When choosing a topic for each part branch of government, I
considered what has had a bearing on my life. At first I researched topics
suggested to me by my teacher and students. From there I found related topics
that influence other topics I already researched. The process was hard when I had to put each law, case and
office into my own words, however relating it to my life was easy. Sometimes
understanding the exact intention of each landmark decision was difficult too.
As I get older, I believe the government will impact me even
more than it does not. As an adult I will have to make more decisions, fill out
more paper work, and mostly like interact and help influence the decisions of
the different branches of government.
This was a fantastic project. It opened my eyes to many
cases, laws, and offices that I was unaware of.I am less ignorant of my government. I truly believe I
learned throughout this process.
The
Child Labor Law (CLL) was put into place for the safety and health of minors by
not allowing the minor to work in certain establishments and occupations, an
under a certain age. CLL makes minors have work permits before starting work.
Except farm or domestic work in a private home, the law covers any
establishment other than the minor’s home.
Impact on My Life
As
a teenager for me it’s important to look my best, go out and have fun, and buy
the things that are important to me for example Chris Brown’s F.A.M.E CD when
it comes out, to do this I need extra money that my not be in my families
budget so I have to get a job. I work for the Mural Arts Program of
Philadelphia. This law protects me from my employer exploiting me as a worker.
This allows me to be sure I am working in safe conditions and are not doing
jobs that could put me in danger. Also it assures me a break during my workday
and proper payment for my labor.
Affirmative
Action Law- Positive
Affirmative
action is when a business or governmental agency gives special rights of hiring
or promoting to ethnic minorities to make up for past discrimination against
that minority.
Impact on My Life
Working
in the art field as I do now it is hard to get a head with so many artist vying
for the job so having Affirmative Action is an advantage. Instead of being
maybe otherwise over looked for a new position I have an advantage at getting
ahead. It makes me more excited to work hard at my job because I know my hard
work will pay off and help me advance.
H. R. 3962 Health
Care Reform- Positive
To provide
affordable, quality health care for all Americans and reduce the growth in
health care spending, and for other purposes.
Impact
on My Life
The
health care bill has a big impact on my life. I have rheumatoid arthritis,
which is an auto-immune disease. It causes your immune system to attack your
joins and break down the bone and cartledge of the joint along with other side
effects. I have to go to my doctor and a specialist frequently. Between the
doctors appointments and the medication I take it cost lot of money. Without
health insurance I would be spending hundreds of thousands of dollars. With out
health insurance I would have to live in pain and watch my body breakdown.
Healthy Hunger
Free Kids Act- Positive
Promoting health
and reducing childhood obesity, helping schools improve the nutritional quality
of school meals.
Impact on My Life
I
normally take my lunch on the days that I forget or cannot bring it, I buy
lunch from school. With this new law I can be sure the food being served is
healthy and of good quality. This bill makes it so more local food is being
used which is better for students because local farmers don’t use the same
strong pesticides as the big companies. The bill also gives schools more money
to get better cooking materials and appliances for better production.
Judicial Branch
New Jersey v.
T.L.O. (1985)- Negative Students have a reduced expectation of
privacy in school.
A
teacher accused T.L.O. of smoking in the bathroom. When she denied the
allegation, the principal searched her purse and found cigarettes and marijuana
paraphernalia. A family court declared T.L.O. a delinquent. The Supreme Court
ruled that her rights were not violated since students have reduced
expectations of privacy in school.
Impact on my life
As
proud citizen of the united states I have the right to privacy, the reason
police need a search warrant to dig through my privacy. Why when I enter a
building I lose my rights as a human being. That makes no sense to me.
Tinker v. Des
Moines (1969)- Positive Students do not leave their rights at the schoolhouse door. To
protest the Vietnam War, Mary Beth Tinker and her brother wore black armbands
to school. Fearing a disruption, the administration prohibited wearing such
armbands. The Tinkers were removed from school when they failed to comply, but
the Supreme Court ruled that their actions were protected by the First
Amendment.
Impact on my life
Every
person has a right to their own opinion and to express that opinion. It is not
okay to tell some one because they are in school that they lose their First
Amendment right. If a person is not blatanly forcing their views on others than
they should be able to express it freely. As a person who likes to express her
opinion this court decision makes it so no one can take that right from me.
Goss v. Lopez
(1975)- Positive Students are entitled to certain due process
rights. Nine students at an Ohio public school received 10-day suspensions for
disruptive behavior without due process protections. The Supreme Court ruled
for the students, saying that once the state provides an education for all of
its citizens, it cannot deprive them of it without ensuring due process
protections.
Impact on my life
As student it protects me from my school
make quick rash decisions that affect me in a negative way. Not following due
process is like arresting someone with out reading them their rights.
Hazelwood v.
Kuhlmeier (1983)- Negative
Administrators may edit the content of school
newspapers. The principal of Hazelwood East High School edited two articles in the
school paper The Spectrum that he deemed
inappropriate. The student authors argued that this violated their First
Amendment right to freedom of speech. The Supreme Court disagreed, stating that
administrators can edit materials that reflect school values.
Impact on my life
Every
person has a right to their own opinion and to express that opinion. It is not
okay to tell some one because they are in school that they lose their First
Amendment right. If a person is not blatanly forcing their views on others than
they should be able to express it freely. As a person who likes to express her
opinion this court decision makes it so no one can take that right from me.
