Homework is (usually) lame

I think that most high school students, and students in general will agree with the idea that homework isn't very enjoyable.  However, it does serve a purpose.  Allowing students to reinforce skills and knowledge gained in class and perhaps generate questions for the next class are all very important reasons for teachers to assign homework.  However, teachers (not all but some) have begun to drift away from assigning purposeful homework and instead simply assigned homework because it is what is expected, or because it is part of the curriculum.

While to some degree 'busy work' may be necessary for some students to practice ideas covered in class, this isn't always the case and such homework should simply be 'strongly recommended' so that students who don't feel the need (different from desire) to do it can spend their after school time doing other things besides hours and hours of homework. 

Homework isn't the only thing taking up high-schoolers' after school time.  Most student participate in at least some extracurricular activity such as a sport.  These activities (especially stage crew, sports, or other competitive clubs) can take up several hours of a student's time, not to mention that teenagers need to eat, perhaps spend time with their family, and require more sleep than any other age group excepting infants.  However with an half-hour (or more) of homework from the usual 5 or so academic class a student might have in a day (6 classes per day, one of which is usually gym or an off lab) plus extracurricular activities, plus dinner, plus out of school activities, plus a recommended 8 hours of sleep, there simply isn't enough time for every item to get the attention that it deserves.  The things that usually suffer in this case are family time, non-school activities, and sleep.  This can have very negative consequences such as straining parent/child relationships, limiting creativity, and decreasing student's ability to fight of disease or function in school (the very thing that is keeping them from sleep).

A variety of solutions to this problem exist, but the one that I (and probably most high-schoolers' would agree) prefer is to only assign necessary amounts of homework.  If instead of half an hour to 45 minutes of homework from 5 classes, students only needed to do 20 minutes from 3 classes, an hour and a half of time would be created for students to spend time with their family, express their creativity, explore their interests outside of school, or sleep as they see fit.  I think that this has a high chance of having a positive impact on students' lives and their ability to succeed in school.

Connecticut school shooting and the second amendmet

A great tragedy struck Newtown, Connecticut this Friday.  12 girls and 8 boys aged 6 to 7 were killed along with 6 adults between the ages of 27 and 56 at Sandy Hook Elementary School by a single gunman, 20 year old Adam Lanza.  While people across the country have been offering prayers, condolences, and other forms of help, this shooting again brings up the issue of gun control.

It is in times like this, or when criminals rob a bank with high powered automatic weapons, when politicians and the general populous alike push for stricter gun regulation.  I don't believe that this is the right answer.  Clearly something needs to be done to keep people safe, something should be done, but not stricter regulations on guns.  While such regulations might be necessary to prevent accidental discharge incidents, I don't think that limiting the second amendment is what will best help prevent tragedies similar to what happened on Friday, or heavily armed bank robberies.

The people who do these things are criminals.  The Columbine shooters didn't own their guns, and although Adam Lanza might have owned his, I don't think strict gun regulation would have prevented him from doing what he did.  Clearly if they're going to rob a bank, or shoot up schoolchildren, the law isn't an inhibition for them.  This means that if they need a gun to break the law, they will break the law to get a gun.  Therefore, gun regulation doesn't prevent such crimes, it just makes them more illegal.

In my opinion, something more appropriate would be to have tighter security measures at schools, be they security guards, metal detectors, police, etc.  However, it is important to recognize that we can't totally prevent these terrible crimes, people will find a way.  Therefore we can't create policies that are restrictive in the hopes that they will finally eliminate shootings.

In closing, I'd like to offer a prayer for the families and community affected by Friday's disaster.

Heroes and the Economy

Anyone who lives under a rock might not have noticed that a vast number of recent movies have been about superheroes (and heroines), heroes new and old have been fighting crime and bringing people to the theaters in a way that I believe is similar to what happened during the Great Depression, and for the same reason.

Here are some recent superhero movies from the past couple years (or movies that will be coming out soon):
Man of Steel (superman redoux coming soon)
The Dark Knight Rises
Wreck-it Ralph
The Amazing Spider-man
The Avengers
The Green Lantern
Iron Man 2
Iron Man 3 (coming soon)
X-men First Class
The Green Hornet
Captain America: The First Avenger
Thor
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
Kick-Ass

Excluding the unreleased movies, that is 12 superhero movies released during 2010-2012 for an average of four per year.  These movies (most of them anyway) have had huge profits and this excludes non-hero movies (Twilight, Harry Potter, the soon-to-be-released Hobbit, etc.).  During the Depression, people would go to the theaters (if they could afford it) to take their minds off of the hard life that existed outside the theater.  I think that the recent 'Great Recession' is the reason behind the influx of superhero and other movies (I'm focusing on superhero movies because I think that they best represent the type of film that people would go to in order to escape the outside world).  Isn't there something about history repeating itself...?  Yeah, I thought so.

