G20

Watching the youtube videos in class and during the presentation I sat thinking thank God my house is nowhere near anyplace significant where people would want to protest…unless Home Depot is the new hot spot for protesters… It’s really scary to think that weapons used by the military on enemies at WAR were being used here on the citizens that the weapons were created to PROTECT. What made it even scarier was the fact that they were being used on young college students. Listening to the speakers talk had me thinking that the government has every right to be sensitive to protests and possible terrorist threats but using methods such as those used at the G20 protests was taking it a little too far, especially since they used these tactics on their own citizens based on an act that is supposed to be protected by the government. It’s insane that the police think that they can use their authority over citizens and suspend rights. It even sounded ridiculous that they punished a guy for tweeting ways to help innocent people escape from a situation that they didn’t deserve to be harassed for simply being in a town.

Peer Pressure Revised...

Peer pressure negatively influences students’ everyday. Many surrender to peer pressure rather than be looked down upon by their schoolmates. Peer pressure comes in many forms. Negative aspects include cutting classes to hang out, drug and alcohol abuse/addiction, and engaging in other risky behaviors. Although there may be negative aspects, peer pressure can also positively influence students through support from family, teachers, and friends.

The main purpose of going to school is to further one's education so that they will succeed in the future. But what is school life without having friends to endure the ups and downs with you? With this in mind, most students look for ways to fit in, or become socially acceptable. Some examples include changing their appearance, the music they listen to, even the company they choose to associate with.

It is often considered that peer pressure is the cause of all negative behaviors associated with teens. However, friends are an important part of development of finding one’s identity as an individual and finding one’s self separate from their family [1]. Friends offer support on a different scale than a family can, especially since most of their time is spent outside of their immediate families. Peers can create a comfortable atmosphere for trying new things than parents/guardians can, and is more likely to be open to new experiences.

One way peer pressure can negatively impact someone is cutting classes to hang out. This can lead to reckless behavior such as experimenting with drugs and alcohol. Some feel that this activity will make them look “cool.” Whether or not they know the consequences of the activity, the only thought running through their minds is “will I be liked more if I do this?” with no thought as to how this will affect them later in life.

Peer influence is not as effective when strong family support is present in the homes of students. However, some students may come from broken homes where familial support is minimal and rebellion and experimentation become appealing. While other factors may play a role in drug addiction and alcohol abuse, statistics show that 82% of teens will try drugs due to peer pressure, and 79% of them lack sufficient parental supervision [3].

Within the years spent in school students will attend parties thrown by either friends or the school itself. In high schools and colleges drinking is definitely considered a social norm.

Studies show that drinking early on in life can not only cause severe liver problems, but also memory lapse and brain erosion. Excessive alcohol consumption can lead to the development of brain disorders such as Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome (WKS), which can lead to learning disabilities,[2] which would be detrimental to students. About "25% of college students report that drinking has caused them to face academic problems such as missing class, late assignments, falling behind, and doing poorly on exams and papers" [4].

Another example of how friends can influence one in is drugs/smoking. You might have friends that are opposed to smoking and drug use in general, they are the reason you refuse a cigarette or some other drug initially, but what if other friends keep persisting that you just try it because “once won’t kill you.” Eventually, the more you continue to “try it” it becomes a habit. Like alcohol, drugs have harmful effects on the brain. They tend to falsely activate neurotransmitters that cause exhilaration and other pleasurable feelings that may last for a short period of time they also leave behind long term effects that cause memory loss and irrational thinking.

With all the ways that negative peer pressure can affect the well being of teenagers, there are ways to prevent them from surrendering. Researchers have noted that one of the most effective ways of preventing teens from peer pressure is family support. Setting up firm boundaries and having regular, open discussions with their children is highly recommended. According to researchers, teens that live in family households that have less rules and uninvolved parents are most vulnerable to falling victim to peer pressure.

