Author: giannanigro

Definition Argument- lm20

Debate over whether standardized testing is an adequate measure of student success is centered around the idea of test equity. Standardized testing has one main purpose and that is to compare and assess students based on one standard. If every student does not receive the same opportunity to receive a high score, then the test is not equitable. Therefore, if test equity is not achieved then testing has not met its purpose and cannot be used to measure student achievement.

Putting children on the same level when taking high stakes standardized tests is test equity. Students should take a test that matches their culture and lifestyle. For example, the minority children described in Robert Green’s “The Impact of Standardized Testing on Minority Students,” demonstrate how the current test inequity harms minority children. Green argues that the current method of administering standardized tests, giving the same test to every one with little to no exceptions, is not equitable  at all. A minority student who speaks English as his or her second language is expected to understand the same vocabulary as a white child who has been exposed to the English language since birth. A poor black student is expected to have the same “common knowledge” as a wealthy white student despite a clear difference in life experiences. Sure, the questions on the page are the identical but the opportunity to receive a high score is different for every student. As of now, standardized tests for the most part favor Caucasian middle to upper class students. Test equity could be achieved by tailoring tests to students instead of attempting to tailor the students to the test.

Others, who do not agree with the aforementioned definition of test equity, often mistake test equity for test equality. James Aycock illustrates this definition in his article, “Teacher Voice: In Defense of Standardized Testing.” Aycock argues that every test and testing method has to be identical. This is because standardized tests are vital in determining what students know. The scores from tests give teachers the insight they need to determine what skills their students have mastered and which still need work. Since all students received the same test, teachers are able to make generalizations about the student body based on the scores.  According to this mindset, it is okay that minority students or lower class schools may produce lower scores than their wealthy  majority counterparts. They argue the tests are equitable but the education leading up to the tests is not. However, by Aycock’s own definition, the tests are not equitable. It is nearly impossible to give hundreds of thousands an identical test where no child has advantages or disadvantages due to factors such as class or race. The tests that Aycock describes as vital do achieve test equality but do not achieve test equity.

For example, take the Interaction Institute for Social Change’s “Equality vs. Equity Scenario.”  There are two people standing in front of a fence trying to watch a baseball game. They are both given one crate to stand on which makes one of them able to see over the fence while the other is still too short. This is equality since they are being given equal treatment. In the second image, the taller man keeps his one crate while the shorter man receives two crates. Now, both men are at the same height and able to view the game. This is equity because both men are receiving the same opportunity to watch the game. The treatment is fair and impartial. In the context of standardized testing, these definitions are upheld. Giving all students the same exact test, despite language, class, and other barriers that may help or hinder their scores, is test equality not test equity. Test equity is achieved when all students are given the same opportunity to receive a high score with their differences taken into account.

All in all, test equity and test equality are two completely different things and the importance and value of each will be important in determining the future of standardized testing. Having true test equity would mean ensuring that every student has the chance to receive a passing score with hard work. The test itself should not determine whether a student passes, the knowledge of the student should make that determination. Test equity also helps to lower the devastating effects of high stake testing. As of today, where test equality is achieved but not test equity, thousands of lower class and minority communities are suffering. Lower scores are more prevalent in those communities which means less funding and less academic progression for the students. Every community receives the same test, in order to achieve test equality, so the higher class communities prevail while the lower class minority communities suffer. With true test equity, tests would be more accommodating to the culture and dialect differences between groups. Therefore, all students would be capable of receiving the same score and only their knowledge would dictate the final grade.

Works Cited

Aycock, By James. “Teacher Voice: In Defense of Standardized Testing.” SCORE. N.p., 20 May 2014. Web. 30 Oct. 2016.

Green, Robert L., and Robert J. Griffore. “The Impact of Standardized Testing on Minority Students.” The Journal of Negro Education, vol. 49, no. 3, 1980, pp. 238–252.

Macguire, Angus, and IISC. “Illustrating Equality VS Equity.” Interaction Institute for Social Change. IISC, 01 June 2016. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.

