English paper

Use at least 6 sources.  Follow MLA format.

Institutional failures7-8 pages, + a bibliography.

You will research a specific institutional failure.  You can probably identify an institution related to your major or career goal, whether that’s medicine, education, engineering, business/economics, or another field.  Choose something that interests or concerns you; you’ll do a better job if you want to know more about the subject yourself.

Choose an institution, service, agency, protection, safety measure, or aspect of modern “first-world” life to focus on.  Identify specific failures, whether they apply everywhere or only in specific areas or to specific people.  Choose something we regard as essential  or highly desirable in modern life, but that individuals or cities can’t really provide by themselves without funding or guidance or enforcement or negotiation or coordination by a larger entity (state or federal government, a large charity, a large private organization or citizens’ watch group…).  

Explain what the failure is (description, narration, illustration), what causes or allows or fails to prevent or regulate it (analysis and explanation), and what could be done to improve the situation (invention).  

For example, consider the crisis in Flint Michigan right now.  You could identify a specific failure of water distribution or water safety or water access in Flint or in America as a whole.  (You can choose another country, but check with me first.)  You would vividlydescribe the lack of water, or lack of clean water, or lack of affordable water, or risks of contaminated water, clearly and vividly.  If the water is unsafe you would describe the effects of that water.  You would then clearlyexplain why the water is that way, how it became unavailable or contaminated or unaffordable.  Explain why a service as basic as water is not being provided more effectively and safely.  Who’s in charge, what agency or committee or aspect of government has responsibility, who’s allowing this failure, what’s keeping them from regulating or improving or preventing this problem, what’s the relevant history or context?  You would want to be very specific about the nature of the causes, because that will help you to specificallypropose viable and relevant solutions.  What could be done to make the water safer, or more accessible, or more equitably distributed?  What would it cost to implement these solutions?  What are the downsides, if any, of your solutions?  How could this be done, and who would be in charge? Do not simply make a general statement about the government fixing it. 

(Do not write this paper!  See me if you are inclined to write about water.)

You might want to review the chapters on Argument, Causes, and Solutions in the St. Martin’s Guide to Writing.

A successful essay will be clear and energetic, descriptive and specific, fair and objective, with a clear sense both of what happens and how it’s happening.  A successful solution will be specific and bold, with reasonable plans, appropriate limits, probable costs, likely consequences, and defined goals.  The clearer you are about the nature of the problem (what happens, how it happens, what’s allowing it or failing to prevent it), the clearer you can be about the best solution.  Be bold; go big; imagine real change.  

Your essay will probably be (roughly) 50% description of the problem, 20% explanation of the causes, and 30% possible solutions.  

Think of something YOU actually care about, believe is a problem, and want to explore carefully.  

Think of something YOU would actually like to provide thoughtful solutions to.  

Do not feel limited by this list.   It’s a very broad list of public services, groups that need protection, concerns, and goals.  It’s intended to get you thinking about how you think the world should be.  

Who’s in charge?  Who’s providing services, or monitoring, or regulating, or protecting people in need?  

Who’s failing to provide or monitor or regulate or protect a group in need of services?  What do we need?                         

Public education, class size, teacher training, facilities, supplies, safety, curriculum, for-profit schools…

Food safety, testing, recalls…

Workplace safety

Voting rights, representation in government, districting, voter ID, polling place issues…

Discrimination (in housing, employment, education…)

Banking (interest rates, loan policy…)

Environmental protection

Protection of the helpless (elderly, disabled, children…)

Services to veterans

Regulation of pollution, toxins, disposal, dumping, air and water quality, soil safety….

Regulation of guns, sales, training, storage, background checks….

Transportation (access, safety, affordability…)

Product safety (toys, furniture, cars, strollers…)

Chemical safety (pesticide, cleaning products…)

Border security

Regulation of teenage employees, work permits, safety, exploitation…

Public services (libraries, parks…)

Public emergency services (police, fire, paramedics…)

Homelessness (shelters, prevention, rehabilitation, health issues, lack of affordable housing…)

Quarantine procedures, vaccinations, health warnings

Tornado warnings, tsunami, storm, earthquake warnings, preparation, evacuation plans….

Animal abuse, animal control, animal experimentation, humane slaughter…

Farm safety, sustainable practices, employees and family members….

Sustainable power (wind, solar, wave, biofuel…)

Food deserts (areas where there are no proper supermarkets, just convenience stores)

Unsafe roads, bridges, overpasses, public buildings, homes.  Earthquake retrofitting….

Insufficient emergency rooms, hospitals, in inner cities or rural areas

Abandoned children/babies

Parenting training

Foster care (abuse, ageing out, lack of tracking, loss of parental rights…)

Charities (profits, wages, scams…)

Boy scouts, Girl scouts, Teach for America…

Churches (temples, mosques…)

EPA, FDA, USDA, CDC, HHS, VA, NASA, FAA, FEMA, NSF, NIH, Social Security….

Do not use any topic you’ve already written on for this class.  

Credible sources include books, journals, legitimate magazines (not People, but Rolling Stone, Atlantic, New Yorker, Mother Jones, Christian Science Monitor…), newspapers, documentaries, lectures, interviews/correspondence with experts, government websites….