Blog #20: Making Change

As I move onto the next phase in my life, I will certainly be applying the knowledge I have gained through this course into all aspects of university! It will motivate me to join many clubs involved with community work and service and inspired me to educate people on how important it is that we put a stop to certain issues going on in our world such as sexualization, ending the circle of poverty, water shortage, etc! I will continue to participate in groups like Me to We and Free the children and may even go on another service trip similar to the one I went on to Kenya, but next year!

Blog #19: Important Skill- Voicing My Opinion

This course has taught me so many skills that can be used in and outside the classroom this year through out all the topics we've covered. I feel that the most important skill this course has taught me is voicing my opinion. Learning about such sensitive topics such as poverty, water shortage, abortion, sexualization and so on, it becomes very apparent as a student as to what your true opinion on the topic is. In fact it started to become more and more natural realizing which side I was on for debates and why. In doing this, it then became easier to voice my opinion on the topic and to support it with my reasons as to why with the push of some confidence. Being able to voice your opinion is a very important life skill to have in my opinion, because it can benefit you in so many ways such as: standing up for yourself, helping others, helping global issues become known, educating others on an issue, etc. Another thing voicing my opinion could strongly help me in is the fact that I want to be a lawyer when I am older! I think that this skill would definitely benefit me drastically when being a lawyer because it is necessary that you are able to voice your opinion in court.

Blog #18: Motivation

This entire year of World Issues has taught me a lot and helped me grow as a person in many ways. This course can positively affect so many people in so many different ways, through all of the general themes it covers inspiring us as students to make a difference in this world. I feel that the main theme of this course would be motivation. Every topic we covered, whether it be a tragic shooting or the rate of poverty over these years, all motivate each one of us to make a difference and a positive change. For example, being a girl, learning about sexualization and the negative impact it has had on mainly girls around our world, but even guys really shocked me and made me want to make a change. Its shocking how society can change over the years so drastically, from respecting the population of women entirely to making them feel so degraded and disrespected through the media. This is one issue I found myself to be very passionate about, especially being a woman myself. Another issue I found myself very passionate about, motivating me to make a change, was poverty. I find it very unfair that being born into the wrong country around the world, or the wrong family can so easily alter someones well being and wealth for the rest of their life. I think it is also unfair that there are many wealthy countries such as Canada and the United States that waste money on such materialistic things to develop our technology even further than it has to be, when we could be using this money to help out third world countries that don't have the money to help themselves. All in all, every topic we learned about this year, motivated me to make a change in this world.

Blog #17: Gun Issue

If I lived in America today, I feel that the government should be strongly enforcing laws regarding gun ownership in a more harsher manner. For one, the rate of gun ownership in the US is much higher than most comparable countries. About 42.8% of households in the states own firearms and when there are more guns, more casualties usually follow close behind. The death rate by firearms in the states was 10.2 per 100 000 people in 2009, as it is slowly going up. This is an easy problem to solve or aid, as long as the government is enforcing the laws they are placing down. If the government was more harsh with how they enforce their laws and the consequences that follow disobeying them, there would be less homes with illegal possession of firearms, lowering the casualty rate from firearms. While the strength of a states gun laws is just one factor in contributing to gun violence, there is a clear link to gun violence and gang related violence also. The gang violence in the US is also a lot higher than most comparable countries, resulting in more people feeling the need to own firearms to protect themselves, especially after the Connecticut shooting. If the government helped their country feel more protected as a whole, by enforcing other laws that can contribute to this feeling of security, there would be less need for people to buy firearms.