Monday Matters #29

   Over the past four weeks I've  talked about recent discoveries and headline news in the medical field. There were two topics specifically talked about. These topics were dementia and colon cancer. We've found out ways to avoid serious cases of colon cancer by following a vegetarian diet and also by receiving more colon cancer screenings. We also found out that Alzheimers is found in adults as young as 20. With these big discoveries there might soon be solutions to these major problems affecting millions throughout the world. Cancer, I would say, is the most interesting topic to myself because it took two people from my family so it is close to home. I also hear stories about how people lost their friends and family because of cancer and it is dreadful that i can't do anything about it. This field is very interesting to me and helping people is something i really enjoy doing. I really want to make a difference in the world. I could maybe even discover a cure for cancer. I won't know until i try it. I will definitely look at this field with admiration and most likely follow my aspiration in pursuing this career.

Monday Matters #28

      Dementia is a term for diseases that cause memory loss and other mental abilities. The number of people this affects is astounding! It affects 47.5 million people worldwide. Biologist at the University of York and the University of Massachusetts have been studying dementia diseases intensely and recently identified new mechanisms linked to progression of aggressive form of dementia. They found that the changes in the protein CHMP2B, which is linked to Frontotemporal dementia, affect the connections of neurons. Frontotemporal dementia is the most common form of dementia usually starting in peoples fifties. It affects abilities to understand and use language. This is potentially a massive breakthrough. Dr Sean Sweeney, a senior author of the Department of Biology at the University of York said, " These findings shed light on the events occurring in neurons as dementia takes hold. The more we know about the steps that occur in disease progression, the more opportunities we have to intervene with potential therapies." With enthusiastic and dedicated people and organizations like these at the University of York and Massachusetts, one day dementia might be stopped in its tracks.

Monday Matters #27

        Last week, vegetarians showed how they're a step ahead of the rest at preventing cancer. However, what if you're not leaning towards the vegetarian diet? No problem another solution has been found! HealthDay News states that increasing the colon cancer screening rates to 80 percent by 2013, there will be an estimated 21,000 fewer deaths from colon cancer in 2030. Surprisingly, with colon cancer being the leading cancer to cause death, it states that only 58 percent of adults aged 50-75 received screening for it. "Lack of screening is responsible for a substantial percentage of colon cancer deaths." Many organizations are already trying to get four out of five adults screened for colon cancer by 2018. With this, success and greatness can only come out of it. Death rates will be lowered by 19 percent and colon cancer rates will also reduce by 17 percent. With consistency, the numbers will increase and colon cancer will have a challenging struggle in front of it.

Monday Matters #26

   Colorectal Cancer sucks! It is a cancer that affects the colon or rectum. Wouldn't it be great to stop or just even reduce the chances of getting this type of cancer? People who follow a vegetarian diet are doing just that! New research shows that these vegetarian diet eaters had a 22% lower risk for Colorectal cancer  than people who don't follow a vegetarian diet and ate meat. The ones performing the research also put into play age, race, and sex of the vegetarians and the general population of America. They had 27% fewer cases of Colorectal Cancer than you would expect for someone because of their age, sex, and race. When in comparison, vegetarians looked stronger in percentages than the meat eaters did.

Monday Matters #25

       Alzheimers is a disease affecting 5 million Americans. Alzheimers affects the brains memory thought and thought. This disease usually occurs in people over the age of 60. However in recent studies, people as young as 20 are showing signs of the Alzheimer's protein. Prof. Geula and colleagues did a study on the brain cells of three groups of deceased people and compared the results: 13 people, age 20-66 were normal when they died, 16 people, age 70- 99 did not have dementia when they died, and 21 people age 60-95 who did have Alzheimers when they died. In their results, they found that the Alzheimers protein began growing throughout their lives starting from adulthood. they found that the bad proteins formed toxic clusters called amyloid oligomers. These were small in adults and large in older older adults. This research shows that the cells grew as time went on.

Monday Matters #24

    In America today, many political positions are held by men and few are held by women. Ms. Murkowski and Alyssa Rosenberg from Monday Matters number 21 and 22 both agree that women face conflicts in politics.  Ms. Murkowski argues that Women are getting knocked out of powerful position, and Alyssa Rosenberg argues that gender plays a big part in the world of politics today. I have always believed that women and men are the same different in gender, but the same when it comes down to ability. I agree with both Ms Murkowski and Alyssa Rosenberg. Some men see women as inferior and that idea effects gender in politics. i wholeheartedly endorse what these two women call for, and it's a need for change in politics. These two articles matter greatly because it exposes the gender differences. As a result, the game of politics is unfair to the women who play it. The men always have the advantage and that needs to change.

