Why Standardized Testing in Schools Should be Abolished

Standardized testing has been a staple in American schools for quite some time now. School districts say that this is so we can get a better understanding of the overall knowledge each grade should possess to pass, but I think that it is causing our school systems to adopt a "pass this test and you're done" mentality. Even when I was in high school, only about six years ago, all the teachers cared about was making sure you could pass the "TAKS" test. Nowadays, in Texas, schools are doing the same thing to students with the "STAAR" tests. I also feel like this really takes away from more creative projects student could be doing that would actually help them learn. Instead, teachers prepare their students for end-of-year testing by TAKING MORE TESTS. How can we expect our youth to actually want to learn things when all they are taught is "memorize, repeat"? This type of testing doesn't help out the teachers either. A few years ago, President Obama started a "Race to the Top" initiative, which pretty much meant that states would evaluate the scores students were receiving on these tests and use them to evaluate teachers as well. How can this possibly be correct? I know from experience, as I myself am one, that there are many students in America that can learn material effectively and complete assignments and projects, but don't test very well. Schools will take the results of these standardized tests and reprimand specific teachers for not "fulfilling their duties" just because a few students couldn't pass. I believe that this is absolutely outrageous and we should be grading our students on things like critical thinking ability, as these skills will actually help them later in life as adults. I wholeheartedly believe that standardized testing is ruining our schools, students, and teachers, and should be put to an end. What do you think?

Should the Death Penalty Continue to be Legal?

I came across an interesting article in the New York Times written by their Editorial Board. It is an older article, published on January 1, 2013, but I think it is still valid today. The article mainly talks about how the death penalty is being used less and less in the United States today. "While 33 states retain the death penalty on their books, 13 of them have not executed anyone for at least five years." This quote specifically got me thinking, if only a few states are even using the death penalty these days, why not get rid of it altogether? To me, life in prison is a much harsher sentence, and even a study found that "there is no useful evidence to determine if the death penalty deters serious crimes." This just confirms that there is no reason to keep the death penalty legal. It can also be a huge mistake when it comes to sentencing criminals the death penalty when not all of the facts were there. "Since 1973, a total of 142 people have been freed from death row after being exonerated with DNA or other kinds of evidence." That number is way too high for my comfort. How many innocent people have been executed by the government without all of the facts? Another thing to mention as well is that the death penalty is actually very expensive and we, the taxpayers, are paying for the government to have these killing tools. This could also potentially cause a racial issue in death penalty states as well, considering it has been proven that African American males typically receive harsher punishments than other races as well. I believe the death penalty should be made federally illegal, because what would deter a criminal from committing a crime more than knowing they will have to spend every last minute of their life in prison?

Classmate Comment 2: Trump Protesters

I chose to make my second classmate comment on Adrian Dominguez's blog again. This blog is about the actions of Donald Trump's protesters at his campaign rallies. He speaks on the fact that people who are anti-Trump can't act like vigilantes and hooligans while protesting his campaign. First, I believe that with how Trump's personality is, these violent protests are adding more and more fuel to his "anti-liberal" fire. However, on the other side of things, if we don't act out like this in protest, how will we get the media, who feeds off of terror and violence, to pay attention to us? As much as I would love to say that Trump's protesters would still get coverage without having to resort to violence or "mocking the authority", but I don't think that that is the case. I wholeheartedly agree with Adrian as I also believe that Donald Trump as president would set this country back at least 200 years. His beliefs are crazy, and potentially toxic to the American people and their belief systems. If he were elected president, the whole country would start to adopt his views and we'd be no better off than in the late 1700's where the only people who had rights were white, land-owning males. I'm not sure why Trump's supporters think this is a good thing. We have all seen on the news by now how his supporters verbally abuse people at his campaigns that don't adhere to his views. As much as I would love to get more attention to his protesters and how they are they are the sane ones, but how can we do that when all the media cares about is violence?

Classmate Comment: Hillary Clinton for Prez?

As I was reading through fellow classmates' blog posts, I came across this one written by Adrian Dominguez. His article is his personal opinion as to why he believes Hillary Clinton should be elected President of the United States. He states in this article that he doesn't know much about politics, but I feel the points he made helped me better understand why Hillary Clinton would be a good fit for the White House. "...she has seen firsthand what it’s like to be a successful president (in her husband) and what it takes to get to get the job done". This quote actually spoke volumes with me, as honestly during this presidential race I had forgotten all about Bill Clinton and that fact that he and Hillary were married. I do agree with that statement considering she has also been the Secretary of State for quite some time and definitely has more insider knowledge on how things in the White House work. Adrian also mentions Hillary's age in this article, mainly saying that Bernie Sanders is just a bit too old to be in office for the next 4-8 years. "...not too be nit picky but he is a bit old to be running." This quote actually did make me think. We've all seen presidents heavily wrinkle and grey throughout their presidencies just because of stress. This definitely concerns me when it comes to Sanders' health, just like it did when McCain was running. Overall, I definitely found Adrian Dominguez's blog post very interesting and it will keep me evaluating who I decide to vote for in the upcoming election.

