ATHLETE DREAMS:
I believe, as parents, what you need to think about first is do your kids actually enjoy the sport they're playing. Because, like the article says, if you put a bunch of pressure on your kid to play a sport they don't want to play and push them to reach goals they don't want to reach, they undergo emotional distress and have a deep resentment towards you. So the first thing to do is make sure your kid actually enjoys the sport they're playing. The next thing I think you have to distinguish as a parent is if your kid is just playing the sport for fun or if they actually want to make a career out of it. If they're playing it for fun, as a parent you should support them but don't put intense pressure on them to be the best. Now, if your child enjoys the sport and wants to make a career out of it then I believe that it's okay for a parent to say they are on a path to athletic greatness and professional career. It's a good way to motivate their kid to work hard to achieve what they want. Since I believe it's a situational thing, I do think that it creates too much pressure, false hope and the possibility that their child will feel like a failure if parents push their own dreams and wishes on a child who does not want that.
FRAMING THE ABORTION DEBATE:
I agree with Kenneth that the primary focus of the debate should be about the impact of this decision on the woman. Personally, I am pro-choice and have been since I wrote a research paper about abortion in seventh grade. I believe that women should have the right to choose whether or not they want to get an abortion. On that note, I don’t believe that abortion should be illegal. “One woman dies every 7 minutes around the world due to an unsafe illegal abortion.” (Source: http://www.womenscenter.com/abortion_stats.html) “Bedroom abortions are much less safe than clinic abortions-approximately 80,000 women die every year from do-it-yourself abortions-but it’s not as if having an abortion is anybody’s idea of a good time to begin with, and many women will still be having abortions regardless of the legal or physical risks.” (Source: My seventh grade paper on abortion, I don’t know how to find the original article) As stated, women still seek out abortion whether it’s legal or not and during illegal abortions you don’t always have the proper or sanitary conditions so it becomes very dangerous.
Having an abortion is a very personal thing and is something that a woman pretty much goes through by herself. I don’t think anyone has the right to take away a woman's choice on this matter and tell her she’s a ‘murderer’. In the article the author talks about all the women she knows who got an abortion because they were not ready for a baby, or it wasn’t a good time to bring a baby into this world. Getting an abortion is nothing to be ashamed of and no one has a right to judge why a woman gets one. Overall, I believe that we should be focusing on the woman’s perspective.
Having an abortion is a very personal thing and is something that a woman pretty much goes through by herself. I don’t think anyone has the right to take away a woman's choice on this matter and tell her she’s a ‘murderer’. In the article the author talks about all the women she knows who got an abortion because they were not ready for a baby, or it wasn’t a good time to bring a baby into this world. Getting an abortion is nothing to be ashamed of and no one has a right to judge why a woman gets one. Overall, I believe that we should be focusing on the woman’s perspective.
MARINE EXTINCTION (WINNER):
I agree with Lucy that more people need to be aware of global warming and it’s affects on us. If people refuse to believe it’s happening how are we going to fix it? I also agree that we should cut down on fossil fuels. However this is GLOBAL warming; a problem that affects the whole planet, not just America. Even if we make things eco-friendly and great in our country, there’s still China, who is four times our population and one of the leading countries contributing to global warming. Even if we stop overfishing there’s still Japan, who is the leading country in overfishing. Even if we stop cutting down trees, there’s still Brazil, who is the leading country in deforestation. Having America fix all their problems is just one step in the process of stopping global warming.
I think we need to find a way for all the countries to work together in stopping global warming. Every one of the countries contributing to global warming has something that they do worse than others. For America and China, it’s CO2, for Japan, it’s overfishing, for Brazil, it’s deforestation. For things like oil I think we should invest in an eco friendly substitute. Plastic is petroleum based, which is oil, and we’re surrounded by plastic. Also a lot of this has to do with money. Everybody’s trying to earn money. If these countries could be earning money while being eco friendly then they’d be all for it.
In conclusion I think that yes we can start changing things in America but we should focus on a global scale because this is a problem that affects our whole planet not just our country.
(Sources: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions, http://planetsave.com/2009/06/07/global-warming-effects-and-causes-a-top-10-list/, http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/5664/20140116/seven-nations-contributed-60-percent-global-warming-study.htm, http://www.newsweek.com/2015/04/03/brazils-deforestation-rates-are-rise-again-315648.html, http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/jan/09/overfishing-pacific-bluefin-tuna)
I think we need to find a way for all the countries to work together in stopping global warming. Every one of the countries contributing to global warming has something that they do worse than others. For America and China, it’s CO2, for Japan, it’s overfishing, for Brazil, it’s deforestation. For things like oil I think we should invest in an eco friendly substitute. Plastic is petroleum based, which is oil, and we’re surrounded by plastic. Also a lot of this has to do with money. Everybody’s trying to earn money. If these countries could be earning money while being eco friendly then they’d be all for it.
In conclusion I think that yes we can start changing things in America but we should focus on a global scale because this is a problem that affects our whole planet not just our country.
