9. December 2009 by student.

In the United States, approximately 79 million babies were born during the Baby Boom Period. (1946-1964)

Lately, the numbers of babies born has been increasing… again.

In 2007, the total number of births in the United States surpassed the record number of births previously reached in 1957(peak year of babies born). The total number of births in the U.S. in 2007 totaled 4,317,119

Studies show that the increase has been due to the amount of teenage pregnancies and the increasing hispanic population.

Bucking the trend in many other wealthy industrialized nations, the United States seems to be experiencing a baby boomlet, reporting the largest number of children born in 45 years.

The nearly 4.3 million births in 2006 were mostly due to a bigger population, especially a growing number of Hispanics. That group accounted for nearly one-quarter of all U.S. births. But non-Hispanic white women and other racial and ethnic groups were having more babies, too.

Experts believe there is a mix of reasons: a decline in contraceptive use, a drop in access to abortion, poor education and poverty.

I believe the same. I’ve known many friends and other random people who been pregnant and the main reason was because of not caring and lack of contraceptive.

I believe that everyone(teenage girls) should become more aware of consequences before thinking about having unprotected sex.

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9. December 2009 by student.

As if we didn’t have enough things to worry about on the road we now have texting while driving.  The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute has concluded you are 23 times more likely to be in a collision if texting while driving.  When you combine this with young inexperienced drivers it creates a recipe for disaster.  Everyday in 2008 over 800, 000 people were texting, making calls, or using a handheld cell phone while driving in the United States.  Distracted drivers kill over 6,000 Americans every year.  Texting takes the drivers eyes off the road which is where they need to be.  Texting is becoming more popular then just simply talking on the phone.  If you are only talking on the phone you can atleast keep your eyes on the road only increasing your risk of crashing by 1.3 times that of a nondistracted driver.  Past research indicates that driving while talking on the phone is as dangerous as driving drunk.  Then when you compare this to the statistics that tell us how much more dangerous it is to text it can be a scary thought.  The worst part is that in studies teens and adults all agree that texting while driving increases their risks when driving but still continue to do it.  Texting while driving should be illegal for all.  Using your phone at all as a newly licensed drivers should also be illegal.  They are the most inexperienced and likely to crash therefore they need all their focus on the road.

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9. December 2009 by student.

Heatwaves unpublished. Hurricane overwhelming. Dried endless where there was plenty of water. Devastating floods. Extinction of thousands of species of animals and plants. Fires. Melting of the poles. And all sorts of natural disasters that are beyond human control.
For decades, researchers warned that the planet would feel in the future the impact of man’s carelessness with the environment. At the turn of the millennium, the warnings were no longer needed - the disasters caused by global warming have become realities present in all continents of the world. The challenges have become two: to adapt to the brink of new and more dramatic natural disasters, and seek solutions to mitigate the impact of the phenomenon.
In times of global warming, a new international body made the pages of newspapers and magazines across the earth - the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) established by the UN to get international consensus on the subject. His expected reports were highlighted by bringing the main causes of the problem, and point to possible paths that can reverse some of the points table.

In 2007, the panel wrote and published three texts. In the first of February, the IPCC has blamed human activity for global warming - something that has always been known, but had never been confirmed by an organization of this size. He also warned that maintained the current growth levels of air pollution, the global average temperature will rise 4 degrees Celsius by the end of the century. The following report, submitted in April, dealt with the catastrophic potential of the phenomenon and concluded that it could cause mass extinctions, rising seas and devastation in coastal areas.
The surprise came in the third UN report, released in May. In general, he says that if the man caused the problem, can also solve it. And for a relatively low price - just over 0.12% of world gross domestic product per year by 2030. Although opposed by environmentalists and green NGOs, the number deserves attention.
The 0.12% of world GDP would be spent by both governments to finance the development of clean technologies, and by consumers, who need to change some of their habits. The ultimate goal? Reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, which prevents the dissipation of heat and heats the atmosphere.
Global warming will not be contained only with the publication of the IPCC reports. Not with his conclusion that it comes so expensive to reduce emissions. Although they are good starting points to guide the actions, the documents do not have the power to require either nation to take action. To obtain meaningful results, the effort to reduce pollution need to be global. The failure of the Kyoto Treaty, to which the United States, the largest emitters of CO2 in the world, not join, illustrates the problems facing attempts to curb global warming.

