Coach Joe Paterno Put in the Highlight of the Child Sexual Abuse Scandal.

 

If you haven't heard the story yet, let me give you a brief overview. Coach Joe Paterno was fired last Wednesday, November 9, for covering up the child sexual abuse performed by his former assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky. In 2002, a graduate assistant named Mike McQueary saw Sandusky sodomizing a 10-year-old child in the showers where the Penn State football players clean off after practice. McQueary told Paterno, and he said "I’ll report this to the president. I’ll report this to the head of finance and campus police," which legally was all he was required to do. Although Paterno notified his boss, he did not call the police. Therefore, he is now blamed for covering up the abuse.

According to the article Penn State Cover-Up, others at Penn State University knew about other sexual assaults allegedly committed by Sandusky. Although some others, such as Graham Spanier, were fired for taking part in the child sexual abusec, Paterno suffers most of the negative publicity. The riot formed by the college students formed Others probably did not even report it to their boss as Paterno did. I agree that someone should've notified the police, but the point is, anyone could've notified the police including Mike McQueary, but no one did. For those that got away from the scandal- hope you're doing well.

What Your Parents Think vs. What Is True.

                                                         Photo credit: lolsofunny.tumblr.com

"Is he your boyfriend?"

Last summer when I brought one of my guy friends over, my mom kept an eye on me, making lame excuses to come to my room. After he left, she asked, “Is he your boyfriend?”

Why is it at the moment your parents see you with a friend of the opposite sex, they assume that you two are more than friends or have a crush on them? Have they never been just friends with someone of the opposite sex?

One thing that needs to be mentioned is that despite a child’s orientation, parents will stick to the widely accepted relationship standard which consists of a man and a woman. 

Parents should not believe their assumptions, until they have been confirmed. It causes conflicts where parents constantly check up on their child or they put pressure on their child.

Well, I have a solution. If you don't really chat with your parents much about your life or friends, it is not a problem. Here are some suggestions that might be useful at one point in life:

The more, the merrier.

When you want to invite your friend who is the opposite sex, don't just invite him/her; invite more than one friend of the opposite sex. 

Odd numbers is the way to go.

Math? No. Point is, do not have the same number of boys and girls at your house. That is, unless you want your parents to think both you and your friends are each in a relationship. By having an odd number of people, your parents will know that you do have friends of the opposite sex, with no feelings or benefits.

Use your convincing skills.

Convince your parents that your friend is already in a relationship.

Dress as you do.

When one of your guy friend’s is over at your house, dress how you normally dress at home or in general. Don’t go overboard with any clothing pieces or your parents will think you’re trying to impress your friend.

Keep at a mental and physical distance.

Do not whisper secrets or seemingly flirt with each other. Also, have some space between you two. You should look like two best friends having fun, not cuddling with each other even if it is cold.

As for inviting someone over that you do have feelings for, you should still follow one or more of the above suggestions.

Overall, deal with any misconceptions with confidence! Also, have fun sneaking around until you're ready to tell your parents the truth!

So, go have fun! Most importantly, worry about your safety.

The Age of the Internet and Google.

     Some people say we never read books anymore. Some claim they can't even read more than three or four pages without drifting. Are the advances in technology ridding us of our ability to read and educate ourselves? I don't think so.
     Back in the day, people mostly read books. But in order to read a book, they would have to bring one with them when heading out. Yet nowadays, a great number of young people have smart phones that have internet on them. I think people read more now than they ever have. With phones such as the iPhone and Blackberry, people can easily browse the Internet for recent news and anything else they are interested in reading.
     Also, with Google's start in 1998, it is now one of the most popular search engines. People question whether or not Google is making us stupid. I believe Google is expanding our knowledge. Just by searching something, we can learn something just by browsing through the search results. Also, if we're searching for homework answers, we can also find answers with clear, full explanations on how to do the problem especially on sites that appear in the search results such as Yahoo Answers. Instead of heading to library and looking through perhaps hundreds of books, we can learn how to do a problem with an instant click. We're doing less work, but we're gaining the same or perhaps even more knowledge at a much faster pace.

I say we truly need to appreciate everything we have.

Know Gender Beforehand.

Sex or abstinence: You choose. If you chose sex, you’re in luck, yet I also hope you take responsibility for your action. Although I assume most of you reading this are college students and not ready to have a child, did you know that you can predict the sex of your future child at the moment you find out about the pregnancy?

Instead of waiting to find out from your doctor, you can just do some calculations and find out. Now, the graph lists a woman’s conceiving age (Chinese age) from 18-45 and the conception month in the Chinese Lunar calendar. The B’s on the chart represent boys, meaning there is a greater chance that outcome will be a boy. In fact, you don’t even have to do any of the calculations yourself. You can just go on Chinese Fortune Calendar and just type in the information, and that will be your prediction! 

I’ve tried it and my friends have too. Based on my selected sample of friends and myself, it has been completely accurate. However, there is generally a 93% accuracy. Now you can perhaps decide when you and your partner should have sex (when you’re ready to take on ALL of the responsibility), especially if you have a preference of having a boy or girl depending on which you choose. So, why not try it out?

