SPC 1017 - Group#3 Blog#2

 Group Project Reflection Blog              

Written By: Vladimir Fonte

    

Written By: Samantha Eyzaguirre

    

Written By: Isabella Martinez

    In these projects where different needs and hypotheses about health and education, Law and order with immigration and Racial divide and the economy were discussed, I think that very important points were touched. In my opinion, each of us put a lot of effort into it, since all these issues are important to change the lives of us or our loved ones.  It was also a way to reflect and inform us about our fellowship. The first group that was in charge of health and education.  They began by talking about universal health and the benefit of having it for free.  Something very important since many of the citizens, residents or even immigrants put their lives at risk by not going to the hospital and having a bill that they will be paying all their lives.  On the other hand, he clarified the possible downsides, which would be an estimated 20% more than we must pay in taxes.  

    Personally, I believe that health is more important than money. There was also talk about psychological therapies that I think are essential for a healthy life.  Stress is very common and although transitory, it can last for years if it is not cured.  Psychology is important to explore oneself and find ways to have better mental well-being.  Above all, this develops society, making us live more united.  Since, if we do not fix our interior, we can never change the exterior. In this project, many terms can be emphasized, such as the cost of prescription drugs.  Samantha one of the participants helped clarify the importance of access to these, adding photos, statistics and related graphs. Regarding education, Giuseppe Durante spoke about Student Loan Forgiveness.  In addition to how fair it should be to forgive student debts, since they are people who will serve in the future and make our country a better future, he proposed that it would be a benefit for the college.  This would give more people the opportunity to study. He reported that “Anyone who makes less than $125,000 per year is eligible.  The plan is to also include those who never graduated college.  They will be forgiving anything between $10,000 and $20,000.” Teacher Shortages is something that is rarely talked about, but it was really impressive that they took it into account.  Teachers must have great skills in different subjects, many are specialists or doctors who are turning other people into professionals.  Even so, they receive minimum wages that are not compared to the quality of their work.  Also, according to Michelle, the high cost of college limits their preparation.  Something interesting that she added was “Expanding high-quality programs that prepare and support teachers including registered teacher apprenticeship programs by providing $100 million in grants” which I think would be a very good start to change these facts. Sofía included the topic of abortion and also added her own way of seeing it that clearly coincides with many of the women.  “Abortion is a topic that is talked about a lot in the United States, because it is a right that women have to their bodies.”  

    As a female, I think there was no better way to define it and it is impressive how the laws can interfere in issues like these, since many states and countries deny a woman's right to an abortion. There could be nothing more unfair!  I loved that she mentioned it. Gun control was something that really needed to be in a project as informative as this one.  Nelta investigated this, reaching the conclusion that the use of weapons, more than having benefits, has serious consequences.  Many people have been sacrificed for not having a profession or enough responsibility that allows them to use it and still have it. The second project was based on Racial Divide and economics.  Annamarie impressed me with the video of the perception vs reality of the economy where it was clarified according to CNN Business Article that our country does not appear to be suffering the kind of downfall that would qualify as a recession.  Very interesting! On the other hand, Alejandro Leyva explained about racial divide in America.  One of his statistics was the high number of deaths of black people killed by police, in contrast to the low deaths of white people. This information is really sad, but even so, a great development was seen in the African American people and their salaries. 

    Putting a little about my knowledge and opinion on this subject,I think that the first people who existed according to biology were black.  When white people go to Africa many are shocked as it is normal for each country to have most ethnic groups.  But the United States is one of the countries with the greatest diversity of races, and I think it is a good way for all of us to relate and learn from different cultures, instead of discriminating against each other. In the third group it was presented about law and order with immigration. Gabriella commented on the effect of the shipment of immigrants on both them and the country.  She expressed her feelings regarding the dispute between the two Republican and Democratic parties, and how this can unnerve immigrants.  I felt very identified. Another similar point was made by Meylin, who spoke about the effects of children who are separated from their parents because of their miserable, suffering and endangered lives in their native countries.  Very good job of her to remember these innocents who really carry with them many traumas. In conclusion, my blog can only give positive opinions about the performance of all the project participants.  I think we all put feelings into it as we presented topics on our own initiative. Everyone added pictures, statistics, quotes, videos which made it very entertaining and informative. They were very organized and really from my experience I can say that we prepared to expose. Thanks to the teacher who gave us the opportunity to develop our ideas and open ourselves to new information freely.

