Topics for Argument Essay

In my previous essay I researched arguments regarding premarital sex and the pros and cons of it all and the effects it can have on a marriage. 
-What are the effects on a marriage when the individuals have engaged in sex before marriage either with their partner or a different person, does this effect the marriage in a negative or positive way, and how would this case vary in different individuals?
-Do traditional values play a key role in a successful marriage?  If so why is the divorce rate almost the exact same in Christian communities as it is in groups where people do not consider themselves Christians?
-How can marriage be built to last, are there steps to take in maintaining a long lasting healthy marriage?
-What do the statistics show about marriages that do last?  What is done differently? 

Library Log

Matt Andrus

Library Logs

Wednesday: 2:00-4:30 pm

I went to the library and used their computers there where I searched through a number of journals using EBSO Host.  The topic I had chosen was sex in the media and its effects on a younger generation.  I tried to find books or magazines within the library that discussed my topic, but it yielded no results, I know there had to be something in there though.  I found a few journals, one written by a Malaysian team from the staff of the social sciences and humanities department out of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, it focused on the availability of media and its sexually charged nature being projected on younger generations.  Studies from this team showed that sex among adolescents were higher in those with access to media devices and had viewed pornographic images. 

            I found a few more journals that were somewhat related to my topic but not really, I searched the web for articles or online magazines and found a plentiful supply that bashed sex in the media and how it was harming our young people.  It proved to be very difficult to make an argument out of this though seeing that there were few people who thought that sex in the media was good for young children.  The only thing I really found was an article by Michael Rich, who is a MD, MPH, and the director at the Center on Media and Child Health at the Children’s Hospital in Britain.  He makes the claim that sex among adolescents isn’t completely the media’s fault but it also stems from peer pressure and what is considered normal in public schools today.

Friday: 1:00-2:15 pm

I decided I would change my topic due to it being difficult to find counter arguments for my topic so I changed it because even whilst researching this topic I found common themes. I decided to write my paper on the differing opinions on marital and premarital sex. 

Sex in the Media and a Young Generation

Matt Andrus

English 121

Forgue

Sexualized Media and a Young Generation

            I decided to read an article discussing children and the role television and television’s projection of sexuality on a younger generation.  The article was written by Enid Gruber and Joel W Grube from the Department of Psychiatry and Bio behavioral Sciences of the University of California Los Angeles.  The article covers different studies taken from broadcast medias and health care professionals, the process was rigorous and the systemic data collected was extensive and they primarily used Medline and the psychological and media literature. 

            Adolescents look upon the media as a source of information and learn in many ways what is accepted and not accepted from the images that the media pushes in front of their eyes.  Unfortunately, sex sells, and movies and commercials are so sexualized because CEO’s and mainstream media knows this.  It is just too bad that the younger generation must fall victim to this very grown up marketing scheme.  Sexual intercourse in the media, especially among adolescents, is portrayed as harmless and often times without consequence and this has caused the numbers to increase greatly with sex among adolescents. 

            A proposition is given to the general public to really be able to be open with your children about sexuality and what is being broadcasted over national television.  It is good when parents can address the issues right off the bat, for it is easy for curious teens or preteens will act upon what appears to be just a fun activity with no consequence.

            The article is from March of 2000 and that is nearly over a decade ago, which means that the methods for recording results from this article have likely become much more efficient and effective and the numbers have likely changed and seeing where the media has come since 2000, it can’t be too positive.  I pulled the article from the US National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health.  They have many references to professional organizations but they have a much greater credibility from other health and psychological organizations than media organizations. 

            I changed my research question because I wanted to do something different than I had done before, and I decided on seeking out the effects that the media has on young adults specifically sexually.  The article provided good information and did answer questions, but it was very dated and for my paper I will most likely pursue a much more current article.

Work Cited

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1070813/

Research Question

Would a greater alcohol tax reduce the risk of drunk drivers taking to the streets, would it reduce alcoholism in general?

