Monday, February 21, 2011
Rhetor’s Notebook Post #9: Rough Rough Draft of Your Individual Blog Post
Before class on Wednesday, I’d like you to post a rough rough draft of your individual blog post here as a comment. In this draft, I’d like to see you expand on what you drafted in class on Monday, using the rhetorical proofs as a way to “invent” your argument and support for this piece. In addition to appeals to logos, ethos, and pathos, I’d like you to begin including appeals to extrinsic evidence that will support your argument. Find at least one outside example that will help you in this regard. Also, explain what kinds of additional evidence you might need to enhance your argument’s persuasiveness. Aim for (at least) 250-350 words in this initial draft.
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The United States’ educational system is under siege from within. Antiquated legislation, governing pedagogy, and maligned curricula have failed to prepare our youth for the fluctuating intellectual landscape of society. Historically speaking, non-traditional learners, English deficient immigrants, students from diverse sociocultural backgrounds – essentially those students who do not strongly identify with the heteronormative patriarchy – were tracked out of schools by any variety of disadvantageous pressures. This is a complex issue that roots itself in Disability Theory, where a relative measure of ‘ability’ (whether it be comprehension of a literary passage or memorizing of times tables) is taken as the gold standard (Kliewer, Bilkin and Kasa-Hendrickson, 164-165). Students from the ability category are tracked at the highest level and all other students, largely ignoring their individual merits, are termed ‘disabled’ in contrast. Sadly, there is a demographic correlation between able and disabled students. Students who are tracked as disabled have a statistically higher probability of being minorities (170-171). This system of oppression is based in the subjective nature of assessment and empirically varies by environment; it is one of many non-regulatable sociocultural barriers to universal education that has plagued our system since its inception in the 19th century (Robinson).
ReplyDeleteDue to increasing political and economic pressures government intervention seemed the most appropriate method to solve the problem of universal education. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 aimed to rectify this situation by delineating a series of national achievement standards for every student by grade level, and holding schools accountable for implementing Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) plans (Taylor, 331-332). The course of action mandated that all schools demonstrate their teaching efficacy by using student performance on standardized tests. The incentive of meeting these performance standards being continued federal funding. The lofty goals of the law to realign our ailing institution have had mixed results. While it is true that some schools are showing improvement on standardized test scores, the unforeseen consequences of the NCLB have crippled schools’ abilities to serve all students on an individual basis. Class sizes across the nation are at an all time high, funding for “non-essential” programs like the arts or foreign languages is at an all time low, and the pressure for students to succeed on standardized tests has shifted students’ emphasis away from learning-to-learn” towards learning-to-test (Zhang, Fashola, Shkolnik and Boyle, 325-326).
Living without a home in a Colorado winter is a dark, long and treacherous period in ones life. Sadly this is reality for many citizens of Denver. This problem of homelessness is something that has been going on for many years, and though there have been many efforts to stop this tragedy, it is still going on today. In the last two years “homelessness has increased 150 percent in Adams County” alone (O’Connor). There are many arguments that can be made for why people are homeless. “It’s their fault”, “they could get jobs”, ect. However, making these excuses does not help anyone. A friend of mine met a man who recently left the life of the streets. During his interview he told the story of his revival. He said, “It was my fault. I’m aware of this. I was an alcoholic and all I cared about was drinking. My sign actually stated, ‘Need money for beer’. Yes, I wanted it that bad. Currently I have an apartment and a job. Do you know why? One day a young child came up to me on the street and gave me a sandwich and told me that Jesus loved me. That moment changed my life. Why would any child choose to go out of his or her way for someone as worthless as me? That’s the thing about helping people. Whether or not they deserve it, it can change their life.” After hearing this story I thought of something; if a young child can change a life, why can’t we?
ReplyDeleteWhile obesity has been the focus of much of our attention in recent years, hunger has silently crept into our communities at a startling pace as the downturn in the economy has left an unprecedented number of families scrambling to put dinner on the table. Recently, the issue was brought to light in a Denver Post editorial discussing the harsh reality that without state funding, thousands of children would become susceptible to hunger if school breakfast programs were to be cut.
ReplyDeleteHunger is perhaps the most neglected problem facing the Denver metro area. While education, healthcare and police services are crucial to our community, it is truly imperative that in the richest nation in the world everyone be given an opportunity to eat. Such a basic element of life is often overlooked because the vast majority of us are able to afford a trip to the grocery store. However, for those who cannot, the effects can be devastating – especially for the youngest in our community who are unable to learn and much less thrive on an empty stomach. With that being said, hunger effects everyone and not just children. According to Feeding America, the non-profit now serves 37 million people nationally, or 1 in 8 Americans. And it’s not only the uneducated and unemployed that are facing a need for assistance. In fact, 23% of adults seeking food through Feed America have a college education and 36% of households have at least one employed individual.
