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Crumb Rubber In Astroturf

Picture of person running on astroturf field and crumb

rubber jumping out of the grass. Click here for the image source.

When I play baseball and when I used to play at soccer camps, I noticed these fields made up of artificial grass and crumb rubber. I noticed while playing and watching that every time somebody stepped, slide, kick, or made some kind of frictions with this grass, little black rubber pellets would spray up from the ground to the air and fall back down. My first time playing on astroturf it was in the middle of the summer and I was in Maryland for a baseball tournament. I remember sliding into second base and feeling a burning sensation in my arm. I looked down and my arms was red and starting to bleed. That was not the only problem, It felt like it was two- hundred degrees. According to my own experience, the  little black rubber crumbs absorb heat and can make the whole field one-hundred degrees hotter then what the temperature is. I want to learn about all of the problems with this crumb rubber, find all of the solutions and substitutes to each problem because I know their needs to be something done.

This topic matters to me because crumb rubber in astroturf is a little substance that is always overlooked and not thought of. When humans play on these crumb rubbers, it is risking their body and health. Over thousands of kids play on astroturf fields with crumb rubbers in them every day and many of these people are not aware of the risks of playing on these fields.

Zoomed in picture of the many crumb rubbers in the artificial grass.Click here for the image source.

The majority of fields consist of natural dirt and grass which take many hours to maintain. This job is extremely hard, having to watch over it, make sure not to many

people are using it, cutting the grass at a constant rate, making sure the dirt is clean and even, and so on. Many field owners are either giving up on these natural fields, limiting a place for kids and other people to have fun being outside, or trying to find a substitute to the fields. Even though astro turf costs a ton of money, after many years it becomes equal to all of the hours spent fixing the field and buying different materials to maintain the field with. I want kids to have the opportunity to go outside and play on these beautiful clean fields. If all of the fields are in good conditions, it is a great site to see but when people when people stop maintaining and caring about these fields, it is a waste of space and a waste of an opportunity for people to be having fun. I want for everybody to be aware of the possible risks of these crumb rubbers in astroturf and try for a change.

Annotated Bibliography:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jFkm10hpG_LrnTc7P7ys44l6ixd0LrPOnJrl-Y__u6c/edit

Photo:  http://www.missionislam.com/discover/basic.htm

Growing up as a Muslim, I get to experience the bias towards my people and our religion first hand. One time, I was at the Mosque (a place where Muslims go to worship god) and I was located in the women’s area while my brother, cousin, and dad were in the men’s area. After everyone in the Mosque prayed, we were all about to go home when a non Muslim man came into the building screaming at all of us telling us that we are brainwashed terrorists. He said that he doesn’t blame us for being that way, he blamed god. Now I’m not sure if he was an atheist or just believed that Muslims worshipped a different god from everyone else, but what he said made me realize how people actually viewed me based off of the piece of cloth I wear on my head. My parents spent their parenthood making sure my siblings and I were proud of who were and to always believe deeply in our religion no matter what society had to say about it. I chose to write about this topic specifically because I need to know more about islamophobia. I need to know what made people hate me and fear me because of my religion. I know my religion, I know that it’s based on peace, mercy, and humbleness. The media and society want to believe that Muslims are such bad people destined on earth to destroy everyone’s lives. My question is, why?

This picture represents society blaming the Muslim girl.

photo: https://missmuslim.nyc/islamophobia-not-medical-condition/

Another photo representing the little Muslim girl as the “blame”

photo: http://eltecolote.org/content/en/features/surviving-the-new-terrorism-islamophobia/

One of the main reasons why islamophobia is on the rise is because of Donald Trump. Aside from calling for a ban on Muslims entering the the United States, Trump has said that “Islam hates us,” and accused American Muslims of protecting terrorists. Trump is president, and a lot of citizens actually listen to and take in his arrogant remarks, reporters find that hate crimes towards Muslims increase as Trump shades them publicly and feeds false information into the brains of his supporters. In America alone, 48% of incidents are Muslim bias incidents, the highest percentage out of any other type of incident. From July 1 to September 30 of 2017, The Council on American-Islamic Relations received 753 reports of potential anti-Muslim bias incidents. The top five trigger factors of a Muslim is their ethnicity/national origin, headscarf/hijab, if they are perceived as a Muslim, place of worship, and other Muslim activity such as praying. In return for simply being a Muslim, we receive abuse such as hate crimes, harassment, employment issues, CBP harassment at airports, and sometimes FBI harassment. All we do is worship god and have different beliefs than other religions. By different beliefs, I don’t mean how islamophobic people see us or how Trump sees us, I mean that we believe in our prophets and the words of Allah.

Society wants to believe so hard that Muslims are the blame for every terrorist act. People are individual, they do what they want and it just has to reflect on their people and what they stand for. One dark toned person could rob a store and all black people are cheap and dangerous thugs who god forbid cross paths with an old lady, they might mug her. One lightly toned person could shoot a bunch of innocents and every white person is a sensitive school shooter who god forbid ever gets upset with anyone, they might kill them. One person with a headscarf or kufi could bomb a building and all Muslims are terrorists who god forbid ever cross paths with non Muslims, they might kill their entire family. Biases are everywhere, but it is an individual’s job to believe what they want, but it’s my job to portray the image of my people, the real image.

The statue of liberty is holding this Muslim girl showing her that she is welcomed and is not how society portrays her.

photo:

http://affinitymagazine.us/2017/03/04/my-experience-with-islamophobia-as-an-american-muslim/

Check out the link to my annotated bibliography..

The Truth

http://theapopkavoice.com/over-2000-determined-homeless-central-florida/

Although I was told to make a project where I would research on a specific topic of one of the worlds problems and create my feasible solution. I feel as though I take this project as a step closer to my goal in this world. My goal is to create peace in this world and what better way to do that by starting to solve one problem at a time. I will start by helping the homeless so that they can get their life together and help others in need like they have helped them. I chose the topic about the homeless because I believe that there is a misconception about the homeless because they are commonly seen as lazy, drug addicts, and people who take advantage of their situation. I can’t stand the fact that people nowadays point out the problems of this world and complain, but they don’t want to do anything about it. Sure the homeless need support but what they really need is for people like us to motivate them so that they can get their life back together.  They will be motivated because they will feel like they are wanted in this world and people are truly motivated when people trust them to become better. Based on my experience in the U.S and other countries, most of the unfortunate always appreciate what they get. When i was in Colombia, I noticed that the less fortunate wanted attention more than valuables. This brought me to the idea that we people need to connect with others because we need love and that is the only thing that will keep us motivated to keep moving forward.

