Im in honors government as a freshman, and have an essay question i dont understand.?

Question

the question is:

what do you think are the major problems confronting American citizens at the present time?

-what relevance do the writings of men such as james madison have in helping us to find solutions to these problems. in explaining your answer, be specific.

-does the constitiution provide an adquate framework for the solution of these problems? why or why not? if you believe changes are required, what are they?

i have to write an essay to the above question, when i dont even really get what the question is asking...

when it saqys major problems confronting american citizens, is it talking about issues, like abortion or the war in iraq, or is it talking about something else?

can anyone help me decipher the question...?

Answer 1

I think the point of assignment is for you to determine what are your fellow citizens major problems.  A better use of YA would have been to ask us what we think are our major problems instead of the question that you ask.

Go luck and remember that in these types of assignments there are rarely wrong answers as long as you arguments are sound and you clearly state your opinions.

Answer 2

I would have to assume that it is talking about issues such as freedom of choice, war, health care, etc.

The second part of the question would be how do writing such as the declaration of independance, the constitution and the bill of rights help or hinder the solutions to the problems that we face today.

The third part of the question deals indirectly with the second part by asking if the constitution helps to solve the problem. If it doesn't why not and what changes could you make to it?

Answer 3

Unity is one problem the US is facing nowadays due to the bickering Republican and Democratic parties.  Each of them are attacking each other resulting to polarization of the people due to insults and unsolicited comments.  Freedom of speech must be regulated to stop this bickering.

Answer 4

I would think (guess, that is) it means not so much the things we're arguing about (such as those you list, which directly effect few of us), but actual problems that many Americans, or most Americans face.

Like, economic survival, health care, and things like that. That is, things that are, in a practical sense, problems we face.

Answer 5

Yes, it means issues. All of the things you mentioned as well as everyday living issues such as lack of money, high gas prices, crime, and so on.

Answer 6

Normally I would say that you need to do your own homework but your topic is interesting.  I will give you a clue, the major issue has always been the struggle between the individual states and the federal government (Federalism) and the states obligation to care for the people ( Parens Patriae) in the ways that the states desire. Good luck!

Answer 7

If you don't understand the question you should probobly drop the class!!!

Answer 8

The question is asking or your opinion about what you think are the major problems facing Americans right now.  You are then suppose to consider if the words of people like James Madison relate to our current problems and how they might help us solve them.  

The question is asking for whatever issues you consider are important - so if you think the threat to a woman's right to choose is important you should write about that.  If you think it is the war on terror you should write on that.  If you think it is the issues of illegal immigration, the job market, or our involvement in international hot spots like the Arab-Israeli conflict, the AIDs epidemic in Africa, the spread of communism, Islamofacism, the Armenian Genocide question, or Pakistan-Indian relations you should write about that.

Good Luck!!!

Answer 9

You're part of our American problem.  You are blatantly CHEATING, and you're part of an HONORS class of privileged students.

Answer 10

what problems are we facing now

how can the bill of right help

Answer 11

I feel the people are deeply divided over many issues, and seem uable or unwilling to work towards compromises.  Thus Congress and Administration are a reflection of the divided people.  In some areas, the anger that people seem to exhibit towards other groups of Americans is such that we almost seem to be headed towards another Civil War, except we so much enjoy the fruits of American civilization, that the anger exhibits itself in road rage, riots, actions of temporary nature, not organized mutual rebellion, although the intermittent appeal of groups like skin heads, unofficial militia, is quite disturbing.

The divisions we are seeing today between different interest groups in American society ... it might have always been the case that the people were seldom united, except in times past they may have done a better job or working cooperatively to serve the needs of society, which maybe we can get from the study of forefathers, who resolved serious life & death issues.

Today we are at risk of some terrorist organization setting off nuclear bombs in American cities.

Our forefathers were at risk of losing a revolution, and being killed as traitors.

What was at stake was just as dire, but most people today do not seem to acknowledge the seriousness of the threats facing us.

I think today we have access to much better quality of news of the world & what's happening in government, than in historical past, but at the same time have lost depth of evaluation of the issues.

The arrival of Television, half a century ago, seriously undermined the literacy of the people, as generations who, in an earlier age, would have entertained themselves with books, instead used TV and movies.

Computer technology, becoming priced low enough for the common man to aquire, reversed that literacy trend, but initially only for upper middle class.  It is only in the last few years, after people can get a home computer for under $ 1,000.00 that the children of lower economic classes can get the literacy benefits that come from the addictive nature of using personal computers.

We need to continue the trend of working towards access to information, via computer, becoming a civil right for all children.

The way TV news advertising has developed, it has led to short attention spans encouraged for masses of people.  That trend has somewhat been reversed by the Blogosphere, but the state of art there is still needing a high learning curve to get involved.  There is much development work still needed.

After WW II, the people exhibited a dedication to a better life for the next generation, and accomplished these goals.  It was a team effort between the people and the government.  Today we seem to have lost our way.

How do we get it back?

Some politicians are proposing schemes to mandate a draft so that every youngster must spend 2 years in their choice of the peace corps, americorps, military.  I am not convinced that will be a successful effort.

Here's another idea ... put more funding and support into the public health community.

100 years ago there were all sorts of diseases devastating the people, that we do not have today.  One way this was changed was the public health community waging a campaign the spitting in public is a disgusting habit.  As a result of this campaign, we no longer have high prevalence of diseases spread that way, such as Tuberculosis.

We have also had similar successes by private organizations.  Prior to MADD Mothers Against Drunk Drivers, and similar organizations inspired by them, drinking and driving had not been criminalized ... all the time we were hearing of people killed because the other driver was drunk, and we were all so dismayed about the mental healh problem of people who can't help it, driving drunk, we were clueless how to solve that.

I think the nation has been well served by having a climate of encouraging all sorts of volunteer efforts to make America a better place.

The Civil Rights Movement is another example.

We need to continue to encourage such movements, make America a fertile place for them to grow.

Towards that end, I think we need to relax the Politically Correct regulations that make it difficult for volunteer organizations to exclude people who disagree with their values.