Pain.

When I see this picture, it reminds me of the pain of wearing stiletto heels. I think this picture actually represents the pain of wearing heels. As great as it may look to wear these heels, they cause a lot of pain especially if you wear it for long periods of time. This pain is usually associated with blisters, small or big. Well, there's no surprise even just by looking at the picture. The foot angled at nearly 90 degrees near the tip. If you stood on your tiptoes like that for a long period period of time, your feet would start to hurt and eventually, you would have level your feet back to the ground. For guys, feel free to try it so that you can somewhat see what it is like to wear high heels, if you haven't already. Or better yet, go to a shoe store and try some heels on! =)

Two year old girl run over ignored by 18 passerby.

 

WARNING: Graphic video; To watch this video on Youtube, you have to be 18 years or older.

     As I watched a Peter Chao weekly news round-up Youtube video with my friend, I heard about a two year old girl in China being run over by two cars and a total of 18 people passing by her ignored her. So, I decided to look into it. Apparently, the two year old girl named Wang Yue thought the white car that eventually runs over her, was a bread truck. The driver stops for a little while, but continues on driving. A few people walk by, ignoring her. Then, a second car runs over her. People continue to walk and drive by her, as if everything is fine. Finally, one kind-hearted woman who was collecting cans stopped and took a look at the child before the mother came over. Apparently, people were too scared to help the child because they do not want to be blamed for the child's condition.

     I say that you have nothing to worry about if you are not guilty. With today's technology, there is not much to worry about if you are not guilty because there are hidden cameras practically everywhere. If one of the people who saw her before the second car hit had helped her, there would've been more of a chance that the child lived. Some may argue that the child's parents should've been watching her. I agree with that argument to a certain extent. Truth is, we all let our guard down sometimes, and unfortunately sometimes at the wrong time. The mother definitely didn't want this to happen; she happened to let her guard down at the wrong time. Overall, I think someone who passed by should've helped the little girl; in this case, the mother's mistake shouldn't have been someone else's mistake either because they had a chance of saving someone's life.

If you want to learn more about this situation, here is an article (Warning: Graphic images included):
After surviving for more than a week since the hit, Wang Yue now dead.

Letter to chancellor of Syracuse University.

If I wrote a letter to the chancellor of Syracuse University, it would go something like this:

Dear Nancy Cantor,

     As a Syracuse University undergraduate freshman, I am concerned. Prior to coming to the university, I knew Syracuse University had a great academic reputation. It's great that SU had a great academic reputation, but the problem is it "had", meaning it may not be the case today.

     In fact, Syracuse University has fallen in terms of rankings in the U.S. News and World Report. Hearing that SU was ranked in the high 40s in the late 1990s and now ranked number 62 concerns me. Furthermore, the university has dropped out from the Association of American Universities (AAU) this year knowing that it was going to be forced out. News about the declining ranking of Syracuse University not only concerns me, but more importantly, potential undergraduates and graduates. What can explain this change in ranking? Well, from the 2007-2011 academic years, administrative costs have increased by 22.3 million. Meanwhile, costs for academics have only increased by 5.7 million. As great as it is to help revitalize the city, our main focus should be the education being given. For my entire freshmen academic year, my parents have to pay around $36,000 for me to attend Syracuse University. Meanwhile, if I went to a SUNY college, I would pay around $20,000.  The fact is, the main focus of students is their academics, not revitalizing the city. As great as the city may be, it is worthless if students do not get the education they expected. The education being given at Syracuse University affects not only current students, but also alumni.

     I'm not saying that the quality of education at Syracuse University is bad; what I am trying to say is that the education at Syracuse University could be better. We should start improving our rankings in the U.S. News and World Report and the AAU because it will essentially attract more students in the top ranking of their secondary schools to attend SU. To improve SU rankings, we could start with making admissions more selective, which include admitting students with higher SAT scores and averages. Since the Ivy League schools are so selective, students strive to attend those schools. If a school is not selective, students are less attracted to it because they believe anyone can get into that school and it's not much of an accomplishment by attending that school. In fact, I was one of those students. Since I was rejected from Stony Brook and Binghamton University, I wasn’t left with too many choices. I was stuck between Syracuse University and Fordham University. I ended up choosing Syracuse University because it was ranked slightly higher and I would be able to explore other places such as the city of Syracuse instead of staying in New York City.

     Despite the fact that this year's admission acceptance rate is dropping back down to 50 percent, I believe it is not enough. Since Ivy League schools have a low acceptance rate of about 10 percent, I think SU should have a 40 percent acceptance rate, similar to Stony Brook University. Along with a more selective criteria and lower acceptance rate, SU should spend more money on the academics. With academics being notable and selective admissions criteria, Syracuse University would be higher in rankings in no time. I hope you will consider my thoughts into your decisions.

Sincerely,
Angela Tong (Class of 2015)