Huffington Post
Title: Drawing the Line on Government Surveillance
The article speaks about both sides of the controversy.
Here is an article from a liberal perspective published by The Week.
Title: The liberal case for high-tech NSA surveillance
This liberal post took me by surprise because prior to reading it I had expected it to criticize the government. However, the libertarians didn't rage against the Patriot Act. Though it may seem hypocritical, but when it comes down to it, liberals are interested in "the proper use of government to maximize common good." What makes the article a stronger case than the ones that we read in class is that this article actually revealed a time in which the government was actually able to uncover an attack before many people were injured or even killed.
Lastly, in comparison here is an article from The American Conservative.
Title: NSA blowback
Monday, December 9, 2013
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Cheating
It has become plain truth that students in school are cheating. It could be little things such as asking a fellow student about they wrote for a small homework assignment to something large like cheating on an exam at school, or even worse an AP or SAT test. But if it is so obvious that these scandals are happening....why aren't school teachers and staff doing something about it? Just like Wenke, I too am worried about our generation's morality stardards plummeting even further.
As Wenke discussed in her essay, students are cracking under pressure. All that is important is getting that top grade; it doesn't matter how it is attained. The non-cheaters then worry that the top colleges in the nation that are producing our future leaders of the country, are becoming corrupt as they aren't truly accepting the real "good students". The real "good students" are often the ones with the lower grade because they're not the ones who cheated to get ahead. Instead they actually learn the information and become far more knowledgable. Shouldn't these intelligent students be the ones to be accepted into the prestigious universities?
To my surprise, after a bit of research, I realize that the cheating corruptions don't only take place in the student body at top ranked colleges. We all know about the Harvard cheating scandal, but we seem to all blame the students. Of course much of the fault falls on the students for cheating, but the school board must take some of the blame as well for admitting these "good students" who are actually just good cheaters who thought they could also cheat their way through Harvard.
Thankfully people have began investigating these top schools by looking more closely at the admissions office. Emory University in Atlanta has been submitting false data to ranking magazines in hope that they could raise their prestige and attract more top students. This reveals that not only has it become a rat race for students in high school to get ahead to be accepted in college, but it means that top universities feel pressured to compete with the other top tier schools in their league. Now knowing that even the administration of top schools are also cheating, it is no wonder that cheating scandals are being discovered within their student body. The worst thing is that if the student who cheats isn't kicked out of the university, they could just get a zero on a midterm. The disturbing part is that the lowest grade from a midterm could be dropped and it doesn't even hurt their gpa at all! If schools and universities don't take cheating seriously and actually join in on cheating scandals, the students will graduate will low moralities and continue their habits when they are leading some large corporation. I hope that one day this rat race could come to an end. But just as Wenke discussed, it will only come to a halt when pressre is taken off both students and the universities to be the very best. Sadly, the way society is headed, this future does not appear to be coming any time soon.
As Wenke discussed in her essay, students are cracking under pressure. All that is important is getting that top grade; it doesn't matter how it is attained. The non-cheaters then worry that the top colleges in the nation that are producing our future leaders of the country, are becoming corrupt as they aren't truly accepting the real "good students". The real "good students" are often the ones with the lower grade because they're not the ones who cheated to get ahead. Instead they actually learn the information and become far more knowledgable. Shouldn't these intelligent students be the ones to be accepted into the prestigious universities?
To my surprise, after a bit of research, I realize that the cheating corruptions don't only take place in the student body at top ranked colleges. We all know about the Harvard cheating scandal, but we seem to all blame the students. Of course much of the fault falls on the students for cheating, but the school board must take some of the blame as well for admitting these "good students" who are actually just good cheaters who thought they could also cheat their way through Harvard.
Thankfully people have began investigating these top schools by looking more closely at the admissions office. Emory University in Atlanta has been submitting false data to ranking magazines in hope that they could raise their prestige and attract more top students. This reveals that not only has it become a rat race for students in high school to get ahead to be accepted in college, but it means that top universities feel pressured to compete with the other top tier schools in their league. Now knowing that even the administration of top schools are also cheating, it is no wonder that cheating scandals are being discovered within their student body. The worst thing is that if the student who cheats isn't kicked out of the university, they could just get a zero on a midterm. The disturbing part is that the lowest grade from a midterm could be dropped and it doesn't even hurt their gpa at all! If schools and universities don't take cheating seriously and actually join in on cheating scandals, the students will graduate will low moralities and continue their habits when they are leading some large corporation. I hope that one day this rat race could come to an end. But just as Wenke discussed, it will only come to a halt when pressre is taken off both students and the universities to be the very best. Sadly, the way society is headed, this future does not appear to be coming any time soon.
Monday, December 2, 2013
Speak up dammit!
Personally, I agree with Buckley. The amount of people that choose to not speak up is much larger than the population that likes to speak their mind. In a way it is probably better that more people on this planet actually possess a filter, or else we would probably be undergoing our fifth world war by now.
Just like Buckley, I am not accustomed to speaking up by "taking an initiative". I also figure that these small annoyances will eventually be resolved and it isn't necessary to storm over and make something into a bigger deal than it should be. For example if the temperature on an airplane is terribly cold I will miserably put on more layers of clothing, rather than be THAT PERSON who rudely complains. I will then sit and hope that either another passenger or a flight attendant will finally notice that the cabin has reached the temperature equivalent to Alaska and actually do something about it. Though this seems to be a common occurrence on my international flights to visit family in Asia, each time it happens I never regret being the one to stay quiet.
However there have been multiple occasions when I wished I had the nerve to speak up when there are people standing directly next to me talking about me in Chinese, not realizing that I actually understand every last word they are saying. I can only imagine the shock and embarrassment that would soon follow if I ever spoke up. But yet each time I pay no attention and pretend that I actually am the oblivious white girl they think I am. Yet I still think that nothing positive would have come out of revealing my true identity to these people. Times that call for people to complain are when something helpful could actually result from it. Sometimes people just need to speak up dammit!
Just like Buckley, I am not accustomed to speaking up by "taking an initiative". I also figure that these small annoyances will eventually be resolved and it isn't necessary to storm over and make something into a bigger deal than it should be. For example if the temperature on an airplane is terribly cold I will miserably put on more layers of clothing, rather than be THAT PERSON who rudely complains. I will then sit and hope that either another passenger or a flight attendant will finally notice that the cabin has reached the temperature equivalent to Alaska and actually do something about it. Though this seems to be a common occurrence on my international flights to visit family in Asia, each time it happens I never regret being the one to stay quiet.
However there have been multiple occasions when I wished I had the nerve to speak up when there are people standing directly next to me talking about me in Chinese, not realizing that I actually understand every last word they are saying. I can only imagine the shock and embarrassment that would soon follow if I ever spoke up. But yet each time I pay no attention and pretend that I actually am the oblivious white girl they think I am. Yet I still think that nothing positive would have come out of revealing my true identity to these people. Times that call for people to complain are when something helpful could actually result from it. Sometimes people just need to speak up dammit!
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