Unit two Project

Essay to follow But heres my website www.badolftrainofthought.com

Unit Two Project

Reflective Letter

During this Unit Two Project I really enjoyed creating my website and doing the research to make my website informative and helpful to my audience. Of course, I ran into roadblocks such as what layout should I have, what specifically should I put on the website, and how I should organize the information I put on the website. I am very pleased with my end product and hope that someone will benefit from the information that I collected and put on it.

The first step of creating my website was decide what topic I should focus on that will fit my audience and that I wanted to research to find out more about it. I narrowed this down fairly easily by deciding that I wanted to write about the General Education Diploma rather than what some of the other people were writing about such as childcare and communication. I thought by choosing the GED I could then have enough information to create a website and a topic that I could choose a side to sort of argue on. I was wrong, way wrong. There is actually a lot of information on the GED exam and it differs from state to state. Also, I realized how difficult it was to choose a side and argue it on a website while still being respectful. As I go through each of my pages I will discuss how I emphasized my opinion on the GED rather than having a completely neutral tone about the topic.

In choosing the layout and color theme for the website was fairly easy. I wanted a layout that looked professional and was easy to move around the website from page to page. The first layout that I choose was close to the same color theme as the one I have now but the menu bar was stretched across the top but after adding all of my pages they didn’t all fit so there was a button that said “more…” and when you hovered over it, it would show you the rest of the pages. This didn’t really appeal to me so I found another layout, the one that I am currently using, because I like the fact that the menu bar is vertically on the side and while you are on any page you can easily see and choose another page at any point in time and you could also see all of the pages at the same time instead of only the first two or three pages. I also liked this layout because I was able to have a picture next to the title of the website that would be the same for every page. I chose a picture of a street sign that had the word ‘success’ on it that was angled so only the sky was in the background. The reason I really liked this picture was because I wanted people to feel like by getting a GED you can succeed and that the sky is the limit. You don’t have to graduate high school to have the option to succeed. Even those who couldn’t make it through high school can succeed due to the GED and the opportunities it gives the young adults who take it.

Of course I had to have a home page but it was fairly difficult for me to figure out what to put on the home page. I tried just having my ‘History’ page as my home page but I felt like it jumped into the topic to quickly with no introduction. It was like the example that you showed us in class, you don’t want to have a cliff were your audience feels like they are dropped into the middle of what your talking about and you don’t want your whole website to be like the introduction were it has no body and never really goes into depth about the topic. Instead, you want a skate pipe feel were you are eased into the topic and have enough momentum to keep the reader entertained and wanting to read more. Therefore, I decided to have a different home page that explained the purpose of the website and gave a quick description of what would be on each page. I choose to put a picture on this page because even though it has a picture on the top that is consistent for every page I felt like the page itself needed some sort of image to entertain the reader’s eye so they would be willing to read rather than feeling forced to read.

My next page was my ‘History’ page. The reason I did this was because I figured there are always those people out there who want to know where the GED test came from and why it was even created in the first place. Also, I think it is very interesting that the military was the group that initially wanted the test to be created so that their veterans and soldiers could get civilian jobs since their high school education was disrupted by the draft. Now, however, the military is very strict and don’t accept as many adults who have a GED as they used to. I chose a fun cartoon picture for this page because I figured it could lighten the mood a little and make all of the text look a little less daunting.

For the other three main pages I chose to add pictures and place them in various places on the page to make it a little more appealing to the eye. On my ‘Studying for the GED’ page I wanted it to be fairly simple with not too much information. I did this because I didn’t want one page to take up more of the reader’s attention than it deserved. I also talked about Job Corps briefly because I think that their goal is important and closely related to the topic of my website. In my ‘Value of the GED’ page I talked about how universities, jobs, and the military value the GED compared to a high school diploma. I though this was a fairly important page because it gave some vital information that any adult who is looking to see what they can do with a GED can see their options and chose the best path for them. On my ‘Postsecondary Education’ page I really wanted to warn young adults who are getting or have their GED the difficulties that colleges and universities have when not used to a formal schooling. Many students get caught up in the social life of college while others can’t keep up with the fast pace. I wanted to tell people of the difficulties that some GED holders go through and how they overcame their problems. On this page I also put tips on studying and organizing because everyone can improve on their organizational skills. Finally, there is my work cited page that doesn’t have any pictures because I honestly couldn’t think of what to put on the page and I think how boring the page is, why make it more exciting when really its not.

