Counterargument to Sex Education

If schools started teaching students a more comprehensive approach to sex education I believe they will begin to think that having sex is okay as long as it is protected sex. By giving students the opportunity to learn about safe precautions to take while having sex, we are giving them the impression that it is okay to have sex as long as they are being careful. Students should be taught Abstinence only while in school so that they are continually reminded that the only safe sex is no sex at all. I think it is only fair for teachers to teach students this approach because it should be up to the parents to decide when it is appropriate and the right time for their children to learn about sex and the risks that are involved. Also, with this approach students may be a little bit more hesitant about having sex because they are kind of conditioned to believe that sex is wrong. With constant media and surrounding peer influences, it is important to push the idea that abstinence is the only way to protect yourself from unplanned pregagnancies and STDs.
Let’s be honest, kids are going to make their own decisions based on their personal influences and situations anyway, so why not let them figure things out on their own, but still let them know that the only way to really protect themselves is to not have sex at all.

Megan Caruthers

smaller is not the answer!

For my arguement people say that we do not have the money to pay for extra teachers and the space needed. They say it is not needed we could find other ways to help the kids without reducing the class sizes. There is other teaching methods that have been experimented and helped, but they have not worked as well as the smaller class sizes. They argue that we would be cutting into funds that are needed in other places. These other teaching methods such as one called formative assesmemment, which would only cost 2,000 per class per year instead of the estimated 20000 for reducing class sizes. This involves stopping a few minutes after each session and talking abotu was learned, and if the student dont understand the lesson they they must go back and relearn it.

Students Using Prescriptions Illicitly

When students use prescription drugs illicitly they use excuses to justify why they take these pills. Some excuses sound good but are still not valid. One reason that they use to justify taking these pills is that it helps them focus. When taking Adderall it has helped patients diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactive disorder to be able to focus and stay on topic. Another reason some students use to justify is that they can stay up longer and not feel tired in class. When students use Ritalin to stay awake along with other methods of staying up it puts there health at risk. They may be staying up and focusing more but they are not helping themselves in the long run. When they stay up and study for a test using these drugs they don’t get their best rest for the test they are studying for she they are going to do the same if not worse on the test because they will be exhausted.

Lack of Financial Aid

The government states that it is not their responsibility to fund a students’ college education, it is the responsibility of the family to support their child through all their schooling. If we gave financial aid to any student whose parents would not help them through college, than every family would just deny their child any financial help for college, and the government would have to give financial aid to every student. If financial aid was given to students who do not receive funding from their parents, there would be more people taking advantage of the system. Financial aid would be a lot easier to find loop holes to receive it also. Since there would be more people receiving financial aid, there would be less money to go around, therefore everyone would receive less money for college. The family’s that truly can’t afford college would not receive as much help as they are receiving now, and some low income family’s might have to give up the dream of college because of the lack of financial aid available for them.

My best friend and I have been friends since we were seven years old. We did everything together. i said did everything together because now our time is limited and sometimes she doesnt feel well enough to do certain things. She developed a lot faster than most girls at our age. this caused a lot of male attention. Not only male attention but older male attention. At the age of 15 she got a boyfriend. he was an 18 year old senior. He always had a reputation for sleeping around but when he met her he was a one women man. When she turned 16 she lost her virginity to this boy. Of course she did not think it was a big deal that he was not a virgin because she loved him and she new that she meant more to him than any other girl ever did. A year later she was having problems, she was sick all the time. she was also always tired and never felt like doing anything. I felt like i was losing my best friend and i was actually a little upset with her. She went to the doctor to find out what was causing her fatigue. The results came back one month later totally unexpected, she was diagnosed with HIV. When i found outi went to her house and held her as we both cried for hours. i felt like my friend was getting ripped away from me to soon. This changed both our lives and plans for the future. We were suppose to be room mates in college, be neighbors when we got our own houses, have kids at the same time so they can be best friends too, and finally coctail parties in the Bahamas when we are old and grey. Most of this will never happen because she did not go to college, has choosen not to have kids, and she might not live long enough to get to the Bahamas. She never used a condom with her boyfriend because she was on birth control, she did not see the use. Condoms are 90% effective in protecting against HIV/AIDS. We were never made aware of this. we were only taught that if someone has sex before they are married they will most likely contract an STD. We thought the message was silly and it was just adults trying to scare us out of the fun in life once again. They never once were realistic and told us about our other options. That is because we had an abstinence based program. Teenagers in America have the highest STD rate out of all Industrial countries. This is exactly why we need to provide to our young people information on safer sex. More than half of teenagers have pre-material sex before they graduate high school. That is more than the majority. They need to be taught safer sex for their health and others health as well. Abstinence is a good thought but it is unrealistic to think that it will make every teenager choose to abstain from sex untill marraige. Schools need to give kids more options. They need to teach safer sex in sex education so America's future can be healthy.

