Essay 1: Op-Ed draft

Op-ed: The Pandemic Was Not An Equalizer
“That’s the thing about COVID 19, it doesn’t care about how rich you are, how famous you are, how funny you are, how smart you are where you live, how old you are, or the amazing stories you could tell- it’s the great equalizer and what’s terrible about it is that it’s made us equal in many ways”. The previous quote was said by Madonna in an Instagram post where she could be seen surrounded by flower petals in her bathtub. It was around March when she posted this – NYC had just begun seeing a steady increase in Coronavirus before reaching its apex in April 2020. During this time, many people’s lives were affected. Going back to Madonna’s post, her emotions are valid – to an extent. It is terrifying to know anyone could be affected by this virus, however, her comments fail to acknowledge a racial inequality in the overall treatment of the pandemic. The pandemic showed how our differences factored into our chances of contracting COVID 19 or the way it affected different communities more than others.
The New York State Health Department reports that NYC facilities contain 34% of Hispanic/Latinx and 28% of Black patients, which consist of 29% and 22% of the Hispanic and Black population in NYC. The shared sentiments stated by Madonna and others about the pandemic being an equalizer are shown to ignore this statically supported piece of evidence that people don’t acknowledge. I have personally seen how COVID-19 has affected predominantly Black and Hispanic/Latinx communities. I have witnessed how this pandemic has affected many people in my neighborhood – consisting of mostly working-class Hispanic/Latinx residents.
Already faced with rapid gentrification and increases in rent (for both apartments and small businesses), the pandemic has only worsened these conditions by leaving many unemployed, forcing many out of their apartment, and causing businesses to close. Even so, those who have maintained their jobs and are economically secure, are still doing so at the risk of their health. This includes my older sister and my dad, who like some, kept working even when the City’s COVID-19 rates were up. They still had to travel to work and rode the subways, even when in some cases, social distancing wasn’t always possible. My older sister who works as a cashier at a deli talks about her experience during the city’s growling battle with the pandemic, “I can remember it was really hard for me to travel to work every day and know that there’s a risk I could get sick or get my family sick. I knew that I still had to work because our business is essential to those nearby since a lot of other stores were running low on supplies – like masks, hand sanitizer, and everyday essentials, so they had to rely on places like the local deli. I also couldn’t shake the fact that people in our area were getting sick at an alarming rate, but people couldn’t get tested. Testing sites weren’t placed in our neighborhood until weeks later, but it was already too late since cases continued to increase”.
My family and I couldn’t help but wonder how things felt different to those who experienced the pandemic differently. Those who were able to keep their jobs and work from home, whether they chose to or because their job decided for them, experienced no fear of not being able to pay rent. Not just this, but they also did not have to run the risk of going outside amidst a worldwide pandemic. In my neighborhood, a local food bank was established and many stayed in the long line to be given a proper meal. A majority of those in line were above the age of 50, putting them at a higher risk of contracting the illness. For the majority of the pandemic, or at least the height of it, I like some stayed home, but I was only able to do so since my sister and father did most of the necessary shopping. Certain items such as masks, gloves, water bottles, and other items were sought after so much that it seemed impossible to find and, when we eventually did find them, the prices were too high but we bought them anyway to seek any means of protection.
Now, with the vaccine being approved and distributed in NYC, the racial divide is still evident. According to the New York City Health Department, 17% of Hispanics/Latinx and 11% of Black are among those who have received at least 1 dose. Compare these statistics to that of White residents, 37%, and the inequality is clear. In response, the City is trying to launch

vaccine programs that would encourage Black and Hispanic/Latinx communities to get vaccinated. The city is also still struggling to manage enough doses to give to people or secure appointments to ensure that people get vaccinated. Black and Hispanic/Latinx communities need leaders to do more and step up to the challenges we are facing. It’s time for them to prioritize neighborhoods that were ignored from the beginning of the pandemic.
Works cited
“COVID-19: Data.” COVID-19: Data on Vaccines – NYC Health,
www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/covid/covid-19-data-vaccines.page.

“Workbook: NYS-COVID19-Tracker.” COVID19, covid19tracker.health.ny.gov/views/NYS- COVID19-Tracker/NYSDOHCOVID-19Tracker-Fatalities?%3Aembed=yes.

