Monday Matters #9

Source 1: LZ Granderson, CNN
Source 2: Boyd Jensen, Deseret News
Should we have school year-round?

Source 1 talks about how we rank in the middle in math, science, and reading compared to other countries around the world, yet on average we spend $30,000 more on education for our kids. Source 2 counters saying that it is not the calendar that needs changing, it is the quality of teachers and parental involvement. It takes a lot of money to run a school year round, and from Source 2's experiment, the calendar change does not change test scores. Source 1 goes on to say that summer break causes students to forget up to three months of learning. Plus, students waste time re-learning concepts in their first month back in school. Source 2 again counters saying that even though kids review their first month back from summer break, a year long school requires more spread out  shorter breaks. Once students come back, they end up reviewing anyway, and more often. Source 1 sums up saying that we need to rethink our education system to benefit the future of the USA. By having school year round, we can be prepared to compete with other advanced countries. Source 2 ends with saying that instead of wasting money on a system that does not work, we should use that money for better things like tutoring, which has proven effective, and better quality teachers.

Monday Matters #8

Link = http://hateandanger.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/i-think-we-risk-becoming-the-best-informed-society-that-has-ever-died-of-ignorance-reuben-blades.jpg

Rick Reilly's view on society was that it was not informed enough to make decisions. This picture disagrees and agrees with him, in a way. We are getting so much information thrown at us with the all powerful internet. It can come from a variety of websites and social networks. We are getting a lot more information than what is said by Reilly, but the information is not pertinent. We know a lot of things, but a lot of that information doesn't matter. We need to see what matters and expand upon that and make informed decisions based on the relevant information we seek out.

Monday Matters #7

 Rick Reilly talks about the issues with changing the names of sporting teams due to the offensive names towards certain races, mainly Native American. Also he discusses the views from multiple sources. He also explains why he thinks Andrew Luck is one of the best quarterbacks this season and why e thinks Luck will become one of the great quarterbacks. After reading all these articles, Rick Reilly views society is ill informed  and close minded. The issue with the sports team names, Reilly shows that most Native Americans actually have no problem with the names. Yet, the people pushing for the name changes are mostly white. Why is this so? Whites feel as though they know that the names bother the Native Americans, so they feel it is their job to fix it. What they do not realize is that their facts are not accurate. If they had taken the time to see if the names actually offend people they would see that they do not. They are to close minded to act this way. Reilly proves his point with Luck with stats. How can you argue with stats? He explains that many people fail to do their research and claim Luck is not all he was said to be. Yet the facts argue that point to invalidity. Fans against Luck for any reason want to find any way, valid or invalid, to prove to themselves that Luck is not one of the elite quarterbacks. Close mindedness has clouded their rationality. In order to claim something as valid, we need to do some research before we blurt words out of our mouths that might not be true.

Monday Matters #6

"A dichotomy of brains and brawn"
By: Rick Reilly
Link: http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/9765007/andrew-luck-dichotomy-brains-brawn

Rick Reilly explains why he thinks that quarterback Andrew Luck is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. What is most impressive is that he is only in his second year in the league. While most Sophomore quarterbacks run into a "sophomore slump", Luck improves his stats from the year before. During practices, he uses words most players haven't even heard of before. His use of SAT style words comes from his 3.48 GPA in environmental engineering at Stanford University. Not only is Luck a great athlete, he also has a good head on his shoulders. Andrew Luck is compared to other sophomore quarterbacks, such as Russell Wilson and Robert Griffin III, and is leaving them in the dust. Andrew Luck is even called the "coolest nerd in America" by Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri. Reilly says that Luck is the best number one pick in the draft since Peyton Manning and claims he will receive the MVP award before any of his other fellow sophomore quarterbacks.

FREAKONOMICS PODCAST

1: The argument is that people are thinking too hard about gift giving for Christmas. There is also the argument that gift giving altogether is inefficient. Economist Stephen Dubner gives examples of various outlooks on how gift giving should be. One source says we need to not over think about presents and to not overspend, because most likely the recipient of the gift will forget about it after opening all the rest of their presents. Dubner agrees with the first part saying that we need to buy gifts that are meaningful, not expensive. Another source claims that we put much less value on a gift than what it actually costs in dollars in real life. In order to truly appreciate the gift, the source argues to use the holidays as an excuse to buy YOURSELF something nice. It also guarantees that it's the one you want, that no family member can mess up your gift. Dubner likes this idea, except that it is very Scrooge like.

2: The opinions being said come from a variety of sources. Dubner evaluates each source and explains what he thinks about each source. Ethos plays a large part because everything being said is from a credible economist. Logos is also present with some sources putting out data about our society and gift giving.

3: The audience feels a new sense of Christmas. Instead of trying to buy the most expensive gift they can get, they want to buy the most MEANINGFUL gift. Dubner succeeds at giving his audience a new outlook on Christmas gift giving. The audience evaluates how they give gifts, and see if it needs to change.