Traffic Problems in Baton Rouge 5:30 traffic in Baton Rouge could easily be defined as the time in which no one wants to get in their car and go anywhere regardless of urgency. Baton Rouge, Louisiana is notoriously known for their inefficient traffic systems. Why is that? With a population rank of 67th in the United States, Baton Rouge’s ranking of 33rd in the nation for worst traffic congestion has definitely impacted the community’s identity (Means, Reveille). Money, or lack thereof, plays a huge role in what could be called Baton Rouge’s traffic crisis. Unless you have the funds to update your infrastructure, people re going to be stuck in traffic,” said Mark Lambert, communications director with Louisianan Department of Transportation and Development. “Our infrastructure is terribly behind the needs in Louisiana All of it comes down too matter of money (Means, Reveille). ” The government’s perspective on the matter of money is that they simply aren’t being allotted enough towards specifically solving the congestion problems of Baton Rouge. For every gallon of gasoline purchased, Louisiana gets $0. 16 for infrastructure improvement (Means, Reveille).
Money is definitely at the root of the problem, however there are many other contributing actors. Due to how far behind Baton Rouge is in congestion problems, society obviously believes that more money needs to be funneled in that direction. The society thinks that the Baton Rouge roads need to be revamped. Shouldn’t the society tax dollars go towards the society road systems? Nobody wants to live in a city with such a negative stigma regarding the traffic system because like it or not, roads are essential to everyday life in Baton Rouge. Baton Rouge is not a super bike-friendly city; there are no subways or trolleys.
The main mode of transportation is by car. A popular belief amongst the community is that the raffia system deserves more focus, monetarily and otherwise. With that being said, there are several instances of attempted improvement throughout Baton Rouge roads. There are road construction projects located throughout the greater Baton Rouge area ranging from Miller-vile Road to Government Street and even beyond. Road construction is a plus, but with every pro comes a con. Road construction means even more congestion. Even more congestion means an upset community and a prolonging of the negative community identity consumed by congestion.
Another very important factor in Baton Rouge’s terrible traffic system is the lack f efficiency. One reason traffic is consistently terrible is because of the layout of the roads. Baton Rouge government attributes some of the bad traffic to people abusing the “lesser used routes. ” “Whenever you make an improvement and traffic starts to move better People recognize that, and it attracts more traffic to that particular location,” Wilson said (Gait 106). Baton Rouge traffic systems are simply not efficient, and there are legitimate national rankings that prove that statement.
Six Baton Rouge traffic bottlenecks, or points of traffic congestion, were ranked in the 1,000 worst bottlenecks nationwide, according o the Scorecard. The intersection of 1-12 eastbound and Melville Road is ranked 41st among the 1,000 worst traffic bottlenecks. The intersections of 1-12 eastbound and O’Neal Lane, 1-10 eastbound and 1-110, 1-10 westbound and Bluebonnet Road, 1-12 eastbound and South Sherwood Forest Blvd, and I-110 southbound and Government Street are also among the Baton Rouge bottlenecks ranked among the nation’s 1 ,OHO worst bottlenecks (Means, Reveille).
That in itself is a large portion of the reason as to why the traffic system of Baton Rouge is so bad. The roads are not efficient, poorly constructed, and they affect more than meets the eye. Baton Rouge’s dreadful traffic system is affecting people’s everyday lives (Believe 338). Here in Baton Rouge people have to base where they live off of how congested roads are. There are certain parts of town, like LULUS, that people would rather avoid. Congestion is also very unpredictable. One day it could take ten minutes to get from Highland to Singe and the next day it could take forty- five minutes. One never knows.
The government says to take different routes to avoid congestion, but why should the society have to cater to that? Why should the society have to take the longer routes to work to avoid the congestion? Society thinks they should not have to pay for the state’s lack of efficient road systems. With inefficient road systems, Baton Rouge endures several problems. Noise pollution is a major public health problem in developing countries as well. It is caused mainly by road traffic (Kenney 1338). As simple as it sounds, the noise of traffic really does play a pretty significant role in people of the community s decision making.
