24. April 2012 by student.

This year’s overall military divorce rate has increased slightly over last year’s, part of a continued upward trend since 2001, according to Defense Department statistics released Tuesday. Researchers and military officials say the steady up-tick confirms a reality they have been expecting and dealing with all along — years of repeated deployments slowly but surely wear on military marriages.” What we would expect, what we predicted a while ago, is that there would be gradual ripple effects,” said Benjamin Karney, an expert on military divorce and researcher with the RAND Corp.” When we first started analyzing this in 2007, we were not seeing too much of an increase in military divorce. But we suggested that over time the effects on families would expand. And it seems like we’re gradually seeing that sort of thing happen.” Since the start of operations in Afghanistan in 2001, the overall divorce rate among military members has risen from 2.6 percent in 2001 to 3.7 percent in 2011. While the year-to-year rise is statistically small, Karney said, the big picture view shows a military force replete with struggling marriages. Officials with the Army, which has the most service members and devotes the largest amount of money to family and marriage intervention programs each year, said that the rise in the divorce highlights the continued need to help families, despite the current budget crunch. The Army’s most popular intervention program, Strong Bonds, last year devoted over $100 million to marriage support for more than 4,000 events at bases across the country and overseas. And while the 2012 budget has yet to be approved, the Army expects to see an even greater demand this year, said Lt. Col. Carleton Birch, a Protestant chaplain and a spokesman with the Army Chief of Chaplains office. Despite the overall divorce rate rise of 0.1 percent between 2010 and 2011, certain subgroups within the military saw a greater increase and, in some cases, a slight decrease in their individual divorce rates during that period. For example, there was a 0.4 percent increase between 2010 and 2011 among females in the Navy, but a 0.4 percent decrease among females in the Marine Corps. Karney said inconsistencies across the services should be expected, particularly among small population groups such as married female Marines. That population totals about 95,000, compared to a married female service member population of almost 320,000 in the Army. Even small changes in the actual number of divorces can equal a big rate jump in a small population, he said.” When the numbers are so small, especially for females, you’re going to get year to year differences,” he said. “The overall trends and the larger numbers are what we have to pay attention to.”Despite the continued increase, officials with military family support organizations are optimistic that the divorce rate will eventually start to go down.” We’re heartened to see that the rate of divorce for military families has increased by only 0.1 percent in the last year,” said Stephanie Himel-Nelson, a spokeswoman for Blue Star Families. “Of course, we’re hoping that the family readiness programs put in place by the Department of Defense and broader support for military families from the American public will help divorce rates begin to decline in 2012.”

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24. April 2012 by student.

Society makes it easier to stay in touch, but in all honesty it is pushing social skills away further and further as well as focusing on everyday life. They do it late at night when their parents are asleep. They do it in restaurants and while crossing busy streets. They do it in the classroom with their hands behind their back.They do it so much their thumbs hurt. Spurred by the unlimited texting plans offered by carriers like AT&T Mobility and Verizon Wireless, American teenagers sent and received an average of 2,272 text messages per month in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to the Nielsen Company almost 80 messages a day, more than double the average of a year earlier. The phenomenon is beginning to worry physicians and psychologists, who say it is leading to anxiety, distraction in school, falling grades, repetitive stress injury and sleep deprivation. Dr. Martin Joffe, a pediatrician in Greenbrae, Calif., recently surveyed students at two local high schools and said he found that many were routinely sending hundreds of texts every day.”That’s one every few minutes,” he said. “Then you hear that these kids are responding to texts late at night. That’s going to cause sleep issues in an age group that’s already plagued with sleep issues.”The rise in texting is too recent to have produced any conclusive data on health effects. But Sherry Turkle, a psychologist who is director of the Initiative on Technology and Self at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and who has studied texting among teenagers in the Boston area for three years, said it might be causing a shift in the way adolescents develop. But it isn’t just teenagers everyone these days texts as a form of communication and it is blocking a lot of face to face interactions with others as well as putting yourself in a danger. According to studies, the average U.S. mobile teen now sends or receives an average of 2,899 text-messages a month, and that a large percentage of these teens, admitted to texting while driving, TextingAccident.com reported. In addition to the large percentage of teens who are guilty of the epidemic, driving while using a cell phone shows a reduction of the brain’s activity associated with driving by 37%. With the cell phone being a major distraction, studies found that the risk of collision increases by up to 400% when talking on the phone and driving; and that in a study of 100 drivers, cell phones were associated with the highest frequency of distraction-related events for crashes and near-crashes. Aside from risking life and limb, different studies have shown that those who text excessively face possible health risks. According to New York Times, all the thumb action and repetition that texting requires can take its toll and can result in muscle problems. Since a person’s cell phone is so accessible, Dr. Martin Joffe, a pediatrician in Greenbrae, California, noted that teenagers who sleep with their phones near them experience sleeping problems. This is because texting or replying can prevent a person from settling into a deep sleep. And because teenagers can text wherever possible, the activity can also decrease their attention span. Texting is a convenient and definitely a good way to communicate fast and accurately but not used in moderation as most things in life, it can definitely turn into something bad fast

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24. April 2012 by student.

