Posts by astropoli
Health Problems and Solution
When making health decisions as an adult, we often call upon the knowledge and skills we were taught as teens. The skills we are taught in our youth are essential for ensuring we make thoughtful decisions as we grow up. New York City law states that all teens must take a health class before graduating high school. However, due to budget cuts and staff shortages, some teens are left without a comprehensive health education. Studies show that substance abuse, untreated mental illness, and teen pregnancy all lead to low performance, high school dropouts, and other overall lower qualities of life. The need for education is clearly there – 1 in 3 teenagers are having sex (40% without the use of a condom), 1 in 4 teenagers use marijuana, 1 in 6 teenagers have seriously considered suicide, and 1 in 5 teenagers binge drink. Without a health education, teenagers are put at risk for making uninformed health choices.
Food deserts, a term I had only heard of recently, is defined as an area without access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food. Instead, the residents in these neighborhoods rely on fast food and convenience stores, which offer few healthy options. As a result, these communities are at a higher risk for obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and other diet related illnesses. In American, it is estimated that about 23.5 million people live in food deserts! More than half of that number is people residing in low-income neighborhoods.
Another issue, not only in NYC, but across the US, is doctor shortages. This issue confused me at first – how do we have doctor shortages when it is so hard to get into medical school? The problem is that many med school students do not go into primary care. Currently about half of our nations 830 thousand physicians are over the age of 50. These doctors, now older and on the brink of retirement, are seeing fewer patients, yet, the patient population is growing. We have a larger elderly population then ever before and under the Affordable Care Act, people who were once not insured, are now insured. There are about 30 million people being absorbed into the system with a shortage of 16,000 doctors.
As mentioned, health education is a serious concern for many teens in NYC (especially those in low income neighborhoods). Educating our youth can prevent them from making a series of dangerous decisions regarding their health. About a year ago I joined a club called Peer Health Exchange (PHE), whose mission to give all teens a proper health education. PHE recruits volunteers (like myself) to go into various high schools around NYC that are lacking comprehensive health curriculums. Each week, college students teach ninth graders one of twelve workshops. These workshops are designed to teach the students both knowledge and skills. The skills part, in my opinion, is the most important. We tell students that everyone’s definition of “healthy” is different and because of that they need to develop the proper decision-making, communication, and advocacy skills to decide for themselves what the best choices are regarding their health. In a perfect world, Peer Health Exchange wouldn’t have to exist (and it is my hope that one day it won’t). But for now, we need organizations like PHE to pick up the slack and ensure all teens are exposed to health education.
Sources:
http://www.peerhealthexchange.org/
http://apps.ams.usda.gov/fooddeserts/fooddeserts.aspx
http://www.aarp.org/health/medicare-insurance/info-03-2013/how-to-beat-doctor-shortage.html
http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/02/opinion/gupta-health-challenges-2015/
Gender lens- Solutions
While we have come a long way regarding women’s rights, there are still great strides that need to be made in order for gender equality to exist in the workforce. To recap my previous post, I mentioned three central problems surrounding the question of “gender and economic growth.” The first, and in my opinion the most primitive, is the gender pay gap. Women continue to make seventy-seven cents for every dollar a man earns. This issue makes little sense to me- how can America, one of the most advanced nations in the world, not provide equal pay for equal work? As I dug deeper into the issue I began to lose hope. How can we erase a problem deeply rooted in centuries old stereotypes? Conservatives in congress still believe it is the innate differences between men and women that cause us to make the life choices that we do, women still work less hours than men, and men still dominate the corporate ladder. It is going to be difficult to change these norms overnight. I believe we need to first give women all the tools they need to advance in the workforce. Sweden provides an excellent paradigm of how this can be accomplished. In Sweden, parents are provided with an extensive paid parental leave. This leave is shared between both the mother and the father, which is different from the US where often it is only the mother who is afforded maternity leave (and sometimes it is without pay). By providing both the mother and the father with paid childcare leave, the responsibility of parenting and working is divided evenly between spouses. As Sheryl Sandberg says it stereotypes will be abolished once “half our homes are run by men and half our institutions are run by women.”
