Revision

forgot to mention i already submitted your evaluation on the 15th...sorry

Underage Drinking

The legal drinking age should stay at 21 years old. Alcohol is one type of drugs chosen by many American adolescents of all ages. From studies, it's shown that one of the reason many adolescents drink are because of emotional and physical changes. If the adolescents had a bad childhood, for example if they lived with parents who were alcoholics, then they are most likely to start drinking at an early age. Also as adolescents advance from one grade to the next, they face more stress from school. Statistics show that from 8th grade to 12th grade, the adolescents picked alcohol over cigarettes and marijuana. Within 8th grade about 26% chose alcohol, 32% of 10th graders and about 43% of 12th grade chose alcohol over cigarette and marijuana. When it comes to choosing which alcohol to consume, in Georgia, adolescents chose hard liquor over other alcohol beverages such as wine, beer and other types of alcohol beverages. Many adolescence take part in binge drinking. More males (54%) take part in binge drinking than females (31.9%) using hard liquor. The percentage changes for the other type of alcohol beverages. Even though there are less teenage drinkers than adult drinkers, the teenage drinkers consume more alcohol than adults per month.

There are many causes to which why adolescents drink alcohol. One type of factor that is most likely to cause underage drinking is the environment. In school, much adolescents, growing up, face some kind of peer pressure. Mostly in high school, where many parties occur involving binge drinking, adolescents are being affected by these types of parties.

The adolescents that attends the parties, sees everyone drinking, which makes them even more curious to actually try it. But then there is a good type of peer pressure that help adolecents to make the right decisions. Parents who are alcoholics may also be the cause to why adolescents might start to drink.

If the adolescents grew up with alcoholic parents, he/she are most likely to begin
drinking at an early age, hence growing up with an alcoholic enviornment. Genetics of alcoholic parents, is also another cause to underage drinking. The U.S Department of Health & Human Resources proved that children of alcoholics (COA’s) are likely to drink at a young age, range from 11-14.

One thing adolescents are known to do is taking risks and expecting things. The brain of adolescence is still in the process of developing. According to the U.S Department of Health & Human Resources, they believe that developmental period of the adolescents' brain is the reason to why adolescents want to take risks. These developmental period cause teenagers to feel the need to seek for thrilling experiences. One of these “thrilling experiences” could be experimenting with alcohol itself. Since adolescencts are in their “developmental period” they expect things to be as they wish they are. Without thinking about the consequences of drinking alcohol, they expect drinking alcohol to be “pleasurable”.

How are adolescents expected to "learn things" if they don't tak risks? Well since they are currently in their "developmental period", they are expected to take risks.

Adolescents will always be curious about many things. In order to help stop this issue to advance, there are preventions and treatments out there. For example, for treatments there are rehab centers for short-term and long-term rehabilitation. Rehab centers to teenage druggies equals to pretty much hell. They are so addicted to the drug that its not that easy to give it up. Hence going through withdrawal. There are prevention programs everywhere to teach the younger generation about what’s bad and what’s good. In school, there are health classes which teach kids about drug uses and alcohol uses. Other ways to prevent actually depends on the parents of child. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), states “parents need to have a good relationship between them and their child, they need discipline methods, they need communications and monitoring of their child”.

If any adolescents at age of under 21 years old is caught, by police, drinking they have to face consequences. They could be fined and even told to take the alcohol and drug seminar. They can also be required to complete some community service hours. New York is strict against drivers under the age of 21, under the influence of alcohol. New York State follows the “Zero Tolerance Law”.

The Zero Tolerance Law states that no one under the age of 21 should be drinking and driving. If an adolescent is caught drinking and driving, they are told to take the breathalyzer test. If the test shows that adolescents has the Blood alcohol Content (BAC) of .02% or more, but not more than .07%, they are violating the zero tolerance law and are told to attend an Administrative Hearing. If the BAC is more than .05% and less than .08% they are sent to criminal court and will be charged “driving while ability is impaired by alcohol” (DWAI). Same goes for anyone with the BAC .08% and more, except they will be arrested.