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9. December 2009 by student.

“The Centers for Disease control report that suicide is the third leading cause of death, behind accidents and homicide, of people aged 15 to 24. Even more disturbing is the fact that suicide is the fourth leading cause of death for children between the ages of 10 and fourteen.” This is quited from the Teen Suicide Statistics website, and clearly states how and why teen suicide is a major social problem.

These high teen suicide statistics are seen world-wide, not only in America. In the age group of 15 to 24 in Russia, the deaths from suicide are 32 out of 100,000. In Japan, there are now small internet cults that teen are joining, forming pacts to enact their mass suicides together (MSNBC.msn.com). World-wide, there are nearly one million teen suicides a year; more than homicide and war victims combined.

With the staggering numbers of teen deaths occurring mostly in more civilized and advanced countries, it has been recognized that teen suicide is a social problem. However, the Global Annual Teenage Statistics reports that the fatalities could rise to 1.5 million by 2020. If teen suicide rates are soaring, then the tactics we are using to prevent it are obviously not as effective as needed.

Here is a list, taken from the Focus Adolescent Services, that one may use to recognize a teen that may be suicidal:

• Unhappiness

• Gradual withdrawal into helplessness and apathy

• Isolated behavior

• Drop in school performance

• Loss of interest in activities that formerly were sources of enjoyment

• Feeling of worthlessness, hopelessness, helplessness

• Fatigue or lack of energy or motivation

• Change in sleeping and eating habits

• Self-neglect

• Preoccupation with sad thoughts or death

• Loss of concentration

• Increase in physical complains

• Sudden outbursts of temper

There are many ways that are available, online, in books, or through a psychologist, for one to seek comfort and help in getting away from there suicidal thoughts. However, if a teen are already decided, for sure, on a suicidal path, they will probably not be seeking help. This is where recognizing the previously stated behaviors are important. More important than recognizing these behaviors, though, is treating them.

As I have said, we need a new approach to preventing teen suicide, because what has been used in the past is not decreasing the fatalities. My approach would be like a Big Brother program. But, instead of a young adult who has been having substance abuse issues, or issues are home, these will be depressed teens with recognized suicidal and/or depressive behaviors. Also, these teens will not knowingly be entered into a program. My program will only work though school and their psychologist, but will need the help of other students and young teens. At the beginning of each semester, there will be a meeting where the school’s psychologist can address all the teens and explain to them the symptoms of suicide and to report anyone with these symptoms to the psychologist. Also, fliers will be posted inside and out of school. Now teens know how to recognized depression and suicidal behaviors. If someone IS reported to display these symptoms, the psychologist will then send out a student from a special team of volunteer students that have learned to help troubled teens cope with their issues. These volunteer students will not expose themselves as someone trying to help, but will befriend and comfort the troubled teens, showing them how to live a happier life through games, sports, and by being introduced to more friends. For teens who continually turn away this unknown help, further assistance must be introduced. If the volunteers cannot befriend the teen, they will report this to the school psychologist, who will obtain a meeting with the teen and/or the teen’s parents. From there, the teen may have to seek major psychological help, depending on their level of depression.

This suggestion to preventing teen pregnancy is my own personal ideal, and only one of many. Other possibilitiesss can be located on websites such as KidsHealth.org, CharityGuide.org, and TheSecondWindFund.org.

Thank you.

Posted in Mr. Andoscia, Social Problems | 1 Comment »

9. December 2009 by student.

There are a few different interpretations of what a mental illness is: the medical view states that it is a disease with physiological causes, and then there is the view that it results from the way mentally ill individuals are treated, and the less popular, it is not a disease but rather a government method of labeling those thought to need isolation and/or treatment.

