YOUR SAY

WEAPONS IN THE USA

A recent study has shown that more than 50% of the homes in the USA have a weapon. Also, the dissatisfaction with the weapon’s regulation has increased among the inhabitants of the country, and now more than the 60% of the people don’t agree with it. I think the reason is because of the shootings that have happened in the last year. 

Some Americans defend having weapons, saying that it helps them feeling safer, because they can protect themselves if someone is trying to kill or attack them. But take a look at how many people have died because of a weapon in the last years: the number is terrifying. In my point of view, I think it’s safer the way it works in Europe, where almost anybody can have a gun or any weapon.

These defenders of the weapons also say that if Europe worked like the US, and some people could have weapons, some terrorist attacks could have been stopped, but I don’t think so. The USA has also received terrorist attacks that couldn’t have been stopped, like the one that happened in Boston in 2013, so this theory is not valid. In fact, in the country more people have died because of shootings or killed by anyone with a gun than being victim of a terrorist attack. 

But, what can they do to change that? I think they have to change their law about weapons, restrict the people who can have weapons and remove them from some people. But a lot of civils are against it, and they say that if the government takes off the weapons of the people, this would be an attack to the private propriety of them. Personally, I don’t think this is a valid argument, because I think it’s more important to avoid slaughters done by crazy people with guns, than worrying about private propriety. Yes, they will take your gun away, but with this you can avoid people being dead unfairly.

So, in conclusion, I am against weapon regulation in the USA, and I think they have to change it to stop shootings and the death of innocent people.

NEWS

NEW CONTINENT FOUND

This year, in February 2017, there has been found another continent. It has been found by a research team of the University of the Witwatersrand, in South Africa. This new continent is located under the island of Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean.

The shame is that there are only remaining small parts of it. A recent report from Nature Communication says that these parts that left belonged to Gondwanaland, a giant continent that existed 200 million years ago. The separation of this ancient continent caused gave rise to Africa, South America, Australia, India and Antarctica. Now, there are some pieces of this “new” continent spread over the Indian Ocean, but there are under the sea.

But, how did they claim that this is a new continent? First, the team analyzed a mineral (zircon) found in rocks in the island of Mauritius. They reached to the conclusion that the remnants of this mineral were too old to belong to Mauritius: in the island there isn’t any rock older than 9 million years old, but the zircon found on these rocks was 3 billion years old. This fact demonstrates the existence of an ancient continent.

PERSONAL OPINION:

Even though I don’t really have anything to say about this news, I found it very interesting and curious. Furthermore, this report makes you think: if we have just found another continent, maybe there are some more and we don’t know it.

NEW WORDS:

Dub: annomenar, posar un sobrenom.
Crust: escorça.
Remnant: restes.


Link: http://edition.cnn.com/2017/02/03/world/lost-continent-mauritius-trnd/

NEWS

TENSIONS IN SWEDEN DUE TO REFUGEE POLICY
This report talks about Sweden and its refugee policy, and the problems it has caused. It starts presenting Rinkeby, a Swedish town where mostly of its citizens are immigrants. Unlike other immigrant neighbourhoods in Europe (like the banlieues of Paris or Molenbeek in Brussels), Rinkeby seems like a place without problems or disturbances; but actually that’s not true because recently there has been riots.

Also, just a few days before riots happened, Donald Trump said that something was going wrong in Sweden, due to its decision of welcoming a huge amount of refugees. Swedes reacted to that with derision, but after riots happened in Rinkeby, some people have been expressing their dissatisfaction with the immigrant policy of Sweden. In the other hand, there are other people who think this policy is something to be proud of.

It’s true that Sweden has received a lot of refugees; actually, it’s the country in Europe that has received the most. For example, more than 160,000 people arrived in Sweden in the peak of the European migrant crisis in 2015. Therefore, that’s normal the fact that there has been problems with the integration of these people. As Josefin Larsson, a salesperson who is half-Swedish, half-Bolivian, says that nowadays it’s difficult to see people native from Sweden in the streets, because most of the people are immigrant. Also, she compares how it is now and how it was 20 years ago, and the difference is considerable: some years ago it was so much easier for immigrants to become part of the society. To face this problem, some organizations and community groups, like Kompis Sverige and Invitationsdepartementet, are helping the immigrants to fit in the Swedish culture and society.

The tension is growing, and some people say the government is not doing enough to solve this problem. Also, in January 2016 a woman was killed at the asylum centre where she worked, so the pressure increased more. There are also people who think that now it’s not safe to walk in the streets, due to all the immigration issue. But police denies the fact that refugees are responsible for crime in neighbourhoods like Rinkeby.

Apart from that, the crime against Muslims has increased nearly 90% between 2012 and 2015. The hate is rising in the country, and now a Muslim is more likely to be the victim of hate crime than actually be the author. Therefore, because of all these problems with refugees and immigrant, far-right and nationalist parties are rising.

PERSONAL OPINION:

The issue about refugees is complicated. In my opinion, I think we should help them, because after all they are humans just like us. Also, citizens do not have the fault about the war, and I think the moral thing is to help them. I know that they are a lot of people and letting them in our countries will suppose problems (besides the ones we already have), but I think we all have to help a little bit because, as I said before, after all we are all Human and we should help each other, no matter the color of our skin or where we come from.


NEW WORDS:

Derision: burla.
Riot: disturbi, vandalisme.
Peak: pic, màxim


Link: http://edition.cnn.com/2017/02/23/europe/sweden-trump-refugees-integration/index.html

TDR: Abstract

THE MUSIC AND ITS ROLE IN EDUCATION

It is an extended opinion that the Spanish educational system is out-dated. Currently, new ways of learning are appearing, some of them involving music. That is why the aim of this project is to demonstrate the important role that music plays in education.

Therefore, the theoretical part is about discovering which are the benefits that music provides in education, and the historical relation that has existed between these two topics. On the other hand, the practical part is about verifying those benefits with kids studying Primary Education.