Today, there are many interventions trying to prevent underage drinking issue. Some of the interventions today that are trying to solve this issue are raising the alcohol prices, increasing the minimum age for drinking, enacting the zero tolerance law, school-based prevention programs and family-based prevention programs. If the prices of the alcohol are increased, it is thought as that people would buy less and consume less. Increasing the minimum age might actually help save lives of people because when the age was risen to 21, estimated, from 700 to 1,000 lives were saved. So if the minimum age was increased it might help us save more lives. If school-based prevention programs and family-based prevention programs are formed it will help educate more people about how dangerous underage drinking can be. Even if we had all of the interventions done, we can’t force the adolescents to think the way we think. It’s up to them to make their own right decisions.

Underage Drinking

by Karuna Kumari

The legal drinking age should stay at 21 years old. Alcohol is one type of drugs chosen by many American adolescence of all ages. From studies, it's shown that one of the reason many adolescence drink are because of emotional and physical changes. If the adolescence had a bad childhood, for example if they lived with parents who were alcoholics, then they are most likely to start drinking at an early age. Also as adolescence advance from one grade to the next, they face more stress from school. As said before, alcohol is the drug chosen by many adolescence, statistics show that from 8th grade to 12th grade, the adolescence picked alcohol over cigarettes and marijuana. Within 8th grade about 26% chose alcohol, 32% of 10th graders and about 43% of 12th grade chose alcohol over cigarette and marijuana. When it comes to choosing which alcohol to consume, in Georgia, adolescence chose hard liquor over other alcohol beverages such as wine, beer and other types of alcohol beverages. Many adolescence take part in binge drinking. More males (54%) take part in binge drinking than females (31.9%) using hard liquor. The percentage changes for the other type of alcohol beverages. Even though there are less teenage drinkers than adult drinkers, the teenage drinkers consume more alcohol than adults per month.

There are many causes to which why adolescence drink alcohol. One type of factor that is most likely to cause underage drinking is the environment. In school, much adolescence, growing up, face some kind of peer pressure. Mostly in high school, where many parties occur involving binge drinking, adolescence are being affected by these types of parties. The adolescences that attends the parties, sees everyone drinking, which makes them even more curious to actually try it. Parents who are alcoholics may also be the cause to why adolescence might start to drink. If the adolescence grew up with alcoholic parents, he/ she are most likely to begin drinking at an early age, hence growing up with alcohol surrounding you. Since we are talking about alcoholic parents, genetics is also another cause to underage drinking. The U.S Department of Health & Human Resources proved that children of alcoholics (COA’s) are likely to drink at a young age, range from 11-14.

One thing adolescence are known to do is taking risks and expecting things. The brain of adolescence is still in the process of developing. According to the U.S Department of Health & Human Resources, they believe that developmental period of the adolescence brain is the reason to why adolescence want to take risks. These developmental period cause teenagers to feel the need to seek for thrilling experiences. One of these “thrilling experiences” could be experimenting with alcohol itself. Since adolescences are in their “developmental period” they expect things to be as they wish they are. When it comes to alcohol, without thinking about the consequences of drinking alcohol, they expect drinking alcohol to be “pleasurable”.

Adolescence will always be curious about many things. In order to help stop this issue to advance, there are preventions and treatments out there. For example, for treatments there are rehab centers for short-term and long-term rehabilitation. When it comes to preventions, there are programs everywhere to teach the younger generation about what’s bad and what’s good. In school, there are health classes which teach kids about drug uses and alcohol uses. Other ways to prevent actually depends on the parents of child. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), states “parents need to have a good relationship between them and their child, they need discipline methods, they need communications and monitoring of their child”.

The New York legal age for drinking is 21. If any adolescence at age of under 21 years old is caught, by police, drinking they have to face consequences. They could be fined and even told to take the alcohol and drug seminar. They can also be required to complete some community service hours. New York is strict against drivers under the age of 21, under the influence of alcohol. New York follows the “Zero Tolerance Law”. The Zero Tolerance Law states that no one under the age of 21 should be drinking and driving. If adolescences are caught drinking and driving they are told to take the breathalyzer test. If the test shows that adolescence has the Blood alcohol Content (BAC) of .02% or more, but not more than .07%, they are violating the zero tolerance law and are told to attend an Administrative Hearing. If the BAC is more than .05% and less than .08% they are sent to criminal court and will be charged “driving while ability is impaired by alcohol” (DWAI). Same goes for anyone with the BAC .08% and more, except they will be arrested.

