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Alison Kadlec
Feb 1, 2012
This post was written for the 20 community colleges participating in Completion by Design, a five-year Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation initiative that aims to significantly increase completion rates for low-income students under 26. As a “National Assistance partner” for Completion by Design, Public Agenda provides direct assistance to the colleges to help them build capacity for solutions-oriented dialogue among faculty, staff and administration. Here, Public Agenda's Alison Kadlec discusses best practices for authentic internal stakeholder engagement. While the post is geared toward Completion by Design planning teams, the principles are useful for any authentic engagement process.
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Allison Rizzolo
Jan 24, 2012
Far too often, throughout our work in the education field, we've seen even the most earnest and promising ideas from experts and reformers for improving schools and ramping up student learning met with confusion, anxiety or even anger from teachers, parents, students or community members.
2011 Public Agenda
my fellow students and i think abortion should be illegal. we were wondering if you thought the same way?
I also agree with your opinion of abortion being legal because it states in the bill of rights and in the 15 th amendment that all should have privecy, meaning abortion can be allowed. but it should no be taken advantage of
i believe that women should have control over their bodies. Women should also be able to tell if they are able to do and give everything that it takes to raise a baby. If they know that they can not then they should be able to get an abortion. Also if a woman gets rape why would they want to keep the child of the person who destroyed them as a person. They would not want a remainder of what happened to them. Aldo if they are a young teenager than they should know if they are unable to keep the child and when they are in their early teens they are still babies themselves and babies should not be raising babies. So i agree that abortion should be legal.
i think that if you think you are old enough and mature enough to have sex in the first place then you must be ready to take care of a child. you may not have lots of money but there is always a way. there is welfare and even adoption! if you are raped yes it is a tragic thing that happened to you but its also not the baby's fault either so why kill it. put him/her up for adoption if you dont want the reminder.. lets not be selfish here ladies.
You think welfare will take care of the kid, it won't, Our economy cannot afford to have more people on welfare!
It isn't being selfish to have an abortion, especially not in the case that you used. If a woman is raped and chooses that she does not want to have/keep the baby, there should be no pressure on her to do so. I think it's highly rude of you to say that she would be being selfish if shechose to have an abortion simply because she does not believe her body is ready to go through that yet. She didn't choose it for herself, we should at least let her choose what happens afterwards. I dislike how judgemental people are when it comes to this subject, providing half of the people who are so negative are selfish themselves if they can't see it from any other persons perspective. Despite all of the control in the world, a woman should at least have a say in regard to what her body goes through physically and emotionally.
It is a social myth that most or even half of the abortions proceeded in the united states are due to health reasons or rape, Liberals use this as one of theri most famous arguments and have no data to back it up. maybe try really researching a topic before you decide to debate about it and the "rights" of women! Yes a woman should have a say in what her body goes through..but using abortion as a type of birth control is not only wrong and selfish but immoral! It is taking a life that had no choice in being created and no choice in whether or not it is destroyed! When women go in for 2 - 3 abortions because she continually gets pregnant..ill education is not a factor it is idiocracy! Women should be a little more conciderate of the conciquences of their actions if they are not willing or ready to have a child!
why would you want to legalize murder, that's exactly what abortion is. God knew you while you were in the womb. It's wrong because God says it' wrong. We all sinned against a Holy God, that's why He sent His Son to die in our place, amazing love. He says if we repent and put our trust in the only savior Jesus Christ He will forgive all our sins and give us the free gift of eternal life. Then read the bible and obey what it says . God will never let you down.
we believe we have the right to life. And abortion takes that right away for the unborn child. You can hear a baby's heartbeat as early as 6 weeks. You are killing a child when you have an abortion. It is murder. In cases of rape or if its going to kill you to have the baby then maybe i can see. Abortion is selfish. If your going to have sex you need to be responsible. Give that baby to someone who really wants a child.
The baby is not alive nor does it have feelings before at least 6 weeks, you said so yourself. It is not killing a baby, it is losing it before it has the chance to live. Selfish, would be to have the baby when you aren't ready to have a baby, simply because people pressure you into it, having not enough money, maturity or emotional stability to take care of the baby properly, either keeping him/her because you love them all the same, or giving it up for adoption where he/she may never be adopted and never have a real family... Not to mention how much that would make the mother feel like she abandoned her own child. That's a lot of heart ache for lots of people, but you say this is less selfish?
If you arnt socially or mentally mature enough to have a baby the woman should not being taking the chances of getting pregnant . As far as abandoning the child being more guilt than murdering or taking the chance to live away from a child.... what is worse!??
people cants pleasure you into it. a man doesnt make a woman have sex. he just tempts her but still its her choice, her dicision, her life. is she gonna resist or is she gonna give into the momentary pleasures of sex. and do it. and ever scince a spern fertalizes an egg its a living organism from that point its a living being the rest is nutriance and cells. if your not ready to have a baby .DONT HAVE SEX. its as plain as black and white.. look through an sndoscope at a baby at ex 6 weeks. hear the heart beat, look at the forming fingers. tell me thats not a living being sorry. I DONT BY THAT.