Works Cited:

1. “Adolescent Mental Health Trainers Guide on Handling Peer Pressure.” 2003. Web. 15 Nov

http://www.searo.who.int/LinkFiles/Technical_documents_Adolecent_Mental_Health_Promotion_Trainers_Guide_on_Handling_Peer_Pressure.pdf

2. “Legal Doesn’t Mean Harmless.” Drugabuse.gov. Web. 17 Nov 2009.

http://www.drugabuse.gov/JSP4/MOD2/Mod2.pdf

3. “Most Americans Say Peer Pressure, a Lack of Parental Supervision, and Accessibility Are Major Factors in Determining Whether a Teenager Tries Illegal Drugs.” Pew Research Center. Web. 23 Nov 2009.

http://www.publicagenda.org/charts/most-americans-say-peer-pressure-lack-parental-supervision-and-accessibility-are-major-factors-determining-whether

4. “Underage Drinking and Drunk Driving Statistics Among College Students.” UMADD. Web. 23 Nov 2009.

http://www.madd.org/docs/college%20statistics.pdf

Peer Pressure

As hundreds of kids enter middle and high school each year, almost every one of them is negatively influenced academically by peer pressure. Teens can feel pressured into following the crowd and becoming just like others in order to be accepted. Statistics show that many teens would rather surrender to peer pressure than looked down upon by other schoolmates. Peer pressure can come in many forms such as drinking, drugs, and stealing amongst other things, putting their health or reputation on the line. Giving in to pressure is mostly caused by lack of confidence or isolation, or simply the result of bullying or even having parents that are not strict enough. Naturally teens feel that social acceptance must have some catch to it, which causes them to engage in risky behaviors. Many often fall into the wrong crowd and change their personality just to fit in with others, while others risk themselves under the impression they will make friends only to be ridiculed.

The main purpose of going to school is to get a proper education so that in the future one will succeed. But what is school life without having friends to endure the ups and downs with you? With this in mind many teens look for people around them that are similar to them in one way or another, while others look for ways to gain social status and “become someone.” Either way all are at risk of making poor decisions based on persuasion from their “friends.” The negative effects are most commonly referred to because as adolescents most of their time is spent with those outside of their immediate family.

In any school you will find students that generally don’t care about their academic performance. In most cases these are the “popular” students. Students who are socially lower than others strive to reach a certain level of acceptance start cutting classes or stop doing work thinking it will give them more time to prove they can be cool.

One of the most common situations of peer pressure is teen drinking. During the four years of high school many students go to parties where drinking is basically a social norm and all partygoers are expected to engage in the festivities. Whether or not they know the consequences of the activity, the only thing running through their minds is “will I be liked more if do this?” Not thinking of how this will affect them later in life. Studies show that drinking early on in life can not only cause severe liver problems but also memory lapse and brain erosion. Excessive alcohol consumption can lead to development of brain disorders such as Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome (WKS), which can lead to learning disabilities, which would be detrimental to students.

Another situation that friends can influence one in is drugs/smoking. Sure you might refuse a cigarette or some other drug once or twice, but what if your friends keep persisting that you just try it once? Once becomes twice and then a few more times. Drugs like alcohol have harmful effects on the brain. Drugs tend to falsely activate neurotransmitters that cause exhilaration and other pleasurable feelings that may last for a short period of time; however they also leave behind long term effects that cause memory loss and irrational thinking

While drugs and alcohol can lead to harmful malfunctions of the brain there is also the case of teenage pregnancy. Statistic show that one in three teen males feel pressured by male friends to have sex before they are ready. In addition many females say that they give in to sex because of their boyfriends. Careless mistakes of giving in to a partner can often lead to unwanted pregnancies, which leave both people at risk of having to drop out of school and leaving their education behind.

With all the ways that peer pressure can mess with the well being of teenagers, there are ways of preventing teens from surrendering. Researchers have seen that one of the most effective ways of preventing teens from feeling that they need to do what others think is acceptable is family support. Others ways that can prevent any type of rebellion by teens is setting up firm boundaries and having regular and open discussions with their children. According to researchers homes that have less rules and uninvolved parents are most vulnerable to falling victim to peer pressure.

