Here’s the Introductory Paragraph draft from my Essay:

Imagine America’s education system as a 100-meter track and field event. Students come to line up at the start line, but instead of a traditional lineup where participants are positioned side by side each other, they are instead positioned by their socioeconomic status. The lineup is now completely different. Students from middle-income households are situated at the start line like usual, but students from low-income households are starting 25 meters behind the start line. The race begins, and hurdles are placed in the lanes of the students from low-income households. It’s apparent that this is an unfair race and low-income students have no way of closing the gap. At the finish line is graduation from high school, finding a college, or beginning a career. The middle-income students cross the finish line, while low-income students have to make up the extra distance. This race is just an illustrative example that represents the achievement gap. The achievement gap is a term used to describe the ways in which a person’s race, ethnicity, social class, and several other factors on how they relate to a person’s academic performance or educational attainment. A person’s socioeconomic status, or SES, is one of is one of the highest observed disparities in academic achievement among students. According to the American Psychological Association, “children from low-SES households and communities develop academic skills more slowly compared to children from higher SES groups”(). Justice is an equal opportunity for education and academic success regardless of social class. To obtain equilibrium in America’s educational system, we must consider the needs of the students whose families fall into low-SES.

I’ve written much more since then, yet I honestly still don’t know what my strengths are. Maybe I still need a little more time to realize and see what they are or maybe someone else can see it themselves in the paragraph above. However, I can tell what my weakness. I’ve always had trouble with summarizing very broad topics, so much so that I had to narrow down the subject of my essay to something more specific. I didn’t mind doing this especially since we’re limited to one article.

Another thing I’m still trying to work on are the supporting sentences. While I know in my head what I’ll be writing, about I spent hours on deciding what exactly I’ll be arguing in the essay. I’ve also tried to use the 5 paragraph style essay that we discussed in class, but I’m not so sure it’ll work well with the points I’ve chosen to write about. I probably shouldn’t stress so much over it. I’m nearly finished, and I can’t wait to see what others have come up with. If you’re reading this and we’re in the same class then good luck!