Detailed Advantages of School Uniform Policy

Implementation of school uniform policy is not easy. Court battles have been fought to stop it. The matter is even made political. Despite this, it is hard to ignore the various advantages that this policy brings to schools and students.

1. It dramatically reduces offenses in school
Most studies show students in uniform attract less physical fights, discipline referrals and police reports. Meanwhile, schools get to see a decreased rate in vandalism and gang related activities. This tells us that school uniforms save lives and eliminate much headache tied to monitoring students through other expensive methods.

2. It helps students blend in
One of the main arguments of the anti-uniform group is that children should be allowed to express themselves in school through fashion. This is the opposite of what reality shows. In schools, students who dress with such objective are usually shunned. Good example of this is someone choosing to go goth. In school, this person is forced to be with handful of those who make the same choice. None can avoid criticism from the teachers. As for the rest, they go for what is in vogue. The truth is that very few kids understand the connection between fashion and expression. They want to get along with each other through blending. This is best done via uniform.

3. It kills criticism and discrimination
Uniforms can shut off judgments. As mentioned before, children wish to blend in with their peers. This is because they do not want to be criticized and discriminated. In schools, you will find people who are very much open about the fact that they make friends based on on the price tags their clothes have. In fact, according to our history, uniform policy was implemented somewhere in the 70s to stop violence related to designer clothes and gangs. What all this means is that normal clothes bring in judgments that children are scared of. To still push normal clothes on them, thus is nothing more than child abuse. Uniforms free them from this nasty thing.

4. Schools can free themselves from worries about certain clothes
Normal clothes do force schools to have policy on what students can wear. That is why, nationwide, they ban hats assuming them to be symbols of gangs. Teachers can have their own policy also right in their class rooms. We had a math teacher who actually threw t shirts at girls coming to his class in tank tops. None of them is necessary when uniform policy is implemented.

5. It saves money 
You can buy a few sets of uniforms and wear them for years. This way it is possible to save a lot on clothing. But that is not all. In today's time, schools are trying their best to make uniforms as affordable as possible.

6. It saves normal clothes from damages
The less one wears his favorite clothes the more he saves it from damages. Maybe most students understand this logic, but peer pressure ovrrides it. Those who are concerned about it will always find uniforms as the best shield. Good thing is that the schools around the world are now moving towards fabrics that are stain resistant. Plus in our country, schools are trying their best to make uniforms as affordable as possible.

7. It saves time
Uniform cuts the time needed to get ready. This means students get to sleep a little bit more in the morning or eat better breakfast.

8. It helps students focus on education
Once the worries about what to wear each day is gone, students finally get to actually study with much ease. Let’s remember children are sent to school for education.

9. It can clean up the image of the school in public
People interpret the quality of a school based on what uniform its students wear. There is no way to avoid it since media does cover news about schools. No student wants to be associated with the one that has bad reputation. They know uniform will get them identified. Because of that, it is likely for them to personally take precaution to not tarnish the name of their school. This can show up in the form of effort to maintain good grades and behave properly in public especially when they are still in their uniform. This is a win-win situation for both students and the school.

10. It keeps strangers out of school
In a school that has no uniform, employees are left to play detective to keep strangers out. Have you ever tried overhearing them? I did once after school. One employee went heavily confused about a guy who just entered the premise. She did not know what to do. She was suspicious that he was not from our school. But she could not just directly go to him. The solution she had was to ask other employees if they ever saw him there before. No one seemed interested in creating a scene for which they decided to just watch his moves. Something like this can be solved just by the simple introduction of uniform. Some people think that strangers can still get inside by wearing one. The truth is that nowhere school uniform is sold with easy access. Even the design is made distinct to prevent imitation.

11. It makes field trips easy to manage
Nobody wants to be lost, but it happens. Both teachers and students are aware of this. Detection is not simple especially when students are in their casual clothes near children of their age not belonging to the school. Surely, teachers can memorize all the faces, but that does not eliminate the danger of students losing their group in the crowd. This is where uniform works as the best secure option. Teachers no more have to memorize faces. They are free to focus on the main goal of the trip. And when some students are left behind they can manage to get inside the group again by tracking their classmates’ uniform.

12. It turns student body into a warm family
Uniform sends out the message to students that they are all part of a big family. Most friendships become lifelong. Even if you have a bad history with someone you just don’t find yourself continuing with it. In fact, even after graduation, you can’t cut off the attachment you will grow while in school.

13. Implementation is becoming more democratic
The mixture of technology, marketing and growing respect for students' taste has made implementation of uniform policy more democratc than ever. To design the uniform by keeping style in mind, schools can now easily get advice from designers. They can even directly approach Tommy Hilfiger. Moreover, many big stores now participate in the program for which students no more have to worry about their uniforms going out of stock. Ordering is possible online. Some schools now allow students to individually choose the fabric type they are comfortable with. 

