Jooheon Song’s Opinion Column

Contents
Article # 1. What should we do to save teenagers with mental disorders?

Article # 2. Is New Mexico’s plan, tuition-free college, a realistic approach to alleviating the
current decline in the enrollment rate of post-secondary edcation?

Article # 3. The Benefits and Risks of Free Speech on the World Biggest Platform

Article # 4. Is the current tipping culture appropriate to the economic context today?

Article #5. The impact of rising temperature to our mental health

Article #6. The impact of rising temperature to our mental health

Article #7. Cultual Mosaic vs. Melting Pot

Article #8. Should the vaccination be forced or individual bodily autonomy be prioritized?

Article #9. Is AI risks or benefits to the human beings?

 Jooheon’s Opinion Column
Preface (Outline)
Description of my Capstone Project
: To call attention to social issues in various settings, I have collected the issues of controversy
and investigated the root of problems and key solutions. As a student, I am deeply concerned
about teenagers distancing themselves from the knowledge of current affairs, as many of them
are highly preoccupied with developing academic performance in a school setting. To encourage
the school community to have an interest in what is happening around us, Jooheon’s opinion
column will play a significant role in raising awareness of social issues. This will awaken the
minds of those who are afraid to confront uncomfortable social issues.

This collection of opinion columns will deeply explore many social issues that range from
gender disparities, children’s access to learning in a computer-using educational setting, high
college tuition, and extinction issues to abortion and human rights. The resources are to be
collected from the reliable collection of databases, such as JSTOR and EBSCO, from websites,
such as The New York Times and The Conversation. Based on my research about the given
topics, I will create 20 pages of opinion sections that explore and examine insight into the
various societal issues that have often been ignored.

Each page will investigate one single issue, which is composed of the head title and the byline,
followed by the reference of the article. Reflecting the structure of an opinion column, the
column is divided into an opening remark with an introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion
with the concluding remark.
 What should we do to save teenagers with mental
disorders?
By Jooheon Song

Mental disorder has become a common ordeal among young people. The teens are struggling
with mental disorders that cause anxiety and depression. As it is closely related to serious social
issues, such as self-harm and suicidal attempts, the public started paying more attention to the
issues. It led the people in the higher social standing to take active movement for the situation.

Overwhelming mental states are fuelling the need for probing into the nature of the problem. To
define the severity of the crisis, many experts provide deeper insights into the tumultuous period
of adolescence. According to recent research, many youngsters show signs of the trace of facing
mental problems: some of them undergo lethargy avoiding eating and socializing with others.
Since these are the most common phenomenon of adolescence throughout their puberty, it is hard
to notice what kind of major shift they are experiencing. When a teen is left alone without a
revenue opened for communication, they sometimes make socially unacceptable or even
dramatic decisions.

Analyzing the severity of the problem, the movement to save adolescents from mental issues is
activated and successfully provided the findings that indicate the importance of the emotional
bond between counselors and teenagers. However, the approach reveals fragility in that having
good support for communication requires tremendous effort and the view of experts. Therefore,
structuring a better system for the treatment of mental crisis is emphasized. To provide easier
access to counsultation with experts under the systematic mechanism, adults in power need to
give their hands. They need to focus on reflecting more lessons about mental health in the school
curriculum and establishing a better counseling system in the educational environment.

The radical rise in the mental health crisis among the young generation has become one of the
dominant issues for teenagers. To address the problem, the people with power should take an
initiative role in building a well-designed framework to support adolescents in need.
 Is New Mexico’s plan, tuition-free college, a realistic
approach to alleviating the current decline in the
enrollment rate of post-secondary edcation?
by Jooheon Song

Enrollment for college and university are in decline with the fall of national educational quality.
To alleviate the current trend, New Mexico adopted tuition free college system that provide free
post-secondary learning opportunities for their residents. However, there are voices that express
concern about the city’s financial state to supply the additional budget.

High tuition fee has become a great hindrance for the learning motivation, and it brought about
steep decline for the enrollment. New Mexico newly devised an educational policy that supports
tuition fee for students in their district without specific conditions for the recipients. This
approach is aiming at open educational opportunities, which would lead potential learners to
schools instead of being employed right away after highschool graduation. It is important given
that the activation of post-secondary education is the key factor for the enrichment of national
standard of intelligence. Tuition free policy is the new frontier of pioneering unprecedented
educational route for the citizens.