Synthesis of Blogs

A.)  In these articles one written from the Huffingtonpost  by Eric Holt Gimenez and the other from The Nest written by Will Allen in response to the claims made by Gimenez against Walmart.  Gimenez's claims are very strongly opposing Walmart and states that their reasons for donating money (a rather small sum of money compared to Walmart's company income) to Growing Power, a group at the head of the bringing healthy food to poorer communities, are very selfish and they only wish to gain that market and with that much more money.  Will Allen responds to the article that while he respects Gimenez's opinion, Walmart is doing so much good in the world and thinks that more people should hop on board with changing the world for the better.

B.)  Common themes from both of the articles address the good of the people and seeing a change in how people eat and providing them with healthy alternatives can lead to the initial change we need.  They both want the public to believe that their main reason for taking measures to see the health in America change is for the good of the general public and not the personal financial gain that could come from it.

C.)  They both address doing these things for the greater good and seeing health in America go up.

D.)  The first contradiction I saw was in Will Allen's comments on how Walmart is really looking out for best interests of the people but when has Walmart ever put people first before money in shutting down so many small businesses and paying their workers non livable salaries.

Matt Andrus

Waiting for Superman and The Smartest Guys in the Room

This blog will discuss the two films, “Waiting for Superman” and “The Smartest Guys in the Room.”  The first film, “Waiting for Superman” was a documentary that addressed the problems within the public school system in America.  The school system is a failing program in America, and this is a strong statistic in the inner city schools, kids will come from middle school and make it maybe a few weeks into their first time in high school.  The key to good schooling is good teachers who keep the students up with the curriculum.  But because teachers have tenure, which basically guarantees them a position as a teacher and if they are performing poorly the school board must go through a million hoops to fire the individual.  In the end, the documentary is a very pro charter school film that proposes most public schools be converted into charter schools.  The flaws in the documentary that stand out is the continual preaching of ideas and facts that have no source and are taught using cartoons as to show the simplicity of a situation or easily explain an idea or flaw. 

            The Smartest Guys in the Room was about the collapse and bankruptcy of Enron.  Enron was one of the largest companies with the most rapidly growing stock purchases in the market going into the 2000’s.  Enron headed by people like Ken Lay, and Jeff Skilling, specifically Jeff Skilling, who lead a number of individuals in the eventual business run with fraud as its primary income.  As Enron played on Wallstreets greed, they profited greatly from it.  Skilling spoke of the growing technology that Enron had acquired and the increasing ways that Enron had found to make money out of nothing.  Enron was actually 30 billion dollars in debt and found ways to put these debt numbers in other investors as not to be detected in Enron.  Enron continually made the claims that they were a very successful company and they had no hiccups or would have no problem in the near future.  But eventually the people inquiring began to be heard more on a national spectrum.  Why didn’t Enron ever release its balance numbers, why didn’t they have proof of how they made their money.  Eventually numbers showed that Enron had been basically routing power away from California and asking for money in order to give California basically just the amount of power to keep them on a leash to keep California paying into their pockets.  As news got out to the public stocks dropped and public anger grew very rapidly and hence began the immediate spiral downward in Enron.  This documentary used a lot of facts and interviewed people from all over including a few former Enron traders, but for the most part it was a very one sided opinion, but the numbers can’t lie and there is an outrageous amount of evidence to support the documentaries stake on the corruption within Enron.

"It was through reading and arguing about sports that I learned what it felt like to propose a generalization, restate and respond to a counterargument, and the other complex operations that constitute what we call "intellectualizing," and these skills were there to be transferred when I eventually sought an academic career."-Gerald Graff

In an article by Gerald Graff, an excerpt recalling his early life allowed him to use sports as a means to make an argument by stating an idea or an observation that counted towards what society considers "intellectualizing," and with these acquired skills it propelled him towards success in an academic career.