Ji+Yoon+Hyun-+(issue)

=Ji Yoon Hyun's Persuasive Speech On... = ="Should Schools Limit APs Per Student? Yes." =  = =


You will pick one school-related, controversial issue to present to class in order to persuade the audience into your way of thinking.


1. Complete the pre-writing handout. You must post on the wiki and bring in a hard copy on the specified due date. 2. Write the rough draft. You must post on the wiki and bring in a hard copy on the specified due date. 3. Peer edit in class using the rubric provided below. Pretend that I am grading you! 4. Post the final draft onto the class wiki page. Bring in a hard copy by 8 a.m. on the due date. 5. Make a new wiki page for the peer evaluations. Follow the directions posted on the class wiki page. 6. Read the peer evaluation sheet so you are prepared to answer the questions at the commencement of each speech.

__**Speech Day:**__  1. Bring a hard copy of your speech complete with markings. 2. Everyone will present his/her speech in random order. 3. As the speaker begins, listen closely to the words and ideas that are being put forth. 4. At the end of each speech, you are to complete the peer evaluation and post it on the wiki on the speaker's peer evaluation page. Do this part at home. 5. Each speaker will be expected to read the evaluations, and write a two paragraph reflection on the strengths/weaknesses of the speech. This will be due the class after the speeches have been completed. 


The speech and presentation will be worth 150 points. See the rubric. The evaluations and reflections will be worth 30 points.


 **You must bring a hard copy of the speech to my classroom and you must post it on the wiki.**

Pre-Writing Handout
<span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #800080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">The Pre-Writing Handout that was **due on Sept. 18, 2009**:

The Pre-Writing Handout that is **'completely complete'** with all the charts filled in:

<span style="background-color: #c0c0c0; color: #800080; display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%; text-align: center;">Rough Draft
<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> <span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> <span style="color: #800080; display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 112%; text-align: center;">Should Schools Limit APs Per Student? YES. <span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 96%;">So, here’s my story. I come home one day and I sit in front of my Macbook as usual. I automatically find myself logging onto Facebook. I start to write a note, and I simply write, “Hi, there! I know you guys have lots of other things to do but before you go anywhere, could you please answer the following question and write the reason why you think so? Should schools limit APs per student? Why or why not?” There you go! You heard my topic. So what is an AP? The Advanced Placement program, often-abbreviated AP, offers college level courses at high schools across the United States and Canada. As we all know each year, students around the world who want to learn and achieve at the highest level become AP students. So, you might ask, what’s my point here? In KIS, students are limited in choosing how many APs they want to take per year. This policy is adequate and a well-reasoned decision made by the school because students should let go of unnecessary pressures thinking that taking as many AP classes would wow the college admissions boards. Now, don’t attack me yet. I’m on my way to persuading you.

Listen up, everyone! When you sign up for your future classes, make sure you avoid the all-Advanced Placement schedule. It is unnecessary pressure, load of stress you are giving to yourself. And to those of who, like me, are incapable of limiting yourselves and managing your time wisely, it is crucial for the school to limit the number of APs a student can take to prevent any breakdowns. As mentioned before, students need to step out of the preconceived idea of believing that taking as many AP classes would astonish the college admissions boards. The reality is that more and more colleges don’t give credits unless a student has a high score of 4 or 5. UC- Berkeley does not give credit to Economic classes unless the student receives perfect scores. Stanford gives AP credit only for Calculus, Physics, and Economics and to get credit, students must receive a 4 or a 5 in their exams. The point here is that, limiting the number of AP classes students can take would give the students a chance to sincerely consider what classes they truly want to take, and what they are interested in. Students would enroll due to the fact that they can develop and improve in the subjects they are talented in, rather than taking AP classes just to have higher weighted GPAs.

