3 Reasons to Buy Your Real Christmas Tree Early

The weekend after Thanksgiving is traditionally when​ most Christmas tree buying occurs. The decision to delay buying your holiday tree can certainly be determined by personal reasons including family tradition, religious doctrine and a post-Thanksgiving getting into the Christmas spirit barrage of media hype. If you are not bound by any of these or other personal preferences, you might want to consider shopping for and buying a Christmas tree a bit earlier in November. Buying early will pay off with less competition for higher quality Christmas tree selections and could ultimately result in a fresher holiday tree  if properly displayed and watered. Here are some of the reasons to buy a tree early. The Best Trees Are Harvested Early   You should consider mid-November as the  time to plan and follow through on your Christmas tree purchase. Christmas tree farms typically open during the middle of November and start cutting trees for lot sales. These are commercial wholesale farms (who often sell high-quality trees out the front door) and smaller tree farms catering to cutting your own tree. These types of Christmas tree farms promote early sales in designated sections where Christmas trees are of age and in prime shape. Obviously, these areas yield better trees at the beginning of the season, and its when you need to plan your visit. Farms selling trees online actually insist you place your order early in November. Although pricey, Ive found holiday trees purchased on the Internet to be of higher quality than even the premium selects growing on a tree farm. These trees are the growers best of the season crop and harvested first. Farms that supply online broker/sellers or farms that actually sell online take the best trees of their  plantation. They will arrive in perfect condition and are stand-ready (some farms even provide temporary stands with the tree). Instead of having to pick the perfect tree, you have professionals select the best for your holiday season. Get a Better Quality Tree Mounted in a Stand Most people dont realize that many Christmas trees bought on lots were cut in early to mid-November. So, when these trees are not purchased until after Thanksgiving, the drying process is well advanced and needle retention is often compromised. You are just as well off, and in our opinion much better off, buying the tree early and following our recommendations on how to prepare it for optimum freshness over the rest of the season. Although you just might luck out and get a fresh tree late in the season, you should not consider yourself getting a fresh tree by purchasing after Thanksgiving weekend. You just get a lower quality tree (picked over) with shedding needles as you delay your purchase. The sooner you get your Christmas tree in a watering stand after cutting, the longer will be the trees needle retention. The above reasons are the perfect excuse to buy a tree early and enjoying it during the Thanksgiving season. You should not consider yourself getting a fresh tree by purchasing later. The odds are that you just get a lower quality tree with shedding needles if purchased in December.   Avoid a Short Buying Season   Every year is different when it comes to Christmas tree availability. Christmas tree sales in numbers can vary annually because some years will have less shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas than others. This means that tree sellers will be busy over a shorter period of time and you will not have as many days to shop for a Christmas tree. Natural disruptions (insects, disease, fire, drought or ice) can cause regional Christmas tree shortages which can make certain Christmas tree species hard to find. In any event, buyers need to plan and purchase early to pick from the best holiday trees on the lot.

