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.