Monthly Archives: October 2012

Hello Group 4,

The last time we met in class Rebecca gave me the suggestion to investigate differences in population make up. That’s was a great point. I came across an article in the Scandanavian political  Studies Journal which compares the American Welfare system to countries coined as”social democratic” nations: Belgium, Denmark, Sweeden etc. Social Democracy usually results in the evolution of capitalist economy to semi- socialist economy.  These Social Democratic Countries  have historically, homegenous populations.  Until very recently there has been an  influx of immigrants,  Social Scientists have theorized that natives do not harbor negative public opinion toward immigrants benefiting from the welfare system because: 1. unlike the US, countries have refrained from politicizing issues with ethnicity 2.  US citizens have deeply engrained view of welfare recipients as “lazy opportunists” ( capitalism)

Hi everyone.

I decided to slightly modify my topic. Instead of comparing immigration policies in AZ and CA, I will be measuring the effects that the immigration policies have on citizens of these states. (My argument: Immigration policies in CA and AZ that were created to restrict undocumented immigrants also negatively affect citizens in that state.) I have found a good amount of evidence to support my argument but I’m having some trouble inputting this information into my argument outline assignment.

For example: I found a scholarly article that shows the link between CA’s immigration policies targeted towards undocumented immigrants and autism diagnosis rates among Hispanic children (and by Hispanic children I mean American-born Hispanic children). I found a scholarly article that illustrates how the immigration policies negatively affect the life experiences of 2 undocumented immigrants and of a long-time citizen and successful entrepreneur, who is of Mexican decent (of course for my paper, I’m interested more importantly in the life of the entrepreneur and how immigration policies negatively affect him). Also, I found another scholarly article that illustrates how Arizona’s Senate Bill 1070 not only affects the lives of undocumented immigrants, but the lives of the undocumented community as a whole (both citizen and non-citizen). The issue of racial profiling is most prevalent in this article.

I don’t know if this makes any sense, but I feel like I am finding the “evidence” section of the argument outline and not the “reason” part of the outline.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi All,

Last week, I was having a bit of trouble.  My topic of the Broken Windows theory and how it affects relations between the police and urban communities seemed to be leading to a dead end.  Other than a few authors, including the two developers of the theory, no scholars seem to support this theory.  It has been argued that it criminalizes the poor and innocent, and creates a lack of trust between communities and the police, and the evidence supporting it is circumstantial.  However, after speaking with my group and Professor Kafka, it was suggested that I focus on why large cities such and New York and LA still enforce and support a policy that few in the academic world are willing to support?

This seems like an interesting question, but one I am having difficulty answering.  Is it because urban communities tend to be minorities, and therefore the conceptual “other,” that makes these policies more probable, or is it simply a way to reassure the public and retain residences in large cities where crime has historically been higher?  Should I look for historical connections, and if so, what sort of history, and whose history, am I looking into?  I’m hoping to narrow down these questions asap; otherwise, my research will be all over the place.

Happy Hunting to All,

Celeste

Following the discussion with my focus group, I have engaged in further research and analysis with the goal of refining my topic area. I recognize that the conditions that may impact persistence and retention vary from one community college to the next as a result of underlying difference in structure, mission, faculty-student interaction, academic program and student population. I seek to focus on a specific area with the hope of gaining a greater understanding of the changing role of community colleges through time and practices that have yielded successful results with respect to transfer rates. I have selected to focus on the history of community colleges and its academic programs as a base for identifying conditions that work to increase persistence and retention within community colleges.

Furthermore, my group has also suggested that I refine my location but I feel that this may be difficult to do as the available data may be limited and I would like to develop a prescriptive report that can address the issues from a national standpoint rather than a localized position. Regardless, I have given these suggestions careful consideration and have found that CUNY colleges have implemented new initiatives, which include the College Discover Student Leadership Academy, a successful program that has bolstered transfer rates and has been converted into a full year program and the New Community College, the product of a concentrated effort on behalf of CUNY to bridge the education gap that resides and increase retention and transfer rates, where no-credit bearing remedial courses will be removed to be replaced with a curriculum that emphasis collaborative learning and advisement. I intend to study these programs further to evaluate to data that is available and if it would be possible to incorporate certain program from various regions that have worked further solidify the pathway to higher education.

Hello All,

I will begin by saying this week has been good to me. I haven’t felt things were as clear until this week. I had a meeting with Professor Kafka that was very helpful. It cleared up some confusion I had about what I should and shouldn’t include in my paper, length of paper, focus, sources that help, examples etc. I am focusing on the bullying from more of the bully’s side. (So why does he/she bully?)

After the discussion with Professor Kafka, I figured since I was already in school I should meet with a librarian, I tried hunting down Randy, however he was in a meeting so I met with another librarian. When I first sat down with her and expressed some difficulties I was having with finding sources, she began by telling me that it would be difficult finding sources on my topics. (Complete frustration at this point) However, she spoke to soon. We began looking into Soc-Index and other Social databases and came up with some great articles. From there I began looking at the references, which many of them were tailored to my topic thankfully! With that, things began to make sense as I began reading and putting articles together. I jotted down the recurring themes that I found among the paper. I also have a better idea of the definition that I will use. I went to my local library to collect some books, I came across a book about bullying that have about seven chapters dedicated to reasons why bullying occurs 7!!!!

I am still undecided on the exact argument I want to make, I’m hoping that I can discuss this in the group tomorrow and get some helpful feedback. The argument will most definitely be about why it is important for school counselors and other helping professionals to consider the various aspects of bullying. Meaning health professionals, educators etc. need to look at both the effects of bullying both for the bully and the bullied in order to better understand and eventually remedy this phenomenon.

Side Note: The book does a very good job in helping  think about an argument, I will most likely need to re-read  some parts to clear up some confusions.