The second issue I spoke of in my last blog post was with regards to the glass ceiling. Women are not advancing into leadership positions at the rate they should. Given the majority of bachelors and masters degrees are awarded to women, we should see that same statistic reflected in the job market. With my group from class, we discussed a new innovative solution that we think could be implemented here at City College. Growing up, I was always fortunate to go to the greatest schools and be surrounded by some truly inspiring female role models. This is not the case, however, for most women. We wish to start a mentoring program that would give young girls the motivation and support needed to advance to leadership positions. The program would start in high school. Women of success would visit girls and speak to them about their journey as well as provide them with opportunities to start their own success. We hope that once old enough, the same women who were once mentored will come back and mentor the next generation of young girls. The theory is that once young girls see women can be successful in leadership positions, they too will aspire to that same level of success. Just as men have created a great network, we hope to develop a strong female support chain.
References:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/04/22/can-the-gender-gap-be-solved.html
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100565268
Questions for Kim Wales
1. As a female CEO, how do you feel your experience is different from other male CEOS (if there is even a difference)?
2. How do you balance both being a CEO and other life responsibilities. Do you often have to make difficult choices when choosing to spend your time at home or work?
Questions for Arielle Kandel
1. What was your experience as an immigrant women? How do you feel NWNY would have impacted you as you started out in America?
2. How do you publicize NWNY. Do people come to you? or do you go out and look for those who need the help?
Gender Lens Problems
As a student who will be entering the workforce within the next few years, I am horrified to hear the discrimination that plagues the workforce, particularly that which hinders the success of women. Growing up, the adults in my life always reminded me of my great talents. They told me I could do or be whatever I dreamed of. It wasn’t until I got older that I learned some of my dreams, while still achievable, would take extra effort to obtain because of my gender.
We live in a society where fifty percent of the population is considered second-class citizens. Equality for women is long overdue, but before we tackle the more complicated issues, we need to address the most elementary problem in the workforce to date: the gender pay gap. It could not get any simpler. Women deserve equal pay for their equal work. Today, women make seventy-seven cents for every dollar a man earns. The United States, in comparison to other nations, has one of the lowest wage gaps. While this is something to be celebrated, we cannot forget that the US wage gap has not shrunk since the mid-1990s. Additionally, the wage gap affects women in every state, every occupation, every race, and every age. Across the board, all women are being underpaid for work that is equal to that of their male coworkers. It is hard to believe that something like this could continue to persist in a nation as advanced as the United States. Interestingly, President Obama, who spoke of the gender pay gap in his state of the union address, recently signed an executive order that requires contractors to report salaries based on gender. This is a great step to closing the pay gap.
Another interesting issue regarding gender and economic growth is the lack of women in the United States who hold office. The statistics speak for themselves: we currently have five female governors, twelve (out of 100) female mayors, and less than twenty-five percent female state legislators. Not only are women not fairly represented in government, but also, as a consequence, neither are their ideas and influences. Research has shown that representation of women in congress affects the types of policies that pass. Correlations have been shown between higher female presence in office and the passing of more progressive policies in areas such as environment, health, labor, and incarceration. Additionally, nations with women in higher government positions have shown to turn out better economic growth. At the rate we are progressing, it will take the United States a projected 500 years to obtain equal representation in office. However, I don’t think our economy or nation can afford to wait that long.
The glass ceiling is a phenomenon, astutely described by Ann Morison, as being “so subtle that it is transparent, yet so strong that it prevents women from moving up the corporate hierarchy.” Across the country, women are not crossing a certain threshold of upward mobility. This so called “glass ceiling” is thought to be responsible for the few women who hold top managerial positions. Women earn almost 60 percent of this countries undergraduate and masters degrees, yet they lag substantially behind men in their representation in leadership positions. 4.6 percent of CEOs at fortune 500 companies are women, 14.6 percent are executive officers, and 8.1 percent are top earners. These numbers are extremely low. Especially when taken into account that 52 percent of the workforce is comprised of women.
