Assignment: Revise this thesis sentence and add an attention-getting introduction:

Four years of high school were (not) of great value to me.

When Paul Simon wrote the immortal words to his hit song "Kodachrome," he could have been writing it directly to me. "When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school, it's a wonder I can think at all," pointedly sums up my high school career. I went to a typical small town school where the girls were primarily interested in the boys, and the boys were primarily interested in staying out of Viet Nam. I don't know if it was my fault or the school's fault, but four years of high school were not of great value to me because I never learned how to study, h ow to think in a deductive manner, or how to make a plan for life after high school. (divided thesis sentence underlined)

Attention-getting devices you can use to make your introduction snappy and interesting:

Humorous incident

Personal anecdote

Shocking statistic

Descriptive details

Comparison: past and present

Current event

Rhetorical question

Historical background

Case Study/ Example

Quotation

Two or more views: Controversy