Girls are mean!

From a young age I was told at every opportunity that girls are mean, and on many levels this is a very true statement.  Growing up I never went to a school for more that 2 years, this made making friends difficult at times.  Being the new kid I was often the target of very mean and hurtful rumors and comments.  At one school in the 6th grade, in the course of a day I went from being the new kid that everybody liked and wanted to help show around, to a slut of the worst kind.  

Bullying is not an easy thing to deal with but its even harder when you don't know what form it will come in.  Bullying is nothing new and we have been dealing with it as a culture since the beginning, the invention of the Internet has both helped and hurt the efforts to shut down bullying.  On one hand bullies also know how to use the Internet as well if not better than most parents, which is where the problem of cyber bullying comes in.  On the other hand there are now support pages and pages with types on how to sight and prevent bullying.

On one bullying support page says that "Recent bullying statistics admit that half of all bullying incidents go unreported." Which in my experience is true, I never told anybody that I was being picked on at all, I just learned to deal with it myself.  Not everyone has the same view of the world as me, and not everyone lives with the knowledge that in 2 years they will probably be going to a different school.  This leaves bully deception up to parents and teachers.  I believe that this is the only way to stop bullying.  Some kids are going to be to scared to come forward and a lot of times those are the kids hurt worse.  Bully prevention needs to be a community project, and the symptoms of bullying need to be watched for and action must happen when they are seen.  I think if bullies were more afraid of being caught and of the punishments than maybe it would help prevent it more.  Kids can't deal with bullying on their own and with their innate trust of the adults around them could benefit from being watched a little more closely.

Bullying changes children's lives

A second grader was in school one day and had to go to the bathroom. The teacher let him go and two other boys went after him; they were in fifth grade. The two boys held him by his shirt, pushed him up against the wall, and bullied him. If the second grader ever told, they would kill him. The second grader was my brother. “Bullying includes a wide variety of behaviors, but all involve a person or a group repeatedly trying to harm someone who is weaker or more vulnerable,” says firstfamilyaid.org. The major questions are: does getting bullied change a person and what should be done about bulling? “Bulling can have devastating long term effects on its victims,” says bullystoppers.com. Bullying helped my brother start drinking in sixth grade, chew tobacco in eighth grade, along with taking pills, and smoking pot. When I asked him about being bullying when he was younger, he said he had to grow up and be stronger and cooler than everyone else; he had to be the one picking on others. About 90 percent of people from fourth grade to eight grade report being bullied. This does not say about younger children because these go unreported many times. Schools are becoming more aware of bullying and trying to prevent children from getting bullied. Teachers are now telling students about bullying and making a social norm to stop this act. When adults become aware of what’s going on, rather than look the other way, they help the children. Schools are also starting groups where they pledge not to bully and when they see a child left out, they go play with that child. Although bullying will always be around, the awareness will change children’s lives and they can have a better childhood.

Bullies

“How the hell did you make the cheerleading squad? You’re ugly”. Those are words that I will never forget. That was just one of many emotional blows I received during my years at school. It hurt like hell. It warped my self-image. It is something that still lingers behind my confident smile.

Sadly, this is something many children experience every day by certain peers. In every school you have them, on every playground they lurk – bullies.

The word bully may bring an image of a physical attack or the stealing of lunch money - which those certainly fall into the category. But it is the day-to-day emotional abuse that makes this problem not only hard for adults to spot at times, but also create long-term damage.

According to the government website “Stop Bullying Now!”, the most common form of bullying comes in the form of mental abuse. From name-calling to rumor spreading to isolation of the target. This sort of mental attack can have an affect on a child’s academic achievement, physical health and emotional stability. They are found to have higher rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts.

So what can be done about it? Many schools have prevention programs for bullying. This is something that should be incorporated in all schools. In these programs teachers are trained to identify and respond to bullying situations, prevention is incorporated in classrooms, and one of the most important strategies is parental involvement.

My heart goes out to those who are tormented by their peers. I know what it does to you. Somehow, I made it out ok. But it has the ability to destroy. Bullying can’t continue to be swept under the rug. It must be known for what it is and all those involved need to be educated on how to prevent it. It may just save a life.

Schools need to be more involved in preventing bullying

Many children and teenagers wake up every morning and dread going to school. This anxiety is not because of a test or project they have to do, but because they are endlessly harassed and tormented by their peers.  Recently, bullying has gotten worse with all of the new technology available. Now, bullies are not just limited to hallways and schoolyards; they can also act viciously from the comfort of their home computer.   

