Friday, December 16, 2016

Comment on "Free Child Care"

I will be commenting on "Free Child Care" by Aubrey Reedy

     The government should provide free child care for the single mothers and couples that need it. Obviously, the people who are not struggling financially will most likely be fine. In an article in The Hill called “American parents are trapped: Here’s how to free them” it said that in an average household, their income drops 14 percent when their child is under five. For single mothers, their income drops 36 percent! When you have a newborn, there are so many expenses that must be covered: clothes, food, furniture, and diapers (SO MANY DIAPERS). These expenses are completely necessary there is no way of getting around them. So, a person is making less money AND must buy more things for the child.

     Child care can range anywhere from $300 to $1,500 monthly. Now if you can afford placing your child in a daycare that charges $1500 every month, you most likely don’t need free child care. But for a younger couple, $300 a month is very harsh on their paycheck, especially if they’re on minimum wage. Parenting, in general, is not an easy task. The government should help people out by providing free child care to those in need. Parents shouldn't have to decide between working or taking good care of their child, there should be an option that provides both.

Friday, December 2, 2016

Educational System


Our education system has many issues, and it seems that many people don’t really care about it. Some people think that since Bill Gates or Steve Jobs didn't graduate from college that they’ll be fine without an education. Well, I’ve got some news for you: not all people are lucky like Mr. Gates or Mr. Jobs! Many people graduate from high school without being able to read or complete a math problem, schools just graduate them, which is why the graduation rate is so high(80%). Some, including myself, think that part of the issue is the money. The government does not provide sufficient funds in order for schools to function the way they’re supposed to. Teachers definitely don’t get paid what the salary they deserve. They work overtime and they pay check usually doesn’t change. Many teachers have to get a second job to be able to support their family, other people want to teach but feel the pay isn't good enough. All schools should get an even amount of funding according to how many students they have and how much staff they need. There should also be an increase in attention for gifted and talented students. In one of my other classes, we had a speaker come in, she was the teacher of the year in Texas. Since she began teaching she only taught gifted and talented students and her biggest complaint was that they give so much attention to the students with disabilities (such as down syndrome and ADD) which is not at all a bad thing! But gifted and talented students also need some extra attention and praise. Adam Peter Lanza, the man who killed 20 people at Sandy Hook Elementary, was a gifted and talented student but he did not receive they attention he needed which was part of the reason of why he killed all those people including his own mother. Our educational system needs some help in order to better our future: we must raise awareness.

Friday, November 18, 2016

Comment on "U.S. Presidential Election System"

I will be commenting on "U.S. Presidential Election System" by Marjan Chizari


     I completely agree with Marjan! There are many issues with the way the U.S. votes for president and the electoral college, voter registration card, and the day we vote are a huge part of the problem. The electoral college is such an outdated system and we recently were reminded that it is a system we should just leave in the past and never use it again. A Huffington post called "Why We Should Abolish the Electoral College" it said, "In 48 states, a presidential candidate can win 50.01% of the popular vote in a state, yet receive 100% of the electoral votes from that state." Hearing this is really upsetting and a real eye opener to me and I am not the only one. I never knew this was the way our government worked and no one in my family knew this either. That means that 49% of votes from people who took the time to actually go vote, get thrown in the trash. We need to just do what other countries do - use direct popular vote.
    Many people who wanted to vote this election this year couldn't do to the fact they had to work. This is why I agree with Marjan when she said we should move it to the weekend or better yet make it a holiday. Either way, presidential elections are only once every four years! That holiday would most likely (hopefully) increase the voter turn out. Our government is nowhere near perfect but hopefully, we will survive these next four years with a guy who is racist, sexist and has no real political background.

Thursday, November 3, 2016

Illegal Immigrants Becoming Citizens

     Illegal immigrants should be able to become US citizens if they have a clean record. Currently, in the US there are about 11 million people (it is impossible to know the exact number) who are here illegally, and the vast majority have no criminal background. People come to the US for a better lifestyle, or to escape from the violence or conflicts, to get out of poverty, to seek medical help, to find better opportunities for themselves or for their children. The US is known for the freedoms we have here; speech, religion, press, and petition. Many countries do not have the same open mind as, not all, some people do here, like same-sex marriage.

     Over half of the illegal immigrants are from Central America or South America; some crossed the border illegally and others stayed with a visa and just never went back. Some come here by themselves and have no family here. They make enough of a sacrifice leaving their home country, risking their lives to get to the US, they have to find a way to get a job sometimes not knowing English. A professor at UCLA, Raul Hinojosa, said in an interview "…undocumented population typically gets about 20% less in wage than if they were legalized." this means that companies make more money. In 2010 thirteen billion dollars went to social security and 10.6 billion dollars went to state and local taxes just from illegal immigrants according to an article on The Week posted on September 26,2016.

     People every single year are deported to their home country separating them from their life they created here, their family and their home. Just last year according to the ICE website there was 235,413 deportations 96,045 of them were non-criminal immigration violators. The US government spends a huge amount of money every year sending people back to their home country and keeping some in prison, when if they only deported criminals their spending would most likely go down and we could use the money on more important issues. If they are helping our economy there is no reason they should be forced to leave, our economy would be in even more trouble if there were no illegal immigrants here. It is obviously impossible to deport all immigrants as Trump wished, but it is still a scary thing to think about especially for children and teens that need their parents now more than ever. For people that come here on their own to be able to support their families in their home country should be able to see them as they wish. Families should not be separated just because the parents wanted to offer their children a better life than theirs.

Friday, October 21, 2016

Michelle Obama's Speech

     The blog I chose was from the Huffington Post called Michelle Obama’s Speech Was Exactly What We Needed To Hear. The post talked about the speech the First Lady gave in New Hampshire on October 13, 2016, the same date the blog was posted. Sara Ruthnum was trying to reach out to American citizens, more specifically female citizens to make sure they do not vote for Donald Trump. Mainly because he is racist, sexist, and just a person full of hate towards people that don’t think in the same insane matter he does. 
     Ruthnum is confident in that Trump will not win the upcoming elections, but she is worried about the “damage” he has already done. There is so much hate all through out the United States; violence, racism, and sexism. Of course not all of this Trump’s fault but he has definitely made it worse by bragging about sexually assaulting women and calling latinos “bad hombres” and criminals. Throughout Michelle Obama’s speech she only spoke of Trump as Hillary’s opponent or the other candidate, but never actually mentioned his name. Yet her speech has gotten so much attention for speaking about him in the way she did. Clinton has the proper background to be the next President and proves it in multiple ways like speaking as proper as the current First Lady. She is not this immature person who makes a face while someone else is speaking or cuts them off.
     Its little details that prove over and over that Trump is simply not fit for this ginormous spot he is fighting for. I very strongly agree with Ruthnum in that we must vote and we must stay strong and not let this hatred get any stronger than it is. We should help people see the madness that is Donald Trump.

Thursday, September 22, 2016

Donald Trump Possibly Increasing US Debt

     As all of us already know Donald Trump is not the most wise guy in all of the United States of America. He has said some things about Mexicans, muslims, African Americans, and other cultural groups that offend us and some statements are not even true and he continues to promise the things we truly don't need. Now his plans as possible future president of the US are to raise our debt by $5.3 TRILLION dollars according to a news article on Time. As if the debt we were already in ($19.5 trillion) wasn’t bad enough.
     He plans to cut Obamacare, Medicaid and non-defense spending to reduce non-interest federal spending. His most recent proposal would cause a four trillion dollar reduction in revenue from cuts to individual and business taxes. Many of americans have benefited from Obamacare and Medicaid because medical costs can elevate very quickly so removing it would affect many people. If he actually wins the election, which i strongly hope not, our national debt would rise 105% of gross domestic product as opposed to if Hillary wins it would rise 86% and she would only raise our debt by $200 billion. Neither sound so perfect but definitely one is worse than the other.