Refuse It or Embrace It

I think that we should not totally refuse technology but not totally embrace it. We should find a solution in the middle of both using technology to help us, while not being dependent on technology and paralyzing our brains.

In many ways technology has increased our lives. It has helped us stay connected to many different people, sometimes all at one time! We are able to contact anyone we need whether they are at home, on the road, at school, or at work by just picking up a cell phone and calling. When we are in need of another person's help in a car accident, we can simply pick up our cell phone and call for help. Back then if you were to get into a car accident, you would most likely have no way of communication to anyone unless you borrow someone else's phone, or stop by a gas station. How would that be convenient if you were in a car accident with no form of communication device near you? I feel that in that sort of sense technology has helped us. Another way technology has helped the world grow is by making us feel like we are never alone. While walking outside to your car at night you can call someone on the phone to comfort you so in a sense you feel safe. It gives us a feeling of not being alone and that anyone who is around would not bother because the person you are speaking to on the phone can simply call for help while being on the phone with you. This is what I do when I leave the mall or school and it is pitch black outside, it gives us a sense of security or that we are never alone and we can call for help and it will be on its way any minute.

There are also many ways that technology has made us dependent because we are not forced to use our brains. For instance, 10 years ago you would have to either carry a phone book around with you or simply memorize your friend’s numbers; now you can just open your cell phone and their numbers are stored in there. You are not forced to do any thinking to memorize anything because the cell phone does all the thinking and memorization that you would have to do if you didn't have one. This somewhat paralyzes our brain or makes us dependent on technology than to use our brains to its full potential. Another thing that technology has done to us is to hurt our communication skills with one another. We could be really talkative on the internet or through text messages but when it comes down to being face to face, the conversation is stale. Like you do not know how to communicate face to face anymore, instead you are use to typing to a computer or a cell phone.

All in all there are ways that technology increased the world but in other ways technology has paralyzed us. I believe that both refusing it and embracing it would weigh out the same so if we could simply find a way to not be dependent so much on technology then everything would be fine.

National/International/Social Issues (essay 3 topics)

1.) vietnam selling their young girls to lao people as sex slaves
2.) drug selling
3.) prices of metro buses rising due to gas price rising
4.) teenage pregnancy in the united states
5.) justice system being corrupt and needing to be reformed
6.) plastic surgery - wanting to all look like a "perfect" human being
7.) abortion
8.) the age of driving, cause of accidents due to young unsafe drivers
9.) welfare in the united states
10.) immigration in united states

Practical Proposal Draft (revised)

On the fourth week of school, I came to the UH at 1 p.m., the parking lots were all full so I was forced to camp out for a parking spot for about an hour. During that time, not only did two students steal the parking spot that was rightfully mine, but I almost got into an accident over something stupid like a parking spot. By the time I found a parking spot, not only did I have to walk far to get to class, but I was already late, which made me decide to skip and go to the library to study. My mind was so frustrated at that time that even when I got to the library, I couldn't even study because my mind was still on the parking situation.

Due to the overselling of parking permits, students are not always guaranteed a parking spot. Fidel Ramirez, assistant director for Parking and Transportation Services, said 25,590 parking permits were sold this year, but only 12,702 total parking spots are available to students on the immediate campus, including both garage and satellite parking. More than 35,000 students attend the University of Houston and if there are only 12,702 parking spots available on the immediate campus, this would mean that more than 3/4ths of the students are forced to park off campus and be forced to wait for a shuttle bus.

For over many years, students have been struggling with the parking issue at the University of Houston. With the inconvenience of limited parking spaces, students are forced to find different solutions to obtain a parking spot. Many students are forced to leave their homes early in order to try and prevent the consequences of coming “late” for parking. Parking should not be a problem because students have to pay a ridiculous amount of money for parking permits, which doesn’t guarantee them a parking spot when arriving at school. The issue with parking makes students do unnecessary actions; these actions vary from parking in the parking meter, faculty and staff parking lot, or wasting time by camping out for an available parking slot. The University of Houston should improve parking because students have inadequate parking on campus.

There are many different parking lots at UH which are all reserved for certain people with certain permits. These numerous amounts of parking lots are spread out throughout the entire campus; many of which are out of the way for students to park and walk to their designated location. The sign at the entrance states who can park at that certain parking lot, but if you somehow manage to enter that parking lot through a different route, other than the main entrance, the student would not know that they are in a parking lot that they are not suppose to be in. This would become a problem for the student because he/she did not know that she will receive a citation for not being in the correct parking lot that he/she was assigned to. The parking lot signs are unclear and do not tell the driver of the vehicle who that parking lot is reserved for, which is an inconvenience for the students at UH.

