The three topics that I am interested in are teen pregnancy, unemployment, and education.
When it comes to teen pregnancy, I agree when Mary said that people are not educated at the right time about it. When teenagers are taught about sex ed, it is usually too late and they are already practicing unsafe sex. Another cause about this issue is that teens are becoming more rebellious and not thinking about their futures. Teenagers in this society think that they can do whatever they want, whether or not their parents allow them to do it. They think that they can practice unsafe sex and try doing drugs or alcohol and it won't effect their future. This is quite alarming because it can cause even worse issues in their future. In today's society, what teenagers do in middle and high school depends on a lot of different things such as future school, career, and place of living. I do not like the idea of teen pregnancy. Because teens are not educated about sex, they think that it is okay to have unprotected sex. A lot of teens say, "that won't happen to me". The truth of the matter is, it very well could happen to you. I don't think this issue has effected our school specifically, but definitely surrounding schools that are a lot bigger. It is becoming a norm for teenagers to get pregnant and have to support a child while still going to school. I think there are a lot of things that people can do to raise awareness or even prevent teen pregnancy. Something that schools can do that might be embarassing but usefull is to give out free contraceptives. There should be no embarassment to get condoms at schools because the teens are thinking ahead and having safe sex. A lot of schools promote abstinence, but in this day in age, it is very uncommon for the majority of the high school to be abstinent. Since that idea isn't working, schools should at least promote safe sex and make sure that all teenagers have the access to condoms or other contraceptives. Another thing that schools could do is educate their students about sex at a much younger age. Some students are having sex as soon as they get to high school. I believe that it is a good idea for teachers at the middle school to teach sex ed and make sure that kids are either staying abstinent or having safe sex. It is important to do this in order to help prevent teen pregnancy. A lot of teens barely manage to take care of themselves, let alone another dependent human being.
Another topic that I found I had a strong opinion about is unemployment. Unemployment is growing, and there is always something people can do about it. It seems like every time I turn around, some kind of business is hiring. I believe that one reason people settle with unemployment is because they're lazy. People don't want to get out of their beds and get dressed to spend 8 hours doing something that they don't like. Sometimes that's not even enough and they have to have more than one job. Something that we could do about this is provide motivation. Just a little self esteem boost could go a long way. Another reason why people don't go out and try to look for jobs is because they don't have appropriate clothes for an interview. No one wants to walk into an interview wearing their pajamas. However, if you are unemployed, you cannot afford to buy new clothes in order to look acceptable for a job interview. There is a business in Davenport that works specifically with that. They take donations of old clothes and give them to women that are trying to find a job interview. This is a really good program in my eyes because now the women have no reason to not look for jobs. The boost of motivation may be needed, but after they visit this place, they can successfully look appropriate for their interview and hopefully can make a lasting impression. If this were to change, it would impact our world quite a bit. Since adults have the confidence to go to the interview and look like they deserve the job, they are more likely to get it. This could even lead to less people in depression. Since adults can pay for their families and make sure that there will be food on the table, they will be happier and optimistic.
Education is something that has always raised my blood pressure. I really like Caleb's idea of focusing on the grading scale. I completely agree that people cheat to get the A. In all honesty, what grade you get doesn't really tell anyone whether or not you know anything about that topic. With all of the internet access that schools give now, it is almost too easy for a student to cheat on their homework, tests, and projects. This will give them the grade they want, but they won't be benefiting at all from taking the class. I think that as a service project, we should quiz the people with all As in their classes to see if they really know what the topic is about. This can show that some students cheat off of other people and/or the internet in order to get the grade that they desire. It would be great to see that schools would eventually get rid of the grading scale and instead give them a "pass" or "fail". Knowing the material is the whole point of taking the class. It is important to retain the information in order to do well in your future classes and college. This could impact our school and world immensely. Students would be focused on learning instead of getting an A in the class. I am very opinionated about this topic because I know that I have gotten an A and not deserved it. I would love to go back and relearn the topic so I can retain all of the information.