Today, there are many interventions trying to prevent underage drinking. Some of the interventions are raising the alcohol prices, increasing the minimum age for drinking, enacting the zero tolerance law, school-based prevention programs and family-based prevention programs. If the prices of the alcohol are increased, it is thought as that people would buy less and consume less. Increasing the minimum age might actually help save lives of people because when the age was risen to 21, estimated, from 700 to 1,000 lives were saved. So if the minimum age was increased it might help us save more lives. If school-based prevention programs and family-based prevention programs are formed it will help educate more people about how dangerous underage drinking can be. Even if we had all of the interventions done, we can’t force the adolescence to think the way we think. It’s up to them to make their own right decisions.

Thesis Paragraphs Old vs New

Old one

Underage Drinking


Drinking age should stay the same, at 21 years old. Because of many youth who find it very interesting to try alcohol beverages, there have been many underage drinking cases. Most of the cases are found out through adolescence drinking and driving. The U. S Department of Health states that most adolescence drink because of physical and emotional changes. The idea of keeping the drinking age at 21 is necessary because there are many 18 year old who are amateur at driving. They are becoming young adults and attending college where many parties and drinking is involved most of the time. To have a safe society, many people believe its important to be strict on young adults underage drinking. Therefore, there is a "zero tolerance" policy for underage drinkers who drive.





New One


Underage Drinking



The legal drinking age should stay at 21 years old. Alcohol is one of the type of drugs chosen by many American adolescence of all ages. From studies, it's shown that one of the reason many adolescence drink are because of emotional and physical changes. If the adolescence had a bad childhood, for example if they lived with parents who were alcoholics, then they are most likely to start drinking at an early age. Also as adolescence advance from one grade to the next, they face more stress from school. As said before, alcohol is the drug chosen by many adolescence, statistics show that from 8th grade to 12th grade, the adolescence picked alcohol over cigarettes and marijuana. Within 8th grade about 26% chose alcohol, 32% of 10th graders and about 43% of 12th grade chose alcohol over cigarette and marijuana. When it comes to picking what alcohol to drink, in Georgia, adolescence chose hard liquor over other alcohol beverages such as wine, beer and other types of alcohol beverages. Many adolescence take part in binge drinking. More males (54%) take part in binge drinking than females (31.9%) using hard liquor. The percentage change for the other type of alcohol beverages. Even though there are less teenage drinkers than adult drinkers, the teenage drinkers consume more alcohol than adults per month.




links:

Alcohol Use Among High School Students

A Development Perspective on Underage Alcohol Use

Underage Alcohol Use

Thesis Paragraphs II

Comparing Teenage Culture in Korean, Chinese, and Japanese Society



Korean, Chinese, and Japanese cultures are very different from each other. From the way to dress to how they speak. People from different continents, such as North America, believe that since China has the largest population that there are only Chinese and they all look alike. To them there are no such things as Koreans or Japanese, but there are only Chinese. As a daughter of a father who thinks so, I disagree to this idea. When it comes to the Asian teens, it completely changes the way you view these countries. Teens way of living impacts the whole society. It changes the way people dress, eat, speak and their living style.



Underage Drinking


Drinking age should stay the same, at 21 years old. Because of many youth who find it very interesting to try alcohol beverages, there have been many underage drinking cases. Most of the cases are found out through adolescence drinking and driving. The U. S Department of Health states that most adolescence drink because of physical and emotional changes. The idea of keeping the drinking age at 21 is necessary because there are many 18 year old who are amateur at driving. They are becoming young adults and attending college where many parties and drinking is involved most of the time. To have a safe society, many people believe its important to be strict on young adults underage drinking. Therefore, there is a "zero tolerance" policy for underage drinkers who drive.

Technology is to blame... WHAT?!?

