Category: x Archive Assignments

rebuttal rewrite – summergirl1999

Rebuttal Essay

College: Grand Slam or Scam?

 

Every student has the choice to attend college. Getting asked the question “Are you going to college?” can be challenging for some students. College is a big decision to make and it comes with many factors. College can benefit or draw back students, depending on the specific student. (Student A and Student C.) In American society, a college degree in American holds weight. Working towards a college degree shows employers that students are motivated to succeed. A college degree can determine raises, well-paying careers, and most importantly success. Students encounter their own personal and financial issues, and college can have the effect of leaving students in sticky situations. Even with a college degree, a career and well-paying stable job in the student’s field of study is not guaranteed.

Students will make more money from attending college. Students attend college so they can make themselves more marketable to the career field, and to also make a good and stable amount of income. A member from the CBD College community states “Studies have shown that there is an average of $25,000 earnings difference between grads and non-grads… The bottom line is that pursuing a degree increases the ability to find work in the same field, increasing experience and earning potential.” Having a college degree can give a graduate the opportunity to receive higher paying salaries and stable incomes. A college degree can also give a student the potential to receive higher raises. Not every student who receives a degree gets a stable income. Student A attended college, received a degree, and found a career that had a stable salary. Student C attended college, received a degree, and found a job that offered salaries that do not pay enough to pay off student’s expenses. The push to try to make students attend college is leaving many students optioning out the “build your own business” idea, which is the idea many of the billionaires in today’s society had. “25 of the top-paying jobs that don’t require a four-year degree and their average salaries, based on data from the BLS and CBSSalary.com It is important to note that some of these jobs DO require some kind of a degree, just not a 4-year degree. As many have commented below many of the jobs do require formal training of some kind or even a two-year degree” (Seed Time.)

College graduates can potentially have better employment opportunities. Students go to college so they have a high chance of getting a career in their field of study. Many college graduates (Student A), take-out loans or pay the expensive college tuition because the money they can potentially make from their careers after college is worth it. “College freshman in 2015 said they attended college to “be able to get a better job.” In Jan. 2017, the unemployment rate for college graduates aged 25 and over with a bachelor’s degree was 2.5% compared to 3.8% for those with some college or associate’s degrees, 5.3% for high school graduates, and 7.7% for high school dropouts” (Pro Con). After college, graduates use their degree to get a career in their field of study that they potentially could not get if they did not go to college. Although many people get to use their degree for their benefit by obtaining their “perfect” or/and “dream” career after college (Student A),not all students get to use their degree for their benefit. Even with a college degree, after college not all graduates are able to get a career (Student C.) There is a lot of comparing applications for the job position. The work place is very competitive, potentially thousands of people can be applying for the same position. Cyrus Williams a counselor and professor at the University Virginia states “This is a real issue unique to this generation called ‘a quarter-life crisis, struggling in terms of milestones, getting jobs, parenting, finding jobs, having too many choices, and having debt coming right out of college” (CNBC.) College tuition is very expense, most college students take out student loans which they are obligated to pay back approximately six months after graduation, so not being able to get a stable, well-paying job after college can lead to major set-backs for college graduates. Graduates who do not get jobs after college are required to pay for necessities such as rent, utilities, and food. Even if graduates are not using their degree they are still obligated to pay back their student loans as soon as six months after graduation.

Student loans are not as bad as they seem. Since college tuition is outrageously expensive, most students do not have the money to pay for it. But there is a solution to that problem, to take out student loans. Students who do not have the money for college, take out loans from banks so they can attend college. Banks loan student’s money in return for the students to pay them bank monthly after the student graduates. “Average monthly student loan payment (for borrower aged 20 to 30 years): $351. Median monthly student loan payment (for borrower aged 20 to 30 years): $203” (Student Loan Hero.) The goal for after college is to acquire a stable career that comes with a stable salary, so the monthly student loans will become manageable for the graduate (Student A). That scenario makes attending college worth it and beneficial. On the other hand (Student C), students take out student loans from a bank for a four-year university. After college, many students cannot find a job in their field of study but they still have to pay for necessities so they are forced to get minimum wage job which pays approximately $7.25. Students attend college so they can get a career where they can earn raises and move up in the company, not a regular job. People have their own personal and finical problems, so without a steady paying career can lead graduates to make certain decisions they potentially would not make if they had stable income.