White Paper- lmj20

Content Descriptions

  • The Observational Study of Standardized Testing in Kindergarten
  • Testing Bias and Testing Validity
  • Minority Students vs. Standardized Testing
  • Bias in Testing Questions

The Observational Study of Standardized Testing in Kindergarten

  • Districts specifically attempting to raise standardized testing scores had a higher rate of teacher procedural variation, unauthorized repetition, and cues for correct answers.
    • Procedural variations define as “variations which could change the substance of the test and/or the children’s performance.”
    • Teachers involved in a program to raise achievement for low socioeconomic towns had high variation percentages of 44% and 14% compared to the other schools in the study which had a variation percentage averaging 2.8%.
    • Teachers involved in the achievement program had cueing the correct answer percentages of 24% and 9% compared to the other kindergartens with a percentage averaging 1%.
  • Districts in lower-middle class towns had a higher rate of procedural variation than wealthier districts. These variations make the tests incomparable.
  • In one instance, “At no time during the testing of 17 children in three separate testing sessions did this teacher instruct the children to close their eyes and listen. The teacher simply read the names of the objects for each item while the children with their eyes open selected the matching choice box. Obviously, this omission rendered the test invalid as a measure of the auditory memory construct.”

Testing Bias and Testing Validity

  • Quote collection:
    • “Biases and inequities certainly exist – but standardized tests do not merely reflect their impact; they compound them.”
    • “These tests tend to reflect the language, culture, or learning style of middle- to upper-class whites. Thus scores on these tests are as much measures of race or ethnicity and income as they are measures of achievement, ability, or skill.”
  • Many of the states have now begun programs that seek to “align” school curriculum with the standardized test given. The purpose of this is to not waste time teaching topics that students will never be tested on. This not only undermines the value of education, but it undermines the value of standardized testing. The purpose of these tests are to evaluate curriculum as well as the students so aligning the curriculum would ruin that purpose.

Minority Students vs. Standardized Tests

  • Standardized testing is merely a way to rationalize discriminatory practices. Some view low minority test scores as a way to show that minorities are intellectually inferior to whites. Rather, it is argued that the tests favor white people and that accounts for the difference in scores.
  • Traditionally, those writing the exams are middle class white people. Their style of thinking, values, and dialect varies greatly from someone from a lower socioeconomic class. White middle-class writers bring in their own biases which reflect the type of schooling they received.
  • “In one study of black fourth graders, using Gray’s Oral Reading Test, it was found that when the test was scored according to the regular key, 46 per cent of the errors made by the total group could be attributed to dialect difference.”
  • In many reading portions, there are questions that are meant to be answered based on “common knowledge” instead of the passage given. “Common knowledge” in many cases means white middle class common knowledge.

Bias in Testing Questions

A plant’s fruit always contains seeds. Which of the items below is not a fruit? A. Pumpkin B. Orange C. Apple D.Celery

  • This is an example of a question from a 6th grade standardized test. This question reaches beyond academic knowledge and moves more towards lifestyle knowledge. A child that wasn’t exposed to pumpkins or celery would get this wrong whereas a child who has eaten all of them should know the answer. “Common knowledge” is a big form of bias.

Working Hypothesis 1

Standardized tests are not a reliable and accurate way to measure student achievement. The stakes that are being put on these tests are tremendously misleading considering the bias and inequity surrounding them. High-stake testing undermines the vast goals of schools in creating well rounded students beyond academics.

1a. Working Hypothesis 2

Standardized testing reflects areas of inequity in school quality but does not create the bias. The bias already exists and standardized testing only brings it to light and is a way to measure it. Therefore, the tests could be beneficial to identifying the inequities and improving school quality in areas that perform low on standardized tests. 

2. Topics for Smaller Papers

Definition/Classification Argument

The idea that standardized tests create an equal playing field for students is a misunderstanding among many educators. The word equal would have to be redefined in order to be correct.

Cause/Effect Argument

Research could be done to analyze the effect that low/high standardized test scores have on college admission.

Rebuttal Argument

Differences in scores among different economic groups reflects only the difference in intellectual abilities not other environmental factors.

3. Current State of the Research Paper

I feel like I have good sources so far for my paper that provide a lot of research that backs up my thesis. My opinion on my topic has not changed since I started but is now backed up by many studies. I’ve also found that my topic is a lot more complex than I had thought and there are a lot of idiosyncrasies that I had not considered before. I think I have a pretty good understanding on the topic now that I’ve done some research on it.

