Persuasive Speech

Why You Should Volunteer for Teach for America

: Civic volunteerism for children reaps personal benefits in your future career

Specific purpose : To convince adult audience to volunteer for Teach for America in the near future

Thesis statement : Volunteering for Teach for America will improve you career

INTRODUCTION

Good day . I am here today to light a fire in your minds about children education , and our common future . At the end of my remarks I hope that you will leave this room a changed person , someone who is able to look

br at the world with open eyes , and someone with the courage to say Yes I will stand up and make a difference ' Today in our country nine-year-olds growing up in low-income communities are already three grade levels behind their peers in high-income communities [1] . Half of them won 't graduate from high school [2] . The national graduation rate of the class of 2001 was 68 percent with nearly one-third of all public high school students failing to graduate and overall , the dropout rate for all students in the USA is the highest among developed nations [3-4] . Those who do graduate will , on average , read and do math at the level of eighth graders in high-income communities . Even more shocking is how this problem affects only some groups and not others . For instance For instance , historically disadvantaged minority groups such as Black , Hispanic , and American Indian have only a fifty-fifty chance of graduation whereas the graduation rates for Whites and Asians are the high 75 and 77 percent [5] . Graduation rates for students who attended very racially segregated , high poverty , urban school districts were also 15 to 18 percent behind their peers

Everyone in the room can agree that high school graduation is a very important , not if essential step in an individual 's life towards social and economic advancement and well-being . Individuals with higher education credentials receive higher income , are less dependent on public or government assistance , and have more stable employment [6] Those with a higher education are also less likely to experience such societal problems as incarceration , criminal victimization , reports of ill-health , and early childbearing . Many factors affect school success and graduation rates , but school size , school quality as in regards to teacher numbers , socioeconomic status , and racial-ethnic disparities are the major recurring problems affecting graduation rates and further educational success

Here 's some bullet points to take home

Schools in urban and very poor districts will not have the proper staff or materials to teach an effective program

The more students a school has the less personal and concentrated the curriculum will be and the lower the graduation rates

If students feel no one cares about them they will in turn stop trying and will quit

Students need tutors or mentors that are academically successful minority peers or adults because many minority students do not have these positive role models to look up to

What is being done ? One example of a successful program is the...