People are blogging about cherry-picking this week. I haven’t researched yet, but I know what it is from Mr. Lord’s interview. In fact, I was thinking something like it Wednesday night when I was typing Part 3. As I went through a list of statistics, I knew I wanted the ones that supported what I wanted to say. Most of them did, so I wasn’t too worried. But some of them did go against my opinion. I decided to include those in a small paragraph, because I remember Wendy talking about presenting both sides evenly.
It makes me think though; do I need to represent both evenly, or just focus on mine? It is an opinion paper, so I thought my opinion would be prevalent. If I do need to focus on both sides, wouldn’t my opinion be masked by the opposing side’s? People might not know what I’m arguing about if I don’t write it clearly enough.
But I guess that’s just it; I need to write it so that people don’t get confused. It’s hard to be forward about your own side when you have to be fair with presenting the other side too though.
I guess that’s going to be Tuesday’s lesson. I really want to get this worked out so I can do Part 4 right. I don’t want to have to rewrite anymore of that paper!
Friday, March 28, 2008
Stacy Sullivan
The last reader of the night was Ms. Sullivan and I was very interested to hear her reading. Even after researching I was still afraid I wouldn’t know what she was talking about, but I think I kept up pretty well. It was cool to get to hear a first-hand account on this kind of thing. It made it seem more authentic in a way. Or more personal I guess you could say.
I thought it was interesting how an army that started out with only 30 people would eventually liberate an entire country. Speaking of which, I had no idea that was the country that just got liberated. I remember hearing about it in the news, but I didn’t know it was the same nation Ms. Sullivan talked about. Now that I think about it, it’s neat to know where it started years ago and connect it to today. It doesn’t seem that long ago, but I wonder how Ms. Sullivan feels about it.
I think the readings have given me a little more insight on the paper; though, I do feel a little bad because I don’t think I’ll end up with half as much research as these three people have. But I think I can make my paper sound at least a little better.
I thought it was interesting how an army that started out with only 30 people would eventually liberate an entire country. Speaking of which, I had no idea that was the country that just got liberated. I remember hearing about it in the news, but I didn’t know it was the same nation Ms. Sullivan talked about. Now that I think about it, it’s neat to know where it started years ago and connect it to today. It doesn’t seem that long ago, but I wonder how Ms. Sullivan feels about it.
I think the readings have given me a little more insight on the paper; though, I do feel a little bad because I don’t think I’ll end up with half as much research as these three people have. But I think I can make my paper sound at least a little better.
Joshua Prager
Out of all three of the readings I found this one the most interesting (and I’m not even that big a sports fan). As Mr. Prager read about life back in the ‘50s, it really amazed me how much people were into baseball back then. After the Giants won, people were claiming it was the greatest day of their lives, naming their kids after Bob Thomson and everything…I really liked the way he wrote because it put me back in time a little. Mr. Prager spoke about how he liked to write a lot about the time, and I think that’s a really cool way to approach things. It didn’t feel like a history lesson, but more like insight on the early ‘50s. The first thing I thought of is how much things have changed; I don’t hear people obsessing over baseball much these days… Maybe in another 30 years he’ll write about a cheating scandal on American Idol. That would be hilarious.
I also like how he didn’t chastise Thomson by humiliating him or writing bad things about him being a liar and cheater or something. It was nice how he was made out to be a good guy. Makes me wonder what I would do if someone was telling me to cheat like that. I think all of us would be very tempted to just go along with it like Thomson did. Especially considering how much baseball players make…
I also like how he didn’t chastise Thomson by humiliating him or writing bad things about him being a liar and cheater or something. It was nice how he was made out to be a good guy. Makes me wonder what I would do if someone was telling me to cheat like that. I think all of us would be very tempted to just go along with it like Thomson did. Especially considering how much baseball players make…
Christine Keneally
Ms. Keneally spoke about the evolution of language in the reading last night. It’s weird because this thought has crossed my mind sometimes. I’m taking a foreign language, and sometimes I think. ‘How do they translate all of these things from one language to another? I know it’s possible, but it must take forever…’ It just makes you think where words really come from. What I find amazing is how people came up with so many different kinds of language. According to Wiki (Sorry Wendy T-T), “As of early 2007, there are 6,912 known living human languages.” That’s 6,911 different ways to say the word “rock.” Fascinating 0_o.
And of course there’s the whole issue of language evolving itself. I’m not sure how long it took, but we went from grunts to future tense in language. We also made different words from words themselves; like how the word ‘participate’ is just a bigger word for the phrase, ‘to take part in.’ If you were to ask me right now, I would say we are at the peak of language as of now. Maybe we add new words to the dictionary every year, but in terms of using and understanding language, I always thought we’ve reached the height.
But I’m probably wrong. Language is a factor of evolution. So if people keep evolving, won’t language evolve as well?
And of course there’s the whole issue of language evolving itself. I’m not sure how long it took, but we went from grunts to future tense in language. We also made different words from words themselves; like how the word ‘participate’ is just a bigger word for the phrase, ‘to take part in.’ If you were to ask me right now, I would say we are at the peak of language as of now. Maybe we add new words to the dictionary every year, but in terms of using and understanding language, I always thought we’ve reached the height.
But I’m probably wrong. Language is a factor of evolution. So if people keep evolving, won’t language evolve as well?
