This week we started our study of the Constitution and the freedoms that make us uniquely American. You can order your own free copy of the United States Constitution from: http://www.constitutionfacts.com/index.cfm?section=bookstore&page=freeCopy.cfm
Normally, our first blog post has something to do with the freedoms you value most and whether or not you are proud to call yourself an American. This quarter, I would like to start with something different. A good portion of this class will be spent discussing current events and political issues that affect our everyday lives. For this post, I would like you to tell me at least one issue that you are interested in studying. To help you out, you can look over the blog posts that we've had in the past several years to get an idea of the type of things we've covered. Many of the topics are pretty controversial and I do my best to not censor the information available to you.
So my question to you this week is, "What is one issue that you are interested in studying in this class?" Answers are due no later than Wednesday, January 18th, 2012. I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday season! Happy New Year!
One issue that seems to be popping up here and there seems to be the issues with raising a transgender child. I would like to look into it more and get a better understanding on why people choose to do it, how did they decide as parents to do so, and how they plan to deal with how people react?
ReplyDeleteCher had a transgender child Chaz Bono that switched from female to male and there was a whole special on the issue. Apparently some parents just accept their child's decision to be a transgender child and it's really weird and complicated to think of someone allowing a son to wear dresses or vice versa accepting the role.
DeleteI wanted to explore the whole S.O.P.A. issue more in depth apparently with congress reconvening soon they want to rush the bill to pass while people are unaware of consequences of it. How exactly does this impede on civil rights and what does this mean for the future of the web if this does happen. Will this kill big websites like Google, Yahoo, YouTube, and Piratebay once and for all killing the things we love about the web from existence?
ReplyDeleteI would like to explore more about what's being done with obesity in America. We all know there are the game systems like the Wii and Xbox Kinect that are trying to help Americans get off their feet and still play video games, but is it really working? What other things like this can we do to help obesity?
ReplyDeleteSeems you want to explore more about obesity like me, here a link I used to get some data you might want to take a look at. http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_obe-health-obesity
DeleteI have a Wii and use it time to time, been so busy I haven't had time to play it. I don't feel like it is working, I don't sweat. I feel like I am better off doing a work out or going on a walk.
I agree with what Devin said. I would like to talk about S.O.P.A and what impact it will have on the way we view and post things on the internet and the consequences it will have if the bill is passed. That right now is a topic that I'm very interested in and am trying to get more people aware of it.
ReplyDeleteJust like Tori, I want to know more about Obesity in America. I been to Japan, and I was eating at the same food places, Like McDonalds, Subway, Pizza. I was surprised at their menu, everything was different. Everything came in smaller amounts, but I got full from eating it. For example a kids meal here at any of these restaurants would be a normal meal for them. I love drinking teas, and at the McDodnald in Japan you can have Green tea, Hot or cold. Subway you can't order a foot long, only the round sandwiches, Like the kid meal sandwiches here. These are just a few example of how much different it is. When Looking up the totals and what countries Rank, United States is ranking number one with the amount 30.6%. Japan is rank twenty-eight with the low about of 3.2%. Maybe United States needs to find out what Japan is doing right. (Jessica Smith)
ReplyDeleteThere are many issues that I want to learn but most of all I want to learn more about our Welfare System and just why so many Americans have been on government assistance for so long.It outrages me as a tax payer that so many people who have the same oppurtunities that I have just decide they will continue to live off of the government.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of issues I want to learn and discuss but the biggest one on my mind is the United States Public education system. America used to be on top with education and now we are well behind other countries. I have talked to past elementary school teacher's of mine and they said they have had to cut out fun and important activities in the curriculum to spend more time teaching the students how to test well in standardized test and to do well on them. The worse the students get on the test the less money the school gets. I feel like our kids are not getting a good education. When did school only become about money?
ReplyDeleteThere are so many issues that picking just one is difficult, but the problems we have with our education system is one that is very dear to me. I have 5 teachers in my family and they all say the same thing, "No child left behind has destroyed our children". And our children are our future, and right now, I am not excited with what that future looks like. Back in the stone age, when I walked to school, 5 miles, uphill, both ways, we were competitive we knew we had to work for our grades, we feared the principle and we respected the teachers. Where have the values and competition gone? Our children are not learning to read, they can not carry on a face to face conversation, they can't write a term paper, and they are waiting in their parent's basement, playing video games, for that COE job to fall in their laps.