Who cares where your food comes from? The fact of the matter is that even though many Coloradoans may pay attention to this, there is still a huge percentage of the state that is unaware or unfazed by this question. Many people don’t see this as an important topic; food is fuel and the main focus on purchasing food is its price, not its origin. The very issue is that many see food as fuel and don’t investigate what the positive externalities are of eating locally. If there were a greater emphasis placed on eating locally it would benefit Colorado economically, environmentally, and healthily. I’m not trying to make the subject seem grim, rather this is an exciting opportunity to better the state and the country as a whole that many individuals, restaurants, and grocery stores have already began working towards.
ReplyDeleteOne of the most prominent proponents of the local food movement is an organization called Colorado Local Sustainability. This organization was founded in 2007 with the goals bringing sustainability to the forefront of Colorado. Their mission statement states, “The goal of Colorado Local Sustainability is to unite farmers, ranchers, and consumers in order to stimulate the sustainable local food economy in Colorado.” They understand that we live in an amazingly productive abundant agricultural and meat-producing state, and that focusing on growing the local food economy would help to stimulate the entire states economy. Their informational pages show that “smaller farms tend to be 2-10 times more productive than larger farms,” meaning that if Colorado consumers demanded local ingredients smaller, environmentally sustainable farms would continue to rise all over the state, which would lead to many more small business owners and much less money spent on importing food from food-producing giants like California, and Florida. Not only is eating local extremely beneficially financially for the state, but the environmental benefits are astronomical.
Historically, Colorado has been one of the healthiest states in the Union. It seems that Coloradan's access to the outdoors encourages healthier exercise-full lifestyles. Despite the fact that Colorado is deemed as very healthy, there is still a large population of citizens that are in the zone of obesity. My goal is to examine why it is, exactly, that obesity can happen even in the healthiest state. I will also examine the health risks of living with obesity and whether or not those health risks can be eliminated by living in Colorado. The counter argument would say that obesity is a choice. But whether or not obesity is a ‘choice,’ there are still major health risks involved. Those who are in the obese range are highly likely to develop heart disease, diabetes, and experience premature death: up to ten years premature death (Obesity Health Risks).
ReplyDeleteSo why is Colorado consistently ranked the state with the lowest amount of people suffering from obesity? Many say that access to the great outdoors greatly increases a person’s chance of being active. Colorado has a reliable park system that also allows people to be active even in highly urban environments. Access to environments that promote exercise seem to be key in labeling a community as ‘fit.’ But other than access, Miranda Hitti of Health News feels that Colorado has collective cohesiveness as a community concerned with eating and living healthy (Miranda Hitti). If only all communities could be so concerned with eating and living healthy, the obesity rates would be lower everywhere. But despite the fact that Colorado has the lowest amount of people living within the obesity range, the percent of obese people is still existent, and its existence at all suggests a problem. When volunteers helped save animals when the last oil spill happened, they did not stop saving animals just because a few animals were saved: they continued until all animals had been cleaned and set free. Just because the group of people living over the overweight mark is low, does not mean that this is a problem that should be overlooked.
"Obesity Health Risks." Weight Loss Diet Program, Weight Loss Diets, Low Carb Plan. Web. 23 Feb. 2011.
Mitti, Miranda. "Colorado Has the Lowest Adult Obesity Rate -- Why?" WebMD - Better Information. Better Health. Web. 23 Feb. 2011.
The United States education system is facing criticism for the issue of bullying in schools. Historically, Colorado is known for being one of states with the top rates of kids going onto higher education. However, Colorado is also known for being a state with a high rate of drop out in high school. The issue in the past involving bullying and education has been that it is disregarded as a real problem. Today as an issue bullying within schools has come to the foremost attention of the American public. Therefore, the larger debate regarding the issue of bullying that I am entering into is whether or not it is really a serious problem. Also is the issue worth our time and money to fix it. The issue as I see it is that legislation has been passed to try and halt the issue of bullying within schools, however bullying is still happening. The opposition would say that there is not enough money to prevent the issue. Also they might argue that is it really a huge issue with consequences.
ReplyDeleteMy goal is to examine why it is still a problem after measures have been enforced to prevent it. My argument is that schools need to spend more time and or money preventing the issue of bullying within schools. Sadly, this is a reality that many kids in our school systems face. In the last couple measures have been taken within the government to support anti-bullying. In fact in February of this year a new anti-bullying law has been introduced in legislation that proposes things such as creating a legislative study committee on the issue to even requiring schools to conduct annual surveys about student perceptions of the problem.