Gang Leader for a Day Essay - 2388 Words

Gang Leader For A Day SECTION 1 1.) How would you respond if a graduate student from an elite university turned up at your door and announced his intention to study you? If a graduate student from an elite university showed up at my door with intentions to study me, I think that I would allow him access. I would like the chance to hear what they had to say about my lifestyle. I’ve always questioned the way I live and if other peoples lives’ are similar. I don’t think that I live an odd life, but it would be interesting to see how a stranger viewed it. I know at first that I’d be a lot like J.T. in regard to certain aspects of my life. I wouldn’t behave the way I always do, I’d be on my best behavior at least until we†¦show more content†¦In the Black Kings, there is a â€Å"board of directors† who I’d say are the equivalent of a large business owner. Things get done the way they want it done, and they stand to make the most profit. Then you have the à ¢â‚¬Å"Captains† and â€Å"Lieutenants† who would act like the CEO’s. They have a lot of the power, but there is still someone above them that hands them orders and who can fire them. The ranks continue like this until you get all the way down to the bottom. In the case of a business the lowest ranking would be the intern or an assistant and in the Black Kings it’d be the young boys or â€Å"foot-soldiers† that do the heavy lifting and clean up. It’s very business like in that the higher up the ranks you’re able to move, the more money you’ll be able to make. Also, the rival gangs are competing with one another, to see who can make the most money, just as large corporations do. So, I think this was a great comparison. However, when you get down to it, illegal is still illegal. It makes no difference to me if it’s the gang-banger or the CEO committing the illegal act, they should both be punished. It also stands to reason t hat they’d organize a gang the same way as a business, since they both have the same goal; money. 4.) In chapter two, Venkatesh and J.T. argue about whether a culture of poverty exists among poor blacks in America. In your opinion, does Gang Leader for a Day do more toShow MoreRelatedGang Leader For A Day957 Words   |  4 Pagescompared to only 5.4% of unemployed white people (Street,2007). These statistics represent racial inequality which caused a lot of internal, and external damage to the black population. Rogue Sociologist, Sudhir Venkatesh’s (2008) novel called Gang Leader for a Day, reveals this disparity. In 1989 Sudhir participated in qualitative research, by studying the lives of people from the projects of Chicago. The projects are a subsidized housing development, provided by the government which requires low rentRead MoreGang Leader for a Day Essay2292 Words   |  10 PagesInnovate Your Life In the book, Gang Leader for a Day by Sudhir Venkatesh, a sociology student from the University of Chicago starts out simply trying to understand â€Å"how it feels to be poor and black,† and ends up spending years and years figuring out the ins and outs of a gang society (Venkatesh 14). Sudhir receives the chance of a sociologist’s lifetime to see first-hand what life is like in the projects. He follows gang leader, J.T. around and studies his life at the Robert Taylor homes forRead MoreGang Leader for a Day by Sudhir Venkatesh1376 Words   |  6 Pagesunfamiliar with the black culture within Chicago. In his book Gang Leader for a Day, he tells of his sociology research within one of the roughest housing projects in Chicago. Sudhir starts his research by talking to a few elderly gentlemen he played chess with at the park. His conversation with them led him to the Robert Taylor Housing Projects which was described as one of the worst Ghettos in America. His research began the first day he arrived with his clipboard of questionnaires ready to askRead MoreGang Leader for a Day: Book Review1413 Words   |  6 Pagesï » ¿ Gang Leader for a Day Book Review It takes a lot of guts and no small amount of courage and cunning to infiltrate a street gang in the tough neighborhoods of Chicago, but that is what Sudhir Venkatesh did as a 23-year-old graduate student at the University of Chicago. In order to find out first-hand how a gang that earns its money selling crack cocaine functions from the inside, Venkatesh dared to get involved on a superficial basis with the gang. But Venkatesh wasnt seen as person who wasRead MoreGang Leader For A Day : A Rogue Sociologist1589 Words   |  7 Pages Having read the book Gang Leader for a Day: a rogue sociologist takes to the streets by Venkatesh (2008), based on my childhood education (formal and informal), life circumstances, personal and professional life experiences, I perceive JT to be a lawbreaker. Moreover, based on how our society informally defines a criminal or lawbreaker, JT is clearly someone who does not or will not conform with our collective legal standards or requirements based o n the majority opinion of the wider publicRead MoreGang Leader For A Day Chapter Summary2784 Words   |  12 PagesAP English Language Ms. Donohue Gang Leader for a Day Chapter Summary CH. 1- Characters 1 s Name: Sudhir Venkatesh. Sudhir is Indian, he was born lived in California. He walks into the projects and stays overnight with a gang even though he knows he doesn t fit in.