Students had a heated debate about pro-choice versus pro-life. Jeff, Alec, Jamie and Valerie defended the feminist perspective claiming that the female should have the choice to terminate or carry the "baby" to term. While, Carson stoically stood his ground on pro-life battling the pro-choice defendants' arguments. What are your thoughts?
Later, Jeff argued against Creationism being taught in public schools. He presented a solid argument that left the class wanting to debate the provocative topic; however, he was saved by the 2:38 bell. What is your opinion on the topic? Should Creationism be taught only in church and religion class like some mentioned?
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
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Cherie Hemsworth
Action Research Reports – Blog
Many of the action research presentations were thought provoking and initiated either a debate or discussion about the given topic. The action research presentations that I am going to discuss are: Abortion, Discrimination Against Dwarfism, and how the Media does not Influence Eating Disorders.
1) Abortion, presented by Carson Plett:
The main idea of this presentation was to state that abortion should not be legal because it involves killing a fetus. He stated the many complications that could occur if a woman does get an abortion. He presented a lot of good facts and information to try and persuade the class that abortion should be illegal.
I personally do not believe that abortion is necessarily a bad thing because there is some situations that abortion is the best choice, like if the girl was raped. A girl or woman should not have to go through the birth process if they did not agree to it, and if they know they will not be able to support the child and herself. This would relate to some countries because the mother is not able to care for the child, so she has to put the child up for adoption. This hurts the mother and baby psychologically because the mother has now seen and lost her baby, and the baby will not grow up knowing her real mother.
After listening to the presentation, I learned that a woman get increase their chances of developing breast cancer by up to fifty percent. I did not know that before, and that had made me rethink my viewpoint. However, it depends on what situation that the woman is in. For example, if the woman was raped, than I believe she should get an abortion because the child will only be a remembrance of who caused her so much grief. In addition, if the woman is a young teenager and wants to get an abortion so that she will have a successful career, than she should not be told what to do. I understand that there is a certain point that abortion is not right, but if the situation is not right, than the woman should not be told what to do because it is her choice.
2) Discrimination Against Dwarfism, presented by Emily Kistler:
The main idea of this presentation was to state that dwarfs or little people should not be discriminated against and that they should be treated like everyone else. She had presented a lot of beneficial facts to help support her topic. She relates what people think they know about dwarfism seen in fairytale books to realty. In addition, she had different resources to help keep the audience interested.
I have noticed a bit more now that people do not know very much about dwarfism and how it can happen. This topic is related to the television show, “Little People, Big World” because in the television show it demonstrates that little people do live a normal life even though they are shorter than an average person. This topic can be related to many children books where the dwarf is seen as a slave or a bad person. This is seen as discrimination since people will think that dwarves might actually act that way. Emily had stated that people actually ask her if her parents have pointed ears like in the movies, this just shows how little people know about little people.
The presentation taught me that it does not matter what type of background your family has, dwarfism is a possibility. However, the chances of having a dwarf child are slim, there is a still a chance because Emily’s family did not have a history of dwarfism. This information has not really changed my outlook on little people because I am pretty sure that I have not been rude to little people, especially since my best friends family is little people.
3) Media Does Not Influence Eating Disorders, presented by Sarah Cyrs:
The main idea of this presentation was to state that media and eating disorders are not affected by each other. She states that the media does not influence eating disorders among boys and girls because the reason for an eating disorder is deeper than blaming the media. The media is the easiest thing to blame because no one wants to blame themselves. However, she states that past and present experiences are the cause of an eating disorder. Furthermore, if the child was abused they might feel that controlling what they eat is the only way they feel they have control over their life.
I believe that the media does not influence people to have eating disorders because people get to see what it would look like to be stick thin when they look at the magazines. When looking at the stick thin celebrities, it would make people not want to have an eating disorder because than they see what they will look like. In addition, I believe that eating disorders are initiated from negative past and present experiences that have led the teenagers to feel unworthy and think that they need to be thin to make their problems go away.
The information that was presented has made me even more opposed to the idea that media influences eating disorders.
