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ESSAY: Central Illinois farm towns
Question: What do you think life is like
in a central Illinois farm town - the good and bad points?
What do you think the people are like who live there?
Which is a better place to live - Chicago or a small farm town?
Why?
(write at least two paragraphs)
[ Maine East: Freshman Academy ]
[ Maine West ]
[ Benton Middle School ]
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Maine East: Freshman Academy
(morning)
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N.B. The M and F after each essay refer to the student's
gender. Spelling and grammar have not been corrected,
per the teachers' request except in cases where misunderstanding
is likely.
1- I don’t know what they are like. I’ve never been their.
Chicago is a better place to live in.
(F who has never visited a Central Illinois farm town)
2- Well, what I think is that, it‘s good in a way to live in central
Illinois farm town, because there is less
violentance, less air pollution, not as many gangs. you have
more room, like a bigger yard. The bad thing is
that you don’t have to many friends, because the houses are farther
apart from each other. Also, that its
farther away from where you want to get, like if you want to go to
the movies or the mall, you can’t get there.
I think that the people who live there are probably friendler because
they live in a different of illinois and
there isn’t so much violence.
I think its better to live in chicago because you are closer to every
thing that you need, like stores, doctors, friends/family.
(F who has visited a Central Illinois farm town)
3- I think that it is better to live in a small farm town because first
of all you pretty much don’t have to care
about things in the big city. I mean there are no gangs in a
small farm town. Chicago is full of gangs all
diffrent kinds. School is probably better in small farm towns
there are not as many students like there is in a
Chicago town. People there are probably more respectful and civilized
than they are here.
I actually would rather live in a small town than here in chicago.
Then I would have less things to worry about. This is what I think.
(F who has visited a Central Illinois farm town)
4- The good points are that its nice and quiet, its natural all around
you; The bad points are you have to go to
school very far away from where you live, it would be lonely there.
The people are probably nice but very
quiet. They are use to not talking.
I would rather live in Chicago because its nicer. I know
its not quiet but its good to around lots of people and
you’re not lonely and the schools are close to where you live.
(F who has never visited a Central Illinois farm town)
5- I think that life in a farm town would be good because you wouldn’t
go to the mall you wouldn’t go to
night clubs and there isn’t a mall. I think people who live down
there are like used to that not too many
streets or malls.
I think the better place to live would be chicago ‘cause you
have more education. more communication
more night clubs more gangs and better things.
(F who has never visited a Central Illinois farm town)
6- The good points is that in a farm town it is quieter than living
in a city and the bad point is that it is to quiet for me and maybe several
other people to live in such a small town.
I think Chicago [would be better] because you can get more freedom
and they’ll be more people in a large city.
(F who has never visited a Central Illinois farm town))
7- The bad thing living in a central Illinois farm town is that
it is a small place and their is not many things. I think the people
that live their are lonly don’t have that many friends.
I think the best place to live in is chicago because their are so many
things. They have so many movie theaters etc.
(F who has visited a Central Illinois farm town)
8- I think life in a central Illinois farm town would be boring.
It would be boring because there wouldn’t be
malls and other interesting places. I think the people who live
there are like country people (farmers).
Chicago is a better place to stay, interesting people and many things
here. I would choose Chicago over a
small farm town anytime.
(F who has never visited a Central Illinois farm town)
9- Most of the good points in a small town is great! There really
interesting, they have nice little stores &
dinners & everyone is friendly. They really aren’t crammed
together in apartments or tiny little houses.
They are out in the wide open. Their air really isn’t that polluted
& covered with grime [?] from the city. The summers are beatiful,
fall is very dramatic & very colorful, winter is gorgeous & very
angelic, the crisp air is
unbelievable & very astonishing. I’ll tell you now strait
out & forward I would rather live out on a farm
with animals in the wide open, then in a 3-story house with next door
neighbors you could see right out your bedroom window like now.
Well, the bad stuff ... well there really isn’t any, other than
the fact that hospitals are kinda far & there isn’t
alot of malls & stuff like that, then you could get bored, but
with my imagination & creativity (not to sound
self-deluded) you could really do alot for yourself! So think
about would you rather be in some crammed up
city with something to do everyday? Or would you rather live
by cornfields & wide open-blue skies where
you can create something for everyday.
(F who has visited a Central Illinois farm town)
10- The central Illinois farm town is a quiet area where they don’t
have a lot’s of buildings and crowded
buildings like in chicago. There is are lot’s of farm’s around
that area, with crops. Maby school is far away
from houses. People won’t have work because they usually work
in farms because there isn’t that much
stores. The people who live’s in the farmtown maby
likes to have a farm. They are not vilont like in Chicago.
(F who has visited a Central Illinois farm town)
11- Life in a small town I think is somewhere I would not want to live.
Because it’s lonely, you see nothing
but fields, fields, and more fields.. It’s boring, but there is also
a little good thing about it. it’s quiet, its not very dangerous
you don’t have to worry about gangs, driveby etc. The people who
live there I think are old
fashioned and like farming.
I would rather live in Chicago, because you always have something to
do, it’s easy to find a job, you have a lot of people who you can count
on.
(F who has visited a Central Illinois farm town)
12- Central Illinois - lonely - with hardly any people their to meet
- scary - because theirs no back-up.
People that live there are probably mean because if your a new
comer they might tell you to leave because
your not like them.
Chicago [is where I’d rather live] because this is a city with
a lot of people to meet with and have fun to go out at clubs and (etc...)
(M who has never visited a Central Illinois farm town) 1
13- I would rather live in Chicago besides my home land P[...].
Because I love Chicago, There’s no
want-to-be’s. You will never see a white boy acting all tough.
I would never live in a farm town, It’s more
ghetto then the southside of Chicago. To me that is. Ever
since I moved from Chicago to the suburbs it was
hard for me to adapt to this want-to-be, pretty boy infested area (white-boys).
And I still can’t adopt to it.
Have you ever been in a place where It is nothing like you ever imagened,
and all you want to do is leave
well that’s how I feel here. There’s no good roppers [?] or anything
fun to do here. If I had a chance I would
leave this place and move back to Chicago (my second home).
(M who has never visited a Central Illinois farm town)
14- I think it would be better to live in Chicago. Chicago is
a better place to live because it’s has a lot of places
to go. In a farm town you can’t go really far and there’s not
much to do. In Chicago there is so many things to do. On a
farm town you can’t do much.
(M who has never visited a Central Illinois farm town)
15- No because It’s hard if you have to go to school because
you have to go four miles to get to school or
something like that. [the people?] Normal, just like us.
I prefer Chicago because there are better stuff to do and places to
go to.
(M who has visited a Central Illinois farm town)
16- In central Illinois farm town there might not be alot of appliances
or the schools might not be that all
good. I think the people who live there probably have accents
and never seen some stuff that we have here.
I think Chicago is better, why? Because I live there.
someone who lived in a small farm town might say that that’s better.
(M who has never visited a Central Illinois farm town)
17- I don’t know how it is in a central farm town But I’ll give it
a try . will it most be small and lonely and
boring. And maybe there’s no one to play with so you just have
to play with pigs, the cows, and the horses.
The people who live in farm town may be nice and kind because there’s
not that many people there so they
might treat us with kindness.
I say Chicago is better to live in because I’ve been in Chicago for
six years so I’m use to it and I want to have fun not to be bored so I
would stay in Chicago.
(M who has never visited a Central Illinois farm town)
18- What I think life is like in central Illinois is? I don’t like
living in small towns I like big cities that have
alot of places to go to. like in Chicago the Sears Tower, Navy
Pier and lake Michigan. But in - littl town your
very cramped. like in schools. grades k-12.
Just A little cramped. Schools in Chicago are like k-6 & 7-8
&
9-12 that fine. Also in Chicago There are many different
I mean 1,000’s of places to eat. But down in Illinois
you practaly eat at the same place over and over.
What I think people are like down there! I think the people
are like NOT use to the things we have in
Chicago like Robberies & murders, like we Are. Maybe down
there they react very differently than we do.
I think that it would be better to live in Chicago for many reasons.
For example; you have many different
places to go and see different things and eat different things.
But down in central Illinois you eat the same
restaurant. In a week I bet already you memorized the menu.
But in Chicago you have space.
(M who has never visited a Central Illinois farm town)
19- I think that life in a farm is much better than
in the city. In the farm you grow up to be a man not a
woosh [?]. In the city you sit your but in a chair and do little
work; In the farm to survive you just work and
work more. For exsample if a city man stay in a farm and doesn’t
know how to work the man wont survive a week.
(M who has visited a Central Illinois farm town)
20- The good points of central Illinois it is probally a quiet area,
the bad point it is a good place where murders
kills quiet area because there are barely anyone around. The
people there are probally nice and kind.
[I would rather live in] Chicago of course its awsome places thing
you could do there lots of activities you could join play exspecially in
the suburbs its a good area. friendly. malls you could go to
after school.