ï » ¿ Sudhir respects J.T. s rules and isn t intrusive with the gang. Sudhir is a university student wanting his degree in Sociology. Sudhir is also intelligent because he goes undercover into a gang for his project that will gain himRead MoreEssay about Gang Leader for a Day1786 Words   |  8 PagesIn the book, Gang Leader for a Day, a rogue sociologist passionately dives into the lives of one of Chicago’s toughest housing projects in an attempt to develop an insight as to how the urban impoverished lived. Throughout the text it becomes clear that a conflict paradigm is being reflected. A conflict society is based on social inequality, in which some individuals benefit and thrive more than others, which tends to lead to conflict and thus change. This is evident both in the housing projectsRead MoreThe Gang That The Author, Sudhir Venkantesh1148 Words   |  5 Pages I would describe the gang that the author, Sudhir Venkantesh, studies in this book as a deviant group because they are not following usual or accepted standards in social behavior. â€Å"Deviance is a behavior, trait or belief that departs from a norm and generates a negative reaction in a particular group†. (Real World, Kerry Ferris, Jill Stein, p 153) According to this definition we can definitely see gangs departing from a norm by committing many crimes and not obeying the laws. One example to deviantRead MoreSocial Control And Its Impact On America s Public Housing Essay1658 Words   |  7 PagesChicago’s public housing soon found themselves in dilapidated, drug-infested, crime-filled, isolated centers of despair. During a time in which most American citizens could easily turn their eyes from the struggles of the poor, Sudhir Venkatesh’s Gang Leader for a Day took readers into the depths of the world in which the poor resided. Through Venkatesh’s wor k, readers are inadvertently introduced to broader sociological concepts such as, collective efficacy within communities, the concentration effect,Read MoreCentral Purpose And Core Theme1513 Words   |  7 Pages Central Purpose and Core Theme Author Sudhir Venkatesh wrote â€Å"Gang Leader for a Day† to produce an in-depth ethnography on how people make a living with the use of underground economies in marginalized communities. He does so by providing descriptions of encounters with a crack-selling gang named the Black Kings, operating in Chicago, Illinois’ projects. The central take Venkatesh uses to explain how one makes money and the most popular way that young African-American males made money was by selling

Role of Esl Teacher free essay sample

The Role of an English Teacher in the Middle School Classroom Thesis statement: The teacher plays several kinds of roles in order to improve the students’ English level. 1 Introduction. 2 The teacher plays many roles in the middle school classroom. A. The teacher is a controller. B. The teacher is an organizer. C. The teacher is an assessor. D. The teacher is a participant. E. The teacher is a helper. F. The teacher is a prompter. 3 Conclusion. Abstract: For the IT and all kinds of mediums are developing quickly, An English teacher is not the only way for the students to get their knowledge. The difference between a teacher and a student is not that a teacher is more knowledgeable than a student, but that a teacher can develop a student’s intelligence, mood, character, vitality and personality. â€Å" Education is not merely culture teaching, but stimulate the creation of people and wake up people’s emotion so that people can act freely and voluntarily†, Pan(2002)said. We will write a custom essay sample on Role of Esl Teacher or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page â€Å"Teachers are related to people’s growth closely. People’s development changes with time. These changes make more demands to teachers. † Yu(2005) said. The English teacher not only teaches the students to study English, but also how to improve themselves in various aspects. So, the role of the only â€Å"controller† of an English teacher could not meet the need of the development of education, and she/he must be the controller, organizer, participant, helper and prompter. Key words: The roles of an English teacher, controller, organizer, participant, helper, prompter, assessor. I Introduction The 21st century is full of high-technology and high competition, and the requirements of English talents are different from the past. Nowadays, learning English is more important. The English teacher not only teaches students the knowledge, but also teaches students how to study and how to use their knowledge. As a second language which the students must study, English is not so easy and interesting for every student. Many students feel that studying English is very dull and very difficult. And day by day, they lose their heart in learning English. But now, English is very very important for the young people. If they want to go to universities, they must pass the English exam. If they want to go abroad, they also must pass all kinds of English exams. And if the teacher only teaches the students and answers their questions, the students