In this blog post I will be using Reflective Writing to reflect on my Research paper writing process . My research paper provided an argument about prison system in USA. In this blog post I will reflect on my research paper, beside how I wrote it and how I can revise it.
Annotated Bibliography [Categories: Where to Invade Next, Research Paper]: Please complete the following:
In this documentary, Where to invade Next, Michael Moore visited a couple different countries to take stable concepts Americans need from other countries and incorporate them in their lives here in the U.S. He also compared the ideas of education, prison system, vacation, welfare, school lunches, college funds, lifestyle, and working advantages between various other countries system and the U.S system. In this documentary, Where to invade Next, Michael Moore visited a couple different countries to take stable concepts Americans need from other countries and incorporate them in their lives here in the U.S. He also compared the ideas of education, prison system, vacation, welfare, school lunches, college funds, lifestyle, and working advantages between various other countries system and the U.S system. He visited Norway and contrasted the differences of the separate methods of prison. But one main difference that I noticed was that Norway’s way of punishing them is simply taking away their freedom and mainly focuses on rehabilitation, while Americans, in my opinion, have harsher punishments and there is little rehabilitation. It seems that Norway’s approach is more successful since Norway’s incarceration rate is just 75 per 100,000 people, compared to 707 people per 100,000 in the U.S. Sterbenz, Christina. "Why Norway's Prison System Is So Successful." Business Insider, Market Insider, 11 Dec. 2014, www.businessinsider.com/ why-norways-prison-system-is-so-successful-2014-12. Accessed 8 Apr. 2018. This article, on the website businessinsider.com, gave information on the contrast of differences in the Norway prison system and the American prison system. It shows how rehabilitating the prisoners, having resent on the criminal actions that they’ve done, and teaching them a better way to live a good life is more successful than locking prisoners up in cells with bars. The article also shows the results of the big distinction between the two very dissimilar systems with rehabilitating and pure punishment. Norway helps them practice living a morally correct way of life by giving the prisoners individual living spaces with kitchens fully equipped with sharp objects, and friendships between the guards and other inmates. They don’t believe in cruel and unusual punishment (The Eighth Amendment in our own constitution). The article even says “The country relies on a concept called ‘restorative justice,’ which aims to repair the harm caused by crime rather than punish people.” Maybe it’s time to turn prisons into rehabilitation centers. This source is very relevant to my topic because Norway is a perfect example of how inefficient the prison system is in the U.S and Norway gives a great exemplar on how we should imprison our criminals. I can use this is my research paper because I can contrast U.S prisons with other countries prison. Alicea, Janet. "Prison: To Punish or to Reform?" PBS, American Documentary, Inc, 16 Dec. 2003, www.pbs.org/pov/whatiwant/prison-to-punish-or-reform/. Accessed 8 Apr. 2018 This article gave useful information on both sides of the debate of whether to make prisons more rehabilitated focused or if they should stay the way they are now. Although this article is over 10 years, it’s shocking how we still debate on this today. This article featured many different experienced people like Vincent Schiraldi, the founder and president of the Justice Policy Institute. He mostly talked about how our prison’s goal should be turning people’s lives around, which he believes that we are not achieving. This article had many different scholars in this particular field of study debating whether or not we should focus more on rehabilitating prisoners or be punishing them more. A quote by Vincent Schiraldi that perfectly describes why we should focus more on rebuilding the criminals is “If people spend their whole time in prison just bottling up that pain and watching TV, chances are when they come out they are going to burst”. But member of National Board of Trustees for Parents of Murdered Children, Jean Lewis, disagrees. She believes that “The murderer deserves to be segregated from society, not only as a penalty (punishment) but for the safety