(M who has visited a Central Illinois farm town)
21- (no response)
22- the good points are that it is quiet and you have lots of space.
the bad parts are that there are hardly any
stores around. the people who live there would probably Be farmers
and thy would be older in thire 40’s -
30’s.
If I like it quiet I rather live in a small farm town But I like a
variety of places to go so I like the city of
Chicago.
(M who has visited a Central Illinois farm town)
23- I like them both. I have lived on a BIG farm for about 3
weeks cause it is my cousins farm. I liked it a lot.
But I have lived in Chicago for all my life and I like the fast paced
city life. It is nice to go to a big farm
everyonce and a while but I think this is better.
(M who has visited a Central Illinois farm town)
24- Hard and boring because you got to wake up early to go to work
on the fields there’s not many enjoyable
activities or where you can spend time like for example a theater or
a park. The good part of it is that there’s
no pollution no car’s everything is natural.
[people] Maybe friendly.
[I would rather live in] Chicago, althought sometimes you might get
bored of the people, cars, noise, and
pollution and might preferred to go live in a small farm town.
(M who has never visited a Central Illinois farm town)
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Maine East: Freshman Academy
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N.B. The M and F after each essay refer to the student's
gender. Spelling and grammar have not been corrected,
per the teachers' request except in cases where misunderstanding
is likely.
1a- I real don’t know. But I think that I couldn’t live their
because, anything you do your parents could find
out. Because it’s not a city. In a city you have more freedom
to do things. Like for example. go to the malls,
going to see a movie, whenever I please. So I truely think that
living in a city is much better than living in a
small country.
(F who has visited a Central Illinois farm town)
2a- I think that central Illinois farm town is like boring, because
the people have to farm alot and they won’t
get out. They dont have clubs, movies, and they don’t go out
much (I think) But I also think with out them
we wouldn’t have food I think the people would be nice. I guess.
I think Chicago would be better because we dont have to farm
or milk the cows. We can get a job at the mall.
(F who has never visited a Central Illinois farm town)
3a- I really dont know but I would like to learn
(F who has visited a Central Illinois farm town)
4a- I think the [?] who live in central part of Illinois are kind of
greedy. They have there own farm land and
have contests who would grow things the fastest.
Chicago would be a better place to live, because more people,
more population.
(F who has visited a Central Illinois farm town)
5a- I think the life in Chicago is better then some farm town because
there are better things here then on some farm. I think there are
all kinds of people good and bad.
(F who has never visited a Central Illinois farm town)
6a- I have always loved animals and when I think of a farm, I think
lots of animals. I think of chores and
doing lots of things with animals. Getting chicken eggs, &
milking the cow. I would like to live here [there?]
for a while cause I never owned any animals and I love adventure anywhere
than where I am now. My life
is the same every day. On a farm, some thing new could happen.
I can’t think of any bad points about a farm.
I think the people here [there?] stay home and take care of the
animals.
I think a farm is a better place to live because all I think about
is animals.
(F who has never visited a Central Illinois farm town)
7a- Dont know? Maybe real small, and don’t have many things.
For example, food, shelter, and many other.
CHICACO [is a better place to live]
(F who has never visited a Central Illinois farm town)
8a- Therefour good and bad reasons why people who live at Illinois
farm town. First it is good because the
town is very quiet and safe. Secondly, it’s not good because
the people who live their a conceited and are big
shots. Finally, who ever lives at the farm town will not see
alot of different faces and religions. In my
opinion I think people should not live in a town farm because, it is
very boring and dull. The fourth reason,
people should live in a farm town because they grow and get their food
from farm. It is better than buying
food in a store because, the food in the stores are not that fresh.
There are three reason why people should live in Chicago.
First, their are more places to go and see.
Secondly, you could see different people and the cultures. Last
but not least, it is more intresting and
amuzing.
(F - no other information)
9a- I think life in the central Illinois farm town would be good because
there probably is no violence there or
very many crimes there. It would be bad because you probably
wouldn’t have nextdoor neighbors like in big
cities. I think the people who live there are very quiet and
hardworking especially if they have a farm.
I think it would be better to live in a small farm town because my
dad lives in a small town in Illinois called
Q[...] and it is pretty peaceful there when I am there.
(F who has visited a Central Illinois farm town)
10a- I think living in a central Illinois farm town is the good point
in living there. You might can grow thing
have fun with the animals and you have to grow your own food.
I think the farm town are pretty nice. But
the bad thing about it is that their are no stores around the place
you have to walk everwhere. But other
thing that I think it pretty cool.
