John Lytle
Liberty University
ENGL 101
Professor Wade
5 September 2022
Overpopulation in public schools
I. Introduction
a. Identify the one specific problem being addressed
i. Overpopulation in public schools is one of the major issues that needs to
be reformed.
b. State your proposal/thesis statement (Clear argument for a feasible solution)
i. Overpopulation within the United States public school systems is a
hindrance for the student’s education; constructing new buildings and
raising the salaries of the educational staff in order to encourage
employment to help reduce this issue.
II. Overpopulation the Issue
a. Topic sentence – main evidence
i. How is overpopulation negatively effecting public schools in the U.S.?
b. Give specific examples, facts, quotes, expert knowledge that supports this
argument, from research (make sure to cite)
i. “Parents from Prieto Math and Science Academy… said one fourth grade
class overflows with sixty students while eighth-graders are taking lessons
in the hallway.” (Ahmed-Ullah par. 2)
ii. According to Hussein Hachem there are six major problems caused by
overpopulation, of which are: noise, less individualized focus, more
people, increased classroom discipline issues, struggling students fall
further behind, and a lack of personal connections between students and
their teachers.
c. Analyze your evidence (explain how the evidence supports your topic sentence
and thesis)
i. Due to the current circumstances’ students being forced to attempt to learn
in increasingly difficult situations.
d. Summary sentence that wraps up this main evidence
i. Overpopulation in public schools is a major issue that must be addressed.
III. Lack of adequate teachers
a. Topic sentence – main evidence
i. A side effect of having an overcrowded school is the lack of adequate
teachers required to educate the exponential growth of students.
b. Give specific examples, facts, quotes, expert knowledge that supports this
argument, from research (make sure to cite)
i. In her article for “The Washington post” Hannah Natanson states that
throughout seventeen school districts there are about three-thousand
teacher jobs that need to be filled, according to “The Nevada State
Education Association”
ii. The states of Arizona, Texas, and Florida have taken to having teachers
working additional hours, hiring veterans who have never taught classes,
and even hiring college students all in order to attempt to fill the
desperately needed positions (Natanson par.1).
c. Analyze your evidence (explain how the evidence supports your topic sentence
and thesis)
i. Schools are being forced to take drastic measures in order to come up with
the minimum number of staff required to coup with the sheer number of
students.
d. Summary sentence that wraps up this main evidence
i. The heart of this issue is the overpopulated school systems. One way to is
to increase the teachers’ salaries that way more people will want to take
the positions up, henceforth producing more qualified teachers.
IV. Opposing view
a. Introduce opposing viewpoint in opposition to your claim
i. In order to build more schools, the general public will be required to pay
more in taxes to continue to support them.
b. Give specific examples, facts, quotes, expert knowledge that supports this
argument, from research (make sure to cite)
i. Throughout his article entitled “School budgets are in big trouble,
especially in high-poverty areas. Here’s why — and what could help”
Matt Barnum reasons that with increasing demand for schools to help their
students more, taxes will have to increase as well.
c. Analyze this view (explain its validity and/or reasoning)
i. With the continuous rise of inflation, the people are already making
difficult decisions regarding their personal finances.
d. Refutation (refute this claim and explain why it isn’t as strong as your proposal)
i. While it is true that the public will be forced to pay more in taxes in order
to help the students. However, if nothing is done the future of the country
will be put in jeopardy.
V. Conclusion Paragraph
a. Summarize your main points (problem – proposal – positive effect)
i. With increase in students, schools are forced to work at overcapacity.
ii. With the increase of unqualified teachers, and the decrease of qualified
teachers, students are not learning at the level that they should be.
iii. Building additional schools will help reduce the overcrowded classrooms,
but at the cost at increase in taxes.
iv. Increasing the salaries of teachers will encourage more people to want to
pursue this career path, consequently improving the quality of teachers
overall.
b. Leave reader with final thought or call to action
i. One solution to the overpopulation in public schools is to expand and or
build more schools, even if the expenses will be high, something must be
done for this country’s sake.
Work Cited
West, Martin R., Henderson, Michael B., Peterson, Paul E., Burrow, Samuel. “The 2017
Ednext Poll on School Reform: Public Thinking on School Choice, Common Core,
Higher Ed, and More” Education Next, vol. 18, no 1, 2018, p. 32+
Ahmed-Ullah, Noreen.Chicago Parents Press for Solution to Overcrowded Schools. 21
Nov. 2013, www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2013-11-21-ct-school-board-meets-
met-1121-20131121-story.html.
Hachem, Hussein. “Overcrowding in Schools: Why Is It a Huge Issue?” Dearborn, MI
Patch, 4 October 2019, https://patch.com/michigan/dearborn/overcrowding-schools-why-
it-huge-issue
Natanson, Hannah. “‘Never Seen It This Bad’: America Faces Catastrophic Teacher
Shortage.” Washingtonpost, 4 Aug. 2022,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/08/03/school-teacher-shortage.
Barnum, Matt. “School Budgets Are in Big Trouble, Especially in High-poverty Areas. -
Chalkbeat: Essential Education Reporting Across America.” Chalkbeat, 22 June 2021,
www.chalkbeat.org/2020/4/7/21225437/school-budgets-are-in-big-trouble-especially-in-
high-poverty-areas-here-s-why-and-what-could-help.
