Assignment 16: Speech: Why Music Matters - Tyler Rosenkrantz

Tyler Rosenkrantz

Matthew Logsdon

AP English Language and Composition

16 December 2015

Why Music Matters

“I hate music”, said no one ever. There has never been, and never will be anyone that hates all types of music. Someone may hate country and rap, but enjoy classical. There will always be some type of music that people enjoy. I know that most of you aren’t musicians, but I know that all of you listen to music. Listening to music is one of the best activities that your brain can do. Neuroscientists have monitored participants’ brain activity while performing various tasks. They saw that while reading a book, one part of the brain was active, and that while doing math, a different part was active. However, when the participants were monitored while listening to music, they saw “fireworks across the brain” (Collins). Multiple areas all across the brain were active at once as they processed the sound. The brain splits the music apart and processes each different element, such as melody and rhythm, and then splices them back together into one “unified musical experience”. All of that happens in the split second between when you hear the music and when you start to tap your foot along with the music.                                                                                                         

Playing a musical instrument does even more to the brain than listening does. Compared to the fireworks that you see in the brain while listening to music, the fireworks in the brain while playing an instrument, are like the San Diego fireworks from the fourth of July celebration from 2012 (For those of you unaware, there was a technical malfunction and all of the fireworks detonated at once- it was ginormous). The biggest difference between listening and actually playing an instrument, is that an instrument requires fine motor skills. Playing an instrument engages practically every area of the brain at once. There is no other activity that you can do regularly, and enjoy, that will cause this to happen. The introduction of fine motor skills into the process of playing an instrument involves both hemispheres of the brain. The left is responsible for the “linguistic and mathematical precision”, while the right hemisphere, deals more prominently with creativity and expression. A research team reports that early music training dramatically enhances children's abstract reasoning skills. These findings indicate that music uniquely enhances higher brain functions required for mathematics, chess, science and engineering. Yet, among all of these wonderful ways that music enhances your brain and your life, since 2002, funding for state-level-arts has dropped from $409 million to $272.4 million. That’s a 33% decrease. One third of the funding for music, nationwide, is gone.

Our band receives no money from the district at all. None. Every member of the band fundraises and works extra in order to keep our band program alive. We would have none of the opportunities that we have without the effort of everyone. Does the football team fundraise for their buses that take them to away games? I doubt it, or at least not exclusively like the band does. The same applies for any other club or team that you can think of – basketball, volleyball, lacrosse, soccer, etc. Before the arrival of Mr. Quenon at Henry Clay, the principal believed that the only purpose of the band was to serve the school and the sports teams, to play at pep band games. Surprise! That’s not the only point to band. Music students continually demonstrate higher test scores, and prove to be more adept in real-life situations. So why then, when money becomes tight, are the arts targeted for those budget cuts? Because it’s necessary to learn all of the core subjects, right? Because a mechanical engineer needs to know every tiny detail about world history, correct? Or an aspiring professional writer needs to be exceptional at Calculus 2 or physics?

Let me tell you about one of the world’s most extraordinary people, Derek Paravinci. This man is a savant. A savant is a person who has extreme mental disabilities, but shows prodigious abilities in an area that others would consider to be normal. Derek was born 25 weeks prematurely, and he is mentally handicapped. He shows signs of autism, as well as being blind, unable to tell his left from his right, and he cannot count to 10. Derek Paravinci, is unable to do most of the things that we take for granted in our everyday lives, much less what some have exceptional abilities to do! However, Derek Paravinci, is a genius. He has absolute pitch and remembers all of the thousands of songs he’s ever heard. He can play any piece of music perfectly after hearing it only once. His brain is a perfectly programmed musical computer. It  processes musical data with perfect accuracy and incredible speed.

But what does that mean for the rest of us, those who are considered normal? It shows us the true capabilities of music and the impact on the brain. It shows that maybe instead of focusing on school athletics, we should be focused more on music, and education.  “Playing music, to the brain, is the equivalent of a full body workout” (Collins).

Music requires effort and accuracy that is unrivaled in today’s society. In fact, music requires 100% accuracy. In baseball a .300 is a good batting average. And an 80% completion rate in football, or a 90% free throw percentage, is phenomenal! But what if you listened to music that was played at 80 or 90% accuracy? Not good, at all.

I’m not saying that everyone needs to play an instrument. There are 2500 students in this school, it’s just not possible. However, it is possible to listen to music, and you see the amazing effects that it has on your brain. Music helps all of us. It is a universal language, and everyone communicates with music. So next time another bum superintendent cuts the budget by 20 million dollars, don’t be the first one to target music and the arts. Think about the emphasis on all of the classes that aren’t going to affect your profession and your life, are they really that necessary? So when you’re riding home today listening to your favorite Christmas song, remember, nobody hates music.

