Im still here (and MITs still hard)

I’m still here (and MIT’s still hard) I started writing a brief response to some of the comments on Chris post, but then it stopped being brief, so I decided to post it here. Anyway, some of those comments are all like, MIT is hard, yeah, yeah, whatever. Anyway, I want to know how hard is MIT? Because I keep hearing its hard, but I just dont understand, you know? or wait, why does everyone keep saying high school is easy? I dont think its easy. I actually think its kind of hard. OH, CHRIST. I HAVE NO CHANCE OF GETTING IN. (I exaggerate only because I dont know any other way to live. Ask my friends.) In response to all of these comments, Id like to deliver a poorly elaborated anecdote about my 10th grade PreCalc class. The class was taught by Mr. Antunez, a new teacher who had grown up in Spain and Argentina and was known primarily for two things: 1) being an absolute hardass of a teacher, and 2) completely butchering everyones names. I spent the year being called Karel, which I stopped correcting after one quarter because it was a portmanteau of my first and last names and could therefore technically be considered correct. Neha 10 still uses it sometimes. Its one of those nicknames, like Klag and Squeaky, that only maybe two people can use without being in danger of my setting them on fire. Oh. Right. PreCalc. Over the course of the year, a disturbing cycle emerged. Wed have a few lessons. Wed all feel like we were slowly being dragged deeper into a pit of despair. Wed take a test, which felt like an entirely different and far more painful pit of despair. (Its early. Metaphors and variety thereof are not my friend right now.) And at the start of the first class after a test date, Mr. Antunez would, without fail, stand at the board for ten minutes and lecture us about how HORRIBLE our test scores were and how he just didnt UNDERSTAND why we were in this CLASS when we OBVIOUSLY didnt KNOW what we were DOING. And every time he delivered one of these lectures (which became increasingly emphatic), Neha and I, as the only sophomores in this section of PreCalc, would sit in the back row passing snarky notes to each other and thinking about what badasses we were, since he couldnt possibly be talking about us. When we got our tests back, our scores would usually be just as bad as everyone elses. Oops. I call this Everyone But Me Syndrome, and every single one of us has some form of it. It manifests itself in different ways, whether you think that you are supersmart and probably dont find things difficult when everyone else does, or youre the opposite and are convinced that everyone is smarter and infinitely more awesome than you are. Ive slowly shifted from the former to the latter, since I become increasingly aware of how lame I am every day. This is all a really long way of saying two things: -Think classes here wont really be hard for you because you might be smarter or more accomplished than we are? Think again. With respect to specific classes: want to take the more advanced (and sometimes more difficult) version of a class say, 18.022 instead of 18.02? Go ahead. Sign up and do it. Challenge yourself. Youll decide what works for you soon enough. -Think that if youre working hard in high school, then you definitely wont be able to handle it here? Thats not necessarily true either. Many, if not most, of us here put a lot of effort into our work in high school too. I remember spending the majority of my sophomore and junior years wondering why I was struggling so much and if I had any career options other than being a professional standardized test-taker. (I did really well on the SATs without much effort, but thats about it.) Anyway, thats my two cents. Take it or leave it. And if you do decide to ignore me, please dont say as much. I get it. Im lame. I already know.

Medias Dependence On Alcohol - 1504 Words

Technology has rocked the way people interact with one another more and more since it s boom in the late nineties- turning Cobain fans with scrunchies into Kesha fans with glitter. In today s world everything is available at any given moment, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and a slue of other apps have made that fact glaringly obvious. While I observed several groups of students in different locations around the STCC campus, I decided to focus on three couples in a group, as it was almost a scene from a play depicting The Washington Post s October 2015 article Scientists: How Phubbing (or phone snubbing) can kill your Romantic Relationship. The Post s article outlines the ways in which too much phone usage around your significant†¦show more content†¦Since only observations were made, their exact ages and ethnicities are unknown; however, like with any observation in this paper, my recordings are objective and accurate as to how the group looked and acted. In total there we re six people in the group. The non-verbal actions of kissing, hugging, hand-holding, and closeness of seating, in addition to the verbal actions of pet names, inside jokes, and a feeling of comfortability between the individuals led to the conclusion that the group was made up of couples who had a report with one another. First, I will give a synopsis on each couple and then their placement in the group. I will also use the phrases boyfriend and girlfriend to address the individuals in each couple. Couple One sat closely together for the duration of my observation. The male had his right arm around his girlfriend and she had her body leaned into him. Couple One had the most private, side conversations out of any couple in the group. Frequently when the group was having inclusive conversations (where everyone was a participant), either the male or female would whisper something to the other, they would laugh, and then return to the conversation. When the group s main conversation reached a lull, the two would begin their own conversation directed between the two of them- although these side conversations were not noninclusive of

