Commentary On Legalization

 I really enjoyed reading this post about legalization of marijuana  in Texas. The author did an excellent job comparing and contrasting the state of Colorado with Texas. The author was effective at conveying the benefits of legalization of a drug that is still deemed extremely illegal in Texas. It is hard to argue against the potential benefits an increase of Tax revenue will have on the state of Texas if weed was legalized and heavily taxed. This is why I am hopeful for the future. As  Texas' culture changes and population grows making Hispanics the new majority in this state their is a strong argument that in the far future Texas can turn solid blue. Once Texas has gone through this color change then we will start seeing change such as legalization of marijuana and many other liberal policies. To insight change it takes more than a majority that has similar ideals it takes strong activism of this new majority to create real world change in law and in policy. This is why to really create change you must first convince the younger generation and the new majority that they have the power to vote and elect officials that will properly fight for what they believe in.                    

Original editorial or commentary #2. Blog #7

    This commentary pertains the very interesting idea that stems from affirmative action in the race-sensitive admissions policy in the University of Texas and colleges across the nation . The idea that you receive a position or are admitted solely due to your race has raised discriminatory questions for many. Among those is Austin lawyer Greg Gregenheimer claiming the law that states that four positions of the State Bar of Texas governing board be held by women and racial or ethnic minorities is in his view discriminatory to white men. 
      Claiming it is in violation of federal anti-discrimination laws. Gregenheimer is suing in part because he wants to apply for this position that by state law calls it to be filled by a female, African-American, Hispanic-American, Native American or Asian-American. The position is entitled minority director.
   This lawyer seems to share the idea of a new movement that proclaims that affirmative action has seemingly gone overboard to the point it begins to discriminate white men. This is although is absurd idea from many to those that are seeking this job or that admissions spot it begins to become more of a a reality to comprehend. The gauge of fairness is increasingly difficult to set in stone for all to follow. It will take many fights settled in the judicial system to answer the eternal question of what should and shouldn't be law. This is why the judicial system is so important in our modern society today. There will always be lawyers that are able to flex the law in one way or another citizens can only hope this flex is right and just. This this is why citizens have the power to elect judges to order add to the fight of what is right from wrong.                  

Comment on a colleague’s work

    I really enjoyed my colleague's work entitled "Plastic Shopping Bags Should be banned in Texas". Raj really was able to convince and persuade me that plastic bags should be banned in the state of Texas. He gave great environmental reasons and economic reasons for this ban and has swayed me from a position of who cares to a position of we should care. The only way I believe he could strengthen his argument is providing specific real world examples that support his broad statements.
    He was able to educate the reader on all the harmful aspects of plastic bags in our immediate environment. His statements are powerful and to the point evoking a tone of danger felt by the reader. His statements are also logical and he had a conclusion that summed up all his main points. All and all a great commentary piece that I enjoyed to read, great job Raj!    

Re-Regulate College Tuition

The topic of regulation of college tuition does not merely concern price of college, but one that concerns equal representation and fairness to predominantly minority students who posses the drive for higher education without the means for paying for it. The decade of “deregulated” tuition brought to you by a narrow legislative decision has given Texas’ top universities a new predominantly affluent student body. Tuition has doubled at schools like UT- Austin and Texas a&m. This leap in tuition will result in unequal representation of those that come from families that make up the median family income of this state. The idea that college is a “business” is shared by representative Geanie Morrison and it's this kind of thinking that has diminished the amount of opportunity given to any hard working college student. This is why the time is now for change. Students that make high grades and work hard enough in school should be rewarded and able to attend the university of their choosing without the factor of an overwhelming price of tuition to sway their decision. State senator Tommy Williams and many others has realized the grand mistake of his vote for deregulation of tuition, but action to undo this problem has still not yet taken place. I want to live in a country that gives opportunity to all not only to those that can afford it. Yet in the modern society we live in the gap between the extreme wealthy and poor continues to increase. My father has always told me knowledge is far more valuable than wealth and one could argue that someone must obtain certain level of knowledge to obtain wealth. The first step in this hypothetical process would be to have to opportunity to obtain higher levels of knowledge. Our governor Greg Abbott has stated his goal of elevating our colleges to a top tier nationwide level. I believe in order to do this to Texas lawmakers must pass the right laws to give more of an opportunity to all Texas students that are willing to capitalize on it. Steps are being taken in the correct place such as Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick calling deregulation of tuition a “failure”. “Economic prosperity and quality education for our children are inexorably linked”-Jon Huntsman,Jr.  

