Reflection on Major Projects
The major projects that I made in this class were very interesting i would like to say. These major projects were not even close to what i have done in my years in high school ap english. The papers in high school were always like researched based. In college writing is more interesting that requires more outside of the box thinking. For example the inquiry project is a good example that not only was completely researched based but also we had our own voice and opinion in that paper. The conflict narrative was really the easiest paper for for me to write. The conflict narrative is the paper that i am most proud of because I feel like it was a really straightforward paper to write. All we had to do is come up with a good conflict that has occurred to us and really analyze it. I really liked analyzing it because it made me think of things i had not thought of before. It was also fun to me telling my story, it was hard at first thinking of all the details but they did end up coming to me. I feel like because of this paper it now makes me tell stories that happen to me with much more great detail. I know we always that one friend that has the most funny and cool stories to tell, and writing that paper has really helped me be more of that type of person when it comes to telling stories. I remember about a month later after the conflict narrative i unfortunately got my wallet lost/stolen and i remember telling my friends and family what had happen with such great detail. That's what telling a story is about. When you watch the news people want as much details as they can get in order for the story to be as interesting as possible. The paper I would revise if i had more time would be the inquiry paper. This paper was the longest paper we had to do for this course. It was a pretty tough and very time consuming paper. I would revise and change this paper if i had a chance because I feel like it was a little too much researched based in some spots of the paper. Perhaps i should have included more analysis. For my drafts the process of writing i have followed this semester is when i first make the draft i just write whatever is on my head and put it down on paper. Sometimes the draft is not completed but thats fine to me because i know i would have to add more for the final draft. I get it peer-edited then i go back to it for the final draft and take in account what my peers think i should change. Conflict Narrative Paper
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Ricardo Valdez
Dr. Rand
UWRT 1102
1/21/15
Conflict Narrative (Rough Draft)
It was July 1st 2010 I recall. It’s a pretty easy date to remember. Life changing events are already easy to remember the date in which they occurred on. My family and I had moved in to a new neighborhood just almost one year in July of 2009. Our next door neighbors owned a Pitbull dog. Pitbull dogs are known to be viscous and prone to attack people when not on a leash or caged by the owner. It was a beautiful sunny July day. I had invited over my next door neighbor to come play basketball with me on my goal. Everything seemed to be going on as usual and normal as possible. Throughout the last couple of days prior we had noticed there was a small hole on the neighbor’s wooden fence. We had noticed it and it concerned us how dangerous it is having that hole in the fence there. There was now a higher chance for the pitbull to escape through that hole. Most likely the Pitbull had caused that hole. I remember also we had a Labrador retriever named Rocky, and we had recently gotten a puppy Pitbull/Labrador retriever named Scooby. I remember the neighbor’s Pitbull always barking and making commotion every time we got home. To us it is very strange on how that dog would always bark even after we have been living next door for almost a year now.
Prior to the incident occurring I remember our puppy retriever was outside being walked around the house by my younger sister. My mom was sitting down on a chair, talking on the phone with my grandmother. I was playing basketball with some friends around the neighborhood. I also remember that my neighbor’s pitbull was barking excessively and was peeping through the hole on the wooden fence because our puppy pitbull was outside. I remember seeing my neighbor who I was playing basketball with got the water hose turned it on and started wetting his dog and that caused him to stop barking through the hole momentarily. There was about five good minutes of piece then that is where things got ugly. I remember our puppy Scooby started barking a little bit because he was playing around with our other dog named Rocky. With that happening the pitbull must have heard the barking and started to bark again through the whole and also this time the dog suddenly must have ran through the hole and therefore making him end up on the other side of the fence now. This all happened within at the most thirty seconds. I saw that my younger sister was screaming and running away from the pitbull and my mom was on the chair and the pitbull had leaped on her and attacked her. My friends and I saw what was happening and ran as fast as we could to my mom. I remember seeing the water hose nearby and it was running, I picked it up and pointed it at the pitbull, I remember yelling at my neighbor “Get your fucki** dog off of her!!!” He did manage to pull his pitbull away ftom my mother. I recall my mother was screaming, we ran inside as soon as the attack was over. My sister and I were terrified of what just occurred. My other luckily was only bitten on her upper arm. My mom told me urgently to call 911 for animal control and the police. I rushed to the phone to call the police. My mom had ordered my younger sister to get the rubbing alcohol from the bathroom. I was really shocked at what just happened. My mom had called my dad to come and explained briefly to him what had just happened. My dad I remember rushing home. He arrived before the police and animal control did. I remember my dad going next door and knocking really furiously on the door. The mom of my neighbor came out saying how sorry she was about what had just happened. My dad said no what just happened is not ok and he was saying how they had not fixed that hole on the fence the pitbull caused. My dad was also saying how next time if the dog escapes again next time it may a child who is attacked by the dog and could possibly be killed because there are some young kids sometimes running around the neighborhood. My dad’s tone was fierce in everything he said to the woman. Minutes later as we were still waiting for the police and animal control to arrive, the dad of my neighbor came home. He must have been called by his wife. He too came over our house and knocked furiously at out door. He stated “I do not appreciate you talking to my wife you did man” My dad looked at him fiercely and pretty much too said what he had told his wife. The husband was mad and did not know what to say. Not too long animal control came and took the dog for quarantine, the police came and asked what had happened. We later then took my mom to the hospital.
The result of this event was that we filed a lawsuit against our neighbors because they did not want to pay my mother’s medical bills. We remember hearing the wife saying “Go to the hospital and we’ll take care the costs.” That was not the case since the bill was around 2 two grand I believe. Also what happened was that we ended up moving away from that house because we did not feel safe staying there after the incident occurred. So within a week or two we had moved away from there and started living in our new house around middle of July. Since we moved, I had just graduated from middle school in which I only went my 8th grade. I remember not really knowing anybody when I first got there. I was the new kid around. Throughout the year I made some great friends. Friends in which some I still see and hangout with today. I was really excited on being able on going to the same high school with them. It was going to be a newly built high school as well. However because of that incident we moved causing my home school to change to another one. I went to probably one of the worst and oldest school in Charlotte. I really did not enjoy my experience my freshman year at that school. For my sophomore year I decided to go to another nearby school. My experience at that school was much better. Over the years I gained more and more friends and I liked it. I graduated from there in the top ten percent and now I am attending UNCC.