In places of high congestion, there is more likely to be yelling, screeching, and blaring of the horn. Not many people want to be surrounded by such noise. Urban noise is an important environmental stresses, and sleep disturbance is its major health effect (Available 341). ” It’s not pleasant and makes for bad moods and sleep. Those who live around urban noise pollution claim they do not sleep well, and a majority of them are prescribed sleep aids due to the fact that natural sleep does not work for them.
Bad traffic systems yield many negative results in a community, giving yet another reason that traffic systems need to be altered in Baton Rouge. Another aspect of everyday lives that poor traffic systems have an effect on is simply the mood of the people of the community. With so much traffic and congestion in Baton Rouge, it makes places like work and school that much harder to get to. Regardless of who you are, if you are stuck in traffic for forty-five minutes on your supposed-to-be fifteen-minute way to work, you are going to be a little flustered.
Something that comes along with a bad mood is usually stress. Stress can be, and usually is, a result of traffic congestion. The mood one is in and stress level is a direct effect on one’s productivity, greatly hindering the community of Baton Rouge. As well as mood and noise, the bad traffic systems of Baton Rouge also have an effect on the amount of accidents that occur. It is said that more accidents occur in slow moving traffic (A. P. 604). That includes bumper-to-bumper traffic. With more congestion come more traffic-related accidents. With more congestion also comes more road rage.
Road rage is a huge factor of traffic accidents. When someone has been sitting in traffic for hours, his or her stress levels are bound to be high. When someone’s stress levels are so high, they are bound to do something irrational, leading to car accidents (Donovan 386). Road rage is very common and very dangerous, and yet another example of how road congestion is harmful. Baton Rouge has terrible traffic systems. The government attributes it to certain things and the community attributes it to certain things, some of them being similar but most of them differing.
Both parties agree that money and road efficiency play huge roles, but both disagree about whether or not something can be done concerning both roles. Government says there isn’t enough money to devote specifically towards the traffic system. Society says that, regardless, more money needs to be thrown in the direction of the Baton Rouge traffic systems. It has been proven that the Baton Rouge traffic system affects more than just raffia, leading the community to believe that it is important and detrimental enough to be given a higher level of priority.
However, as usual, there is more than just one perspective on this issue, leading to further problems. Both perspectives are reasonable and have validity. One thing that both perspectives agree on is that Baton Rouge traffic systems have negative effects on many things, including, most importantly, the identity of the community, which is starting to greatly affect the identity of the individuals of the community. Works Cited Patrick L. Kinney, et al. “Traffic-Related Particulate Matter And Acute Respiratory Symptoms Among New York City Area Adolescents. Environmental Health Perspectives 118. 9 (201 0): 1338-1343. Academic Search Complete. Web. 2 Novo. 2011. STATIC, Elijah, Groan BELIEVE, and Suzann IMMUNOLOGIC. “Effects Of Traffic Noise On Sleep In An Urban Population. ” Archives Of Industrial Hygiene & Toxicology / Arrive AZ Hygiene Radar I Toxicologist 60. 3 (2009): 335-342. Academic Search Complete. Web. 1 Novo. 2011. Taylor, Michael A. P. “Critical Transport Infrastructure In Urban Areas: Impacts Of Traffic Incidents Assessed Using Accessibility-Based Network Vulnerability Analysis. Growth & Change 39. 4 (2008): 593-616. Academic Search Complete. Web. 2 Novo. 2011. Anita, A. , A. Sofia, and C. Gait. “Online Web Service Based Solution For Urban Traffic Management. ” World Academy Of Science, Engineering & Technology 66. (2010): 105-110. Academic Search Complete. Web. 1 Novo. 2011. John E. Donovan, et al. “Road Rage And Collision Involvement. ” American Journal Of Health Behavior 31. 4 (2007): 384-391. Academic Search Complete. Web. 2 Novo. 2011. Means, Lindsey. “Baton Rouge traffic problems worsen. ” The Daily Reveille (2011). Novo. 2011. Video Games Effect in the Environment One thing children all over the world of all ages and even some adults enjoy ongoing is playing video games. Over the past 30 years there have been different variations and models of gaming systems that have improved over time. Some examples of the different games is the first Nintendo , the Saga Dream Cast , the first Plantation , the Plantation 2 , the Plantation 3 , the first Oxbow , and the Oxbow 360. All these different gaming systems have similar functions , but also differ in numerous ways.