You still don’t agree? That’s fine with me. I just have a few questions to ask you. I am very familiar with most of the people in this room and some of us have spent numerous nights together online busy studying for the classes we have. We have successfully spent many full nights without sleeping and sometimes failed to study for upcoming tests, quizzes, and projects. And as far as I know, in KIS, sophomores are only allowed to take 1 AP, juniors’ maximum of 3 APs, and seniors up to 4 APs. But why take more APs when we are already suffering to get our works done on time risking ourselves to stay up all night? How would one be able to manage so many APs when they struggle even with the limited amount of APs? As soon as I posted the small note I typed on my Facebook Note application onto my wall, just in about 45 minutes, over twenty people replied onto my note desperate to get their opinions across. I’ll be honest here. Only three believed that there should be limits and the rest disagreed showing their full hatred of the AP limit system in KIS. The common reasons upon the students who didn’t like the limited system of APs in our school was “there are students who can handle more APs than other students can. They should be given the opportunity to challenge themselves even more.” Another common point was, “I don't think seniors should have any limits at all, especially since some seniors choose to take AP language courses, are stuck with AP classes for the subject area.” These points are not wrong, however, this again comes to the concept of making wise decisions when it comes to choosing what APs to take. One would need to know how to consider what APs are more significant than the others more than considering doing as much as they can. Remember, quality is better than quantity.

Here are two of my favorite responses that I’ve received, which relates to my last point of my opinion about the limitations in AP. Both are written obviously by seniors. First, “yes it should be limited. 4 APs are intense. Period” and second, “taking more than 4 APs in OUR school… laughing out loud… good luck with that.” The school may receive extra funding from every AP exam it administers, however students’ mental health and actual education comes first no matter what. Let’s shift towards students’ health. Sleep is a big deal when it comes health. "Almost all teen-agers, as they reach puberty, become walking zombies because they are getting far too little sleep," comments Cornell University psychologist James B. Maas, PhD, one of the nation's leading sleep experts. To tell you the truth, I totally agree with what he said. Adding on, insufficient sleep causes difficulties in school, including disciplinary problems, sleepiness in class, and poor concentration. Everyone now lift your head upwards and back downwards, yes, you should be nodding right now. You’ve all experienced this and I’ve experienced it too, it isn’t the best thing that we want experience again, isn’t it? Whenever something goes over the limit, it will harm you.

My sister is currently 27 years old, preparing for her PhD in violin at Boston. A few days ago I talked with her on the phone and asked about her high school experiences. Just so you know, my sister took eight APs in total during her high school years. We were back then living in Egypt and the school we went to, had no limits in how many APs a student could take. She says, “I am a victim of taking too many APs. My first two weeks of May were crazy, as far as I remember; I had four days of testing, three of which were in a row, two of which had both morning and afternoon sessions.” Was it worth it? I asked her. No, she says back. “If the school had limited the number of APs I was allowed to take, I would have better assessed which classes I really wanted to take and which I could have really benefited from” was what she said before she hung up. What more can I say? The policy of limiting the amount of APs high school students’ can take per year is fairly reasonable and for the benefits of students’ mental health and education, the system should continue in KIS. By the way, didn’t I tell you that the seniors could take 4 APs maximum? We juniors might only be able to take a maximum of 3 APs not 4 next years when we become seniors.

<span style="background-color: #c0c0c0; color: #800080; display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%; text-align: center;">Final Draft
<span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">

Ji Yoon Hyun 22, Sept. 2009 English 11E Ms. Jacob Should Schools Limit APs Per Student? YES. So, here’s my story. As usual, I came home one day and I sat in front of my Macbook. I automatically found myself logging onto Facebook. I started to write a note, and simply wrote, “Hi, there! I know you guys have lots of other things to do but before you go anywhere, could you please answer the following question and write the reason why? Should schools limit APs per student? Why or why not?” There you go! You heard my topic.

So what is an AP? The Advanced Placement program, often-abbreviated AP, offers college level courses at high schools across the United States and Canada. As we all know each year, students around the world who want to learn and achieve at the highest level become AP students. So, what’s my point here? In KIS, students are limited in choosing how many APs they want to take per year. I believe KIS should continue using this policy that is adequate and sufficient to all the high school students. Through this policy students should let go of unnecessary pressures thinking that taking as many AP classes would wow the college admissions.

