10 THINGS THAT ARE IMPORTANT TO ME

1.       Education

2.       Careers

3.       Family (meaningful relationships)

4.       Money

5.       Technology (i.e medicines, ect.)

6.       Charity/ volunteerism

7.       Recyncling/enviroment

8.       Faith

9.       Health

10.   Character

"Occupy Wall Street"

Starting in the streets of New York on September 17,2011 and now spreading to different states in America, protesters are filling the cities of our country for the “Occupy Walls Street” protest.  What exactly does this mean? To the protesters this is a motion to raise awareness and as citizens be a leader in society. These protesters are pulling together as a community to be leaders in the public. “Occupy Wall Street” is a people powered movement where these protesters are saying enough is enough. These protesters are over this financial crisis they find themselves in. They feel failed by the government, thinking their greed, inconsistency, and unreliability is what demolished the economy.  They are protesting against major banks and multinational corporations in hope to achieve economic justice. Wall Street protesters are blaming Wall Street for the economy crumple and the great recession they have found themselves to be in. They feel that they were the ones who bailed these big businesses out and in return they are relying on these corporations to prevent America from a future crisis, by spending millions of dollars, which comes from us.

Since this is a protest is in major cities, now 1,500 cities globally, the cops are definitely a part of this. Cops are “watching” and “protecting” our communities during this protest, well this is what they are supposed to be doing. Instead, they are arresting innocent people, they are pepper spraying protesters for no reason other then for the signs they are holding, and they are violently taking people to the ground just because they are involved in the protest, this is all caught on camera. These cops aren’t protecting these protesters or their rights. This is freedom of speech and how these cops are interrogating these protesters is absolutely wrong and shouldn’t be allowed. It is even more wrong that these police officials actions are caught on camera and all over the news, and it still goes on, if something needs to be brought to the government’s attention it should be that.

The point to this protest makes sense; this is our future we are talking about and as of now our economy is awful. The number of unemployment is increasing, which scares me because I hear about people’s situations all the time, where college graduates cannot find jobs. Then again I completely disagree with this protest, these people want the government to take from those who work and give to those who don’t, this is defined as socialism, which the rest of the world has tried and failed! This protest is a lazy excuse for people to complain to the government why they don’t have money, they can protest 9-5, but cannot go work. I will not let these protesters “occupy” my mind. 

Flaws in Education: Blame it on the Government

            Education and the Crisis of Capital           

It is clearly evident that there needs to be a change in our public schooling system. Education is important, whom we are educating is the future, and how we educate them is everything. I have read many articles and facts about public education and the flaws our country has with it and I’m sorry to say I do agree with the critics. I went to public school from Kindergarten until I graduated high school in 2010, and this is bad to say but I easily breezed my way through high school (which is what is supposed to prepare you for college).  I used to think school was important, until my teachers seemed to stop caring, which resulted in me to stop caring and trying as hard as I could. Do you see the pattern?

I blame this on the government; they were the ones who stopped caring. If education really is such an important aspect in life, which yes it is, then why has the budget for public education funding decreased majorly in the past few decades? Does our government want us to succeed? Does our government want us to be better? Maybe if the government took public education more seriously teachers and students would too. In the article “Education and the Crisis of Capital” it says “the correspondence principle, or the notion that the “social relations of education” normally correspond to the social relations of production in capitalist society.” Well in this case, our education is about as important and unstable as our market, this is sad. I’m sad to that that I am scared for the future of this country in the educational point of view.

Another crucial flaw in the public education system is what are we learning? Well we are learning and following the same system as we did in 1916, that is almost one hundred years ago and life from then to now is one hundred percent different. Very little of the schooling at the elementary and secondary levels is oriented to developing actual skills, which is needed in every living situation and every career. Very little knowledge is attained through these years of education either. It is possible though but only through private schooling, which most people do not go to due to the extremely high costs. When looking at the public education verses private education, private schooling is much more funded and generates a governing class; this cannot be said about public education.

Standardized testing is what defines public education. Teachers barely have any say or freedom in what to teach because everything in public schooling is evaluated by standardized testing. In the article “Education and the Crisis of Capital” it says, “Likewise, Ellwood Cubberley, an influential education administrator, and superintendent of San Francisco’s public schools, wrote in 1916 in his Public Administration: “Our Schools are, in sense, factories in which the raw products (children) are to be shaped and fashioned into products to meet the various demands of life.” To bad this isn’t the case anymore in 2011, our schools are bent and pushed to the side to meet the basic needs of society. 

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.