What Do I Want In a President?

I want my president to be well educated first and foremost.  I would say at least a college degree.  Hillary Clinton fraduated college with honours and a degree in Political Science.  She then attended Yale Law school instead of Harvard.  Barack Obama graduated law school and was a civil rights attorney.  John McCain graduated from the United Staes Naval Academy in 1958.  I want my president to be hardworking and dedicated.  All candidates seem to be dedicated hard workers.  He or she would need to be able get the job done and recognize when B.S. is presented.  I want a president with who does not back down and can make the right decision.  The candidates who I feel are best likely to do this are Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.  I want someone who is honest yet knows what to keep to him/herself.  I want a president with an authoritive speaking voice yet is fair to all he works with.  Barack Obama best fits this description with a powerful speaking voice and first hand experience with civil rights.  He or she must posess impecable relations with forgein nations and know how to barter.  Issues the most important to me would include healthcare problems, foreign relations issues, and more education funding for underprivileged schools.  Hillary Clinton and John McCain both have similar values when it comes to education, minus Merit Pay, but both seem to want to improve teaching techniques and increase tutoring while decreasing drop out rates.  The president must represent all the goodness of America and musnt cower at the pivotal moment of tough times.  The president must be a leader to the American people and set a rock solid foundation for future generations to thrive on.  

Americans Are Tuning Out the World

I thought this essay was very well written.  I like the writer’s crudentials and that he incorporated his opinion that was backed up by facts and statistics.  And most of all I agree with him.  Americans are tuning out the rest of the world.  We seem to be sitting on a rather high horse.  No doubt I am unbelievably grateful to be living where I am today, but we must realize that there are other specatcular countries out there that have alot to offer us.  If not for other countries, we would not have certain cultures, foods, and all of our clothing and products would be American made and cost us a fortune.  I feel it is a good idea to make learning at least one language mandatory in school.  You never know when things like that come in handy later in life.  Learning about these different countries enriches our education and turns us into well rounded citizens.  After all, America is made up of all different ethnicities; maybe we should learn something about them.  We may be number one right now, but our reign will not last forever.  It is time to come down off our pedastool and start treating other countries as equals instead of subordinates.

The Truth About McJobs

The video was right about McJobs.  They are not real jobs. They do not provide benefits unless of course you become a manager and they do not provide enough income to support yourself or children.  However it is a great first job for teenagers.  I have had two McJobs.  I first worked at McDonalds in July of 2006.  Conditions were not great, people were not nice and I did everybody’s (excuse the term) bitch work.  So I quit there and moved across the parking lot to Wendy’s.  To be honest, I love it there.  I have met the greatest people, I have been treated fairly, and the managers are great and flexible with my schedule.  It has taught me many things about the real world workforce and dealing with people.  I am a shy person but I have come out of my comfort zone to connect with the customers.  It has taught me about how to read and do my taxes and the laws about labor.  It has taught me the value of teamwork and the value of a dollar.  I feel great about every paycheck because I know I worked hard to earn it.  A lot of people think it is easy to work fast food and that only dumb people work there.  While it is true, some rather dim people can work there, you must be quick on your feet, a fast learner, and a team player to succeed.

First 2 pages of argument paper

Globalization, the fuel of the fire of one of the most debated topics in society today.  The main dispute; is globalization a positive or negative force in our lives?  Some of us do not even realize how globalization affects our daily lives whether it is good or bad.  Nonetheless, I am here to say globalization is a positive thing.

First things first, being introduced to this topic just recently myself; I think it would be wise to address just exactly what globalization is and why it is such a big deal today.  And even though globalization sounds a bit scary, I guarantee each person has experienced some form of it.  Globalization, roughly put into my own words, is the unification of the world through issues such as culture and technology. It can be the spread of beliefs and culture making the world more diversified.  The key word throughout this paper will be diversity.  According to Investopedia it is the tendency of investment funds and businesses to move beyond domestic and national markets to other markets around the globe, allowing them to become interconnected with different markets.  To a website named Buzzle, globalization means increasing the interdependence, connectivity and integration on a global level with respect to the social, cultural, political, technological, economic and ecological levels.  So now that we have explained the basics of what globalization is, let’s address why it is such a hot topic of debate.

