Blog #6

I agree with one my classmate’s blog Obesity Craze. This is a well-written blog. He provides his own experience for insight as well as ideas beneficial to reducing American obesity. Obesity is a current major problem in the United States. According to CBS news, 190 million people are obese or overweight in America, and childhood obesity has triple in the past thirty years. I believe having restaurants provide the calorie count in the menus is a step forward in lowering the percentage of obese people, who are more susceptible to health problems. However, I believe the consumer must be just as concerned as the government in order for this to be one effective method. If a person does not believe they are obese or simply do not care, then having the number of calories on the menu will not be useful. I believe restaurants should also be required to use healthier cooking methods.
I think schools should have psychologists and nutritionists on their staff, so that children can talk to someone about why they are consuming immense amounts of food or why eating healthy and exercising is important to their health. I am an athlete and I even find myself eating because I’m bored and have nothing better to do. I just think as a whole the United States need to become more concerned on this issue.

Blog #5

Every school has to meet the required measurements for standardized testing, but why? Texas has put a lot of emphasis on standardized testing. It has become the measure of liability for student’s education. But is standardized testing really the answer? If a school has low academic success, can you actually say they do not meet standards? How can you base a person’s intelligence off a test like that? You simply can’t. It is impossible to measure someone’s academic ability off of a multiple choice test. Standardized testing does not accurately measure the academic success and achievements of a school or student. It does not allow teachers the freedom to teach the way they want to because they are too worried following the TAKS curriculum.

That is why I believe the concept of standardized testing should be re-evaluated. It does not accurately measure a child’s ability to learn, it does not accurately measure the strength of a teacher’s teaching ability, and it does not accurately measure a child’s intelligence, so what good is it? As a high school senior I have taken my fair share of TAKS testing through out the years. Every year I do fine in them, but I see other students struggle. Students who cannot pass their exit level TAKS test are provided the opportunity to take the test more than once. However, some people are just simply not test takers. I have seen my friends not pass their TAKS test and not be able to graduate. One of my friends moved to America her freshman year from Russia. She failed her exit level test and therefore couldn’t graduate. She was an exceptionally bright student, but according to the TEA she was not “qualified” to graduate. She learned English within the first year she was in Texas and within three years was doing upper-level math, now tell me she was not smart. The TAKS test is just a way for public schools to compete on which school is “better.” So what purpose does this test accomplish? In my opinion nothing, but hey I’m eighteen, in high school and had to take them my whole life, so it doesn’t really matter what I think, right? I believe standardized tests do not take into account the way a student processes what they learn. They focus on objectives, objectives that do not prepare us for our future education.

Blog #4

Clearly stated in The Statesman, the title, "Applying for food stamps isn't that easy audit says", speaks for itself, but how much of that is actually

According to Corrie Maclaggan, the author of this blog, the federal government is well aware of the problems in issuing food stamps and is finding ways to make the process go more smoothly. The food stamp program helps low-income people buy food. Although it is a federal government program, it is run by state or local agencies. Since the government is considering options on improving the application procedure perhaps they could get ideas and feedback from the applicants. Obviously since the number of applicants has increased 45% within two years there is going to be an issue of under-staffing. According to the audit, “Crowded lobbies, long waits, and delays in eligibility determinations clearly resulted in frustrated clients”. The process is not going to be a walk in the park and shouldn’t be either though. And as to the audit’s statement on people not knowing what to bring to the application process, well there are ways to find out. People shouldn’t complain if they are the ones not prepared. The more they aren’t ready for the procedure the harder they make work for the staff. A well known quote by Benjamin Franklin fits this situation perfectly, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” If people already start out not ready have can they expect for the process to go easy? Is it really that difficult to bring in a form of Identification such as a driver’s license, state ID, birth certificate or alien card, a proof of income such as pay stubs or Social Security card, proof of the cost spent for child care and records of your utility costs?

The author presents the issue clearly, stating what the audit claimed after evaluating the process of applying and obtaining food stamps. The credibility of this blog is 100% factual. The author does not give their opinion on the situation. The intended audience was for the general public stating that YES the federal government knows there is an issue on the speedy deliverance on issuing foods stamps and YES they are trying to resolve the problem.