Our Town Needs a Youth Center
Smallville Elementary was built in 1919 in order to enrich the lives of the youth in Smallville. It served as a school until 1977, when it was closed and changed to a community center. The purpose of the building, however, remained the same: to enrich the lives of Smallville' youth (Ellis 67). Many years ago, my grandmother took painting lessons in the old Smallville building while I had daycare. It was a perfect blend of young and old. Recently, however, the building has not been used as it was intended. It is now used strictly as a senior center, leaving no place for the young to gather. Now, as a result of youths'being shut out of the only public recreation building, the city can no longer attract new families and the young are turning to crime as their only pastime. The best solution to remedy these problems is to build a youth center for the children and teens of Smallville.
What would this much needed facility provide for Smallville? The Bigtown Recreation Center is a great model for Smallville, housing several basketball courts, tennis courts, a weight room, and a swimming pool. The programs conducted at the center include athletic clinics in the summer, swimming, basketball, and tennis lessons, and even fitness training and aerobics. These are all activities nearly every citizen can enjoy. So, if Smallville had a similar recreation center it would benefit the young and old alike. However, our recreation center should provide programs specifically for children and teenagers. Aside from just providing athletic and sports recreation for the youth, we should also provide them with tutoring services, a game room and a lounge were they can just "hang out."
The programs that would be provided by our youth center would improve our town in many ways. Smallville is failing as a city because it cannot attract new residents. The town is dying because most of its citizens are elderly; they will soon pass away. The population is decreasing as older citizens die or are sent to nursing homes and no new residents replace them. According to the 1990 Census, the population of Smallville has decreased by nearly 3,000 people in the last ten years. Of the 11,194 people that are left, nearly forty percent are over the age of fifty-five.
Second Treatise of Government by John Locke and Discourse on the Origin of Inequality by Jean-Jacques Rousseau are books written to try and explain the origin of society. Both try to explain the evils and inequalities of society, and to a certain degree to discuss whether man in his natural state is better than man in society. These political science based theories do not appear, at first, to have anything in common with J. Hector St. John De Crèvecoeur’s Letters from an American Farmer, which are letters written by Crèvecoeur during the settling of America and the beginning of the American Revolution, however with examination we can see reflection of both Locke’s and Rousseau’s ideas about things such as human nature, government, and inequality.
The City of Toronto is very diverse in terms of culture, financial and social status. Due to having such a diverse society Toronto has to address all aspects and levels of its citizens. Toronto as a whole does a good job at creating centers and recreational programs which accept and target all people but it seems to not be enough. Youth violence has been a problem in Toronto for as long as one can remember. To address it Toronto has done a lot lawfully and protective wise but to go to the roots is the way to fix it. If Youth violence was addressed through crating more forms of public recreation the youth would have ways to express themselves and feel more confident lessening the level of lashing out. If Toronto used public funds to would allow
Donna Haraway’s 1984 “A Cyborg Manifesto” is an enduring essay unceasingly analyzed, critiqued, and adored by scholars and students. The piece, in which Haraway uses the cyborg as a metaphor to scrutinize hegemonic problems and refuse the binary, claims that “the boundary between science fiction and social reality is an optical illusion.” In other words, like the cyborg who cannot distinguish whether it is a machine or an organism, in society there is no difference between male and female; rich and poor; black and white. There is only gray, and there are countless shades of it. “A Cyborg Manifesto” is an influential essay that has been relevant to the past and is still relevant to the present. Hence, it is no surprise that it has inspired
Locke states that the correct form of civil government should be committed to the common good of the people, and defend its citizens’ rights to life, health, liberty, and personal possessions. He expects that a civil government’s legislative branch will create laws which benefit the wellbeing of its citizens, and that the executive branch will enforce laws under a social contract with the citizenry. “The first and fundamental positive law of all common-wealths is the establishing of the legislative power; as the first and fundamental natural law, which is to govern even the legislative itself, is the preservation of the society and (as far as will consist with the public good) of every person in it.”1 Locke believes that humans inherently possess complete and i...
Often times I find myself reminiscing about my child hood. I recall driving throughout the prominent metro Detroit neighborhood in which I grew up, Rosedale Park. See in those days my community was a gem which shone bright toward the edification of the Motor City. On streets like Piedmont, Grandville, Stahelin and Artesian one could drive by almost at any time and see children outside playing, adults on porches and sidewalks fellowshipping, and houses abounding with vibrant lights, laughter, and with life. This was my community; moreover, this was a facet of my adolescence that I ignorantly took for granted. Today desolation has grown sovereign over this beautiful gem. Today the sounds of laughter have all but faded into a resounding restless silence. One could even say that abandoned houses and boarded doors and windows have become indigenous, not only to Rosedale Park, but to every part of the metro Detroit area. However, one thing has remained constant; Rosedale Park, no rather Detroit as a whole is still my community.