On the other hand, the opponents give rise to concerns about side effects of the radical change.
The sudden adoption of tuition-free policy might cause the long-term massive economic burden
on the financial state. New Mexico just built its great foundation of influx of huge revenue with
flush of gas and oil, which represents that the city doesn’t possess stable economic status.
Supplying tremendous amount of additional fee, the newly structured financial system would
possibly in the significant risk of getting collapsed. The absence of specific requirements for the
recipients will end up bringing more financial burden to the national assets. Considering
potential economic threat, the new educational policy is still a hasty decision.

More and more students are making a decision to get a job rather than applying for college and
university, and the major cause for the current trend is extremely unaffordable tuition fee. New
Mexico has adopted the new educational plan to free potential learners from financial burden,
but the additional budget planning and the absence of limits creates public reluctance. Through
the controversial debate, I personally support the withdrawal of the policy given that the
drawbacks seems irreplaceable risk.
 The Benefits and Risks of Free Speech on the World
Biggest Platform
by Jooheon Song

Elon Musk, the executive director of Tesla and Space X, has recently purchased Twitter, one of
the major platforms of social media. To realize his idealized view of free speech, he focuses on
loosening content moderation on the social media. There’s no doubt he can dramatically affect
the global platform in the same position with world leading leaders, such as Mr. Tim Cook, Mr.
Zuckerberg.

Free speech is the fundamental factor that upholds democratic values, and its advancement is
significant to protect the ideology we pursue. Following the trend, Musk is taking active
approach to giving everyone an opportunity to have a say on what they want without restriction
on the world biggest platform. Allowing unfettered expression on the social media, various
topics will be freely discussed within the boundary of law. It will contribute to the enrichment of
our society and reinforcement of the international bonds among the countries under the
democratic framework. With the active exchange of different views, we will be the one facing
dramatic improvement in the harmonization of individuals, groups, and nations.

On the other hand, Musk will realize how preposterous his idealized view is when the whole
platform starts to shake. Twitter’s content moderation policy has been much more loosened
under his leadership, and it is causing significant increase in cyber issues such as spams, bullying
and harrassment. As the framework is bringing a halt to giving restriction on certain groups of
people who doesn’t hesitate to force others with their own views, more and more users will start
to feel uncomfortable in sharing ideas. The phenomenon will minimize the influx of new users
and maximize exodus of original customers to other platforms by exposing them to the relentless
assert without any protections. This approach will bring about unexpected chaotic circumstances
of opening harzardous gate to information overloading, giving a huge threat to maintaining the
platform.

There are two colliding arguments in simmering debate that views the active movement of new
executive director of Twitter. Some people expressed excitement about the change Musk will
enrich our democratic system; however, others give rise to concern in freeing cyber bullies from
having penalties for their wrongdoings. In my opinion, I personally support the latter in that the
potential damage cyber issue causes overweighs the democratic values.
 Is the current tipping culture appropriate to the
economic context today?
By Jooheon Song

In the peak of pandemic, the amount of tipping jumped to the maximum 35% from traditional
tipping of 15% to 20%. At the early stage of the situation, customers were generous in giving
extra tips to the workers who took the risk of being impacted by the unknown virus. However,
consumers have started facing tipping fatigue for the additional payment as the business is
mostly recovered to the normal state.

The workers at food business were extremely exposed to the virus when the pandemic occurred
and it caused the tip inflation under the name of compensation for the risk of infection they take.
The new tipping trend has greatly contributed to the stabilization of the essential worker’s
financial situations as they were highly reliant on extra income. Most of the customers were
willing to pay for the recognition of their hard labor. On top of that, the Square system, the new
ordering system on eletronic screen, provided safer environment for both employees and
consumers, guaranteeing stable income of tipping for the workers. The rise in tipping rate has
enriched the treatment for the workers in hospitality industry, which functioned as a major factor
that uphold the survival of many food businesses.

The perpetual increase in tipping triggers unbearable financial burden for the customers. Having
extra expenditure in the food industry, one of the most common consuming patterns, buyers are
becoming more pressured in maintaining their lifeline. Given that their income hardly faces any
changes, additional spending is the extreme approach that overestimates the economic status of
the middle class. It triggers cause for an alarm in that more and more potential consumers close
their pockets for further outgoings, which will significantly damage the food industry with the
fall of the middle class. The newly settled tipping culture accompanies higher risks of destroying
the major part of hospitality business and shaking whole society.