Original:

As hundreds of kids enter high school each year almost every one of them is faced with peer pressure. All any of them is concerned about is fitting in. Teens feel pressured into following the crowd and becoming just like others in order to be accepted. Peer pressure can come in many forms such as drinking, drugs, stealing amongst other things putting their health or reputation on the line. Giving in to pressure is mostly caused by lack of confidence or isolation; naturally teens feel that social acceptance must have some catch to it, which causes them to engage in risky behaviors. Many often fall into the wrong crowd and change their personality just to click with others, while others risk themselves under the impression they will make friends only to be ridiculed. No one should feel that they have to do something they don’t want to in order to be liked.

Revised:As hundreds of kids enter middle and high school each year, almost every one of them is negatively influenced by peer pressure. Teens feel pressured into following the crowd and becoming just like others in order to be accepted. Statistics show that many teens would rather surrender to peer pressure than looked down upon by other schoolmates. Peer pressure can come in many forms such as drinking, drugs, and stealing amongst other things, putting their health or reputation on the line. Giving in to pressure is mostly caused by lack of confidence or isolation, or simply the result of bullying; naturally teens feel that social acceptance must have some catch to it, which causes them to engage in risky behaviors. Many often fall into the wrong crowd and change their personality just to click with others, while others risk themselves under the impression they will make friends only to be ridiculed.

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=8&hid=4&sid=0de39e26-97c2-43bc-92ad-a8a0892d5042%40sessionmgr112

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=4&hid=106&sid=0de39e26-97c2-43bc-92ad-a8a0892d5042%40sessionmgr112

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=6&hid=6&sid=0de39e26-97c2-43bc-92ad-a8a0892d5042%40sessionmgr112

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NTuwDerg60

Clive Thompson on the New Literacy

Unlike most of the other articles we’ve read, Clive Thompson on the New Literacy is pro online writing. The author starts out by talking about Andrea Lunsford, a writing and rhetoric professor at Stanford. She researched and collected over ten thousand writing samples to evaluate the writing styles of this generation. In her opinion “…technology isn’t killing our ability to write. It’s reviving it…” She found that with today’s generation we write a lot more than any other because of all of the “socialization” that we do online. They say that before the Internet Americans never wrote anything that wasn’t required, and now blogs, e-mails, comments, and chats have us writing more than we realize.

The author then wonders if the writing could be good. Lunsford says it is, the students are extremely capable at assessing their audience and writing in a way that would get their point across. The article also says that the students are enthusiastic about their writing because always doing it for an audience and not for a grade.

1. Why doesn’t reading and writing online seem to register as legitimate text that can be learned from?

2. If reading/writing through the New Media is as effective as this article tries to prove it is, why can’t/don’t more schools try using it?

3. How exactly does reading or writing online cause illiteracy among this generation?

Am I Really Reading Online?

In Rich’s article, Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?, the author calls on the debate of whether reading skills of the average teenager are increasing or decreasing. On one hand Rich says that Internet prowling has caused teens to malfunction in regards to literacy; yet, points out that no matter what one does with the time spent on the Internet they will have to encounter some form of text. “Some literacy experts say that reading itself should be redefined. Interpreting videos or pictures, they say, may be as important a skill as analyzing a novel or a poem.” Rich uses Nadia Konyk as an example, though she spends much of her time on the internet, she does mostly read, he mentions her visiting sites such as quizilla.com and fanfiction.net [fictionpress is better] which require the users to be able to comprehend the content of the site. Some say that since technology is a major component of everyday life in this generation, it will benefit children when they are looking for “digital –age jobs.” Some countries are even planning to experiment with digital literacy. Some argue to say that yes, books really are helpful but they give you excess information, whereas online you get just what you need. Which is a great thing for dyslexic people, with the graphics that the online world offers comprehension is not a difficult task.

Opposition to the view that the Internet promotes literacy comes from many more; the people in the article have come to disagree with this. “What we are losing in this country and presumably around the world is the sustained, focused, linear attention developed by reading,” said Mr. Gioia of the N.E.A. “I would believe people who tell me that the Internet develops reading if I did not see such a universal decline in reading ability and reading comprehension on virtually all tests.” he basically implies that though many can say that they are better of reading online as it can be more convenient, it can’t really be proven as an effective way to increase skills. The article also points out that many are incompetent when it comes to rooting out fact from opinion or joke. According to the article, there is a test; iSkills that has been developed to test the way teens utilize the Internet.

