Author: amongothers13

Rebuttal- amongothers13

(Un)Justifying Property Tax Funding for Public Schools

Although property taxes for public school funding are commonly frowned upon, especially when concerning the low-income families struggling to obtain stability, most fail to see the importance of property taxes when it comes to funding schools. Property taxes contribute to a constant flow of income to schools. In a report published by The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy,  titled “The Property Tax-School Funding Dilemma,” it states that half of all property tax revenue in the United States is used to fund public primary and secondary schools.” This means that if property taxes were to be diminished or cut, in turn, the money would have to come from somewhere else- perhaps another form of tax under a different name than “property tax”. Another benefit of property tax is that those who do have a large amount of money inherited are able to pay more to the community, which would give the schools more money in the long run. People who own houses usually obtain more cash than those who rent homes, hence why homeowners are taxed more. If they make more money, they can give more back to the schools. Another reason property taxes fund schools is because the more money is put into a school system, the better it benefits the children. More money coming in will purchase supplies and books for the children that are vital to their education.

In a frequently asked questions tab on the National Conference of State Legislature website, it states that the property tax funding of schools is here, in use, and they plan on keeping it this way for a long time. If we were to eliminate the property tax funding, the funds would have to come from some other tax, whether it be income, sales or excise tax, which are more likely to change than property taxes. If property taxes were gone, sales tax would need to be increased more than just the 7% it is now. Everything would then be more expensive than what we pay now, and there is no say on how much more things would cost. It could be 15% tax, perhaps even a startling 20%. The property tax method is more stable and secure than the sales tax or income tax would be, and for that reason, people have a hard time imagining what it would be like if we were to abolish the property tax funding of schools.

The National Association of Home Builders Discusses Economics and Housing Policy(NAHB) website shows data that in 2009, $591 billion dollars were collected in the U.S used specifically for elementary and secondary education. These property taxes were accountable for 65% of the school revenues as well as 29% of school funding. The data shows that the more property taxes taken out correlates to the size and accomplishments of the school systems.

People can argue property taxes have many benefits when it comes down to a firm way to produce a constant income of money to the school systems. With that being said, I would like to introduce why property taxes do the opposite of good. The property taxes in different areas vary, higher-income areas give more money than low-income families simply because they have more money to give. They live in nicer areas, with bigger communities and nicer things. Low-income families struggle to feed their children, to put clean clothes on them in the morning. Due to property taxes being so high, they can only afford so much. These children, in turn, are sent to school with the least qualified teachers, with the least amount of history, and the least amount of school supplies. They then receive less of an education than those that live in high-income communities. This is exactly what causes the widening achievement gap- the difference in money going into schools. Low-income schools have less money to spend per student than high-income schools do. An article on Huffington Post titled “School Funding Inequality Makes Education ‘Separate and Unequal,'” states that 6.6 million students from low-income areas in 23 states are harmed directly by local fundings. It is said that federal funding could be used to help pay for schools, but it is not supposed to be used to balance the local and state funds. Instead, this method would take away from the schools. We need to realize that children from low-income families live a difficult life. Some, if not most, walk into school in the morning with an empty stomach and thin, tapered clothing. Most of them encounter abuse at home, and live in run-down neighborhoods filled with crime and drug use. Then, they are sent to a school that does not allow them to grow due to the lack of resources in said school. This is why property tax funding of schools needs to be eliminated. Children in high-income areas have more resources than they actually use and need at the schools they attend while low-income students, just as deserving of a full education, sit in old, rocky desks, struggling to get by with the materials they do have, which is very little. We need to realize it is time to give back to the children, and property taxes are destroying America’s youth and their chances at becoming successful.  

So, while others may argue that property taxes are “the only way”, I find it hard to believe that the only way to help students in schools is by taking away from them, by not giving them what they need. Arne Duncan states that “The children who need the most seem to be getting less and less, and the children who need the least get more and more.” There simply must be another way. These children deserve an equal education.

