Australia: Healthcare and Education

A Day in the life of and Australian Child (12yrs)

I believe that the life of a 12 year old in Australia compared to that of my life in as a 12 year old in the U.S may differ based on socio-economic backgrounds. The public schooling in Australia compared to the U.S is very good. I mean Australia seems to have a structured and fundamental way of going through education for all there young, while the education in the US as far as public schooling is kind of a jigsaw puzzle. There are some perks, to the schooling that one may receive in the U.S depending on where they're living or what neighborhood they live in, but overall Australia seems to have a more cohesive way about education and learning for there young throughout life.

Egypt Gapminder: Health and Education

The first picture represents the ratio of girls to boys in primary and secondary education in Egypt in the year 2005.
The second picture represents the Infant mortality in Egypt in the year 2005.


The y-axis or Life Expectancy for both graphs lay in or near 70 years but the x-axis, which is different for each graph, tend to be higher and radiating in the 20 or 30 area. While for the other graph, it's radiating in the 90s. The Infant mortality seems to be decreasing quickly over the years while Ratio of girls - boys is slowly increasing.
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Day in a Life-Panama

​click here

The life of myself and a child from Panama are very different. Those children are faced with many dangers. They are in a society held back by the amount of money the family earns. They are faced with dealing with the threat of catching diseases. They are required to have certain school supplies are they will not be allowed to come to school. There literacy rate is quite high for what I expected. There diet of seafood, chicken, and corn is much healthier than what I eat. By the age of 40 most will be dead or be very ill. The health care system there is not very strong.  The one thing that will always persist in there lives will be the lack of a strong education fundation and lack of a healthcare system to prevent such deadly diseases from killing children. It just makes me feel bad that so many americans have such great healthcare systems but take advantage of it by killing themselves with such bad products sold by consumers in this country. 

How Many Wars Are There?

War on Terror

 

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQdZX6Szji2h_Ls5_X8Ix0XRGI3iMMbaRkwWiOZYjTzxGAvFAYv

 

         Hello and Welcome to the first of many articles by Aaron VanBuren on the topic of How Many Wars Are There? I was given this project called You and the World. Today was going to be about basics of the United States Military and the Wars we have been involved in. The sub-topic is War on Terror. I am interested in this topic because of the new we all heard about on Sunday, May 1, 2011 of Osama Bin Laden being killed.

 

After a decade (10 years) we found Osama Bin Laden and we killed him. I was surprised but I discovered that he was the leader of Al Qaeda, which this group of terrorist caused so much pain and heartbreak because of the attacks on 9/11 (world trade centers, pentagon and flight 93), U.S embassy, USS Cole bombing and more over a two decade period. In my research I founded out that President Obama and the U.S Military had a lead on Osama Bin Laden location since August of 2010. Since then they have been looking for him and about a week ago a group of unknown U.S soldiers killed Osama Bin Laden and with DNA they verified it was him.

 

I really wonder why it took us this long to find Osama? Also how does the families around the world fell about his death? I still think in the back of my head when will I hear the sounds of guns blazing and bombs dropping?


Look forward to a continuation of this topic. The plan for the future is too answer the questions I didn’t answer and give some more information about the topic. BYE see you next time!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bad traffic



Through out this quarter we were assigned a project named ‘You and the world’. You and the world is a research project that has us teenagers connect with more than just our daily issues. With world issues we choose these world issues and than explore the topic keeping in mind what we learned, and what we would like to learn more about.

 The second largest criminal activity goes to human trafficking. Human trafficking is an act of transporting humans especially women and children through use of force for sexual exploitation. According to UNODC human trafficking is all around the world, all countries in the world is affected by trafficking. About 80% of human trafficking involves Sexual exploitation, and 19% involves labor exploitation. I became interested in researching human trafficking when I first the movie  ‘Human Trafficking’. While watching the movie it was the first I heard of human trafficking and I wanted to learn more about the topic. I wanted to learn how much of the world is affected by it and what is being done to stop Human trafficking.