Good news, Colorado is once again on the top of the list for healthiest states in this nation. Bad news, because of this label, as a state, we neglect those who fall below the radar of “healthy”. In particular, the homeless population of Denver is suffering. While there are many health issues surrounding the homeless population, as a city, we can start to take baby steps to improve their health.
ReplyDeleteMost people in this city sadly are used to seeing the homeless on the street, begging for spare change. Another popular science in Denver are the homeless trying to exchange newspapers or musical talents for money. One sight that is never seen, that takes place in the ally ways, is the exchange of needles. Yes, those homeless in need of needles for illegal and legal drug use are often stuck exchanging dirty needles with each other, stealing needles of finding them. America is among the wealthiest nations in the world and people on the street are ricking and spreading disease through needles.
Honestly, I think I will be scraping this entire thing and staring over…im not really feeling the direction or style of this start.
Possible sources for extrinsic proof
http://www.denverpost.com/ci_14884169
http://www.denverpost.com/ci_12374733
Homelessness is getting bigger in the city of Denver. Most homeless people have some sort of addiction and need money to get it. These homeless people do not use the money for food; they use it for a cheap bottle of vodka or beer. Then there is the other type of homeless people that lost their jobs and homes due to the recession. The people that will do hard labor work just to feed themselves or their family. There are three types of community’s streets or alleys that the homeless people will stay in. There are the lower class communities, the middle class and the upper class. Most homeless people stay in the lower class communities. This is because there are more places that offer places to sleep and a hot meal. But there are so many homeless people these shelters have to turn many of them away every day. Having so many people in the streets that have no home to go to and sleeping on park benches with newspapers covering them from the cold does not reflect well on that community. There are some homeless people in the middle class communities, these homeless people live behind stores, restaurants, in the streets, bus stations, parking garages, or park benches. The police try to keep these middle and high-class communities clear of homeless people. The police will either take them to a shelter, detox, or the hospital. The police do not bother with the homeless in the lower class communities because there are so many of them.
ReplyDeleteThe growing population of homeless in Denver’s downtown district is growing. The affect of the growing population creates challenges for the overall health and growth of the community and surrounding areas. As business owners in the affected and surrounding areas, we need to understand that our streets, sidewalks and alleys are victim to litter and disorder. Presenting an image that doesn’t represent businesses in the area or promote growth within the community.
ReplyDeleteAre there ways for us to come together as business owners and community representatives? Can we do more to help the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless? I believe so, and I believe there is a productive way for all of us to pitch-in for the greater good to help provide a better environment for everyone. How do we do this?
Think of this as an Association of business owners by which we all pitch-in and allocate funds and/or time to keeping our neighborhood clean and healthy. I proposed newly formed association be operated by business owners and community representatives, with a focus of supporting the well being of the environment and overall image of our neighborhood.
I know you’re asking yourself, “why would I do this, I already pay taxes?” And my answer to you is, “you’re right, we do.” But similarly to HOA’s in well-developed and maintained neighborhoods, we too can control our own surroundings. A place we spend most of our day and an environment our clients see when they come for meetings.
Have you ever considered what will happen to our society when the world’s reserves of oil and coal run out? Where will we get our energy from and will it be clean? Residents of Colorado love how crisp and fresh the air is in this Rocky Mountain dominated state. In a state where being outdoors is a huge factor in daily life the quality of the environment is crucial and having a cheap clean energy source is a must. To be able to sustain this beautiful area a new sustainable and clean energy source needs to be developed not only for CO but, for the world.
ReplyDeleteYou see all these commercials on TV now a days pushing for the advancement of hydro and wind energy to combat global warming. However, these types of energy are expensive and do not produce a substantial amount of energy for their cost. We need to invest our money and time into developing solar energy. As far as anyone can tell the sun will be burning for a long time to come and the amount of energy it produces overshadows anything that hydro or wind energy could possibly conceive of producing. In 2006 Oliver Morton, the chief news and features editor for “Nature” a scientific journal, is quoted in his article “Solar energy: A new day dawning?: Silicon Valley Sunrise” for saying, “The Sun provides Earth with as much energy every hour as human civilization uses every year. If you are a solar-energy enthusiast, that says it all” (Morton).
From here I will continue to provide different examples of the applicability of solar energy and why it should be the preferred method for new energy. The tough part about this topic will be to not get caught up in the plethora of information available on solar energy. I will also need to find information that backs up the statement that solar energy is cleaner than current methods.