Although schools make an effort to prevent bullying, it is still not enough. Many schools claim to have a "zero tolerance" policy on bullying and even have guest speakers come in to speak out against bullying. However, these programs do not always work. In my high school, there were many issues related to bullying, so the school had people come in to talk about bullying. The lecturers were people who either had been bullies or victims of bullying in the past. Their stories were inspirational; however, many of my peers sat there yawning and rolling their eyes. The students who appeared unhappy to be there and were outwardly disrespectful. Obviously, the programs are not having an impact on children and teenagers who are bullies.  

Many times, bullying incidents go unreported because the student is afraid his or her tormenters will seek retaliation. This is why schools need to put in place a system where students can anonymously report anything that happens. Also, harsher punishments need to be enacted to set an example so that students will be discouraged from bullying. Schools should also try to monitor the online activities of students. Even though it is often difficult for schools to punish students for that type of issue, schools should still look into it to make sure nothing happens in the school from that incident. If schools take these steps, it will decrease the chances of students feeling so helpless about bullying that they commit suicide.

Bullying in Schools

Bullying in school is a very delicate issue, as a set of rules are not enough to contain it. Solving the problem of bullying is far more complicated, considering that a true solution involves a profound education in children from the part of teachers and parents, rather than instructing them with policies and laws.

The National Youth Violence Prevention Center reports that over 5.7 million children in the United States are directly involved in bullying, either as victims or as bullies. These events can lead victims to extreme acts, such as suicide. Bullying is mainly experienced in grades 6 to 10, and it can have a lasting effect even as adults; according to the National Youth Prevention Center, 60% of children who were bullied in grades 6-9 had at least one criminal conviction by the age of 24.

Bullying occurs during the ages in which children develop their character, and I believe this is a factor to be taken advantage of; as children mature and begin relating with their peers, adults should shape them by teach them respect and social skills. Bullying should not be left to mere rules or norms, young children cannot learn the severe consequences of their actions through punishments; teachers and parents must be directly involved, developing a personal relationship with the child and informing them about the wrongness of these actions, and what damages they could cause.

Getting Out of Hand

Bullying. About 30 percent of today’s youth experience it at school. Young children are committing suicide because of this serious problem. It’s getting out of hand and it’s going to take a group effort to put a stop to it. Parents, teachers and the entire school system will have to work together to ease the problem.

According to safeyouth.org, children and teens whose parents provide little emotional support are at greater risk for engaging in bullying behavior. Studies have shown that children who were the targets of bullies at a young age are more likely to suffer from higher levels of depression and lower self-esteem than others as adults.

Research has also found that bullying is more likely to occur in schools where there isn’t much adult supervision during breaks and in situations where teachers and students don’t really acknowledge the fact that there’s bullying, according to safeyouth.org.

Teachers and parents need to get involved. When there is a school-wide commitment to end bullying, it can be reduced by up to 50%. Adults need to be doing more. Parents should talk to their children and teachers should be proactive. One approach that has proven to be effective is raising awareness about bullying, increasing teacher and parent involvement, forming rules, and providing support and protection for all students.

The only way any method can work is if everyone is involved. All faculty and staff of the school, as well as everyone in the homes of the children have to be involved to see results. Parents, teachers, and students will all have to communicate with each other in order to cut down on this problem. It won’t change overnight, but if everyone works together, the situation can be improved.

Not so innocent anymore.

