Personal morality and ethical question

bbchris

With all your honour and dignity - what would you do? This test only has one question, but it's a very important one.

The test features an unlikely, completely fictional situation, where you will have to make a decision one way or the other. Remember that your answer needs to be honest, but yet spontaneous...

You're in Florida. In Miami, to be exact. There is huge chaos going on around you, caused by a hurricane and flooding. You are a CNN photographer and you are in the middle of this great disaster.

The situation is nearly hopeless. You're trying to shoot very impressive photos. There are houses and people floating around you, disappearing into the water masses. Nature is showing all its destroying power and is ripping everything away with it.

Suddenly you see a man, steering a big van. He is fighting for his life, trying not to be taken away by the masses of water and mud. You move closer. Somehow the man looks familiar and important.

Suddenly you know who it is - it's George W. Bush! At the same time you notice that the raging waters are about to take him away, forever.

You have two options - you can save him or you can take the best photo of your life and career.

So you can save the life of George W. Bush, or you can shoot a Pulitzer prize winning photo. A photo displaying the death of a very powerful man.

And here's the question: (scroll down)

Will you take the photo in black and white, or colour?

Rev9Volts · Joined: 10 Jul 2003 Posts: 1327

b and w if it is a sunny and contrasty day color of cloudy... :ww

and

because da rev is a :langel

HKRockChick · No More Peas! Joined: 25 Nov 2003 Posts: 1513

Brilliant! hehahaheha

:ww

LarreeMP3 · Joined: 12 Apr 2002 Posts: 1935

Wow. That is like so totally way uncool.

President Bush has my vote all the way in 2004.

The more I see how he is hated by everybody, the more I feel for the guy and the extraordinairy job he has as the leader of the free world. I am going to be honoured and proud to vote for him in November 2004.

NRKofOver · Joined: 07 Sep 2002 Posts: 505

Well, Larree, George Bush is a moronic President for a moronic populace, presumably, this exactly what America is supposed to have.

My music for the disenchanted masses

LarreeMP3 · Joined: 12 Apr 2002 Posts: 1935

No. That's not true. All of the demos are so pissed off because of 2000 they simply can't see straight. And the rest of the world is reading pure BS and propaganda, imho.

If the demos could just face the FACT that Gore lost because he couldn't win his own damned home state of Tennessee in 2000 they might be able to get over it. IF he would have won in Tennessee, he would have won the White House. And if his OWN PEOPLE in Tennessee didn't want him, that should tell ya something. Period. Deal with it. TRUTH!

Gore lost in 2000. DEAL WITH IT!

HKRockChick · No More Peas! Joined: 25 Nov 2003 Posts: 1513

Larree do you really think you guys are free?

You cannot sneeze without being sued, kids are being screened at school for weapons, illiteracy is rampant, and it seems the vast majority has lost the power to question or think for themselves.

This is freedom?

When you say "leader of the free world" it makes me :aua

Wake up and smell the coffee, poor delusional Larree.

Seismic Anamoly · Joined: 22 Aug 2002 Posts: 3039

Quote:
illiteracy is rampant

LITERACY RANKS

As a teacher, I will have to take exception to this one, Deb....the US is ranked 7th on the scale of national literacy based on PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL POPULATION (NOT total number; if you have more people, it only follows you will have more of the particular problem; some parents have complained that I am prejudice, being white, because 7 out of 10 of my discipline referrals are African-American students - guess what?? 73% of our total student body is African-American; those parents should have paid attention in Math class); my hat is off to Norway, Iceland, Sweden, Australia, The Netherlands and Belgium for ranking ahead of the US.... :thumb

UNESCO also predicts an IMPROVEMENT in the percentage of the total US population BECOMING LITERATE through the year 2015....so how is this "rampant"?? :dunno

I'm sure, like everything else controversial, there are numbers out there that have been crunched to show whatever results the presenter wants them to show, but I disagree that illiteracy is running amok here, regardless of what "they" say.

And, just out of curiosity, WHY does your Mom, Sister, and Brother-in-law want to live in this Country and bring in what appears to be the whole family for Christmas if it sucks so badly?? Hope it's a Merry Christmas, by the way; I LOVE Perdido Key in Florida, but it's a bit cold this time of year...gotta go south of Orlando to stay warm all year...

Just airing my opinion and defending my students; now; all ya'll rip it to pieces... :lol

Whoops...did I say "ya'll"?? Is that illiterate?? :dunno

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Edited by: Seismic Anamoly at: 12/19/03 7:02 am

LarreeMP3 · Joined: 12 Apr 2002 Posts: 1935

And YOU do not know SH*T about this place. Come live here for a few years and THEN you may complain to me about it. And I'm not talking about your opinion of your vacations here. I mean, until you come live here you do not know sh*t.

