Blog 8

One of my classmates, Carson Hagelman, she wrote about gun control. She believes that if Texas and America do not make a change when it comes to gun control, that our problems about gun will only get worse, and conflicts will only escalate.

First of all, she suggested that we should increase the age limit for buying guns from 18 to 21. I agree with her opinion because I also think the younger people get, the more wrong you can judge. It does not mean an ability to judge, but experience judge. For my personal perspective, it is hard to say that 18 years old is enough to become an adult. Not everyone, but some people have an imperfect socialization education, so I think increasing the age limit for buying guns is a great idea.

Updating and improving the background checking system is her second suggestion. I totally agree with her second opinion because the importance of the background checking system was one of the topics that I used to write an essay about gun control. We all know the better gun registration system, the better the effectiveness of crime prevention. With the better gun control system, we can get rid of illegal firearms, and also we need a more complicated checking system before people buy guns.

In the past, I used to write an essay about gun control many times so it is not hard to understand and agree with her opinion. Especially, private guns are completely illegal in my country, so I have some stereotypes and fears before I came to the U.S. I know there are many accidents and troubles without guns, but with guns, the accident can become a catastrophe. Therefore, we need a more complicated and strict gun control system.

Blog 7

I wrote a post about the national park in blog 5 before. The main point of the post is that the government changes the budget allocated to the park without any hesitation because the state park fund has been among the first on the budgetary chopping block historically. Moreover, the main source of the funds for managing the state park in Texas is the tax on sporting goods, but since the introduction of the state sporting goods tax in 1993, more than half the funds originally intended for Texas state parks have been budgeted elsewhere.

Recently, I checked and read some articles from some suggested source like Austin American Statesman. Meanwhile, I found one interesting article about the state park. After two decades of legislative efforts to change that, lawmakers came a step closer Tuesday to permanently allocating the revenue to park agencies. The House gave initial approval to Senate measures that would send a state constitutional amendment allocating all sporting goods tax revenue to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Texas Historical Commission. This is great news because of inconsistent funding for state parks, park agencies have had a hard time to budget and plan future projects.

As the city grows, the importance of nature is also rapidly growing. I am so glad that the fund for managing the park has been clearly confirmed because I love natures, especially Austin's natures!

Blog 6

I read a commentary from one of my classmates, Younging So. The main point of his commentary is that about one in five kids in Texas lives in poverty.
I was quite surprised when I read his article because an image of Texas in my mind is an economically well-off state, and their welfare system seems to be doing well. However, according to his commentary, 1.7 million of the children are currently living in poverty, and especially the poverty rate for Latino children in Texas is three times the rate for White children. Because of racial disparities, minority children also face educational problems, and it can become a serious problem in the future. Therefore, I think Texas State should consider how they support minority children and how well-fed or educated they are.

First of all, Texas State should think about the basic insurance program. When I regard Texas as a country, they are the 10th largest economy in the world, but Texas also has one of the highest percentages of children without health insurance in the country (11%). It means that even though they have enough money to support health and education problems for minority children, they do not have a proper system. Therefore, they should think about the basic insurance program and start to help sick children.

Second, education problems are also one of the significant problems that Texas should consider. I personally think that at least educational opportunities should be fairly distributed to all children. Recently, Texas has been tried by the Federal Government because of the reduction of special education subsidies for disabled children in 2017. As such, Texas is reluctant to give educational opportunity fairly to all children. However, it causes serious future problems because children are the main characters of the future and even the Texas economy, regardless of their race or their disability. Well-educated children will be pulling out future Texas. Therefore, money for a fair education to all children will not be wasted.

Blog 5

During a debate in the Texas Senate, Republican Senate Bob Hall expressed concern about the sustainability of the retirement program based on changing demographics in the state. He insisted that this world has changed significantly, but our overall retirement program has not changed much. Moreover, he said that we have several hundred teachers that are over 100 years old, and a baby who born today, their age expectancy is 110 thanks to medical science. However, I think now there are no teachers who are 100 years old in the classroom. Also, The retirement program has been changed enough with the times.

First of all, according to a report from the Texas Education Agency, the average age of Texas teachers during the 2016-2017 school year was 31.2, and the oldest teacher that year was 75 years.