People don’t know the truth behind homeless people. Most homeless people served in the military and when they retired, they were left with nothing. Over 57,00 homeless people are retired veterans and only 60% of them are in shelters, the rest are out in the streets. People who gave their lives to serve one’s country should not be living in the streets, they should be given the help they need by the government and not forgotten.  Others suffer from mental illnesses and need help, we could help these people by providing them the assistance they need. We the people need to take action because it is evident that our government never cared about truly coming up with a solution of themselves to end this problem. They want to just ignore this problem by amending laws to suppodsley help themselves and the non-homeless people. Not only that but about 138,000 homeless people are kids under the age of 18. This says a lot because this can affect the future generation by not given them the education they need, not letting them experience what it feels like interacting with different people, and it can lead to very long and sad depression problems. Based on what I’ve read, it seems that the main reason people go homeless is because they can’t find an affordable place to live. This mostly means that people don’t have enough money to pay monthly for a house. This can be because of the job they have, being robbed, recently getting out of jail. Being in jail and then being released is also a main reason people go homeless. When they start their life again they are left with nothing and have no support. Some were abandoned by their families, some never had family, some were seperated, and some were already homeless before they went to jail. Many others go homeless not only because they don’t have family members or money, but because of physical abuse. Sadly, 90% of women go homeless because of domestic violence.

https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/10-life-changing-lessons-that-helping-homeless-people-taught-me/

This is a problem because the homeless isn’t only one problem but there are other problems that affiliate with being homeless. We need to understand that we can’t alienate the homeless because just like most of us, they have dreams and aspirations. They need to stop being seen as animals and start being seen as people like us because that’s what they are. This is only the start of my journey. I will continue to grow my knowledge so I can build a better understanding of the homeless. With the facts that I discovered my idea about the homeless has changed dramatically. At first I knew that the homeless were different from what people said but I didn’t really care about the world I lived in, I just had a closed mindset. I became more open minded before I started researching this topic but my idea on the homeless is now that, they need support from us just like we need support from others and that they worry mostly about being affiliated with others more than the money. They aren’t selfish. I wonder that if we all worked together to help others, would the homeless finally live the life they dreamed about? Will our government stop us yet again from achieving true peace? Since this is only the start, I hope to learn more about the homeless stories and how I can help them feel wanted and motivate them. And when helping others, it’s not so much about how much you get but about how much you give.

Bibliography

https://www.lllcf.org/program/help-the-homeless/

There are more than 500,000 homeless people living in America today. About two thirds of those are living in homeless shelters. What you may not know about these shelters is that they could be even worse for their inhabitants than the outdoors. To hear the testimonies of many people who formerly resided in these shelters is jarring. Many tell stories of how they had been raped, had their belongings stolen, were forced to sleep in the cold with no blankets, and more.

As a citizen of Philadelphia, I see and interact with the homeless on an almost daily basis. While they need money and shelter, sometimes you run into someone who just wants a hello, or to listen to some music. I think that many find it easy to forget that the homeless are people, and when they’re not being ignored and exposed to the harsh outdoors, they go to homeless shelters which can be shockingly even more dangerous. The evidence is everywhere. After only ten minutes of sifting through Google reviews I found complaint after complaint of theft and neglect by employees and inhumane sleeping conditions. Of course some of these locations have close to no bad reviews but others are almost unbelievable. One location, “Gaudenzia House of Passage”  had multiple reviews saying that the people staying there had to “sleep in a chair in a cold room” for three weeks before being admitted a cot.

As bad as these shelters may seem, things only get worse for minorities. Especially for transgender women.  This can be shown in the pie chart below.

Pie Chart Link

While LGBT identifying people make up about 11% of the total population, estimates of how many homeless people are LGBT range from 20% to upwards of 40%. In an equal society this would not be true. Many queer people are forced out of their own homes because of their sexual or gender identity, most notably trans women and gay men. Let’s talk about race. As seen in the following pie chart, black and African-American people make up the vast majority of the homeless population. Black people only make up 13% of the total American population. That’s a percent increase of over 6 times.  

Pie Chart Link

Clearly our problem, as a nation, is not only with the state of homeless shelters or with xenophobia creating poverty inequalities but both; they intersect. To make homeless shelters more hospitable we need to somehow terminate the fact that there are these systematic inequalities and vice versa. From here I would like to personally interview some of the people affected by the homeless shelter system in America and more personally, in Philadelphia. The research I have done so far has been eye-opening to say the least and has only pushed me to continue studying and to try to make a difference in this issue.

Annotated Bibliography Link

                   The Effect of Sexual Objectification on Women’s Mental Health

Moriah Lahr

2/14/18

Annotated Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lJ6B8PTnw_vgVb6aBkCLC_DRJA1BjmPpT_-KwdDTSdg/edit

I want to focus on the topic of the effect of sexual objectification on women’s mental health. I experience sexual objectification daily. Whether it’s seeing a music video of half naked girls dancing around a guy or getting catcalled on my own block. Both which can make me feel bad about myself. A goal I have in researching this topic is to be educated on the different types of sexual objectification and the different health issues it can cause. I want to help make a change by getting women’s different point of views and stories of being objectified and getting the word out there to people who can’t see that it’s a problem.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3673099/Man-confesses-checking-mediocre-women-Reddit-good-deed.html

This woman is shown walking past a man while he looks back at her curves. What this photo actually came from was a website that had a married man saying he checks out mediocre women to “compliment them” as if we enjoy being gaped at.

I am interested in this topic because as a woman in this culture, I have been objectified many times in many different ways. This topic matters to me because I have many friends who have been catcalled or checked out etc. and I know first hand how scary it feels to me and my friends. When I’m out with my friends, we have to talk about what if a guy comes up to us and starts checking us out and saying creepy things to us. We came to a conclusion that if that happens, we’ll just say we’re a couple. I think it’s truly sad that girls at a young age are so scared to just walk outside because we get looked at and taunted. Some men even think checking out girls is a compliment when it really makes us feel worse about ourselves. “We are not outside for your benefit. We do not look in the mirror every morning hoping this outfit will get a guy to silently follow us down the street for five minutes after saying, “God bless you mami… Damn.”

http://www.eatthedamncake.com/2010/06/14/getting-checked-out-by-guys-with-wives/

This woman is being shown in the camera view at an angle that only shows her body and shows two guys looking at her body. This shows how much women’s bodies are sexualized and lusted over. It’s showing her body as if she doesn’t have a face or a personality.