Works Cited

Chanel 5 UK, Extraordinary People. "The Musical Genius, Derek Paravicini by Channel 5 UK." YouTube. YouTube, 2003. Web. 16 Dec. 2015.

Collins, Anita. "How Playing an Instrument Benefits Your Brain - Anita Collins." TED-Ed. Ed. Alex Gendler. TEDed, n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2015.

Derek Paravinci Quartet. Digital image. Paravinci Quartet. Paravinci Quartet, 2015. Web. 16 Dec. 2015.

"Derek Paravinci." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2015.

Ockelford, Adam. In the Key of Genius: The Extraordinary Life of Derek Paravicini. N.p.: Random House UK, 2010. Print.

"Quick Facts and Stats." Quick Facts and Stats. Music for All, 2010. Web. 16 Dec. 2015.

"Savant Syndrome." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 2015. Web. 16 Dec. 2015.

Spers, Valarie Honeycutt. "Fayette School Officials Address Questions about Proposed $20 Million Cut." Kentucky. Kentucky.com, n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2015.

Stamp, Jack. "Jack Stamp - Why Music Matters." YouTube. YouTube, 2008. Web. 16 Dec. 2015.

Speech- Emily Spivey

The Elephant in the Room

Emily Spivey

I’m going to make a pretty bold statement and say that everyone loves animals. How can you look at their sweet little faces and not want to just give them a big hug? Well…based on the actions of many people throughout the world, I might have to re-evaluate that first sentence. The actions that some people are making do not show their love for animals; rather, they show a complete disrespect and no recognition of animals as living, breathing beings.  Some examples of this behavior includechopping off elephant and rhino tusks, skinning tigers for their fur, and cutting off shark fins… and what for? All of these are done out of greed, depictions of idols, and superstitions. Now, are any of these good enough reasons to risk an animal’sextinction? I don’t think so. 

​According to the World Elephant Day organization, about 100 elephants are murdered everyday by poachers. They are killed for their tusks and meat and sold in Asian markets. Even though ivory trade has been made illegal, thousands of people in Asia find a way to kill the animals and sell the ivory. In China, where about 70% of the illegal ivory trading occurs, elephant tusks can be sold for about $1,000 per pound (The Atlantic pg1)! Animals such as elephants, rhinoceroses, and walruses are killed for profit without a second thought. Often, their carcasses are left to rot after harvesting the ivory.   The earth was once graced with great numbers of these noble creatures, but now, due to poaching for ivory, these great creatures are rapidly declining in number.  For example, in 1980, there were 1.2 million elephants in the wild.  In 2012, that number had dropped to 420,000 (96 Elephants Chapter2)! That is a 65% decline in the modern era, with no significant natural threats to these magnificent creatures. The rhino population is even direr.  In 1969, the population was 70,000.  In 2004, that number had declined to 3,000.  That is a population decline of nearly 96%!  And what does human society have to show for this devastation?  An end to world hunger?  The key to curing cancer?  No.  The tangible result is high prices on illegal trade and trinkets.

I remember in our World History class last year learning about how ivory was seen as an ancient delicacy in places like the Shang Dynasty. Many religions use ivory to depict their gods and goddesses. 

“To be carved into religious artifacts: ivory baby Jesusesand saints for Catholics in the Philippines, Islamic prayer beads for Muslims and Coptic crosses for Christians in Egypt, amulets and carvings for Buddhists in Thailand, and in China—the world's biggest ivory-consumer country—elaborate Buddhist and Taoist carvings for investors,” (National Geographic p.1). 

 

And what is the outcome?  Are worshippers more spiritual and closer to their “god” if they worship an ivory likeness rather than those made of wood, copper, silver, or gold?  And what about the religions that believe we should coexist with animals? They are contradicting their own teachings. Murdering animals to make a statue of their god just doesn’t make sense. There are many other ways to show your love and dedication to your belief. 

​And onto the superstitions… “Shark soup can cure cancer,”or “Elephant ivory can cure cancer.” Asian countries have superstitions that have been around about as long as the previously mentioned religions have. It has been scientifically proven that elephants have a specific cancer fighting gene called p53 that stops or slows down the production of cancer in an elephant’s body. However, there has not been a single time reported that proves any part of an elephant has cured a human’s cancer. Sharks have been believed to be immune to cancer so people have been slaughtering their fins off their backs (which kills them) and eating it in soup or engineering it into a pill to try to obtain the same result. However, it has been proven that sharks can get cancer and that eating their body won’t cure your cancer. So, this belief leads to the killing of millions of sharks for no reason and it gives “doctors” a means to take your money. What a lose-lose situation, for both sharks and you.

