Our youth are headed down the wrong path....!

I could not agree more with the reply post by our government and politics 

about childhood obesity. I think it’s a major problem facing America’s youth. Personally, when I was a youth during the summer, you could always find me outside. One of my best friends lived down the street, and every summer we were always outside playing baseball, or jumping on the trampoline. We even played army games outside, shooting each other with fake machine guns-those were the best times. My grandma had to come outside to yell to come eat lunch; otherwise we would have played outside all day, without a care in the world.

            Today, kids are too lazy to go outside and play. Most would spend their times playing rock band or checking their friends status updates on facebook. Our youth would rather spend time at the mall or watching the latest music videos on MTV then go outside and sweat. Personally, I think more needs to be done to stop child obesity. Parents need to enroll their kids in youth summer camps, and encourage them to get out and make new friends and new experiences. Many of our youth are lazy, and would rather stuff their face and spend their time doing nothing but watching T.V. and texting other friends.

            As a youth I was always outside, I was also a chubby kid growing up. After high school I incorporated working out into my daily life, and I soon dropped weight like crazy. Today I enjoy working out, if I was not in school I would probably be working in the personal trainer field. I enjoy working out, and helping others work toward their goals. If our youth had somebody to push them to work out and motivate them, it would make a tremendous improvement. Eating right plays a big part in losing weight, but without any motivation, there is no point. I hope that our government incorporates some kind of program to incorporate working out and eating right to our youth, otherwise our youth are in for a troubling future.

Either way, hopefully our youth realize for themselves like i did.

Where did all the $$$$$$ go??

One of the biggest problems plaguing the US government is the debt crisis. It’s clear that money is very scarce in these troubling times. Many jobs are not hiring, adding to the sky high unemployment rate. Personally I work two part-time jobs, and at times it seems like hours are being cut. Many businesses have a freeze on hiring new employees, so current workers are forced to work harder to increase production-with added help the heavy work load would balance out.

Its sickening watching people go through hard times, like the Japan tsunami, or the devastating tornadoes that caused so much damage. These people are struggling, then you have some of Americas wealthiest blowing money on million dollar cars, and billion dollar stadiums, or rappers spending thousands of dollars just to make it rain on strippers. I know it’s not their duty to help others, although if you have no money problem, then donate to a REAL cause. I’ll be the first to admit if I ever get rich, I will CHANGE, but I also would want to help others in need if I could afford it.  My father always told me, “never forget where you came from”, and its true money changes you, but I would never turn my back on family and friends.

I know America was left in a hole after George Bush’s presidency, but in my opinion, our current president seems to be following his footsteps. It is time to pull the troops out of Iraq; we are still spending money on the war, not to mention soldiers are still being killed. If Iraq doesn’t have their things in order by now, well then they never will. Don’t even get me started on how broke many school districts are. I thought “children are the future”??? I don’t know how, when the districts can’t afford new books, supplies or even after school programming. These poor kids are going to have it rough if they ever make it out. I hope that the president can dig us out of this hole soon before things get worse.

RE: Do You Need A Spanking?

I could not agree more with controlled freedom about spanking!

I also see nothing wrong with an old fashioned spanking to keep a child in place. This world is changing every day. In my opinion the youth are losing respect for the older generation. Children don’t care to listen to parents or teachers anymore. The older these kids get, they think that they are running the show. I’ll admit some of these older kids don’t need spankings, but rather an old fashion ass whooping.

    I have no children, but parents need to “change” their parenting ways. Letting a child cry their eyes out in public; because you said “NO” is disrespectful and annoying. This is a perfect example of when the child needs a spanking. I was a summer camp counselor and witnessed firsthand bad behavior. For example, the class bully would not listen to a thing I was telling him, he then threw a ball at my face. Stunned and furious the only thing I could do is put him in timeout. To me timeout serves no purpose, the child gets time alone to think about what he or she did-eventually the child will act out again. When parents let kids get away with murder, they are setting them up to fail in life. The child will repeat the bad acts because they know nothing will happen. Mom and dad will not always be there to bail them out when they get in trouble, and when that time comes-it’s time to face reality.

My Government..

    Growing up as a child in elementary school through high school I learned about government. I listened and believed everything my teacher’s had to say about government-without question. I’ll admit at times I was more interested with what vigorous workouts awaited us in football class. Government almost seemed flawless the way my teachers talked about it.

    Today, I can honestly say that government is far from perfect. There are so many issues regarding how money should and should not be spent. Many businesses that were once power houses are declaring bankruptcy, and not to mention how every school district in Texas are on the verge of cutting jobs and preventing the children from succeeding. The government should also do something to protect the Mexico/Texas border. I’m not talking about keeping illegal aliens out-that should be the least of our worries. I’m talking about the drug war going on down south. Honestly it’s only a matter of time before it crosses all of Texas.  As we have seen in the news, El Paso has already felt the impact, and so has Brownsville when one of their special agents was ambushed and murdered in cold blood. It seems like the only thing the government and news have to say is “avoid Mexico at all cost”.

