Current Connection 2.1

Being a professional singer has always been an interest for me as I come closer and closer to choosing my career.  In the article" Musicians and Singers" created by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, describes what to expect as you enter the music industry and if it's really work it.  It's very hard to be the best and you have to start somewhere to be anywhere at all.

The most obvious question anyone will ask first is how much does the average singer get paid.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics explains how the average salary an hour is "$22.39" an hour.  If singing is something you love, a bond that can't be broken, then money shouldn't be a problem, an issue.  On the other side, people like money and want to get paid.  $22 is not a whole lot for the average adult so if money's the factor in your decision, you should think about entering a different field.

Later in the article under the paragraph of Job Outlook, it explains how many singers can often be unemployed for long periods of time which leads to them also getting another job.  This is definitely a negative point in the article.  One job is hard enough to handle but having two jobs can sometimes get to people; the stress it creates is unreal.  Looking for a job, I would feel very unaccomplished.

Earlier in the same paragraph, it shares how some singers "may tour nationally or internationally".  This feature right here appeals to me most because I love to travel and entertain.  One of the best feelings I ever have occurs when I'm making someone else happy.  On top of that you get to go all over the country and in some cases, all over the world!  It's a one way ticket to paradise.

According to the paragraph 3 named "How to become a musician or singer", "people skills" is a big contributing factor to getting your name around town.  Being very good at talking, I feel very confident at socializing with new people and future work partners.  For some people it is very hard to be good at socializing which can lead to bad job auditions.  I would say that this feature is a positive for me.

To be the best professional singer you have to work hard and persevere when it gets tough and sometimes even that's not enough.  Desiring success, I am going to chase my dream and let god take the page to the next chapter of my life.  In my opinion, the positives outweigh the negatives.  A musician is the career for me.

Work Cited

United States Department of Labor, . N.p.. Web. 10 Nov 2013.

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Current Connection: 1.2

 Rebecca Adele Scarlett shares with us in "Are teachers now slacking off in class more than their students?", that teachers slacking off on their teaching efforts.  Some of them are too busy doing something else while others simply don't care.  I'd agree that teachers need to pick up the pace with teaching methods, and make sure each student has a clear understanding of the subject before they go out and have to do homework and tests.
     
According to the third paragraph of her article she states that now adays teachers "photocopy sheets of fill-in-the blanks or math problems to keep students busy while they catch up on something they're behind on".   Due to the laziness of some teachers, they may tend to procrastinate and get behind on further work that should have already been taken care of.  This can lead to students not getting educated appropriately and allows them to remain ignorant of what they needed to be taught.
   
Later in the article, she alerts teachers that they cant just "hand out some busy work" and believe that their job is done.  I agree partly with this because their are some students who are slower at picking up information than others; therefore, need more one on one help from the teacher.  On the other hand, some students retain information the first time they hear the words leave the teachers mouth and do not need much assistance.  Regardless it never hurts to go around and make sure everyone comprehends what is being taught to them.
     
In one of the last sentences of the article Scarlett talks about schools should get a new teacher "evaluating system" basically to weed the less productive ones out and reward the teachers who do their best to get their kid the best education possible.  Hearing this is music to my ears!  Evaluating systems might just save some kids from poor education and actually put in teachers they know will make the most of their time.  Another reason I favor this is for the fact that these systems could motivate some teachers who have potential to do much better in their efforts of teaching their subjects.
     
At BHS, a place where teachers are exceptionally good at educating, teachers strive to meet all criteria expected by the state.  For the most part, that's all anyone really asks for.  Which leads me to my last point.  Who said it was okay to do only whats expected of you?  I don't want to be able to look back on my high school and say "my high school, a place that required the bare minimum"...  Yes we are doing good but we can do better.  Lets erase good from the dictionary and turn it into great.
 
