1. Engage the reader-I think I'm going to use a story about my school and how underfunded we are. That would be more personal. Or about the Lemmon school district about how far away from everything that is.
2. Statement: Small public schools in South Dakota are closing due to lack of funding.
3. Thesis: I believe that the small schools in the state should be given funding to keep them open because some districts need to stay open due to location, and studies have shown that small schools provide a better education, as long as they can produce the funds to provide adequate programs for their students.
4. Evidenciary Support:
- Schools all over South Dakota are closing because they don't have enough funding to stay open and provide a quality education to their students.
- One of the problems that these schools are facing is keeping quality teachers, mostly due to the fact that they can't pay competent salaries or because they are too far out in the middle of nowhere.
- State aid is based on local taxes and the number of students enrolled in the school district.
- Small schools probvide only the most basic programs to their students due to lack of funds to provide more in-depth ones.
- Generally, because of this, students from these schools can be unprepared for college and cause problems for both themselves and the professors that teach them.
- Some schools are beginning a system of sharing for things such as equipment and even teachers.
5. Objections/Opposing Viewpoints:
- Most people believe that larger, more populated schools provide a better education for students because those schools can afford to pay higher teacher salaries and have the funding for more advanced programs.
6. Replies to the Objections:
- Studies have proven that students learn better in small school environments.
- Some schools are suing the state due to lack of funding.
7. Conclusion: Small schools in South Dakota are having trouble staying open because they don't have the funds, but some schools are beginning to fight back.
See, the problem is, I don't know where to put the part about the schools that are suing the state. I'm not rally sure where it fits.
1 comment:
We can talk more about this during our conference, but I'm curious whether you've found information about how the state splits funding? The information about smaller school districts suing the school might fit early on where you are giving background/defining the problem for the reader. While you don't list it in your opposition, a big part of the argument for closing small schools is that they cost too much to operate per student. It would be good if you could include information about this.
Mainly, the outline now focuses on how the problem is that schools are closing; however, part of the problem is that the state doesn't have the money to keep all our schools open.
So the opposition might say, "Hey, we'd love for you all to stay open, but we just can't afford it."
Some school's response to this is to sue the state and say, "Cough up the money."
This spot is where the complexity of your issue resides. Most people wouldn't have a problem with small schools for any other reason than that they cost money. So what should be done?
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