College Tuition

I am a college student and I find it ridiculous that each year college tuition is continually increased. Remember when we wanted to be the smartest, richest, and most successful country? Well our country is failing this goal as a college education is out of reach for many Americans. An education is a luxury many parents hope their child take advantage of. For lower income families the dream of their children going off to college is distant unless they can receive scholarships but even just a partial scholarship won’t even scratch into the surface of the outrageous costs. The income bracket of your family does not define the intelligence you have. There is a quote by an unknown author that asks a scary question which is “What if the cure for cancer is trapped inside the mind of someone who cannot afford an education?” This question is scary to think about it because it is so relevant to our tuition expenses. Why are we expected to pay an outrageous amount for an education that could help us save lives? We are paying for an education to earn a title so people listen to what we have to say. Many people don’t even consider going to college for the fact that they will live the rest of their life working to pay off their debt. With the expenses of college those who do plan on attending are working while attending high school to begin paying for these classes, but having to spread themselves so thin they are not achieving as much as they could. In my eyes in order for our country to achieve the goals we want, we need to make a college education more realistic by lowering tuition expenses.

Is Society Too Fast Pace?

Our fast pace society in America has many benefits for our country in the sense we get everything right away, but this fast pace world also has many negative effects that I have been noticing more and more lately. The fact that we as society are so used to getting what we want when we want it we act like selfish children when things don’t go our way. In this fast pace world we all love getting where we are going on time and fast. We all get upset with delays while traveling, which is very common for public transportation, but while I was on an Amtrak train this weekend I saw people’s selfishness at its peak. This is my experience on the train this weekend, the train arrived early, meaning 2 minutes, but for Amtrak this is very impressive since the trains usually are late. So we all got boarded the train and settled into our seats. The first stop after I got on comes along and the girl who was sitting next to me had her bag accidentally hanging out in the isle. As this stop is boarding, a passenger walks toward us and rudely says “Move your shit before I run over it” as he continued walking instead of waiting for her to move her bag. Everyone around us stated how rude he was and how they couldn’t believe someone would be so impatient. Right before our stop in Pontiac our train stopped and one of the train crew members announced that we had hit something and they had to get off and check it out. Everyone on the train groaned and sighed angry at the fact we had to stop. About 45 minutes later the crew member came back on the intercom and confirmed we had indeed hit a person and we would be delayed another 30-45 minutes while we wait for the cops to do the paperwork and everything. As I sit in my seat I hear many passengers around complain loudly and rudely about how they are going to be getting home so late and they have to work in the morning and this is so inconvenient and oh my gosh I have things I have to do. I sit hear and wonder did they not hear what the crew member said? She said we hit a PERSON not an animal a person! Someone’s brother, father, son, or friend just died. That person will not just be late, but they will never arrive where they were trying to go. They will never make it home to see their family. Their families and friends will lose countless nights of sleep from crying over the fact that the person they love is now dead, hit by a train, and thank god they didn’t hear about how many of the passengers on the train were so self-centered that they didn’t care about that person’s life at all. At what point did this fast pace world make so many people so self-centered? The train ended up being 4 hours delayed, which I realize can be a bit irritating, because I’m definitely not saying that I am perfect I mean I am a product of the now generation, but I still have feelings for other people. Don’t let the fast pace world cause you to turn into a fast pace selfish person. So, next time something is an inconvenience to you please just remind yourself worse things are happening around you, and be thankful for what you have.

America Owes Nothing to Illegal Immigrants

In response to “What America Owes Its ‘Illegals’” written by Barbara Ehrenreich in her blog entry I strongly disagree with her statement that we should not fine illegal immigrants for coming into our country illegally. She thinks we should give them a bonus since they are the ones cleaning our offices and doing our lawn work. In times like these where American unemployment rates are extremely high I believe that Americans should not have to fight illegal immigrants for these jobs. I agree the jobs that these aliens are receiving are “dirty work” jobs, but paychecks are paychecks and for someone who has to support their family they would take any job they could and if they lost a job opportunity to someone who is here illegally earning money and sending it to foreign countries I’m confident that they would be quite upset. Being a U.S. citizen is an honor that I am proud to have; my ancestors had to deal with getting into this country legally so they could provide better lives for my family. So if I was losing out to a job that I should be considered for, because someone who is here illegally will work for cheaper wages I would be irate and think that they should be fined for taking the money I could have earned but now I have to collect unemployment which is costing the government and tax payers unnecessary money. A $5000 dollar fine would be to compensate the money the government lost handing out unemployment for an unnecessary reason. She states in her blog entry that she believes that “if someone breaks into her house and steals she would be hell-bent on restitution. But if they break in for the purpose of cleaning it then, in my way of thinking anyway, the debt goes in the other direction.” So she obviously isn’t seeing that these illegal immigrants are breaking into our country and stealing jobs. The ways she is seeing it is that illegal immigrants are doing jobs that wouldn't get done if they were not here. Many Americans work as nannies, construction workers, landscapers, and dish washers which are the jobs she states wouldn’t get done. I’m confident that if America didn't have illegal immigrants all of these jobs would still be filled and completed by the Americans who cannot find work. I am all for immigrants coming to this country to better their lives, but there are steps that are necessary to take to become a legal citizen. After all America is a melting pot of culture.