So are we really reading online? I think that reading, whether it’s a book or webpage, is different depending on the individual. Some people are better suited to get their reading done with print right in front of them, while others can do it online. Its not that people are incapable of literacy with respect to traditional print, it’s simply a choice they make based on what is convenient for them.

New Media and the Slow Death of the Written Word

In the article “New Media and the Slow Death of the Written Word” Mark Zeltner begins talking about how he enjoys the format of newspapers; how it feels in his hands and how well organized they are. He then delves into a story about a discussion he has with one of his classes. He asks them to voice their opinions on the “future of news on paper.” He states that at first he believed they were confused about his inquiry yet they really were questioning his logic. To them I wasn’t a question of “if,” Zeltner states in the article, media would replace the traditional newspaper but rather “when” this change would occur.

Zeltner then begins to defend the benefits of news printed on paper, as well as pointing out weak points, such as computer screens can hurt the eyes, or are not portable…well at the time of this article that is. After unsuccessful attempts to sway his class, he finally had to acknowledge, “print mediums had serious problems.”

Though he has not given up his appreciation for formal print, he enjoys the features that this “new media” offers such as hypertext, because writing online has to fully capture the reader’s attention and keep them from wandering by giving them things to explore. Also in this section of his article he incorporates what critics think of the “new media,” he quotes Sven Birkerts and Neil Postman’s thoughts on how these new forms of media alter the way people look at traditional media. Zeltner states that these two have points, because the media is in fact evolving at a high pace and due to this it is inevitable that the traditional media will “fall out of favor”; however, he also states, there will always be an audience that will want their reading material in traditional text. I would have to agree here because having access to things online is extremely convenient, because when reading if you get tired you can close you’re screen, walk away and come back later to exactly where you left off; with a book you’d have to re-read the whole page to find your exact spot. However, with a book you would never have to worry about your battery dying when you’re getting to the best part of the story. He goes onto explain how the new forms of media introduced in writing such as audio and video clips give greater depth to what is being addressed. Overall, he explains that the new forms of media aren’t really new; they are just the traditional forms that have been put together.

We are then introduced to ten rules that Zeltner has come up with as a guide to help out beginner writers of “new media.” His rules are all written with the purpose to improve the writing skills for the new media based from his experiences of success and failure with his own writing. They are all pretty straightforward and easy to follow. I like his first rule to keep things concise; get straight to the point. When information is clear it reaches the reader quickly and effectively. I agree with this because I like reading, but I’m not going to go buy every book at Barnes and Noble, and the tiny library in my neighborhood doesn’t exactly have the best selection of books, so I read off of the internet, and it does get annoying when I have twenty minutes to kill before leaving for class and I try to read something and instead of getting a good idea about the story itself I only know what the main character’s hair looks like.

He suggests that breaking texts into parts and organizing thoughts are definitely the way to go and keep your reader from getting a headache. Then he talks about what almost EVERYONE would prefer, the audio and visual aspects of writing, today just about everything has an accompanying sound or image, maybe even both, because they can convey the emotion that actual text can not; but don’t go overboard. He then says that if you are going to use terms that are not common knowledge make sure you have a separate place, but not to lead the readers away from your document, I also think this is a good point because I hate having more than three windows open at once, because I feel might mind might get jumbled just like the screen. Zeltner then talks about hyperlinks, and how they should be used cautiously so that the reader’s attention will stay focused on the piece they are looking at. I don’t agree nor do I disagree, hyperlinks are easy ways to find out what the author is talking about but then they also make new pages appear on the desktop and as previously stated, I don’t like too many windows open at once.

He also talks about the usefulness of sidebars, which is true because they provide you with additional information about the topic without having to go looking for it on your own. Finally, his tenth rule talks about the form your work takes. The author must think about how to organize the contents of their work so that the reader will not get confused with an awkward or random order of information. Overall, I would have to say that I agree with the most of the rules that Zeltner presents, because they make sense and I can understand why he might have written them. But others such as his ‘screenful’ and ‘module’ rules I don’t really care too much about because personally it doesn’t matter to me. If it weren’t pointed out to me I probably wouldn’t notice that there are no breaks in an online site, article, etc.