And SO IT Ends

I will be analyzing on article by Dave Mann appearing in March 30, 2009 in The Texas Observer blog entitled “And So It Ends.” The author of this article describes how the State Board of Education has proceeding to alter state science standard. The State Board of Education will not require educators to teach the strengths and weaknesses of the theory of evolution, but educators must encourage students to critically analyze all scientific theories. For Mann it not what the Board members did, but how they did it.
He argues that the Board members were supposed to be working on these science standards for a year. For Mann it took more than ten minutes for all members to understand the proposal. Mann is shock to see Board members debating topics such as world choice in the very last day. For the author not only the amendments were inconsistent and poor spelling but also it took a while to get the job done. Poor spelling he says made the proposals hard to read. Mann argues that the amendments were difficult to read, because they were hand-written. His supported his case with the copy of one hand-written amendment proposal considers as a key amendment.
The reader does not need to be familiar of this article to know that it affiliated to liberal blog. Mann argues against social conservative when his said at the end of his article “Again, there may be some maneuvering room there for social conservatives in the future debates, but not much.” Dave Mann doesn’t made successful argument about how the State Board of Education has proceeding to alter state science standard. The text is mal organized with too much paragraphs, and spacing. To make a strong argument, Mann needs to support his argument with credible references sources instead of left-leaning blog (Texas Freedom Network). His also need to make his case by strong evidence and facts instead of general statement. I disagree with this article in two points: first the blog is intended to the social liberal audience and the article it not seen “fair or balance” to allow critical thinking. Second the lack of strong arguments pushes this article back. To make strong argument Mann need to avoid general statement, and use credible source to support his case. In this argument against social conservative, no one doesn’t need to be expert to know that the intended audience is social liberal class.

Justice should be Recession-proof

I will be critiquing on article by the Dallas Morning News editorial board, a group of journalists with wide-ranging areas of expertise appearing in February 27, 2009 edition. The authors of this article “Justice should be recession-proof” argue about the importance for the state to save the civil legal aid because everybody deserves access to justice.
The editorial warns the Texas Legislature about the consequence to let collapse the state’s civil legal aid. For the authors of this article, if the Texas Legislature doesn’t answer the Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson rescue plan to keep the program alive for the next two years, thousands of poor Texans will lose access to legal advice. Yes, the editorial is right because most of person cannot afford to hire a lawyer, especially in this critical time where people are losing their homes and jobs. The editorial supports its claim about why Texas should save the civil legal aid with facts and statistics. About 100,000 Texas annually use the civil legal aid service, and in national level Texas is 43rd nation in per capita revenue spent on civil legal aid. The authors warn that those statistics will be worse if the state fails to take steps. They rely their hope on lawmakers and banks. Lawmakers should consider a significant portion of Jefferson’s request for $ 37 million from general revenue, and should work closely with the Texas Access to Justice Commission, to identify other source to narrow the financial stress. The editorial makes a call to the banks that hold these special accounts that lawyers create to hold client money, which did not complied with the Texas Access to Justice Commission appealed to pay slightly higher interest rates to support the program, to make a commitment.
The authors of this article made successful and real argument about the state of Texas legal aid program and provide some solutions to avoid the collapse of the system so that everybody can deserves access to justice.