Polio Notes-lmj20

  • If the world was polio free for one minute, it would always be polio free.
  • Complacency has caused the world to become vulnerable to polio.
  • Many families are choosing not to vaccinate their children.
  • Eradicating polio can be deadly.
  • It has not been made a high priority in this generation.
  • The United States has used polio vaccination as a ploy to spy on Pakistan.
  • Force may be needed in order to stop resistance against the polio vaccination.

Practice Opening

Complacency in the United States continues to bring the world farther away from eradicating polio. Polio is portrayed as a disease of the past when in reality it has not yet been eradicated. This misconception about polio not being serious has led many families to decide not to vaccinate their children. However, all it takes is one infected child in a highly populated area to cause a resurgence of the disease. As more children are not being vaccinated, more children become vulnerable to this type of possible outbreak. Eradicating polio must be made a higher priority in order for it to ever be successful.

Safer Saws- lmj20

1a. “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.”

1b. Many tool manufacturers are strongly offended by the idea of making safety features, like the Safe Saw, mandatory.

1c. The claim that manufacturers are against mandatory safety features is an opinion. It is vague in that in does not state whether the manufacturers will fight against Safe Saw from becoming mandatory or they are just against it as an idea.

1d. The claim has some evidence to back it up but cannot be proven. The evidence is shown in that many manufacturers do not offer safety features in any of their models. If they were not against safety features, they would likely offer them in their products. However, these manufacturers may not be offering safety features due to other factors like cost so it can’t be proven that they are solely against the concept of mandatory safety features.

2a.”All saws should have this technology, Wheeler says. “I mean, we’re dealing with human beings.”

2b. Wheeler claims that it is humane to implement universal Safe Saw technology.

2c. This claim is an opinion.

2d. This claim is logical. Wheeler witnessed firsthand one of his employees using Safe Saw which prevented him from having a traumatic injury. It makes sense that Wheeler, who often sees the pain and money that goes into table saw injuries, would be for adding it to all table saws.

3a.”The Robert Bosch Tool Corporation provided a statement: “Safety has historically been one of the Bosch principles…and is reflected in our slogan ‘Invented for life.'”

3b. Bosch, a company that reject Saw Stop, claims that safety is one of the company’s most important principles.

3c. This claim is an opinion.

3d. This claim is not supported by the company’s actions. They stated that they care about safety yet they do not offer any safe technology on table saws. If they truly valued safety, one would think that they would passionately accept Saw Stop technology despite the added cost.

4a.”What you have is somebody who has invented a dramatic technology that seems to reduce virtually all the injuries associated with table saws,” says Bob Adler, a commissioner at the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

4b. Bob Adler claims that Safe Saw technology reduces all table saw injuries.

4c.This claim is a factual claim.

4d. This claim is reasonable and accurate. Safe Saw technology has been proven to stop at the detection of skin which undoubtedly has reduced injuries for those who use the saw. Adler has not claimed that Safe Saw eliminates all injuries, only that they  reduce the amount of injuries, which is certainly true.

5a.”Wec says his permanent and “traumatic injury” could have been prevented if Bosch and its competitors had not rejected and fought against the safety technology.”

5b. Wec, a victim of a table saw injury, claims that his injury could have been prevented if table saw manufacturers accepted Safe Saw technology.

5c. This is an opinion claim.

5d. This claim is somewhat accurate. If Safe Saw technology was accepted by manufacturers and made available to Wec then his injury most likely would not have occurred if he bought the safe saw. However, it can’t be proven that Wec, without knowing that he was going to be injured, would have bought the Safe Saw over the traditional saw for more money.

6a. “SawStop was a “game changer,” says Osorio’s attorney, Richard Sullivan, whose firm has been involved in most of the cases.”

6b. Sullivan, a personal injury lawyer, claims that Saw Stop is the invention that will hold saw manufacturers liable for injuries.

6c. This claim is an opinion.

6d. This claim is reasonable. Sullivan was an attorney in a table saw injury case. To win the case, Sullivan argued that his client’s injury would not have happened if Ryobi had implemented Saw Stop technology. The jury agreed and Osorio received $1.5 million. Many cases using Saw Stop as their defense have been just as successful.

