Evaluating "First Place: A Healing School for Homeless Children"

The sample essay I am evaluating is from “First Place: A Healing School for Homeless Children” by Marybeth Hamilton. It is an argument that is saying that First Place should continue getting public tax dollars to support their alternative school program because it helps the homeless children become more self-sufficient. It is an essay using the refutation strategy.

In Hamilton’s argument, she does a good job summarizing what the other’s point of view is. She talks about how people think that the school is too expensive, how they criticize the use funds on social services for the students instead of on education, how they don’t believe the short stay at the institute has positive long-term effects , and how they question removing the kids from mainstream classrooms. Hamilton takes each point logically and refutes them will her opinions. For example, she says that First Place will save money in the long run; it will help the family help the child; it will improve the self-esteem of the child even if they only stay for a little bit, and that it will help the child feel less alienated and more accepted when they return to the mainstream schools.

Her approach is to show the readers there is another side to the story. She is trying to convince them of the importance of the long-term benefits of this program and how it will improve the children’s lives beyond the classroom. I thought her arguments were valid and her logical approach made it easy to follow.

Hamilton was aware of the opposing views and offered credible benefits to the program to convince me it was theoretically worth the money. However, I do not think that Hamilton gave enough actual facts. She did not give statistics to show how First Place helps the homeless children succeed and how specifically they improved. She only gave one example, saying according to a teacher that “some students actually made a three-grade level improvement in one year”. This is a bit vague. Also, she did not give any numbers for how much the program costs for the child. It would be nice to know about the specific programs, number of teachers, and the candidates so we can make our own judgment.