Clive Thompson, the author of the article "Clive Thompson on the New Literacy", explains how technology is not to blame through Prof. Andrea Lunsford point of view. Clive's article is based of Prof Lunsford idea that technology is helping improve the new literacy. Prof Lunsford , from Stanford University, had examined the writing of students from 2001 to 2006. From that she was able to prove that the writings show technology isn't ruining writing but actually reviving it. Clive states that students choose the internet to write to satisfy the "audience" and get their point across. New technology is allowing literacy to advance in many ways that will help the new generation write better.


Questions:

1. In what ways is technology REALLY helping students and kids today?

2. Is Clive's article any different from the previous article we've read?

3. What are some of the "bold new directions" literacy is being pushed to, as Prof Lunsford stated?

I Don't Know....Am I Really Reading Online?

The article "Online, R U Really Reading?" by Motoko Rich is just stating the differences between reading a book and reading online. The article talks about the Konyk Family. The whole Konyk family loves to read. The father explains how he reads newspapers all day, the mother explains how she loves to cuddle up in a chair with her book, and the two children love to read on their laptops.

The article also talks about the test scores of adolescence. Rich states that it has been proven that adolescence that read online "for fun" have better test scores than adolescence who never read. This proves that, yes we r really reading online. It proven in so many ways that teenagers love to read what they have interest in, not big thick books that they are forced to read. If we know we have to read it, like in school, we'll do it. If its not school related, then hello MANGAS (japanese comic books).

The Ten Rules...

Mark Zeltner's article, "New Media and the Slow Death of the Written Word", is simply stating that the new media, as in "the internet" or "the web" has changed society to read more articles online rather than buying a newspaper for their daily news. Mark shows how "the new media" is able to catch people attention and to why it is cause people to lose interest in newspapers. I agree with Mark, that everyone is more dependent on the internet for their news.

Mark Zeltner has made his own 10 Rules telling us how the new media should write. He states that people these days don't like to read long articles anymore. Which is true, because now articles are just straight foward to the point. So in rule # 1, its stated that the new media should stick with their facts and keep the article short. Rule # 2 states that the new media writers should present their material in "digestible chunks". Many of the times readers give up reading the articles because there is too much facts at one time, cause them to get confused. Rule # 3 just explains that there should be some kind of related stories to the article to which the reader can look at.

When it comes to the use of video clips, audio clips and pictures, its best if you don't "over do it". Mark's rule # 4 states that a picture is best used when a new media writer wants to enhance the meaning of words. For example, if one is explaining some kind of food dish, put a picture of the food so the reader can have an idea of what type of food the writer is talking about. Rule # 5 talks about audio clips. Audio clips are good for music to change the mood. Rule # 6 talks about video clips. Video clips can be used to show clips realted to the topic of the article. For example,

PLAY AT OWN RISK even though it has NOTHING to do with articles.....

if u like llamas then go ahead and watch




Rule # 7 talks about the use of footnotes. Footnotes are helpful for readers to find the sources the writer used so the reader has more back up information. Rule # 8 states the use of hyperlinks to other articles that readers can go to. Rule # 9 talks about the use of sidebars. Sidebars help navigate the reader to different parts of the article. Rule # 10 states how a new media writer should present their article. It should be able to catch a reader's attention visually and the form of the article.

I agree with Mark Zeltner, that the new media has been "killing" the use of newspapers. People are so attracted to the articles online more than the article that are just simply printed onto piece of paper. I agree with Mark to the point where the article online can not be taken with you around places and a newspaper can. That is just one advantage of a newspaper. There are still people out there who still choose newspaper over the internet. So in my opinion, I believe it balances out.

Research Topics

Underage drinking


Underage drinking can be a cause to one's death. Some believe the New York state law of drinking age should be lowered. Afraid of teenagers drinking and driving, New York State had raised the legal age for drinking alcohol. Underage drinkers are wanting to experience alcohol. Knowing they are not allowed to makes it even more exciting for them. It is proven that the number one cause of teenage death are alcohol-related car crashes. Despite all the consequences, such as the Zero Tolerance Law against drivers under the age of 21 who drink and drive, there are still many youths getting their hands on alcohol and driving around. In 2005, the overall cost for underage drinkers was 3.2 billion. This included all of the medical fees and work lost fees. New York is the 38th highest state of the 50 states for the cost of each underage drinking youths.


