Re: Obama's Looking Over Libya

On April 27, my classmate published a post regarding Obama and his work concerning the protection of Libya. She communicated her disdain towards the U.S.A for their repeated fleeing to the “charity cases” of the world while issues still exist here on the home front. Obama said “some nations may be able to turn a blind eye to atrocities in other countries. The United States of America is different." Yet she, as well as I, believes in improving our own situations before proceeding to assist others.

I do believe in helping others when necessary, but there are times where time is needed for oneself. Soldiers are still abroad in Iraq and Afghanistan and many have died serving this country for unclear reasons. To send even more out to other ailing countries without return of our other serving men and women is a bit much. More families will be torn apart and put together with foreigners who have governments as parts of countries of their own. If it necessary that we integrate our democracy into other countries to improve them, maybe it is also necessary we start creating blueprints to mail to all of them so they’d have an outline to follow and our men and women can stay home. We’d kill two birds with one stone without killing our soldiers.    

Circumcision Ban??

April 27, 2011. "A group opposed to male circumcision said on Tuesday they have collected more than enough signatures to qualify a proposal to ban the practice in San Francisco as a ballot measure for November elections." That is correct. Schofield, a man in San Francisco has started a petition against circumcision, citing it as an "excruciatingly painful and permanently damaging surgery that's forced on men when they're at their weakest and most vulnerable". However, a lack of medical evidence proving it as harmful would cite the ban as "as interfering with religious practices".

Other sources used in that article, then, informed the reader of the unconstitutionality in regards to the first amendment discussing freedom of religion. Many of the men that are being circumcised as children are Muslim or Jewish and are obliged to follow through with the procedure as a part of their customs. Yet, Schofield found his ban reasonable as it prevented the pain men experienced as infants. He proposed one year in jail and a $1000 fine served as punishment for parents that circumcised their kids under the age of 18. In my opinion, and to keep it short, I find the man and his ban to be completely absurd. He shouldn't rid of circumcision for others because he doesnt approve of it. If he's against it, then he needs to make sure he doesn't do it to his own kids when the time comes. Period.

Re: We Need To Try Harder

Two weeks ago from today an article was written by a colleague of mine in regards to our ever-changing and seemingly failing education system. He expressed his disappointment in his former, idle classmates, the school system in its entirety, and failed attempts -by schools- at keeping students in check in able to bring in larger checks. Irritation was also seen in his expression of the truth that inadequate teachers are allowed to continue to influence our futures because of the seniority system. His stance on the future of our country continued on to say that “our educational system is going to need some changes if America wants to stay on top of the food chain.”

I share his views on the betterment of education as I’m sure any American that cares to receive more than a high school diploma would. Still, what puzzles me is that congressmen, with advanced degrees, would be in favor of cutting funds for education. Who would they propose to take their seats one day? The kids who were actually present in their high school government class, or the students that -on the government’s behalf- were also able to receive advanced degrees? If you know what kind of brainpower it takes to run a country, why would you lessen the standards for teachers and schools and cut the resources for the people that will have to run things when you are no longer able to? Through all of this I assume that the response I’ll receive is to deal with the hand I’ve been dealt. That hand is old and, I suppose, a little insensitive and money hungry so I will accept what I have now because, lord knows, it will only get worse before it gets any better.

Do you need a spanking?

You may be “justified to use non-deadly force against a child under 18 when and to degree the actor reasonably believes necessary to discipline, or safeguard or promote child's welfare.” This was found searching for spanking laws in the USA. However, that law only applies to parents in Texas. I failed to find one set law for spanking within learning institutions for all the states that still permit spanking. That is probably due to the fact that there are more and more stipulations put on schools’ spanking policies everyday to please an increasing number of lenient, force-free parents. Everything, nowadays, is giving children options, letting them do as they please, and leave misbehavior to parents that still may only give the option of “no laptop, or no phone?” as punishment. I believe there is nothing wrong with discipline in any form if it doesn’t threaten to hospitalize the wrongdoer. Still, there are many different opinions and ongoing debates on the concept of corporal punishment in schools.