My audience for this website is people who are looking into the GED as an alternate path to high school. In my website I emphasis how the GED test is for adults and that it is an adult education program that was created so that those who can’t finish or go back to high school can get credentials that are similar to high school. I emphasized this in each of my pages and especially in my history page.

Overall, I am very pleased with my website and hope that it will benefit someone. To find my website you just have to go to www.generaleducationdiploma.weebly.com

Unit Two

Reflective Letter
While working on this website I did have some rough times. I either was struggling with finding information, thought what I had was not good enough, or I was sicks. I finally got it done and am really proud of what the end product was. I want this website to be helpful and informational to the people out there. However, I did not want it to be one of those websites that has so much information on it that when you look at it you just do not even want to read it. I kept it short and simple, straight to the point, and only put in the information I thought was important enough to read.

The topic for my website is Low-income Families and child care. I chose this topic because Job Corps helps a lot of the teens that come from low-income families and my family also struggled with money when I was younger and at times it was just horrible. My parents got divorced when I was really little and it was just my mom and I. While doing my research I found that many low-income families tend to be single parent families, which mainly only the mother and her kids. It was interesting to learn that growing up I grew up in a center based child care even though my grandma took care of my most of the time. According to one of my sources there are two types home-based child care and center-based child care. Home-based is where family members and family friends help take care of the children but it is very unstable and unreliable because the parents never know who is going to take care of the children that specific day. Center-based is a child care business whether it is in a home or in a specific building; this is the better choice because the children see the same people every day and they have the chance to adapt to a school based environment. I enjoyed learning about the different programs and child care option. The design for the website was a bit harder.

Trying to find my layout was a bit of a hassle; I wanted a background that was not so depressing but that also looked formal. The first one I found was way to colorful and reminded me of a website you would see for weddings. The second one was just to plain and needed a little more color to it, but I definitely love the picture that came with it. The picture was of a couple of kids eating watermelon and it looked like they were so happy. My third layout was the best, the top was a light blue and the bottom is dark gray color but I could not find the picture from the previous layout. However I knew this was the layout I wanted for my website.
For me finding the right pictures for the website was pretty easy. The top picture that will be displayed on every page is a picture of a young boy sitting in the back of the car. I really like this picture because it related really well with my topic. I also added a small picture next to the text on the pages. Each page has a different picture the goes with the topic of that page. On the home page I chose a mother and her son laying on a bed because I was talking about low-income families and child care, I also mentioned Job Corps. For the next page I found a picture of a girl tutoring a boy to resemble what I do at Job Corps, this page is also the page where I briefly talk about what Job Corps offers. My third page has a picture of two little boys in the playground. I chose that picture because my third page I talk about the types of good child care that my research recommended. On the fourth page I have a picture of a women and a little girl in a grocery store saying “Let's Go Shopping”; I chose this picture because on this particular page I have some help programs up. Many of these programs help the families with food and nutrition. My final page does not have a picture because it is my works cited page and I did not know what picture to put on it.

Coming up with what the other pages should be about made me stop and think. So I went through my research and pick out the information that stuck out to me the most. So for my first page I decided to make it about Job corps because it was what got me thinking about my topic and it my service-learning program. On this page I have some information about Job Corps and what they do, I also added the link for the Boise program and the main website for the entire program is on there. My second page is talks about home-based child care and center-based child care and the differences between them. The third page has the programs that are willing to help the families out. For each program there is a brief explanation about them and some even have websites to go to for more information. Hopefully you enjoy me website: http://lowincomefamilieschildcare.weebly.com/

Unit Two

Reflective Letters

The more I went to Job Corps the more I learned about how things worked there. This is where I first started to see first hand what happens when you don’t finish school or go on to the next level of school. When I first arrived there I got asked a lot about what I want to do, whats it like to go to college and all my experiences. Even thought I am the youngest person out of all 11 of them. As I talked about the program there I started to understand the real reason people go there. Sometimes it is there only option, but most of the time it is because they desire to have a better life and start over. Regardless of the reason they are all cool people and I enjoy going to help them out.

At the beginning of this unit I was sure that I wanted to include something about technology but wasn’t sure what to do on there other than that. After going to the service learning and meeting the group that I would help I felt kinda glad to be where I am right now, in school and going for a degree. I asked them about their lives and how they like there and such. I learned that they had limited computers and not everyone used them, I was even more shocked to find out that some at the facility don’t even know how to type. That was when I found what I wanted to focus on in this unit.