It seems to me that Americans (and perhaps people in other countries that have high movie attendance also) are ostriches putting there heads in the ground until the trouble passes.  We are letting our lives flow by and complaining to the few people who are (hopefully) trying to fix our problems like Obama, or our congresspersons (using the royal 'we' and 'our' here with the knowledge that not everyone is being an ostrich, just an apparent majority).  I think that all Americans pull their heads out of the ground and instead of calling out Obama, or our other leaders, for failing to fix our problems, we should do something for ourselves and maybe we can get ourselves out of the recession instead of hoping for someone to lead us out.

The Death Penalty

Recently I've been watching a Frontline documentary about a man named Clifford Boggess, who was convicted of murdering two elderly men on separate occasions and sentenced to death (Clifford, and the men he killed, lived in Texas). 

I think that there are good and bad sides to the death penalty.  Starting with the good, the death penalty is cheaper than a life in prison sentence.  Once they're dead, they're dead (this is also a bad thing but I'll get into that later).  Additionally, if there is concern that the person will/could escape from prison, the death penalty means that they wont get that chance.

The main bad thing about the death penalty (as opposed to life in prison) is that it is final.  There are no take-backs if more evidence is brought to light later.  This is a pretty big idea to consider, especially if there is any doubt as to the guiltiness of the suspect.

In Clifford's case however, there were no such doubts.  In this case he definitely deserves the death penalty because there is he has confessed to his crimes.  However, in cases of doubt, I don't think the death penalty should be used.

To conclude, I think that the death penalty is necessary, but should be used sparingly because of the fact that you only have one chance.

Final Presidential Decisions

With the election just around the corner, it is important for everyone to vote, and for everyone who votes to be informed.  While I think that most people wont get any more information than what they already have from TV ads, the debates, and what they've heard from friends and family, here are a couple quizzes that may help you decide, or reinforce your decision: http://2012election.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=004491
http://votesmart.org/voteeasy/?utm_campaign=voteeasy&utm_source=votesmart&utm_medium=homepagead

I think that it is important to vote on every election for which one is eligible because it ensures that America (or the local area for which the election is taking place) is as well represented as possible.

I think it is important for a voter to do their own searching because otherwise the information that is presented to them passively will probably lead them to vote for the candidate with the biggest super PAC, or the candidate who has the most money to spend on ads and other potentially voter-shifting campaigns. 

So before voting on this Presidential Election (assuming you're voting) take a look at those surveys and do a little personal research before you make your decision.

Iran, Nukes, Dimplomacy, and Free Speech

A background link: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/25/14088489-obama-us-will-do-what-we-must-to-stop-iran-getting-nuclear-weapons?lite

     Although I don't agree with everything that Obama does, I agree with what he is doing here, as far as Iran's nuclear program is concerned.  As a Jew I think the safety of Israel is very important and if Iran threatens that safety I believe something should be done about it.  However, like Obama, I recognize the importance of trying to use diplomacy or other non-violent means for as long as possible.  I wouldn't be too surprised if Obama had assigned someone to create a plan for what to do if diplomacy fails, but I don't think that Obama should have ignored Netanyahu.
    
     In class as we continue to discuss free speech, Obama expressed what is the general consensus about one of the biggest ideas of American society.  While I haven't seen the video about Muslims that Obama referenced, I agree that while it may be offensive, the video is protected by the 1st Amendment.  This is a similar situation to the 'blackface parties' that I talked about in my last post.

     'Till next time.

Modern Racism and College Speech Codes

Some background links:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WMBsO_95JJdVlMahc8ddLurufvYjHokQ8wrVnGAM8xA/edit?hl=en_US

https://docs.google.com/present/view?id=0AVf_DLqQA9ovZGZ2bTR3ZmdfMGZ6M25iNWc2&hl=en_US

This kind of behavior is despicable and idiotic.  I am almost at a loss for words.  I can't actually understand the purpose of these kinds of events.  Why do the participants say they are fun?  It bothers me to think that they were probably raised in an area that didn't discourage this kind of behavior.  Colleges have speech codes that probably prevent this kind of behavior, but a website, http://thefire.org/ has some cool stuff about what rules actually go against 1st Amendment rights.

Case Western Reserve University (a private institution in Cleveland, http://www.case.edu/) received a 'red light' rating from FIRE.  Reading through FIRE's explanation of the ratings for different rules, I had mixed feelings.  FIRE is concerned only with legality based on the 1st Amendment and is therefore very strict about free speech restrictions so many rules that I thought were reasonable were given a 'red' or 'yellow' light rating because they didn't allow for all the freedom of speech indicated by the 1st Amendment and various Supreme Court cases.  Having gone through the ratings I would say that CWRU isn't especially inhibiting.  The rules seemed reasonable (although they could potentially be overbearing if enforced to the letter) and I thought that the rules were much like rules at a public high school.

Going back to the first two links, I think that CWRU would have reacted similarly to Auburn in that they would have done some investigating and punished the involved students/Greek societies.  I would personally agree with this because I find the behavior of those students to be very offensive even though FIRE would probably have something to say about the constitutionality of the students' actions.

