Reagan's reading blog: April 2014

What provokes planed assassinations on US Presidents? Is it a disagreement with his/her platform? Or is it simply to take out the one in power? That we don't know. So far, 4 United States Presidents have been assassinated, and one has survived an attempt.

Abraham Lincoln (the 16th President), James A. Garfield (the 20th President), William McKinley (the 25th President) and John F. Kennedy (the 35th President), have all been assassinated in office, while Ronald Reagan came very close to being among them.

On March 30, 1981, President Ronald Reagan was open fired on by John Hinckley Jr. while exiting the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington D.C. A total of six shots were fired, one of them hitting President Reagan just below his left arm coming with in inches of his heart. Luckily, Reagan survived the attempt and on April 11 was released from the hospital to return to his Presidential duties. Reagan bounced back from this incident, leading our country into some of the best years it has seen.

Click here to link to article

Krista- The very poor case for arming teachers

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/opinion/columnists/krista-ramsey/2014/02/22/krista-the-very-poor-case-for-arming-teachers/5744065/

In this entry, Krista discusses the controversial issue of arming school teachers for protection against school shootings. This however brings upon many new risks and responsibilities, causing many citizens to go against the proposal.

A powerful and well constructed line from her column is, "But sending weapons into schools – the vast majority of which have not been and will not be the scene of violence – is the most unwise of solutions." This line takes a clear stand on the issue, persuading the audience of her own beliefs. She makes her point by first addressing her opposing side, then by backing it up with information to support her claim, and lastly by taking a side. By writing her sentence in the opposite order of how we would normally state a claim. She is able to draw readers in and catch there attention, without immediately turning them away to not read on by bluntly stating her opinion at the beginning. Hyphens are used in this sentence to separate her closely related thoughts.

Ramsey's writing style is professional and includes voice, while incorporating elevated diction and syntax. She uses varied sent ace structure, placing telegraphic sentences following medium ones. This draws the readers attention to certain lines and topics of importance, as well as keeps the readers interested. Several rhetorical questions are found in this column and help to support her argument. "Does an armed teacher leave his class to respond elsewhere? Will she make the correct split-second call in a situation that would be daunting to the most experienced police officer?" Voice in this piece is presented as interruptions, surrounded by hyphens. "You are clearly about to be lobbied – probably heavily – to vote to give the Protecting Our Students and Teachers plan a six-month trial."

Questions to ask Ramsey:

1) Do you believe laws will be passed forcing school teachers to be armed?

2) What topics that you do column writings on are you most interested in?

3) When writing columns, do you often incorporate your opinions on the topic as you did in this column?