Poverty and American Humane Association Essay Example for Free

Poverty and American Humane Association Essay You see it in movies, books, and even real life. The cycle of poverty is an endless cycle that entraps those who have become its victims. Poverty has become one of the largest troubles within America today. It repeats the questions of fear, like, whether or not you will have food on the table? Will I be able to pay the mortgage for the house? How can I pay for my child’s doctor visits if their sick? Families who fall into poverty cycle are usually never able to recover, but there are a select few who find a way to strive and leave its menacing hands, through education. There are kids just like you and me, who are living in conditions unimaginable and have to deal with it almost their whole life. Many people fall to poverty because of the loss of a job, expenses, wages, incomes, and other such money problems, but through the success in education they can prevent this from happening. Poverty has become a universal flaw in both our country and many others. Education is one of the possible reasons why people fall into poverty, because many who do not have an education or a high school diploma usually will cause themselves and their families to fall into poverty. According to roastedpinebark at hubpages. com, people in the U. S who have a high school diploma will have a more likely chance of receiving at least $40,000 yearly salary paying job while those who are dropouts would receive a $20,000-$16,000 yearly salary job. This may sound like a lot of money for all of you but really, it’s not. If you think about it on a $20,000 yearly salary you would only receive about $1,666 a month probably barely being able to pay for mortgage for their house, not including water, electric, and gas bills too ([emailprotected] paragraph 2). That is a lot of money. What it comes down to is that a good education is a divided pathway to getting an average paying job or ending up in poverty. If a family is already in the cycle of poverty then those kids are even more likely to continue that cycle to their next generation. Three years ago in 2010, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released that â€Å"For [all] Americans without a high school diploma the unemployment rate is significantly higher than the national average at 14. %† (Employment Policies Institute). The idea of never getting out of the cycle of poverty moved me, because there can be kids just like you and me who try and try to do well in school but end up failing. According to Celia Baker on Deseret News posted on October 22, 2012 that â€Å"earning a high school diploma can help break the cycle of multi-generational poverty†(Baker paragraph 6). The reason for this is because of the lack of money, family issues, and their social life. It may not make sense as to why a child’s social life effects their education, but it’s because they do not receive the skills to develop their brains to learn or adapt. Another problem that is found through poverty is the backing of a loving and stable family. Generally I assume all of us have a warm loving family that we have the greatest times with. Some kids aren’t so lucky. When they come home from school they are sometimes abused, exposed to drugs, and some may have no family. I know that without my family I wouldn’t be able to be the person I am today. Our families give us the necessary love and attention we need to function as people. According to American Humane Association, kids in poverty are often neglected and abused because their parent or parents are aggravated with being unable to pay bills or even hold a job. It seems horrid but it’s the truth. If you think about your younger siblings or cousins, if you have any, they want a lot of attention right? I know my little sister does, and if a parent just ignores their child and neglects them it breaks their heart, so they keep trying and trying to live up to the approval of their parents only to get rejected again. According to Dr. ’s Ashlee Loughan and Robert Pern, â€Å"brain growth advances in the first 6 years of life and are further supported with high nutrition, appropriate stimulation, attention, and emotional support† (http://www. apa. org/pi/families/resources/newsletter/2012/07/neurocognitive-impacts. spx). So as you can see domestic life is very important in the early stages of life. Other research has found that the kids found in poverty are not given that nutrition, emotional support, or attention therefore they are more likely to have depression or any other psychological or mental illness. The cycle of poverty causes many problems for people; it is a chain reaction that is impossible to get out of. It affects many aspects of a person’s life and I b elieve it is one of the worst things that could happen. Many students in high school, like ourselves, are faced with the decision of staying in school or having to drop out to be able to put food on the table for their families. This is where the rates of student dropouts increases and many wonder why. Some say it’s because the kids are lazy and don’t care about school, but only a few percentage of them are like that. The other percentage of students who drop out of school that live in poverty, make the decision to get a job just to be able to make sure their family gets food on the table, or even keep the place they currently live in. Nowadays, you teenagers, even me, we take it for granted that we have a home to live in, food to eat every day, a bed to sleep in, and all of those things are just something we expect to be there; and for some it is not the case. Studies shown by Chris Isidore proved that those kids who leave school to take on jobs are more likely to become the 20% of adults who earn the bare minimum under a full time job which is $10. 65 at a minimum wage of $7. 45 (Isidore paragraph 2 3). The topic of poverty is sometimes an overlooked topic among students, I believe that it is one that should be more paid attention to; and I believe that there should be a lot more relief efforts to get people out of it. I hope today, that this speech has changed you mind on the topic of poverty and moved you to want to try and help. If so check out to learn more about how you can help stop poverty and get involved in creating a better world (www. peopleagainstpoverty. com). Known to many officials even the President, poverty, is a virus in America that cannot be ridded of until it is right medicine. To help prevent the beginning of epidemics like these from spreading, I suggest you become a good parent when you are an adult, help guide you children, acknowledge their mistakes, help them learn from it, and to create or join any clubs that de-motivate the dropping out of school. Traits such as these will allow your children to strive to do well in school forming a better future for them-selves. To learn more about how to prevent teens and children from going into poverty go to this link and scroll down to the subheading â€Å"What Can We Do? †

