CurrentEvents

Andrew Ryan from the Boston Globe wrote about how Northeastern University will no longer have a football team. They are ending the program because the university believes that the team has shown no promise in improvement, and they do not wish to spend the money on improving this team.

I believe that Northeastern has some other options that they could have looked into rather than removing the program from their school. They could have petitioned to out their football team in a lower division than the rest of its athletic teams. If the university did this, the program would obviously expect less money than the other athletic programs. Jobs as well as futures would be saved.

In general the school seems far too concerned with its reputation rather than catering to the students who attend Northeastern.

The school mentions that the losing streak began with their current coach in 2004. If this is the case they should have began looking for a new coach years ago. Had they done this instead of letting the losing streak continue they may not be in this situation. The school was lazy and therefore the coaching staff as well as the students in the football program at Northeastern must suffer the consequences.

Although Northeaster University did find alternatives for their players, not everyone will receive accommodations. Overall the university put in little effort to save their football team and secure the future of students whom they recruited.

http://www.boston.com/sports/colleges/football/articles/2009/11/23/northeastern_calls_an_end_to_football/?page=2

The city of Boston has been disappointed with some of their schools’ results over the years fro MCAS. In James Vaznis article “City unveils plan for schools” for The Globe, he discusses what the city is doing to fix this ongoing issue. The city plans to shut down many of their pilot schools, and reopen new school in their place. The schools being shut down are mostly elementary level, and I am not sure whether I agree with this. Part of me likes the idea that they are catering to at risk students and trying to improve their lives, but the other part of me wonders how they are going to make these new pilot schools a success. If the original schools didn’t work, what will they do differently? How will this improve the test scores as well as the students’ lives? I believe before they make these new schools the city needs to conduct further ideas and delve into a solid plan.

An idea that has been discussed statewide is increasing the number of hours in a school day. This was one of their ideas for these pilot schools. I believe that this could help, because giving the students a longer school day at the elementary level would help prepare in an overall increase in the number of hours students spend in school. An increase in hours at school would also help to increase the test scores, because teachers would have more time to prepare their students for the MCAS. Another positive to this idea would be that it would keep students off the streets and would hopefully set them up for a better life.

Another issue discussed in this article is how some school districts have many immigrants who do not understand English, which causes confusion in other subjects. These pilot schools could develop a strong ESL (English Second Language) program so that their students would benefit in the public schools later in life.

Overall the idea of reorganizing the pilot schools is a good idea, my only concern is how they will achieve this. Hopefully they will find a way to better the lives of those who attend these pilot schools.

I believe that marto96 made a good claim when he said that the United States restricts our freedom with unnecessary laws. He chose to attack the laws against drugs and alcohol, which has been a heated debate for many years in this country. People of various religion, cultures, and communities differ in opinion. I agree somewhat with what marto96 said in his post.

Yes, I too believe that people are capable of making their own decisions when it comes to drugs and alcohol, but I also believe that certain drugs do need restriction. The drinking age here in the Unite States is unnecessary because the age limit invites rebellion, which is what I believe is the leading cause of underage binge-drinking. Another popular drug abused by teens as well as adults is marijuana. Massachusetts has gone to the lengths to decriminalize it, and because the law is worded oddly, many don’t feel the repercussions. I believe that due to this law marijuana will eventually be legalized by Massachusetts, and other states will eventually follow. Legalizing marijuana would cut taxes on minor criminals in prison, and leave room and time for more important cases.

I only somewhat agree with marto96, because I believe that the law should reprimand those who also abuse other drugs, such as cocaine, LSD, and heroin. These drugs are much more addictive. Not only are they more addictive, but also they are also dangerous to both the abuser and those who surround him/her.

People are capable of making their own decision without laws to enforce them when it comes to alcohol and drugs, but for the safety of the community as a whole, other drugs should remain illegal.