We're not perfect, but we are WAY better than any other country on Earth.

btw, smart girl. I have never been sued for sneezing. And I sneeze pretty damned LOUD. (sheesh)

Edited by: LarreeMP3 at: 12/19/03 3:40 pm

Rev9Volts · Joined: 10 Jul 2003 Posts: 1327

yea jews sneeze very loud :ft

because they have huge noses...

yer too funy larrie. you would not vote for bush till he started sucking up to jews. noe sharon does to palistinians what nazies did to jews.

DreamTone7 · Joined: 20 Sep 2002 Posts: 2571

I saw neither Hong Kong nor Germany in Seismos list. That must mean they are behind the US in literacy. Read it (if you can) and weep.

Take care of it where you're at first....then come talk to us about ours.

HKRockChick · No More Peas! Joined: 25 Nov 2003 Posts: 1513

I apologise if I am wrong, but I've read and heard a lot about people who graduate from school who still can barely read and write, and indeed have run into a few as well. I'm not sure I believe any country has 100% literacy unless you count being able to read the alphabet and write your name. Certainly as the the only superpower in the world I'd expect the US to rank 1st in literacy.

All I'm saying is the US Administration is trying to get the world to adopt its system of democracy(!) and freedom(!). My position is, why should we follow?

Dreamtone you said

Quote:
"Take care of it where you're at first....then come talk to us about ours."

Well I think the US should practice that first before trying to reform the world, is all.

www-personal.ksu.edu/~rcl.../nals.html

National Adult Literacy Survey overlooks rural illiteracy

by Anne Byers

The recently released National Adult Literacy Survey is the most comprehensive study of the literacy skills of American adults ever undertaken. Over 26,000 adults completed the survey which tested their performance on a number of literacy tasks. African Americans and Hispanics were oversampled in order to provide more stable estimates for these groups.

The researchers developed three scales ranging from 0 to 500 to quantify the prose, document, and quantitative proficiencies of the respondents. Each scale was divided into five levels. The study indicates that illiteracy is a greater problem across the United States than many had realized. Nearly 90 million adults or approximately 47 percent of American adults are at the two lowest levels of literacy. The adults performing at these levels do not necessarily feel that they need to improve their literacy skills. Two-thirds to three-fourths of adults scoring in the lowest level and over 90 percent of those in the second lowest level described themselves as being able to read and write English "well" or "very well."

Unfortunately, valid urban-rural comparisons cannot be made from the National Adult Literacy Survey. Although the rural adults were sampled in proportion to the fraction of the U.S. population living in rural areas, the total rural sample was not large enough to yield data which could be generalized to the rural population as a whole. By not oversampling rural residents, illiteracy in rural America has once more been ignored.

According to the Rural Clearinghouse report, Literacy in Rural America: A Study of Current Needs and Practices, rural residents make up 28 percent of the United States population, but account for 42 percent of the functionally illiterate. In all but seven states, rural illiteracy rates exceed urban rates. This data is based upon self-reports of grade level completion from the 1980 U.S. Census. The findings of the National Adult Literacy Study appear to support the validity of self-reported grade-level completion as an indication of level of literacy.

The study found that adults with fewer years of school were more likely to fall in the two lowest levels of literacy than adults who have completed high school or who have received some postsecondary education. Of adults with an eighth grade education or less, 75 to 80 percent are in the lowest literacy level and less than one percent are in the highest two levels. Sixteen to 20 percent of adults with high school diplomas are in the lowest literacy level, while 10 to 13 percent placed in the two highest levels. Of adults with four-year college degrees, only 4 percent are in the lowest level, and 44 to 50 percent are in the highest two levels.

It is also interesting to note that the concentration of several of the subgroups identified as having high rates of illiteracy are disproportionately higher in some rural areas. Rural literacy providers may want to consider ways to make their services more accessible to older adults, disabled persons, and minorities.

Rural states in the Midwest and Northeast have disproportionately more older adults than other areas of the United States. Older adults scored lower on average than younger or middle aged adults. The average score for adults over age 65 was more than one level below the average score of adults from 40 to 54 years old. The more limited literacy skills of older adults may be partly explained because they on average have completed fewer years of school than their younger counterparts.

