Thursday, April 22, 2010
Obesity In Our Youth
I can definitely empathize with Nick’s enthusiasm for the upcoming mandate for restaurants to disclose dietary information for all meals offered; this is long overdue and is just one step in the battle against obesity. Nick also mentioned that 30% of Texas children are overweight or obese, in an article out of Windows on State Government, titled “Today’s Children, Tomorrow’s Workforce,” obesity in adolescence is broken down into 42% of 4th graders, 39% of 8th graders, and 36% of 11th graders are at high risk of becoming overweight or obese. Putting calorie counts on menus is a great start to the fight but educating our youth on how to eat and live healthy is imperative in order to see change. The Texas Children’s Healthcare Plan offers a program called “Keep Fit Club,” this club is available for overweight or obese kids 10-18 years old, already enrolled in the healthcare plan. The club meets every Saturday where lessons for the whole family are taught on healthy eating choices and some type of physical activity is done as well. Today’s children are our tomorrow’s future, I know it sounds cliché, but they are; they are going to be the ones to build our buildings, nurse our sick, run our state, etc…If we don’t tackle the immediate crisis of obesity in our youth now then our future as well as theirs could be very short lived.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Bilingual Education/ Immersion in Texas Schools
Bilingual Education vs. ESL vs. Dual Immersion
Below I have included the definitions of the three different language programs in battle here in our Texas schools along with some background information and my point of view on the matter. My goal is to spark awareness of these programs and gather different point of views about them. Even if you don't know much about the subject, you should be able to express an opinion based on the definitions. I understand that this topic could get a little fiery...so let's keep it civil...now DEBATE THIS...
Bilingual Education: The practice of teaching non-English speaking students core subjects in their native language as they learn EnglishESL (English as a second language)/English Immersion: This program teaches the student solely in English, completely removing their native language.Dual Immersion: Programs in which roughly half the students are native English speakers and half are native speakers of another language. Students are taught in English half the school day and the other half of the school day in the second languageIn the 2008-2009 Texas school year there were nearly 500,000 students participating in bilingual education of them 99% were Hispanic. The Hispanic population is expected to more than double from 6.6 million in 2002 up to 13.4 million come 2025. According to the Census Bureau Texas had a 308,000 increase in the Hispanic population from 2006-2007, the largest of any state. Currently 8.6 million Hispanics represent 38% of the Texas population. With what seems to be an unstoppable increasing number of Hispanics taking up residence in Texas, why are some state legislators trying to remove bilingual education in our schools. Not only do they want to do away with bilingual education, they want to replace it strictly with English immersion; removing the Spanish language completely from the child.This is problem for me, not only do I disagree with the proposal to remove bilingual education in our schools; I strongly concede the idea that practicing English immersion is the best alternative to bilingual education. I believe the best approach to dealing with the increasing number of Spanish speakers in our state now and to come is to implement dual immersion in our schools starting at the elementary level. I think it is a bit contradicting that we remove a child’s native language, force them to learn only English, and then force them to learn another language again in order to graduate high school. In the article, Teach Our Children, the author states, “Segregation by language and ethnicity does not lead to higher academic performance, does not raise students’ self-esteem, and often results in social isolation and high drop-out rates.” Hummm, that sounds exactly like what would happen if you took away a child’s “voice” their ability to communicate effectively and their sense of security by being able to understand what is going on around them. Pro-immersion advocates feel like it’s a disservice to Spanish speaking student to allow them to continue learning in their native language when English is the dominant language, which needs to be learned in order to “properly” and productively live here in Texas. I personally feel like we are doing a disservice to our children here in Texas by not integrating Spanish into our educational system; studies show that the Spanish population will be the dominant race in Texas very soon and Spanish will very well be needed in order to “properly” and productively coexist.
http://esllanguageschools.suite101.com/article.cfm/us_bilingual_education_controversy_continues
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/031807dnmetbilingualirving.43eda45.html
http://bealonghorn.utexas.edu/freshmen/admission/hs-courses/spring2011/index.html
http://www.proenglish.org/issues/education/beindex.html
http://triangle.bizjournals.com/triangle/stories/1997/12/29/editorial3.html
Below I have included the definitions of the three different language programs in battle here in our Texas schools along with some background information and my point of view on the matter. My goal is to spark awareness of these programs and gather different point of views about them. Even if you don't know much about the subject, you should be able to express an opinion based on the definitions. I understand that this topic could get a little fiery...so let's keep it civil...now DEBATE THIS...