References:
http://www.summer.harvard.edu/blog-news-events/gender-inequality-women-workplace
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/government-workforce-is-closing-the-gender-pay-gap-but-reforms-still-needed-report-says/2014/04/13/59281484-c1b2-11e3-b574-f8748871856a_story.html
http://www.thenation.com/article/178736/why-does-us-still-have-so-few-women-office#
http://www.feminist.org/research/business/ewb_glass.html
Work Solutions
In my last blog post I talked about issues arising in hiring new employees to the workforce due to inadequate skills taught in higher education. I discussed how the workforce evolves much quicker than our universities are equipped to keep up with. This does a huge disservice to the youth entering the new work environment. Since starting my research on how to solve this problem, I have realized there is no way to predict what the future workplace will look like. It is pretty much impossible to create classes, in our already stagnant universities, for jobs that do not exist yet. My answer to this problem, as a result, does not look to give students the exact skills they need in the future workplace (because, as mentioned, we don’t know what those are yet!), but to teach them the right way to handle new environments so they can learn how to adapt.
It is my suggestion that we start by teaching students how to be more resourceful. In class we have been learning a lot about entrepreneurship. I’ve noticed that there are many programs and resources out there, but the student needs to be the proactive one, and once they are, they are capable of creating their own jobs. By teaching students to be solution-driven rather than skills driven, I think we will see a dramatic change in how employees approach problems in the work force. There is no single set of skills that needs to be taught. By cultivating resourceful students, these future employees will realize that there is not just one way to solve a problem.
The second problem I addressed in my last blog post was the layout of the modern day office. As an attempt to get rid of the rows of lonely cubicles that existed in the past, the new office tried to incorporate forced collaboration into their new design. However, this design is often distracting and counter productive. A Forbes magazine article discusses the importance of both designs: the empty cubicle that allows for privacy and the open-office space that encourages collaboration. Most workers would rather stay where they are (a noisy environment crowded with other workers) rather than move to another floor in search of an empty conference room. The best way to accomplish both things is to provide a place for collaboration and a place for privacy in close proximity so no time is wasted when trying to transition from one to the other. Vitra, an international furniture store, has begun to supply just this to various office spaces around the world. The furniture they provide is designed to minimize the acoustical issues that arise in a tight office space. In this way, offices can save room by having everyone grouped together on a single floor, but the noise issues that would have normally arose from the old model are mitigated.
Sources:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jennifer-kushell/how-to-prepare-young-peop_b_4593076.html
http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2013/05/17/why-the-open-office-fails-and-a-solution/2/
Problems with the Workplace
Growing up I thought all that needed to be learned in life was taught in school. However, recent data suggests that as work continues to evolve, the range of skills needed for the workforce are not necessarily incorporated into our education systems. A 2013 survey conducted by EIU/SHRM found that there is a gap between what is learned in higher education and that, which is needed in a work setting. This issue makes it hard for employers to evaluate perspective employee’s qualifications. What further complicates this issue is the lack of standardization across the various education systems, especially in a global setting. According to Manpower Growth 2012 Talent Shortage survey, 49% of employers reported struggle to fill jobs. There are jobs that need to be filled, however there are not the right applicants to fill them. Part of the issue, according to Forbes magazine, may be that our static education systems are not designed for the fast changing nature of work. Curriculums are not changed at the same rate the workforce is. Interestingly, many of the jobs that exist today did not exist a few decades ago, which raises the point – how are we supposed to ready ourselves for a workforce that we can’t predict?
As the nature of work begins to change, so has the layout of the office. Individual office spaces are beginning to disappear. Companies are now toying with a new approach- shared space. According to the International Management Facility Association, seventy percent of American employees work in an open-space office. These open offices, in theory, provide easy access to other employees in the hopes of stirring up collaboration; however, some argue that this layout makes it hard to concentrate. The idea behind the open office space is reasonable. The hope is that by grouping employees together in a big space, people will collaborate and therefore be more effective. In actuality, this plan does not take into account different work ethics. Collaboration is certainly important for success, but so is focus and privacy. Workers need space to do both of these things. Since the open space model does not account for privacy there is often too much noise and distraction, which hinders employees from working effectively.
