Is President-Elect Barack Obama Ready for Office?

The article I read was called, Obama's Transition Team Restricts Lobbyists' Role. In the article, it discusses president elect Barack Obama and a statement he made. This article states, "Mr. Obama canceled fireworks on election night in Grant Park in Chicago, telling his advisers that the times were too serious for that type of festivity." This just goes to show how little good he is going to bring to our country. A president needs to be able to connect with the people in order for things to work out. It's a two way road. If the people don't like the laws that he is making, then is it anything more then a dictatorship? 

He is a great speaker though. I have heard people say, "Obama is the greatest speaker since Hitler." His words are breathtaking. He can speak and it's as if he' s speaking out to your every need. He has a way of stringing together a line of ordinary words and turning them into a a line that you will remember for the rest of your life. But does anyone see what is wrong with that statement? "Greatest speaker since HITLER. Hitler convinced people, he lied and deceived people. He was a dictator. Obama has spoken great words, but to me they are nothing more than empty promises.

I have no way of knowing these facts so I am not declaring them true, it's only my opinion. But how can he do the things he promises. Sure, Bush sent us into bad economic times. But Obama will only make them worse. He wants to raise taxes for the rich, but the rich are the ones that keep our sad economy going. Its holding on by a thread because the rich are still circulating money. But if the rich have no money then what money is left to circulate? I

n my history class I learned about an economic time like this and the president at the time cut taxes for the rich. He cut them because of the trickle down affect. By nature of the trickle down affect, the rich would spend a lot of money if they had a lot; therefore, the middle class would make the money from working at the places were they spent their money. Then, they would have more money and when you have more money, its only human nature to spend it. Hence, they would spend it at places where the lower class people work and then the lower class people would have money. So, if money is taken from the rich, it will be the trickle down affect in a negative way. Everyone would make less money, and there wouldn't be any money circulating. Can America really handle four more years of this? No, four more years of an economy WORSE then this? 

Not just anyone can create an amazing speech and have such a strong voice, but, almost anyone-can lie.

Crime in the Youth

The article, Our Kids as Criminals, made me realize what changes have come about the youth of this country. The article refers to a book titled Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy by Lawrence Lessig. The book discusses how now it is becoming easier and more consistent to plagiarize. Today more and more children are being able to do this because it is such a simple thing. The fact that this is happening also makes me think about how new technologies are effecting this as well. It is becoming easier for children to do this, because new technologies are being invented where one CAN do this in just a few minutes. The "Copy and Paste" was invent to move text around between documents, placing it in a different spot in the writing piece, etc. Now it can be used to take text off of a web page and put it into the writing piece. In past times the writer would have to re-type it so the font would match. However, now there is a "copy, paste, and paste and match style!" So now a student can copy the text and paste it into their document without having to change the fonts or re-type it. This made me understand that people are just blaming the youth for abusing the technology that is allowing them to get to these documents, but they are abusing the technology provided for them. If people don't want them to be able to copy something, they should limit the "copy, paste" to only Word, Textedit, Pages, etc. documents. If they can invent a "copy and paste" system, then they can sure enough invent a way to lock it to certain pages.

Children are being wired for life

The article, The Revenge of the Digital Immigrants, really caught my attention. This, like my last education blog, is about the progression of technology. This one, however, has a somewhat different angle. This article stated the facts about why children are losing their communication skills and why children have changed so much. This was a very persuasive article and I'm leaning towards their point of view. Children are becoming more tech-savvy and children are having a greater want for technology. Younger children are asking for iPhone's, computers, and game boys; when they should be asking for actual toys. I think that it is a bad thing because it is controlling their lives. These kids are piratically addicted to video games and TV shows. It is a good thing that technology is progressing, but we should use that technology to expand our knowledge and what not instead of using it for pure entertainment. Those games should be for dreary days when the weather isn't good enough to play outside. They are fun once in a while, but once it becomes a constant influence, it's a hard habit to shake. When young children constantly are playing intense video games, then they are wired for life to be frantic. This article had facts about how TV images change faster than our minds are used to, therefore adjusting our brains to be used to that. But when the TV is gone and things are moving at average speed, our brains can't focus because things are moving to slow. This goes to show that sometimes technology can be good, but sometimes technology has a bad influence