    It also seems like the only thing going up are the gas prices. As a Texan, I know I don’t have it as bad as California and Miami already paying $5 a gallon. The government should in some way reduce taxes on gas or even tap the oil reserve in my opinion. As a kid I always imagined we would already have flying cars by now, instead it looks like bicycles or tiny smart cars.

  I’m not sure where we are headed to in the future; I hope things turn around for the better. It’s amusing hearing talks about the world ending in 2012, for some the world is already ending; take the poor people in Japan earthquake. I hope the government and president can dig this country out of the hole we are in before the transformers invade earth!

Pray For Japan

 I thought I'd take a break from government and bills this week and acknowledge the earthquake and tsunami that took place in Japan. As an American my heart goes out to all the families and many people impacted.
 After reading the  Editorial: Japan Crisis I agree with the unknown author, that we need to strengthen our nuclear energy so that another accident happens. The author makes a good point on how many of the nuclear reactors are lying off many coastlines. We can't predict when storms will hit, but there is a good chance they could get knocked out by another disaster. The author also refers to the BP oil spill. The oil well was also off shore and we all witnessed the impacts it had on the Gulf Coast animals and people. God forbid, but what is going to happen if those reactors in Japan explode? It's bad enough that the people in Japan just went through a life changing experience, but they also have to face a battle with radiation. Many lost their homes, and they can't even go outside because of the radiation in the air. Say what you want about "2012" but if I was living in Japan-this would feel like the end of the world to me.
  A rethinking of safety procedures and regulations is needed. Nobody wants to see a replay of the BP oil spill. Whoever may be in charge of the building of these reactors should evaluate all of them to make sure they are able to with stand a disaster. To think that this would never happen in the United States is preposterous. We MUST learn from these tragedies, so they never happen again.

Only The Strong Survive

   After Reading http://educationfrontblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/02/100-billion-in-education-spend.html from the Dallas Morning News, I couldn't agree more. As you can tell I love talking about education, seeing how I am an inspiring teacher. It's no secret that many districts in Texas are suffering from major debts and cut backs, it's amazing though that it's also happening outside "The Great State" of Texas. Just recently I saw that a district in Detroit was going to start closing many campuses due to the fact that the school's performance scores were extremely low.
   The editor makes a great point about how $100 billion was giving towards many projects including a heavy chuck towards education. I agree how some of the projects that received money were a bad decision, like the program that eliminated the weaker teachers whose effectiveness on students was lower than the stronger teachers. I think there could have been other ways on how to distinguish if teachers were not doing their required job, for example- look and compare the students test grades on the TAKS test. It's like my coach in High School football once told me about competition, "there is always going to be someone faster, and stronger than you, so always make sure you're working hard in case you ever meet that son of a bitch"-RIP coach.
  Also mentioned is how some of the money went to repair weaker districts. I covered this topic in my previous post, about how many schools have half of the school doing what they are suppose to do; you know go to school, pass your classes and graduate. Then you have your other half who really don't give a crap about school or anything related. In my opinion if the kid does not want an education, it's time to get out and get a job. There are plenty of others, who want a successful life, and they should have the opportunity to transfer to somewhere else, there is no need to breathe live back into a dead district. And buying items like ipads for teachers in useless, use it for better supplies for students!!!
  I really hope this budget cut and laying off teachers gets resolved soon. Not only will the students suffer but also future teachers like myself might find ourselves teaching somewhere in a rainforest, or the Bahamas- I’m willing to relocate for that!!!

_Ben

Hopefull Education & Future in Texas

     I can't help but feel extreamly annoyed with how Education in Austin Texas is being handled. I for one, thought that education was important, I mean, a good education = a great job! Right? After watching the news and seeing that there is a major debt issue with AISD, and that many schools could potentially close, and many positions were about to cut- I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs. For one, I think it hits close to home for me seeiing how I am in school to in fact be a teacher. I'll admit my passion was never to become a teacher, but become an athletic coach. Due to a certain bill that was passed some years ago, it is now a credential that any coach must teach a class of some sort. I am all for teaching, but I can't help but question what the future holds for me and other inspiring teachers, and not to mention the children.
    I know that the Robin Hood Bill is for a good cause- taking money from richer districts and distributing it to lower income districts. But like everything in the world it has it's flaws. Growing up in highschool I had many friends who lived in poor neighborhoods, many of them came to school and did well, while others came and screwed off- as if they were only there because their parents made them. Take Johnston High School for example in Austin, after so many low Taks Test scores, AISD decided to close the campus becuase of low ratings. I think it's hard to deal with these situations because you have your half of the school who is there to screw off and waste time, then you have your other half who actually cares about their education and want to do right, so why must everyone suffer the consequences?? 
    I wanted to share this link http://www.statesman.com/news/texas-politics/back-and-forth-goes-on-over-stuck-texas-1248838.html in which shows how the topic is getting tossed around from the capitol to congress then back to the capitol. All I can picture is Rick Perry running around like a chicken with his head cut off.
  What ever the outcome may be, I hope it is in the best intentions of #1 the school children and #2 the hard working teachers throughout Texas. _ Ben