Reflection
The Publication of my choosing is The New York Times because I admire the core values that they can bring with journalism. They seek the truth while providing a new perspective on current issues that the audience would relate to. These are things that I wanted to achieve with my op- ed. I wanted to appeal to the audience of people in the Black and Hispanic/Latinx community but to also appeal to those outside of it as well by sharing an experience as a person who identifies in the Hispanic/Latinx community. I wanted to use mostly pathos and logos in my op- ed because The New York Times includes personal stories or experiences to the overall importance of the issue at hand that could not only sympathize but call to action the things that need to improve. I used Logos since The New York Times cites statistics in order to support their overall arguments and drive their points across.
The tone of the op-ed was to be formal and understanding because I wanted to address the utmost importance of what these communities who are not represented as much or talked about enough, were going through with the pandemic. I decided to interview my older sister who didn’t want to be named, but had a different experience than I did. She has the perspective of being an essential worker to a local community and she was one of many people who were forced to risk their own health during the pandemic so it feels nice to use a first person account as

Comments:

Hi Lizzette, I think you did an amazing job on your Op-Ed. I really liked the Madonna quote you used as your intro because it is definitely an attention grabber and showcases one point of view of your argument. Also, i think because Madonna is privileged and white she fails to see the ongoing racial divide that exists especially now during the pandemic. It was a good idea to add your own personal experiences as a minority dealing with the pandemic because it shows the audience that you are able to relate to what they are going through which can provide some comfort and piece of mind. As an essential worker myself, I was able to relate to everything your sister said about being worried for my safety and my families when going in to work. Lastly, adding actual statistics provides evidence for your claim and allows the audience to a  get a fill understanding as to how minorities are being treated during the pandemic. 

Hey Lizzette! I like the topic you decided to pick for your OP-ED, it makes sense, easily accessible due to it being about something that affects us still. You implementing statistics helps further your credibility and makes your audience trust you a little more. The quote you decided to use for your opening sentence was a great one although I interpreted it differently than you. Considering you are pitching this piece I would recommend that you structure it better! Theres a couple of spelling errors but thats easily rectifiable mistake. My takeaways would be just to better structure your piece and add pictures maybe or even add graphs to back up your evidence when it came to the data!

Essay #2: Visual Essay draft

Audience strategy

My intended audience is those who are unaware of the injustices that are affecting the Black/Latinx community because I wanted to appeal to those outside of the community to shed light on a subject matter that doesn’t get much attention. As a person who identifies in the Hispanic/Latinx community, I want people to hopefully protest against government officials for not doing enough to help the people who were suffering the most to get daily essentials, struggling to pay rent/ faced eviction, and couldn’t provide for their families during the pandemic. I want to appeal to mainly millennials and Gen-Z because I want to use social media as a way to garner support and attention to this issue. I want the audience to feel as if more could have been done to prevent further cases or even death in specific communities that were overlooked. Some might be unaware of how much of a problem racial inequality played a part in the pandemic so I need to support those claims. I’m going to make a video that could be published on any social media platform such as Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, etc. Videos in the social media platform seem to gather the most views and attention that would be needed to create a public outcry. My goal was to be informative with the information that I will provide in the video and provide other personal experiences that would make them feel even more compassion towards essential workers.

Reflection

I chose to make an informative video because I feel like it will provide exposure and information that is needed to see why the pandemic was not an equalizer since some people claimed it was. I believe that by appealing to Millennials and Gen-Z they would be able to spread the informative video to create the attention that it needs. The age groups give me away for a social movement to begin and more of a push to protest for this serious matter. I’ve seen the younger generation using social platforms to spread awareness and many have sparked further interest in current problems that are happening. Someone from that generation could see my video and be inspired to reload it or share it with other people. They could also be able to post it on their social media which would help spread the information and it might reach other people who have a bigger following. I want people to understand the severity of the situation because it’s continuing to affect the Black/Latinx communities due to the lower rates of people in those communities being vaccinated. 

I also feel making a video would be appropriation since as I mentioned people would think the pandemic affected everyone equally at first glance but it’s much more than that and to have a counterclaim I would need to provide evidence. I want to show clips, graphs and use PowerPoint presentations to show why racial inequality is affecting mostly the Black/Latinx community. It’s affecting real-life people who are also the essential workers that we rely on every day since before the pandemic. There are social movements such as Black Lives Matter, that work to protest racially motivated or systemic racism that helps show the power that social media has. I wish to change or open the minds of people who didn’t think race factored into a significant number of people getting hospitalized and sick all because of the failure to provide communities most affected since they weren’t given access to adequate testing and are currently still struggling to get vaccinated. 