Should Ex-Convicts be Allowed to Vote?

After I wrote my last blog post "College Education for Inmates?", I have become increasingly more interested in how felons(and ex-felons) are treated by the government. Did you know, that according to a 2010 study "an estimated 5.85 million people with a felony conviction are barred from voting in elections"? That is outrageous to me, especially considering that those six million people make up "2.5 percent of the adult population" of the United States. Those numbers are from an older study, and one could make an educated guess that this number is most likely much higher now. In most states, felons are disenfranchised from the day they are convicted until they finish serving their time AND have made it through the years of probation and/or parole afterwards(Texas included in this group). There are also four states(Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, and Virginia) that don't allow people to EVER vote in their lifetime againif they've been convicted of a crime. This, to me, is just another example of how this government gives ex-convicts almost no incentive to be a "normal" citizen after they are released. This especially effects committers of non-violent crimes(which are most convicts), as they are not able to be a part of this "self-governing" system that the United States claims to have. This means that even if they wanted these laws changed, there's no way they could act on it. I believe that the American people need to rise up on this issue and get these laws changed. How can we ever claim that serving a prison sentence is a form of rehabilitation when there is absolutely no effort made to help them achieve normalcy? I feel the best solution for this problem is to assess the person that was convicted when their sentence is done, and reinfranchise people on a case-by-case basis. That way, we can at least improve on that promise that normalcy can be acheived when a felon gets out of prison. Without changing this law and many others that pertain to ex-convicts, the prison system will only continue to be filled with offenders that have no hope in the real world. They will continue to be in and out of prison for the rest of their lives. We MUST act on these laws, to make a better world for convicts that are actually trying to better themselves. What do you think?

College Education for Inmates?

I was reading quite the interesting article by the editorial board of the New York Times today, giving the argument that inmates in prison need to be offered an education to refrain from ending up back behind bars. The article, "A College Education for Prisoners(published Feb. 16)", ultimately says that if we want to have less people in prison(and less recurring offenders), we need to have programs set in place to give them the job skills they need to enter the "real world". I totally agree with this statement, considering "more than 40% of inmates lack a high school diploma." How are these people, most also living well under the poverty line, supposed to make something of themselves in today's information society? "40% of those who are released return within three years, most for economically driven crimes." As a nation we need to be able to support them in getting the education/jobs they need to succeed(and not go back to prison). A lot, and I mean A LOT, of prison education programs were shut down in the 1990's, so legislators could prove "how tough they were on crime." In New York specifically, prison education programs went down from 70 in the 90's, to just FOUR in 2004. "The number of college degrees awarded to inmates fell from 1,078 in 1991 to 141 in 2011," according to the New York State Bar Association. This just proves how much that makes a difference in the number of return inmates New York receives every year. Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, proposed that out of the $2.8 billion that taxpayers spend on the prison system, to set aside a minute $1 million for prison education programs. Legislature DID NOT like this plan, saying it was "a 'slap in the face' to law-abiding taxpayers," so the proposal was withdrawn. What they didn't know, however, was that the public actually SAVES "$4 to $5 in reimprisonment costs for every $1 it spends on prison education." I believe this is the best way to support inmates in getting the college education and job skills they need to succeed, and ultimately improve the United States as a whole. What do you think?

Life Expectancy in the U.S. Lower Than Europe?

So  I was just reading an article on CNN, and there was one that I thought you guys might find interesting. Studies have shown, based off of 2012 world average life expectancies, that the average life expectancy is about 2 years less than Europe and other developed countries. Why is that? According to Andrew Fenelon, senior author of this study, most of the gap exists in middle-age persons from age 25-65. However, Fenelon claims that another major cause of this is a significant rise in infant death in the U.S. as well. To further discover what is "killing" Americans, Fenelon looked into injuries, which are "the leading cause of death for Americans between 1 and 44 years of age." The three things most responsible for injury deaths were drug poisonings, gun violence, and car accidents. Most of these injury deaths were seemingly either accidents or suicides. Because of the abuses of drugs and alcohol and the significant rise in suicides in the United States since 1999, death rates have been on the rise since. However, if you take a look at life expectancy statistics from the 1980's, the United States outweighed most other countries. So what's changed? What has Europe done(or the U.S not done) to raise their life expectancy? And how will we, as Americans, take steps to change this? You do want a long, happy life don't you?