Abortion-
This presentation had brought a number of new facts into my knowledge of the subject.
Although I am for the act of abortion, i do feel much more informed about the consequences of having an abortion.
I personally know a number of girls who have unfortunately had an abortion, and they were not aware of the consequences like exposing yourself to higher chances of breast cancer and etc.
This was a great presentation, and challenged the class with the different views on the controversial subject, although my opinion of the subject has not changed.
Censorship-
This presentation was about the many ways that freedom of speech is limited. i feel that this presentation was great, as Liz felt that it was not right to censor the amount of music, and television shows that we have.
Freedom of speech, and to express oneself is a right, and I feel that i have in some way directly related to this topic.
People have the oppertunity to express their opinions, and in any form. I feel that if you censor their opinions, everyone will think the same.
This was a great presentation, and opens light to a very deep subject.
Barbie as a Role Model-
Lea’s look on this topic was that within the Barbie Movies, that as a character in these movies she is a great influential role model.
This is not the way i personally feel about the subject.
Barbie is not displayed as a real looking person, her looks are unrealistic, and she is portrayed as the “perfect” body type.
I feel that the influence that these movies have over children are intended to be morally correct, but the actuallity of the character that is included in the movies have the oppertunity to cloud a child’s mind. The movies are intended towards the younger girls, and the look of barbie as a person in a movie will have a lasting effect on a child, and their view of what the “right” person should look like.
Leah Kemp.
Ms. Windsor
ENG
April 14, 2008.
Carson Pletts Presentation on Abortion
Carson introduced the class to the controversial topic of abortion. His personal opinion and or thesis was, that abortion should not take place and should be illegal. He presents arguments that a fetus is a living being and that this future human should be protected. This fetus does not a voice for its self and should not be killed. Another argument that is presented is the fact that abortion is harmful towards the woman. Carson presents facts statistics, and both sides of the argument were discussed. I do think Carson did represent the relevant issue with his presentation Carson and the class concluded that this is an issue about when does a fetus become a human being. I personally disagree with Carson’s thesis. The woman should have a choice, and I believe that a fetus is not a human being. There are many arguments that can be represented on this single issue and Carson did a fine job in utilizing them.
Valerie C
- Abortion
I personally think that a whether its a girl or a woman or a young lady she should have a choice in whether she wants to keep the baby or not although it was a good presentation I still think that no matter she should have the right to decide whether to get an abortion or not, she is the creator of the thing therefore if it wasn’t fro her it wouldn't be even there. No one has the right to make that decision for her by making abortion illegal. and if you consider that sperm and the egg come together to form a human being at such a young stage, than millions of babies are getting killed due to protection being used every day.
-drunk driving
drunk driving was a very good and convincing presentation, I completely agree with Colin on the fact that they should make the punishments way worse than they are today because the drunk driver never fully understands the impact of his or her actions on someone else’s life especially if the crash was fatal. In my opinion they should consider drunk driving involving a death a 2nd degree murder and have the same penalties.
-media is not the main cause of eating disorders
In my opinion media has some involvement but is not the main cause of eating disorder, I think the main cause of eating disorders is the insecurity of the human race and the fact that people can’t withstand pressure from others. Media gives ideas but it’s not a thing that forces u to put down your fork or purge, it can’t, media is an illusion that we created. Therefore people should not blame the media they should blame themselves for how society is now and that almost every 4th person has had an eating disorder at some point in their life
Elizabeth Gracey- Censorship
Elizabeth presented the topic of censorship to the class. Her thesis was that censorship should not take place. She argued that’s forms of censorship can be equivalent to limitations of freedom of speech. Furthermore, the government should not have the right to decide for all what we should listening to and not listening to. I found this presentation to be very enlightening. She learned that censorship, can be detrimental to a society, and that a form of free will is taken away when censorship is put in place. I personally believe that censorship should be up to the individual, or parents. Unfortunately the government does not know what is best for each individual, so it must be the individuals who make the right choices.