8a. “Society will save money if safer saws are required.”

8b. The claim is that mandatory safe saws will save society money.

8c. The claim is an evaluation.

8d. This claim could possibly be accurate but there is no solid evidence stated to support it. The author merely states that by reducing hospital costs by lowering the amount of preventable saw injuries, the Safe Saw will save society money. This may be true but there is no research given besides the one fact that is stated that society spends $2 billion per year on preventable table saw injuries. Also, the manufacturers are not considered at all in this claim. Will the amount that society saves be worth the amount that manufacturers will have to spend?

9a.”They came back and said, ‘Well, we’ve looked at it, but we’re not interested because safety doesn’t sell,’ ” Gass says.

9b. Gass claims that saw manufacturers are rejecting his product because they do not believe that safety will sell.

9c. This is an opinion claim.

9d. This claim is reasonable. Most companies make decisions based solely on profit so if they do not think that Safe Saw technology would sell, that would explain why so little of them have added it to their products.

Visual Rewrite-lmj20

0:01-0:04: A gray car is in the middle of the screen and serves as the focal point of the shot. This could mean that the car is the main idea of the ad. The car is in seemingly perfect condition and appears to be a new car. From the right, a man and a woman can be seen walking towards the car. We can assume that the car belongs to the man and the couple is getting ready to get inside. They have their arms around each other indicating intimacy. They may be a preexisting couple or they have just met in the building behind them that they are coming from. There is a line of people outside of the building and what looks like a bouncer so it can be inferred that the building is a club or a bar. The building is old and run down so it is not a very high-end place. The couple is stumbling only slightly so they may have been drinking.

0:05-0:07: The couple stops in front of the gray car in the center of the screen. They are both nicely dressed which means they could be trying to impress each other. This could be their first date. The man is wearing sunglasses, even though its night time, and a leather jacket with a collared shirt under it. The woman is nicely dressed as well in a blazer, jeans, and heels. It seems as though they both highly value their appearance. They are smiling at each other and leaning against the car, indicating that they had a good night and are both mutually interested in each other. Cars drive by behind them.

0:08-0:09: In this shot, the couple is no longer focused on each other. At this point they both look directly at the camera and the shot quickly focuses right on the man’s face. Who is the man looking at? He is no longer lovingly smiling. Could someone be starting a fight with him? His grin quickly fades into a more concerned look as if he had just heard bad news.

0:10-0:11- The man’s sunglasses vanish off of his face. The camera then zooms back out so both members of the couple are visible. The man is looking at the woman with a confused look on his face. He looks to the ground to see if his glasses have fallen. The woman is no longer touching the man. She moves her arms away from him and closes her hands together, indicating a loss of interest. She also has a confused look on her face. Cars continue to drive by behind them and the line at the building continues to move, indicating the passage of time.

0:12-0:13: The camera zooms in again, this time on the man’s hand. He was wearing an elegant looking watch, and the watch vanishes. The man looks at his hand, realizes the watch is missing, takes a deep breath, and looks off into the distance. Are his possessions being stolen? Does he know why this is happening? The loss of his possessions seems to be affecting the man greatly. He now appears uncomfortable without his extravagant accessories.

0:14: The shot zooms back out on both members of the couple still leaning on the car. This time the couple is not lovingly touching and smiling at each other. They are simply standing there, the man with a confused look and the woman with an apathetic look. There is no one standing with them at the car and there is no trace of the man’s missing belongings.

0:15- 0:16: The camera zooms into the man’s nice jacket pocket. The pocket features one black button with red stitching. The stitching unravels itself, and the button falls down the man’s body and down his leg. This indicates that his possessions are not being stolen by a person, but rather his wealth is being taken away.

0:17: The camera follows the button’s path and it stops on the street right by the man’s feet. In the shot, the camera is focused on the man’s black dress shoes and black pants.

0:18: Still focused on the man’s feet, the man’s attire suddenly changes from nice shoes and pants to flip flops and destructed light blue jeans. This new look indicates a loss of wealth.