Ricardo Valdez
Dr. Rand
UWRT 1102
1/28/15
Conflict Narrative Final Draft
It was July 1st 2010 I recall. It’s a pretty easy date to remember. One because it’s exactly one month from my birthday, June 1st but also because life changing events are already easy to remember the date in which they occurred on, don’t you all think? My family and I had moved in to a new neighborhood just almost one year prior in July of 2009. Our next door neighbors, the Harris family owned a Pit-bull dog. Pit-bull dogs are known to be viscous and more prone to attack people when not on a leash or caged by the owner than most other dogs. So it was a beautiful sunny July day. I had invited over my next door neighbor, Jawaun and some other guys around the neighborhood to come over to play basketball with me on my goal. Everything seemed to be going as usual and normal as possible and we were having a good time playing ball.
However everything was not picture perfect. Throughout the last couple of days prior to the incident we had noticed there was a small hole on the neighbor’s wooden fence. We had noticed it and it concerned us how dangerous it was having that hole in the fence there. There was now a higher chance for the Pit-bull to escape through that hole. Most likely the Pit-bull had created that hole. I remember the neighbor’s Pit-bull always barking and making commotion every time we got home or whenever we were outside. It was strange how that dog would always bark even although we have been living next door for almost a year now.
Prior to the incident occurring I remember our puppy retriever, Scooby was outside being walked around the house by my younger sister. My mom was sitting down on a chair, talking on the phone with my grandmother. I was playing basketball with some friends around the neighborhood as I said. I also recall that my neighbor’s dog was barking excessively and was peeping through the hole on the wooden fence because Scooby was outside. I remember the barking getting so annoying that Jawaun stopped playing basketball went over to get the water hose, turned it on and started wetting his dog causing him to stop barking through the hole momentarily. There was about five good minutes of piece and quite from the barking but then that is where things got ugly and chaotic. I remember our puppy Scooby started barking a little bit because he was playing around with our other dog named Rocky. With that happening the Pit-bull must have heard the barking and started to bark again through the hole and also this time the dog suddenly must have ran through the hole causing to break the fence and making him end up on the other side of the fence now. This all happened within at the most thirty seconds. I saw that my younger sister was screaming and running away from the Pit-bull because it was headed towards Scooby and her. She managed to get inside our house through the side with Scooby. My mom was on the chair and the Pit-bull had leaped on her and attacked her. My friends and I saw what was happening and ran as fast as we could to my mom. I remember seeing the water hose nearby and it was running. I have no idea why but it occurred to me that maybe wetting the dog would help, so I picked it up ran up to my mom and pointed it at the Pit-bull. My mom yelled “Get it off of me!” in Spanish. I noticed that the water hose was not helping in getting the dog away from my mother. I then yelled at Jawaun who was nearby yelling at his dog to get off, “Get your fucki** dog off of her!!!” He did manage to pull his Pit-bull away from my mother. I recall my mother was screaming and crying, we ran inside as soon as the attack was over. My sister and I were terrified of what just occurred. My mother luckily was only bitten on her upper arm. My mom told me urgently to call 911 for animal control and the police. I rushed to the phone to call the police. My mom had ordered my younger sister to get the rubbing alcohol from the bathroom.
I was really shocked and could not believe what just happened. I was hoping that all this was just a bad dream but no it was reality. My mom had called my dad to come and explained briefly to him what had just happened. I remember my dad rushing home from work. He arrived before the police and animal control did. I remember my dad going next door and knocking really furiously on the door. Mrs. Harris came out and looked like she was now aware of what just happened. She said how really sorry she was about what had just happened. My dad said, “No! what just happened is not ok. Yall should have fixed that hole on the fence your dog caused.” My dad was also saying how next time if the dog escapes again next time it may a child who is attacked by the dog and could possibly even be killed because there are some younger kids sometimes running around the neighborhood. My dad’s tone was fierce in everything he said to the woman. Minutes later as we were still waiting for the police and animal control to arrive, Mr Harris came home. He must have been called by his wife as well. He too came over our house quickly and knocked furiously at out door. He stated “I do not appreciate you talking to my wife you did man.” My dad looked at him fiercely and pretty much too said what he had told his wife. Mr. Harris was mad and did not know what to say. Not too long animal control came and took the dog for quarantine, the police came and asked what had happened. We later then took my mom to the hospital.
The result of this event was that we filed a lawsuit against our neighbors because they did not want to pay my mother’s medical bills. We remember hearing Mrs. Harris saying “Go to the hospital and we’ll take care the costs, you bring me the medical bill when you receive it.” That was not the case since the bill was around two grand I believe, and they did not wanted to pay. Also what happened was that we ended up moving away from that house because we did not feel safe staying there after the incident occurred. So within a week or two we had moved away from there and started living in our new house around middle of July of 2010. I am thankful to god that on that day that my mother was only bitten in her arm and nothing much worse happened to her.
Dr. Rand
UWRT 1102
1/21/15
Conflict Narrative (Rough Draft)
It was July 1st 2010 I recall. It’s a pretty easy date to remember. Life changing events are already easy to remember the date in which they occurred on. My family and I had moved in to a new neighborhood just almost one year in July of 2009. Our next door neighbors owned a Pitbull dog. Pitbull dogs are known to be viscous and prone to attack people when not on a leash or caged by the owner. It was a beautiful sunny July day. I had invited over my next door neighbor to come play basketball with me on my goal. Everything seemed to be going on as usual and normal as possible. Throughout the last couple of days prior we had noticed there was a small hole on the neighbor’s wooden fence. We had noticed it and it concerned us how dangerous it is having that hole in the fence there. There was now a higher chance for the pitbull to escape through that hole. Most likely the Pitbull had caused that hole. I remember also we had a Labrador retriever named Rocky, and we had recently gotten a puppy Pitbull/Labrador retriever named Scooby. I remember the neighbor’s Pitbull always barking and making commotion every time we got home. To us it is very strange on how that dog would always bark even after we have been living next door for almost a year now.
