if you cannot find a way to focus on your paper due the next day at night, simply forget about it. it is much easier my way!
first just continue your night as if there was nothing for you to do, play every game, text every person, watch every show like theres no tomorow!
secondly, set your alarm clock for about an hour before you normally get up and get as much sleep as you can.
thirdly, wake up the next morning, take your time getting up, and get wrapped up in your favorite blanket before sitting down to try to start your work.
lastly, do the homework! knowing it is due in a few short hours and the fact that there is nothing else to do at 5 in the morning gives you a new sense of urgency and focus that improves your piece and makes doing it more tolerable!
PS: i wrote a much more detailed how to before, but for the second time this semseter it just ****** dissappeared. like the elephant in Peanut (the purple monkey)'s rendition of david copperfield. i should write a how to on how to get pissed off by a stupid blog on your dinosaur computer that is a piece of crap.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
SPEECH!
Classmates, as I start, I urge you to look around. Look at the faces of your peers, especially your young male peers. Do these look like the faces of failure to you? Now imagine sitting in the general classroom in a school in downtown Detroit. Do these faces look different? Of course, because we all know the problems of a sub par education system in America, but, I’m here to tell you today that us in this very classroom are victims of some of the very same pitfalls. I’m here to warn you of the increase culture of isolation and failure befalling many guys in America today.
So lets look at some of the facts. Despite the relatively uniform success of the guys in this classroom today: guys are thirty percent more likely to drop out of high school than girls. Ill repeat that, THIRTY PERCENT MORE LIKELY. Guys also make up two thirds of remedial classes in America. That, my friends, is not a very good number at all. By no means is it only guys, once again we are all familiar with the effects of an under funded and low priority education system, but with statistics so extremely polarized it is impossible not to be concerned for ones fellow man.
But why is the number so different? Why do guys look so comparatively incompetent? We are afforded all the same educational opportunities as girls, so are we just less intelligent? I certainly do not believe this is true, but instead it is a product of such a different culture from females. One thing that nearly all the males in this room can relate to is video games. Video games are not bad in moderation but when you consider the extremes people can take it to the detrimental effects are easily recognized. Did you know that it is estimated that by age 21, an average boy in this day will have played over 10 thousand hours of video games. With this amount of gaming, many people become addicted, or even if they aren’t they can still just prefer the instant gratification of Skyrim compared to, oh, say writing a speech for your English class. Time isn’t the only issue with excessive video games, studies, such as the one performed by Rachael Rettner from LiveScience, have linked the playing of video games, especially at an early age, to a decrease in attention span and focus. Obviously this is detrimental at school, where certain lectures take place that test the will of even the most focused individuals.
However, video games do not affect all, but our culture does. Now, more than ever, boys are being sent messages through the media that you don’t need an education to have a good life, in fact that there are more lucrative opportunities afforded by dropping out to rap or playing sports than getting a good education. In our media, we don’t focus on the works of the Nobel winning scientist, or leading doctor in cancer research, no we focus on idiots like the umpa lumpas and gwedos from jersey shore. Sending guys the message that school isn’t important to make it in the big time like Hollywood, sports, and the music industry do not help at all, in fact the UK basketball team managed one of the worst GPA’s in the country for a collegiate basketball team last year, but still were heralded as stars and made it to the final four. Not exactly the message you want to send to aspiring STUDENT athletes.
So, what am I trying to say with all of this? I’m calling you out, guys, it starts with you. Tonight, take a break from those video games, put down the controller and study for your finals, make education important again, a priority over other things. Because changing a culture starts with us, it starts here today, and together, we can save the future of guys all over America.
bibliography:
Rettner, Rachael. “Video Games May Hinder Learning for Boys.” LiveScience 16 March 2010: n. pag. Web. 2 August 2011
Rettner talks of the correlation between children who have video game systems and lower tests scores than those who don’t. She alerts the reader to the fact that there is no sure cause and effect, but does go on to describe a study in which a group of 6-9 year-olds were given a game system, some right away and some after a 4-month study period. The results showed that the children with the systems from the start showed a drop in educational development, which she attributed to the video games taking away time from other educational activities that could have been taking place during that time.
Wolf, Naomi. “Porn Myth.” NYMag 2003 n. pag. Web. 2 August 2011
Wolf in this article discusses the negative effect of excessive porn on interpersonal relationships. The easy access and constant bombardment of internet porn makes it something that reaches and affects almost every individual. She talks of how the porn desensitizes men to interaction with real women, and gives them false pretenses, information, and ideas about how sex is and should be. Also how it causes relationships to deteriorate between the sexes.
Digital Nation. Dir. Rachel Dretzin. 2010. DVD. Frontline, 2010.
This documentary highlighted the developmental and social problems that a technology overwhelmed society experiences. From American children with problems reading and writing in school, to Asian teenagers that are addicted to the internet and video games, causing physical ailments along with feeling socially out of place in face-to-face interactions. This film is persuasive towards the negative qualities of technology in excessive quantities.
The Demise of Guys? Phillip Zombardo. Internet Talk. March 2011.
This quick talk by Phillip Zombardo addresses the reasons that young males in this generation are struggling in school and socially. First he displays statistics to show the deterioration of performance of young American males, then goes on to explains his thoughts on what is causing this. He lists an overexposure to video games, internet porn, and other technology that causes a deprivation of human interaction and less priority on school.