There have been arguments in the past and now talking about how video games affect a person’s life in the future. Some people believe that video games benefit today’s environment and society, but others disagree hat video games need to be contained better. My plan in this essay is to explain and answer any questions that people have about how Video games affect our environment. To start out, the history and origin of video games and game systems is very interesting. To be honest, William Highlighting created the first video game ever in 1958 (Bellies).
In 1967, Ralph Bare wrote the first video game played on a television set, a game called Chase. Ralph Bare was then part of Sanders Associates, a military electronics firm. Ralph Bare first conceived of his idea in 1951 while working for Loran, a television company (Bellies). Not many people knew that video games were capable of being out back then but it was possible. I know that with not as much technology as possible back in the day that we have now, it was difficult I bet to make all these video games and consoles.
Somehow these men were able to put something together which inspired present creators and makers to get where we are today. In 1972, the first commercial video game console that could be played in the home, the Odyssey was released by Managing and designed by Ralph Bare. The game machine was originally designed while Ralph Bare was still at Sanders Associates in 1966, Bare managed o gain his legal rights to the machine after Sanders Associates rejected it. The Odyssey came programmed with twelve games (Bellies). The idea that video games were so amazing to society was not that big when it first was invented.
Not many people had televisions in their house hold or they could not afford the video games that were created. Comparing the past to the present, the video game to house hold ratio has increased tremendously. To be honest, there have been many arguments about video games, but the purpose of the creators of video games and video game consoles at first was to bring entertainment to people just like movies. Now in today’s society, video games are taken to the extreme and are viewed as extreme fun. Though it is viewed as a distraction, video games are played throughout the world.
Actually there are many contests worldwide that many people take seriously. Playing video games is actually considered a sport to some people. The term of people that take up playing video games as a profession is gamers. Video games are so popular now that companies and franchises sponsor top gamers all throughout the world. According to people worldwide, video games have become more than a fad; t has become a part of some people’s life. Parents and teachers worry about games having negative effects on children and a great deal has been written about games leading to violent behavior and addiction (Radon).
For some children that is not the case though. Video games actually bring some positive influences and advantages to the environment. Actually researchers have come to a conclusion that playing video games actually distracts the mind of children who are ill or injured from pain and discomfort (Radon). Many have also said that playing these different video games can somehow develop certain social skills. That may be hard to believe but it is somewhat true. Video and computer games help children gain self-confidence and many games are based on history, city building, and governance and so on.
Such games indirectly teach children about aspects of life on earth (Devalue). I am not saying that people worldwide should play video games all day but I do believe that people should sometimes include trying to play video games once in their life. Scientists have once again tried to hurl this type of notion through a new study. Main thing, which crept out of this study states that video games may play a significant role in fulfilling several psychological needs of human, which ultimately carve out way for better mental health (Agnostic).
On the other hand, video games also have a negative effect or many disadvantages on or in the environment. Although video games can be very enjoyable, some parents agree that video games take away from a child’s life in away. One major problem that parents complain about is the child’s ability to focus on school work or other important activities outside of playing video games. Some scientists argue that video games build a child’s social skills, but some researchers argue that staying glued and involved in playing video games crease a person’s social skills. It actually is a proven fact.
A controversial new research has proved that excessive playing of games can actually stunt the growth of a human brain (Rufus). To be honest, in my opinion, the effect video games have on a person’s life and social skills depend on the person and how he or she reacts. One major disadvantage about video games that is a major government question and concern for people is the consistent violence that the gaming companies produce. In the past violent video games was not that effective on the human mind as it is now. Video games in today’s environment eve influence certain people to commit or perform horrible crimes or violence.