0:19: The camera pans up so now we can see the top half of both the man and the woman. It is revealed that the man is no longer wearing his nice jacket and collared shirt, he is now only wearing a white tank. The woman is still wearing all of her nice clothing. She has not lost anything. The man is looking down at himself. The look could mean that he is confused and/or shamed by his new appearance. The woman is glaring at him. This could mean she is shocked or disgusted that she chose to leave the bar with a guy dressed like this. She is not looking him in the face but only at his ragged clothing. This could mean that the woman’s decision to leave the bar with the man was heavily influenced by his outward appearance. Now that he has lost that, she is beginning to question her desire to be with him.

0:20: There is now a close up shot on the woman’s face. She is looking at the man with her eyebrows down and a concerned look on her face. She even rolls her eyes as if she is embarrassed to be with him. When the man looks up to meet her gaze, she looks away and recoils. Without his possessions to hide behind, the man appears vulnerable and seems to have lost all of his confidence.

0:21: The camera zooms all the way out onto the couple and the car again. The woman stands with her hand on her hip and looks as if she’s judging his looks. Cars continue to drive by behind them.

0:22: The woman turns and looks at the gray car and suddenly she vanishes. This  could mean that the car played a big role in the man’s current situation. The man stands there, looking down in shame, at himself. He is now all alone besides the line that still is outside of the bar.

0:23-0:24: The car disappears. The people waiting in line and the bouncer at the building behind him disappear. The lights in the building turn off and all of the doors close.The man stands in the street alone in his cheaper looking clothing. There are no cars driving by anymore. This means that this whole situation has occurred over a longer period of time and not just within seconds.

0:25- The man looks back at the building and realizes that everyone is gone. Then, the camera zooms in on his face. His mouth is open and his facial features indicate sadness, shock, and confusion.

0:26-0:30: Words pop up on the screen: “Buzzed, Busted, Broke. Buzzed driving is drunk driving.” These words reveal that this couple was drinking inside the club and the man was about to drive buzzed. The ad shows the consequences of buzzed driving before they even got in the car. The man, busted for buzzed driving, would lose his wealth and his lavish appearance either from fines or paying for damages if there was an accident. He would lose his car, either through a car accident or through losing his license. He would lose the woman, either because they could get in a deadly accident or she wouldn’t want to be with someone who is broke and carless. The ad seems to be aimed at the type of people who value possessions over even their safety. In this case, the man valued impressing the girl with his lavish car and clothing over getting them home safely. In the end, he ended up losing everything.

Works Cited

How Much Would You Like to Lose? Buzzed Driving Prevention. Ad Council, 08 Nov. 2013. Web. Sept. 2016.

Open Strong- lmj20

The standardized tests that American children take every year that solely determine their future school success are essentially flawed. Thousands of children fail these tests and fall behind but it may be that the tests themselves are failing these children. Standardized tests unfairly misjudge students by not taking into account several important characteristics such as creativity, motivation, and critical thinking. Many students find themselves in an endless loop of failures that deplete them of any love of education. Standardized tests should not act as a barrier for students and schools because they are biased and flawed. The United States is constantly falling behind other developed nations in terms of education and the intense focus on standardized testing is likely to blame.

Imagine if every person took one test to decide if they will be rich of poor at the age of twenty five. The test would be the same for each individual, despite the inherent differences that exist in every person. If the test is passed the individual will be rich, but if the test is failed the individual will live in poverty. It’s highly probable that most people would be against a situation like this but in reality the above situation is a dramatized version of standardized testing in American schools. For a high school student, one test, the SAT’s, decides whether that student can get into college and pursue his dream career. For an elementary student, one state standardized test decides whether that student will move on to the next grade and continue her academic career with her grade. The pressure is on, the stakes are high, and for many failing results seem inevitable. A standardized test should not be the difference between rich and poor or achieving dreams and failed reality.

Missing Dollar-lmj20

To solve the missing dollar paradox, I worked backwards to discover that there was never a missing dollar. The way that the situation is worded makes it seem that each woman paid nine dollars, the waiter took two, and then there would be one missing dollar. However, the $27 that the women paid, $9 each, included the tip to the waiter. Adding the 27$ with the two dollars the waiter took would be counting the tip twice. Instead, the $27 includes the tip and the missing three dollars are the three dollars that the women received back from the waiter.