Prior to the incident occurring I remember our puppy retriever was outside being walked around the house by my younger sister. My mom was sitting down on a chair, talking on the phone with my grandmother. I was playing basketball with some friends around the neighborhood. I also remember that my neighbor’s pitbull was barking excessively and was peeping through the hole on the wooden fence because our puppy pitbull was outside. I remember seeing my neighbor who I was playing basketball with got the water hose turned it on and started wetting his dog and that caused him to stop barking through the hole momentarily. There was about five good minutes of piece then that is where things got ugly. I remember our puppy Scooby started barking a little bit because he was playing around with our other dog named Rocky. With that happening the pitbull must have heard the barking and started to bark again through the whole and also this time the dog suddenly must have ran through the hole and therefore making him end up on the other side of the fence now. This all happened within at the most thirty seconds. I saw that my younger sister was screaming and running away from the pitbull and my mom was on the chair and the pitbull had leaped on her and attacked her. My friends and I saw what was happening and ran as fast as we could to my mom. I remember seeing the water hose nearby and it was running, I picked it up and pointed it at the pitbull, I remember yelling at my neighbor “Get your fucki** dog off of her!!!” He did manage to pull his pitbull away ftom my mother. I recall my mother was screaming, we ran inside as soon as the attack was over. My sister and I were terrified of what just occurred. My other luckily was only bitten on her upper arm. My mom told me urgently to call 911 for animal control and the police. I rushed to the phone to call the police. My mom had ordered my younger sister to get the rubbing alcohol from the bathroom. I was really shocked at what just happened. My mom had called my dad to come and explained briefly to him what had just happened. My dad I remember rushing home. He arrived before the police and animal control did. I remember my dad going next door and knocking really furiously on the door. The mom of my neighbor came out saying how sorry she was about what had just happened. My dad said no what just happened is not ok and he was saying how they had not fixed that hole on the fence the pitbull caused. My dad was also saying how next time if the dog escapes again next time it may a child who is attacked by the dog and could possibly be killed because there are some young kids sometimes running around the neighborhood. My dad’s tone was fierce in everything he said to the woman. Minutes later as we were still waiting for the police and animal control to arrive, the dad of my neighbor came home. He must have been called by his wife. He too came over our house and knocked furiously at out door. He stated “I do not appreciate you talking to my wife you did man” My dad looked at him fiercely and pretty much too said what he had told his wife. The husband was mad and did not know what to say. Not too long animal control came and took the dog for quarantine, the police came and asked what had happened. We later then took my mom to the hospital.
The result of this event was that we filed a lawsuit against our neighbors because they did not want to pay my mother’s medical bills. We remember hearing the wife saying “Go to the hospital and we’ll take care the costs.” That was not the case since the bill was around 2 two grand I believe. Also what happened was that we ended up moving away from that house because we did not feel safe staying there after the incident occurred. So within a week or two we had moved away from there and started living in our new house around middle of July. Since we moved, I had just graduated from middle school in which I only went my 8th grade. I remember not really knowing anybody when I first got there. I was the new kid around. Throughout the year I made some great friends. Friends in which some I still see and hangout with today. I was really excited on being able on going to the same high school with them. It was going to be a newly built high school as well. However because of that incident we moved causing my home school to change to another one. I went to probably one of the worst and oldest school in Charlotte. I really did not enjoy my experience my freshman year at that school. For my sophomore year I decided to go to another nearby school. My experience at that school was much better. Over the years I gained more and more friends and I liked it. I graduated from there in the top ten percent and now I am attending UNCC.
Ricardo Valdez
Dr. Rand
UWRT 1102
1/28/15
Conflict Narrative Final Draft
It was July 1st 2010 I recall. It’s a pretty easy date to remember. One because it’s exactly one month from my birthday, June 1st but also because life changing events are already easy to remember the date in which they occurred on, don’t you all think? My family and I had moved in to a new neighborhood just almost one year prior in July of 2009. Our next door neighbors, the Harris family owned a Pit-bull dog. Pit-bull dogs are known to be viscous and more prone to attack people when not on a leash or caged by the owner than most other dogs. So it was a beautiful sunny July day. I had invited over my next door neighbor, Jawaun and some other guys around the neighborhood to come over to play basketball with me on my goal. Everything seemed to be going as usual and normal as possible and we were having a good time playing ball.
However everything was not picture perfect. Throughout the last couple of days prior to the incident we had noticed there was a small hole on the neighbor’s wooden fence. We had noticed it and it concerned us how dangerous it was having that hole in the fence there. There was now a higher chance for the Pit-bull to escape through that hole. Most likely the Pit-bull had created that hole. I remember the neighbor’s Pit-bull always barking and making commotion every time we got home or whenever we were outside. It was strange how that dog would always bark even although we have been living next door for almost a year now.
Prior to the incident occurring I remember our puppy retriever, Scooby was outside being walked around the house by my younger sister. My mom was sitting down on a chair, talking on the phone with my grandmother. I was playing basketball with some friends around the neighborhood as I said. I also recall that my neighbor’s dog was barking excessively and was peeping through the hole on the wooden fence because Scooby was outside. I remember the barking getting so annoying that Jawaun stopped playing basketball went over to get the water hose, turned it on and started wetting his dog causing him to stop barking through the hole momentarily. There was about five good minutes of piece and quite from the barking but then that is where things got ugly and chaotic. I remember our puppy Scooby started barking a little bit because he was playing around with our other dog named Rocky. With that happening the Pit-bull must have heard the barking and started to bark again through the hole and also this time the dog suddenly must have ran through the hole causing to break the fence and making him end up on the other side of the fence now. This all happened within at the most thirty seconds. I saw that my younger sister was screaming and running away from the Pit-bull because it was headed towards Scooby and her. She managed to get inside our house through the side with Scooby. My mom was on the chair and the Pit-bull had leaped on her and attacked her. My friends and I saw what was happening and ran as fast as we could to my mom. I remember seeing the water hose nearby and it was running. I have no idea why but it occurred to me that maybe wetting the dog would help, so I picked it up ran up to my mom and pointed it at the Pit-bull. My mom yelled “Get it off of me!” in Spanish. I noticed that the water hose was not helping in getting the dog away from my mother. I then yelled at Jawaun who was nearby yelling at his dog to get off, “Get your fucki** dog off of her!!!” He did manage to pull his Pit-bull away from my mother. I recall my mother was screaming and crying, we ran inside as soon as the attack was over. My sister and I were terrified of what just occurred. My mother luckily was only bitten on her upper arm. My mom told me urgently to call 911 for animal control and the police. I rushed to the phone to call the police. My mom had ordered my younger sister to get the rubbing alcohol from the bathroom.
I was really shocked and could not believe what just happened. I was hoping that all this was just a bad dream but no it was reality. My mom had called my dad to come and explained briefly to him what had just happened. I remember my dad rushing home from work. He arrived before the police and animal control did. I remember my dad going next door and knocking really furiously on the door. Mrs. Harris came out and looked like she was now aware of what just happened. She said how really sorry she was about what had just happened. My dad said, “No! what just happened is not ok. Yall should have fixed that hole on the fence your dog caused.” My dad was also saying how next time if the dog escapes again next time it may a child who is attacked by the dog and could possibly even be killed because there are some younger kids sometimes running around the neighborhood. My dad’s tone was fierce in everything he said to the woman. Minutes later as we were still waiting for the police and animal control to arrive, Mr Harris came home. He must have been called by his wife as well. He too came over our house quickly and knocked furiously at out door. He stated “I do not appreciate you talking to my wife you did man.” My dad looked at him fiercely and pretty much too said what he had told his wife. Mr. Harris was mad and did not know what to say. Not too long animal control came and took the dog for quarantine, the police came and asked what had happened. We later then took my mom to the hospital.
