March 2 or March 9 Post

Post here for your next research assignment.

Comments

[CarolineFreedlund]

Working Thesis: By featuring extremely thin actresses and models in films, television and magazines, the entertainment industry is giving young women poor body image leading to eating disorders like bulimia and anorexia.

This article/fact sheet, published by the National Eating Disorder Association, gives many facts and statistics which I can use in my paper. For example, one interesting fact given in the article is that everyday the average US citizen is exposed to 5.000 advertizing messages. It also explains that the media messages may not directly cause eating disorders, but they creat the context within which people learn to place value on size and appearance of their body. Also, the articles shows just how the media affects young girls: a recent survey showed that the main source of women’s health for adolescent girls is the media. This article also ties into my last article; which stated that America must lead the change in the way the media features pin-thin women. The article by the National Eating Disorder Association lists ways to help promote a healthier body message in the media. One way to catalyze a change is to make a list of companies who consistently send negative body images and make a conscious decision to avoid buying their products.

[Ebony Brown]

This week, my article focused primarily on whether immigration laws should be 'tightend', so to speak.The author,an advocate against immigration, mentions the over crowding throughout the united states to be a problem resulting from immigration;however, wasnt this country founded on immigration? Arent we all immigrants? So who is to say poeple can not come to america to pursue the American Dream, as so many people have 'built up', because it does not please them? The author also states that immigrants only come to America in pursit of money instead of becoming Americanized. This makes me question how this country would be if we ALL became Americanized? What does that term mean exactly? Please help me in better understanding this article.
Here is the website: http://www.socyberty.com/Government/The-Pros-and-Cons-of-Immigration.40065

[Ebony Brown]

Caroline, I think your topic and thesis statement are great. As far as your thesis goes, maybe you could say, " such as bulimia and anorexia" instead of "like bulimia and anorexia". In my opinion,it will make your thesis statement sound more scholarly.Overall, its a great thesis stement. I absolutely agree with the article and i am actually amazed at the number of times a citizen is exposed to advertising messages. 5000, wow! Your article actually made me wonder how much the media effects my lifestyle. Keep up the good work!

[Ebony Brown]

Caroline, I think your topic and thesis statement are great. As far as your thesis goes, maybe you could say, " such as bulimia and anorexia" instead of "like bulimia and anorexia". In my opinion,it will make your thesis statement sound more scholarly.Overall, its a great thesis stement. I absolutely agree with the article and i am actually amazed at the number of times a citizen is exposed to advertising messages. 5000, wow! Your article actually made me wonder how much the media effects my lifestyle. Keep up the good work!

[Janelle Adams]

Working Thesis: Britain’s unique form of government, that of constitutional monarchy, not only is politically beneficial, but also plays an integral role in the nation’s identity and therefore should not be abolished.

One of the top complaints against the monarchy is their supposed high maintenance. Opponents of England’s current form of government frequently site the Royal Family’s exorbitant spending as their prime argument for why the monarchy should be abolished. However, as my latest source points out, a majority of the cost associated with the queen and her family are expenses that would have to be paid even if England became a republic. The largest sum of money is spent on the upkeep of the Royal Palaces and government buildings, an expense that would not be eliminated even if the monarchy was. While around 132.9 million pounds of government income is spent on the people, only 9.7 million pounds are allotted to the queen. My article also points out “that far from being Britain’s wealthiest person, the Queen is 105th on the Sunday Times 2001 Rich List.” The source also claims that the cost of the monarchy is often times less than the cost of heads of state in countries with republican forms of government. It would be interesting to determine just how much the queen “costs” in dollars in comparison to our own president.

[Janelle Adams]

Caroline, your article is very interesting! It looks like you have found the perfect resource for your paper! I was especially intrigued by your last comment, which mentioned that Association suggests that people should boycott products made by companies that project damaging and unrealistic body images. While this sounds like a great idea, I wonder how hard it will be to carry out. It will take a huge amount of people to impact such large companies. It would be interesting to see which other organizations, if any, are attempting to fight the spread of negative body image, and to see how effective they are.

[Krystyna Biassou]

Working Thesis: The sterotypes that children are unknowingly exposed to have a direct impact on how they think, speak and relate to one another.

