Persuasive Essay - Draft

In addressing the issue of Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender adoption, better known as LGBT adoption, one must recognize the importance of the “best interests of the child” standard. This moral idea simply states that the decisions the court makes regarding a child’s placement must directly reflect what would be best for the child, and no one else. This standard is very flexible and heavily dependent upon the circumstances involving each individual case. Generally, this is the largest concern when it comes to LGBT adoption. So, do same-sex couples lack the skills to successfully raise a child? To date, all research in the area of LGBT adoption has come to the same conclusion: Children of LGBT parents grow up as successful as those of heterosexual parents, and are no less happy and well-adjusted. This proves that (In this essay I am going to convince you that) it is not in the best interests of the child to disallow LGBT adoption.

            A common argument against homosexual adoption is that every child should have a male and female role model to guide them through the process of growing up. Though this argument is valid, it is not only the parents of an adolescent who influence their behavior. Society and the social environment in which the child is raised has an effect as well.  Children of single parents are able to find positive male and female role models within their family members and friends. This is the same, and should be considered the same, for children of LGBT parents. Good parenting is not influenced by the orientation of the couple, but rather by the parents’ ability to create a loving, supportive home – an ability that does not rely on whether a parent is gay or straight. LGBT couples have the same ability to mold a child in to an upstanding, successful, intelligent citizen, as straight parents.

Persuasive Essay - Draft

In addressing the issue of Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender adoption, better known as LGBT adoption, one must recognize the importance of the “best interests of the child” standard. This moral idea simply states that the decisions the court makes regarding a child’s placement must directly reflect what would be best for the child, and no one else. This standard is very flexible and heavily dependent upon the circumstances involving each individual case. Generally, this is the largest concern when it comes to LGBT adoption. So, do same-sex couples lack the skills to successfully raise a child? To date, all research in the area of LGBT adoption has come to the same conclusion: Children of LGBT parents grow up as successful as those of heterosexual parents, and are no less happy and well-adjusted. This proves that (In this essay I am going to convince you that) it is not in the best interests of the child to disallow LGBT adoption.

            A common argument against homosexual adoption is that every child should have a male and female role model to guide them through the process of growing up. Though this argument is valid, it is not only the parents of an adolescent who influence their behavior. Society and the social environment in which the child is raised has an effect as well.  Children of single parents are able to find positive male and female role models within their family members and friends. This is the same, and should be considered the same, for children of LGBT parents. Good parenting is not influenced by the orientation of the couple, but rather by the parents’ ability to create a loving, supportive home – an ability that does not rely on whether a parent is gay or straight. LGBT couples have the same ability to mold a child in to an upstanding, successful, intelligent citizen, as straight parents.

Exercise : Punctuation Exercise

Put in semicolons, colons, dashes, quotation marks, Italics (use an underline), and parentheses where ever they are needed in the following sentences.

1. The men in question: Harold Keene, Jim Peterson, and Gerald Greene deserve awards.

2. Several countries participated in the airlift: Italy, Belgium, France, and Luxembourg.

3. “Only one course was open to us, surrender,” said the ex-major, and we did.

4. Judge Carswell, later to be nominated for the Supreme Court, had ruled against civil rights.

5. In last week's New Yorker, one of my favorite magazines, I enjoyed reading Leland's article “How Not to Go Camping.”

6. “Yes,” Jim said, “I'll be home by ten.”

7. There was only one thing to do, study till dawn.

8. Montaigne wrote the following, “A wise man never loses anything, if he has himself.”

9. The following are the primary colors: red, blue, and yellow.

10. Arriving on the 8:10 plane were Liz Brooks, my old roommate, her husband, and Tim, their son.

11. When the teacher commented that her spelling was poor, Lynn replied, “All the members of my family are poor spellers. Why not me?”

12. He used the phrase “you know” so often that I finally said “No, I don't know.”

13. The automobile dealer handled three makes of cars: Volkswagens, Porsches, and Mercedes Benz.

14. Though Phil said he would arrive on the 9:19 flight, he came instead on the 10:36 flight.

15. “Whoever thought,” said Helen, “that Jack would be elected class president?”

16. In baseball, a “show boat” is a man who shows off.

17. The minister quoted “Isaiah 5:21” in last Sunday's sermon.

18. There was a very interesting article entitled “The New Rage for Folk Singing” in last Sunday's “New York Times” newspaper.

19. “Whoever is elected secretary of the club: Ashley, or Chandra, or Aisha must be prepared to do a great deal of work, “said Jumita, the previous secretary.

20. Darwin's “On the Origin of Species 1859” caused great controversy when it appeared.

English Class

I came to Langley Fine Arts School at the very end of grade eight. I left my previous school with three weeks left until the end of the year. The school I came from was still on a linear system for grade eight, while LFAS ran under a semester system. I missed the last three weeks of Language arts eight for that year. My first real English class experience was in grade nine, sitting in this very classroom, under the instruction of Mr. Olding after Mrs. Brewer had left our school. I had never been in a classroom strictly dedicated to the English language considering my previous school titled the course "Humanities," teaching Language arts and Social studies in one given time slot. I was excited to have a full hour during the day when I could focus on writing and improve my vocabulary.


I loved having Mrs. Brewer as a teacher. The way she taught the course made a lot of sense to me. I remember being completely engaged in her class, regardless of it being my first class of the day. When she retired near the middle of the semester we had a new teacher come in to take over. His name was Mr. Olding and our personalities clashed. I didn't like him and I had convinced myself that he didn't like me. Of course, I was young, opinionated, and rather ignorant. Once I had myself sure of something I wouldn't change my mind. I think this made my English class experience a lot worse than It could have been. I chose not to enjoy the course, and so I didn't. I didn't like his ideas, or the way he would put down the ideas of student in the class because they didn't coincide with his own opinion. Honestly, I disliked him more as a person than as a teacher.

That is that.