The United States has one of the worst maternity leave policies in the world. Our country, along with only five others, does not require employees to provide paid maternity leave. Maternity leave is not our only issue. Studies show that workplace policies for families in general (i.e. paid sick days) are lacking compared to other countries. As discussed in class, freelance work is becoming more and more prominent. I fear the job security of a pregnant women in need of maternity leave will eventually be at risk if we do not implement a policy to protect them.
Sources:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/groupthink/2013/08/02/can-we-fix-the-skills-gap/
http://futurehrtrends.eiu.com/challenges-human-resource-management/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2013/05/17/why-the-open-office-fails-and-a-solution/2/
http://www.inc.com/news/articles/200702/family.html
Questions for Debera Johnson
1. Since starting the Pratt Design Incubator, how has it grown? has it shaped into something you expected?
2. Compared to other social innovation hubs (like the Centre for Social Innovation in Chelsea) what makes BF+DA different?
Site Visit Preparation
1. How does CSI use its space to facilitate social innovation?
2. Are their certain criteria CSI looks for in its members?
Policing Solutions
In my “Policing Problems” post, I began by discussing the wedge that distrust between citizens and law enforcement has created in our nation. As I went on to discuss my other two issues (stop-and-frisk and police quotas) I realized that mistrust was inherent in each of these topics. The overarching issue (in my opinion) plaguing policing is mistrust. Of course, solving the tension between citizens and law enforcement will not come over night, but I believe that we need to start with policies that mend this issue.
In the community, police usually interact with only two types of people: criminals and victims. This is the wrong approach. Rather than just appearing during a negative situation, law enforcement should also be immersed in the community through positive outreach. Currently we see a huge divide between authority (police officers) and everyone else (the citizens being policed). We need to close this gap by involving police in community events–ones where they are not only around to enforce the law. A precinct in Orlando recently sponsored GED classes, counseling for emotionally scarred kids, and a community housing project where police helped plant shrubbery in the neighborhood. During these events, police became familiar with the people in the area and crime rates dropped dramatically (thirty-two percent!). Changes in Orlando are not an anomaly, a Philadelphia precinct also experienced decreases in homicides, shootings, aggressive assaults, and narcotic sales as a result of community outreach. New York City, a state whose law enforcement has acquired a negative reputation, could greatly benefit from a program such as those in Orlando and Philadelphia, by showing the community that the police are not the enemy.
On the other side of the spectrum a popular approach called “focused deterrence” has been shown to also build community trust in the police. Unlike stop-and-frisk, where police are criticized for their efforts to “score easy arrests,” focused deterrence targets a communities worst culprits. This policy, like stop-and-frisk, seeks to lower violent crimes in low-income areas, however, the goal of focused deterrence is not to amass large amounts of misdemeanors or subject citizens to racial profiling. Rather, focused deterrence is based on the theory that small cohorts of individuals are responsible (in a trickling down type of effect) for most of the violent crime in minority districts. Where stop-and-frisk pit the authorities against the citizens, creating a neighborhood of suspects, focused deterrence would seek to work with the community to reach a common goal: decreased violence. The thought is that this partnership would put the community at rest. They would no longer be subjected to petty charges and their neighborhood would ultimately become safer in the process. Focused deterrence is not a new idea. It has long been studied by criminologists and has been shown to decrease crime.
Sources:
http://www.thecrimereport.org/news/inside-criminal-justice/2013-11-examining-alternatives-to-stop-and-frisk
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/20/opinion/better-ways-to-police-than-stop-and-frisk.html?_r=0
http://web.mit.edu/gtmarx/www/alt.html
Comments by astropoli
"Max, I agree with all the problems you discussed in your blog post. Lead paint, food deserts, and unhealthy public school lunches all pose a threat to New Yorker’s health, especially those residing in low-income neighborhoods. The scale is tipped unevenly, in terms of health, allowing the wealthy to have more access to recourses that promote healthy living. Being healthy requires not only dedication to that type of lifestyle, but also the funds to keep it going.
