After feeling the burn myself of trying to just make a truck payment on miminum wage, I can only image the stress that families are feeling who are only capable of obtaining jobs that pay minimum wage. Many people dont realized how little minimum wage is and if a worker is scheduled a max amount of hours a week then most need to take on two or even three jobs to make ends meet. This is a scary thought for myself who plans to rent an apartment when I transfer from ICC to U of I in the fall of 2016. If minium wage isnt increased then there is no possible way to go to school full time and be able to pay the bills. I will have to face the choice of not going full time and working two or three jobs or be forced to live in the cheapest apartment I can find no matter its condition and be rationed on a ramen noodle diet. To myself this doesn't seem like a viable thing for any college student to do. Why should we have to sacrifice our living standards in order to further our education? At this rate we would all be better off finding a full time job out of high school and working our way up the ranks instead of eating an unvaried diet and living in shambles of an apartment. One of my friends is into politics and he said that you can make more money per year on welfare than you can working a minimum wage job. I believe that this is something that our government needs to take a deep look into. Why should someone be given more money per year than somehow who is out working hard for the small amount they are making. I believe like many politicians the minimum wage should be raised allowing people to live comfortably on it. It doesnt need to rise for them to live in luxury but at least be able to live in a decent home and eat something other than the cheapest food item they can find. An article I read debates on how high minimum wage should rise, with it saying that $10 might only be a start becuase of inflation and the rising prices of goods. With this being said I'm hoping to see politicians fighting for a higher minimum wage to allow students to be able to pay for college and the cost of living and allowing the number of families in poverty decrease.
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/02/22/a-1010-minimum-wage-might-not-be-high-enough.aspx
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Freedom of Speech
After reading the article "The Schools Are Destroying Freedom of Speech" wrote by Mr. Whitehead I feel an important topic is brought up. The citizens of this country are losing their freedoms and not fighting back about it. The government and courts are taking sides of schools and other groups who are taking these rights away. I myself don't agree with this because the constitution states are freedoms and these rights are being taken away. Multiple schools have shut down graduation speeches because they don't agree with what the person giving the speech is saying. What gives them the right to determine what is right and wrong to say in a speech? School authorities should not have control over what students can and can't say to an extent. There are certain things that should be filtered out of the school language such as foul language an threats to hurt another person but under no circumstances should a student be censored when they bring up religion. Our founding fathers wrote the constitution to ensure our rights as Americans so what gives government nowadays the right to take them away. If we allow this to continue to happen and continue to not educate our student fully on the consititution it could allow the government down the road to have control of what we can or can't say, what can and can't be published along with many other bad things.
I believe our school systems should put more of an emphasis when learning about the constitution and what it means and allows us as Americans to do. Along with this courts need to start siding against schools in law suits where a student was censored at school for something that the constitution allows. With these two problems fixed young citizens will know their rights and the government won't be able to have more control down the road as it looks right now. Not everyone is going to like what is said by another person but that doesn't give them permission to keep them from talking, they should just choose to ignore the information.
I believe our school systems should put more of an emphasis when learning about the constitution and what it means and allows us as Americans to do. Along with this courts need to start siding against schools in law suits where a student was censored at school for something that the constitution allows. With these two problems fixed young citizens will know their rights and the government won't be able to have more control down the road as it looks right now. Not everyone is going to like what is said by another person but that doesn't give them permission to keep them from talking, they should just choose to ignore the information.
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
What happens behind closed doors at zoos.
After reading a recent article on fox news my blood started to boil. A zoo in copenhagen put down a giraffe because they wanted genetic diversity and to stop interbreeding between the other seven that they house. The giraffe was named marquis and was two year old healthy male and just starting his life as a captive animal. After he was put down by a bolt pistol he was dissacted, skinned, and chunked and then fed to the lions for the public to watch. Granted no caged animal lives to its full life expectancy in captivity but what is expected when they cant perform the activities they normally could do out in the wild.
I do not agree with this practice becuase this animal didnt choose to be held in captivity. If the zoo didnt want anymore genetically similar giraffes it should somehow prevent them from breeding, instead of breeding and letting them kill their offspring. The zoo had many other options of what to do with the animal but wouldnt change their mind on what they wanted to do with it. Even with a petition signed by 20,000 people online and numerous offers from other zoos to take the animal into their location. One zoo offered a sum of money close to 3/4 million dollars but it was turned down because that zoo was not in the same association as this particular zoo. Now that we have seen this catastrophy in public who can image whats happens to the animals behind closed doors?
This article has given myself a different perspective on zoos. At first I thought they were nice because it allowed children to see a variety of the worlds animals in one place. After reading this article I disagree with the practice of keeping animals at zoos in exhibits only a small fraction of the area they would see in the wild. No person would want to be trapped in a classroom for their whole entire life to be put on display to the public, so why should we allow the same to happen to animals? If we insist on keeping animals in enclosure for our viewing pleasure, I think it should be in the same manner as Wild Life Prairie Park does. One large open exhibit of 10+ acres for the animals from one area of the world to roam freely. I also believe that something should be done to mimick their natural habitat as to make them more comfortable because they are living creature also. If we find something unethical in the human race it should be the same for animals because we ourselves are animals. Its unethical to shoot a person and against the law so why shouldnt it be the same for other living creatures.
This article has made me consider if what we do to some animals unethical and unpractical because we are the ones at fault for them being in zoos and interbreeding. They should be allowed to roam free on multiple acres of land and nature take course. That would provide the same lesson that this zoo was trying to imply.I myself will not be going to a zoo or supporting a zoo anytime soon unless the ways of housing animals changes drastically to better the animals lives.
