Voting

When Edith Loring-Kuhanga came to speak with our class, not only was I impressed with the NDP's platform (and surprisingly found that I agreed with basically everything she said), but I was impressed with the participation and involvment of our class.  I really do not know that much about each political party's platform, and having the polititions coming to our class to answer questions will most definitely help me to figure out which party I support.  I am really proud of our class for being so concerned, and I think that Edith was fairly surprised at the fact that teenagers were so interested in politics.  Hopefully, she will spread the word, and polititians will no longer consider teens an lost cause to target their ideas toward.  Personally, I am quite interested in politics and I look forward to learning more about what our society has to offer.

Is Ageism Affecting Businesses?

Recently, I have notice that an issue I have been facing more often than I would like to is ageism.  My mother (a former high school teacher), frequently vocalizes her opinion on the treatment of teenagers, and she asked me to try an experiment: to go into a jewelry store in the mall with her and note the attention we receive from the store clerk, and later on go in by myself and observe if the clerk's attitude toward me as a customer had changed.  As we predicted, it had.  When I went in with my mom, the clerk was very polite, asked to help us, and when we said no thank you, she left us alone.  However, when I went in by myself, I was not asked if I needed assistance, and instead was hovered over for my entire walk through the store.  Firstly, it was a jewelry store - everything was in locked cases, so how could I steal anything?  Secondly, I found the lack of trust and service to be somewhat appalling - how do they know I don't have enough money to buy anything?  This could have happened due to coincidence, but an unfortunate truth is that a lot of store managers train their employees to be cautious of teenagers, as they are "most likely" to shop lift.  I know that after my experience at that store I am reluctant to return, and I wonder if this is the case for many other teens?  I also wonder: if it is the case, and many others feel the way I do, and will stop shopping at the stores in question, how will this affect their business? I work for Safeway, and they instruct us to watch out for shop lifters of all ages; I am thankful that I am not employed by a company who exercises such biased opinions.

Child Soldier Response

Discussion: 

1. Not all children involved in armed conflict are kidnapped.  Some are recruited and some choose to seek out the military forces.  Why would they do this?  What choices do they have?

         I would think that the children who seek out the military forces are those without hope.  They are terrified of what is to come of them and their families and to them, taking sides with those most powerful in their society is their only option. Many realize that it will provide them with food, shelter and protection; this fulfills the basic needs within Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs.  Their choices are essentially to kill or be killed.


2. What are the reasons for using children in armed conflict?
       For one, these children are considered to be 'cannon fodder;' many armed forces have the opinion that these children can be replaced, unlike adults of high societal ranking.  Also, they are at an impressionable age.  They can be taught new belief systems and morals, whereas adults have often already formed opinions on several controversial subjects.


3. What are the moral issues of using children in armed conflict?
       Firstly, why would anyone want to inflict such terror and torment on another person?  Secondly, because these children are so impressionable, their leaders are enabling them to pursue an illogical future, and lead their society in a similar direction.  Thirdly, these children are our future, and their leaders are killing them off.


4. How does society suffer when children are used in armed conflict?
       Society will suffer not only due to the obvious war and violence thrust upon them, but also due to the fact that in the future, they will suffer from the consequences of the morals taught to the child soldiers.  There will be continuous wars and their government will more than likely be corrupt due to the fact that these child soldiers are a part of the generation that will rule said society's government.

5. How are child soldiers supposed to be treated when they are captured? 
     Child soldiers should be treated as victims.  They need psychological rehabilitation, and not to be persecuted due to biased opinions on what they have been forced to do.