Lmj20’s Proposal

For my research essay I will be examining if standardized test scores are truly indicative of a school’s performance. In the United States, K-12 education as of recently has been dominated by high stakes standardized tests. These tests are often used to generalize not only student intelligence, but also school and teacher quality. While many believe this is a fair basis since standardized tests are equal across the nation, there are many other aspects that this group fails to consider. Availability of resources, testing bias, and socioeconomic factors all play a role in making standardized tests not so equal.

As the United States continues to reform national education plans, standardized testing should be a way to start. It is hard to believe that one standardized test could be used as the factor that decides how successful a student, teacher, and school is. The intense high stakes that are put on standardized testing show the system’s lack of value for education on a day-to-day basis.

Sources:

Standardized Testing: Harmful to Educational Health

The Essential Content of the Article: This article, instead of merely stating that standardized testing is harmful, breaks down each specific reason that standardized testing is not as standard as believed. The beginning of the article cites specific research studies that show flaws in the standardized testing system such as test validity and testing bias. The end of the article researches how standardized testing impacts schools and students.

What it Proves: My thesis is that standardized testing isn’t truly indicative of student and school performance and this article points out the specific flaws that make testing a bad indicator. This source does not delve deeply into each flaw, but will allow me gain enough knowledge to do more research. This article also provides great research about the harm that high-stake testing does to schools.

How Standardized Is School Testing? An Exploratory Observational Study of Standardized Group Testing in Kindergarten

The Essential Content of the Article: The entire article is dedicated to one study where 10 kindergartens were observed while administering the “same” standardized test. The conditions and behaviors in each individual classroom allowed the researchers to conclude that the tests, although meant to be standardized, were actually incomparable.

What it Proves: This article provides a credible study that displays that standardized testing is not always standard. This will be used as evidence to support my thesis that standardized testing is not a good indicator of school and student performance. Since the tests are not as equal as they seem, shown in this study, it shows that it is not a strong factor to use to compare schools nationwide.

The Impact of Standardized Testing on Minority Students

The Essential Content of the Article: The article researches three types of bias in standardized testing: bias due to content factors, bias due to norms, and bias in testing conditions. The purpose of the article is to highlight the unfairness of standardized testing on minority students and how it will affect them throughout their life. The bulk of the article is spent citing specific research and adding more detail to support the claims made in the beginning.

What it Proves: The article highlights a clear problem in the standardized testing system. Minority students are at a clear disadvantage and this article provides the information needed to back up that claim. Since minority students are not on an equal playing field, this helps support my thesis because standardized tests cannot be a strong indicator of school and student performance if they are not fair to everyone.

Why Standardized Tests Do Not Measure Educational Quality

The Essential Content of the Article: The article is devoted to backing up the central claim that using standardized tests to measure school quality is like measure temperature with a tablespoon. The article argues that when they were invented, the mission of standardized testing was to evaluate what skills that students possessed at certain levels. This knowledge was then meant to be used to modify curriculum to better fit the desired skills. Therefore, it is completely wrong to use standardized testing to rank schools when its purpose is to improve schools. The article uses real questions from past standardized tests to emphasize the flaws and biases within the system.

What it Proves: This article, instead of just focusing on today, goes back into the history of standardized testing. This will allow me to demonstrate a rise in importance of testing and show how that has harmed schools. It also proves, by using actual questions from tests, the biases in standardized testing. This knowledge will allow me to better back up the idea that testing cannot be an accurate indicator of success. The tests were never meant to evaluate school quality, but rather to improve curriculum.

Standardized Tests Do Not Effectively Measure Student Achievement

The Essential Content of the Article: This article examines the idea of “student achievement.” Many would define student achievement as a student’s success on state tests, however the author urges that tests fail to reward students for many important characteristics. Creativity, critical thinking, resilience, motivation, curiosity, resourcefulness, and enthusiasm are just some of the many vital characteristics that standardized tests do not measure. These characteristics are undeniably important to have yet a child’s achievement can be judged without even considering them.  The article also argues that standardized testing promotes shallow thinking students. Students are urged to seek out the quickest and most obvious answer when taking these tests and therefore deep thinking and problem solving is not measured either.

