The Principles of Public Education that are Just Plain Wrong

In today’s society, public education has become a major problem in the United States. The fundamental goal of public education is to give students the knowledge and skills they need in order to become a working member of society. However, this is no longer the case. This is due to a number of reasons, with the most prevalent being the increasing amount of stress and pressure put on students. Students are expected to take difficult classes, multiple AP’s, extra-curricular activities, volunteer in the community, score well on standardized tests, and maintain close to a 4.0 GPA, all the while trying to continue having a social life and possibly a job. Needless to say, it’s a nearly impossible feat. These impractical standards in our education system have promoted conformity over individuality and memorization over learning. Students spend less time understanding the material, and are forced to memorize, because there are not enough hours in the day with all their other activities going on. In addition, if they are able to pass without actually learning the material, then what’s the point, because they will go on to earn an A regardless. The problem with this is that we are teaching students, (aka. the future members of society,) that the most important thing is good grades, when we should be encouraging hard work. Unlike good grades, hard work is the key principle that will carry us throughout life and lead us to success. But it’s not the student’s fault that they start to think this way. In recent years, public schools have begun to place and increasing amount of weight on tests and quizzes, and little to no weight on homework and class work. Students who do not complete any class work or homework can still “earn” an A in class just by doing well on one test. While this benefits some students, for others, it is detrimental. Even if a student has done all their work, if they do poorly on one test, their grade will plummet dramatically. The same principle is applied to standardized testing.  Students may have worked hard all throughout high school, but if they do not do get a superb score, all that work would have been for nothing. As I said earlier, this not only reinforces the idea of memorization, but also of conformity. All our lives we have been told to be unique individuals, but how can we express that in a system that wants to educate us like we’re the same? If we are to fix the fundamental problems in our society, we first need to fix the same problems that are tainting our public education system. 

Impact of Humans on Earth

Politics and the Affects of War

In the documentary, Restrepo, a cameraman follows a group of soldiers that were deployed in Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley, recording their experiences and struggles. The film does not include a narrator, but rather, allows the audience to react to what they see on their own. In one of the few interviews seen in the film, one soldier named Hetherington goes on to say that “everything we do is political,” in response to being asked if the film was political. I think what he meant by this was that with every choice you make in life, you are subconsciously supporting or negating a cause. I agree with his statement because if you decide to eat fast food everyday instead of eating something healthier at home, you are subconsciously supporting obesity because you’re giving the business that provides fast food revenue. If everyone started eating fast food, there would be a fast food restaurant on every corner and run all of the healthy restaurants out of business. These politics that we experience on a daily basis greatly influence our culture, and what we perceive as “normal” behavior.

The clips that the director chose to include in the documentary were not random, but rather, were included to portray a significant message to its viewers. After watching the film and reflecting on the events that occurred, I believe that the theme really promotes a feeling of antiwar and addresses the negative effects of war on soldiers. The documentary uses footage of American soldiers fighting, being shot and killed to demonstrate this point. It also includes commentary from the soldiers after a scene where their friend was shot for example to show the deep emotional and psychological affects these events have on them. Another theme that the film addresses frequently is the age of the soldiers. All of the people deployed are very young, and this is shown in different scenes where they are rough housing or being immature. These scenes portray the men as childish in order to reinforce the issue that they are too young to be experiencing something as traumatic as war. The film uses politics like these to support the claim that we should not engage in war unless necessary and that we should not be sending young men to fight because it’s psychological effects. 

A Trip Back to the Circus

When I was a child, my dad and I would do everything together. There was never a dull weekend and we would always seem to keep ourselves occupied with some crazy scheme. Some of my favorite weekend activities included playing softball outside, going to my favorite blue playground, and watching puppet shows at the beautiful Glenn Echo Park. While these are some of my most cherished memories, none could compare to the joy of visiting the circus. Every year in October, right around my birthday, the circus would come to town, and it became an annual tradition to attend. I remember walking towards the towering, red and white striped tent, ticket in hand, with my heart beating out of my chest in anticipation. The inside of the tent was the size of a stadium, filled with eager kids like me and their parents waiting for the lights to dim, the music to start, and the show to begin. The performances were always completely astounding. At my age, I could not begin to fathom how a man could bike ride across a tiny wire, or juggle flames and not get burned, or even command tigers to do whatever he pleased. The experience was incredible and magical. When we would leave, I would have the biggest smile on my face and ask when we could return. About a year ago, my dad and I saw that the circus was in town and decided to go back for old times’ sake. When I looked at the tent, it was not anything how I remembered. The enormous, glorious tent from my memories turned out to be much smaller and more average sized in real life. There was nothing particularly special about it. Walking inside provided even more disappointment. There were a few rows of seats that scaled the sides and stretched around the diameter of the tent, taking the shape more of a small boxing arena rather than a huge football stadium. But, I remained patient and decided to give the show a chance. Overall the performances were really enjoyable and fun to watch, but I still did not receive quite the same awe inspiring feeling as I left when I did as a child. Many people would say that’s just what happens as you grow up. As we are faced with more responsibilities in our daily lives, we feel forced to abandon our child-like innocence and wonder because we are told that there is no place for it in the real world. We are told that the world is a dark and scary place and that if you don’t grow up, you will get hurt. We are told that in order to survive, you need to be realistic, not imaginative, and that too much optimism is naïve. But the people who tell us this are simply wrong. Our world is as we wish it to be and we can shape it to reflect our views. Sure we need to be realistic and responsible, but that does not mean we can’t just stop and enjoy life every once and awhile. Letting your inner child out again allows us to be human and to see the world from a new, more open-minded perspective. No matter how old I get, I know I will continue to enjoy going to the circus because the memories cannot be replaced and will always stand the test of time. 

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

Every now and then I light a candle in my room  and enjoy the sweet aroma that  fills the air as  it  wicks and burns. For the longest time,  I never payed much attention to the candle itself and would light it more as a routine activity. One particular night  however, as I lit the candle, I couldn't help but become entranced by the light the stemmed and flickered in the darkness. As I watched the candle burn in brilliant shades of yellow and orange,  the resiliency of the flame had me thinking, "How long would this candle burn before it went out?".  Hours passed  and the candle continued to illuminate the room with a firery passion  and determination, as if it was saying it refused succumb to the darkness that was night.  This little flame, this little light at the end of the tunnel  is a sign of hope. We as humans  are strong and powerful creatures with the  ability to overcome impossible odds if we have the courage to do so.  We can choose our own destiny and take control of our lives because fate is not out of our hands. As I placed the top  back on the candle,  I watched the little light  slowly fade until it turned into black. But I did not feel sorrow.  In fact, it gave me great comfort to know that tomorrow  I could  relight the candle  anew, and watch the cycle over again.

Introduction

Forrest Gump has been and probably will be my favorite movie of all time for a number of reasons. First off, you can't help but love Forrest. He's just a plain ordinary guy who wants to share his story with anyone who wants to listen. Also, he's completely uncensored. He always says exactly what he's thinking; whether that's giving a stranger advice that his momma told him, or talking to one of the Presidents of the United States, he is always his honest, genuine self. Coming from someone who has a hard time letting their voice be heard and worries about judgment from their peers, I quite admire Forrest Gump. That's why I'm going to try my best to not worry about judgment and criticism and just say what I feel like saying in this blog. I can't promise I will always know what I'm going to post in this blog, but I can say that I will write my 100% honest feelings and opinions. I may not know the direction this blog is going, but I hope it will take shape and find a path on its own as I continue writing more posts.


"Mama always said life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get." -Forrest  Gump