I hope this allows teachers and students to have the same understanding when it comes to education.  Teachers need to step up and rise to the needs of their kids and be prepared to answer any question they have no matter how long it takes.  Who knows, maybe one day the U.S. will surpass the educational system of China.  We have all the potential we need to be the top dogs in education.   If that doesn't motivate teachers I do not know what will.
     

Current Connection: 1.1

Chase Huskey

9/21/13 Current Connection

Mrs. Gilmore

3A

            It seems that more and more each year fewer students are prepared for college.  Whether it’s lack of effort or simply not educated properly, there appears to be a problem with how schools are teaching their students.  Personally, I would like to be ready for college and be able to overcome any obstacle to do so.

            In the article High School Students Not Prepared for College, Career , it discusses how poorly students results have been over the past couple of years on tests like the ACT and Benchmark.  It explains how nearly “one quarter of 2012 graduates fell short of college benchmarks that ACT sets for four subjects” (Sheehy, 2012).  One out of every four people basically failed the test!  We should have standards people… Our duty as teachers and students is to have every student college and career ready and if we can’t even achieve this goal then we have all failed.

            To dig even deeper, we can really narrow it down to two main subjects.  Sheehy informs the reader that the two main subjects that have the worst testing results are “science and math” (Sheehy, 2012).  The thing is, math and science are the two subjects that you really need to know when it comes to getting high income jobs that have to do with the medical field and engineering etc… Our schools need to start narrowing down at this point to what really matters the most when it comes to our future career jobs.

            All it really comes down to is EFFORT.  You get what you put in.  If we can get all students on the same track as all of the teachers then we will get something out of this.  It takes a group effort its not just up to one person.  It’s the connection you must have with your teacher in order to learn and it’s the barrier of being comfortable that we must break to achieve success.

Current Connection: Katy's Losing IT

     It is apparent that Katy Perry is reaching stardom and with that she has to entertain the world, but what is the appropriate way to do that to make everyone proud?  In the article Katy Perry's Dad Refers to her as a "devil child" in Sermons, Keith Hudson (Katie's Dad)  urges his church to "pray for Katie".  To me Katie is attracting the wrong crowd with her fame and is allowing herself to be influenced by worldly desires which hurts her relationship with her parents. Obviously she has been successful but as a preachers daughter she doesn't share the same interests as her father and it worries him about her spiritual faith.  Hudson exclaims, " how can I preach if I produced a girl who sang about kissing another girl?"  Although she had much success with this song, it is a very inappropriate message to Christians and of course to churches.  This was a very poorly thought out song considering her dad preaches every Sunday and it had to have hurt is reputation to the community of the church.

    Katie and her fathers relationship took an even more downward turn when her father attended one of her concerts that had more than 20,000 people attending.  He stated, "it almost looked like a church" and cried saying "their worshiping the wrong thing".  I will go ahead and say that neither of the two have an understanding towards each other.  Katie's dad has to understand that in order to be as good of an artist as she is, she will have to make some explicit content to please her fans but she also has to realize that her dad is a preacher and everything that she does that is viewed inappropriate such as her song "Kissed a Girl" backfires back on him.  Hudsons next mission is not to promote Katie for her works but to "heal her".  I agree that this is the way to go for the fact that she is not in the 'right' with her christian walk with God.  In order for Katie to regain the lost trust with her father she must almost rehabilitate herself and start a new chapter where her work still achieves success but also doesn't have a negative effect on her father and his work.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/04/katy-perry-dad_n_3214718.html?ir=Celebrity#slide=518300