 Through my research I have discovered that there are 8 main topics on the causes of trafficking:

·      Drug and alcohol abuse

·      Expansion of organized crime

·      Illiteracy and lack of education

·      Lack of political will to end the practice

·      Corruption

·      Poverty and unemployment

·      Low status of girls in many countries

·      Inadequate or non-enforced laws

 I also have discovered that are different forms of exploitation:

·      Forcing victims into prostitution

·      Subjecting victims to slavery or involuntary servitude

·      Compelling victims to commit sex acts for the purpose of creating pornography

·      Misleading victims into dept bondage

 

I wonder what are all these countries doing to stop human trafficking or if some of the countries are doing anything at all. Do traffickers let their victims free or do they kill them?

 Through out this learning experience I would like to go into depth with Human Trafficking in the U.S. What is the U.S doing to prevent Human Trafficking and how much of the U.S is affected by trafficking. 

Learn more from these websites: 

http://www.humantrafficking.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_trafficking#United_States

http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/what-is-human-trafficking.html

http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-human-trafficking

Another Mass Murderer

For this quarter of our school year, our teacher, Mrs. Dunn, has assigned us a project that lets us blog about a certain world issue of our choice. Out of the many global issues, I chose diseases and more specifically, Cancer. This one issue really stood out for me because of how it affected my family and millions of other families. I don’t know much about Cancer and this is a great chance for me to research about it and share what I learned with the world.

I discovered that there are more than one types of Cancer, and many causes to them. Cancer is developed when the body can’t control the growth of abnormal cells. These cells are also called malignant cells. Viruses, radiation, obesity, genetic problems, excessive drinking, and even excessive exposure to sunlight are just few causes to this life-taking disease. The three most common cancers in men of the U.S are Prostate cancer, Lung cancer, and Colon cancer. Similarly, the three most common cancers in women are Breast cancer, Colon cancer, and Lung cancer. Basically, Cancer can develop in almost any organ in the human body.

In my family, so far I only know 2 people with cancer. They both were my grandpas, and one of them died from it. I never really knew him because he died when I was young, I don't remember the exact year. We also lived in different countries so it was hard to see each other, but I do remember some memories when we were together. My mom always talks about how great of a dad he was to her and how much fun me and him would've had together if he was still living. My other grandpa is still living, but a tumor keeps growing back. 

I wonder if Cancer will ever be cured other than by the use of Chemotherapy, and if it will be a positive or negative affect towards the world. For example, if the movie “I Am Legend” ever comes to life.

 

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002267/

SLA Baseball Holds onto 2nd Place w/ 8-5 Win Over King

Jeff Schwartz pitched strong to start the game, holding King to just one run and striking out five in three innings. The "Schwartzenegger's" efficiency on the mound normally would have meant he could have gone deeper into the game, but with three to play this week he was pulled to ensure his availability for critical match ups on Wednesday and Friday.

The transition to Ethan "Beiber" Reese was seamless as he also went three strong innings striking out three and yielding just one run. In the meantime, SLA's offense consistently put runners on base with sharp singles and a slew of doubles by T.J. Nicolella, Ian McClendon and Marshall Johnston. Five different pitchers were used, as well as two catchers who came in for Brandon Williams and John Desalis, both of which were on the DL for the game. Ethan Reese and Marshall Johnston played solid behind the plate and kept King's runners honest on the bases. Considering neither had regularly played the position prior, their performance displayed the depth of SLA, which has attributed their success to an all around team effort game-in, game-out. For the second game in a row, Ian McClendon made gorgeous diving stops at short stop to rob the opponent of sure fire extra bases, and T.J Nicolella was as solid as ever at first base.

