Assignment: Cause and Effect Essay

Students at UC Berkeley protest budget cuts in 2009

California is currently in the midst of an unprecedented financial crisis. In 2011, higher education in California is again expected to absorb grave funding cuts. In recent years, the state’s three high educational branches (The California State University, The University of California, and The California Community Colleges System) have lost billions of dollars in funding—with no end in sight. In this year’s budget, Governor Brown is proposing an additional $1.4 billion cut in funding. If approved, this cut will have significant effects on an already stressed educational system. But, what will those effects be? What are the real-life implications of the state’s educational budget crisis in the short and long term? In a concise cause and effect essay, A) briefly define current the state of California’s education budget, and B) explore the probable effects these cuts will have on California. Cite only from any of the articles about the state budget in the eReader.

Requirements:

• MLA format, including parenthetical citation
• Cite a minimum of four texts from the eReader
• 2.5-page minimum

The best papers:

• Stay within the parameters of the subject matter
• Have a concise thesis which clearly outlines a position
• First identify the problem (e.g. the cause), and then extrapolate its implications (e.g. the effects)
• Clearly support the thesis with solid evidence and a logical structure
• Cite a minimum of four articles supporting the thesis
• Conclude with a summation of the argument
• Properly cite evidence using MLA's parenthetical citation method
• Are in MLA Style 

UPDATE:
Because the budget situation is ever-changing, here are some "hot off the press" articles you may also use in your essay:

• "California State University Puts Price on Education" (San Jose Mercury News)
• "State Community College System Faces Big Cuts" (KGTV, San Diego) 
• "The Latino Education Imperative" (The Huffington Post)
• "Budget Cuts Impact Educators" (The Valley Star)
•  "UCSD Policy Limits Community College Students" (San Diego Union-Tribune) 
• "Editorial: Ideology Holds Gun to Head of College System (Bakersfield Californian)
•  "LBCC to cut 222 Courses Next Fall" (Long Beach Press-Telegram) 
• "State Universities Face Deepening Cuts" (Today)
• "CSU to Enroll 10,000 Fewer Students Amid Budget Cuts" (San Jose Mercury News) 

Due: Mo 4.4 / Tu 4.5

Alexandra Wallace, UCLA Student, Films Racist Rant

Self-identified UCLA student Alexandra Wallace has gained national notoriety -- and more than 1,000,000 views -- for posting a YouTube video which shows her in a 3-minute long tirade against Asian students.

In the clip, called "Asians in the Library," Wallace says the "hordes of Asians" at UCLA lack American manners. She also mocks their speech and faults them for calling family in the wake of the tsunami. "I swear they're going through their whole families just checking on everybody from the tsunami thing," she said.

She continues:

All the Asian people that live in all the apartments around me...and everybody that they know that they brought along from Asia with them comes here on the weekends to do their laundry, buy their groceries, and cook their food for the week.

It's seriously without fail, you will always see old Asian people running around this apartment complex every weekend. That's what they do. They don't teach their kids to fend for themselves...

Hi. In America we do not talk on our cell phones in the library...I'll be typing away furiously, blah blah blah, and then all of the sudden, when I'm about to, like, reach an epiphany, over here from somewhere, 'OHH Ching chong ling long ting tong? OHH' 

She concludes the video by saying that "even if you're not Asian you really shouldn't be on your cell phone in the library." How diplomatic.

The Daily Bruin reports that university spokesman Phil Hampton called the video repugnant, and added that the student is inquiring into whether Wallace is enrolled as a student.

UPDATE: Wallace issued an apology Monday, saying "I cannot explain what possessed me to approach the subject as I did, and if I could undo it, I would." See more here.

Reflection 5: All Aboard?—High Speed Rail in California

In 2008, California voters approved Proposition 1A, which allocated $9.95 billion to the California High-Speed Rail Authority for the construction of state-wide high-speed rail (HSR) system. When completed, HSR promises to dramatically alter transportation options in the state:

• Sacramento to San Francisco: 284 miles in under 2 hours; $40 one-way
• Sacramento to Los Angeles: 412 miles in under 2.5 hours; $53 one-way
• San Francisco to Los Angeles: 432 miles in under 3 hours, $55 one-way
• San Francisco to Bakersfield: 284 miles in under 2 hours; $43 one-way
• San Francisco to San Diego: 616 miles in 4 hours; $70 one-way
• San Jose to Anaheim: 429 miles in 2.5 hours; $54 one-way
• San Jose to San Diego: 567 miles in 3.5 hours; $66 one-way
• Los Angeles to San Diego: 167 miles in under 1.5 hours; $30 one-way

Though the proposition passed, and significant state and federal funds are secured, HSR's future is still somewhat dubious. Lawsuits have been filed over everything from environmental impact reports to the placement of rail routes. Environmentalist groups have sought changes in routes to lessen the impact on sensitive areas, while transportation advocates fear HSR will draw away funds from traditional transportation systems, such as trains and buses. In the Bay Area, a coalition of peninsula interests, including the cities of Menlo Park and Atherton, have sued the state hoping to stop the project altogether, fearing, in part, that rail lines will divide their affluent neighborhoods. And, of course, the state's perpetual budget woes continue to loom over the project, set to begin construction in Central California in 2012. Californians are equally enthusiastic and pessimistic about the project. They are delighted at the prospects of traveling so quickly and efficiently, yet they lack faith in Sacramento to complete such a massive endeavor. How does HSP illustrate both everything that is right in the state and everything that is wrong? In a decade's time, do you believe this system be a reality? Why or why not?

Requirements:

• MLA format
• 2 pages minimum

Due: We 3.23 / Th 3.24

Week 8: San Jose

HP Pavilion

Do you know the way to San Jose?
I’ve been away so long.
I may go wrong and lose my way.
Do you know the way to San Jose?
I’m goin’ back to find
some peace of mind in San Jose

—Dionne Warwick, "Do You Know the Way to San Jose"

Week 8: San Jose
Mo 3.14 / Tu 3.15

Read: eR—“California's Public Colleges Face $1.4-Billion in New Budget Cuts” by Josh Keller (The Chronicle of Higher Education), “Editorial: California Voters Seem to be Clueless about the Budget” (Oakland Tribune) “Schools Still Face Deep Spending Cuts” (KCRA TV, Sacramento)
In-Class: Reading discussion; Presentations (Sec. 3: Edwin and Tommy, Sec 6: Mary, Vivienne, and Jason); Lecture—“Understanding Parenthetical Citation”

We 3.16 / Th 3.17
Read: eR—“Editorial: California Must Not Resort to Short-term Fixes” (The Highlander), “California Now 43rd in Per-student Spending” by John Fensterwald (Silicon Valley Education Foundation); “Education Cuts to Impact Future of Silicon Valley” (KGO TV, San Francisco)
In-Class: Watch—The Bridge (2007); Preview—Cause and effect essay
Due: Expository essay

Upcoming:

Week 9: Beverly Hills
Mo 3.21 / Tu 3.22
Read: ACC—p. 1 – 40; eR—“Mark Zuckerberg, Moving Fast and Breaking Things” (Business Insider); Mark Zuckerberg Interview (ABC World News with Diane Sawyer), “The Face Behind Facebook” (Oprah.com)
In-Class: Reading discussion; Presentations

We 3.23 / Th 3.24
Read: ACC—p. 41 - 84
In-Class: Reading discussion; Presentations; Lecture—“Choosing the Right Word”
Due: Cause and effect essay; Reflection 5