The Muckraking Project

For our Muckraking Project, our group is talking about the difference in funding schools in the Bay Area receive. I think that this is an important issue because I have seen first hand the disparity in funding that schools receive, and I don't think that it's fair to the students. I guess this is going to be sort of a summary of what we're doing our project on.
One of my close friend's mom is a teacher at a dual immersion school in East Palo Alto, and I been to her school on several occasions. Nearly everything in the school, from the outside and overall establishment to what is actually inside the class room, out right looks like its cheaper than the things in the MVLA district area. This is an issue because I think what it does that really matters, is that it downgrades the education of the students, which is really sad because a lot of the students in sections like these are from families whose parents might have not even graduated high school. This is obviously a problem, and I think one of the worst parts is that it often gets overlooked by the general public, especially in our school area, because the area we come from is extremely privileged in terms of wealth and school education in general.
Obviously we haven't done any interviews yet, or even conducted much research at all, but I'm excited to see what we find when we do interview various teachers and school board members from around the bay.

The 1920s

The 1920s in the United States is characterized by lavish lifestyles and riches. In this period in history  people were seeking out their dreams and aspirations. This was represented by the new skyscrapers made of steel that were becoming popular in New York City. These buildings allowed for more people to work in one place.
Women experienced more freedom and changed during this time period. There was an expanding job market and more disposable income. Women also won the right to vote by the 19th Amendment. They went to bars and after hour clubs. Clothing became more revealing and hair was shorter. Flappers and vamps were the most daring women of the day.
Jazz music also became popular in the 1920s. Harlem then became popular because it was the hub of jazz. The Harlem Renaissance, which occurred as a result of the rising popularity of jazz, was the idea of empowerment and pride of the African Americans and less oppressive segregation. This movement laid the ground work for the civil rights movement. However, with the empowerment of African Americans, the Ku Klux Klan remerged.The clan experienced resurgence because many people were unhappy with the new changes in American life. The clan members represented their self defending American ideals. They “stood for what America should stand for.” Anyone who was not WASP, was not accepted by the clan.
Technology was vastly improved in the 1920s as well. Some of which were stock markets, light bulbs, radio, and cars. Stock markets brought New York a lot of money. Light bulbs gave light and electricity to the majority of the homes around the country. Radio broadcasted to the world and allowed people to share common experiences. Cars were less work then horses,took up less storage space, and were more efficient. 
Advertising started becoming more popular, which made people want to buy things and gave companies a way to get customers. Credit also was created, which allowed people to buy stuff that they could not afford and pay it back. This also helped the companies succeed. It is said that “Buy now, pay later” became the way of the day.
While the 1920s is known for bubbling wealth and success, this all came crumbling down when the stock market crash hit in 1929. This constituted The Great Depression, the largest economic depression in American History.

Sacco And Vanzetti's case

Sacco and Vanzetti were two Italian immigrant who were accused of murder in the 1920's. The men were proven guilty by the court and charged with death and then electrocuted by the electric chair. Today, people are not really sure if Sacco and Vanzetti were really guilty : 

Innocent

Guilty

The state police wasn’t 100% sure they were involved in the crime professional robber would never kill someone in an open street professional criminal would never rob in that way Was making deliveries to italian customers and, witnesses supported that fact Lies were told for fear of deportation Vanzetti had a strong alibi, Sacco did not the gun purchased by the paymaster was not a 32 caliber not a 38, and they carried a 38 the serial # on the guard’s gun did not match   The prosecution lied about certain things Sacco’s bullet 3 bullet was fired sometimes between in may-december in 1923 “we are innocent” at no point in the trial was asked if the the murder violated the  anarchist beliefs they were in another place during the murder Other anarchists confessed that they committed the crime Madiero provided new informations about the cars Fuller said they were really guilty

Participated in anarchist bombing “militant revolutionists” immature robbery attempt tried to robbed 35 million dollar did not take the money 2 unknown men shot 2 CEO’s carrying $15,000 police suspected anarchist involvement police interrogated them about being anarchists: they had to lie they did not want to be deported: Anarchist code Why did they go to the garage to get the car? Vanzetti looked like the man who shot the man in the “immature robbery” Vanzetti tried first for lesser offense Webster thayer: strongly opposed to the case, and believe they   vanzetti: Chose to not testify on his case was found guilty of assault 12-15 years of prison it was a very harsh punishment Bias Judge Behavior of the defendant the night of the arrestment consciousness of guilt judges relied on this a person who is innocent has nothing to hide, a person who is guilty, will not be frankes or truthful eye witnesses saw him that afternoon by the tree prosecution’s evidence ballistic evidence said that they shot the guard with their own gun Sacco and Vanzetti take the stand fled to Mexico in 1913 makes it seem unpatriotic Being anarchists didn’t help both men were convicted lowell committee began drafting reports before they had gotten all the evidence execution time was set at midnight