of the rest of us...My personal opinion (and that of many survivors) is that violent offenders should not be shown leniency." There are obviously two completely different arguments and it shows why the U.S is still indecisive of this choice. This article is relevant to my research paper because it shows two different sides of the argument and debate. It opens another perspective on the discussion and really changes the mindset of your opinions. Moses, Ari. "Recidivism and Rehabilitation." WUPR, 1 Oct. 2014, www.wupr.org/ 2014/10/01/recidivism-and-rehabilitation/. Accessed 9 Apr. 2018. This article gave helpful information on suggestions on how to change the prison system from a prisoner’s perspective. Ari Moses, the author of the article, gave really good points and spoke about how this issue should be taken more seriously. She also wrote about everything from being tough on prisoners to believing in allowing prisoners achieving their education and GED. In general, it was a great eye opener to both sides of the discussion. In the article, Ari Moses was consistently writing about how this matter should be taken way more seriously than it is. For example, Moses wrote “The issue of recidivism and prison rehabilitation also needs to take a larger platform in our nation’s discourse on crime and law-enforcement. In the last presidential election, the issue of recidivism and rehabilitation measures in prisons was not even mentioned in any of the prime-time debates or the Republican primary. “ She also gave lots of statistics about recidivism, the tendency of a convicted criminal to reoffend, and giving specific examples of cases and prisoners. Overall, she really changed some of my perspective on this topic, like the previous article. This article was relevant to my research paper because Ari Moses gave lots of specific that were eye-openers and she wrote about a lot of suggestions on how to change the system. What I found was really useful to me was the fact that she included both sides in the argument, which gave me a view of two perspectives on this topic. In this post, I am going to choose three topics that I found interesting from the documentary, where to invade next. I chose three topics which I found more fascinating that will make a good argument about how American can change their system to make America better.
Topic #1 Topic : School lunch in America Research question :Why should America provide healthy lunches at school? Argument : Providing Healthy lunches to American schools gives many benefits to the children because if you feed students healthy and efficient foods, they will more likely become more energized and perform extremely better than giving oily, fatty, and sugary food for them to eat. Unhealthy foods will also affect their brain development, and may also affect their focus on studying. Not to mention, sugary foods will make them hyper and be another factor of distracted learning. Topic # 2 Topic : College Tuition Research question : Why should America have a free college tuition? Argument: I believe that colleges should be free to all citizens because it too difficult for a student to find a balance between work and studying. Most young adults drop out because of the fact that they cannot balance tuition and student debts with their normal everyday lives. Some students will struggle so much with balancing work and study that they will perform poorly in their studies and not be able to obtain any type of degree. In conclusion, having free education should not only be an opportunity, but also a right. Topic # 3 Topic : Prison systems Research question : Why should we change prison systems? Argument : In Norway, their prison system is nowhere near what we face our Americans through prison. Norwegian’s most secure prison has many benefits that most of our prisons don’t even have such as libraries, gourmet meals, and even a studio. Norway’s crime rates are also low because instead of locking the prisoners into cells, they let them roam and focus on rehabilitating themselves. In my opinion, the system we have goes against what our own constitution confides in, which is cruel and unusual punishment. In this documentary, Where to invade Next, Michael Moore visited a couple different countries to take stable concepts Americans need from other countries and incorporate them in their lives here in the U.S. He also compared the ideas of education, prison system, vacation, welfare, school lunches, college funds, lifestyle, and working advantages between various other countries system and the U.S system.