Witten By: Sofia Torres

    

Written by: Michelle Osorio

Written By: Nelta Constantin

    

Written By: Guiseppe Durante

    First of all, I am interested in the topics that Chapter 5 discusses. The case of law and order with immigration is very interesting to me. For instance, the information presented was not only informational but also very relevant to current situations in our nation. The presentation discussed factors that lead to higher crime rates. Some of the principal ones include the economic conditions and effectiveness of the enforcement agencies in fulfilling their jobs. Another factor they share is variation in population ages. Logically, all of these would significantly impact the crime rate. For instance, younger generations could be more likely to become criminals as they have more energy and know modern operandi. In the same way, I was intrigued to know that there are 18,000 crimes every year. I am surprised because I initially believed it was more, especially given all the news that aired every morning and all day. Nonetheless, I was relieved to know that there was less than I thought. It was both calming and informative. 

It would be logical that Washington, DC, would be the city with the highest crimes. One of the reasons that it would be the top city for the fact that the most powerful and influential person in the nation lives there and that it is a very tourist city because it is the capital. Given the amount of truism that must exist, the amount of crime must be either proportional or very close to being proportional. As anyone would expect, there is a relationship between crime rates and poverty. Of course, poorer areas would have higher crimes for simple reasons such as needing to rob and hurt others to obtain things they may be missing because they are missing the economic means to afford them. I also found obvious and interesting specific demographics that affected who would commit crimes. Factors such as age, sex, and others were obvious, but others did not seem as apparent. For instance, your work position has an impact on your income and, therefore, on your economic status but little did I know it had such an impact until my classmate presented that part of his presentation. 

The following vital topic that the presenter shared was the issue of immigrants. While he shared some basic concepts, such as the difference between illegal and legal, he shared other aspects that I did not know so much about. One of the most exciting aspects that I learned was that the current shipping of immigrants into American land is a republican strategy to make evident the failing or weak policies regarding immigration coming from the Biden administration. The same slide shared a quote from the white house secretary where she expressed that the strategy is a “cruel, premeditated political stunt,” and honestly, I couldn't agree more. It is unfair and immoral for a candidate to use humans whose dream is to escape their regime and strive for a better life to suffer the consequences of a campaign to gain power again in the next presidential term. Who would think it is right to lure people into getting on planes and buses with the promise of housing and work? Millions of Venezuelans are being brought into the nation and transferred from state to state with the promise of a chance in this nation. Still, many are not provided with essential life aspects, such as food and professional medical services. While the difference between being served food and medical assistance and not being offered any of that varies from the state they come from, there should not be a difference in the first place, and every single immigrant should have the right to at least receive medical assistance. I truly believe that Americans spend way too much on taxes for immigrants who may be here momentarily and do not have proper medical and human treatment while in the nation. Now, do not confuse my idea with supporting that they stay here illegally but instead that they are given fundamental human rights while they are on American grounds or waters. 

The presenter also shared some information that clarified a couple of things for me. One of the things that I got explained was the difference between legal and illegal aliens. I was not surprised to learn that illegals do not contribute taxes, and legal do. However, I was surprised to see that both groups consume and not all groups contribute. It is interesting to see this contrast put together. This amazed me because, as the presenter shared, immigration positively impacts the economy. Still, I also believe there is a limit as to how much immigration is too much and makes our nation overpopulate, negatively impacting the quality of life. I was also extremely shocked by the number of illegal aliens in the U.S. The number shared in the presentation states it's around 11 million, but in my mind, the number for unfair would not go over one or two million. I know that many immigrants are, but I expected the number of illegal immigrants to be manageable. Next, the presenter showed a list of differences between republicans' and democrats' beliefs and stances regarding immigration policies. To clarify, both were carefully explained and very clear about what each believed. For instance, one remark I have from republicans is that they think that the border wall would provide protection. This belief reminds me of the wall president trump was going to build in his first presidential term. While president Trump never built the wall, the debate then made me realize that the threat to safety in America comes not only from land but sometimes from our people living here, illegal or not. On the other hand, the democrats believe in helping illegal immigrants to find a way to gain citizenship. The main issue that I see with this belief is that if they did not have the means or methods to enter our nation legally, why should or would we give them a chance at citizenship when others have respected the nation's policies and deserve that road much more than those who have entered illegally. In conclusion, the issue that chapter 5 presented is of great importance and of great debate as it affects both, directly and indirectly, every person in our nation regardless of their economic or legal status.