Persuasive Essays Are Bad Assignments There is no logical reason to write a persuasive essay for an English class. Persuasive essays definitely do not need to be a requirement for high school students. The definition of "persuade- in Webster's New College Dictionary is: To induce one to believe or do something; to argue into an opinion or procedure; to plead with, urge. I have always thought that someone who let his own opinion be changed by someone else is a person who lacks a strong will.
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I understand that some people have a certain talent for convincing other people, but I personally would not change my mind about a subject unless I was unsure about that subject in the first place. I became aware of one personal trait when writing this paper -- that is I do not really care about much. I have no intention of letting other people know about the few things that I do care about either. I found it pointless to try to write a persuasive essay about a subject for which I do not care. The only thing I could think to try to convince people to do was to refuse to write a persuasive essay ever again.
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I faced a kind of moral paradox with this, though. If I wrote a persuasive essay telling people not to write persuasive essays, what kind of example would I be? I was convinced that I was not going to do this paper, but in a showing of my own lack of will, I was bribed into writing this essay. I realize that teachers would be angry about this somewhat counterproductive essay, but nevertheless students should refuse to write persuasive essays unless their own will convinces them to do so.
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People of my age do not really have many reasons to complain. Most persuasive essays written by adolescents are fluff in the eyes of authority anyway. Sure, you could write a persuasive essay about plenty of subjects. For example, "Kids should be allowed to skateboard anywhere they want."" It's a perfectly fine essay for someone who really cares about it.