Less Violence! I remember one of our key topics in teaching English was on violence. I would ask my crowd of students every year anewly if they thought that violent videos games generally made people become more violent, and the overwhelmingly unanimous answer was Yes. I came here and was pretty surprised to encounter a rather non- chalant way among young folks of dealing rather naturally with stunningly brutal and quite drastically graphic video war games. I even stumbled across a couple of national surveys claiming that there was no connection whatsoever between violence displayed and conveyed by means of such war games and an increasingly high inclination as far as violent behavior among teenagers and adults. Really? Get alive people! Why is it then that here of all the countries there are far more violent incidents on a daily base than anywhere else? Just last night the news reported about a white naked man somewhere nearby Miami, Florida biting chunks out of another white male's face! Don't tell me things like these happen because they just occur naturally! I recall someone saying on TV that he couldn't possibly tell the difference anymore between those so scaringly realistically designed war games and real battle scenes. That guy had served in Afghanistan twice. I also remember another documentary in which students were interviewed about their video watching and gaming habits. One kid said that he loved those games where he could shoot off people's heads because that way he could rid himself of his aggressions. He also said that he was wondering if shooting someone for real was that easy! Another teenager bragged about holding the record in shooting all his enemies in the game thinking of all the teachers he couldn't stand. Well, HELLO! So, if watching violence on TV and playing violent video and PC games does not influence and mould young people, why do kids and teenagers here create school massacres like nowhere else? I really don't care what those supposedly valid surveys claim. Instead I rely on having asked many young people throughout quite a number of years as well as on what reality in fact proves to be. Take all that violence filled garbage off the shelves, and keep it out of kids' reach at least until they are old enough to handle fictitious violence.
College or no college - That's the question Now the time is here again for high school graduates to venture off to college and university. I still, to this day, remember being thrilled and overly excited to start as a fresh(wo)man in a new place where studying would go hand in glove with partying for the next few years. I love to see every one's kids swarm out and flock together in college districts and on student campus terrains. Most teenagers get accepted somewhere even though often at second or third choice sites, but they will all have to face one and the same question which is, at what price? Unless you are granted a scholarship, three years and plus of college education costs you an arm and a leg, and if you keep going for more profound specialization, you will be in debts up your neck by the time you have got your PhD. Then what? Go and spit out job applications like a ball machine hoping that someone is going to hire you - unless of course you were lucky eno...
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