Honesty. Respect. Integrity. Motivation. Dedication. Patriotism. The preceding words represent qualities many of today’s American students lack. Many US citizens question the reason behind this decline of morality within the educational system. Parents blame the teachers; teachers claim the students are unable to be taught and parents aren’t attempting to assist teachers in their quest to disperse their knowledge. As for the students, they just don’t care. Who exactly is to blame? Students? Teachers? Parents? More importantly, how this be fixed? Government programs like the recent “No Child Left Behind” Act aren’t as effective as they claim, and bribing the students with field trips and Coke float parties do not work. What is a nation, quickly filling with uneducated young adults, to do?
Many theories have been tested as to why students are becoming lazy and, for lack of a better word, stupid. Most fingers are pointed towards parental control. Commercials geared towards a drug-free America tell parents to ask questions: Who? What? Where? When? Most parents are too caught up in the drama of their own lives to wonder who their kids hang out with, and where and what they are doing with them. They are more concerned with Mr. Limon not paying them for overtime or why Clint and Robert got fired. Students are ignored and seldom rewarded for good behavior. However, when Mom and Dad get a call from the school when little Johnny was caught smoking marijuana in the boys’ bathroom, it’s a different story. The parents become involved, but for all the wrong reasons. When the parents confront Johnny, he responds negatively, with slamming doors and outbursts of “You’re ruining my life” or “I can’t believe you!!”
It shouldn’t take a drastic measure for children to get their parents’ attention. Parents should want to know what’s going on in their child’s life, in all aspects. In movies, the parent-teenager relationship is portrayed as something very awkward and forced. The way to solve this: change how it is seen in real life. Parents should talk to their children more, and their children will learn to trust them. In one family, a 30-something year old mother has a 16-year-old daughter. Because of their healthy relationship based on trust and understanding, the daughter considers her mother her best friend. Families need to spend more time together and less time on the run. Plan an uninterrupted family night—cell phones get turned off, computers are unplugged—where the family just plays a nice game of Monopoly or Life, or watches a movie based on positive moral values.
Parents need to understand that teens have a lot going on and will not always act the best. In the Article, “The Teenage Brain: Still Under Construction” by NIMH, the author says, “so much change is taking place underneath the surface may be something for parents to keep in mind during the ups and downs of adolescence.” Sometimes the parents really doesn’t get the teen and the parent needs to be okay
Marijuana is influencing children as young as 10 to smoke, it decreases your brain cells rapidly, and can cause you to face jail time. In the article “Legalize This!” by Douglas N. Husak it states “Our alleged concern for the welfare of children seem to vanish as soon as they actually begin to use illicit drugs. When a child is caught with drugs, sympathies are put aside and mercy is seldom forthcoming” (68). Due to their surroundings, most children become what they see. If they see all the adults smoking marijuana freely around them, of course their going to think it’s okay to smoke marijuana. They believe with marijuana staying illegal, it should be impossible for them to smoke weed. Once the child smokes illegal drugs, they’re no longer seen as being innocent. They’ll be punished severely for their actions. The novel “High Price” by Dr. Carl Hart, discusses Dr. Harts personal story growing up around poverty, drugs, and turning his life around to better himself. The text states “The U.S. Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics examined the connections between drugs and crime in prisoners, analyzing data from 1997 to 2004. It found that only a third of state prisoners committed their crimes under the influence of drugs and only around the same proportion were addicted” (110). Drugs have proven time and time again to influence prisoners to do wrong especially when they’ve become
A utopian society represents a perfect, idealistic civilization, while a dystopian society describes an unpleasant environment for the individuals living within it. George Orwell’s 1984 portrays many characteristics of a dystopian society. Very similarly, Veronica Roth’s Divergent tells the story of a government that forcefully separates and controls its citizens. 1984 and Divergent both share the presence of harsh regulation and control from their respective governments. Orwell and Roth’s novels compare Ministries and Factions, conformity and obedience, Proles and the Factionless, and government regulation, in a similar, yet negative way.
Wright, Juntus. “Dystopias: Definition and Characteristics.” Read Write Think. NCTE, 2011. Web. 25 Jan. 2011
Even before the creation of the Soviet Union, Russian empire had an on and off policies dealing with censorship particularly with books and writings . Before the 1900’s, during the reign of Tsar Alexander he had views and expressions about censorship. From years 1855 to 1865 was actually a decade of non censorship in Russia. “Censorship reforms began in Russian in a single decade of tolerance (1855-1865) during the reign of Tsar Alexander II” (Newth, 2002). Many people such as the media enjoy freedom of censorship up until censorship was restored. When the Russian revolution happened and the temporary government won, censorship bans were taken off. However, this did not last long as the Bolsheviks revolted and led to the creation of the USSR.
Conclusively, dystopian texts are written to provide a warning about future times. Authors and directors use a variety of techniques to put their idea forward and have an impact of the audience. Rules that the chosen texts exhibit include that citizens have a fear of the outside world and all citizens adhere to a strict set of rules, but there is a main protagonist who scrutinises the governments or society’s nature. The rules that authors and directors use to put forward their messages of the moral issues human cloning and relying too much on technology and instinctively perusing traditions are evident throughout all three texts.
Parents today know all too well how unsafe our schools are. All you have to do is turn on the news and there seems to be a story about violence in schools and how it is drug related. One of the largest contributors to juvenile violence and delinquency is the use of drugs. If it were as easy as just taking it away, we would see more academic achievements by young adults, but it goes much further than that. The problem is much deeper than it appears at the surface, and it takes strong individuals to be willing to go into the depth required to make a difference in the situation. In the story, "A New Tradition of Courageous Dissent," by Myron Glazer and Penina Glazer, they t...
