Description:

Imagine an ideal economic and political system. How would the production of needs and wants be organized? How would needs and wants be distributed? In other words, how does the economy work? How would collective decisions regarding the entire system be made? In other words, how does the political process work? How would your system impact the environment? What kind of relationship would it have with the earth? What kind of cultural traits would the people of this society have? Imagine yourself and others actually living in this new system. What would their daily lives be like? And finally, even if you can’t have or exist in your system (yet), in what ways can you live your life right now in accordance to the values and philosophies you believe in, despite having to exist in our current system? Compare how you want to live your life to the way some people/characters you have met in our different classes this year live theirs, whether they are fictional/real people you have encountered in our texts, or individuals you have met in our trips. For this paper you will use everything you have learned in WALC so far to answer this basic question: How can we devise a system that provides economic freedom and justice for all. When we say all, we mean all. You have to come up with a system that at its very core strives for balance and harmony with…well, the universe.

This is the last major essay you will ever write for high school (at least in WALC). This is your final chance to prove to us, but more importantly to yourself that you are ready for the writing demands of college. Next year, you won’t have nicely structured papers, just assignments and due dates. So, with this essay, take pride in your work. Make sure that your finished piece is as close to perfect as you can get it. Focus on: spelling, grammar, syntax, structure, how you cite and use sources of evidence, your writing voice, vocabulary, and overall presentation. This is not just to get you to focus, but to help you see the need for pride and effort in the creation of this paper. Give yourself the time and space you need to complete this essay and be truly proud of it. Read and re-read your writing and find the areas that you must improve upon. Don’t be satisfied with just getting it done. Truly create an essay, by drafting and revising and editing and picking at the details. We will work with you the best we can on these issues, but it will come down to how much pride you have in yourself as a student. Prove to yourself that next year you will be ready, no matter what. We believe it but that doesn’t matter anymore. You need to show it.

Requirements:

• Ten to Fifteen Pages
• Typed: 12 Point Times New Roman Font, Double Spaced
• 1-inch margins
• Cover page with title, your name, pathway, teachers, and date
• Use of analyses and examples that address or consider the texts, issues, and concepts you have dealt with in your English, Science, and Social Studies classes.
• Completion of the following outline/guideline:
  

Outline/Guideline:

1. Introduction: This will be a long introduction, just like in the LRS pamphlet. In it you will
   explain in general terms what is wrong with our system now (U.S. Capitalism). What causes these problems? Then introduce your system as the answer.
   
2. Overview of your system: This is where you answer most of the questions in the description.
   
   You may organize this section into the following sub-headings:
   
   1. Production and Distribution
   2. Political Process
   3. Environmental Impact/Relationship
   4. Culture
   5. “A day in the life.”

   You must consistently compare and contrast your system to U.S. Capitalism throughout this section. Draw upon specific information (quotes, facts and figures, current events, etc.)

3. Explain how you can attempt to live your life according to your principles. In other words, how can you act in ways that will promote the way of life you’ve imagined? Compare yourself to characters from texts or real people you have met.

4. Plan of Action: What steps must be taken to make your system a reality? In other words, how can people act or organize to promote the system you have envisioned? What must we do now? Ten years from now? How will your “revolution” take place?
   

5. Conclusion: Now that you have written this paper…what? How does any of this connect to your life after high school? What will you take from this experience?
   

Finally:
The outline really is only a guideline. What does that mean? In means you can be as creative as you want. Use poetry, or write it in a different format. One student two years ago wrote her report as a chronicle—she pretended to be an historian already living in her ideal system writing a chapter in a history book one hundred years after the “revolution.” You can write it in the form of a letter or a series of letters to someone still living in our system from someone living in yours. You have creative freedom as long as you fully address all of the questions we are asking and fulfill what the outline/guideline is asking for.

Remember:
We are not trying to nurture your self-esteem and confidence in any way with this paper. We are giving you this assignment, as a way for you to measure yourself against what college will bring. The feedback that you are going to get from us will be from this perspective: If a professor assigned this paper to you in college (U.C., City, Private, State), what would their assessment be? We are going to be as brutally honest as possible because we want you going into college with eyes wide open. Good luck.