Shaparan Mubin
Summer Assignment
ELA Regents Responses; Essay
ELA writing in steps

ELA Regents Responses

We were born with a brain and we should use it correctly. From all the way back to 1983, the internet has roamed and conquered almost the entire population. The internet was made publicly available 10 years later in 1993. The internet has been corrupting minds and distracting people from daily causes, as well as forgetting to make people use their brain. All people do now is go on Google and search up the question instead of making them think. The internet has an extremely negative effect on everybody and here is why.

There are multiple reasons why the internet is having a negative effect on people but I’ll list 3. The internet is making kids forget that they have a brain. Before kids used to use their brain and think about questions for math or english, science or history. Nowadays kids use the internet and find answers to questions 2x faster than they would using their brain. This makes their brain underdeveloped. According to the passage, OK, Google, Where Did I Put My Thinking Cap?, “‘What they would do is start googling the question, ‘how does a novel represent humanity?’” This shows that the students are not using their brain therefore they aren’t learning anything, So reading a book or learning something in real life can process information better than searching up an answer can.

The internet is making kids stupider each time they use it. There is another reason why the internet is making kids more stupid, Distractions. There tends to be a distraction here and there during studying or school, but when you play video games it's a different consequence. Students tend to ignore doing homework and play video games or do something different. According to the passage, Author Nicholas Carr: The Web Shatters Focus, Rewires Brains, “When we go online, we enter an environment that promotes cursory reading, hurried and distracted thinking, and superficial learning” and “Even if the internet grants us easy access to vast amounts of information, it is turning us into shallow thinkers, literally changing the structure of our brain.” This shows that the internet isn’t allowing us to use our brain, causing us to just depend on searching up everything to get information which won’t help us. Going on the internet also distracts us from understanding many things.

Many state that the internet is a good way to find information and it helps many students find answers quickly so the rest of their free time they can spend it by doing something “productive”, it would be much better to understand the information instead of just finding it and calling it a day. If we had a child from before the internet was made, and a child after the internet was made next to each other, you would’ve seen that the child before the internet was made has a brain 2x more active. This shows that the internet really does differentiate with what cause it is being used for. But the scary part is that we are becoming smarter in different ways, but stupider on deeper levels. According to the passage, The Memex in Your Pocket, “The same internet that relatively makes us smarter in superficial ways may also make us stupider in deeper levels.” This shows that the internet can indeed help make us smarter but ultimately stupider. The internet is not a good way to find information and it would be better to study from a book so you could understand the information that is being presented and not just search the answer up.

Writing Diagnostic

Writing in Steps

Do you want to eat a treat and live longer because of it? Apples are a good fit because they are tasty, good for you, and help you with weight control or medical problems. Apples can also keep the doctors away. Apples will help you with hunger, health, and appreciation. If you give your teacher an apple, that’s both courtesy and the teacher will feel happy. If you gave somebody that doesn’t have much, e.g a homeless man, he wouldn’t starve throughout the day. The man would bless you and be grateful for the apple. An apple would really change somebody’s or your day. 3/3

Ever heard of the phrase an apple a day keeps the doctor away or an apple a day keeps cancer away? This is in fact true! An apple a day can keep various diseases away from your body, both inner and outer. They help with decreasing viruses in your body and keeping it germ free. It also helps with cardiovascular diseases which if not taken care of can bring in serious problems such as heart disease or heart attack. Let’s not forget about cancer though, apples help with keeping cancer away from your body. You can still get cancer but the chance is lower and when you’re dealing with cancer, the lower chance the better. Apples really can help you with certain things. ¾ missing concluding sentence

Apples will help you with more than just diseases, have you ever given somebody anything and feel happy or warm in your heart? That same feel can apply to apples. If you give somebody an apple, e.g your teacher, they will be happy and say thank you. If you give an apple to a homeless person, they won’t starve for the day and you will feel happy. That feeling will make you feel happy and both the homeless person/teacher. In the end it is a win win. Apples can help you with more than just diseases, they can help you with your friends/other people as well.

Summative Essay Unit 1

Bad behaviour can be expressed through everyday common activities. Lying is a great example of bad behaviour, lying is already considered bad and lying to somebody that has their trust in you is even worse. Everyday people cause problems in society, whether it be a personal problem or a problem that affects the community. In “Button, Button” by Richard Matheson, Norma wants to press the red button because of her gluttony. She wants money and pressing the button will give her money, in exchange for a life. In “Ruthless” by William DeMille, Judson wants to kill the person who stole his liquor because of his anger and selfishness. Bad behaviour happens in the world because of the indignancy, selfishness, and gluttony of many people.

[Supporting Paragraphs] Indignancy is a big reason why many people do bad things. In general, anger usually correlates to why people are doing these actions. From the passage “Ruthless” by William DeMille, we notice all of what we stated before is true. Judson had his liquor stolen by somebody, and because of his anger he wants to get back at him by killing him. He is selfish, thinking about himself and nothing about what others would like. Judson tells his wife to not worry about “her poor, abused little” burglar, nobody else will be affected if they don’t have it coming for them (DeMille 25). This shows Judson only cares about being vindictive and selfish. Judson does not care about whatever situation they are in, he is just mad his liquor was stolen, that is why he did a bad thing. This shows indignancy is a big part of bad behavior. From this story we can see that bad behaviour can happen because of indignancy.

Gluttony is in every person, whether it be shown physically or mentally, at the end of the day it is still there. Many people commit bad behaviour and crimes over things they do not have, which is gluttony at its finest. The passage “Button, Button” by Richard Matheson shows Norma, a character, doing bad things over her gluttony and selfishness. In the story, if you press a button, you get 50k but with all good things come bad things to create an equilibrium, A random person on earth will die. Norma asks Arthur that what if the person being killed is a diseased native in the Congo or some old Chinese peasant 10k miles away (Matheson 100)? Arthur explains that it is still wrong to do such foul acts over money. Norma does not listen and still presses the button, which shows Norma does not care about what other people think, she just cares about her own self interest. In the end, Arthur is the one killed and Norma suffers. This shows gluttony can be a part of why people commit bad crimes.

Many people disagree, stating that people do bad things for different reasons, for maybe self enjoyment or pleasure. If we statistically look at that answer, we can estimate that less than 10% of the criminal population do bad crimes over personal enjoyment. People having bad behaviour usually involve them being excluded from things at a young age, or much more personal issues. Gluttony, Indignancy, and Selfishness are reasons why people do bad things as well. In both passages, selfishness was a reason why the main characters did bad things. Norma wanted money and did not think of anything other than herself, being selfish. Judson only thought about getting revenge and did not care about the consequences or reasons on why the man stole it, also showing selfishness. These two articles show selfishness could be a sign of bad behaviour in the real world.

[Conclusion] In both “Button, Button'' and “Ruthless” the characters are seen doing bad things over jealousy and greed, indignancy and anger, and of course, selfishness. In “Button, Button '', Arthur is seen telling Norma not to press the button or do anything with it, but norma presses the button anyway causing a huge mess. In “Ruthless”, Judson's wife, Marcia, is trying to tell Judson not to kill the whiskey stealer but Judson still wants to kill him. Many people do bad things every day, and I believe these stories can relate, but there are reasons behind it, and I’m sure these reasons can be changed or avoided later on.

Works Cited

DeMille, William. "Ruthless." Ruthless (1945): pages. Commonlit. Web. December 6 2021.

Matheson, Richard. "Button, Button" Button, Button (1953) pages 160. Commonlit Web, December 6 2021.