3.4 Assignment
Essay on Government Responsibility
For this assignment, you will be writing a short essay on the following topic:
To what extent should the federal and provincial governments take responsibility for historical wrongs taken against Chinese Canadians?
You can take one of the three positions:
- The government should take full responsibility and should pay financial compensation to victims and their families.
- The government has some responsibility and can make amends through education programs or commemorations and memorials.
- The government of today does not need to take any responsibility for what happened in the distant past
You will have to build your case using a reasoned argument. You will consider facts and evidence then develop towards a conclusion.
A reasoned argument will make a claim supported by facts and evidence. For example:
Claim: My parents should buy me a car.
Facts and evidence: My parents spend many hours each week driving me to and from school and to practices. They say that they are less stressed in the summer when they do not have to drive me anywhere.
Conclusion: Buying me a car would save my parents a lot of stress.
This argument provides facts and evidence and draws to a conclusion.
A good counter-argument will not only find factual errors, it will consider other people’s interests, look for questionable assumptions, and suggest more important or reasonable options.
For example:
Claim: You should get a bus pass.
Facts and Evidence: A reliable car costs thousands of dollars. A bus pass is just $85 a month. Your parents just said they are having a hard time paying the bills they already have.
Conclusion: Buying you a car would add financial stress, which would not remove your parents’ overall stress load—you should get a bus pass instead.
This counter-argument considers the parents’ other interests, and suggests a more reasonable option.
You will start this assignment by completing this worksheet building arguments. This will be marked according to the completion rubric.
Essay Outline
1st paragraph - introduce topic then make your stance clear
2nd paragraph - develop argument with facts and evidence
3rd paragraph - acknowledge counter-arguments then provide evidence showing more reasonable options
4th paragraph - assert the conclusion that you have drawn
This will be marked according to the short composition rubric.
| Apologies | 4 | |
| building arguments worksheet | 4 | |
| Essay on Government Responsibility | 12 |
Total marks = 20