Across the country hundreds of thousands of kids are playing in the playground during recess. Jaheem Herrera is not one of them. Jaheem hanged himself in his closet after coming home from what seemed like an average day at school. Just came home, showed his mother his report card with A's and B's and went upstairs. Later that night his mother called him down and received no answer. When she went to his room to investigate she saw her 11 year old son hanging in the closet. He was only 11 and it seemed like life has just began.
Jaheem isn't the only one to end his life early because of bullying. Teens and pre-teens across the country tragically end their life while dealing with depression caused by bullying. Between 1995 and 2004 more than 3,000 children between the ages of 10-14 committed suicide, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Children seem to get get meaner every year. Children get made of fun of for the simplest things, being overweight, not wearing brand name clothes, or looking different.
And it doesn't stop here. Kids across the nation are being cyberbullyied. They no longer have to deal with just insults at school, but insults on the internet. The internet age is a beautiful things and it keeps us connected. But not for Megan Meler. After multiple insults from who she thought was a boy she committed suicide. The person that posed to be this boy was a mother of one of Megan's peers. She was only 13 and had great things going for her. Where does it stop?
I had my share of being insulted and through the years I learned to ignore them over time. But not everyone deals with their troubles that easily. Kids get pushed around, insulted, and put down in front of others. After looking through many cases of teen suicide most kids have been physically abused and most have been labeled as being 'gay'.
Although the schools try to prevent these actions, most either fail or just try to ignore the problem. What we need is heroes. People in those classrooms that will stop this from happening. I, along with almost every other student that has been in high school, can safely say that we have seen someone being bullied, insulted, and being prayed on for being different. But almost never has anyone stepped in and said stop. We just stood along and maybe laughed or just pretend it isn't happening.
We need the average day hero. We need our peers to step up and end this. It would be impossible to eliminate all the bullying in every school but through proper education maybe one day we can all feel somewhat safer that our kids or siblings are not living in fear from day to day.

The Bullying Problem

Being as small of a child as I was, I was a prime target for bullies. At that time there were no classes or seminars to help prevent bullying, I just learned to cope with it. I found out early on that if I pay no attention to what people say about me, it's really hard to get mad at a joke that is made about me. By laughing at what bullies said and keeping a level head, I found that bullying was just a waste of time. Yet there are kids in the world that are not able to handle bullying as so. Many times kids don't mention the entire facts to there parents about the bullying, so the parents can't help to their full capability. This is when kids begin to believe that maybe no one can help them with their situation and turn a minor bullying problem into a spell of depression which has caused suicide. In many seminars today lectures often just tell parents to take your child seriously or gather facts. Which may often leave stories with a hole due to the tentativeness of the child. Also in those same seminars the lectures just tell kids to stay in groups or laugh the problem out, as if telling a 13 year old child that is going to stick in his mind day through day. I don't think specialist are trying hard enough to regulate these situations troubling our youth today. Possible if there was more punishment at the begging threats of bullying. By taking away the problem away at an early stage, their is less chance for the problem to spread. But until that day I think the best way to get through these situations is to have an open, honest relationship with our child. If a child can tell the full problem to a parent, there should be no reason why a parent can't tell the whole truth to school officials or where ever the bulling is taking place, and take care of the problem before someone losses a life.

Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will scar me for life.

Every morning just before leaving for school, I would always take a long glance in the mirror at myself. I would stare for a few seconds, long enough to ask myself, "what's so bad about me?" Mom would drop me off at school and I would sit anxiously in class waiting for recess, not because I wanted to play, but because I didn't want to face my fears. When I was in elementary school, I was an outcast because my parents were divorced. I had two separate families. To my peers, I wasn't good enough to be "liked by both parents at the same time" or so they would say. Sounds crazy, right? When I was younger, bullying seemed horrible at the time, but now, it has become that much worse.
Today, more than 5.7 million of America's youth are estimated to be involved with bullying. Whether it is being a bully, being a target of a bully, or both, 30% of teens experience what I experienced everyday. Children that come from families with little to no emotional support tend to lash out at other children resulting in bullying. Research done by the Youth Violence Prevention Center shows that the number one reason for bullying is that kids just "don't fit in." This meaning anything from a child's clothing, to their physical features, to even family situations like I dealt with. Bullying has appeared in schools in several different forms such as physical contact, verbal threats, and spreading gossip. Studies show that most bullying takes place during recess or at times when adult supervision is not around. In that case, we need to keep a closer watch on children not just at school, but at playgrounds, parks, and even on the internet. Like me, children are scarred by their peers far too often. Incidents that happen in their childhood and teen years will remain a part of them for the rest of their lives.

Assignment due Wednesday, April 29

Bullying among children is not new, but it has been in the news recently. An 11-year-old boy in Atlanta committed suicide, apparently after being teased by schoolmates over a long period of time. What do you think can be done to prevent tragedies like this one from occuring? You can use personal experiences if you want to. You must do research on the problem, and what experts think can be done about it.

