My take on Arizona

This last blog is in response to the Arizona immigration law. Many of our classmates blogged on this and I thought I would chime in as well. Upon first hearing about the new bill and watching all the events unfold on the news, I knew this bill would soon cause uproar in and around the country. There is no need to recap what the bill states, everyone is well aware of it.
My thoughts on the whole situation are, yes, something had to be done to stop and reduce the illegal immigrant population but why are such extreme measures being taken with such urgency when illegal immigration has been a huge problem for many years. This bill raises many concerns around the community but at the top of the list is “racial profiling.” In directly the bill says the law enforcement can stop anyone who they deem “suspicious,” well what does suspicious look or act like? The governor has stated that officers will undergo training on how to identify “suspicious” persons, guess we will have to wait and see how that works out. Instead of using these boarder line unconstitutional methods, why doesn’t the government try to implement new tactics to legalize the immigrants who are already here? We don’t want illegal immigrants here because they are causing in influx in expenditures, raising taxes, using healthcare dollars and not putting money back into our economy, just to name of few problems. Instead of shipping everyone off, which is going to cost tons of money, why not educate the immigrant on how to become legal, go door to door and give them information. Give them the information, let them know you have such and such amount of time to get legal, if not then you will be deported.
This process might be somewhat whimsical but I am just brainstorming on other options that could be a win situation for everyone. If you go around targeting people because they look a certain way, then you are asking for trouble. People are going to be more sensitive to situations and become more defensive, possibly causing unnecessary danger. I hope this Arizona law can be smooth out, because if not I see the state heading in a downward spiral.

Does UT support the KKK?

The University of Texas is one of the most well known and recognized universities in the nation. Currently, headlining news involving the university is not reporting on the school’s sports achievements or academic performance; rather they are reporting on the universities possible support of the Ku Klux Klan organization. The campus currently has a dormitory named Simkins Hall, which is named after former UT law professor and KKK organizer William Stewart Simkins. Simkins was not only an organizer for the KKK but he also gave speeches on the Klan’s behalf at the university. Controversy behind the dorm’s name arose when another former law professor Thomas Russell released a research paper last month discussing Simkins and the universities practice of standardize testing to exclude African Americans. I am very surprised and disheartened that this type of acknowledgement is allowed to be part of the campus; it shows a complete lack of respect for African Americans who work and attend the university. It is a slap in the faces to those who have sacrificed and struggled then and now to improve relationships among races. UT officials are aware of this issue involving Simkins, there once was a bust statue of him in the library but when a librarian became aware of Simkins prior involvements it was removed and stored away never to be displayed again. The dorm is an even larger representation of Simkins and its name should be changed. University officials argue that it would be more beneficial to the campus to put money into programs that help recruit and serve the “underrepresented” populations on the campus. The exact words from a UT official were, “We feel that a better use of our time and money would be to further a climate of inclusiveness and cultural diversity that looks to the future instead of dwelling on the past." Clearly this individual is out of touch with why it is that diversity is able to exist on the campus, and by continuing to allow this name to be displayed in such an honorable way will be a constant reminder of such a terrible time in history, in which we will continue to “dwell” on.

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.

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

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

“Death row inmate entitled to delay for DNA test"

In this article the author, which is the editorial board of the Austin American Statesman, is asking all Texans in favor of or opposed to capital punishment to lobby behind a man, whom has already been convicted of a triple homicide, and show support as his legal team ask the state of Texas to give him a 30 day reprieve/ pardon so additional DNA testing can be done, which could potentially prove his innocence from this crime. My initial reaction to this argument was, “yes…why not…if there is a possibility for innocence then it is our duty (Texas) to figure it out,” but then as I read through the article again I couldn’t help but feel confused about a few things. First, I wasn’t sure what kind of feelings, if any, I should have for this man that has been convicted of murder and on death row for 17 years now…is he “entitled” to a delay? I was confused about what feelings I should have for the families involved, should the families of the victims have to endure this kind of emotional set back so close to “their justice?” Should the inmate’s family get their hopes up only to be let down? These confusing questions all stemmed from a confusing judicial system. The author states that there are untested item that could be tested with DNA technology that could clear the inmate, but the state won’t allow that testing to be done because in an earlier portion of the trial the inmates lawyer was opposed to further testing, due to damaging evidence already found by prior DNA test. The author also goes on to further back his argument by revealing that evidence shown at the trial was inconsistent and reports showed that the inmate was in a physical state not conducive with being able to murder 3 people, one of which was a very large male. Why weren’t these issues taken care of in the first few years of the trial, why wasn’t everything gone over with a fine tooth comb, why were “inconsistencies” acceptable to a jury? Three innocent people are already dead and now there is a possibility that a fourth innocent person could die by the hands of our state! This man has been on death row for about 17 years, in the article the author talks about a man that Gov. Perry just pardoned, whom had spent 13 years on death row for a crime he didn’t commit, unfortunately he died on death row nine years before the pardon was issued. UNBELIEVEABLE! We are talking about life and death of innocence; changes have to start at the front to reduce the latter of possibilities at the end. Milsap, Bexar County District Attorney summed up my thoughts exactly when he said, “Before we send a man to his death, shouldn’t we do everything in our power to be certain of his guilt?”

http://www.statesman.com/opinion/death-row-inmate-entitled-to-delay-for-dna-423839.html?printArticle=y

Is There An Intellectual Future For Our Youth?

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) is a government funded program which sets up a structure for schools to follow across the United States to insure that schools here are teaching our kids effectively and timely, to insure future success. This structure is strictly based upon standardized test results. Schools must provide students with the knowledge they need to pass a certain test, during a certain part of the year…then after that, well you’re on your own until “testing preparation season” comes around again. I state the former sentence with much sarcasm, for that is the feeling that I get after reading article and article about how our Texas schools are failing our youth under the NCLB Act. Dallas high schools account for a third of the Texas high schools that are failing to meet the federal ratings, 10 of the 30 high schools, whom are failing have been failing for so many consecutive years they are listed in the worst stages of the NCLB Act. I say our government is failing our schools, teachers, students, and parents by allowing unacceptable ratings to be permitted year after year and not implementing any type of action plan for improvement. Why does it take a school to be on the verge of being closed down because of substantially low academic performance before the government decides to step in and assess the “what” “why” and “how’s” of what went wrong. By this time it’s too late for many of the kids who have dropped out and makes it increasing discouraging for the teachers and students who are still there. I thought this article was very interesting and gave some insight into how something that was designed to help kids succeed in school is probably doing more harm than good. The structure of the NCLB Act is not realistic, though I like the uniformity that it provides state wide, the concept of “one test, one score” is overwhelming for teachers, students, and administrators. I believe this immanent need for schools to meet the score provided by the NCLB Act "or else"…is the rain shower that produces the mud slide.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/030710dnmetdallasreform.3f9194c.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Child_Left_Behind_Act
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080214080530.htm
http://www.houstonpress.com/2008-04-10/news/so-much-for-no-child-left-behind/
(This article is a sad testimony to what our schools resulted to…it’s all about the grade and not the child)