Bauerlein, Mark. The Dumbest Generation. New York: Tarcher 2008.
This book talks about how the new age of technology has not stimulated the minds of our young people but instead lead them into a lethargic and mind degrading state which results in having the “Dumbest Generation”. It talks of how technology is making us incompetent instead of more efficient and how we are only going to go downhill from here.
So lets look at some of the facts. Despite the relatively uniform success of the guys in this classroom today: guys are thirty percent more likely to drop out of high school than girls. Ill repeat that, THIRTY PERCENT MORE LIKELY. Guys also make up two thirds of remedial classes in America. That, my friends, is not a very good number at all. By no means is it only guys, once again we are all familiar with the effects of an under funded and low priority education system, but with statistics so extremely polarized it is impossible not to be concerned for ones fellow man.
But why is the number so different? Why do guys look so comparatively incompetent? We are afforded all the same educational opportunities as girls, so are we just less intelligent? I certainly do not believe this is true, but instead it is a product of such a different culture from females. One thing that nearly all the males in this room can relate to is video games. Video games are not bad in moderation but when you consider the extremes people can take it to the detrimental effects are easily recognized. Did you know that it is estimated that by age 21, an average boy in this day will have played over 10 thousand hours of video games. With this amount of gaming, many people become addicted, or even if they aren’t they can still just prefer the instant gratification of Skyrim compared to, oh, say writing a speech for your English class. Time isn’t the only issue with excessive video games, studies, such as the one performed by Rachael Rettner from LiveScience, have linked the playing of video games, especially at an early age, to a decrease in attention span and focus. Obviously this is detrimental at school, where certain lectures take place that test the will of even the most focused individuals.
However, video games do not affect all, but our culture does. Now, more than ever, boys are being sent messages through the media that you don’t need an education to have a good life, in fact that there are more lucrative opportunities afforded by dropping out to rap or playing sports than getting a good education. In our media, we don’t focus on the works of the Nobel winning scientist, or leading doctor in cancer research, no we focus on idiots like the umpa lumpas and gwedos from jersey shore. Sending guys the message that school isn’t important to make it in the big time like Hollywood, sports, and the music industry do not help at all, in fact the UK basketball team managed one of the worst GPA’s in the country for a collegiate basketball team last year, but still were heralded as stars and made it to the final four. Not exactly the message you want to send to aspiring STUDENT athletes.
So, what am I trying to say with all of this? I’m calling you out, guys, it starts with you. Tonight, take a break from those video games, put down the controller and study for your finals, make education important again, a priority over other things. Because changing a culture starts with us, it starts here today, and together, we can save the future of guys all over America.
bibliography:
Rettner, Rachael. “Video Games May Hinder Learning for Boys.” LiveScience 16 March 2010: n. pag. Web. 2 August 2011
Rettner talks of the correlation between children who have video game systems and lower tests scores than those who don’t. She alerts the reader to the fact that there is no sure cause and effect, but does go on to describe a study in which a group of 6-9 year-olds were given a game system, some right away and some after a 4-month study period. The results showed that the children with the systems from the start showed a drop in educational development, which she attributed to the video games taking away time from other educational activities that could have been taking place during that time.
Wolf, Naomi. “Porn Myth.” NYMag 2003 n. pag. Web. 2 August 2011
Wolf in this article discusses the negative effect of excessive porn on interpersonal relationships. The easy access and constant bombardment of internet porn makes it something that reaches and affects almost every individual. She talks of how the porn desensitizes men to interaction with real women, and gives them false pretenses, information, and ideas about how sex is and should be. Also how it causes relationships to deteriorate between the sexes.
Digital Nation. Dir. Rachel Dretzin. 2010. DVD. Frontline, 2010.
This documentary highlighted the developmental and social problems that a technology overwhelmed society experiences. From American children with problems reading and writing in school, to Asian teenagers that are addicted to the internet and video games, causing physical ailments along with feeling socially out of place in face-to-face interactions. This film is persuasive towards the negative qualities of technology in excessive quantities.
The Demise of Guys? Phillip Zombardo. Internet Talk. March 2011.
This quick talk by Phillip Zombardo addresses the reasons that young males in this generation are struggling in school and socially. First he displays statistics to show the deterioration of performance of young American males, then goes on to explains his thoughts on what is causing this. He lists an overexposure to video games, internet porn, and other technology that causes a deprivation of human interaction and less priority on school.
Bauerlein, Mark. The Dumbest Generation. New York: Tarcher 2008.
This book talks about how the new age of technology has not stimulated the minds of our young people but instead lead them into a lethargic and mind degrading state which results in having the “Dumbest Generation”. It talks of how technology is making us incompetent instead of more efficient and how we are only going to go downhill from here.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Water: Tap vs. Bottled
Snow-capped mountains. Open blue sky. Lush green valleys. A crystal-clear spring. This is what most Americans envision to be the source of the bottled water they consume regularly. However, this is just an illusion created by the major bottled water corporations such as Nestlé, Coca-Cola, and Pepsi Co. In reality, more than 50% of the bottled water on the market today comes from a municipal water supply. That means that over one-half of all bottled water comes from the same source as the tap water available to us in our homes. Yet, our country is still willing to buy into the $425 billion bottled water industry that is nothing but harmful to us the consumers and detrimental to our environment.