Hip Hip Essay -- essays research papers fc

The Introduction Hip hop as a ding an sich is marked by some confusion. Consider the name; is it "hip hop," "hip-hop" or "hiphop"? You will see all three used in titles in this bibliography. Hip hop is, at the same time, a cultural phenomenon that developed in the late 70's in the projects in Brooklyn and the Bronx, and a musical style from that phenomenon. Nevertheless, hip hop has become a pervasive element of popular culture, as witnessed by this bibliography. There are hip hop exercise videos, children's books as well as books, magazines, magazine articles and theses about it. Before we get to the bibliography, a brief hip hop history is in order. Hip hop began in the mid- to late 70's, but its roots are much older (indeed, hip hop's use of music from other genres is reflected in Renaissance parody masses). According to one source, the roots of this phenomenon are in Jamaica in the 40's. By the 60's, it was common to find "sounds", or a truck fitted with sound equipment parked at a street corner, playing American rhythm & blues records for the people in the neighborhood. Some of these DJs included Coxson Dodd, Prince Buster, and Duke Reid. By the 1970's this phenomenon was to be found in the US, particularly in the Farragut Projects in Brooklyn, NY. Some of these early DJs were Maboya, Plummer and Kool DJ D, who played mostly disco music. Another of these early figures, Kool Herc, emigrated to the States from Jamaica and settled in the Bronx with his sound system he called "the Herculords." In contrast to some of the other figures, Kool Herc focused on rhythm & blues and funk records. Another of Kool Herc's innovations was to play only the "break," or the musical material between the verses of a song, repeating that break again and again. He did this using two turntables mounted with the same record. This came to be called "break-beat deejaying." People began to perform "strange, acrobatic twisting dance routines" to these episodes that came to be called "break dances."2 Kool Herc eventually hired someone to "MC" these parties. This person would talk to the crowd between the songs to keep the party going. This was the beginning of "rapping." DJ Hollywood, one of the early MC's at Kool Herc's parties would use rhyming verses in his rap... ..., ed. Drumvoices. University of Illinois, Edwardsville, Illinois, 2004. Contains "The Hip Hop Nation as a Site of African American Cultural and Historical Memory" by James Spady. Roberts, John W. From hucklebuck to hip-hop: social dance in the African-American community in Philadelphia. Philadelphia, Pa.: Odunde, 1995. Sansevere, John R. Post-bop hip-hop: a tribe called Quest. [Racine, Wis.]: Western Pub. Co., 1993. Sexton, Adam., ed. Rap on rap: straight-up talk on hip-hop culture. New York: Delta, 1995. Shabazz, Julian L. D. The United States of America vs. hip-hop. Hampton, VA: United Bros. Pub. Co., 1992. Shaw, Arnold. Black popular music in America : from the spirituals, minstrels, and ragtime to soul, disco, and hip-hop. New York: London: Schirmer Books; Collier Macmillan, 1986. Shomari, Hashim A. From the underground : hip hop culture as an agent of social change. Fanwood, NJ: X-Factor Publications, 1995. Smash, Nick. Hip hop 86-89. Woodford Green, Essex, England: International Music Publications, 1990. Illustrated. Spady, James G., and Joseph D. Eure. Nation conscious rap. AfroAmericanization of knowledge series; 3. New York: PC International Press, 1991.