Composing a visual essay was more tedious than writing a traditional essay because it took a while for me to figure out how to convey my message throughout a piece and I felt as if a video would be sufficient, since I could Include clips and pictures to show the urgency. I used apps such as Filmmaker pro, Google images, and PowerPoint. I have experience using PowerPoint

Comments:

Hey Lizzette! I gotta hand it to you! You probably have the best visual presentation so far. I haven’t looked at everyone else’s, so I’m pretty biased. But the video looks done already, so I don’t have any constructive criticism. It looks well made; the timing of the text is perfect (not too fast and not too slow); the Madonna clip was a great counter-argument that you were able to prove wrong with factual evidence from the NYS Dep. of Health, anecdotes from people who were directly affected by COVID-19, and even the video clip from the news channel. In your audience strategy, you said you wanted to appeal to mainly millennials and Gen-Z. I want you to include maybe a quote or an example from the video thats shows that millennials/Gen-Z are your targeted audience. This video can be uploaded through countless social media platforms, so it’s great that you mentioned that. The best thing about your video is that it was both entertaining and informative. You didn’t just show flashy images but you also provided evidence. Your reflection is well thought out. I liked that you talked about your struggles with using multiple apps like Filmmaker pro, Google images, and PPT to create one video. Most people don’t realize how hard video-editing is until they actually try it, so good job!

Hello Lizzette, your name is beautiful by the way. I am impressed with how well done your video is, it includes so many different sources from celebrities, interviews, news videos to statistical data, which I find is very reliable in the sense that it includes many perspectives. I do struggle a lot with creating videos so seeing one so well made motivates me more to maybe experience it in the future. Though I would suggest adding music or some soundtrack to better sets the mood for the video. It confuses me sometimes since I thought I pause the video. The bits of Madonna video is very good and you even push it further to point out its flaws about race. I myself wasn’t aware of the injustices the pandemic has caused to the Black/Latinx community so your video has taught me a lot. However, due to the length of the video, I think it would best fit on youtube, in a news article, or other video streaming platform since on other social media apps, people expect shorter content and will often scroll if they see it is too long. Other than that, I love the video for the efforts and thoughts that you have put in. Great job!

Essay #3: Critical Analysis draft

The Education System has long impacted our modern society by providing an environment for students to learn. It is often regarded as a necessity for success and opportunity among many people. However, the underlying issues and limitations of the education system are usually disregarded. In the article “System Failures: The Education System and the Proliferation of Reductive Thinking” Leyla Acaroglu establishes an effective argument about the problems associated with the Education system by implementing pathos and logos to incorporate numerous sources such as scholarly sources and videos to support her claims on the system failures of the education system.
Schools only focus on the use of memorization and standardizing testing that negatively affects learning for students. Leyla Acaroglu points out the way schools have allowed students not to learn “lessons needed for life” but it thrives on the need for students to have knowledge that relies on memorization for standardizing testing. Leyla Acaroglu referenced a story to show a teacher’s experience with a student’s way of thinking as a result of the education system. The article “When Memorization Gets in The Way of Learning” by Ben Orlin, talks about a story in which he once caught one of his students using a cheat sheet in a maths exam. After recalling other instances, he concluded that memorizing absurd students’ ability to learn math because they refer to it as a “call and response game” without thinking of math as a “through exploration”. The student was punished for not wanting to memorize math formulas when that shouldn’t be the main focus of learning in the first place. This signified the use of pathos because the audience empathizes with both the student and teacher’s situation. Leyla’s argument ties the need to create a better environment that provides support for both students and teachers. Adele Diamond, a professor at the University of British Columbia states, “Teachers told to ensure their students perform well on a high-stakes exam are more controlling in their instructional strategies and end up having students who perform worse than teachers given the mandate to facilitate student learning (Flink, Boggiano, & Barrett, 1990; Flink et al., 1992.)”. Teachers are often pressured by the school’s curriculum to follow strict guidelines to