ReplyDeleteI would like to learn about anything, really. I'm really out of touch with everything going on in the world. Although I will admit political issues are not my cup of tea, I should probably know more about them.
ReplyDeleteI am interested in learning about what current politic issues will effect us and what we should be looking for in candidates when we vote this year. As well as further information on the healthcare reform that went into legislation and when that will officially take place. Also, more about welfare and social security and how that will effect us in the future or if either will be available to us in the future.
ReplyDeleteAn issue that i would like to delve further in to is our country's energy plan and our future plans to become more self sufficient as well as more environmentally friendly.
ReplyDeleteThe main issue I can think of right now is the freedom of the internet. They're trying to pass a new bill to be able to take away a lot of freedom of the internet, to prevent piracy. One problem with this is that it's near impossible to stop piracy, and this is only going to hurt the general populace in the internet more than it's going to hurt piracy.
ReplyDeleteI would like to learn more internet censorship bill that is being worked on right now. I would also like to learn more about the health care reform from a non bias source.
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ReplyDeleteThe main issue I would like to talk about is why college tuition is so expensive and what causes it to increase yearly. With the rates increasing rapidly it is making it extremely hard for the individuals who want to further there education, but can not because they simply can not afford it. In the society we live in today you have to have a college degree in order to maintain a stable lifestyle. On a personal level I wonder why we (Students here At Ai) pay more or just as much as universities but don't have some of the basic things that normal colleges have, such as: longer open lab hours, a surplus of supplies especially during finals, longer bookstore and cafe hours etc.
ReplyDeleteAn issue I would like to cover in class is probably similar to everyone's above, but the topic is video game violence. Basically it seems to me that a lot of parents these days are relying on the government to censor what their kids should and shouldn't see. Parenting in this century is different from the last century and more and more parents are complaining to the government to care for their kids instead of doing it themselves. This probably ties into the whole thing about what kind of democracy we have and all those other things we talked about last week.
ReplyDeleteThe issue I would like to study more is politics. I'm mainly interested in political issues because I hardly know anything about politics. I feel this issue is important because politics affect our lives; which is why I want to better my understanding about politics.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Terri Smith, the "No Child Left Behind Act" would be something I would be interested in learning more about. Our educational system needs an overhaul...period. I have a growing concern that my child isn't learning the things he is going to need in the future. Why are the public schools continually being shut down for lack of funding? This vexes me.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I picked a bad time to look up info on my topic: Wikipedia is demonstrating today, against S.O.P.A. a valid cause, but I'm sure we'll cover that, now.
ReplyDeleteI want to look more into fair competition and anti-trust laws, especially into how they will be applied to internet services and businesses. I am especially interested in the expansive growth of the business that hosts this blog for us... I think that as more efforts are being made to level they online playing field, we will be taking more consideration of how our old laws will be adapted and used in the great cloud.
I might want to dab more into capitalism. It seems like capitalism is a hot item to talk about at the moment since I keep hearing more and more about the fall of capitalism. I've heard so many different views and opinions on it that I'm not really sure what is the best way to look about it. For every argument on one perspective there is an argument against the other side so I just wouldn't mind learning all sides of the story to form my own solid, concrete opinion.
ReplyDeleteI love new and emerging technology, along with breakthroughs in science, biology, and genetic engineering. Issues I'm interested include Micro chips and biosensors in the human body, engineering artifical life in labs (its been done), and perhaps cloning. You know, anything thats more on the Sci-fi side of things. :)
ReplyDeleteLately many of my IMD friends have been preaching about how they are against the Stop Online Piracy Act(S.O.P.A)and I would be interested to hear the view points of people outside the web community and perhaps spread some awareness about that. I'm also hoping to discuss some new topics that haven't be debated till everyone was blue in the face like abortion, the death penalty, etc.
ReplyDeleteA lot of people are not aware of the issues going on with the illegal immigrants. This is a very serious topic especially for Hispanics. And even if some Hispanics are US Citizens it still affects everyone as a whole.
ReplyDeleteIm interested in the whole same sex marriage issue and why we cant just let people that love each other get married. It isn't going to affect you so why be against it?
ReplyDeleteI would like to touch on the Occupy movement going on. What is it all about? I was in New York over our holiday break and saw a big demonstration and people marching through the street with over 50 people arrested. I researched it a little bit but I'm still a little confused about the whole thing.
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