Essays and reflection

This essay argues that difference does not weaken connection. It can strengthen connection when people engage one another with curiosity, identity security, and awareness of structural power.

• Core idea: meaningful connection depends on intentional dialogue, not just proximity or shared space.
• Throughline: moves from personal experiences in intersession and class dialogue into broader questions of belonging and inequity.
• Frameworks used: dialogue, the crisis of connection, the cycle of socialization, the single story, and oppression as a structural force.

The piece connects campus experiences with frameworks from Murthy, Way et al., Harro, Adichie, Young, and Yankelovich to show that belonging is shaped both by interpersonal honesty and by institutional access.

This essay examines the Johnson-Reed Act as more than a border-control law. It frames the act as a national hospitality system that decided who could be welcomed into the United States and who would be excluded.

• Core idea: immigration policy can function like a gatekeeping script for belonging.
• Historical lens: shows how quota rules privileged northern and western Europe while restricting southern and eastern Europe and barring most Asian immigrants.
• Personal lens: reflects on what that history means from the perspective of a Nigerian American student considering national identity and opportunity.

The essay uses the metaphor of the nation as a home and ties immigration policy to broader questions of power, access, and the difference between the idea of welcome and the practice of exclusion.

This assignment reflects on a structured disagreement about whether teachers should replace tests with projects as the main form of assessment in schools.

• Core idea: tests and projects measure different parts of learning, so a balanced system often works best.
• Arguments surfaced: projects support deeper engagement, collaboration, and real-world skill building; tests support standardization, clarity, and individual accountability.
• Reflection: the essay considers how personal school experience shaped the discussion and where stronger evidence or research could have improved the conversation.

Rather than forcing a winner, the piece focuses on what productive disagreement can reveal about fairness, creativity, implementation, and what schools are actually trying to measure.