The article that I read this week opened up my mind and deepened my knowledge of gender stereotyping. My article was written as a lesson plan to educate students about common stereotypes that are imbedded in the brains of the population by society and parents. One thing that this piece cleared up for me was the difference of sex and gender. Gender is the mannerisms that someone acquires through society, parents, or other means while sex is the biological state that a baby was born into.
By using common examples that most people are familiar with, the author made the audience think and examine the messages that they send and receive constantly. A catchy riddle was used to test the boundaries of one’s mind unknowingly. I fell into the same category as the article said most would when I answered.

[Krystyna Biassou]

Janelle, your topic seems intriguing. It is a common assumption for one to think that the monarchy would be an unneeded and economically detrimental expense because of the level of wealth that it already has, yet still needs. Your last statement would be quite interesting to carry out: figuring out how much the president costs the American people in comparison to how much the Queen costs the British could allow people to draw their own conclusions and maybe even take a new stance on the constantly debated subject.

[Ryan Craft]

This article proposes many different aspects of the subject. At first, the article notes how genetics alone do not shape a person, which is evident in families, that the children, although from the same gene pool, can possess a variety of dispositions that may even differ from their parents. As my other articles support, the viewpoint on the debate in general is that for an outcome to occur, multiple factors must interact, genetic and environmental. Also like my other articles, this article supports using twin studies, specifically separated twin studies, to properly gauge just how much nature or nurture has an effect on the developing subject. However, unlike my other articles, this article questions the validity of twin studies, bringing forth a point I had never thought of - reactive correlation as it was called is the effect that people around twins tend to treat them relatively the same way, thus not properly giving them a complete environmental change from their mirror image. This principle also applies to separated twins in the sense that the twins will be relatively similar in disposition, (which has been proven to occur most of the time) thus may be treated quite similarly even when in different situations. I’m glad that I found this article, for that was a point that I would not have thought of, and would have taken the results of such studies at face value. Being reminded of such concepts, it has made me realize, that when it comes to human studies, there is no real Skinner Box (reference to B. F. Skinner’s experiments) to be able to control the environment, and truly determine what has the most predominate effect- nature or nurture.

[Ryan Craft]

Caroline, those numbers are quite startling, I had no idea that 5000 media messages make a pass at one daily. I imagine that many of those are subliminal, but even so, I can see how the effects of that could easily take hold and influence a person. I agree that the media has a negative influence on young women, but is there a solution? Would we still hold the media's idols at such a high level if they weren't the objects of peerfection that we now esteem them as? I think that could be a part of the opponents side that you might want to think about if you mention blaming the media, because you should offer a solution if you want to point a finger.

[Mark Hansen]

This is my artical this week...

Attorney General Claudio Fontelles is set to hear the ruling on a case he has been fighting against for three years on the development of stem cell research. His position stands that this type of research is unconstitutional as the fact that it violates the right to life.

Surprisingly enough, this case is not one being heard in the United States Supreme court, but in Sao Pablo, Brazil. Brazil is indeed one of the frontrunners in stem cell research as it has been banned in the United States for just under a decade now.

What Fontelles does see as acceptable is adult stem cell research. These cells can be harvested from the bottom of the spinal cord and are equally as effective as embryo stem cells.

Mayana Katz sees embryonic stem cell research as a cure to diseases one thought incurable but is conserved that while legal, scientists have put most projects on the back burner pending the Supreme Court's ruling.
"We want the chance of conducting the kind of research being done in developed countries like Great Britain, Sweden, Japan and Israel," she added.
Meanwhile, a January survey conducted by the Public Opinion Research Institute shows that 95 percent of those interviewed favor embryonic stem cell research.

As to comment on Ebony's artical...

You make a lot of good points with your questions, especially when you point the fact that America is after all founded by immigrants. There does perhaps need to be regulations put on immigration, but what these days doesn’t have rules and regulations. Water, for one thing, is very tightly regulated, yet we spend all this time regulating it and loosing track of other problems. Immigration only becomes a problem if it goes unchecked.

[Emma Battles]

Working Thesis: Because of lost class time, the risk of decreased performance, and the short attention span of most students, block scheduling is an efficient approach to educating America’s youth.

