Toulmin Analysis: Ripping out the Centerfold

Claim:

The Center for Global Studies should be paper-free and give every student a tablet so that then every student can have organized notes, books, and worksheets handy for class.

Reasons:

a.  "After thousands of years, our medium for recording, communicating, testing, and working is still, plain, old, paper." 

b. "From living in very luscious, green suburbs, it's pretty hard to believe trees are suffering from this nationwide paper standard."

c. "But it is because of this pileup of paper that we end up with backpacks, lockers, and folders filled to the brim with a huge mess of papers and books."


Evidence:

a. -"Every CGS class needs paper for note taking, classwork, character practice, or testing. Tablets are capable of all of paper's writable functions in a more compact, organized form."
-"Paper has been the literal "middleman" for nearly all recorded technology in existence."

b. -"Sure, there is Green Day, there are recycling bins, and we have this general thought that not using a full page is a waste..."

c. -"schools need to build entire book rooms devoted holding grade sets of books."
-"Tablets are... more compact, organized form."

Warrant:

a. "After thousands of years, our medium for recording, communicating, testing, and working is still, plain, old, paper."
-paper isn't good enough anymore for schooling purposes. 
-improving technology in schools will improve education.

b.  "From living in very luscious, green suburbs, it's pretty hard to believe trees are suffering from this nationwide paper standard."
-paper is hurting the environment in ways we cannot see due to where we live.
-schools are a huge contributor to the large consumption of paper.

c. "But it is because of this pileup of paper that we end up with backpacks, lockers, and folders filled to the brim with a huge mess of papers and books."
-paper weighs too much for students to handle.
-paper is unorganized and takes up too much space.


Backing:

a. - improving education in schools are important for students to prosper.
- having more electronics in school shows a magnet school's wealth and popularity.

b. -the environment is important to school students.
-paper is the main contributer to deforestation

c. -carrying too much paper causes bad posture, or back problems
-because it's electronic, tablets are more organized than paper.

Step two: Writing the Analysis

My first and third reasons need to be more separated. Both reasons require the same evidence to back it up, but for different reasons. I should put more information into why tablets are a better technology than paper by elaborating more in my third paragraph as to more uses of the technological aspects. Also for my environment reason, I should put in more factual evidence, for I don't have much credibility saying "there is a tree problem, you just can't see it." Lastly to fix my last reason, I should put in a short, personal story as to how it affects me personally, to gain the empathy of my audience. That or I should put in some polls, or stories of other student's opinions in order to show that I'm not alone in thinking there are too many papers. Overall I think my post, Ripping out the Centerfold, needed more factual evidence and distinct warrants to make it a coherent argument.

Ripping out the Centerfold

Ever since ancient Egypt's invention of papyrus, paper has been human kind's one main way of recording history. Paper has been the literal "middleman" for nearly all recorded technology in existence.  It is a part of our everyday life to the extent that we may not even notice it is there: our homework, our classwork, our books, our mail, our everything!  Believe it or not, 700 pounds of paper are consumed by the average American each year. After thousands of years, our medium for recording, communicating, testing, and working is still, plain, old, paper.

From living in very luscious, green suburbs, it's pretty hard to believe trees are suffering from this nationwide paper standard. Sure, there is Green Day, there are recycling bins, and we have this general thought that not using a full page is a waste, but does this really affect our lives? Surprisingly, it does! The world won't end if you decide not to reuse paper or if teachers have curriculums with wordy textbooks. But it is because of this pileup of paper that we end up with backpacks, lockers, and folders filled to the brim with a huge mess of papers and books. In addition, schools need to build entire book rooms devoted holding grade sets of books. What happens when the curriculum changes, and the fifty book set isn't needed anymore? Where do they go? Nowhere, they just pile-up.

I am proposing we get rid of the paper standard, and switch to using tablets at the Center for Global Studies.   Every CGS class needs paper for note taking, classwork, character practice, or testing. Tablets are capable of all of paper's writable functions in a more compact, organized form. I'm not saying to never use paper ever again, but it would be beneficial to our school, and us students if we were to replace paper with this electronic alternative.

The Center for Global Studies should be paper-free and give every student a tablet so that then every student can have organized notes, books, and worksheets handy for class.