The Progressive President: Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt was a progressive because he supported labor and he tore down large companies, supporting small businesses. He created the Square Deal in 1901 that would supposedly solve the problems: control of corporation, consumer protection and conservation. Coal mining was dirty and dangerous, so miners went on strike for higher pay and reduction in workday. The first part of the deal was control of corporation. Mine owners didn’t want to negotiate with Roosevelt, but it wasn’t until he declared that he would seize the mines and operate it with the federal troops that the miner owners listened to him. Owners increased pay by 10 percent and shortened the work day to 9 hours. In addition, Roosevelt began to attack large monopolistic corporations because the companies were engaged in corrupt practices. The Northern Securities Company controlled most of the railroads and wanted to create a total monopoly. Roosevelt stopped them and the Supreme Court ordered the company to be dissolved. The second part of the deal was consumer protection. Roosevelt passed the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act. These acts ensured healthy products. The last part of the deal was conservation. In 1902, he passed the Newlands Act so that the government could sell public lands. Landowners would have to pay back the irrigation costs from the money they earned from their fertile land.

Federalists vs Republicans

Alexander Hamilton was the leader of the Federalists while Thomas Jefferson was the leader of the Republicans. The Federalists believed in a strong central government and a loose interpretation of the Constitution. Federalists were well-educated and they considered themselves to be the elite ruling class or the “enlightened few.” They favored the wealthy and supported manufacturing and international trade. The Republicans on the other hand believed in a weaker central government and a strict interpretation of the Constitution. They supported agriculture because that way, they could themselves and purchase goods from Europe. To them, all people could govern if they were properly educated and people would put aside their selfishness for the good of everyone. The Republicans gained National office and excised taxes and tariffs.

New World Order

People like Alex Jones are a positive and negative aspect of democracy. Alex Jones is a role model because of his courage to freely speak to others about his thoughts on the government and the conspiracy theories. I admire him for going on the street and telling people what he thinks because there were people that disagreed with him and went into an argument with him. He is an inspiration to people like Luke Rudowski and Jack McLamb. At the same time, he is a negative aspect for accusing the government. He wanted to expose the highly secretive meetings of the Bilderberg group and tried to persuade people into thinking against the government without actual evidence.

Scopes Trial (Theory of Evolution)

Even though this is late after the the trial itself for those those jury members that haven't submitted their response this should influence them.

What is the theory of evolution? To simplify this huge concept it is a theory in which it states that evolution or the progression of an organism over time in order to survive. In the real world there is in fact evidence to support this theory with fossils dating all the way back millions of years ago. In our human case our evolution is evident from the fossils of long relatives dating far back when we were still developing our key traits as humans in order to survive in the world. Some would argue that the earth was only made a couple thousand years ago. What I would say is take fossil for example carbon date it and see the results yourself and tell me the outcome.

The main man of the this theory could be said to be the Bird Man a.k.a Charles Darwin when he looked at finches from different islands and looked at how they adapted to their environment in order to survive which involved evolution.

The 1920's and a Glimpse in The After Mass

The US seemed like it was one its golden age. They were invincible or so they thought. They were in the age of Jazz and the Gangsters. The economy of the US was at its highest thanks to the help of the citizens in the US. People wanted to buy and buy things they needed and things they wanted. When it came down to buying most of the times they didn't have it, but lucky them they could take loans making them get in debt in return for the goods they wanted.

The rich since they were rich decided to invest in stocks being sold in Wall Street. They would make money buy later cashing in the stocks. People had high hopes on this even the banks in which the people intrusted their savings.

On October of 1929 Wall Street crashed and their was no more money for america. It was a dark time for all those who had gambled their money into stocks. Even those who weren't involved suffered from the banks going bankrupt when they too had participated in stocks. This was the beginning of the Depression.

Did the government help in this time of need? One could say they didn't and that they(the citizens) should figure it out themselves and should not expect things from others.