The major appeal bottled water has in the eyes of the consumer is that it is deemed as more sanitary. But by whom? Certainly not by any government agency, that is for sure. And that is because bottled water and municipal tap water are regulated by two different agencies: The EPA and the FDA. The EPA is in charge of regulating tap water, while the FDA is responsible for bottled water. What is truly remarkable, however, is the fact that tap water regulations are much more rigorous than those for bottled water. Unlike the EPA, which checks the ph levels and toxicity of the municipal water supply regularly, the FDA considers bottled water to be a low-risk product. Therefore, many plants are left unchecked each year. And furthermore, the FDA has stated that it is the manufacturer’s responsibility to make sure that their product complies with all necessary laws and regulations, not the agency’s. On top of all this, the FDA is not even required to regulate bottled water that is packaged and sold in the same state. This in effect leaves nearly 60-70% of all bottled water left unchecked.
This lack of regulation might be the root cause of several problems with the safety of bottled water. An example is a 1999 study conducted by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), which tested more than 103 brands of water. The results were shocking. The council found that one-third of the brands had bottles that contained bacterial or chemical contaminants. The amount found in these bottles exceeded the state or industry standards for water safety. So, is tap water less sanitary than bottled water? Maybe. Maybe not. There is no doubt that it is more regulated than bottled water, though.
There is also no doubt that tap water is much more economical than its bottle counterpart. In fact, according to Michael Woods, a manager at the Missouri American Water, the cost of drinking eight glasses worth of bottled water each day for a year is much more expensive than the cost of drinking the same amount in tap water. The amounts are vastly different. It would cost more than $1,000 dollars each year to be able to drink that amount of bottled water, while it would only cost 49 cents to drink the tap water equivalent. What is interesting, though, is how we as Americans complain about the cost of gasoline, even though a gallon of gasoline costs less than the cost of a gallon of regular bottled water. And what we’re paying for is exactly the same as what we could be getting for practically free from our own faucets.
But it’s not just us that the bottled water industry is hurting. It’s also taking its toll on our environment. The World Wildlife Fund International is especially concerned about the industry because each year 1.5 million tons of plastic is used to package the water. And this seems extremely devastating when you discover that it takes a thousand years for one bottle to biodegrade. That’s leaving a major negative impact on our environment. Additionally, the energy required to make these bottles yearly is equivalent to 17 million barrels of oil. That amount of oil could fuel one million cars for an entire year. So, while we are being affected by the industry, our environment is being impacted the most.
1.) "American's Obsession With Bottled Water." Interview by George R. Stephanopoulos. ABC News Video. ABC, 1 July 2010. Web. 9 Aug. 2011. <http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Books/video/americans-obsession-bottled-water-tap-water-11062362>.
2.) Baumgartner, Mark. "Study: Bottled Water No Safer Than Tap Water." ABC News. ABC. <http://abcnews.go.com/Business/study-bottled-water-safer-tap-water/story?id=87558>.
3.) Hall, Jennifer. "Buyer beware: Bottled water not necessarily safer." St. Joseph News-Press 14 May 2010.
4.) Gucciardi, Anthony. "Most bottled waters are glorified tap water - Learn to hydrate the healthy way." NaturalNews.com. 29 May 2011. Natural News. <http://www.naturalnews.com/032551_bottled_water_faucet.html>.
5.) Tapped. Dir. Stephanie Soechtig and Jason Lindsey. Prod. Michael Walrath, Michelle Walrath, Sarah Gibson, Jessie Deeter, and Ellen Mai. DVD. Atlas Films, 2009.
6.) Jemmott, Jane. “Bottled Water vs. Tap Water.” rd.com. February 2008. Reader’s Digest. <http://www.rd.com/health/rethink-what-you-drink/3/
TV ruined your life.
I asked a friend one day, “What would life be like without television?” She pondered over this for a moment and simply replied, “Let’s just say it would be incredibly different.” But really, what would it be like? Has television made such a huge impact on our lives that we cannot even imagine life without it?
Now I am positive that nearly every one of us watches TV, for entertainment, for education, or for news. It has been implicated into our life cycle, to the point that it has full influence on our actions, ranging from safety precautions, to high expectations, and to misguided notions of love and beauty. We have been exposed to television since an early age, and find ourselves so intertwined with it that most people can no longer see the difference between reality and fantasy; our entire judgment about things in life is based on what we see on TV.
Imagine a boy, about seven years old, with a look of innocence on his chubby face. He turns on the television and becomes entranced by an action movie, complete with guns, explosion, and blood. He thinks, “Wow! I can be just as cool as that guy who’s killing all the bad guys!” This is only the start. Soon he starts imitating the main character, throwing kicks and punches, and pointing an imaginary gun at his friends; before you know it, his violent behavior transforms into a habit that sticks with him for the rest of his life.
