A Persuasive Essay on Debt by Princess, Age 11

I was going through the stack of papers that Princess brought home from school yesterday and found this essay she wrote for school in March.

The assignment was to write a “Persuasive Essay” and they were given writing prompts like “Should kids be allowed to have cell phones in school?” or “Should the cafeteria offer pizza every day?”

Princess decided she didn’t like any of those topics and instead wrote on “Why you shouldn’t go into debt”.  Keep in mind-she only just turned 11, and she did not ask me about or receive any input or help from me on this paper-I didn’t even know she was writing it.  This is all straight from her:

“Mom, I need this” Sally said, “it’s everything I ever wanted!”  Sally said as she held up the game.

“Well” her mom said as she examined the game “Ok-but. . . ” her mom said as Sally interrupted with a sound like “oooowaaooa!” It was more wolf like sounding, as her mom said “Excuse me, but I was still talking Sally.” 

“Sorry” Sally said under her breath. 

“Anyways” Mother continued “. “OK, but you will work to pay me back, is that clear?”

“Clear” Sally said.  But Sally spent most days that summer raking leaves, or pulling weeds, doing laundry and making little money but she used every little bit of it to pay it off.

You shouldn’t go into debt, not only is it bad enough you have to pay off money you don’t have, but it effects every thing else in your economy.  So here’s some ways not to go into debt: 

1. Only buy things you need (not want).
2. Don’t tempt yourself with magazine sales, or window shopping.
3. Save your money for something you really want, don’t borrow.

Like Sally, she couldn’t pay it off.  So she needed to work extra hard to pay off what she was in debt for (and not what she wanted).  This is one of the reasons today why gas is going up, life is getting hard, jobs are hard to find, America is crumbling.  Debt is something we the next generation need to avoid.

Sally had what she wanted but was it worth the hard work she did to pay it off?  So next time you really want something, and you don’t have money, think about Sally’s lessons and ask if its’ really worth the hard work and debt you could be in.

I was so proud of her when I read it!  Oh, and her grade?  “Good approach to your argument.  A”