Only a week ago, on March 26, there was a protest in New Orleans against an archbishop who “had called on school officials to abandon the 60-year practice” at St. Augustine High School. The protestors were supporters of corporal punishment in schools, similar to me. Yet, their reasoning for it is out of “respect for the school’s history and traditions.” My reasoning for it is when a child has seemingly lost their mind and has overly disrespected the teacher, a classmate, or the school, a simple sit down in a quiet classroom after-hours or a call home to Mrs. Lenient does not serve as a proper way of discipline. (And since when was it wrong to discipline a child as seen fit, instead of as much as they are willing to accept and comply with?) Besides that, most people see spanking as outward swatting with a belt until you think they’ve learned a lesson. It is usually only 1 or 2 smacks with a paddle and most of the time the punisher is supervised to make sure they don’t step outside of those bounds.

My support for spanking comes from my own experience in the childcare field. I witnessed a 7 year old spit in a teacher’s face because he had to “take a break” (nicer way of saying “timeout”). The teacher’s reaction was, “why did you spit in my face? That’s not nice. Now go take a break while I call your parents.” Fail. That child is likely to do that once more if their only punishment was a few, not-that-harsh words. What will kids become if they’re only given easy punishments because someone is always ready to sue because their child didn’t agree with the punishment served? It doesn’t necessarily have to be spankings that are used as a harsher reprimand, but reverting back to the days before me is the only solution that comes to mind.

Teacher layoffs based only on seniority fail kids

There have been many layoffs lately when it comes to our teachers. Texas just lost a noticeable amount of educators and now New York is set to lose 4,000 educators this spring. If there isn't enough money to hold onto all these people, then I suppose cuts are unavoidable. However, it seems they are cutting teachers not based on performance, but based on seniority as seen in this editorial. So "many of the worst teachers will survive the ax they so richly deserve because of a state law that makes seniority the only consideration in laying off teachers."

March 8th, the editorial staff of USA today made it apparent "how senseless the current system is." Students are already going to be losing out on smaller classes and more independent help because of a shrinking staff, but now they are stuck with not much of a choice but to receive assistance from teachers that could care less about them. Evaluations would seem to be a way of preventing holding onto inadequate teachers, but in failing schools many of the teachers are passed and able to continue on with their jobs. School reformations are a part of the breakthrough to holding onto teachers that do their job well rather than the ones that have been around for awhile. The students’ futures are at stake and can’t be forsaken (although they’ve apparently been forgotten) because of seniority.

This article has to be written on behalf of anyone that is a student and to anyone that cares about our students receiving a good education.  I am a student so I’m definitely upset finding that there was actually a law passed approving something like seniority as a sole reason to keep or let go of a teacher. I understand keeping someone that has been in the field and is familiar with how things work, but that’s not wise in comparison to keeping someone that is truly willing  and wanting to work with the students to improve their futures as they should be doing.

Teacher Seniority System Blasted: MyFoxNY.com

Mr. Obama Moves Against Bias

February 23, 2011. A letter was sent from the attorney general to Congress saying, “The President and I have concluded that classifications based on sexual orientation warrant heightened scrutiny and that, as applied to same-sex couples legally married under state law, Section 3 of DOMA is unconstitutional.” The editorial staff of the New York Times posted their own article the same day regarding the ruling, displaying their disdain towards the "blatant discrimination" shown against gay and lesbian relationships by the Defense of Marriage Act. They made statements such as "Congress's shabby violation of constitutional rights" and "prejudice suffered by gay men and lesbians". With statements like those, it is thought that they are either for homosexual relations or for love in all shapes and forms in general regardless of what it normally looks like. The audience would definitely be people that are also for further equality for all. My stance on this, outside of the ruling itself, is that I am also for equality in its entirety. However, part of me is a little weary of such advancements only because of the beliefs instilled within me by the Christian-based society I continue to grow within. Still, reading the comments to the article on such advancements for homosexuals and equality overall is heart-warming and has me "constantly evolving" as Obama put it.

Nation Digest: FDA sued over execution drugs

Although the article is only a short paragraph, it brought so many thoughts to mind regarding life and death in the prison system. As you see above, it is said that the FDA (food and drug administration) is being sued over execution drugs. They have been allowing state corrections officials to import and use a sedative called sodium thiopental in their execution drug cocktails. Apparently, the drug had not been approved to be used amongst the other drugs in those cocktails. Now, I’m sure these officials go about dealing with inmates in ways we would never think of, but we unknowingly go along with.  Yet, the questions I have are: Why would it matter if the drug is approved or not if the end result is death? Does this unapproved drug make dying worse than it should be for a person deserving of death?  As I said before, the article is short. Still, a quick skim through it may open up conversation about the quality of life (and death) for inmates that citizens tend to care less about unless they have been in it or know someone in it.