I,at first wanted to do the unit on how technology can help studying and improve the rate at which we learn. I wanted to do this because the usual time for Job Corps was around 2 years which in my opinion is a long time. But then I narrowed it down from technology to computers because that is the most useful for a job. Then I got from that to typing because of what I learned from service learning.

When I picked the lay out for my website I choose is because it looked professional and I really liked the colors. I am a little sad that the music I put on the web page won’t work because it would cost extra but I think it is proficient as it is. I wanted it to be as educational as to fun because I didn’t want it to come off as unprofessional and unreliable for a paper of any kind. I choose to set up may website the way I did because I didn’t want to only have one side of the argument. I think that the audience should always know what they are dealing with instead of just a biased opinion. I was sure to put in programs that are like Job Corps and incorporates what I thought the program should have. In truth there are multiple ways I could have done this website, I thought my way was the best and hopefully the audience will agree.

Here is a link to my website

http://typingwhy.weebly.com/index.html

Website Proposal

Sorry it took me so long to post this..

1) My audience for this website is really anyone interested in learning about low-income families and child care. I will be using language that high school students can understand but also keep it semi-formal.this wesite is for any gender who wants to know more on how they can help their loved ones or themselves. I will incorporate Job Corps and how they help low-income families. I am hoping that this website is abe to help those looking for help or even wantin to get in contact with Job Corps.

2)My audiences background can be anyone who is struggling finding a job to support their family to someone who is simply doing research on my topic. My website is going to be there to provide them with information they need to get their G.E.D., programs to help out their families, or even to just give statistics for a project. I do believe that most of my audience will be someone who has had a rough past and just wants to make thier future better.

3)I hope my readers will like my research but they do not need to agree with what iam saying. We all have our own opinion on what we read; I just want them to know that there are other options for them, they don't need to settle for less. I obviously hope they are interested in my topic if they are looking at my website, that way they can take in the information I have given.

4)The gist they have been talking about in my articles is how many low-income families are normally single parent families. They either got pregnant at a young age or they are just having a hard time finding a job and someone to watch their kids. Which makes sense because with one income or no income it is very hard to pay bills or even pay for daycare.

5)Many websites are about the product or reading they are promoting but I want to try and make my webiste about and for the reader. I want it to be intersting and helpful. Yes I know what I am researching is not the happiest subject but that is why I want to make my website useful and eyecatching not depressing and boring.

6) I plan on encouraging people to help, and if they need it recieve the help that Job Corps is giving, that way they can provide for their children or family.

Annotated Bibs 3

Rachal, John R., and Millard J. Bingham. "THE ADOLESCENTIZING OF THE GED." Adult Basic Education 14.1 (2004): 32-44. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 20 Mar. 2011. The author of this article talks purely about how the GED was created for adults and that it should be that way. I really like this source because it has the perspective on my topic that I want. I am in no way against the GED test and I think it is beneficial in some ways but it does need to have an age limit rather than almost encouraging high school students to drop out and get their GED rather than make it through high school and get a high school diploma. I think this is going to be one of my most beneficial sources because it has the same view as what I’m going to have on my website.

Boesel, David. "The street value of the GED diploma." Phi Delta Kappan 80.1 (1998): 65. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 20 Mar. 2011. The author of this article talks about almost every aspect of the GED test. It talks about how the military, jobs, and universities accept certain GED holders depending on their scores. I think this cite is actually very helpful because it gives a lot of actual statistics about how many GED holders go on to postsecondary education, the income that GED holders have on average if they don’t go on to postsecondary school. Like I stated earlier this source is like none that I have found because it has more statistics than any other sources I have found. I think that this is really going to bump my website to the next level because I can have actual numbers back up what I keep saying about GED holders.

Annotated Bibs 2

“Do GED recipients differ from graduates and school dropouts?: Findings from an inner-city cohort.” Urban Education. January 2008. pg. 83-117. Print.

The author of this article did a study to find out the difference between dropouts who don’t get their GED and dropouts who did get their GED and also between dropouts who got their GED and high school graduates who went on to post secondary education. They looked more specifically in the difference between income, substance abuse, health, mental health, and crime; this study was taken from the Chicago Longitudinal Study. I believe this source seems very credible because it is peer reviewed and the author also lists every source he used. This way his work can be checked or I could even look more closely into a topic and do more research on that topic. I think this is one of the better sources I have found so far because it gives me information about the history of the GED test and how this experiment was done. It also talks about the details that the experiment looked into when they looked at income and substance abuse and other subtopics such as that.

