My 11-year-old Got A Writing Assignment. This Could Be Trouble.

His English teacher gave them an assignment. They can write on anything they want, but they must be "bold" in their choice and their writing.

Well, my son is a confirmed * loather. The last two nights, he took Bowling for Columbine down from the DVD shelf and watched it for the first time. We've been having a few discussions (background: he's not the biggest kid at school and has been getting picked on a bit by the knuckle-draggers. He fills out the incident reports in the office but they don't do anything. We're pushing them there...that's another topic) about guns, Americans being fed a diet of fear, the power of marketing to make people vote against their own self interest, etc.

Well, he's announced what his bold topic is: The USA isn't "the greatest country in the world anymore." Yikes! While there's plenty of qualitative and quantitative info out there to well support his thesis, I'm a bit nervous about how his topic will be received. It could turn out to be bold in the wrong way.

I thought I'd advise him to write it from a "here's where we were, here's how we're falling down and here's what we need to do to get back on top" perspective, but I'm still a bit nervous about it.

I guess it would be bold for an 11-year-old.

Thoughts?

Anything "bold" is going to ruffle someone's feathers. If he does the assignment well, by backing up his POVs using credible sources, he should be OK. She can't dock him for using facts.

Good for him!

http://www.counterpunch.org/alam03232004.html

"World's Greatest Country?" talks about where US stands statistically among other nations compared to its claims. There seem to be sources linked, too.

Good luck!Tell your son tp keep it simple, stick to the facts, and tell the truth, and then you will be proud of what you do no matter what anyone says.

and often chose courage instead of safe. i would often suggest to him that he didnt have to do it, and leave it with him. he would tell me he had to, not a choice. and i respected it and allowed him to. it caused him a lot of problems and harshness and cruelty to come his way. he would be in tears and sad, yet always felt he had to be true.

the best lesson for him in the world. the best. such character

we decided at the end of november, after elections, he had done such a good job, was time for him to pull out of that school and go public. the other day talking about stuff he said he felt like a coward sometimes. oh no not you, you have courage. have shown it often in many ways

your son is old enough to know the repercussions yet still brave enough to do this. i say support all the way and let him do his way. his passion. you only have a few more weeks of school. he wont have long to suffer any repercussions, yet, what this can give him, wow

also, a pat on the back for his courage and for his thinking brain, looking for the info, allowing flexibility and not being conditioned

further, pat mama on the back. what a job you are doing

I hope he gets an A+.:woohoo:

... anyone these days--it's damned near heresy to suggest that the country never has lived up to its self-referential reputation, and is demonstrably worse in that regard today.

The only thoughts I have is that he may have bitten off more than he can chew, in terms of documenting that view. There are some specifics that can be used to illustrate the premise, however, and still keep it reasonably short.

One might be the general perception that American foreign aid far exceeds that of other countries, where, in fact, much of that aid is military, often to dictators friendly to the US and to Israel. Even with that military foreign aid, there are plenty of statistics available to show that US foreign aid, as a percentage of GDP is quite small compared to other countries. The belief goes back to the Kennedy administration, when foreign aid represented almost six or seven percent of the total budget, but has not been the case in decades.

Another possibility might be to look for older international surveys of public opinion of the US, as compared to recent ones.

Another might be the public perception that the US is a peaceful nation, and contrast that with the post-WWII record of war and intervention around the world.

Another might be to look at some of the domestic changes in society, such as the increasingly disadvantageous distribution of wealth.

But, ultimately, there are recent tabulations on America's standing in the world, most of which can be found on the web, which sort of puts the lie to that bragging. Look for recent international assessments of the following, all of which have come up in recent studies: relative level of democracy, relative degree of press freedom, infant mortality, lifespan, access to health care (the US is the only one of the top industrialized nations without universal health care), upward mobility potential, persistent poverty levels, respect for human rights, etc.

Tell him to have at. :)

Cheers.

Brave indeed. Tell us how it goes. And any school who doesn't do anything about bullying is a bully itself and if they don't do anything after you put some pressure on it I would go to the school superintendent.

and if they rake him over the coals for it he'll have learned more than any other outcome would have taught him - perhaps the most he'll learn all year. ;)

Could be a turning point for him. He may be President someday.

you're obviously raising an aware, thinking child . . . something we don't see much of these days . . . if he wants to do it, by all means support him . . . but caution him about possible repercussions right up front, just so he's fully aware of what he may be getting himself into . . . good luck! . . .

he's going to provoke them even more. (And that may be all right with him as long as he understands the possible fallout).

A couple of thoughts -
- The teacher needs to define "bold." Does he mean controversial or powerful or what?
- Your son's topic as it stands is way too broad and will be difficult to defend because it's written as a negative.

May I suggest an alternative approach? How about doing a report on a country that he admires and discussing it from the point of view of it's positive qualities. For example, rather than bluntly saying that the US is no longer the greatest because it's pollution, expensive healthcare, infant mortality, scholastic standing, election fraud, whatever. Instead he could choose a country and discuss why he admires it. For example, if he chose Sweden he could write about their equal access to healthcare, their reading/math standing compared to other countries, their paper ballots ensuring honest elections, etc.

Hope this helps!

A big America sucks is going to get someone a black eye. A why I want to live in Iceland paper would get tons of kids googling Iceland. And any teacher wanting 11 year old kids to write a bold paper is stupid. What is bold. Spongebob gay? Israel meet ocean? Ice is cold?

America by the numbers
No. 1?

http://www.citypages.com/databank/26/1264/article12985.asp

You might suggest that he pick out one aspect of how America is not number one, like in health care, or education, and go into depth in that area. An area that most interests him. Otherwise there is just way too much information to cover! Not to mention that it won't look as flagrantly like "America bashing" if he chooses just one aspect of American life rather than the whole country to criticize.

Back him up all the way if his teacher doesn't like it. She asked for bold writing, and I think your son has the beginnings of a well-thought-out essay. I'd be interested in reading it, once it's done, as a matter of fact. It's his country, too, and also his future. He has just as much as a say in how things should be run as anybody else.

Definitely smarter than I was at 11, that's for sure. My only advice is for him to include argument on what the government needs to do so that America is the #1 country in the again. Have him be optimistic as well as pointing out the flaws of the government.

Being 'bold' doesn't mean you need to be abrasively confrontational in the title. Keep the content the same but suggest to him that he reframes the topic/title as a question, rather than a statement. Then develop his points while guiding the reader(s) in the direction of the ultimate conclusion he wants them to reach.

So often, I cringe and sometimes even avoid, reading essays and editorials based solely on how the 'title' was presented. Merely rephrasing the title into a question can help avoid the immediate defenses and rejection of the piece, and suck the reader in out of curiosity.

:applause:

When I was 11 all I was interested in was watching superfriends and saturday morning wrestling and pretending I was Fonzie . Great job and excellent parenting to raise such a concientious kid.
Kudos to your parenting skills.