SLA broke it open in the 5th with 5 runs when Blase Biello chopped a bases loaded single up the middle and drove in 2 runs. most notably marked by Andre Serrano's much anticipated return to the team. Serrano went 3-4, stole 3 bases, and scored 2 runs. Heading into the seventh and final inning SLA needed to switch pitchers again even though Reese had only thrown 34 pitches due to PIAA rules that determine a pitcher's eligibility based off number of innings they appear in. King scrapped together a few runs to make it a game, but with runners on second and third and one out Ian McClendon took the mound with the task of throwing gas to save the game. After smoking two pitches past their #5 hitter his third offering was ripped back to the mound and he quickly tossed to Jhonas Dunakin at third for the force out and Jhonas chased down a confused runner who was already out on the force and tossed to Isaac Adlowitz for the final out at second.

Standout Stars of the Game honors go to Blase Biello for his bases-loaded 2RBI single to break it open, and to pitchers Jeff Schwartz and Ethan Reese for 6 strong innings in which they held King to 2 runs on 5 hits and struck out a combined 8 batters. Of further mention is the much anticipated return of Andre Serrano, who received All-Public Honors in SLA's inaugural season in 2010. In his first start back, Serrano went 3-4 with 3 singles, 3 stolen bases, 2 runs scored, and 1 RBI.

With the win, SLA remains goes to 5-2 on the season, and remains in a tie for 2nd place with Strawberry Mansion. Their next game in a battle for one of three playoff spots in a division of 12 teams is on Wednesday vs Del-Val Charter (4-1).

By Innings: 1  2  3  4  5  6  7   R   H  E 
SLA (5-2)      0  1  1  1  5  0  0    8   12  3
King (1-5)     1  0  0  0  1  0  3    5    9  0

Click HERE for a full look at the PIAA Divisional Standings for 2011 Season

Speak up. Someone cares.

The world is a place that we the people live in and is full of problems. For this project we were to pick a topic based on a worldly issues that we’d like to discuss.

 

My topic focuses in on teen suicide and depression because it is the leading cause of death. As you grow up, sometimes you hit unexpected events in your life that you can’t handle. Bullying, because of weight, looks, clothing, and or sex, is the main cause of suicide and depression. Even though I haven’t been through the act of bullying myself, I know someone who has.

 

When the act of suicide is successful its usually not the first time it was attempted, in fact researchers have found that plans for suicide are made by 1 in 6 teenagers. 20% of teenagers have thought about suicide itself even if they weren’t actually going to commit it. Depression is not only caused by bullying, but also by relationship problems, deaths with family and friends, stress for school, parental abuse or divorce. These struggles can cause angry emotional and physical abuse to themselves, sadness, loneliness, and lack of energy.

 

I wonder what others did who didn’t commit suicide to better themselves and help get through their’ deep state of sadness. I wonder if those who did commit suicide reached out to others for help or even had someone to talk to discuss their’ issues with.

 

I plan to do a lot more research about depression and suicide and talk to my loved one who has attempted suicide to share her feelings with. No one should have to go through this so you speak up because someone cares.

 

For more info visit:

http://www.teensuicide.us/articles6.html

http://www.teendepression.org/related/teen-suicide-statistics/

http://www.helpguide.org/mental/depression_teen.htm

E1 Tarea 03/05/11

1) 3 fotos más de comida

2) Responde a las preguntas abajo (below)


A. Name the food you see in Segmento 1.


B. Respuestas Breves

1)    ¿En qué trabaja Martín (el papá)?

2)    ¿En qué trabaja Carmen (la hermana en medio)?

3)    ¿Dónde trabaja Maribel (la hermana menor)?

4)    ¿Dónde trabaja Leticia (la hermana mayor)?

5)    ¿Quién es Yolanda? ¿Cómo es su personalidad?

6)    ¿Quién es Hortensia?

7)    ¿Quién es Jeff?

8)    ¿Quién prepara toda la comida en la casa?

9)    ¿Quién quiere hacer ejercicio con Martín?


C. Cierto o Falso

1)    Martín no puede saber (taste) nada.

2)    Gómez es un buen amigo de Martín.

3)    El entrenedor (coach) de beísbol es alto, guapo y delgado.

4)    Leticia da clases de arte.

5)    Andy está interesado en Maribel. Maribel está interesada también.

