We Do Not Xactly Care About The Government Essays - Demographics

We Do Not Xactly Care About the Government What is the point of the government? This is a question I often ask myself. I am a member of Generation X, or so I've been labeled since I was born in 1981. I have been labeled as lazy, irresponsible, and apathetic. One of those words applies to me right now, and that is my apathy toward the government. At this time in my life it does not matter what happens in the government, it will continue to run without my input. Perhaps our indifference toward the government is one of the many problems with my generation. There are many reasons why young people do not vote, or get involved in political actions. They range from apathy to just plain not having enough time. One of the larger reasons is that most candidates are much older then those 18-25. Generation X has lead a different life style since birth then those of older generations. We like different music, different movies, there is not much we have in common. Generation X has grown up in a world of money and quickly changing technology. In order to be the President of the United States of America, one must be thirty-five years old. Automatically that is at least a ten-year age difference between the two groups. There is an ever growing generation gap between candidates and youthful voters. In the case of the 1996 Presidential election, Bob Dole was in his seventies, my grandfather is not even seventy. Bob Dole and many other candidates in recent and past years have had trouble relating to Generation X and vice versa. Another reason why Xers are turning away from the government is lack of political education. The last of the Generation Xers will be entering college in the 2000-2001 school year, to most of us college is much more important then politics. I know if I had the option of watching a presidential debate or studying, I would opt for the studying. At this point in my life getting good grades is a lot more important then knowing what is going on in the political world. College students also feel isolated from the outside world. Sure one can watch the news, but it is not the same as at home. At home many parents watch the 5:30 news when they get home from work. However, if it was up to a Generation Xer to pick what to watch at 5:30, it would probably be MTV or VH1. Parents are also more likely then a college student to buy the newspaper every day. The lifestyles of Generation Xers do not allow for everyday exposure to politics. The few students who take the time to get involved in politics and educate themselves, are faced with yet another problem. Students find many major political candidates have paid little, if any, attention to the issues that affect young people the most. Maybe these older candidates do not think kids can make a difference in political elections, but they are wrong. Elections have been won or lost due to the support of younger voters. In 1992, 50% of registered voters under the age of 30 turned out to vote. In that election, Bill Clinton received fifty percent of the less than 30 votes (Bush received thirty percent, Perot twenty percent). Clinton's twenty percent margin of victory in the young persons vote was his largest in any age group and may have very well put him in the White House. The biggest issues which affect younger voters are those issues that deal directly with them such as money. Most college students are concerned with some sort of financial aid such as student loans, tax cuts, social security, minimum wage and Federal Pell Grants. Other issues which interest young people are birth control, AIDS, and helping out the environment. If a political candidate would show the littlest interest in young voters, they could very easily gain their support and perhaps their vote. For example, Bill Clinton stopped at many colleges and talked about issues concerning college students. He attacked Bob Doles lack of support for Federal Pell Grants. Therefore, Clinton easily gained the support of many college students. Generation X

