Take a shot.

          The article, "Rigor Redefined" by Tony Wagner explains the similarities of what companies from all walks of life are looking for in new employees, and how schools are failing to prepare kids with them. If we are in school for our adolescent years where we gain most of the skills we will carry with us throughout our lives, then why are we teaching ones that will be useless when finding a job? Sure, being able to spit out all the information my teachers have taught me is great, but I forget it the second after the test ends. We need to learn how to innovate and apply our knowledge. The example Wagner used about the students in AP chemistry intrigued me. These kids are in an advanced class, yet still don't know what is going on. How can students not care enough to ask, or even better- hypothesize for themselves? Maybe these skills go way back into the younger years of children. In elementary school if they had been asked to draw a picture instead of coloring in a pre-drawn one in a coloring book would things be different? I'm not just talking about literal interpretation of that either. When something is already done for them, they may think it isn't okay to be wrong. It's either wrong or right; there isn't any gray area. It provokes fear and alienates the ones who are wrong. We need to start teaching kids that it is okay to be wrong, because at least you took a shot at it; like my dad says, "You can't score if you don't shoot."

It's about perspective.

The video, “Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us” demonstrates the infinite ways the internet is used, reused, and re-taught. The internet is flexible- indecisive. When computers were first made buyable to the average family HTML was essential to technicians who made programs for computers, but only years later this technique seems barbaric and primitive. Now we can go to the computer and type a paper, look up new words, make sure they are spelled right, meanwhile having several “tabs” up in another window. Can an argument be made that w are too reliant on technology? Sure. But on the other hand- can we concur that the positives overshadow the negatives? Obviously some argue that people (especially teenagers) are able to say anything in writing that they would never do in person and relationships with family and friends suffer from it. On the other hand when I can e-mail a teacher for help where I would otherwise have to wait (and probably forget) I can do so and have a better learning environment. The web has permanently changed the lives of people today and can be used to better the world.

What's Your Breaking Point?

      

In the article, "Letter to my daughter (in the wake of senseless tragedy)" by Vicky Bell, Bell encourages her daughter that nothing ruins your life forever. She uses the example of the recent suicide by a homosexual college student that was a victim of extreme torment. She says that if he would have waited another month or two it may have died down a bit, but now his life is over because he didn’t consider that.

I can relate to this. My mom was telling me today about when she was growing up and how her parents raised her; in their eyes every B was a failure-you could never recover from it. I guess that might be why we have been raised in a manner that any punishment we receive, we can get out of by making a few sacrifices- nothing is the end of the world; there is always a way out.

The stresses on the average student today are impeccable. When I say that a person would typically assume I am talking about high school or college, but even elementary students feel the wrath of society’s expectations. My fourth grade brother sometimes has even more homework than me. He wouldn’t want me to share this on a public website (but he will never find out)-he cries every night worrying about grades. In fourth grade my only worry was about catching cooties from the boy sitting next to me.

The stresses and expectations of people scares me to death. Will it be twenty times worse in 5 years? I am hearing more and more stories about teen suicide lately; I just think to myself- what it my breaking point? At what point would I bring myself to do that? From now on I will just think off what Bell tells us, “Nothing ruins your life forever. NOTHING.”

Apologies

In the article, “Wave of Toxic Sludge Reaches the Danube River” from MSNBC demonstrates the egocentric way of life some people live. In Hungary, one of the byproducts of making metal is a red “toxic sludge”. It has a pH level of 13, making it highly acidic, and burns human skin. This company knew the effects of it but continued making it for decades. Inevitably, the damn they were keeping the 185 gallons of sludge in collapsed. Initially, this flooded a town making it a “dead town”; eventually it made its way to the Danube River, threatening aquatic life.

            Why did this company keep producing this waste when they fully knew what it could do to a human body? Some say it is because it was fast, efficient, and cheap; well at the time at least. Now they are facing compensation charges for the town of 800 that is now proclaimed a “dead town”. Maybe it was because they had to compete with countries like America and couldn’t waste time fretting about long term effects; only how they could get their product out the fastest. Does this happen in our own lives? People seem to take the easy way out, including me. Skipping steps and precautions sometimes works; but are you willing to risk what will happen if it doesn’t?