There are a couple of ways to improve the issue of animal poaching. First we could tighten the poaching laws. Right now there are laws in Africa that send a poacher to jail but then they are eventually released. What is stopping them from diving right back into it once they are released? Nothing. Then, they also have laws that prevent ivory being brought into the country and prevent it from being sold. Obviously the laws aren’t enforced and there are no punishments for selling it because the ivory industry has increased not decreased. They should make the enforcements harsher and the law officials should take this matter seriously. In the documentary that I watched on the ivory trade called Stopping Poachers by National Geographic, I was able to see the poaching that goes on behind buildings and underground. The officials knew what was happening but they didn’t do anything to stop it. Another thing that could be done isto place protectors of the elephants, rhinos, and any other poached animal around their habitat. This could prevent poachers from entering and killing. Right now there are groups that get together in Asia to protect the animals but I don’t believe that there are enough of them. We need people to rise up and volunteer to protect these animals. This could be a major step in saving these species. A third thing that could be done can be done by you. We need to make this issue more prevalent. It needs to be displayed across social media, billboards, and newspapers. We can all make a difference if we join together and protest against the ivory trade. There are organizations likethe international anti-poaching organization that collectdonations to help protect these animals. You can donate, volunteer, or just spread the word. The more people know about the issue of animal poaching the better. Anything can help stop the spread of animal poaching. 

Regardless of the labels and justifications used, the bottom line on poaching really comes back to greed.  Whether the financial gains from slaughtering elephants for ivory trade, deification of carved idols, or the mythical healing powers of shark-fin soup, every instance represents the pursuit of man to better himself without regard to the devastation caused to the many magnificent creatures throughout the world.

 

 

Works Cited

"About Elephants." World Elephant Day. N.p., 2015. Web. 11 Dec. 2015. <http://worldelephantday.org/about/elephants>.

"Africa's Poaching Crisis – AWF." Africa's Poaching Crisis –AWF. African Wildlife Foundation, ​n.d. Web. 26 June 2015.

Animals Documentary: STOPPING POACHERS. Perf. Mike Fay. National Geographic Wild, ​​2015. Youtube.

Battle for the Elephants. Dir. John Heminway. Perf. Jonathan Davis. National Geographic, 2012. DVD.

Messenger, Stephen. "Exclusive Interview With An Elephant Poacher." The Dodo. The Dodo, 15 ​Jan. 2014. Web. 26 June 2015. 

Orenstein, Ronald I. Ivory, Horn and Blood: Behind the Elephant and Rhinoceros Poaching Crisis. Buffalo: Firefly, 2013. Print.

Payne PUBLISHED September 16, 2012, Oliver. "Religious Ivory Demand Killing Elephants by Thousands, Report Says." National Geographic. National Geographic Society, 16 Sept. 2012. Web. 11 Dec. 2015. <http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/09/120914-ivory-religious-elephants-ban-science-religion/>.

Rosen, Rebecca J. "What Is It about an Elephant's Tusks That Make Them so Vulnerable?" The Atlantic. N.p., 6 Sept. 2012. Web. 11 Dec. 2015. <http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/09/what-is-it-about-an-elephants-tusks-that-make-them-so-valuable/262021/>.

Stirton, Brent. "I Won't Let Elephants Disappear. Will You?" 96Elephants.org. Wild Conservation Society, n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2015. <https://www.96elephants.org/chapter-2>.

 

Speech - Lucy Whitman Sandmeyer

Our Political System Needs a Facelift

            In fifth grade we, Mr. Givan’s class, had a very important debate with Ms. Wilson’s class over the system of government in the United States. As a class we were assigned a position and each one of us had a minute to present our findings. Ms. Wilson’s class held that the U.S. is a democracy. We held that it is a republic. We won the debate according to the definition of a republic but what neither class realized is we were both wrong. As a country, we boast ultimate equality for all. We value our freedoms and liberties. Every man is created equal: a common mantra used indiscriminately between parties. Yet, we are hypocrites in many ways. “What?” you say, “We are?” We are! We fight wars on the basis of our democratic principles. We claim superiority because every US citizen has equality under the law and in the voting process. We are incredibly misguided. What if I told you over 4 million US citizens, almost 2% of the population, didn’t get to vote for the president? Everyone in the US territories, even though they are citizens, can’t vote in presidential elections (The Trouble With the Electoral College). That’s like telling everybody that lives in Los Angeles that they suddenly can’t vote. Even more instances of inequity arise when we look to felon voting rights or Voter ID laws. The most glaring example of voter injustice, however, applies to every single person who “votes” in the election of our chief executive. That violation of ideals comes in the form of the Electoral College.