Maybe the people are like us But they do differen thing and they
probably dress different and do things
different from us they probably eat different food and cook them in
many different ways. I think Chicago is a
better place to live because you have more things to do and their is
more people you can hang around with
that way I think Chicago is better.
(F who has never visited a Central Illinois farm town)
11a- I think central lIllinois is quiet and safe. I Also think
Central Illinois has a low population. I think
people that live there are Hillbillies and have a country sound acent.
I think Chicago is a better place to live because there’s more technology,
and better buisnesses.
(M who has visited a Central Illinois farm town)
12a- I Don’t know if it would be good or bad because I’ve never really
been there so I couldn’t tell you. But , I
think people are different in some ways like they farm for a living.
They grow crops as their jobs and then
sell them. People may have an Amish like way to them or not.
I would probably say that a small farm town would may be better, because
in a small town there is really no violence, no worries, no anything.
They start and end their days the same way everyday doing whatever they
may do. Like farming.
(M who “kinda not really” visited a Central Illinois farm town)
13a- I think life in central Illinoise will be pretty
interesting. The good part will be you have fresh air no
factory smokes, and etc. The bad point will be yo don’t have
good tecnology.
Chicago is a better place to live. Because you have everything
here. You can communcate almost to any one
down here.
(M who has never visited a Central Illinois farm town)
14a- The good points are small town are great because,
there’s much better people then big towns. Bad points
are that people will fight allot because, it’s a small town.
No, there different because it’s a small town and not much traffic
either.
Chicago [is a better place to live] because, it has more people more
friends more relatives who live there,
that’s why I would rather live in chicago.
(M who has never visited a Central Illinois farm town)
15a- Chicago [is a better place to live] because in the city you can
have fun, and have a friends. But Chicago
don’t have no field to cut the field. And the farm town is not
good because you don’t have no friends at the
farm in Chicago. you have alot of firends Chicago is better.
(M who has never visited a Central Illinois farm town)
16a- Bad point’s - nabors live 1mile away.
They listen to country music and have only two teeth in their
whole mouth.
Chicago [is a better place to live] - we have all the things we
need right here.
(M who has visited a Central Illinois farm town)
17a- I think that the people down in central Illinois are much more
luckier then us that live in the city with a
lot of people around us. Because you have more fun during the
summer. The people are probebly like nice
and kind to be able to live together in little friendly groups.
I think that Chicago ‘s better but if you have money and own a lot
of property small farm towns are better because you will make much more
money then in Chicago.
(M who has visited a Central Illinois farm town)
18a- It is probably very boring. I think the people there are
very quiet. They probably sit down and do nothing for 24 hours
Chicago is a better place to live because there is more life but also
more crime.
(M who has never visited a Central Illinois farm town)
19a- [good bad points] I don’t know.
[people who live there] I don’t know.
Of course CHICAGO is better than anything!!
(M who has never visited a Central Illinois farm town)
20a- I think that its better living in a FARM. I think
it would be awesome living in a farm.
(M who claims to have visited a Central Illinois farm town and crossed
out his own name and changed his
essay name to "Mr. Rogers")
21a- I think life in central Illinois is boring. All they do
is farm, mik the cows, and raise farm animals. In the
city theres are real jobs not like those farmers. In the city
there are malls, Better school, movie theateres, and
dance clubs. And the farm towns don’t And some parts of central
Illinois is racist Because there are no black,
Hispanic, oriantan, or Asian people that live there.
(M who has visited a Central Illinois farm town)
22a- I think that the life is better in central Illinois because they
is more violence here. I think that the people
that live here have more access to things than they do. Probably
the people who live there are nicer than
here because many kids over here to alot of bad things.
I would prefer to live in Chicago because I can learn more here
about many different things.
(M who has never visited a Central Illinois farm town)
23a- Its very spacious but it seems dull & boring. they have
cool animals not like here. I would rather live in
the city of chicago because I grow up here & feel more comfortable
with all my friends & family. You would
be kind of behind every one in a small town & see movies that come
out months ago in the citys.
(M who has visited a Central Illinois farm town)
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N.B. M and F in the parenthetical material following
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1- I would rather live in Benton because I would not know what it would
be like on a farm in Central Illinois. There might be more farms there
than houses they also might grow different things there.
I would rather live in Benton because there is mostly houses
than there are farms but we have a few farms so people could grow their
food. We also can plant any kind of food that can be planted.
