Three Minute Outlines

Please write a three minute outline for each of the two prompts listed below. These essay prompts are taken directly from past AP tests, so they will help you get a feel for what you can expect. Your outlines can be simple bullet point lists. THIS IS NOT A FULL ESSAY.

Please post by Friday at 4:30pm.


1. Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant. —Horace

Consider this quotation about adversity from the Roman poet Horace. Then write an essay that defends, challenges, or qualifies Horace’s assertion about the role that adversity (financial or political hardship, danger, misfortune, etc.) plays in developing a person’s character. Support your argument with appropriate evidence from your reading, observation, or experience.

2. The first Buy Nothing Day—a day on which people are urged to purchase no goods—was organized in Canada in 1992 as a way to increase awareness of excessive consumerism. A Buy Nothing Day has been held yearly since then in many nations. An online article, “Buy Nothing Day: 2006 Press Release,” urged worldwide acceptance of taking a “24-hour consumer detox as
part of the 14th annual Buy Nothing Day” in order to “expose the environmental and ethical consequences of overconsumption” (“Buy Nothing Day,” courtesy Adbusters, www.adbusters.org).

Consider the implications of a day on which no goods are purchased. Then write an essay in which you develop a position on the establishment of an annual Buy Nothing Day. Support your argument with appropriate evidence.

The Dorner Identity

Watch the following video.

Then read this article for additional information.

Respond

Should police officers, soldiers, Navy Seals, etc. be trained to such a level of expertise even though they may use those skills against the society they were trained to protect?

Your response should be three paragraphs and include the following:

• Thesis Statement
• Supporting Argument 1
• Supporting Argument 2

Post your response by 4:30pm on Friday. If you are making up a blog post from the past, please write me a note in THIS post.