could not study English better. So, the English teacher should change their roles in the middle school classroom so that the students could study English easily and well. 2 The Roles of the English Teacher 1. Controller As a controller, the English teacher controls the class fully. The teacher tells the students what they must do, when they do it; what they must study, when they should study. He/she also controls the students as to when they should speak English and what kinds of English they should speak. In many middle school classrooms, especially in the country middle school classrooms, the English teacher first tells the students what they will learn in that class, then teaches the content in the English book and asks the student to read, or do exercise and so on. We also hear the teacher say: â€Å"now, do the exercise by yourselves, and if you have questions, you may ask me. † In this way, the students may pay their attentions to what the teacher say, and all the students study the same knowledge in the same way and at the same time. It is also very effective in learning new lessons and new sentences. But the teacher should make sure that all students pay their attentions to what he’s said. However, the role of an English teacher as the â€Å"controller† controls all the class, and the students have less time to speak English and it is not good for developing the students’ abilities of using the language. So, the teachers should give their students much time to speak English. 2 Organizer It is very difficult for an English teacher to play the role â€Å"organizer†. If the teacher organizes the class-game well, the class-game is successful. Before the teacher asks the students to do the exercise, the teacher must know that if the students do not know what they should do, they will waste all the time of that class. And the students who know less English do not know how to take part in these games. They may do those games in Chinese. It is not effective too. So, before the class-games, the teacher must see that every student knows what he or she should do. So, at this time, the teacher should give an example, and then, ask some of the students to do that. If it is a dialogue exercise, the teacher could give some students the roles of this dialogue, and then ask the student to do the dialogue in the classroom. For example, when learning THOMAS EDISON in Unit 11 of Book 3 of â€Å"Junior English Book†, the teacher may ask the students to play Edison, Edison’ s mother, Edison’ s father and so on. And other students are reporters, they may interview the mother and the father, learning Edison’s hobby; they may interview the teacher, learning the study of Edison; they could also interview the doctor, learning the progress of saving Edison’ mother and so on. For example, (Sa is interviewing Edison’ father. ) Sa: Excuse me, please, I’m on China Daily, are you Edison’s father? F: Yes, nice to meet you. Sa: Pleased to meet you too. We all know your son, Thomas Edison, is a great inventor now. Can you tell me what he was always doing when he was a child? F: Yes, when he was a child, my son was always trying out new ideas. Sa: can you give me an example? F: Ok. One day when he was five. I saw him sitting on some eggs. I asked him why he was doing that. But he didn’t answer. Instead, he asked me a question. Sa: what did he say? F: â€Å"Hens are able to have chicks. Why can’t I? † he said. Sa: Could you answer his questions at that time? F: I’m afraid I couldn’t. Sa: Oh, thank you very much. F: You’re welcome. Goodbye! Sa: Bye! (Sb is interviewing the doctor) Sb: I know you are a very good doctor. You saved Edison’ mother, can you tell us what happened that day? D: That day, Edison’ mother was ill. I was asked to go quickly. I went as soon as possible. When I saw her, I said that she needed an operation at once. But I wasn’t able to operate. Sb: why? D: Because it was night, and the light in the room was very bad. I couldn’t see clearly enough! Sb: what should you do then? D: Edison thought hard and had an idea. His father owned a large mirror. Edison took all the lights in the house and put them on a long table. Then he put the big mirror behind them, so there was enough light. Sb: Could you see clearly? D: Yes. I operate on his mother at once and she was saved. Sb: Great! By the way, what do you think of little Edison? D: Very clever! In this way, all of the students take part in the class-game and remember the sentence style. So the teacher pays attention to the role of organizer, making sure that every student understands. If it is necessary, the teacher can do that in Chinese. And it is also necessary for the teacher to spend much more time on thinking of how to organize the students when they do the preparation. 