In the research I found, I learned that sexual objectification comes in many forms such as catcalling, getting checked out, sexual assault, rape, pornography, television, etc. These things can cause not only men to look at women as objects but cause women to look at themselves as objects and make them want to look a certain way to fit into the culture's view of a “perfect body”. This causes mental health issues such as body dysmorphia, eating disorders, depression, anxiety, etc. It is important for people to know about this and be aware of it because some men are raised to think it’s okay to objectify and they just don’t know any better. Knowing the research behind it might really change the way we are looked at and the way we look at ourselves. The details of my research that can educate readers is what the different types of objectification there are because some people might not even be able to realize it when they see it or do it.

http://websterjournal.com/2014/12/01/catcalls-arent-compliments/

This photo shows a woman that is covering up and looking insecure as people are cat-calling her all around. This happens on a daily basis to women. Men's calls make us feel insecure like all we are is a body.

My research so far has impacted my understanding of sexual objectification because I never really focused on looking at the mental health side of things and how it affects people. Now I can see better why some of my friends and I have the self-image issues that we have. I’m objectified on a daily basis so I feel like this is a personal topic that I have actual experience to backup my claims with.

Usually when a teacher asks the class if you’ve had a great night’s sleep, they would most likely be expecting “yes”. But nowadays, the only response teachers get are “meh” or just a plain, simple, “no.”

As a teenager who currently goes to school, I have gotten less sleep than I have ever gotten since I have started high school. Usually I would go to sleep around  9:00-9:30 pm and wake up at 7:20 am, which would be about 8 hours of sleep. Nowadays I would sleep around 12:30-12:50 pm, and wake up at 3:00-3:10 am. That’s roughly about 3 hours of sleep.

I believe that this is a very important topic to discuss because there are many scholars that are lacking sleep because of electronics and/or sleep issues in general. Most people say the reason that teenagers get so little sleep is because of how we get distracted by our electronics, but we say that it’s the schools.

This image shows the recommended amount of sleep each age group should have.

According to The Atlantic, it is said that “teenagers need a least nine and a half hours of sleep each night.” But on a poll from the National Sleep Foundation, it is said that less than 50% of American students get at least nine hours of sleep each night, and that 58% of teenagers from the ages of 15-17 usually get less than 7 hours of sleep on a daily basis.

This graph shows the amount of sleep each different age group gets on a regular basis from the year 2014

This image shows how much do people use their electronics in their bedroom and how much do people leave their electronics on at night.

Now, I know that nowadays teenagers get so distracted by electronics that they lose track of time and sleep, which results in the teen coming into school late and tired. In all honesty I am on my electronics at night, but I usually leave on my electronics more frequently than I am using it. But back to my main topic. It is really the students’ fault, or the schools’ fault? In my defense, it’s the school’s fault. Sure, I’ll admit I am on my phone late at night sometimes, but even so I still managed to get enough sleep for school.

This image represents the different proportions of children and adults who experienced difficulty getting a good night's sleep due to various factors at least once in previous weeks in 2014

Now why is that? Most people would say it’s the amount of time I spend on my electronics, I say that it’s the school’s fault.  I say this because of the early start times and the amount of homework we get daily. To me, it’s not really the start time of school, but its the homework. But of course, it’s the early start times as well. It’s is said that the teenager’s mind is fully active around 10am. But back to my main issue, homework. The average time to spend working on homework is a 3 hours. According to U.S. news, it is says after surveying 1,000 teachers, it has been confirmed that most students are spending 17.5 hours on homework each week. The teachers think that the time spent doing homework is worth it, but I believe the students beg to differ. As said from teenink, homework can cause students’ mental and physical health to worsen. We as the students are putting our health at risk trying to finish our homework on time. “Teens who have more homework than they can handle may become disillusioned with school and may lose the motivation to work hard,” says Gerald LeTendre, the head of Penn State’s Education Policy Studies department.

Let’s work hard but not too much, this is a serious issue for both parents and teenagers who are suffering from lack of sleep, like me.

​Click here to see my bibliography

Straws, Something You Find Everywhere

Everyday, we are slowly drinking up our oceans and polluting the Earth with straws. Although a small and slim tube may not sound much of a problem, straws have been growing to be one of the biggest contributors to litter problems. For my You & The World project, I have decided to focus my ideas into littering. Litter is something you can find anywhere and everywhere and there are many causes and dangers that could happen.

Photo of straws collected near a beach that could have harmed many animals

I grew up seeing trash everywhere I walked. The world isn’t perfect but the amount of trash left on the streets was much more than I’ve seen in other places. In one moment of my life, I went on to the beach and found many littered items. One of them happened to be a straw and I had seen it around a trash bin but it may had fell off by the wind. Later on, I saw a bird go by and suddenly, my natural reaction was to scare the bird away. It was strange but now that I realized it, I might have saved that bird’s life. Ever since then, I feel some type of way towards littering which is what led up to this point of my life.

Knowing this, littering has been one of the topics that has not been brought up to many people and often times ignored. What we’re doing is ruining the future of our planet and by doing this, we are slowly hurting many animals besides us humans currently. In addition, one of scientists’ main purpose of looking out into outer space is to find a new planet that can support life which wouldn’t be needed if we could conserve and help Earth. Nonetheless, I plan to start small and build up to bigger goals that are possible. By beginning with straws, we are able to start small and have a gateway to solving greater problems with littering and plastic pollution.

The amount of straws being used is enough to fill the Yankee Stadium over 9 times a year

Straws are commonly found in fast food places or diners where it is unnecessary to have a straw for a beverage. A place where plastic straws are commonly found and most dangerous to animals are near beaches. Plastic straws end up being caught in the ocean and there has been a video of a turtle with a straw was stuck inside one of its nostrils. This was only an example of what happened with plastic straws but the journey to end plastic straws starts now.

Photo of the straw in the turtle’s nose

Knowing this, littering has been one of the topics that has not been brought up to many people and often times ignored. What we’re doing is ruining the future of our planet and by doing this, we are slowly hurting many animals besides us humans currently. In addition, one of scientists’ main purpose of looking out into outer space is to find a new planet that can support life which wouldn’t be needed if we could conserve and help Earth. Nonetheless, I plan to start small and build up to bigger goals that are possible. By beginning with straws, we are able to start small and have a gateway to solving greater problems with littering and plastic pollution.