 

Sources:

http://www.ncsl.org/research/education/funding-approaches-the-property-tax-and-public-ed.aspx

http://eyeonhousing.org/2011/09/the-importance-of-property-taxes-for-schools/

https://www.sapling.com/12053235/advantages-disadvantages-property-taxes-used-fund-education

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/13/arne-duncan-school-funding-disparities_n_6864866.html

Safer Saws- amongothers13

1- Customers- A list of Complaints

1a) “A false trip mandates replacement of the brake mechanism which is an expensive piece (~$59)”

Consumers would have to pay another $60 if the blade does stop before hitting flesh. This is an inconvenience.

1b) “A low percentage of the 30,000 annual (U.S.) table saw injuries are due to contact with the blade – most are from kickback.”

Most injuries aren’t even from the skin hitting the blade itself, but more so from other things. So, consumers would have to purchase this saw if all others are wiped off the shelves even if the problem doesn’t apply to them.

1c) “The Power Tool Institute (made up of many of the major tool manufacturers) takes strong offense to the concept of making safety devices like this mandatory on products like table saws. They cite both technical and practical/financial problems with mandating SawStop technology – and there are a lot.”

Not everyone agrees that they should be mandatory for there are many problems that stem from it becoming a “necessity.

Factual

2-  Steve Gass himself

2a) “The saw saves the finger, but mangles the machine.”

Your finger would be safe, yes, but the machine is destroyed due to slowing down in milliseconds. This causes damage to the whole machine, and then you’d have to buy a whole new one.

2b) “That’s like driving a car a thousand miles an hour and hitting a brick wall.”

Discussing the damage done to the machine after stopping so fast would be similar to the damage to a car driving into a wall at a fast pace. This infers there would be extreme damage to the machine that is unfixable.

2c) “This is a man who has faith in his creation.”

Despite what the rest of the video says about the damage, Steve Gass still has full potential in his invention and believes it is quite an amazing invention.

Opinion

3- News Reporter 

3a) “But as well as the technology works, the major tool companies have failed to put this kind of device on any of their table saws — even eight years after Gass offered to license it to them.”

The reporter thinks that these safer saws should have been on shelves when Gass first offered it to them. He wonders why they aren’t for sale yet if they can prevent injury from using saws.

3b) “In other words, let consumers decide. Young says many consumers won’t want to pay for the SawStop technology, which could add $100 to $300 in cost, depending on which side you talk to.”

Consumers can buy it if they want to, but safety doesn’t always sell because of the additional price. Would people rather lose a finger or pay an extra 200 dollars?

3c) “I came across a little ad for a table saw that wouldn’t cut off your fingers. That sounded like a good kind of saw to me; I like doing home-improvement projects. And it just sounded interesting.”

The reporter is interested in the saw because he does home-improvement projects and sees where the injuries could happen. He agrees that these items should be sold for consumers. He thinks it is a good idea.

Opinion

4- Personal Injury Lawyers

4a) “Table saws cause more than 40,000 injuries every year. Approximately 10% of those injuries, or 4,000, result in amputations every year. Fingers, hands, and arms are the most common parts of the body that are amputated. Only 20% of the injuries occur in people who are on the job, where injuries are usually covered by workplace accident insurance.”

The lawyers say that a change is needed due to the amount of injuries a year. A large percentage of injuries aren’t on the job but from at-home projects.

4b) “The SawStop and other table saw safety devices are actually very simple. ”

They think that the SawStop is a simple machine that reduces injuries.

Proposal

5-Consumer Product Safety- Sally Greenberg 

5a) “Ten people every day – according the CPSC’s own data – have their fingers amputated in power saw accidents. 10 a day!  I’ve wanted to push the CPSC for a mandatory standard ever since hearing a story on NPR in May of 2006.”

This woman believes 10 amputations a day from table saws is way too much! When she heard it she instantly wanted a change for safer saws.

5b) “They also took the commendable step of petitioning the Commission and asking that it adopt a mandatory safety standard – that was in 2003. ”

She thinks that SawStop is commendable for wanting the safe saw to be a mandatory machine for everyone to have for they are looking out for people’s safety.

5c) “As NCL told USA Today, if you have a pattern of injury, a safety technology that can address it, and it’s affordable, you should move toward a mandatory safety standard so that all parts of the industry comply. ”

People should be pushing for the SawStop to be mandatory because of how many injuries there are in just a day.

