Stage 8: Commentary- Education System Fails

I came across a post on the bluebonnets’ state government blog posted on Friday, November 30^th. The title is “Education inTexas.” I personally believe education is one topic that keeps my attention because I am so passionate about it. The audience that the post is directed towards is individuals just like me, the average person that is concerned with education and children in general.
 

To attract the audience, the author basically needs to make a strong argument about the injustices that are currently being debated concerning education. The author keeps the audience interested by giving statistic after statistic providing an overwhelming amount of proof of these injustices.

The basic argument is that education needs to be improved and have a much better quality. Education is “facing challenges in preparing students for success.” The assumptions the argument relies on are that the audience is currently aware of the problems with education in Texas and that the audience is just as concerned as the author about the problems with education.

 

The values held are children and their futures. The author doesn’t clearly state what government should do to improve the current state of education. They don’t provide a solution or a suggestion on how to fix the problem. The important terms regarding the problems education faces are clear. The author provides the proof with statistics.

 The argument is supported strongly with hard facts and observable evidence. The statistics given are from credible sources such as the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and web sources that give ratings on test scores. There are also ratings on school districts and campuses. The solid facts give the audience answers to their questions while reading the post. Some may question: just how bad off is education? The good thing about the facts is there is proof of how school districts are attempting to improve education.

 

I believe the argument was a success because it convinced me that “Texas is not producing enough high school graduates with the skills needed to succeed in college or the workplace.” The argument doesn’t change my mind or beliefs because I currently feel the same way regarding education. The argument reinforces my current beliefs. The conclusion is that regardless of the “recent educational improvements” many students are still failing. They go on to college or the workplace and are unsuccessful or even struggle to keep up.

The political significance is that Texas government should be very concerned with our future generations. This supports my understanding of the way the political world works: which is that education is put on the back burner. The political world’s choices affect the budget. It affects where Texas is actually putting funds that it’s currently cutting from education. The truth is we are all in this together. Let’s elevate our future by putting more funds to invest in education.

Stage 7- Fight for your rights: Women Unite

I have gone back and forth through article after article about Texas funding Planned Parenthood. The final decision has been made that Texas will give up funding to Planned Parenthood. But I believe Texas should fund Planned Parenthood. There is no question as to why, in my opinion. I strongly support Planned Parenthood and any other affiliates that “provide women with health services and many more functions of essential health and education in Texas.”

I personally relied on Planned Parenthood when I was a teen and didn’t have any other option at the time for a health care provider. My Mom didn’t have health insurance for us and I was appreciative of the services they provided me as I became a young woman and needed assistance with well woman exams, etc. I believe women have a right to what they choose to do with their own bodies.

I declare that Texas should be concerned with giving people the services they need, regardless if the facility also provides abortions. That should be the least of the State’s concern. How can local Government tell a woman what to do with her body?

I am very concerned of where the people who currently use Planned Parenthood will go if they can’t keep their doors open. If the funding doesn’t come from the State, where will Planned Parenthood get the money they will lose? The Government was paying 90% of the program. Planned Parenthood currently provides service to over “100,000 low-income Texas women.” I stand by those women in providing the services they need to stay healthy and knowledgeable for themselves and their families.

We as women need to fight for our rights and unite to support those that need assistance. We have an accomplished health care provider already in place called Planned Parenthood; they have been “serving the State of Texas for over 75 years.” They got it right for many years and now need support for their services. Who will stand in agreement with me on this highly debated topic?

Stage 6: Money to schools? Says Who?

I was intrigued when I reviewed a peer’s post entitled “Can you be more specific?” on Yesterday’s Texas Today blog dated Friday November 2, 2012. The post was written by a peer and posted on our class blog page. I consider that to be a credible source. The argument was that if schools need additional money, could they be more specific. The author argued how they came up with that exact amount and how that specific amount will impact the achievement gap. The audience is the general public. The generalization is because most individuals are concerned with education and especially where their tax dollars are going.

The basic argument is regarding the trial of school districts against the State of Texas and an expert named Lynn Moak who spoke claiming schools needed $6 billion a year to meet higher standards. The argument goes further to ask “can they be more specific” as to why that dollar amount and where the money will go.