First, Michael Moore went to Italy, he found that Italian employee’s benefits were raised to a higher standard than a American employee. Italians get a eight week paid vacation for holidays, a five month paid maternity leave to spend time with their family and newborns, and have the advantage to leave their workspace and enjoy quality family time at home for two hours. An American employee wouldn’t really get these benefits from work unless you get a good job. Most Americans only get a half hour and an unpaid lunch break and a two week maximum paid vacation. Next, Michael went to France, where he grasped the difference between American school lunches and French school lunches. He showed us a school cafeteria and menu in France. He found out that France, no matter how poor the school is, give their students healthy, gourmet courses for lunch. He also understood that the French wanted to make lunch a class to learn mannerisms and a chance to share and socialize with their friends. He compared this to American lunch and learned that the French were more family orientated. After France, Michael Moore looked into the lifestyle of the Germans. He found out that a German employee only got 36 hours a week, but get paid for 40 hours. If the employee towards their job, they had the convenience of getting treatment, as well as a break in a spa to relieve their stress. Germany also has a law against bosses contacting employees after work to avoid stress in their work life. Michael made the conclusion that Germans were worried about their employees not having stress. As the Germans say, avoiding stress is “the key to success”. After taking a visit to France, he went to Slovenia, where he discovered that they provided no funds for college. They not only provided this opportunity to their citizens, but also to foreigners. Michael found some American students in Slovenia, and when asked why they moved here, they said it was for the fact that the college education was free and had no student debts there. Following Slovenia, he went to Finland, where he comprehended the fact that children in other countries are mostly relaxed. It’s no surprise to us that Finland is the highest ranked the school in the world, but when Micheal found out why, he was utterly shocked. He found out that the students there only get four hours a day, with a twenty hours a week, and no homework. He made sense of the fact that Finland wanted their students to be family orientated, just like France, Germany, and Italy, and to grow up to be good people. They believed this concept would avoid crime rates. Speaking of crime rates, Michael found out that Norway’s crime rates were very low. He did some research and found out that this was because Norway had a completely different prison system than the U.S. Instead of locking them up all day, Norwegians had more freedom to roam around and attend school, as well as living in individual homes instead of cells. Towards the end, he visited Tunisia and Iceland, where he was surprised that the countries gave women and men equal opportunities. For example, Tunisia gave women free healthcare on their needs. At the end of the film, Michael Moore pointed out that the successful system and concepts of the countries he visited developed their system off the U.S constitution. But, the question here is why doesn’t America follow these concepts themselves. In this post I will be reflecting on my writing process for my Life Choice Memoir. The video Reflective writing explains that in order to use reflective writing.
Hills Like White Elephants (Ernest Hemingway) This story was about a couple sitting at a bar next to the train station in Spain between Barcelona and Madrid. The young couple is faced with the difficult decision where the woman must choose between going forward with getting an abortion or keep the baby.
At first, the girl lives with an inner struggle with herself because she was unsure if she wanted the abortion or not. In the beginning of the story, the woman seemed to want to keep the baby but in the main time of the story, she also wanted to stay in relationship with the man. She had to make the difficult decision between the man or the baby. The man tried to persuade her into getting the abortion by saying “how it`s a simple procedure” or that “it`s really not an operation at all”. Those statements definitely make it sound like he does not want the woman to have the baby. I predict that in the end, the girl will stay in a relationship no matter what happens because she seems weak and powerless in the situation. I can tell from the conversation that she loves him and it’s hard for her to take the inconvenient decision. I also feel that the author put the setting of a train station in the story because it resembles a new destination in her life. I have made an important decision to quit or stay in my job. I started my job about 4 years ago when my friend told me that there was an open position at pre-primary school for an assistant teacher. I liked the idea of that job and I turned in my application and later got the job. In my time there, I enjoyed spending time with the kids there. I loved the fact that they didn’t judge me in the outside and liked me for who I was. I respected my co-workers, especially the oldest ones since it was a tradition in my culture to respect the elders and be helpful to them. On the other hand though, these people who I thought were my friends, took advantage of me and I ended up staying late to do their work. When I would report this behavior to the principal, she never took any real action to solve the issue. I stayed there for a long time because I really needed the job although I didn’t like coming into work every day knowing that I would be treated disrespectfully. It was finally time to take action and I stood up for myself and told the principal that I would quit and to look for other people to take my position. She pleaded me to stay and offered to pay for a Montessori Certification and to upgrade my position there and assured me that I would not work with the same teachers. After a couple months, the school decided to add another building and the principal told me that she couldn’t afford to pay for my certification. So after hearing this I made the tough decision to withdraw my position in that school. Today, I can say that it was one of the most satisfied moments of my life. “What you don’t know” by Lulu Wang is a story made by Lulu Wang’s family hiding their grandmother’s, Nai Nai, stage 4 cancer diagnosis from her. On passage she talks about how she didn’t necessarily agree with the decision of hiding the secret from her grandmother and they should have handled it.
