jenna tynan's blog

So, I'm sure that everyone that is in college or is going to college has heard about or experienced the dreaded freshman 15.  Well, I'm not trying to brag, but since I've been in college, I have actually lost 5 pounds and I was wondering if it was just me or if other people go off to college and lose weight too.  I personally attribute my weight loss, which I really wouldn't consider healthy because I'm pretty lean to start with, with severe stress from classes.  I don't know about your college/ high school but mine sort of expects you to be a superhuman taking on over 15 credits plus extramural research projects.  Some people can handle that but the stress has gotten to me because I have no appetite.  Read More »

Allright, so a few years ago, TMISS results came out which compared math scores of students across the globe of twenty-nine industrialized nations and the U.S. scored a disappointing 15th.  We're below countries such as the Netherlands, Korea, and Japan.  Didn't we once occupy Korea?  How can we be performing below their students.  The U.S. actually spends more than these countries on education yet is not seeing results.  Read More »

Alright so I'm pretty sure that you all have heard of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 or at least having taken those annoying yearly standardized tests.  Unless maybe you were home schooled, but I think you have to take tests for that anyway.

So back to the point.  The no child left behind act of 2001 requires that all schools maintain adequate yearly progress for the school as a whole and certain ethnic and socioeconomic subdivisions.  The controversy comes in when considering how schools measure adequate yearly progress and what happens to kids that don't meet the standards.  Read More »

So I was reading the post by progressiveu and if that past blogger is still at least on the website (even if he or she is not blogging at this point) I wanted to extend my deepest apologies.  I have to say that I definitely signed on to progressiveu for the scholarship program, but it really has transformed to a greater civic interest.

I just wanted to let all bloggers know that I read my comments and all of those who commented on my post do not make me feel like quitting, but actually make me more dedicated to the site and also make me rethink my position.  For example, I blogged about merit-pay for teachers because I had a project on that and I thought it was an interesting topic to talk about.  Well, I got some really progressive responses from bloggers who had first-hand knowledge about the effects of merit pay from having parents as teachers i.e jenni.  I got to use some of that info in my project and it really made a good impact.  Read More »

Now I know that the costs and availability of prescription drugs really drastically affects the elderly population, but hey us young adults get sick sometimes also.  So, I don't know if you ever look at the bottle of your prescription from the drugstore if you're parents do that, but sometimes it's not the same drug the doctor prescibed.  That's because it's the generic form of the drug (I think you all probably know this, but hey, I got to set the background).  So, the Hatch-Waxman act of 1984 made it easier for generic drugs to get on the market through advanced new drug applications and not making them go through the clinical tests that the patented equivalent had to.  Read More »

Sometimes, you learn something pretty entertaining in school, and well, something I learned this past week was definitely that.  So, we watched a video in class of something called the "mean monkey task."  Now I know that name right there is pretty comical, but it gets better.

So here's the main gist of the task: a little kid is shown a few stickers and he picks his favorite.  Then the researcher tells him that the mean monkey always gets to pick a sticker first and will pick the one that the kid says is his favorite.   Read More »

So, I was doing this reading for my human development class and it was talking about one of the buzz topics of the day, childhood obesity.  You know, it was talking about how high fructose corn syrup and palm oil have made us all fatter than what we would have been without them.  It also said how we watch too much television and sit in front of the computer too long instead of outside playing (they didn't count blogging for progress however because that is vigorous physical activity).  Finally, the great demise of our bodies due to fast food.  Read More »

Well, I'm in my freshman year of college and it's my first real time away from home.  Honestly, no summer camp or staying over at grandparents' house.  I believe the longest time I've been away from home was for a one-night sleepover here and there.  So anyway, to get to the point, I had a pretty bad day today. I got a few bad grades back and I'm expecting a few more; no parties (well good parties) this week, and friends just aren't cutting it.  I even tried calling my mom and she couldn't chase my blues away, but one thing did.  Read More »