People make me mad when they say that if you think your old enough to have sex then your old enough to have the kid it results in. What if the girl has sex and the guy puts holes in the condom and her parents wont let her be on birth control its not her fault if she gets pregnant from that now is it?
Wow this seems to be a very serious conversation. Have you experience this or know somebody that have experience this? I'm just curious because you seem to be very mad.
ITS called self control...If youre not mature enough to have a child youre not mature enough to be acting out situations that cause a child to be concieved!
what happened to sex after marriage everybody is to cool to wait now or something. its better to wait and have a blessing in life. a pure bride is more precious that a dimond. and i will be one. AMEN
Right to privacy doesn't mean right to abortion. That was invented by Justice Blackmun as an excuse for abortion. If the right to privacy gave the right to abortion, then the right to privacy could also extend to murders commited in someone's home, or anything else done "in private."
constitution that women should be able to have an abortion.
Look in the constitution and tell me where you see the word abortion.
You can't read between the lines.
If it was meant to say things about abortions I think they would have put it in there in the first place.
that is not related what so ever
abortion should be illegal. We all have the right to Life Liberty and the Pursuit. At only a few months in the womb and the fetus is breathing, and has a heart and lungs.
i would have to say i cannot agree with you, yea yea yea a baby has all that jaz in the womb but would you want a 13 year old having a kid? and did you know that less than 50% of teen moms make it through highschool with out droping out?!?! i think abortion should be an option
i disagree if your so worried about that 13yr old having a kid maybe you should tell them to keep their legs closed in the first place.
People make mistakes, it happens. Now open your eyes & look at society...13 year olds are having sex and they should have the option of whether or not they want to have a baby. Btw...I think just about everyone knows that telling a teenager to keep their legs closed is often ineffective, so you may want to rethink that one.
ask most of those 13 year olds having sex and i bet they tell you they weren't very educated on the birds and the bees.. My 17 year old sister had a baby. and to my parents fault they didn't educate her very well but she also had a manipulative p.o.s. as a boyfriend. She was able to place her baby with a family that had been trying to have a baby.. Teach our kids about sex be open with them and teach something other than abstinence in schools and you'll see teen pregnancy decline. What about the right of the unborn baby.... your killing an innocent human. People who don't think about that are crazy! You hear a heart beat as early as 6 weeks. and if you've ever had a child you would understand. Abortion is selfish.
YEs people make mistakes and what ever happened to dealing with the conciquences of ones mistakes.
okay so what , if that 13 year old is having sex then , she should realize that she in able to ahve a baby . so maybe she should be a responsible kid .
i agree with you no one should decide to end a childs life don't they have the same rights as us what happen to equal rights
NO BABY SHOULD BE KILLED
i think if you wanna kill ur own child.. go for it, but you would be the murderer of your own child ur a very messed up person!
I also agree with you, no baby should be killed they didnt do anything wrong. Even if rape had occured and someone got pregnant they could still give the baby up for adoptin.
DON'T KILL A LIFE, SAVE ONE!
i believe that abortin should be illegal NO MATTER WHAT its murder people! what if you were killed because your mom didn't want you. You should plan to get pregnant, not it just happen and decide you don;t want it. That's crule.
Its like your giving a 5 year old a peice of candy and snatching it back.
Im going to give you life oh wait just kidding im not in the mood right now come back some other time. Its very cruel I have a little baby girl and i could never imagine my life with out her she is my world and it upsets me that people will never know wonderful children that may have had the potential to cure a disease or stop world hunger. You never know what wonders are inside the box till you open it and find out.
i do agree wit u
i dont agre wit u cause many peopl thin diferen
i think that abortion should be ilegle becuase u r takin a life tha didnt do nothin
IT IS WRONG TO KILL A BABY WHO HAS DONE NOTHING TO DESERVE DEATH AND NOT BEING ABLE TO LIVE I NTHE PERSUIT OF HAPPINESS.
I disagree. I think that it should be controled but not illegal. There are certain situations where abortion should be a option. Like rape for example, if the woman can not handle having a kid of a "person" who took advantage of her; then it should be her choice. If it is a life or death situation, Woman's choice again. If the kid has some kind of desiese and the parents can't handle it, Parents choice. yes adoption is a option, but i have been involved with working with children with certain desiese (my cousin has down sindrom) and that is a big responsibiltiy not to mention burden. Again that is a decision that only someone put in that situation can make.
But i do agree that a person shouldn't use it as "birth control" that is wrong and unmoral.