 

Reference Page

 

(2008, October 05). 25 Best High Paying Jobs Without A Degree. Retrieved April 09, 2018, from https://christianpf.com/paying-jobs-without-degree/

https://studentloanhero.com/student-loan-debt-statistics/

Long, K. (2016, August 08). Why Your Student Loan Debt May Not Be As Bad As It Seems. Retrieved April 09, 2018

https://www.forbes.com/sites/financialfinesse/2016/08/07/why-your-student-loan-debt-may-not-be-as-bad-as-it-seems/#61095a8218b8

9 BENEFITS OF EARNING A COLLEGE DEGREE. (2016, December 09). Retrieved April 09, 2018, from https://www.cbd.edu/9-benefits-college-degree/

https://www.cbd.edu/9-benefits-college-degree/

 

Causal Rewrite – summergirl1999

Student Debt: Success or Scam?

In American society, having a college degree holds weight. Working towards a college degree shows employers that students are motivated to succeed. A college degree can determine many things such as, raises, well-paying careers, and most importantly success. Attending college is highly encouraged by teachers, parents, friends and other mentors that students come across on a daily basis. ‘Successful’ is a word that everyone wants to describe themselves as, and American society says that a college education is one of the steps that can help students move in the right direction towards success. Every person is different, which means different personal and finical issues. Depending on the person, college can either be worth the time and money or not.

Person A, is an example of positive effects of attending college. Person C, is an example of the negative effects of attending college. College tuition is very expensive, public university tuition is averaged at $25, 290, and private university tuition is averaged at $50,900. Person A has a finically stable background and money saved, so the price of tuition is not a problem. Person B does not have a stable background and no money saved due to personal issues, so the price of tuition is a challenge so they have to take out student loans so they can attend college. Students choose to go to college so they have more opportunity to choose their career. Person A, chooses the career of their choice because they enjoy it and salary. Person B wants to choose a certain career but it raises the tuition so they choose another career that they do not enjoy as much but it has a good salary. “Students in the sciences, engineering, computing, premed programs, and the fine arts often pay more. For example, at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, students enrolled in the College of Engineering pay up to $5,000 more in tuition than students pursuing other majors” (College Data.) Student loans are a factor of attending college. Students take out student loans if they do not have the money to pay for their college tuition. Students take out money from loaners who lend them the money to attend college, in return after the student has graduated college they must pay back the loans plus interest. Interest rates vary by the loaner, undergraduate degrees interest rates vary around 4.45% and graduate degrees interest rates vary around 6.00%. Person A either has to borrow a little amount of money in loans or none at all. Person C is not financially  stable, they have to borrow student loans to pay off their college tuition. Student debt is a huge issue in America, it is one of the largest debts America encounters. Money Watch is an article featured on CBS News that speaks about college and the financial issues that come with it they stated, “For the 2013-14 school year, the government sank $126 billion into undergraduate student aid” (MoneyWatch.)

Graduates attend college so they can establish a steady career. When college graduates apply for careers, most careers look at what college the graduate attended, college recognition. Person A graduated from Harvard University as a chemistry and physics major. Harvard University is one of the most prestigious colleges in America, and has recognition. Harvard Universities tuition is $63,025. Person C graduated from South Texas College also as a chemistry and physics major. The tuition at South Texas College is $11,892. Although South Texas College has good reviews and is a college it does not have the same recognition as Harvard University. If Person A and Person C both applied for a job for chemistry and physics, Person A would most likely get the job. “The rankings, it turned out, mattered a great deal. The more elite a school, the better its alums’ paychecks. The effect also increased over time. Among students who had graduated high school in 1980, those who had gone on to a top private university eventually made 20 percent more than their counterparts from bottom tier public school. The Atlantic Magazine covered an article about careers and wages they stated, “For the class of 1972, the wage boost was just 9 percent.”

