General Directions

DO NOT write your name on bluebook. Pencil is not acceptable.

Choose one of the following statements. AGREE or DISAGREE with it.

Develop your position on the statement in an essay at least 5 bluebook pages long. (If you double-space, your essay needs to be 10 pages long.) Make sure that your essay has a thesis statement and clearly organized paragraphs. Use relevant, specific information to develop your argument, and give sufficient evidence to support your assertions. Make sure that your arguments are logical. Proofread your essay carefully, paying particular attention to completeness of sentence structure, agreement between subjects and verbs, and correct punctuation.

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1. Radio host Don Imus recently issued an apology to the Rutgers University women’s basketball team, most of whose players are African-American, for calling them “nappy-headed hos” on his nationally syndicated program.  This incident is only the most recent of several in the past year in which celebrities have made racist, anti-Semitic, or homophobic slurs and then apologized for doing so. Viewing this repeated pattern of hate speech followed by apology makes one wonder if any of these apologies is really sincere: People don’t make bigoted statements unless they hold bigoted views.

2. The shooting last week of two pit bulls who had attacked a local resident and two Albion students inspired protests by a number of pet lovers. Such protests are misguided, however, for these were dangerous animals. Indeed, a good case can be made that ownership of pit bulls should be illegal in the first place.

3. A recent editorial in The National Review, a conservative publication, included the following comment: “What little credibility Alberto Gonzales had is gone. All that now keeps him in office, save the friendship of the president, is the conviction of many Republicans that removing him would embolden the Democrats—as it probably would. It is pretty disheartening to see both parties worried about how to gain political strength from the controversy instead of being worried about Gonzales’ honesty and competence.” The editorial writer is correct: politicians these days seem incapable of debating issues except along party lines.

4. In an effort to resolve the school’s budget problem, Albion’s Board of Trustees recently decided to cut faculty positions in 8 departments. The faculty are bemoaning this decision, but it was the right one to make. Cuts had to be made somewhere, and after all, students learn more important lessons from their coaches and their extracurricular activities than they do from their professors.

 5. Gen. Peter Pace, head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, caused a controversy recently when he called homosexual acts “immoral” in answer to a question from The Chicago Tribune. He expressed a similar view at a 2005 Wharton School leadership seminar, saying, “The U.S. military mission fundamentally rests on the trust, confidence, and cooperation amongst its members. And the homosexual lifestyle does not comport with that kind of trust and confidence.” Although many are recommending that the rule against gays serving openly in the military be overturned, Pace is correct.

6. Many people claim to be disgusted by the high salaries of professional athletes in America. We hear about Kevin Garnett making $21 million, Derek Jeter making $23.4 million, Donovan McNabb making $15.4 million, and so on. When you think, though, that Hollywood stars like Tom Cruise and Jim Carrey get $25 million for a single movie, those sports salaries don’t seem quite so far out of line.

7. It seems that everyone is talking about global warming these days, but look at how unseasonably cold it’s been lately in much of the country. The threat of global climate change has clearly been exaggerated by the liberal media.

8. Americans’ growing impatience with the war in Iraq rests largely on the mounting number of American casualties, now over 3200. Those casualties are tragic, but they are nowhere near the number of Iraqi deaths. No one knows how many Iraqi citizens have died, but estimates range as high as 600,000. Among civilians alone, a recent study by an international team of public health researchers estimates that at least 100,000 civilians have died, many due to aerial attacks by coalition forces, with women and children being frequent victims. We hear a great deal about the need to “bring home our boys,” but what does it say about America that we hear so little about Iraqi civilians? We apparently have no interest in anybody’s suffering but our own.