Sites used:
http://www.iona.edu/studentlife/studentdevelopment/wellnessprograms/doc/fact%20sheet.pdf

http://www.iiaaonline.org/pdf/NY_Underage.pdf

http://www.mcacp.org/issue41.htm


Recycling

NYC recycling fine encourages people to recycle more. Some say that recycling fine should be increased to show that NYC really cares about recycling. When the fine is raised, people, afraid, will begin recycling more. Recycling fines in NYC start from $25 to $500, if repeated.


Homeless

The world should start paying more attention to homeless people. Many homeless shelters are running out of space because more and more people are becoming bankrupt and losing homes. If there were enough jobs for eveyone, there wouldnt be many people on the streets suffering.

The Internet.....

The article "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" by Nicholas Carr states that the Internet has changed the way people read anything. It talks about how its causing everyone to just skim through pages instead of reading them thoroughly. The article "The Internet Is No Substitute for the Dying Newspaper Industry" by Chris Hedges state that the Internet is causing the newspaper to die. Chris says that because of some newspapers companies going out of business, many people lost their jobs.

In the article "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" there was the quote by Nicholas Carr:
"Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.".
Nicholas Carr compares scuba divers to people who read and actually get the information they need out of articles, while he compares a guy on a jet ski to people who skim through articles. I have to agree with Nicholas Carr because personally i have felt the same way, as if I've lost the ability to concentrate on any type of reading whether its for homework or just for fun. I get distracted easily because its hard to concentrate.
I disagree with Chris Hedges because some of the newspapers have their own sites on the Internet. People can just go on the Internet to read their daily news.

The Onion....

The Onion...

After reading couple of the articles from " The Onion", I was able to conclude why The Onion might have chosen to write their articles the way they are. In my opinion, the reason why they make their stories funny is to catch their reader's attention. Honestly, there are not so many people left who take anything so seriously. Everybody wants some kind of humor here and there. So to achieve more reader they make their articles funny. The Onion mocks all different kind of current events, from the issue of the president to simple things that are now on television.

[own fake comic news story]

Video Games Gone Wrong....
by: Karuna Kumari
published: September 22,2009

JAMAICA,QUEENS - Ever wondered why kids have become more violent. Well video games could be the cause (maybe). It can be proven that any kid can be come a bit evil just by playing Halo 3, Street Fighters, or even Soul Calibur.

" I don't think video games make you a bad person. I just think some kids are stupid enough to go on and do whatever game characters can do" said Tom to reporters. "Like serious who in the world thinks they will be able to go to a castle and defeat a big turtle looking thing named Bowser to save Princess peach, literally....".

People believe that playing games such as Maple Story wont make kids go crazy. (think again people)

yea....awkward he broke his freaking keyboard! O_O

" I think world of warcraft is a very addicting game recently" said Shad. Indeed it is. It is one of the most played MMORPG game these days. " I heard that many mothers play WoW because they have nothing to do at home" Shad said to reporters. " If you play you can see there are more female players than males".

Lastly, the one and only famous party game "Rock Band". Rock Band allows people to create their own at-home band. It lets people play their favorite rock songs using lead guitar, drums, bass and a microphone. But please, if you can't sing, don't try.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
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First- person VS News article

[News Story Version]

Snow VS. AP Biology
by KARUNA KUMARI
Published: September 19, 2009
source: Hillcrest Highschool students

JAMAICA, QUEENS - When students are told to study for an AP Bio midterm early next week, it becomes chaotic. When it begins to snow, nothing (not even bio midterms) can stop students from a snow fight in people's drive ways.

" Screw AP Biology, its more fun throwing snow balls at my friend's faces rather than studying for an exam I know I won't do well on" Sharan said to the reporters.

It is said that the number 1 cause for students failure in school is Procrastination. Student are distracted by many things surrounding them. Such as Electronics,food and maybe even the weather. We had some of the student from Hillcrest Highschool interviewed regarding studying for AP Biology. Students were Sharanjit Saini, Durjayeta Lall, and Megan Persaud. " Well, we all decided to meet up at Karuna's house to have a study group, but who knew Karuna was such a awesome instant noodle cook" said Durjayeta Lall.