6)    Leticia es musulmana (muslim).

E1 Ahorita 03/05/11

Responde en un "stickie" o en un documento de Word. No publiques tus respuestas.

A. Take out your conjugation packet. Fill in the blank with the correct form of the verb.

  1. Mis profesores no                                      (hablar) mucho español.
  2. Martín nunca                                      (correr).
  3. Yo                                       (vivir) en Puerto Rico.
  4. Nosotros a veces                                    (hacer) ejercicio.

B. Fill in the blank with the correct form of the verb. VERBOS de BOTA:

  1. Mi novio no                                      (jugar) muchos deportes pero es bien artístico.
  2. Delesha siempre                                      (dormir) en todas sus clases.
  3. Yo                                       (poder) ir de compras contigo.
  4. Nosotros no                                      (entender) nada.

 

C. -GO verbs (have –go in the yo form)

  1. Yo                                      (hacer) la tarea después de mis clases.
  2. Yo no                  (tener) ni idea.
  3. Yo                                      (salir) con mi novia todos los fines de semana.
  4. Yo no                  (traer) nada.

Stressed

I'm so stressed about everything that I don't even know what to do. I'm on the edge right now don't know what to do or where to turn. Someone help me please I feel like I'm drowning. Help me get back on track of things, I free like I'm losing everything that I've worked for. I want to get up, I need to get up, I have to get up before its to late......

The Jasmine Revolution

    This is the first of five blog posts in a project called "You and the World." In this project we will be choosing a current topic or issue that we care about. Along with writing blogs, we will be debating over other people's issues, and writing a speech.

    I have chosen the revolts in the Middle East as my topic, because I think that it is one of the more important events of our time. It seems similar to the countries of Europe overthrowing their monarchies.

    The revolutions are called the Sidi Bouzid Revolt, or the Jasmine Revolution. It started in Tunisia when a street vender named Mohammed Buazizi set himself on fire, in a demonstration against the treatment he received from the government after they confiscated his scale, which he needed to support his family. this led to a series of protests that resulted in the Tunisian Prime Minister Zine El Abidine Ben Ali stepping down from a post he held for 34 years. This eventually led to a similar series of protests in Egypt that led to their leader Hosni Mubarak stepping down, and an ongoing rebellion in Libya. I believe this is incredibly important, because for the first time, the people in the middle east are refusing to put up with the oppression they have lived with for so long. In interesting thing about these protests is that most of the protesters are very young, and it makes me wonder if our generation will continue to rebel against the things they see as wrong, like what has happened in the middle east.

    What I wonder about is whether or not this will lead to protests in other countries, and whether these protests (if they do happen) will be more or less peaceful, or a rebellion like in Libya.

    What I will explore in my next blog post is the protests in Egypt, and what factors caused the protests to be successful in Egypt and Tunisia.


Bibliography:

 - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/14/AR2011011405084.html

 - http://www.iar-gwu.org/node/257

Embryo's Gift To Mankind

This You And The World Project is to inform our peers into many world issues they may not know of that interest us. ​My project is going to be about how stem cells can be used to get rid of a great number of diseases and may be a breakthrough into cloning technology. Stem cells affect everyone because for now it can cure a few diseases and it is believed that it can cure many more. In order to get stem cells they have to take embryonic cells and other adult stem cells found in many different tissues. I have learned that stem cell research can already cure certain types os cancer like leukemia, Alzheimer and a few other diseases and it is still being researched for more benefits.Also i know that Stem cell research is frowned upon for the simple reason that is is like playing god because you can give many people a second chance by curing certain diseases and defects. Other than that there is no cons about stem cell research.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stem_cells

Bullying Can Lead to Horrible Things

     ​Over the years the world has been hearing about the deaths of innocent children and mostly teen. The people didn't doe because of an accident... they killed themselves. "What could make a person want to end their lives when they have so much to live for?' is one question that people immediately think of when they read the stories in the paper or see it on the news. Bullying can lead to many horrible things, it can make people do the unthinkable. I am interested in teen suicide and bullying because when I was in middle school I used to get bullied every day. I would come home and cry for hours because I felt so bad about myself, in my room I used to have to tell myself the good things in life I had to live for. Such as my family, my friends at church, sports teams and girl scouts. This would've lead up to suicide if I didn't have those things to live for.