Learn Young

Remember when you were little and in third grade you would sing “My Body’s Nobody’s Body but Mine”, and when you reached fifth grade you learned about the body? This is sex education and is taught in public schools around the United States. Elementary school is the most curtail time to teach a child about sex education. The song needs to be learned because children don’t know why their bodies are telling them to do certain things sexually. With the song they remember the song it helps them remember they are only supposed to touch their own body. Fifth grade is when girls and boys are separated in Gwinnett County Public Schools and taught about their body. My friends and I would laugh being immature, but we really didn’t know what we were going to discuss. A poll by NPR says only 7 percent of American’s disagree with sex education being taught in schools. The rest of Americans agree sex education is taught in the correct grades accordingly. Without elementary school’s teaching sex education, when children went to middle school, they would be clueless.

Let's Talk About Sex Ed.

The goal of sex education is to educate teenagers on how to avoid pregnancy and STDs. However, the fact that teen pregnancy rates have significantly increased in 26 states, according to a January study by the Center for Disease Control. The CDC also reports that one in four teens contracts an STD each year. Obviously, the sex ed. programs currently in place are not working.  

The problem is that many schools teach abstinence-only sex ed. classes. This type of program simply tells teens not to have sex, and does not take into consideration that many of them have been sexually active for years by the time they take the class. This is why it is important to teach methods of preventing pregnancy and STDs, and at an early age. If middle schoolers are having sex, then they need to be given a sex ed. class that teaches them how to be responsible about it. A sex ed. program would not be promoting kids to have sex, as some might say. Teenagers will do continue to have sex, even if there is a class telling them not to. But by instructing them on being safe and responsible, the teen STD and pregnancy rates will drop dramatically.

Not so Casual Results

Sex – it’s every where you look these days. It’s on the cover of magazines, it laces movies, and it often radiates throughout teen conversation. In schools today, depending on what state you live in, children are taught either comprehensive sex education or the abstinence-only approach. Comprehensive sex education, which consists of body image, masturbation, STDs, etc., begins as early as kindergarten with age appropriate material and progresses each year. Abstinence doesn’t cover all of the physical aspects, it simply instructs you not to do it.

While both approaches are good to cover, I believe that that educators are missing a crucial point - children need to be aware the emotional and psychological consequences.

Sex is so often misused, and more often than not, someone ends up devastated when left standing alone after an intimate encounter. STDs do not seem real until it happens. Pregnancy seems like a distant nightmare, until it happens. But the heartache and emotional scars left after casual sex are immediate, real and can last a lifetime. Doctors Joe McIlhaney and Freda McKissic, authors of Hooked: New Science on How Casual Sex is Affecting our Children, show that casual sex can actually alter the development of the brain in adolescents often impairing the ability to maintain lasting relationships later in life.

Awareness of the physical consequences of sex should be taught, as well as the fool-proof approach of abstinence, if practiced. But the emotional consequences should be heavily focused on; after all, it is emotion that often drives teens to sex. Teens may not think twice about abstaining from sex if they don’t get a STD or pregnant the first few times. However, if they are scarred emotionally, perhaps they will look back on the lessons taught in sex education and realize that, for once, the adults had a very good point.

Who is really teaching our kids?

I have moved all over the country and have never attended a school for more than two years.  Now this does not make me an expert on America's sexual education classes, but it does mean that i have experienced my fair share of them.  The classes that I attended ran the board from if we don't really talk about it you wont figure it out, to telling us absolutely everything, especially the parts we didn't want to hear about.  And the one sad thing I found to be true in my experience, the school that avoided the subject the most, was the school with the most pregnancies.  This doesn't mean that the whole school went out to have sex and get pregnant, just most of them. 

In and article for MSNBC by Molly Masland, the problem becomes a little more clear   "Sixty-six percent of American high school students have had sex by their senior year...According to the Centers for Disease Control and the Kaiser Family Foundation, approximately 65 percent of all sexually transmitted infections contracted by Americans this year will occur in people under 24. One in four new HIV infections occurs in people younger than 22."  So where is the disconnect?  

The schools tell us not to have sex, our parents tell us not to have sex, the media tells us to have sex, our friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, strangers on the street, all tell us to have sex.  And I have to admit, I learned more about sex from the people telling me to have it than any where else.  So if I'm getting the most information from those telling me its a good thing, whats to stop me? 

 I had one course at Lassiter High were I actually learned more about sex, I was already a senior in high school and didn't think that there was anything left for me to learn on this subject, I was proven wrong.  The school hired someone form out side to come in and teach the course, and the first words out of her mouth shocked us all, " sex is the best experience you will ever have in you life, if you do it right."  We couldn't believe the person who had come to tell us not to have sex was for it, before I had just kind of assumed the people teaching me sex ed had lived like nuns or something, this lady however, clearly hadn't.  She talked about everything and by the end of the class even the people who were already having sex were reconsidering, it was the best sex ed class I have ever taken, yet many times during the class I found myself wishing that this knowledge had been given to me sooner, because you see the knowledge didn't lead me to wanting to be a freewheeling whore, it lead me to confidence.  Confidence in an area and about a subject that I hadn't been confident before.  