An image of litter in Philadelphia

Plastic straws have specific problems as to why they are bad for the environment and living organisms. One of them is because straws are not biodegradable, meaning the plastic will only get broken up into small pieces which could be consumed by living organisms. Another problem is that straws can only be recycled once and only little amounts of the straw makes it through to be used again. Lastly, plastic straws still exist as one contributors to the amount of plastic that is in the air, ground, etc. Overall, plastic stays in our environment because there is nothing in nature that can biodegrade plastic which means stopping the use of plastic straws can be a gateway to solving bigger problems with plastic.

Now, you may ask what can you do now? The answer may sound tricky but you could actually just do less. If we prevent the use of plastic straws, then we can slowly help the give out a message that plastic straws are not healthy for the environment. In addition, there are many alternatives to plastic straws such as reusable straws. Typically, plastic straws are used once and then tossed into a trashcan where the light, small tube is blown away into the environment.

Overall, I plan to further my research on my ways to help bring the numbers of litter down. I want to first focus on straws to use it as a gateway to start small and simple. One of my goals is to avoid the use of plastic straws nearby my neighborhood and everyday life.

Annotated Bibliography

As a human millenial in the 21st century, an object that we all use in our everyday lives are phones, computers, tablets, and so on. With these items in our lives, we are all bound to use the one thing that people in America have. Social media is a base where people online can communicate with friends, share posts. These things can influence people in various ways, but the most noticeable in every situation is the negative effects. In the year 2015 there was a census taken,and a little more than 75% of households had either a laptop, desktop, or handheld device. This just shows how much technology is taking over our lives, and like I’ve said before, with technology, comes social media. With knowing what social media can do, I though of an overall goal, for me to be able to present enough information  that it will stick to your mind.

this is a picture that gives you an idea of what I am talking about
                                              ( may not be factual.)
Specifically teens since we grew up more with social media we have experienced the most negative effects of them all. I can vouch and say that my social skills have taken a lot longer to develop. I took some time to get comfortable with my friends, elders, and mostly girls, yes girls.” Today’s youth miss out on critical social skills development when they spend the majority of their free time connected to and interacting through a screen.”. This shows how having social media can hurt our social skills.

This gives us a look on percentages of how kids/teens lack social skills.(link can not be achieved)

Writing this has really shown me what I have to watch out for in the future while participating in social media and really looking out for those whose social media has brought negative circumstances upon themselves. We all can have social media and we all can enjoy it but we all have to look out for the negative effects it may have on us.

(an-o-tay-t-ed) (bib-leo-o-a-gruhhhh-feeeee

Did you know that suicide is the 10th leading cause of death overall, in people ages 10-24 it is the second leading cause of death. My goal in doing this is to bring light to a subject that a lot of people don’t like to talk about and generally push it under the rug. However, pretending it doesn’t exist doesn’t make it go away and will most likely make the problem worse. This topic is important to me because it is a very close and personal topic for me to talk about.

My friend has recently tried to commit suicide and I’ve battled with the thought of it for years because of my anxiety and PTSD. It’s hard to go through that problem and it’s even harder when people just tell you to stop feeling that way or pretending that it’s not happening.  Even my own family have done this, it is not an uncommon reaction. This is a significant problem because more people than you think have tried to commit suicide. It is an important topic to talk about because a lot of people give off warning signs to other people that go unnoticed. This is either because people ignore it or simply don’t pick up on the hints that the person is giving.

My research has validated a lot of things that I have felt throughout this time and have been able to put it into words. People who are suicidal could be around so many people but still feel so alone.  Family conflict, relationships, grades, sexual identity, and the loss of important people can seem impossible to deal with. Many people just feel alone and need a shoulder to lean on for a little bit.  I want to research further into what causes these feelings and why certain people have them. For example, two people in the exact same traumatic event could react significantly differently and I want to figure out why that is. In conclusion, suicide is a terrible issue in which we have to learn more about t be able to fix. If we shy away from a problem like this, It will only make it harder to find a solution.

annotated bibliography

Moving schools is hard, and that us exactly what I am going to have to do. My school Science Leadership Academy (SLA) will be moving into Ben Franklin High Schools campus, due to our lease being up. Their school is very different from mine. So I thought that it would be a good idea to bring up the issue of how we are going to get along. My hopes are very high going into this new situation, everyone has to adjust but I hope it will all go smoothly. That being said, there might be a few bumps along the way because of how different the two schools are. I want to fix any problems that might occur in the future.

Science Leadership Academy is a public high school that holds about 500 students. SLA is project based, which means we are inquiry driven where we learn by doing major projects rather than midterms or finals. It is a different process to get into SLA than other schools, because you have to do an interview. SLA not only wants to see that you can make and present a nice project, they also want to get to know you and what new students can offer to our community. Our community is something that make us special and unlike other schools, because everyone who goes to SLA is quirky and unique. SLA gives a lot of freedom to be who you are and also a lot of privileges. For example, our laptop program, where all students get a laptop to do school work on. With this comes a lot of responsibility, and teachers know that they can trust us. SLA has achieved above average on all of their test scores. Not only are our academics are great, but  according to Great Schools, SLAs rating is an 8/10.

This is a picture of Science Leadership Academy

Ben Franklin High School is very different, they are a public school from grades 9-12. This school holds about 700 students, which is a couple hundred more than SLA. They have a very strict dress code, unlike SLA where we have total freedom to wear what we want. Including everything from a logo on the shirt, to making sure you have a belt. Ben Franklin's test scores are 56% below state average. Which is very low compared to SLA’s. Also 100% are low income students.

This is a picture of Ben Franklin High school

Ben Franklin’s mission is to “provide a high quality education that prepares, ensures, and empowers all students to achieve their full intellectual and social potential.” SLA’s mission is to “provide a vigorous, college-preparatory curriculum with a focus on science, technology, mathematics, and entrepreneurship.” Ben Franklin's vision is to  “become successful and socially responsible individuals” and also go to college. While SLA’s core values are “inquiry, research, collaboration, presentation, and reflection”. As you can see, these schools are very unique in their own way.

