Pro-con vs. argument essays

When slating your own ideas on a certain subject, it is not unusual to take one side or the other. But in some cases it can occur that you have no particular opinion on the topic and therefore an argument arises in which you do not take sides and instead lay out the facts for the reader to decide which side he or she, if also undecided, will take.

In the essays “The case for college” and “I’m not racist but..”, the authors do not take any particular sides. Instead they present you with information on both sides of the argument and let you decide what you would like to think. This is very visible in “The case for college”, where Mrs. Bird uses many examples to show you actual circumstances that occur. In this essay she tells us how today’s society is pretty much brainwashed to think that all high school graduates must go to college or they will not succeed in life. In the reality of this many that have given into the pressure and pursued the college experience have come to realize that although we think our economy can’t take in a large quantity of untrained 18-year-olds, it is also true that it can not take in a large number of trained 21-year-olds.

When asking college graduates what they felt that they actually came away from college with, a large number responded to this question not with the answer of intellectual learning, but with personal development. Many felt that the real value of their college experience actually had nothing to do with the curriculum, but with the social factor of getting along with others. So one must wonder why you would choose a college experience that has nothing to do with intellectual growth when there is so much information just sitting at your local library or book store? In today’s day and age there are so many different types of information available to us that it is hard to choose just one way. This is where Mrs. Bird’s essay comes into the sense of being a true argument essay as to a pro versus con. She does not tell you what to think but instead tells you that there are other facts and ways of going about things and it is up to you to decide.

In the essay “I’m not racist but..”, there are many prime examples of both sides of the argument. The title of this essay is a phrase that is too often than not used with a racist comment, and is stemmed from ignorance that comes from lack of experience. Lets take the mover for example. As stated in the essay, he is a friendly man who assumed by the stereotypes he has encountered that the Chinese are the worst drivers on the road. We must also take into consideration that the mover, like many people, didn’t necessarily know that he was using a term of racial abuse. Many think of terms such as “honky” or “chink” as simple descriptive words. , and such uses of these words does not always mean that the person using them has extreme racial or cultural distaste, just merely a sense of ignorance or stupidity.

Mr. Bissondath is also quick to state the opposing argument that we must accept the simple fact that racism for one is racism for others. We must be careful that in acknowledging the problem we do not end up creating it. Our society is clearly acceptant of different channels, awards shows, associations, etc for people of different races, but what would the reaction be if they had these things for only whites also? The Association of Black Nurses, the Association of White Nurses. Would there be a problem there? The author clearly states the we have a society that is composed of people who depend of conflict for their sense of self; the people who need to feel that they are either victims or purveyors of racism. So is racism merely based on stupidity and unwillful ignorance or on basic racial hatred? The author leaves this up to you to decide.

In pro-con versus argument essays, the authors are trying to pertain different information to their readers. In pro versus con pieces, you are given information on what the author ‘s opinion of the certain topic or subject is. In argument essays you are allowed to think for yourself because the author gives you all of the facts on the particular subject, not just a one sided approach. The argument format is one that will allow the reader to make up their own mind on the subject, whereas in pro versus con they will either agree or disagree and will never really know the facts to the side of the topic they are against because in the back of their minds they won’t really want to know them.

The reader will start off with a negative look at the paper if it is titled “Why I dislike beetles” and they are an avid beetle enthusiast. On the other hand, if the paper is called “The case of the beetles”, the reader might wonder what it is that the paper is trying to pertain to them and will likely want to know more. The will get all the facts on the beetle, not just the negative or the positive, and will be more informed on the topic in general. You truly cannot say that one type of essay is better in the pro-con versus argument battle, but you can say that each have their own specific things that can help or not help the reader.