The result of this event was that we filed a lawsuit against our neighbors because they did not want to pay my mother’s medical bills. We remember hearing Mrs. Harris saying “Go to the hospital and we’ll take care the costs, you bring me the medical bill when you receive it.” That was not the case since the bill was around two grand I believe, and they did not wanted to pay. Also what happened was that we ended up moving away from that house because we did not feel safe staying there after the incident occurred. So within a week or two we had moved away from there and started living in our new house around middle of July of 2010. I am thankful to god that on that day that my mother was only bitten in her arm and nothing much worse happened to her.
Inquiry Paper
Ricardo Valdez
UWRT 1102
Dr. Rand
2/25/15
Proposal/Subjunctive Statement
The question I have for my inquiry project right now is whether or not minimum wage would be raised. What I know about this topic already is that the federal government has had intentions to raise it to possibly $10.10/hr. I think this topic is worth studying because I myself is working a part time job at Wendy’s and it interests me whether or not minimum wage would be raised causing my wage to raise as well. I would like to research both sides to this issue. I know that there are a lot of workers that would want minimum wage to raise, and there are people who are against raising minimum wage. It interest me the negative and positive effects of raising minimum wage. I have assumptions that there would be more “Pros” than “Cons” in raising minimum wage. Some of the research I have already done to this point is that there are some books out there on this particular subject. One book I will most likely go check out is “Effects of minimum wage on employment”. Some issues I expect in data collection would be whether or not I should conduct an interview or make a survey when it comes to primary research on my topic. I believe either one I do would be good for me to do. The outcome I would like to see for my project is finding and conducting enough research to make up an awesome inquiry paper.
Ricardo Valdez
UWRT 1102
3/18/15
Dr. Rand
Annotated Bibliography
1. Keywords: Should minimum wage be raised, Minimum wage, Effects of raising minimum wage, Is minimum wage going to be increased.
I chose these key words because I want to find out what would occur if the minimum wage were to increase? Would it be a good thing, bad thing? I did not use google as my search engine, I instead used the Uncc library website to locate resources based on those keywords. I found a book that I checked out and found an online article as well. I later then wanted videos on the subject so I went to YouTube and Ted.com and found good videos relating to my subject as well.
2. Concept Map
Ricardo Valdez
UWRT 1102
Dr. Rand
2/25/15
Proposal/Subjunctive Statement
The question I have for my inquiry project right now is whether or not minimum wage would be raised. What I know about this topic already is that the federal government has had intentions to raise it to possibly $10.10/hr. I think this topic is worth studying because I myself is working a part time job at Wendy’s and it interests me whether or not minimum wage would be raised causing my wage to raise as well. I would like to research both sides to this issue. I know that there are a lot of workers that would want minimum wage to raise, and there are people who are against raising minimum wage. It interest me the negative and positive effects of raising minimum wage. I have assumptions that there would be more “Pros” than “Cons” in raising minimum wage. Some of the research I have already done to this point is that there are some books out there on this particular subject. One book I will most likely go check out is “Effects of minimum wage on employment”. Some issues I expect in data collection would be whether or not I should conduct an interview or make a survey when it comes to primary research on my topic. I believe either one I do would be good for me to do. The outcome I would like to see for my project is finding and conducting enough research to make up an awesome inquiry paper.
Ricardo Valdez
UWRT 1102
3/18/15
Dr. Rand
Annotated Bibliography
1. Keywords: Should minimum wage be raised, Minimum wage, Effects of raising minimum wage, Is minimum wage going to be increased.
I chose these key words because I want to find out what would occur if the minimum wage were to increase? Would it be a good thing, bad thing? I did not use google as my search engine, I instead used the Uncc library website to locate resources based on those keywords. I found a book that I checked out and found an online article as well. I later then wanted videos on the subject so I went to YouTube and Ted.com and found good videos relating to my subject as well.
2. Concept Map
3. Synthesis/Analysis
Minimum wage is the minimum wage in which an employer or contractor by law can pay an employee for a specified job. Don’t you think that every worker who is currently working minimum wage want an increase? Many do, but there are surprisingly some who are opposed to it. Many say that increasing the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 could cause the unemployment rate to increase. Businesses may not benefit from the increase since they will now be required by law to increase their pay. There are projections that the economy could eventually suffer due to the increase. An increase could also lead to inflation of the economy and lower the job creation rate. Not to forget that businesses would be forced to increase the prices of the goods and services they produce. “We have spent much of this book presenting evidence that minimum wages are a relatively ineffective social policy for aiding the poor.” (Neumark and Wascher) In other words that increasing minimum wages has little to no effect on reducing poverty.
On the other hand increasing minimum wage could create more jobs and can trigger an economy boost. It is said that raising the minimum wage by ten percent could decrease poverty by two percent. (TestTube 2014) Also President Barack Obama plans to increase the federal minimum wage by a staggering 39.3 percent leading to a four million poverty reduction. (TestTube 2014). What should be done? What happens if nothing is done? Will the pitchforks rise?
4. Works cited Information (Chicago)
Hanauer, Nick. 2014. ‘Nick Hanauer: Beware, Fellow Plutocrats, the Pitchforks Are Coming | Talk Video’. Www.ted.com. August. http://www.ted.com/talks/nick_hanauer_beware_fellow_plutocrats_the_pitchforks_are_coming.
Neumark, David, and William L Wascher. Minimum Wages. United States: MIT Press (MA).
Partridge, Mark D., and Jamie S. Partridge. 1999. ‘Do Minimum Wage Hikes Raise US Long Term Unemployment? Evidence Using State Minimum Wage Rates’. Regional Studies 33 (8): 713–26. doi:10.1080/00343409950079179.
TestTube. 2014. Should We Raise The Minimum Wage?. YouTube. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vg2xW1xFj2c.
vlogbrothers, John. 2014. Should We Raise the Minimum Wage?. YouTube. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI9aDHLptMk.
Ricardo Valdez
3/30/15
Dr. Rand
URWT 1102
Should minimum wage be raised again in the short future and by how much?