1 out of every 4 Americans suffers some form of mental disorder in a given year (Barry, 2004). Among patients with any mental disorder, only 20% received treatment between 1990 and 1992 and 32% received treatment between 2001 and 2003. While that is a step in the right direction that number still needs to climb. Half of all lifetime cases of mental illness begin by age 14. A 2005 study conducted by Kessler revealed that an untreated mental disorder can lead to a more severe, more difficult to treat illness, and to the development of co-occurring mental illnesses. Brian Mitchell, the 56 year old man that kidnapped Elizabeth Smart in 2002 has been mentally disturbed, diagnosed with a delusional disorder and exhibited deviant sexual behavior accompanied with paranoia since adolescence. A psychologist recently testified that Mr. Mitchell is incompetent to stand trial in the abduction case that grabbed the attention of the nation. If treated as a teen this may have all been prevented.

The two-class system of mental health care in the U.S. has contributed greatly to this problem. There is an undeniable link and vicious cycle of mental illness and poverty. Lower social classes are associated with mental illness and typically, more affluent patients with less severe mental illnesses receive higher-quality private care, whereas severely ill patients, often reduced to poverty by their illness, are shunted into budget-starved public institutions (U.S. Congress, 2001). Legislative efforts are underway to reduce some of the disparities in insurance coverage between mental and physical illness but that alone will not solve the problem; we need to tackle the greater problems of discrimination, stigma, and lack of social support.

“Trends in Mental Health Care” Barry, Colleen Nov. 2004

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9. December 2009 by student.

 There are about 8.8 million gays in the US population.  Everywhere in the US besides Massachusetts gay couples are denied equal rights and not allowed to be married.  This issue is currently a major social issue in our society.  Everyone probably knows someone this affects.    Marriage is a public recognition of a couple’s commitment to each other and for the most part gay couples are unable to make this commitment.  It is because of this they lose out on certain privleges married couples have.  This includes tax filing status, joint ownership of property, insurance benefits and parenting rights.  It can also affect making critical medical decisions while a partner is incapacitated.  I believe children will be affected positively by gay marriage.  Gay couples are going to continue raising children whethere marriage is legal or not.  These families deserve the same benefits and protection as others.  In a study sponsored by the American Psychological Association they found that children of gay unions are just as likely to be well adjusted as children from heterosexual unions.  We should make gay marriage legal so these children can be raised in socially accepted homes.  We are living in a fast paced society and everything around us is constantly changing and adapting.  We alter our norms for marriage and certain things as times change.  Interracial marriage use to be banned in the United States and woman use to be considered property.  We have come a long way since then.  Studies have also shown that younger generations are more accepting of gay lifestyles.  You are not born with homophobia it is taught to you.  We instead need to teach our children to be accepting and tolerant of different lifestyles.  Especially since these people and lifestyles are not going anywhere.  President Obama is a supporter of gay rights.  President Obama said, “We cannot and will not put aside issues of basic equality.  The fight continues now and I’m here with a simple message:I’m here with you in that fight”.  Considering this and the growing support for gay marriage I believe it is only a matter of time before gay marriage becomes legal in the United States.  It is already legal in so many other countries including, Canada, Spain, Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands.  Many of the arguements against gay marriage have a religious basis.  People seem to forget that we are living in a country that gives of freedom of religion as well as freedom from religion.  Gay couples deserve the same equal rights and privleges as straight couples.

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9. December 2009 by student.

