28. April 2011 by student.

The U.S is widely known to be a sexually schizophrenic society.  We put up the front of being sexually conservative, continuing with our ignorance of sex and sex education, but expose children to movies, music, and television shows completed doused in sexual innuendo’s and content.  Society turns its cheek to sexual education, stating that “ignorance is bliss” but is ignorance truly protecting us, or harming us?  There are two opposing approaches to sex education in schools. On one side, you have the abstinence infused approach, which mainly states to avoid sex all together until marriage. On the other side, you have the safe-sex based approach which acknowledges the reality that teenagers are sexual active and therefore promotes and teaches teenagers about condoms, the risk of STD’s, and contraceptives. As a result of lack of sex education, teenagers are more at risk of being exposed to STDs and becoming pregnant. “Ignorance about sex is the primary cause of the spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). The spread of AIDS in the 80s and 90s has shown us that education and information is more important than ever. Giving sex education in schools is crucial to this spread, and may be supplemented by frank discussion at home” (Jones, 2009). Abstinence is a religious based view,  So, is ignorance really bliss, or is awareness the key to safety?

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28. April 2011 by student.

As youths move through adolescence, they gravitate toward cliques that provide them with support, assurance, protection, and direction. If a certain adolescent grew up in a home that didn’t have supportive parents or caretakers, they are more likely to join a gang. Gangs are groups of youths who engage in delinquent behaviors. The ages of gang members range widely; some as young as 8 to as old as 55. Research indicates that youths first hear about gangs at the age of 9, get involved in violence at 10, and join their first gang at 12. By the age of 13, many gang members are already carrying firearms and getting involved in murders. Of about 1 million gang members, about 40% are juveniles (under 18) and 60% are adults.  

Other reasons why youths join gangs are for personal safety, fun, and/or the “thug” lifestyle…Youths who are new to a community or “hood” believe they will be made fun of or attacked if they remain unaffiliated with a gang. Another issue with protection is motivated by race or ethnicity. If an individual resides in an area dominated by a different race or ethnic group, they may feel as if they need to join a gang.Some youths join gangs simply to have fun. They enjoy hanging out with others like themselves and want to get involved in exciting experiences. Others join gangs because they feel like they want to enhance a “thug” lifestyle. If these kids grow up in a gang affiliated neighborhood they witness these gangsters walking around dressed in nice clothes, jewelry, cars, money, women, and most of all, respect.  

In order to keep track of all these adolescents getting involved in gangs, we as a society need to demand our government to do something. If we can cut down on these kids joining gangs it will put a huge dent in these gangs’ plans and activities. Agencies have special gang units that specialize in keeping track of gang members but they should focus more on the youths. By checking in on them every day, forcing them to go to school and encouraging them in competing in sports or other activities may deter these delinquents.

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28. April 2011 by student.

People are always trying to blame others for their own actions. It starts as a young child lying to your parents about spilling milk in the kitchen, then you blame smoking and drinking alcohol on friends and family members, and for some reason when you are an adult you take a look at the news one day and you want to blame society for kids doing the exact things have been doing for years and years. Music seems to be a good scapegoat for many of the activities young kids are doing today. Skipping class, drinking smoking, having sex, staying up all night is all apparently new stuff. I can see the lyrics have changed quite a bit over the years and by all means..Akon is way different than Michael Jackson, the the thing is no matter which time era people are from there is always going to be the same learning process involved in living. There might be an alternative solution to blaming rock music and rap music to smoking marijuana, instead of just blaming Snoop Dogg and Metallica. Are we just supposed to listen to instrumentals and tribal chants? Everyone is held responsible for their own actions and blaming music for “corruption” in today’s youth is pretty outrageous.

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28. April 2011 by student.