Once my school moves into Ben Franklin's campus, we will have access to many more things. For example like a gym and more learning space. With that being said Ben Franklin High School is making big adjustments, into their curriculum and their campus. Knowing that these two schools are not very alike, all the students and staff are going to have to figure out a way to get along. Not only will the SLA students have to teach Ben Franklin students about how we learn, because they are going from there curriculum to being project based. Both schools will become so much closer to each other because they will share a some of the same spaces. I know that this might be difficult to some, because of how the schools are like opposites. So far my research has showed me that we can really help Ben Franklin improve on things and how much they can benefit from us. I want to bring both schools together and make the situation easier for everyone.

This is my annotated bibliography.

Apollo 11 Launch: https://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/about/history/50thgallery/1969-07-16-5.html

“Ignition sequence start! 5. . 4. . 3. . 2. .  1. . 0. . All engines running!  Liftoff!”  The Apollo program was the pinnacle of the American space program and the moon landing exhilarated the nation.  However, since then, NASA, or the National Aeronautics and Space Administration fell from grace.   Currently, NASA receives about 0.5% of the US National budget, or to put it in a different light, about $10 of your individual income tax dollars goes to NASA each year.  In this chart describing the 2015 national budget, NASA is included in the sciences section, but still only received about .5% of the total budget.

Discretionary Spending 2015. National Priorities project. https://www.nationalpriorities.org/budget-basics/federal-budget-101/spending/

 NASA’s peak funding occured in the 1960’s, when the US landed a man on the moon.  During that era, NASA received a max of 4.41% of the US budget.  Currently, NASA is managing a variety of programs pertaining to space and aeronautics, such as satellite imagery, commercial satellites in space, and the International Space Station.  This chart shows how NASA’s budget was allocated in 2014.

NASA Budget allocations.  Sarah Scoles http://cs.astronomy.com/asy/b/astronomy/archive/2013/04/11/nasa-publishes-its-proposed-2014-budget.aspx

 They’ve been tasked with managing more programs in space than ever before, but their funding slowly decreased from the 70’s and 80’s, when they developed the Space Shuttle, and despite it being a very expensive vehicle, NASA was forced to borrow most of the money for it from the Department of Defense, the most funded sector in the US Budget.

This topic is important because every dollar spent on NASA adds $10 to the economy.  Most of this comes from technological innovation and new companies formed to make this new technology from NASA spaceflight.  Some of these technologies include ATMs, GPS, dialysis machines, and CAT scanners.  All together, NASA technologies have accounted for over 1400 products created.  One example of a technology indirectly helping populations is a satellite named SMAP, which monitors soil moisture levels on earth.

Artist’s depiction of SMAP:  https://www.nasa.gov/smap/overview/

It costed $900 million to build and launch, but if that money was used as a direct donation, it could feed the entire continent of Africa for less than one day.  SMAP on the other hand helps its population by improving crop yields and allowing the global population as a whole sustain themselves at a higher level for as long as the satellite is in service, which may be decades even.

Despite this, many people believe that NASA should receive less funding than it already does.  They don’t believe that money should be wasted on outer space and should directly be spent here, on earth, or they believe that NASA gets more funding than it actually does.  Some people may believe that NASA is not capable of going to space anymore and is too entangled with politics to do space exploration.  After doing research on this topic, I feel like I have a better understanding of the “why?” of the issue of funding in the space program, but I am still wondering what kind of role private companies are playing and how that would affect funding if they are successful.  I hope to learn more about the growing private sector of space, along with other people’s opinion on the topic and how much of a problem it may be.  

Annotated bibliography Here

In middle school, I’ve witnessed a lot of bullying. To see students get bullied, it’s heartbreaking to me. My middle school was a one race school. As I looked at some of the students I was around, I noticed how unhappy a lot of them were. I heard things like, “You’re ugly” or “You’re not wearing brand shoes.” Today, students are getting bullied for their looks and/or what they wear. The bullying I’ve witnessed, causes students to skip class just so that their bully won’t bother them. Something that attracts bullying is when one person bullies someone else, and then more and more people will do the same. This is a serious issue. Through my journey, I want some questions to be answered. What can we do to help make this problem into a solution? Also, how can schools stop this issue from occurring? Finally, is there something that I can do to encourage others to make a change? This is something that I will learn as I take you with me on my “You and the World” project to help with bullying in schools.

The image above, is an image of statistics of middle school vs. high school bullying that occur in schools. By looking at this bar graph, it shows that more bullying is happening in middle school, rather than in high school. Click here to learn more about bullying statistics!  

More than 160,000 kids that are getting bullied choose not to come to school. According to The Atlantic, “More than 160,000 students missing school every day because they’re afraid of getting picked on, taunted, or beaten up.” This source proves my point about students not wanting to go to school, because they’re getting bullied every single day. The real question is what’s the point of bullying? Isn't it pointless to bully someone to the point where they become suicidal? According to Stop Bullying, an organization that has lots of information and solutions about bullying, it says, “Research indicates that persistent bullying can lead to or worsen feelings of isolation, rejection, exclusion, and despair, as well as depression and anxiety, which can contribute to suicidal behavior.” This source shows that there are actual causes for students getting suicidal. No one deserves to get bullied at all. This situation is not getting any better. Everyday, there is someone getting bullied for what they look like, what they have on, or how they act in general. How can we show these bullies that what they are doing is wrong?

The image above, is a presentation slide on why students feel the need to bully. Click here to learn more about bullying!

Based on the research I’ve done and the background information I gave, we have a big issue in our hands. From this issue, we need to find a solution. Finding a solution towards bullying, that is happening in schools, will educate people, and even ourselves, about why this bullying is getting bigger and bigger. Also, we need to find a solution that will help students, that are actually getting bullied, fso that they won’t feel terrified to come to school everyday. After doing lots of research, my big question is: What can I do to make prevent bullying from happening? I am ready for this journey to take action, so that I can make a difference in the world about making schools an anti-bullying society.

Click Here to see my bibliography!

There is an unspoken issue in the Latino Community. We put others down for their skin color. Some of us do not see others as equal with the next Latino. The issue is Colorism! I have heard of the saying  “Mejorar la raza.” This means to “improve the race.” The elders are basically saying to “fix the rac.” What they mean is to marry lighter people so their kids can come out lighter. These beauty standards fit more into the European standards; blonde hair, blue eyes, light skin, and straight hair. Their goal seems to be to whitewash or to blanqueamiento our culture and to make the next generations of Latinos “prettier’’ , AKA lighter.  One of the first thoughts I had was - Why? Why aren’t we accepting our people? Why aren’t we embracing how different we all are? We have the kinky hair, straight hair, wavy hair, light skin, dark skin, light eyes and dark eye. Why can’t we all love and accept each other for our variety?