Monday Matters #23

       Over the past weeks two there was one subject talked about; women conflicts in the world of politics. The two articles that were analyzed were very similar and related to one another with minimal differences. They both deal with women and politics, however, the only difference between them would be women in the actual power making decision making seats and gender roles. These two obviously come together to form into a conversation automatically because they deal with the the same issue. In todays world, it is hard to avert this topic. Gender inequality is becoming more noticeable and these two topics will be on a list of what women have trouble doing. The two authors agree with each other. Agree that women need more authority and also show that they will fight for it as well.

Monday Matters #22

       Do men in this world see themselves as superior? Always right? Should they be the only ones working in politics while women stay women and watch the kids? Is the answer yes to all of these? The answer "yes" to these questions are being crushed by women who are doing there best to prove men wrong on gender roles. However, on the way to their success, women face plenty of obstacles. In a opinion article written by Alyssa Rosenberg, she states what troubles women have. One thing that is said is how people view mens conflicts more seriously than a women's conflict. This only causes and issue of ethics and avoids the gender politics.  She also claims that gender socialization restricts women from participating in politics. The saddest thing she does say in this article is how when men take a women's idea, the only thing women could do is laugh and keep pushing to try and beat them  show what they can do once more. There can be progress however. As stated in the article, "as gender and family norms shift, politics may follow." If women keep doing what they are doing now this gender role can easily be changed. Not rapidly of course, but slowly. They will soon make the answer to those questions "no."

Monday Matters #21

Women. What will the world do without them. They give birth, take care of their family even when they're sick, and are always there when needed. However, the Republican takeover knocked down women from leadership posts. In the elections that took place in November, there were 20 women in senate and 84 in the house but now, due to the the republican takeover, took away powerful committee leadership from women. When the democrats were in control however, women had the powerful positions. Ms. Murkowski, a Maryland democrat, said, "The women in the Senate - there are no pushovers here." The house and senate make laws. Women have great ideas, but as states in the article, if the chair does not want to hear it, they will not hear it. As the years went on, more women have served in the senate and have been recognized for their astounding accomplishments. The real way the representative should be chosen in the Senate and House should be the effectiveness of the person, not by gender.

Monday Matters #20

    Michelle Obama, or the First Lady, gave a speech to the students in a girls' school in London. Michelle Obama states that she lived on the South Side of Chicago and had no wealth or resources. She came from a hard working middle class family where her parents did as much as they could to provide their family with whatever they needed even without going to a college or University. Her parents emphasized the importance of education to her and her brother Craig Robinson. Michelle made it into Princeton and eventually made it into Harvard Law School. She returned to Chicago and started working at a law firm where she met her soon to be husband, Barack Obama.

     In her talk to the girl's, she declares that she IS an example of what is possible when girls are raised with love from close people. She speaks about how her role models had the biggest impact on her. These role models taught her how men and women should treat each other, how to nurture children, and how to show care. She describes a date with Barack Obama when they went to a community center meeting and one of the things Barack greatly encouraged was that the people of that community should dedicate themselves "to work together to work together to try to make the world as it is and the world as it should be, one and the same." She states that the missing pieces are the girls in that school who are the important part to making the world as it should be. In order to do this though, a good education is needed. Of course, because this is given to an all girl school, the gender she is specifically addressing is women. The world is as strong as the health of women. The "health," though, needs a strong education. By getting a prominent education the future of your own life is in your hands. In order to be successful, no matter the economic problems, education is the key to door of a great future. 

Monday Matters #19

        Talents distinguish us from others and make us special. The talents we have define who we are as people. However, do schools ignore and hide our talents? Sir Ken Robinson believes so. In his interview  he states that schools ignore peoples different talents. Schools have are narrow and don't let students display all of their talents as they should. The second point that he states is that we need a revolution in education and this is going to happen with a generalization shift that will happen. "Put your imagination to work." We need to collaborate and think to be innovated. The third point he states is how the schedule of school demoralizes us because we sit in a  room for a certain amount of time until bell rings, then we move to a different room and its a continuous pattern. The students of today don't believe the idea of working hard and going to college to get a job for effort like the previous generation did. The last point he went over was test's. sir Ken Robinson isn't against test but says the problem comes when testing becomes the purpose of it all. Almost as if we revolve around them and obsess over them. Schools hold students back from showing who they really are. We need to reform education so that this problem discontinues.

