Jooheon Song

a. What have you accomplished so far on your Capstone project? If nothing,

why?

: As an additional topic under discussion, I made a research on extreme tipping

culture prevailing American society, and read and analyze what experts think about
this phenomenon. Delving further into the feature article “To tip, or not to tip?” I
tried to make evaluation of the issue whether the trend is affluencing every sector of
society.

b. What do you plan to accomplish by the end of this week? How will you hold
yourself accountable?
I plan to learn about close connection between climate issues and mental health. To
hold myself responsible for my plan, I will do research in depth to deepen my
understanding in the colliding opinions about the given controversy.

c. Your needs, including time, space, materials, and personal contacts

As my work requires academic research, I need computer-using environment without
much noise. As for time, I need at least guaranteed 3 hours to work on the Capstone
Project for high quality outcome. Personal contacts aren’t necessary at the moment
as I need self-study time rather than other’s help.

d. What your interactions with your mentor(s), have been so far. If nothing, why.
What Is your plan?
The interactions with my mentor haven’t been activated yet as I need to finish
analysis and research on the selected topics.

e. Any obstacles you anticipate and your plan to overcome them?

Subsequent tests and quizes from other academic courses have been giving me
academic burden, which discourages me to actively work on Capstone project. To
overcome the obstacles, I will try to be responsible for assignment submission on
time.

f. Pictures/video evidence of your progress

The following pages are the evidence of my progress. Please find details on the next
pages.
 Contents & Reference work
Article # 1. Teen Mental Health in Crisis

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

Article # 2. Free College Tuition

Callie Holtermann. (May 19, 2022). Should College Be Free?. The NewYorkTimes. Retrieved from https://
www.nytimes.com/2022/05/19/learning/free-college.html

Article # 3. Child Poverty in the U.S.

Callie Holtermann. (May 23, 2022). Should the U.S. Be Doing More to Prevent Child Poverty?. The NewYorkTimes.
Retrieved from
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/23/learning/should-the-us-be-doing-more-to-prevent-child-poverty.html

Article # 4. Free Speech on Social Media

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
Articl
Article # 5. Extreme Tipping Culture
e #5 is

update Christina Morales. (April 19, 2022). To Tip or not to Tip?. The NewYorkTimes. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/
d!
2022/04/19/dining/tipping-gratuity-restaurants.html

Article # 6. Inflation Reduction Act

Joseph E. Stiglitz. (August 10, 2022). Why the Inflation Reduction Act matters. Korea Herald. Retrieved from
https://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20220809000288&np=1&mp=1

Article # 7. Family Structure in Modern Society

Jessica Grose. (March 30, 2022). The Nuclear Family Is No Longer the Norm. Good. The NewYorkTimes. Retrieved from
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/30/opinion/nuclear-family.html

Article # 8. Climate Issues and Mental Health

Laurence Wainwright & Eileen Neumann (July 12, 2022). Heatwaves worsen mental health conditions. The Conversation.
Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/heatwaves-worsen-mental-health-conditions-186759

Article # 9. Marriage Culture in India

Nanda, Serena. (2000). Arranging a Marriage in India. John Jay College of Criminal Justice,
Retrieved from http://public.gettysburg.edu/~dperry/Class%20Readings%20Scanned%20Documents/Intro/Nanda.pdf

Article # 10. The Amish: an Intimate Society

Henslin, James M. (2014) Sociology, A Down-to-Earth Approach (6th ed.). Pearson

Article # 11. Bullying in the United States
Powell, Sara Davis. (2018). Your Introduction to Education (4th ed.). Pearson

Article # 12. The value of a college degree

Porter Cathleen. (2002). The value of a college degree. ERIC Digest. Retrieve from https://
files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED470038.pdf

Article # 13. Pros and Cons for Vaccine Passports

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-
passes-172369

Article # 14. Italy’s citizenship debate

Megan A. Carney & Sara Vannini. (Dec 21, 2021). Italy’s citizenship debate: how a country of
emigrants is learning to live with immigrants. The Conversation. Retrieved from https://
theconversation.com/italys-citizenship-debate-how-a-country-of-emigrants-is-learning-to-live-
with-immigrants-174001

Article # 15. Pros and Cons: Private Prisons

Editors of Britannica. (Unknown). Private Prisons — Top 3 Pros and Cons. BRITANNICA.
Retrieved from https://www.procon.org/headlines/private-prisons-top-3-pros-and-cons/#overview

Article # 16. Is Cancel Culture (or “Callout Culture”) Good for Society?
Editors of Britannica. (Unknown). Cancel Culture — Top 3 Pros and Cons. BRITANNICA.
Retrieved from https://www.procon.org/headlines/is-cancel-culture-or-callout-culture-good-for-
society/#arguments

Article # 17. Legalizing drugs_Pros and Cons

Ocean Recovery. (Unknown). Pros and Cons of Legalizing Drugs. Ocean Recovery. Retrieved
from https://oceanrecoverycentre.com/2020/07/pros-and-cons-of-legalising-drugs/
 Jooheon’s Opinion Column

Preface
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 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 opinon columns will deeply explore many social issues that range from gender
disparities, children’s access to learning in computer-using educational setting, the high college tuition,
extinction issues to abortion and human rights. The resources are to be collected from 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
explores and examines 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.
 Plans for the by out

Article
page

TH's opinion essay (450W)

 What should we do to save teenagers with mental disorder?
By Jooheon Song
Mental disorder has become a common ordeal among young people. The teens are are
struggling with mental disorders that caused anxiety and depression. As it is closely
related to the 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 needs for probing into the nature of
problem. To define the severity of the crisis, many experts provide deeper insights into
the tumultuous period of adolescence. According to the recent research, many youngsters
show the 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 the 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 decision.

Analyzing the severity of the problem, the movement to save adolescents out of the
mental issues is activated and successfully provided the findings that indicate the
importance of emotional bond between counsellors and teenagers. However, the
approach reveals fragility in that having a good support for communication requires
tremendous efforts and the view of experts. Therefore, structuring a better system for the
treatment of mental crisis is emphasized. To provide easier access for 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 school curriculum and
establishing better counseling system in the educational environment.

The radical rise in mental health crisis among young generation has become one of the
dominant issue for the teenagers. To address the problem, the people with power should
take an initiative role in building a well-designed framework to support the adolescents
in need.
Is New Mexico’s plan, tuition-free college, realistic approach to alleviate
current decline in enrollment rate of post secondary edcation?
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 child poverty rate is extremely high compared to the one for elderly in America. The
government has recently adopted the expansion of the child tax credit program to free 90% of
the households from financial burden, but the sudden withdrawal brought about the increase
of child poverty. For the people aged 65 and up, only 14% are poor with 53% of being out of
the poverty line by the financial aids from the government. On the other hand, 17% of
children aged under 18 are in poor families and only 8% are eligible to receive aids from the
government. According to the OECD, the U.S child poverty level is ranked in 38 out of 40
selected countries. It proves that American welfare system is in poor condition for children in
poverty line. In contrast, millions of elderly were lifted above the poverty line by the well-
organized poverty prevention system such as social security and safety net program. One
simple reason for the case is that they are not paying enough on child safety net as they have
been doing on the one that exists for the eldery. —> as they have invested large amount of
budget into subsidizing the elderly under poverty line.
 The Benefits and Risks of Free Speech on the World Biggest Platform

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.
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.