Your solution for improving public school lunches is not much of a solution. Yes, the policy needs to change, but in the meantime, how can we ensure students have a healthier lunch? Changing policy could take a lot of time. We must think of a more innovative solution that can get around the law. Perhaps supplying public schools with lunch trays that have healthy facts on them would be a good idea. In that way, students will have access to information and can choose to make healthier decisions."
--( posted on May 5, 2015, commenting on the post
Public Health Problems and Solutions )
"Shawn, I agree that our health care system should focus more on preventative care and less on healing problems that arise over the course of ones lifetime. The issue, however, is that people need to do a lot of work on their own to maintain a healthy lifestyle. This is not something we can change with the system, since people need to take it upon themselves to make healthy choices. I feel that makes this more of a cultural problem. The media has been helping with this. Lately, I have seen an abundance of advertisements, which portray health as the “cool” and “hip” new thing. Health is in right now, especially in NYC. The problem is that it is very expensive to keep up with this trend. Lower income neighborhoods, especially those in food deserts, do not have the same recourses as other areas of NYC. That’s when we start to see obesity and other illnesses. I think your solution of making public school lunches healthier is a good one. We need to create a standard for all schools in our city so all the youth in NYC creates good eating habits at a young age."
--( posted on May 5, 2015, commenting on the post
Public Health Problems and Solution )
"wage gap is a huge issue, but I don’t think we can fix it by handicapping men. It is not their fault women make 77 cents for every dollar. I think your plan would be a cool idea for a single day – making it option for men to take home 78% of their salary for one particular day a year in protest of the gender wage gap. That would be a nice way to get men involved in the cause and make it clear that this is not just a woman’s issue.
I found your second solution interesting. Certainly supplying third world countries with fresh water would free women from such tasks and allow for them to specialize in some other type of activity. I like how you brought this issue to NYC and showed how we can get involved.
My final comment is regarding your solution for paid maternity leave. I definitely agree that women should be guaranteed maternity leave. I would like to add to your solution the availability of paid maternity leave for men. If both men and women are given maternity leave, we break the barriers of gender roles and create a new approach to how we raise children in America. It isn’t always the man who needs to make the money and the woman who needs to care for the family."
--( posted on Apr 26, 2015, commenting on the post
Gender and Economic Growth Solutions )
"Max, I agree with your view that we cannot evoke change in the workforce until we realign century’s worth of social norms. I like your suggestion for how we should go about changing these stereotypes. As mentioned, we cannot impose views onto individual households. Starting with the public school system is a very reasonable suggestion, although I feel that does not reach enough of the population. I think the best way to reach the largest and most varied group of people would be through social media. The media is a much wider net to cast and will reach beyond the small population of solely children who are enrolled in the public school system.
I also liked your point about maternity leave. I wrote about a very similar solution in my own blog post. I would like to add that many women feel guilty leaving their children behind to work long hours in the office. It is biologically engrained in women to feel attached and responsible for their children. Currently, many women have no choice but to leave their jobs to take care of their new borns. Many jobs do not provide the means necessary for women to sustain a family and continue to work. Elongating maternity leave, for both women and men, would provide a great incentive for women to remain in the workforce."
--( posted on Apr 26, 2015, commenting on the post
Gender Lens on Economic Growth: Solutions )
"I believe that any women can hold just as high of a position (if not higher) as any man. But we cannot forget that women’s have the biological responsibility of becoming mothers, which makes holding these positions a much bigger sacrifice. While I do think it is shameful that only 1.3% of CEOs are women, I wonder if it a women’s guilt for leaving for leaving her children for long hours at the office which stops her from climbing the ladder of success. Is it that women are not attaining these jobs or is it that they are not taking them?
I really liked your point about women not being involved in enough government jobs. As women make up an equal portion of the population as men, it is vital that their needs and opinions be voiced as well. I agree with your argument that political parties do not back female candidates in the same way they back male candidates. We have become to accustomed to the social norm of men holding the power. The only way we can change this is to encourage more women to get involved in government positions."