Everyone gets unsure and unhappy if the Electoral College gets brought up in conversation. Not uncommon reactions vary from “The Electoral College is dumb,” and “I don’t even get it,” to “but why though?” All of these thoughts are justified in the face of such an antiquated institution. In fact, Electoral College reform is the second most proposed amendment to the constitution (Crash Course In Our Dysfunctional Electoral College). Little progress has been made still, mostly because of the complicated nature of all amendment processes and an overall public disinterest in or ignorance of the topic. A system that mostly works is better than having to deal with finding and agreeing on a system that works just a little bit better right?

Of course not. The Electoral College isn’t just frustrating because it adds an extra, seemingly unnecessary, step in the election of the president, it also doesn’t follow the national values we hold so dear. On the surface, the Electoral College consists of 538 people who vote for the president in the United States based on the popular vote per state (How The Electoral College Works). People immediately criticize this process as unjust because each electorate is allowed to outright ignore the population he/she supposedly represents, about half a million people, with no legal repercussions. The blatant violation of our democratic ideals manages to anger quite a few people. Unfortunately for us, it keeps going. 

 “Every vote counts” misleads Americans to believe each person who votes in the election gets an equal vote. Even ignoring the injustice in the territories, geography plays a huge role in how a vote weighs in the elections. Every state and DC—who got the electoral vote in 1964 with the 23^rd Amendment—gets a minimum of three electoral votes and more according to population size, mirroring the set up in Congress. This would be all fine and dandy if it meant fair representation of everyone but, surprise, it doesn’t. Some states, because of their small population size, should only get one to two electoral votes instead of three or four, which ends up taking away electors from the bigger states such as California and Texas (Does Your Vote Count? The Electoral College Explained). In a winner-takes-all system like the Electoral College, this matters. If a presidential candidate focused on winning half the popular vote in states whose vote counts more, thereby winning them the full electoral vote of the state, they could win the 270 votes need in the Electoral College to win the presidency with only 22% of the popular vote (The Trouble With the Electoral College).

But the Electoral College protects small states, right? No it forces the candidates to focus on swing states of which two are small states (The Trouble With the Electoral College). But it prevents candidates from focusing on regions and encourages them to spread out across the country (Posner)! No it forces the candidates to focus on swing states, which means they don’t campaign in the others. But it encourages the people in Swing States to make a more educated decision (Posner)! True, but it discourages minority party members in other states to not vote at all . But..! No, the Electoral College twists the democratic process and makes running for president a game of who can convince a small, unrepresentative part of the population to vote for them.

 So we should have a simple system where the popular vote decides the president right? Well, not exactly. The founders had the right idea when they first developed the Electoral College because it becomes complicated to maintain a majority system, not a plurality, while counting the popular vote. Independent candidates split the vote enough that it becomes entirely possible for no one to win the majority, introducing many important questions. How are we going to track the votes? As we saw in Florida in 2000, it’s a difficult process. How are we going to deal with independents? Wouldn’t keeping the Electoral College be easier than voting and having to revote when no one gets the majority? These are all valid questions but, luckily, can be answered without continuing the current, flawed system. The alternative is something called Instant-Runoff Voting or sometimes Ranked Choice Voting.

IRV is actually a simple process that solves most of the issues we see within the Electoral College and even some others. It stipulates that the voter ranks their candidates in order from favorite to least favorite. When all the votes are in and counted, if no one has won the majority, the least popular candidate is eliminated and the votes recounted (FairVote). This process repeats until a candidate wins the majority and we can all rejoice or leave the country in disgust. IRV prevents an expensive revote, as well as opens the race up to every voter instead of the voters living only in swing states. It also encourages people to vote for their preferred party, whether it is a Democrat in Georgia, a Republican in New York or an independent. Additionally, independents don’t have to fear that by voting for their candidate, it ensures the win of their least favorite. For example, if Trump runs as an independent, he might split the vote and guarantee a democratic win. For some, this sounds excellent, for others, it’s terrifying. All IRV does is level the playing field. No one vote counts more, independent ideas can be taken more seriously and campaigns can focus more on platforms that appeal to the entire population, like expanding our democratic ideals to our own citizens. The best part is IRV can be instituted gradually (FairVote). Even though it works best without the Electoral College system in place, both systems can work in tandem to transition nicely out of our problematic system into one that can make real political change.

