Loved the class

My final thoughts on English 1102 is that I wish I had taken Mrs Warren for 1101. Minus the fact that there was more work in this class. Alot more work. Sorry this Blog is going out so late I had a long day of work and a busy week with 3 finals.

Journal 8

This was an interesting movie and when talking of medical ethics opens a very wide range of topics. There are a lot of different topics when it comes to the medical field because so much of our medicine is still fairly new. What happen at Auschwitz was without question an extreme violation of any and all medical laws and ethics. It is an amazing story of survival and the power of the human spirit. To be able to go through what the Jews did in the Holocaust and survive is an amazing medical phenomenon in itself. The worst and hardest military schools in the world could not prepare you for what they went through. In the end the fact that this feeble old woman was able to go back to the scene of the crime so to speak and give forgiveness to the Nazi for what they did to her is even more amazing. This is a feat that I have only read and heard about in church. The direction I think I will take with this essay is more of a modern day takes on medical ethics and laws. I might take a look into the Dr. Kevorkian trials and medical ethics of people who are terminally ill and their rights to make decisions on their own. This is going to be an interesting topic for me.

Education

Education

            Schools in Florida are failing, but they are not just failing as a school they are failing the kids attending the school and the communities that these children will one day live. There are to many dropouts in today’s school and it has become too easy for a high school student to just decide that they want to quit school.  A lot of the problem can be routed to the teachers unions who claim to have power in numbers and advocate teacher tenure. After further research it can be shown that teachers are no longer receiving tenure here in Florida and soon will be able to make more money based on their performance in the classroom.

            Schools in Florida do not have a very good track record of passing especially here in Duval County. With every state being able to set their own standard for what they consider a passing grade, it’s hard to truly tell what state is actually putting the best graduates. Whatever the standards are that each state is setting, they are clearly not doing the job with our country falling so far behind in the past 20 years. In “Waiting for Superman” we learned that failing neighborhoods are due to failing schools. There are many failing neighborhoods in Jacksonville. Ed White, Ribault, Forrest, and Raines High School all have failing grades.  They all have received bad reviews by parents and former teachers (greatschools.org). However, many of the reviews possibly come from disgruntle parents, teachers, and students. Matter of fact the only school with an overall passing grade in Duval was First Coast High School (schoolgrades.fldoe.org).  All of the other public schools had at least one subject that they were passing in. With the majority of public schools failing, the charter school system seems to be a better route for education with most of them having a higher passing rate (waiting for superman). There are over five hundred charter schools in Florida alone, with one in seventeen students in Florida attending a charter school (stateimpact.npr.org).

            You hear a lot about teachers unions and tenure when the discussion of schools comes up. With 857 students dropping out of school every hour across America, and 6,800 students dropped out of school in northeast Florida alone in 2011 (Jacksonville.com). This makes a good argument as to what really is the problem, the teacher, the student, or possibly the parents in the home allowing the teen to drop out of school. It’s easy to accuse the Unions of not being involved for the right reasons when there total revenue is 30,563,331 (teacher union exposed). It’s also easy to blame the teachers with them receiving tenure in under than 3 years in many states and then being able to keep their job no matter how their students perform. To the contrary, here in Florida it’s quite hard to receive tenure and with the passing of the Senate Bill 736 as of July 1, 2011 teachers will now be evaluated on their performance. They will be rated from highly effective to unsatisfactory, with unsatisfactory in two out of three years resulting in termination of the teacher. In this rating system 50% of the teachers rating will be on student performance and will be hired on a annual basis (stateimpact.npr.org). As of now many teachers don’t have tenure, a teacher at west Nassau High told me she has not received tenure in the past 7 years of service even with high performance marks, and the only teachers with tenure at her school have been with the department longer than 15 years (Feazel). A good fact to note is that more student graduating in Duval schools are college ready in comparison to other counties around Florida. This may be in part to the harder curriculum that was implemented in 2007. Even with more students graduating college ready 60% of students that enroll in Florida State College of Jacksonville are in need of remedial classes (Jacksonville.com).