--( posted on Apr 14, 2015, commenting on the post
Gender and Economic Growth Problems )
"Denise, I really loved the video you posted. It was very powerful. It is often hard for men to understand the oppression and abuse women receive on a daily basis. Seeing it from the vantage point of their gender is a great way to drive home the message. I also liked what you said about women attributing their success to outside forces. This may be discouraging them from grabbing the opportunities that come their way. Perhaps a good way to combat that is to create a place where women can talk to other successful women about their successes. I think often the problem is that women do not stand up for one another. Pressures from other mothers, mothers who stay at home and raise their children in the more traditional sense, make working moms feel guilty. We need to create some type of support system for women who want it all – both children and success. In this way, the powerful women of the world can raise each other up. So while I agree with your point that men need to stand up for women, I don’t think this will be accomplished until women stand up for other women."
--( posted on Apr 14, 2015, commenting on the post
A Gender Lens for Economic Growth )
"Christina, while I do agree with you that switching from active forms of communication to more passive forms of communication will (most likely) lesson employee distraction, I feel this take away from the exchange of ideas that occurs when workers are face to face. It is the serendipitous moments during face-to-face interaction that result in the best ideas. To get rid of that form of communication would be doing a disservice to the workforce. I also really liked your idea about an office that responds to an employees’ mood. I think that features such as those would encourage workers to spend more time getting their tasks completed in the office.
Your final point about embracing the growth of artificial intelligence was very interesting. I also agree that machine labor will free humans from unnecessary mindless tasks, but I worried that this would eradicate many middle class jobs. Amazons mechanical Turk is very interesting, but definitely not a lucrative long-term solution. Perhaps the best way to handle this is by preparing future employees for the volatile nature of the workforce and giving them the resources they need to create their own jobs."
--( posted on Mar 24, 2015, commenting on the post
Future of Work Solutions )
"Denise, I wrote a very similar solution in my blog post about open space verses private space and the importance of both. However, I did not address the issue of groups being able to work together in solitary. I liked your suggestion for using websites like Asana, which allow for workers to do their work on their own time while also allowing the manager to keep track of the productivity of the employees. I wonder if places like the Centre for Social innovation employ this same solution you mentioned of private and public space. If so, maybe the best solution would be to design more office buildings the model that type of space.
I also found what you said about college education interesting. I still find it hard to say that a college education is useless. But you are right about your point that even with one it is hard to find a job. What exactly is your solution here? Do you think college graduates should strive to create their own jobs? Free lancing, as we discussed in class, comes with its own set of problems. Workers have to develop an even wider range of skills and the job often comes without health benefits."
--( posted on Mar 21, 2015, commenting on the post
Future of Work Solutions )
"Sean, I agree with your argument that colleges do not provide the right skills for students to acquire jobs out of school. However, the more I learn about this issue, the more I realize it is a very difficult problem to fix. Many of the jobs that exist today did not exist twenty-five years ago. So how are we supposed to predict the skills needed for those jobs before they are even created? It’s a terrible cycle. The bottom line is that the workforce grows at a much quicker rate than the education system can keep up with. New skills are always needed, and unfortunately the best (and sometimes only way) to acquire those skills is in the field. To compensate for the rapidly changing nature of the workforce, I think schools should teach students how to adapt. We obviously can’t predict all the skills that will be needed for the future, so perhaps the best way to tackle this would be to teach students how to survive in different environments where they need to learn on the fly."
