Critique

I agree with Caitlin completely. Standardized tests should be criticized and reevaluated. Only 39 percent of Florida students passed the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). A Florida school board member took the test and scored poor in reading, even when he has master’s degrees in English and teaches 39 graduate courses in 6 universities in Florida. One Florida 8^th grader had all A’s, but scored low on the FCAT and could no longer take her advanced prep courses. Last fall, she spoke in front of her school board, crying, pleading to continue her education while not counting the unfair standardized tests. The tests stress out students. There are official standardized tests rules for students who throw up from stress during test taking. There should not be rules in place for situation like that. They do not benefit teachers. They only help Pearson Education. The tests are not fair assessments, and need to be re evaluated.

SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6lyURyVz7k

Thoughts on the Baltimore Riots

With everything going on in Baltimore recently I can’t help but have riots and race relations on my mind. I understand the anger. Police killing another innocent black man that was wrongfully arrested, it sounds like a similar story from 1992 with Rodney King. Or even as far back as the 1960’s. Police brutality, discrimination, and equal rights have been on the table for quiet some time, but equality is still a struggle for many people everyday. The people rioting are tired of knocking at the door asking for equality, and are now breaking it down. Some of them are angry. Some are taking advantage of the situation. Dousing people in gasoline? Destroying your own neighborhoods? I don’t see how this helps anything. I think it’s wrong. Not condoning riots, but maybe destroying government buildings and courthouses similar to the White Night riots for the death of Harvey Milk? Maybe even that would make more sense. But destroying where you live? I don’t get it. The peaceful protests going on in Baltimore need more coverage. And thankfully the police officers in the case against Freddy Gray have had criminal charges filed against them. But this is all a metaphor a bigger picture. A metaphor for the social injustices many minorities still face today. Hopefully news like this will spark conversations between people about race and racism. Hopefully this can turn into a conversation about how we should be treating people, and not about how we treat certain races of people.

Critique

I enjoyed reading and strongly agree with Government: For Us or Against Us’ well written and argued post about whether or not guns should be allowed on school campuses. If an individual wants to carry and be licensed for a handgun, it is their choice and their right. I do believe that there should be mandatory physiological exams for those who want to be licensed, as well as gun safety training and mandatory time spent at a shooting range. Similar to CPR training, the license and courses should be renewed and updated regularly. If carrying makes someone feel safer, and they are properly licensed and trained then I do not see a problem with the law being passed. A person could want to be licensed for any number of reasons. They could be the victims of a home invasion, and can only sleep at night knowing they can defend themselves. They could be ex-military and can only feel safe with a weapon after years of combat. They could just be from Texas. Either way, it is none of my business, and they are allowed to exercise their Constitutional right to bear arms. Criminals will find a way to get weapons. If the laws crack down on public carry and the militarization of the police continues, we are the only people left unarmed and defenseless. Underwood summarizes her point best when saying, “protection is what we need and sometimes we are the only ones that can supply that for ourselves”, and I could not agree more. 

Questioning Our Humanity

On Friday March 15th, 2015 Pete Dolack wrote an article for CounterPunch magazine titled “The Cost of War: The Art of Becoming Human”. Dolack comments on traumas experienced by veterans, how the U.S. government’s disinterest in them once they return home, and the absurdity of the idea of patriotism as a whole.

The article is written for the common reader. It is easy to understand and written in simple English. It is broken down into three parts. An easy read for anyone willing to listen. Pete Dolack also runs a blog of his own, Systemic Disorder, and is an activist for several other groups.

In “The Cost of War: The Art of Becoming Human”, Dolack starts by informing the reader that 180,000 people enlist in the military each year, and that 22 veterans commit suicide per day. He comments on the fact that the U.S. government is eager to recruit, but easily forgets the soldiers once they return home. While the government might not provide much assistance for mentally and or physically disabled veterans, thankfully there are programs to help. For example, The Combat Paper Project helps veterans communicate and heal their philological injuries through the form of art. This project, “converts veteran’s uniforms into paper, which is then used as a canvas for art works focusing on their military experiences”. These images point out the, “not so immediately obvious”, injuries sustained by many veterans.

Dolack also points out many of the absurdities of the war and our nations patriotism. Kelly Dougherty, a veteran who served as a medic and in the military police, is quoted here saying, “‘I was angry and frustrated and couldn’t relate to my fellow veterans who voiced with pride their feelings that they were defending freedom and democracy…I also could not relate to civilians who would label me a hero…when I returned home from Iraq ten years ago, some of my most vivid memories were of watching the raw grief of a family finding that their young son had been run over and killed by a military convoy’”. Dolack questions our humanity as a nation when, “countries that are invaded are reduced to rubble and suffer casualties in the millions, and we cheer it on like a video game”.

I agree with the point the author is making. After reading that the United States military spends trillions of dollars a year, more than every other country combined, that the invasion of Iraq was to create a clean slate government in order to exploit their oil resources, and that the U.S. funded and armed the Afghan militants who became the Taliban, al-Qaida, and the Islamic State, how can one not question our governments actions? Then again, this was never something I thought about. It was not until the idea of cheering for a B-52 bomber at a football game was questioned that I began to question other ideas as well. Dolack makes several valid arguments along with the sources to back them up. While what is true is rarely popular, one can only hope more people will begin to reexamine the everyday realities they have accepted without question.

"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." - Michael Pollan

Mark Bittman’s views on the current state of the U.S. health culture, and the federal dietary guidelines, align closely with my own. He feels as though the, “Industry’s job is to confuse every issue, and to make sure that what we eat is profitable regardless of its value”. While I do understand that it is up to the individual to choose to live a healthy lifestyle, I agree with him that it is our undeniable right to have affordable, attainable, nutritious food. Brittman makes an excellent point when he says, “people’s rights should trump industry’s need”. Going into the future, our society should move towards healthier food choices in order to fight the level of obesity that is so prevalent in not only the world, but more specifically in the U.S..  Bittman has created 17,000 different recipes and has been writing and cooking since 1980. Based on all of the different books that he has written and recipes that he has created, Mark Bittman appears to be a very credible and reliable source. The audience that Bittman wants to target is the general public. He wants to get this message of health independence and knowledge to anyone that wants to create a healthier and better lifestyle. 

I read his post on The Opinion Pages of The New York Times.