In my Argumentative Writing course I once assigned the students to ask for something by writing a persuasive letter. I offered bonus points if they were able to get the thing they request requested by the end of the semester. One student wrote food services and asked for a rice cooker and got it for the cafeteria. One of my nursing students asked to work on a real human dead body instead of dead cats, which is what they had had in their anatomy class. One student wrote a letter to the dean and got out of my class.