Video games have been available to consumers for the last 30 years. They are unique because they encourage players to become a part of the game’s script. Players are encouraged to actively participate as acharacter by choosing how they will interact with other characters including which weapons will be used while fighting or attacking other characters. Weapons often include guns, knives, pipes, bombs, etc.

Due to consumer demand over the last three decades, most video games produced and sold today areviolent. Today’s sophisticated video games require players to pay constant attention to the game as compared to passively watching television or a movie. As active participants in the game’s script players strongly identify with violent characters portrayed in violent video games. This identification with characters in video games increases a player’s ability to learn and retain aggressive thoughts and behaviors they see portrayed in violent games.

Further research has suggested that exposure to violent video games may increase angry and hostile feelings while interacting with peers, teachers, and adults. Violent video game exposure may decrease compassionate feelings for others with whom they interact. An extensive search of literature databases, personal contacts, and other sources identified 29 studies of this topic. The studies varied greatly in design and quality, leading the authors to conclude that a major deficiency in randomized, well-controlled studies prevents firm determinations from being reached. In children of middle-school age and younger, no association was found between video games and aggression in girls. In boys, studies report both increased and decreased aggression. Studies of middle- and high-school students predominately studied boys and often used self-report. Again, both calming and arousal effects were reported, and no consistent relationship was demonstrated between violent games and actual behavior. In college students and young adults, results were again mixed, but studies reporting calming effects were more common, particularly if the prior mood was hostile, angry, or aggressive.

The authors conclude that, contrary to popular impressions, little evidence supports concerns that violent video games are linked to aggressive or antisocial behavior. They caution that this topic is quite complex and not easily studied. The effect may depend on individual characteristics, including age and mood before playing the game, as well as the characteristics and complexity of the game itself. Modern, more realistic games may have very different effects than earlier versions. The authors do not regard violent video games as a significant public health concern.

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24. April 2012 by student.

The American criminal justice systems spends a good amount of its resources enforcing the drug laws. More than 10 percents of all arrests and about 20 percent of all incarcerations are drug related violations.

1.5 million annual drug arrests for possesion of illegal substances, while the majority of the 325,000 are for dealing.  Drug arrest have gone up by 50 percent over the past 10 years, and drug-related incacerations are up 80 percent. A research in Harvard University has found that in the poorest neighborhoods of Massachusetts, 57 percent of the state prison were drug offenses. While another stimate shows that nearly one third of African-Americans males born in the District of Columbia were charge with selling drugs between the ages of 18 and 24.

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24. April 2012 by student.

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24. April 2012 by student.

Reducing Racial Prejudice and Racism

Prejudice is an unfavorable or discriminatory attitude or belief towards another person or especially members of certain racial or ethnic groups based on skin color or ethnicity. There are three forms of prejudice, which include cognitive, behavioral, and affective prejudice. Cognitive prejudice is what people believe to be true. Behavioral prejudice refers to the prejudice on how people are determined to behave. Affective prejudice refers to what people dislike or like. All of these forms of prejudice can be harmful for the wellbeing of a child. However, there are many developing strategies, which parents and schools employees can apply to reduce, racial, religious and ethnic prejudices to improve intergroup relations.

How can racial and ethnic prejudice be reducing in society? Well, at an early age, parents should start teaching their children in their own home how to avoid the occurrence of prejudice. However, parents need to start with themselves because children are very attentive to their parents actions. A child’s brain is like a sponge just waiting to absorb any form of information available in his or her environment. By performing prejudicial actions around our children, they are more than likely to perform the same actions.

Schools officials could also take part in the process to reduce these forms of prejudices. Public and private schools need to take necessary actions to reduce the occurrence of prejudice. For instance, Schools Officials should not be tolerating ethnic jokes or slurs. As stated earlier, children learn fast and often time the carried the information that has being thought with them as they grow older. Moreover, Schools Officials should also answer questions directly instead of evasively. For example if a child asks, “why does he or she have dark skin?” a teacher might then answer by explaining that it is the effects of genetics and melanin in the skin.

Reducing the occurrence of racial prejudice and racism should be everyone responsibilities in any society. Prejudice could lead to racism, which is illegal and can be harmful to society. This process could not happen overnight. Therefore, it is everyone responsibilities to go further than personal experiences and remarks to comprehend broader public issues and apply them to our daily life. Indeed, with the support of authority, parents, and everyone in general, an increase in intergroup relations could be achieved, which in return could have a positive effect in reducing prejudice.