In John W. Cooper’s essay “Block Scheduling: Is this Right for America’s Public Schools?” the author seeks to outline a solid argument against block scheduling. The opposition’s arguments are mentioned and refuted in a scholarly manner, and several appeals to logos are made. One logical argument against block scheduling is individual conflicts within the schedule itself. The article states that “the probability of a scheduling conflict with a six-period day is equal to 16.6% or a ration of one-to-six whereas the probability of a conflict with a four-period day is 25% or a ratio of one-to-four”(Cooper 3). This is especially a problem for students needing to take a specific class such as band or an AP class that is only offered once during the day. Proponents of block scheduling will argue that it makes school much less stressful, because logically, less homework will be given. Cooper refutes this argument, stating, “However, if students are doing less homework and are less stressed, but are also learning less, then the reduction in stress may not be best for the students”(Cooper 4). The most thought provoking argument in the piece, however, is the drastic reduction in instructional time that block scheduling is responsible for. “With a traditional schedule, classes meet for 55 minutes a day, 180 days a year for a total of 9900 minutes. With a block schedule, classes meet for 85 minutes a day, 90 days a year, for a total of 7650 minutes. The 2250-minute loss per class is a direct result of block scheduling, and is equivalent to a 22% loss in daily instructional time or approximately two months of classes”(Cooper 2).

[Emma Battles]

Krystyna, your article seems very interesting. I didn't know that there was a difference between the words "sex" and "gender". Now that difference seems very important, and it's interesting to note that you usually see "gender" on applications for jobs, schools, etc. The idea of stereotypes shaping, even minutely, someone's personality is fascinating, and I think your paper will be great.

[Mike Huddleston]

“Clinton Hauls in $4 million Since Ohio, Texas, R.I. Wins”, written by the Associated Press, covers my ongoing investigation of campaign financing. As I have stated numerous times, the cost or running a campaign is huge. For instance, Senator Clinton raised $4 million for her campaign in a matter of days. $4 million dollars is a vast sum of money and few people ever have $1 million, but Senator Clinton was able to raise this in two days time. This is ridiculous. The presidency should not be based on the amount of money a candidate can raise! How is it that John Edwards, a candidate who champions the average American, cannot keep up with Senator Clinton and Senator Obama? It is because Edwards refused to accept money from special interests groups, so he could not raise enough money to keep up with Clinton and Obama’s combined $200 million-something campaigns. The system is unfair! No questions asked.
Emma, the article you choose is very interesting. Many teachers and students argue about which coarse would be a better option for AP students, but no solution is ever reached. I am interested to read more about what you find out about the positives and negatives of block scheduling.

[Katie Keel]

This week my article is on the effects of television on children and teenagers. The average amount of television watched by children and adolescence is about 3 hours per week. Ten to twenty percent of aggressive behavior has originated from media violence. Television also has an outlook on drugs, alcohol, and tobacco as a positive thing. Some of the newer televisions have devices that enable parents to block certain shows, but the question is if parents actually use it. Many young children can’t discern between real and imaginary or staged. Television has effects on self-image, obesity, academic performance, and many others. Most children prefer to watch television rather than read, play outside with friends, or do homework. Children and adolescence are influenced by television and the media. Should television shows be more regulated?

[Katie Keel]

Caroline I love your topic. It is sad that women let the media influence them. What would you say is the most influencial pieces of media. It is really amazing how much the media affects how people view themselves and others. The only way to stop the media from telling people how they should look is to boycott them, but would our society do that or are we too dependant on the media is a source of entetainment and advice?

[Hannah King]

The article I read this week presented the theories of both those who believe schools are geared more toward the learning styles of girls and of skeptics who feel schools are not geared to either gender more than the other. Skeptics claim that the attention given to the increase of boys doing poorly in school is sexist against women and their growing achievements in education. Also, some question how useful it is to evaluate educational accomplishments based on gender. The third argument points out that men are still earning more money than equally qualified women. On the other hand, claims are made and facts are stated to prove that in many ways girls are overall more successful in education today than boys. The article provides four primary reasons for the learning success of girls vs. boys. First, classrooms are designed for the success of girls; educational environments consist of desks, lectures and little activity, every thing most boys despise. Another theory is that differences in the brains of each gender cause some boys to perform poorly in schools. (Based on past articles I have read, this is true). Third, the stereotypes and expectations of society play key roles in the success rates of many boys. In all forms of media, tough guys are portrayed as the hero while intelligent boys are depicted as weak and geeky. The final theory claims that due to the better job opportunities provided to more young boys than girls, boys are falling behind in school.

Katie, I feel television programs should be more regulated. During early morning hours and daytime hours television shows should be geared primarily toward young children. Obviosly not all channels can show "kidfriendly" programs, but this is where the parents come in and must decide what their children will and wont be allowed to watch. It is so unfortunate how desensitized our culture has become and the number of young children who watch tv programs far too mature for their age is continuing to increase.

