Monday Matters #29

All the articles I covered had to do with Psychology. One common theme is gender equality. Whether it is at school with certain genders performing better at certain classes than the other, or in the work place arguing for equal pay for equal work, how the genders are treated and taught is something that Psychologists are trying to dissect. Is it a subconscious way of thinking? Or can expectations be changed? This is a primary issue with this community. Another issue Psychology likes to evaluate are mental disorders and how they affect peoples' lives. A good example of this is my post on Kurt Cobain's death 20 years ago. They evaluated his mental state and how that lead to killing himself. I would be very interested in exploring how people think and why they act the way they do. I would use this to try to help people and prevent them from making the wrong decisions in their lives. I would be interested in majoring in Psychology in college, specifically working for the police to try to evaluate criminals and certain investigations. I feel like I am a very good judge of character, and can read people very well. This field of study would suit me nicely, and eventually I would hope to make a successful career of this.

Monday Matters #28

  

Link: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/crime-she-writes/201403/police-new-photos-prove-grunge-singers-death-suicide-0

This article talks about police in Seattle reopening the case regarding Kurt Cobain's alleged suicide on April 5th, 1994. The police decided to reopen the case to prove it was a suicide so that people would not bring up conspiracy theories on the 20th anniversary of his death. Also, there was a roll of underdeveloped photos that some claimed to overlook some evidence to suggest a murder and not a suicide. Police did their investigation and it was ended very quickly. They say there is not doubt that Cobain shot himself with a shotgun on that day while having a high concentration of heroine in his body. There was also a cigar box with drug paraphernalia to suggest this. Cobain struggled with drug addiction, depression, and even wrote a handwritten suicide note to suggest he killed himself. Police assure that there is no evidence of foul play.

Monday Matters #27

Link: http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/mar/18/girls-physics-boys-other-subjects-gender-disparity

This article explains the gender differences between girls and boys in the area of physics. While boys account for half of all A-level physics students, girls only account for a quarter. The speaker is a female science teacher, and is disappointed at the fact that while this is true, boys also are falling behind in English behind girls. She believes that people should not just focus on getting girls interested math, but also on boys. She believes sticking a girl on a poster promoting girls getting into the sciences won't do the trick. There needs to be equal focus on boys and girls when it comes to academic performance. She ends with saying we need to change the mentality of both genders when it comes to academics. A male students should not feel he shouldn't do well in a subject because only girls do well or like the class, and vice versa. Ultimately, we need to strengthen students' confidence in themselves.

Monday Matters #26

Link: http://esciencenews.com/articles/2014/03/05/womens.jobs.are.poorer.paid.less.flexible.and.more.stressful

This article is about how studies have shown that women's working conditions and opportunities lag behind that of men's. According to a survey conducted about the occupations of men and women, Men consistently score better when it comes to stress, flexibility in schedule, wages, and promotion opportunities. These results invalidate the thought that women have on average lower paying jobs and lower promotion opportunities because of their responsibilities at home. There seems to be a trend in that women do not enjoy their jobs as much as men, and that they feel that cannot move up in position as easily as men. The studies also show women's resentment for lower salaries fro the same amount of work. Yet, this does not reflect the women's lack of achievement, the study claims. Lastly, the study also found that the more women working in a certain area of work, the more comparable the working conditions are with that of men in the same area.

Monday Matters #25

Link: http://www.sociologytimes.com/research/Study_shows_mentally_ill_more_likely_to_be_victims_not_perpetrators_of_violence.asp

This article talks about the correlation between the mentally ill and violence. While many seem to believe that the mentally ill are the perpetrators of violence. Studies from the North Carolina State University propose that a high number of violent adults that are mentally ill are also victims of violence. Also, a high number have reported to have been treated violently on multiple occasions. The article also reports that the mentally ill are 11 times more likely to be violent if they have been victims to violence. The article ends saying that we need  to not only help the mentally ill from being violent, but also helping them by protecting them from being victimized by other people. This in turn, according to their studies, would lower the amount of violence coming from mentally ill adults.

Monday Matters #24

The policies President Obama addressed in his State of the Union speech had a lot of things I agree with. The article talks about Obama addressing alternative energy. I completely agree with this point, mostly because I want the United States to break its dependency on foreign oil. They said we need to create more jobs, and prepare these people for those jobs. I agree with this as well; I feel that Americans are not fully prepared to contribute positively in society, so helping them be prepared is a good idea.  Another article says we need cheap energy, suggesting we keep importing oil. I disagree with this because it goes against my views that I have expressed above. The same article suggests we follow the first amendment more closely. I feel we should not. This being a radical idea, I feel that we as a country need to "update" the constitution in order to properly reflect the society of today. 

Monday Matters #23

The last two posts, one by liberals and one by conservatives, propose issues and important things that each think President Obama should mention in his State of the Union address. All of these suggestions from both sides are backed up by factual information, so there are not any assertions made that are not backed up by facts. There are, however, different points proposed by each side that they think Obama needs to address. The conservatives say that we need to stop the war on coal and have affordable energy readily available, while the liberals want coal out, and want the USA to find alternative energy sources to help the environment. The conservatives are really concerned with the education of our country, and with keeping the federal government out of peoples' lives as  much as possible. Oppositely the liberals are more concerned with creating jobs, economic and political populism, and strict gun control laws. These two political philosophies each have a different idea on how to improve our country, and they would argue that their respective ideas are the best. Both would agree on helping the middle class, but they have different ideas about how to accomplish this.