A career is not always guaranteed with a college degree. Graduates that come out of college with a degree are still not guaranteed a job in the field that they studied and not guaranteed a high paying career right away. Graduates that go out in the real world need a job to pay for all of their expenses, beyond what they owe on their student loans. Although students attend college so they can have a higher chance – or even a chance at all at pursuing a career, the career is not always guaranteed. “Millions of college graduates who saw a degree as their ticket to a good-paying career and a secure life are working in jobs that do not require their education or even a high school diploma, sometimes leaving them with small wages to pay thousands in student debt, according to a new study” (The Denver Post.) Person A went to a prestigious college, got a career in their trained field, paid off their little amount in student debt and just bought a house. Person C went to an average college and could not find a job right after gradation so they had to get a job at a Target so they can pay off their necessities (rent, food, utilities, and personal purchases.)  Six months after Person C graduated college, they needed to start paying off their student loans, which can be a huge inconvenience and challenge because Person C is making an average of $9.33 an hour.

It is hard enough for graduates to deal with the amount of debt they are in themselves, but people have personal problems that can make it more challenging. For Person A, college was worth it because, they had enough financial stability to choose a prestigious college that cost $63,025. Also, because Person A got a career in their field with a steady salary right after college which helped pay off their student loans. For Person C, college was not worth it because although they have a college degree they could not find a stable job. Since Student C took out student loans they are still obligated to pay back their student loans.

Reference Page

NACAC, College Data, College Education, https://www.collegedata.com/cs/content/content_payarticle_tmpl.jhtml?articleId=10064

Nykiel Teddy, March 19, 2018, Student Loan Interest, https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/loans/student-loans/student-loan-interest-rates/

Harvard at a Glance, Harvard University, https://www.harvard.edu/about-harvard/harvard-glance

O’Shaughnessy Lynn, March 13, 2015, Money Watch, CBS News, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-biggest-problems-with-americas-colleges/

Target Salaries, Glassdoor, https://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Target-Salaries-E194.htm

Weissmann Jordan, May 17, 2012, does it Matter Where you go to College, The Atlantic, https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/05/does-it-matter-where-you-go-to-college/257227/

Definition rewrite -jdormann

Can Serious Head Injuries be Prevented in American Football?

Many athletes and their families lives have been altered forever, or ended because of concussions or spinal injuries due to playing football. When a person plays a high impact sport, their chances of a life-changing injury dramatically increases. Repetitive head injuries have been proven to cause CTE, chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Football is a popular sport across America, and research on brain damage from playing continues to prove the dangers it has to a player’s health.

When watching a football game, at any level, spectators can expect to see powerful hits that radiate through the athlete’s head and spine. The high energy hits are thrilling for both the fans and athletes, but cumulative hits cause serious damage to the player’s health. NFL players are the highest level football players in the world, and they are the ones that receive the highest number of head injuries causing the most damage. CTE is a disease that slowly kills brain cells and will completely alter someone’s mental state and thought process. It causes increased aggression, suceptibility to dementia, anxiety, depression, and other mental illnesses. Studies have proven that playing football at a young age increases the risk of brain damage tremendously. Boston University conducted research on the damage that football has on developing players. In an article by the Washington Post, they wrote, “Those who started playing contact football before the age of 12 suffered more behavioral, cognitive and emotional problems than those who started playing after they turned 12.” This is hard evidence of the detrimental issues football can have on young players. Society needs to be careful about allowing young athletes to participate in football. Children do not fully understand how playing a sport can affect them in the long term. All football players are susceptible to serious brain injuries, but children are much more vulnerable to these life-altering injuries. As more people become aware of the dangers, they are less likely to support the game or allow their developing children to play. If there is a way to prevent or entirely eliminate concussions, people would feel more comfortable with allowing their children to play football.