"Non-Academic Challenges Faced by GED Scholars: A Report of the GED Scholars Initiative." Adult Learning 14.3 (2003): 11-13. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 19 Mar. 2011.This author of this article talks about the struggles that GED students go through when they enter postsecondary education. It goes into detail about the nonacademic challenges that GED holders have to face when they are in college. I think that this is a fairly reliable article because it has a lot of quotes from actual college students who have a GED and not much organizational, time management, or communication skills to get help from advisors and councilors on campus. I think this illuminates my essay topic because I can tell my readers about the struggles that some GED holding college students have and ways they can work around those roadblocks and be successful college students. All of the resources that the author used are cited and this makes me think that the source is pretty reliable.

Anno-

cite-

Comm- Negotiations

This source is written in first person by a College proffesor. She discusses a small course she performs in each of her communication classes about negotiating Salarie. The course prroves to be effective and nessecary. before doing the course the professor hands out a questionare and according to the answers she custom taylors her mini course around that specific class. The results are normally that no students had had mock Salary negotiations before. The results of the course proove to be effective as shes had students over the years contact her and mention that they've had succesful negotiations of raised salaries - sometimes even over 10,000. The tactics she uses are threefold. Hard, Soft, and integrated ( check) topic. The Hard negotiations is a very strange tactic. Essentially it ASKS the interviewie- what is needed for them to become apart of the team. this catches the interviewiee unaware and they tend to want to not step on toes and ask for a lower price. Soft negotiation provides a discussion- then an agreement on a price- and integration negotiation ( check) expresses a certain range and the discussion is what salary will work best that falls within this range according to the intervieews needs.

I was pleasently surprised to find this article I've heard about intervieewing practice in classes before, but never Salarie Negotiation. infact I wasn't even aware one Could negotate a salarie! Which prooves that this is a needed section to cover. It does proove the theory that usually if your willing to ask for something - ppl will oblige. But getting the nerve to ask is so hard. I beleive thants one principle behind the HARd tactic which was another surprize. it relies on the ... modesty and humbleness out community tries to cultivate in people. its hrd to really ask for the amount we need. so when the interviewr asaks straight out- they are relying on this -and are trying to get the lowest price possible for the worker. The worker of course gets duped. I think everyone could benifit from this communication - as most high end and desirable jobs are salaried. But Job Corps especially would benifit from a course like this. it would help w not only communication skills but those needed to gain a better paying position. I was sad that the source was so small, I think it would have been better if it was a more indepth look or discussion about the course, and having lacked more of the depth I wanted I am anctious to try it myself to see what it looks like, how people feel about it, if student is resistnt at first etc.

Website Audience Proposal 2.0!!!

The Communication of Destiny!!! ( get it? its a Tenacious D reference)

1) The audience of this site would ideally be three fold. The first and most obvious audience would be Job Corps. Employees, staff, and benefactors. As I hope to influence policy with this site. The second would be those interested in communication applications in the real world. And finally college students. I realize that hoping college students would see this site might seem odd. But I’d like them to see the freedoms we have in our respective courses to enter into free and easy communication without professors about any topic. We are given some freedoms and even power over BSU’s policies simply by being a student. I am sure other Colleges are much the same way, giving their students the opportunity to respond and the possibility of changing policy. Those in other programs such as Job corps – seem to be getting a lower level education, while relinquishing a maximum in price. Granted its not as expensive, but many students there wish to go to college afterwards. So I’d like possible and attending college students to see this site.


2) Hmm I’d say the background of my audience would be minimal of some college education. Probably with some type of communication background. The others would be possibly employees and benefactors of Job Corps who have had college educations. I think having college experience will be important for those who see this site since college communication classes are hard to describe. Communication classes in general are hard to wrap ones head around unless they’ve experienced them.


3) I think I’s be writing towards an interested – moderately disinterested audience. I think those in communications, and the Job Corps policy makers, employees, or benefactors will be interested, but the average college student focused on beer pong and football may not be. Also I think they will be a resistant audience. Simply because I suggest a change to the current system and changes are never seen as a good thing, or as welcoming until things become dire. I think I will also have to be very sensitive with the topic, because suggesting ones policies should chance can give the impression that I’m blaming someone, or suggesting that they’ve failed, or that I have more experience in the matter.