Massive Welfare Program Luring People into ISIS: The Real Story

It seems the media hasn't done a good job of exposing why people who never met a Muslim in real life are accepting ISIS' invitation to an extreme version of Islam and then moving to Syria to wage jihad to create an already doomed caliphate. It isn't elementary to rationally justify that a gore side of a religion can quickly transform simple minded western folks into baddies of 120 days of Sodom.

In a strange turn of events, Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, the new national security adviser of Trump administration has made it clear that he isn't interested in scapegoating Islam to fight terrorism. In fact, he hates the term "radical Islamic terrorism". He says that the terrorists have changed the religion to fit it into their agenda. What he has mentioned should not be taken as some sort of politically correct statement. The answer to why people have been joining ISIS has always been sitting in front of us, but we have completely overlooked it by gluing our eyes to Islam.

Research confirms that financial benefits are at play, but how much of it would get someone to brutally kill those who don't agree with them while declaring that the world is in need of their extreme Islam? One single post by a female terrorist has the answer:
We will debunk her so called facts below

Federal Regulations on Advertising

Advertising is all about creatively getting consumers to buy a product. But can this creativity be misleading? Of course yes and to fight it we have Federal Trade Commission. This independent agency has guidelines on permitted and prohibited contents to be used in the advertising. Companies are expected to voluntarily abide by them. In case of failure, they risk being in trouble.

Typically, whether an ad is deceptive is decided through three steps formalized by FTC. They are:
1. Ad Contents or actions that are false, partially true or carry some form of exclusion
2. May dupe
3. An objective consumer

Also consider the following to know how the ad contents can be presented:

Puffing: Puffing means using general statements or exaggeration in an ad. FTC allows it to some extent. But to make sure it is being used correctly, an ad should contain subjective instead of objective statements. They should be such that lab test of the product is not needed.
"Gone are the days of desktop computers"
"It tastes like chicken"
"As cute as kitten"

Ad substantiation: Ad substantiation means showing validity of a claim in the ad through experts, studies or any other visible proof. FTC allows this only if the company truly documents as backup. Also any studies mentioned in the ad must be those that are done through valid scientific method. Failure to do it means the ad has half truth and thus, deceptive. Examples of ad substantiation are:
"It is clinically proven"
"The product most dermatologists recommend"
"Top rated"
"It comes in 7 different sizes"
If the ad here is factually correct it adheres to FTC rules on substantiation
Bait and Switch advertising: In simplest form, bait and switch ad is the mismatch between what is shown and given to the consumers. Say that you come across an ad showing a $200 red laptop. You go to buy it, but the company tells you that since it is no more available, you may try buying their other laptops priced over $200. In the virtual world, it is called bait-and-click advertising. In general, FTC prohibits it in all forms.

So what happens if the FTC rules are violated? Consumers can report the business entity to the agency. Multiple complaints means investigation. If FTC finds proof of deception a letter containing the complaint is sent to the business. If they reject it FTC takes the case to court. After evaluating it, if the judge finds the violation to be true FTC is allowed to hold cease-and-desist order against the business to terminate their deceptive practice. Of course, things do not need to end there. In fact, the business can challenge the order by taking the case to FTC commissioners. If this does not work they can go to both circuit and supreme courts respectively. But complete rejection of  cease-and-desist order prior to this can either get the business banned or fined. The amount is decided by looking at the number of violations. Each may require a payment as high as $10,000.
To avoid this situation, the business has the option to end the dilemma through the consent order as soon as the first FTC complaint letter is received. The advantage of taking this route is that the business does not need to admit the guilt. However, breaking of the consent can still get it penalized.

Original Jurisdiction and Appellate Jurisdiction Made Simple

Jurisdiction is basically the word that describes the power to do something legally by an authority. But to get a clear picture, it is important to split the word. What we get out of it is juris and diction in Latin. While the first one means law, diction means speaking. From this, we get "law speaks".

It would be easier to just convert it into "authority to take action legally". Now think about courts.They hear cases and give verdicts. Thus, they are related to jurisdiction. Under it, we have:

Courts of original jurisdiction

It basically decides which court will hear the case first. Generally, its other name is trial court. It is possible to bring both civil and criminal cases to it. Evidence and testimony of witnesses are mainly used here to facilitate verdicts. Federal court titles them as district courts. On the other hand, in the state court system, they are termed as courts of common pleas or county courts.

U.S. Supreme Court can also be court of original jurisdiction to hear cases of this specific kind:
  • State versus person
  • State versus state or its resident
  • US government versus citizen(s)
  • American citizen versus foreign government

Courts of appellate jurisdiction

These are also known as appellate courts. No trial is used here. The work of the appellate court is to look into cases which already have been brought to trial courts.