3. Assessor The main work a teacher should do is assessing the learners’ study and knowing whether they study well. If no, the teacher should change the way he taught. There are two ways for assessing: correcting and feedback. When a teacher is correcting the students’ mistakes, he should pay his attention to the way he speaks, and do not cut short the students. Otherwise the students may lose their hearts and dare not speak English. Feedback is assessing the students’ work when they finish it. The teacher should approve the students’ advantages while he points out the problems and tells them how to deal with those problems. Ever since they are enrolled into schools, students are trained in learning methods and habits. In this way, they will switch from the passive position to the initiative position, so as to lay a solid foundation for further studies. Learning to use dictionaries is one of the most basic skills in English study. Teachers should guide students to learn to look up new words in the dictionary. Different dictionaries are designed with different purposes. Students are guided to choose suitable ones. Out of dictionaries,students can learn pure English, because lots of language items are from original books, newspapers or magazines. Students need guidance on how to preview new lessons. The purpose to preview is to get to know new words, language items and the content preliminarily with the help of dictionaries and reference books. Students may feel it too difficult or unused to it at the very beginning, but day after day, if they insist on using the method, they will enjoy the happiness of previewing new lessons. This is one way to probe. Based on their own preliminary preview, they are able to study with problems and to raise deep level questions in class. So teachers can organize lessons at a higher level. At the stage of introducing new lessons, teachers should try every means to arouse students’ interest, motivate their desire to take part in the study process. During this procedure, teachers design situations for teaching of either a language item or a sentence pattern, and presenting tasks, to make students realize their lack of knowledge. Students’ motivation to learn will be generated in this way. So they will be eager to get involved into the learning process. Teachers’ guiding role is necessary for new English learners. At the stage of guiding, teachers work as guiders, guiding students to form good learning habits and as promoters, promoting students to love learning English 4 Participant Participant† is that the teacher thinks of himself as one of the students and takes part in their games, not that he/she looks at the students at the platform. It could enliven the atmosphere of the class and offer the students chances to speak to someone who knows more English. By taking part in the games by the teacher. â€Å"there is no love and there is no education†. The love of the teachers is that the teacher unders tands the students’ spiritual world, learning to think as a student and studying together with the students. At the same time, the teacher may get something which can help him when he explains the problems to the students. For example, when teaching THE NECKLACE in Unit 18 of Book 1 of Senior English Book, the teacher may ask the students to give a further end of the story. T: When Mathilde heard what Jeanne had said, she simply couldn’t believe her own ears. The lost necklace wasn’t a real diamond necklace. How she regretted that she hadn’t told Jeanne what had happened then! She was too sad to say a word. But she thought for a while and felt it wasn’t a bad thing, because it made her a hard-working woman. S1: Mathilde was very sad when she heard that. â€Å"dear me! then she fell to the ground. When she stood up, she kept on laughing and saying â€Å"Necklace†. She was mad at last. S2: Jeanne was so moved that she took Mathilde home and gave her a lot of money. With the money, Mathilde and her husband started a new life and lived happily. Through this discussion, the students give free rein to their imagination and exercise their speaking; the teacher learns more a bout the story’s end. But as a participant, the teacher should be careful to control the class, he should give the students much more time to speak and discuss. 5. Helper To the students, a teacher is a dictionary, a tool book and a computer. Whenever they meet problems, they will ask the teacher to help them. When students do oral communication games, reading and writing, they will meet with many many problems; they will ask the teacher to help them understand them. Besides, one’s confidence and attitude determine if his English is poor or well. So, when the students lose their heart in learning English, the teacher should say something to comfort them; when they make advances, the teacher should praise them; when they have problems, the teacher should help them in time. Loving the students, the teacher should be good at getting into the students’ emotion world. To get into the students’ emotion world, the teacher first should be the students’ friend and feel their happiness, anger, grief and joy. † The teacher should create favorable conditions that help in time, and recommend some favorable English readings and magazines to the students and tell them some reading skills in the class to improve their reading speed. 