5d) “10 amputations a day and thousands more injuries every year, is an unacceptable toll when a ready fix is affordable, available, and waiting.”

Basically saying, break out the SawStops! We need more protection! It is affordable and ready for consumption, so why isn’t it on shelves yet? It is what she thinks we need.

Proposal

Causal Argument- amongothers13

Low-Income Communities+Low-Funded Schools= Less Preparation+Less Opportunities

It would make no sense to capture an elegant butterfly, and then trap it in a confined, windowless room, correct? How would the butterfly survive? How would it adapt? The answer is simple: it cannot survive without a struggle. If this is the case, why take young students and place them in an underfunded school system? How would they learn everything they need to become successful? How would they be prepared for what life has to offer?

The education gap between poor and rich communities has grown immensely over the last couple decades. There is one main cause: the environment and location the schools are placed in. In an area with low property taxes, poor communities do not provide enough money in order for the schools to give the proper supplies and resources needed in a classroom. These children are left to “make-do” with what they have, which is undeniably not enough. Why are these children suffering?

An article from The Atlantic titled  How Ineffective Government Funding Can Hurt Poor Students, claims that 14 states are currently providing less money to poor community schools with a lot of students coming from poor areas. It also states that 19 states have a funding system that does just enough to meet the standards. These schools lack valuable resources and an abundance of them to ensure a quality education. These states fail to provide help to children in low income areas. There are over 11 million poor students in the United States that are not receiving the education they deserve. Schools struggle to purchase enough textbooks, calculators, rulers, papers, etc due to the property taxes and low income.

Richard Fleming, who is a superintendent of the Greene County School District in Mississippi, speaks out on the effects of low-income property taxes on the school itself. He claims the school had to cut positions and end jobs for some employees of the school because they did not have enough money to pay them. He says his district is in “survival mode”, meaning they are struggling just to provide the basic needs for the children. He says the school is behind on technology, cannot provide the arts, sports, or a choir. (Hechingreport.org)

The lack of necessary materials takes a large toll on student success. Without the necessary tools, students inevitably perform at lower rates than the highly funded school students do. Teachers often have to pay for classroom resources from their own money, or are forced to use old books from other schools that do not even cover what is in their plans or the school’s curriculum. They also have no clear way to track data of what schools need what textbooks and what curriculum would best fit.  It allows the school to see what they already have and what they need more of to be successful. Without this data, it is clear that the needs are not met, for they have no way how to reach them. (The Odyssey)

Not only do these children endure difficult lives at home, for low-income areas often lack resources, they are being sent to school to endure even more difficulty with developing and learning. The middle class seems to dissipating as the gap between the rich and the poor grows wider and wider. Funding has been cut a tremendous amount and in some states, pre-K education has been cut entirely and some schools had to deny some kids from attending school due to population. The states have not hesitated to cut funding, yet they haven’t made any true effort to gain money to support the schools.  Most of the children from poor areas come to school without have had eaten breakfast yet, or have just encountered secondhand smoke, abuse, neglect,  dressed in light, poor clothing and torn shoes. The bottom line is that their lives are difficult enough- why should they suffer even more in the place they are supposed to succeed? In the place they have a right to succeed? Everybody talks about the gap, but nobody does anything to fix the gap, or even attempt to do so. Children from these areas are dropping out of high school before they graduate. There were about 3 million teens in 2009 that did not have a high school diploma or were not enrolled in school at all. The drop out rate for low-income students is five times greater than the drop out rates of high-income schools- 7.4%. High school dropouts are not able to apply for 90% of the worlds jobs. This means that children from low-income areas are denied a job that pays enough to support them before they even get a chance to get an interview for the job; they are turned down on the spot, and it is all because of the lack of funding in low-income communities. (Huffington Post)

Children are not succeeding simply because of the area they were born into. The effect the low-funded schooling has on them is tremendous. If they cannot use the tools they need, if they do not learn what is on the curriculum, they are going to be unprepared and under-educated when it comes time to go to college or to apply for jobs. So, basically, these children are “doomed” from birth, as they are not guaranteed the right to the education they are entitled to. And the worst thing is, it all starts with the government funding, the ones who know that low-income areas do not earn enough money to properly fund a school. Therefore, we are trapping these children’s potentials in that same dark room the butterfly is in, beautiful, bold-but restricted, tested, trapped.

