YES! Exemplary Essay Project
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Our education outreach program is pleased to launch the YES! Exemplary Essay Project. The project demonstrates how teachers can use YES! resources, and provides students an opportunity to voice their opinions and show off their stellar writing. Throughout the year we will feature essays by students that respond to a particular YES! article.
Students in Julie Ruth's sophomore language arts class at West Valley High School in Fairbanks, Alaska read the YES! article, The City That Ended Hunger, by Frances Moore Lappé and responded to the question: What does the author mean when she says "Hunger is not caused by a scarcity of food but a scarcity of democracy." How does this statement reflect on Belo Horizonte?
We are delighted to feature two of their wonderful essays here:
True Democracy, by Katelynne Lingaas
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The city of Belo Horizonte puts “Direct From the Country” farmer produce stands throughout busy downtown areas. Photo by Leah Rimkus |
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The first line of the article reads, “Hunger is not caused by a scarcity of food but a scarcity of democracy.” This caught me off guard and I disagreed with it; however, I didn’t know what the real definition of democracy was until I looked it up. In Webster’s Dictionary it says that democracy is “the principle of equality of rights, opportunity, and treatment, or the practice of this principle.” It still didn’t make any sense to me why democracy and hunger would be so closely related. As I read the article, the answers to my questions were found, and we see that democracy helped to get the people of Belo Horizonte the right to food. This helped those producing the food and in the end resulted in a healthy, well-fed community. Read more...
National Hunger, by Courtney Kisner
I know most students would not admit to "enjoying" writing an essay,
but the kids enjoyed this essay project-- seriously! They liked the
sociological aspect of it, the debates it generated, and especially how
it transcended the political labels of"liberal" and "conservative."
Julie Ruth, 10th grade language arts teacher, West Valley High School, Fairbanks, Alaska
Food stamps in hand, armed and ready, a single mother of three illustrates a look of shame and solemnity as she approaches the check-out counter. This was the first, but definitely not the last indignant experience she would be having. Since her husband left her while she was pregnant with her set of twins, and due to the demanding recession of the United States, this working mother is forced into her only means of survival aside from homelessness. A situation like this is not hard to stumble upon, even in wealthiest nation in the world. Since the United States is supposed to represent pride, why are we doing little when it comes to instilling hope in fellow Americans? Read more...