Monday Matters #18

   Diane Ravitch is a historian of education and a Research professor of education at New York University. It is easy to see that Diane is very interested in reformation of education. In one of her previous articles Diane states that when it comes to education the equality and opportunity is never the same. Solutions to the inequality problems are never easy to solve as well. However, to begin fixing these problems, she proclaims that education of the teachers needs to be number one! Diane also lists what needs to change to transform education. She declares that entrance requirements into teacher training programs need to be more competitive to be able to pick the best students. Money is a big problem many people face, so she declares financial aid should be given because its easier to perform at the peak of your knowledge without having to worry about money. Teachers need to be more alive and excited to teach students. She claims that schools should NOT be competitive but help one another to strive towards one goal. Also, all schools have to be EQUAL and all have the same access to resources, better teachers, and even tools no matter where they live. Throughout this article, Diane emphasis teachers. So she maintains her idea of only the best qualified teachers to teach anyone. Every student deserves the same amount of equality when it comes to education.

Monday Matters #17

     In my previous post from Monday Matters #15, the article described the unfairness and the inequality between the poor and rich schools. This political cartoon displays the true unfairness and inequality. The cartoon shows a man in a suit holding two books. The man is on either side of a dividing fence that is separating the rich side from the poor side. The two books also have differences. There is a immense hardcover book going over the heads of TWO students where they struggle to hold it in the rich school and on the other, there is a compact paper covered book going over the poor public school where there are FIVE students begging and reaching for the book. This truly displays what the article explained. The rich private schools get better quality educational tools and support than the poor public schools that struggle. This is a problem that needs to be restored right away, if not, unwanted problems will occur.

Monday Matters #16

     For the past three weeks three articles have been summarized. The articles all dealt with complications in education. Very similar in the topic but varying in the problems. These three problems can conjure a conversation between the authors because these are all problems that can and should be fixed because they are closely related to one another. One article talks about how students need to be taken out of the "safe zone" with books, another talks about the problem with test's and how many disagree with the Common Core State Standards, and the last article talks about how "America's education system is unequal and unfair." The first two articles are in correlation with each other more than the third because these are minor problems compared to the major problem stated by the last article. However, they could be brought up all together because the first two problems could cause the last problem. There is a dilemma in the middle of this and it all surrounds the problems with education and how people should reform it.

Monday Matters #15

       "America's education system is unequal and unfair." Very straightforward and to the point right? These words come from Peter Dreier the author of this article called "America's Classist Education System." He discusses the differences on education systems between wealthy communities and communities not so fortunate. The wealthy communities have it so much better and a bigger advantage because they have more trained teachers, smaller classrooms to get more time one-on-one with teachers if needed, the students of these wealthy neighborhood schools have the technology that is in the world now so they are up to date, and also have the better environments like libraries and even sports facilities. It's easy to assume that theses students who attend these schools do better than the students in the poor communities. The students have a higher chance of graduating getting and getting into prestigious colleges.
     On the other hand, many students from less prosperous neighborhoods aren't so lucky. Because of lower paying jobs due to no education for the parents themselves, they cannot afford to send their children to a more prestigious school for grammar school, high school, or college. The problem of how helping other families that are poor is even discussed because its not possible to help when the families of that community are poor as well. These families are stuck between a rock and a hard place with no way out. The way the schools are set up makes the education system "unequal and unfair" there are no fair chances for everyone because of this gap between prosperous and not prosperous.

Monday Matters #14

      There are a variety of test's students take throughout their student lives. For example, tests like the ACT, SAT, and even other test's like a test for history class that we get certain grades for the number correct we score. Some might consider those test to be easy and not as challenging. However, many disagree with Common Core State Standards, which is a set of quality academic standards in math and english language arts. One author, Grant Wiggins, took the time to look over eight graders math results specifically and found something that "appalled" him. He found that the hardest questions on those test's were "picayune, isolated, and needlessly complex calculations of numbers using scientific notation." In the article, there are examples that show how  poorly the students did. For example, there were five questions that the students faced but only 36% of all of New York 8th graders got them correct. The introduction to the tests that are about how items will be discussed were also criticized because the author also says that it "gets worse."Not only was the introduction criticized, but so was the "rationale" to the correct answers saying that all the other choices are "plausible" but they are incorrect in the decision made saying that thats when it "gets worse." He points out how in the rationale, the same sentences appear and the only changes made are the letter choices. There is no evidence shown and that all we learn is nothing about student understanding. "New York State teachers deserve better"

