselves vs with trained professionals.
Something that would make me stop and read a text is finding ways to simplify tasks and find new ways to do schoolwork, organizing our schedules to be more effective at work and have more time for ourselves. Although I know these practices don’t usually work, as I’ve tried them many times, I would like to find a phone app that constantly reminds me of what I must do or a way to keep a schedule for doing homework and resting.
One way to think of your topic is to think about why there is a need for this type of tool. Another is to think about the types of tools that are available and how they address people’s needs, or what’s missing in the field. Each of these approaches–and others that we can think about–would lead you to a different thesis statement.
The topic I am thinking about choosing is Underwater Discoveries. My audience will be people from toddlers up to teenagers. But I will mostly focus on teenagers. I think this would be a nice Opinion Essay because they will hear my and others’ opinions about what’s really underwater and how much history there is to uncover.
I’m so glad we had the chance to talk about this topic after class, and you started to see ways to link it to your major and to other interests. Things like the Billion Oyster Project, increased tourism at New York’s waterfront, and other local water-based projects you might consider including. We can think together about if your argument would be about the importance of this in the hospitality major, or if it’s more broad for something any NYC student should know about, or something else.
Something that might make me stop to listen and read a text is a bout manga which genres is all about revenge on innocent people or family’s been killed and there is only one survivor reason behind murder because to me everyone is innocent as a child but the environment that people are in changes them. Also not everyone as the will to forgive those killed their families
Something that might make me stop to listen and read a text is a bout manga which genres is all about revenge on innocent people or family’s been killed and there is only one survivor reason behind murder because to me everyone is innocent as a child but the environment that people are in changes them. Also not everyone as the will to forgive those killed their families.
One version of the opinion essay I could imagine in your topic is that reading–any type of reading–benefits students, so if students want to read manga, they’ll benefit from it. Another topic seems to be about specific sub-topics that readers engage with. Thinking about why other students need to read about this might help you think of what within your topic matters for this project.
I want to talk to teenagers whose life is engulfed in social media because social media can affect you in a lot of ways without you evening noticing.