Article Response 2: Our Education System is Great!

             Finland’s school system is one that is given WAY too much hype. The schools in the U.S. are Excellent! It gives the students choices about who they want teaching them, and it allows students and parents to reject teachers that are in adept or exceedingly biased. I believe in choice. I also believe that if you have the money, or the desire to send your child to a prestigious school, then you should be free to do so. After all this is the United States of America, the land of the FREE, which was founded on freedom!

             I am extremely thankful that in the US we have the freedom to choose do as we please. If I did not have the freedom of school choice, then I would be going to Glendale High School. So you can thank our founding fathers for the foresight and knowledge to give the citizens freedom. I believe that preventing private schools and colleges is an infringement upon the freedoms granted in the constitution, and that preventing private schools from operating is illegal and should not be practiced, or even considered in the United States.

Article Response 1: Google Doesn't Make People Stupid

                I disagree with the article; I don’t believe that Google is making humans stupid. I think that if anything, that Google makes people smarter— if used properly. When used to its fullest potential, Google can help you learn multiple things very quickly! Also, contrary to what the article says, it is possible to read long articles even if you use the internet frequently. I do it all the time, whether it is a long internet article, long chapters in a book, or long news articles.

            I do agree with the article on this one thing, I do tend to find myself skimming articles more than I used to. As a general rule I will first skim an article just to see if it has what I’m looking for, and to identify the areas that I need to pay great attention to. Then, I will read the entire article from start to finish and extract all the good and useful information from it. This is one of the reasons why I love reading nonfiction, and why as a general rule, I would rather read the Encyclopedia over a fictional book. I love to learn things! As a general rule, Google is a great tool for a person like me to use and become even smarter.

My Research Topic

The topic that I am researching is the Fracking Controversy. Fracking, or Hydraulic Fracturing, is a relatively new method of extracting crude oil and natural gas from saturated shale deposits deep underground. It involves drilling a deep hole in the ground, and then drilling horizontally. Then a water based solution is injected into the hole which fractures the rock. The gas or crude oil is now free to flow forth from the rock. This is an extremely cost effective method of extracting oil and effectively drops the price of production.

Opponents of Hydraulic Fracturing consider it dangerous to the environment and ground water. They also raise concerns about the various chemicals used in the hydraulic solution.

Proponents for Hydraulic Fracturing say that it is really good for the economy, that it creates jobs, reduces the price of oil, and is completely safe for the environment when handled with care.

This is an example of how the holes are drilled:

This is an example that shows the shale fractures in detail: