Thursday, January 31, 2008

TWIF Options

Essay 2 Options

Essay 2:
English 102, Winter Quarter

Walls v. Webs—The Valley and the World

This essay is a research essay.
As such, it should begin with a question.

What effect will ________________have on the Yakima Valley in the new Flat World?

I would like you to look at one of the following issues from different angles.

Some issues will have two sides.
Some will have more.

  1. Find what Friedman might say about them.

    Start with the Index, use Amazon search

  2. Get a list of quotes and page numbers.
  3. What are the other sides?
  4. Where can we get information?
  5. Who can we call in? When can we do it?


 

  1. The essay should present the viewpoints of the various sides of the issue. If you're having trouble seeing the sides, try the Great Sorting Out. How are we affected as citizens of Yakima, USA, consumers, stockholders, workers, patriots.
  2. The essay should attempt to represent these sides fairly and in a balanced way.
  3. Balanced is a slippery word.
  4. The essay should also, after the intro or less likely, as part of the conclusion, explain how Friedman/Flatism affects the issue.
  5. YOUR thesis should be stated in the introduction, but should be written last.
  6. Due Dates:
    1. List of quotes related to your topic from Friedman –2.15
    2. Outline—2.19
    3. Rough Draft—2.20
    4. Draft 2—2.26

Options:

Education

  1. East Yakima Early Learning Yakima, ESD 105 and Gates
  2. The DREAM Act
  3. Washington Learns
  4. YVTech building
  5. The role of YVCC overall (new buildings/collaborations)
  6. School Levy/bond requests

Walmart in West Valley

The future of Agriculture in Yakima.

  1. H-2A Program
  2. Food Safety
  3. Aspargus and South American trade agreements
  4. The Apple Juice Capital of the World? Selah?
  5. Trademarks/patents and inventions—ROBOTS!
  6. Zirkle Fruit class action law suit &/or H-2A
  7. Thai workers and Global Horizons
  8. Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA)—must be narrowed

Immigration:

  1. Minute Men Project/Grassroots Yakima
  2. McCain-Kennedy Immigration bill

Propose a new business model based on what you have read.
What will be the new niche in Yakima? How can Yakima use the Flat World to our advantage? This can be positive, or can be negative.
(maybe we will need LOTS more jail beds, for example, or low income housing)

  • Tourism as economic base in Yakima?
    • Wine?
    • Black Rock? (Just release report says $.16 for every $1)

Jail beds as an economic base in Yakima?

4 comments:

Sara Ann said...

With The World Is Flat essays beginning the issues from Nickel and Dimed about people not being able to find reliable jobs may come up. When we have robots picking our fruit and people in India telling us how to fix our computers it is going to pull people in the United States farther into the poverty hole. Right now people complain about having to work laboring jobs, like house cleaning or picking fruit. You no longer need someone to climb a latter to get those apples or need someone to push the vacuum, there are robots that can do all that. Robots that are manufactured in other places of the world, besides the US.

English 102 student said...

All this global communication is pretty overwhelming. If we as a nation is going to compete with the golbal economy then the education system needs a serious overhaul. Higher Education must become afordable and accessable to all. It a matter of sink or swim. That choice has got to be known to all.

Unknown said...

I still cannot pick one of the topics. None of them really jump out at me that would be good to write about or would be easier to research. Does anyone have any ideas?

E=mc2 said...

Sorry. None of the ideas jump out at me either. They all seem to be boring. I think I might try researching a little about each and then decided which looks the best.