School Prices on the Rise

Why is getting a college degree so essential to getting a good job in our society today? Four years and for some a hundred-thousand dollars worth of debt on average for people, it just does not seem worth it. I read in a paper at one point that it is not even the “A” or “B” students that do the best in life upon leaving college. But rather it is the “C” students that have proven to make the most money on leaving school. I know that it is not about making the most money in life, but with the rising costs in today’s society, money is proving nice to have. Is spending a hundred-thousand dollars on schooling really worth getting the job right out? Or would it prove better to go to work straight out of high school and get right into making money? In my personal opinion, it is getting to the point that I would find that college is not near worth the money being charged for it. The jobs are just not there right now in many fields and the money spent on college is not a sure shot after getting out of school. This is tough to justify to people whose families are paycheck to paycheck families. With the cost of life going up and the jobs disappearing, college is getting more and more tough to justify as an expense. It is very beneficial to go to school, but the more the price goes up to go to school the more unrealistic and unethical it appears.

Why Do We Need General Education?

For the final paper, I will be writing on the topic why we must go through classes irrelevant to our majors in college. Do we not get enough English, Math, and Science in the first twelve years of our schooling? I find it very boring and it is just more stress than it is worth. I am going into construction management, when will I need to know how to do a logarithm? Also, will I need to know how to diagram a sentence when I am putting up a house? No I will not, so why must I spend time and money on college classes learning these things? General Education I have found to mean, me spending more money on the college itself and not gaining things I am passionate about. I know that the teacher does make all the difference in this matter but I still find it like I am wasting time and money. Learning about drawing up buildings, cost estimation, and different types of soils are why I find interesting. Schools will use the claim that it is a well rounded education for kids and I very much disagree. Its learning things that we do not need to know. What is so special about Pre-Calculus that I have have to devote a semester to it and not remember anything about it. I am a hands on learner and remember things well that I need to use. This is why I have trouble with the fact that kids are paying 20-30 thousand a year and in the first two years do not get many things that they really need. I believe that it could save money and stress if kids could go to a college and learn things that would be needed for their profession instead of using two years to dive in completely to their major.

Parents Need to Step Up!

On page 119 of Rottenburg there is an article titled “Myspace Not Responsible for Predators.” In this the author, Kevin Alexander, talks about how Myspace should not be responsible for those people that choose to lie about their age and use the website for ulterior motives. It starts out by talking about how a 14-year-old girl met a guy on the social network and began talking to him thinking they were the same age. Not long after, the man convinced the girl to go on a date with him and after a movie and dinner, he supposedly raped her. The parents decided to sue Myspace saying that its privacy settings were not nearly as good as they should have been and should have prevented this event. They also claimed that Myspace was only in it to make money and do not care about the people that use it. Myspace is a business and is not going to be able to stop every single bad event from happening on its site. They cannot control who is making an account for the wrong reasons or stop them until they have been informed that something had happened. If you look at the article, there are a few flawed parts on the girls side. No, I am not saying that its all the girls fault that she met a pervert, or that the pedophile is not to blame, but I'm saying there should have been a little more parental supervision. Had the mother had any interest in what her daughter was doing on the computer or monitored it in any way this event could have been avoided all together. Also, the mother failed in letting her fourteen-year-old daughter just up and go on a date with a random guy that she met online. Yet the mother decides to complain and place all the blame solely on the social network. Really? Lets not take any blame for not watching what your fourteen-year-old daughter is doing on the computer. I do not believe this is something that Myspace should be blamed for the carelessness of parents. No, the pedophile was not in the right to do what he did, but at some point the parents have to step up and accept the responsibility.

Reality TV?

What is real? Even better so, what is reality T.V.? Everyday the average person turns on the television they cannot help but flip past a show that falls into this category. When reality shows first started out there were some moderately good ones, but as of now it has turned into a giant joke. Although I never really got into the who reality show scene but there are many people that just live by this garbage. Jersey Shore, The Gauntlet, and Real World, are some of the many shows that people just eat up every second of. I personally do not like drama, so I don't want to sit and watch it on T.V. I never got the point or got any enjoyment out of people fighting and reading off a script in order to tune people in. This is just so dumb to me. I find no enjoyment in watching a show such as Jersey Shore, because quite frankly it just makes me want to punch them in the face. There are many great things in this world that are cool to see in reality like True Life, but stupid scripted shows are just plain annoying. Although I do not watch them, it does not mean I can get away from them. Friends posting on facebook, people talking about it at school, and stupid things of this sort are how reality shows annoy me. What does America find in all of this trash? Is there really any good reason to making all of this? Shows like the Bachelor, just annoy me to no end. Not only are girls saying they are in love after a mere week with a guy they just met, but the talk behind each others backs and create useless drama. Not only does the guy end up picking the girl for the simple fact that she is hot, but everything is scripted. In a news story I heard about the guy and girl that won both had significant others and that just caused a big uprising. What is the point of making a show to find lust and really serve no valid purpose to society? There is no sense in reality television and it is just a giant waste of time and money in my honest opinion.