I think that FIRE is a could resource for getting an informed opinion, but because it has such a strong desire to follow the 1st Amendment to the letter (which isn't necessarily a bad thing) it rates relatively reasonable speech codes as infringing on students' rights (which I suppose technically they are although most students probably wouldn't mind).

I think that the 1st Amendment does a lot of good.  It is an integral part of America and what it means to be American, but I think that it also allows for potentially too much freedom.  How each person decides to interpret the 1st Amendment is their own choice, but I think that schools have a decent justification for their speech regulations.

Remembering 9/11

Septemer 11th 2001.  I was only 6 at the time so my memory of the whole thing is really vague.  I think the only reason I really have any recolation at all was because my mom was out West for a business trip.  Since planes were grounded immediately after 9/11, my mom couldn't fly home as planned (my aunt was taking care of me at the time) so I recall that my mom wouldn't be home on time.  My grandpa, who was coming to releive my aunt by train also go turned around on his way into Chicago because I guess they shut down trains into big cities too.  I guess my aunt was freaking out because she was stuck in Chicago since she couldn't leave me alone and also because everyone was worried about another attack.  The thing was, I wasn't worried at all.  I know for sure that my relatives didn't tell me what had happened except that my mom couldn't take a plane home so she would be late (my mom ended up taking a GreyHound bus cross country to get back home).  I really can't remember much else and I'm not totally sure how I learned what actually happened then, and I guess this brings up a question of how will we teach about this event in the future...

To close I'd like to take a moment to remember not only those who perished in the Towers, the Pentagon, and in a PA field, but all the soldiers, firefighters, other civilians, too.  I think it is also important to recognize all the potentially innocent Middle Easterners who have died too even though they had no terrorist connections.

ARE YOU READY FOR ELLECTIONS?!?!?!?! ...because I'm not....

As the election draws near, ads are filling the airwaves and the battle for America rages back and forth there will come a time when eligible voters will decide who to vote for and the ads and whatnot won't matter too much anymore.  I've always leaned democratic because of the way the political Republicans always seemed excessively religious and close-minded (I'm only referring to the conservative Republicans who are against gay rights etc., I don't mean to lump all republicans together as bigots and I don't mean to suggest that there aren't any bigots in the Democratic Party either).

Now that the Conventions are over the debates should be coming up soon and the only people who still need to make up their minds are the people who actually are a part of the democratic process instead of blindly following where they're told to go.  I'm not really sure how I feel about the fact that only a few people actually make conscious decisions as to who they will vote for, especially since I'm not one of them...

In other news, I get to read a book about a social issue for class.  This is cool because I've always wanted to read something of that nature, but I'm too busy reading epic fantasy and I don't want to stop in the middle of a series (fantasy/sci-fi readers [and potentially others {I wouldn't really know} too] should know what I mean) in order to pick up a social issue book.  I haven't decided what book or what issue but I'll probably blog about whatever one I pick when I do.

The Pledge of Allegiance in School

I'm not really sure how to preface this so I'm just going to jump right into my opinions.  I think that students have the right to defer from saying the pledge, but I also think that there should be a time for those who chose to say the pledge to do so.  However I don't think the pledge should be taught the way it is.  I usually stand for the pledge, but don't say anything.  This is primarily because of the fact that the pledge holds no meaning for me.  The way the pledge is taught, it is memorized and then repeated over and over.  All it is, is going through the motions and so it holds no meaning for me.  I think that if the pledge was taught differently, as well as being optional from the very beginning, the pledge might have more meaning.  The other issue I have with the pledge is the phrase, "under God".  I have an issue with this because I'm agnostic, and I also don't believe that any part of our government should be so clearly attached to a religion (regardless of the fact that "under God" doesn't suggest a specific religion, it is still a connection to religion in general which is the issue).  I think that people who don't want to hear the pledge are just SOL though.  I don't think it is a huge deal, but for those for whom it is, I think they can just step out of the classroom, maybe go get a drink or just wait to be called back in.  That is really all that needs to be said, so that is all I'm going to say.

Have a great day! :)

ReReading

I like books.  Books are cool.  Gateways into fanciful worlds (as long as we're talking about fantasy and sci-fi or other forms of fiction) that can whisk you away from the dreary day to day life of whomever you may be.  I am in the process of rereading the Wheel of Time (WoT) series by Robert Jordan (and technically Brandon Sanderson too; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Jordan skip down a little for the relevant info).  I'm rereading WoT because the final book should be coming out soon, but I didn't want to pick it up so long after reading the most recent one so I am refreshing my memory.  I do this with other book series too and I like the experience of know some of what is about to happen but not knowing the details and rediscovering the book as I go.  If you have a book you really enjoyed I recommend rereading it to bring back old memories from the time you read it last.

I know a lot of good fantasy/sci-fi books if you're interested.  Comment with questions. :)