TOW 19 - Argument

Society is constantly searching for a way to lower the amount of crime happening in our community. It is scary how many crimes are committed each day. The NY Times recently released an article on how to reduce crime. They claimed that raising the age that people are tried as a juvenile would help lower the rate. While I agree that raising this age would be beneficial to our society, it can only be raised to a certain extent.
The legal ages for being tried as an adult usually range between the ages of 14 and 16 years old. While I do not think crimes should be taken lightly, I agree that it is not logical to try someone as an adult who is not even legally an adult. The NY Times released studies in their article of how raising this age would be beneficial. One state raised the age to 18, and the number of people that were rearrested decreased by 39%. This is because the juvenile detention centers focused more on reform and helping these children learn. I believe that often children who commit crimes do not know better, and lack role models to teach them right from wrong. This being said, if they are still a child, then they have the chance to learn and improve. I think raising the age can significantly help. However this state is now talking about raising their age from 18 to 21. Focusing on reform can still be beneficial for people the age of 21 so this would also add to reducing the number of people who are rearrested. However, it seems like there needs to be a limit of what this age is raised to. What is keeping the age from being raised from 21 to 25? At some point, I believe that people need to begin to be tried as adults. I think the age should not be raised any higher than 21, because if you are old enough to legally drink, you should be old enough to prevent yourself from committing a crime.
That being said, I think the age should be no lower than 18. If society doesn't allow someone to vote, then they should not allow them to be tried as an adult. Clearly if their judgements aren't trusted enough to let them vote, then they have not developed strong enough judgment to act as an adult.
I think that raising the age will greatly benefit society by helping reform a larger amount of people. Kids still have their whole life ahead of them, even if they make a mistake. By being tried as a kid, they have the option to change, and start over.

TOW 18

           Everyone experiences stress. It is inevitable. Of course, a certain level of stress is needed in everyone's life in order to have motivation to do something. However, often we get to the point where the amount of stress in our lives is too much to handle. The Guardian published an article on how to deal with stress. In How to Cope With Stress, the Guardian uses lists and credible people in order to effectively inform readers of how to cope with stress. 

         The article is divided into 8 different sections, and each section is numbered with a subtitle. For example, "1. Recognize the symptoms," (para 2). By dividing the long essay into subsections, it makes it easier for readers to follow and comprehend. The 8 subsections become like a set of directions for the audience to follow. This helps The Guardian effectively explain to their audience on how to deal with stress. It is much easier to understand short sections, and pick up on the important highlights, rather than trying to figure out the steps on one's own in one big paragraph. 

          The Guardian also uses quotes from professors and specialists. For example, they include "Frank Bond, stress expert and senior lecturer at Goldsmiths College, University of London," and "Mike George who runs stress management courses for companies such as British Telecom and American Express" (para 1 and 4). Not only does the Guardian include the names of these people, but also what they do that makes them credible. This appeals to ethos, which helps make their article more convincing to readers. Having the information written in the article coming from people who are specialized in the field of stress makes the information provided more reliable. This helps the Guardian effectively deliver their information, because people are far more likely to take the information if they trust it. 

          The bottom line is, everyone deals with stress. The Guardian uses lists and credible people to make dealing with this stress easier for people. The important thing is to remember how much stress is good, and when it becomes too much. 

TOW 17

As an 11th grader, college is constantly on my mind. Over the past few months I've discovered dozens and dozens of colleges. So how do I know which one I should choose? An article published by SuperCollege was aimed to inform kids like me how to decide. In the article How to Choose the Right College, the authors use lists and metaphors in order to inform students on how to choose the right college.
SuperCollege uses lists in order to help their audience easily understand how to effectively choose a college. The article is split into three sections. 1. Imagine colleges are Neapolitan Ice Cream (Sounds strange but the description makes sense), 2. Seek out personal recommendations and 3. Focus on Academic goals. By organizing the article into three separate sections, SuperCollege simplifies the process of choosing a college to make it easier for their audience to process and follow. Along with this, it makes it easier for their audience to execute in their own lives. The list also indicates an order to follow, which is easier to see than if everything was jammed into one paragraph.
SuperCollege also includes a metaphor in their article in order to effectively inform readers on how to choose the right college. In the first step of the article, SuperCollege relates college choices to Neapolitan ice cream. They explain that if chocolate was the favorite flavor, vanilla the second favorite, and strawberry the least favorite, then the reach schools are chocolate, the suitable schools are vanilla, and the safe schools are strawberry. By including this metaphor, the college search becomes much more relatable to the audience. It simplifies the complex process of choosing a college into something much easier to understand such as ice cream. This helps make the process a lot easier for audiences to follow.
SuperCollege's article How to Choose the Right College effectively addressed how to pick a college and made it easily understandable for readers. When I have to start choosing colleges, I will definitely be thinking of Neapolitan ice cream.