Did you agree with the family's choice to deceive Wang's grandmother? I agree with the decision of hiding it from her because she was genuinely ill, as described on the broadcast, and hiding a secret would just add more tension and stress to her as she is. Nai Nai’s sister was the one who had to tell the heartbreaking news to the family and she made the decision of hiding it from her sister and that should have been hard on her. Of course, some people would have a counter argument saying that it would be a horrid thing to do since the grandmother should have a say in what they were going to do with her life. But in my defense, hiding a secret for the well being of her grandmother was the right thing to do in this situation. I understand how they wanted her to live her life to the fullest since the doctor expected her to live for 3 more months. They even flew to China for a family member’s wedding just so she can see her beloved grandson get married. Although, she would live longer than her expectancy of 3 months, she actually lived to over 3 years, she would’ve gotten sicker over time if they gave her the horrid news. She would lose hope in fighting the lung cancer and prepare herself to the loss of her life. I liked a quote that Lulu Wang said about her grandmother outliving her expectancy and she said something along the lines of “washing out her misfortune with joy”. So to keep the secret from her grandmother for her own well being is a good decision in my perspective. When have you made an important choice to tell someone a difficult truth or you made an important choice to tell a lie that had a major impact on you and/or someone else? This story related to me in so many ways and I am glad I read it. But one situation it applied to me most was the time my husband had to get operated for an open heart surgery.My two kids at the time were 7 and 4 and enjoyed their life being a kid. My kids didn’t quite understand what was happening except for the fact that they got to sleepover their friends house for a couple days on school nights, which was every kids dream. My kids had a normal day and didn’t think much of their parents since they were just kids. I still got to see them but I felt bad every time I had to lie to them when they asked to go home and expect to see their dad. My friends all told me that my kids should know but I thought otherwise because most kids didn’t have to deal with the trauma of their dad having a serious surgery at a young age. The day of the surgery eventually came and my kids were excited to sleepover with their friends again. I was on the road to the hospital talking to my friend who I had let my children stay over at. When we started talking about how worried I was about the surgery, all I could hear over the phone was a familiar voice over the phone crying. My oldest son was crying and he was worried about his dad. He kept asking questions that I tried to avoid and this was the reason why I didn’t want to tell my kids. When I ask my oldest son today how he felt about that situation, he describes it to me as “the most miserable time of my life and all I could think about was being an orphan at 7 years old”. This is the reasoning behind why I agree with Lulu Wang lying to her grandmother about her diagnosis. My Name is Margret (Maya Angelou) is a story about a black girl who works as a maid for a white old lady, Mrs. Cullinan . Margret, after being disrespected by Mrs. Cullinan, wants to quit her job. Margret decides to refuse authority and stand up for her rights.
Did you agree with Margaret's choice to break the casserole dish and two green glass cups? Margret destroys Mrs. Cullinan most prized possessions, because Mrs. Cullinan didn't respect her in front of her friends. Also Mrs. Cullinan decide to shorten Margret's name when one of her friend said to her "But the name's too long I'd never bother my self. I'd call her Mary if I was you". I do agree with Margret to breathe that the casserole and two green glass cups, even though what she does seems cruel, but this is the only way she can rebel and show how much she gets hurt. Even Margret felt sorry for Mrs. Cullinan she couldn't have any children, and her husband had children with a black woman , she was able to stand for her rights and refuse the authority. When have you made an important choice to either resist or not resist oppression, challenge the status quo, or refuse to obey an authority figure? I wish if I was like Margret, the way that she rebel and refuse authority, because when I finished high school, my dream was to be flight attendant because I love traveling . I want to visit many different countries . But my mom wants me to finish my education, and always tries to convince me that this is not a good job. She thinks it's hard for a women to build a career in this kind of a job. So at the beginning I obeyed her and I want to college, but in the main time I kept applying until I got the job of my dream, and of course I had a big argument with my mom . Eventually, my mom said to me that I had to choose between "your mom or your job". Even so, I tried to convince her. I asked my aunt to talk with my mom and to let me do what I like and choose my own future, but she keeps refusing , so in the end I chose to give up and follow her decision. After reflecting over the years, I feel regret that I should have rebelled because now it is too late for me to follow my dream. |
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