In the last several years the television debate has been extended to video games, many of which involve aggression. Because the popularity of video games is relatively recent, only limited research has been conducted on its effects. However, several articles have recently reported that video games may have negative effects on children’s aggression and desensitizing to violence (education. Com). Games such as : Grand Theft Auto, Saints Row 1 and 2, Halo, Call of duty, etc. All these games have actually influence certain people to actually reform some of the events that are on the games.
There are many video games in the world that actually deal a lot of with guns and other weapons that are used in the real world to commit homicides and other violent crimes. The government actually tried to prevent some of these games from being shipped out to manufacturers, but they did not have enough action to perform this mainly because of a law congress made about creating certain things based on freedom. Quoting the erectile, “Are Violent Video Games Corrupting Children? Supreme Court Says States Cannot Decide. ” “The U. S.
Supreme Court’s 7-2 ruling Monday hat California cannot regulate the sale or rental of violent video games to minors is the latest chapter in the long-simmering debate over the impact of aggression in the virtual world on children’s behavior in the real world. The high court’s ruling is based on law and politics; it noted that states don’t have the right to restrict children’s First Amendment rights. Still, the science to date suggests that violent video games do negatively affect the behavior of children. ” (Greenbrier) One thing researchers also notice about video games and how it effects the environment are health issues.
Some researchers and scientists have discussed how sitting around and playing video games lead to obesity. Actually parents are very concerned with this problem because in some cases this is true. Before video games were really on the market as a popular attraction, children use to play outside and do fun activities to stay in shape and exercise their muscles. Now a days, children are sitting down relaxing their muscles playing these video games and not burning any energy and the fat on them is building up and causes weight gain. This is a constant problem that is trying to be fixed to better the elate of the United States of America.
Video games as noticed, have pros and cons to them , but they were mostly created for entertainment and fun. Parents need to keep track of how much time their children spend in front of the screen playing games and also as to what type of games they play. Every aspect has its advantages and disadvantages; so is the law of nature. What we can do is trying to maintain a balance and get the best of what it has to offer, be it nature or technology (Rufus). The creation, purpose, and the present concerns of video games is very interesting and important topic to talk about.
It also has a lot to offer to the reader who wants to know more about video games. It benefits the environment, but it also has it downfalls when it comes to some people. Society just has to know how to function with video games in the world. Rufus, Vinci. “Computer and Video Games: The Pros and Cons”. Puzzle. Com. N. D. Internet (2010) Greenbrier, Larry. “Are Violent Video Games Corrupting Children? Supreme Court Says States Cannot Decide”. Scientific American (2011) Agnostic, Unapt. “Playing video game has advantages but… ” Deathly. Com. N. D. Internet (2007) Devalue, Lisa. “Video Game Addiction–Really? “.
Selflessly. Mom. N. D. Internet (2011) Radon, Timothy. “10 Benefits of Video Games”. Selflessly. Com. N. D. Internet (2011) Bellies, Mary. “Computer and Video Game History’. About. Com Inventors n. D. Internet The Future of Education in America Nearly thirty years ago, securing a job in the United States without a college degree was fairly possible and relatively common. Today, high schools graduates are well aware of the importance of higher education. Sometimes even a college diploma is not enough; with one of the worse economies in the history of this country, the United States can only afford to hire the essential.
With such imitations, the mediocre students have been ignored while the nation’s smartest have been given opportunity. Milton Chem. sums it up, “From national defense to environmental defense, from national security to economic security, every major issue of our day depends on our capacity to educate our citizenry to a much higher level than generations past. Every nation is only as good as its educational system” (Chem. 2). The future of our nation depends on our ability to recognize problems in public education such as: teacher unions, funding, poverty, testing processes, compulsory-attendance laws and a lack of accountability.
From there s depends on our capacity to arrive at a solution focusing on the teacher, the unions, standardized-testing, attendance laws, the nation or maybe even a combination. The problem is simple. Quality public education is becoming widely inaccessible as the American public educational system rapidly declines to 18th among twenty-three industrialized nations (Chem. 2). Teachers unions, particularly the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers, are the most organized and powerful voices in education politics (Sahara 19).