Scopes Trial

Two weeks ago, our class completed a recreation of the Scopes Trial. As a jury member, it was part of my assignment to determine, based on evidence and arguments, if the defendant was guilty or not. I, personally, ruled in favor of evolution. Based on the amount of evidence provided for evolution over intelligent design and the arguments that were made by the defense, I believe that evolution should be taught in schools.

The End of the 1920s

Today in class, we finished the 1920s documentary we started in class yesterday. After people began to see the radical changes in the young people in the 1920s, there was a huge surge in membership in the KKK. This new KKK was more focused on the greatness of the WASP American rather than the immigrants who were coming to the US rather than focusing on terrorizing black people. This burst in membership soon died down, but the KKK were able to take control of seven states, including Oregon and Indiana, states that aren't in the south.

Later in the 1920s, an American by the name of Charles Lindbergh became the first man to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. His achievement was a major boost to the American people and their desire to be a competitor to the European countries. Charles Lindbergh was also appreciated warmly by people because he was just another average man who had managed to achieve an unworldly goal at the time.

After this, Americans had a great view of themselves, and the president at the time, Mr Hoover, said that the Americans had reached a point of magnificent wealth and would continue to grow as time went on. This prediction, however, ended quite oppositely as the end of the 1920s lead into an economic depression.

The Jazz Age

The period after the World War in America mainly consisting of the 1920s was known as the "Jazz Age".

Jazz was a new type of music that was introduced in this time.  Jazz incorporated a swing into its rhythms.  This went against was different than previous types of music which had a concrete pulse.

With the new rhythms and pulses that rose with Jazz, new dances came with it.  The famous Charleston dance was a dance created in Charleston, South Carolina to the well known tune named "The Charleston".

Instruments for jazz include Brass, like trumpets and trombones, percussion, and vocals.

Some of the most famous Jazz Musicians include names such as Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, Kid Ory, and Duke Ellington.  

Side notes I took on the 1920's video

Other Notes

• 18th amendment prohibited alcoholic beverages
• Manufacture
• Sale
• Transport
• Import or export of alcoholic beverages
• After WW1
• New aspirations
• Achieving more things
• Higher goals

The 1920s

Today in class we watched a documentary on the 1920s that showed us every major event and change that occurred in the 1920s.

First, we went over the prohibition acts, which removed the consumption and sale of alcohol in the US. Despite this, people still drank alcohol and as a result, crime increased in cities as gangs battled for territories to sell alcohol.

Next, we saw how the growth of the wealthy immigrating into the major cities changed the atmosphere of cities like New York, and how jazz revolutionized the people as well. Jazz also was a precursor to the equal rights movements that took place later on in the 1950s and 1960s

After this, we saw how advances in technology and society changed the lives of people, changing from a more conservative view of people to a somewhat more open take on the world. Ideas like credit also changed the way people bought goods, increasing the number of sold goods in America and creating a major business.

Moving into the 1920s

At the beginning of the 1920s, Congress passed the 18th Amendment.   

This amendment established the prohibition of alcoholic beverages in the United States.  
Congress enforced this by declaring the production, transport, and sale of alcohol illegal.  

This amendment lead to a rise in criminals who wished to sell newly illegal alcoholic beverages to the general public for great profits.  Secret and hidden clubs and pubs began to arise and become popular.  

Gang fights broke up in order to fight for the selling of illegal alcohol.  

The 1920s were also time of movie production.  The early years brought silent movies while sound was added towards the end of the 1920s.  

The movement towards cities also grew fro the end of the world war.  Buildings and skyscrapers were able to be built due to the decease in the price of steel.  
There were many reasons to move out to the city in the 1920s.  

Innocent vs Guilty Notes

Sako and Vanzetti were both immigrants that came to the US for a better life.  When they realized that the US was not what they thought it would be, they wanted change, and they joined a group of anarchists the help promote this change.  Anarchists were not against violence, and Sako and Vanzetti participated in bombings against high power officials.  In 1920, Sako and Vanzetti were arrested for murdering two men in South Braintree Massachusetts, and a smaller crime of robbing a payroll truck.  Vanzetti was the only one tried for the robbery of the payroll truck, but they were both tried for the larger crime of murdering two men in South Braintree, Massachusetts.  In the murder, two men approached a manager and guard at slater shoe factory, these men then open fired, killing the manager and guard.  They then escaped with the payroll money.  Vanzetti had already been tried for the payroll truck robbery, and was found guilty, so he was already perceived as a criminal.  The evidence against Vanzetti was that his behavior showed guilt, eyewitnesses placed him at the scene, and his weapon was the bank guard's.  The evidence against Sako was the same, eyewitnesses, behavior, and his weapon.  The problem with this was that none of their evidence had proof behind it, and some of it was even false.  There were 10 eyewitnesses that placed Sako at a different location, and the evidence about the guns was later found to be false (but this was not brought up during the trial).  Even with this questionable evidence, both Sako and Vanzetti were found guilty and sentenced to death.

