UWP Lecturers marijuana legalization

[Gray Scott]

Sandy,

Actually, the ballot measure might be leading indirectly to their topic selection, without them being aware of the measure itself. The fact such a ballot measure exists boosts the likelihood that articles on the subject pop to the top of news searches, that the subject pops up more on debate aggregators (as Kathleen noted), and that searches through essay mills for papers pull them up. It also means that other classes (sociology, political science, whatever) are more likely to be discussing the subject than in previous terms. All of this, combined with the fact that legalization papers have been popular choices among students and recycling cheaters for a while, might create a spike like the one you're reporting. 

Oh, hey. It just occurred to me that this creates a great opportunity for an exercise in 1B classes: We can have students Speculate about the Causes of the increase in the frequency of marijuana papers, as a way to introduce that genre. It's a good example of a proper speculative topic, and they aren't likely to have many preconceived theories.

- Gray
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: sbaringer at gmail.com 
  To: englecturers at lists.ucr.edu 
  Sent: Wednesday, May 05, 2010 5:01 PM
  Subject: Re: UWP Lecturers marijuana legalization


  Yes, that might be it, but I'd have to give my students more credit for 
  knowing what's going on with ballot initiatives than they otherwise seem to.

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: "John Stamp" <john.stamp at ucr.edu>
  To: <englecturers at lists.ucr.edu>
  Sent: Wednesday, May 05, 2010 3:38 PM
  Subject: Re: UWP Lecturers marijuana legalization


  > On Wednesday, May 05, 2010 02:04:29 pm sbaringer at gmail.com wrote:
  >> Does anyone know of a particular reason why my students this year
  >> have suddenly developed a fascination with the issue of marijuana
  >> legalization?  Has the issue been addressed in a gen ed course, or
  >> perhaps Engl 4?
  >>
  >> - Sandy Baringer
  >
  > Maybe it's because of the initiative that recently qualified for
  > November's ballot: "Changes California Law to Legalize Marijuana and
  > Allow It to Be Regulated and Taxed."
  >
  > http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/ballot-measures/qualified-ballot-measures.htm
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