Implementing Gun Safety On School Classrooms - 2429 Words

Samantha Russo Professor Sandoz Research Methods-Block 3 29 September 2014 Implementing Gun Safety in School Classrooms Nine year old Aaron Schmitt had been rummaging around in his dad’s closet and found a shiny new toy. He was enthralled with his find. As he felt the cold metal in his hand, he thought of the fun he could have playing a game of cops and robbers. Aaron spun the gun around in his hand wanting to show it to his friends. He knew he should ask for permission from his parents to take the gun but he figured his dad would never realize the gun was missing. He thought long and hard about what he was going to do and finally decided that he was going to take the gun to school and show it off. His decision made, he put the gun in his backpack to take to school the following morning. Significantly, gun play has increased over time, and students are not realizing what harm they can cause. Students have brought guns into schools before, both real and fake. Students who bring in fake guns usually are able to get off on a referral. A referral is an act of referring someone or something for cons ultation, review, or further action. When teaching gun safety to students most instructor’s goals are to teach children hierarchical skills. This means teaching them skills in order of ranks. Students have been caught bringing guns into school since the late 1800’s. In the last ten years more than 100 school shootings around the United States have occurred. The most recent shootingShow MoreRelatedHow Metal Detector s Effect Students Behavior Essay1282 Words   |  6 Pagesshow how metal detector’s effect students’ behavior in the school day and to show if the school benefits from having them. Students’ in many school districts across the nation go to schools with different demographics and environments that tend to effect the students’ throughout the school day. The environment in return creates a response that could potentially hinder the student from learning in the school he/she attends. Therefore, school systems act on the statistics that have shown that violenceRead MorePersuasive Essay On Gun Control949 Words   |  4 Pages School should be a place of peace and opportunity, but gaps in the system of gun control threatens the safety of faculty and students. School shootings have killed a total of 297 lives, young and old (Slate Magazine). Gun control has been a continuous nationwide debate for many years. It seems that no one wants to take a stance against guns unless they are personally affected. In order to take control of the matter and prevent more incidents from continuing schools need to change. To achieve a safeRead MoreShould Teachers Be Carry Guns For Deterrent Reasons?1718 Words   |  7 PagesAble To Carry Guns For Deterrent Reasons? During the past few years, the number of school shootings has increased markedly. In 2013, there were 19 school shootings that occurred, taking so many innocent lives. Some may remember the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on December 14th, 2013. It was the second deadliest massacre shooting in United States history, behind the 2007 Virginia Tech Massacre. Adam Lanza shot twenty children, six staff, his mother, and himself that day. School shootings areRead MoreGun Control Should Be Legal1721 Words   |  7 PagesUnfortunately, across the nation there have been at least 156 school shootings in America since 2013— an average of nearly one a week. (Unknown, 2015) There have been multiple attempts to address and avoid the dangers students + staff face while on â€Å"gun free† campuses. Many pro-gun enthusiast argue that the right to bear arms is in fact a constitutional right, therefore everyone should be able to have a license to carry to defend themselves. Obvious ly the only way to secure campuses from bulletsRead MoreThe Debate Over Gun Control925 Words   |  4 PagesGun Control is a hot debate topic, where people have been divided into two different viewpoints. The majority of states has supported their colleges to carry guns in case of a mass shootout. While the majority of liberal and democratic oppose carrying guns onto school property. Some states such as Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin, and Mississippi has already passed the law to allowed students to carry concealed weapons on campuses to protect themselves from unwanted mass shootersRead MoreArmed Teachers: Superheroes of the Future?1364 Words   |  5 Pagesconsidered outcasts, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, walked into Columbine High School in Colorado, opened fire and murdered twelve students, one teacher, while injuring twenty-four additional students before turning the gun on themselves. In 2007, Seung-Hui Choo, a senior at Virginia Tech, shot and kil led thirty-two people and injured seventeen others, before turning the gun on himself. It was the deadliest mass shooting at a school in United States history. In 2012, Adam Lanza, shot and killed his motherRead MoreCrisis Management Response Plan Essay1427 Words   |  6 Pagesemergencies. Administrators work with teachers, students, parents, law enforcement officers, business and community members, to develop an effective emergency and crises plan. The administrator provides leadership in developing and monitoring the school safety plan and also establishes procedures for emergency evacuation and crisis management at different stages of the plan. However, an effective leader develops a comprehensive prevention education plan, and regularly reviews the code of conduct manualRead MoreColumbine Shootings And Its Impact On School Security1749 Words   |  7 Pages  Introduction Tuesday April 20th, 1999 began like any other day. Parents went to work, and the children went off to school. Neither worried about the other, or how their day would turn out. But, hours later everything changed (â€Å"Columbine Highschool Massacre.†). Little did the residents of Columbine, Colorado know their high school would be a statistic for one of the largest school massacres in US History. On this day, two teenage boys were responsible for killing 12 innocent students and a teacherRead MoreEssay on Violence in Schools1490 Words   |  6 PagesViolence in schools is a problem that Americans have had to face at an ever increasing rate. Instead of fistfights, the issues are fatal, like school shootings. Violence is nationally defined as a physical force used to injure, damage or destroy (Guralnik, D., 1997, P.1490). In the past decade, students are using more than physical force. They are using deadly weapons to injure or kill their peers and authority figures, and t o destroy school property. Safety is considered to be the freedom fromRead MorePublic Schools Have Improved Their Safety Protocols1299 Words   |  6 PagesOn April 20, 1999, two teenaged boys opened fire at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, killing 13 students and wounding more than 20 others before ending their lives later that day. This crime was the worst school shooting in the 20th century and it has drastically changed the ways our schools operate. Although schools today are still not 100% safe and have had a few incidents in the past 10 years, we are slowly evolving and becoming better each year. Because of the Columbine massacre