Thursday, March 27, 2008
George Lord Interview
I found out a lot of interesting facts in this interview this morning. Way too many to fit in this blog post even. But I’ll share some of the stuff I found most interesting:
I think I just read somewhere the other day that the US is 2 years behind that of other schools in foreign countries. Course, we’re always hearing stuff like that on the news. But according to Dr. Lord, we only look bad in the tests scores because of when they’re testing us. Other countries are tested in math when their students are 22 years old; our students are tested before they have even learned the math. I never put that into consideration-the way the testing is done. I just always bought what I heard about the US being so behind. It definitely makes me rethink some things. Good thing I’m not focusing on the education factor in School Assessment mostly, or I would really be thrown for a loop.
What really caught my attention was this statement: If kids in the public school have a control for income (meaning if every kid in the schools received the same income), they would do better than private. Whoa. That really goes against everything we hear…It also makes you think about the amount of poverty in the schools. I had looked into poverty a bit for Part 2 of the Paper, but never poured hours of research into it though. Maybe I’ll get back to it though; everything seems to be leading to it.
My topic is school violence, so all these statistics about education weren’t really of any interest to me. I think I will have to tie it in though, maybe. Writing this blog now, I realize there are a lot of things I need to rethink.
I think I just read somewhere the other day that the US is 2 years behind that of other schools in foreign countries. Course, we’re always hearing stuff like that on the news. But according to Dr. Lord, we only look bad in the tests scores because of when they’re testing us. Other countries are tested in math when their students are 22 years old; our students are tested before they have even learned the math. I never put that into consideration-the way the testing is done. I just always bought what I heard about the US being so behind. It definitely makes me rethink some things. Good thing I’m not focusing on the education factor in School Assessment mostly, or I would really be thrown for a loop.
What really caught my attention was this statement: If kids in the public school have a control for income (meaning if every kid in the schools received the same income), they would do better than private. Whoa. That really goes against everything we hear…It also makes you think about the amount of poverty in the schools. I had looked into poverty a bit for Part 2 of the Paper, but never poured hours of research into it though. Maybe I’ll get back to it though; everything seems to be leading to it.
My topic is school violence, so all these statistics about education weren’t really of any interest to me. I think I will have to tie it in though, maybe. Writing this blog now, I realize there are a lot of things I need to rethink.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Thinking About My Major
I scheduled my classes yesterday; well, I haven’t picked the times yet, but I met my advisor. The first thing they ask you, of course, is your major. Well, I’m still undecided, and apparently that’s bad. I figure I could maybe make it through the first couple of years deciding what I want my major to be, but apparently not. I’m still doing what I call ‘experimenting.’
I really want to think this out before rushing off to prepare for some major I might end up changing. My advisor gave me a link to this ‘career beam’ sight that’s supposed to help me pick a major. I tied taking one of the tests-it was supposed to assess my interests. I wasn’t really interested in any of the things they had listed, and ended up getting ‘logical’ as my highest interest. I really don’t want to be a budget analyst.
The thing is, I scored 0 for business. That…….makes no sense….
I haven’t finished all the tests yet, but I’ve taken a million like this before. I don’t know if it’ll give me the answers I want or not. I’m sure it won’t present me with the perfect major I need to go into. I just need to give this a lot of thought; waiting it out doesn’t seem to be working.
I really want to think this out before rushing off to prepare for some major I might end up changing. My advisor gave me a link to this ‘career beam’ sight that’s supposed to help me pick a major. I tied taking one of the tests-it was supposed to assess my interests. I wasn’t really interested in any of the things they had listed, and ended up getting ‘logical’ as my highest interest. I really don’t want to be a budget analyst.
The thing is, I scored 0 for business. That…….makes no sense….
I haven’t finished all the tests yet, but I’ve taken a million like this before. I don’t know if it’ll give me the answers I want or not. I’m sure it won’t present me with the perfect major I need to go into. I just need to give this a lot of thought; waiting it out doesn’t seem to be working.
Writing Prompt 3
“Each year, many teenagers run away from home. What do you think are the chief causes?”
This could be due to a lot of things. I think one of the main causes might be tired of home life, or school life. When you’re a teen, you conflict with your parents all the time. You think you know what’s right, and that they don’t know anything. Parents have a tendency to get up in their kids’ business-for good measure, but it does get annoying. They claim to care, and that’s why they do it, but it doesn’t make it any less annoying. Kids might run away to escape from all of that.
Parents can also be too demanding, as well as school. Parents push their kids to make good grades (some even straight A’s), and school is always asking for something. Juggling all of your responsibilities, with demanding parents and school on top, can be a huge load.
So, the main reason is probably this: it’s just a way to escape. Being a teen has a lot of troubles and hurdles to get through. For the kids running away, it’s probably too much for them. It’s sometimes easier to run away from your problems than face them.
This could be due to a lot of things. I think one of the main causes might be tired of home life, or school life. When you’re a teen, you conflict with your parents all the time. You think you know what’s right, and that they don’t know anything. Parents have a tendency to get up in their kids’ business-for good measure, but it does get annoying. They claim to care, and that’s why they do it, but it doesn’t make it any less annoying. Kids might run away to escape from all of that.
Parents can also be too demanding, as well as school. Parents push their kids to make good grades (some even straight A’s), and school is always asking for something. Juggling all of your responsibilities, with demanding parents and school on top, can be a huge load.
So, the main reason is probably this: it’s just a way to escape. Being a teen has a lot of troubles and hurdles to get through. For the kids running away, it’s probably too much for them. It’s sometimes easier to run away from your problems than face them.
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