Review on Colleen's Post

This topic of education has really sparked an intrest for me reading through peoples blogs. I think that there are many issues with the system regarding equality in availablity, quality, cost, and other aspects that can greatly effect a persons life. I think the issue must be adressed by the American public and must be dealt with as soon as possible. I know that our country has other responsabilities and has other priorities but creating an equal enviroment for all those under its arm should be knocked up a couple notches on this list. Although the government has tried for many years to completely set up equal opportunity for all students it still hasn't gotten to the point of complete equality. Even though it is unquestionably better than it used to be there is still room for improvement. One thing I read that intrested me is that Colleen didn't believe that the people could help anymore and that it was strictly up to the government to help with this problem. I strongly disagree with this statement she made. I think that there are multiple things that people could do to help quicken this solution. Fighting for what we believe in is something we have studied alot in this class and I dont believe this topic is any different. If we were to just sit back and wait for the government to fix the solution it wouldn't happen. The people that believe strongly for the cause must make a statement in order to push the governments hand. Having unequal opportunity is unconstitutional and must imediatly be adressed. If the government sees people standing up for this cause they will have to react. The people still do have alot of the power and must use it in order to push for what they believe in.

Review on Kolis's blog

I was really intrested in reading about the effect that music has had on people. I had done previous research on the topic for another class and going reading other blogs just helped me push my knowledge a little further. I had read before about people trying to connect rap and gang violence and never really had put much thought into the idea. Were some people really that effected by the words of their favorite rap artists? Reading through the blog it became clear to me as to how some people get so caught up in these artists lifes and what is going on. For example, I read about how Lil Wayne got arrested an acount of a illigal gun. Do I actually think my view of his music would change based off of what has happened to him? Not at all. I dont think that people see news like this and all of a sudden want to copy what their artist is doing. When you see a news article that says Lil Wayne goes to jail, and underneath says what went wrong? why on earth would that make anyone want to even think about doing something stupid like that? I understand how people make arguments about how it could have an effect on the younger generation but like Kolis mentioned in his blog, i dont think the music industry is what should be blamed. It is infact our culture that has produced these problems. It isn't how certain people rap or sing or act but infact how we are taught. These rappers are products of society we are all apart of. I think that when society puts a bad name on something it makes people want to go against the society. For example, society has put such an emphasis on swear words and how they are inapropriate and such. If we hadn't made a big deal about them do you think that they would be such a prominent form of language now a days? The reason people swear is because it is an act of rebelion. I think the same goes for drugs and alcohol and other illegal things. The main reason why people do them is because its illegal and they know they aren't supposed to. I definitely agree with Kolis that the music industry isn't to blame for these problems but it is infact what our society has become.

Review on Ivonne's blog

I didn't know much about this topic of hispanics and their education. I previously read one of her posts and was intrested in the topic. I really got alot out of eading a couple more of her posts. Its crazy to think about how for many of us in the north shore we are dealing with the problems of doing your act getting a good score and applying to all of our colleges. Many of us don't have the worries about college costs and such. It was always implied that many parents could just pay to the college of choice of their son or daughter. For many hispanics however that isn't the worry at all. It is how are they going to come up with the money for tuition. I was thinking about how the problems are coming up with how certain students are considered illegal imigrants even if they are born in the U.S.. These students then have to deal with the consequences of their parents decisions by not being aloud to pursue their life dreams because they: can't apply for colleges, can't recieve scholorships and other things. It was intresting seeing the different perspectives on the topic. Although I believe that something should be done about this problem I can also see the other side of the argument. There are hundreds if not thousands of American Citizens that already require help with scholorships and college funds and with the addition of all the illegal imigrants there is alot of help that needs to go around. Our country is already in a big financial hole and helping all these students would be a big problem. I hate saying this, and as terrible as it sounds, I think that the problem the illegal imigrants are facing at the moment with their financial aid and other problems should be second on the ladder to those of American citizens. America has a responsibility to first help its own people and then to reach out for those who also need help.

Sources

Barry, Tom. "Electric Cars Can Reduce Air Pollution." Opposing Viewpoints: Energy Alternatives. Ed. Helen Cothran. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2002. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 10 Feb. 2010.

"Communication Revolution of the 19th Century." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 29 Jan. 2010.

"Harry Truman: Hiroshima atomic bomb announcement (1945)." World History: The Modern Era. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 1 Feb. 2010.

Jean Peduzzi-Nelson. "Adult Stem Cells Are More Promising than Embryonic Stem Cells." Opposing Viewpoints: Stem Cells. Ed. Jacqueline Langwith. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2007. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 8 Feb. 2010.

Moran, Tim. "Dealing with realities of an electric-car fleet.(Automobiles)(GREENTECH)." The New York Times. 158. 54566 (Jan 25, 2009): 7(L). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 8 Feb. 2010.

"Transportation Revolution of the 20th Century." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 28 Jan. 2010.

Tucker, Spencer C. "Dropping the Bomb Saved Lives." World History: The Modern Era. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 1 Feb. 2010.

"World Wide Web." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 1 Feb. 2010.