(Sources: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions, http://planetsave.com/2009/06/07/global-warming-effects-and-causes-a-top-10-list/, http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/5664/20140116/seven-nations-contributed-60-percent-global-warming-study.htm, http://www.newsweek.com/2015/04/03/brazils-deforestation-rates-are-rise-again-315648.html, http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/jan/09/overfishing-pacific-bluefin-tuna)
PAYING COLLEGE ATHLETES:
I do agree that student athletes should be paid. They make NCAA millions but get nothing in return. I think that’s ridiculous. Like Miguel said, 86% of student athletes live in poverty and like one NFL star said about student athletes in the video, their schedules are packed. It’s hard enough for them to go to classes so I doubt they have multiple part time jobs like a lot of college students do. So where are they making money? All their time is being spent playing these sports that they don’t even get paid for. Also, like other people have said, their scholarships are not the most surest thing. They could lose them if they get injured and their chances of playing professionally after college are very slim. I think because college athletes spend so much of their time on these sports and don’t really have a secure life plan after this, they should be getting paid. They make so much money there’s no reason they shouldn’t be paid.
SHOULD TEACHERS HAVE TENURE:
While I was reading the article I was going back and forth on whether tenure was a good thing. There's a lot of pros but also a lot of cons. I find it really frustrating when good teachers get fired for personal reasons or misunderstandings and I think that tenure could protect good teachers from those sorts of things. But at the same time tenure allows teachers to become lazy and not perform well because it's really hard for them to lose their job. That's also frustrating. However, I decided that tenure could be a good thing if there were some changes to it.
For universities there are some requirements to be able to get tenure but for high schools it's practically handed out. I think that for a high school teacher to get tenure they should be working there for at least five years. Their performance over those years should be evaluated and there should be some student input because, after all, the students are the one learning from that teacher. I think there should also be some rules that teachers with tenure have to maintain a good performance so that it makes it hard for bad teachers to stay.
Besides the whole tenure thing, I think that there needs to be a whole lot more passionate teachers. Teachers who genuinely want to be there and teach kids. Teachers who would do anything to help their students be the best they can be. I think the education system needs more teachers who honestly care. There's nothing more frustrating than a teacher who doesn't really care about their students well being.
So I guess overall I'm more against tenure, even though it can be unfair to teachers without tenure who are fired for stupid things, but I'd be more pro tenure if they made changes to ensure that only good, passionate teachers received tenure.
(Sources: http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/06/california-rules-teacher-tenure-laws-unconstitutional/372536/
http://teachertenure.procon.org/#Background)
For universities there are some requirements to be able to get tenure but for high schools it's practically handed out. I think that for a high school teacher to get tenure they should be working there for at least five years. Their performance over those years should be evaluated and there should be some student input because, after all, the students are the one learning from that teacher. I think there should also be some rules that teachers with tenure have to maintain a good performance so that it makes it hard for bad teachers to stay.
Besides the whole tenure thing, I think that there needs to be a whole lot more passionate teachers. Teachers who genuinely want to be there and teach kids. Teachers who would do anything to help their students be the best they can be. I think the education system needs more teachers who honestly care. There's nothing more frustrating than a teacher who doesn't really care about their students well being.
So I guess overall I'm more against tenure, even though it can be unfair to teachers without tenure who are fired for stupid things, but I'd be more pro tenure if they made changes to ensure that only good, passionate teachers received tenure.
(Sources: http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/06/california-rules-teacher-tenure-laws-unconstitutional/372536/
http://teachertenure.procon.org/#Background)
SMALL BUSINESSES AND HEALTH INSURANCE:
I think overall, health care should be easily obtained. I think it’s something everyone needs or deserves and it should be affordable for everyone. It should become more of a right than a privilege. However, as a small business, how this act affects you is entirely up to you and how you run your business. The market decides if you get penalized or not, not the government.
TOO YOUNG FOR PLASTIC SURGERY:
I personally think that plastic surgery in general is okay and nobody should be shamed for getting it. I’m not going to say I think it’s wrong for children to get plastic surgery but the human body doesn’t stop growing until you’re between 18 and 21 and the features that bother you as a child may be gone when you’re older. And if the insecurity towards a particular feature comes from intense bullying I think actions should be taken to prevent bullying. However I don’t think it’s bad to get plastic surgery to get your confidence back after it’s been completely torn down.
“He said he also takes the child's mental outlook and maturity into consideration.” I think that this is good thing for doctors to do with younger kids who want plastic surgery. “Obviously, if he wasn't on board with it, we wouldn't have touched him. Ultimately, we told him it was up to him." I also think that this is a good mentality for parents to have.
Now I can see how this could teach young people to change themselves to make others happy but in the specific case I think it promotes self confidence. “‘I'd catch him looking in the mirror and trying to pin them back, and when he got nervous or upset or when he was in trouble, he'd physically grab his ears,’ Timothy, 31, said. ‘It was subconscious. It was him thinking that his ears were the problem and that was why he must be in trouble.’” The bullying was deeply rooted in him that he thought something was wrong with him because of his ears. He lost his self confidence and the procedure brought it back, which I think is a good thing.
“He said he also takes the child's mental outlook and maturity into consideration.” I think that this is good thing for doctors to do with younger kids who want plastic surgery. “Obviously, if he wasn't on board with it, we wouldn't have touched him. Ultimately, we told him it was up to him." I also think that this is a good mentality for parents to have.
Now I can see how this could teach young people to change themselves to make others happy but in the specific case I think it promotes self confidence. “‘I'd catch him looking in the mirror and trying to pin them back, and when he got nervous or upset or when he was in trouble, he'd physically grab his ears,’ Timothy, 31, said. ‘It was subconscious. It was him thinking that his ears were the problem and that was why he must be in trouble.’” The bullying was deeply rooted in him that he thought something was wrong with him because of his ears. He lost his self confidence and the procedure brought it back, which I think is a good thing.