Now listen up, everyone. When you sign up for your future classes, make sure you avoid the all-Advanced Placement schedule. It is unnecessary pressure, load of stress you are giving to yourself. And to those of who, like me, are incapable of limiting yourselves and managing your time wisely, it is crucial for the school to limit the number of APs a student can take to prevent breakdowns. As mentioned before, students need to step out of the preconceived idea of believing that taking as many AP classes would astonish the college admissions boards. The reality is that more and more colleges don’t give credits unless a student has a high score of 4 or 5. For example, UC- Berkeley does not give credit to Economic classes unless the student receives perfect scores. Stanford gives AP credit only for Calculus, Physics, and Economics and to get credit, students must receive a 4 or a 5 in their exams. The point is, limiting the number of AP classes students can give the students a chance to sincerely consider what classes they truly want to take, and what they are interested in. Students would enroll classes due to the fact that they can develop and improve in the subjects they are talented in, rather than taking AP classes just to have higher GPAs.

Are you persuaded enough? If not, I just have a few questions to ask you. I am very familiar with most of the people in this room and some of us have spent numerous nights together online busy studying for the classes we take. We have successfully spent many full nights without sleeping and sometimes were unsuccessful studying for upcoming tests, quizzes, and projects. In KIS, sophomores are only allowed to take 1 AP, juniors’ maximum of 3 APs, and seniors up to 4 APs. But why take more APs when you are already suffering to get your work done on time risking yourself to stay up all night? How would one be able to manage so many APs when they struggle even with the limited amount of APs? As soon as I posted the small note I typed on my Facebook Note application onto my wall, just in about 45 minutes, over twenty people replied onto my note desperate to get their opinions across. To be honest and to say nothing but the truth, only three believed that there should be limits and the rest opposed showing their disagreement of the AP limit system in KIS. The common reasons upon the students who disagree would write, “there are students who can handle more APs than other students can. They should be given the opportunity to challenge themselves even more.” Next person would write, “I don't think seniors should have any limits at all, especially since some seniors choose to take AP language courses, are stuck with AP classes for the subject area.” These points are not wrong, however, this again comes to the concept of making wise decisions when it comes to choosing what APs to take. One would need to know how to examine what APs are more significant than other APs more than doing as much as one can. Just because you know you can deal with many APs does not mean you are required to take as many APs as you want. Remember, quality is better than quantity.

Now, let’s shift towards students’ health. But before I go any further, there were two favorite responses that I’ve received from the Facebook Note and both were written by the seniors. First one reads, “Yes, it should be limited. 4 APs are intense. Period” and second one reads, “taking more than 4 APs in OUR school… laughing out loud… good luck with that.” The school may receive extra funding from every AP exam it administers, however students’ mental health and actual education comes first no matter what; this is probably what the seniors want us to get from their responses. Sleep is a big deal when it comes health. "Almost all teen-agers, as they reach puberty, become walking zombies because they are getting far too little sleep," comments Cornell University psychologist James B. Maas, PhD, one of the nation's leading sleep experts. I totally agree with what he said. Insufficient sleep causes difficulties in school, including disciplinary problems, sleepiness in class, and poor concentration. You’ve all experienced this and I’ve experienced it too. It isn’t the best thing that we want experience again, I hope. Whenever something goes over the limit, it will harm you physically as well as mentally. Just like food. Even though some food we eat are considered to be healthy for our body, no matter what kind of food it is, too much is always too much.

My sister is 27 years old, preparing for her PhD in violin at Boston University. A few days ago I talked with her on the phone and asked about her high school years. A new fact I haven’t known for 17 years: my sister took eight APs in total during her high school years. We were back then living in Egypt and the school we went to, had no limits in how many APs student were permitted to take. She said, “I am a victim of taking too many APs. My first two weeks of May were crazy, as far as I remember; I had four days of testing, three of which were in a row, two of which had both morning and afternoon sessions.” “Was it worth it?” I asked her. She said, “No. If the school had limited the number of APs I was allowed to take, I would have better assessed which classes I really wanted to take and which I could have really benefited from.”

The policy of limiting the amount of APs high school students’ can take per year is fairly reasonable and for the students’ mental health and education, thus the system should continue in KIS. Considering all these reasons, for next year, KIS will limit the AP amount of a maximum of 4 APs down to only 3 for seniors. The school makes decisions and sets up most systems for the benefit of the students. Numerous students were able to go to significant colleges without having problems with the AP limitation system, thereby we are mature enough to stop wining and go along with the system given by the school.