The assumption that the argument relies on is that the reader already knows how a school district spends money. One value held is regarding the general public and its concern about education. Another value is the general public’s concern where their tax dollars are spent, so much so that they need to know exactly where the money will be used. There is a slight hint that government should regulate how school’s use money given to them. But there aren’t specifics on what government should do.

The argument doesn’t give hard facts. It does use the author’s knowledge about education from watching news and talking to friends that are teachers. The author doesn’t support the argument with evidence.

I believe the argument is successful for me personally because I have knowledge of the current situation with school districts vs. the State. It does convince me because I agree with the factors listed that the author felt needed to be addressed. It doesn’t change my mind about my current beliefs. It actually confirms my current beliefs and reiterates my feelings that we should know how school districts will use the extra money. The author does well to conclude the post with asking a valid question “isn’t it about time we stop wasting valuable tax dollars...” I learned from the argument that I am not the only one concerned about the achievement gap. The argument successfully reinforces my beliefs about education in general.

Stage 5: Is There Equality In Texas School Funding?

Our children determine our future. This small statement leads to the larger challenge that is on people’s minds today: Texas should fund public education equally. Last week’s headlines were filled with articles and opinions about Texas school districts being involved in a major lawsuit against the Legislature. The claims were that the Legislature is failing to fund schools as the Constitution laid out.

The article that got me wanting to create some picketing signs and take a stand is located on the Statesman.com. I have a strong belief that if Texas wants to be the great State it has the potential to be, we must support our children to rise higher than where we came from. There is no reason that our children, our future, shouldn’t get the best education possible. There are statistics that show where we as a State rate when compared to other States when discussing education. 

We have made some improvements but to keep up with the growth and advancement of the 21st Century, we must adequately finance our public schools. I stand with those stating that the Legislature must enforce the Constitution and its laws. Public schools should be financed equally, regardless of the environment or neighborhood they reside in. Poor school, rich school, that shouldn’t matter; a school should be known as a scholarly school, a school that will educate our children with more than adequate resources and technologies of this fast paced and always changing technical world.

Everyone agrees that hard proof from ratings, statistics, test scores, etc. shows that education should be number one on our list of priorities. Education should be number one for Legislature as well. Texas is a great State and its future generation should reflect how great we really can be. We should be ranked higher in education. We must agree that Texas has to fund public education equally. Our future depends on it.

Obama Wins Debate

In looking through our suggested sources list, I came across a blog by Paul Burka entitled “Burka Blog.” The post that caught my interest was entitled “Obama bounces back” dated Wednesday October 17, 2012. The source that Paul Burka writes for is a well known and well respected magazine called Texas Monthly. He has been on the staff a year after the magazine was founded in 1973. He is a Texas native and has a B.A. in History and a law degree from University of Texas School of Law. Among many other accolades, he has also been a guest on news programs such as MSNBC, Fox, NBC, and CNN to talk about politics. From Mr. Burka’s background it is evident he is well respected in the world of politics.

The audience that the post is directed towards is both Democrats and Republicans. The blog itself is a left leaning one that appeals generally to Democrats. This post heavily relied on its author Mr. Burka to pull off this topic of who won the debate. Paul Burka is known to be unbiased while discussing politics. The audience is both political parties because the post speaks about both candidates and who won regarding each topic. Texas Monthly is a liberal magazine that also appeals to Democrats.

The argument was weighed out evenly and was supported by quotes given by each candidate. Burka is making the argument and assuming that the audience watched the debate. He assumes that the audience is up to date on key issues as well. The basic argument is that “Obama bounces back” from the first debate.

The values the post holds are the public’s concern about tax rates, energy, and women’s issues among other topics. These values grab the audience into the topic because most voters are interested in what the candidates support. The important terms are clear and precise as to what each candidate supports. The final value discussed is family in general. Obama is quoted to be concerned with family issues, whereas it’s stated that Romney doesn’t care about American people. The post makes clear that government should propose their “visions” and follow them through if nominated in November.

The argument is well supported by verifiable facts and hard evidence. Both candidates are discussed evenly. The argument discusses the candidates’ actions to see if their visions are coming to pass, such as Obama discussing the “issue of security in Libya.” Romney backs up his being a caring individual by discussing how well he did as governor of Massachusetts.