     Suicide is the third leading cause of death for 15-24 years of age. Mostly because in the ages of 15-24 there might be a lot or even too much pressure/stress on that one person, with college and high school its hard to keep up. Bullying can also be a part of teen suicide, when somebody pushes someone to the edge to make themselves feel better it can result in suicidal attempts of actual suicide. There was a case where a teenage girl was interested in this boy, one day he sent her a message. She was so excited, after a week or so they were talking more frequently to each other than to their friends and family. He asked her out on a date and never showed up. The girl found out that it wasn't really the boy she liked it was a mother and daughter who lived down the street from her. That is when she decided to kill herself, and she did. Bullying and cyber bullying are a big part of teen suicide.
    
     I wonder if before the teen killed themselves, if the parents or friends saw anything off about the teen's behavior. I wonder if most of teen suicide is caused because of mostly teen suicide or stress. On the next blog I will be talking about the statistics of teen suicide and in what sates it happens most or if a certain gender commits suicide more.

Cites I went to:
http://kidshealth.org/parent/emotions/behavior/suicide.html

http://medicalcenter.osu.edu/patientcare/healthcare_services/mental_health/mental_health_about/children/suicide/Pages/index.aspx

http://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch?query=teen+suicide&srchst=cse

Marijuana, a Path to Crime Reduction or Not

Ever since I learned about the affects of marijuana I immediately wanted to know more. In the sixth grade I was taught what it was in a classroom. I was taught that it was a bad and it should never be used. But there are facts and proof that show the exact opposite. In the Netherlands marijuana is tolerated and in result only 9.5% of young adults which is about 6.4 million people(ages 15-34) use it. In the United States where marijuana is only legal in some states for medicinal purposes has a consumption rate of 41.7% (according to http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/factsht/druguse/)  which is about 128.5 million people. 

These facts are interesting, in one place it is acceptable to smoke marijuana and have a less rate of consumption and in the other it is illegal and has a higher rate of consumption. The mission for the Dutch government is to 1) To prevent recreational drug user and treat the recreational drug users 2) To reduce harm to users  3) To diminish public nuisance by drug users (the disturbance of public order and safety) 4) To combat the production and trafficking of recreational drugs. In the United State we have something called the war on drugs. Which was issued by Richard Nixon in 1971, this created the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency). According to the U.S.  Bureau of Justice Statistics crime rates have sky rocketed ever since the war on drugs was declared. The job the DEA has is to reduce drug trafficking from the source, from the border, and inside the country. They also enforce drug policies that have been placed by the U.S., State, and Local governments which outlaw marijuana and other drugs/narcotics.
 
When prohibition came to affect in 1920 it created a black market for alcohol which made crime rates go up.If crime rates go up than there are more people in prison. More people in prison means more prisons built and more money spent to hire staff and basic necessities. Marijuana has been fought against ever since the proposal Uniform State Narcotic Drug Act in 1935 which was intended to safe guard ane regulate all narcotics including marijuana. Haven't we learned our lesson during prohibition?  Marijuana has more than just one purpose, it has another. It is a safe eco friendly alternative to paper. You can make paper from hemp which is from marijuana. It will can reduce CO2 emissions because it take less machinery and energy to cut marijuana than paper. It also gives the world more oxygen because of more trees being built which means habitats and more national parks. There are so much more facts and evidence that proves my point. You can't ignore these facts, you just can't.