With the state of the economy as it is, we can expect to see many social downfalls.  Already, the rate of unemployment is at its highest, since 1990 (Google).   The pressure and stress brought on by not having a job or any source of income leads to societal stress, so as a result, with the unemployment rate at its peak, many people are becoming homeless, resulting in an increase of drug and alcohol abuse, which inevitably has led to an increase in crime rates. “The government’s spending watchdog warned last night that the economic recession and rising unemployment will cause a wave of social problems over the coming year. They will include rising homelessness, more family breakdowns, increased drug-taking and more alcohol abuse… The commission found the recession is already causing more homelessness in one-third of local authorities” (Carvel, 2008).  This recession hits even closer to home, as a recent study has shown that among working adults age 62 and older, about 33 percent say the recession has forced them to delay retirement. For working adults in their 50s, at least 60 percent fear they may also have to delay retirement. Along with retirement being delayed for many, 42% of Americans have seen the value of their homes increasingly decline. Such losses in home value have resulted in increased mortgage foreclosures, one of the most enduring features of the recession. Unless the government decides to do something that will quickly and effectively help our economy, we will continue to spiral deeper and deeper into a recession. 

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28. April 2011 by student.

Some people call them criminals, others call them brothers. I call them criminals. Gang warfare is a rapidly growing multi-faceted epidemic in America and it looks like there is no end in sight.  Gangs have grown steadily not only in numbers and power but they have also developed into highly sophisticated and successful businesses that use violence as a means to maintain their authority. It was recently reported by the Justice Department that there are over a million gang members belonging to more than 20,000 gangs that are responsible for about 80% of all crimes committed across the 50 states.

The crazy thing is that this behavior is completely normal in human nature.  People have always grouped together to insure that they would have others to help them meet their basic needs for survival and safety. After all when other systems fail, if your friends are there to provide support, money, and protection it is easy to feel strong and secure. Groups of people have always adapted their own specialized methods to meet the desires and demands of their unique situations. Some gangs came together and worked towards positive goals and became known as groups or associations. Others did exactly the opposite. They became known as street gangs, prison gangs, ethnic or hate gangs and even female gangs. Indeed it is normal, but not acceptable.

Yes, race is a key factor:  As life progressed and America promised to be the land of opportunity, immigrants from all over the world flocked to its shores. The majority of them were from the lower, uneducated classes and unfortunately found themselves at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder. Rather than becoming part of the great melting pot they broke down into tightly knit groups, usually according to ethnic backgrounds.

They are criminals but it is really their faults? I’m throwing caution to the wind and saying that the true culprit is the corrupt government. As long as a government is filled with corruption and spends its money waging unjust wars around the world while failing to provide its own people with the basic necessities of life, there will be tremendous negative side effects. Street gangs are but the unfortunate results of a dysfunctional system working against its people. Seen in that light they are but an sad product of their environment. Is there a fine line between them and us? The question we should ask ourselves is:

How far would you go to feed your starving children and protect yourself?

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28. April 2011 by student.

Abortion is one of the leading social problems in America. People against it, those who are pro-life, state that “the human fetus and in most cases the human embryo is a person and therefore has a right to life”, while on the other side of the spectrum, those who are pro-choice, state that “this entails a guarantee of broader reproductive rights, including access to sexual education and to contraception and fertility treatments as well as to safe and legal abortion.”  Abortion is defined as the termination by the removal or expulsion of a fetus or embryo from the uterus, resulting in or caused by its death, and while it says death in the definition, keep in mind that it is an embryo and not yet a fully developed human being who can think, move, or even breathe. However, although the embryo has yet to become a human being, many people believe it is still to be considered a human life, and that terminating it is equal to performing murder. Along with that, there are also the issues that the labels bring with them, as no one can truly say they are against either pro-life or pro-choice, but in fact be for both of them. “… We cherish life, we value choice, and we trade them off with great reluctance” (Times, 2009).

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28. April 2011 by student.

It is no secret that the legalization of marijuana would help us get out of this economic recession we are in, but exactly how much would it help? “… We do know, however, that according to recent figures, U.S. consumers number anywhere from 25 million to 60 million (depending on how likely survey respondents are to tell the whole truth), and at an average cost of $5 per cigarette (and factoring in one per day for each user), total spending on marijuana may add up to $45 billion to $110 billion a year” (Easton, 2009).  That’s before you take the taxation that would inevitably be put on the substance.  If the U.S government were to stop spending money on arresting and prosecuting people for marijuana use, they would save approximately $7.7 billion a year.  If they were to also legalize it and tax it to a similar rate as that of tobacco and alcohol, they would gain another $6.2 billion a year in revenue.  Aside from bringing in an immense amount of revenue, if legalized, marijuana could be beneficial in the medical field. Already, 16 states have legalized the drug and 15 are currently pending legislation. It has been medically proven that marijuana serves as a natural, organic pain reliever, helping patients suffering from diseases such as AIDs, multiple types of cancer, fibromyalgia, and several other illnesses.  “I have found in my study of these patients that cannabis is really a safe, effective and non-toxic alternative to many standard medications. There is no such thing as an overdose. We have seen very minimal problems with abuse or dependence, which at worst are equivalent to dependence on caffeine. While a substance may have some potential for misuse, in my opinion, that’s a poor excuse to deny its use and benefit to everyone else” (Denney, 2005). Of course, there are still people in our society that choose to disregard the benefits that legalization would bring and focus on the assumptions such as exposure to children of marijuana would heighten their curiosity for the substance and lead them to try it, but just like everything else that goes in and out of the social eye, it is foreseen that  The legalization and mass distribution of marijuana products would in fact alleviate some of its glamour and allure, and that the regulation of it would actually make it more difficult for minors to acquire it.

