Anna Leonard 11/6/11 Persuasive Speech outline Introduction I.

Professor Douglass daughters became more interested in geography when they lived abroad or went on holiday. a. As Alma College students you are required to take an S-Course. b. When they travel abroad or in the United States they are more likely going to want to know the whys and hows of the location that theyre in. c. Taking a geography course is going to help them because it is going to help them create a context of their location as they explore it. II. To persuade my audience to take a geography course at Alma College. III. Students should take a geography class at Alma College to help them see the importance of geography and how geography can positively affect them. IV. First, I will address the geography class problem. Then, I will talk about how easy the solution is. Next, I will show you how that solution has enlightened other people. Body I. Most students in the United States are never exposed to an adequate geography education. a. Professor de Blij (Retired MSU professor) said in this book Why Geography Matters that an average US student can go from kindergarten to grad school without taking a single decent course of geography. b. Most people in our class have been exposed to 3 or less geography classes throughout their pre-college academic careers. Most of those people have only taken 1 geography course. c. A little less than a fourth of the class had only been exposed to memorization in their exposure of geography. d. Geography means earth writing, or writing about the earth, how can you write about the earth if you just know the names of countries. e. From my last speech, understanding the hows and whys of geography is more important than just knowing the countries

and rivers because of our place in the rapidly changing world. Dr. Douglas II. It is very easy to sign up for a geography course. Some of you may want to take a geography course but cant fit in their schedule. If you cant take it this year consider taking it next year. a. Only 2 credits. b. Get information from wide range of fields. Build off fields youve studied. III. If you take a geography class you will start looking outward at how geography affects other nations and how it affects the US. IV. One of Dr. Douglass students is studying the impact of the tsunami and earthquake in Japan. a. Through physical geography she understood how and why it happened. i. Japan is on the ring of fire-ring of volcanos. 1. Japans geographic instability is affected by it being on the ring of fire. 2. 1000 earthquakes a year b. In the future, the Japanese cabinet might build a back up city to Tokyo. V. Another student is studying the drug problem in Mexico that is related to the market for drugs in the US. a. We need to have knowledge about what happens in the countries surrounding us because they affect the US. Conclusion (In conclusion) I. You have learned a. The American education has not properly prepared its graduates for interacting with the global world. b. The solution is taking a geography class at Alma College. c. Taking a geography class has expanded some students views of the world; in the same way it can expand your views. II. I believe that students should be required to take a geography class. III. I hope that through taking a geography course they will see its importance.
IV. Most of you are already interested in taking a geography course. All you need to do is take it.