I think that it is good to give a woman the choice to get an abortion. But I don't think that you should get an abortion just to "rid yourself of a BURDEN" I think that a child is amazing no matter what and even if it would have disorders that is no excuse to take its life. However if it was life threatening then that is another story.
Disagreed. If the baby is going to have major disabilities and you know that before you give birth, I think it's definately fair to rethink the birth. The child could be born and spend his entire life in a wheelchair, he cannot speak, swallow, eat without help, move his limbs, sing, draw, nothing. What sort of a childhood, life, death is that? It would be miserable for everybody involved, it would be selfish to make them live through that simply for your pleasure. I don't think enough people are looking at this from all angles.
i know many people with disorders i work for special olympics and thos kids are amazing and love life like no other and if you ask any of them they wouldnt change one thing about their life..including the fact that they are soo happy to have not been aborted!!!
If you're going to bring the Bill of Rights into it, then it should be asserted that the child, brought into existence during conception (despite how it was conceived), should have the same rights as the mother. The baby is a human being as well, even if it cannot stand up for itself. The child's rights cannot be overturned simply because of the method by which it was conceived is what I'm trying to say. This goes against everything our nation was founded on!
Also, do people not realize that these fetuses, these aborted babies, have completely developed nervous systems and feel every bit of pain that abortionists cause them by killing them?? Solutions that eat away at their flesh while still in the womb, collapsing the skulls to extract them with more ease, *dismembering the body parts before pulling the child out*, and those are only a few. These tortures are practically as bad as those during the holocaust!! The biggest threat to our nation nowadays isn't a dictator anymore, it's our own selves
for one it is not a baby! they couldnt make a choice if they wanted to. they arent even shaped yet its nothing yet. if you cant handle having a baby and your young have no job nothing you should be able to do what you want.
Abortion is really wrong. Why do people think that killing babies is right. I don't get it
I Am Totally. AGAINST. Abortion is barbaric and horrible. The fetus can feel the harm coming upon them from the doctor. It is inhumane and disturbing. ADOPTION is a better choice than hurting an innocent baby that cant even protect its self!
ABORTION=DEATH maybe even for the mother.
i do not agree wit it cuz if you able to lay there and have sex then that tells everybody the you willing to deal with the consequenses. so basicly you did what you did and now you have to deal with it
I disagree, I do not feel abortion is barbaric. It may me possibly in SOME cases but, if it is illegalized than those in traumatic situatuions will noe be able to have aid. Yes adotion is a choice but there are over 1 million children up for adoption. and they will never all be adopted i have over 14 friends in foster care becaus ethere parents couldn't handle it and had to give them up at an age that nobody would not want to adopt them at. A 12 yr old girl's mother had the same menatlaity has the person that referred to it as "barbaric" After the girl had been raped, she couldn handle the sight of the baby because it reminded her. She ended up throwing the baby out of the window because she couldn't tolerate it, and she grew mentally ill,
Now Wouldn't they both have been better off if the mother allowed her to get an abortion?
But that's disregarding the fact that "all men are equal," no matter how you look at it. 1 million children who got to grow up in an adoption center are still 1 million alive and well-cared-for kids. Since 1973, the number of children dead through abortion is 50 million - and still growing. It's life versus death.
that 50 million is 50 million-less people; having incurable dieseases. murdered, suicides, homicides,genocides,rapes...etc. and the list just keep going on.
thats also 50 million ppl who will never know love, out of those ppl who knows, maybe one could have been destined to cure cancer and other ailments.
abortions should always, always stay legal. If not, women will find other, horrible, dangerous ways to get abortions anyway (back-alley abortions.) Which cost another unnecessary death due to complications and infections. And, abortions reduces child-abuse.
to people who say; "theres always adoption/foster care' The system itself is overwhelmed.
or, other people who say; "Don't have sex!!" way to flaunt your empty sex life. But people will choose sex REGARDLESS. and sometimes protection/contraceptives does'nt work.
I've been told ''wht f ur mum had an abrtion??'' I say, I would not be living in this cruel world, where babies get raped, people get mutilated and killed sadisticly, rasism still exists, I wouldn't of been shot in my arm, and live to actually answer this retarted question.
or, this classic statement used by simple individuals everwhere; "The baby could've grew up to be something sucessful" Uh, no. Mabye another Hitler can be born.
here's a thinker; What if Hitler's mom had an abortion? Exactly.
or, how about children who gets raped, say, an 9 year old girl, which has happened. The pregnancy threatened her life also.
see? abortions don't happen just out of mere "inconvience"
think about it.
It boils down to this question: Is the child in the womb a human being or not? If he is, then how could anyone argue that it is permissible to kill him? If he is not a human being, then what is he? And finally, why is it legal to kill him before he is born, but illegal to kill him after he is born?
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