            With schools having a failing record here in our own community it is plan and obvious that something needs to be done to fix our school system. The local government has noticed the problem and is taking action in the form of laws and bills to make our teachers more accountable and efficient. The parents of a lot of these failing students also need to be healed accountable as well. With violence in schools and kids dropping out without consequences a lot of responsibility lies with the parents of the child offenders. Sharing the blame is the teachers whom have become lazy with tenure and guaranteed work, and need to be held accountable as well. Finally the unions who were once a great idea in the reform of teachers contracts and pay have now out lived there usefulness and are no longer needed.  

Journel 7

I truly enjoyed this video about education in America. It was one that puts a knot in your throat at the end and makes you think about your own education and what the future holds for your children. I have heard and noticed that our schools are getting worse hear in America, but I never really looked that deep into it. I have thought about were my son will go to school one day but more than his actual  education I have worried more about his safety. Waiting for Superman really put a different perspective on education and gave me a better way to look at and decide were my kids will attend school. This has been a big deciding factor in where me and my family will buy a home and settle down at for the long haul. The one big thing I did draw from the movie was that the teachers unions seem to be a big problem in our education system. A big part of my essay will probably be in the researching of unions and the good and bad that they cause and do. Its always been my understanding that unions were created for the right reasons but in time have become the death of many organizations or company's in the end. So if this is true, then our education system is in a lot of trouble. Also it made me think and wonder, what path was I put on when I was in school? Also if so many presidents have wanted to change, fix and reform education, then why has no one followed the numbers and changed the system that has been around for 30 years. It truly makes you wonder what is going on behind close doors to cause this system to be ignored and allowed to continue to fail. No one has to see this video to have noticed that our education system is failing! 

Essay 6-Misrepsentation

Misrepresentation

            “I may be the first woman in congress, but I won’t be the last” Jeannette Rankin once said after being sworn into congress (Women in Congress). There have been many women over the past few decades that have stepped onto the job fields that were normally filled by men. Sally Ride was not only the first American woman to go to space but also was the first lesbian to do so. Throughout history women have transformed from being the house wife to being the head of the home. We have seen over the past few decades that women have begun to fill many high government positions. There has also been an increasingly negative portrayal of women in advertising as well as other areas of the media. Women in these positions have all chosen their career paths and followed them with their own choices. Whether it be congress women, bikini models or stay at home moms, the choice has been hers to make.

            The majority of sexually explicate ads are geared toward men, thus there are women being used as sex symbols to sell a product or service. The truth is that, in big business the only thing they are concerned about is the almighty dollar. The one way to sell you product is to advertise and one truth has lasted the test of time is that sex sells. Dr. Reichert, an advertising professor at the university’s Grady College of journalism, says “Advertisers use sex because it can be very effective. People are hard wired to notice sexually relevant information so ads with sexual content get noticed.” However, a study conducted by Dr Reichert found that sexually related ads were used 15% of the time in 1983. In 2003 that had risen to 27%, a 12% increase over twenty years. This is a slow rise to some, but a much larger rise to others (Atkins). Women are largely used in advertisement as sex objects or sex symbols wearing scantly clad cloths or bikinis. In 1946 when the bikini was first introduced by Louis Reard it was not intended to be a sexual devise but more of a celebration of women’s rights. It didn’t take long before it became a visual stimulant for advertisers, and in 1946 sports illustrated introduced its first swimsuit issue (Atlantic).

            In politics, woman were originally just the home makers and ones who put together the food and made the arrangements for the after hour functions. Our country’s first president in the late 18^th century had no women on his cabinet and not until 1917 would we see our first women in congress. Jeannette Rankin of Montana was elected to congress and sworn in 1917. With the ratification of the 19^th amendment August 18^th 1920 more women would be elected and appointed to high government positions (Women in Congress). As of 2006, 296 women have served in congress, although there are only six out of fifty states with female governors.  This shows that over the past ninety years there has been a large but slow increase in women holding these positions. The first woman to make a bid for presidential nomination was Shirley Chisholm who in 1968 was not only the first women but the first African-American woman to be placed in nomination at a convention by either party (Britannica). You can see through the history of our country women in politics have made a large leap forward becoming 23% of congress. One of the problems facing women running for office has been the amount of money they have been able to raise during their candidacy. This is a reflection of how they are viewed. An unmarried woman is viewed as less likely to share the same family values as married women and men (Fast Facts about Women in Politics).