This picture shows three generations of a family. The grandmother is black, the daughter is mulatta, and the grandchild is fair skin. Showing three generations of racial hypergamy.

As a member of the Latino community I want everyone to be united, especially in my culture group. This doesn’t seem like a big problem, but it is. Afro Latinos are growing up, thinking that they aren’t beautiful because their skin isn’t light or their hair isn’t straight. Imagine growing up watching Spanish TV, seeing all the similar looking Latinos, realizing that you don’t look like any of them them.  You don’t seem to  identify with anyone you are supposed to look up to or want to be like. The media doesn’t represent dark skinned Latinos with kinky curly hair. They seem to only show the ones with light skin, light eyes, and straight no-frizz hair.

Not only is the media a big part of this problem, it’s an epidemic in our own families. Family members praise one child for their light skin while the ones who don’t have light skin are being mocked. Lifting up one person for being something they have no control over, and overlooking the next, doesn’t make any sense. The one who is praised sees themselves as superior. While shame can consume the “undesirable.”  Having that type of mindset is causing racism and hatred among our people.  “Children aren’t born racist, they learn racist behaviors as they grow. We have to be mindful of how language describes us, how we talk about others, and what we teach our children. We perpetuate the stereotypes that diminish the unmeasurable value of our multicultural ethnicity — we shouldn’t be glorifying one race over the other.”

Children aren’t born racist.

Having light skin tones does not make you better than anyone. Having darker skin tones does not make you inferior than anyone. They are equally beautiful and we must realize that. But how can they realize that if  the subject is taboo and no one wants to talk about it? We must change how we talk about and to each other. It starts with this generation.  It starts with ME. Loving our kinky curly hair and dark caramel skin begins with me.  Our abuelos and abuelas had it wrong.  Social media, novelas, and Spanish TV need to learn how to represent us. We have textured hair, colorful skin and I love it.

ANN BIB

Most people don’t know what’s actually in their food or how it affects them. My project is mainly based on the documentary What the Health, which promotes eating a plant-based diet, also known as veganism. The reason I chose this topic because both sides of my family have genetic diseases that made somewhat hypochondriac. On my paternal side, the diseases are diabetes, hypertension, and cancer. On my maternal side, there are cardiovascular problems. After watching “What the Health”, everything I thought I knew about these diseases.

Diet is closely linked to a lot of health problems that humans have, such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular problems, cancers, and asthma. In the documentary, it demonstrates how those diseases and meat are connected. The IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer) pronounced that processed meat is a Type 1 carcinogen. This is the same category as formaldehyde and tobacco smoke. The American Cancer Society made an article in response to the IARC on their website telling cancer patients to limit the amount of processed and red meat consumed. Why do they advertise limiting the consumption of it instead of just telling them to stop completely? In the article, it states “Colleen Doyle, MS, RD,... says, ‘We should be limiting red and processed meat to help reduce colon cancer risk, and possibly, the risk of other cancers. The occasional hot dog or hamburger is okay,’" but on the website they do not tell you to only smoke one cigarette a day, instead they tell you to stop completely.

Another disease connected to red meat is diabetes. A report taken in 2015 found that 30.3 million American citizens have diabetes(9.4%), and 84.1 million are pre-diabetic. Being diagnosed with diabetes shortens your lifespan by 19 years. Researchers have found that in the next 25 year one out of every three American will have some form of diabetes. Most people are taught that eating sugary food is the main reason for diabetes, but it isn’t. The main source is a diet that builds up a large amount of fat into the blood, such as a meat-based diet. Sugar has zero calories all it is, is excess calories, but when you do eat sugar your body stores most of it as glycogen or burns it off as calories.The main focus has been put on sugar instead of meat causing people to believe sugar is the reasoning for diabetes.Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health did a study about diabetes in comparison to red meat. They found that red meat mainly when processed it increases the risk of getting Type 2 diabetes. In the Harvard article, it talks the percentage rate that it is increased by, “They also found that one daily serving of half that quantity of processed meat—50 grams (for example, one hot dog or sausage or two slices of bacon)—was associated with a 51% increased risk.”

This photo shows how much the U.S. spends on research on diabetes

Humans are the only species that still ingest milk after infancy. Cow’s milk has zero benefits for a human compared to any other type of animal’s milk. It is full of hormones that are meant to help an infant cow grow. Therefore, when a person says “ I only get hormone-free milk” it is an oxymoron. Most humans are lactose intolerant, 73% of African Americans, 95% Asian, approximately 70% Native American, and about 53% Hispanic Americans cannot break down the sugars in dairy, but it is still advertised by our government. In schools, food guides/pyramids show everything that you eat which promotes dairy. There is a false conception that milk helps makes your bones stronger but studies have shown the more milk you drink the more prone you are to hip fractures. In HuffPost article, they did a study on men who drank milk, “A recent study found that elderly men who drank a lot of milk during their teenage years actually had an increased risk for hip fractures.”

MyPlate was published by the USDA

After doing my research I hope that people become less ignorant about the topic of their food and start to care more. I just want people to be more aware of how their food affects them and their environment.

Annotated Bibliography

Food Waste and Why It’s a Slightly Bigger Problem Than Previously Thought

Source: https://feedbackglobal.org/food-waste-scandal/. This is a visual representation of all the food that is wasted per year.

What would you do if I told you that we have all the means to end hunger worldwide? Every year, approximately one third of all food produced is wasted, which is enough to feed 3 billion people. America contributes a huge number of that waste, as up to 50% of all food in the U.S. is thrown out annually, which is equal to a staggering 160 billion dollars. Every American typically wastes 12-25% of food they buy, which can cost up to $1,500 in expenses per year. Despite all the food being thrown out, an estimated 800 million people live in a state of malnourishment, along with 50 million Americans living in insecure food households, which means they struggle to afford food.

A main culprit of why food waste is so great in America is because of sell by dates. The only foods that are legally required to have a sell by date are baby food, and even the meat and egg products is voluntarily written by the producers. Many people believe in these numbers even though the main reason food companies put expiration dates on their products is so people buy more of their products in a shorter amount of time. Expiration dates are supposed to tell the buyer when the food is at its peak quality, but most people take this to mean that after these dates the food must be discarded, even though most food can last weeks, if not months past the expiration dates. Because of sell by dates, around 90% of food we throw out is not actually expired.

