I'm sure we've all heard it from a literature/writing teacher at some point in our lives, "Never address your reader! That's one of the most dangerous things in writing you can do!" Well, I'm here to ask your opinion.

Earlier this year I wrote a persuasive essay for my English teacher. In my opening paragraph I addressed the reader (usage of "you"). When I wrote it, I knew what I was doing. Yes, it can be dangerous, but, I wanted to appeal to my reader's senses. Numerous points were taken off for that...And I'm okay with it because I like the way it sounded. But, I want to know what others think about it.
Here is the beginning of my paper (I wrote about the government in the US wanting to eliminate summer vacation. I argued against it.)

Do you remember that feeling you'd get on the last day of school? Remember how excited you'd be to finally get to do those summer things like ride bikes with your friends, stay up all night planning pranks, and chasing down the ice cream man after dinner? These are just a few of my favorite memories from those long summer days. Now picture this. It's a beautiful July day, perfect to spend a few lazy hours by the pool, but instead you'll be in school. Okay, sure you could come home and relax in the sun or take a walk with the kids next door. Think again, you'll have homework to do and tests to study for. But when will you have time to be a kid? That's what I'm questioning.

And then it goes on to tell you that the US government wants to get rid of summer vacation and why I believe it's a terrible idea. But I won't bore you with that. I would LOVE to hear your opinion on my usage of "you." Do you think it was worth loosing a few points? Or was I being stupid? Don't hold back, I won't mind if tell me my writing sucks and I'm an idiot for addressing the reader. I'm just extremely curious as to what others think about the situation.

I posted my entire essay as an article, here's the link if you're interested:

link

Thanks for reading:D