Learning Styles Free Essays

Executive Summary Learning also known as studying usually occurs when some one can demonstrate that he/she knows something that they don’t know before and/or when they can do something they couldn’t do before (skills).  Learning is set of skills, and like all other skills one can improve and develop them over time. Therefore it is important spending some time reflecting  on how to learn best, so that once learning can be more efficient and effective. We will write a custom essay sample on Learning Styles or any similar topic only for you Order Now Honey Mumford’s (1986) designed a Learning Style Questionnaire, which has four styles and these styles are Theorist, Activist, Reflector and Pragmatist.  One of the four learning styles described by Honey Mumford (1986) is what we shall consider in this paper. Reflectors Reflectors like to stand back to ponder experiences and observe them from many different perspectives. They collect data, both first hand and from others, and prefer to think about it thoroughly before coming to any conclusion. The thorough collection and analysis of data about experiences and events is what counts so they tend to postpone reaching definitive conclusions for as long as possible. Their philosophy is to be cautious. They are thoughtful people who like to consider all possible angles and implications before making a move. They prefer to take a back seat in meetings and discussions. They enjoy observing other people in action. They listen to others and get the drift of the discussion before making their own points. They tend to adopt a low profile and have a slightly distant, tolerant, unruffled air about them. When they act it is part of a wide picture which includes the past as well as the present and others’ observations as well as their own. Conclusion Honey and Mumford (1992) define a reflector as one who likes to stand back and ponder experiences from many different angles. They collect data and prefer to think about it thoroughly before coming to any conclusion. They tend to be cautious and thoughtful and usually listen to discussions and get the gist of the arguments before making their own points. Once you have identified that the reflector learning style is the one that most closely suit you. You can improve your learning skills following the Honey and Mumford strategies stated in this paper References 1. De Bono, E. (1967) The Use of Lateral Thinking, Penguin Books Ltd, Harmondsworth. 2.   Honey, P. and Mumford, A. (1986) The Manual of Learning Styles Peter Honey, Maidenhead, UK. 3.   Honey, P. and Mumford, A. (1992) The Manual of Learning Styles, Peter Honey, Maidenhead, UK. How to cite Learning Styles, Essay examples