The pandemic has created a huge jump into the unafforable tipping norm and functioned as a
major factor that upheld the food business and their employees. However, at the same time, the
customers had to confront sudden increase in their spending no matter how much extra tip they
want to pay. As the continuation of the abnormal tipping caused economic crisis and the
destruction of the middle class, the extra tipping shouldn’t be forced under any circumstances.
The impact of rising temperature to our mental health
By Jooheon Song

Global warming has created radical climate changes, which adversely impacted the mental health
of people with extreme heatwaves. The rise in temperature caused chaos and anxiety, resulting in
the increase of violent crimes and suicidal attempts. To alleviate irreparable damages inflicted on
both individuals and society, it is emphasized that the government need to invest more budget on
the welfare system.

The increasing temperature is a common phenomenon in recent days, and it makes the problem
to be considered as trivial issues. However, only a small rise in ambient temperature brings about
eco-anxiety with uncontrollable mental stress even for the people without mental disorders. On
top of that, the recent research indicates that heatwaves impair people’s cognitive ability with
the paralysis of the thinking process. It leads to huge societal level of problems that trigger the
tremendous increase in the rate of crime and suicide attempts. Not recognizing the genuine
effects of sudden temperature increase, our daily lives are heavily influenced by the heatwaves
we created.

Since global warming issue has been the crisis for the entire world, active movement of the
government and international organization are required. To tackle the issue at hand, it is
significant to reinforce the welfare policy and provide helps to the people with unstable mental
conditions. Expanding healthcare system will contribute to the stabilization of people’s mental
health in tough environment. The installment of airconditioning in public areas is another
solution. It will bring positive impacts to the ongoing situation, minizing the further impact of
heatwaves. To handle the fundamental the issues of the problem, the government and global
organization should give their hands to slow down global environmental degradation.

In the course of modern human history, extreme heatwaves are brought up to international
agenda, as it triggers severe individual and societal problems. It significantly contributed to the
aggravation of one’s mental health, which resulted in tragic ending. The engagements of the
governments and non-profit organizations are crucial to lessen the further damages.
 The demands for overly crowded population in
American history
By Jooheon Song

In the American history, when immigrants centralized into the cities which were already full of
native born Americans, the system was paralyzed. The increasing population overwhelmed the
supply and it led to degradation of towns aggravating the environmental condition.

Everyone was hoping for a better living condition and it had made a trend of the overpopulated
city concentration for both native born Americans and the people of migration. When the
explosive population expanded with the sudden rise demand, the greedy landlords started to jam
buildings just to put a few more households. It had reduced space for planting trees and with
sudden surge of contaminated gas, accelerated polluting the environment. The roads were
unpaved and garbages were prevailing everywhere. The workers couldn’t keep up with the pace
of rapid population increase.

With the rapidly rising number of migrated people, the infrastructure of the cities had to confront
problematic situation. For example, the water refinement system was broken with the supply
doesn’t satisfy the demand. The low level of the filtering organization provided unhygienic water
to citizens, which caused easy exposure to diseases. The polluted air aggravated the patients with
a huge number of death. Fortunately, it elevated awareness of required better condition of cities
for the safety of themselves and drove the movement towards advanced level of living standard:
trees were planted; water system is reframed; healthier city design is proposed. This is how our
modern society has given impetus to the growth.

Despite hardships of overly growing population, the troubles contributed to the explosive growth
of the cities. Healthy living conditions of cities were structured with the unpolluted environment
and advanced technologies.
 Cultual Mosaic vs. Melting Pot
By Jooheon Song

America, where diverse groups of people dwell, has had a controversial debate about cultural
issues. A traditional version of ideology was melting pot—blending various cultures into one big
American culture—and a modern approach is a cultural mosaic which is conserving the own
cultures for individuals with the activation of interacting with others.

<The ideological battle between cultural mosaic and melting pot>

A cultural mosaic is the modern global trend respecting the value of individual groups. Since its
main argument is maintaining harmonious relationship between individuals and the whole, it
conserves one’s own tradition with the prevention of cultural conflict. The proponents of melting
pot might argue the value of integrating the whole country under a single strong belief system.
However, considering the way it compels the immigrants to give up their traditions, it would
trigger more conflicts aggravating the relationship. The modern society places an emphasis on
one’s freedom for belief; therefore, the conservative ideology betrays the wave of trend.

<Democracy underpins the value of cultural mosaic>

Preserving the value of democracy should always be one of the main consideration when the
system is structured. Democracy has been upholding the United States and melting pot is clearly
threatening the fundamental foundation of the country. Although there are some voices pointing
out the risks of acknowledging all the cultures from different country, the government still can
regulate the extreme cultural events. Finding a balance between individuals and the collective,
the friction should be alleviated in the proper frame of democracy. The mosaic has been settled
down in our society because it is proved as the most realistic ideology.