So maybe I am being melodramatic, but studies show that television has a prevalent impact on children. Because they are exposed to TV shows that promote violence, they feel a need to act it out themselves. Results of exposure to violent programming on television include an increased fear of the world around them, desensitization to violence in reality, most likely due to the association with humor, and an increased aggressive behavior. Jim Taylor points out that the media glamorizes violence, with 60% of TV shows that display violence, and influences children in believing it is perfectly fine to be aggressive.
Charlie Brooker claims that television has, in fact, “ruined your life.” TV has become an enormous influence in our actions, decisions, and beliefs, and it all started with a simple press of the on button on the remote control. What can we do to stop the influence? Perhaps nothing, since it has intertwined with our lives. However, because we are exposed to this influence at such an early age, we can start the change there. Parents are responsible for children, including their behaviors. In order to end the aggressive behaviors children imitate from TV programs, parents need to start monitoring what they can or cannot watch. It is a simple step, one that may or may not accomplish anything, but there is hope that one day the future generations will wake up to a world of reality, not of the fantasy television has used to cloud our judgment.
So yes, television has, indeed, created such a huge impact on our lives to the point we can no longer imagine life without it, but we can create a new impact, based on ourselves and not what we see on television.
Bibliography:
How TV Ruined Your Life. Prod. Zeppotron. Perf. Charlie Brooker. BBC, 2011.Youtube. Web. 6 Aug. 2011.
"Television's Impact on Kids." Media Awareness Network. 2010. Web. 06 Aug. 2011.
Taylor, Jim. "Know Thy Children's Enemy (Beware of the Dark Side)." Your Children Are under Attack: How Popular Culture Is Destroying Your Kids' Values, and How You Can Protect Them. Naperville, IL: Source, 2005. Print.
media speech
Dihydrogen Monoxied or hydric acid is a lethal substance that is constantly surrounding us. It has been found that inhalation of small amounts of the vapor can lead to death and long periods of exposure to its solid form can lead to tissue damage. It corrodes and oxidizes metal and causes short circuits when exposed to electrical systems. It’s found in biopsies of precancerous tumors and has been linked to hurricanes that have killed hundreds. This dangerous and poisonous substance can also be referred to as something much more common: water.
Now we all know that water is harmless and although these claims are undoubtedly true, here is no way that we would be scared of such a common substance. But imagine we hadn’t known that Dihydrogent Monoxide was water. Suppose that all our knowledge of this instance came only from the information earlier. You probably wouldn’t be so relaxed; instead you would probably want to find out ways to avoid this horrendous molecule. Now think about this in a much broader sense. The media does this all the time to its viewers. Like the swine flu, I remember going on a plane to China and upon arriving, even before we could get off the plane, the temperature of every single passenger was taken. If a higher than normal temperature was detected, that passenger and the passengers sitting three rows ahead and behind that person would be quarantined for two weeks. Even after we got off the plan, all the employees wore cotton masks so as to avoid contamination. The illness was blown way out of proportion by the media. It was shown on every news channel how to avoid the new influenza and the fatalities were broadcasted all around the world. People were scared to death of this new flu that had seemed so dangerous and fatal.
The truth is that the fatality rate of the swine flu is less than .1% of those infected. That’s 1 person out of 1000 who are infected. The mortality rate of normal influenza can be higher than .5% yet we don’t worry about getting the normal flu. Although symptoms way be worse than normal influenza the media made the swine flu a much bigger deal than it needed to be. This is just an example of how the information given by the media, although true, are deceiving.
The media shows bias in many areas especially in politics. It is knows that news sources express more of a liberal view because of their audience.
"If viewers spent an equal amount of time watching Fox's 'Special Report' as ABC's 'World News' and NBC's 'Nightly News,' then they would receive a nearly perfectly balanced version of the news," says Milyo, an associate professor of economics and public affairs at the University of Missouri at Columbia.
If a viewer must watch three difference news channels in order to get a balances and neutral version of the news, then what does that say about the news by themselves? It shows that clearly not a single news channel is clearly neutral. This can be due to the fact that reporters have their own opinions or that they are changing the coverage to attract rating and viewers. If this is the case can we truly trust the media? Can we base our own opinions and views on the possibly skewed information given to us? More and more people have begun to use news not as a source of information, but instead as a desire to reinforce their pre-existing views. More and more we have seen news channels acting as a source of entertainment airing what would be publically appealing rather than informing the public. And because the media today is so involved in the economics and the politics of the country that it is reporting, instead of standing at a distance, many would argue that this causes a conflict of interest that supplies half truths instead of and accurate account of events.
While the media undoubtedly has provided the nation with a source that can inform them of event all around the world, one should be more careful of what we hear and see to what is the truth. In the current era the media has power to control what we know and therefore what we think. So the next time you watch the news, not only consider the information that is given to you but also keep an open mind as to other influences that could bias not only the news but also your own opinions.
works cited:
http://www.transparencynow.com/mediacrit.htm
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/Media-Bias-Is-Real-Finds-UCLA-6664.aspx
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6700354n
http://www.dhmo.org/facts.html
"Freakonomics" documentary
Speech
Girls and boys are completely different. They think differently, they have different interest, and they react in different ways. So, it should come as no surprise that they also learn in different ways. Unfortunately, our education system is directed towards girls and has neglected to accommodate boys during their early years, ultimately setting them up for failure.