4) The gist of my sources conversations are that communication can improve all aspects of ones life, but it can also create barriers. There are so many types of communication that trying to work with every little nuance would be crazy. But most sources agree that some type of communication education is not only necessary- but it helps improve ones, identity, personal mental growth and stability, and helps develop relationships in any situation. I have noticed some disagreements between how certain demographics affect communication and how they affect them. Such as the differences between the male and female brain or how age affects decisions.


5) I still think taking the approach of an add instructor would be the best option. Yes if it became too flashy it would harm and distract rather than inform. But I believe a truly powerful presentation has both movement, color, and can keep attention while having the supporting content be impressive. – Like having a magic show that not only has the act of rabbits disappearing, but can provide provocative and interesting ways of getting the audience to believe actual magic took place. – I think that the same information – presented in new ways is the key. – Hopefully tho I will be presenting new information in new ways – and hopefully it won’t be too much stimulation. – I also think I want to keep a very objective voice and my color schemes will be blues and greens. – This will promote calm and relaxing emotions- and hopefully help keep the resistance lower. I like the thought of going with an earthy plant option. This will help keep the “nurturing” aspect in their minds.

( See doesnt this just FEEL relaxing?



As the entire point of the program is to nurture. I think the objectivity will help build my Ethos. I’m afraid that if I choose a side at all it will be discrediting. And since this is such a sensitive matter – picking one side will undoubtedly have some repercussion of something like prejudices mixed in. – For example if I say – On behalf of the students- the system needs to work better- it sounds like I think they need to be coddled, and that there’s too much authority. It sounds like they need – less structure that way – Whereas if I say – on behalf of the system we have to treat them differently- it sounds as tho I think they are getting too much freedom, or aren’t worthy of respect. But saying – speaking from a third party completely objective bystander- the structured system needs a couple of patches that would benefit everyone.


6) My viewpoint is that Job corps should put a greater emphasis on communication, and communication courses. With only one example, I can see several areas that could be improved with simple communication courses. These areas involve, morale, students mental well being, class room manners, relationships in all areas, easier transition to outside world, goals, and a stronger command of language skills. All these aspects which are noted to be an issue can be solved – or at least greatly helped with communication skills. – Which given their cut off surroundings should be emphasized.

( Thats just SOO COOL!)

Website Proposal

If you have any comments or ideas to help me out please let me know!!!

1. My audience could be mostly young adults or parents who are looking into the GED, the pros and cons of the GED, and statistics about the people who already have a GED. This could be for students who have already dropped out of high school or are thinking about dropping out and getting their GED. People that would be most interested would be those who want to know about the advantages and disadvantages about having a GED versus a high school diploma.

2. The type of background my audience could have is young adults who are always getting in trouble with the law, low-income families, or teenagers that have been home schooled. Background information that I could include is how the GED came to be what it is and also who doesn't accept a GED.

3. I envision my audience to be interested in my topic because it will tell the audience what they can and can't do with a GED. I'm hoping that it will convince my audience to get a high school diploma and only get a GED if it is their last resort.

4. The types of conversation my sources have been having is just basic statistics about the GEDl where the GED came from, who accepts it, benefits and disadvantages of a GED. Some, however have been more against young adults getting a GED while other are all for young adults getting their GED.

5. I hope to make my website very user friendly and easy to find the information the viewer is looking for. I have noticed that the information I'm looking for is actually not that easy to find. I'm going to have all of my sources linked in my website so my audience can see where I got all of my information. Overall, I hope to combine all of the websites I've found about the GED and put everything into one easily accessible website.

6. I plan on stating that the GED should be a replacement for a high school diploma and should be a last resort. Some of my thoughts on improving the GED is to raise the age limit to eighteen years of age. Also, I think the standards to pass should also be raised. This way Universities and the Armed Forces might be more willing to accept GED holders.

Annotated Bibliographies

Powell, Sharon E., and Jean W. Bauer. "Resource use of rural low-income families caring for children with disabilities." Journal of Children & Poverty 16.1 (2010): 67-83. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 4 Mar. 2011.
In this article the authors stress the imporatance of the Temporary Assisstance to Needy Families Program (TANF) and how it helped the low income families with disable children obtain help, get off welfare, and keep their jobs. For these families to finally have something that helps them with their disabled children without so many barriers was a great thing. Many of the low income would have to stop working and take care of their children because it was hard for them to find child care. With the new program TANF the parents are required to have a job in order to recieve help this way the family always has two forms of recieving money and hopefully will not be stuggeling to much. Another thing TANF provides is "A five-year lifetime limit for families receiving cash assistance". I chose this article due to the fact that it still goes with my essay topic but gives me more information and another aprroach to the question. Not only to I now have information on regular low income families but now I have information on low income families that have children with disabilities.