[Liz Ertle]

There has been a breakthrough in technology for Organ Printing that could have a tremendous effect on our society. This article states that clinical trials for skin graphs could be ready in as little as five years, with, of course, constant research and perhaps some good luck. The idea is to take stem cells from bone marrow, or wherever they can obtain it, and control them through a process called ‘differentiation’ into becoming a type of body tissue. With this possibility, more cells could be printed at one time, which would overcome the current obstacle scientists are facing now of limited materials. Plus, with more cells printing of different types, more structures could be formed to take the place of the unusable skin. Possibly, in the future, entire organs will be able to be produced, but this goal would be far into the future. At the moment, making simple skin graphs would be a great achievment in medicine.

[Katie Alger]

My article this week talks about two kittens that have actually already been cloned. Tabouli and Baba Ganoush are two cloned Bengal kittens. They belong to Genetic Savings and Clone, a company in California that is working with the Cat Fanciers' Association trying to set up a feline gene bank. The company paid $50,000 per cat to have them cloned. The two kittens appeared at a cat show as advertisement for cloning. Cat shows are filled with a variety of unique cats, but cloning may put an end to that. All of the cats there were randomly given individual characteristics and traits out of the gene pool. Cloning, however, makes an exact copy of the cloned animal and could put an end to the diversity.

[Liz Ertle]

Hannah, I have to side with the fact that girls are getting more attention in the classroom, but at the same time it seems that boys are quicker than girls at learning the material, thus, boys do not need the extra attention. Of course they need the lessons to be partially geared toward them, at least, but if studies show that men are earning equal or more salary opportunities in careers, they're obviously learning what they need to know. As for tough guys vs. intelligent one's, the latter always seem to be the more successful in careers. Tough guys usually get their glory in school. Also, they generally don't care for the education, and so gearing learning in school more towards them would only put the girls at a disadvantage, while the 'tough guys' remain at the same education levels. So basically, if the student has the desire to learn the subject, it doesn't necessarily matter to whom it's geared toward. They will figure it out.

[Katie Alger]

Katie, I can't believe that up to twenty percent of aggressive behavior originates from what is seen on tv. I think it is really important that parents monitor what young kids watch and make sure they clarify the difference between what is real and what only happens in the movies. As far as regulating tv shows, I think parents need to be in charge of what their kids can and cannot watch, but tv stations could help by making sure that they air programs that are too mature for young kids at night after they would be asleep.

[Morgan Kayser]

Katie, your article sounds very interesting. I've always believed that some shows on television are just too violent, especially for little kids. Many people aren't going to send their kids out of the room for a tiny 10 second sound byte about viewer discretion, and their kids end up seeing things they don't understand. My little cousin watches Bones with me all the time, and even though I understand it's a fictional show about the FBI catching bad guys, he doesn't understand why people are shooting each other. It scares me that he and many other children in America might be getting the wrong idea. I guess I should just watch Spongebob with him like Ms. Jamison does with her son.

[Morgan Kayser]

I found an article on msnbc.com that will really help my legal argument against mountaintop removal mining. Anti-mining laws passed in West Virginia are not being enforced and there are signs of “buying off” or bribing of state officials, who are ignoring the law breaking of the mining companies. Toxic “waste treatment” ponds and valley fills are endangering citizens and wildlife, but they are not being monitored or stopped by the government. Floods are occurring more and more frequently and although Judge Chambers has made a ruling against mountaintop removal mining, it is unknown if his ruling will be taken seriously. Companies will continue to ignore the rules, bend the rules and bribe the rule makers. It angers me so much that they think they are too good to follow the law. Since this article is from about six months ago, I need research if Chambers ruling has been adhered to and use that as a point in my paper.

[Nancy Acevedo]

This week my article focused on why women should be in the military. The author used scietific evidence that proves that women are not as inferior to men as most people think. Studies has shown that women have a higher tolerance for decompression illness and that, with hard work, they can preform the same physical tasks that men can. Since physically inferiority is a main arguement for why women should have limited job opportunities in the military, this article is very helpful to supporting my thesis.

[Nancy Acevedo]

In response to Krystyna...
The difference between sex is and gender is very important in today's society and very few people know about it. I totally agree with you that children are exposed to personality shaping stereotypes, like baby girls having pink everything and boys having blue. I can't wait to read your paper!