My first blog shout out

This is a shout out to the one and only Bryan Welnetz, blog creeper extraordinaire. Why you were creepin on my English 15 homework is beyond me, but this ones for you :)

Extra Credit

In my trash can sits the remnants of a makeshift college vacuum- lint roller sheets. They’re normally used for pet hair, but not in this case. Sheets of white, sticky paper fill the bottom of the trash. Layers and layers of lint sheets are piled up, edges curling, with all sorts of debris attached. Coming from a high traffic carpet, clumps of blonde and brown hair are first to be seen. Being the home of two medium length heads of hair, this carpet is intertwined with the strands of golden locks. In one roll, the hair is quickly gathered upon the tacky surface of the roller. The hair forms what looks like a web on the lint sheets, with only small spaces in between each piece of hair. In the small spaces not covered in hair are all sorts of other fragments adhered to the surface. Small particles of mud from the bottom of cleats are dragged in after a hard day of practice. It’s hard to see in the midst of a sea blue carpet, but it sticks out on the bright sheets of the lint roller in the trash. Crumbs in every color decorate the sheets as well, from the variety of snacks we eat in our dorm. It’s hard to tell whether or not these crumbs were stuck to the lint roller to begin with, or if they were dumped on top of the sheets in the garbage. Orange, for Cheetos, blue, for blue corn tortilla chips, yellow, for the cookies mom just brought us, and green, from the dried daisy leaves that fell onto the floor and crumbled. Last, only in minimal amounts, there are small paper particles scattered among the only remaining adhesive. “Notebook frillies” that have been broken apart are the last of the scum stuck to the roller. These particles get lost in translation between the desk and the trash can, and then are ripped to tiny pieces simply from walking on them all day. Even after being picked up by the lint roller, the colors of notebook paper still remain on them. This trash may not be the prettiest of trash, but it is very colorful. Our own style of vacuuming makes cleaning a tad more practical and a smidgen more interesting. It’s always a mystery what that handy lint roller will pick up off our carpet, but no matter what, it does the job!

Journal Thirteen

Thesis:

Statistics show that the effectiveness of comprehensive sex education programs is greater than that of abstinence-only programs. Not only do such programs help students make informed decisions, but they are also more effective at promoting safe sex as well as discouraging the contraction of STD’s.

Pre-Revised:

Abstinence-only programs, programs that only teach abstinence as a form of contraception do not have success rates to match those of comprehensive sex education programs. Programs like these are missing a crucial part to their curriculum- teaching contraception if those in the program decide to have sex. The problem here lies within funding. "To get money from the federal government, programs like Best Friends [an abstinence program] cannot talk about any form of birth control other than abstinence" (Morales). Because abstinence programs can't get money from the government to help improve the health of teenagers through what they teach, teens who decide to have sex after being through an abstinence program don't know how to properly use contraception. This then results in an increase of STD's, pregnancies, and abortions.

Post-Revised:

The success of comprehensive sex education over abstinence-only education is partially related to funding. “To get money from the federal government, programs like Best Friends [an abstinence program] cannot talk about any form of birth control other than abstinence”(Morales). Best Friends provides support to those practicing abstinence, and it “is one of thousands of groups teaching boys and girls to say no” (Koch). Under the “abstinence-only” grant, recipients must teach abstinence as the only form of contraception in order to receive money from the federal government (Koch). As a result of lack of knowledge of contraception, those who have been educated through an abstinence program are more likely to become pregnant or contract an STD. “Telling kids to “just say no” leads to what public health experts call the “swept away” syndrome, in which teens know they are supposed to abstain so they don't carry condoms. Then they end up having sex in the heat of the moment, without protection” (Koch).

Thesis

Non-abstinence programs are more effective for sex education because they are more relative to this day in age, it allows those being educated to make their own decision, and there many supporting statistics.

Journal Eleven

Good:

By changing after school athletics to intramural, the school board will save money. Teams won't need to get to other schools in order to compete, so the school won't have to pay for buses. [quote]. Not only will the school save money on buses, but considering that in prior years the school had provided equipment, those same materials can be used. Soccer balls and basketballs will only need to be replaced once every few years, and the same goes for nets and goals. with the various fields Madison Junior School uses, there's enough equipment and space for all of the students to use. Also, MJS will no longer need to pay for pricey uniforms to satisfy the teams. A simple colored tee shirt will suffice so that it's possible to distinguish between teams.

Revised:

Changing athletics to intramural will cost much less than keeping teams competing with other schools for many reasons. First, teams won’t need to go to other schools in order to compete, so the school won’t have to pay for buses. One school board in Indiana cut $150,000 out of their budget that had previously gone to school transportation (Goeller 1). $150,000 is a lot of money that could be easily put back in the budget if students did not have to travel in order to compete. Also, Madison Junior School (MJS) will no longer need to pay for pricey uniforms to satisfy the teams. Because competition would be within the school, there wouldn’t be specific rules about uniforms, socks, and hair accessories, and uniforms would be much more laid back. A simple colored tee shirt will suffice so that it’s possible to distinguish between teams. On average, a Nike uniform top costs $45.00 and Nike uniform shorts cost $35.00 (Nike). (How do I cite the Nike website?) Adding it together, a uniform will cost $70.00 per athlete. In order for every athlete to have one, the school must shell out thousands of dollars. By keeping the intramural uniforms to a mere tee shirt, the school will save a lot of money. Through expensive uniforms and pricey buses, MJS can save thousands of dollars per year.

Questions from class 3/25

topic: middle school athletics

why: my middle school is taking them away

1. What % of middle school students participate in school athletics?

2. Do other schools have intramural sports?

3. What is the rate of childhood obesity?

4. What % of middle schools don't have sports?

5. Are these schools (^) having a problem with overweight children?

6. Have schools chosen to drop music and arts programs too/instead?

7. Public schools dropping sports vs. private schools?

8. Do private schools get affected by budget cuts as much as public?

9. % of collegiate athletes that didn't participate in middle school?

Journal Ten

I really enjoyed reading “A Modest Proposal”. This piece was very effective as a proposal because it took into consideration its audience, it had a clear thesis, it had points that supported the thesis, and it had a rebuttal argument. This piece is structured in paragraphs that are separated by the points Swift uses to explain why children should be eaten. I liked how he uses very specific points that include ages of children, as well as what those certain ages stand for. I also liked how he placed his rebuttal argument right at the end, so after reading lots of reasons why we should believe him, we got the opposite side of the argument. He proved it wrong, which was laughable for me because the whole piece was a satire anyway. I found it funny that he was arguing against what, in a real argument paper, would be a good reason.

The points he uses are that we should fatten our kids up in order to eat them. He even goes as far as to mention that at a certain point of the child’s life they taste the best. Swift also says that eating babies would be effective because it would reduce the population and it would be better to eat babies because elderly people are just going to die anyway.

I think the satirical tone of this piece is meant to be something like the present day “Tina Fey-like” shows, or something like Saturday Night Live.