Commentary on Testing Reform Needed

I am writing this blog post in response to the Musings of a Sassy Texas Skeptic's blog post entitled, "Testing Reform Needed." Her main point that she focused on is that the Texas' Legislature needs to make changes when it comes to standardize testing.
I completely agree with her argument, too much of our teachers' and students' time is taken up by preparing for this test. Instead of focusing on preparing these children for the future, they are instead trying to see if they can answer irrelevant questions that do not hold any value for real life. Students in Texas are obviously not getting the education needed because they score in the lowest quarter for SAT scores in the country.  This statistic shows that the standardize tests are not doing what they are supposed to do. A student may score well on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (Texas' standardized test), but then turn around and get a very low score on the SAT. Going forward the Legislature should do away with the TAKS test and allow the teachers more time to educate their students on relevant matters. These matters may included getting the students ready for the SAT and ACT which are very important in regards to college acceptance. Also preparing the students for real life, such as tax paying, loans and credit.
As you can see, I am completely on the same page as the Sassy Texas Skeptic when it comes to reform of standardize testing. There needs to be change, and fast.

Save Texas Schools

Texas does not do enough, to fund the public education system of our state.

Some might view that statement as a little harsh, but in my personal opinion it is the truth. According to savetexasschools.org Texas ranked 45th overall in terms off the funding they provide for public education, and this was before the Legislature cut an additional 5.4 billion dollars of funding. This lack of money given to the school systems in Texas puts our students far behind those of other states. Our state ranks 47th out of 50 when it comes to combined SAT scores. Our legislature needs to take action soon, to get public education back on the right track. With this lack of funding, the school districts are not equipped with what they need to provide every student with the education they deserve and need. Talking from personal experience, our school district was so overcrowded that in every class I took in high school, there were at least 30 students. This may not seem like a lot, but when there are students that need extra attention they cannot receive it, or they take away time of other students trying to learn.
New York ranks highest in terms of money spent per pupil in the public education system. With this statistic it is no surprise that NY also ranks among the top states in terms of SAT scores.
The students in the education system are the future of our state and our country. In order to have the best possible future, the Legislature needs to increase funding for schools.

Commentary on The Lone Star's post

I am writing this post, in response to The Lone Star's post entitled, "Bring an end to Deportations". I completely agree that there is a problem with deportation and immigration in America, specifically in Texas. USA Today wrote an article last summer about 250 Mexican immigrants (mostly children) crossing the border in Mission, TX. The amount of people rushing to the Texas is at times almost overwhelming; we as a state do not have the capacity to take care of these people, specifically children. When we tried to house these children in a facility until the government could find homes for them, the conditions were horrible and many children died. We have to then ask ourselves, are the conditions here really that much better than those in Mexico? Yes, they have an extremely low minimum wage and low housing quality. But, when a lot of these immigrants come to the United States they spend most of their time trying to escape from the government. With being an illegal immigrant, they cannot find proper work and therefore in the end might not make that much more money than they would in Mexico.

While I agree with The Lone Star, that their is a problem with deportation of people trying to come to America to make their lives better. I do not know if keeping everyone here is the best choice possible.  As a country we need to come together and discuss this problem, to find the best action possible for everyone.

Texting and driving...it can wait

   We have all seen the commercials about texting and driving, with the slogan "It can wait". These commercials show the true danger of using your phone while driving. The second you take your eyes off the road to check FaceBook or send a text could be the second that your life could end. No text is worth your life or the lives of others. As we get older, we need to realize that new drivers look to us as an example, and if we are on our phone they think they can as well. But for every 5 seconds your eyes are off the road, that is the equivalent of driving the length of a football field without looking.
   To protect drivers across our great state, the Texas Legislature needs to pass a statewide law that outlaws the use of cell phones while driving or cycling. Along with outlawing this, law enforcement needs to makes sure that they fully enforce this law. If drivers are not scared about getting punished for still using their cell phones, they will continue to use them and risk people's safety. According to Business Insider, 23% of car accidents involve the use of cell phones that is a total of 1.3 million car accidents! That is 1.3 million accidents that could have been totally prevented if using your cell phone while was illegal. If a driver has an emergency and needs to use his/ her phone they can easily pull off the road and use their device, no text is worth someone's life.

Republicans say the darnedest things!

In Harold Cook's hilarious editorial entitled "Republicans say the darnedest things!", he took a swing at the Republicans and what nominees they try to keep around for the longest. Being the democrat that Cook is, we know that some of this article could be overly exaggerated to add the comedic aspect for his democratic readers. While also shedding on light on the fact that he believes Republicans often put blinders on when focusing on the candidates and only seeing the things that they agree with.  Donald Trump's campaign is a prime example of this with his views on immigration, while having completely contradictory views than most republicans on other topics. Trump's firm stance on immigration during his announcement speech drove up his numbers in the polls. While Cook then points out that Trump has spoken out about other issues, and has been labeled as "pro-choice, pro-universal health care, and pro-assault weapons ban." This is what the author was trying to point out in his editorial, and it is exactly what is taking place. Most of the republicans will just see one thing they agree with on a campaign and then completely ignore the other parts that are completely different from their views. He also claims that we like to keep candidates around for comedic factor, so that we can actually enjoy the political debates. Previous Republican candidates have also brought this comedy, such as Rick Perry and Michelle Bachman with the outrageous things they say that bring them to the top of the Republican pile. Until Republicans finally take the blinders off and these candidates, plunge down from grace.

Mother and daughter holding truancy court sheet. The student
must get it signed daily by her teachers, to ensure her attendance.

On June 22, 2015 Tony Gonzalez an established and credible editorialist for the Dallas Morning News, wrote an article entitled "No more criminal prosecution of school truants in Texas". In this article, Gonzalez discussed Gregg Abbotts new bill that got rid of charging school truants with a class C misdemeanor. In this article aimed at students and their families, he claims that getting rid of that previous bill is exactly what needed to be done. With charging these students with a
riminal misdemeanor, it costs an enormous amount of time and money for not only that student, but their parents as well. This bill could have also caused enormous self esteem problems, as when students were charged with truancy they were escorted off the school grounds in handcuffs for all of their classmates to see.  He provided a statistic that at least 1,283 students have spent time in jail during the previous law's existence. And while their children are battling these cases, the parents have to take time off of work, and miss wages that are so desperately needed to support their family.
I completely agree with Gonzalez's claim, I believe that children should spend as much time as possible in the classroom learning, and not in jail getting punished. We do need to crack down on school attendance, but in a way that ends up helping the students rather than punishing them. If we prosecute these children, they are just going to resent their education even more than they already do. Our education system should be a place where everyone feels safe and where students want to actively engage in what is taking place.

Texas politicians react to Iran nuclear deal

      On July 14th, KVUE posted an article entitled "Texas politicians react to Iran nuclear deal", in this article numerous different political leaders from both parties spoke their mind on the deal that the United States government just made with Iran. As expected U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R), was furious with this decision he believes that President Obama is negating with terrorists  and putting the safety of our country into jeopardy. Congressman Rodger Williams (R) was extremely upset as well, claiming, "Never in my life would I have pictured the United States sitting at a negotiating table with a country that our own State Department labels a state sponsor of terrorism".  Although the Republicans all voiced their opinions in a negative way, Congressman Lloyd Doggett (D), considered the negotiations a success, even going further as to claim that we are "already safer".

 This article should be a must read for everyone. It not only fills you in on what is going on around the world, it also shows you great examples of the different ideologies of the Republicans and Democrats.