Rural and farm populations also have a greater proportion of disabled persons. Agriculture is one of the United States' most dangerous occupations. Over 100,000 persons engaged in agricultural production become disabled each year. Other natural resource based industries, such as logging, coal mining, or meat packing, provide physically demanding and potentially debilitating jobs. In addition, non-work-related accidents in rural areas also result in a significant number of disabilities. Of the adults responding to The National Adult Literacy Survey, adults with disabilities had lower average literacy proficiencies than those without disabilities. Adults reporting hearing difficulties scored 25 to 29 points lower on each literacy scale than the population in general. The difference was greater for those reporting other types of disabilities, difficulties, or long-term illness.

Some rural areas have traditionally had large minority populations. Others are experiencing significant growth in the number of minorities living in their communities. African American, American Indian/Alaskan Native, Hispanic, and Asian/Pacific Islander adults were more likely than white adults to demonstrate lower levels of literacy proficiency. Minority adults were also more likely to have completed fewer years of school than White adults. In addition, many Hispanic and Asian/Pacific Islander adults were also likely to have learned English as a second language.

Additional publications looking at the National Adult Literacy Survey will become available throughout the next year. These reports will focus on literacy in the work force, literacy and education, literacy among older adults, literacy in the prison population, literacy and cultural diversity, and literacy practices.

For more information, write to Education Information Branch, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, 555 New Jersey Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20208-5641 or call (800) 424-1616 or (202) 219-1651 inside the Washington, D.C. area.

To order Adult Literacy in America: A First Look at the Results of the National Adult Literacy Survey ($12.00), call the U.S. Government Printing Office Order Desk at (202) 783-3238. The GPO stock number for this book is 0065-000-00588-3.

NALS: Adult Literacy in America--Executive Summary

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rural Clearinghouse Digests are published twice yearly and focus on topics of interest to rural educators and practitioners. This article may be freely distributed as long as this notice remains intact.

Rural Clearinghouse for Lifelong Education and Development

Kansas State University

101 College Court Building

Manhattan, KS 66506-6001

phone (913) 532-5560

e-mail rcled@ksu.ksu.edu

www.ksu.edu/~rcled/

Return to Rural Literacy Index

Return to Rural Clearinghouse Home Page

August 14, 1994

amb abyers@ksu.ksu.edu

Galmin · The King has spoken! Joined: 30 Dec 2001 Posts: 1711

Hey Seismic, that's a great statistics site you linked to.

Human Developement Index (HDI) is calculated with, among other things, the GDP (GDP as a factor for calculating literacy? Nevermind) and a factor of 99% (1 - For purposes of calculating the HDI, a value of 99.0% was applied.) was being used for all countries that you listed, Seismic. If education index was the only factor to compare with, you'll get this:

99:ers

Norway, Denmark, New Zealand, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Belgium, Australia, Finland, Sweden.

98:ers

There are none.

97:ers

Austria, Spain, Portugal, United States, Canada.

96:ers

Germany, Estonia, Barbados, Korea, Ireland, France, Iceland.

95:ers

Belarus, Latvia, Switzerland, Poland

Have you checked the HPI-2 (Human Poverty Index ranking)?

A composite index measuring deprivations in the three basic dimensions captured in the human development index—a long and healthy life, knowledge and a decent standard of living—and also capturing social exclusion.

01 Sweden

02 Norway

03 Finland

04 Netherlands

05 Denmark

06 Germany

07 Luxembourg

08 France

09 Spain

10 Japan

11 Italy

12 Canada

13 Belgium

14 Australia

15 United Kingdom

16 Ireland

17 United States

Wow.

Quote:
I'm sure, like everything else controversial, there are numbers out there that have been crunched to show whatever results the presenter wants them to show, but I disagree that illiteracy is running amok here, regardless of what "they" say.

I hear ya

HKRockChick · No More Peas! Joined: 25 Nov 2003 Posts: 1513

and I'm too pleased with life now to argue. Had a brilliant drive along a beautiful country shrouded in snow, ahhh. Went grocery shopping and encountered a ton of friendly people all wishing us well.

Merry Christmas!

:dang

Seismic Anamoly · Joined: 22 Aug 2002 Posts: 3039

I, too, am extremely pleased with life right now...and certainly don't want to quarrel...

Quote:
...just out of curiosity, WHY does your Mom, Sister, and Brother-in-law want to live in THIS Country and bring in what appears to be the whole family for Christmas if it sucks so badly??

Guess this answered that...

Quote:
Had a brilliant drive along a beautiful country shrouded in snow, ahhh. Went grocery shopping and encountered a ton of friendly people all wishing us well.

VERY happy to hear you're pleased to be here and having a good time...it IS a damn nice place; if I were them, I'd want to live here, too!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours!!

:bcool

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