Stressful times lead to more "politic wars"

Having an election during such a stressful time puts a lot of pressure on the candidates. The article, Obama Rebuffs McCain on Debate Delay, talks about one of the many issues being dealt with at this time. Economy. John McCain wanted to delay a debate that was going to take place at the University of Mississippi because of the economy crisis. McCain believes that there is a time for both parties to come together to solve problems instead of putting politics first. Barack Obama agrees, however, he feels that this is a time were the people need to hear from their candidates. He thinks that presidents are supposed to be able to handle more than one thing at once, and in a time like this they are supposed to step up and help their people. So, inevitably, Obama rejected the call for delay. My thoughts on this are back and forth and back and forth. Both candidates make excellent points, but I can't decide which one I agree with. I agree that the candidates should let the people have time to deal with the stress of the economy on their own because they will be able to take care of things if they have less to worry about. However, I agree that the people need to hear from the candidates right now because the candidates are supposed to be leaders. In the future, if our president can't handle big issues like so, then who knows what chaos America will end up in. By the looks of things, there are more problems to come up before things get better. The economy has been going down for years and even though it seems that this is the worse point, it will only get worse before it gets better. With prices high, homelessness, environment problems (such as global warming, pollution, etc.), debts, resources running low, war, high crime rates, etc., how will McCain be able to handle all of that if he can't handle having a debate in an economy crisis? With the bailout not passing, the DOW dropping, banks closing, and big investment companies going into bankruptcy, how does this reflect on McCain? What has he done to help the economy? Although, Obama hasn't helped the people of America in this time either. Sure he says all of these great things, but what did he follow through on? I personally believe that right now both candidates need to step back and look at the situation together and with other congress men and women. The candidates, congress men/women, advisers, and president Bush need to put politics aside. There is a time and a place for competition, but not during a crisis like this, now is not the time. They need to come up with a solution, and actually follow through with it. We, as Americans, made this happen; so together we can fix it again. Most people don't realize that we have the power to control the stocks and the economy. Individual people can't change things, but together we can. Sure it sounds simple, and I know it's not. The economy didn't just get this way though. Things don't just happen. It happened because of our spending habits and our use of our limited resources. If we stopped using so much gas, it wouldn't be so limited. Little things like that can make a huge difference, it will just take time. People are acting like no one saw this coming and that all of the sudden it just happened. But some people saw this coming, and we've been going down hill for a while now so it's not just a sudden drop. 

Is technology moving too fast?

The article, Reading Online is not Reading on Paper by the blog moving at the speed of creativity, makes some good points. It talks about the way the world is changing with the new technology and the new opportunities we have today. Some teachers like to remain traditional and stick to books, while others are completely on board with new technology. In this blog post, it discusses the fact that classes are becoming digitalized and kids are drifting away from the skill to read books. The bloggers referred to reading online as "screen-scanning." Now that some of my classes are becoming more and more technologically advanced, I have noticed that I am developing new reading habits. Even though it's not quite a habit yet, I have caught myself "screen-scanning" before and then have to go back and re-read the piece. In this blog, Mark Federman says, "Screen reading cannot provide those skills." ["Those skills" referring to reading actual text on paper] I agree with this statement, however I also believe that it is a good thing because it teaches new skills as well. Reading a book versus reading online is not the same, true. Although, reading online is something new and I believe that students are benefiting from it. It's good to have the skill to read on paper, but if technology is advancing, why shouldn't we? This is what the world is becoming so we need to accept it. These things are being created to help improve education. So if we don't take advantage of these resources then why are they being invented. People are just afraid to let go of old habits. Some day we won't need to be able to read on paper, so it would be better to learn now, and ease into the new ways. It's great that we have learned so much that we can create these things, so without education improving, neither would technology. If we don't use the new technology, we will stay in the same position we are in this time. New technology isn't only affecting the education system, it is also improving medical conditions as well. New vaccines are being found and created because of the science technology we have today. Convicts are being brought to justice easier because of new forensic science technology. Communication, transportation, health, you name it. Everything is changing so instead of fighting it, we might as well just go with it. 

