Tom Friedman / World is Flat Answers

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “MIT Milestone Celebration / Keynote Address.” Youtube. January 11, 2008. Web. April 15, 2010. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcE2ufqtzyk.

Friedman, Thomas L. The World is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2007. Print.

Response
There are many things that the American tax dollars could finance and there are many different opinions on the subject. 47/56 people think that the money should be put towards new school, schools are what the future generations need to learn and the only way the can learn is if they can go to school. If there are no schools the future generations will not be able to keep the economy running. On the other hand 8/55 people think that the money should be put towards sports stadiums, this number is so small because these stadiums are nice, but they are not necessary for the future growth of the country. 53/57 people think that tax money should be put to National Parks, which is a great idea because there are so many things we can learn from national parks and state owned facilities. National Parks can teach about nature, how we are affecting nature and what we can do to help change our past mistakes. Many people also think that money should be put towards libraries. 50/57 people think that some tax dollars should be put towards libraries because they are allowing people to learn and read, which helps to make people more knowledgeable. Then there are the 48/56 people who don’t think that the tax dollars should go to bailing out failed corporations because these companies did this to themselves why should our tax dollars help them. Companies should be able to manage their money just like any other small business. There are many business owners who are struggling and these corporations need to learn how to spend wisely.

3)Increased use of Predator Drones- 43.9/14.0- Many Americans feel that if we can replace humans with technology, then it would decrease the amount of casualties caused by war. In addition, by increasing the use of Predator Drones, America will have to further its technology which would result in more educated jobs and will greatly advance our use and invention of future technology. 4)Punishing people for texting while driving- 89.1/10.9- People have noticed the danger in using cell phones while driving, and are trying to change their habits. Although Americans always seem to be in a rush, they realize the dangers and new laws in cities have already proved to lower the rate of automobile accidents. 5)Death penalty in cases of murder- 69.6/26.8- This statistic reveals that many Americans feel that if a person takes a life, then they should have their life taken also. If America would install this this as a law, then the jails would be less crowded and our tax dollars would be lower. Also, the Americans would feel safer knowing that the worse people in their societies are no longer able to escape and potenionally seek more harm on them and their enviroment.

Response
A women's right to birth control consisted of results of 96.5/3.5 its obvious that most people were in favor of a women having the right to birth control to protect herself from pregency. Therefore many people agree that in order to prevent pregency and even abortion in a sense is a logical reason for a women to have access to such a contraseptive. Increased individual checks before boarding airplanes had results of 77.2/15.8. This means many indivduals are still very worried about terrorist attacks on planes due to the incidents of 9/11. Punishing people for texting while driving had results of 89.1/10.9. Due to these results it is evident that many people believe text while operating a motorized vehicle is very dangerous to not only the driver but also bystandards aswell. Therefore people find it extremly dangerous to text while driving because of the increased risk of an accident to occur. The U.S. should legalize anyone who is here illegally had results of 3.6/91.1. This means almost all people would be apposed to allowing illegal citizens citizenship because there could be numerous reasons as to why they should or should not have U.S. citizenship. If the country would just allow citizenship to anyone no one is to say who would be living in our country and taking davantage of all we have to offer. Abortion during the third trimester results were 5.4/89.3. Meaning many people would be opposed to the abortion of a fetus that has matured this far, it would almost be like killing an actual baby because of the length the pregency was let go. Also the mother should have been more responsible to have gotten an abortion earlier in her pregnecy it she would have choosen to.

Response
With the world entering a new type of globalization, many people will be caught off guard. The work force industry will change and the world will see less factory jobs and more creative jobs. Instead of competing for a job in the local town, Americans will be forced to compete for jobs against the rest of the world, such as China, Japan and Great Britain. Although these Americans will have to cope with these changes over time, many of them will not be able to obtain these newly creative jobs due to the lack of education, technology, and ambition. Studies have shown that there is a developing gap between the education of U.S. students and those of China and India. The biggest cause of this gap is the lack of leadership and tough love in America. Many parents today do not want to force a career path on their kids, although at the same time they do not want to push them to become better than the average student, which results in the children not being able to handle the rapid change of job titles throughout the world. They simply lack the knowledge and ambition that China and India are teaching their students to become the new creative thinker of tomorrow. If the United States wants to fix this growing problem, they must install influential leaders that will push students to a new academic standard which will result in an overall higher education. This will allow future children to be better than the rest of the world and allow them to become the leaders of tomorrow. The second biggest problem that the U.S. residents face in the changing world is the lack of technology that the rest of the world has. In today’s world, Japan and China lead in the technology race, and are continuously developing new and affective measures to aid the average person. Because of the lack of technology in the United States, many citizens do not understand how to use the “simple stuff” such as computers and cell phones. This failure of understanding technology causes many people to not realize how important technology is to their everyday lives and results in the slower development of new ideas within the country. If the American population wants to solve this problem, they must first strive to improve the internet system within the country and then continuously educate and train its residents on the ever changing technology. This will allow them to eventually catch up in the technology race and soon lead the world in its new globalized state. Lastly, many Americans simply lack the ambition to become better and are satisfied with having an average, mediocre lifestyle. Although their competitive edge is strong, they are competing for the lower end jobs instead of inventing new ones and setting higher standards. Americans often view these jobs as being impossible to reach and are simply dreams that they could only wish to fulfill. If the United States ever decides to overcome this obstacle, they must teach the new generation to strive for their dreams and to never give up. An average life is no longer acceptable in today’s world and that the only way to survive is to be the best, not only within their country, but in the entire world. Overall it is clear to see that the United States faces many problems in the way its citizens view life, and if they ever want to achieve victory, they must start to teach the new generation of students how to successfully accomplish their dreams. If they fail to do this, the U.S. will slowly continue to slide down the totem pole and become the weakest link in the chain. In the end, it is possible to solve these problems; however they must start today and continue striving for success.