Scopes Trial

The Scopes trial was an interesting experience to have an formal argument on the subject on intelligent design. I learned how to be careful with what statements I make as a witness because the opposing Legal team could testify something out of my argument and make me seem as a supporter on their side. As a witness, I believe it is important to research the concept of the person ahead of time, so you have much more to say to the person in the other Legal team. Legal teams sometimes try to ask the same question, in a different from, to get you to say what they want to hear, like that you support their idea of not having intelligent design being taught. I also see importance to have communication between the Legal team and Witnesses, so both sides could be prepared to testify against the other Legal team. They could be prepared with information, or even questions that could be asked by the other Legal team. In the end, I thought this trail was useful to understand the concepts  I have just mentioned.

Innocent or Guilty notes

In the 20th century, there was a great conspiracy on who did a grand robbery, or heist, on two different places in America. Many people for years thought it was Socko and Berzanti, some Anarchist Italian immigrants, because they were in touch with the Anarchists that robbed from people. In their history, they seemed really innocent. Thye thought America was going to be great when they first came, but it wasn't. They thought the solution was to Anarchy. Once the two incidents takes place, Socko and Berzanti are taken into questioning because the witnesses identify them as guilty. They first were asked if they were Anarchist, and they said no, which was a lie. Then they describe what they were doing at time of both murders. Berzanti said he was with someone else and was approved by it later. However, Socko wasn't. Both recognized in both crimes. witnesses outnumbered 2 to 1 they DIDN’T do the crimes. Both were sentenced to 12 to 15 years. 1923, cut immigrants coming from southern or eastern southern. Wor was the lawyer for Socko and Berzanti, a very powerful lawyer. Lawyers noticed conscious of guilt between both Socko and Berzanti. Bercanti had an alibi or excuse for not being present in time of murder, but for some reason still charged. July 14, Socko was arrested and killed. Madiero was the real person who did the crime, and even tells Socko that.

Lewis Wolpert notes

Another guy that was one of the ones who supported intelligent design is Lewis Wolpert. He was born with a South-African Jewish family and actually born in America. He was a very intelligent person that went to University of Witwatersrand (BSs), Imperial College London, and even King’s College London (PhD). What he becomes after his colleges is an Emeritus Professor of Biology, developmental biologist, author, and broadcaster. He is recognized for elaborating ideas of positional information and value. He also discovered Hox gene codes in flies and vertebrates has largely vindicated Wolpert's positional-value concept, while identification of growth-factor morphogens in many species has supported the concept of positional information.“I would teach the world that science is the best way to understand the world, and that for any set of observations, there is only one correct explanation. Also, science is value-free, as it explains the world as it is. Ethical issues arise only when science is applied to technology – from medicine to industry." was one of his famous quotes. He intended audience of his book was the general public. He said he thought the general public needed to understand that people are a society of cells, particularly if they wanted to understand humans. Wolpert also believes that one very important and so far unsolved question in cellular research is the origins and evolution of the first cell, as well as the question of cell behavior, which in his opinion would be useful for the study of illnesses such as cancer or Alzheimer's. Wolpert has debated Christian philosopher William Lane Craig about the existence of God. In the late 1960s Wolpert proposed the illustrative French flag model, which explains how signaling between cells early in morphogenesis could be used to inform cells with the same genetic regulatory network of their position and role. On 15 January 2004, Wolpert and biologist/parapsychologist Rupert Sheldrakeengaged in a live debate regarding the evidence for telepathy. It took place at the Royal Society of Arts in London. He also was vice-president of the British Humanist Association. His wife was an Australian writer and critic, Jill Neville. He is working on a book exploring the evolution of sex and gender in humans, to be published later this year. He explains that the brains of men and women are largely similar but their relative differences influence specific behavior in each.