ensure better academic performances by students but it only limits the ability for teachers to provide useful practices without needing to stress. This also shows that the education system only prioritizes the consumption of information that allows students to perform better in standardized testing but doesn’t have the students’ interest in mind because they aren’t motivated to learn.
Schools encourage conformity instead of helping students produce creativity skills. Leyla Acaroglu states, “schools do a massive disservice — rebels drop out, creatives fail, people are bullied for ‘not fitting in’, and all the non-linear learners struggle to get through”. As a result of this system of memorization, students aren’t able to think “outside the box” or pursue their interests in creativity. According to a TED talk titled “Does School Kill Creativity” by Sir Ken Robin, “Many highly-talented, brilliant, creative people think they’re not – because the thing they were good at school wasn’t valued, or was stigmatized.” Leyla Acaroglu uses this quote in her article about logos because it appeals to the audience. After all, she provides an informative and entertaining video which TED talks are known for. Although she uses this approach she fails to provide additional comments about school disruption in creative thinking and only discusses the enforcement of conformity or reductive thinking specifically. “The creativity crisis: The decrease in creative thinking scores on the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking” by Kim, Kyung Hee presents research using the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) to see the development of creative thinking from samples collected that include kindergarteners through 12th-grade students and adults. The study concluded that there’s a correlation in IQ scores to lower creative thinking scores and how the conformity of the school environment also decreases creative thinking. Leyla believes that the education system isn’t doing enough for creative thinking and only dictates or accepts one way of thinking, which she calls the linear system. The system prioritizes the ability of higher IQs and grades but sacrifices the ability for students to think creatively. She also mentions that the logical way of thinking is established in schools and the research shows that they lose creativity for a majority of their age when they are present in school.
Schools use outdated methods and can contribute to the inequalities that still happen in the education system. Leyla Acaroglu gives a brief rundown on the history of the education system and how it’s evolved throughout time/over the years. It differs based on the regularities at the time. Leyla Acaroglu only briefly mentions this due to the relevance of the topic of education. She doesn’t want to take away from the overall focal point of why the education system isn’t good but wanted to mention the historical significance to the reader to let them know about the education system, evolution and its reasons for existing. Towards the end of the author adds a series of questions, “How can schools be designed to prepare young people for a changing world with increased needs for circular and systems thinking along with skills for a future that will be very different from the industrial age of the past?” This makes the readers think about modern schooling and if the education system has the right intentions of wanting the best for students. According to “Early Education Gaps by Social Class and Race Start U.S. Children Out on Unequal Footing” by Emma Garcia and Elaine Weiss, “Low social class puts children far behind from the start. Race and ethnicity compound that disadvantage, largely due to factors also related to social class.” The study provides insight into the inequalities presented early on in the education system. This makes Leyla Acaroglu argument both pathos and logos because she was able to use this study to reinforce her argument of the disparities students face and was able to let the audience understand the unfair advantage that is present at an early age based on several factors like their race or ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and language. The education system fails to reach children who need it and address the underlying problems of discrimination. The education system needs to put in place better policies to ensure diversity in schools and create programs to help those who are struggling because poverty could also have a connection to academic outcomes as mentioned in the evidence. Leyla referenced The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs in their goal 4 “Ensure Inclusivity and

Equitable Quality Education and promote Lifelong Learning Opportunities for all” it lists an overview of disparities that exist before COVID-19 and COVID-19 implications that exist as of now. Leyla makes her argument better because the evidence seems too recent, noting that even in the past there were discriminations like gender and race but these still happen along with other factors as well.
In conclusion, despite the universal need for education and schools must factor in the truth that the system needs improvement. Leyla’s argument addresses that she values education and doesn’t want her opinions on the education system to disprove that. She wants to improve and make The Education system better for students and make it more accessible for them. Leyla Acaroglu uses reliable sources to define words or strengthen her argument further. At the end of the article, she speaks on her limitations and biases based on her work as a founder in The Unschool Of Disruptive Design.
References
Acaroglu, Leyla. “System Failures: The Education System and the Proliferation of Reductive Thinking.” Medium, 2018.

Diamond, Adele. “The evidence base for improving school outcomes by addressing the whole child and by addressing skills and attitudes, not just content.” Early education and development 21.5 (2010): 780-793.

García, E. and E. Weiss. “Early Education Gaps by Social Class and Race Start U.S. Children Out on Unequal Footing: A Summary of the Major Findings in “Inequalities at the Starting Gate”.” (2015).

Orlin, Ben. “When Memorization Gets in the Way of Learning.” The Atlantic, 12 June 2018,

Robinson, Ken. “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” TED Talks, uploaded by TED talk, 7 Jan. 2006

United Nations,“Goal 4 | Department of Economic and Social Affairs.” United Nations

Comments:

Hey Lizette , as I read your essay I took  notes  so I could keep track of the thoughts I had about it:

– I understand the topic of your essay, however,  you should establish your thesis more. I think the summary of the article helps with setting the tone of your piece. 

– A deeper analysis of your chosen text would help set up this essay, It’s clear you know how this article helps prove your thesis, but you should make it clearer to the audience. 

– I like how you explain the rhetorical strategies used by the author to help convey their argument. 

– You use a lot of different sources but I have a hard time as a reader connecting them to your thesis

Overall, you have a good amount of resources to help support your thesis, and I think establishing your thesis would help the reader understand your piece, as well as not mentioning too many different sources in one body paragraph. Along with that, you should incorporate a deeper analysis with each source and tie it back to your thesis and original article. 

(I hope I’m not being too critical, I think your essay has a lot of potential! 🙂 )