This company is responsible for at least 4 deaths, and many more serious injuries. If they had just harmed their profits, then that is one thing; they killed not only a few people, because the liveliness of many more is lost. Some of their whole lives were about farming, and now their land is radioactive. Think about how many times you have ruined something for yourself; then think of when you have ruined something for somebody else and knew about it before. You might apologize perfused and try to fix it; we need to learn to do what is best for everybody in the first place to avoid the apologies later.

Infinate Ways to Learn

The article, "Footprints in the Digital Age" by Will Richardson illustrates the increasingly mandatory need to be found on the internet, or "Googleable". Future employers, people you might date, and even just random people Google each other all the time. Even I have Googled people I come across that seem to have eerie pasts or that seem to have done great things; we want to find something interesting- a story to tell. Some say it is out of your control to decide what is posted about you on the internet, but is that really true? It is your decision to maybe put those risqué pictures on Facebook or use profanity in a chat room, but can things be said about you that aren’t true? Things can be altered many times and even if not intending to do so, turn into a vicious rumor. That is why we must ultimately be safe on the internet when finding information, but it is also a great learning tool.

When Richardson made the analogy of a bus with students driving and teachers standing in the back, it enraged me. It acted as though we didn’t know what we were doing and we were sure to fail, killing the passengers and the drivers. Typically the children are more accustomed to technology; it is the only thing we have ever known. It is almost like learning a foreign language. If a kid is taught a language from birth, it is not hard to remember it and translate, but for somebody who is older and has only known one for so long, it is not as easy to learn. We need teachers to guide us to make sure we don’t go off track, but with as many techniques that are out there we need to learn for ourselves what works for us individually.

Our Stereotypical World

The article, "Poll: Majority of NY voters favor moving mosque" simply summarizes what 751 New York citizens believe should happen with the Ground Zero Mosque. The majority of them, around 57%, think that the location of the mosque is "wrong". Well then, what is our definition of wrong? When I first read this I suddenly felt perturbed and uneasy. How can something be generalized as “wrong”? I can see them calling it immoral or simply just stating it to make a vast majority of the population feel uncomfortable, but wrong?

            My personal opinion is that nobody is wrong in this situation. Yes, the building of the mosque is like pouring salt on a fresh wound; nevertheless, none of those individuals caused 9/11. If an Irishman had crashed a plane into the twin towers I can guarantee that there would be many jokes in the media about Ireland, but how long would it last? They are like “us”; Christian, white, “normal” folk. We would be able to understand that these individuals were crazy, for lack of a better word; not the entire population of Ireland. Think of the KKK for instance. They did terrible things to people “not like them”, but they were our own kind. We didn’t condone it, but we also never blamed any of the people that looked like them because, well, they were us.

            The media perpetuates stereotypes and generalizations to an extreme. Admittedly, even people like me who recognize and identify stereotypes, still become a little bit uneasy when in the presence of a Muslim. I know that it is wrong and I shouldn’t, but since 2001 it has been pounded into my head that they are bad people. The article also brings up the fact that some people say the Muslims should voluntarily move it. This is an interesting point, because I think that at this point they may be just doing it to make a point. Should they be empathetic towards this race of people that has been so racist towards them? Some say yes, but what would you do? Have you ever known that you should probably change something, but you have already argued so much against it that if you change your side your dignity is at risk? We may never know, but for the moment, we need to respect the rights of others. The first amendment gives us freedom of religion, so it is not illegal, just in some eyes immoral. We cannot escape stereotypes, but instead we need to try to recognize and avoid them, no matter how hard the media tries to impose them.

It's Your World

                The article, "Is Google Making Us Stupid" by Nicholas Carr tests the minds of the reader to think, is the internet an asset or a hindrance? This is a question that seems to be coming up in a lot of people’s minds lately, but appears a bit uneasy to some. Carr explains it to be an “uncomfortable sense” that something has been “remapping” and “reprogramming” his brain. The feeling that something has that much control over you almost validates our excuses in our mind. The “It’s not our fault, it’s society’s” outlook on life is easy to fall into, but when are we going to take a stand against it? I was reading recently about a writer who rents an office space with a desk, a chair, and a computer with the internet capability permanently ruined, so that he can write without the temptations of plagiarism, and has to write, almost eliminating writers block. That works for him, but I believe that the internet does help us and can aid in our research, but only when used correctly. Carr makes some good points, but has a very pessimistic look toward this new world we are living in. We need to embrace it, and find how it works for each individual. It is not a universal teaching technique, and it works for some people to ignore it completely, like that writer. But for the rest of us, I challenge you to go against what you hear and do it for you.