Once again, this Reading is meant to be very loose in scope so that you can find texts you’re interested in!

For this Compare and Contrast exercise, the theme is: time.

This could be the past vs. the present or even the present vs. the future — how has our society and culture changed over time? How has being young, working, career paths, values, and beliefs shifted?

How have our institutions changed? What was school like in the past as opposed to today? How has our justice system altered? How have our government and political parties shifted?

How have our interests and tastes changed? From the food we eat, the drinks we drink, the houses we live in, the clothes we wear, our pets, the movies we watch, the advertisements we’re forced to endure, radio to podcasts, the way we interact with the world is constantly changing (for better or worse, and sometimes both).

And of course, we are continuing to speculate how this might even change in the future — how might we prophecy how these elements of our lives will continue to evolve into the future?

Locate a text that compares and contrasts a topic across time.

PROMPTS:

1. What is the central thesis of this text? Provide a quote in in-text MLA format to substantiate your answer.

2. Does the text claim whether these changes are good or bad? If so, what is their justification — regardless of the text’s conclusions, do you think this is a positive or negative change (or maybe a little of both)? Why or why not? Provide a quote in in-text MLA format to substantiate your answer.

4. Cite this source in MLA format.