Thursday, February 18, 2010

Journal #2 (First on Blog)

There are obstacles that people in my generation deal with that were not present in my parent's generation. 30 years ago, school children had to do almost everything by hand. They had no access to internet or calculators. Almost everything was done by hand. Forward 30 years and children have access to all sorts of different devices that can be both beneficial or harmful to one's self being. Not only do we have the internet to help us with our school work, but we can also use it to watch 7 year old girls being molested or just wacthing things that our eyes should not be seeing...yet! We can accessthe internet from more than one place whether it be a computer or even a phone! For math, there are calculators that have the ability to solve even the most difficult equations just with the press of a button! The fact of the matter is my generation has become so reliable on technology that when we get any type of school work, BOOM, the computer goes on and BAM, the calculators get pressed. I am one of these techies. However, what happens when our calculator breaks or our computer gets turned off by a blackout of some sort? We struggle to do our work mentally, a problem which the generation before us did not encounter due to the lack of technology that was provided then. This is one obstacle that society now faces that did not occur 30 years ago! While technology is probably the biggest gap that divides our generation from the last, it is not the only problem we have that the generation before us did not have. How about drugs? Arguably a bigger problem! This is because children now a days are not just smoking easy stuff such as ciggaretes and a few grams of weed! But are going into high levels of drugs that shouldn't even be used in the same sentence as the word "child." Crack and ecstacy are only some of the very many dangerous drugs that children unlike 30 years ago, have access to. Sex is another one that is very and I stress "VERY" common amongst teenagers. I personally know a guy who had intercourse with another person, not just their age but older, about 4-5 years older to be exact. Sex at an early age is much more common than it was when our parents were in high school. Now more than ever, we kids are exposed to it on tv almost every single day!!! We sometimes are even encouraged by others to do it! The fact of the matter is is that at least 3 people, in high school, according to "Ezine Articles" are having intercourse before, between or after school. My understanding of this statement is that 3 people in Chinguacousy, it could be the same 3 people or 3 different people, are out having intercourse. This is a problem which may have occured 30 years ago but no way has it occured then as much as it has occured now. The simple fact is is that children now a days are subjected to the most peer pressure in the face of mankind, then any other generation in the past. So in conclusion, drugs, sex and to a less harmful-extent, technology, are just some of the obstacles that may have occured in generations past, but no way near the generation that children my age or in my generation will have to face in the forthcoming years.

6 comments:

  1. Yusuf, I completely agree with your points; technology, drugs and sex are indeed major problems a teenager has to face now that their parents never needed to face. You're actually correct; I've seen many older math teachers and professors do entire questions in their head swiftly without the use of a calculator. In fact, relying too much on calculators isn't good at all; one needs to know how to properly input information into formulas. It's almost like constantly riding a bike on training wheels. Sex and drugs are also strong points; one could even put the points together. A male teenager, for example, could easily mix ecstacy into a girl's drink, then, while she's under the drugs, commit sexual assault and rape; it's very sickening the acts people do in the world. The media, as you stated in your journal, does indeed portray sex extremely frequently, even on channels that one should think are appropriate, like CP24. Drugs nowadays are extremely strong due to technological advances; acid used in the 1960's never had too much of an effect on a person. I liked reading your journal, Yusuf, great job.

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  2. I agree with what you say, Yusuf.

    Today, everything we have is always instant or made to be incredibly easy, which is quite different from what our parents had to go through.

    - Derek

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  3. Yusuf, i believe you did an amazing job at stating your opinion and summarizing your points about the topic at hand. The key points you used regarding the different obstacles the new generation will have to overcome that previous generations never had were very convincing and opinionated. You stated that a teen's major obstacles are in the fields of technology, drugs and sex. You used a very strong first point by stating that our era is very dependent on technology while previous generations did not have the technological advances that we have that strip many teens of a effective education. We may think that calculators and cheats will help take us farther in life when in reality it holds us back from really understanding concepts and formula's which we will need later in life.
    Your second and third points are very strong. I believe you are correct about the usage of drugs and their affects as well as the amount of sex portrayed in todays media causing many teens to believe sex is the answer to their problems because of a lapse in communication between generations. Your journal was interesting to read and i think you did a great job.

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  4. Yusuf amazing job on your journal , excellent points and it`s really intresting.I completely agree on how today we use the internet and how it is used for all sorts of things good and bad and also your point about the calculator had an amazing point on how we are so relied on using it some of us break down when there broken. This reminds me how some people in my previous classes can`t even do simple exponent problems mentally because they have become so use to solving the problems with a click of button that they never really took the time to really know how they got the answer. Keep up the good work.

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  5. The blog adresses the prompt fairly well. The point of the blog is established clearly, it provides adequate context, provides room for response but it doesn't refer to the text enough.

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  6. I agree with you on some points such as people 30 yaers ago had to do every thing by hand and now days we have too much technology to help us that we are becoming more and more lazy as we get more better computers and machines.

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