Minimum wage is a very controversial topic in this country. Many workers want it to be raised from the current federal minimum wage of $7.25. There are others that claim that workers are asking for too much of a raise, an unreasonable amount which could cause serious problems in the economy. There are also those who believe raising it would not even really have an effect on anything. I know that there are a lot of workers that would want minimum wage to raise, and I know people out there are people who are against raising minimum wage. What interests me is the negative and positive effects of raising minimum wage. The federal minimum wage has not increased since it last did in 2009. Although there many states in the United States that have the state minimum wage above the federal minimum wage there are still a lot of states fixated on the federal wage. Where I live in North Carolina this is the case and it does not look like it will raise in the short future. “In his 2014 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama called on Congress to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour, and promised to raise the minimum wage for federal workers to $10.10 via executive order. Obama previously called on Congress to raise the federal minimum wage to $9.00 per hour in his 2013 State of the Union. However, due to partisan stall in Congress, it is unlikely that the federal minimum wage will be raised from $7.25 in the near future.” (Weber and Studios)
It is said that increasing minimum wage could create more jobs and can trigger an economy boost. It is said that raising the minimum wage by ten percent could decrease poverty by two percent. (TestTube 2014) Also President Barack Obama plans to increase the federal minimum wage by a staggering 39.3 percent leading to a four million poverty reduction. (TestTube 2014). What should be done? What happens if nothing is done? Minimum wage is the minimum wage in which an employer or contractor by law can pay an employee for a specified job. In other words if minimum wage was not in place employers could most likely pay them considerably less. Don’t you think that every worker who is currently working a minimum wage job wants an increase? Many do, but there are surprisingly some who are opposed to it. Many say that increasing the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 could cause the unemployment rate to increase. Businesses may not benefit from the increase since they will now be required by law to increase their pay. There are projections that the economy could eventually suffer due to the increase. An increase could also lead to inflation of the economy and lower the job creation rate. Not to forget that businesses would be forced to increase the prices of the goods and services they produce due to the increase of their employees’ wages.
Back in the 2014 fall semester I remember sitting in my ECON 1101 class and we were being taught what a price floor and price ceiling was. A price ceiling is set below the equilibrium price basically lowering the price of certain goods in order to make these goods affordable for consumers. An example of this was rent control and how there is a law in certain states where it is against the law to have rent exceed a certain amount. Price floor is set above the equilibrium price increasing the price of certain goods in order to protect the interest of certain unproductive sectors or producers. A good example of this would be minimum wage and how its set in order to protect the producers because that way there is a price that is set that they must pay set by the government and not by the employees. Our instructor I recall asked us to raise our hands if we want minimum wage to raise? I saw a lot of hands go up. She called on random students with their hand up to explain why he would want minimum wage to raise. The students said “I work at a fast food restaurant working minimum wage at $7.25 and it would be awesome if I could get paid $10.10 for what I do.” I totally agreed with what he had to say because I myself also work part time at a Wendy’s currently working with a minimum wage type of pay. Someone else also replied “Yes because I will have more money in my pocket to spend.” Something that I learned from my economics class is that when consumers have more money in their pockets to spend on goods and services they are essentially putting more money in the circulation of money. This can lead to more employees being hired, more jobs being created and when there are more jobs created there are more and more people with money to spend. It’s a cycle of growth in the economy.
After the people who had raised their hand and had given their explanation as to why they would want minimum wage to increase our instructor then asked is there anybody who wouldn’t want it to increase. I believe there were not many hand up out a class of 100 students. About 3 hands were raised. Our instructor picked them out and asked them why? One students said “Raising minimum wage will cause goods and services to go up in price making it be the same and that raising could make people lose their jobs.” In my research I found that raising minimum wage to $10.10 would not really have an effect on the price of goods and services for example a $16 cd at Walmart will only cost one cent more if a $10.10 minimum wage is put into place. (AlterNet and Salon with AlterNet et al., Alex Blank Millard /xojane) Also at the quite moment I wasn’t really convinced that raising it could really make people lose their jobs. After I found this video on khan academy I was now more convinced on the fact that unemployment could actually result from an increase in minimum wage. The video I saw basically explained that since the minimum wage increases, there would now be more people willing to work at that high new rate. People who had gone to retirement could now perhaps come out of retirement to work at the new minimum wage rat. |Since the demand of employees has gone up there are now less employers that would want to hire as many workers since they are now losing money. Employers will have to cut the hours their employees work but perhaps that will not be too satisfying to the employee. That’s when the employer will have to make the decision to cut down on job positions in his/her company. (“Minimum Wage and Price Floor”) However I found evidence that it will not really hurt job creations. “It Won’t Hurt Job Creation. States have raised the minimum wage 91 times since 1987 during periods of high unemployment, and in more than half of those instances the unemployment rate actually fell. Over 600 economists signed a letter agreeing that a minimum wage increase doesn’t hurt job creation.” (AlterNet and Salon with AlterNet et al., Alex Blank Millard / xojane)
I did not come up with this idea I had until the other day when we had to write a blog post on our current education system. I heard a podcast online called “Here and now”. It was about how many college students work to go to college and how they have such a tight budget that they struggle with hunger. Also what came to mind is how some of these college students have part time jobs. In fact “Nearly 4 out of 5 college students are working part-time while studying for their degrees, averaging 19 hours a week, but just 18 percent pay their way through school.” (Kingkade) This is where raising minimum wage will help out these college students in need. Not only will they have now money to spend on what they need to spend it on for example books, food, clothing, rent but also perhaps they might also have the ability to cut back on the number of hours they put in a given work week at their job. I myself do work about 20 hours a week. If let’s say minimum wage was raised to $10.10 then perhaps I can now work 15 hours in a week and make the same money I used to make. Those 5 less hours of work could mean a lot not only to me but to other students as well. It is important to study for any college students. Studying time is valuable in order to do well on tests and have enough time to do all of their homework well and on time. Either way if minimum wage is raised many college will either have the option to stay with the number of hours they work making them earn more than what they used to make. This could really help out those students in need of extra money to make life a little bit less stressful. Students will also have the option to cut down the hours they put in a work week and have more free time, study time while still making the same amount of money as they use to make. The increase of minimum wage could essentially reduce the dropout rate since college students will now have more money and time to continue on successfully with their pursuit of that degree.
However there is some debate that increasing minimum wage could increase dropout rates. “Some minimum wage advocates argue that teenagers should be in high school or college anyway - not working - and therefore the loss of jobs for young workers is somehow not very harmful. Ironically, though, economic studies have shown that a higher minimum wage entices some teenage students to drop out. With fewer jobs to go around and a greater number of dropouts, some newer dropouts take jobs from the less-educated and lower-productivity teens who had already left school.” (‘The Negative Effects of the Minimum Wage’) I believe this is something else that could happen especially for high school students. High school students are young workers who start working at the age of 16. Let’s assume that minimum wage increases to $10.10. Many high school student workers would be intrigued to work more and not be as focused on school anymore. This could lead to their grades in school being affected. It can go as bad as them dropping out of school and just start working full time. This would all be if a high minimum wage is put into place. This situation can also carry over to college students as well. Perhaps they are not convinced that being in college is worth it anymore and their goal of getting a 4 year degree seems pointless now since minimum wage is at a high rate. A full time worker working at $10.10 an hour will make approximately $20,000 a year. This is not far from many jobs that require a degree. If people do decide to go with working now instead of school then this could eventually lead to not having that degree and having a better paid job essentially hurting the economy since they do not have as much money to spend.
