Born Alive

First off, I will say I know this is a very controversial subject and I don't mean to state my opinion or make anyone feel that they should state their view on abortion. I know we discussed a lot in class about abortion and adoption, so I tried to find something that we had discussed. I found this youtube video:

Here is an article relating to the same topic (note, some of the language may be offensive and biased-I apologize in advance)Obama born alive bill opposition 

I want to bring it to attention because this is something I was completely unaware of. I didn't know that some abortions failed that far along in the pregnancy and babies were being born alive. Did you know about this issue? What message do you think Obama was sending when he refused to sign the bill four times in a row? How do you think Illinois or other states can take precautions so that this doesn't happen or so that if it does, the infants live? How do you think we can stop doctors (like the on in the article) from infanticide? Obama also says that he wants abortion to be safe and "rare" however based on the statistics, we know that it is not rare. What can we do to make it a less often occurrence and keep "born alive" babies safe?

Jessie Pietroburgo 

Misconceptions about AIDS

AIDS is a growing problem in the world, and especially in Africa. This makes it even more troubling that education on AIDS continues to be sub-par. Misconceptions of how AIDS is contracted, spread, and treated have spread throughout South Africa, and to some degree the rest of the world as well. They range from the idea that mosquitoes can spread HIV (they can't) to the idea that we talked about in class- that sex with a virgin is a cure for AIDS.

Here's a wikipedia article on such misconceptions.

There are efforts to raise awareness on HIV/AIDS and provide support for those who are suffering, but these are so far sparsely populated, donation-funded organizations like this one. Also, large areas in Africa have a low amount of technology, and so it is much more difficult to spread information.

Do you think that education on AIDS in the U.S. is effective? Do you feel confident that you know enough about HIV & AIDS to avoid it? What more do you think should be done in the U.S. and Africa to educate people on HIV/AIDS and how to avoid it?

-Ryan Cuscaden

What type of parent are you?

In class today we debated what is good and what is bad parenting. Many people argued our idea of parenting is very Westernized, influenced by our American culture and institutions. I found some parenting quizzes online that allow people to chose the reaction they would have to their child's behavior, and based upon your reaction in the given scenario, your parenting style is judged. I found it interesting that so many  quizzes are out there to tell us what is and what is not acceptable and good parenting. It is sort of disturbing to think that as a society, we are encouraged to attempt to conform to a specific niche of styles.


Take this quiz: http://pediatrics.about.com/cs/quizzes/l/bl_prnt_style.htm 


My scores are:


Authoritarian Parent: 2
Permissive Parent: 1
Authoritative Parent: 7



Apparently, I am an authoritative parent, which I agree with to some belief. I think children need structure and discipline, however, I strongly believe discipline is useless if it offers no learning or understanding. However, I disagree with my results, because permissive parents allow their children to schedule and chose their own activities. I think it is especially important to allow teens to take control of their lives, scheduling activities and weekend plans, then monitoring their choices. If parents plan everything for their kids, then how will their children ever learn to manage time and prioritize by themselves? My mom never made me do anything at a specific time and I learned to manage time well. I would go to school, go to practice, then to work, come home and watch some TV, eat dinner, and relax, then do homework until I was finished with it before bed. Without her demanding me to do so, I always did everything on my own. It was my choice, and I benefited or suffered the consequences. 


How do you feel about your score, and how do you think your own parents have influence your potential future or current parenting styles?


Other quizzes to "determine your parenting style":
http://www.childrentoday.com/resources/articles/parent.htm
http://www.activeparenting.com/Parents-Parenting_Style_Quiz#anchor2145

-Alison Gammon

Location, location, location!

Remember the scene from Grease where Kenickie and Rizzo are in the back seat of his car about to get busy when his condom falls apart? In that scene there is a whole row of cars with pairs of teenagers participating in the same activity. Does this really happen? We don’t have drive-in theaters around anymore, or not many, so what’s the deal? Where are teens having this sex that’s leading to the unexpected pregnancy? Here are two clips that mention some of the places that teens are deciding to do the dirty these days.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao_U46fk9dQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1Hvb4cbxCg

What do you think the repercussions should be for these teens? Do you think teens find it thrilling to have sex with so many other people around? Is this just another example of teens rebelliously pushing the limits and testing authority? In some of the episodes of 16 & Pregnant the parents talk about how they were uncomfortable with the teens “going behind closed doors” or “having sex in their house”, but we don’t know whether they actually discussed being safe in their actions or not. If the parents do know this is happening, would you say that the parents can then be held responsible for not preparing their teens? Or is it the teen’s responsibility to approach their parents about how to take precautions? In your opinion how common of an occurrence does sex need to be on a high school campus before the school district steps up to deal with it? Since this is becoming more prevalent and there is no question that our teens aren’t abiding by the abstinence method, why is there still debate about sex education?

Lauren