RCL # 5

https://www.centrecountypaws.org/donate

The website I found that accepts donations from the public was specifically set up for the lives of cats and dogs in central Pennsylvania. Centre Country PAWS was committed to finding homes for cats and dogs for almost 40 years. The website persuades the public through several logical appeals to make the donation more necessary and reasonable.

First and foremost, the website states its identity as a non-euthanasia, member-supported, volunteer enabled organization. It creates a sense of trust for its further persuasion. Then, the website mentioned that the donation is to make a difference in lived and could be easily achieved by individuals. This logical transition successfully includes the audience as a part of the discussion and movement the organization is trying to emphasize.

Secondly, the website includes detailed information about the upcoming events. It uses another way to express the idea of the institution was to involve the community in the program to help animals surround us. With the least amount of emphasizing on money donation, it successfully attracts the audience attention by the interesting activities.

Last but not the least, I find it interesting on its donation page. The website mention that the donation is tax deductible. From what I know, most of the donations made are tax deductible. However, it still feels more logically acceptable to donate when the organization tells you no extra money will be charged for your donation. Then, the page continues to ask is this a one-time donation or a recurring monthly Donation. Personally, I saw this as a fallacy here from an economic perspective. Go to any skin care website, they would all include the recurring monthly option in a tiny box under your order. It just appears to be friendly when it is not that emphasized. At the last part of the donation page, it asked if the donation is in honor or in memory of a person or pet. I found this most appealing to the audience when they could have the option to put in donations for their special ones.

Overall, it was an appealing persuasion for the audience to donate and participate in this organization. They successfully build their argument for involvement through providing a trustworthy background, non-profitable characteristics, interesting activities, and clearly stated donation page.

RCL#3 Reflection on the Deliberation

Reflection on the Deliberation — “Don’t Talk Dirty to Me.”

The deliberation centered around a reformation of the sex education. First, the group had chosen a very interesting topic and that was what brought me to their deliberation. The three approaches included in the discussion was unique and effective on this issue. They first talked about the current situation with the existing sex education system and further the topic to possible solutions. In the discussion, they also brought up the idea of creating a stigma-free environment and promoting sex education through a more modern way including the use of internet and other resources.

Personally, I think the deliberation was very successful due to three reasons. First, the approaches teams set up a very engaging mood for the audience to actively participate in the discussion. They did provide a very thorough background for the discussion to be based on. Then, they gave space for the audience to share their opinions which were the goal of deliberation. The moderator was good on timing and their transition was smooth. Secondly, they didn’t state any argument with their own beliefs, instead, they promoted several solutions and had the audience to decide or discuss which one was more preferred. On the other hand, the deliberation group involved a lot of personal stories and experiences to the deliberation. It made the topic less awkward and even interesting for the audience to see different aspects of a certain topic. The group member also filled in the “gaps” when the audience had no response. Last but not the least, they do invite adults to participate in their deliberation. The discussion was thus more diverse and developed.

The deliberation did affect me in some ways about what should be changed about the sex education system. I really enjoyed the discussion and the opportunity to share our personal beliefs.

RCL #2 2018

In the first article, the author addresses that the mental health problem for the college student. In fact, the current college students have greater levels of stress and psychopathology than before. The article summarizes several surveys to prove the emerging epidemic of mental health problems from different age groups. Then, the article proceeds into the possible causes of the mental health problem. The first approach of this article is the survey conducted by the directors of counseling centers on college campuses. It reveals that “95% of college counseling center directors surveyed said the number of students with significant psychological problems is a growing concern in their center or on campus” (Gregg Henriques). Then, the article uses data from several other surveys to compare the mental health from today than before. Next, the article starts to discuss the possible causes of the increasing mental health issues. For example, the author concludes that the changes in eating patterns, sexual activity, sleeping, and drinking are all associated with mental health problems. Finally, the article concludes that the college students are facing a more serious mental health crisis than before.

The second article also discusses the mental health problem of college students. The article starts with the introduction of Amy Ebeling, a college student that struggled with anxiety and depression. The article includes two direct quotes from Amy Ebeling to give a direct view of the mental health issue. In the second part of the article, the author addresses the problem from the viewpoint of college counselors. The argument of the rising mental health problem is then supported by empirical data and the credibility of the school counselors. It is a good employment of logos and ethos. Next, the article brought the mental health problem into a broader view by saying that it is common for students to experience mental illness in college. Finally, the article concludes with several tips for the parent from the National Association of Mental Illness. First, it is important to know that mental health conditions are common to all college students. Secondly, parents should help to emphasize the importance of exercise, sleep, and diet. Third, it is important to check out college resources for help. Last but not the least, it is important to share your experiences with your parents or friends.