What it Proves: This article provides an interesting perspective on standardized testing. While the other sources are primarily focused on the flaws within the tests and in testing conditions, this sources focuses more on what the tests lack. This article proves that the word achievement is very complex, especially when it comes to schools and students. Standardized tests, on the other hand, are not very complex. The whole purpose of the tests are to be standard and simple. Therefore, it is hard to define something that is complex using something that is standard. Student and school achievement is so much more than the score of one simple test.

 

E03: Critical Reading—lmj20

“Is PTSD Contagious?”

“But whatever people have called it, they haven’t been likely to grasp or respect it.”

  • PTSD has had several different names given to it throughout history.
  • Many do not understand the true meaning of PTSD.
  • Many do not respect or take PTSD seriously.

“In 1943, when Lt. General George S. Patton met an American soldier at an Italian hospital recovering from “nerves,” Patton slapped him and called him a coward.”

  • “Nerves” is one of the different names that PTSD was given based on the time period. This supports her claim in the earlier sentence.
  • Even military generals many times can not understand PTSD and may attribute it to cowardice. This supports her claim made in the earlier sentence, that no matter what name PSTD was given, many are not likely to respect it.

“In 2006, the British Ministry of Defense pardoned some 300 soldiers who had been executed for cowardice and desertion during World War I, having concluded that many were probably just crippled by PTSD.”

  • PTSD has been misunderstood for a long time, including the WWI era, and governments are beginning to discover PTSD for the crippling disorder that it is.
  • How did the government choose which soldiers to pardon? Did they use today’s symptoms of PTSD to diagnose past soldiers?
  • PTSD has often been referred to as cowardice and desertion. This supports her earlier claim about different names being used to describe PTSD.
  • People were executed for displaying symptoms of PTSD, which was then regarded to as cowardice/desertion. This supports her earlier claim that people sometimes do not understand PTSD fully and therefore have trouble respecting it.

“Granted, diagnosing PTSD is a tricky thing. The result of a malfunctioning nervous system that fails to normalize after trauma and instead perpetrates memories and misfires life-or-death stress for no practical reason, it comes in a couple of varieties, various complexities…”

  • PTSD is not easy to diagnose. This claim provides justification to those mentioned earlier, such as General Patton, who could not grasp and respect PTSD. Its difficult diagnosis could be a factor in the misunderstanding of it.
  • PTSD is caused by a malfunctioning nervous system.
  • PTSD is different for everyone since it comes “in a couple of varieties, various complexities.” This supports the claim that PTSD is hard to diagnose, since it is not just the same list of symptoms for every sufferer.
  • PTSD stress begins for no practical reason.

“…has causes ranging from one lightning-fast event to drawn-out terrors or patterns of abuse—in soldiers, the incidence of PTSD goes up with the number of tours and amount of combat experienced.”

  • PTSD does not always occur because of just one traumatic event. It can be the result of a period of traumatic events.
  • She claims that the incidence of PTSD goes up with the amount of combat experience. This almost contradicts her previous claim that PTSD is complex and has a lot of variety. If it was complex, as she stated, it couldn’t be true that PTSD affects soliders in such a linear predictable pattern. The way she stated it indicates fact because she did not include the words “in most cases,” or “most commonly.”

“As with most psychiatric diagnoses, there are no measurable objective biological characteristics to identify it. Doctors have to go on hunches and symptomology rather than definitive evidence.”

  • There are no biological characteristics that can be undoubtedly used to identify PTSD. This again supports her previous claim that PTSD is hard to diagnose.
  • Even doctors have trouble accurately identifying PTSD. This supports her earliest claim that PTSD is misunderstood and hard to grasp.
  • They often rely on symptoms rather than definitive evidence. This claim indicates that diagnoses are not based on fact, meaning that some soldiers diagnosed with PTSD may not actually have it and others who do have it may not be diagnosed. One of her previous claims says that PTSD is very complex and not the same for everyone. So, if the doctors are simply using “symptomology” to diagnose PTSD, there must be fault in that.