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24. April 2012 by student.

Senses play a significant role in any living being body. They monitor internal and external stimuli and maintain homeostasis. Smelling, seeing, hearing, touching and tasting are the most relevant senses in the body; therefore, they make our life more pleasurable. The ability to smell and see can save many people’s life. For instance, if there were a fire, many people would be able to see and smell the smoke; as a result, many people could get out in a timely manner. Thus, smelling helps avoid ingesting toxic or spoiled foods, which sometimes could be dangerous to our health. Further, the senses of smell and taste could detect chemicals in the environment. Hearing notifies the body of threats before they can even be seen or heard. Touching allows the body to act in response to stimuli that might cause pain.

Imagine how miserable people’s life could have been if they are not able to take pleasure in beautiful sights, meeting someone and not knowing what they look like, or spending the day with family members or loved ones, and cannot keep a photographic memory of their day? That could cause a big impact in someone life if he or she cannot look at photographs of key events in their life. Would that be pleasant? Hearing, on the other hand, would not greatly affect anyone’s life with his or her daily living activities. For example, people can follow directions, surf the Internet, and chat with friends. Further, how hard would it be to read lips or have to learn sign language? If a friend does not know sign language, a technological device might be required to help with the communication process. Touching can also help with the communication process. In addition, it can help with the healing process and prevent further injury.

If I had to decide which sense to live without, I would gladly select tasting. I think tasting is not as imperative as the other senses. Although being able to taste brings the gratification out of eating mouth-watering food; however, I believe smelling, seeing, touching and hearing play the most relevant part in our life. Additionally, with the ability to smell, people do not need to taste the food to know how good it is. Further, the ability to smell and see the meal can also say it all, or in other word, it is enough to determine how delicious the food could be. Indeed the ability to smell, see, touch and hear is crucial for a human being. Yes, obtaining the ability to taste is essential but in my opinion does that smell, seeing, touching and hearing is the greatest senses. In fact, it would be difficult to live a normal life without these senses.

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24. April 2012 by student.

What is corporal punishment? is a form of physical punishment that involves the deliberate infliction of pain as retribution for an offense, or for the purpose of disciplining or reforming a wrongdoer, or to deter attitudes or behavior deemed unacceptable. Corporal punishment in domestic settings is still legal in all 50 states and Corporal punishment in schools is legal in 19. Corporal punishment in schools has been outlawed in nearly all of Europe except France, Canada, Kenya, Korea, South Africa, and New Zealand, with corporal punishment in homes being outlawed by 31 countries. An article published by the American Psychological Association in 2002, shows that corporal punishment of children is linked to moral internalization by the child, aggression, delinquent, criminal, and antisocial behavior, decay of the parent-child relationship, adolescent depression, and adult abuse of own spouse or child. I must admit I am a little confused that why in the face of this evidence the United States, supposedly the greatest nation on earth, is unwilling to let go of this antiquated, useless, ritual. I understand that the United States is proud of being a free nation and telling someone how they may raise their child may seem to go against that but still legal in schools even? This type of discipline is still legal in Florida and Texas paddles the most students in the nation, as well as the most students with disabilities. The total number of students, with and without disabilities, who were subjected to corporal punishment in the 2006-2007 school year was 223,190. This number is far too high. Children are in school to learn and is supposed to be a safe haven. We claim to be against bullying, and that there is too much violence on TV these days yet we still allow our teachers to hit our children. And the craziest part to be is that this type of punishment is banned in U.S. Prisons and juvenile detention centers. So we pass a law protecting convicted criminals from physical punishment but not our children. Something is clearly wrong with this picture.

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24. April 2012 by student.

Health Care in the United States has become a serious issue of much debate. In 2009, the numbers of uninsured US Americans have grown to more than 46 million people. However, the increase in uninsured people had been expected as workers losing their jobs in the recession. President Obama promised all Americans affordable, comprehensive, and portable health coverage by the end of his first term. Hence, his effort on health care reform had created an intense debate between the two major political parties on how to pay for it. Although universal health care ensures that, all citizens, including the unemployed, regardless of ability to pay, have health insurance. There are various advantages with universal health care; citizens would have the flexibility to see any doctor of their choice, a healthier lifestyle and financial improvement.

Universal health care insurance provides flexibility to see any doctor to all citizens. The unemployed and patients with preexisting conditions would not be preventing any medical treatments. People with serious mental illnesses like depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, and other disorder will not have to live with untreated diseases, if free health care is available. With universal health care, patients should be able to see any doctor they choose. This system will offer quality health care to all Americans throughout life in any states of the United States. When people join universal healthcare insurance, they will get free treatment in hospitals run either by the government or in certain hospitals stipulated by the government. Such a system is running efficiently in many developed countries in the world, especially in Europe and Asia.

