Standardized? More like STRANDerdized am I right?

On my journey through the multigenre papers, I found one of particular interest. The paper is about standardized testing and standardized schooling. The paper states that standardized schooling doesn't lead to originality or genius. I found this particular paper interesting because I agree with it. Each student is different and learns at different paces. Standardized schooling may leave some kids stranded academically.

Millennium Goals

Poverty across the globe is a major problem. As Americans, we are considered rich if you have some sort of shelter and can afford food. In cases of extreme poverty, like in Africa, people may not have food, shelter, or even clean drinking water. This is a problem that should be addressed and tried to fix.

Even though extreme poverty in the U.S, isn't a problem, poverty still looms for millions of people. To combat this, the government could run food banks and kitchens that feed homeless people. Where I live on the north side of town, I see homeless people everyday that are hungry. With all the food Americans waste, we could feed the homeless. Fun fact for you, the U.S. has more empty (for sale or for rent houses) than it does homeless people. That's a little absurd when you think about it.

For solving extreme poverty across the globe, the UN has set up a program in Bosnia and Herzegovina that teaches people farming and trade skills. Cambodia's average income rose almost a full dollar which helped provide safer foods for the region. The UN also supports a program in India where "landless laborers" are guaranteed 100 days of paid work. with the continued support of the UN and people across the globe, we can easily eradicate extreme poverty and poverty in general by the end of the millennium.

 

Here is a list of my 3 favorite ideas that I saw from the Do Good Fund:



Dreamer's Orchestra
An idea by Wade Trimmer that brings together all of the less fortunate street performers and gives them a stage on which they will be able to preform. The goal of this organization is to "bring hope and healing to their lives". Trimmer came up with the idea after a young girl approached him who said that she was homeless. he has been looking for was to get people off the streets ever since then. You can read the full story by clicking on the link here.


Half 4 the Hungry
Wonderful idea came up by the mind of Leigh Carman. Its a pretty simple idea; people order food, get half the portion size, and the restaurant donates a minimum of $4 to a charity that feeds hungry children domestically. Carman suggests to only give half a portion to save the restaurant money and to also save people from unneeded calories. She notes that 40% of food is wasted each meal and as of 2010, 35% of adults are overweight. Check it out here.



A 2nd Cup
A simple coffee shop that raises awareness about human trafficking. Hard to swallow right (Oooo bad pun, I'm sorry)? The owners of the coffee shop will use a 3 step process to help fight trafficking what includes educating people about human trafficking, partnering with "a variety" anti-human trafficking organizations, and rehabilitating for survivors of human trafficking. If you want more information about it click here.





I find these 3 ideas so interesting because I know the power of music. When I go downtown, there is always a street musician trying to make a couple bucks doing what they love. I respect that. I also live on the less fortunate side of town and I see a lot of (actual) homeless people that struggle to get a half a meal let alone a full one. Human trafficking is slavery plain and simple. This is the United States of freakin' America. A wise man with a beard and a large top hat put an end to slavery in the U.S. in the 1800s and it pains me to know that it still goes on not only in the U.S. but also all over the world.

Grammar Article 1

Sitting in the library and then I seen a car drive by.

 

 I just made two grammar mistakes in one sentence, did you notice? Now keep in mind, I don't have the best grammar so if there is a mistake made in the rest of this post just smile and go along with it. The author, Ben Yagoda, has written an article in THE WEEK “7 grammar rules you really should pay attention to” and recently wrote another article for THE WEEK about bogus grammar “rules” that you don’t need to follow. I think it’s safe to say that he knows what he is talking about but in my opinion, this article isn’t that necessary.

The grammar rules/examples that Yagoda gives sound like the sort of things that only an idiot would say.

“He seen saw it coming”

The more I write this post, the more I see that this article is more about when people write as opposed to when people talk.

 

 

 

It would be nice if I could end my post on a good note but that’s no fun. Upon closer examination of the examples, I found one that is completely wrong. Yagoda writes

“If an intruder were was here last night, he would have left footprints, so let's look at the ground outside.”

But “were” would be the correct word to use. “Were” is the PAST tense of “was” and in the example sentence, the speaker is talking about the night BEFORE. That happened in the past so he should have used the past tense (If I’m wrong please tell me that was I don’t sound like an idiot in the future).