Backround Analytical

The automobile industry has been for the last 100 years one of the fastest growing and most prominent industries in the world. It has evolved from the horse and buggy to the ferrari's and porche's of our time and continues to grow and develop. The automobile has helped develop our world in hundreds of ways. The transportation revolution of the 20th century was loaded with inventions and technological advancements. The was first introduced in the 1800’s and has come so far in barely over 100 years. Its uncomprehendable to think that our society transformed from a horse and buggy and railway based transportation system to the automobile system we now have. The auto industry has continued to eveolve late into the 20th century and beyond with the inventions of the electric cars and more and more ways of making this industry more affordable and green. Our society has grown to revolve around transportation and in the lifes of Americans now is a neccesity. American's lives are based off of flexibility, availability, and readiness. The automobile industry has provided these essentials and has continued to become more affordable.The car has become so essential because of how it has impacted the working people. Before the time of the automobile people needed to live in the city in order to work in the city, a horse and buggy couldn't transport them everyday back and forth from work. People would have to live in the city in order to work at their jobs without an extremely expensive travel every day. However, with the invention of the car people were able to live outside of the city and still maintain the same jobs they held in the city. The car therefore helped people to take their family outside of the city into a more preferable enviroment for a family. Parents were then able to raise their kids outside the city and all the action in their own private home enviroment. It gave families a bigger sense of protection being able to live outside of the big city and on their own. In this way the impact the auto industry has had on our world can’t be overstated.

Literature Analytical

Interurban Queen is a fictional story written about a man around the beggining of the automobile industry. The story is intresting because it is a what if story, like what if the U.S. didn't drop the atomic bomb. This story is written about the intoduction of the automobile into society. It talks from many differents peoples differnt points of veiws about what the automobile would do for our country. The story has many different symbols and shows how important these cars have been for our society. The first man says that although the horse will be eliminated from the main form of transportation that the automobile wont take off and the railroads that will take off. The man is saying that although the horses and the things of the past will be improved and advanced upon, the automobile wont be able to progress. He says that it gives people too much independance and arrogance and will therefore never be able to be used in a succesful society. He believed that the people will break apart and live more for themselves if the auto industry ever became the main form of transportation because of how much flexibility it allowed the people. He then talked to another man who also believed that the cars would never be able to replace the other forms of transportation. This man believed so because he said even the nicest men can be changed by things of power like the horse. A man on a horse assumes a new person and becomes a dangerous machine. A man in a car is hunderds of times more dangerous and will become even more arrogant. He believes that the flexibility isn't worth the danger that this industry brings with it. "It will breed violence on a scale never seen before." (241) He believed that the amount of power given by these vehicles will make every man become tyranical and. Not only will the auto industry not take up but it would be morally wrong for our world to ever let it happen. Lastly he talked to a rich man. This man discussed how much he infact loved the car industry because of how free it made him and how royal he felt driving his cars. However, he said that the automobile will only ever be "a rich man's pride." He didn't think anyone but the rich and truly wise should ever be able to own a car as the normal working man shouldn't ever be able to hold the same arrogance as the rich.
All these men in the story represented different pros and cons with the automobile industry going forth in our society. The first man brings up how the automobile industry will give men freedom however they will break off from their community with this new given freedom. The automobile has given the world more freedom than any other invention ever, the ability to travel wherever and whenever you want has become a huge part of our society. However, the benifit will come with a consequence as people wont have the same connection with their home and community lives because they are so readily able to go back and forth anywhere they please. The second man brings up the idea that the cars will give extreme freedom for men to do what they please, along with the freedom however comes an overpowering feeling of arrogance. A man in a car has a imense feeling of power and is therefore extremely dangerous. For our society to ever let the automobile industry flourish would be imoral. The only thing the automobile will create is an inner tyrant in any man. Although the automobile has given man freedom it is infact extremely dangerous. There are millions of deaths in car accidents and thats exactly what the man predicted. The third man discusses how only the rich should be the only ones aloud to drive a car and that the working man should never be able to have the same luxury as the rich. This shows that even though it is a luxury to own a car its very expensive, the car itself and maintenance. The car must be constantly maintained with gas, washes, and check ups and is very expensive. I think the bigger meaning to the cost issue however is the cost it has had on our world in general. The automobile has created so much permenant polution. This story symbolically showed many problems with this industry that are not neccesarily evident. The key to this story was the underlying meaning of all these men.

Analytical Current Events

One of the major problems with the automobile industry is the undending amount of pollution it has caused. With millions and millions of cars in our world the amount of pollution created even everyday is eye opening. A big emphasis of our society in recent years has been to go green with everything, trying to save our world by: preventing pollution, saving remaining natural resources, and recycling. Hundreds of companies have changed the basis of their product(s) to fit this new trend. The auto industry has finally began addapting to this new push by the creation of hybrid and electric cars. These cars are made to reduce their pollution put out and also reduce their intake of natural resources required to run. However, there are many problems with the new electric cars that must be fixed in order for them to take over as the main form of transportation. For example, they have a very long recharge time for such a low range. The completely electric cars usually have around a 20 hour recharge time while having less than 300 miles of time. The recharge time must be reduced, and the cars must have a much larger range in order to be completely functioning for people. Atlanta is one city that has taken on the challenge of using these cars by introducing around 200 recharge stations within the area. These charges are much cheaper than refueling for gas. Another large problem is that cars now can be almost completely recycled and all the parts may be reused. The same goes for these electric cars except for their batteries. The batteries required for these cars to run are highly acidic and provide a large problem for auto makers. A safe solution of disposing of these batteries must be found in order to have a safe transition to this industry without creating more harm to our enviroment. If these cars are able to take off and completely replace the gas running car we will be on the first massive step to maintaining our world and saving many of its natural resources.