Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Tentative Thesis Unit 1
After Reading Rodriguez analysis of violence and his critique of our current solutions to the problem that our communities suffer do to violence changes my point of view of the problem. Growing up i was blindside by society; when i thought of violence I automatically thought of movies and that violence only happened in certain places in the community, but now i realize that it is everywhere and its affecting the community and it can affect the future.
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"Growing up i was blindside by society; when i thought of violence I automatically thought of movies and that violence only happened in certain places in the community, but now i realize that it is everywhere and its affecting the community and it can affect the future."
ReplyDeleteThis thesis seems very broad to me. It is not exactly arguable because it is such a broad statement. It's kind of like saying "I realize violence is a problem." A statement like this, like your thesis, is almost factual, and therefore not provable. Not only that, but these ideas don't exactly demonstrate an understanding of the book because Rodriguez's whole reason for writing this book is to show that violence happens everywhere, not just in "certain places." He argues that people like those killed in Columbine demonstrate that all young people are prone to violence, and that we must think of this problem more broadly...
My questions for you, questions that can hopefully help you change your thesis and find a focus:
- In what ways does violence affect the community? Consider not only Rodriguez's ideas, but also Fuentes's article about Zero Tolerance policies,
- In what ways can violence affect the future?
- Who is responsible for addressing the problem?
- What are some solutions that Rodriguez offers that allow us to look at this problem differently (other than through the usual "solution" of incarceration?)?
It seems to me that you need to go back to your reading and the notes you took. Look at the specific claims that Rodriguez makes. What do you think of those claims? How have his specific claims helped you understand the problem differently? Read over your responses to his ideas and your group work as well. You are still at the beginning stage of the writing process, which is reading critically in order to develop your own ideas.