We have to watch out for who is giving information to our kids.  When all they are hearing is the good wonderful side of sex then what is truly out there to stop them?  And if they don't know how to have safe sex, than what prevents them from catching a decease, or getting pregnant.  It has been said so many time it has become cliche, but still it is true, knowledge is power, and in this era, kids need all the power they can get to avoid the temptations surrounding them.

Teen Awareness

Teen pregnancy has been a major controversy in the United States for some time and according to resent studies, the United States has the highest rate of teen pregnancy in the western industrialized world. Now I know there is sex education in schools, I've taken the course, but are they doing enough to get the point across. Some thirty-four percent of women get pregnant before the age of twenty, or basically during or right after high school. Is it the lack of commitment by the teacher or is it this new badass attitude found in high schools. Maybe what the educator should do is scare the fear of not only teen pregnancy but STDs by visual aid's. Not the pictures which have only managed often times to make young adults laugh but real life people living with these real life situations. After asking a fellow student what he thought about the situation he stated that information alone is not enough, they need to develop their habits by seeing, touching and experiencing. There is also the possibility that no matter what age and how often an educator pounds the facts of STDs and teen pregnancy in young adults skulls, they are still going to behave like they want with disregard to consequence. Should we have sex eduction in schools, why of course, then at least that way the kid knows what he or she is getting themselves into and they can't blame anyone but themselves. Take the responsibility of your own actions.     

      

When is the right time?

The teenage pregnancy, abortion, and birth rates have been slowly declining since 1991 according to advocatesforyouth.org. But still every year there are around 750,000 to 850,000 teenage women experience pregnancy, and 74-95% of those are unintentional. Although these numbers went down in the last couple of decades the number of teenage pregnancies is outstanding.
Sex Ed. has been a debate between schools over the years. In my high school we were taught Health in the 9th grade. It was partially Sex Ed. and partially facts on the human body. Although this was a required course you didn't actually had to take it your 9th grade year. When it came to the athletes they went and worked out while getting an A credit for the course. Some students got this partial information 9th grade, some eventually, and some not at all.
Most of us learn most of these facts from friends, family, and media. But some facts are not widely know. The record low for teen pregnancies was 43 out every 1000 women in 2002. That is almost 1 out of every 20 teens in the United States. The decreases in these numbers are not the product of the Sex Ed. classes but because of better contraceptives. So the reason teens are having less pregnancies are because of better ways to prevent it not because schools are teaching kids not have sex. Although nothing is going to stop people from having sex a proper education might prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. A study by the CDC reported the an astonishing 1 in 4 teen girls has an STD.
So how early should we start Sex Ed.? There is not really an exact answer for that but it definitely should be sooner than high school. As I went through middle school kissing a girl was a big deal. When I graduated high school I learned that you get to become popular in middle school by sleeping with older guys. A girl in 6th grade at a local elementary school had a child. In 6th grade I was thinking about the new PlayStation games and what was for lunch and not how I am going to take care of a child.

Teen Pregnancy Rates Are High, Awareness is Low

American teenagers have more pregnancies, births and abortions than teens in other industrialized countries. Approximately 4 million teens contract a sexually transmitted disease each year. About 820,000 girls become pregnant before they turn 20, 80 percent of which are unmarried, according to Grace Chen in her article “Teen Sex.” Teens are having sex. There is no doubt about that, so does it help that the government will not fund a sex education program teaching safe sex? 75 percent of parents say they would like for their children to be taught both abstinence and safe sex, though one third of U.S. high schools are teaching abstinence only sex education, while some others avoid the subject altogether. If sex education began in middle school and involved the topic of safe sex, the rate of teen pregnancies and STDs might be lower.

Like I said before, teens are having sex. Nothing can be done to stop it. According to the Center for Disease Control, 46.7 percent of U.S. high school students say they’ve had sex at least once during high school. Many middle school students are also admitting to engaging in oral sex.

