9. August 2010 by Mr. Andoscia.

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9. August 2010 by student.

In our country, you are mostly considered a legal adult at age 18. However, no one believes that at 12:00 am on your eighteenth birthday you are suddenly equipped to handle your life entirely alone. However, some individuals seem to reach a level of perceived maturity way before they reach that milestone. Science will tell us that the brain fully matures somewhere between 20 and 30 years of age for most people. But how often do we see someone who obviously has some work to do on their maturity? The truth is everyone has a slightly different view of what an adult is so how can we simply say that at 18 you are an adult? Should there be some kind of test to standardize adulthood too?

What is an adult to you?

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9. August 2010 by student.

We hear it all over the media. “Live like you’re dying; say what you need to say,” etc. etc.But even with those reminders we forget. With the media playing on our emotions we think that life changing things only happen in movies and true love is only validated if you write a song about it. But considering for a moment that love is real, (at least in a realistic way for our own realities) do we really show how much someone means to us on a daily basis?Many of us are parents, so we tell our kids that we love them and we do all the little chores for them that they don’t notice without complaint. We do all these things and hope that they know how much we care for them. We get frustrated with them but we forgive them, and hope that they know that there is nothing in this world that would keep us from doing that time and again.But there is a problem with this formula.How many of us physically play with them anymore? How many of us hug them as often as we should? How many of us SHOW them directly how much we love them?We work hard and we do everything for them but we may not realize that they don’t see our work the way we do. Sometimes we get so caught up in the race for success that we don’t see that they only understand love when it’s right in their faces. When we are young we don’t always see farther than our own interactions and our youth might be missing those direct encounters that are so crucial.How do we fix this? Or is this not a large problem?

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 1 Comment »

9. August 2010 by student.

In today’s society, it seems ADD medication and kids diagnosed with ADD  are a dime a dozen. Some teachers are even beginning to require that parents get their kids tested and drugged for class just so they will be easier to handle.  It seems everyone thinks they know exactly what ADD is and how it should be handled. Just give the kid some Ritalin right? Not right, and not true. The truth is that most kids that are diagnosed with this disorder just haven’t reached the same level of maturity yet or are just being kids. Not all kids are the same, and now, this particular brand of different is seen as a negative thing. By giving these kids drugs and telling them to ‘be the same’ we are not only showing them that individuality is bad, we are also teaching them that everything can be fixed with drugs and they will never have to actually work on uneven ground; that they will never have to struggle to get what they want. We are giving these kids a crutch to lean on, and excuse that they will learn to believe they need.

Most people believe in the stereotype that if a kid is energetic and doesn’t SEEM to be paying as much attention as the other kids that means they have ADD.  This is so unbelievably false it’s not even funny. The real truth is some kids will have ADD for real and no one will be able to notice because they are the quiet ones that seem to be working really hard. This is where the problem lies. A child will be classified as ‘slow’ because they are not at the same level as the others and they don’t SEEM to have the popular traits of this disorder. In truth this child simply thinks differently than the way the rest of the class is being taught. Their mind strays constantly from the task at hand but on an internal level.  This child wants to do better but lacks the tools necessary to be allowed to do so. These children are struggling with no one who understands to help them, while kids that have had too much sugar and too little discipline are running around wild and then having excuses made for them to continue.  This is wrong.

On the subject of Ritalin, it is a helpful drug to SOME kids, but it is not the fix-it drug for everyone. It is not the only option to families who face such a decision as whether or not to try medication to help their child. There is nothing wrong with such a decision either. However, it must be made carefully, and real research should be done on the subject. Until one has done such research and has talked to someone seriously who has this disorder, they should not speak of it as if they know everything about it. Most people only know what the media has spit out and the fact that people still put their trust in such things is absurd. The popularization of something like this is disgusting. It is not funny or cool to have an imbalance in your brain that makes it harder for you to succeed and the fact that we have been socialized to do this needs to be reversed.

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 1 Comment »

9. August 2010 by student.

Did you know that 1 in 6 women become victims of sexual abuse? Did you know that 1 in 33 men are sexually abused? Do you think your child is safe when dropped off at daycare? Do you feel safe because the sexual abuser down the road was arrested and claims to be a changed person?

I ask these questions because the statistics show that most people would say no to the first two questions but would say yes to the remaining two questions. My question of what would you do comes from the amazing statistic that 60-65% of victims feel they cannot tell the police but open up to their friends or someone close to them but yet the police still never find out.

I understand why people feel they cannot tell the police about being sexually abused because they are embarrassed and scared. Or is that the reason? Here is the real question. Did you know that 15 of 16 sexual abusers walk free with only probation? That is only 6%.

I know that this makes me feel less safe now. I am not trying to tell you to be scared of everyone around you. Just understand it is important to be cautious at all times. Their are websites to know where the sexual offenders are and it is very important to understand where the locations of these offenders are.

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9. August 2010 by student.

Should a person under the age of eighteen have the right either to keep or to abort an unwanted pregnancy? Abortion clinics all across the U.S. make it possible for a minor to abort her unwanted child without the permission of an adult. In addition to clinics, minors are finding and using alternative ways to abort unwanted babies. Parents are blaming the government for allowing minors to make a wrongful medical decision. By allowing minors to have abortion, most minor will go out and have sex without protection and that can also increase their chances of catching STDs. If minors are allowed to make such a big medical decision without the consent of an adult, then they should have the right to do any other stuff such as buying alcohol, watch any movies, withdraw and enroll to school and the list can go on and on. THAT WILL NOT BE A GOOD IDEA. First of all, not everyone can have abortion for medical reasons, and sometimes abortion can be followed by medical complications. Some Doctors will not be concerned of finding out if the person is or isn’t a good candidate for abortion. For such reasons, I think Minors should not be allowed to have abortion without the consent of an adult.

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9. August 2010 by student.

We all do it. What if using cellular phone while driving is banned all over the country? Several States across the U.S. has banned the use of cell phones while driving. Over the years the rate at which car accidents involving hand held cellular devices has increased. In attempt to lower accident rate, The Government has stepped in banning cell phone talking and texting.  They demonstrated on the Oprah show that anybody who uses their cellular phones while driving “especially texting” increased their chances of being in a car accident more than someone who’s driving while intoxicated. She said “make your car a no phone zone.”

 But is that a good idea? Right now most people barely have a house phone. Cellular phones are replacing home phones, that’s mean people will receive and answer call time anytime of the day. As busy as people are nowadays, most people make their phone calls, answer their phone, or listening to their voice mail on their way to school, to work, to the market etc. Even if the government tries to ban using cell phones while driving people will still do it. I think they should banned texting and driving NOT talking on the phone and driving. I believe 100% of a person’s attention should be focused on the road at all times,   and texting requires 100% attention, that’s mean it’s either your mind is focused on the road or it focuses in texting. I believe in order to prevent some car accidents, texting while driving should be banned period no question ask.

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