PLN 28

In the article, “Our boys are falling behind in education” by Dottie Lamm, states that boys are falling behind girls academically because of a verbal differences. First, they explained how the girl’s brain is able to become verbally faster. They believe that boys verbal skills don’t grow until fourth of fifth grade. Though these are the average years, a school in Aurora separated kindergarteners into gender classes and the boys were just as successful as the girls, my feeling is that the verbal difference is not the problem but instead things like motivation. It seems, also being in a gender class myself, I have gained motivation to do well for some reason. Then, they say that the world will have a role switch and the women will be in charge based on what is happening in education; however I don’t feel this is true. There are plenty of guys that do well and try hard in school. Boys just need to step up and take education seriously. Obviously, the struggle that guys are said to have can be fixed and just because guys may struggle in school that doesn’t mean that they will fail in life outside of school too.

PLN 27

“DA: Officers who killed two bank robbers justified” by the Denver Post talks about two officers that fired more than a hundred rounds into two bank robbers. Someone did a PLN presentation on this article and I thought it was very interesting. His question for discussion was if these two officers were justified or not, and I believe they are. Their job is to keep themselves and everyone around them safe, no matter what it takes. If these two robbers were dangerous, which they were because they were firing back, then the police did a good thing. Other than the two robbers no one was killed or injured, so the officers did their job and did it well. A point was brought up that the officers weren’t the only ones that were firing; they were being shot at so they fired back. Both officers were hit, one in the leg and one in the arm, so they had to stop these two dangerous robbers. These two officers are justified in their actions because they were only doing their job and did it to the best of their abilities.

PLN 26

"Suspect arrested in iPad theft” by the Denver Post talks about a man that robbed an iPad from a 59 year old man. As he was taking it from him, the skin on the man’s pinky was stripped to the bone so he couldn’t run after the robber. The man had just bought the iPad and was walking out to his car as it was ripped out of hands. Why do people steal? I don’t understand it. There are plenty of other legal ways to get money. Get a job! If you need money fast they talk to someone, take a loan from someone, anything but steal from someone. This man wasn’t doing anything wrong and paid for his merchandise and still was robbed and injured. Bad things happen to good people, this situation is a great example of that. When I buy something I don’t worry about someone stealing it from me but it does happen which is incredibly sad. I wonder how messed up people’s morals are when things like this happen. How deep are you that stealing is the only way out? Sometimes that’s not even why people steal, they steal because they want to, they don’t have the self control to stop themselves.

PLN 25

“New York-to-Denver flight makes emergency landing” by the Denver Post talks about a United Airlines plane that had to make an emergency landing because of the smell of smoke in the cockpit. The plane landed safely and the 140 passengers were all put onto another plane. I wrote about this because it proves that technology isn’t perfect. We talked about the pros and cons to technology all first semester and a lot this semester. Here is one of the cons. Airplane crashes are very rare, but they do happen, and every time they do happen lots of people die. Luckily this plane landed safely. I don’t know what exactly was wrong with the plane, if anything, but they shouldn’t even have to worry about that. This kind of technology, the kind that can kill a hundred people with one mistake, needs to be perfected so that mistakes never happen. I look forward to knowing 100% that there is no chance that the plane I am in will crash. Right now when I get on a plane there is always that little bit of doubt, because there is a chance. It is a tiny percentage but there still is a percentage. Technology like that should be perfect, 100% success rate.

PLN 24

“Baby drowns in bathtub; father held for investigation,” by The Denver Post talks about a father that is under investigation for child abuse resulting in death because he left his 6 month old baby in the bathtub. The child fell of her bath seat and into the water, she never regained consciousness and died a little while later. I don’t know how it is to have your child be killed, but I can’t even imagine the pain that that would cause. This man is going through even more pain than that, he has been given responsibility for the death of his baby. One side of me feels bad for this man, but the other half doesn’t. He made a stupid decision and left a baby all by herself in the bathtub. To me that seems like a no-brainer that you don’t do that. This man will most likely face a class-3 felony for child abuse resulting in death. Babies should never be by themselves, they get themselves into trouble because they don't know any better, especially not in the bathtub. This story is extremely depressing, but hopefully people can learn from this man's mistake and protect their children.

PLN 23

In the article “Cops: Springs man brought baby to cocaine deal,” by the Denver Post it talks about a man that had his 14 year old daughter with him as he was dealing marijuana to an undercover cop. He had marijuana in a pipe while his daughter was with him. First off all, you shouldn’t be doing drugs, but when your daughter is most likely inhaling it as well, which is abuse, that is just awful. This man is making two terrible decisions; dealing and doing drugs, and having your baby with you as you do both those things. What is wrong with people these days? Doing drugs is bad enough, dealing is worse, but then you go ahead and bring your child? What are you thinking? What if they had dealt to an actual person, not a cop? I have so many questions because this just makes absolutely no sense to me. Who is so stupid and messed up in their head to bring a baby to a drug deal? This is just unbelievable to me.

