The Tunisian Revolution in The Eyes of Teenagers

The Tunisian Revolution in The Eyes of Teenagers

Conrad Weiser High School Contribution

 

Corruption in America
Conrad Weiser High School
Contemporary Issues Class
 
Corruption in Education has severe consequences
         A high drop-out rate, which increases at high levels of poverty.
         Low quality teaching, leading to poor achievement.
         A system susceptible to adverse political, religious and ethnic influence.
         Deepened inequality between rich and poor, preventing entire generations from pursuing a meaningful future.
 
Corruption at school and administrative levels
         Money and supplies are diverted before reaching the schools.
         Educators in the lower system may secure opportunities or avoid punishment through petty bribes.
         Corruption in teacher recruitment and promotion lowers the quality of public teaching.
         Parents may pay bribes to ensure their children’s school access, good grades and graduation.
         Ethnic or gender bias may occur to the disadvantage of certain pupils, the bypassing of objective student assessment criteria. This also constitutes an abuse of power,  an act of corruption.
 
Lobbyists
Lobbyist claim to serve as educators and experts on various subjects.
Really they try to influence everyone to follow what they believe in.
 
1. Convince politicians to support or oppose certain legislation.
2. Donate cash, gifts, and hold parties in exchange for votes.
 
People see what the lobbyist do as brainwashing or sucking up.
 
This happens in business settings and in politics.
 
Lobbyist Money to Congress
2008 List of Lobbyist Money to Congress
 
1. Hillary Clinton    (D)   $1,331,300
2. John McCain     (R)   $1,225,525
3. Barack Obama  (D)   $594,800
4. Chris Dodd        (D)   $384,712
 
Party Split
Democrats:   $16,488,039
Republicans: $13,005,614
Others:         $27,140
 
Top Lobbyist Organizations

 
  Amount                
(D)                      
(R)
1.    WPP Group                     
2.     Interpublic Group
3.     Williams & Jensen
4.     Patton Boggs LLP
5.     Podesta Group
$1,307,835          
$983,981             
$817,661             
$723,997                                 $682,520              
45%   
75%                
50%                    
87%  
72%                                      
53%
24%
24%
12%
26%

 
WPP Group and Interpublic Group is for marketing communications.
Williams & Jensen are government law firms
Patton Boggs LPP pushes for public policy, business and intellectual property law, and lobbies for regularity
Podesta Group is a public affairs firm
 
Corruption in Business
Martha Stewart; American media personality,
prominent business woman
            –Sent to prison for tax evasion, insider trading
 
Enron Corporation; American energy corporation
            –Lied to stockholders, and held out information
 that the company was going bankrupt
 
Corruption in Business
•Adelphia Corporation; Communications company
– Charged with conspiracy, bank fraud, and hiding $2.3 billion in debt at the cable company
•September 2008 survey on corruption conducted by Miller & Chevalier Chartered,
 
–“Business people operating in the U.S. are not    
    significantly concerned on a day-to-day basis about
    corruption affecting their businesses, perhaps as a
    result of robust U.S. enforcement.”
 
Interview with Classmates:
What are the causes of social hostility?
People wanting things
 
How can inequality and distribution of recourses lead to social hostility in a society?
People get mad when other people have more than them.  In this day and age, people cannot worry about themselves; they always have to keep an eye out for other people.
 
How can honesty be the solution to most problems?
Honesty is the solution to most problems if only people would tell you what you really think and what you feel then you as the recipient of that honesty can decide, I don’t want to deal with that person or associate myself with that person.
 
Do you think that major social problems can be solved without revolution or violence?
Yes social problems can be solved without revolution or violence however in today’s world it is almost impossible to get around issues this way.