I believe the argument is successful to point out how Obama won the debate. But I don’t feel it convinces me that Obama is still the candidate to vote for. Because at the end of the post Mr. Burka leaves the question open that Obama hasn’t discussed what he would do while in office another term. The argument does change my mind about my belief that Romney wasn’t concerned with middle class Americans. By accepting this argument it requires me to rethink my beliefs about the Republican Party and where they stand.

The conclusion keeps the audience on their toes by leaving the thought behind that Obama hasn’t “closed the deal” with the four years he has had in office. I have learned much valuable information from the argument. The political significance of this argument is that it gets members of the Democratic Party to rethink their candidate. This affects who wins the presidential race because Mr. Burka successfully points out main points that both candidates support. Obama may have won the second debate, but he hasn’t reassured us what’s “his vision for his second term.” Despite this well thought out and well supported argument, I still have the question lingering in my mind: Did Obama really win this debate?

Is CPS Adequately Staffed?

I recently read an article entitled “State agency doesn’t have enough workers to protect abused kids” written by the Editorial Board from the Austin American Statesman published Saturday, September 22, 2012. The source being the Austin American Statesman is known to be a credible source for information and news. This article was from the opinion section of the news stories, so that fact may drop its credibility slightly. Generally it means the story is just that, an opinion of the author. The author has to keep the reader’s attention by showing how negligent the state has been in other counties as well. This may have the effect of making the problem appear worse than it truly is.

The intended audience is the “layman” or similar families that are being over looked. It is focused on the regular people that care about children and their welfare.

The argument was well thought out and has strong supporting evidence to back up its claim of the state not having enough workers. The basic argument is that the state Child Protective Service Agency also known as CPS “doesn’t have enough workers to protect abused kids.” The assumption that the argument relies on is that the audience is aware of what CPS actually does in these delinquent cases. There is a brief description given but there is obvious background information that we, the public, are not aware of. The author may have withheld the information to show the CPS as being capable of doing this tedious job but it’s actually more involved than we, the audience, are currently aware of.

The values this article holds are children and family. The author deems these values as important and expects the local government to take care of these two groups. These important terms are very clear and precise for the audience to grab ahold of. The author was smart to make these terms precise and to the point, leading the audience to become locked into the article because it keeps them persuaded. It is an interesting topic, mainly because the general public has similar values when it comes to protecting abused children.

The argument is supported with hard facts that CPS has a huge “backlog” of delinquent cases. The author successfully gives the audience evidence of why the title is legit and doesn’t leave much room to question the claim’s authenticity. These facts and evidence can be verified by researching CPS cases. The author also used a quote from a spokesman for CPS to get the support on what is considered a “delinquent case.” The author does a good job to cover all the bases to the claim.

The argument is successful because it convinced me that the state of Texas really doesn’t have adequate staff for handling the many delinquent cases the CPS office currently has. It changed my mind because I believed that such an agency as the CPS would be fully and competently staffed due to their type of work involving abused children. Accepting this argument doesn’t change my current beliefs, it only confirms my belief that there are children in this state that need help. This made a huge difference on my understanding of the way the political world works. I generally believed that the state and its local government would want to go above and beyond making sure they are staffed and prepared for the children we, as a community, must protect. Children are our future and we must do all we can to keep them safe.

The Dead Can't Vote

In a recent article from the San Antonio Express News entitled “Counties Have To Ask If Some Voters Are Dead” by Mike Morris and Peggy Fikac gives registered voters something to think about. It should pique most of our interests considering it’s a presidential voting year. It also brings concerns to our counties in Texas.

The article demonstrated just how important the Secretary of State’s office is in overseeing elections in Texas and being responsible to see that everyone eligible to vote can do so successfully. The discrepancy in the state list was that it erroneously had “tens of thousands of voters” shown to be dead. According to the list, those “presumed dead” should have their voter registration canceled.

The tension rises as counties have to verify if those listed are truly dead. There are “about 72,800 voters statewide” on the list and “they must act within 30 days to stay on rolls.” We as adults should find this article to be of interest as we make our own ways to the polls in November. We all have the right to vote and all have opinions as to who should be elected.

Can you imagine if on election day you go to the polls and they say, “sorry, you can’t vote because you never responded to our letters and we presumed you were dead!” How upset would you feel that more steps weren’t taken to verify the new state list? Our votes do count and we must make sure we are properly registered.