The Cycle of Welfare

The Cycle of Welfare

                I am all for helping people out, but I do have a problem with taking money from people who are working hard to earn money to support their family and giving it to someone who is just unwilling to work. Welfare is abused daily by many. Welfare should be meant for short time use to help people get back on their feet and support themselves and their families. Not to have people grown up on welfare and raised their children on welfare and their children will raise their children on welfare and it becoming a never ending chain costing tax payers millions. It becomes a problem when people see food stamps and other government aid as ‘free’ when in reality it is being paid by the tax payers and it is meant to be there for the people who cannot afford food and other necessities for their families. I was always told as a kid that a cell phone and the internet was a privilege not a necessity. So why are we paying for people who aren’t working for their own money and living off of tax payers dollars to have cell phones and internet? If I was a kid and I saw my parents doing nothing, but talking on the phone and sitting on Facebook earning ‘free’ money from the government I know I wouldn’t want to go to school and work 40 hours a week my whole life when I can do nothing and still get everything handed to me. Nobody is teaching these kids that abusing this system is morally wrong. We need to teach the upcoming generations that they have to work for what they want and not just sit around and have everything handed to them. I am not saying that public aid should be taken away from everyone I am just saying it should be made to be only a temporary program for people so they cannot live off of it their whole lives.

Gay Rights Have Come a Long Way

            Lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender rights have dramatically changed over the years in the 1950s and 1960s thousands of men and women were discharged or forced to resign from civilian positions in the federal government because they were suspected of being gay or lesbian. In 1975 the ban on gay federal employees was lifted, and not until the late 1990s discrimination in federal hiring was prohibited. Now we wouldn’t bother asking a post office worker if they were gay or straight. Just as women serving their country was banned then lifted, being gay and serving your country was not allowed at one point, then they had a policy of ‘don’t ask don’t tell’, and now all of that is in the past and gays and lesbians serve our country proudly. Gay rights being taken away is just like saying you will not hire someone because of their race or ethnicity. Gay clubs and parades never would have happened in the 80s and now they have clubs and parades all over the country and many straights even attend these festivities. Gay rights are as important as civil rights. As time goes on we learn our ways are not always right and its time they be corrected. If we kept blacks from getting married or if interracial marriages were illegal we would be appalled by our actions. They are just the same as me and you. Slowly but surely our country is correcting our ways and now they are legalizing same sex marriage in many states. Soon judging someone because of their sexuality will be as frowned upon as judging someone based on their race.

Abby Lee's Teaching Style

Dance Moms

            Everyone thinks that Abby Lee is way too strict on her young students and that the parents are crazy for allowing their children to be apart of her company. I would be honored to be a student at the Abby Lee Dance Company or in the future have my children dance there. The way i look at it is these kids are paying to learn how to dance as a career this isn't just a hobby to them. Abby Lee is teaching them to dance the best they can and teach them that age is not an excuse for being lazy or unsuccessful.She is producing stars and has so in the past that's her job if she wasn't strict or harsh she wouldn't be as successful as she is now. Abby is not in the best shape and most people critic her for her size and being so strict on the girls size and effort, but most people do not realize that Abby started this company when she was 14. She watched her mom as she ran several studios and learned her passion. The mom’s are judged for allowing her to yell at her kids and put them down, but that’s what these moms pay her to do. They want to see their children go far and be successful. Even if they do not decide to pursue a career in dance they have already put their faces out in the public and have learned many important life skills throughout their dance career. Abby Lee is teaching using tough love and the fact that her students are sticking through her “madness” shows that they will succeed in anything they choose to do. “Madness is genius”.  

Schools Incoporating Social Media

Schools Incorporating Social Media

                With social media taking over children’s’ time and attention it would only make sense to incorporate it into their education. In A New Face for Schools by Laura Lefkowits she states that 96 percent of students with online access spend nearly 9 and 10 hours on social networks each week. If children are spending that many hours on social networks we might as well have educational purposes behind it. Students, parents, and teachers must join together to teach children not only with social networks, but about them also. Schools should be teaching about the inappropriate behaviors that are occurring online like cyber bullying and sexting. Schools should teach children how to appropriately blog about their feelings in an educated manner. Kids need to learn about verifying sources before believing everything online, because that is one way rumors begin. Children need to be taught how connecting to people online can be used to benefit their education by talking to friends about important social issues, instead of talking to people about rumors and pointless drama. Kids also can connect to their friends to promote school activities, like sporting events or fundraisers. Teaching kids to express themselves online will show them they are not the only ones going through these issues they are having. They can connect to kids who are also facing divorces or other adversities and talk about how they feel verses cutting themselves off from society and committing suicide. Instead of pointing out all the negative aspects of social networking if teachers and parents taught teens how to use them in a positive light and set positive examples for them then they would begin using social media in positive ways.