Gas prices, and Their Toll on America

The article I chose to read is called “Americans Entitled to Cheap Gas- Right?” on pages 401-403. Int it the author writes about the gas prices for Americans and the uproar over how high they have been. Although it is a little outdated, the information is very true and the author makes some valid points. Yes, Americans have it much better than most places in the world, so why do we all complain about high gas prices. Joan Ryan, the author, believes that we should not have to give up our big vehicle mentality for the purpose of gas. Americans have said they feel more protected when they are in a bigger vehicle and are not willing to give that up because the government will not lower gas prices. Why should I have to give up my truck for the purpose of saving gas? This country needs big trucks and the gas prices that go along with them are just far too ridiculous right now. People have enough things to worry about in today's society, why can we not drop the gas prices so people can use the extra gas to go a little further for a job? This could get the economy going again too. More people getting to work and getting money, to which they will spend on more things other than gas. The government will get their money at some point, so why be so hard with the gas prices when most people are just now starting to get jobs again and places are just getting back on their feet. Lowering the gas prices for those who not only drive bigger vehicles, but those with cars, and get America rolling again. Now I know that I am a little biased having driven a truck since I started driving, but trucks and big vehicles are a big part of the roadways today. It is funny, the people that are setting the gas prices and selling the oil, are the ones that don't have to worry about money or making it check to check. The higher executives of oil places are not hurting for money and what is money to them? Nothing. Ask a working class person about gas prices and set it that way. Enough of the big executives running our oil market. Give us a break at the pump.

Stop it With the Salaries

Are athletes in the game for the fun of it anymore, or is it all about the money now? It seems like playing a sport from the time you were a kid, all the way through your thirties and getting paid for it would be a dream come true. But if you look at professional athletes in today's game, it is all about the money. What is the point of playing for a team in today's major leagues? Money. Plain and simple most of the players are there for no other reason than for the pay checks they are getting. Players do not find any enjoyment in playing any more but rather just for the amount of money that they make in a year. Of the top 5 highly paid athletes, they averaged 59,039,766.40 a year for 2010(SI.com). That is just such a huge amount of money, and there are many other things that could be purchased for the average American off of that. On the average that is making nearly 1,135,380 a week and that is far more than many people would be what most people would make in their entire life. How is that justifiable to pay them that much money? Making more in a week than many people make in a lifetime is the reason that so many athletes just do not care. When being named to the all-star team, many athletes to not even want to play in the game. Rather, they see it as an honor, but would not like to play in the game. They get a boost in pay for making it to the game but why play in it? I believe that money has gotten in the way for professional athletes and it is no longer about the love of the game. Instead, it is just like everything in this world. We do it for the money. Take some of the money out of the game and get back to the real reason to play the game, love.

Car safety is in our hands

Is it really the vehicle we drive that changes our safety on the roads? Hal R. Varian on page 238-241 seems to think that this is right. In the writing he seems to believe that driving an SUV or a truck make the roads more unsafe for those in cars. Upon reading this, it obviously is written by somebody who drives cars and has never owned or driven a big vehicle. I see that there is no problem with the vehicles in which we drive rather the way in which we drive them. Would somebody be any less hurt in a head on collision with another car at fifty-five miles per hour, as it would an SUV? I believe that it does not matter the vehicle driven if the person driving it is not a good driver. He tries to say on page 240 that a mother with kids is more likely to choose an SUV because it would be more safe to drive and keep her family safe. It is her right as an American to protect her family in any way she see fit. If that means buying a bigger vehicle to prevent deaths in an emergency collision then it is her constitutional right. Toward the end of the writing, he suggests that people with bigger vehicles be required to pay more because they cause more damage. This is entirely the wrong way to look at this and I find it very childish. Punishing me for driving a full-size truck when everyone else has the same right to own one as I do is wrong. I am not saying a go out looking for accidents in my truck just because I am more secured in my truck. He is entirely taking away all of the good aspects of bigger vehicles and putting it into his own words to show that trucks are bad. Can't car speeds go faster and risk wrecking that way? What happens when these cars get stuck in the snow? Bigger vehicles, trucks and SUV'S come and pull them out. Punishing people who drive bigger vehicles for the sole reason that bigger vehicles cause more damage in a wreck than a car is unintelligent. A vehicle is only as safe as the person driving it. That is food for thought.