Evidence for this can be seen with the amount of boys being diagnosed with ADHD. Over the past few years it has grown tremendously with boys being diagnosed earlier and earlier. This makes you ask the question, why?
The majority of problems begin at an early age, often starting in kindergarten. According to PBS, boys are less mature when they start school, which tends to make them less verbal and more active. Several years ago this was not a problem because children were not expected to begin reading and writing in kindergarten. But over the past years this has created more of an issue because our society has become more advanced and now expects a higher level of learning.
One aspect of being less mature is that boys are more active, making it harder for them to focus. They are in their motor stage of development where they improve coordination. This causes them to become restless and prevents them from paying attention. They need to have time to get up and move around instead of being confined to a desk all day. This could be incorporated into a classroom setting in many ways. One way is through hands-on activities. Crafts where children get to glue, cut, or color lets then move about and can also be beneficial for their learning style. Another way to promote activity is through recess. This should never be taken away as a punishment because it would increases than chances of the student acting up in class. Recess allows children to get rid of their energy and takes a couple minutes away from school, making them more focused when they return to the classroom.
One reason that girls tend to perform better in elementary school is they are better at writing. Their fine motor skills normally make them more likely to succeed at this age than boys and the left side of the brains which controls language develops first in girls. This gives then a head start in their writing abilities that boys do not have. Boys are also limited by teacher regulations on what they can write. Some of the topics that they might find more interesting such as violence, where the bad guys gets killed, is prohibited by the teacher and therefore limits their creative ability. If teachers were to put different guidelines on creative writing, then the boys might find it more intriguing.
The same problems also occur in book choices. Teachers stray towards their favorite books which are more feminine. Instead, they should try to incorporate a wide variety of books with different subjects that appeal to the boys and girls. This would get more boys interested in books at a younger age because they would actually enjoy what they are reading.
As you can see, there are many ways to help boys do better in school. The school system needs to make these subtle changes in order to help get the boys of to a good start and provide a strong basis for their education.
Bibliography:
"NASSPE: Research Gender Differences in Learning." NASSPE: Home Introduction. 2006. Web. 11 Dec. 2011. http://www.singlesexschools.org/research-learning.htm.
Raising Cain: Boys in Focus. Dir. Paul Stern. Perf. Micahel Thompson. 2006. DVD.
"The Problem with School? . Boys in School . Raising Boys . PBS Parents PBS." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. 2003. Web. 11 Dec. 2011..
Evidence for this can be seen with the amount of boys being diagnosed with ADHD. Over the past few years it has grown tremendously with boys being diagnosed earlier and earlier. This makes you ask the question, why?
The majority of problems begin at an early age, often starting in kindergarten. According to PBS, boys are less mature when they start school, which tends to make them less verbal and more active. Several years ago this was not a problem because children were not expected to begin reading and writing in kindergarten. But over the past years this has created more of an issue because our society has become more advanced and now expects a higher level of learning.
One aspect of being less mature is that boys are more active, making it harder for them to focus. They are in their motor stage of development where they improve coordination. This causes them to become restless and prevents them from paying attention. They need to have time to get up and move around instead of being confined to a desk all day. This could be incorporated into a classroom setting in many ways. One way is through hands-on activities. Crafts where children get to glue, cut, or color lets then move about and can also be beneficial for their learning style. Another way to promote activity is through recess. This should never be taken away as a punishment because it would increases than chances of the student acting up in class. Recess allows children to get rid of their energy and takes a couple minutes away from school, making them more focused when they return to the classroom.
One reason that girls tend to perform better in elementary school is they are better at writing. Their fine motor skills normally make them more likely to succeed at this age than boys and the left side of the brains which controls language develops first in girls. This gives then a head start in their writing abilities that boys do not have. Boys are also limited by teacher regulations on what they can write. Some of the topics that they might find more interesting such as violence, where the bad guys gets killed, is prohibited by the teacher and therefore limits their creative ability. If teachers were to put different guidelines on creative writing, then the boys might find it more intriguing.
The same problems also occur in book choices. Teachers stray towards their favorite books which are more feminine. Instead, they should try to incorporate a wide variety of books with different subjects that appeal to the boys and girls. This would get more boys interested in books at a younger age because they would actually enjoy what they are reading.
As you can see, there are many ways to help boys do better in school. The school system needs to make these subtle changes in order to help get the boys of to a good start and provide a strong basis for their education.
Bibliography:
"NASSPE: Research Gender Differences in Learning." NASSPE: Home Introduction. 2006. Web. 11 Dec. 2011. http://www.singlesexschools.org/research-learning.htm.
Raising Cain: Boys in Focus. Dir. Paul Stern. Perf. Micahel Thompson. 2006. DVD.
"The Problem with School? . Boys in School . Raising Boys . PBS Parents PBS." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. 2003. Web. 11 Dec. 2011.
Speech
Shayna Clark
Mr. Logsdon
AP Lang & Comp
11 December 2011
When you see a piece of trash on the ground, what do you do? Do you just leave it there, and assume someone else will pick it up, or do you take the extra two seconds to throw it away? Or are you even the one to blame for the litter being there in the first place? We are all guilty of this crime, of assuming someone else will fix our problems, when we don’t bother to fix theirs. While littering is an appalling act, not doing something about it is even worse. But this isn’t about littering. The reason I am here is to address the ongoing problem facing our society, our nation, and our world. We’ve all heard about global warming and the extinction of many endangered animals, but how many of you have done anything about it? Have you taken shorter showers, recycled more, or made any sort of effort? Maybe once or twice, but not as much as you should. I know, because I am culpable for these things as well.