Sources:

http://hechingerreport.org/how-does-underfunding-actually-affect-schools-four-questions-with-greene-county-superintendent-richard-fleming/

https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/06/how-funding-inequalities-push-poor-students-further-behind/395348/

https://www.theodysseyonline.com/lack-of-material

http://www.theedadvocate.org/poverty-and-school-funding-why-low-income-students-often-suffer/

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/20/high-school-dropout-rates_n_1022221.html

Visual Rhetoric- amongothers13

Visual Rhetoric Argument- amongothers13

0:01-0:02- A woman is climbing up what looks to be a large pile of a substance we are unsure of. But, there are mountains of the same substance behind her as well. She is surrounded by this substance, and here she is seen trying to climb up the mountain. Mountains often symbolize an obstacle someone wants to overcome.

:0:03-0:05- We can now see that the mountain is made up of cigarettes, still fuming with smoke rising into the air. The woman is struggling to climb up, but she is progressing. This gives us an idea that maybe the woman has smoked before and now she is trying to overcome it.

0:06-0:10- It opens up with just a shot of the cigarettes themselves. We can infer there must be thousands of cigarettes in just one pile. As she tries to climb up her shoe kicks down lots of cigarettes. The clip ends with her hand trying to grasp a hold, but all she gets is a handful of cigarettes.  She is struggling with climbing due to these cigarettes.

0:12-0:15- The woman’s face looks determined. She looks up, perhaps towards the top of the mountain. Maybe she is close to the top. She pushes herself up more and more with determination.

0:16-0:18- The woman can finally stand on top of the mountain. She did it! She turns her face to the camera.

0:19-0:21- The woman looks around at the view from on top of the mountain, and then looks at the camera and smiles. She has overcome the urge to smoke and has quit and is looking out on the life she can now live.

0:22-0:25- The camera zooms out gradually as the woman still stands on top, smiling. This shows just how massive of a mountain it really is, or, symbolically speaking, how big of an obstacle she just overcome.

0:26-0:30- A machine is on the screen used for lung scans. The woman can take a lung scan to ensure she is still healthy and not at risk for lung cancer, or she can get screened and realized because she smoked so many cigarettes it is too late to prevent cancer. Either way, this commercial promotes quitting smoking and to start getting lung scans.

PTSD Claims- amongothers13

13

“The amount of progress in Caleb’s six years of therapy has been frustrating for everyone. “

Caleb’s PTSD plays a role in his family’s lives because they are constantly trying to help and worrying about what happens next for Caleb.

Does the family ever worry about suffering from PTSD as well? Do they think it could happen to them if they start acting like Caleb without realizing it after being there for him for so long?

Perhaps some people are so frustrated that they are coming less hopeful for Caleb.

“Some state VA offices even offer group therapy.”

Group therapy is often used in situations where something traumatic happens to a family and effects everyone in different ways, like a house fire, or the loss of a parent. But, group therapy for people with PTSD means a lot of people have it and struggle with it. Could the number of people suffering from PTSD for different reasons prove it is contagious by association? What if group therapy really makes the PTSD worse?

“The VA also endorses eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy (EMDR), which is based on the theory that memories of traumatic events are, in effect, improperly stored, and tries to refile them by discussing those memories while providing visual or auditory stimulus. “

If this is true, that traumatic events are improperly stored, could it be true that I, myself, have PTSD from events I try not to think about because they caused me great sadness? Is it possible if I bring them back into memory I could develop PTSD? Could anybody have PTSD if they simply try to remember things in their life that effected them a great deal?

“Currently, the agency is funding 130 PTSD-related studies, from testing whether hypertension drugs might help to examining the effectiveness of meditation therapy, or providing veterans with trauma-sensitive service dogs, like Caleb’s.”

Studies are being done to see if the hypertension drugs help PTSD patients- they are looking for a cure.

Perhaps more people will admit to having PTSD if there is a known cure for it. Most people with PTSD don’t tell professionals or doctors and end up staying inside their houses everyday. If there is a cure, something might spark inside of them to try it, or for one of their loved ones to get the cure for them. And of course, puppies are always a positive.

