OK Folks,
I've handed out 5 essay questions in my community college US History class. The final is on Dec 17, & my students will be expected to answer 2 of them in class.

First question is directly related to the ancillary reading: His Promised Land: The Autobiography of John P. Parker, Former Slave and Conductor on the Underground Railroad. The rest come from a standard US History text called American History: A Survey vol. 1 by Alan Brinkley.

How well would you do?
Here they are:

A. John P. Parker was a man defined by the times in which he lived but he was also extraordinary. Using examples from his autobiography describe 3 ways in which Parker was unusual for a black man in the mid 1800s and 3 ways in which he was an excellent illustration of the mid 1800s. Weigh these six examples in your mind and determine if Parker was a man ahead of his time or if he was a perfect example of his time. Explain your opinion.

B. Explain President Jackson’s positions and actions regarding the Second Bank of the United States and the Nullification Crisis. Do these positions reinforce or contradict his reputation as a “man of the people”? How? Explain your opinion by indicating how Jackson affected the strength of the federal government at the expense either of the states or of the people.

C. How was political disagreement between North and South fed by economic and technological developments between 1820 and 1860? Describe the economic and technological differences between the south and the rest of the nation and then determine which of these differences are most important to creating the schism that ultimately led to the Civil War.

D. How was the sectional divide widened between 1820 and 1860? Describe the political and social differences between the sections. Indicate which of these differences you think were most important to secession and Civil War. Explain why you think these differences are the most important.

E. Why did it take so long for the Union to win the war? Describe the advantages that each side brought to the conflict. Explain how it is possible for the Confederacy to do so well early on but ultimately lose the war. Explain, also, why the Union took so long to bring its advantages to bear on the Confederacy.

Enjoy!
Daniel

Message edited by its author, Nov 6, 2009, 2:32pm.

Good questions, but E would require far more than a short essay.

I don't know anything about John P. Parker but it does look like a good book for my wish list.
On the other four questions I would hope that I could pass at least, particularly with between now and December 17 to work on my answers. I did read What Hath God Wrought and Battle Cry of Freedom this year and those two should give me a good start. Like OldSarge says there is the short answer and the long answer.

Wow, I am glad that my 100 level classes are all behind me. I remember those classes as if it was just last year I took them. It was. I don’t remember getting more than a weeks’ notice on what the questions would be for in class essays. Let me say that I would much rather have to write a page or two on every question, out of class, on a computer, than I would do two short essays in class.

First, after decades working with power tools my hands do not do well holding a pen and writing for more than a few sentences. After that they start to cramp painfully and even though it does not stop me it interferes with my thought process. That is bad not because I have trouble deciding on what the answer should be but because I have to compose my words in my head. I am used to being able to flip phrases around in sentences on a word processor but an in class essay transports me back into the time when cut and paste involved scissors and glue.

Second I cannot spell. After running into second year Spanish and being expected to spell in Spanish words I could never spell in English I took some testing and my inability to spell turned into a legitimate learning disability. That is no problem for people with documented learning problems. The issue is when they are undiagnosed.
I knew I had a problem and I had my methods of working around it. Intentional terrible handwriting was always part of my arsenal. I was shameless about putting the teacher on the spot trying to figure out me scribbling. I also worked on my vocabulary, more to have one word I could spell that would substitute for the one right word I wanted to use.
Judging from the people I have met at Miami’s regional campuses I suspect that community colleges have a higher percentage of students with at least some degree of LD.

Your questions look good. Like wildbill I am about to add the Parker book to my wish list, I just wanted to vent a little about in class essays.

Message edited by its author, Nov 8, 2009, 3:03pm.