Miscellaneous

Essay on “Should Students Have to Pass a Basic Skills Test to Graduate High School?”

The high schools in the USA do not follow a common curriculum. This anomalous situation is giving scope for disparities in the educational standards among the students who apparently possess the same qualifications. It will be difficult to know the level of skills of the students coming from different schools without a common test.

However, there are strong opinions for and against this test. The supporters argue that the learning of basic skills is in the best interest of the students themselves. They strongly feel that the acquisition of these skills will help the students to be successful in their future careers. They further opine that the test will motivate the students to learn the skills.

They believe that the mandating of the skills test would force the schools to train their students to achieve these skills. In other words, this will lead to the standardization of education without disparities in the levels of knowledge of the students supposedly possessing the same qualifications. The supporters maintain that the test helps the individual school managements to assess their own performance and will make them refine their teaching and curriculum.

The opponents of this view hold that the test cannot be an accurate tool for evaluation. On the contrary, it would adversely impact the education standards as the teachers will focus more on training their students to get through the test than on guiding them for their overall intellectual development.

Against this background, it may be concluded that the skills test is an effective tool to assess the standards. Together with the mandating of the test, steps should also be taken to ensure the improvement of the quality of teaching at schools. The overall standards thus improved will reduce the need for the special preparation to pass the basic skills test. In fact, the skills test is going to be an opportunity to improve the standards; not a threat as feared by the critics.

Do You Like Surprises?

A Surprise can be defined as an occurrence that happens without expectation or prior knowledge. It could be either positive or negative. Regardless whether a surprise is negative or positive, the common factor is always the element of suddenness. Personally, I dislike surprises. There are various reasons for that.

To begin with, the emotional response that comes with any kind of surprise is what I find distasteful. Even if a person was to approach me with what may be considered a pleasant surprise, I would feel tense before the surprise is completely revealed. It would be difficult, for instance, to avoid interrupting an ongoing activity, focus my vision on the person and sit up in order to focus fully on the unexpected. The unsettling nature of surprises is what I find difficult to deal with.

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“Making Birth Choices”

There are many factors that play a significant role in making birth choices. Am I ready to have the responsibility of a child? Will I be able to support the child? Is my child going to be raised in a good environment? There are so many questions that need to be answered before even considering having a child. Bringing a child into the world is a big decision in ones life and there is much to know before choosing that path.

        

First of all, one must understand the process of conception. A woman should choose a man that is going to become a good father figure in the child’s life. Every child deserves to have a father and a mother to take care of him/her. It is not fair to that child to go without, so when planning to become pregnant two caregivers should be part of that. There are a few ways a woman can conceive. There is natural conception through sexual intercourse in which the sperm from the father fertilizes the egg from the mother. This occurs while the mother is ovulating, which is about a three day window. Another way to conceive, if the father cannot produce enough sperm is artificial insemination. What happens is sperm is frozen and inserted in the women at proximal times to conceive. Also, a woman has the option to take fertility drugs and therefore more eggs are released from the ovaries to increase likelihood of pregnancy. Becoming pregnant for some people may be natural and easy, but for some people there are different options. Read more…

Global Warming-a global catastrophe?

Imagine being responsible for something like this. A giant asteroid hit the earth about 65 million years ago. The scientist speculated that the collision threw so much dust in to atmosphere that the world was dark for three years. As a result, sunlight was greatly reduced, plants could not grow, temperatures fell, the food chain collapsed, and many species, including the dinosaurs became extinct. We, as human beings, are causing something just as profound, but in a subtle manner, as the asteroid that felled the dinosaurs. According to the National Academy of Sciences, the Earth’s temperature has risen about 1 degree Fahrenheit in the past century and global warming has accelerated dramatically during the past two decades. We have changed and continue to change the balance of gases that form the atmosphere, which leads to these climate change and global warming. Read more…