 Water Pollution
            The pollution Crisis is a major problem all around the world. It has adversely affected the lives of millions of people and caused many deaths and health disorders. Pollution is contamination by a chemical or other agent that renders part of the environment unfit for intended or desired use. It deserves emphasis that the environment also refers to the place where you live. Natural processes have released toxic chemicals into the environment throughout the history of the earth. Currently, the pollution generated by human activities presents the most serious problem. There are basically 3 types of Pollution. They is air pollution, land pollution and water pollution, water pollution is my biggest concern because it affects more people in south west Florida and our Floridian life style. Many of your intercostals waterways and rivers are affected by pollution.The wastewater and liquids from plants and factories are linked with nearby river water, which are polluted when they release disposal from, Oil spilled from ships pollute oceans around the world. Water pollution infects the water and renders it unfit for drinking and other purposes. It is also a major cause of most of the water-borne diseases. Industrial waste often contains many toxic compounds that damage the health of aquatic animals and those who eat them. Some toxins affect the reproductive success of marine life and can therefore disrupt the community structure of an aquatic environment. Microbial pollutants from sewage often result in infectious diseases that infect aquatic life and terrestrial life through drinking water. This often increases the number of mortalities seen within an environment. Across the nation, the system that congress created to protect the nation’s waters “CAA” clean water act today often fails to prevent pollution. The New York Times has compiled data on more than 200,000 facilities that have permits to discharge pollutants and collected responses from states regarding compliance. Many of these facilities are in Fort Myers and affect our water purity.Across the nation, the system that Congress created to protect the nation’s waters under the Clean Water Act of 1972 today often fails to prevent pollution. The New York Times has compiled data on more than 200,000 facilities that have permits to discharge pollutants and collected responses from states regarding compliance. Information about facilities contained in this database comes from two sources: the Environmental Protection Agency and the California State Water Resources Control BoardAcross the nation, the system that Congress created to protect the nation’s waters under the Clean Water Act of 1972 today often fails to prevent pollution. The New York Times has compiled data on more than 200,000 facilities that have permits to discharge pollutants and collected responses from states regarding compliance. Information about facilities contained in this database comes from two sources: the Environmental Protection Agency and the California State Water Resources Control Board It is high time that we take this issue, of ‘Problems of Pollution’ seriously, or it could have adverse effects on our future generations. Across the nation, the system that Congress created to protect the nation’s waters under the Clean Water Act of 1972 today often fails to prevent pollution. The New York Times has compiled data on more than 200,000 facilities that have permits to discharge pollutants and collected responses from states regarding compliance. Information about facilities contained in this database comes from two sources: the Environmental Protection Agency and the California State Water Resources Control Board 

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9. December 2009 by student.

Today we are seeing more people than ever before that lack a moral core or hold little to no ethical values, let alone personal responsibility. Long gone are the days of treating others how they ought to be treated. I believe that this is one of the main reasons the world is going to hell and a major cause of all the turmoil we are experiencing in our daily lives. We are now breeding individuals full of selfishness and hatred rather than love and altruism. These days you can have your turning signal on for miles and nobody will let you switch lanes; they force you to cut them off and are then ignorant enough to get upset that you got in front of them.

 Both women and men are having extramarital affairs and cheating on their spouses, this is nothing new but is becoming more common. What is new: the mistress often times is well aware of the person being in a relationship/partnership yet still continuing to partake in these infidelities. Take the recent Tiger Ten scandal..im sure the number will continue to rise a bit more, and most of these women were partaking in these actions inside his families’ home! One of the women is actually upset because she thought she was the only one. That says alot about how weak our society has become.

What blows my mind even more so are the girls that are in relationships and actually having children with individuals who they know have been convicted of sexual offenses most often for pedophiliac crimes, and are then shocked when new accusations arrise. If someone was convicted of these crimes that means that there was more than enough evidence proving their guilt not just a frivilous accusation. Studies have shown these people can change, but it is a long hard road & most are never actually successful at achieving this change. Parents need to start instiling some level of morals into their children or this is only going to continue to get worse, which we do not need, it is already bad enough.

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9. December 2009 by student.

Modern technology plays a huge role in the world today. It helps us function in the fast pace world that we live in. Modern technology allows us to communicate better, work more efficiently and even prolong life. However, I believe that people are becoming too dependent on technological advances to get by in everyday life. It seems like we have created a shortcut or an “easier way” to do even the most basic activities.

One example of the dependency that I am talking about is some people’s obsessive attachment to their cell phones. Today, cell phones have come a long way. Instead of a cell phone simply being used for making/receiving phone calls, people are using them to take pictures, record videos, surf the internet, play video games, and to perform simple math. Cell phones are also becoming more popularly used as GPS devices, calculators, personal computers and God only knows what all those ”App’s” can do for you! The problem I am addressing is not the cell phones themselves; but rather the people who become dependent on the cell phones to get through everyday life.

