Blog post #2 Anthony Mulet

 This assignment was really great to work on, and all the presentations taught me a whole lot that I didn’t know before. First of all, I would like to talk about the first presentation, which was the one done by Group 1, the group that I am in. The main focus of this presentation was on the elections and their importance. At first, the presenters talked about local elections, which I feel are some of the more important elections because they affect your immediate area, not saying that the other elections aren’t important; I’m just saying that local ones hold more urgency. They then discussed the voting process, which is a pretty good thing to talk about to a college class, considering there may be people who don’t know how to vote yet. They then discussed the history of voting in the US and how it evolved, which I believe is important to show how far we’ve come as a country that prides itself on giving its citizens representation. They covered multiple amendments that were made that gave different groups of people the ability to vote since they couldn’t before due to discrimination. They then showed transcripts of two interviews that they conducted with some credible sources, essentially saying how important it is to vote. The next topic that was discussed was U.S. vs. world perspective, essentially talking about how different countries have their own systems and methods when it comes to choosing their leaders, which, honestly, I believe is important to broaden one's view outside of where they live so they can be better informed about the world that exists around them. Then I proceeded to give my part of the presentation, in which I discussed why college students should care about elections and why it matters to them, essentially saying how it builds habits they will use, how it affects their lives, and even gave resources as to where they can learn more about it. Following Group One’s presentation was the presentation done by group 2, which primarily focused on education. More specifically, they discussed education policies, which, from their explanation, influence not only students and teachers but also the entire community itself. They discussed the purposes of these education policies, saying that they gave equal opportunity to students and protected them from discrimination, essentially providing a better environment to learn in. They then went over the history of education policies in the U.S., which, as I’ve said previously, I believe is important to see how the system that we rely on to educate ourselves has evolved in the years that it’s been around. They brought in a teacher for one of their interviews, in which they discussed the funding that schools receive and the importance of education policies. That interview really worked as a great transition to the next topic that they discussed, which was funding and financial aid. They discussed where public education receives its funding and the different programs that college students use to actually fund their education. They explained how the programs work, which I found very helpful, as I myself am a person who relies on such programs. They then talked about higher education and college students, in which they essentially just provided more programs and resources that college students could use. They then discussed education around the world, which I honestly found interesting to see the differences in how the rest of the world measures the educational progression of students compared to how the United States runs things. They also discussed current issues that the education system is facing, such as AI, competition, and lack of funding.With that, it wrapped up group two’s presentation, so now we will talk about group three’s. This presentation mostly focused on the economy. They began by describing what an economy is, which I feel most people should know, so it’s definitely a good way to start off. They then proceeded to compare the economy of the United States with that of other countries, and from that I learned that the US had the largest economy. They then went into a deeper look at the history of the state of the economy, such as how it began and the many hardships that affected it, like depressions, inflation, and wars, all the way to the modern economy. The next topic they spoke about was the cost of living, which, in my honest opinion, is a very important topic currently. They discussed how prices were rising and how it is impacting people, as well as talking about the high prices of healthcare and insurance. They talked about how it affects living as a college student, which affects them greatly, as students already have to put a good sum of their money into their education, leaving them with barely any choice but to get jobs to afford to survive, causing problems as they balance a job and being a student. The next topic they discussed was actually about employment and wages, essentially discussing the difficulties of getting a job, how inflation is affecting how much they get paid, and how voting can change that. They then took some time to focus more on how the economy impacts college students,  basically touching up on what was previously said. They then spoke about Housing and affordability, essentially giving statistics about how it’s currently a problem, and they compared the housing situation in the US to those of other countries. They also discussed scarcity, which is pretty important, as that directly influences the prices of things that we as humans depend on. Now that’s done, it’s time to wrap things up with group four’s presentation. This presentation focuses on immigration policies for voting, which, given the current state of the country, I believe is of great importance. To begin, they begin by giving a bit of an overview and the history of immigration in the US; they talk about the agencies in charge and how the government has handled situations over the years with laws. They then discussed with greater focus on immigration itself, specifically how people immigrate and why they do. A part that I appreciated was when they talked about immigration in Florida, as that’s more local and I can connect better to it. They also discussed how it affects students, families, and communities, which I liked to learn about, as that’s not something I put much thought into since I myself am not a immigrant. All in all every presentation was fantastic, and it really left a lot to think about.