School District Budget Cuts: Cutting the Future

The Philadelphia School District budget cuts are devastating to public schools in Philadelphia. To Governor Tom Corbett (pictured below) these cuts may just be moving money from one place to another, but to us, the students of Philadelphia, they means lost teachers, supplies, our education and our future. At this point, the budget cuts will happen, and that's a given. That being said, there is still more we can do. We can all work hard to educate ourselves on the topic of budget cuts, and we can make efforts to change the budget cuts much less severe. There will be losses, but we should all do our part to try to minimize them. I've recently been doing some research myself. 

So far, I have discovered that 12% of all teaching positions might be cut, and at this point almost 400 teachers and planning on either retiring or resigning before next year. Although this is not the most teachers that retired in history, it is still a large amount. I, personally think that these budget cuts are a terrible idea. As you can see, it will have serious detrimental effects on the School District of Philadelphia, and part of the money he is taking from the School District he is using for prisons. 

Prisons are used for holding criminals, as we all know. What many of us may not realize is that a large cause of crime is due to an inability to get an education or go to school. While it is not the sole reason, it is still a huge factor and so, essentially, Corbett is building prisons for the future criminals: the students who's education he is taking away today. I wonder if our efforts to make the budget cuts less severe, such as going to Harrisburg and talking to senators, will have any effect on the end result of the cuts. Next time, I hope to research more about the severity of the budget cuts, and the effect it is having.

Governor




http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20110503_Nearly_400_Phila__teachers_plan_to_leave_as_school_year_ends.html

http://www.thenotebook.org/

Government and Budget Crisis

The government are now heading through a midlife crisis that is affecting all american's in the most harmful ways and affecting there citizen's lives and money. This is a hard time for people that are suffering because they do not have enough money to pay for things such as houses because prices have gone up, Gas for cars because they have to pay more and more to iraq in order to use and take oil from them and deport it over to the U.S for us too use.


My issue is the economy and how it is affecting the people in the U.S very badly, i am interested in this topic because it is the #1 story going on in the U.S, everyday you hear people say that the gasoline prices have gone up $0.11 and continues to go up, but that is not the only story out. There are stories that the U.S might have to cut off sports in the U.S because of the budget so that means that come 2012 me might no longer have any sports to watch, and that would mean that the men and women playing the sports will have no job and will go into debt with there houses and bills. 


I have discovered that this has been the first time the economy has gone bad since the year of the Great Depression in 1930, and not only the economy is affecting the U.S but it is also affecting people around the world such as in China, Mexico, Etc. 


I wonder what things the government are attempting or planning to change and do in order to try and make the economy better than it is, and if there is any ways possible to improve the economy. I also wonder why don't the government help the people in poverty and help them get jobs and homes to live in. My next move is to find out percentages and the amount of people in poverty from one year and how it has changed during a time period, if it has increased or decreased after a long time period. 

Poverty In America Oh My!

For our English project we are doing a project called "You and The World", we basically had to pick a topic and research about it. I picked Poverty.

I chose Poverty, as my topic because I think everyone deserves to have a shelter, food and the need assets to life. But many of us don't have them all. The main question is why? So I am here trying to figure that out for myself but for also the people who care.

Poverty - is the lack of basic human needs, such as food, water, shelter, clothes, education and health care. There are three types of poverty:

* Poverty

* Absolute Poverty
Destitution

* Relative Poverty 
The condition of having fewer resources or less income than others within society or country compared to the worldwide averages. 

 

More than 1.7 billion people suffer from Absolute Poverty. Not everyone sees poverty as a problem in the world but more as a lifestyle they chose themselves to live. On a given night an estimated 672,00 people experiment homelessness. Meaning 22 out of every 10,000 people are homeless. 42% of those 672,000 are unsheltered. 58% live in shelters. 37% of the homeless people are in family units. 63% are individual adults. The rate goes up every year.

 

I wonder why people don’t take an action and help them. Why is it that it takes a killing or robbery for people to pay attention to what is going on un the world? Is the poverty rate different for different races?

 

For my next blog I will talk about the level of education and what poverty endures. So stay tuned!

These websites are great for information!


These websites are a great source!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty
http://www.irp.wisc.edu/faqs/faq1.htm#use