There is a possibility in how raising minimum wage could actually hurt workers more than helping them actually. “Even when minimum-wage increases don't put low-wage workers out of work, they don't necessarily help them either. The reason: Employers respond to forced higher wages by adjusting other components of employee compensation, such as health insurance or other benefits. Although few minimum wage workers have employer-provided health insurance, employers have found other ways to adjust, such as cutting on-the-job training” (‘The Negative Effects of the Minimum Wage’) Sometimes I have conversations with my co-workers at Wendy’s. This lady named Maribel Trujillo asked me one day how long has it been since I started now. I replied 8 months. She then said you still getting paid with what you started getting paid I replied yes. She said when do you get raised? I said I’m not sure I believe every year is a quarter raise. She then told me how she has now been working there for 7 years and is only getting paid $7.75 an hour. She then told me how just about two years “The affordable care act came into place” this act made Wendy’s workers to not be able to work past 28 hours a week because the insurance plan does not cover a person who is working past that amount of hours. Maribel used to work more than 40 hours a week and made more money but not anymore. She told me she has another job because of what happened. Now she feels discouraged to continue working at Wendy’s because of the number of hours she is getting the wage she is currently at. Is this how raising minimum wage can lead to unemployment? I believe it’s just some business and not all of them. I know that there are businesses out there that pay over minimum wage and their business is doing just fine. A good example would be Costco and Gap.
Overall I do believe that the government should increase minimum wage. Raising it means more money in many of millions of workers and this could even help the government as well. For example now that the people will have more money they will no longer be qualified for food stamps. “The same CAP study found that, in conjunction with helping people get off of food stamps, raising the minimum wage would save the government $46 billion over 10 years in spending on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as people earn enough on their own to no longer qualify.” (AlterNet and Salon with AlterNet et al., Alex Blank Millard / xojane) Raising minimum wage to where it is now is most likely win-win situation for both the people and the government. Although I do think raising minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 does seem unlikely. The next raise should be at least to $8.00 an hour.
Works Cited
AlterNet, Allegra Kirkland /, and Lenore Skenazy / Salon with AlterNet, John Moyers / et al., Alex Blank Millard / xojane. ‘10 Reasons to Raise the Minimum Wage (with Charts)’. (2014): n. pag. Web. 1 Apr. 2015. <http://www.alternet.org/economy/10-reasons-raise-minimum-wage-charts>.
Kingkade, Tyler. ‘Poll: More Parents Pay Cell Phone Bills Than Tuition’. (2013): n. pag. Web. 1 Apr. 2015. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/07/college-students-jobs_n_3720688.html>.
‘Minimum Wage and Price Floors’. khanacademy.org. Khan Academy, n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2015. <https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/microeconomics/consumer-producer-surplus/deadweight-loss-tutorial/v/minimum-wage-and-price-floors>.
TestTube. Should We Raise The Minimum Wage?. YouTube, 2014. Film.
‘The Negative Effects of the Minimum Wage’. N.p., 4 May 2006. Web. 1 Apr. 2015. <http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba550>.
vlogbrothers, John. Should We Raise the Minimum Wage?. YouTube, 2014. Film.
Weber, Jonathan, and Marathon Studios. ‘The North Carolina Minimum Wage’. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Apr. 2015. <http://www.minimum-wage.org/states.asp?state=North%20Carolina>.
Citations
(TestTube)
(‘Minimum Wage and Price Floors’)
(AlterNet and Salon with AlterNet et al., Alex Blank Millard / xojane)
(Kingkade)
(‘The Negative Effects of the Minimum Wage’)
(Weber and Studios)
Reflection
The most interesting thing that I learned in this inquiry process is that at first it was hard to start this paper but later on ideas after ideas started piling and coming to me making me come up with the paper I came up with on my topic. Something I had difficulty with was that at first it was kind of hard to find research information on my topic as well. I mean there was certainly a lot of sources on my topic but it was hard to choose exactly what I need to make my paper work. After we had to find at least 5 sources to make our bibliography it was difficult for me to actually start the paper. I did not know exactly what to write. After further thinking I just started to write and actually as the paper started to form I came up with certain ideas and viewpoints on my topic. I again went online and found articles with helpful facts.
My inquiry question actually did change over time. I realized that my original question “Should minimum wage be raised” was not very specific after I found out that it’s not like minimum wage has not been raised in the past so I changed it to “Should minimum wage be raised again in the short future and by how much?” This question is now more specific.
It is important to look at the historical view of my topic because this way we know the past times in which it has been raised and what were the effects of it and will future raising cause similar effects of even worse effects? I do think that my analytical and evaluation skills have changed as a result of this project because I feel like it has improved. Throughout my inquiry paper I utilized the sources I found and I did give my own analysis. I even used personal stories. What I am most proud of this process is how at first 6 pages seemed too much. I was not sure how I was going to be able to write so many pages on my topic. I knew it would be possible but it was actually easier than I thought now. I used enough analysis on my part to come up with a paper to meet the length requirement. What I would like to know of my topic is not much. I know a lot of it now. I guess I would like to know if other countries around the world have minimum wages as well and if it’s too low. Will there be changes as well in the future for them?
Multi Genre Project
Minimum wage is the minimum wage in which an employer or contractor by law can pay an employee for a specified job. Don’t you think that every worker who is currently working minimum wage want an increase? Many do, but there are surprisingly some who are opposed to it. Many say that increasing the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 could cause the unemployment rate to increase. Businesses may not benefit from the increase since they will now be required by law to increase their pay. There are projections that the economy could eventually suffer due to the increase. An increase could also lead to inflation of the economy and lower the job creation rate. Not to forget that businesses would be forced to increase the prices of the goods and services they produce. “We have spent much of this book presenting evidence that minimum wages are a relatively ineffective social policy for aiding the poor.” (Neumark and Wascher) In other words that increasing minimum wages has little to no effect on reducing poverty.
On the other hand increasing minimum wage could create more jobs and can trigger an economy boost. It is said that raising the minimum wage by ten percent could decrease poverty by two percent. (TestTube 2014) Also President Barack Obama plans to increase the federal minimum wage by a staggering 39.3 percent leading to a four million poverty reduction. (TestTube 2014). What should be done? What happens if nothing is done? Will the pitchforks rise?
4. Works cited Information (Chicago)
Hanauer, Nick. 2014. ‘Nick Hanauer: Beware, Fellow Plutocrats, the Pitchforks Are Coming | Talk Video’. Www.ted.com. August. http://www.ted.com/talks/nick_hanauer_beware_fellow_plutocrats_the_pitchforks_are_coming.