In the United States, the mosaic has been a dominant cultural trend even though some people still
support the melting pot. In my personal opinion, I agree with Philip Popple’s conclusion that
upholds mosaic with criticism against the coercive pollitcal system because the former holds the
great balance and maintain the value of democracy.
 Should the vaccination be forced or individual bodily
autonomy be prioritized?
By Jooheon Song

With the emergence of the vaccines to cure COVID-19, a conflict is in its play between
individual freedom and the collective safety level. Recently, vaccine passports are required to
enter public places in many countries; however, some people go against this new normal arguing
over their bodily autonomy.

The community should weigh more importance on public goods rather than individuals to protect
everyone in society. There are vulnerable people against viruses, of course, and to gurantee their
rights to be secured, demanding vaccination to enter public areas is an absolute need. Moreover,
vaccination have proved its effective prevention of serious illnesses and allowed health care
system to have some space from being overwhelmed by the relentless number of patients.
Refusing to be vaccinated exposes both an individual and collective at high risk, threatening
liberty for the whole society. Since the community would suffer the greater burden, the decision
of enforcing certificates for vaccination seems reasonable.
Infringement on one’s right and freedom for public goods can’t be justified. Many people have
been getting vaccinated to skip onerous alternative steps—being required to provide constant
medical tests—and it leads to losing their bodily autonomy. The policy marginalizes the minority
with the refusal for certain cases such as physical issues or religions. The system proving
vaccination is considered as privacy violation given that corporations are taking medical
information; it clearly intervenes/interrupts one’s right to manage their own medical privacy.
Sacrificing the disenfranchised for the right structure of the society could be seen as a coercive
enforcement.

While there is voice of keeping the current vaccination system for the collective safety level,
criticisms give rise to concerns about personal freedom being interrupted. Although both
statements have the proper reasons for their arguments, in my opinion, pandemic regulation
policy should be maintained because, sometimes, individuals need to sacrifice themselves for the
public.
 Is AI risks or benefits to the human beings?
By Jooheon Song

As the AI technology keeps advancing at a rapid rate, many concerns and expectations about
their dramatic impact has been suggested. The replacement of labor by AI is the main issue
around the development. The conflict is at a play whether AI to become great risks of human
survival or benefit humanity.

A massive number of workers has been superceded by the sophiscatedly designed machines
since it provides better work with more efficiency. They are encountering serious economic
problems by the deprivation of job opportunities. Ordering system in many restaurants and the
factories full of modern technology are good evidence about the phenomenon. It doesn’t only
give hardships for the under-employeed but also disintegrates their working capability by putting
hindrance on career development. The blind trust in the work of technology would cause extreme
sacrifice of an increasing number of human labor as the advancement accelerates.

On the other hand, AI contributes to the invention of innovative facilities and machines, which
brought about great convenience. Many aspects of living standards have been enriched,
satisfying the customized needs from the advancing world. Based on systematic statistics, big
data algorithm analyzes individual inclination and recommend tailored contents on social media.
It plays a significant role in retrieving resourceful information in a more efficient way. The
modern technology is the main driving force that improves our world to a better place and
deserve to be acknowledged as the precious asset of humanity.

The current society has been going through the unprecedented advancement which triggers
hostility from certain groups of people likely to be affected by the new wave. However, given
that the technology enhances many parts of the society, the development shouldn’t be accused for
the chaos in the transitional period.
 Reference

Alberto Giubilini & Helen Kennedy. (December 23, 2021). Head to Head: the ethics of vaccine

passports and COVID passes. The Conversation. Retrieved from

https://theconversation.com/head-to-head-the-ethics-of-vaccine-passports-and-covid-pass

es-172369

Callie Holtermann. (April 27, 2022). How Much Should Speech Be Moderated on Social

Media?. The New York Times. Retrieved from

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/27/learning/speech-moderated-social-media.html

Callie Holtermann. (May 5, 2022). Is Teen Mental Health in a State of Crisis?. The

NewYorkTimes. Retrieved from

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/30/opinion/nuclear-family.html

Callie Holtermann. (May 19, 2022). Should College Be Free?. The NewYorkTimes. Retrieved

from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/19/learning/free-college.html

Carnes, Mark C. and John A. Garraty. (2013). American Society in the Industrial Age. Pearson.

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Henslin, James M. (2019). Sociology. A Down-to-Earth Approach (14th. Ed). Pearson.

Laurence Wainwright & Eileen Neumann (July 12, 2022). Heatwaves worsen mental health

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https://theconversation.com/heatwaves-worsen-mental-health-conditions-186759

Rodolfo Ocampo. (Sep 13th, 2022). AI art is everywhere right now. Even experts don’t know
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