The ELC Writer’s Blog

Boxing is a traditional fighting sport where the participants are only allowed to use their hands to defeat their opponents.  If done right, it can be as well choreographed as a ballet.  Announcers have descriptive ways to bring color to the action - a southpaw, and overhand right, a straight cross, a combination, and there’s always the famous rope-a-dope that made Ali famous.

On the other hand, MMA (mixed martial arts) is the new kid on the block.  It encompasses all fighting styles.  It allows you to use your whole body to defeat your opponent.  Fighters are allowed to stand up or take the fight to the mat.  This sport also has descriptive words to describe aspects of the fight; my favorite term is the ‘rear naked choke’.

 Have you ever seen a Boxing match? How about an MMA match?  What’s your opinion of these two styles of competition.  Can they co-exist or should they both be outlawed?  Your comments would be greatly appreciated.

Homeschooling is the newest trend especially in the US.  Parents have removed their children from both public and private schools in order to give them the attention that they believe an organized school does not.  Below is an article taken from (http://www.abcarticledirectory.com/Article/Home-Schooling-Advantages-vs–Disadvantages/10706) about homeschooling. First, do you have homeschooling in your country.  Would you consider it for your children?  What are some of advantages and disadvantages as you see them?

 Home Schooling Advantages vs. Disadvantages By: Kris Koonar

Home schooling is an option that is becoming more attractive to parents as time goes on. Schools have become increasingly unstable over the past couple of decades. Children roam the hallways unchecked, textbooks are outdated, violence is prevalent, children are bullied mercilessly, and the quality of education on the whole has greatly diminished.

What options do parents have to combat this downward spiral? Initially, private school was thought to be the answer. As enrollment in private schools soared many parents failed to see a difference between public and private schools. The problems were still the same.

The option of home schooling has been around for a long time; however, until recently it had not been so popular. The idea of home schooling seems like a cure-all to many parents due to the advantages this type of education provides over traditional schools. Children who are home schooled can avoid many of the problems schools have become known for. For one, the environment is less threatening. Children can learn without fearing other students, aggressive or nasty teachers, and be under the constant supervision of parents. In addition, home schooling allows parents to dictate the academic course of their children. Home schooling also allows students to proceed at their own speed. If a child is weak at multiplication and division, a parent can focus lessons on those skills in favor of another skill that the child might grasp rather easily.

Home schooling is also advantageous because it keeps children away from other students that may be corruptive forces. There are many students in school who do not value learning. This is not any fault of the schools; however, it is still a painful reality. These students can lead to the destruction of a stable learning environment. Home schooling keeps children focused on learning and not on avoiding social pressures.

It may sound like the perfect option, but there are many disadvantages of home schooling. First of all, home schooled children are usually less socialized. While schools can sometimes be the breeding ground for poor social behaviors, school is also a place where students learn to interact with others and build social skills. It seems a bit like a catch 22.

In addition, another drawback to home schooling could be implementation of an educational plan. Many parents are not qualified as teachers and may not understand what is necessary to ensure a child has access to the proper curriculum.

Finally, another disadvantage to home schooling is the necessity for parents to take full responsibility for their childs education. If you choose to home school your child there is no one for you to blame if your child does poorly. The responsibility falls completely on the parent.

There are many advantages and disadvantages to home schooling. Before you begin a home schooling plan make sure you have evaluated your ability to properly instruct your child and provide a quality learning experience. If you do not think you can handle it, you might as well send your child to school but become more involved with his or her education.

“Oh, what a feeling!” is the advertising slogan that Toyota began many years ago to help introduce Americans to their their fuel efficient automobiles.  In the 1970s, most Americans drove large, gas-guzzling cars like Cadillacs, Buicks, Chevys and Fords.  The oil embargo that was implemented because of fighting in the middle east in the mid 1970s really crippled the American consumer.  The Japanese automakers saw an opportunity to enter the US market and quickly pounced on it with their fuel efficient cars.

In recently years, the “Big 3″ (B3) – GM, Ford and Chrysler have shown themselves to be not as attentive to the wants and needs of the American driver.  Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Hyundai and others, have continually stole market share from the B3.  As the imports became more popular, the B3 failed to follow their lead with styling and innovation. 

For the past few months, we have learned that the B3 are all hemorrhaging money; Downsizing, plant closings, layoffs and buyouts are the norm at the B3 now.  In recent weeks, Daimler, parent company of Mercedes-Benz, decided to sell off its Chrysler division to an American investor group; it was sold for a lots less money than it was purchased for. 

Ford recently learned that it has been surpassed by Toyota as the number 2 automaker in the US.  Toyota is definitely aiming for numero uno (or number 1).

What makes an import cars different or better from the American one?  I own a Toyota after having other American, German, and Japanese cars;  there are a lot of things I love about my Toyota, and because of past experiences, I plan to give my future business to the so-called importers.  What’s you opinion on this subject? Blog it!!