Neumark, David, and William L Wascher. Minimum Wages. United States: MIT Press (MA).
Partridge, Mark D., and Jamie S. Partridge. 1999. ‘Do Minimum Wage Hikes Raise US Long Term Unemployment? Evidence Using State Minimum Wage Rates’. Regional Studies 33 (8): 713–26. doi:10.1080/00343409950079179.
TestTube. 2014. Should We Raise The Minimum Wage?. YouTube. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vg2xW1xFj2c.
vlogbrothers, John. 2014. Should We Raise the Minimum Wage?. YouTube. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI9aDHLptMk.
Ricardo Valdez
3/30/15
Dr. Rand
URWT 1102
Should minimum wage be raised again in the short future and by how much?
Minimum wage is a very controversial topic in this country. Many workers want it to be raised from the current federal minimum wage of $7.25. There are others that claim that workers are asking for too much of a raise, an unreasonable amount which could cause serious problems in the economy. There are also those who believe raising it would not even really have an effect on anything. I know that there are a lot of workers that would want minimum wage to raise, and I know people out there are people who are against raising minimum wage. What interests me is the negative and positive effects of raising minimum wage. The federal minimum wage has not increased since it last did in 2009. Although there many states in the United States that have the state minimum wage above the federal minimum wage there are still a lot of states fixated on the federal wage. Where I live in North Carolina this is the case and it does not look like it will raise in the short future. “In his 2014 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama called on Congress to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour, and promised to raise the minimum wage for federal workers to $10.10 via executive order. Obama previously called on Congress to raise the federal minimum wage to $9.00 per hour in his 2013 State of the Union. However, due to partisan stall in Congress, it is unlikely that the federal minimum wage will be raised from $7.25 in the near future.” (Weber and Studios)
It is said that increasing minimum wage could create more jobs and can trigger an economy boost. It is said that raising the minimum wage by ten percent could decrease poverty by two percent. (TestTube 2014) Also President Barack Obama plans to increase the federal minimum wage by a staggering 39.3 percent leading to a four million poverty reduction. (TestTube 2014). What should be done? What happens if nothing is done? Minimum wage is the minimum wage in which an employer or contractor by law can pay an employee for a specified job. In other words if minimum wage was not in place employers could most likely pay them considerably less. Don’t you think that every worker who is currently working a minimum wage job wants an increase? Many do, but there are surprisingly some who are opposed to it. Many say that increasing the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 could cause the unemployment rate to increase. Businesses may not benefit from the increase since they will now be required by law to increase their pay. There are projections that the economy could eventually suffer due to the increase. An increase could also lead to inflation of the economy and lower the job creation rate. Not to forget that businesses would be forced to increase the prices of the goods and services they produce due to the increase of their employees’ wages.
Back in the 2014 fall semester I remember sitting in my ECON 1101 class and we were being taught what a price floor and price ceiling was. A price ceiling is set below the equilibrium price basically lowering the price of certain goods in order to make these goods affordable for consumers. An example of this was rent control and how there is a law in certain states where it is against the law to have rent exceed a certain amount. Price floor is set above the equilibrium price increasing the price of certain goods in order to protect the interest of certain unproductive sectors or producers. A good example of this would be minimum wage and how its set in order to protect the producers because that way there is a price that is set that they must pay set by the government and not by the employees. Our instructor I recall asked us to raise our hands if we want minimum wage to raise? I saw a lot of hands go up. She called on random students with their hand up to explain why he would want minimum wage to raise. The students said “I work at a fast food restaurant working minimum wage at $7.25 and it would be awesome if I could get paid $10.10 for what I do.” I totally agreed with what he had to say because I myself also work part time at a Wendy’s currently working with a minimum wage type of pay. Someone else also replied “Yes because I will have more money in my pocket to spend.” Something that I learned from my economics class is that when consumers have more money in their pockets to spend on goods and services they are essentially putting more money in the circulation of money. This can lead to more employees being hired, more jobs being created and when there are more jobs created there are more and more people with money to spend. It’s a cycle of growth in the economy.
After the people who had raised their hand and had given their explanation as to why they would want minimum wage to increase our instructor then asked is there anybody who wouldn’t want it to increase. I believe there were not many hand up out a class of 100 students. About 3 hands were raised. Our instructor picked them out and asked them why? One students said “Raising minimum wage will cause goods and services to go up in price making it be the same and that raising could make people lose their jobs.” In my research I found that raising minimum wage to $10.10 would not really have an effect on the price of goods and services for example a $16 cd at Walmart will only cost one cent more if a $10.10 minimum wage is put into place. (AlterNet and Salon with AlterNet et al., Alex Blank Millard /xojane) Also at the quite moment I wasn’t really convinced that raising it could really make people lose their jobs. After I found this video on khan academy I was now more convinced on the fact that unemployment could actually result from an increase in minimum wage. The video I saw basically explained that since the minimum wage increases, there would now be more people willing to work at that high new rate. People who had gone to retirement could now perhaps come out of retirement to work at the new minimum wage rat. |Since the demand of employees has gone up there are now less employers that would want to hire as many workers since they are now losing money. Employers will have to cut the hours their employees work but perhaps that will not be too satisfying to the employee. That’s when the employer will have to make the decision to cut down on job positions in his/her company. (“Minimum Wage and Price Floor”) However I found evidence that it will not really hurt job creations. “It Won’t Hurt Job Creation. States have raised the minimum wage 91 times since 1987 during periods of high unemployment, and in more than half of those instances the unemployment rate actually fell. Over 600 economists signed a letter agreeing that a minimum wage increase doesn’t hurt job creation.” (AlterNet and Salon with AlterNet et al., Alex Blank Millard / xojane)
I did not come up with this idea I had until the other day when we had to write a blog post on our current education system. I heard a podcast online called “Here and now”. It was about how many college students work to go to college and how they have such a tight budget that they struggle with hunger. Also what came to mind is how some of these college students have part time jobs. In fact “Nearly 4 out of 5 college students are working part-time while studying for their degrees, averaging 19 hours a week, but just 18 percent pay their way through school.” (Kingkade) This is where raising minimum wage will help out these college students in need. Not only will they have now money to spend on what they need to spend it on for example books, food, clothing, rent but also perhaps they might also have the ability to cut back on the number of hours they put in a given work week at their job. I myself do work about 20 hours a week. If let’s say minimum wage was raised to $10.10 then perhaps I can now work 15 hours in a week and make the same money I used to make. Those 5 less hours of work could mean a lot not only to me but to other students as well. It is important to study for any college students. Studying time is valuable in order to do well on tests and have enough time to do all of their homework well and on time. Either way if minimum wage is raised many college will either have the option to stay with the number of hours they work making them earn more than what they used to make. This could really help out those students in need of extra money to make life a little bit less stressful. Students will also have the option to cut down the hours they put in a work week and have more free time, study time while still making the same amount of money as they use to make. The increase of minimum wage could essentially reduce the dropout rate since college students will now have more money and time to continue on successfully with their pursuit of that degree.