These unions continue to block reforms needed to improve our nation’s schools by outing their focus on teachers rather than on the students. They shelter the lazy and incompetent and at the same time discourage and beat down the eager and hard working (Goldstein 570). In turn unions blame funding. Funding for public education comes from the three levels of government?local, state and federal. Roughly half comes from the local government while, 44% comes from the state and 10% of funding is federal (“School Finance”).
Public education funding is being cut in light of tough economic times. A lack of money is the underlying factor that causes classrooms to overflow and deprives dents and teachers of textbooks, facilities, counseling and other forms of support. To make matters worse, funding cuts hit low-income schools the hardest. Unfortunately public education does not ensure every student the same opportunity. Students whose families suffer from unemployment, homelessness, malnutrition, crime and other problems tend to be negatively impacted in their ability to perform in the classroom.
A child in a needy neighborhood faces obstacles that not even a qualified teacher can help fix. Another problem is that such large pressure is being placed on standardized testing scores. For students t is a measurement of how they rank among their peers and for teachers it is an assessment of the ability as a teacher. With so much riding on test scores, teachers have lost sight of teaching the students basics such as reading and writing. So much that, “Of 50 students behind in reading in first grade, 44 will still be behind in 4th grade” (Chem. 2). Not only do teachers recognize this, but students do too.
At such a pivotal point in life, their self-confidence diminishes and when a child does not believe in him or herself motivation quickly fades. This brings up another problem. Present mandatory-attendance laws force kids o attend school who have no desire to be there. Such children have such little desire to learn that neither they nor more highly motivated students receive the quality education they deserve. So who’s to blame? It is hard to say who is to blame because each individual school has its specific problems; however, all failing schools lack accountability (Department of DE).
Accountability is the responsibility that goes with the authority to do something. The responsibility is to use authority justifiably and credibly (Hemi). It is the responsibility of education officials to monitor the use of program funds just as he principal is to provide the classroom for the teacher, who maintains student’s grades, progress and attendance. It is the legislatures duty to provide books, residents to pay taxes, parents to enroll their children and even students to take responsibility for their actions (Hemi). This kind of accountability describes an ideal situation.
Public education continues with flawed accountability, but a quality education requires that each person take accountability for his or her role in educating the youth. The solution is not so simple because no one person, school, thing or organization is to blame. A combination of obstacles has created a variety of solutions. One solution favored by the notable Michelle Rhea puts emphasis on the role of the teacher. She suggests a need for outstanding leadership in and out the classroom, strict accountability and effective teaching (Whiter 1).
Essentially, student success is dependent on the teacher. “Great teachers are in total control. They have clear expectations and rules, and they are consistent with rewards and punishments” (Ripley). It is simple?a teacher either leads the class through effective teaching methods and a determination to see very student succeed or a teacher doesn’t. “The child with the effective teacher, the kind who ranks among the top 15% of all teachers, will be scoring well above grade level on standardized tests by the time he or she is 1 1 .
The other child will be a year and a half below grade level–and by then it will take a teacher who works with the child after school and on weekends to undo the compounded damage. In other words, the child will probably never catch up” (Ripley). Unfortunately the majority of teachers currently in the public school system are not effective educators. The only way to change this is to fire the worst and hire the best. Maintaining teacher motivation is essential. A system of a merit-based salary creates an environment where the teacher is rewarded for his or her success.
Regardless of whether a teacher is good or bad, teacher unions are enabling the bad and discouraging the good. Another solution is to completely “disintegrate or restructure the teacher’s union so schools can remove unqualified teachers” (Font). Teacher unions focus too much on the rights of the teacher that they completely forget about the right every American has to a quality education. Those in support all agree that only once the union is gone, or reformed can students come first rather than the teacher’s invincible job security (Pong).
The idea of teacher unions is not the problem; the problem is trying to rid schools of ineffective, unionized teachers. “Job protection for unionized teachers is strong and the process for firing bad teachers is so drawn out and costly that most districts can’t afford it” (Walden). In turn, a school with an unacceptable teacher is less likely to do anything about it. The power teacher unions hold over schools cripple them from making much deeded reform. Destruction or restructure of current teach unions is essential for better schools. Destroying teacher unions would get rid of such problems.
