"Adult Film Industry Star" Teaching?

     So, let's talk about teachers. Personally I like teachers. They're generally kind and helpful, and they devote almost all of their time to helping students learn things that they'll need (or so they say) for the rest of our lives. Since some people see their teachers more often than their own parents I think it's safe to say teachers can have a huge impact on the lives of their students. Luckily our school systems have realized this and for that reason conduct extensive background checks, and only hire people they believe will have a positive influence on a students development and are also just fine with having an extremely small paycheck for the amount of work they do changing society. Or at least, they usually filter who they hire pretty well. there's always a few people who will slip through the cracks, my eighth grade english teacher for instance. If my memory serves me correctly (other MOQers can correct me on this) I believe we opened our book a grand total of four times the entire year, turned in maybe six assignments (on which we all got the same grade) and spent most of the class listening to her talk to the girls about her personal life. Needless to say many parents were outraged, the school received a mountain of letters throughout the year, and Ms. Taylor didn't come back for a second year of "teaching".

     Now, that I could understand, it wasn't so much the school's fault for hiring her, she seemed like a normal person with the potential to be a good teacher. But there are certain instances that I don't completely understand the logic behind. For example, hiring an actress from the... "adult film industy", to teach a sex ed class. What, don't believe me? You think I'm making this story up just to get this blog done? Well I wish I was, but I'm not. Here's your proof, the original article that I'm writing this blog about. The University of Illinois recently had a week long sex education course. The instructor was a woman by the name of Annie Sprinkle. The course included speeches by Sprinkle about life as an actress in the adult film industry, a presentation on "eco-sexology", a free "sidewalk sex clinic", and a screening of a movie by the name of "Annie Sprinkle's Amazing World of Orgasm". The course apparently included "hands-on" (but fully clothed of course) participation by the students, and received some criticism about the films and clips used. It obviously wasn't enough criticism though, as Annie currently visits numerous colleges around the country to teach sex education. Apparently she isn't the only person in her line of work to have an interest in teaching either. Another school (Los Angeles County Elementary School) was severely criticized for inviting a former actress named Sasha Grey to read to first and third grade children. Find the story yourself, or here's one version.

So what do you think? Is it right allowing people with these pasts our teach our future adults and leaders of society? Many parents have already given their blatant opinion but let's hear from the huge audience of people that happen to read my blog.

Original article (again): http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/09/16913843-porn-star-teaches-sex-seminar-at-the-university-of-illinois?lite

Bonus article (a second time): http://www.nbcnews.com/id/45270845/ns/us_news-life/

P.S. Do you guys have any clue how hard it was not to use that compound word that starts with a p?

Real Life Lorax Events in Beijing

     Has anyone happened to see a movie called "The Lorax"? Well for those of you that haven't the movie is based off the Dr. Seuss book by the same title. In the movie environmental pollution has become so bad that all the trees are dead and people live in a large city where a rich guy found a way to make clean air and is selling it like water. The book (and movie) was meant to send a message telling everyone what the world could end up like if we don't take care of it. When I watched it I thought it was something that wouldn't happen for many, many years but I've now become aware that it may be a not so distant future. Beijing, as in that place in China, apparently has horrible air pollution and smog levels. It's to the point where visibility is often below 100 yards, the government has taken certain cars off the road, factories were shut down, and people are being told to stay inside if at all possible because of the danger to your lungs. EPA officials at the American embassy there say that the Air Quality Index, which measures the amount of fine particles in the air, has been hovering near the top of the chart all month and is extremely hazardous.

     To protect themselves from the "dangerous air" many people are taking matters into their own hands and buying masks online. Taobao (a large Internet shopping site in China) sold over 100,000 masks daily in January, and that was just in Beijing. Many citizens aren't buying just normal medical masks either, some are buying full scale gas masks and wearing them throughout the day. Several rich government workers and politicians are being criticized for buying extremely expensive air purifiers for their homes. One wealthy entrepreneur is being praised for his work as he tries to do something about the bad air. Chen Guangbiao is bottling fresh air and selling it. He's literally having air in other places bottled in soft drink cans, having it shipped to Beijing, and selling it for what equals about 80 cents a bottle. Every can has a picture of him on it and says "Chen Guangbiao is a good man".

     "If we don't pay attention to environmental protection, in 10 years every one of us will be wearing gas masks and carrying oxygen tanks on the streets," Cheng told ABC News. "By that time, my canned fresh air will be a necessity for household," he predicts. Is this what our world is coming to? We're selling and buying air because ours is actually dangerous to breath? I think it's time for a change on a global scale. We may be one small step away from the world we live in today, and the world we see in this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKVHBguZOBY&sns=em

Original article: http://abcnews.go.com/m/story?id=18352787&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fblogs.smithsonianmag.com%2Fsmartnews%2F2013%2F01%2Fchinas-air-pollution-is-so-bad-that-one-entrepreneur-is-selling-fresh-air-in-cans%2F