Another benefit of universal health care is that people would have the possibility to enjoy a healthier lifestyle. The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights lists medical care among the basic human rights to which all people are entitled. Currently, many people avoid physical exams and other preventive measures because of the costs under the present day medical system. Often time, people end up in the hospital emergency room when their health condition gets worse; so that a doctor can eventually see them. In addition, free medical services would encourage patients to practice preventive measures, and inquire about problems at an early stage when treatments will most likely be lighter. Under universal health care, people would be happier knowing that if for any reason if they have to take a trip to the doctor’s office there would be no out of pocket cost.

Lastly, there is financial advantage of universal health care system. Every citizen of the country will come under a single system, which will reduce the administrative costs significantly. As a result, the government pays a significant amount of money on outpatient services such as emergency room visits for uninsured patients, which represented the largest increase in health care expense. Patient will not have to go to the emergency room for recurrent illness. Consequently, public health would improve as everyone could receive treatments for transmissible diseases. Further, the total cost of healthcare will decline, as the demand for expensive emergency medicine will go down; also, some avoidable healthcare crises will mitigate by more suitable and timely care. Moreover, providing health insurance to everyone would considerably improve the economy and it would improve the lives of many American citizens.

Finally, a comprehensive health care structure provide healthcare coverage to its citizens where all the medical expenses, as well as the health insurance fees, are met by the government with means gained from the public through compulsory health insurance and taxes. Moreover, providing universal health care would be a great improvement to patients as well as the government. In a wealthy country, like the U.S. where the most advance medical technology is available with abundant resources, millions of American should not have to live without free health insurance; It should be all humans’ right to obtain health care coverage despite their ability to pay.

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24. April 2012 by student.

Facts about Bullying

• Bullying is the most common form of violence in our society; between 15% and 30% of students are bullies or victims.
• A recent report from the American Medical Association on a study of over 15,000 6th-10th graders estimates that approximately 3.7 million youths engage in, and more than 3.2 million are victims of, moderate or serious bullying each year.
• Between 1994 and 1999, there were 253 violent deaths in school, 51 casualties were the result of multiple death events.  Bullying is often a factor in school related deaths.
• Membership in either bully or victim groups is associated with school drop out, poor psychosocial adjustment, criminal activity and other negative long-term consequences.
• Direct, physical bullying increases in elementary school, peaks in middle school and declines in high school.  Verbal abuse, on the other hand, remains constant.  The U.S. Department of Justice reports that younger students are more likely to be bullied than older students.
• Over two-thirds of students believe that schools respond poorly to bullying, with a high percentage of students believing that adult help is infrequent and ineffective.
• 25% of teachers see nothing wrong with bullying or putdowns and consequently intervene in only 4% of bullying incidents.
• 56% of students have personally felt some sort of bullying at school. Between 4th and 8th grade in particular, 90% of students are victims of bullying
• A victim of bullying is twice as likely to take his or her own life compared to someone who is not a victim.
• Schools with easily understood rules of conduct, smaller class sizes and fair discipline practices report less violence than those without such features.

A bully is someone who directs physical, verbal, or psychological aggression or harassment toward others, with the goal of gaining power over or dominating another individual.  Research indicates that bullying is more prevalent in boys than girls, though this difference decreases when considering indirect aggression (such as verbal threats).

A victim is someone who repeatedly is exposed to aggression from peers in the form of physical attacks, verbal assaults, or psychological abuse. Victims are more likely to be boys and to be physically weaker than peers. They generally do not have many, if any, good friends and may display poor social skills and academic difficulties in school.

It is time to face the fact and stop blaming violent outbreaks on television, video games or even the music. Recent school shooting show signs of the victims’ being frustrated with other students picking on them and bullying them causes in turn vengeful violence. Bullies as well as the victims are more likely to be violent and begin fighting in school. Bullies having a lack of respect for others are more likely to resort to violence as a problem solver because they do not worry of what may come out of such actions. We need to start making a difference with such things as Early Interventions having the parents, students and even the teachers getting involved. This whole thing with 1 in 4 teachers thinking that its ok and that there is nothing wrong with bullying and not only will they not intervene 96% of the time but there are more and more stories reaching the media’s attention of teachers partaking in such forms of bullying as emotional bullying, name calling and verbal abuse. This is a major situation considering these are the people that the students should feel safe to go to with problem…Then who are they supposed to trust? Parents get involved and talk to your kids before you find out too late that your child was a victim!

Work Cited

http://www.nasponline.org/resources/factsheets/bullying_fs.aspx

http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-school-bullying

-Amethyst

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