Monday Matters #13

    Heres a question. We all want children to be in a safe environment when we children and teens, including myself, are at school. However, should school be treacherous when it comes down to gritty learning? Frank Bruni can answer this question with his article on "The Wilds of Education".  Frank Bruni explains how education is supposed to "provoke, disrupt, challenge the paradigms that young people have consciously embraced." He believes that books are supposed to ignite the fire for wisdom and school to be the perfect environment for it all to happen. He gives the names of seven books that were banned by high school administrators. For example, "An Abundance of Katherines," by John Green because it was deemed "too sexually frank," and "The Working Poor: Invisible in America," by David Shipler because it refrenced rape and abortion. He says these books aren't as bad as "Fifty Shades of Grey" which i heard to be very graphic in it's descriptions. He describes the trouble standardized tests had with the words they used like slavery and poverty because it might cause uneasiness inside the student because of those little words. He also doesn't give teachers a good name by saying the "inflate grades"rather than challenging the student. which also leads the to taking it easy on themselves in college by only taking classes they CAN rather than what TROUBLES and CHALLENGES them. It leads to misuse of education. Education is growing and evolving and sugar coating the process does not motivate anyone. He paraphrases a credible man named Garth Stein who recalled himself in eight grade and how he took a recommended book which had bullies who would pick on one kid and it made him angry but said "it was a situation alien to his own experience. That's also why he needed to be exposed to it"

Monday Matters #12

    When faced in a situation between two people, topics, sides or anything, all people tend to pick a certain side. In the case of the ebola epidemic i have to agree with John D Sutter from Monday Matters 9 who says ebola is a major problem, James Barty from Monday Matters 10 who says western aid is needed to prevent another ebola epidemic, and the political cartoon from Monday Matters 11 which displays how the Center for Disease Control lies to us, the people. I agree with John because ebola is a vast problem. It is not in the United states however it's still a very sizable problem facing third world countries. I agree with James because if we don't help when we have all the resources that can destroy ebola how are we supposed to completely eliminate it and if not that, at least calm it down and contain it. I also agree with the political cartoon because i feel as if the government actually does lie to us to keep us calm and give the impression that everything is fine and under control.
      On the other hand however, the authors Declan Butler who thought opposite from John D Sutter, Shikha who opposed James Barty, and CDC which differs the political cartoon that portrayed them lying. I oppose all of these because I've noticed that all three of these sources state that we shouldn't help, ebola isn't a major problem to deal with, and also that our government is telling the truth. What these sources lack is sympathy because who would would say these suffering people don't need help and lie that everything is being solved and that the problem is small? People without a heart and who have the characteristic of being self centered say that.

Monday Matters #11

            The government. Some people say they tell truth many say they lie. The majority of people agree that that is true with CDC,Center for Disease Control, on the topic of ebola. In this political cartoon it shows a clear example of that claim. From this cartoon we can infer so much. Pictures are worth a thousand words as said by Fred R. Barnard. This cartoon depicts that the CDC, which is on the character's hazmat suit, lies to the people using a fake spokes person while they feed the spokes person with the words to say. CDC is "claiming" that ebola is under control however the characters face shows otherwise because he has a neurotic look. It is clear to us that CDC is lying to us all.
       Other sources differ however. This source is from CDC themselves. Everything said in this press release was never so negative that it would cause major widespread of panic. They say everything the people want to her. It talks about the importance of continuing their work because the decrease of cases in reports have suggested it. It gave statistics on how ebola has decreased from 95% of people who tested positive for ebola to 25%. These two sources contrast dramatically and are nowhere comparable

Monday Matters #10

     Ebola has become a global crisis and has infected many. It has even reached our own country. Some believe its because of the western aid we gave to help stop the spread of ebola. For example, Shikha Dalmia, a senior policy analyst at Reason Foundation, says that "foreign aid also had a big hand in creating Africa's Ebola problem in the first place." She says that strong leading powers of the world have never been good at successfully identifying similar emergencies because we it is not in their mother land. She says that even global agencies have criticized America and other Western countries for their slow response and allowing ebola to infect 10,000 people. Almost half of those people dying due to ebola. Dalmia is almost calling us unintelligent because she proclaims that ebola is not as contagious as a flu. The only way of catching it would be contact with bodily fluids of those infected. However, its been so sophisticated for us to stop it.
      There is a contrasting view saying that western aid IS essential to prevent another ebola outbreak. James Barty, who is a senior adviser to the Legatume, said "The west must continue to help countries like Sierra Leone to prevent a future outbreak" Western aid helps build an effective health system to countries with low ranks in the health index. This aid will help these countries raise up healthcare spending which will reduce the chance of an epidemic like ebola from happening again. Help from countries that have 2.9 hospital beds per 1,000 people like America, compared to Sierra Leone which has .4 hospital beds per 1,000 people will help keep epidemics like and similar to this from happening again. Help is essential to getting rid of virus epidemics across the world.