Extrinsic Motivation Won't Work in the Long Run

I think that the grading and level systems of new trier are very just, and have underlying meanings. the person who wants to be challenged will take the higher course and hopefully be intrinsically satisfied. but the problem is because the school is so competitive, many students focus on grades, and not the values that you would learn in the classroom. many students want to get the best grade they possibly can, with the least amount of work. So, I think that if the school were to abandon the current weighting system, many people would try to go in the two levels so that they would not have to work as hard and receive the same grade as a person in a four level. But I think I have a solution to this problem. although many students are extrinsically motivated because they want to get into a good school. but what will happen when they get a really good GPA, and because they haven't really learned, they do poorly on the ACT, or maybe even in their college classes. That is why I recommend that everyone in eighth grade who is to be enrolled in New Trier takes a test to see what levels they have to be in, and the levels that they score on the will be the levels they take at New Trier, that way people not only will have to work hard, but they will be in the right level, and the idea that people will enroll in two level classes just for GPA will be impossible.

Pragmatic New Trier

As much as I would love to live in the la la land that the idealist thinkers live in, due to my school I have developed into a very pragmatic thinker. I think this way because my life is based off a series of rules or what you can or can't do. And in these rules, when one is broken, there are consequences. So the all the things I do or say I have to think in reality what will be the outcome of this action. That is why I can't just let everything go, and dream, because I am also in a very competitive situation in my school. I need to stay realistic in my education and in my sports, or I surely will be surpassed by other students who are competing for my spot. As for later in my life I feel that this is stage one, of many ways to think. due to the competitiveness of my education, and the rules set before me I have to stay realistic, but after I pass this first stage, and I prove to my peers and to myself that I am accomplished, that I will be able to be a more idealistic thinker.

Less power is more power to the people

In the event of a perilous situation, it will never be necessary under any conditions, for us to give significantly more power to the president. I think with the whole situation he is making more enemies for the US. what are all these countries going to think of the US when we finally send all the prisoners home. they will hate our guts even more. I found an interesting article that said that they were tortured over there. it is one thing to have not trial and be stuck there, but to be tortured in short intervals of time is too much for me to handle. there better be a lot of terrorists in Guantanamo, and Bush by keeping them better be saving thousands of lives, for that would be the ultimate goal, but it is just bad because we as a country are getting a bad rep, for the actions of a president who has found a loophole, and is arguing to stay in the loophole with a very flaky argument, that "Guantanamo isn't technically part of the Us". well of course it's not, but still being part of the US's property it abides under the laws of the US constitution.

to check out an article about the innocent prisoners who returned home, check out this link:

highlight the url, right click and select the "search google for..." icon--
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/14/guantanamo.afghanistan

Perilous Similarities

As I in my American Studies class am studying perilous times, so far we have studied two. The Salem witch trials, and the Great Depression. As I thought of these two parts in history I couldn't help but thinking of the quote "History repeats itself", as do perilous times. There are many comparisons when it comes to the Salem witch trials and the Red Scare that crossed the nation shortly after World War II. Simple connections may be that in both there is a heightened sense of suspicion, even on their neighbors. And going with that in both there are rapid accusations made, even if there is no legitimate evidence except your suspicions. Another being that both these times occured right after a period where he country was unstable, one being when the country just formed, and the other after the second world war. but even more thought provoking is the similarities in the authority figures, whether it be with the court or the government. There is a strong similarity in the court room, the fact that much of the evidence wasn't cold, hard evidence. One set of evidence was based on the madness of a group of afflicted little girls, and in the 1950's they would present a claim of evidence, but then say that for national security purposes labeled it as "Top Secret", thus being indeed unpresentable for evidence.
Another two time periods that support the quote mentioned above, is that of the Great Depression and the Great Credit Crunch we are experiencing in our economy today. Keep in mind in no way is what we are experiencing now as bad as the Great Depression, I don't want to compare the actual logistics of them both, but the similarity in trying to find solutions that will help the people. This being FDR's "New Deal" that would contribute to the main goal of providing jobs for the unemployed, and to recover the economy from the Great Depression. A similar bill was passed in Congress only a few days ago in providing seven hundred billion dollars in relief. In both perilous times they are striving towards the same goal. I think that as there are bad times in the past and present, and that there will be bad times in the future, in perilous situations there will be many similarities in the people, and the authority figures.