I’ve been thinking for a long time to sell all of my gasoline-powered automobiles and buy a diesel (car); not the smelly one with the thick smoke coming from the tailpipe.  I want a mid-sized car (a VW TDI, for example) with a diesel engine that has been configured to run either biodiesel or vegetable oil.  Your question is probably what is biodiesel and what does it have to do with used fryer oil?

Some ingenuous person figured out that you can make an environmentally-friendly and clean burning fuel from used fryer oil.  If, for example, you go to McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, KFC, Taco Bell, etc., you can collect their used cooking oil for free (otherwise, they will have to pay to have it disposed of).  Next, you filter the oil to remove as many particles as possible.  After that, you mix this oil with Sodium Hydroxide (i.e. Lye).  This act like a catalyst (causes a reaction without being a part of the chemical makeup).  Then, add methanol or ethanol to the oil/lye mixture.  There are several other steps involved in making the biodiesel, but in the end, you have biodiesel + glycerin (used to make soap; it’s the sticky part of the oil).

Biodiesel is safe to the environment, non-toxic, clean burning and most of all, cheap to make….about $0.75 per gallon (if you can get free used fryer oil)!  Why don’t more people switch to Biodiesel?  The bigger question is why don’t governments or public companies support this initiative? 

See the video of Biodiesel Betty:

http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=148&fr=yfp-t-501

 Q:  How would something like Biodiesel help people in your country….in the World?

What is a GMO? 

Wikipedia.com says a ”genetically modified organism(GMO) is an organism whose genetic material has been altered using techniques in genetics generally known as recombinant DNA technology…The term generally does not cover organisms whose genetic makeup has been altered by conventional cross breeding or by “mutagenesis” breeding, as these methods predate the discovery of the recombinant DNA techniques. Technically speaking, however, such techniques are by definition genetic modification”.

The larger concern is how does GMOs affect the food supply?  Are the safe to eat?  Are they wholesome?

Read about Starlink corn and Taco Bell.

(http://www.geo-pie.cornell.edu/issues/starlink.html#news)

Headline: GE Corn in Taco Shells

“StarLink,” a variety of genetically-engineered corn not approved for human consumption, was initially detected in September of 2000 in Taco Bell taco shells distributed by Kraft Foods, Inc. The tests that identified the presence of StarLink were conducted for the watchdog group “Friends of the Earth” by Genetics ID, an independent testing lab. Kraft issued a voluntarily recall of the taco shells that might have contained processed StarLink corn.

Subsequently, StarLink corn flour was detected in taco shells manufactured by Mission Foods of Irving, TX, which issued a voluntary recall of all of its products containing yellow corn. Because many Mission products are relabeled with store-brand packaging, taco shells produced by Mission for Safeway, Food Lion, Shaw’s, and several other grocery chains have also been recalled. In the following months, Starlink was detected in a wide variety of yellow-corn products, many even outside the US. It has been estimated that as many as several hundred corn products may have been quietly recalled by individual manufacturers.

StarLink, owned by France-based Aventis, was the only variety of genetically-engineered food marketed for animal feed but not approved for human consumption. Aventis had assured regulators that appropriate precautions would be taken by StarLink growers to prevent the GE corn from entering the food supply, but those precautions were apparently not adequate. Although Aventis agreed to purchase all of the remaining 1999 and 2000 harvests of StarLink corn, several million bushels of StarLink corn were unaccounted for, and probably entered the human food supply. Although Starlink represented only about 1% of the total corn harvest, estimates suggested Starlink may have contaminated as much as 50% of the year’s corn harvest.

Presently, most corn buyers and processors routinely test for the presence of Starlink corn. If it is still detected, the corn is sold for feed or non-food industrial uses.
Q: How do you feel about genetically modified foods?

Is the US being overrun by illegal immigrants?  Americans complain specifically about Mexicans and other ’spanish-speakers’ who enter the US to live and work illegally.  But, remember, there are illegal aliens in this country for all over the world. There are many reasons why Americans want to stop this flow of illegals – security, job availability, etc.  On the other hand, American want to pay as little as possible for food (fruit and vegetables which are predominately picked by illegal aliens), for domestic related jobs (nannies, landscaping, housekeeping, etc.), construction (new homes and remodeling, for examples), and other labor intensive jobs. 

Read the attached link and comment with your opinion on this issue.  Should workers from other countries be admitted into the US, permanently or temporarily, for work?  For illegal aliens who are already living and working in the US be given amnesty?  If so, should there be an associated punishment?  Finally, does your country have a similiar issue and how do they handle it?

http://www.americanworker.org/amnesty_handout.htm

Thank you, in advance, for your comments.

Dear Students,

I would like for all of you to keep the students, teachers, faculty, and staff at Virginia Tech in their thoughts and prayers as they begin to heal from today’s tragedy.  It has to be the most upsetting event in this country since 9/11.  The US is still trying to heal from that attack, and our friends at Virginia Tech will take an equal time to heal from this event. 

I hope this will begin a new debate on some sort of gun control (in this country) because keeping guns out of the hands of criminals and other threating individuals is, I believe, a much better option than allowing any and everyone to carry a gun to protect themselves.