If someone tells you to do something, but doesn’t give you an incentive, or a threat to make you do it, would you do it? To be honest, probably not. If we weren’t afraid of getting zeros or getting grounded, would we do our schoolwork? I know I wouldn’t. Without consequences, we wouldn’t have responsibilities. So why shouldn’t we work to protect our world? There are definitely consequences, much worse than those awaiting us if we don’t get the score we want on our next test. Imagine the boardwalks in Miami crawling with crabs and filled with fish. If the current rate of sea level rising continues, our oceans will rise by 2 feet in the next century, and even more after that. What can we do? There’s the usual things, like carpooling and using eco-friendly products, but another easy way of reducing your impact is by only running a dishwasher or laundry machine when it’s full, which even saves time in the long run so that you don’t have to spend more time loading and unloading multiple washes. This simple change can save you up to $115 a year and 800 pounds of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere. Easy, huh? Then DO IT. Don’t expect everyone else to do it for you.
When I was little, I had an obsession with tiger stuffed animals. I loved them, and seeing the tigers at the zoo only strengthened that love. Soon, however, my old toys may be considered similar to the dinosaur toys many other children have. That is, they may become extinct. Sure, there are tigers living in captivity, but only 1500 to 2500 still live in the wild, and that number is decreasing dramatically. It depresses me to think about the little boys and girls who may share my youthful love of tigers, but will never have the opportunity to see them. Why should I be lucky enough to see these majestic creatures while my children, or their children, can’t? I say it’s not fair. Poaching is of the main reasons for the drop in wild tigers. 78% of tiger deaths are a result of poaching wild tigers for their teeth, fur, bones, and claws. Tiger bone wine in China and India is considered to “stave off chills, improve circulation, and eliminate fatigue.” How disgusting is that? Would you want to drink any kind of beverage with pulverized bones in it? I know I wouldn’t. The fact that they are tiger bones is even worse. We can’t do much directly to halt this extinction, but there are many anti-poaching groups, such as 21st Century Tiger, the Tigris Foundation, and the World Wildlife Foundation that fight tooth and nail to stop the destruction of the tiger. These groups, however, cannot do thing work on their own. They need donations, no matter how small, to increase forest patrols to catch poachers, raise awareness in local communities about the importance of the tiger to the habitat they make their homes in, and, among other things, work with politicians to strengthen laws against poaching and illegal trading. It’s one thing to say “that’s so terrible!” and another to make a few clicks of your mouse and donate a few dollars to stop the extinction. $16 could put one anti-poaching patrol in the field for a full day. $32 could buy a pair of walkie-talkies to help rangers communicate in the jungle. $47 could buy a bike for a ranger to move more swiftly through the forests to stop poaching. $78 could pay for two days of training for an anti-poaching sniffer dog. $157 dollars could completely pay for the training of one field officer in anti-poaching techniques and tiger monitoring in Nepal. Could you go without a videogame to make a small contribution to the anti-poaching cause? If you can, then go do it. Don’t just think about it.
There is no better saying to conclude my speech than “Actions speak louder than words.” I am asking you for a few small sacrifices in exchange for the life of an innocent animal, or to save our world. I’m not asking you to do anything difficult, only to make an effort. It’s one thing to have people tell you what you should do, but it’s another to make yourself act on their words, or even your own words. Don’t assume that someone else is going to take care of it. Don’t push the problems we all need to address onto someone else’s shoulders, because you have no guarantee that they will complete the task and take action. Don’t just say you’ll do something. Just do it. Then you will have nothing more to prove.
"Tiger Facts." Bigcatrescue.org. Big Cat Rescue. Web.
"TIGERS – How Can We Can Stop Extinction of It for Future Generation?" ITUCU. Web. 11 Dec. 2011.
"Simple Ways to Stop Global Warming." Help Stop Global Warming. Web. 11 Dec. 2011.
"'It's Really Good Stuff': Undercover at a Chinese Tiger Bone Wine Auction."Guardian.co.uk. Environment Blog. Web.
"Tigers in Crisis | WWF UK." WWF UK. Web. 11 Dec. 2011.
SOPA
The Stop Online Piracy Act. SOPA. This bill will protect intellectual property without consequences to the masses, right? Wrong. Like everything Congress has been up to recently, this bill is terrible. Its purpose, to protect copyrighted materials, is noble. Its methods, however, are harmful and wrong. This act is an attempt to control and corporatize the Internet and should not be passed.
Let me explain about some of the details of this bill. For example, take an average Joe’s blog. If Joe puts up a video from Fox News on his blog for discussion, and one small allegation about the clip is made, Joe’s clip is gone, and his entire blog might go, too. If the Justice Department deems Joe’s blog as “rogue”, the Justice Department can go to Joe’s Internet Service Provider with a court order to shut down Joe’s blog. What is “rogue” defined as? It’s any connection to a site known to contain pirated materials. If a random commenter posts a link to a piracy site on one of Joe’s posts, his site is defined as rogue. These punishments could also include fines and jail time.