The parking lots usually get filled between eight to nine o’clock a.m. A student arriving to school after that time will be forced to drive around different ‘student’ parking lots in hopes of finding a parking spot without wasting a lot of time. The average time that it takes a student to park could vary from ten minutes to an hour, depending on if they get lucky to catch someone leaving school while they are waiting. Sometimes students are forced to fight with another car for a certain parking spot because people will become aggressive to make sure that they get a parking slot.

Practical Proposal Draft

For over many years, students have been struggling with the issue about parking. Many students are forced to leave their homes early in order to try and prevent the consequences of coming “late” for parking. Parking should not be a problem because students have to pay a ridiculous amount of money for parking permits, which doesn’t guarantee them a parking spot when arriving at school. The issue with parking makes students do unnecessary things in order to get a parking spot at school. The University of Houston should improve parking because students have inadequate parking.

Due to the overselling of parking permits, students are not always guaranteed a parking spot.

The parking lots usually get filled at eight to nine o’clock a.m. A student arriving to school after that time will be forced to drive around in hopes of finding a parking spot without wasting a lot of time. The average time that it takes a student to park could vary from ten minutes to an hour, depending on if they get lucky to catch someone leaving school while they are waiting. Sometimes students are forced to fight with another car for a certain parking spot because people will become aggressive to make sure that they get a parking slot.
Other students would either give up on finding a parking spot because of the time that they wasted on camping out in the parking lot, or become desperate to park in places they aren’t suppose to park. Whether it is parking in the staff parking, or the metered parking, students are forced to do these actions in times of desperate needs in order to get to class on time. A numerous amount of parking citations are given daily and this upsets students because it is not their fault that they have paid for a parking permit that does not guarantee them parking.

Practical Proposal Argument

The topic I have chosen for my practical proposal paper is the parking at UH. This particular topic interests me because it is something that has bothered me from the very first day of school. This usually decides whether I am going to have a good or bad day. Usually, I am forced to leave my house at 7 a.m. to guarantee myself a parking spot, even when I don't have classes until 10 a.m. or 2 p.m. depending on the day. Sometimes, I have errands to run, which doesn't let me leave my house at 7 a.m. but later, and when I get to school students in the parking lot are camping out for parking spots. Not only is the wait for a parking spot seem hopeless and a waste of time, but the wait is never just 10 minutes, it can escalate to 30 minutes or even much an hour. Not only do I pay a high price for a parking permit, I have to come early in order to get a parking spot? That is ridiculous. The school just seems like they are ripping me off because they are going to oversell on parking permits, making more money off the students that attend UH. I believe that if I have to pay for a parking permit, I should be guaranteed a spot. If they want to keep it as a first come first park basis, then I think that the administratives should not sell parking permits to us.

The problem is a problem because students at UH have to pay for a parking permit, and are forced to waste time and drive around like ants trying to find a parking spot. This can escalade to many problems like accidents because 2 students want the same parking spot and are tired of waiting around so they try to fight for one particular spot. Not only is parking suppose to be a small issue, but it is ridiculous how students have to change what they do to conform to the parking. Administratives need to compromise with students and make this issue disappear. Students should not have their mind on something so small as parking; as they should be more focused on the plenty of school work. The problem affects the many students that come to school after 8 a.m. or 9 a.m. trying to find a parking spot to get to class on time. If this problem is not fixed, students will be forced to either park illegally, get parking citations, spend more money on parking (in addition to the parking permit they already paid for), wasting time, focusing on something that shouldn't be on their mind, and possibly skipping class due to not being able to obtain a parking spot before class starts. For example, one time I came to school at 1 p.m. and I had to camp out for a parking spot for an hour. Not only did two people steal the parking spot that was rightfully mine, but I almost got into an accident over something stupid like a parking spot. By the time I found a parking spot, not only did I have to walk far to get to class, but I was already late, which made me decide to skip and go to the library to study. My mind was so fustrated at that time that even when I got to the library, I couldn't even study because my mind was still on the parking situation. The administrative at UH that specifically deals with the financial and parking decisions has the power to fix this problem. The problem hasn't been solved to this point because administratives are trying to propose things such as carpooling or using the school buses. This is not only inconvinient for students, but is not something that one individual can change what they do to make this happen. Administratives are too lazy to do a thing about caring for their students needs. This problem can be solved if the administrative builds parking garages, stops overselling parking permits or keep the parking lots as a first come first serve basis, without making students pay for a parking permit when they are not guaranteed a parking spot when arriving on campus. The benefits of the administrative changing parking would be that students would be more likely to attend classes on time and be able to pay attention. The students would be less stressed about little issues like parking and be able to have their full attention in school, which will allow them to make good grades in their classes. The costs of my proposal would be a bit pricey, but I believe that the administrative could work something out because in the end, the administrative needs to make the students happy because they are the ones that are giving the school money to do things. Us students will bear the costs but I think that students wouldn't mind the little extra costs because they would then be guaranteed a parking spot without having to pay extra money. The money could also come from parking permits because the administrative oversells the parking permits anyways and they have to be making a huge amount of profit off of the ridiculous prices they charge. This proposal should be enacted because this has been an issue for a long time and if they change this situation then more students would want to attend UH because it is more friendly towards parking wise. My proposal is better than the alternate proposals that the administratives suggested because this would not only solve the problem but would make everyone happier. The proposals that the administrative made are one sided, lazy and do no work, because the adminstrative is forcing students to conform their lifestyles to do things instead of the administrative putting out money to something they know that they should do.