 During this semester, I was taking a Biology class at the Fort Myers campus. In this class, we were required to make a lot of charts and graphs to express different outcomes for scientific experiments. The professor told the class that we had to create these graphs using Microsoft Excel. He was very adamant about this. I raised my hand and asked if it was ok if I created the graphs by hand. I told him that I would draw the graphs on graph paper and that they would be to the proper scale and specifications. He looked at me with a confused expression on his face and said that my idea was absurd. He went on to give me a 10 minute lecture on how out-dated and obsolete this process is. In the process of trying to prove his point to me, he told a story about a time when he was working for a genetics lab and the power went out. He said that everyone had to quit working until the power came back on. His point behind the story was that none of the scientists working there could continue their work because they had no computers to calculate equations and graph data points for them. In other words, they didnt have access to a calculator and Microsoft Excel. So, what does it say for our society when scientists with illustrious college educations are unable to perform simple math equations and draw the graphs out on paper? This situation begs the question: What if we lost electricity nationwide or even worldwide? And what if we lost it indefinitely? (Also, I’d like to note that elctricity is not the only thing we categorize under modern technology. Electricity just happens to be the fuel that powers most of our modern day advancements.) 

My inspiration to write this blog came from this next story that I’m going to tell. It involves a debate I had with one of my professors last semester. We were having a debate that started when he said that the day will soon come when we will stop teaching our kids how to do simple math like multiplication and long division because the process is obsolete. His claim was, “Why teach them the hard way when you could just give them a calculator?” That is the worst possible way to look at it. If anything, people need to be taught things the hard way before they are shown any shortcuts. That way, if for some reason they are unable to use a shortcut or tool to make it easier; at least they learned how to do it the hard way. This ideaology can be applied to numerous applications in society today. For example: People should learn how to use a road map before they are given a GPS device. My professor went on to claim that people in today’s society cannot survive without the assistance of technological advancements.

Within that statement lies my claim: Society has become too dependent on modern technology. If we have “advanced” to the point where we are completely dependent on complex tools to sustain life; how far have we really advanced? How strong are we as a society if we cannot survive without technology that has been around for such a short period of time? What about the people that lived in the generations before you and me? How is it that they could survive without modern technology?

Just because something can be done the easy way doesn’t mean it should be.

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9. December 2009 by student.

Do “modern families” exist today?  There is no family that is perfect, but it is now common to have a family that does not consist of the ideal image. In our society today, more families have divorced parents than ever before.  40-50% of first marriages end in divorce. 60-67% of marriages fail in second marriages and third marriages fail at about 74%. When families are started, and parents get divorced, it is more than likely they will end up remarrying. In most cases, the parent remarries someone who already has a family as well. This leads up to having step-parents, step-brothers and sisters, and half siblings. Then what happens if that marriage falls apart? There is a chance another spouse comes into the picture, and then more children are added to the family.           There are families that are not considered modern even while parents are still married. One parent might be off traveling all of the time and not have any time at home with the rest of the family. How does that affect their spouse? How does that affect their kids? It affects them a lot. Jobs may be important but what happened to the mom and dad sitting at the dinner table every night with their kids talking about their day? It is simply known that this is not the definition of a modern family anymore.           The definition of modern family has changed a lot over the last 10 years. We used to think of it as being a mom and a dad with their children living the perfect life of loving and being with each other forever. The dad goes to work, while the mom stays home cleaning the house and watching the kids. She cooks dinner and when the dad comes home they all eat together and maybe play a board game after. Today the definition of a modern family is parents being split up, multiple siblings, mom and dad both working and no time for quality family time. Our society is letting us take advantage of relationships and family. Why are all of these divorces occurring? Why are we continuing to run off and get married every time we think we may be in love? I do not think that all marriages are based on thinking they are in love, but a lot of them do. There are so many people who get married after only being with someone for a short period of time. What does this usually end up becoming? A divorce, a broken family. It is sad to see that this has become so common and that people have lost the true definition of being in love and making a marriage work.

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