Week 15

The article is about a New Jersey man, Stuart Chaifetz, wanting an apology from his son's teacher. Akian Chaifetz is an autistic ten year old boy who attended Horace Mann Elementary in Cherry Hill, NJ. When Chaifetz put his son in the school system, he knew his child would be in a classroom with other autistic children and specialized teachers to craft their brains; however, Chaifetz did not know the abuse going on in the classroom. After receiving reports of his son acting out in violence, Chaifetz put a wired his son one morning for school. After listening to the six and a half hour recording, Chaifetz discovered the emotional abuse of the teachers and aides, going as far as calling the child hostile name and yelling at him for crying because they said he couldn't see his father. It was then that the father demanded an apology from the teachers to his son in a YouTube video that soon went viral.

Link to Article   YouTube commentary

When I read this story and then listened to the father and the audio recordings, I was sickened. How could an educator do such a thing to, what seems to be, a perfectly nice, loving child? Why is the aide and the teacher talking about their personal lives in front of impressionable minds? Just because they can't communicate what they hear to their parents doesn't mean they don't understand. Teachers like that are a real disgrace, especially to teachers who get let go just because of budget cuts and they don't have tenure. The aides were fired but not the teacher because of tenure. There would be someone more than willing and much more qualified to teach those child than that disgrace of a teacher. The school district is trying to cover up what happened by reassigning the teacher to a different school. How is it possible to know she won't do the same thing? Just because a child might be sometimes difficult, especially if he or she were born that way, gives no one the right to make them cry and throw them into violent fits. I can only imagine how Chaifetz felt when he heard his child cry because of those in authority. If I was heartbroken about it, I don't want to feel what he was feeling. His child deserves an apology, and that teacher deserves to be fired.

Week 14

The article I chose is about North Korea threatening war against South Korea. After a failed rocket launch on Friday, North Korea went on to celebrate the 100th birthday of Kim Il-Sung, the dynasty's first leader. Like every other country, South Korea made a few comments about the North's failure. Because of South Korea's comments, North Korea is vowing a "sacred war" if South Korea does not apologize.

Link

Just a passing question, but haven't these two nations already been to war? Didn't that war accomplish nothing? To quote Peter Griffin in the Family Guy episode where he went back to third grade, "Oh my God! Who the (heck) cares?!" I find this quote to be true in this case. Who cares what South Korea said? North Korea is just looking for someone to take their failure out on. I hate to break it to North Korea, but everyone was kind of laughing at them. Despite warnings not to launch a rocket, North Korea did. It's their own fault they publicly humiliated themselves. It's no reason to start a war against South Korea.

Week 13

The article I chose is about the state fair stage collapse investigation. The article says that the death of seven people and injuring of others could have been prevented if an evacuation was called. In addition, those reviewing the case said that the rigging was in adequate.

Link

Personally, I believe that the whole thing could have been avoided if someone had a brain and said, "Hey, this isn't safe; we need to evacuate,". Now, different companies are shelling out lots of dough to victims and their families. Yes, those who set up the stage are responsible too. They should have to repay the families for all the trauma that they caused. However, if the place would have been evacuated, we wouldn't be talking about this eight months after the fact. Because of this example, better safety regulations should be made and enforced to prevent another tragedy.

Week 12

The article I chose was about the AZ "trolling" ban. Internet trolling is basically a mean comment or harassment. On Facebook, it is seen as "stalking" someone's profile. Because the new bill in AZ is under fire, it has come to a halt.

Link

I think what AZ is trying to do is good in thought but can never be done. You really can't punish someone if they leave one mean comment. Who eve knows, could that one mean comment just be an opposing opinion? I think what they're trying to do is subjective to each person. One person might go farther than another just because they don't have the same boundaries. In addition, the commenter is protected by the First Amendment. I hate to tell the AZ congress this, but that hasn't changed since the birth of our country.