In general, the judge  goes over the transcripts of the above court to see if the verdict given had error. In short, if a party is not happy with the judgement of the trial court he has the option to allow the appellate court to review it with the hope that the verdict will be on his side.

However, he will not get the feature of the previous trial checked here in the form of questions of facts. The judge of appellate court can actually only check whether the verdict of the trial court was based on the correct application of the passed laws. Thus, it is said that they deal with questions of law. What this should hint is that the appellate courts have the right to overrule any wrong verdicts given by the trial courts and this pretty much has affects the questions of fact.

What are the Aims of Laws?

Laws are so much part of everyone's life that it is common to take them for granted and not question why they exist. Traditionally, they do have some basic aims and they can be listed as:

1. Substitute for savagery: Humans, just like wild animals, are capable of violence. It is still considered a preferred method when two groups cannot see eye to eye. This preferred method is called war. If all in a country begin to pick that we will see nothing but savagery.

On the top of that, we will have the most powerful usually defeating the small guys. One of the aims of laws in a country is to prevent that from happening. They are substitutes to solving every problem with arguments and riots.

2. Strengthening of equity in the society: The synonyms  of equity is justice, fairness, honesty, righteousness and so on. Although most of them are more personal in nature the laws aim to strengthen their roots to maintain a fair society. By using fairness, it is possible to remind all that they may not use their bad intention to hurt others.
3. Bringing about a hope for metamorphosis through logic: We humans have realized that favorable situations can happen from the use of logic. Laws aim to do just that. The main intention here is to look at a problem and its solutions from a logical point of view. We have many systems in place to help laws make it possible. Just think about how when a business ends up hurting many people a new law is enacted to prevent it from happening in the future. That is a hope for metamorphosis.

4. Blueprint for morals: Lawmakers do not have time to teach people to be moral. But passed laws can to some extent serve as guidelines for people in decisions related to moral and immoral routes.
5. Providing freedom to individuals: By having right laws, it is possible to help individuals enjoy personal freedom. In short, they protect rights of what citizens can do. Our American Bill of Rights is an example of this. Below we ten are displayed.

What do Interest Groups Do?

To satisfy the principles of democracy, national or state level policies in the United States are to be based on what the citizens want. The reality shows something different. There is actually no way to comprehend the real opinion of all the citizens. The media and politicians try to rectify the situation by depending on the polls. Another balm is interest group. Don’t fall for this singular term. The truth is that they are many in number. Their core identity relies on the idea that they represent the citizens. With this in mind, they try to influence the policies. To some extent, they are powerful, but divided by their ideologies. Basically, they represent different sections of the country or society. Some of these sections are given below.

Corporate: For this, we have the business groups. Although it is possible for an interest group to work for a single business organization the ones who come from a single industry enjoy the most power. They have more money, skilled influential characters and strategies. The following are some of the businesses and industries having the most active interest groups:
Oil companies
Pharmaceutical
Automobile

Professional: This one has a wide variety of interest groups, for we have a wide variety of professions in the country. Their examples include:

  • American Medical Association
  • National Society of Professional Engineers
  • American Society of International Law

Labor: It has to do with labor unions. Its focus is rights of the workers. Examples coming under the labor group are:
Service Employees International Union
Public Employees Union
California Teachers Association

Officials from the government: They work as mostly lobbyists. They can be divided into:
Representatives of the states
US Conference of Mayors
National Governor’s Association

Public interest: This is connected to saving the health or rights of the public. The interest groups falling under it can have a variety of topics to focus on. Some examples of public interest groups are:
Greenpeace
US Public Interest Research Group
Consumer and Environmental Groups

Interest Groups are active almost in all the policy phases. Their activities can be slit in the following ways:

Conservation of the benefits: The main aim of an interest group is to make sure that they are not hurt by the policies.
Agenda setting: This is not the most important factor for the interest groups, but yes they can utilize it by either promoting or blocking a new agenda to be used for policy formulation. They also have the power to bring a unique one to the table.
Regulatory: Depending upon the ideology, an interest group here tries to either shrink or increase the size of a regulation. Some may even promote privatization of certain government programs. Generally, private businesses are most active here.
Election: Within this, the interest groups have the freedom to financially support their favorite candidates. They can donate money for the campaigns or do direct advertising. Some even promote voter registration.
Lobbying: Interest groups are typically popular for lobbying. The most general meaning of this is pleading. The word signals drama which is not so positive for a formal discussion. The game has to be played in the gentle manner. Another word used to explain lobbying is influencing the policy of the government. No matter how delicate this sounds, strategies used by some of the groups have been quite effective.
Those that are highly serious and financially secure have offices dedicated to lobbying. They can hire professional lobbyists to work on their behalves. They can pay the congressmen to do the same. Lobbying can also include influencing the judgement of the citizens with the aim to make them support or block a policy. Under this, the lobbyists usually can use advertisement or mails calling for action.