A happy medium is possible by restructuring unions. This means giving school officials a louder voice over teacher unions so the well being of students is always the top priority. The push to look good on paper is the reality for many struggling schools across the nation. One of the greatest indicators of failing public schools is a decline in standardized testing scores. The use of these tests as assessment tools is killing innovative teaching and curricula and driving out good teachers because these tests are not accurate measurements of student success (Sahara 21). For students, it is a measure of test-taking abilities.
Bad test takers are being held back and losing morale. Mackey Vandenberg, a leader of Parents Across Virginia United to Reform SOL added, “Testing season is upon us and a lot of kids are so nervous they’re throwing up” (Sahara 21). These tests are becoming major stresses for kids in public education who know their future depends on their score. Consequently, in many schools the spring semester is completely devoted o test- preparation. This pressure to perform well on tests is causing teachers to neglect students failing to execute the basics such as reading, writing, adding, etc. Schools need to remember to teach life skills, not how to pass a subjective standardized test” (Font). The solution is to rid schools of such unimportant tests. Public education needs to remember its purpose: prepare students to be citizens, teach cultural literacy, help students become critical thinkers and prepare students for the workplace (“SCHOOL”). On the other hand, it is fair to say that schools without evaluation tools have no way of knowing whether dents are learning. Another solution is to change the tests so that less preparation is required.
Students should be effectively learning everything on the test throughout a school year and should have no problem successfully passing a test. This would shed light on the actual problems underlying a specific teacher, student or even school. Even with a great school system, a student is highly unlikely to be successful if school attendance is not important to a child. There is only so much a teacher can do to make a student want to be at school. If the child has no interest or no titivation to be in school, it is likely that poor academic performance will follow.
This solution suggests that compulsory-attendance laws be abolished. This rather drastic idea contradicts laws requiring every child to attend school up to the twelfth-grade; however, it ensures the likelihood that no education goes to waste. Public schooling turns into a serious place where students go to learn creating an environment free of pollutants to the educational atmosphere (Sipper). Another perk is that funding spent on enforcing attendance could create more technologically advanced schools. Over time, learning translates into a costive entity in society.
With so many solutions, it is possible that problems rooted in public education cannot be fixed by a single solution. Education writer, Peter Sahara believes public education can be fixed with, “two related objectives: more-stringent academic standards and increasingly rigorous accountability for both students and schools” (19). Testing scores across the country are preventing high school seniors from graduation and/ or college. Going against many of the other stated solutions, he thinks lowering the bar for standardized tests is allowing students and teachers to neglect what students are missing.
In turn they continue to fall behind and are robbed of their education. His often-lucid ideas reported show no sign of success just uncertainty about the issue. Although some believe public education can simply be fixed, other fear it is too far-gone. Public education needs a transformation. Moving toward an education nation, where the education of children and adults is the highest priority. Where people thirst for knowledge and really want to learn. Where learning never stops (Chem. 2). With education suffering such drastic declines, it is imperative that the American people change the way they think.
This solution requires that we put “the edge in education” (2). This means the creation of a sense that learning and teaching are exciting, contemporary and cool. The future of America’s survival, advancement and happiness depend on its ability to be on the “cutting edge of society, technology and culture rather than trailing other sectors” (2). In all reality creating an education nation is extremely difficult. Trying to change the way the majority of people think is somewhat an impossible task. The solution is attainable when parents raise their children in a stimulating environment from earth to five years old. IEEE brain grows at a fast rate. At 5 years old, 90% of the brain is finished growing” (Education nation). This means that the more stimulation of a child’s brain the greater chance the child is to be a lifelong learner. A society of lifelong learners is one not even the toughest of times can destroy. In a time of uncertainty for public education, a multitude of solutions has given rise to hope for a better future in America. The answer of focusing in on the teacher means making sure public schools are equipped with the very best educators and nothing less.
