And the Bigger Problem....

“Teachers Wonder, Why the Scorn?”

            To sum up the article, “Teachers Wonder, Why the Scorn?” teachers are being threatened, per-say, to get laid off or get a salary cut for one of a few reasons. Either due to low-standardized test scores, they don’t have “seniority protection”, or the government feels as if they are not doing their job. I find this ironic because in Ken Robinsons video clip I watched in class he touches on this same subject, just viewed in a different way, instead of criticizing the teachers his fingers are pointed in the direction of the government.

            Our government says students standardized testing scores are low, yes well maybe they are, this could result in bad teaching yes, but lets be honest not every teacher is bad, being a student, I had more good teachers the bad. I think it results in bad standardized testing. Like it as stated in the video, these big yearly tests the states have us taking are broken down into what they think is appropriate for each grade level to have the knowledge of, and each grade level is broken down by age, well what if some kids who are the same age are more or less advanced then others and know more or less? Which I believe is almost always true.

            Teachers are being laid off because they have only been in the school system for three years as opposed to 20, so they don’t have those seniority privileges. Seriously, really, are you kidding me? If this is the way the school system is ran then no wonder it is failing, the people running it are failing. Some of the younger teachers have so much knowledge, spunk, and motivation to be a amazing teacher and they have more chance of loosing their job compared to someone who has been teaching longer, who easily and most likely does take advantage of this system and can get away with being a lazy teacher. Government cant ask why the schools are the way they are, it is because Government is the way it is.

            In the article “Teachers wonder, why the scorn?” Tony Bennett, a young teacher who was laid off due to seniority privileges, said, “This is in no way, shape or form an attack on teachers; it is a comprehensive effort to reform a system.” If teachers aren’t doing their job then yes, they should be fired, education is a very important subject, and they are teaching the future of our world, our children. I agree with the intentions the Government and authority has to make our schooling system as good and advanced as possible. But we live in a very advanced time right now, much more then in the past, how do people think we can learn the same way as we did years and years ago? We are trying to meet the future, doing everything the same as the past and we are getting nowhere.

What is your America?

“Where do you think you are? Some Place like America?”

            Everyone is well aware of the economic crisis we are dealing with and facing today. Or so I thought I was well aware, I thought that the problems were getting “dealt” with and it was just taking time to rebuild the many companies and restore the financial issues that tumbled down in 2008.  After reading this foreword, “Some Place like America?”, by Bruce Springsteen, my opinion changed a lot. I have heard people compare our present times to the Great Depression, but I always blew it off. I almost feel like the government and all the “important” people, these who we as a country have put our trust into, have been lying to us, or at least they have been trying to keep the worst a secret from us, leading us to believe crisis really isn’t a crisis. Sad to say but they have done a pretty good job, at least with the people in my generation, who have the potential to be hit the hardest from this economy failure. This downfall in the economy never worried me before, now I am scared for my future and the future of my country.

            “Some place like America” took me back through the past and let me relive in it, it brought back and referred to books written by people who lived and survived the Great Depression, the hardship and battles they faced and their will recover from this disaster. This reading made me recognize that the people we give our trust too fail us, lie to us, and surely don’t listen to us. Springsteen says its perfecting, “trillions for the titian. Crumbs for the rest.” Meaning every focus to rebuild this economy was immediately directed towards the wealthy, the ones who had money and weren’t struggling. So why are officials bragging saying our country did not hit a Great Depression when nothing has been done for the low-income Americans, who have been hit the hardest and are still bleeding. Also, the people we rely on for safety, like our police, harass homeless people who are simply just sleeping.

            It is all bullshit. Our government says that we are doing everything possible to avoid a Great Depression, but it seems to me we are doing everything to sink ourselves closer to hitting rock bottom. We got ourselves in this mess the same way we got out, and our country still continues to do things and procedures the same way they did the first time, which is why we failed again. Instead of listening to the people, they just ignore us. So this is when I think back to the title, “Where do you think you are? Some place like America?” and wonder where am I? Am I in a free country, where we are increasing and advancing in life, with safety, stability, and security or am I in a place where money is always tight, living from pay check to pay check, taxes get to high, health insurance in too expensive to afford, and jobs are scarce? What America is to some people, it is the complete opposite for others.  

