Class Reaction : Sept. 23rd

Today's class felt very productive.  I think the process of splitting up the chapter and breaking into groups worked well.  I am not going lie it is nice to break up the work load, but also it is nice to throughly read a chapter to get a solid handle on things.  It was evident that my group members did the same.  I felt that I was able to clearly portray the topics and positions in my chapter, and my group members did the same.  It made the class go by quickly and everything seemed to flow smoothly.  Therefore I would definitely recommend doing this again in the future.  

The discussion that really grabbed my attention today was about the amount of surveillance a society needs. It started with discussion of EZ Pass and moved into whether society is better off with complete surveillance or spot checks/trust.  This is difficult to fully take the side of one or the other.  I think that there are plenty of people who would take advantage of this trust; however society would be way to paranoid and annoying with complete/constant surveillance. For the example of traffic regulation, would you say that police officers with radar guns would be considered spot checks?  They are not in the same spot all the time and/or the same time every day.  I like the security of knowing that there is regulation on the road, because even now there are way to many accidents and deaths on the road.  This is an interesting argument, and I think it is too early for me to stand by one side or the other.  What does everyone else think, and why?   Your opinions might help clear up that one is better than the other, since the few minutes spent on class today has not fully persuaded me to either side.