The risk of concussions and serious injury are prevalent in full contact sports, but other sports do not have the same life-altering injury rate as football.Rugby does have concussions, but it is typically from improper tackling technique. Safety of the player being tackled is also of high importance. There are rules in the game that do not allow unsafe tackles. If a tackler is to spear, tackle above the runner’s shoulders, tackle a player without the ball, or lift the player from the ground, the result will be at least a yellow card removing them from the game and possibly a multiple game suspension.

Certain teams and players have adopted techniques that reduce the chances of serious head injuries. The professional football league has worked towards implementing new rules that keep players safer.Teams like the Seattle Seahawks have adopted this rugby style of tackling and it has improved player safety and tackling efficiency. The different tackling technique may not be accepted by all teams, but the game will eventually have to do something about the head injury epidemic. An article published by The Telegraph states:

Several American colleges have studied this way of tackling. The Seattle Seahawks have worked with Fijian rugby sevens star Waisale Serevi on “taking the head out of the game”. Rugby techniques have subsequently been introduced at Washington, Florida and Michigan State – whose head coach Mark Dantonio extols the benefits of rugby–style tackling.

This type of tackling emphasizes player safety and not allowing the head to be put in danger during contact. Rugby players do not wear padding or helmets, so tackling must be controlled and properly executed. The players must be cognizant of their body position and in complete control of the tackling movement. When using proper technique, athletes executing a tackle will make contact with the shoulder and drive through the opponent.

 

The way that football players tackle is careless and does not usually follow any specific technique. Players will throw their body into a tackle because their padding gives them a false sense of security. The head is not protected and there is not enough absorption of energy to protect the athlete’s brain. Young athletes are taught some techniques, but proper technique often gets thrown out the window during play.

Intense impact on the shoulder and neck area can cause a stinger. A stinger occurs when the neck is pushed to the side and the main nerve from the brain to the arm is pinched. This can cause the sensation of an electric shock or burning/stinging. Although a majority of the time this injury resolves between hours to days, it can become frequently occurring and could become a lifelong injury. In an article about stingers and the possible health hazards by Alexa Royston and Lindsay Ramey, it reads,”Terminal stingers/burners are characterized by severe neurotmetic injuries, where incomplete reinnervation may lead to permanent weakness and atrophy.” Motor weakness, loss of muscle, and paresthesia occur in extreme stinger cases. There is a number of rugby players that have had stingers, but the statistics are far less than football. The probability of stingers and nerve damage increase when the tackler and runner are playing with the false sense of security that padding gives them. When players continue to participate despite their injuries, they put themselves and others at higher risk because their technique deteriorates.

People that do not support football could argue that players accept the risk of serious injury upon participating in football, but walking away with a life debilitating injury is not a thought for any of players. A high contact, high impact sport that risks permanent injury to the brain, spine, and skeletal muscle system needs to support safer rules and techniques instead of pushing players to create bigger and harder hits.

References

Tmg. “Is Rugby or American Football More Dangerous?” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 25 Jan. 2016, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/concussion/is-rugby-or-american-football-more-dangerous/.

Royston, A., & Ramey, L. (2013, September 20). Stingers and Burners. Retrieved March 20, 2018, from https://now.aapmr.org/stingers-and-burners/

Wilkerson, R. (n.d.). Our knowledge of orthopedics. Your best health. (S. J. Fischer, Ed.). Retrieved March 20, 2018, from https://orthoinfo.aaos.org/en/diseases–conditions/burners-and-stingers/

causal argument- Thenaturalist201

When growing up in a multiracial household you are accepted by both families as soon leave that safety you become an outcast. Multiracial people do not belong anywhere they face discrimination more than anyone race because they are not in the same position as anyone race person.

They may hold feature of one race but the skin color of another because of that they should not be held in a position where they are put in one category.