Teaching safe sex would not be encouraging students to have sex, but rather to be safe if they do choose to so. Perhaps the rate of teen pregnancies and STDs would not be so high if teens knew how to use a condom, or better yet, what a condom is. In middle school the only sex education I got was watching disgusting slides of STDs and hearing that if I have sex I’ll get pregnant. Everyone in the school got the same classes, yet girls were still getting pregnant in middle school. The scare tactic did NOT work. Teaching safe sex will not solve the problem of teen pregnancy and STDs, but I do think it will lessen it. If teens are aware of the risks of having sex, as well as how to be safe, they are more likely to be smart about it.

Sex-Ed in Schools

Sex education is simple, yet complex. Knowing what sex is and how it can effect you is the simple part. The "birds and the bees" conversation covered just about everything I needed to know at the age of ten. The hard part seems to be the unsaid; the fact that not enough teenagers realize the emotional and psychological effects that come with having sex. So when should we begin to teach sex-ed? When we teach it, what exactly should be taught? I was taught the basic anatomy of males and females in the seventh grade. Then, I was taught basic health in ninth grade. After that, it was left up to the television, radio, and my peers to teach me the rest. I still find myself a bit naive and uneducated sometimes because I was not taught earlier on in my life. According to NPR, the Kasier Family Foundation, only seven percent of Americans think that sex education should be taught in schools. Fifteen percent think that only abstinence should be taught and that information on safe sex should be prohibited. Parents are discouraged by sex education because most believe that it provokes the thoughts of sexual intercourse. Forty-six percent say that abstinence should be taught, but safe sex should be taught as well. Though some teenagers do not abstain, they should know their safest options. The same poll asked the parents of seventh through twelfth graders what concerned them the most about their children partaking in sex. Thirty-six percent of the parents said that they fear that their children are having sex before they are psychologically and emotionally ready. It seems as if most parents want their children to know what they need to know before they step out into the great unknown. In all actuality, with what is on the television and by what their peers already know, children and teens are going to find out whether their parents approve or not. In other words, the best way to teach sex-ed would be to teach all aspects of sex including abstinence, safe sex, STDs, pregnancy, and the emotional and psychological attachment.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1622610

Assignment Due Wednesday, April 15

This blog's topic is sex-ed in public school. Do you think it should be taught? If so, at what grade level? And what content do you think should be included in the curriculum? This subject has been studied extensively. Make sure you do your research.

Internet is Great

Have you ever seen someone pulling out their phone to get on the internet? We have the best technology invented where news is with us all the time. Internet was first used in the Department of Defense for the military to find advanced research. Internet lines were sold in 1995 which was the generation of a new era. Internet was funded by the government; therefore, only education and government information could be accessed. Now with internet, anything can be accessed by typing in words. Our society and new generation is teleological; we’re a new thought. The internet is very useful in writing or researches or anything needed. It has given us a way to connect faster to information and in no way is bad. Why does it matter we are technologically dependent? I shouldn’t; the information is there for us. News faster is a good way for people in the world to know what’s going on with the rest of the world. All we can do is keep inventing new and better technology.

Technology: good or bad?

Its hard to believe with all the help that we get from technology that it could be bad for us.  Technology helps hundreds of people everyday.  It can help deaf people hear and lame people walk, it also place the world at the finger tips of out students; giving them the ability to learn about any thing they want and form their own options of the world with out just relying on their parents.  Technology is every where we now live in a world were it is hard to avoid it.   In an article for the New York Times about the dark side of technology Barnaby J. Feder states: "the catch is that any technology powerful enough to improve life radically is also capable of abuse and prone to serious, unanticipated side effects.  We have plenty of examples of this in our everyday society, take nuclear energy for example; was discovered in 1896 and in 1945 was used to cause mass destruction in Japan, and is now used to create energy for everyday use.  In their book, technoStress: Coping with technology @ Work @ Home @ Play, Michelle M. Weil, Ph.D. and Larry D. Rosen, Ph.D. assert that we count on out machines to do so much that when something goes wrong with our technology we are thrown into a tailspin.  This point was proven on Piedmont campus this past weekend when the internet went down and people couldn't figure out how to do their homework.  The internet is a wonderful tool that helps us connect to any thing in a heart beat until it goes down.  We have forgotten the value of books and how to use them.  We are so used to everything being at our finger tips that we don't want to have to work to find information any more.  While many of the new developments in technology excite me, stem cell research, gene analysis, the implications and possibilities for evil scare me and leave me wondering what kind of world my children will be living in.