Texas and Syrian Refugees

In her recent Tx a State of Mind blog post “Denial,” Rachel Doan discusses the recent Paris attacks and how Greg Abbot plans to deny Syrian refugees entrance into Texas. The author believes that Texas should grant asylum to Syrian Refugees. Without a doubt, I agree with Doan’s thoughts on allowing Syrians refuges into America.

The most powerful logical argument Doan makes is comparing Syrian Refugees with Vietnamese Refugees. She notes that in the Vietnam War, America welcomed thousands of Vietnamese refugees without believing that any of them would take revenge in America. She compares how in present day society, Americans cannot stand the idea of having a potential terrorist within the Syrian Refugees. People who oppose taking refugees in do not understand the feeling of fleeing their homes because of terror and are trying to find safe haven. I am fully aware of this because my parents were actually Vietnamese Refugees. They had no intent to wreak havoc across America and neither did the other thousands of Vietnamese refugees that made the journey to America. In my perspective, Doan’s logic appeals to me because I can relate to the struggles that these Syrian refugees have.

Doan’s intended audience is to reach out to those who want to deny Syrians asylum. Her second argument raises awareness on how self-centered Americans have been since the Paris attacks. Phrases such as “we locked our door at night to protect the people inside, but not from the foreigners that try to escape the ruined of their country” or “They only want to find peace after suffering from so much” are meant to guilt the intended audience. Guilt is an effective emotional appeal because Doan makes her audience empathizes the hardships the Syrian Refugees experienced while these people escaped their war torn homes.

Altogether, Doan’s logical appeal and emotional appeal made an effective and credible argument to oppose Greg Abbot’s intentions of denying asylum to Syrian Refuges.  

Pay The Teachers!

Teachers and professors are an essential part of our educated society because they are our mentors, counselors, and motivators. But as of 2015, Texas still struggles to hire enough school teachers to accommodate the growing K-12 population. Just North of Austin, Kxan reports that the Round Rock Independent School District held “several vacancies” due to teacher shortages. Teachers in Texas are leaving because they are being underpaid and under appreciated for their work. I believe in order to improve Texas education, the Texas Government needs to increase teacher’s wages.

Texas Teachers, compared with the other states, are significantly underpaid. According to the Austin Culture Map, “Texas Teachers receive an annual salary of $48,110, well below the national average of $56,383.” The difference in salary is one the reason why many Texas school teachers are unsatisfied with their overall job. Dissatisfaction within a teacher’s job can lead to poor performance, and therefore affect Texas students’ performance in academic work. By increasing teachers’ annual salaries, the government can improve the satisfactory rates within teachers, and thus improving the academic performance of Texas students.

An Increased salary would provide teachers incentives to work harder and provide quality work. In an article by Nea Today, an international study concluded that higher salaries correlated to higher teacher quality. In the article, school programs in nations such as Switzerland, Netherlands, and South Korea have higher paid educators. It is no wonder The Huffington post considered South Korea as one of the best places for education in the world. With more at stake, teachers will continue to work hard to keep their fairly paid jobs. A higher paying salary would increase competitiveness within the teaching community, and therefore promote higher teacher quality.

People who oppose raising teacher salary argue that teachers do not work as hard as other professions. In terms of hours, people argue that teachers only work seven hours a day, within a nine month period. In reality, teachers constantly work outside of school in order to prepare lesson plans, grade papers, and manage multiple of student’s individual demands. In the summer, teachers take on second jobs at summer schools or continue to take classes to renew knowledge and teaching certifications. Altogether, the total hours a teacher spends to complete all these task accumulate up to 60 hours per week. 

The pay gap between teachers and other professions are growing. A study conducted by the National Education Association indicated that, “annual pay for teachers has fallen sharply over the past 60 years in relation to the annual pay of other workers with college degrees.” Teachers deserve a fair pay based on their work. Consequently, Texans prefer not to pay these teachers because of additional taxes they will have to pay. But if extra taxes benefits our teachers and future generation, then it will be worth the investment. Texas education will not automatically improve by paying teachers more, but it is the right step in forming a better education system. 