Both articles address the use of college counseling as a resource to help mental illness. They all use data to support the same claim that mental health issue is more serious than ever. The structure of the second article is related to our deliberation. For our deliberation, we want to start with students expressing their own feelings about college to show that stress is common to everyone. Secondly, we would also include data to support our argument that mental health issue is worth discussing and the environment should be changed according to the rising issue. Another point we are going to cover in our deliberation is the student counseling center (CAPS) in State College. We would like to include their view on the mental health issue for our school. The articles can be used in our deliberation for the investigation of the causes of mental health problems and possible ways to solve it.

Link to the first article

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/theory-knowledge/201402/the-college-student-mental-health-crisis

Link to the second article

https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/college-game-plan/mental-health-problems-rising-among-college-students-n777286

 

Deliberation #1

Deliberation

Deliberation title:

State of Mind

Description of the deliberation:

Our discussion started with the mental health organization CAPS in Penn State. We found out that the mental health problem has been an issue for college students. the problem also involved with the question “how can we get help?”. Even though CAPS was established and advertised in every single class, it is still hard for the students to contact or know how it works. Therefore, our group aimed at first knowing how the program works and how are we able to make it better. We analyzed three different approaches includes improving CAPS, creating an accepting and stigma-free environment, and promoting mental health as a part of the general education. After our approaches, we will hold discussions amongst the audience and help to bring this issue to attention.

My Role:

I am assigned to do the team summary and outreach.

Design and arrange the issue guide written by the other Mini-Teams, take notes during the approaches, moderate the conclusion, develop and hand out the post-deliberation questionnaire, invite at least three local organizations who may care about your deliberation topic (save the evidence of that invitation), create social media campaign for the event, format the post-deliberation reports and write the cover letters/emails for sending the post-deliberation reports to policymakers.

What I am currently working on:

I am currently working on the flyer of our deliberation. We are going to email the flyer as an invitation to the fellow students and CAPS members. In the same time, I was helping to do the research on the second approach on how to provide a stigma-free environment. And we are just waiting for other groups to give us their analysis so we could finalize them and create a pamphlet to bullet point the topics and hand it out during the deliberation.

This I Believe

Several years ago, I have been involved in a program to volunteer at the Leprosy Village in Kunming, China. It was one of the last places in China that separate the Leprosy patients away from the society. For decades, these patients have been isolated from the outside world in the deep mountains. They weren’t allowed to come out and no one was willing to get in. The lack of knowledge for this disease scared both the patients’ relatives and volunteers away from this place. Our volunteer group aimed to reconcile the patients and gave some warmth for their last few years of life.

Leprosy might sound totally unfamiliar to you as it was to me. We took a few lessons from the director of the village and learned the basic contact and safety rules for our work. Then, we met the patients.

The first word I would describe as I saw the patients was “silence”. It was the deadly silence not only from how they looked but also the feeling. It was an empty feeling that centered around each one of them. It felt like they were from another world miles down of the earth. Even though there were only about 10 of them, but they were all sitting alone by themselves and tried to get as far as possible from each other. There was absolutely no communication or eye contact amongst them. They completely shut themselves down from the reality. Moreover, the patients were just sitting there without doing anything. It felt like they were waiting and waiting for nothing. It was a weird quietness that even has some sense of creepiness. The scene strict my mind and it never goes away.

My faith to help and love got shaken. At this exact time, I felt that I was forming my own shelter just like the patients. I was also closing my world from communication.

I stepped a few steps back, but then a voice raised, “you got to be the one to break the silence.” And just in that moment, one of the patients raised his head and looked at me. Tears started to drip down from my eyes. How innocent, how helpless, how vulnerable he was. It was just like a child asking for some attention or more importantly: love. From that moment, I chose to make the first step forward to the people around me. To help and love as much as I can.

After the visit, I started to observe the people around me, little or more, they all possess the similar quality as the Leprosy patients. I believe that there is always a vulnerable kid hidden in our mind that wanted to be cared or loved. Sometimes, we shut ourselves down from the world when we are afraid of getting hurt. We give out an attitude that just wants some attention and with no intention to hurt others. But we have to understand that, there is always someone that needs to step out their own world and try to understand the others. I believe that we must express the true feeling of ourselves, and to start to open up our little worlds and break the silence verbal or non-verbal.

History of a Public Controversy

“Me Too” Movement

Malisa Yin, Emma Davies, Liz Druschel, Kristin Sickau, Nora Tietjens, Eva Ragonese

For our history of a public controversy movement project, we are going to investigate the controversial “me too” movement that has sparked conversation across social media these last few months. In our video, we will highlight the different opinions on this subject and controversy and how influential it is to our society.

Below is our group contract of our assigned roles for the project.

Editors- Kristin Sickau

  • This role will fulfill our final edits on the research of our project as well as digital editing of the video

Filming- Nora Tietjens and Malisa Yin

  • This role will function as the main camera person and director of the video portion

Research- Liz Druschel, Emma Davies, and Eva Ragonese

  • This role will focus on gathering sufficient information to fulfill the video portion of the assignment and research the controversy behind this movement

Through the project, we will follow our assigned roles and collaborate to create our final project.