Ricky Kirkpatrick
Action Research Reports
1. Discrimination Against Dwarfism:
This presentation was done by Emily Kistler. The subject was presented with incredible passion as her parents and brother are dwarfs. The first hand knowledge and experience with the subject is uncanny and brings out some strong points. Personally, i had never even thought about the subject before and was surprised to hear that that is what her topic was. I know that for me, i take notice whenever i see a dwarf on the street or in a movie, but i never thought of myself as a person who judged them. I can definitely see the stereotypes though and it opened my eyes to a whole new perspective. Great overall presentation.
2. Media Violence:
This was a presentation done by Kelly Horne. She definitely presented some strong points that were very clear and concise. I agree with her stance on the subject, that it is not the media who influences people to do violent acts. It is the situations the person grew up around, or what they are experiencing, what their childhood was like, and how their parents treated them, etc. Kelly backs up a strong argument with her videos and when she said that after watching a movie with violence in it, or playing a video game consisting of violence, you don't want to go and kill anyone or commit violent acts. Maybe after watching a movie about a bank robbery, you come out saying "yeah that was sweet, i want to go rob a bank like that!" but the reality is that you don't go rob a bank. People realize that the situation was glorified and made to ENTERTAIN us. The media is there strictly for our entertainment and it is giving us exactly what we ask for. And in turn some go and place the blame on the media for violent acts that occur. They do this because most are too afraid to place the blame on themselves so they put it on the media. Kelly made some great points and backed them up with a great presentation. Wonderful!
3. Abortion:
This fine, and very controversial presentation was done by none other than Carson Plett. Although I do not agree with Carson's opinion, he made some very strong, and convincing arguments. Personally, I feel that abortion is sometimes the best choice for everyone. If a young woman becomes pregnant in an unfortunate circumstance than abortion may be the best option. A teenage girl who becomes pregnant is not capable of taking care of a child and adequately supporting them. The baby will suffer more than it can flourish in those harsh circumstances. I know that adoption is a great choice, and kudos to those women who are able to give up their child but most women are incapable of doing such a thing. After carrying the baby for nine months, giving birth to it, giving it life and bringing it into the world, it would be exceptionally hard to give up the child after birth. As well, a child who grows up a foster child is brought into a life of despair, going from foster home to foster home, or possibly being brought into a terrible family would psychologically, mentally, and physically, depress the child. With that said, my eyes were opened when Carson made his point on when exactly life begins. And he said that he thought it began at conception and abortion is just like committing murder. My opinion on abortion has not changed but my perspective has widened and i now can see both sides of the argument because of Carson's incredible presentation.
1. Abortion Presented by carson Plett
The main argument of this presentation is that whether abortion should be legal or illegal, and it bring a profoundly challenging question that when is the time that a life actually begins. Carson stated that the life starts whenever a fetus is conceived; he successfully has provided all the details to explain how life is conceived, however in my opinion he failed to prove that the life starts whenever a fetus conceived. Regardless of this downfall, Carson still has provided numerous good reasons, facts and examples to backup his opinion against abortion.
Personally, I think abortion should remain legal, because sometimes having a birth puts the mother’s life on risk. I know that abortion kills a fetus that is alive, however I do not think that a fetus can be referred as a human life. And even in other situations such as that the mom is not financially or mentally ready to have a baby (single mom or teenage mom), abortion should be considered because the baby has to live without its biological mom and the mom has to deal with the profound sadness that she has lost her baby. Therefore I think abortion has to be done under some serious circumstances, thus it has to remain legal.
2. Media Does not influence Eating disorders, done by Sarah Cyrs.
The presentation was about whether there is a correlation between the media and eating disorder. The presenter strongly argued that the relationship between the media and eating disorder does not exist, she also stated that people tend to blame many things on the media such as violent crimes. It is because they have got nothing else to blame their personal issues on. I think Sarah has presented her information in a highly persuasive tone, the presentation was more like a conversation between the class and her. Therefore I think her presentation was highly persuasive.