Thoughts on Capital Punishment

On November 1, 2015 The Gerrymandering Blues blogged “Capital Punishment: A Burden to All Texans,” to depict and oppose Texas’s capital punishment law. Throughout her whole post, Sarah does an excellent job persuading her readers why Texas should stop capital punishment.

Sarah’s introduction provides a powerful statement that proclaims the theme of progression and change. The author stated, “Societies change over time and government must change its policies also, in order to reflect the will of the people,” to implement the idea that Texas needs to continue improving and updating its laws and practices. Sarah’s arguments thematically support the idea that capital punishment is an issue, and therefore requires change to make it a solution. Altogether, Sarah does a great job at continuously reminding her audience of the theme of progression and change and how Texans can change capital punishment for good.

The author uses multiple credible sources to make her argument reasonable and just. For example, the author uses information from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to explain the frequency of Texas capital punishment, and information from the Dallas Morning News to highlight the outrageous amount of tax dollars used to terminate people under capital punishment. Sarah’s arguments are also reasonable. The author identification of the cost of killing a criminal and how she proposes that those tax dollars could be distributed to funding other “beneficial programs” is a valid argument against capital punishment. The author’s efforts to propose alternative uses of capital punishment funds shows her commitment to solving social and economic issues facing Texas.

In conclusion, Sarah’s blog has definitely appealed to me and influenced my support on ending capital punishment once and for all. 

The University of Texas packed with guns?

Starting in August 2016, Texas legislation is allowing students and faculty to carry concealed firearms within the campus boundaries of the University of Texas at Austin. There have been several campus shootings in the past decade and the real question is if allowing multiple people to carry firearms around school campuses is the correct approach to handling the threat of an armed criminal? I believe that the Texas government should not allow people any form of firearms in campus.

First off, allowing licensed gun carriers on campus would change the atmosphere of the classrooms. Professors and students who are aware that one of their peers had a concealed firearm would psychologically fear that the gun wielders poses more power than them. As stated in The New York Times, “professors would fear inviting students into their offices to talk about a failing grade if they think that students are armed.”  The idea that at any moment even student could pull out their weapon and threaten others who are unarmed should not be the situation the University of Texas should deal with. The implementation of guns is meant to make everybody feel safe but instead, these concealed firearms allow fear to strike others.  

Texas government should commit more resources and funds to increase security measures and law enforcements. Security measures such as increased cameras, telecoms, and metal detection in campus buildings allows potential threats to be detected and dealt with quickly. By increasing the amount of police patrol within the University of Texas campus, more professional forces would be used to combat attackers. Law enforces are apt and highly trained to deal with shooting incidents and therefore work cooperatively and limit the amount of casualties within a shooting.

The second amendment ensures that Texans will continuously have their gun rights. But times have changed since the America Revolution. Mass school shootings were nonexistent in the 18^th century. Is it right to completely abide to a law that was created centuries ago that was based on the American founding father’s conflicts? Times have changed, similarly Texas should change their thoughts on approving gun control within the University of Texas. 

Are fantasy sport websites corrupt?

On October 16, 2015 The Dallas Morning News posted the article, “Of course daily fantasy sports is gambling,” by Mike Drago. The blog highlights the business and corruption of unregulated fantasy sports websites, websites where people can gamble daily on their favorite teams in hopes to score big bucks. The author uses logos and references multiple sources throughout his blog to actively inform his audience about this online monopoly.

Mike Drago wrote this blog mainly to inform sports enthusiast and the general public about a growing business that is essentially immune to government laws. The author uses the appeal of logos to inform his readers what fantasy sports gambling is. Once readers understand how these gambling sites operate, Drago explains how effective lobbying from major sports associations has exempted fantasy sports from online gaming regulation laws. Being a student who’s in Texas Government, I was surprised to see a real life instance of lobbying and how influential these lobbyist were in legislation. From the general public’s point of view, this lobbyist influence would be threatening because there is nothing that can inhibit these online websites from taking money from others. Drago does a good job at highlighting the threat these fantasy sports websites have on politics.

