Assignment:

The goal of the short response pieces is to give you the chance to engage more deeply with an idea from the reading, either in a positive way by applying that idea to a practical context or in a negative way by challenging that idea.  Thus, these will be graded purely on your engagement with the material.

In general, a short response piece should:

Take an idea from one of the readings assigned that day and explain how it expands or challenges a traditional approach to a policy problem. How would this idea change your practice as a policy leader?  How would implementing this idea change your analysis of a public problem?
Challenge an idea from the reading with an alternative principle or a counterexample. What is the author missing, and why would that idea change the application of the idea to practical policy problems?