The General Societal Opinion of the Family

Humanity has embraced the family as an ideal basic structure for various reasons. The need to have a sense of belonging is regarded as the core reason why families have emerged and become accepted as legal social setups. However, it may not be possible to have a single, defining structure of the family since individuals have a wide range of perspectives.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The General Societal Opinion of the Family specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Each person’s view of the family is affected by the environment to which the individual is subjected. Consequently, a personal opinion by an individual regarding the family cannot be separated from one’s beliefs and feelings. Through analysis of various facts, one may be able to determine the general societal opinion of the family. Individual values, whether natural or acquired always have an impact on a person’s viewpoint of the family . In addition, the personal experiences with family members also influence an individual’s perspective on the family structure. Values such as belief in family cohesion may determine the level of commitment of family members to the stability of the family unit. A child grows in some kind of family set up. With time, the child’s belief and understanding of the meaning of a family is determined by the model of the family that nurtured him or her. If an individual works in an environment away from his or her family, and interacts with people from different backgrounds, that person’s perspective of the family is likely to become altered. Moreover, the amount of time that a parent spends with a child moulds the child’s expectation of the parent’s role in a family. Children who spend most of their childhood with their parents grow up to believe that spending time with one’s children is a parental obligation. People, who subject their children to a hostile environment, force them to develop a negative perspective of the family and may harbour the notion that the family is an unnecessary creation of the society. Similarly, growing up in a single parent family could possibly influence into believing that marriage, which is a common feature of the family, is unnecessary (Coontz, 2005). When studying family life, to get the true picture of the all the factors concerned, a broad spectrum of issues has to be evaluated. An individual’s opinion of the family has to be accompanied by an analysis of his past experiences to evidently make any conclusions in the study. Social values, which include religious values, are an important consideration when analysing a family set up. People may have different suggestions regarding the minimum requirements to create a family unit (Glossop, 1979).Advertising Looking for essay on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More No inc ontrovertible truth regarding the exact and precise definition of the family structure can be obtained. However, it is possible to obtain helpful data regarding the opinion of the members of the society, their attitude, and perspective regarding the idea of a family. An aggregate of repeated results from studies of the family set up may give the general perspective of the society on the matters of family. Although 100 percent accurate results may not be obtained, they can provide an overview of the general opinion of the members of the society. With numerous differences in the society regarding the definition of the family, the societal changes that families should embrace, and whether these changes are appropriate or detrimental to the family institution, it is difficult to conclude categorically on the meaning of the family. References Coontz, S. (2005). Marriage, a history: from obedience to intimacy or how love conquered marriage. New York: Viking. Glossop, R. (1979). Trends in family studies: toward an appropriate discourse. Ottawa: Vanier Institute of the Family. This essay on The General Societal Opinion of the Family was written and submitted by user Josie A. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

The Story of the Pea Island Life Savers Essays

The Story of the Pea Island Life Savers Essays The Story of the Pea Island Life Savers Paper The Story of the Pea Island Life Savers Paper JJ 1 J. J. . . . The Story of the Pea Island Life Savers In July of 2007, I explored the Outer Banks of North Carolina for the first time. I had driven down Highway 12 to a beach house for the summer vacation. The environment of the open sea touched by the narrow land gave me a feeling of wonderment as I observed the coastline and its beauty. During that first visit I noted that the ocean surf was strong and the sky constantly changing. On each visit to the Outer Banks, I challenged myself to learn something new of the Outer Banks long history. It was on my third visit to the Outer Banks when I discovered the story of a unique group of black men who were Life Savers. These black Life Savers worked for the government after the reconstruction period of the Civil War and defined the standard of performance in the United States Life-Saving Service; later to become the United States Coast Guard. My history lesson of this unique group black Life Savers began at the Chicamacomico Lifesaving Station Historic Site. My wife and I spent the day traveling along Highway 12 until we reached the Lifesaving Station in the village of Rodanthe. I met James Charlet who was the Site Manager for the Chicamacomico Lifesaving. James shared his passion for the history of the U. S Life-Saving Service with me. He recommended the documentary film RESCUE MEN-The Story of Pea Island to me. James said the DVD would explain about the U. S Life-Saving Service of the Outer Banks. JJ 2 The film begins with a quote The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. from Martian Luther King. At the beginning of the film, I was placed in the middle of a great storm on the terrible night of October 11, 1896 when the schooner E. S. Newman grounded south of the Pea Island Lifesaving Station. Captain S. A. Gardiner and eight others clinging to the wreckage saw two life savers swimming toward them and realized they were black men. It was not until 1996 that the crew of the Pea Island Life-Saving Station was awarded the Gold Lifesaving Medal for their efforts in saving all crew and family members. This late but honorable recognition was explained in further detail in the film. Blacks living during the â€Å"Jim Crow† era as these Life Savers were, found their contributions to the history of the Outer Banks often neglected from the public they served. A key character in the film was Richard Etheridge, a slave born on January 16, 1842. Etheridge was the property of John B. Etheridge on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Large plantations did not exist in the Outer Banks; African Americans were relatively few and slavery limited. During his early life, Richard Etheridge learned to work the sea, fishing, piloting boats and combing the beach for the refuse of wrecks. Even though it was illegal to do so, his master also taught him to read and write. After the fighting began between the States, the Outer Banks were the site of one of the first Northern invasions. In February 1862, Union commanders employed black labor to build fortifications for the Union armies. The Union realized the potential that the recruitment of Southern blacks offered their forces but at the same time diminishing the oppositions labor JJ 3 supply. Black troops started to enlist during the summer of 1863. Richard Etheridge joined on August 28. In the 1870s, some of the Outer Banks black army veterans found jobs as Surfmen in the U. S. Life-Saving Service, which had opened seven stations on North Carolina’s coast. Until 1880, the men served with white men at various stations along the Outer Banks in integrated or â€Å"checkerboard† crews. After fighting in the Civil War for the Union, Richard Etheridge joined the U. S. Life-Saving Service. During this time in the Outer Banks, the U. S. Life-Saving Service was full of cronyism and white crews were handpicked by the local politicians. Blacks only held the lowest of positions, such as cooks and stable hands. It was not until the Pea Island Life-Saving Station, crewed by mostly whites, had become incapable of performing rescues that Sumner Kimball, the General Superintendent of the U. S. Life-Saving Service, appointed Richard Etheridge keeper of the Pea Island Station. Etheridge the only black man to lead a lifesaving crew and became the Pea Island Station first black Captain. Captain Etheridge recruited and trained only blacks to man Station 17 know as the Pea Island Station. In 1880, although civilian attitudes towards Etheridge and his men ranged from curiosity to outrage, the Pea Island Station crew figured among the most courageous Surfmen in the service, performing many daring rescues from 1880 to the closing of the station in 1947. The film provides many insightful details of the daily lives of these black Surfmen who turn out to be the best Live Saving crew of the Outer Banks. At the conclusion of the film, the JJ 4 narrator leaves the viewer with his observation. â€Å"The Pea Island crew saved scores of men, women and children, who, under other circumstances would have been considered the hands of those reaching out to help them, to be of the wrong race. † I look forward to my next visit to the Outer Banks and may I be as fortunate to discover something new about the history of North Carolina.

