Violence In the Media

Since the mid 1900s media violence has been an issue of debate, because of that many studies have been performed on the effect that this violence has on the youth of America. At first there was not such a huge problem because showing too much violence in the media was considered taboo, but as society has hungered for more interesting and exciting entertainment the appearance of violence has become extremely frequent and more violent. Therefore many people such as the Federal Communications Commission stepped up and said that there needed to be laws passed to regulate the violence that appears on the television so that the youth would not be influenced by this health issue. On the other hand others simply said that the parents need to supervise what their kids do and do not watch.

Those who support that the television should be regulated by the government believe this because of the substantial scientific evidence that they have amassed which deals with the health issues that affect the American youth due to violence on the television. They have surmised that children who watch violent images on the television are prone to act violently themselves while others might be desensitized to it. The glamorization of violence is largely charged with this affect on the youth because it sugar coats it and makes it seem like it is not a big deal and that it is acceptable. Supporters of television regulation believe that by regulating the programs which children are able to see will that they will live healthier better lives.

Though it is an undeniable fact violence on the television can have this affect on children, that doesn’t mean the right decision is to have government regulation on the television. Many who oppose government regulation feel that it is the parent’s job to determine what their children can and cannot watch. They believe that any action made to regulate violence on television would be a direct violation of the first amendment, the freedom of speech. Also even if they did decide to regulate it there would be no standard to which they could judge what exactly is violence and what is not. Finally, by regulating violence the government would be taking away the affect it has of portraying the truth and not covering up how life truly can be.

Why You Should Wait Till Marriage

For some odd reason in the current generation the value of waiting for marriage has been almost completely diminished. Kids think that they can just have sex with whoever they want and whenever they want without even taking the time to think about how it will affect them or their future. With more cases of younger kids having sex before marriage I believe that the world has become desensitized to that fact, and has practically just allowed it to happen. Yes, there are some nice attempts to try to prevent it, kind of...but it does not seem so much as prevention from sexually transmitted diseases as of abstinence from sex altogether.
Coming from a Christian back ground I personally believe that sex should be saved for that one person who you will end up spending the rest of your life with. I know that is not the most popular view in this day and age but there are more benefits, I believe, from waiting till marriage than there are from having sex with one or many partners.
Coming from a medical point of view it is personally safer to wait because if you do have sex usually you do not know what you are getting yourself into. You do not know if the person you are sleeping with has an sexually transmitted disease (STD), aids, or anything; and if they had sex with multiple people then you have an even greater chance to be infected yourself. Yea when you are young you think condoms and birth control protects you from everything but that is simply the innocence of youth speaking.
The other reason why people should wait till marriage is because sex is a very personal and emotional thing. If you have sex with other people and then find that one person you want to marry you would have wished that you could have saved yourself for them instead of giving yourself away time and again to people who now do not even matter, and for what? Then you have all this emotional baggage that not just you but your partner have to live with for the rest of your lives. I believe this makes the marriage weak and is one of the many causes for divorce which is rampant throughout the country these days. That is why you should wait till marriage.

Should College Students be Required to Attend Class?

I always believed that when you graduate high school and started college that you had some freedom to do pretty much anything. I was under the impression that class attendance was voluntary not obligatory. Well was i in for a shock when I showed up the first day for my classes and found out that in every class I went to they each said the same thing, that if I missed more than four days I would fail the class. I was of course very upset finding this out because I was planning on skipping class whenever I felt like it for whatever reason I deemed worthy.
Although I finally came to grips with this harsh fact and unfortunately went to class. The problem was that I could not stay awake in any of my classes to hear my professors lectures, except for one or two. The reason I could not stay awake is because firstly, they were really boring, and secondly, because I could read all the information they were saying out of the text book and there was really no point in wasting my time not listening to them when I could go home and read the material myself which I had to do in the first place.
I say all that simply to say that I do not believe in the least that students should be required to attend class. If they do not want to attend class that is the students personal decision to do so. The schools are still getting paid their money, so I do not see what the problem is. The responsibility is on the student to know the material and if he/she can do that out of class just as well as he/she can do it in class I think that should be allowed.