Being multiracial is seen as the best of both worlds in many people’s eyes as they can experience a culture without the oppression that comes with it. But in reality, multiracial people are born into the world with the idea that they are more privileged than the oppressed race. This is not true, they are experiencing if not more discrimination as they cannot express themselves. They are told they dress wrong or talk too much like one race when they appear to be from another.

Rebuttal argument- PATricKStar123

Mental health treatment extends out of the boundaries of the school system

Mental health illness is a very tricky subject especially when it comes to determining who has it and who does not. Most people who struggle with a mental health illness will not be diagnosed until it becomes quite severe. In this case of College students, even fewer will seek out help in fear of being different or judgement. So an important question is how can you help someone that doesn’t seek help.

One of the most pressing problems with overseeing College students is their age group. As stated in the publication titled The Best Practices of Medical Health, “Colleges have a complicated relationship with their students. Most students are legal adults and entitled to privacy and autonomy.” While universities respect this many can not oversee the mass of Students and govern what they do. this was simple to do back in maybe middle school or high school with a more personal approach with students but in college it is much more complex and interpersonal.

Second is that mental health services are something serious that requires professional attention and even more in depth treatment. To offer this a campus of ten to forty thousands students is insane. the funding for the university would be through the roof. for example, when you have a severe injury who do you you want to treat you a school nurse or a Doctor. the same goes with having a severe mental illness. University counselors can only do so much; Families of students should seek outside treatment from psychiatric counselors. What the school does offer is an assessment and the try to diagnose the problem then help direct you to more extensive professional help after a period of time. “The 2014 Healthy Minds Study (Eisenberg, 2014) found that 98% of students would be willing to accept someone who received mental health treatment as a close friend, and only 15% felt that receiving mental health treatment was a sign of personal failure.”

Instead of blaming schools we should come up with at tacit to be able to assess students since we already give them the right resources to seek help. we should open our services to students with incentives and let them know its okay to receive help and maybe have some success stories to share as examples. I personally believe this problem is going to continue to be ongoing because of the extent of the fact is we cannot properly treat everyone since most people don’t seem to want to seek help. The point is not to wipe the numbers clean; the point of this is to find a way to properly reach out to students and lower the amount of tragedies to come.

References 

Locke, B. , Wallace, D. and Brunner, J. (2016), Emerging Issues and Models in College Mental Health Services. Student Services, 2016: 19-30.

Schwartz, V., M.D., & Kay, J., M.D. (2009). The crisis in college and university mental health. Psychiatric Times, 26(10), 32-32,34. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.rowan.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/204650110?accountid=13605

Causal Argument- paTricKStar123

Are Colleges doing enough to help with Students mental health issues

College is a place where we go to further enhance our education. This is where students come to learn more about themselves and choose their career paths for the future. This set environment could be very intimidating. For most students they go to dorm to gain the experience of living on their own. while this may seem fun and exciting many leave their families and friends and come to college only knowing a handful of people. there are many stressors  that come with college. While some may argue that stress is a normal life process that everyone goes through. the only difference that people fail to mention is that there are two different types of stressors. The first is called Challenge stressors or commonly known as Eustress. This is the stress that pushes you to reach your goals and go past your limits. The second type of stress is what we most commonly think of when we hear the term stress, which is distress or hindrance stressor. This stress causes you to have internal conflict and may hinder you from focusing. this is why it is very important to understand the difference between the two. Yet, many Students fail to understand this and put themselves in greater mental and physical risk.

“According to a 2013 American Psychological Association survey, about one-third of college students have experienced depression within the past year and had difficulty functioning because of it.” The main mental health issues mentioned in studies are anxiety and depression. in a study conducted at community colleges reported many other mental health issues that most college fail to mention and treat. Students reported  bipolar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, schizophrenia, substance abuse or addiction, and “other addictions.” Most college advertise their counseling services in the beginning , before school starts around orientation period. As a Student who went to both community college and a traditional university i can say community colleges fail to even mention this. Through a whole semester of taking classes i have not had any health services or clubs. The reason i believe so is because of the budget community colleges have. Also the majority of Community college students are commuters and do not live on campus.  Even so, Just because It is a Community College they should still offer some sort of treatment just incase students need help. although it is understandable students may need someone to talk to and with these interpersonal actions it makes Students who do need help struggle more and possibly put them at risk of dropping out.