Supporters of globalization argue that it is an excellent force that connects us in way never before imagined.  They say it is great for worldwide cultures, the economy, and even has social benefits.  Non-supporters of globalization claim that it can lead to the spread of disease, spread of materialistic lifestyles, and even lead to civil and open wars between developing countries.  So what is the answer? Fortunately, I have descended from the heavens with an answer; Globalization in a positive influence!

 For instance, how does anyone know what is going on around the world?  Channels like CNN and the section labeled International in the more upscale newspapers deliver to us stories from around the globe.  This is an example of Mass Media and how it ties the world together.  Another positive example of globalization is one that most if not all college students can relate too.  Everyone has seen the foreign exchange student wearing the funny clothes and that has the cool accent.  Globalization has allowed for a reduction of cultural barriers which increases the ‘Global Village’ effect as mentioned in The New World Reader. 

These are just a few of the many advantages of Globalization.  I am continuing to work on more ways this force affects our day to day lives.

The Educated Student: Global Citizen or Global Consumer?

This story takes me back to my senior year Sociology class.  For anyone who has had Sociology, you have a slight advantage over students who haven’t taken it.  Because it is in Sociology where they teach you the ways of the world from culture to American government.  In the words of Barber, it is “..history, the arts, sociology, and anthropology, all those fields that make young people aware of the rest  of the world in a comparative fashion.” And it is true that sociology opens your eyes to the mind games and secrets of the political, corporate and commercialized world.  Barber has opened my eyes to the ways the modern world feeds on our needs for new school supplies by forcing schools to “make a deal with the devil”.  They lease the schools new equipment just so they can shove a 12 minute program down our throats, 3 of which are advertisements. He also opened my eyes to the problems from September 11, that extended beyond terrorism.  It made the whole nation stop what it was doing in it’s perfect little bubble and gave a huge reality smack in the face about issues going on overseas and to remind us that the oceans that divide us are just a false sense of security.  It turned everything upside down and challenged us to rethink our goals in life.  There are so many issues concerning the entire world today that may turn out to be beneficial on the bright side of things.  Issues mentioned in the essay such as Global Warming and AIDS and West Nile can connect us in a way never imagined.  We can come together and help treat and prevent these horrible things.  I truly believe that the key to solving a lot, not all but a lot of our major problems today is Education.  If we are going to be such a diverse nation then I think we should take the time to learn about the inhabitants of those foreign places.  Understanding each others cultures and getting rid of ethnocentricity can bring us one big step closer to world peace.

The Noble Feat of Nike

I must say i completely agree with Norberg.  As I had said in my last comment on The Global Village, this kind of globalization has created endless job opportunites that leave the Vietnamese begging for more.  The only aspect I would be wary of is that this article is mostly opinion.  However, I does display some facts and they support the good side of globalization, giving Vietnamese children long overdue education oppotunities.  I suggest we stop feeling so bad for these perfectly happy factory workers.  They want to be there for the simple fact that it is better than working on the farm for 10-14 hours of the day.  Their working conditions may not live up to our standards but it is a huge step up for them and they are happy with it.  Why should we get in the way of that?  They produce enormous quantities of product and are happy while doing it, and Nike is happy they are producing so much, therefore giving them a wage increase. Everybody is happy.  There may come a time in the future when they demand to be paid as much as we do to work, but until then lets just leave them to work and leave the hero work to Superman.

The Global Village

It seems to me, judging by the text, that Iyer is opposed to Globalization.  The article seems to drone on and on about how much American life has leaked into other culture and vice versa.  It almost sounds like whining and I do not think he presents a strong enough argument for the opposing side of globalization to be ranting on and on about it.  He does not present a profound point and does not show what the hell is so wrong that he had to waste his time writing this article.  Unless there is a life threatening reason why globalization is so horrible, I am going to keep vouching for it. I may be young yet but the only issue that goes against globalization is the the widespread, unaccredited facts of other cultures, which could mislead us to for biased opinions.  Other than that it unifies the world through culture and technology, brings cultural understanding and diversity to the world and provides possible job opportunities.  The good outweighs the bad this time Iyer.