Why Freshmen Fail in College

For most graduating high school seniors college is the chance for them to get out away from the parents and be independent. All they want to do is what they want to do, when they want to do it. It does not matter to them what they are doing as long as they do not have the oppressive parents telling them what to do and how to live. Because of this many freshmen in college have a tendency to fail or at least not do very well academically. They are too preoccupied with doing the things they could not do or were afraid to do when they lived with their parents to focus on doing school work. I am not saying all freshmen fail because they are out partying every day, but just that with the new responsibility of freedom they have it is too often abused.
A different reason why freshmen fail is that they do not realize how much work college really is and how much studying and time it takes to get good or even average grades. I know from personal experience that when I first started that I just lazily did my homework and went to class when I felt like it but I soon realized after my first few tests that I could not continue with that behavior or else I would end up just another statistic.
That is why it is very important to make sure when starting off in college that it is taken seriously and not to be taken lightly. Partying and hanging out with friends should come second and studying should not be blown off to the last day before the test. As long as there is good time management and decision making college should be relatively easy.

Manners

In this day and age we find the youth of America becoming more and more rude. People rarely hear children saying, "Yes ma'am and no ma'am". In today's lingo it is more like, "yea or whatever". Where did manners go? They did no just vanish because I know I grew up with my parents teaching me to be polite and courteous, but what about all the other kids in America? What happened to this generation?
I believe the reason for the rudeness is that in the previous generation's people put more emphasis on being polite than they do now. Parents are too worried about making it in this capitalist nation to worry about teaching their kids manners. Most parents believe that is what school is for, but the sad thing is that the majority of kids do not pay attention to teachers when they are in school to learn any of that. So the kids just grow up without manners, and to worsen the problem no one corrects them on it.
That brings us to the next issue of why does the previous generation get away with it? I believe that they think we are degenerates incapable of being polite so they just do not bother correcting us on it. Because just like thrift and hard work has gone out the window so have manners. With the incorporation of a more liberal train of thought, (meaning there is room for interpretation on whether or not saying, "Yes ma'am and no ma'am" is polite or not) which the baby boomers were brought up in and further passed on to the current generation, it is not as important to people as it used to be. Although it should be just as important now as it was then.

Should The Pledge of Allegiance be Amended?

Since 1953 the Pledge of Allegiance has tried to be amended for the fact that the two words “under God” refers that our nation supports the God of the Christian Bible. Even though it is only two words many believe that it should be amended because it violates the First Amendment. They say that it would not be an issue if it wasn’t they were required to make a personal affirmation of God and because it requires affirming that there is, “one nation under God”, it should be taken out. Although there are some that believe it should go there are also many more who believe it should remain on the grounds that it is, too minimal, and most people don’t even pay any attention to it when they are saying it. Also because it isn’t a direct affirmation but more of a historical account of what our founding fathers believed. The most important issue though is that people are not forced to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

Ever since our founding fathers created the Declaration of Independence and then later the Pledge of Allegiance society has acknowledged that our nation was formed under the notion that we have been “endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights”, and that our nation was founded “under God”. Not until the last couple decades though has society called these principles into question and if they are even constitutional. In the case of Elk Grove School District v. Newdow, they argued that reciting the pledge of Allegiance was unconstitutional because it encroached upon the establishment clause referred to in the first amendment. I believe that the Pledge doesn’t encroach upon the First amendment but simply reinforce the beliefs that our country was founded on. The idea of amending the Pledge is ridiculous. It should stay so that we know how our country was created and who created it, which would happen to be God with the help of men with Christian beliefs and morals.

I believe the current actions taken by the Supreme Court are appropriate and that though there are many objections that are made upon it; the issue should be stricken down and not be brought up again. If people do not wish to say the Pledge then they have the right not to say it. They don’t however need to tamper with an age old belief held by our founding fathers based on good morals, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Does Playing Video Games Affect GPA?

For most kids in school video games are a fun activity where they can relax and not think about all the deadlines they have to meet at school and extracurricular activities they have to be at. Although it is entertaining does playing video games really affect grade point average (GPA)? I believe that you cannot directly relate playing video games with a low GPA. There are various reasons why kids have low GPAs and they cannot all be blamed on video games, although many people would like to.
Video games for kids are an escape from reality. Most kids get tired of doing homework, going to practice, and doing chores, so they find something entertaining and fun they like to do to have some desperately needed R & R. With video games kids are able to totally forget about their current situation and become captivated in a world that in some cases has no boundaries where they can do whatever or be whomever they want. Yes, video games like anything else can be abused, but with good time management it can become an activity which relaxes and entertains so that when kids go back to school they are not as stressed and bogged down with all the things they have to do which might cause them to be more attentive and ready to learn. Although most parents and teachers might thing differently video games could be doing more help than they could ever imagine, but I will say if the games are not properly monitored by parents, if their kids are in high school or middle school, that it could cause problems with interfering with what is really important such as their GPA.