Second, the one thing that I strongly disagree with is that life expectancy of babies born these days is 110. With the development of medical technology, life expectancy has been increased gradually. Nevertheless, the average life expectancy of a human being in 2012 is 75.2, and even it could not be higher than 85. I think his statement about life expectancy is an exaggeration to support his opinion.

Third, the retirement program also has been changed. At first, the program offered benefits to a small number of people. However, it was slowly expanded and offers benefits to all employees at public school, educational service centers, charter schools, etc.

I personally think what is more important than the retirement program is the teacher's annual salary. As of 2016, the average annual salary for a Texas teacher is $51,890, and this is $6,500 lower than the national average. One reason for a Texas teacher's lower salary is an overall public education budget cut by the Texas State Government. For this reason, the Texas State Government should more concern about the public education budget as well as the retirement program.

Blog 4

In Austin American Statesmen, I read one commentary titled We Must Act Now to Save Our State Parks. The author of this commentary is John Cyrier, and I think he is credible enough because he is chairman of the House Committee on culture, recreation, and tourism. The author's intended audience may be people who love parks.
The main point of the author's argument is that the government should not change the state park's fund to other uses.
Above all, state parks provide many benefits, which are our state's natural treasures, rich cultural heritage, and the great outdoors. Moreover, state parks and the Texas Parks and  Wildlife Department are central to fishing, hunting, outdoor sporting, and tourism industries. These can combine billions of dollars in annual economic impact and more than one million Texas jobs. 
However, When the Texas Legislative voted to fund our parks system with state sales tax revenues collected from sporting goods sales, only 47 percent of the nearly $2.8 billion collected have been appropriated to state parks. Furthermore, state parks have been among the first on the budgetary chopping block historically.
State parks encounter a crisis moment, so the author, John Cyrier, filed HB 1214 and HJR 39, which is that sports sales tax revenues go to their intended purpose of funding state parks.
I strongly agree with the author's opinion, which is that parks provide people with a peaceful, quiet, and healthy rest. In addition, many activities and exercises are also available. These are important factors that people cannot experience at their workplace.

Blog 3

I read one commentary titled The Texas School Finance Challenge from Austin American Statesman. I thought that the author's intended audience is people who are interested in education, especially live in "property poor" school districts. Also, the author's credibility is pretty reliable because they are Democrats representing Austin in the Texas House. In the article, the authors talk about a financial problem of the school. The main argument is that Texas government should consider improving the adequacy and efficiency of the school finance system for equitable funding for kids. One evidence supports their claim, which is that campus-level funding for Texas public schools has decreased. According to the National Education Association, an estimate of their funding is $2300 less per student than other state's average. Moreover, they insist that the government give more problems to local taxpayers for school funding because the government contributes only a third of the funding for school districts, and it is less than before. In addition to the funding problem, charter school state aid is also one of the issues that the government should consider. Despite the low student share of the charter schools, their state aid increased $1.467 billion. On the other hand, state aid to traditional school districts decreased by $2.6 billion. In my opinion, I agree with the author's opinion because I personally think getting an education is the most basic but essential right that every people have.  Financial problems in schools can have a direct impact on students and quality of education, so it is significant for the government to deal with it. The Texas government have enough financial advantage, I believe that they will monitor and solve this problem.

Blog 2

On Friday, February 12, 2019, Austin American Statesman published an article titled Austin, San Antonio Team Up to Tackle Traffic Woes. The article is about a traffic issue that one of the big issues in Austin. According to data from the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, I-35 through Central Austin is the third-highest congested road in the state. In order to get rid of traffic congestion, ideas include intercity and interregional transit services increasing traffic capacity on the U.S. 281 and I-35 and building long distance bikeways. Moreover, experts emphasize that cooperation between Austin and San Antonio is also important because these two cities continue to grow and into a "mega-region," However, under the current 10-year plan, they only have about a fourth of the money needed for the I-35 reconstruction. Therefore, Watson, a former Austin Mayor, urge the legislature has to take some action to get sufficient money for the reconstruction I-35. In conclusion, this article is worth reading because the traffic issue is one of the problems that citizens can directly experience, so many people wonder how the government deals with this traffic issue.