SOPA is so incredibly broad in wording that it threatens every corner of the Internet, not just piracy sites. Did you know that only 1% of Americans are hardcore pirates? Instead of looking at the big picture and realizing that not every cent needs to go in Sony’s or Paramount’s pocket, they focus on every lost sale and decide to punish the American people. A Twitter user joked, “Under SOPA, you could get 5 years for uploading a Michael Jackson song, one year more than the doctor who killed him.”
Any Internet user knows this bill shouldn’t have support. But it does. The Motion Picture Association of America, the Recording Industry Association of America, movie studios, video game companies, trial lawyers, senators from both parties, and even pharmaceutical companies support this bill. Why? To make money. If this bill is passed, large companies will have monopolies over small Internet companies. If this bill is passed, a new lawsuit will begin every week, which means a new job offer for a trial lawyer. If this bill is passed, you can’t buy pills from out of the country so the pharmaceutical companies of America can have a monopoly. The level of avarice without regard to consequences is staggering. While large companies like Warner Bros. and Nintendo get to crush pirate sites and accomplish their missions, they crush homemade blogs, fantastic sites, and even informative and educational tools.
Who’s in opposition to SOPA? All the big Internet sites we visit every day: Google, Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, eBay, Amazon, Mozilla, and Blogspot. Just a few years ago, this support would have meant nothing. But now, these sites hold sway in the hearts of the American people and in the hearts of some senators. Microsoft, the New York Times, and NBC oppose this bill, knowing the consequences to their business if passed. Ron Paul opposes this bill, as do many other senators of both parties. Senator Ron Wyden plans to filibuster SOPA by reading over a million signatures from an online petition. Those are the senators who don’t accept money from studios and business conglomerates to take out competition. Those are the senators who represent the American people and American freedom. Many artists also oppose the bill. P Diddy, Will.i.am, Alicia Keys, Snoop Dogg, and Kanye West are all going to support a site known for its piracy through a song. From all spectrums of the media affected by piracy, we can see opposition to SOPA.
Everyone likes going on Facebook, right? Imagine if your posted pictures, videos or statuses had to be filtered by a huge team of moderators before it would be approved to post. Or even worse, if you couldn’t post pictures or videos at all. What if your YouTube account and all of your videos were deleted for showing a movie poster in the background for less than a second? What if you had to pay huge sums of money just to use a thirty second music clip in a video? What if your blog was shut down just because someone posted a link to a file-sharing site that was “rogue”? No one wants to be inconvenienced, harmed, or censored like this.
Unfortunately, this would be the Internet if SOPA passed; one of the most important inventions in human history being gutted because of corporate greed. This system isn’t capitalism. This isn’t competition between businesses. This is who can donate the most to senators to control their monopoly. This is just corporatism. This bill spreads corporatism into the one facet of life we hoped wouldn’t affected by government.
Bibliography
http://twitter.com/#!/sschillace/status/143071667734847488
http://www.webpronews.com/does-anyone-support-sopa-2011-11
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sE5WlyQRvaM&feature=player_embedded#!
The Other Internet – Beyond China’s Great Firewall. Perf. Weiliang Nie. BBC, 2010. Internet.
Marijuana legalization speech
Take a moment to imagine a teenager named Jacob. Jacob recently was diagnosed with cancer. He currently suffers through the torturous chemotherapy process. Like many chemo patients, the pain is so great that he has difficulty eating. Keeping a meal down has become a daily trial for him. The only way that he can eat, the only way that he can maintain his survival, is to alleviate this pain, which he does by smoking marijuana. Lately, though, the law has been breathing down his neck, threatening to arrest him due to his unlicensed use of the currently illegal substance.
Jacob is one of many cancer patients that need marijuana to survive. Countless others, while still fortunate in that they have avoided the horror that is cancer, are imprisoned simply because they choose to smoke it. It is intolerable that these citizens, people who have harmed nobody and done no wrong, are incarcerated simply because they chose to consume an illegal substance that really shouldn’t be illegal in the first place. With marijuana illegal, America loses a potential economic blessing, and its citizens lose an inherent human right.
So, why does this drug remain illegal? As studies have shown time and time again, marijuana is less of a detriment to one’s health than tobacco or alcohol, both of which are legal drugs. In a study led by Jack Henningfield of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a group of esteemed doctors investigated the addictiveness of a wide range of drugs. They unanimously found that marijuana is the least dependent of all of the tested drugs, including caffeine. In terms of physical damage to the body, there has never been a recorded death due to the use of marijuana. When comparing that to over 450,000 counts of death and even more counts of dependence brought about by tobacco and alcohol yearly, one questions why these drugs remain legal while marijuana still is not.
Many of those who remain against legalization do so due to a common misconception that marijuana causes violence. We’ve all heard the news stories about one gang member shooting another due to a dispute over marijuana. Contrary to popular belief, this violence is unrelated to the effect of the substance on its user. Shootings and murders over drugs are more often associated with the black market and the shady drug cartel business. And as history has shown, the criminalization of a drug is precisely what leads to the creation of a black market for it in the first place.