i posted this on my own blog and i thought i posted it in this one. It was posted befor the due date

abstinence only sex ed

Abstinence only sex education promotes one way to prevent pregnancy and STD’s. Collins states that abstinence only sex education programs do not acknowledge the students who do become sexually active before marriage. They do not teach about contraception use. These programs cite STD’s and HIV as reason to remain abstinent, and finally they avoid discussion about abortion (4). Abstinence only programs try to scare kids enough to stay abstinent. The people who promote abstinence only education argues that teaching comprehensive sex education will give mixed messages to young people (Taverner 3). They also believe that pre-marital sex is immoral and that young people need to be guided strongly against sex before marriage (Taverner 3). Abstinence only educators also discredit the effectiveness of condoms (Taverner 3). They do not teach the kids how to use or how efective and safe condoms really are

Stick to the real subjects

There are many reasons the arts and music specifically are being cut at an alarming pace in today's society. First, many argue that time wasted on music should be more wisely spent on other core academic subjects such as Mathematics and literature. Standardized tests are structured to evaluate these core subjects and the success of a school is judged accordingly. Time spent on music and other non-core subjects only distracts students from the true reason for being in school, learning to read and write. Second, music classes are expensive. The average cost of a student cello or bassoon is roughly 2000.00 dollars. Band instrument prices in general have gone through the roof. Due to this cost the schools typically provide many of these instruments for the students to play. Maintence and care of these instrunents alone can become quite costly as well. Even in choral ensemble classes the costs of uniforms and travel to and from contests and events can become very exspensive. Due to a lack of funds available to schools from the state level, these overpriced extra curricular classes are the logical place to make reductions. Once again, our funds should be spent on the "real" subjects and not be wasted on this musical nonscense.

The Negative Aspects of Dry Campuses

Although dry campuses are statistacly safer than their wet campus counter parts, dry campuses also have negative aspects to them. A few of these negative effects include an increase in drunk driving and binge drinking. The reason why there are more drunk driving accidents on dry campuses is because students are forced to drive home as opposed to asking for help. On dry campuses if a student is caught with alcohol they will get in trouble. This problem does not occure on wet campuses because students are able to contact campus security for a ride home. On dry campuses students are not able to contact the security because they will get in trouble. The second part about a wet campus that is better than a dry campus is the reduced binge drinking rate. The cause of this reduction is because students are able to drink where ever they want whenever they want. On dry campuses students are not able to freely drink. Because of this the students binge drink on one occasion as opposed to spreading the alcohol out over long periods of time. Dry campuses are always noted for having no flaws. When looked at, wet campuses are really safer in the aspect that there are fewer drunk driving accidents as well as fewer binge drinking accadents as well.

Beginnings Debate Part 2

While kids should be allowed to think for themselves, the important ideal of separation of church and state should not be compromised in the process.  This ideal has been a key foundation of American since the creation of the Constitution.  Thus, a theory about human origins unsupported by empirical data and largely derived from church teachings should not be introduced in a public school.  One of the main reasons that America can be considered a melting pot is the complete acceptance of all people, regardless of race, gender, and religion.  Losing one of these freedoms can alienate entire regions of the world.  Evolution theory does not cross this boundary, and is almost universally accepted as a fact, even though its name contains theory, and so it should be the sole theory taught in public schools.

