18 weeks ago, we were asked just what it means to be a well-informed 21st century citizen. After all that time, my opinion on the topic hasn't really changed, just become a bit more informed (ironic, huh?).
Being a well-informed citizen is not really a hard thing to do. All it requires is knowledge, which is a readily accessible resource in today's society. With all of the advances in technology, the necessary information is always at the touch of your fingertips. The internet, daily news programs, newspapers. Heck, even watching comedy shows like the Colbert Report keeps you updated on the going-ons in the world pretty adequately. But just knowing what's happening in the world isn't quite enough. Knowing something and understanding it are two completely different things. And that's one of the problems we face in America; people rarely seem to actually understand what it is that they are talking about. People often debate based off of no background knowledge, which only aggravates those who are knowledgeable. So actually understanding things is incredibly important.
There's a level that goes even deeper than that as well: knowing how your government and society function. Knowing how elections work, how the economy functions, how our society began . It's history, economics, government. Really, it's high school to be honest. Knowing the things that we learn here give us the ability to be the citizen that we should be. Without knowledge, even at a rather basic level, our society can't function the way that it should. So what does it take to be a well-informed 21st century citizen? All it takes is a high school diploma and a willingness to learn.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
NASA: Fund it or Flush it?
July 20, 1969, one of the greatest days in American and even human history: the day Neil Armstrong stepped off the Apollo 11 and onto a new world. September, 2008: the year of the Great Recession, one of the worst times of economic hardship since the Great Depression itself. 4 years have passed and we as Americans are still suffering in many ways. In times like these, people become rather wary of their money, watching it carefully, hiding it, saving it, spending less and focusing more on the necessities. People start protesting for government cuts in order to slim the budget and lower the debt, getting our economy back to where it should be. It's unfortunate that it takes an economic crisis for most people to become aware of their surroundings, but better late than never. And, unfortunately, programs that have served us well in the past might fall by the wayside.
As an American, NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration) just seems like something that should be, that will always be there. It's not something that we ever really think about. It's just a group of people that build rocket ships. Rarely do we think about who's funding those rocket ships (personally, I think it's the Martians). But the fact of the matter is that we as American citizens are funding those rocket ships. Our tax money is going to them in massive quantities. On average, NASA costs about $17 billion to keep itself afloat. That's, as Keith Yost, author for tech.mit.edu, puts it, "the sweat of our laborers, the genius of our scientists, the hopes of our children". Many people protest that NASA has contributed very little to society since the moon landing more than 40 years ago, which isn't entirely true. But is it enough? Is it worth the $17 billion that we spend on it every year? Times are rough, and we can use every dollar that we can get.
However, this may seems a bit sentimental, but can you really price everything that NASA has done? "Who hasn't been moved by the majesty of the cosmos at some point in their life?" (Jacob Lubman, thedaonline.com) Space is one of the more widely studied things by the population. When i say studied, however, I don't mean necessarily with test tubes and lab coats. I'm simply talking about all those that look up at the stars every night and wonder what else is out there. The moon landing was a great day for science, but a better day for human beings. It gave us hope. It expanded the parameters of our imaginations. It's allowed us to become citizens of the universe.
Cheesy sentiments aside, we pose the same question again: Can you put a price on all that NASA has done? Maybe. But that price would be rather high. Even naysayer Kevin Yost admits that NASA has contributed greatly to society, inventing things like wireless drills, bar-code scanners, and Velcro, along with their advances with shuttle and satellite technology. The moon landing should perhaps buy them the benefit of the doubt for just a bit longer. Hell, we pay war veterans billions every year. NASA is a veteran too, a veteran of space. I understand that it's a different concept, but it's gotta count for something.
So are they worth all that we pay for them? I say yes. $17 billion sounds like a lot, but it actually amounts to "half of one percent of the federal budget" (Josh Levinger, tech.mit.edu). Even at it's most expensive time, funding for space exploration still accounted for only 4%, and that was in the years surrounding the moon landing. The funding doesn't even touch what, for example, military spending costs.
Before we cut a program so vital to both science and the hopes of America, we should make sure that it is absolutely vital that we do so. And at this point, it is not. "I, for one, am glad that people still stare up at the stars, even if things still need work here on Earth. How else will we get to the future that we all deserve?" (Josh Levinger, tech.mit.edu).
http://tech.mit.edu/V130/N18/nasap.html
http://www.thedaonline.com/opinion/cuts-in-nasa-funding-a-step-in-the-wrong-direction-for-us-1.2530184#.T82HTejY-8A
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/nlsi/multimedia/NASABudgetHistory.pdf
http://tech.mit.edu/V130/N18/nasacp.html
(the 2 MIT websites are different articles with contrasting opinions. Why they show up as the same URL I'm not really sure.)
As an American, NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration) just seems like something that should be, that will always be there. It's not something that we ever really think about. It's just a group of people that build rocket ships. Rarely do we think about who's funding those rocket ships (personally, I think it's the Martians). But the fact of the matter is that we as American citizens are funding those rocket ships. Our tax money is going to them in massive quantities. On average, NASA costs about $17 billion to keep itself afloat. That's, as Keith Yost, author for tech.mit.edu, puts it, "the sweat of our laborers, the genius of our scientists, the hopes of our children". Many people protest that NASA has contributed very little to society since the moon landing more than 40 years ago, which isn't entirely true. But is it enough? Is it worth the $17 billion that we spend on it every year? Times are rough, and we can use every dollar that we can get.
However, this may seems a bit sentimental, but can you really price everything that NASA has done? "Who hasn't been moved by the majesty of the cosmos at some point in their life?" (Jacob Lubman, thedaonline.com) Space is one of the more widely studied things by the population. When i say studied, however, I don't mean necessarily with test tubes and lab coats. I'm simply talking about all those that look up at the stars every night and wonder what else is out there. The moon landing was a great day for science, but a better day for human beings. It gave us hope. It expanded the parameters of our imaginations. It's allowed us to become citizens of the universe.
Cheesy sentiments aside, we pose the same question again: Can you put a price on all that NASA has done? Maybe. But that price would be rather high. Even naysayer Kevin Yost admits that NASA has contributed greatly to society, inventing things like wireless drills, bar-code scanners, and Velcro, along with their advances with shuttle and satellite technology. The moon landing should perhaps buy them the benefit of the doubt for just a bit longer. Hell, we pay war veterans billions every year. NASA is a veteran too, a veteran of space. I understand that it's a different concept, but it's gotta count for something.
So are they worth all that we pay for them? I say yes. $17 billion sounds like a lot, but it actually amounts to "half of one percent of the federal budget" (Josh Levinger, tech.mit.edu). Even at it's most expensive time, funding for space exploration still accounted for only 4%, and that was in the years surrounding the moon landing. The funding doesn't even touch what, for example, military spending costs.
Before we cut a program so vital to both science and the hopes of America, we should make sure that it is absolutely vital that we do so. And at this point, it is not. "I, for one, am glad that people still stare up at the stars, even if things still need work here on Earth. How else will we get to the future that we all deserve?" (Josh Levinger, tech.mit.edu).
http://tech.mit.edu/V130/N18/nasap.html
http://www.thedaonline.com/opinion/cuts-in-nasa-funding-a-step-in-the-wrong-direction-for-us-1.2530184#.T82HTejY-8A
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/nlsi/multimedia/NASABudgetHistory.pdf
http://tech.mit.edu/V130/N18/nasacp.html
(the 2 MIT websites are different articles with contrasting opinions. Why they show up as the same URL I'm not really sure.)
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