Chapter Nine: Work and the Economy – Debating the Minimum Wage
The purpose of this assignment is to help you see how everyday issues may be considered social problems and how some may not.
For this discussion assignment you will be required to post a minimum of three times between Thursday and Sunday, one post must be posted by the end of the day on Thursday, and at least one post must deal with local solution ideas.
Read_this_tnb.png This debate will focus on Chapter 9: work and the economy. The issues in this debate will cross over into our social class and poverty discussion.
Your assignment.jpgBe sure to read the instructions for debate and review the examples of the debate on the Really Useful Stuff page.
AFTER READING THE MATERIALS AND WATCHING THE VIDEOS ON THE WEEKLY RESOURCE PAGE CHOOSE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING TO DEBATE (YOU CAN COMMENT ON BOTH IF YOU WANT TO).
FIRST,
you will pick a topic and a side. You can reply to someone else who has already posted by adding new ideas about the topic, or your first post can be a completely new post about either topic, or incorporating both topics. If you choose to reply to other’s posts, yours should refute the arguments in the original post and add something new about the opposite side. This is a debate so, while it is important to be thoughtful and supportive in your posts you should not be replying to people who have the same view as you, UNLESS you can refute something they provided with different evidence.You MUST make it clear what you are refuting.
FOR EACH ITEM THERE ARE MANY PRO OR CON ARGUMENTS THAT MAY REPRESENT YOUR VIEW ON THE TOPIC. YOUR ARGUMENTS SHOULD BE BASED ON SOME ACADEMIC SOURCE SUCH AS YOUR TEXT, OR A PROCON.ORG WEBSITE. FOR EXAMPLE, THIS ONE ON MINIMUM WAGE (LINKS TO AN EXTERNAL SITE.) WILL HELP YOU FOR THIS CURRENT ASSIGNMENT. I PROVIDE ONE PRO AND ONE CON FOR EACH ITEM TO GET YOU THINKING, BUT YOU CAN CHOOSE YOUR OWN PRO OR CON ABOUT THE TOPIC.
SECOND,
Remember the most important thing about debate is to PICK A SIDE! And make it very clear in your post which topic and which side you are presenting. Even if you don’t agree with the side you pick, you can provide the research and present compelling arguments. Often that is the best way to really learn about a topic. Remember to think about how the topic manifests locally compared to nationally or even globally if you want to take it that far.
THIRD,
You are required to post at least three times. One of your posts MUST present a local solution that has already been enacted or an original idea that you think could or should be enacted. One of your posts MUST refute an argument made by someone else.
The easiest way to do this assignment is present an original debate argument (or reply to someone that has taken the other side and refute their argument), then have one of your reply posts refute someone’s argument. This can be in the same topic you presented or a different topic. Then have the third topic focus on solution ideas for one of the items presented. It can be the same topic you chose originally or a different one.
There are plenty of new ideas for everyone, so remember you only need to present one, not solve the whole thing in one post. This will be a group effort to see if we can come to any resolutions.
YOU MUST USE EVIDENCE FOR THESE POSTS. NO OPINIONS OR UNSUPPORTED FACTUAL ASSERTIONS ALLOWED. Use the items I’ve provided to help you prepare.
Reminder.pngBe sure to clearly identify where your information comes from. Your arguments should not be solely opinion based. You should remember this is a social problems class so you can focus on arguments about the problem, or ideas about solutions to the problem. There are tips on how to use APA formatting on the Really Useful Stuff page.
due date.jpgSee the course schedule for exact due dates for assignments.
GRADE500.pngThis assignment will be subjectively graded by how well I think you formulated your arguments and supported them with evidence. Each post is worth up to 10 points. Discussions of how the issue manifest locally is worth 5 points and a discussion of solutions is worth 5 points. There can be more than three posts but I will grade the first one that meets the grading criteria. There is a grading scale in the assignment to give you an idea of what I am looking for. You can post this assignment late up to two weeks for half credit. Posts that are submitted more than 15 minutes late will be subject to half credit penalty.
Solution Preview
Chapter Nine: Work and the Economy – Debating the Minimum Wage
The debate selected is whether the lowestwage should be increased from the existingrate. In this case, I choose to oppose the idea of augmentingthe minimum wage. There are various reasons why the minimum wage should not be increased.
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