In your third essay assignment, you will be asked to compare, contrast, and/or analyze two or more essays related to education (or selected aspects of two or more essays) that we have discussed in class. You will have to use summary, paraphrase, quotations, and APA citations and references correctly. Your final essay must be between 1,000 and 1,500 words long. In addition to prewriting, you will be required to hand in three drafts of this essay. The first draft will be peer edited. I will comment on the second draft without grading it. Only the third draft will be graded, but I will consider the entire process in the final grade. I will not accept late first or second drafts, and your final grade will be lowered by 10% each if you do not hand them in. Your first draft is due Saturday, December 1. Choose one of these two assignments:

1. Write an essay in which you compare and/or contrast two or more reading selections that deal with the same or a similar subject.
2. Write an essay in which you analyze the way two or more reading selections deal with the same or a similar subject.

"What True Education Should Do" (pp. 3-4)
"The Commencement Speech You'll Never Hear" (pp. 11-12)
"We Should Cherish Our Children's Right to Think" (pp. 125-127)
"Teach Knowledge, Not 'Mental Skills'" (pp. 128-129)
"The Farce Called 'Grading'" (pp. 130-134)
"Grades and Self-esteem" (pp. 135-137)
"College Pressures" (pp. 138-144)
"Is Creativity Suppressed by Knowledge?" (pp. 163-165)

Freewrite about one or both of the two possible topics for your assignment. Write for at least 15 minutes or write at least two pages before you leave class today. Hand in your freewriting today. It will not be graded, of course, but I will check to make sure you hand it in, and I will read it.

Possible Essay Topics Suggested in Students' Freewriting:

• I will write about the contrasts between the writers' ideas about grading in "The Farce Called 'Grading'" and "Grades and Self-esteem." Also, I will write about the reasons I agree with the second essay.
• I will discuss similarities and contrasts in "Grades and Self-esteem" and "College Pressures." I will focus on the best way to evaluate students.
• I will focus on the good and bad effects of grading based on the opinions expressed by several of the authors in these essays.
• In my essay, I will compare "College Pressures" and "The Farce Called 'Grading.'" Grades are the basis of college pressures, students' frustration, and cut-throat competition.
• It is surprising how one topic can be interpreted and explained in two different ways. I will analyze the different views on the effects of grading in "The Farce Called 'Grading'" and "Grades and Self-esteem."
• I will analyze the value of grading as discussed in "The Farce Called 'Grading'" and "College Pressures." Which is more practical?
• I will compare "Teach Knowledge, Not 'Mental Skills'" and "Is Creativity Suppressed by Knowledge?" Both imply that schools harm children in this way--restricting them. I will discuss different types of examples both essays provide us with.
• Self-esteem can't replace knowledge and knowledge is very important. We should strike a balance between creativity, participation, and actual knowledge/mental skills. My essay will be based on "Grades and Self-esteem" and "The Commencement Speech You'll Never Hear."