The MLDA and its real effect

The legal age when young Americans can start drinking alcohol is 21 in the United States now. However, I don't see that the MLDA (Minimum Legal Drinking Age) has real influence on young people because most young Americans have already tried alcohol drinks by the age of 21. Moreover, many of them drink alcohol regularly. Adults and police pretend that everything is under control and young people follow the law. But they know that it is a normal practice when many high school and college students drink at parties. It is illegal theoretically and legal in practice. What's the point of having this law then? I think it should be changed. The government should lower the MLDA to 18 years. It would make legal what is already half-legal. Another reason for changing the law is that college students are mature enough to make decisions about alcohol drinking. They have all rights of adults but can not drink a sip of champagne on friend's wedding or a bottle of beer when watching a football match. Do you think it is fair?

Italian artifacts in the Getty Museum

When The Los Angeles Times published an article about a trial process against the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, I was happy with a decision the museum made. They agreed to return forty cultural objects to Italy in august 2007. Italy sued the museum because its detectives discovered that Marion True, the Getty's former antiquities curator, bought some illegally excavated Italian artifacts. The criminal case affected the museum's reputation negatively and the Getty's officials were able to bring back the museum's good name only after they negotiated the conditions of returning back to Italy forty of the most outstanding artifacts. I think every museum which owns artifacts with the questionable ownership history should consider returning them to countries of origin. The Getty's case serves as a good example for such museums.

Cultural artifacts from my country

I have not heard about any cultural artifacts from my country being stolen or illegally taken out from it. If that happened, I would not be happy with this. Cultural artifacts that were excavated in Kazakhstan are the property of the country and its people. We are legal owners of the material culture of our ancestors and responsible for preserving and displaying it. However, there are many cases when artifacts from Kazakhstan are being displayed outside the country legally and it should only be encouraged because such events help to popularize our culture. Through exhibitions of Kazakhstan's art in world museums people in other countries discover new for them country and it is great.

Madonna Cast an Ugly Glare on Africa's Orphan Tragedy

Earl Ofari Hutchinson, the author of this article, talks about the problems of black children adoptions. He shows as an example the adoption of David Banda by Madonna. In his opinion, there were two reasons why some people protested against it. One is that people thought that Madonna gave bribes to speed up the adoption process and used her celebrity status, and that it is just another fad of a star. He proves that neither is true because Madonna "observed the rules" and "hardly needs to snatch an African child to grab some camera action". The second reason is hidden. Some believe that a black child raised by a white family is going to lose his or her black identity and learn white values. This is false because a child matures into "an emotionally secure adult" in "a loving, nurturing, and financially stable home", and this does not depend on the race of the parents. There is no way black children will forget their identity because the society always reminds them who they are. Hutchinson concludes that "Madonna deserves props, not jeers". Generally, this article presents some good support and clearly demonstrates the author's position.

Celebrities adopting children

Some say that celebrities like Angelina Jolie and Madonna adopted their children because they wanted to attract public attention. It sounds absurd for me because they do not need it. It is enough for them to go outside for shopping and they are followed by crowd of journalists and fans. I believe that celebrities adopting children do not have any selfish or bad intentions. They just want to have a child. I am glad that several orphans found homes after Madonna and Angelina Jolie adopted their children. They set an example adopting children from poor countries. Many Americans followed them and adopted children from poor countries too. And it is not fashion. Celebrities helped to draw attention of Americans to impoverished countries and their problems. And one of the main problems is large number of orphans. Their adoption is a temporary solution for this problem. I said temporary because these poor countries should take care of their children and they can not always give them away. When impoverished countries are able to decrease number of orphans and improve living conditions, international adoption is no longer needed. But up to that moment we need only welcome it.

SAT

SAT does not measure student’s preparedness for college life as much as student’s economic background. Studies showed that SAT is not good in predicting college grades. What SAT is good is in indicating student’s economic, social, and racial status. Those who get high scores in SAT are usually white wealthy males. Poor students, females, blacks and Latinos receive lower scores. Therefore, there is a discrimination of certain type from the beginning. Applicants with low income, usually African and Latin Americans, do not have money to pay for preparation classes and their educational background does not allow them to pass it without preparation. Thus, they are in inferior position.

Any country will benefit from National Service

Any country needs its people to be responsible for others. It means not only for other people, but also feel responsibility for everything that surrounds you. That is what National Service do. It helps increase awareness of other people, your community, your country, etc. Cleaning up beaches, helping in an animal shelter, teaching children in a local school are all activities that teach people to respect others, help them without thinking about salary, learn more about people from different backgrounds. Despite all benefits that National Service brings, government should not make it mandatory for all. It should popularize National Service through different rewards, give more educational opportunities for those who volunteer, teach them new skills, etc. There many ways to promote the idea of National Service.