Executive Branch
Unemployment
Pennsylvania
unemployment benefits provide temporary compensation to those workers meeting
the eligibility requirements of Pennsylvania law. The Pennsylvania Department
of Labor and Industry and each other state's unemployment office administers
its own unemployment insurance program within Federal guidelines.
Impact on my life
This
has had an impact on me and the people I know. Last year my Aunt Theresa lost
her job as research scientist with Temple University. She lost her job because
the money from grants they had ran out. It impacts me because my aunt is a
contributer in my household she and my mother split the bills. With
unemployment benefits she is able to have money and still help pay bills.
Philadelphia Police
Department DIRECTIVE 7 (12-09-05)- Positive
The purpose of this
Directive is to establish effective guidelines, consistent with Title VI of the
Civil rights Act of 1964 and the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act,
and the Mayor’s Executive Order of September 29, 2001, for departmental
personnel to follow when providing services to, or interacting with,
individuals who have limited English proficiency (LEP).The purpose of this
Directive is to establish effective guidelines, consistent with Title VI of the
Civil rights Act of 1964 and the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act,
and the Mayor’s Executive Order of September 29, 2001, for departmental
personnel to follow when providing services to, or interacting with,
individuals who have limited English proficiency (LEP).
Impact on my life
This impacts my life
a lot because these are the officers that enforce the law were I live and are
their to protect me and my family. There is a lot of crime and violence in the
area so we need our officers. Seeing the blue uniform I feel safe. They are
putting them selves in danger to protect others. I believe the police officers of
Philadelphia are extraordinary people. I aspire to be one of these
extraordinary people when I graduate from college.
FAFSA- Positive
Impact on my life
My family can not afford to send
me to college with out help from the government. FASFA is huge asset to my
future because it provides me funds for education. Without FASA I wouldn’t be
able to go to college and without a college degree I can not be an FBI agent
that aspire to be after I serve my time as a police officer.
Law
& Policy: Funding Schools Fairly
State
Law
Pennsylvania
has three main sources of law on school funding. The Pennsylvania Constitution
requires “a thorough and efficient system of public education.” Other
Pennsylvania laws lay out, in general ways, how state money can be spent. The
annual state budget contains most of the details on funding for public
education.State policy
There
are three main policy issues affecting education funding in Pennsylvania:
•Adequacy.
Most public schools do not spend enough money per student to give all children
an adequate education and a fair chance for success. Pennsylvania has never
conducted an official “adequacy study” to determine the actual amount per child
needed to provide a quality education.
•Equity.
There is little equity between the spending levels in different school
districts. Some districts spend more than twice the amount per student as other
districts.
•State
Share. Pennsylvania provides only 36 percent of the total cost of public
education, one of the lowest state shares in the country. Local school
districts provide most of the funding for public education through property
taxes. This means that wealthy districts have more money to spend on education
than poorer districts.
Impact on my life
This impacts my life
because my school gets funding based on how well we do. I think that makes the
schools who don’t do well do even worst because they are not given the money
for better books and other material that would help them progress. I think the
schools should get an equal amount of money because no school should be left
out and made to fail because of budgeting. This affects all student because in
we are not getting the money we deserve.
Finding laws and
court cases that applied to me was a little challenging. I tried to look for
things that were relevant to my life and the people around me. Being a young
person not many things affect me but as I get older I will feel the affects of
the government lot more. Form this I know more of my rights as a student and
the differences between the branches.
I had a little bit of trouble starting this project. I began by organizing the 12 different examples that we had to make into positives/negatives and legislative/judicial/executive. I chose to focus on Philadelphia laws for the executive branch because they have the most noticeable, direct effect upon my life. For the judicial branch, I found my different examples/sources by collaborating with other SLA students and researching on various supreme court case organizing websites. For my legislative examples, I simply thought of positives/negatives in my life that had to do with the government, and traced them back to the legislative process.
When I began, I worked very quickly and thoroughly. I chose reputable sources and researched well before writing anything down as fact. It was difficult to find sources that had information on the example, result, and an example of the example. I wrote appropriately long, coherent paragraphs describing my examples, and then, at the end, I reflected on the effect that have on my life.
It was most difficult to find the different examples. There isn't a website that you can go to and just *find* different examples of government functions separated into the three branches. If I were to do something differently, I would have done more in-depth research on court cases, and hopefully would have found a more diverse group in terms of federal/state/city courts.
When attempting to choose the 12 examples of how the government and I interact, I found it easiest to observe my actions throughout a day and consider what has made them possible. For example while determining my outfit for the day, I realized the freedom I had to wear almost anything to school, be it a political and/or personal statement. A freedom provided to me to some extent by Tinker vs. Des Moines. It made the my list of 12. From here, once dressed and relatively awake, I get into a car to go to school. I situate myself and buckle up, a practice taught to me for safety and legality's sake. The Pennsylvania seat belt law made the list. This same manner of operations was applied for the remaining 10 and before I knew it I had a completed list. Though simple in concept, the actual self-awareness needed to create said list was rather taxing. I often forgot what it was I was doing and some of the government connections I managed to find were rather vague and a tad farfetched. These had to be invalidated and I found that completed list took its far share of effort. However throughout this process, when I managed to remember the task at hand, I realized at present I have it rather easy. I have my rights and I am expected to adhere to the law, but being a minor these rights are restricted and the laws are regarded to as norms enforced by parents and teachers, rather police and courts. When I get older, I imagine the government and I will become a great deal more familiar with one another. I will have to know my rights and defend them, rights far expanded.