However there is some debate that increasing minimum wage could increase dropout rates. “Some minimum wage advocates argue that teenagers should be in high school or college anyway - not working - and therefore the loss of jobs for young workers is somehow not very harmful. Ironically, though, economic studies have shown that a higher minimum wage entices some teenage students to drop out. With fewer jobs to go around and a greater number of dropouts, some newer dropouts take jobs from the less-educated and lower-productivity teens who had already left school.” (‘The Negative Effects of the Minimum Wage’) I believe this is something else that could happen especially for high school students. High school students are young workers who start working at the age of 16. Let’s assume that minimum wage increases to $10.10. Many high school student workers would be intrigued to work more and not be as focused on school anymore. This could lead to their grades in school being affected. It can go as bad as them dropping out of school and just start working full time. This would all be if a high minimum wage is put into place. This situation can also carry over to college students as well. Perhaps they are not convinced that being in college is worth it anymore and their goal of getting a 4 year degree seems pointless now since minimum wage is at a high rate. A full time worker working at $10.10 an hour will make approximately $20,000 a year. This is not far from many jobs that require a degree. If people do decide to go with working now instead of school then this could eventually lead to not having that degree and having a better paid job essentially hurting the economy since they do not have as much money to spend.
There is a possibility in how raising minimum wage could actually hurt workers more than helping them actually. “Even when minimum-wage increases don't put low-wage workers out of work, they don't necessarily help them either. The reason: Employers respond to forced higher wages by adjusting other components of employee compensation, such as health insurance or other benefits. Although few minimum wage workers have employer-provided health insurance, employers have found other ways to adjust, such as cutting on-the-job training” (‘The Negative Effects of the Minimum Wage’) Sometimes I have conversations with my co-workers at Wendy’s. This lady named Maribel Trujillo asked me one day how long has it been since I started now. I replied 8 months. She then said you still getting paid with what you started getting paid I replied yes. She said when do you get raised? I said I’m not sure I believe every year is a quarter raise. She then told me how she has now been working there for 7 years and is only getting paid $7.75 an hour. She then told me how just about two years “The affordable care act came into place” this act made Wendy’s workers to not be able to work past 28 hours a week because the insurance plan does not cover a person who is working past that amount of hours. Maribel used to work more than 40 hours a week and made more money but not anymore. She told me she has another job because of what happened. Now she feels discouraged to continue working at Wendy’s because of the number of hours she is getting the wage she is currently at. Is this how raising minimum wage can lead to unemployment? I believe it’s just some business and not all of them. I know that there are businesses out there that pay over minimum wage and their business is doing just fine. A good example would be Costco and Gap.
Overall I do believe that the government should increase minimum wage. Raising it means more money in many of millions of workers and this could even help the government as well. For example now that the people will have more money they will no longer be qualified for food stamps. “The same CAP study found that, in conjunction with helping people get off of food stamps, raising the minimum wage would save the government $46 billion over 10 years in spending on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as people earn enough on their own to no longer qualify.” (AlterNet and Salon with AlterNet et al., Alex Blank Millard / xojane) Raising minimum wage to where it is now is most likely win-win situation for both the people and the government. Although I do think raising minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 does seem unlikely. The next raise should be at least to $8.00 an hour.
Works Cited
AlterNet, Allegra Kirkland /, and Lenore Skenazy / Salon with AlterNet, John Moyers / et al., Alex Blank Millard / xojane. ‘10 Reasons to Raise the Minimum Wage (with Charts)’. (2014): n. pag. Web. 1 Apr. 2015. <http://www.alternet.org/economy/10-reasons-raise-minimum-wage-charts>.
Kingkade, Tyler. ‘Poll: More Parents Pay Cell Phone Bills Than Tuition’. (2013): n. pag. Web. 1 Apr. 2015. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/07/college-students-jobs_n_3720688.html>.
‘Minimum Wage and Price Floors’. khanacademy.org. Khan Academy, n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2015. <https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/microeconomics/consumer-producer-surplus/deadweight-loss-tutorial/v/minimum-wage-and-price-floors>.
TestTube. Should We Raise The Minimum Wage?. YouTube, 2014. Film.
‘The Negative Effects of the Minimum Wage’. N.p., 4 May 2006. Web. 1 Apr. 2015. <http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba550>.
vlogbrothers, John. Should We Raise the Minimum Wage?. YouTube, 2014. Film.
Weber, Jonathan, and Marathon Studios. ‘The North Carolina Minimum Wage’. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Apr. 2015. <http://www.minimum-wage.org/states.asp?state=North%20Carolina>.
Citations
(TestTube)
(‘Minimum Wage and Price Floors’)
(AlterNet and Salon with AlterNet et al., Alex Blank Millard / xojane)
(Kingkade)
(‘The Negative Effects of the Minimum Wage’)
(Weber and Studios)
Reflection
The most interesting thing that I learned in this inquiry process is that at first it was hard to start this paper but later on ideas after ideas started piling and coming to me making me come up with the paper I came up with on my topic. Something I had difficulty with was that at first it was kind of hard to find research information on my topic as well. I mean there was certainly a lot of sources on my topic but it was hard to choose exactly what I need to make my paper work. After we had to find at least 5 sources to make our bibliography it was difficult for me to actually start the paper. I did not know exactly what to write. After further thinking I just started to write and actually as the paper started to form I came up with certain ideas and viewpoints on my topic. I again went online and found articles with helpful facts.
My inquiry question actually did change over time. I realized that my original question “Should minimum wage be raised” was not very specific after I found out that it’s not like minimum wage has not been raised in the past so I changed it to “Should minimum wage be raised again in the short future and by how much?” This question is now more specific.
It is important to look at the historical view of my topic because this way we know the past times in which it has been raised and what were the effects of it and will future raising cause similar effects of even worse effects? I do think that my analytical and evaluation skills have changed as a result of this project because I feel like it has improved. Throughout my inquiry paper I utilized the sources I found and I did give my own analysis. I even used personal stories. What I am most proud of this process is how at first 6 pages seemed too much. I was not sure how I was going to be able to write so many pages on my topic. I knew it would be possible but it was actually easier than I thought now. I used enough analysis on my part to come up with a paper to meet the length requirement. What I would like to know of my topic is not much. I know a lot of it now. I guess I would like to know if other countries around the world have minimum wages as well and if it’s too low. Will there be changes as well in the future for them?
Multi Genre Project