The traditional colleges offer mental health counseling but really only say things about about counseling during the orientation after that nothing else. Universities fail to tell students how they can cope with stress and don’t explain how you can distinguish between Eustress and Distress. instead, they warn you about substances you may encounter and give numbers for services to call but the problem is many Students are nervous and don’t want to feel weird about going to having problems. With the expensive tuition College students pay don’t you believe they deserve the accommodations to be able to live a good life and be able to focus on their futures.

I believe universities and community colleges should hold this at top priority. Students can try to cope with their stress by practicing mindfulness. They can practice meditation, while mindfulness can be difficult to achieve and results vary from person to person, it can help students remain focused and calm. the way mindfulness can help is for students who used negative coping methods such as self harm, substance and alcohol abuse, or even have bad reoccurring thoughts , it can allow you to change your personality and curve your impulses. “This suggests that for individuals who observe in a non-reactive manner, observation may relate to lower levels of substance use.”

 

References

Bowen, S. (03/2014). Relationship between dispositional mindfulness and substance use: Findings from a clinical sampleElsevier.10.1016/j.addbeh.2013.10.026

Katz, D. (2013). Community college student mental health: A comparative analysis (Order No. 3572817). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (1434835907). Retrieved from http://ezproxy.rowan.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1434835907?accountid=13605

Moise, G. (2014). Good stress or bad stress? relationships between stress appraisals and strains in health care practitioners (Order No. 3630437). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (1563382680). Retrieved from http://ezproxy.rowan.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1563382680?accountid=13605

 

Causal Argument- LBirch

Smoke Detectors: The Source of Fire

Smoke detectors are an essential tool for your household safety, just like a lock on your door. Detectors play a huge role in fire safety, alerting an occupant when there is smoke in a building or house and allowing them enough time to exit without harm. Detectors seem to be easy to install, and are thought to require little to no care or attention. But with that belief, most detectors can become faulty and do not operate, or can even lead to a risk of starting a fire itself. Shorted wires or bad batteries can all be leading causes of these detectors catching fire, and both of these people do not check regularly. Without the appropriate maintenance of the detectors in your home, it is possible that the thing that alerts you of a fire is actually the cause of the fire.

The smoke detectors in your house are either hard-wired, meaning their main power source is from your house, or a battery-operated  detector, which gets its power from a battery. There are many battery options for a detector, but the most common and efficient battery is the lithium battery. According to Arthur Lee’s report for the U.S Consumer Product Safety Commission,  “In recent years, the market has offered battery-powered residential smoke alarms with long-life batteries of up to 10-years. The batteries are lithium 9-volt batteries…” But what is not known is the dangers of these long-life, lithium batteries. Lithium batteries do have a history of shorting out, causing a fire. In an article by Battery University, the author discusses safety concerns of lithium batteries and times where they have failed. “In 2006, a one-in-200,000 breakdown triggered a recall of almost six million lithium-ion packs. Sony, the maker of the lithium-ion cells in question, points out that on rare occasion microscopic metal particles may come into contact with other parts of the battery cell, leading to a short circuit within the cell… Quality lithium-ion batteries are safe if used as intended. However, a high number of heat and fire failures had been reported in consumer products that use non-certified batteries, and the hoverboard is an example”. Of course a hoverboard is not a smoke detector, but if the batteries are the same in the two, there is certainly a risk of a fire.

On the other side of battery-operated detectors are hard-wired detectors. As it should be noted, hard-wired detectors also use batteries, but only as a backup power source. The main source of power, however, uses wires. According to the Electrical Safety Foundation International (ESFI), home electrical fires account for an estimated 51,000 fires each year. It is also stated that electrical distribution systems are the third leading cause of home structure fires. In an article published by CRM Risk, lists many ways a fire can be started due to wiring. Physical damage to wires or other electrical equipment can cause a fire and installations can also become damaged or deteriorate with age. Overloaded circuits used with large fuses and circuit breakers can result in overheated wires, breakdown of insulation and eventual short circuits. These circuits will produce high amounts of heat, which can lead to fire.