Many of our current problems with government, unbeknownst to even us, stem from the unfair voting process. In the 2012 presidential election, 57.5% of the eligible voting population participated (2012 Voter Turnout Report). In this year’s pivotal Kentucky gubernatorial race only 30.7% did (Kentucky Governor General Elections). With the more accessible system of IRV, public participation is slated to increase since more people will feel their voice matters. With all the disapproval the public is spouting with politics as a whole, a new and improved voting system would be a welcome change.

Works Cited

Cowan, Sarah K. OP-Chart: How Much Is Your Vote Worth? Digital image. The New York Times, 2008. Web.

Crash Course In Our Dysfunctional Electoral College. Perf. Jack Rakove. TedxStanford, 2013. Web.

Does Your Vote Count? The Electoral College Explained. Perf. Christina Greer. Ted-Ed. N.p., 2012. Web.

FairVote. "What Is RCV?" FairVote. The Center for Voting and Democracy, 2014. Web.

How the Electoral College Works. CGP Grey. N.p., 2011. Web.

"Kentucky Governor General Election." WKYT. N.p., 2015. Web.

Posner, Richard A. "In Defense of the Electoral College." Slate View From Chicago (n.d.): n. pag. 2012. Web.

Proportional Electoral College Map. Digital image. Optimist123, 2012. Web.

The Trouble with the Electoral College. CGP Grey, 2011. Web.

"2012 Voter Turnout Report." Bipartisan Policy Center. Bipartisan Policy Center, 2012. Web.

What If the Electoral College Is Tied. CGP Grey, 2012. Web.

Speech- Morgan Lakofka

Liquid Candy      

          Some people say the best way to lose weight is to cut out sugary drinks. The average soda has around 240 calories, which doesn’t seem too bad. But the average person is supposed to consume around 2000 calories a day. If you think about it, calories from a single soda can take up a large part of that percentage, 12% to be exact. Now think about the people who have more than one soda a day, they are consuming most of their daily calorie intake just from a drink. The amount of calories in soda is caused by a mixture of sugar and harmful chemicals, which is why so many people are keen on cutting it out; it has no real benefits to your body. Sure it can give you energy, but it’s more of a sugar high, you’d be just as well to eat a few lollipops. The consumption of soda can lead to many health problems. With the concern of rising obesity rates, soda is often looked to as a contributor because of the high amounts of sugar it contains. Soda consummation should be limited due to the health risks, financial reasons, and environmental problems. 

          Drinking soda can lead to an endless list of health problems, for example some are, diabetes, weight gain, kidney failure and tooth decay. The consumption of sugary drinks has been on the rise in past decade along with rising obesity rates. According to UCSF Benoiff Children’s Hospital, these drinks have no nutritional benefits and drinking one soda every day for a year is equivalent to about 55,000 calories and 55,000 calories means you would gain around 15 pounds a year. Another problem mentioned by the hospital is that the body doesn't register it's full after drinking its calories. Drinking soda does nothing for your hunger, resulting in wasted calories. Soda also contains high-fructose corn syrup which causes dehydration, the opposite effect you’d want from a drink, resulting in more wasted calories. Drinking the amount of sugar in soda can also lead to high blood pressure, elevated glucose levels, and raised cholesterol which puts people at high risk for heart disease, stroke and diabetes (Scanlon 1). Other health problems associated with soda are kidney failure and tooth decay.  Certain chemicals in soda are very hard to process by your body. For example, many sodas contain aspartame, which is an artificial sweetener that could possibly connect to kidney failure, cancer, nerve disorders, and birth defects. The heavy amount of sugar in soda can rot your teeth away. It does this by combining with bacteria in your mouth to form acid, which attacks the teeth and weakens tooth enamel (wda.org). A soda a day keeps the doctors busy, soda has too many health risks and not enough nutrients for the body in order to be consumed on a daily basis.

          The average U.S. family spends around $600 on soda annually. Soda companies spend millions creating ads directed at youth which ultimately contributes to youth obesity.  The nation then spends billions treating obesity-related health conditions. That’s a lot of money for a drink that has absolutely no health benefits. If you were to put the amount of money you spend a year on soda into a savings account, you could have up to $30,000 over a time period of around 35 years. Also, soda can contribute to long term health consequences that lead to high medical expenses. If the annual compounding cost of soda doesn’t make you nervous, then the future medical bills plus the amount you’ve already spent on soda should.  There are plenty of better ways to spend your money than on a sugary, caffeinated soda pop.