Medical marijuana has the possibility of becoming a widely prescribed drug for pain to nausea to HIV. Colorado has legalized medical marijuana, therefore opening the discussion as to the positive and the negative effects of this decision. The drug is being used to substitute more traditional prescription drugs for these common symptoms. The use of medical marijuana proposes a great threat to society in its overwhelming recreational use.
ReplyDeleteThe drug itself is not necessarily harmful for one’s health but the impact that it has on our youth and society are negative. The drug has a large following of recreational users. Medical marijuana makes the drug more accessible to these recreational users. The gateway effects of marijuana are a great concern for our society. The increased availability of marijuana will support the increase use and therefore increase the use of other more serious drugs (Initiation). The use of drugs by our youth is something that will lead to an increased crime rate and a less productive generation.
Smoking cannabis has a wide variety of negative health effects. The smoke from cannabis weakens one’s immune system which for those who are experiencing debilitating illnesses is not recommended (Smoking gun). The use of smoked marijuana has many risks involved because it is a smoked drug which is a very primitive way of drug ingestion. There is no way to regulate the doses or the way that it is administered. The inconsistencies of this medical marijuana make it less effective as a legitimate drug.
For the heartless in the crowd I ask you to pay attention.
ReplyDeleteOkay, so most people are not completely heartless, but I do believe that the average Catholic nun would think it of people who care little to nothing about homelessness. I bet Mother Teresa would be appalled at the fact that while many people in America complain about the homeless “problem” almost no one has any solutions or the willingness to act out a solution. And besides, every time this issue comes into question, it always becomes a problem between the political left and political right about money. So maybe we can find some common ground before we proceed into the rational solutions.
Homelessness in Denver is a growing problem with various negative economic effects. In this sense, it is very similar to the rest of the United States in terms of the financial consequences of ignoring these people. The question, in my opinion, of whether or not their status is self inflected or society is failing them, is irrelevant as of this point. The deeper issue is that it is good economic policy to have fewer homeless people on the streets. Their inability to contribute to our economy and our society’s inability to obtain and use their skills are drains to our economy.
Various solutions have been offered by various parties, ranging from the extreme to the more conventional. On the “off-in-nightmareish-la-la-land” part of the spectrum is the idea of the total eradication of homelessness through a violent “cleansing” or murder of all who fall into this category. On the more conventional side are the solutions proposed by the traditional parties: conservative and liberal. The conservative spectrum generally proposes the idea of “trickle-down” theory and the libertarian idea of private donations to help the poor. The more liberal theory is to help government intervention in order to help redistribute wealth to the poor since humans, being naturally selfish beings, are not inclined to make substantive financial and time donations.
Health Care Reform
ReplyDeleteAmericans have a tough choice to make when it comes to the health care reform; will a government-driven health care system provide more affordable quality health care to all citizens than a market-driven one? The debate seems to be strongly divided between the republicans and democrats, with democrats advocating a government-driven system and republicans advocating a market-driven system. The disagreement over what must be done to improve our health care system is a profound one, which possesses an outcome that will influence not only the financing and providing of health care, but our economy as a whole.
Most Americans are under the impression that the central disagreement is over whether or not health care coverage should be expanded. Although the Democrats’ main contingency is that every American has some kind of health insurance plan, the Republicans are not opposed to expanding coverage to the uninsured. In 2008, presidential candidate John McCain proposed a plan, which would have provided to every American household a tax credit, which could only be used to purchase a health insurance policy. This was a largely universal plan in the fact that its function was to enable every American to purchase some level of health insurance coverage with the financing of the government. Clearly, the disagreement is not over expanding coverage.
The real disagreement is over the allocation of resources in the health care sector. Both sides agree that our current health care system is unsustainable due to costs rising more rapidly than wages or government revenues. Americans must decide which system will increase the affordability and quality of health insurance for all citizens. The only way to slow rising costs without sacrificing quality of care is to improve the efficiency of interactions between patients, doctors, and hospitals. The Obama administration believes that a government-driven system is the solution. Under “Obama-care,” several provisions in the House and the Senate bills have been instituted, which are intended to force doctors and hospitals to change how they practice medicine by leveraging Medicare payment policy against them. While some of these reforms might marginally improve health care from the status quo, they will not fundamentally change Medicare or health care in general and are therefore intangible solutions. In fact, the Congressional Budget Office projects that the Medicare commission will result in relatively small savings overall. Even if all of the Obama’s proposals were implemented, Medicare and American health care would operate similarly in ten years, meaning that the insurance market model would reward the providers that have the largest client base rather than the most efficient and integrated providers. If tens of millions of people are added to this system, health care costs will continue to rise and more pressure will be placed on the federal budget as well as household incomes.