“But a lot of FOV members and users are impatient with the progress.”

A lot of work has been done, but no true cure or drug has been proven to work to ease the memories. People are growing impatient for PTSD cases keep increasing, which adds setbacks to the research because they keep discovering new aspects.

Does this mean cases of PTSD are getting worse? More severe? Will there ever be something that helps these people suffering from PTSD?

White Paper 2—AmongOthers

Proposal

For my research essay, I will be focusing on the lack of education throughout the world and the detrimental effects it causes. Overall, the rich children are more benefited than the poor when it comes to education for the rich families can provide more resources and money into education than the poor families can. Due to this, there is a major catastrophic learning gap between poor and rich students. This is a huge step backwards considering education was once a tool that neutralized education and brought people from different areas together to learn efficiently.

This issue worries me tremendously since I am currently in school to become a teacher. I have heard stories of children not being able to attend school because the prices are too high in their area. In my research, I hope to find the reasons why the system has shifted so greatly, ways to prevent the lack of education from happening even more,and most importantly, how to get back to where education once was- an education all children deserve to have and have a right to attain.

Sources

  1. https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/08/property-taxes-and-unequal-schools/497333/     

The Essential Content of the Article: Even in a wealthy state, some children still attend poor schools. Students are in need of extra help, yet are offered less than what is efficient. The system is “inadequately funded” and needs a change. Opportunity is not given to each student evenly due to the economical differences. Poor students show a lower success rate. This article in particular is talking about Connecticut and how perhaps the problem there is how education was founded in the country and how it is structured. It used to be efficient for students back then, but it no longer provides enough today. This article goes back hundreds of years to how education used to be distributed and that is why I have chosen this article.

What it Proves: There is a dramatic difference with schooling back then and schooling today, perhaps we need to reflect on the past to improve the present. Also, this proves even more how poor schools influence children and their success.

2. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/10/education/education-gap-grows-between-rich-and-poor-studies-show.html

The Essential Content of the Article: This article dives further into the idea that the education gap is not only just in black and white students,but is now affecting the rich and the poor children. Studies have shown that the gap between rich and poor children and their test scores has increased by 40% since the 1960’s, an era that focused primarily on skin tone and not how much income your family made. People are saying that perhaps the recession widened the gap even more than it was already, and due to the decreasing economy, it may increase even more, while others are saying the difference comes from a variety of different things.

What it Proves: This article has solid statistics and numbers and ideas that will help people understand the dramatic increase in the gap and the inequality of learning due to income.

3. http://education.seattlepi.com/disadvantages-facing-poor-community-public-schools-2182.html    

The Essential Content of the Article: This article covers the disadvantages that poor communities face due to their schooling system and will help me in arguing that children from low income families deserve more. Children coming from these schools are often less prepared and struggle with family connections.

What it Proves: The many disadvantages listed in the article and the background info on each of them will provide me with more reasons why education needs to be equal. Poor community schooling does not offer enough to children.

4. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/201709/mend-the-gap-between-rich-and-poor-in-school-achievement   

Essential Content of Article: Reasons why there is such a huge gap between poor and rich communities and how different “solutions” people thought would work are not working. It provides insight as to ideas on how to truly eliminate the issue.

What it Proves: One of my main ideas for the paper was to figure out how the education system has changed so much over the years. This article provides some good topics and information that lead to the decline of the system and helps me figure out what produced such a great divide.  

5. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/14/upshot/why-american-schools-are-even-more-unequal-than-we-thought.html   

Essential Content of Article: More of an insight as to why American schools are even more unequal than we may think already. Students are performing at lower levels than ever before,  and the economic disadvantage has the most significant role in a child’s schooling success. Scores end up to be even lower than predicted.  The gap is about a third larger than a typical gap. There are linear relationships to the failing economy and math scores, and more and more children are falling behind. There are statistics that even go back as far as the children’s parents and their education.

What it Proves: Schools need a change and more resources.