          Recycling your soda cans doesn’t make up for the fact that the production of soda can still harm the planet. It takes a good deal of water to produce a 2-liter of soda, and that water comes from surrounding lakes and oceans, lowering water levels throughout the world. Sewage treatments aren’t always 100% at fully removing artificial ingredients in soda, and it could later end up in our drinking systems.  Even though you recycle, whether its glass bottles, aluminum cans or plastic, they each have other costs. Aluminum takes a bunch of energy to mine, and plastic bottles require a lot of oil to produce. Also, transporting soda requires a lot fuel. From the journey from the factory, to the store, then to your home, it has to travel a long ways.  

          Instead of drinking soda, people should drink more water to avoid health risks. It will keep you hydrated, plus has no calories. Milk is also a good substitution, it will give you nutrients and calcium that can help strengthen your bones. Soda acts in the opposite; making your bones weaker and brittle, hence tooth decay.  A single soda is okay every once in a while, but limiting the amount you drink will keep you much healthier and have positive benefits in the long run.

          Soda has no real health benefits to your body; in fact, the consumption of soda can lead to many health issues. Soda has played a large role in rising childhood obesity rates, endorsements by soda factories target kids exposing them to sugary drinks at a young age which doesn’t give them the nutrients they need, like milk or water would. A lot of money is spent on ads that ultimately cause more problems treating the many obesity related health issues. Also the production of soda can cause many environmental issues, such as lowering water levels and using an excess of fossil fuels. Soda consummation should be limited due to health risks, financial reasons, and environmental problems.  

         

Sources

Wise Bread,. "22 Reasons To Stop Drinking Soda". N.p., 2011. Web. 10 Dec. 2015.

Wda.org,. "Sip All Day, Get Decay - Oral Care Tips | WDA.Org". N.p., 2015. Web. 10 Dec. 2015.

UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital,. "Sweet Drinks And Obesity". N.p., 2015. Web. 10 Dec. 2015.

Healthyandnaturallife.com,. "20 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Drink Coca-Cola". N.p., 2015. Web. 10 Dec. 2015.

Dietary Dogma,. Dr. Aseem Malhorta Gives Scientific Ammunition. 2013. Web. 10 Dec. 2015.

Scanlon, Claire. "Why You Shouldn't Be Drinking Soda... That Includes Diet Soda". Lifehack.org. Web. 10 Dec. 2015.

Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World. USA: Sound and Fury Productions, Inc., 2004. video.

Assignment 17: Horray for Hollywood

It's Oscar season,  that time when movie studios parade out their Oscar contenders.  So for this post I'd like you to go to the movies over the break.

Actually you can just watch at home but I like the idea of you telling your parents that you HAVE to go for a homework assignment. 

Please pick one:

1. I'd like you to pick a genre or director and watch two films by that director and then compare/contrast the two in whatever way you deem appropriate.

2. Go see a film and submit a review of that film on rotten tomatoes.  Once you post, link the post in your blog so I can read it.  Be sure I have access to your post.


Minimum of 150 words - due Sunday, January 10th at 11:59 pm

(Last day to submit posts 17-20 will be February 21)

speech - Kyle W

Isn’t School Just Wonderful?

          School isn’t an option. Everyone says you have to go. The government, your parents, your teacher, other adults, any adults, just about everybody. But how many people actually enjoy school? Not many; that’s for sure, and certainly not me. I tolerate it because I have to and because since I was a little kid I’ve been told that I need to do well on my assignments, so I can get good grades, so I can get into a good college, so I can get a good job, so I can make lots of money, so I can have a good retirement and a successful life and blah blah blah. So basically your grade school years are the most important of your life because they affect the rest of your life. Does that mean that any kid that has ever said “school is stupid,” or something along those lines, is wrong? No. they’re absolutely right. There are lots of problems with the American school systems today. To name a few: teachers simply teaching to the test rather than for the sake of learning something, the large role of standardized testing, the lack of arts humanities and physical education, the amount of work students have for all their classes, the expectation that everyone needs to participate in an extracurricular activity on top of all the work, the competitiveness and expense of a good college education. All of which are rather significant problems in the school system that make those kids absolutely right.