All About Me, Maggie Cohen

I am from a great family in a small town, outside of Louisville, Kentucky. I have always enjoyed enlgish class and love being challanged to write new things. I am a strong bleiver in karma. I am in college because I want to be successful, figure out what i am good at, and find more of my interests by trying and doing new things. I am really interested in sports, mainly soccer, and fashion. I have such a strong sense for clothes, shoes, designing, and crafting. I am also a strong beleiver in traveling-getting to know other cultures and having a new view, feeling, and appreciation for new things and places.

Hackers

When I think of the term hacker, I think of somebody “hacking” or entering without permission onto somebody’s computer programs or social networking cites. Too bad a “hacker” is not that simple and is a lot more important and has the potential to effect every one of us. Computer hacking is the practice of modifying computer hardware and software to accomplish a goal outside of the creator’s original purpose. A lot of times hackers are teens who are curious about what they can do and find out on a computer, but there are definitely more serious hackers and forms of hacking.

The two main goals of a hacker are to steal or destroy. Computer Hackers can access personal information, such as, a persons social security number, credit card numbers, banking account information, and really anything about you.  Hackers also hack into company computers and are able to find out not only costumers information from that company but also their financial information and accounts, as well as change the information without the companies knowledge.

Most people probably don’t worry about computer hackers and having their personal information accessible, most would probably brush it off, thinking it would never happen to them. Which is true about myself as well, there’s too many other priorities and things to worry about. Although hacking is a serious and important problem and could just become more and more a problem. Earlier this year, in January, the Canadian government was hacked. These hackers got access to passwords on these high-level, very important computers and stole information that was secret and sensitive to the Canadian government. After research, all the hacking on Canada was traced back to computer servers in China. According to CBC news, these hackers are considered to be called, “patriotic hackers” who go around the world and target institutions or governments that seem as a target to their government, in this case the Chinese government.  It seems that Canada has resources that China greatly “needs” or wants, which isn’t proved yet, but could definitely be found through computer hacking, figuring out passwords, and accessing information that is important to the country and all the citizens.

Think about how scary it is to know, that the everyday things that you don’t worry about, for example, your personal information, the safety of your country, and the safety of your companies really are not that safe, and someone has the potential the get ahold of all that information. These hackers are skilled in computer and find great joy in figuring out how to obtain information in new ways. Once they accomplish one thing, its like a puzzle, they want to see what else they can do, which results in more hacking, or in Canada’s case more serious hacking issues.

“Make-up and Hot Pink Toe Nails- Not Just a Girl Thing”

“Make-up and Hot Pink Toe Nails- Not Just a Girl Thing”

            “The values and norms of a society are framed by the branded images and lifestyles consciously and carefully constructed by advertisers seeking to maximize profit.” After reading this article, I could not get this statement out of my head.  When you look at our society today, you think of boys playing with leggos, trains, and trucks; boys’ rooms in colors such as blue, green, or red; and girls liking pink, Barbie’s, and princesses.  This is the “norm” in our society. On the flipside, if we had boys playing with the dolls and the girls playing with trucks in their red bedrooms, our society is quick to judge and discriminate against this.  This is immediately forbidden to happen, so it normally doesn’t.  As we get older, the same lifestyle trends carry on. They stick with us because they become habits.  These normal life trends are literally everywhere.  Not only do we learn this through our parents and family, but it’s as if they tattooed on our culture. These “normal” styles and trends are seen on television, through all advertisements, magazines, and the list just goes on.

In society, everyone wants to force their kids to grow and be socially accepted so they imbed these false images and beliefs in the minds of everyone.  Most people feel it is not okay for their young sons to be interested in make-up, dolls, and pink tutu’s.   Melanie Klein states in her article, “As a tragic example further down in this post will show, these normal, healthy childhood curiosities and small pleasures are usually quickly beaten out of boys, figuratively and literally.” These social expectations have gone to far and are becoming more and more dangerous.  In Klein’s article, she states that a 17-month year old boy is beaten to death for being too “girly”, 5 year old boys are accused of being gay from simply wearing a “girl” Halloween costume, boys in pink causes headline news, and a high school football player is kicked off the field for wearing pink cleats during breast cancer awareness week.

This is why Melanie Klein refers to a J. Crew advertisement of a young boy and his mother together painting their toenails hot pink as a, “breath of fresh air.” This advertisement shows that the color pink isn’t just for girls, as well as many other colors that are classified and separated with gender.  Advertisements play one of the biggest roles in classifying and constructing what the social “norm” is and shaping who we are based on society’s rules and perceptions.  Melanie Klein is right when talking about the positive feedback the J. Crew advertisement portrays when she says, “It expands the range of possibility for what girls and boys can do and be.”

Results of my Political Compass Test