24. November 2009 by student.

Bullying in schools is a worldwide problem that can have negative consequences for the general school climate and for the right of students to learn in a safe environment without fear. Bullying can also have negative lifelong consequences–both for students who bully and for their victims. Bullying is comprised of direct behaviors such as teasing, taunting, threatening, hitting, and stealing that are initiated by one or more students against a victim. In addition to direct attacks, bullying may also be more indirect by causing a student to be socially isolated through intentional exclusion. While boys typically engage in direct bullying methods, girls who bully are more apt to utilize these more subtle indirect strategies, such as spreading rumors and enforcing social isolation. A strong correlation appears to exist between bullying other students during the school years and experiencing legal or criminal troubles as adults. I find that people who were bullied in school, seem to develop low self-esteem, or with behvior issues. Bullying in schools especially for younger kids is a very serious social problem. People end up committing suicide to themselves from bullying.

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24. November 2009 by student.

I was sitting at a light on Saturday and saw at least 20 SUVs. I understand that people have families or they might haul a lot of stuff around and therefore, may need a good sized vehicle. I am just curious though, aren’t the Cadillac Escalade, Ford Expedition, or even the GMC Yukon really anything more than a status symbol? I will not disagree that they are beautiful vehicles and completely comfortable. A Yukon on a good day in the city is going to get about 15 miles per gallon, the Expedition will get about 14 miles per gallon, and the Escalade will get about 14 as well. That is a lot of gas that it needs to pull in. From what I have seen around Southwest Florida is that most of the people who have these vehicles are driving them by themselves. They are not hauling around a large group of people or even a lot of stuff. They just wanted the vehicle because it was what they wanted. In other words, they wanted a pretty status symbol. Rather than getting a large vehicle like that though that requires a lot of money in gas, not to mention the monthly payment. What is wrong with getting a smaller vehicle that has better gas mileage? The best ranked cars for gas mileage according to http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/bestworst.shtml were the Prius, the Mini Coop, and the SmartCar. The Mini Coop was something that was made very popular by a couple movies and TV shows. Also, more famous people are driving smaller cars too. It is becoming cool to care about the planet. Although, big vehicles can and do serve a purpose, it is a much better status symbol to drive a fuel efficient car.

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24. November 2009 by student.

Anorexia is an eating disorder where people starve themselves. Anorexia usually begins in young people around the onset of puberty. Individuals suffering from anorexia have extreme weight loss. Weight loss is usually 15% below the person’s normal body weight. People suffering from anorexia are very skinny but are convinced that they are overweight. Weight loss is obtained by many ways. Some of the common techniques used are excessive exercise, intake of laxatives and not eating. Alot of female celebritys in my opinion look very anorexic,  they think thats the look to have. But really alot of younger girls  look up to them and feel that if there idol looks like that, then thats what there suppose to look like.

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24. November 2009 by student.

Each year, over 1 million American children suffer the divorce of their parents; moreover, half of the children born this year to parents who are married will see their parents divorce before they turn 18. Mounting evidence in social science journals demonstrates that the devastating physical, emotional, and financial effects that divorce is having on these children will last well into adulthood and affect future generations. Among these broad and damaging effects are the following. Research shows that Children whose parents have divorced are increasingly the victims of abuse. They exhibit more health, behavioral, and emotional problems, are involved more frequently in crime and drug abuse, and have higher rates of suicide. However i do believe if theres abuse going on in the marriage especially if you have childern, then thats when you should break away from your spouse, because you dont want your childern growing up in a abusive family, alot of kids who have been in an abusive family end up turning abusive, or begin to have behavior problems. The Federal government should establish a goal to reduce the divorce rate among parents with children by one-third over the next decade and establish pro-marriage education and mentoring programs to teach couples how to develop skills to handle conflict and enhance the marital relationship.

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24. November 2009 by student.

            A Caucasian senior in high school applies for college. He has a 3.8 GPA and excellent scores on his SAT and ACT tests. His essay is well written and meets all the requirements of the college. Another senior, a student of Native American descent, applies for the same college. She has a 3.6 GPA and also scored well on his tests. Though her essay was a little sub-par, she gets accepted over the Caucasian student. Why do you think this is? We have affirmative action to thank for situations like these. Though created with good intent, programs like this have actually widened the gap between race and gender. Instead of making sure all races and gender have the same opportunity, affirmative action has actually furthered the notion of “me vs. them”.

            Though affirmative action has done some good, I feel it hasn’t done enough to be considered effective. Nearly 97 percent of corporate senior executives in the United States are white. Only 5 percent of all professionals are black, and Hispanics hold only 4 percent of white-collar jobs even though they make up 7.5 percent of the work force.

            Equal opportunity programs are turning into preferential treatment programs. Programs like these often ignore the claim of need and lean towards the minorities. For example, disadvantaged white males have been denied benefits while minorities who aren’t in need of them have been lavished with perks. The burden of compensation is being placed on white males who are seeking jobs or further education. Why should this burden be on them when they are no more responsible for past injustices or mistreatment than any other group? It seems unfair that they should be found responsible for carrying the burden themselves.

            I feel affirmative action and similar programs actually harm minorities and women by devaluing their achievements and abilities. These programs further the notion to minorities and women that they are being accepted because their numbers are under represented and not because their achievements adequately qualify them. This undoubtedly leads to feelings of incompetence, self-doubt, and ironically, inferiority.

            Twenty-five years ago, 80 percent of the student population at University of California, Berkeley was white. Today, that number is 25 percent. It is no doubt that affirmative action and similar programs are the source of this statistic. While equal-opportunity programs have fairness and equality in mind, they have quite the opposite effect. I feel that instead of stressing fairness and focusing on being so politically correct all the time, we should be driving home the importance of hard work and a competitive yet friendly spirit. The treatment you get should be based on what you do, and not what you are.

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