Micheal Behe notes

One of the guys in the Scopes Trail that supported intelligent design is Michael Behe. Michael was born in January 18, 1952. He was a very famous and successful American biochemist, author, and intelligent design advocate. Some of the things he was known for in his profession was that he was known for argument for irreducible complexity. He liked to question things. One of the big things he argues is that some biochemical structures are too complex to be explained by known evolutionary mechanisms and are therefore probably the result of intelligent design. Behe is testified in the court case Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District that resulted in a ruling that the idea of intelligent design is religious in nature. He believes there is evidence at a biochemical level that there are systems that are "irreducibly complex." These were systems could not, even in principle, have evolved by natural selection, and thus must have been created by an "intelligent designer," which he believed to be the only possible alternative explanation for such complex structures. Behe also believed in evolution. while evolution can produce changes within species, there is a limit to the ability of evolution to generate diversity, and this limit (the "edge of evolution") is somewhere between species and orders. Darwinian evolution actually exists but plays only a limited role in the development and diversification of life on Earth. This all Behe was a scientist in.

Scopes Simulation Notes and Paragraph by Cooper Cornell

Should Intelligent Design be taught in public schools?

For Intelligent Design

Against Intelligent Design

Intelligent design should be in schools because everyone deserves to see all viewpoints and make their own opinion of how life is created no religious affiliation WITNESS: Michael Behe a supporter of intelligent design: he says that life is too complex to be completely explained by evolution. Michel us biology to give evidence that there must be an intelligent designer. There is an extent to which natural selection can evolve things no evidence that shows how natural selection is evolving things Michael Behe finds evidence in bacteria for intelligent design Vance: Mason Reynolds: is an advocate for intelligent design because it is an compromise for the conflicting sides evolution and god creating life intelligent design has nothing to do with religion and its somewhat up for interpretation Bryan: expert on irreducible complexity: an idea that everything must start from somewhere and it must be a working thing from the start. all the components must be there This is related to ID in that both are ideas that are challenging evolution things do not need evolution to work they already work there must be an original creation to evolve we had to start from somewhere and something created that Lewis Wolpert: W/O ID we wouldn't have the ingenuity that we have today Wolpert has a debate with a strong religious believer he believes science is the answer we advance with intelligence

religious affiliation is the theory that things cannot be explained by evolution, there is a higher power involved making this a religious matter Michael Behe’s evidence is not super solid believe in learning from observation you can't observe intelligent design you cannot witness a higher power and there is not proof of a higher power designs evolve over time Will Altinger is an expert on a textbook called OF PANDAS AND PEOPLE -it is a school level textbook that claims to give evidence about intelligent design it is written by CHRISTIANS therefore it may be religious Will is now a specialist on THE ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE- a clause in the constitution that says government can not establish a main religion they cannot back one religion over another freedom of religion LUCAS:expert on Pastafarianism- takes away the validity of having a deity you cannot describe it conflicts the idea of ID. It is saying that having a higher being creating things is ridiculous if you have no proof UNICORN THEORY: Same as Pastafarianism pretty much Gerardo: expert on irreducible and specified complexity: there is no evidence saying that there is a higher power that created anything there is skeletal evidence proving evolution

Paragraph of Final Decision

Who Won and Why?

After listening to the trial simulation I have come to the conclusion over the conflict of whether or not intelligent design should be taught in public schools. It is clear that the side defending intelligent design being taught in public school won because she used more logical arguments and drew from evidence that was more relevant than the other sides. The idea that intelligent design (ID) should be taught in public school so that everybody can see the different views on the creation of life and make their own opinion based on these differing views is both logical and fair. When those against ID start to question if ID has religious ideals, they make a decent point however ID never states that a high person is the creator. ID never talks about there being a god or one deity that created life, they refer to a force of nature of higher power that created the first spark of life. I think that the best argument the winning group made was when they brought up Michael Behe as a witness. Michael Behe, a biologist, says that life is too complex to be completely explained by evolution. Michael uses biology to give evidence that there must be an intelligent designer.There is an extent to which natural selection can evolve things. This concept of Behe’s is logical in that there must have been some starting point for evolution to take place from. Evolution can not serve as the only answer for life because you cannot evolve from nothing. This concept was further built on by the witness played by Bryan,an expert on irreducible complexity. Irreducible complexity is the idea that everything must start from somewhere and it must be a working thing from the start. All the components must be there before evolution can take place. This is very logical because how can you evolve nothing into something. You cannot evolve something into a human, you have to have something first which you can evolve into a human. The only explanation for this creation of the original something must come from ID not religion. Although the other side arguing against ID made some valid points, it is clear that the winning side was the group in support of ID. This group won because their arguments were more logical and they used more relevant evidence and witnesses.