Personally, I absolutely agrees with the opinion of Sarah, I do know think that the media should not be blamed for any of people`s problems. It is because people do make their own choices, therefore blaming the media is highly pointless and irrational. In addition, we are humans who can ``Think`` and ``Resist`, thus we do not do whatever we see. In my opinion, the media actually helps people with healthy eating, because there are a lot of commercials that promote healthy eating (milk commercial, vegetable and etc). Also extremely skinny people being on the media help as well, because it warns people about the serious negative effects of eating-disorders.
3. Drunk and Driving
In my opinion, this presentation is the best out of all. It is because Colin did a great amount of research to backup his point, also he has brought extra materials such as articles, stats and other facts which made his argument highly reliable. The focus of his presentation was on whether the government should make the punishments for drunk driving stricter. Colin strongly argued that drunk driving should not be one`s choice, because it can possibly injure or even kill the lives of others and cause great mental pain on their family members as well. Therefore Colin stated that the punishment on drunk driving should be much heavier than it is today, I was absolutely shocked about what drunk driving can do to a normal family when I watched a movie that Colin had brought. Therefore, it has changed my point of view toward drunk driving, which clearly displays that his presentation was highly persuasive.
Personally, I thought that drunk driving could be done, it is totally depending on how good a driver you are. However, after the presentation, my view has changed dramatically. Now I think that it does not matter how good a driver you are, because the chart provided by Colin has clearly displayed how Alcohol decreases one`s ability to think, respond and drive. Also I became aware of how drunk driving can ruin one`s life and his or her family`s life as well. In addition, even economically drink driving is non-sense, it is because paying a small sum of money for taxi is nothing compared to what you need to pay when you get into an accident (when you are drunk) because drunk drive is not covered by the insurance.
Cherie,
I agree that eating disorders are a result of sociological and psychological issues that cannot be easily and soley blamed on the media.
Ms. Windsor
Leah,
First, Lea had some good points that proved that Barbie, in her movies, reveal valued values such as honesty and integrity. However,
I agree with your viewpoint regarding the issue about "Barie as a Role Model" being a bit complicated and problematic. In the clips we saw, Barbie is sterotyped as the feminine, frail, ballerina. Moreover, it is common knowledge of the rigour and restrictive diets such ballarina's endure. It is this sterotype that I find will affect children. The other pitfall with Lea's argument is that if kids are watching the Barbie movies then chances are they have Barbie dolls, her kitchen, her car, her horse etc... You see, when you buy or watch a Barbie movie you are buying into a culture of Barbie.This is where the problem lies.
Ms. Windsor
Jeff,
I agree with you that Carson had some very solid points for his thesis; however, I still disagree with him. I believe, as you do, the feminist perwspective that it is the woman's choice to have an abortion or not. It is the female's body and only she has the right to terminate or give birth to a child.
Thanks for sharing,
Ms. Windsor
Action Research Report
Brooke Halnan
1. Abortion
The legalization of abortion is one of the most controversial and worldly issues, as it raises the question of what is considered moral and immoral. Methods of abortion can be traced back to ancient times, and it has been since the beginning of time that people have feuded over this controversial and unethical practice. In my opinion, abortion should be illegal. I feel that people should take responsibility for their actions and have to deal with the consequences of their impetuous behavior. I strongly believe that human life starts at conception at therefore, abortion, even at early stages of pregnancy should be illegal.
Brooke Halnan
2. Media Violence
The thesis presented in this presentation was that media violence does not influence young people to commit violent acts. The presentation opened my eyes to some interesting facts on the subject, as before the presentation I hypothesized that media did play a major role in the way young children approach violence. Although, I do believe that kids can acknowledge the fact that violence seen in video games, on television and in movies are purely for entertainment purposes, I cannot fully accept the idea that the media has no influence in the way children view violent acts. I feel that it is important for the adults of society to inform children that what they see in the various forms of entertainment is just purely for pleasure and in no means occurs in reality. All in all, I think that media violence is going to occur no matter what, and the importance of informing children on the topic cannot be underestimated.
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