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28. April 2011 by student.

While many anti-illegal alien groups and supporters would like to, they simply cannot round up and ship some 11+ million illegal aliens back to their home countries. Even if they could, children of illegal aliens who are born in the United States are American citizens and I don’t think that the US is all about breaking up families. Even if the 14^th Amendment was changed or reinterpreted it would not be applied retroactively. With this social problem in hand how can benefit from it? According to the Home Land Security website, it takes $12,500 to arrest, detain, obtain and deport an immigrant; with that being said, 1/3 of immigration that are deported, comes back illegally and stay here. Having nothing to lose and trying to fulfill a dream and live better that’s the risk they take. Don’t get me wrong, crossing the border is not the only way people migrate to the US, some extend their visas stay too. After 9/11 everything changed in this country and for the immigrants it just got worse from there. With the last law of applying for residency being during Clinton’s term in 2000, there wasn’t much chance that was giving to them. What can we do about it? Unfortunately, you are surrounded by immigrants everywhere you go so why not help? There are human being just like me and you, I just can’t understand the fact that with a person being on one side of a “border line” he is fine and as soon he crosses it he becomes a criminal and illegal. The same way goes to the Wet/Dry feet law, if someone can clearly explain to me the difference between the man that got caught in the boat and the one who out ran the police to dry land then I’ll be satisfied. Our government is full of flaws and leaves things to the side and don’t like to talk about it much in the case of this situation and also about the DREAM Act. We all know what its for, yet it wasn’t approved for illegal students to continue studying and pursuing a career. All we need is a law to be approved, let the immigrants apply give them a chance, isn’t that what we are about? Giving people chances? With the economy going this way, near the future the script is going to flip and we will see the results. We are all human beings regardless of ethnicity, background cultures, looks and appearances, we all deserve a chance to improve our lives.

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28. April 2011 by student.

WHY?  hasn’t marijuana been made legal already….its has already been proven  that marijuana cant kill you, and it can be used as medicine. alcohol and tobacco  are way more harmful to your body than marijuana is. yet u can buy those things in almost every corner store. if marijuana was made legal it would put an end to prison overcrowding, because a large percent of people in jail were arrested for drug related crimes. plus the legalization would free up police resources, so they could focus on more serious crimes like murder or robbery. Efforts to interdict the drug traffic alone cost $6.2 billion in 1986, according to Wharton Econometrics of Bala Cynwyd, Pa. If we add the cost of trying and incarcerating users, traffickers, and those who commit crime to pay for their drugs, the tab runs well above $10 billion annually.so the government would be saving allot of money. 

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28. April 2011 by student.

I feel that this is something that is overlooked 100% of the time. There are many sports in the world, the popular ones in the united states are Football, basketball, soccer, and baseball. If there is something that is noticed about these sports on a professional level, it hopefully shouldnt be the wealth, fame, or the girlfriends of these athletes..it should be the skin color. I can see soccer being different from the bunch because it is a global sport, but basketball and football in the united states; why do these sports seem to have an unequal number of races in each sport? It is not that I care personally, good sports are good sports..however; the reason on why it is like this is beyond me. I am going to go ahead and explain the obvious, when we watch professional sports; what is the most dominant skin color on the field/court? It is black of course, but why? Is there a biological difference in race, or is this a trend that started at one point that still proceeds in American society? The reason may not be known exactly, however this is still an interesting matter.

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