PLN 22

“Hernandez gets 60 years in ice-cream shop crash,” by the Denver Post talks about a 25-year-old man that was convicted for a major crash. An illegal immigrant, Francis Hernandez was sentenced to 60 years in prison for his crashed that killed three people. He was driving as fast as 80mph and hit a car and pushed into a Baskin-Robbins. Both the driver and the passenger in the car died as well as a three-year-old boy in the ice cream shop. Like I said in my last PLN the people that make the mistakes aren’t the ones that pay. A little boy was getting ice cream and was killed by a car that crashed into the store. Out of the four people that were part of this crash, the one who cause it was the only one that survived. He is being disciplined the way he should be, he took three lives away and now 60 years of his life are being taken away. The father of the child believed that this punishment was not enough but I disagree. He did not mean to kill any of those people; he made a mistake and is being severely punished for it. Everyone makes mistakes but people need to be punished for those mistakes and learn.

PLN 21

The article by The Denver Post, “RTD crash leaves one dead, 15 injured” talks about how a RTD bus ran a red light and smashed into a car spinning it then crashed into a another car sending into a steel post at a 7-eleven. 16 people were sent to the hospital including the bus driver; most of them were in serious condition. I get my permit soon and lots of my friends get their license around the same time. I am extremely excited to drive, but there is always that thought of what if that happens to me? The people that usually get hurt the worse don’t cause an accident, they are just victims. They don’t make a mistake that causes an accident and yet that one moment can change their life forever. Accidents happen, that is why they are called accidents, but some very serious accidents can be avoided. Multi-tasking is a great way to get in trouble. It seems like it is no big deal, but focusing on anything but the road for even a split second can get you into an accident.

PLN 20

The article "Tennessee Truck Driver Leaves Path of Destruction in Longmont" by Vanessa Miller at the Denver Post, talks about a man under the influence that drove through a neighborhood and destroyed everything in his path. This man destroyed trees, fences, light poles, multiple cars, and two houses. I thought this was interesting, incredibly sad but interesting. In PLN 19 I wrote about a state trooper that was driving drunk. I thought that what if that trooper was not intoxicated and could have caught this man before all this happened, but the trooper was arrested a while ago and this was only a couple of days ago. Why is it that people drive drunk? Everyone hears and knows the stories about people being killed or seriously injured by drivers under the influence and yet, there are still plenty of stories to go around. My grandpa lives in Longmont and this driver could have easily hurt him. That is incredibly scary to think about. I could have related to those stories about drunk driving. I don’t have a huge problem with drinking, but drinking and driving is incredibly stupid and I have a problem with that. People need to think about the good of everyone else around them and either stay sober or be smart enough to not drive.

PLN 19

I just read the article “State trooper arrested on DUI charges in Douglas Co.,” by the Denver Post about a state trooper that was drinking and driving. We all have that cliché excuse that everyone makes mistakes, but essentially a police officer that is doing what he is supposedly arresting other people for? There are plenty of stupid people that drink and drive, but a state trooper? This man is supposed to be pulling other stupid people over, I don’t understand how he is making the same mistake they are. A 21- year veteran should know a lot better and not be in that situation in the first place. I was even more surprised by the fact that he was on the job. He wasn’t arrested in his own car, or on his own time. He was arrested on duty, in a patrol car. What does a patrol car that is swerving all over the street say about Colorado police? It says that either they are just as dumb as the people they are pulling over, or they don’t know a good policeman from a bad one. This is embarrassing for Colorado. We need to higher the grade of our troopers. I just cant believe that a state trooper would drink and drive when he knows as well as anyone what can happen.

PLN 18

The article by the Denver Post, “Three stabbed, one dies, in Northglenn,” matters because my dad used to live in Northglenn and it could have been him that was stabbed. Three men were stabbed, one fatally, yesterday in Northglenn. This article does not say if the person that was killed had a wife or children. If my father was killed by a murderer for no reason it seems like, I don’t know what I would do. I would be incredibly mad and depressed. There is no justifiable reason for murder. Why would you murder someone at anytime? There is always a way to solve problems without murder. If the man that was killed had children, what will those kids do now? How would you tell your kids that their dad was killed, for no reason? When I read this article I thought what if that had been my dad? The killer had no reason to kill. Nobody has any reason to kill. I know I would not be able to pull the trigger if I thought about the fact that the person infront of me had family and what I would be taking away from those people that know him/her. On the other hand, there are plenty of murderers out and about that do kill. Whether they regret it or not, they still killed a fellow human being.