--( posted on Mar 12, 2015, commenting on the post
Future of Work Problems )
"Michael, I definitely agree with your position on distraction in the workplace. I wrote about a similar issue in my blog post. Another distraction I mentioned was that which comes from being placed in an office setting that has too much communal space and not enough privacy for employees. Yes, Facebook and other social media outlets may be distracting, but they are self-inflicted and can be shut down. Loud noises, from other workers in close quarters, are not something one can escape. The best way to minimize distractions and increase productivity is to block off large amounts of uninterrupted time for employees to work on their projects. I also really enjoyed reading your point of view on internship positions and freelance work. Although, I don’t think either is working toward a change. Intern positions are very necessary for students to gain experience (especially if one argues that not enough workplace skills are taught in school), so I don’t see the amount of intern positions decreasing anytime soon. As for freelance work, this is a serious issue beyond just the required experience. Health benefits and job security are also lacking. This is something that I think can change if the workers band together to stop."
--( posted on Mar 12, 2015, commenting on the post
Workplace Problems )
"Shawn, you suggested a solution where intensive interviews would take place before hiring prison guards. I don’t think this will work. I read about a study done at Stanford where a group of students were instructed to play as inmates while another group of students were instructed to play as guards. Over the course of the study, the group of students playing inmates began to feel inferior while the group of prison guards abused their authority. Unfortunately, I think we need some type of surveillance to make sure the guards do their job as instructed.
I definitely agree with the other part of your post about integrating prisoners to freedom at a gradual pace. I think the amount of freedom a previously incarcerated individual faces after leaving jail is frightening. Allowing them to get used to it overtime makes a lot of sense and will probably make the transition from jail to the real world a lot smoother. As for your suggestion about education classes, I believe those are already offered; however the issue is that they are inadequate. We definitely need to strengthen programs involving education and occupation outreach."
--( posted on Mar 3, 2015, commenting on the post
Policing Solutions )
"Yeji, I agree that speedy trials are not as “speedy” as the name implies, but what exactly are you proposing? Raising awareness is not enough to attack this issue. As it stands, I agree, the loopholes in the law are not okay and need to be changed. But that is a long-term solution that will not come without a fight. I think we need some kind of short-term plan to hurry along the many cases that are stuck in the system right now. Perhaps we could offer some kind of incentive to the prosecution to get the trials completed faster. As for your second proposal about police abuse of power, I do not think that higher education is the solution. I think a better solution is more police training. I do agree with your idea about psychology. Perhaps classes such as those you mentioned (i.e. behavior psychology) could be incorporated in a more well-rounded and reformed police training. Your last point, about funding, is a very interesting one. More funding from lower incarceration rates is not really a solution in my opinion. Funding increases are a product of successful solutions that case law enforcement to be more sustainable and efficient."
--( posted on Mar 3, 2015, commenting on the post
Policing Solutions )
"I agree with Caroline, It is ridiculous to impose tight surveillance on the police force. As mentioned, not every police officer is guilty of abusing their power. Equipping every officer with a body camera, just to catch the actions of a few, is just as wasteful a way to spend our tax dollars as the armored tanks you mentioned being placed in small towns. The job is tremendous when you take into account the manpower it will take to sift through the various tapes. I also think the argument about body cameras goes deeper than its hefty price tag. You need to consider the huge invasion of privacy of such an undertaking. People in the neighborhood may be wary about coming forward about various issues in fear of it being on tape. This may create a “big brother” feel in the community, which is just as dangerous. The police too may not act with the discretion allowed to them in fear of getting into trouble. As discussed in class, the discretion we afford the police is what allows them to do their job. By taking away this freedom, we may be doing more harm than good."
--( posted on Feb 20, 2015, commenting on the post
Policing Problems )
"In your post you brought up the unethical nature of PBA cards, which police can give to friends and family as a sort of “get out of jail free card.” This is something I’ve thought a lot about. My father is a retired detective who was hurt on the job many years ago. I think of these cards as I sign of respect and gratitude for my fathers work in the field. He was always running toward danger rather than away from it, and so I feel as though these cards are a showing of gratitude. It’s worth keeping in mind that PBA cards can only get individuals out of petty crimes (such as speeding tickets), which pose no real threat to the community. I do however agree that too many of these cards are given out. Every year my dad is given enough PBA cards to give to my entire extended family (which is quite large). That is ridiculous and unfair. I feel they should have a more restricted use."
--( posted on Feb 19, 2015, commenting on the post
Problems with Policing )
