20. October 2009 by Mr. Andoscia.

All comments up to Oct 20 have also been graded.

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20. October 2009 by student.

For most of us college students we have not yet thought about health care. This is an issue that is being debated heavily right now. This is another social problem that America faces.  The questions that are being asked right now are; how can we change our current health care so more people can obtain the needed benefits of health care, without hurting others. There are currently 47 million Americans without health insurance. Health care is the largest economic sector, which accounts for 2 trillion dollars annually. This is four times larger than our national defense. (The Real Truth) According to Health care for all-California, half of all bankruptcies are due to medical bills. The real problem is how can; we give more health insurance to the people that don’t have it without hurting someone else. For example, I know several people in the health insurance businesses that are extremely scared of losing their job because President Obama is trying to give free health care. If America gave free health care we would be adding to the high number of unemployment. The last thing we need to do is increase the number of unemployment. This is a major social problem because it is affecting everyone in our country.

As college students we need to think about our future and realize how important of an issue this is. When you get a job a huge benefit many companies give is health insurance. Maybe there should be some kind of way that America can make all of its employers pay for the employee’s insurance. As of right now, no one can figure out a way to solve this disaster of a problem without causing even more problems. In the current condition that our society is in today the health care topic is extremely difficult.

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20. October 2009 by student.

Its a sad fact that everyone in the United States is effected by drunk driving. Whether they are the one behind the wheel or have lost a loved one to a drunk driver. As more young people reach their teens underage drinking become even more of an issue. There is no good reason to get behind the wheel of a car after you have been drinking. Too many young lives have already been lost.

According to the CDC; In the United States, motor vehicle–related injuries are the leading cause of death for people ages 1–34, and nearly 5 million people sustain injuries that require an emergency department visit. The economic impact is also notable: motor vehicle crashes cost around $230 billion in 2000.  In 2006, 13,470 people died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, accounting for nearly one-third (32%) of all traffic-related deaths in the United States. In 2007, over 1.4 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics. That’s less than one percent of the 159 million self-reported episodes of alcohol-impaired driving among U.S. adults each year.

These statistics definitely scare me. I lost a friend to a drunk driver a year after we had graduated. Its sad to think of how many other young adults are going to have the same fate. There are so many programs to prevent this, so listen up!

http://www.cdc.gov/MotorVehicleSafety/Impaired_Driving/impaired-drv_factsheet.html

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20. October 2009 by student.

More girls than ever are getting into guns. But is that a good thing  or a deadly accident waiting to happen? Lyndsay, 19, who is a college sophomore loves the typical college things such as snowboarding and watching movies with her friends, but also loves shooting guns. She said that she shot her first gun when she was seven years old and shot her first deer when she was fourteen.  The National Rifle Association (NRA) confirms that the number of pro-gun girls is on the rise within the last five years. But girls aren’t into guns for only hunting or sport: they also want them for protection. “If someone broke into my house, I’d want to know how to use a gun safely,” says Alyssa, 18, from Indiana, who grew up in a very “pro-gun” family. Other girls say that having a gun makes them feel strong, safe, and proud. One girl said that hitting a target is like sticking your landing in gymnastics or getting the winning soccer goal. Another said that when she turned sixteen and began driving, she started to get “really scared about the possibility of being assaulted and not being able to defend” herself. One last girl said that “there’s no feeling like the adrenaline rush of hearing deer, moose, or turkey approaching - suddenly everything you’ve practiced becomes real.” She began hunting when she was twelve with her dad. They even make “girlie” guns now that come in small sizes and cute colors.

However, other girls think all this gun love is just leading to more gun violence. Every day in the United States, 276 people are killed or wounded by gunshots. 28 students were killed by guns in Chicago, last school year; three teens were shot in just two months in San Diego; and in September, a 14-year-old girl boarded her Mississippi school bus with a semi-automatic handgun, threatening to shoot the other students.  Some girls say that the media is over playing the gun drama, but for one teenage girl, the drama was very real and very close to home. On a Wednesday morning at school, Ashleigh from Fort Lauderdale saw one of her best friends, Amanda in the hall and gave her a hug. “Love you, Ashleigh,” she said. “I love you too, Amanda,” she said back, “I’ll see you soon.” But just hours later, Amanda was shot and killed by another girl at school named Teah. This girl supposedly had a crush on Amanda and when Amanda said she just wanted to be friends, Teah couldn’t handle it so she got a handgun and shot Amanda. Ashleigh said she heard Teah got the gun from her house, even though it had been locked up and out of sight. Ashleigh thinks that if there was not a gun present at Teah’s house, Teah would have just gotten over it and the whole situation would have blown over.

**I got this information from an article in Seventeen magazine. I personally do not own a gun and am neither pro-gun nor anti-gun.

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 1 Comment »

20. October 2009 by student.

In today’s society, we don’t see children out on the streets playing hopscotch or jumping rope along the sidewalk.  Our streets are dead to afternoon playtime or friendly neighborhood play dates. Instead, our children are inside the house watching television or playing video games on the XBOX.  Not enough time is spent outside because we are so enthralled with the new technologies that we forget about the activities we used to endure.  Due to us being so succumbed to these activities where we don’t have to stand in the heat or sweat, we are forgetting about the reason why all of us participated in events like that in the first place.  America has become such a dependent nation on fast food restaurants, television, video games, and everyday amenities that we are shying away from the real reason of why we are such an obese society.  Our children don’t have recess the way we used to.  Recess times have been cut in half because the schools feel that more emphasis is needed on curriculum then keeping our children healthy.  Schools have began serving smaller portions of food thinking this would help cut back the increasing number of obese children, yet parents still purchase fast food for dinner because they are too hectic or tired to cook once they get home from work.  Parents need to become more cautious of the images they are setting for their children.  By purchasing fast food for them on a regular basis or not encouraging them to get out and exercise, they will never learn the needs of what it means to be healthy.  Children are lead by example and when their parents are not leading them properly towards a healthy lifestyle, then they will never understand the importance.  Obesity is becoming more of an issue as each day passes.  It doesn’t have to be like that though.  Daily exercise, proper eating habits, or even family walks will decrease the chances of obesity in America.

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