Savannah Clinton

A3
Reflection- Fatherhood
As I began working on this essay, I had trouble deciding which position I wanted to take.
While I blatantly disagreed with the excerpt and therefore wanted to take the refute position, I
settled on the qualify position in the original; the prompt asked simply for comment upon the
value of fathers, and not the value of the excerpt. As I wrote however, I realized that I actually
dont think fathers are necessary at all. Unfortunately at this point the timer prevented me from
modifying what I already had so I just finished it, but upon revision I switched to the position
that had been appealing in the first place. I was mildly interested in the topic, which made
finishing the essay more enjoyable, as did the type of essay in and of itself. Of the three types
covered by the course, the argument essays allow the most free reign; I dont feel like Im
regurgitating what is already in front of me as in the other two essay types. In some cases, having
to come up with your evidence is more difficult but thanks to another AP course, United States
History, I had plenty of concrete historical evidence for most prompts. For example, and specific
to this piece, I tied in The Seneca Falls Convention and extended the concept to modern day life.
Other strengths of this essay include having personal experience. Because my dad was in the
military, Ive lived in what was essentially a single parent home as well as one with both parents
present now that hes retired. Having seen both sides, I was well informed which helped me write
this essay. Finally, as I tend to reject traditional values in personal life, it was fun to work on a
prompt about the importance of a traditional family.