You are welcomed to leave a brief comment, but it should be one from the heart and not as a requirement for this class.

We had an interesting mini-discussion in the Advanced I class about Friday’s Freewriting topic.  I think The ELC Writer’s Blog is a good forum to discuss this topic further.  The question was:  

Q:  Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Boys and girls should attend separate schools. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. 

First and foremost, this is a great topic because it looks at our individual feelings about male and female education and whether it should be coeducational (co-ed) or not.  I’ve research this topic before and, although, I don’t see a real need to create separate institutions of learning for men and women, I understand both sides of the argument.  I found this info from the article interesting: 

“Reports such as the American Association of University Women’s 1992 “How Schools Shortchange Girls” and David and Myra Sadker’s “Failing at Fairness,” conclude that girls are not as well served by the coeducational learning environment as boys are. They receive less teacher attention and find fewer reflections of themselves in the curriculum; their unique learning styles and ways of knowing are often ignored. At all-girls schools, girls have 100% of the teacher’s attention in the classroom. Unrestricted by the pressures of a coeducational environment, they find it safe to develop their own voices. Girls in single-sex schools speak up, unafraid to challenge themselves and others to think. They do so from a secure environment that builds upon the strengths, learning styles, sensitivities, and values of girls.”

(Taken from: http://www.albalagh.net/kids/taking_stand/girls_schools.shtml)

The authors are proponents, I believe, of separate education for young men and women.  Notice that I said ‘separate education’ and not ‘all-girls (or all-boys) schools’.  Also noticed that I said ‘young men and women’ and not boys and girls.  I believe young men and women, junior and senior high school aged, will benefit the most from having separate classes.  Young people, however, should not spend the whole day separate from each other.  Developing a rapport with the opposite sex is so much more important to their life education than their schooling will ever be.  In my opinion, this sort of co-ed education is analogous to ELC students, men and women from a variety of countries, studying English together. 

An interested excerpt was from the same resource read: “Separate education also helps girls concentrate on their fields, such as cooking, sewing, budget management etc. so they could be good daughters, sister, wives, and mothers.”  

My upbringing precludes me from agreeing with home economics (this was a class that taught cooking, cleaning, sewing, ironing, etc. when I was a young man growing up in public schools).  My mother always taught me how to do these things because, in her words, “don’t leave home then look for another mother to take care of you.  You have to be able to take care of yourself”. I don’t personally believe that these are ‘fields that girls should concentrate on’.  Is that my mother in me or the American in me?

I purposely choose this website entitled “Need for Islamic Girls Schools” because it had the info that I was looking for plus it included some info on how men and women are educated in Muslim countries. 

I always look to my student to educate me, as well, so please feel free to read this short article and comment freely. 

Should corporal punishment be permitted in schools? 

Corporal punishment is a type of punishment where hitting or striking is permitted.  In most (or maybe all) school systems nationwide, corporal punishment is NOT permitted.  Teachers and administrators (e.g. principals, counselor, etc.) are NOT allowed to strike the students.  In most cases, parents are also not allowed to strike their children.  These days almost anyone who strikes a child can be arrested by the police for assault and battery. 

When I was in the 2^nd grade, my teacher believed heavily in corporal punishment.  She would often use paddles and other objects to discipline us.  The School Board in my city decided to fire her because of complaints from students and parents.  At that time corporal punishment was not as taboo as it is today.  Parents and administrators did feel, however, that the teacher was abusing her students; she was using excessive force in disciplining her students.

On Youtube.com and found several incidents of teachers disciplining students by striking them about their face and body.  My question is two fold: 

• First, what is your opinion of corporal punishment?  Do you agree or disagree with this form of punishment?  
• And finally, how is corporal punishment looked upon by parents, teachers and school administrators in your country?

I have included the links from Youtube.com for your review.  I should preface these video clips by saying that they may or not be considered corporal punishment.

A teacher in South Korea hits his female student several times:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVdbPrwyU54

The news story about the female student in South Korea who was hit by her teacher:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9T6SaQXFMw&mode=related&search=

A student in the Middle East (perhaps Jordan) was hit by his teacher:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDU7W8MNJBA&NR=1

As always, your comments are greatly appreciated.  1…2…3…..Blog it!!

Greetings,

I had an interested conversation today with several of my ESL students.  The conversation was about a variety of topics and recent happenings.  Eventually it lead to, “What do you think American know about your country and its culture?”  “Do you think they (Amer.) respect and understand who you are as a people……or are you (all) somehow stereotyped?”

First of all, I asked these questions because many of us have learned about other countries and its culture from the media.  And, more than anything, this portrayal is often ‘negative’ or ’stereotypical’.

Q:  “Do you think (all) people base their knowledge on a particular country and its culture on what they see in the media?” 

If you could introduce your country and its culture to a group of Americans who would then pass that info on to their friends, family and acquaintances, what would you tell? 

Blog your response to your classmates at the ELC!