Extra Credit

Honors English 11 Extra Credit: “Manifesto of Me”

The only extra credit assignment offered in Honors English 11 is a lengthy declaration of your beliefs. It can be submitted by the end of any nine weeks period to earn +2% to your nine weeks grade.  

REQUIREMENTS: 5+ full pages, double-spaced, with 1" margins and MLA heading.  If it is not a FULL five pages, it will not be accepted. This is a full explanation of your views on complicated topics and your discussion of them should be comprehensive.  

This may be written in first person and you may title each section (extra spaces, titles are not included in the five pages - go onto to the sixth page if necessary). 

You don't need to answer all of the follow-up questions under each topic, but you must fully explain your view of... 

God 

Does he/she/they/it exist? Does he involve himself in man's affairs? Are there miracles? Is there an afterlife? Are there many paths to God or just one? How can poverty, genocide and disenfranchised peoples exist if a loving God exists?

Man

Is man (humankind) good, evil or neither? What is man’s ultimate purpose (to find pleasure, purpose, goodness?)? To what degree does man have free will? To what degree is a person a product of their environment? What is man’s relationship to technology? Is technology ultimately good for mankind? Will man eventually integrate with technology?

Society

Is society good or evil? To what degree should a person sacrifice their needs for society? Is altruism a good thing? Is society improving or degenerating?

Nature

Is nature at odds with man or at one with man? Is nature for man's use or to be respected by man? Should man manipulate nature (DNA, climate, etc.) for our own purposes?

Art/Literature 

Is it important to our existence even when it can't be commoditized? How should art be judged? What should be done about AI and art?