Stone Money Rewrite-lmj20

Faith in Money

From economics to international affairs, money powers our world and has the ability to make or break a person’s quality of life. The same piece of paper that buys one family a ticket to Disney World can later be used to put food on another family’s table. The power of money has led many, including NPR broadcaster Jacob Goldstein, to question where exactly money originated, how it evolved, and how it gained the inherent value that it seems to have today. In his studies, Goldstein cites a peculiar story of the people of Yap. In their village, the currency was a block of the rare metal limestone. The citizen that held ownership of the stone, even if it was not in his or her direct possession, could make purchases with the stone. If Jack was the current owner of the stone and he bought Sally’s house with it, the stone could stay with Jack but the village would be informed that the stone was now Sally’s. The citizens of Yap had to have faith that the other citizens would recognize the true owner of the stone, even if it wasn’t present. Since money runs on human faith, as long as that faith persisted, the system could continue.  

The story of the Yaps, although seemingly bizarre at first, sounds very familiar. America started its currency evolution in an almost identical way. Gold, a metal that is considered rare and beautiful, was used as a means of currency. When gold became a hassle to transport, paper money was created. Each paper dollar represented an amount of gold. As the Yaps exchanged their stone through word of mouth, Americans exchanged their gold through paper money. The gold never moved, only the ownership changed. As time moved forward, American money was no longer backed by gold. A dollar bill was just a dollar bill. Its value was not an amount of gold, but now just valued at whatever it can be exchanged for. In present day America, even cash is starting to go out of style. Now, the average American’s finances are based on electronics. Salaries are awarded, bills are paid, and purchases are made just by numbers changing on a bank account statement. If everyone lost their faith in the banking system and attempted to withdraw all their cash, the system would collapse. This is because there is not enough money to back every number on every bank account. As long as people continue to trust the banking system and the value of their dollar, the system can continue to grow.

The idea of faith ruling a country’s economic success is shown in Brazil. When the Brazilian economy began to stumble and inflation was increasing, Brazilians began to lose faith in their currency. One day a cruzeiro could get them three pieces of gum and the next week it could only get them one piece. Each day their cruzeiro could get them less product, so there was a rush to spend it all quickly instead of saving it. This made inflation even worse and the cycle continued, until Edmar Bacha created a system of “real value” currency. Units of real value meant that prices always appeared to stay steady, the only thing that fluctuated was the amount of cruzeiros that was equivalent to the real value currency. For example, if the price of a piece of gum was 1 URV, it would remain 1 URV all throughout the week and the next week and the week after that. However, in week one, 1 URV may have equaled 15 cruzeiros while in week two 1 URV could equal 20 cruzeiros. The people of Brazil began to think in terms of URV’s so prices appeared to be staying steady. Although nothing had really changed, people’s confidence in their currency was regained, and that confidence allowed for a true change in the Brazilian economy.

All in all, the people’s trust in their currency is the most important aspect of a stable monetary system. If people have faith in the value of their currency, they will feel safe saving, spending, and accepting it. If one day all American companies decided that the dollar was worthless and they would not accept it as payment, then it would be worthless because it cannot be exchanged for any goods or services. However, as long as companies continue to feel as though the dollar is something to be sought after, the dollar does have value. When it’s broken down it means that one day someone can be rich and the next day they could have nothing. Despite the system’s apparent fragility, it’s not time to lose faith now. Currency systems like the United States’ are essential to society and as illogical as they seem, they work. By how things are going now, people are not likely to lose their idea of value in the dollar any time soon. Companies continue to seek the dollar crazily. People work tirelessly just to see the numbers in their bank account rise each week. As long as this pattern of intense desire for the dollar continues, the American monetary system will be able to thrive indefinitely.

References

Goldstein, Jacob. “The Invention Of ‘The Economy’” Planet Money. NPR, 28 Feb. 2014. Web. 13 Sept. 2016.

Friedman, Milton. “The Island of Stone Money.” Diss. Hoover Institution, Stanford University , 1991.

“How Fake Money Saved Brazil.” Planet Money. NPR, 4 Oct. 2010. Web. 13 Sept. 2016.

“The Invention of Money.” This American Life. This American Life, 7 Jan. 2011. Web. 13  Sept. 2016.