                           

TEXAS PUBLIC SCHOOLS ARE DE-EMPHASIZING ACADEMIC KNOWLEDGE IN FAVOR OF UNPROVEN FADS

In this opinion piece by Bill Ames from the Texas insider the author focuses on the message of Texas public schools changing their emphasis on core academics in certain school districts. The author uses the example of  Richardson ISD to convey his main point that it will have a negative impact to adopt this new wave TASA way of teaching core values to the children of Texas public schools. The shift of importance in certain subjects causes a decline of scores and overall intelligence results and readiness for further education and the workplace. He adds to his credibility by listing various examples and statistics that aid his belief this new wave of education will cause negative impact on kids standardized test scores. The author's intended audience is all those that seek to amend legislation and to stop this new wave of education before it consumes all public schools in the state of Texas. He includes in the end the exact legislative action he would like to see happen. His evidence to support his opinion seem credible, but he lacks to provide a digression of some of the positive aspects of this new program. To really persuade an audience all sides should be shown not just those that support your point of view. The author makes the pitfall of not including an ounce of positive aspects of this new wave of education and thus he is now unable in readers eyes to fully discredit his opposition. This makes the author lose credibility in my mind and also there is a loss of logical appeal to the reader. He logically provides examples that strengthen his point, but does not allow the reader to weigh both sides of the argument. His own academic background is not mentioned in the article that reduces his credibility. His persuasion is effective, but not calculated and frankly a bit too one sided.                               

Critique an editorial or commentary from a Texas newspaper

In this article entitled “IN TEXAS, TRADE IS NOT A DIRTY WORD” by: U.S. Senator John Cornyn the author talks about how “free trade” has taken heat in the recent presidential race he then proves this to be wrong by providing evidence of Texas’s usage of free trade as a substantial benefit to the state’s prosperity and its people. The credibility of the author is established by his U.S senator status. He then begins to throw around values and statistics to support his claim of how much of a positive impact free trade can have on everyone,but fails to provide proper citation to where he gets these values and statistics. This dilutes his credibility in the reader's eyes. He makes the claim that trade doesn't just benefit major companies and actually benefits small and family-owned businesses ,but he proceeds to never give any examples of small business positively affected by free trade. His statistics on trade evoke emotional importance , but lack of examples fall flat. He also fails to provide the counter argument or any kind of regression to help strengthen his argument. Without a counter it is hard to prove why free trade is more important than lack thereof. The senator shows Texas to be an example for the right kind of prosperous trade in hopes that the country will follow our example. The author then doesn't show the many differences the nation faces that Texas does not thus weakening his claim. Towards the end of the article the author explains how Texas is a gateway of trade due to its location in relations to Latin America. The author uses this to further exemplify Texas’s trade policies, but fails to show obvious differences that face the nation and other states that do not face Texas.          

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I am a huge college football fan so when I was going through articles in the Texas Observer I came across an article entitled "All the Wrong Moves" by: Andrea Grimes with the header being a picture of the Baylor Bear's stadium. I was immediately hooked due to my prior knowledge of a sexual harassment case that took place in Waco and resulted in Baylor's head coach to step down. The author of this article makes the point that it becoming increasingly more difficult to ignore the headlines of their favorite teams and players delving into illegal and harmful activities. The author then focuses on rape culture and environment in college and in the NFL. Saying that off the field unsportsmanlike conduct is more often than not brought to a Texas courtroom for trail due to the overwhelming alienation of the victim due to peoples love of the game. This begs the question: should Texas's Legislation pass laws to amend this growing problem to keep students attending some our best universities safe?           

















    https://www.texasobserver.org/unsportsmanlike-conduct-review/   

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