In today’s society, everybody is encountered with drugs at least once. The reason for this is due to family, friends, or references in the media. Teenagers are often influenced by their peers to do drugs, and they need to be tested at their schools to prevent adolescents from partaking in this activity because the number of their peers will diminish. However, there are people who believe that testing students is against their constitutional rights. On the other hand, there are those who believe that it needs to be done to protect adolescents from using illegal drugs. Drug testing needs to take place in schools to protect all students from the physical and emotional toll on the body.
The drug problem affects all types of students. All regions and all types of communities show high levels of drug use. Thirty percent of 1990 high school seniors in non-metropolitan areas reported illicit drug use in the previous year, while the rate for seniors in large metropolitan areas was 33 percent. Although higher proportions of males are involved in illicit drug use, especially heavy drug use, the gap between the sexes is closing Bibliography lists 4 sources. California has been considered a leader in the fight for drug control. With its 'three strike and you're out' program, the west coast state has demonstrated its firm stance on the issue of illegal drugs. However, the writer discusses that at the helm of this controversial topic is the mandate of minimum drug sentencing for what some consider to be insignificant usage; as such, people caught with what would have one time been considered a negligible amount of cocaine are now – under new and forceful laws – looking at a mandatory minimal jail sentence. An 8 page paper that argues against the legalization of marijuana from a sociological and psychological perspective. The writer suggests that while there is considerable data about the usefulness of this drug from a medical standpoint, the general legalization would have considerable social and psychological implications. A 6 page research paper that examines the effects of parental substance abuse on their children and argues that such abuse greatly increases the chances that their children will, likewise, develop substance abuse problems.
Transparency in the Canadian Government is being used inefficiently and unfairly. Over many years since Canada has been a country their have been many different censorship laws. Censorship has been included, in film, broadcasting, print, art, and the internet. As years pass the Canadian Government has been lenient towards censorship towards film, broadcasting and the arts. However, with the expansion of technology the Government still censors and denies multiple files and information from the General Public. The Harper Conservative government and CSIS have denied access to multiple government files and even censored out files allowed viewing by the general Public and now Canada has had the most files censored currently in the history of the
They can occur naturally, as in the case of the Bubonic plague and my own experience, or they can be manufactured by man, as in the instance of World War Two. By examining each occurrence in greater detail, the fundamental building blocks become evident. All authentic dystopias form when death enters a society followed by fear and hopelessness. Although each dystopia shares the same key elements, other factors may by present. Dystopias can be described similarly to the way Umberto Eco describes Fascist regimes in “Ur-Fascism” (Eco). Dystopias, like Fascist governments, may not be identical, but each one shares a “family resemblance” connecting it to the others (Eco). Perhaps by analyzing which specific factors overlap between dystopias, we will be able to link the effects to the causes and determine how to prevent dystopian societies in the
A dystopian novel is a literary genre that satirically criticizes existing societies and taken for granted beliefs. The word dystopia has Greek origin and is made up of two morphemes “dys” meaning “bad” and “topia” meaning “place”. The word describes a harsh environment, namely society . The dystopian fiction presents a society which despite its antagonism, is not challenged by citizens. On the contrary, it is viewed as the best of all possible worlds. Indeed, even though individuals are constantly controlled by an oppressive political or religious ideology and dehumanized, they still abide by the imposed rules and never question them. The protagonist of the dystopian novel tries throughout the plot to question the utility and fairness of the established socio-political
Before being capable of fighting the use of drugs and alchol, one must come to an understanding of why some people use drugs. The decision to ultimately use drugs is influenced mainly in childhood. Whether in a poor ?ghetto? neighborhood, or in a middle-class suburb, all children are vulnerable to the abuse of drugs. Most high-risk children are effected by personal and family circumstances (Falco 51). If a child?s parents are substance abusers, then it is a fairly safe prediction that the child will abuse drugs later in life. Also, early-life experiments with drugs greatly increases the chance of abuse later in life. Academic problems, and rebellious, anti-social behavior in elementary school are also linked to drug problems, in addition to truancy, delinquency, and ear...
After interviewing my teenage cousin whom has been in several altercations at home and school, enlightened me on the ways that teenagers in her age group gets involved in drug use. Kids start as young as ten years of age using, selling, and experimenting with drugs. My teenage cousin was expelled from public schools when she started experimenting with drugs. She was surrounded by many challenges when she enrolled in the alternative behavioral school. Many students, whom attend the alternative behavioral school use drugs, sell drugs, are on probation, have been arrested, engage in sexual activity and drink alcohol.
Teens today face a lot of pressure. Many students deal with difficult life situations that hinder them from focusing on their futures. This can lead to a loss of interest in school and school events, such as a sports, clubs, or after school programs. Teens start to prioritize other things over their education. Every year, over 1.2 million students will leave school without earning a high school diploma in the United States alone (“11”). That’s a student every 26 seconds – or 7,000 a day (“11”). The United States, which used to have the highest graduation rates of any country, now ranks 22nd out of 27 developed countries (“11”). Students may not realize that by dropping out of high school they are more likely to commit crimes, become parents at a young age, use and abuse alcohol and drugs, and live in poverty (“Drop”). Dropouts make up the majority of those