Let me give you a token example of this. When the Eighteenth Amendment was set into effect in 1820, alcohol was prohibited across America, similar to the status of marijuana today. A black market formed, with underground sales of shoddily made beers flaring up around the country. Alongside these illicit sales came violence, a key result of this irresponsible and illicit trading system. When prohibition was repealed with the enactment of the Twenty-First Amendment, the black market for alcohol practically ceased to be. The country was alleviated of its rampant crime and violence. If marijuana was legalized, a similar effect would occur with the violence in our nation today.
Better yet, most of the money circulating in that sector of the black market would go straight into our economic system. Yes, legalization would also serve as a powerful boon to the currently dismal economy. The revenue generated from gas station or supermarket sales of marijuana would be gargantuan, to say the least. And that’s neglecting to mention the removal of incarceration costs for “criminals” who are needlessly arrested for the simple possession or consumption of the substance.
But my argument is not one solely based upon the inconsistency between legal drugs versus illicit drugs or the practical economic advantages that legalization could bring. No, it is much more than that; it is an issue of basic human rights. The inherent right to consume what one wants is impeded so long as illegal drugs are kept illegal. Of course, this right ends when it impedes on another’s right to choose to stay away from it, but I’m not about to take away the liberties of many to control the thoughtlessness of few. Sure, people won’t like it. Many are disgusted by the idea of a joint being smoked in the basement of one’s home. But who are they, so confident in their own dogmatic ideologies, to impose those beliefs in the form of laws on others, stripping them of the very freedoms that this country was founded upon?
This is not to say that all people who are disgusted by marijuana and other drugs think this way. Heck, I’m one of them. But I realize that my opinions don’t outweigh others’ rights. I realize that it is wise to legalize marijuana, a drug healthier than other drugs currently on the market. I realize that it is more cost-effective for the economy. I realize that the change is necessary. For changes like this are what lead to innovation; changes like these create a bigger, better future for society. A change like this would certainly make a bigger and better future for Jacob.
Bibliography:
Harvey, Brett. The Union: The Business Behind Getting High. Edmonton: SuperChannel, 2007
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/health_effects/tobacco_related_mortality/
http://drugwarfacts.org/cms/?q=node/30
http://drugwarfacts.org/cms/?q=node/30
If we all just stopped caring then there would be no problems in the world
The average person spends 18,720 hours; 1,123,200 minutes; 67,392,000 seconds in school from kindergarten to 12th grade. Children today spend over half of their youth in school. Their thoughts, feelings, actions, dreams, goals are all influenced by their education. Some might even go as far as to say that teacher’s are more influential than parents because of the amount of time they spend with their students. To say that the education of our youth is important is an understatement.
Because of its importance in the life of each generation, the education system needs to constantly be re-evaluated to uncover flaws and correct errors. While there are many challenging aspects associated with education, the greatest include the amount of money spent versus the impact on the system. According to an article written by VisualEconomics, the United States spends 17.1% of its budget on education expenses. This equals close to 10 trillion dollars on education. But is this money getting the results intended? The United States shells out trillions and trillions of dollars on education per year yet students are still dropping out, test scores still aren’t where they need to be, and students still aren’t receiving the education they deserve from their teachers.
The teachers in our education system need to be assessed as well. The idea of tenure has provided teachers with a way out. If they can just make it to that cut off line for tenure, then it’s all “smooth sailing” from then on. They begin to slack on their jobs; teaching becomes more of a second thought than a requirement. The reality of it all brings me to ask you this question, is tenure just a license for laziness? Logically one might think that the solution to this problem would be to eliminate tenure altogether but in actuality, the best solution for now would be to have periodic evaluations of teachers rewarded tenure. This would cut down on the lackadaisical attitudes towards teaching in the classroom.
On top of the apathetic nature of teaching in the classroom, there is a sense of apathy towards the “above average” student. Let’s face it; education today is focused more on the average to below average student. We try to keep kids at a B but prohibit them from going to a C or a D. We have programs installed for children who are below the B average like ESS where they are given a second chance at the classes they have failed. But apart from that, students who need to be challenged in the classroom because of their intelligence take a back seat to the ones who require a little more help. Even though there are certain academy programs throughout the country, most of those programs just involve incorporating more busy work instead of work that pushes the student to think more in depth.
This being said, we, as students, should realize that our education system is in need of reform. We should understand that if such reform is not instituted that our future is what’s at stake. More people should start voicing these concerns about the education system so that these solutions can begin to take affect. Everyone says that children are the future, why don’t we show that we believe that by giving them the education system that they deserve in order for them to succeed?
Works Cited:
· Shane, James, Rich, and Rob. "How Countries Spend Their Money." Visual Economics at CreditLoan.com. Web. 8 Dec. 2011.
· Athavale, Grishma. "U.S. Education Falling behind Those of Other Countries." Saratoga Falcon. 29 Oct. 2009. Web. 8 Dec. 2011.
· Hanushek, Eric A., and Paul E. Peterson. "Compared to Other Countries, Does the United States Really Do That Badly in Math? : Education Next." Education Next : Education Next Is a Journal of Opinion and Research about Education Policy. President & Fellows of Harvard College, 12 July 2012. Web. 8 Dec. 2011.
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