Current Connection: Injuries and Athletes

On April, 6 2013 Kevin Ware had a potential career ending injury... During an interview on ABC News Ramogi Huma says, "When you watch Kevin Ware, after you're done cringing, you think, What's going to happen to this guy?" I too was thinking about this when Peyton Richards tore his ACL a year and a half ago at August football practice. I feared Richards career was over as a football player. "He's young and if indeed there is no underlying bone or metabolic issue … then this should [likely] heal fine," said Gotlin, who has not worked with Ware.
This injury could heal and he could be back on his grind. Richards eventually healed and continued playing football for Batesville.
Dranove states, "They should provide whatever level of insurance [students need] and extend coverage past school. Just like Ware, Peyton Richards was also covered by the schools insurance since it happened during school athletics. This saved both athletes precious money that they could use for future reference. Dr. Robert Gotlin, director of Orthopedics and Sports Rehabilitation Program at Beth Israel Hospial in New York, says that "Ware's injury is not as catastrophic as it appears." To Richards surprise ACL tears were common in athletic events and he would be able to recover. Both athletes have bright futures in sports and both Ware and Richards have and will fully recover.




http://abcnews.go.com/m/story?id=18889697&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fsearch%3Fhl%3Den%26site%3D%26source%3Dhp%26q%3Dkevin%2Bware%2Binjury%26oq%3Dkevin%2Bware%26gs_l%3Dmobile-gws-hp.1.1.0i3l3j0l2.210575.213442.0.215141.10.9.0.0.0.0.410.1106.0j1j1j1j1.4.0.les%253B..0.0...1ac.1.5.mobile-gws-hp.dtHzEE7S1DI

April Fools Day

      College football is a very hard program to play in, even harder to get a scholarhip.  In the article 'Alabama joins LSU in Offering Scholarhsip to Eighth Grader', 14 year old Dylan Moses confirms that "Alabama" had offered him a scholarship for football.  This makes no sense for the fact that you cannot judge how good someone is going to be when they are 18 compared to when they are 18.  He's to young to even know what a scholarship is.  The bow that was wrapped around his invitation card stated "your son could be the best player in the class of 2017".  This kid hasn't even played a lick of highschool football and they are calling him supposedly the best in his class.  The kid is too young to have this title and he does not deserve a scholarship at his age. 
    The text shares "he will not even make his high school football debut for six months" and already has a scholarship.  My say to Alabama would be to hold on to that scholarship so they can know for sure if he will even be college material in four years.  For all they know it could be a waste of money.  Moses's dad says that the coaching staff treated him like a "5 star recruit".  He does not deserve this title just for his natural ability.  It's just too early to even discuss the matter of giving this KID a scholarship.



http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/02/25/alabama-joins-lsu-in-offering-scholarship-to-eighth-grader/related/

Current Connection: Greedy Americans

The U.S deficit in our country is almost unbearable and many people ask why.  David Leonhardt explains in Why your to blame for the deficit and what to do about it that we as americans are no longer "willing to to accept higher taxes" on ourselves.  I agree with David, for we really don't want unessecary high taxes dropped on us.  Being in the state that most americans are, we are far from narrowing our deficit as we expect the government to come up with some way to do it themselves.  It's most definately not completely our faults as the United States also has "the worlds largest military" in which a lot of government spending contributes.  Roughly half of a million troops are active in the military, but who are we to complain when the money they recieve ultimately benifits the protection of our country.  So sure we can easily blame the government for there various spending habbits but honestly most of what they do is in our own favor as a whole.

In reality, the government  tries to help the deficit by providing programs such as Medicare for every person in our country as a way to keep people healthy while also using the tax money to bring down our countrys balance.  Leonhardt states that Americans actually "recieve far more in Medicare benefits then they have paid in Medicare taxes".  Most people want to do away with the Medicare bill without realizing that it actually benefits us, also contributing in a positive aspect to our deficit.  Our citizens do not understand that this is a system designed to help us and not just a money trap that we are forced to fall into.  We have no right to say that our "government programs" are wasteful to our country.  Being greedy and not making the decision to pay higher dollar taxes almost forces the government to put these programs into effect, while being courtious enough to let us recieve something somewhat desirable out of the program.  We must comprehend that the nation has to work together to lower our deficit and without citizens willing to give up a little to gain alot, our deficit will continue to plumit down.

http://news.yahoo.com/why-you%E2%80%99re-to-blame-for-the-deficit--and-what-to-do-about-it-203845406.html