Structure fires are already a concern for homeowners and to add to their worries, an safety device that has been known to help may turn into a time bomb. The wrong wiring or a bad battery could possibly turn this safety device into a fiery piece of plastic. People should not need to worry about this device along with the many other things in a home. But you may need to be concerned about even the most object, like a smoke detector.

 

References

BU-304a: Safety Concerns with Li-ion. (2018, January 4). Retrieved February 27, 2018, from http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/safety_concerns_with_li_ion 

Common Causes of Electrical Fires. (2012, December). Retrieved February 27, 2018, from http://cmrris.com/news-manufacturing-details/20/common-causes-of-electrical-fires.html

Home Electrical Fires. (2015, February 4). Retrieved February 27, 2018, from http://www.esfi.org/resource/home-electrical-fires-184

Lee, A. (2002, June 28). Preliminary Test Results on Lithium Batteries Used In Resident Smoke Alarms. Retrieved February 27, 2018, from https://www.cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/lithiumfinal.PDF

 

Causal Argument—dudeintheback

The prescription of Adderall will lead to a lifetime of addiction, and many other social problems

In today’s society, we trust everything that a doctor tells us. We follow their prescriptions, and advice because we were paying them to give us the best answers to our illnesses. In most cases, doctors want what is best for their patents, but doctors unfortunately do not make their money from treating healthy patients. Also, unfortunately, our society’s view of what truly helps is medication. The prescription of medication gives us reassurance, and in many cases, the medication works for the prescribed individual. Once medication is perceived to be this sort of “Miracle pill” to the user, who thinks the medication is a necessary part of their daily success, a whole new can of worms is popped open with its own problems. Looking at the prescription of Adderall, an ADHD ( Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder ) medication, the drugs Addictive properties, and perceivable superhuman brain ability is just what doctors want in the medication.

A child who has symptoms of ADHD, may blurt out the answers before the questions have been completed, has difficulty awaiting turn, or intrudes and interrupts others. Temperaments that can simply be the result of bad teachings, and immaturity. Describing ADHD as a made up mental illness would be wrong, since there are definitely cases of people whose problems cannot be subdued thorough punishment, and behavioral teaching. The problem is, a doctor, or a parent (sometimes both) agree on the  prescription of medication as the solution to their child’s classroom disturbances. What they should realize, is that with these amazing results of astounding performance, and a quilled, drugged up child, brings nothing but harm in the future.

We cannot idly sit by to a prescription that changes our immature youths brain. The  Recovery village, which specializes in addiction awareness/education, put an article up on their website titled, “Is Adderall Safe? | Safe for Adults and Children?” describing the true risk of the drug. As a parent, we want what’s best for our kid. We cannot deny the therapeutic effects of Adderall onto those with ADHD. In return, we must also realize that these symptoms of ADHD can disappear over time. The article describing the pills purpose as, “… not meant to be a long-term treatment because symptoms of ADHD often get better in children as they get older”. The problem with this thinking of solving the problem at the beginning, or first signs of ADHD, is that the prescription can be fully avoided by letting a child figure out the consequences of their actions. As their symptoms perceivably get better, an ADHD diagnosed person is already on that daily regiment of popping that miracle pill each day. Someone who is reliant on this pill, and who has been brought up entrusting that pill with their normality in society cannot simply say goodbye to the pill when symptoms vanish.