Definition and Meaning of Illiteracy

Definition and Meaning of Illiteracy Illiteracy is the quality or condition of being unable to read or write. Illiteracy is a major problem throughout the world. According to Anne-Marie Trammell, Worldwide, 880 million adults have been labeled as illiterate, and in the United States it is estimated that almost 90 million adults are functionally illiterate, that is to say that they do not have the minimal skills needed to function in society (Encyclopedia of Distance Learning, 2009). In England, says a report from the National Literacy Trust, Around 16 percent, or 5.2 million adults, can be described as functionally illiterate. They would not pass an English GCSE and have literacy levels at or below those expected of an 11-year-old (Literacy: State of the Nation, 2014).   Observations The subculture of illiteracy is larger than anyone on the outside would ever believe. The National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) conducted a study of illiteracy among adults in the United States in 2003, the results of which were released in December 2005. NAAL found that 43 percent of the total population aged 16 and older, or some 93 million people, ranked at the below-basic or basic level in their reading skills. Fourteen percent of the adult population had below-basic skills in reading and understanding prose texts, a percentage that was unchanged from 1992 when the first NAAL report was released.The gap between the 43 percent at below-basic and basic prose literacy and the 57 percent at intermediate and proficient raises the question: How can those at lower levels compete in a world that demands increasing literacy skills? Not surprisingly, the NAAL study found that among adults with below-basic prose literacy, 51 percent were not in the labor force.(John Corcoran, The Bri dge to Literacy. Kaplan, 2009) Illiteracy and the Internet As teenagers’ scores on standardized reading tests have declined or stagnated, some argue that the hours spent prowling the Internet are the enemy of reading, diminishing literacy, wrecking attention spans and destroying a precious common culture that exists only through the reading of books.But others say the Internet has created a new kind of reading, one that schools and society should not discount. The Web inspires a teenager who might otherwise spend most of her leisure time watching television, to read and write.(Motoko Rich, Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading? The New York Times, July 27, 2008) Literacy as  a Continuum of Skills Illiteracy has fallen from one in five people to almost nonexistent over a century and a bit. But illiteracy clearly isn’t a single on-or-off switch. It’s not just you can read and write or you can’t. Literacy is a continuum of skills. Basic education now reaches virtually all Americans. But many among the poorest have the weakest skills in formal English.That combines with another fact: more people are writing than ever before. Even most of the poor today have cell phones and internet. When they text or scribble on Facebook, they’re writing. We easily forget that this is something that farmhands and the urban poor almost never did in centuries past. They lacked the time and means even if they had the education.(Robert Lane Greene, Schotts Vocab Guest Post: Robert Lane Greene on Language Sticklers. The New York Times, March 8, 2011)