At the core of their theories, both Locke and Rousseau seek to explain the origin of civil society, and from there to critique it, and similarly both theorists begin with conceptions of a state of nature: a human existence predating civil society in which the individual does not find institutions or laws to guide or control one’s behaviour. Although both theorists begin with a state of nature, they do not both begin with the same one. The Lockean state of nature is populated by individuals with fully developed capacities for reason. Further, these individuals possess perfect freedom and equality, which Locke intends as granted by God. They go about their business rationally, acquiring possessions and appropriating property, but they soon realize the vulnerability of their person and property without any codified means to ensure their security...
"Building Partnerships to Revitalize America's Neighborhoods." HBCU Central (Winter 2002): 1-6. Winter 2002. Web. 2 May 2012.
Tashea argues, “By investing in recreation centers, we can provide alternatives to delinquency. By providing reception centers, Baltimore could create access to services for our most vulnerable youth” (1). Community centers are safe places for afterschool programs as Wilson and Philip, state, “For many youth, the recreation/drop-in center is a nonthreatening, relatively unstructured place to play sports and hang out in an otherwise high-risk urban area” (73). In Baltimore where the community leaders and stakeholders have brought the at-risk youth problem to the surface, they can start to see some positive outcomes. In positive data about a Baltimore Police Athletic League center Chung, et al., notes, “A study of the Goodnow Police Athletic League (PAL) center in northeast Baltimore, the first center to open in May 1995, also indicated that juvenile arrests dropped nearly 10 percent, the number of armed robberies dropped from 14 to 7, assaults with handguns were eliminated, and common assaults decreased from 32 to 20.3” (16). These statistics further prove that prevention options work effectively, and can greatly improve our American
John Locke, John Stuart Mill, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau all dealt with the issue of political freedom within a society. John Locke's “The Second Treatise of Government”, Mill's “On Liberty”, and Rousseau’s “Discourse On The Origins of Inequality” are influential and compelling literary works which while outlining the conceptual framework of each thinker’s ideal state present divergent visions of the very nature of man and his freedom. The three have somewhat different views regarding how much freedom man ought to have in political society because they have different views regarding man's basic potential for inherently good or evil behavior, as well as the ends or purpose of political societies.
Not just freedom, then, but also rationality and morality, are only possible within civil society. And civil society, says Rousseau, is only possible if we agree to the social contract. Thus, we do not only have to thank society for the mutual protection and peace it affords us; we also owe our rationality and morality to civil society. In short, we would not be human if we were not active participants in society.
Community relating status has an effect on achievements, social comfort, and sexual activity. The perception of the community, both in terms of togetherness and safety, is also critical to adolescents. Positive relationships with adults within the community and opportunities for public engagement give adolescents a understanding of importance and help them feel connected to the neighborhood in which they live. Grievously, low income neighborhoods lack decent social and exercise-related resources, such as after-school and youth programs. This infrequency of services has a negative effect on youth growth in the community. Adolescents introduced to violence in the community are related to various behavioral and unconscious outcomes and has been found to be a distraction in school. The steady risk of violence in high-poverty communities prevents adolescents from picturing their life prospects because they are uncertain of even remain alive into
Myers, D. L., & Michael, A. (2005). Communities that care in practice. Journal for Juvenile
Washington, DC is one of the most beautiful cities in the nation. Known as the nation’s capital, it is home to the White House, the Lincoln Memorial, the Monument, and many other historical attractions. While DC brings tourist from near and far to visit its natural and manmade wonders, there are some not so great aspects to the city. DC is known for its high crime rates, with its murder rate ranked being 8th among popular cites in 2012 ( Natividad, 2013) , violent crimes spiking from one year to the next, and according to an article from the Washington Post, by the end of 2013 there were 104 homicides. Juvenile crime in DC factors in to those high numbers. Juvenile crimes seem to continuously rise and the juvenile justice system seems to be failing them. Many are not receiving the proper treatment they may need, and repeat offenders are being returned to the streets. Gangs, access to guns, and youth crime are running the DC streets and too many of our youth are being caught in crossfire. We as a community and along with the government need to come up with a better solution to deter the youth from living a life of crime and try to save them from the streets before it is too late.
They can be allowed to be used by the communities when school closes or is on holidays. Egbezor (2005) noted that the classrooms are used for adult literacy activities nationwide, for public health activities like immunizations, public enlightenment exercises, in emergency epidemic situations and school building are converted into make shift hospitals. School buildings are also put into use during voting exercises. This will help establish good relationship with the community. School library can equip a room with books that parents can come to read and borrow. The books to be provided should be of interest to the parents such as books on child psychology, married life, current affairs and health care. Community organizations can be allowed to use school hall for social events, meetings, games and festivals. This will make community organizations be concerned with whatever would be happening to the school. School can establish business centres and/or restaurants around the school gate. This will be intended to serve both the school and the neighbouring community. This will always bring the school closer to the community members and they will be most concerned with anything that will affect the
Rizzolo, Allison. "PUBLICAGENDA.ORG - Survey: Sports, Arts, Clubs, Volunteering -- Out-of-School Activities Play Crucial, Positive Role for Kids." Survey: Sports, Arts, Clubs, Volunteering -- Out-of-School Activities Play Crucial, Positive Role for Kids. Public Agenda, 16 Nov. 2004. Web. 5 Mar. 2014