The love of Adderall is not just due to Adderall’s unnatural performance enhancing, but its extremely addictive properties as well. The devastating effects of addiction should be enough to deter anyone from approaching any drug, but people tend to overlook, and outweigh addiction with all of the miracle works of said drug. In a first person account of one womans Adderall downfall published by The Washburn Review, in an article titled, ”The real effects of Adderall: a personal testimony” Taylor Evans goes in depth in her experiences. Evans knew that she did not have ADHD, but a simple visit to the doctors office with descriptions of problems with paying attention, and whatever other fluff she needed to embellish on to get the Adderall prescription. Evans loved the drug, comparing taking Adderall to “being superwoman.” She could get all of her homework done, write papers longer than the required length, clean her house until it was spotless and still pick up extra hours at work. Amazing right? Why would someone want to throw this superhuman opportunity away. Simple, they can’t. Once someone builds up this notion of only achieving that success from the medication, they will make the connection of    pill = success, and no pill = no success. As time went on, Evans addiction to the drug worsened. The author says, “…Evans started accomplishing less at school and work and shifted her main focus to finding more pills. This disrupted both her studies and home life”. The drug will turn the user into them fully depending on the medication.

The matter of originally classifying a child’s temperaments, and immature qualities as ADHD stigmatizes a child, and puts them in a category different from others who are perceived to be “normal”. Once this connotation is put around an adolescent, they will start to think they need medication to be normal. In a YouTube video titled, “CCHR Co-Founder Dr. Thomas Szasz, Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus” Dr. Thomas Szasz describes the connotation an illness or disease has now. He believes that any disease cannot be not based on behavior, its something in the body that malfunctions. The stigma and connotation ADHD has around it is socially constructed. By diagnosing a child with ADHD and classifying it as a disease, or disorder stigmatizes a child, and puts them in a category that they should not be in. Parents should not think that their kid has an illness based on behavior, and should not jump to try to treat it. Instead, society, and doctors push to treat immediately. When you make a child feel like he is sick, and needs the medication to be normal, this messes up the kid for the rest of his life. Putting him in the pill cycle till they don’t have any more pills to take… and when they don’t have the pills, they believe they cannot be normal.

This topic first spiked my interest when I started living with an Adderall addict. Seeing how dependent he was on the drug to be able to wake up, go to class, maintain his appetite, and stay focused scared me. It is not natural to have something change your performance so much. The benefits of the prescription (which there are many positive effects of the drug) should not even be considered if there is potential for a lifetime or dependency.

 

 

Work cited

https://www.therecoveryvillage.com/adderall/adderall-safe/#gref

https://search.proquest.com/docview/1715703263?pq-origsite=summon

 

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-pATricKStar123

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyDerULSqqQ

 

0:00-0:01 The ad opens up with a scene of a beautiful nature scene. You are looking over some type of hill/ mountain.

0:01-0:03 next we see a rabbit running seems excited/desperate. the scene opens up to see a garden with a scarecrow and plentiful crops.

0:04-0:05 following this we see the rabbit run from up close after a while he stops. we can see that her is facing the viewer and has his hand in almost a welcoming state. he is standing in the garden because we can see the crops and lettuce. the rabbit waves to come as he walks away toward the garden. It seems he was asking the deer to come.

0:06-0:11 The scene opens up to see a variety of animals coming through the gate of the garden many of which are walking like humans. the animal that come in were pigs, squirrels, and other rabbits. these animals start to pick out these crops from the ground. some of the rabbits start to eat the crops and these vegetation seems fresh.

0:12-0:15 the animals are delighted dancing in the food.

0:18-0:22 a phrase pops up on the screen cook it, store it, share it. the words just don’t waste it pop up as the rabbits are excitingly throwing up the food in the air. i believe it could be saying don’t be wasteful like them in this image.

0:23- 0:25 next we see one rabbit walk into what could be his home with a huge amount of crops in his hands. the rabbit drops the food into the floor to share with four other rabbits.

0:25-0:35 the words better ate then never appear on the screen. i believe that this ad is telling us just that in America well as other countries we waste so much food because of the fact we can. with hundreds of thousands homeless and hungry, we are taking from the fact we could be helping these people. From an audience point of view this ad seemed too playful to inspire. many people would just think this was a cute ad but not really impact.