An article from the Boston.com discussed an article where a father and a Pop Warner coach had an argument that quickly turned dangerous. How did the fight begin? The father brought his son late, as a punishment for being late, the boy was told to run laps by his coach. The father pleaded with the coach not to punish his son for his mistake. The coach refused to make an exception and the two began to argue. Both men agreed that the conversation was inappropriate to have in front of the team, so they decided to finish the conversation elsewhere. The actual events that occurred are indefinable because the men disagree over what happened.  As a result the father of the Pop Warner player suffered some brutal injuries. I am obviously unaware of what actually happened, but the article did not mention any injuries to the coach, they only said that he was defending himself on the disrespectful attitude of the father in front of his entire team. I understand that being publically disrespected is not a mature thing to do, no matter what the situation is, but that sort of exchange should not result in violence. Although the son has no way of getting to the practice without his father, I believe the men could have come to an agreement. If this was the first time the son was late, he could have made an exception, but let the father know that if it happened again his son would be required to partake in the laps. Instead, the men decided to irrationally solve the fight. As a result the coach, as of now, has lost his job and the father was hospitalized. Not only were both men hurt in this situation, but they also set a poor example to the players on the Pop Warner team. Overall, both men have no excuse; the situation could have been resolved in a civilized manner.

Boston.com “Police investigate ball field violence”

Stereotypes are a way for someone to belittle others while increasing their self-esteem. There are the usual and hateful forms of stereotyping which include race, culture, and religion, but as mentioned by http://limitlessthoughts.wordpress.com/ there are stereotypes that are just plain stupid.

Judging a person based on the color of their hair is just an excuse to further separate people from others who are physically different from them in society. Saying that “blondes have more fun” is not only setting up a party image for all people with blonde hair, but it also insinuates that people with other hair colors are bland. What I want to know is how does this stereotype hold when a person dyes their hair? Many people dye their hair from their natural tone to a completely different one. Also if this is a stereotype, most likely the person is assuming that everyone is either blonde, brunette, has black hair, or red hair. If this is the case, where would people who dye their hair “unnatural” colors such as pink, green, and blue fit in? Judging someone based solely on the color of their hair is immature and is a sign of boredom.

Another baffling stereotype brought up was based on a persons name. A person’s name does not define them. Judging someone based on their name could be construed as a ethnical or cultural form of stereotyping because many people are named based on their heritage.

After reading the blog post by limetlessthoughts I was as distraught as the blogger who posted the topic. I believe it is completely immoral for someone to judge another person based on things they do not choose. Stereotyping in general disgusts me as well as many others.

As I skimmed the headings of articles on Boston.com I came across an attention grabbing article titled: “You better watch out”, written by Peter Schwarz from the Globe. This article caught my attention not only because of the title, but the blurb discussed the upcoming Christmas holiday. While I was reading this article I couldn’t help but think of how I do not usually hear about Christmas until Thanksgiving. Not only have Halloween and Thanksgiving yet to come, but we are still in the month of September. Similar to Michaels who was interviewed for the article, I am still transitioning from summer. How can one think of a winter holiday when there are still days I catch myself, as well as others around campus in shorts and flip-flops? People are going window shopping at stores, and come across Christmas displays. Many of the interviewed express their frustrations over the holiday’s early arrival, but retail stores and marketing analysts are claiming that many consumers are seizing the opportunities. The article shows two different views, but by the end I am still confused as to which case holds the majority. Although the analysts and stores do raise valid points, I agree with the distraught consumers who were interviewed on the topic. Last year I worked at Staples during the holiday rush. We began playing music about two weeks before Thanksgiving. I felt it was odd, but I knew that the store was trying to get consumers in the spirit of shopping so I did not let the music bother me, but many customers came up to me to complain about how we began playing Christmas music before Thanksgiving. In the article a Sears’ spokeswoman said there were no complaints and many actually took advantage of the opportunity. I do believe that the customers ended up taking advantages of the prices, but it is hard to believe that customers were not fazed by the displays and Christmas music. The Sears discussed in the article is located in Burlington, Massachusetts, which is across the street from where I worked. I find it hard to believe that a year later, in the same location, consumers are feeling differently about early holiday retail arrivals. Last year we were also experiencing economic problems. Sears has a wide range of consumers, so I believe that the retailers are trying to downplay the annoyance of their consumers and make them feel as though they are a minority for not preparing early for the holiday season. I understand that retail stores need to market early in order to successfully compete in the business, but I also believe that it is unnecessary to begin this early, and as a result, they may lose consumers.

\”You better watch out\”, boston.com article