Source: http://www.savethefood.com/. This chart shows the amount of food that is tossed annually by the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand

One of the reasons this problem is so important to me is because no one really talks about it.  One of the reasons this problem is so important to me is because it is not a widely known topic. People talk about world hunger and how it’s something that needs to be solved, but everyone makes it seem as though the issue is the lack of food and not the distribution of it. Most food waste is created by food that was disposed, not because they were inedible, but because they were not not aesthetically appealing to buyers. Farmers who are growing food purposefully throw out thousands of pounds of fruits and vegetable just because they know it won’t sell. The rational solution would be to donate the “misshapen” fruits and veggies, but because farms don't receive tax cuts when they ship the food out to shelters, it ends up costing themselves more money. Because of this, many farmers choose to throw out their less desirable foods where they go to landfills. Farmers also use 4.5 billion hectares of land to grow food, and because of food waste 1.4 billion hectares of land and 250 trillion litres of water is wasted.

Once the food arrives at the landfill, most people believe that the food will decompose into the ground and turn into compost. However, landfills are not separated by types of trash, which means that the discarded food is mixed with cardboard boxes and plastic bags. When the food is not given a chance to breathe and decompose naturally, the food waste creates a greenhouse gas called methane. Methane is a gas that is 20 times more able to trap heat than CO2 which is one of the main greenhouse gases that contributes to the weakening of our atmosphere. Food waste emits so much methane, that if it was a country it would be the third largest greenhouse gas producer, following China and America, generating 3.3 billion tonnes of CO2. To conclude, food waste is a problem that needs to be dealt with as soon as possible, because everything about it hurts the community and the environment.

Source: https://feedbackglobal.org/food-waste-scandal/ . This graph shows the different amounts of CO2 between different countries with Food Waste becoming its own country

Here's the link to my annotated bibliography.

Main rates of homelessness.

Do you think everyone deserves to have a right to vote? My You and The World project is about Asian American voting rights and my goal about learning more about this topic is finding out the reasons why this is an issue in Philadelphia or in other cities and states in the U.S. I would like to find a way for Asian Americans to also have a voice in their community and politics. I’m interested in this topic because I volunteer at an activist organization call Asian American United (AAU) and I know they have been trying to help people in the asian community to have a voice in their own community and contribute to the society. For example, in chinatown, they would handle out surveys to anyone passing them and the surveys they hand out asking their opinions about what they want the empty parking lot to become in the future. Because they are handing surveys in chinatown, they have Mandarin translated surveys and English surveys. This allows anyone in that community to have a opinion about their community and how it may improve. Many Asians have a hard to vote because of the language difference. Many Asian immigrants knows very little English, whether it’s reading wise or speaking wise.

My connection to this is that for the past couple of years, my mom would like to vote but she knows that she doesn’t know how to read English so she decides not to vote. Many of the voting booth are not translated into other languages for the non-English citizens of the United States. This matters to me because I know people that have a hard time getting a citizenship and being unable to vote and for the people that are citizens in the U.S., they are unable to vote because of language difference. I think it’s important for others to know because everyone should be aware that not everyone is able to vote even if they are a citizen in the U.S. and people that are trying to become a citizen in the U.S. is harder now especially for immigrants that don’t understand any English.

AAU member talks to a citizen about the presidential election form in 2015.

Source:https://caamedia.org/blog/2016/10/27/for-asian-americans-in-battleground-states-voter-registration-is-just-the-beginning/

September 14, 2016: Volunteers are in the ballroom of a chinese restaurant, New Fortune, helping people register voters.

Source:http://reportingtexas.com/language-can-be-a-barrier-for-some-asian-american-voters/

Voting has been an issue for Asian American since 1882. When the first Voting Right Acts law was published, this did not allow specific Asian group to vote. In the year of 1943, Chinese Americans were permitted to vote, then following Asian Indians in 1946. Japanese Americans and other Asian American groups weren’t permitted until 1952. Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, AALDEF been known as an expert on voting issues for Asian Americans. They have even discussed with the Congress about the language barrier for citizens that would like to vote and much more. For the past 30 years, AALDEF would observe the amount of Asian Americans that would vote on Election day, they would also look into different Asian American groups like Cambodian, Japanese, and etc. In 2008 during the Presidential election, the AALDEF surveyed 16,665 Asian Americans in 11 different dialects of Mandarin. They noticed and were told that Asian Americans received a lot of racist comments from the poll workers. Some poll workers asked Asian voters to show their citizenship or identification.

This timeline points out important events from an Asian Americans’ point of view.

Source:https://www.advancingjustice-aajc.org/report/50-years-voting-rights-act-asian-american-perspective

The Voting Rights Act has two clauses that benefits non-English speakers. In section 203, it states that polls can be translated to different languages if it is necessary. Right now, only 22 cities in the U.S. is able to follow that section and translate it to any Asian language required. In section 208 of the Voting Rights Act, it reads that translaters can be brought into the voting booth. Even though, the Voting Rights Act states that translaters can be brought into the voting booth; this isn’t allowed anywhere. Since 1998, twelve counties have been sued for not following section 208 of the Voting Rights Act. As the population of Asians increase, the amount of voters slowly increases too. In 2006, only 2.2% of the voter were Asians and in 2010, there were only 2.4% of the voters were Asians. Although a 0.2% of Asians does not seem much, but bit by bit the population of Asian voters would grow. In 2010, 49.9% of the voters in Hawaii were Asians while only 9.4% of the voters in California were Asians.

Now let’s take a look at this line graph showing voters of different race from 1988-2012.

Source:https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/magazine/27-million-potential-hispanic-votes-but-what-will-they-really-add-up-to.html

From my research, I noticed that voting and getting citizenship has a very close connection to each other. A major issue for Asian Americans to vote is the language difference which causes them not being able to vote. I wondering if there are ways for Asians that are not citizens, but have lived in the U.S. for many years to vote because if they have lived in U.S. for many years they should be treated the same as others since they are apart of this society. My questions will be more focused on individual actions like not allowing translaters into voting booths if the voter does not understand English when the Voting Rights Act allows it. There’s still a lot of information and details I did not learn yet, so in the future I hope to learn how individual people fight for Asian American voting rights and more reasons why Asian Americans are having trouble voting that not everyone knows.

I have zero personal connection to this topic. The people I know that do choose to have sex usually do it safely, and make it a casual and not unusual thing. I admire this, because I feel like there is a weird stigma towards safe sex, or rather, having to worry about putting a condom on, having  a conversation, or making sure you’re ready before sex. It matters to me that this stigma is wiped away, and replaced by an enthusiasm to be safe! That being said, it is important for teenagers to realize that it is essential to take precautions and be careful before, during, and after sex.