(F who never visited a Central Illinois farm town)
2- I think farming in central Illinois would be about the same as in
Benton. The people would be more into farming and not like town people.
I would like living here because people are more city like and not
farm like.
(F who never visited a Central Illinois farm town)
3- I think life in a farm town in central Illinois would be good. It
is probably very much similar to live in Benton. There is farming
in Benton too. A lot of people I know live on farms. So I think
it would be a good place to live.
I think Benton would be a better place to live. There are
many things to do in Benton. Another reason is that I like the people
in Benton. This is why I think Benton would be a better place to
live.
(M who never visited a Central Illinois farm town)
4- I think that living in Central Illinois would be a good life,
but not better than Benton’s. I think that there would be too much
farmland to do anything and it would get boring. The people up there
are really nice because I’ve been up through there before.
I think that Benton would be better because there would be more
things to do in Benton.
(M who visited relatives in a Central Illinois farm town)
5- Good & bad because, good because you get to grow your own food
and bad because there is no mall and towns for a while.
It’s good because you don’t have to run to the store every night
to get something. You have your milk, corn, green beans, and you
can butcher meat when ever you need it, it is all right there. It is also
bad because you’re in the middle of nowhere. There is fields all
around you so, there is no stores or malls for a while. So when you
need something it takes a while.
The people that here are hicks, they all hunt & have four-wheelers.
It would probably be better in Benton. There is farmland and
there is still stores and things.
(M has visited relatives in a Central Illinois farm town)
6- Living in central Illinois, I don’t think, would be much different
than living in Benton. We both have agricultural communities and
small towns. I feel like both areas have about the same, weather,
lifestyle, and crime rate, so I wouldn’t care to live in central Illinois.
(M who never visited a Central Illinois farm town)
7- Think it would be better to live in Benton than on a farm.
On a farm there isn’t many people around you and you might get bored.
In Benton you can go to the movies or do something in town.
But if you on a farm in the country it will take longer to get into the
town and you won’t be able to do as much fun things.
(F who gave no response on experience with a Central Illinois farm town)
8- I believe that life on a farm would be much like life in the outskirts
of Benton. Some good parts to living in the country is you could
have more animals there and you could grow your own food instead of having
to go to the store every week.
One bad part about living in the farmland is you might be pretty
isolated from everyone else like your friends & family in the city.
If it were me I would rather live in the city.
(M who visited friends in a Central Illinois farm town)
9- Benton & a farm town in central IL. Benton I think is
better than farm town. Because Benton you're around more people.
In the Farm town you're all by your self. I think it would be a lot
more better in Benton than the Farm town.
(M who never visited a Central Illinois farm town)
10- I think life would be good because of privacy with your work and
your living style. Less pollution in your living area and more time
for fun.
You need time and privacy in your home. Living out on a
farm would be fun because most of the time out in the country you're by
yourself. The style in what you live in also is a big factor because
you could decorate your house any way you wanted. A farm town would
also have less crime than a city.
(F who never visited a Central Illinois farm town)
11- Farm country would be good because you could grow and raise your
own food. You could grow crops and raise cattle for fruit, vegetable,
meats and milk. You could also have chickens for eggs, and could
live off your land.
There are bad parts to living on a farm, too. Even though
it would be good business, there are not as many job opportunities.
You would also be farther away from everything most of the time.
(F who never visited a Central Illinois farm town)
12- I think that I would rather live in Benton than on a farm.
Farm life would not fit me. I do not like to farm so I don’t think
I would like it.
I think that living on a farm would be boring. There would
be too much to do. I would have to pick crops, feed animals,
and I would also have to milk cows.
To conclude, I don’t think that I would like farm life. Benton
is my better place to live.
(F who gave no response on Central Illinois farm towns)
13- Do I think life would be good/bad in central Illinois? Yes
I think it would be good. Living on a farm would bring joy, and goodness
to my heart, and life, or even living by a farm. Not as much pollution
is around you, as much as there would be in Benton, or Chicago.
People are kind and thankful who live on farms. It’s a
tough life and you would have to work hard. People who live on a
farm sometimes have to provide for themselves off of the land.
(F who never visited a Central Illinois farm town)
14- Living on a farm would probably get very hectic and be very difficult
sometimes. There can be good and bad things happen on a farm.
Some good things are all the food you get from all the crops. The
fields that you can play football in are very good too. Some of the bad
things are the very difficult things that have to be done at certain times
of the year. All the machinery would be hard to buy. The people
would probably be good old time nice people.
(M who never visited a Central Illinois farm town)
15- (no essay #2 provided)
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