Are you sure that's natural?

Last month, a very popular restaurant based in Denver that sells Mexican food across the United States posted a video on YouTube has raised controversy amongst its seven million viewers. This restaurant is known as Chipotle. The animated three minute and twenty three second short film consisted of a scarecrow farmer that moves to the city to find a job. When he gets there he comes to realize that many of the things that are labeled “All Natural” and “Farm Fresh” are nowhere close to being natural. The animals are given chickens are given different types of injections to make them twice as large, and the cows are hidden in dark places completely opposite of their natural habitat. However, the consumers of these “natural” foods are completely oblivious to what is happening behind the scenes and continue to support and buy food from these companies and businesses. But don’t just take my word for it… watch the video for yourself:

Now how exactly do you feel after watching that? Do you feel like you have been lied to or taken advantage of? I’m sure however you feel is far from honesty. At the end of the film, the scarecrow went and discovered new ways to not only help the people, but also his environment. If he could do it by himself, why can’t we all come together and make a change? I’m sure it won’t be simply that easy, but once we start the world of food evolve leading us to a much better future.

                Currently, the most disputed part of the debate is the genetically modified organisms- also known as GMO’s- in foods. Last year, Chipotle became the first national company to post on their website which items on their menu contain GMO’s, soon after that, Whole Foods and Ben and Jerry’s followed. Because of this, consumers are becoming more interested in what exactly they are eating, which does not seem illogical at all. Chipotle decision to list this is a good start to changing the way we eat.

                Many companies have lacked using all natural products because of the costs. It would be more expensive and time consuming. This is the same issue that consumers face with making the choice between buying fast-food and buying items to cook a home cooked meal. The healthier option not only costs more money, but also costs more time. However, what they don’t realize is that the time and money they are saving now through buying fast-food will hurt them in the future.

Lady Liberty is Back in Business!

 

 

                  As we all know, the government recently shutdown. Due to this shutdown, all national parks, federally owned museums, and landmarks such as The Statue of Liberty in New York were also closed. Because of all of these places being temporarily closed, thousands of people have been losing their jobs. Although the last time we had a government shutdown in the United States in 1995 it only lasted for twenty one days, the people who are currently out of work will not be receive compensation for the time the government is shutdown. From this, we can tell that the percentage of unemployment in the United States will rise changing a few things in our nation.

                However, it is not the end of the world! Some places are opening back up, allowing the workers to return to their jobs and customers to do what they do best! On Saturday, October 12^th, The Statue of Liberty reopened! Whooo! Many tourists traveling to New York were disappointed when they discovered that they would not be able to visit the famous landmark, but after it was reopened, happiness fled the air. One tourist even stated that “It’s more than just a creator of economics and a creator of jobs. It is probably the most profound symbol for freedom and democracy, certainly in this country, but possibly around the world.”

Nearly 4 million people visited The Statue of Liberty in 2011, generating around $174 million dollars in economic activity. From these statistics, we can conclude that is completely illogical to have it shut down for even just a short period of time. Lady Liberty is a vital and necessary part of keeping our economy where it needs to be.

With the reopening of The Statue of Liberty, many other landmarks, such as the Grand Canyon in Arizona, Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota and Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado have also been reopened. All it takes is one domino to start a chain reaction, and New York- as always- was definitely a trendsetter in this fabulous occasion!

Coumo announced on Friday the state will pay about $61,600 a day to keep the Statue of Liberty opened, which is A LOT of money, but when you think about how much money they will profit from the people who will travel from all parts of the world to see it, it is obviously worth it!

 

 

A teacher’s troubling account of giving a 106-question standardized test to 11 year olds

Jessie B. Ramey, who teaches women’s studies and history at the University of Pittsburgh, recently became baffled after administrating a one hundred and six word reading diagnostic exam to her class of eleven year old students. The test consisted of the things such as students picking one of five pictures that corresponded with the sentence Ramey previously read aloud. Ramey herself even admitted that it took her several tries over a course of a few days to finally discover the correct answer for some of questions, so how are eleven year old students supposed to choose- or guess in many cases- the correct answer on their first try?

Ramey reminded the students before they began their test that it was just to see where they were academically and that it would not in any way affect their grades, but they should still try their hardest to do it correctly and give one hundred percent of their effort towards presenting their best work. However, these standardized tests are not always the best thing in testing a students learning ability; many students suffer from test anxiety and do not do well on them.

Ramey noted that during the test, many of the students became disinterested and began to call the test “stupid”. The question is: Are the children right? Are these standardized tests “stupid”? Many people can agree that you cannot test a student’s intelligence by leaving them to answer hundreds of questions for long amounts of time. Some people will argue and say that they test the student’s ability to focus and commit to an assignment, but people have different techniques of learning… such as visual and verbally.

The main problem facing these standardized tests is that the scores received from them are often what helps colleges determine whether or not a student is accept in to their program. If a student is simply not a good test taker, this can ruin their chances of being accepted to a good college, therefore, possibly making it harder for them to get employed in the future. When people cannot get employed this raises the percentage of people living under the poverty line in our country. Because of this, many things will begin to change in our economy, such as health care, economic security, and economic stability.

In order to keep this from happening in our future, we only have one thing we really have to change… standardized test!