Over the past couple of weeks, we have read through a number of paired essays that offer conflicting opinions on a variety of current debates: student loan forgiveness, biased computer algorithms, intolerant speech on college campuses, helicopter parenting, genetic modification, and compulsory military service. For your second major essay of the course, you will choose just one of these topics (i.e. one chapter, or one set of paired essays) and evaluate the quality and efficacy of these authors’ arguments. In doing so, you will need Determine which of the two arguments is ultimately most effective, and you will incorporate analysis and outside research to defend your reasoning.
Mind you, the purpose of this essay is not to merely discuss which of the two authors you find most agreeable. Instead, you are to examine the logic, evidence, and rhetorical strategies of these articles while providing an unbiased discussion of both authors’ positions. It may be the case, for example, that the author with whom you agree presents an objectively weak or problematic argument. You may also find that both authors present generally effective arguments, and you could expand on each position with additional research to ascertain which of the two arguments is the most valid. If neither author provides an effective case for their respective viewpoints, then what are the specific flaws that mar the efficacy of their arguments?