Why Standardized Tests Are Ineffective at Measuring a Student’s Capabilities

A Test Destined For Failure In America, standardized testing has become a prevalent method for testing the educational ability of students. Tests such as the SAT for College and the California STAR for elementary and junior high students have been administered since the beginning of the 20th century. These tests are often considered by many as crucial for the academic progression of students into further education, such as an elementary student being promoted from third to fourth grade or a high school senior applying to college. However, standardized tests have setbacks which could jeopardize a student’s future academic progression given he/she fails to pass. Therefore, I believe standardized tests are ineffective at measuring a student’s capabilities and hence interfere with true academic learning. Standardized tests assess the capability of the student to react to the test in an appropriate manner. It does not factor in true knowledge retention, the key element to a successful academic exam. Students who are faced with any form of disadvantage are most drastically affected by the consequences of standardized testing. The National Center for Fair and Open Testing (FairTest) calls these tests â€Å"very inaccurate and encourage the use of overly academic, developmentally inappropriate primary schooling. † â€Å"Inappropriate schooling† is described as â€Å"schooling not appropriate to the child's emotional, social or intellectual development and to the variation in children's development. † Students who are incapable of possessing necessary test-taking skills such as focusing for long durations, budgeting time, etc†¦ fail these tests while their true knowledge of the material may prove otherwise. Students who rely on rote memorization and superficial knowledge pass the test when in fact they should not. Standardized tests are commonly and widely criticized for their bias towards children of â€Å"privileged background[s]† who more likely than others possess â€Å"a set of knowledge and skills† that result in higher scores. Alfie Kohn, an author on education writes â€Å"affluent families, schools, and districts are better able to afford [test preparation materials], and the most effective versions of such [materials]. It is fair to say then, that those receiving a poorer quality education will be at a significant disadvantage compared to those who can or already received quality instruction and education related to the test. Charles Murray, a former Harvard graduate writes in his article â€Å"Abolish the SAT† for the journal The American,† The SAT test isn't the problem. The children of the well educated and affluent get most of the top scores bec ause they constitute most of the smartest kids. They are smart not because their parents are well educated, but because their parents are smart. † Murray summarizes his whole point with a bold claim, â€Å"if you’re rich, you can buy your kids a high SAT score. † Although the topic of standardized testing is widely debated and argued, the notion of such an important test with many innate flaws existing in the education system is shocking and appalling to many. Standardized tests were created to assess a student’s true academic potential. However, the variables and factors that influence these tests cause standardized testing throughout the world to be ineffective at that task. Works Cited FairTest. â€Å"How Standardized Testing Damages Education. † FairTest. The National Center for Fair and Open Testing, 20 Aug. 2007. Web. 9 Sept. 2011. . Kohn, Alfie. â€Å"Standardized Testing and Its Victims. † Education Week. Alfie Kohn, 27 Sept. 2000. Web. 9 Sept. 2011. . Murray, Charles. â€Å"Abolish the SAT. † The American. The Journal of the American Enterprise Institute, July 2007. Web. 9 Sept. 2011. .

What to Wear on the First Day of School

Its time to start thinking about your first day at private school. What do you wear? Weve got some essential tips and tricks to help your first day go smoothly.   First, Check on the Dress Code It doesnt matter what grade your child is in, kindergarten or high school, many private schools have dress codes. The first thing you want to do is check to make sure the clothes you buy fit these requirements. Specific slacks or shirts with collars are common, and even colors can be dictated at times, so be sure youre in accordance with the guidelines. Not sure what they are? Check out the schools website, which will often have information for families. If you cant find it there, ask the student life office or check with admission, and someone can point you in the right direction.   Dress in Layers You may want to dress in layers, even if you dont have a dress code that requires it (many private schools require blazers). Bring a light jacket, cardigan, or even a vest to wear, as some rooms can get chilly with the air conditioning on, while others may not have air conditioning all. If  youve just lugged a backpack across campus in 80-degree heat, well, youre going to want to be wearing something lightweight and cool once you get settled.   Make Sure Everything Fits Well This may seem obvious but is often overlooked. The first day of school is stressful enough, trying to find the right classrooms and where to eat lunch, so having to constantly pull at a shirt that is too tight or pants that are too loose can be a huge distraction. Avoid showing too much skin or wearing overly baggy clothing, too. Looking neat and clean is the way to go.   Try your clothes on before the first day of school and make sure it fits well, feels good, and isnt going to distract you.  Especially when kids are growing, parents may tend to buy clothes that the children can grow into, but for the first day of school, being comfortable and having clothes fit well is crucial. The last thing you want to do is get embarrassed in front of students at a new school after tripping on your pants that are too long, so parents, be sure to help out on this one! Wear Comfortable Shoes Again, make sure to check on the dress code at your school first to make sure your shoes are within the given guidelines, as some schools ban sneakers, flip-flops, open-toed shoes, and even certain kinds of hiking boots. But, the most important thing, after adhering to guidelines, is to make sure your shoes are comfortable. This is especially important if youre going to a boarding school or private school with a large campus. You may find that you have to walk a distance in between classes, and shoes that hurt your feet can be a real pain (literally!) and can affect your ability to get where you need to go on time, and in a good mood. If you get new shoes for school, be sure to wear them throughout the summer and break them in.   Dont Go Crazy With Jewelry or Accessories Some students want to make sure they stand out and look the part but leave your Harry Potter cape at home, and stick with the basics. Dont go overboard with accessories and jewelry either. Constantly clinking bracelets on your arm or jingling bells for earrings can be a distraction to you and those around you. Younger students may be even more at risk for distractions by playing with things like  scarves or bejeweled items. Simple and classic is ideal for the first day, no matter what age. Avoid Heavy Colognes or Perfumes​ This one may be more for  high school students, but skip the extra dose of perfume, cologne or after-shave. Too many scents mixed together in one room can be a distraction and can give you a headache. Its best to keep the scented stuff to a minimum.