Press, Julie E., Jay Fagan, and Lynda Laughlin. "Taking Pressure Off Families: Child-Care Subsidies Lessen Mothers’ Work-Hour Problems." Journal of Marriage & Family 68.1 (2006): 155-171. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 4 Mar. 2011.
This article states why single mothers who recieve subsidies to help pay for child care are more likely to work with their employer to get the right hours or even work more than normal to help provide for the family than the ones that do not recieve subsidies. Mothers are able to set up two different time schedules with the subsidies so that the schedule fits exactly what they need and not just giving out random hours. Hours are set up by how bad off the family is, if the mother needs more hours she can sign up for more but if the mother only need partial hours she can sign up for that. What the authors are explaining is that when there is only one parent its hard to make ends meat and spend time with the kids and with subsidies it provides some setting for that to happen. This article relates to my topic because many lox income families normally have only one parent providing for the entire family.

First 2 Annotated Bibliographies

Rocky, Barker. "Job Corps Expands Curriculum into Green Jobs." voices.idahostatesman.com, 18 March 2010. Web. 6 Mar 2011. . Rocky Barker states in his article about the improvements that Job Corps is making to their program to keep it up to date and in sync with the work force and also with today’s economy. I wouldn’t take this as a credible source because even though it may be posted on The Idaho Statesman’s website it is still on a blog and has no links to show where the author got his information. If there was some resources he showed that he got his information from I feel like this would automatically become a reliable source. In the article, the author talks about how the Obama administration hopes to give the kids a hand up because the up coming jobs in this economy will be in a greener direction. I could use this in my paper if I was writing more on the training programs that Job Corps offers or also if I was writing about what type of job training does Job Corps offer and how it relates to the jobs that the students get after they have finished the Job Corps program.

"Job Corps: Links with Labor Market Improved but Vocational Training Performance Overstated." gov.us.fed.congress.gao.reports. Google Groups, 6 Nov. 1998. Web. 6 Mar 2011. . The author of this article talks about the success that Job Corps has stated they had with their program in the year1998. It then goes and talks about the questions they had when they looked into Job Corps, their method of reviewing the data, and the results they came up with. I would be skeptical with this websites credibility because it is on a Google Groups blog but it also has a letter to Christopher Shays who is in the House of Representatives and is also the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Human Resources Committee on Government Reform and Oversight. Due to the formality of the text and the reasons why it was posted all point to this being a reliable source. I think one way to improve the reliability is for the group to share the link that they got this article/information from. This source illuminates my essay topic because it gives me some statistics about the success that Job Corps actually has with its program as a whole.

Annotated Bibliography

Schochet, Peter Z., John Burghardt, and Sheens McConnell. 2008. “Does job Corps work? Impact findings from the National Job Corps Study. “American Economic Review.

Right away in this article the authors make a clear statement towards the success of the job corps program they state “Job corps is the only federal training program that has shown to increase earnings of the population.” However shortly after this they talk about her earning drop off after seven years in the younger population of the program. The article talks about the different courses Job corps provides, I would like to talk to students and see what factors make them decide which courses to specialize in.

Charles R. Hayman and Arthur Frank. 2008. “Job Corps experience with health problems”
Public Health Reports.

Job Corps has a health system in place that seems to be working. No real problems or complaints have developed, but no records or evidence of its effectiveness have been recorded. My main thoughts about the health care program is if they offer mental help or counseling to their students that may have been abused or just had life struggles. I think this is just as or more important than there physical health. This directly relates with the essay topic I have chosen In where I want to connect a student’s social skills to their up bringing

Discourse Analysis

It's a little lengthy and I apologize!

Is a General Education Development (GED) good enough to replace a high school diploma? Many colleges, universities, and jobs think that a GED is adequate enough to replace a high school diploma while others don’t think it suffices. The General Education Development exam was originally in a GI Bill to help veterans and returning students obtain enough credentials to get civilian jobs and to also obtain a higher education beyond high school. The minimum age requirement to take the test was 18 years old but has recently been lowered to 16.