We asked Sharanjit and Megan on their views to study groups. "Well knowing that it might snow today, according tot he weather channel, I knew we girls would have been distracted by the snow." Sharanjit said to reporters. "Honestly I've always wanted to have a snowball fight like today".

" I tried to stop them from getting distracted from the snow outside, but soon I realized that snow wasn't just the cause of our distraction" Megan said. " I have to blame Karuna for this because of her iTunes playlist and her Asian drama addiction no one was able to pay attention to any work we tried to do".

In the end, it can be proved that no matter how hard students try to study there will always be some kind of distractions out there. As for friends studying together, according to these 4 students it can be proved that eating instant noodles, listening to music and watching dramas will not help students pass midterms.






[First- person story version]

Snowy Biology Day

Before the bell had rung, my bio teacher had reminded us about our midterm which would be given to us in a week or two. Since it is an AP class, I thought that I would be nice for once and ACTUALLY study for this midterm. My studying days went by and I figured that I couldn’t do this alone. *sighs*

So I gathered couple of my friends and decided to have a study group. It was a really cold day with cloudy skies, but I had no idea it was going to snow. To warm ourselves, I made instant noodles for everyone.

After warming up with hot 3 minute noodles, we studied for about 2 to 3 hours and got very “hyper”.

*note the bag of chips and iPods* OH YES WE WERE STUDYING!!! : )

It was either because of the Heresy’s chocolate I gave them or we just got really bored. I had given up on AP Bio as well, so then we watched couple of our favorite scenes from our favorite Asian dramas.

this is what I do most of the time when I'm home

Our party of 4 people moved to the outside world, where it had begun to snow.

Well when I think snow, I automatically for a snowball and hunt for my first victim. But this time I had the camera in my hand. Well the outcome is this:

*should have paid her for shoveling my drive way haha*

*Thank you Devi, Sharan, and Megan for not killing
me for the use of their embarrassing pictures*

Blogs...

The point of the article "Blog: All the Noise that Fits" is that in today's generation everybody is blogging on issue that they find "interesting" without even trying to find evidence to prove their opinion. While there are reporters who have the patient to find facts. Michael Skube states that a story written by a reporter or journalist takes time.
"...such a story demanded time, thorough fact-checking and verification and, most of all, perseverance..."

As said in the article by Andrew Sullivan, he states that journalism functions have changed over the past years. He states that blogging is free, but it could help you make a profit. Andrew says that people can also publish their own book, without doing much. People could just go to a print on demand website and make could of copies using their own money, then selling them with a higher price.

In other words, Michael Skube was against Internet blogging while Andrew Sullivan was with Internet blogging. When it comes to my opinion, I believe that i would agree with Michael Skube. I agree with him because I also feel that if you are going to tell the society about an issue that you find important you should at least gather some facts to prove that the issue you have is true, rather than just passing on some rumors that would cause a chaos and ruin somebody's professional or ordinary life.

Snowy Biology Day

Snowy Biology Day

Before the bell had rung, my bio teacher had reminded us about our midterm which would be given to us in a week or two. Since it is an AP class, I thought that I would be nice for once and ACTUALLY study for this midterm. My studying days went by and I figured that I couldn’t do this alone. *sighs*

So I gathered couple of my friends and decided to have a study group. It was a really cold day with cloudy skies, but I had no idea it was going to snow. To warm ourselves, I made instant noodles for everyone.

After warming up with hot 3 minute noodles, we studied for about 2 to 3 hours and got very “hyper”.

*note the bag of chips and iPods* OH YES WE WERE STUDYING!!! : )

It was either because of the Heresy’s chocolate I gave them or we just got really bored. I had given up on AP Bio as well, so then we watched couple of our favorite scenes from our favorite Asian dramas.

this is what I do most of the time when I'm home

Our party of 4 people moved to the outside world, where it had begun to snow.

Well when I think snow, I automatically for a snowball and hunt for my first victim. But this time I had the camera in my hand. Well the outcome is this:

*should have paid her for shoveling my drive way haha*

*Thank you Devi, Sharan, and Megan for not killing
me for the use of their embarrassing pictures*