          So one of the major problems in the way people go about education today is that many teachers don’t teach students the subject so the student will learn the material and retain it. They teach the subject so the student will remember the material long enough to take a test on it and forget what they don’t use for the next test, when the same thing happens over again. As Ken Robinson says in his TED Talk How to Escape Education's Death Valley, the “culture of education has come to focus on not teaching and learning, but testing,” and he’s absolutely right. Today in schools it is much harder to find a student that’s worried about learning the material than it is to find a student that worries about getting good grades. It has gotten to the point that students simply want to get an A in a class so that they can move on and can get scholarships and KEES money and whatnot. Part of this problem, which Robinson talks about, is that “human beings are naturally different and diverse.” So to follow Robinson’s theory, teaching to the test is really not successfully teaching anyone anything. See that’s the thing with teaching to the test… in another TED talk, Geoffrey Canada, says that most teachers use a one size fits all teaching plan “and if you don’t get it, tough luck” which is exactly why teaching to the test doesn’t work.

This also has to do with standardized testing. This testing being exactly what it’s called: standardized. Obviously. But that’s just it. Going back to what Robinson said about humans being diverse, standardized testing should not play the large role it currently plays because not everyone is good at the same things and so they can’t all be placed on the same scale in all of the core subjects. The core subjects- English, math, and science- being the only subjects on standardized tests are as he puts it, “necessary but not sufficient.” He’s right when he says that and he’s right again when he says, “Real education has to give equal weight to the arts, the humanities, to physical education.”

Which moves into the next major issue with the academic system. It’s much too focused on the core subjects and pays too little attention to arts, humanities, and physical education. Now there are several reasons this is a problem. The first of which is that these classes could give students the opportunity to change the “one size fits all” description but only if they’re an option given to the students. The second problem being that not having students participate in any form of arts or physical activity regularly means that they are just sitting at tables listening to teachers “teach” for seven or eight hours a day, and who wants to do that? Adding these classes would make it easier for students because rather than sitting in a chair all day they could participate in more exciting activities and so it would be easier to stimulate and engage them in other classes.

The next two problems with school systems can really be considered a part of one bigger problem. The amount of work teachers give to students for after-school hours and the expectation that to be seen as successful a student needs to participate in at least one extracurricular activity add up to the one problem that all students have: time and stress management. Going to school for eight hours every day is already enough but then on top of that most teachers expect you to “spend about thirty minutes on it tonight,” which is never only thirty minutes and that’s only for one class. So somewhere between one to four hours of homework average, possibly more, and if you’re lucky one day, less than that. To make matters even worse teachers and parents and guidance counselors all tell you that you need to get involved in at least one extracurricular activity to improve your college resume. Marching band for example takes up about three hours a day for at least three days a week plus all afternoon on some Fridays and all day on Saturdays, leaving all practically no time for sleep, let alone any work. With all these things to do teens are forced to attempt to manage their time as best they can and try and cope with the stress because they have no choice. In Laci Talericos article Young and stressed: Teens balance work, school and more she explains how it is possible for teens to balance everything outside of school but it can be at the sacrifice of sleep and a social life. She asks seventeen year-old student Cory Scott about it and he told her,

“I already go to school for eight hours, but I also have to go to work every day," said Cory Scott, 17. "I don't get home until about 11 on work nights, and then I have to eat dinner and shower, so I don't even start my homework until around midnight. Needless to say, it's pretty exhausting.”

Which just goes to show how all teens have too much on their plates with school, homework, and work or extracurricular or both, going on at the same time, leaving no time for anything else.

And last but not least. Actually probably the biggest problem with education today is the price and the competition for college. Students go to school for their entire lives until the age of eighteen simply preparing themselves for college and proving that they are responsible enough and smart enough to be accepted into a good college, hopefully, so they can get a degree and move on with their lives. The only problem with that is that college is so expensive that if you don’t have some sort of scholarship than you can’t go anywhere but your local community college because otherwise you would spend the rest of your life paying off your student loans that you needed to make the money you would still be putting into your education so many years later. On top of that, even if you have the money but don’t have a scholarship you have be the right kind of person and student that that particular college is looking for because they have become so selective now and if you don’t have the grades, the requirements, or even if you post one thing they don’t like on social media it could change their opinion on accepting you into their college.

So to recap the education system in the US has such a high rate of failure because teachers teach to the test, standardized testing plays too big of a role, the lack of arts humanities and physical education, the amount of work students have to do outside of school, the expectation of needing extracurricular activities, and the difficulty in getting to and through college. 

Speech - Harrison Broyles

In Pixar’s superb film Wall-E, we see a robot, looking for a purpose on Earth, and a love from above. We see a warning sign of what will happen to Earth if we don’t take care of it- but how much attention do we pay to what will happen to ourselves if we don’t care for our bodies?