The author uses embedded links to other sources to help build credibility in his argument. The author uses information from outside sources such as The New York Times, BostInno, and ESPN to show that his opinions and research are not based on his own thoughts. What’s worth noting is that all these sources appeal mainly to the general audience also. The author uses these references to explain scandals, politics, and investigations revolving around fantasy sports. By providing evidence from other sources, Mike Drago shows that his ideas are trust worthy and factual.

 Mike Drago is an assistant editorial page editor for the Dallas Morning News. Before becoming a part of the Dallas Morning News, Mike was the vice president of a marketing and public relations firm and also worked as a reporter and editor for 22 years. Much of Mike Drago’s blogs and editorial talk about business and public relations. With that being said, “Of course daily fantasy sports is gambling” shows to be an honest and truthful blog about recent American public relations. Overall I agree with Mike Drago’s ideas and anticipate any other public relations opinion he will post in the future. 


(A picture of a FanDuel advertisement and how this fantasy sports website tries to appeal to people.)

Is It Time For Gun Regulation?

On October 4, 2015 The Dallas Morning News posted an article called, “Why do we keep allowing crazy people to have guns?” In his discussion about the current state of gun control, Tod Robberson addresses the issue politicians have in decisively approving any gun regulations. Throughout the whole article, Tod Robberson shows liberal political views because he seeks to find equality and peace through gun regulations and inhibitions. Because of his views, Robberson’s article appeals mainly to other liberals and gun control supporters.
The author uses a combination pathos and logos appeal to persuade his intended audience. Pathos is used in the introduction of Tod Robberson’s article in order to guide readers to sympathize for mass shootings. This article was strategically posted to follow up the recent Umpqua Community College shooting to effectively support gun control. Politicians have been debating gun control over the past few years, and because this shooting took place, gun control advocates can use the Oregon shooting event and the author’s thoughts as leverage to debate over the government’s inability to control gun violence. After appealing to his audience in human and sympathetic terms, the author uses logos to effectively persuade the readers. Facts, diagrams, and maps are used in the article to highlight how the United States conservative view on guns is correlated to the highest homicide rates by firearms compared to other nations. All data obtained by Robberson is from valid and credible sources which ensure readers that Tod Robberson discussions may speak some truth. Overall, as a person who believes in freedom to possess guns, Robberson’s appeals made me understand and support tweaks in gun regulation.
Looking over other articles post by Tod Robberson, the author is shown to be a person who effectively gather facts and develops his ideas to persuade his audience. As an editorial writer for the Dallas Morning News, Tod Robberson is definitely a credible source people can refer to when making political decisions.

(A picture of a map from Mass shooting tracker indicating places in America where mass shootings have taken place in 2015.)

It's all about the education!!

September 14, 2015 The Observer published an article called King's Gambit.

“King’s Gambit,” by Patrick Michels, is a story of one man’s determination to improve the Pharr-San Juan-Alamo (PSJA) independent school district from extreme poverty and high dropout rates by creating a new method of effective public education. In a south Texas community, Daniel King developed early college campuses that allowed every student to obtain up to sixty college credit hours before they obtain their high school diploma. Daniel King created an education system that was universally available to all PSJA schools even if they could not afford higher education courses. Through King’s efforts, students now have a better chance at obtaining higher education careers without student debt. Lawmakers in Austin praise King’s education system and are trying to implement the early college campus system across the state of Texas. This article is worth reading because support for the lawmakers to expand this education system are going to be needed as the population of Texas continually grows. The majority of which will be Hispanic immigrants crossing the border into South Texas. King's approach to education will be vital to these immigrants as they quickly adapt to America.


(A picture of Superintendent Daniel King discussing new plans for upcoming school year)