Andrew Cohen and Katie OConnorMrs. ReisingerAP Language and Comp9 January 2015Outline for Response to IR PromptStance: Due to graphic and traumatic content in literary pieces, trigger warnings should be added for the protection of students wellbeing. Claim 1: Assigned readings that students are required to participate in for graded work as a part of the established curriculum have proved to be potentially harmful and disturbing without proper warnings attached. During a recent assignment in this very class, one of the short pieces, Thanksgiving in Mongolia, included a graphic description of childbirth in a hotel bathroom. In her frustration and confusion, author Ariel Levy describes how [she] yanked [the umbilical cord] out of [herself] with one swift, violent tug (Levy). In the Great American Novel, Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield hires a prostitute, and, when he doesnt pay her the requested 10 dollars, is beaten senseless by the prostitutes manager. In E. Weisels commonly taught Holocaust novel, Night, many atrocities of the Nazi extermination camps are described in detail, among them the throwing of babies into a pit and their subsequent burning alive.Concluding Sentence: These and many other books that are commonly included in school curriculums can present upsetting descriptions of sensitive topics without warnings. Claim 2: If students are unknowingly exposed to these vivid and alarming texts, it has the potential to not only revive past traumas, but also cause future disruptions to their lives. In Central Bucks South, a student was required to read an article about the damaging effects of cancer. Due to the recent death of her grandmother and the history of cancer in her family, the student was incredibly upset and distraught that she had no warning of the contents of the reading. When reading The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair, the depictions of meat packing and unsanitary conditions have left many questioning the food they eat, even getting violently sick when around raw meat, myself included. While taking a credit of gym over the summer, the class was required to learn about the food industry and where food comes from. To do this, a graphic documentary showing animal abuse and slaughter was presented to the class, and I didnt eat for the rest of the day and was hesitant to eat anything the remainder of the week. Since then, I have been a vegetarian. This would be used as a loose reference in supplement to the previous bullet Concluding Sentence: Unexpected triggers have the potential to harm students by recalling a previous experience that proved upsetting for a student and prompting changes in a students future life. Claim 3: The harm that is caused by not providing warnings is made even more apparent when one can see the good done by giving students options During frog dissections, students are given the option of not performing a live dissection, but can perform an online activity giving them the same knowledge without causing them unnecessary distress. Students are given the option of walking out of the room during scenes in movies when they are shown or intense topics and situations are discussed, such as the Freshman Drug Assembly. Parents have the option in some cases to sign papers that would remove their students from activities or readings they know would be traumatic, but that option is not always given, and some students want to make the choice on their own.Concluding Sentence: The opportunity for students and parents to opt out of certain activities and presentations provided by other academic situations would also be extremely beneficial before students read concerning or potentially harmful texts. Refutation: Many say that a trigger warnings on books would be unnecessary, and would ruin the literary merit of the work. Why, then, do most other creative industries including, but not limited to, Television (ratings for TV shows) Movies (Also ratings, and age limits to ticket purchasing) Previews (given a title screen before) Music (explicit labels) Adult Films (rating system) Online Media (Youtube/Tumblr) Museums (Times Square discovery Pompeii exhibit allows you to bypass viewings of dead body molds) Rollercoasters and thrill rides Warnings give parents the opportunity to decide what their children can handle and be exposed to in these other media forms; it should come logically that literature should be expected to follow the same practices, especially in an academic setting.Conclusion: Without warnings in books, students are shocked by graphic and traumatic content, which can put them off from future literary endeavors and disrupt their lives permanently.