While overdramatized in the image behind me, America is suffering from an obesity crisis. Well, we all know that. And we all know that obesity contributes to cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and a slew of other diseases we’ve been hearing about since elementary school. Overall, these symptoms rack up to a whopping 300K deaths each year among Americans (CDC)- almost a tenth of a percent of our population.

That number doesn’t seem too dramatic at a first glance. But the problem is, it’s about to start climbing. Obesity is a more recent problem, afflicting mostly those who are baby boomers and younger. Now that they approach their “ripe old age,” this number will skyrocket. As a cause of death, obesity has already passed smoking, cancer, and accidents in the past decade alone, claiming first on the list.

We need to take action before this travesty grips our nation even tighter. Obesity is largely preventable, so, because we can prevent it, we need to. We need to save lives. We need to make obesity drop to the very bottom of that mortality list, and put it right beside spontaneous combustion. And we can begin to do that starting with our next meal.

According to a recent study, solely cutting out sugar in breakfast foods showed a remarkable difference in 43 kids qualified as obese. The researchers made no change in the kid’s lives except swap in a bagel for their typical breakfast cereal. Carbs and calories for the food were kept the same, as well as the kid’s average routine (snacking, other meals, and exercise). Within 10 days (the maximum funding for the project), all 43 children saw a drop in cholesterol, a plummeting blood sugar level, and declining blood pressure- with a little weight loss on top of that. All of these symptoms of obesity, these warning signs for death due to obesity that have stuck out like a sore thumb for so long to medical experts- began to vanish. These kids also largely reported that the switch was convenient and not distasteful to them, and many reported feeling fuller with the same amount of calories.

I’m not proposing that obesity could be smashed just by eating a bagel instead of cereal. The research above shows a correlation that had dramatic effects in ten days for a set group of kids- this won’t apply to everyone with the same magnitude. These children were most likely targeted as being overly obese, so any minor improvement in their lifestyle would have repercussions. However, it does show that for a more typical obese person, a diet change will go a long way in improving your life- according to the same researchers, within a week or two, a diet change will begin to cleanse your body of harmful sugar and other toxins, making you feel more energized, fuller, and produce the same biological results as shown in the previous study.

I have a lot of personal connection to this in my own life. My family’s gene pool is rampant with obesity and obesity related deaths. Almost everyone in my extended family has a weight problem, resulting in strokes, heart attacks, knee replacements, hip replacements, colon cancer, high cholesterol, blood pressure issues, diabetes, and hypoglycemia. My mom and her older sister were diagnosed with the latter two diseases. After their father had a stroke due to high blood pressure (caused by obesity), they went on a month long cleanse. The results were insane. My aunt lost well over 50 pounds, my mom a bit over 20. Both of them removed sugar and other overly processed foods from their diet, but kept eating the same amounts they had before and didn’t change other lifestyle habits within that time. I can guarantee you their diet wasn’t steadfast either- both cheated in a donut or soda multiple times. However, just the removal of the excess amounts of sugar and other chemicals from their diet has drastically improved their health- doctors revoked their diagnoses, and commented on how much their vitals had improved in that month.

Now back to those 300000 deaths. If we could all solely change what we eat- take out some of the unnecessary sugar and other toxins in our diets- and start to improve our health conditions in just a month, imagine the possibilities if we kept this as a lifestyle. We could easily smash the obesity epidemic. No longer would America be known for its obsession with “fries and a coke with that”, but rather its ability to start yet another revolution, leading other developed countries around the world into health revolutions of their own.

Bibliography

“Centers For Disease Control and Prevention.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Nov. 2014. Web. 30 Jun. 2015. <http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/obesity/facts.htm>

“Medical News Today.” Medical News Today. MediLexicon International, n.d. Web. 30 Jun. 2015. <http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/264970.php>

“How An Obese Town Lost a Million Pounds.” Mick Cornett: Web. 30 Jun. 2015. <https://www.ted.com/talks/mick_cornett_how_an_obese_town_lost_a_million_pounds?language=en>

“Overweight And Obesity in the U.S. « Food Research &Amp; Action Center.” Food Research Action Center Overweight and Obesity in the US Comments. Web. 30 Jun. 2015. <http://frac.org/initiatives/hunger-and-obesity/obesity-in-the-us/>

“Watch Super Size Me Online - Amazon Instant Video.” Amazon.com: Super Size Me: Morgan Spurlock, J.R. Morley, Heather M. Winters: Amazon Digital Services , Inc. Web. 30 Jun. 2015. <http://www.amazon.com/super-size-me-morgan-spurlock/dp/b008sytu06>