Within the various resources I explored, I grimaced at the various statistics, stories, and other sources that ultimately paint a disgusting portrait of chlamydia, different pregnancy rates between races, and infertility. The CDC reported in 2015 that 229,715 children were born to 15-19 year old women. While actually being lower than previous years, the CDC incidentally reports that that the U.S has a “teen pregnancy rate [which is] substantially higher than other western industrialized nations”. While unwanted teen pregnancy certainly affects the individual, it’s essential to consider how the people living among this problem go through. The CDC has also reported that “teen pregnancy and childbirth accounted for at least $9.4 billion in costs to U.S. taxpayers for increased health care and foster care, increased incarceration rates among children of teen parents, and lost tax revenue because of lower educational attainment and income among teen mothers.” Pregnancy and STIs can be avoided using multiple tools and dialogue. There are multiple tools (condoms, lubricant, dental dams, etc.) that make sex between you and another person safer, and more comfortable.

Such as the ones included in this photo, there are many ways to use birth control. Often, you can find condoms or other methods to prevent pregnancy/STDs for free in school, or outside location.

ANN BIB

Currently, white women make 78 cents for every dollar that a white man makes.. For example, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander women make 65 cents for every dollar that a white man makes. Right below them is African American women who make 64 cents to a white man’s dollar.  Below them is Native American and Alaskan Native women who make 59 cents to a white man’s dollar. Latina or Hispanic women make 54 cents to a white man’s dollar. I was surprised to find out that Asian American women make the most a 90 cents for every dollar that a white man makes.

Now, let’s look at this graph that shows the breakdown of the wage gap by race

The definition of the wage gap is the difference between men and women in median wages. This affects most women in the workforce. According to the American Association of University Women (AAUW), if we keep improving how we have been for 50 years white women will be making the same amount of money as white men by 2059. This is only white women, for women of color there is still a ways to go.

Women also get paid less because employers try to compensate for the time that they may go on maternity leave. This is unfair because women should not be penalized for taking care of their children. If a man were to take time off to take care of his children he would not be penalized payment-wise.

This issue is important to me first of all because I am a young adult coming of age in this society. When I am looking for a job I do not want to be steered towards lower paying jobs when I am perfectly capable of being in a higher paying position. I do not want to be paid less than I deserve because of my gender.  I don’t want my kids to grow up in a world where they are taught that women should be valued less than men.  I am also passionate about this issue because it has been around for as long as women have been in jobs. It’s unfair that women have to be treated as less than equal just because of the their gender. Why is it that more women graduate from college than men, but women still get paid less. Shouldn’t we be basing salary of experience and qualification, not gender?

To solve this is issue, we have to change people’s minds. We have to remind them that women can be just as qualified and capable as men, and that they deserve to be seen as so. Sadly, this may take awhile to change this. People do not like to be told that what they have been taught is wrong. What’s popular is not always right, what’s right is not always popular. To get behind this issue people have to learn to value everything that women have to offer. I hope to learn more about this issue and what people are doing to change it.

See my annotated bibliography here

Oftentimes, adult female pigs spend the majority of their lives in these two-foot wide pens, without any room to turn around, her sole purpose is to produce and nourish more offspring.

But animal welfare isn’t the most depressing affair in the complicated monster that is industrial farming. Industrial farming is a “system of chemically intensive food production developed in the decades after World War II”. During the Technological Revolution in America, everything was being industrialized from clothes to machines and it seemed to be the most logical explanation to industrialize food production as well. Yet there are a few reprehensible consequences of industrial farming that need to be addressed.

Black-and-white photo of the remains of Iowa land after being used for industrial farming.

Farmland in Brazil that used to be part of the Amazonian Rain Forest.

The aforementioned phosphates are the result of this disturbing amount of algae growth

in Lake Erie which is affecting the water supply of Toledo.

All of this is to say that industrial farming is a practice with innumerable issues and I am excited to use this project as an opportunity to bring awareness and possible solutions to them.

In many countries around the world there are laws that prohibit people from getting married before they are 18 years old, in some cases 21. With that said, there are 93 countries that allow people to get married before they are 18, and with parental consent. These laws fuel child marriages and support the tradition that is held in so many countries. While child marriages affect both young boys and girls, the marrying of young girls is rooted in gender inequality and poverty. I am eager to learn about this topic, because it is something that heavily affects girls my age. I want to educate myself and help reduce the severity and rate of child marriages.

In many parts of the world, girls are not valued as much or the same way that boys are. In most countries that have different ages for when boys and girls can get married, the ages for girls are lower than the ages for the boys. They can sometimes be seen as a financial burden on their families. When families marry their young daughters off, they are transferring that “burden” onto her husband and his family. It is also seen as a practice in some places simply because it’s been happening for so long. Marrying off a daughter after they hit puberty is seen as the next step to her becoming a woman, and someone's wife or mother. In some cases families think that by marrying their daughter, at a young age, they’re protecting her from sexual assault and violence.

Below is a graph that shows the amount of girls that are married before 18 in the different regions of the world.

While child marriages are common in parts of the world like Niger, Chad, and India, there are still cases and issues with child marriages in the United States. Most people probably think about places like Africa and the Middle East when they hear the term “child marriages”, but what they don’t realize is that it was, and to some degree still is, an issue in the United States as well. An article that was posted by the  National Public Radio (NPR),stated that 25 out of 50 states don’t have a minimum age for when a person can get married and there are only 8 states that have the age set at 16 or lower. This article also discusses the judge and judicial approval of a marriage. There are 2 states with laws that specifically say that a judge can’t approve a marriage solely based on parental consent. Even in states that have the age set at 16 or higher, judges are usually allowed to disregard the law and allow for the marriage to happen.

Everywhere child marriages takes its toll on the children being forced into marriages. Marrying as a minor could lead to dropping out of school, mental/physical health problems, and they become very susceptible to abuse from their partners. Around the world girls who marry before they’re 15 are 50% more likely to be physically and sexually abused by their partner. Unless they fight back and resist the marriage, they lose their right to an education and the right to how they want to live their lives. This is one of the most damaging systems/practices in my opinion.

Below is a map of the United States, that shows the minimum legal age for marriage. It also shows the 25 states that don’t have a legal minimum age.