6. https://cepa.stanford.edu/content/widening-academic-achievement-gap-between-rich-and-poor-new-evidence-and-possible

Essential Content of Article: Discusses family socioeconomic characteristics and the difference in academic success over the last 50 years. Income achievement gap is the “Average achievement difference between a child from a family at the 90th percentile of the family income distribution and a child from a family at the 10th percentile”. It is now double the black-white gap, a gap that used to be one and a half to two times larger than the income achievement gap.

What it Proves: The relationship between income and achievement has grown tremendously and income is now a deciding factor for children’s success.

7.  https://www.brookings.edu/research/income-and-education-as-predictors-of-childrens-school-readiness/

Essential Content of Article: Studies have shown huge gaps when testing school readiness in young children due to income of their families and also material education. Most children from a poor, low-income family perform poorer than those from a high-income family. A test is being conducted to test how children perform and why- what causes the poor performance>

What it Proves: Income plays a huge role in the success of young children.

8. https://www.childfund.org/about-us/education/

Essential Content of Article : The lack of education could lead to a lifetime full of struggles, hardships, and difficulties. It is hard for children to accomplish more things when they lack a full education. A program called ChildFund India raises money for children’s needs for schooling. In most areas where ChildFund is, schooling itself is free, but the uniforms, books, buses, are often too expensive for families to pay.

What it Proves: The significance of a good education and what it can do for children in the long run.

9. http://teaching.monster.com/benefits/articles/3049-how-one-school-is-fighting-poverty

Essential Content of Article: One in six students live in poverty. A middle school in North Carolina is taking a stand against poverty. People are working together to ensure that the children have a better life by being in a classroom. The school hangs inspirational signs throughout the halls to make the students know that they have a future and that they can achieve it. This article lists ways to fight back against school poverty.

What it Proves: There is hope! We must fight back and encourage students to have faith.

10. https://edsource.org/2014/community-schools-can-help-break-the-cycle-of-poverty/57633

Essential Content of Article: The Local Control Funding Formula has a goal to improve the outcome of successful students and to give local schools more of a say as to how they spend their education dollars. Investment is another thing we need to focus on- where all the money goes. If it does not go towards the children, it is going to the wrong place. Community schools are bringing food clinics, health clinics, and extra curricular activities onto school grounds in hopes to create the school the children deserve. There are community based services as well, for the kids are often struggling with something. Their needs are addressed so that they can learn, and the teachers can teach.

What it Proves: Poverty creates learning blockades for children. We need to find a way around those blockades to ensure these children have the education they need.

Summaries- amongothers13

Summary 1- “Do Toms Shoes Really Help People?”

It seems counterintuitive that a “buy one, give one” shoe business, such as Toms, a company in which people make a shoe purchase and then a pair of shoes is sent to someone in need, would not be much of a help to those people at all. However, Sarika Bansal from New York Times says that Toms might be guessing wrong. Do those people really need shoes?

Toms claims that the promotion of their shoes help children get an education, for in some places the children are prohibited from entering a school without shoes on. Sarika Bansal writes about her recent trip to Ethiopia, where she learned that the children that attend the school are gifted shoes from the school itself, meaning they are in no need of shoes at all.

When a tsunami hit Indonesia, the area was in a famine. People could not find food around them, so people began to send rice donations. This, however, only created a rice competition.

Toms also is known not to sell to local shoe stores, making it harder for the people to actually obtain the shoes. Bansal wrote to Toms and requested they start selling shoes locally so that more people can purchase them, but Toms never responded. Greg Adams made a comment that businesses such as Toms is considered a risk.

After the Haiti earthquake, people began to rely on NGO’s for food, for they knew their government would not supply enough for them. Toms decided to jump in and offer the Haitians shoes after the quake, for they simply assumed they would be in need. Alanna Shaikh wrote in a watchdog blog called “Aidwatch” an article called, “Nobody Wants Your Old Shoes: How Not to Help in Haiti”. She writes that people around the world never really know what is necessary unless they live there.

But, there is hope for buy one, give one companies. If they stop competing with other businesses, and if they start to cooperate with places in need to see what supplies they are lacking, they could start giving them resources they actually need.  One company is Warby Parker who makes glasses, and another is Two Degrees Foods donates meals to hungry children. However, it is hard to figure out the basis of the way Toms works, for there is very little information on their website, which is an issue because buyers want to know exactly how their money is being spent.