Disadvantages of Increasing Securty Measures In Schools

Many argue that student caused school deaths are not the real problem, but that crimes outside the school are the issue. Eighty-five percent American communities recorded no juvenile homicides in 1995, and only 93.4 percent recorded one or no juvenile arrests for murder. Three times more juvenile are killed by adults, and only about 3 percent of U.S. murders consist of a juvenile murdering another juvenile. The 1996 Journal of the American Medical Association, two studies led by the Centers for Disease Control, stated that from 1992-94 that “the estimated incidence of school-associated violent death was .09 per 100,000 student-years.” This indicates that there is less than one in a million chance of suffering a school associated violent death. According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, there are 3.8 murdered juveniles per 100,000– 40 times the number of juveniles murdered in school. In the 2 year period of 1992-94, 105 school-associated violent deaths were reported, of which 76 were students. Researchers estimate that less than 1 in 100 deaths among school-aged children were school related.

Jessica Updike

The disadvantages to home education

Despite the many benefits to homeschooling, there are some disadvantages. The most significant disadvantage seems to be the amount of sacrifice it takes. Parents have to sacrifice emotionally, physically, and financially.
Financial costs of homeschooling vary, but if a parent wants to use a curriculum to ensure their student is covering everything they need to in their specific grade, the costs can be around four hundred dollars a year. That four hundred dollars is only the cost of the curriculum for one child, what about a family that has four kids? Plus, to homeschool, many families who would have had two parents bringing in income then only have one working, so they are losing even more money.
In addition to finances, parents have the responsibility of monitoring their children’s education and encouraging learning. If students have questions about something they are studying, they will go to the parents, and parents have to help them find answers. Parents have to choose curriculum for each child, or plan lessons according to their grade, and this can be very time consuming. Overall, there is a lot of commitment. The sacrifice and commitment that help so many home schooling families to succeed are also the responsibilities that cause many to fail.

Against Coffee Shops on Campuses

Coffee shops continue to pop up all over the world. Coffee has become a big part of our lives. Many people drink at least a cup every day. Not many things can be compared to coffee. However, coffee can have negative effects on the body. Students can be particularly susceptible to the dangers, latching on to coffee to stay alert.

Caffeine, the most famous component of coffee, causes an increase in activity of dopamine, which largely accounts for both caffeine’s stimulating effects and its ability to diminish feelings of depression. Caffeine wakes the brain up, helping people get through the day. However, after it wears off, there can be a depressive effect.

Drinking too much coffee may cause health problems. It is believed that too much can raise your stress level. Some heavy drinkers shake after drinking coffee. Coffee can increase the risk of heart attack. It can raise your heart and blood pressure. Other studies show that drinking too much coffee could result in stomach problems. Furthermore, some experts believe that caffeine is addictive.

Having nearby coffee shops could contribute to dependency. If Coffee is not as readily available, perhaps people would not consume as much, therefore reducing the chance of health problems and addiction. Last but not least, not having coffee shops on campus would save students money!

Counter to dry campus

When hearing the idea of a dry campus many people get very upset for multiple reasons. While some people believe that alcohol is bad they also believe the idea of a dry campus is impractical and really is impossible. It is very hard for a college to keep students from drinking alcohol based on the fact that you can't watch thousands of students all the time. There is also the argument that if the government has allowed a twenty-one to drink what gives the school the right to take away the student's rights.

Some people also argue that alcohol is actually good for you so there is no reason to stop it's consumption. While alcohol is good for you in moderation, and can decrease a person's chances of getting dementia and other heart diseases most students do not drink in moderation. The last argument for a wet campus is the idea that a college can make a lot of money. As you can see there are many arguments against a dry campus but if you research each of these arguments you will find out there are many better arguments for a dry campus than for a wet.

-Jeff Prentice