Bilingual Education: The practice of teaching non-English speaking students core subjects in their native language as they learn EnglishESL (English as a second language)/English Immersion: This program teaches the student solely in English, completely removing their native language.Dual Immersion: Programs in which roughly half the students are native English speakers and half are native speakers of another language. Students are taught in English half the school day and the other half of the school day in the second languageIn the 2008-2009 Texas school year there were nearly 500,000 students participating in bilingual education of them 99% were Hispanic. The Hispanic population is expected to more than double from 6.6 million in 2002 up to 13.4 million come 2025. According to the Census Bureau Texas had a 308,000 increase in the Hispanic population from 2006-2007, the largest of any state. Currently 8.6 million Hispanics represent 38% of the Texas population. With what seems to be an unstoppable increasing number of Hispanics taking up residence in Texas, why are some state legislators trying to remove bilingual education in our schools. Not only do they want to do away with bilingual education, they want to replace it strictly with English immersion; removing the Spanish language completely from the child.This is problem for me, not only do I disagree with the proposal to remove bilingual education in our schools; I strongly concede the idea that practicing English immersion is the best alternative to bilingual education. I believe the best approach to dealing with the increasing number of Spanish speakers in our state now and to come is to implement dual immersion in our schools starting at the elementary level. I think it is a bit contradicting that we remove a child’s native language, force them to learn only English, and then force them to learn another language again in order to graduate high school. In the article, Teach Our Children, the author states, “Segregation by language and ethnicity does not lead to higher academic performance, does not raise students’ self-esteem, and often results in social isolation and high drop-out rates.” Hummm, that sounds exactly like what would happen if you took away a child’s “voice” their ability to communicate effectively and their sense of security by being able to understand what is going on around them. Pro-immersion advocates feel like it’s a disservice to Spanish speaking student to allow them to continue learning in their native language when English is the dominant language, which needs to be learned in order to “properly” and productively live here in Texas. I personally feel like we are doing a disservice to our children here in Texas by not integrating Spanish into our educational system; studies show that the Spanish population will be the dominant race in Texas very soon and Spanish will very well be needed in order to “properly” and productively coexist.
http://esllanguageschools.suite101.com/article.cfm/us_bilingual_education_controversy_continues
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/031807dnmetbilingualirving.43eda45.html
http://bealonghorn.utexas.edu/freshmen/admission/hs-courses/spring2011/index.html
http://www.proenglish.org/issues/education/beindex.html
http://triangle.bizjournals.com/triangle/stories/1997/12/29/editorial3.html
Friday, April 2, 2010
Free (and hateful) speech vs. the right to gather
In this article, Michael Smerconish, who writes for the Philadelphia Inquirer is addressing the rights of The First Amendment and is asking if any stipulations should be placed on this Amendment to insure that every part of its meaning is up held. He references the case of the 20 year old Marine, Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who died during battle in Iraq back in 2006. During his funeral a group of church protesters, lead by Pastor Fred Phelps exercised their freedom of speech by voicing their opposition to what they believe is “Gods hatred for America for its tolerance of homosexuality.” They held up offensive signs and chanted offensive words.
The First Amendment is in place to protect a number of choices, if you will, but the choices that The First Amendment protect , that pertain directly to this article are the freedom of speech, the right to exercise religion, and the right to gather peacefully. The Snyder family and the protesters both were exercising their First Amendment Rights…but was this freedom of expression lead by the protesters right? The author makes a very valid point when he said, “But by picketing Snyder's funeral, didn't Westboro Baptist infringe upon the family's First Amendment right to freely exercise their religion?” His other valid point was, “The point is that while Phelps and his flock might believe they have a constitutionally protected right to protest at a funeral, that right should not come at the expense of the Snyder' right to peaceably gather at a Catholic funeral, especially when that practice involved mourning the death of an American hero.” I totally agree with the author, the rights shared under The First Amendment should not come at the expense of one another. This story is very disturbing to me, first off the leader of this group is a pastor, whom is supposed to be representative of God, is showing such disrespect for the spiritual relevance of a funeral, the bases for which the protesters have develop a stance on is inappropriate to convey at such an event. This soldier, regardless of his lifestyle, gave his life for our country and every human being in it, including the ones that made a mockery out of his funeral.
In my opinion The First Amendment is in dire need of ratification, there should be some form of limitations to our rights when it involves moral, ethical, and respect issues.
Free (and hateful) speech vs. the right to gather
The First Amendment is in place to protect a number of choices, if you will, but the choices that The First Amendment protect , that pertain directly to this article are the freedom of speech, the right to exercise religion, and the right to gather peacefully. The Snyder family and the protesters both were exercising their First Amendment Rights…but was this freedom of expression lead by the protesters right? The author makes a very valid point when he said, “But by picketing Snyder's funeral, didn't Westboro Baptist infringe upon the family's First Amendment right to freely exercise their religion?” His other valid point was, “The point is that while Phelps and his flock might believe they have a constitutionally protected right to protest at a funeral, that right should not come at the expense of the Snyder' right to peaceably gather at a Catholic funeral, especially when that practice involved mourning the death of an American hero.” I totally agree with the author, the rights shared under The First Amendment should not come at the expense of one another. This story is very disturbing to me, first off the leader of this group is a pastor, whom is supposed to be representative of God, is showing such disrespect for the spiritual relevance of a funeral, the bases for which the protesters have develop a stance on is inappropriate to convey at such an event. This soldier, regardless of his lifestyle, gave his life for our country and every human being in it, including the ones that made a mockery out of his funeral.
In my opinion The First Amendment is in dire need of ratification, there should be some form of limitations to our rights when it involves moral, ethical, and respect issues.
Free (and hateful) speech vs. the right to gather
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