6. Prompter â€Å"Prompter† is a teacher role which makes the student the center. He lets them study by themselves. Teachers are to lead and encourage students. Yang(2005). Nowadays, in China, professionals analyze teachers’ roles mainly in two aspects: from microscopic point of view, teachers’ roles in learners’ development: from microscopic point of view, teachers’ expectations of learners. The former beliefs tend to be abstract, but the latter expectations always show out their concrete qualities, and their impact on learners’ development. Teacher’s expectations of learners and their impact result from the process of interaction between teacher and learner. During the process, teachers constantly insist on influencing the learner according to their own expectations, and the learner will step by step develop himself as the teacher expects. Teacher’s roles will affect everything the students do in the classroom, whether these are implicit or explicit. And teacher’s deep—rooted beliefs about how languages are learnt will pervade their classroom actions more than a parceled methodology they are told to adopt or course book they follow. A British educational theorist Pajares thinks that the teacher’s beliefs have a greater influence than the teachers’ knowledge on the way. They plan their lessons by depending on all kinds of decisions. They make their general classroom practices. Social constructionists also find that the teacher’s beliefs are far more influential than knowledge in determining how individuals organize and define tasks and problems, and are better predictor of how teachers behave in the classroom. Social constructivists find that an effective teacher creates a learning atmosphere which is cognitively and affectively expanding; a learning atmosphere which enables the learner to become a more adequate and knowledgeable person. It is clear that this kind of approach places great emphasis upon what the teacher as a person brings to the teaching—learning relationship and how the learner can be helped to develop as a whole person by the provision of a supportive learning environment, which allows individuals to develop in their own way. Aspirn and Boy express it. â€Å"pupils feel the personal emotional structure of the teacher long before they feel the impact of the intellectual content offered by that teacher. † This obviously has particular implications with regard to teachers’ views of themselves since a teacher who lacks self—esteem will find it impossible to build the self—esteem of others. This is equally true when it comes to conveying dignity and respect. Thus, the language teacher needs to convey a sense of self—confidence when using the language, at the same time especting learner’s attempts to express themselves and their views in the language. III. conclusion Now teacher work with students who are actively planning and managing their own futures. Teachers prepare students for a range of career path ways and help them develop the skills habits and attitude they will retain over a lifetime of learning. It is a more challenging role for teachers now that the expect ations are more complex.

Why Our Campuses Are Safer Without Concealed Handguns Essay Example

Why Our Campuses Are Safer Without Concealed Handguns Paper Rhetorical Analysis on article Why Our Campuses Are Safer Without Concealed Handguns BY wa00750 Rhetorical Analysis Paper In the essay we read, entitled Why Our Campuses Are Safer Without Concealed Handguns, we see the author use five main points, as well as using appeals to Ethos Logos and Pathos to help reinforce his view on the topic. The five main reasons that the author feels that college campuses are safer without concealed handguns are introduced to us in the opening of the article, listed as bullet points. The author then goes on to break the article into these separate sections to allow him to go more in epithet and explain his position. In this way, he appeals to the readers sense of Ethos throughout the entire article by convincing us that he knows what he is taking about. However, the author does not stop here. The author uses an appeal to Ethos a couple more times throughout the article, one of the most obvious is in the section where he makes the point that concealed carry permit holders are not always law-abiding citizens. We will write a custom essay sample on Why Our Campuses Are Safer Without Concealed Handguns specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Why Our Campuses Are Safer Without Concealed Handguns specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Why Our Campuses Are Safer Without Concealed Handguns specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The author continues in this section to write about how easy it is for certain people to obtain firearms and concealed carry licenses, even though they should not be allowed to legally. The author blames this problem on a series of systems that are in place, that are nowhere near enough, putting the blame being on communication, or lack-there-of, between states and the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICE). The author then uses examples of how state governments often simply do not submit pertinent records to databases such as NICE. This can result in convicted felons and mentally ill persons having the ability to purchase a firearm or receive a concealed carry permit, which we have seen can lead to very bad results. In the same way that the author uses Ethos throughout the article, he also appeals tryingly to the readers sense of Logos, or logic. The