            Throughout history women have gone from being the stay at home moms, which rear the children, cook, clean, and take care of the home, to quite the opposite. Throughout history we are seeing more women in politics, Fortune 500 companies, and becoming the bread winner of the family. There are women in today’s society that hold positions that would normally be held by a male. As a correctional officer at a maximum security prison my OIC (officer in charge) is a female, Captain M. Nipper. Not only does Captain Nipper hold a position that you would normally expect a man to hold in a male dominate job but, she is also the majority bread winner in her own family. We are seeing more women growing up, being well educated and able to take care of themselves, as well as hold jobs that men have traditionally held. However many women choose not to go into these fields and would rather stay at home and raise a family. As our society is changing toward more equal rights for everyone, there are choices for all. You can choose to stay at home and raise a family or get a job where you can provide for yourself and need not depend on anyone.

            Jeanette Rankin was the first but was defiantly not the last to be a congress woman. Throughout our history as a country woman have gone from having no say so in the matters of home and politics to being the decision makers. Women have gone from watching elections to being elected. We might one day see a reduction in the negative representation of women in media as they become a larger figure in the decision making of America, but we may never truly see it stop completely. With the choices that we are able to make in this new generation it won’t be long before we see a woman president and more women making millions as business owners and the bread winners of the home. I know I wouldn’t mind staying home to cook and take care of the kids; I’m pretty good at it already.

Works Cited

“Shirley Chisholm". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 01 Apr. 2013
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/113270/Shirley-Chisholm

Atkins, William. Sex sells in advertisements: Sexual imagery grabs our attention. IMB. 06 June 2012. Web. 29 March 2013. http://www.itwire.com/science-news/biology/55194-sex-sells-in-advertisements-sexual-imagery-grabs-our-attention

N.P. Fast Facts about Women in Politics. Convio. 2010. Web. 27 March 2013. http://www.wcffoundation.org/pages/research/women-in-politics-statistics.html

Sugget, Paul. Sex In Advertising. Advertising Guide. 2013. Web. 29 March 2013. http://advertising.about.com/od/advertisingprojects/a/Sex-In-Advertising.htm

N.P. Women in Congress. YouTube. N.D. Web. 01 April 2013. http://history.house.gov/Exhibition-and-Publications/WIC/Women-in-Congress/

Journel 6

This is kind of a hard topic for me. Im not one for political issues such as this one and dont have strong views on it. I do think women are misrepresented in media and very much so in politics. I agree with the idea of having more women in government and I personally think we are on our way as a country to having a female president. It is only a matter of time before it happens and it is only a matter of time before there are an even amount of black, Hispanic and women in all offices of government.  This is evident by the president we now have. Women will also begin to join men as the bread winners in the homes across America and will become the CEOs of more and more major corporations. I don't plan on telling my daughter one day to find a good man to support and take care of her, I will tell her live her dreams and get an education so you can take care of yourself, and if need be take care of your family. I know it would not hurt my pride one bit if my spouse made more money than me and I was placed in her role as the parent at home cooking, cleaning and raising the kids. I actually think i would do better at cooking and cleaning if I had the time to stay at home and learn,but since my spouse wants to stay at home I will gladly do what is necessary to provide as the bread winner.

Journel 5

OK. I thought the video was quite interesting and had me look at grocery shopping in a hole new light. The amount of product that a store such as Winn-Dixie and Publix waste is amazing to me. I will make it a point to research what Winn-Dixie and our local grocery stores do to minimize there waste. I liked how the video touched on the poverty of other third world countries, however I think he was very ill informed of why some of those countries are where they are. Many of there own governments are the reason famine and starvation are such a problem. They steal much of the money and food that is sent there to feed the hungry and ration it out as they see fit. Until more is done to regulate these small dictator ran countries we should not worry ourselves with sending mass amounts of money and food. Some of the facts that were presented in the video were quite astounding to me and I look forward to finding more and arguing about them.