  

Monday Matters #22

Link: http://www.thenation.com/slideshow/157998/slide-show-7-ways-obamas-state-union-can-save-his-presidency

This article by The Nation explains what should be included in President Obama's State of the Union address in order to save his presidency. The first point made is to focus on creating jobs. America wants jobs and we cannot obsess over the Federal deficit. The second point explains that creating jobs is not enough, we also need to get Americans back to work. Obama needs to lay out a plan to carry this through. The article goes on to talk about how the president needs to get rid of the perception that he is in "big business's pocket" and help reclaim economic populism. The next point explains why the Obama administration needs to help struggling homeowners. His approach to this is widely viewed as ineffective, so he needs to approach this issue differently. Another point is that he needs to protect medicare and social security. Many people need this and it is his responsibility to protect it. Next, it explains that Obama needs to push for sensible gun control. This should also receive bipartisan support, so this needs to be addressed. The last point given is that Obama needs to address climate change. The sooner congress recognizes this problem, the more prepared the USA will be for the "new energy economy".

Monday Matters #21

Link: http://blog.heritage.org/2014/01/28/7-things-late/?utm_source=heritagefoundation&utm_medium=homepage&utm_campaign=headline140128

The people at Heritage have some ideas for President Obama and Congress to address at the State of the Union address tonight. They list them in points, having seven of them. The article starts off by saying that we need to save Americans from the skyrocketing energy bills by reversing the war on coal and having affordable energy readily available. The article then goes into proposing the idea of letting students succeed in schools of their choice. It shows that the Capital's scholarship program is not useful, and that when parents choose the schools students succeed, because school choice works. The third point suggests that the government serve the people by allowing more state's rights. They give gay rights as an example, that the federal government should stay out of it and let each state figure it out for themselves. The fourth point is saying to start moving forward on entitlement reform. America's spending causes us to go into debt, and it drags down the economy. They also suggest some type of controlled spending. The fifth point made says we should be ready for anything. We need to be ready for anything, mostly militarily. The sixth point encourages we follow the first amendment. We need to allow a little bit more freedom when it comes to health care and religious liberty. Finally, the last point made proposes we stop the food policies that hurt the poor. The farm policies we have now boost food prices. The government should stay out of the food supply.

Monday Matters #20

Link: http://www.ted.com/playlists/125/tv_special_ted_talks_educatio.html

Angela Lee Duckworth was a management consultant and became what she believed was an even more demanding job, being a teacher. She taught seventh grade math and did everything a normal teacher would do like make tests and grade homework. She noticed her better students were not always the students with the highest IQ, and that some students with the highest IQ were not doing all too well in her class. She claims our educational system can measure IQ very well, but fails to promote the motivational side of learning. She then became a physiologist to figure out the keys to success. After studying many kids and adults in different settings, she concluded that "grit" was what many successful people had in common, not IQ. Passion and perseverance is what helped these people accomplish their long term goals. She backed up her claim with research she conducted in the Chicago Public School area, and it was successful. She ends with promoting "growth mindset" developed at Stanford University that tries to teach children about how to persevere through school and addresses that hard work can get you far.

Monday Matters #19

Link: http://sirkenrobinson.com/?p=744

This blog post talks about how creativity can influence or inspire people to do different things. He gives an example, the iPhone, and how that the innovative device five years later can now be used as a virtual harmonica. Robinson explains that our own creativity is a part of a much larger cultural conversation. Our ideas lead to another person's ideas and so on. This creates a giant pool of ideas for us to see and share with each other. Sometimes this inspiration comes from something related to what you do, sometimes it can be completely different. This creativity is essential when it comes to schools promoting creativity and innovation. Students need inspiration, which today many students lack. Robinson ends with showing us examples of how he has inspired other people, and by saying that this cultural conversation can lead to many new innovations.

Monday Matters #18

Link: http://dianeravitch.net/2014/01/07/is-san-diego-the-best-urban-district-in-the-nation/

This article Diane Ravitch wrote is her explaining why she thinks San Diego has the best urban district in the nation when it comes to education and community. The teachers and administrators are all working towards a common goal, to improve the future generations. She says her opinion is not based on test scores, even though they are improving, but on the climate of teaching they have. Back in the 1990's, San Diego had its problems in the educational department, but now things are changing. The previous superintendent, Mr. Kowba, had a different idea of improvement. He valued teamwork and community to help the teachers and the union come together. Test scores went up, with the new spirit of teamwork between students, teachers, parents, and the local community. The board voted for a new superintendent once Kowba retired, and Cindy Marten has filled in his spot perfectly. She inspires and also values community involvement. Yet, a newspaper still seems to believe that the San Diego urban district is failing, saying they should bring back older superintendents, especially the one now in Houston, Texas. Ravitch counters with her logos by showing that Houston has a higher drop out rate and lower test scores. She finishes by saying that San Diego has the perfect line up. It has a great intelligent superintendent that gets the community involved. The cohesion of the parents, students, union, and the board is also impressive. And they all have one goal in common, to improve the education for every child. It is all about the children.

Monday Matters #17

Link to picture: http://www.grandparents.com/grandkids/discipline-and-behavior/discipline-proof

This image properly illustrates what children need these days. In order for all these plans to improve the USA's educational system to work, they are going to need the cooperation and help of parents. Parents, as of recently, have had a hard time disciplining their children. These children grow up thinking they can do whatever they want and get away with it, so that is what they do. Growing up this way causes them to think that they cannot be told what to do or forced to do anything. They defy their parents and any other older figures. When they get into school, these children think if they do not have to listen to their parents, why should they listen to a teacher? Most of these children most likely are not too interested in doing well in school in the first place, and with the upbringing they had, they are set up to fail in school. The picture also shows a child pouting, which illustrates the idea of children defying their parents' scolds. The upbringing of a child plays an important role in their academic performance. We need to bring up children that see the value in education and want to strive to do their best on their own. We need children who want to invest in a successful future.