Placebos

I am not really sure if I think that it's ethical to prescribe placebos to people and have them believe that it will help them get better..
For one thing, it's just a false hope for the patients that recieve the placebo as well as their families.
Secondly, doctors would be knowingly denying a sick patient a treatment that could help them..
On the other hand, for scientific purposes, a placebo is a great way to determine if a product actually works as a treatment. If the treatment works, it would help all others with that illness/disease and that would be really awesome to give everyone treatment in the future.

In all honesty, I think the placebo is a great idea to help prove statistics and learn information about a drug, but u don't think I could give someone a placebo knowing that there's something right beside me that could help them.

Sam berns

I think that Sam was really able to grow from having Progeria and it was easy for him to stay positive because he knew that because he had progeria, everyone after him that was to be diagnosed with progeria would be able to get treatment for it. Because Sam had progeria his parents started a foundation and helped discover the gene for progeria. By finding the gene, they were able to find minor tratments to prevent the effects of progeria. This was a significant part in Sams optimism. He knew that because of him and his parents, kids all over the world for the rest of time will be able to seek help and treatment for progeria.

To relate this to Flowers for Algernon, at one point in the book, Charlie says (something along the lones of) "I will be able to live a thousand normal lives through the lives I will help change" (I cannot find the exact quote again..) after Sam will be a major part othe lives of everyone with progeria from now on and because of this, there may one day be a cure for progeria and Sam's memory will live on in those that are treated and (hopefully) cured.

R-Word

As John McGinley said in the video we watched yesterday, not only does the use of the word "retard" or "retarded" affect those that are mentally disabled but also everyone that loves and cares about them. And if something as simple as a word or a phrase offends such a large group of people, then I don't think that it should be used in such meaningless or casual conversation.(or even if the use of the word was intentional.)
I don't think that trying to make these words a taboo will be as easy(?) or successful(?) as words like "The N-word" or "The F-word" because as John McGinley said in the video, there are consequences with using those words around the people they are meant to hurt, but this community of people won't always know that they are being insulted or made fun of, and those with them won't be able to do too much to defend.

Bullied Boy's backpack banned

The school should not have banned the backpack, but should have punished the kids that were bullying Grayson. He did nothing wrong by bringing the backpack to school, but the boys were wrong to bully him. By banning the backpack, they are learning that anything outside the social norm can be gotten rid of if you make fun of it enough. This is wrong because children should learn to accept other despite differences, not try to get rid of them.

Tapestry

In my favourite book, the main chracter, Pattyn, had to make the decision to leave her loving family and abusive father behind for a summer while she went to live on a ranch with her aunt. The fact that she did leave made a huge impact on her life. On the ranch, she learned so many things she never would have learned at home. As a morman girl in a strict home, Pattyn never had too many friends because she was only allowed to be friends with other mormans and there weren't many in the area. Pattyn's aunt, aunt J, really didnt care about who Pattyn was friends with. Pattyn because friends and soon fell in love with the farm boy. He taught her about working on the ranch, and horse riding, and life outside of the rules. At the end of the book, Pattyn gets pregnant and has to move home. Pattyn and her mother and sisters are beaten because of the anger of their father.
Pattyn tried to run away with Ethan (the farm boy) but the ice on the road causes them to slide and Ethan and the unborn baby die immediately. Had Pattyn never moved away for the summer, she never would have experienced love or heartbreak. This is highly significant to her life, because in the next book Pattyn becomes angry and has had enough with her abusive father and kills him just before he beats Pattyn's sister to death. Pattyn then goes on the run and works on a farm with the knowledge she learned from aunt J and Ethan.

What Would You Do?

If I had seen someone being racist towards another person just because of their race or religion, I would speak up. In the episode of What Would You Do? that we watched in class, a man was being very rude and racist to a store cashier (both men were actors.) If I had seen that happening, I would have done what most of the people in the video did and tell the man how rude he was being and tell him to leave if he wouldn't accept the service. If I didn't stand up, I feel like I would feel terrible about myself for not helping someone when I could have. I know I would want someone to stand up for me if I was in that situation. 

As for the episode where a woman would fall down and see how long it would take for someone to help or call an ambulance I would definitely call 911. I also would for the man who had more trouble getting help because he was a man and looked homeless. I wouldn't necessarily want to personally help, but I would call and get help and wait around until someone showed up. I would do the same for the drunken man.. Many people did not want to help him because he appeared to be homeless and drunk, which would make people feel like it was his own fault and that he didn't deserve medical attention.   

Ordeal of Nick White.

I think that whoever it was that shut down the elevators should be blamed more than anyone for the situation because they obviously did not look at security cameras to make sure that no one was in them. The eight security gaurds that did not pay attention to the cameras throughout the time that Nick was stuck in the elevator should also be partially blamed. I think that whoever shut down the elevators should be fired and the security gaurds should have to go through unpaid basic training again if they don't know how to check security cameras.
A good compensation, in my opinion, would be an all expenses paid trip somewhere or a few weeks off work with full pay or something along those lines. Though, I think the way Nick handled the whole situation was just a bad idea.. He easily could have gone back to work and could still be employed.