Tyler Clementi Story

1.  Who is responsible for Tyler's Death? Perhaps more than one person is responsible? You may want to place responsibility based on percentage. Some examples of who may hold responsibility are, Tyler himself, Tylers Parents, Dharun Ravi, Molly Wei, or even Rutger's university?

After reading four different sources (including the two sources provided from BB, I would have to say that Tyler was responsible for his own death. I believe there were influential factors such as his mother not initially embracing that her son was gay, and then of course the incident at hand. Tyler's roommate, Dharun Ravi had no intentions of Tyler to cause physical harm or death to himself. Ravi's childish actions perpetuated Tyler's insecurity of being gay, which most likely lead him to jump off the George Washington Bridge.  After the hearing of New Jersey VS Dharun Ravi, Rutgers’s University changed some of their dorm room policies, which made it more comfortable for students to choose roommates.  Having more freedom to choose roommates regardless of the student’s sex, Rutgers believes it’ll help prevent another incident like this from happening again.

2.  Is there something that could have been done to prevent this?  It seems like some people watched the posted video, why didn't anyone step up?

Of course there could have been something that could have prevented this from happening, but just like all other things in life, something tragic needs to happen before policies are changed.  Could a student have spoke up, sure, but would that have prevented Tyler from committing suicide?  I guess we’ll never know.  It’s the classic game of “Could of, would of, and should of”.  I do believe if the video had never been streamed it may have prevented Tyler from jumping off the George Washing, but only Ravi could have prevented that.

3. How do you think that anti-bullying laws will impact cases like this?

I think the same laws under New Jersey Law, the privacy laws, will be upheld with much more significance due to the sensitivity of bullying in modern America.  Unfortunately there have been numerous cyber-bullying incidents that have lead to far too many teen suicides.  I think cyber-bullying laws may help prevent teen suicides, but I honestly believe there just needs to be more awareness of bullying in general.  We see bullying stories every day in the news so I don’t think new laws are working as effectively as legislation thought it would.  You need to address the issue at the core, which is educate the public on what bullying is and the affects it may have on individuals.  

Additional source used to gather info.

Unit 3 Chapter 1

CIS 120

I am creating this blog for CIS 120, because this is what Mr. Eric Magidson wants us (CIS 120 CLASS) all to do for Unit 3 Chapter 1.  

1.  Is professor Grossman off the mark when he says “I tell my classes that if they just do what they are supposed to do and meet the standard requirements, that they will earn a C,” he said. “That is the default grade. They see the default grade as an A.” why?

I don't think Professor Grossman is off the mark, rather this is his personal opinion.  I am about to wrap up my bachelors degree and have experienced numerous teaching styles.  I liked some teaching styles more so than others, but all of my instructors and professors each had their own way of grading.  I experienced some instructors/professors similar to Mr. Grossman, I had to go above and beyond what was required to earn a better grade than the default grade of a 'C'.  

2.  What do you think is causing students to feel entitled to receive a good grade? Is it because a grade of A is now the expected default for "average" work where in reality a grade of A denotes "above average"?  Are the students prior expereinces in high school or earlier the cause?  Are parents to cause "my child is perfect so it must be the instructors fault"?  

This is a loaded question and can go any direction, it just depends on who is answering it.  In my personal opinion, I think generation Y's thought process has shifted and most believe they are entitled to more than anyone else.  I honestly think generation Y is the laziest of any previous generation and has been enabled so by society.  I don't like this question to be honest, I get pissed when I see and hear about people claiming they are entitled to things.  As a veteran, I'll be the first to say no one is entitled to SHIT!  If an individual didn't earn whatever they desire, then they don't deserve it.  

3.  Give your honest opinion of the article.  Do you feel you deserve grades based on your effort or is it that you earned the grade you receive because of your effort?  Anything else you would like to add?

I think it's a good article but don't agree with everything that is being said within the article.  I believe that the grade an individual earns is a direct representation of the effort applied to a given class.  Some classes will be harder than others, but as long as the student understands the class expectations/objectives, he or she should be able to match the required effort needed to obtain the desired grade they want.