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2014/02/10/copenhagen-zoo-met-with-online-rage-after-putting-down-healthy-giraffe-to-stop/
I do not agree with this practice becuase this animal didnt choose to be held in captivity. If the zoo didnt want anymore genetically similar giraffes it should somehow prevent them from breeding, instead of breeding and letting them kill their offspring. The zoo had many other options of what to do with the animal but wouldnt change their mind on what they wanted to do with it. Even with a petition signed by 20,000 people online and numerous offers from other zoos to take the animal into their location. One zoo offered a sum of money close to 3/4 million dollars but it was turned down because that zoo was not in the same association as this particular zoo. Now that we have seen this catastrophy in public who can image whats happens to the animals behind closed doors?
This article has given myself a different perspective on zoos. At first I thought they were nice because it allowed children to see a variety of the worlds animals in one place. After reading this article I disagree with the practice of keeping animals at zoos in exhibits only a small fraction of the area they would see in the wild. No person would want to be trapped in a classroom for their whole entire life to be put on display to the public, so why should we allow the same to happen to animals? If we insist on keeping animals in enclosure for our viewing pleasure, I think it should be in the same manner as Wild Life Prairie Park does. One large open exhibit of 10+ acres for the animals from one area of the world to roam freely. I also believe that something should be done to mimick their natural habitat as to make them more comfortable because they are living creature also. If we find something unethical in the human race it should be the same for animals because we ourselves are animals. Its unethical to shoot a person and against the law so why shouldnt it be the same for other living creatures.
This article has made me consider if what we do to some animals unethical and unpractical because we are the ones at fault for them being in zoos and interbreeding. They should be allowed to roam free on multiple acres of land and nature take course. That would provide the same lesson that this zoo was trying to imply.I myself will not be going to a zoo or supporting a zoo anytime soon unless the ways of housing animals changes drastically to better the animals lives.
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2014/02/10/copenhagen-zoo-met-with-online-rage-after-putting-down-healthy-giraffe-to-stop/
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
A Failing Education System
I chose the article "Left Behind, Way Behind" from chapter 22 in the Argument! textbook. In this article Bob Herbert the author mention that the United States has fallen behind many other countries education system. When compared to 29 other countries the U.S. only ranked 24th which I think is really sad. He goes on to explain the problems with our education system and a way to implement a new one to increase the number of students who graduate with a diploma and are ready for college courses.
I agree with Mr. Herbert in the fact that our nations schooling system has taken a flop for the worse. I know at my high school you were required to take four math classes but which ones you took was up to your discretion, so most of my class senior year took the easier math class that didn't prepare them well for college. I feel there should be more of a stress on taking higher level math classes while in high school to prepare for college math. I believe it should be this way with most classes such as english and any science classes that would be furthered at a collegiate level.
With the test scores dropping to a low, the nation should work overtime to correct this problem with all the stress they put on kids about going to college. If a kid can't properly prepare themselves for college why should they be at fault and have to take lower level classes before getting into classes that count for credit hours for them to graduate. The other reason the nation needs to work overtime is when looking at test scores, they are completely pitiful and the nation should be ashamed to release them to the general public. Only 41% of nonpoor fourth graders achieved proficiency at reading in 2003, and only 15% of poor fourth graders achieved proficiency. There needs to be an equality across the boards for all students no matter their families social status. Either way both school systems need to step up and provide more help for their students who have difficulties learning and provide more practice for them to achieve the skills they need.
I believe that the schools though aren't the only thing at fault of our nations struggling education system. Parents are at fault to because of the lack of stress they put on how important school is. I know from experience of my little brothers all they want to do it get on some video game, play on their phone, or watch television which is okay to treat yourself to but it shouldn't consume your life. Now a days kids are consumed by all these things and begin to worry less and less about their school work that will impact the rest of their life. I think with cooperation of parents allowing kids to spend less time with electronics and more time studying along with schools providing a reform of how they teach the nations test scores will rise.
I agree with Mr. Herbert in the fact that our nations schooling system has taken a flop for the worse. I know at my high school you were required to take four math classes but which ones you took was up to your discretion, so most of my class senior year took the easier math class that didn't prepare them well for college. I feel there should be more of a stress on taking higher level math classes while in high school to prepare for college math. I believe it should be this way with most classes such as english and any science classes that would be furthered at a collegiate level.
With the test scores dropping to a low, the nation should work overtime to correct this problem with all the stress they put on kids about going to college. If a kid can't properly prepare themselves for college why should they be at fault and have to take lower level classes before getting into classes that count for credit hours for them to graduate. The other reason the nation needs to work overtime is when looking at test scores, they are completely pitiful and the nation should be ashamed to release them to the general public. Only 41% of nonpoor fourth graders achieved proficiency at reading in 2003, and only 15% of poor fourth graders achieved proficiency. There needs to be an equality across the boards for all students no matter their families social status. Either way both school systems need to step up and provide more help for their students who have difficulties learning and provide more practice for them to achieve the skills they need.
I believe that the schools though aren't the only thing at fault of our nations struggling education system. Parents are at fault to because of the lack of stress they put on how important school is. I know from experience of my little brothers all they want to do it get on some video game, play on their phone, or watch television which is okay to treat yourself to but it shouldn't consume your life. Now a days kids are consumed by all these things and begin to worry less and less about their school work that will impact the rest of their life. I think with cooperation of parents allowing kids to spend less time with electronics and more time studying along with schools providing a reform of how they teach the nations test scores will rise.
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