Summary 2- Men Defining Rape: A History

It seems counterintuitive to think that human beings could really deny a woman of being raped, however, the issue of rape has been evident for thousands of years. Overtime, men have been deciding on their own when it is okay or not okay to rape women. This article reveals a timeline of how men have been defining rape for thousands of years.

Hammurabi’s Code, 1780 B.C, claims that raping a virgin is “property damage” against her father. If you were married and were raped, it was considered cheating. They punished such sinners by throwing them in a river.

Deuteronomy 22:28-29 states that if a virgin is raped, the rapist owes her father 50 shekels and to marry her.

In Rome, the word raptus means the abduction of a woman. This means whatever was done to her next was secondary to the abductor.

An old British Text called Fleta stated that if a women was raped and became pregnant afterwards, then she was not raped for you cannot be able to conceive unless you gave consent.

In North Carolina, a man could legally rape his wife until 1993. They believed woman gave themselves up by getting married, making the men entitled to sex.

If you were of color, if you were raped, it wasn’t considered “rape”.  Even after the abolishment, white people still ignored the rape of colored people.

In the 18th and 19th century, men began to demand proof that a women was raped. Dr. Lawson Tait even said that if the woman didn’t squirm a lot, it was not rape. He says, “You cannot thread a moving needle.”

Women have been fighting for laws against rape and to do with rape, including date rape, and the rape of gender neutral people. You do not have to be a virgin to be raped. No matter the relationship, if a women does not want to have sex, the answer is no.

January of 2012, the FBI finally decided to change their definition of rape to include different kinds of sexual assault, other genders, for the victim being unable to give consent either by intoxication or loss of consciousness or simply for being in the wrong state of mind.

It was just last year that Republicans took a step back on the rape of women. They proposed to cut back on funding of abortions to women who were considered to be in situations of “non”  forcible rape. Of course, this failed, but the Republican fight against women just begun. They insist that if a women is being raped, then her body would have the ability to prevent it, as if they could stop their bodies from being invaded.

Summary 3- Do Multivitamins Really Work?

It seems counterintuitive that multivitamins would be doing more harm than good, but studies show the facts. An estimated one third of Americans take multivitamins daily (myself being a part of that percentage). The studies show, however, that multivitamins aren’t doing what they are supposed to do, or what people think they do. There seems to be little to no evidence that actually shows that it makes people healthier. In fact, vitamin deficiency is a rare occasion in the United States. Advertisements say that the vitamins help with bone strength, the heart, breast health, but in 2009 a group of women conducted an experiment that proved that the vitamins did not protect any aforementioned diseases they were said to protect against. This included heart disease, colon, and breast cancer.

Also, most people get their daily supply of vitamins from the food they eat alone. The body has a limit for certain vitamins and minerals, so if we indulge in more than the necessary amount by eating the vitamins, it is not healthy for us, and in fact is quite dangerous. Some studies have concluded that excessive vitamin intake to lesions that can lead to cancers. For the elderly, if they take an iron pill but get enough iron from the food they eat already, it is possible they could increase their risk of getting heart disease. Pregnant women could also increase the risk of birth defects by taking too many vitamins.

Thankfully, last June, manufacturers began to be forced to add a warning label on the bottles of vitamins to warn their users of the possible outcomes if misused. However, some vitamins lack a warning label, such as a gummy vitamin for kids that exceeded the necessary amount of vitamin A and zinc.

Federal Health Officials are telling healthy people to stop worrying about taking vitamins. However, some vitamins could help people suffering from anorexia, and kids that are picky eaters. The truth is, we might not realize just how much we benefit from our food intake, and we also might not realize the dangers of taking multivitamins.

My hypothesis-amongothers13

1.) Education

2.)  The lack of education

3.) The effects of the lack of education on families

4.) Many countries do not provide the financial resources needed to create schools and provide materials

5.) This means that both children from rich and poor families are forced together in an environment that does not encourage individual development

6.)  Due to the lack of education throughout the world, it leaves children with no other choice but to have a poor education. This means that the drop-out rate and education failure remains high.