main reason for this is because he must back up his strong opinions with logic and statistics to support what he is writing. This is shown easily in the opening, when the author provides statistics on homicide rates for college campuses versus the rest of the nation, and shows them to be drastically different. This same technique is used later in the article to emphasize the fact that many college students use mind altering substances such as drugs and alcohol; and that adding firearms, concealed or not, would add a new variable to Seibel suicides and intra-student violence. In addition to all of these statistics, the author also uses reason to make the point that college classrooms are places where you should be able to speak freely and without fear of possible retaliation. The author feels that if students do not know who may or may not have a concealed weapon on them, they may be less likely to speak their mind and learn all that they can. Last but not least, the author also makes an abundant use of appeals to the readers Pathos, appealing to the reader in a way that reaches them in a personal raw the reader in, as well as to open them up to the information that the rest of the article provides and leave the reader thinking about it. He begins the article by mentioning some of the more infamous college campus shootings, such as those that occurred at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University, and then proceeds to make his case against concealed firearms on college campuses. This viewpoint is prominently displayed in the third section of the article, in which the author writes about how students who go on these shooting rampages set out knowing they will ii, and plan only on taking as many people with them as possible. The author goes on to say that students and faculty that may be carrying a concealed weapon would not deter these individuals, but may actually become a target, in hopes that they will return fire, possibly killing more innocent people. In addition to this theory, the author writes that with more people running around with guns, police would have a much more difficult time figuring out who was the actual threat, and eliminating it. In this article, the author is against having students be allowed to carry concealed firearms. I do not think that this is a good position to take in this situation. I feel that responsible gun owners, who have passed proper safety courses, and who meet all of the requirements needed to obtain both firearm and license, should be able to carry their firearm where they feel it is warranted. The author states that concealed handguns would distract from a healthy learning environment. However, I do not think that this would be the case. I think that despite the presence of a gun on campus or in class, things would go about as usual. I do not feel as though people would be threatened into not speaking their mind, and I finitely do not think that the possession of a firearm or any possible weapon automatically makes an individual more violent. I have known many people who carry knives with them any time it is appropriate, and they do not strike fear into everyone in the room. They dont stab people Just because they are in a position where they have what could be a weapon. No, they have learned over time how to carefully handle a knife, and I feel perfectly comfortable being around them. I feel that the same is true with firearms, concealed or not. Although I do not agree with many of he statements the author makes, I do feel that he makes a good point that in order to obtain a concealed carry permit, you should be screened more thoroughly, and you should have to have some sort of nationally regulated test in which you must qualify with the weapon you wish to carry. I feel that there should be a coordinated effort to make sure that the NICE database is updated regularly. In relation to the section of the article where the author says that school shooters would not be deterred by concealed carry holders, I do not think that this matters. If someone sets their mind o coming to a college campus and shooting anyone in sight, then they are going to do it, whether or not I am able to protect myself. Possibly, instead of simply not allowing it, schools could implement a program where all firearms on campus, for concealed carry or not, would have to be registered thorough thee school. This would allow the school to know which student has which guns. Throughout the year security would be able to collaborate with the student and teacher gun owners including having them qualify with their firearms on a regular basis, and incorporating them onto any plans to counteract violence on campus. I think if colleges were able to or end a confrontation that could have more fatal consequences. With proper training from security or police personnel, I think students and teachers would be able to help keep campuses safer, while being able to observe their right to bear arms. I do not know for sure that college campuses would be safer if students and teachers were allowed to carry concealed handguns, but I know that proper measures could be taken to make the gun owners more responsible, as well as to make campus a safer place.