That's What's Up! =)

So. Today I gave my persuasive speech!...It honestly wasn't bad at all!!..If I do say so myself...Although I did have some help from my mom so I could get a good grade on it!..lol. But it was worth 500 points althogether!!...that's a lot seeins how we only get about 2000 pts in the whole class!..anyways..I changed the topic of it to The Importance of Parental Review Committees in Public Schools!!!..I will post my outline down below after I finish writing..That way if you want to read it you can..but if u don't want to, u don't have to!!.. =)
Anyways...Next week is Thanksgiving which I am super excited for!!..As I do love to eat!.. But Friday night is our women's choir concert!!...I am looking forward to this very much because a lot of my friends and family are coming to it!..My favorite part would happen to be the song that we are singing in Latin!!!...=) I can sing in Latin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Isn't that so cool!!!!!!
Other than that, not much going on lately.
Ya know, singing, dacning, playing the piano...eating, sleeping, movies, procrastinating homework, and then doing very well under pressure!..pretty much the life of a college student! =) nightey nite!


*************************************************************************************
PERSUASIVE SPEECH


Title: Importance of Parental Review Committees in Public Schools

Proposition of :This is a proposition of Policy because it states an issue, and the solution that should be put into place.

Specific Speech Purpose: To persuade the audience why it is important to have a parental review committee of text books and curriculum in public schools.
Introduction: Imagine as a parent, your child coming home saying that they’ve seen pornography. Not on the street corner or in a store, but rather in one of their classrooms. As a child who went through the public school system, I understand firsthand how difficult it can be to maintain Christian values with opposition of selective school curriculum. Today I challenge you to consider the benefit for a parental review committee of selected classroom materials in public schools.
Transition: These committees are beneficial for not only the child, but the Christian community, and the school district as well.
Body Outline:
I- The children of the schools would benefit from the parental review committee because the curriculum being used would be balanced in what it taught instead of being one-sided.

A- Most public school curriculums involve required reading, where the children do not get to choose what they do and don’t read.
1- According to the website Education Seek, Christian parents prefer sending their kids to private schools because they are almost always in a Christian environment (Christian Schools, Education Seek).
2- The children are able to learn what is needed for life, and handle any situations that are thrown their way.
3- They can continue to grow in their beliefs and further develop their values as Christians.
4- By contrast in the public schools, students are required to complete reading assignments and classroom activities that are selected by a teacher for the entire district.
B- An example of this selection process comes from my life. The summer before my sophomore year, my A.P. English class was assigned a book to read over the break entitled Bless Me Ultima. Being the great, overachieving student I am, I waited till about three weeks before school started to even pick the book up off the floor, let alone start reading it. I got approximately halfway through the book when I began to discover things that I didn’t think I really should be reading. The book was full of witchcraft; not only did it talk about it, but it also gave instructions on how to perform it. I immediately took the book to my parents who, I might add, were infuriated. They then proceeded to take the book to the school board to have it taken off of the required reading list. Long story short, only after about two months, and the backing of approximately 500 parents and people from my church and community did the school board decide to take the book of the list.
Transition: When it comes to their beliefs and values, the Christian community can have a tremendous effect on decisions made within the school district.
II- By involving more Christians, and placing them on the review committee, the Christian community, as a whole, would have more say about what was going on in their local schools.
A- As referenced by their online website, the Technical Journal found that approximately 90% of people surveyed would prefer to have the theory of evolution and the Creation story taught in public school systems (Bergman, "Teaching Creation in Public Schools”).
1-My personal belief goes back to Genesis 1:1 when the Bible states, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Bible, Genesis 1:1).”
2-Although my beliefs are of the Creation story, to keep the balance of the curriculum, as stated before hand, the theory of evolution would also have to be at least explained.
B- According to the Constitutional Conflict Website, the evolution vs. intelligent design case controversy in Dover Pennsylvania of 2005 demonstrates the influence the Christian community can have while in the school district. Originally the school only taught the theory of evolution excluding the Creation Theory. The parents took the issue before the school board and it eventually wound up in the state supreme court resulting in a six week trial (Exploring Constitutional Conflicts, The Evolution controversy). The outcome of the trial stated that the biology teachers of Dover High School in Pennsylvania were required to explain Darwin’s theory along with the definition of a theory (Kitzmiller v. Dover). They were also required to say that “Intelligent Design differs from Darwin’s point of view and is an explanation of the origin of life (Kitzmiller v. Dover).”
Transition: That was a result of the public outcry of the Christian community that kept Christian students within the public school system.
III- The parent review committee recommends curriculum which complements the students families morals and values, which ultimately maintains the student population in the district.
A-Maintaining or increasing the student population within the district preserves revenue within the school district.
1- It the students leave because they aren’t happy with the curriculum the revenue decreases and the local economy and community suffers.
B-When interviewed the chairman of the Johnson O’Malley committee for Vinita Public Schools, in Vinita OK, stated that, “The School District received $160,000 in revenue in 2008 due to a 38% Native American student population(Cheryl Crawford, Vinita School District JOM chariman).”
1- If the Native American population were to decrease, because they were not happy with the school curriculum, the amount of money, received by the school, would decrease as well.
Transition: By installing a parental review committee, the curriculum in the school would be made satisfactory to everyone.
Conclusion: Today you have heard why the parental committee would be beneficial for the students of the public school system, how the committee could have a positive effect on the Christian community and how the parent group would support the school’s district by maintaining the student population. As young men and women of God, in the future, please consider implementing or serving on a parental review committee within your public school district to maintain the beliefs and values that we hold as Christians.