4th and 5th lab

As a disclaimer, we have two other labs that we have had trouble posting on our blog, but we will have them to present in class.

First Amendment Test Scores

Calleja - 25
Josette -24
Young-In -15
Jennifer - 20
Morgan - 27


We thought it was interesting that a reporter can be sent to jail for not revealing the identity of their news source and that news stations can publish information about a case even if its closed to the public. Also, we were surprised that government officials cannot even require prior review of a news story before publication. Another fact we did not know was that students cannot be required to recite the pledge of allegiance. Finally, we also were interested in the fact that school codes restricting offensive but lawful speech are unconstitutional.

Civil Liberty Lab:Quotes

I choose the quote:

Your right to swing your arm ends where the other person’s nose begins.
Attributed to Voltaire


I interpreted this quote as:
you can have any rights as long as you don't harm other people.

Dress Codes

Drama

Music
Visual Arts
Dance

These are examples of the dress codes for specific art schools at UNCSA. In general, the dress code policy at UNCSA is relatively lenient. For academic classes, students are allowed to wear anything within reason. The dance department requires pink tights and black leotards for female ballet dancers, black tights and white tee-shirts for male ballet dancers. Contemporary dancers must wear a black leotard and tights or unitard. Also, no drastic hair changes may be made without the dean's permission, and female ballet dancers must wear their hair in buns with only neutral color headbands. Small jewelry is permitted. Drama students must wear all black. Musicians and visual artists do not have specific daily dress codes.

Since these requirements are all beneficial to the respective art forms and do not specifically prohibit political speech, they are considered constitutional.

Lab # 9

In this lab, I wrote a letter to the Winston-Salem Journal expressing my views on an article about the way evolution is taught in schools. Through this I helped social capital grow by interacting in the community and letting others know my beliefs. Below is a copy of the letter:

An Obligation to the Kids of America

by Calleja Smiley

It is of the utmost importance to educate our young people with the complete truth. Providing contrasting views, or at least giving a well-rounded portrayal of the strengths and weaknesses of one view helps us to do that.
This is why evolution needs to be presented as the theory that it is and not as scientific fact. In order to do this, the weaknesses of the theory must be presented, otherwise, students are being misguided and led to believe that it is a law or fact. Thus is it is imperative that the passage in Texas's curriculum requiring students to explore “the strengths and weaknesses” of scientific theories remain.
In fact, I would argue that not presenting the weaknesses of evolution could in some ways jeopardize students' freedom of religion, instead of the other way around. If a student of a certain religion that teaches against evolution is led to believe in school that evolution is an absolute fact, then this would infringe upon their beliefs. So, we must be careful that we not go the other way in an effort to keep religion out of public education and actually challenge some students' beliefs by not presenting all sides of evolution.
We must lead America's young people to truth by showing them the facts of science and the holes within certain theories.

Lab # 4

We found the results for this lab quite shocking! In the mall, we dropped a one dollar bill 5 different times, and each time someone returned it! It seems that people can really trust each other in our community because of this apparent honesty. Individuals care about others and act accordingly, which greatly improves social capital and community bonds.

Lab # 10

The results for this lab were very interesting and surprising to us! Out of about 10 people that we interviewed, only one person said they would sell their right to vote. (The $0 signs mean that they would not sell their right to vote, not that they don't value it.) We found this surprising considering the low voter turnout in the U.S. However, it is possible that people still value this right even if they don't take advantage of it.
In general, voting is good for social capital because it unifies the nation as a whole. This lab showed that social capital in this area is better than expected and that people do care about the community around them because they think its important to be involved in it through voting.