Change up in AP classes

In one of the many great discussions of Karl Fisch, he and the faculty went over the Advanced Placement curricular schedule. In the article "Advanced placement is changing" he states the many changes in the Advanced Placement classes. Teachers decided that it was too hard to cover all of the curricular throughout the school year and get the students prepared for the "big test" in May. The standards for getting accepted into Advanced Placement classes changed as well and now teachers have to deal with teaching more students all of the curricular and preparing all of them for the final assessment. In the PowerPoint showed at the discussion, it stated that, "Courses should emphasize deep understanding rather than comprehensive coverage." This goes to show that not only is the Arapahoe High school faculty trying to have students be more prepared and cover all of the material, but it is also trying to be thorough and help the students rather than just lecturing and making the students just memorize everything. They want to do what is best for the student and they want to help them excel as a learner. Thus proving that Arapahoe High school has a great education system and is a great learning environment. Also stated in the text, "Socially supported interactions strengthen one's ability to learn with understanding." This supports the factor of Arapahoe faculty trying to help students excel, and that they are basing the way they teach off of the way students learn. It is not only Advanced Placement classes that have a change up in the style of teaching, just the curricular. Faculty members are trying to give the same learning experience to all students because they want every learner to excel. 

Simple cases are becoming too public

I read several articles and was debating which one to respond to, however, one did catch my eye. I read and article titled "Teen held for manslaughter after giving shotgun to suicidal roomie". It is about two men, 18 and 19, who had been drinking and discussing suicide. One of them had a shotgun and he gave it to the other one, who then killed himself with it. I think that people are very sensitive about topics like this, so I'm hesitant to share my response but I feel that it is only right and I hope not to be judged but only heard. In all honesty, I think that the charges are ridiculous. The older man, Jacob Weiss, is being held accountable for the fault of this death. My first thought was that they were both intoxicated and neither of them were in any condition to make smart choices. Adding to that, I wondered why people put the blame on him when the other man was the who made the choice and actually pulled the trigger. I don't really think that Weiss should be imprisoned because in this situation it is unknown if he had any influence on the mans decision to take his own life. All that the public was told was that they had been "talking" about suicide. Everyone is just pointing fingers, that is what has become of America. He was only an assist to suicide at the least. In my opinion, people are blaming the alcohol, the talk, Weiss giving him the gun, what have you, just because no one will step up and admit that maybe this man wanted to die. People would rather blame a nearly innocent man then listen to the truth. If they don't like it, they don't hear it. If they don't want to see it, they are blind. Our society has become too pertinacious and arrogant that they only believe what they think is true. Everyone has there own opinion and to them that is all that matters. They are the only person who is right. People won't open their eyes to the truth. Everything is a competition to be the best, the smartest, the most popular, etc. Our pretentious ways have changed the natural way people think, everyone has to be on top. Whether it be socially, economically, politically, whatever, all that matters is that people are losing sight of normality. They have to blame this man because they can't accept the fact that it's not his fault. Things are changing but laws aren't. If this had happened in, let's say, the 70s. People wouldn't blame him then would they? Maybe he thought that he was helping his friend, but I don't want to make any assumptions, but this case has been blown way out of proportion. It shouldn't be this public, and I would think for the sake of the families the press would at least show some common courtesy and let it go instead of making it a big deal and making it seem like it is all Jacob Weiss' s fault. When in fact, manslaughter is killing a human being, in a manner less culpable than murder. Did Weiss KILL this man? No! This man killed himself, the only charges that should apply are: assisted suicide, under aged possession of alcohol, and under aged public intoxication.