The eNotes Blog No Child Left Inspired Parent-Teacher NightBlues

No Child Left Inspired Parent-Teacher NightBlues Last night I attended Parent-Teacher night with my eighth grade son.   It was depressing. For two hours, I, my son, and several hundred other parents were herded from classroom to classroom where we were introduced to the variety of TEKS tests our children would endure this year.   TEKS, the acronym for the assessment   Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, will measure students ability to take tests.   Honestly, thats what it boils down to. The four areas of knowledge they will assess are math, science, history, and social studies.   Writing, and critical thinking, apparently, are not deemed essential. Now,   I realize teachers only have ten minutes to address each class.   They were dead tired, as was I.   But you know, in each ten minute session, ALL I heard was due dates for tests and the breakdown of grades. In not a single class was there any excitement about the curriculum, no discussion of new ideas or interesting projects nothing. First we went to his science class. Perhaps we will get to hear about interesting experiments!   Perhaps I am a starry-eyed idealist. After eight droning minutes,   I pondered my decision to forego the stale, store-brand chocolately-chip cookies while the teacher showed us how exactly to track our childs scores online. How about history? My son adores history, especially American history.   Maybe this teacher will have something to offer, show some passion Yeah, no.   We did, however, get to hear about how she also coaches three teams, and watched her go Madden-like with a pen on an overhead telling us what time tutoring would be available in-between directing children to whack balls of various shapes and sizes. And there were no cookies. My son and I wound our way down to the art room, where he has Advisory (which is sort of like homeroom).   The teacher here was warm and enthusiastic. She was also the art teacher. When I told her how unhappy my son was in the elective hed chosen (Business and Marketing, which he felt coerced into taking as it offered a high school credit, whereas art, his preference, did not), she said shed be happy to let him transfer in to her art class.   Collins face lit up. We went to speak to the principal to ask if he could be transferred. Her warm smile faded immediately. No,   we do not allow that. They knew when they signed up for an elective that there was no changing. Not one to back down easily, I argued, But its not even four weeks in. My son is unhappy and this is an elective. The teacher has room and is willing. Here was her actual reply: Last on the docket was Collins English class where I learned they are reading a total of two novels in the entire year, but both are wonderful works: The Giver by Lois Lowry and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor.   The Giver challenges notions of authority and conformity. Roll of Thunder brings to life the terror and hardships of the Civil Rights Era in this country.   Not a word about the content; only about how the assignments would affect their grades. The good news? They are also required to select one book on their own to read over the course of the year, with parental approval.   Collin picked 1984.   Mother heartily approves.

Explanatory Synthesis Materials Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Explanatory Synthesis Materials - Essay Example The human brain is under the influence of ever-expanding world of new technology. There is internet, Bluetooth links, video games, multichannel television, and MP3 players. This article describes how online technologies have changed how people experience life in the digital age using the concepts derived from â€Å"In the Beginning Was the Word† by Christine Rosen, â€Å"Treading Water in a Sea of Data† by Peter Suderman, and â€Å"The Tweets for the Web† by Tyler Cowen. According to Cowen, the advent of computer and the internet has significantly changed the way people think and solve problems. With the technology, people are capable of performing various activities at once within a short period of time. This is referred to as multitasking (Cowen 578). In the Nineteenth Century, people spent too much time looking for a small piece of information in books, articles, encyclopedias and atlases. With the internet, it only takes people less than one minute to look fo r a piece of information. The Web also helps people to develop broader intellectual narrative about the world (Cowen 579). Cowen argues that multitasking makes people more efficient in performing their tasks than the manual way, unlike other researches that criticize that it lowers people’s cognitive performance level to that of drunk (Cowen 580). Multitasking has thus become people’s daily activity, and it does not distract people from their main activities as some people suggest. Internet and technological advancements have become part of people’s lives. It is never a long-distance relationship, as it was earlier perceived. People can instantly access books and other reference materials from the Web. Most people currently prefer contemporary culture, which is satisfying and contributes to happiness of most people. This is the reason why most people choose technologies that provide immediate and extreme access to information (Cowen 577). Browsers have evolved f rom mere picture windows for viewing Web pages, to a frame of an array of applications which filter, sort and manipulate information for its human users. According to Suderman, these applications assist users to stay afloat as the vast tide of information continues to increase (Suderman 585). There are programs of blog and news updates. This program pulls information from varied sources and organizes it into a single Web page which is easily accessible. The news headlines are organized into categories such as technology, politics, business, economics, arts and entertainment. The other programs are designed to facilitate personal communications. These include social networking sites like Twitter, MySpace and Facebook, and email applications (Suderman 585). Internet and technological advancements just like most commercial developments are geared to be brighter, louder, and overwhelming to engage users, attentions. The availability of personal computers, tablets, iPhones and other devi ces has made reading easier and more appealing than before. People in the current generation find reading books difficult, and most of the readings and research works are done through the internet (Suderman 586). Suderman argues that the informational rhythms of the present time sometimes make people forget that as much as they manage the information, they should also manage themselves. Rosen in her article strives to understand the cognitive difference between reading online and offline.