Ideas on practical proposal

[http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/energy/6677654.html] Is an article that was interesting to me because of the many ways that gas prices always seem to be skyrocketing instead of decreasing. At times in a "recession" we need to be saving money and in order to that, we would have to have reasonable gas prices or we'd be stuck in debt because we would be spending more money on gas than we would be making. [http://www.houstonpress.com/2006-03-30/news/run-over-by-metro/] Is another article that caught my attention because I was not aware of the accidents that are caused by the Metro Buses. It opened my eyes to things that I didn't seem to hear about or have any knowledge about. The last two articles that caught my attention most were [http://www.thedailycougar.com/parking-situation-should-improve-1.1945136, http://www.thedailycougar.com/uh-deals-with-parking-1.1995223] because it has to deal with UH parking which is the most irritable issue that I deal with on a day to day basis.

Out of these stories my favorite is the ones dealing with UH parking because it is something that has been bugging me ever since the first day of school and I think that things need to be changed to make it better. It hasn't just been an issue that is recent, it is a issue that has been around for many years, but no change has ever been made to make parking better. I want to inform the people who are in charge of making decisions with parking and attempt to make a change. My research question would be: how could we improve parking at UH? Some things I could suggest to make parking better at UH is to limit the amount of parking permits that are being sold, make more parking lots or garages, and figuring out a way that students who pay for a parking permit are guaranteed a spot instead of having to camp out in the parking lots waiting like a hawk for someone to leave campus. I could interview students that go to the school that deal with the same parking issues that I deal with. They most definitely can help back me up on why we need to improve the parking at UH. I can look for information on The Daily Cougar, UH's main website and look for parking enforcement (or something along the lines of that). This can give me information that hopefully will help me support my thesis and ideas. Hopefully I can find a policy of some sort to try to understand if there is a reason that UH is limited to their parking or why they do what they do.

The other local issues that I was considering for my paper would be about cellular devices and how they have become addicting. Addicting to the point that we get distracted by them and it causes us to lose focus; whether in school or driving. It is dangerous to be on the cellular device while driving because it takes away attention that is needed for the road; this causes more accidents on the road. Driving is already dangerous without having to add other distractions and the thought of texting while driving is more prone to accidents. Cell phone usage has shot up the rates of accidents on the roads, and possibly a death if we don’t learn to take safety precautions. Also, in school students are distracted by the use of cell phones because they are paying attention more to texting than the actual class lecture that they are required to listen and learn. This is a somewhat big issue because there are so many issues that are dealing with cell phones as time goes by, and we need to learn when the appropriate time to use cell phones.

Casual Argument

The topic I have chosen for my first major essay deals with people who are on welfare. "If you are on welfare, then you can rely/depend on the government funding to survive." What I would be researching is the different types of ways that people tend to use welfare to their benefits. Government funding on welfare is suppose to help lower class americans by giving them some kind of money to start off from, not to depend on for the rest of their lives. By like taking advantage of the government fundings and finding ways to cheat the government for money instead of trying to find a job. What I have in mind so far for the paper is to find some articles or read up on some things that have to deal with welfare and people taking advantage of it. Maybe even get into financial aide, and research on how some students use the money that financial aide give them to spend on other things besides school; things that would be wanted but not needed. Also, I would write about how the government may need to take these things into consideration and possibly think about reforming the welfare program in order to make sure that those who need money get enough, but not to abuse the government funding them. The taxes that are taken out of people's paycheck has some portion to going to these lower class americans who sit on their butt all day and take it easy because all they have to do is figure out ways to cheat the government to get more money.

This topic is interesting to me because I feel like sometimes the lower class americans get an advantage in life. In society today, there are upper, middle and lower class americans. The upper class have tons of money, in which they may have or may not have worked for; some may be lucky and just be born rich from their previous family generations. Middle class americans are people who have to work for their money, they do not have tons of money to spend, but they have some money to spend on things that are wanted but may not necessarily be needed. Lower class americans are those who can't afford many of the things that they need in order to survive on a day to day basis. I have seen many lower class americans who have cheated and taken advantage of the government funding. Instead of finding jobs or a way to make money, they figure out ways to cheat the government in order for the government to give them more fundings because they make it seem like they need more money to survive.