Most community colleges will accept GED holders along with a satisfactory score on the SAT or ACT. However, universities are a little more skeptical and need to see that the person applying is able to start and finish a big project; therefore, recommendation letters are required from community members to prove the person applying is motivated enough not to drop out.

In the work force almost every job that has a minimum education requirement of a high school will accept and treat a GED holder the same as a high school diploma holder. I find this interesting because one of the sources I found was against the GED and thought that it shouldn’t be a short cut for teenagers to drop out of high school and jump straight into the work force. A study done in 2002 showed that 42% of everyone that had taken the GED exam was teenagers compared to only 33% in 1991. The sad fact about this is that the students that drop out of high school and plan on getting their GED don’t get around to actually doing it. Of the 60% that dropped out of high school and then got their certificate, most likely a GED, go on to some sort of college; of that sixty percent only 10% actually go on to obtain a degree while the others drop out of college.

What I find ironic about the GED was that originally it was the United States Armed Sources that confronted the American Council on Education for a way of testing veterans and returning soldiers to get a certificate that has the same skill level as a high school diploma and now the Air Force is only permitted to have 1% of its enlistees have a GED and the Army is only aloud to have 10% of its enlistees to have a GED. This is because that most of the people that enlist with a GED typically are expelled or quite after their first tour of duty.

I don’t think that the General Education Development is not an adequate test to give a person the credentials that a person with a high school diploma has. Along with specific skills that are learned in high school, GED holders don’t have a lot of the social skills that high school students do. For example, GED holders don’t have the motivation high school students do to finish large projects or to complete a goal. This is why most universities require satisfactory SAT or ACT scores and recommendation letters from community members. I believe that the age limit for taking the GED should be raised yet again to motivate high school students to finish in school rather than dropping out and taking the short cut. The GED exam shouldn’t be an alternate route for high school; it should be a last resort for those who can’t finish high school for financial or family issues.

Work Cited:

Thornburgh, Nathan. "Does a GED Really do the Job?." Time. 11 April 2006: Print.

"DiplomaGuide.com." Is the GED Enough to Get ME into College?. 2006-2011. Web. 1 Mar 2011. .

"Howard Lee speaks out." YouTube. Web. 1 Mar 2011. .

"General Education Development." Wikipedia, Web.

Discourse Analysis

For this analysis my main focus was the children in the families of the students at Job Corps. Job corps offers this great schooling for the teens and adults that have not had the best education, they are able to get there G.E.D. or study for a benefiting job. There are some students that have children so my question is, " Where do these children stay, is it hard to find child care with no or little income?". I tried to find articles on just the children involved in job corps but came up empty handed, so I then focused on just the ending of my question. I did find some great articles that all had a common topic, Low Income Families and Child Care. It seemed to me that many families that have low income tend to have there children watched by family members or friends instead of the high or medium income families that have a daycare provider.
Another thing I noticed in the article is they seemed to have a harsh bias towards the low income families. One article I read said that children in low income families were more likely not to graduate high school and support their family, and i would have to completely disagree with that statement. I personally have friends in low income families who have worked twice as hard than others due to the state they are in. They want the best for their furture children and want them to feel just as special as everyone else. I feel they sometimes have a stronger motivation to succeed in life because of what they have gone through.
The thing that caught my eye the most in almost every article I read was that many low income families only have one parent which is most likely the mother and the father is not in the picture. Growing up my parents go divorced when I was young and I remember it being hard for my mom and I at times. As I continued to read the articles the tone was informative to allow the reader to understand what is going on. However at the same time it almost seemed like the authors wanted you to be concerned about these kids and families. Which i would say worked because when i finish reading each article it made me be thankful for what I have but at the same time I was thinking aboout ways I could help.

Sources:
Adams, Gina, and Jeffery Capizzano. "Children in Low-Income Families Are Less Likely to Be." Snap Shots of America;s Families. 16 (2003): 1-2. Print.

Campbell, Frances, and Craig Ramey. "Effects of Early Intervention on Intellectual and Academic Achievement: A Follow-up Study of Children from Low-Income Families." Child Development. 65.2 (2008): 684-698. Print

Fuller, Bruce, Sharon Kagan, Gretchen Caspary, and Christiane Gauthier. "Welfare Reform and Child Care Options for Low-Income Families." Princeton University. 12.1 (2002): 96-119. Print.