Internet and Positive Progress

The internet is a wonderful thing, I use it all the time, hey I'm using it now! Anyways I think that it as a whole has been one of the greatest technological advances the world has ever seen. I have access to things and people around the world, not to mention you can learn anything you want with the click of a mouse. Some may argue that the internet is actually making us more stupid. For example there is an article written by Nicholas Carr, and he claims he is now a worse reader due to the internet; "I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I'm always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle"(Is Google making us stupid?, Nicholas Carr). I would argue that this whole issue comes with what age you are. Take anyone who has gone through their schooling without the internet. They may be used to looking in books, and doing much more deep reading to accomplish many of the things I can do much faster on the internet. So now they feel it hard to adapt to the new way the world works, being the internet. But me, I am growing up on the internet, I have always got my information from there, and I don't see that ever changing. So sadly I think that too many people are living in the past, and need to jump on the band wagon and stop worrying about the way they read.

The internet has been a great technological progress, it is fast, easy, and might I emphasize again, fast. I think it is necessary in todays world to use the internet, because todays society is fast paced. People want answers, and information quick, and I think that the internet is the perfect provider. So when I way the pros and cons of the internet, and if it is actually progress, I obviously think it has been positive progress. This is because I have grown up on the internet, and I personally don't see it affecting the way I read because I really have never had to "deep read" to get my information. I think as time goes on, the internet will grow larger and larger, and maintain the speed and user friendlyness that is necessary for our fast paced society.

Here is Nicholas Carr's Is Google Making us Stupid
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google

Dependable Declararation

We can derive many of the ideals of the American Revolution from the Declaration of Independence. One of those ideals was that "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness"(Declaration of Independence). But I strongly disagree that the constitution fulfilled this ideal of the revolution, and actually in attempt to fulfill this ideal it resulted in betraying other ideals. The way this happened is that under the rule of Britain there were distinct classes, such as the nobility and peasants, and power was distributed unfairly. As we
fought for independence we swore to stray away from this class system and create equality: "all men are created equal". But we think of the word "men" today as entailing all races, religions, and genders, but in the constitution it was only going to protect white men. So in doing this it created classes of different power just as in Britain: white men with full rights and protections of the constitution, blacks in slavery, and women in between. So in the attempt for equality, the constitution actually created vast amounts of inequality, thus betraying an ideal of the revolution. luckily through the power of time came American innovators who saw this gap in power thus ratifying amendments in 1865 to end slavery, and the right for women to vote in 1920. Although they were recognized by the constitution as equal, I can still argue that a sense of inequality still exists today that began with the inconsistency between the equality of the revolution and the constitution. But again time brings progress, and I believe that the election of Obama further shows that now all men are equal. And also women in my eyes are respected as much as men in society and at work. So although the ideal of equality was not fulfilled at the time of the constitution, time has brought progress to in my eyes fulfill that ideal today.

Progress

Progress has been a very prevalent word in this years presidential election. I think that it is great progress that we have elected the first non-white male president of the United States. I think that now other races will feel comfortable that they are represented, and also I think it will be refreshing to the world around us to get Bush out of office. It is amazing to think that only half a century ago, blacks were fighting for equality, and now we have an African American at the highest office in our government. That is progress. I think an important event to mark is Obama's acceptance speech. As we look at pictures we see Unity, Pride, and Joy, because what happened this year was not only progress, but I'd argue one of the greatest moments in our country's struggle with racism. It seems now that everyone can forget the past, for we have made it to the next level. "We did it" many said after the Obama victory, we as an american people accomplished something great. Looking into the future I see nothing but progress, an optimism for the future. For although I know racism is still out there, we as a nation have made a statement through electing Barack Obama, that we are Americans regardless of our skin color, gender, or religion. And that although we are all different, we have an uncanny ability to unify, and I believe that this election has proved that ideal of American life.






(Here we see pictures at Obama rally, and the pictures represent unity, and optimism for the future)

To experience the Joy and Unity of that night at Grant Park click here for Obama's acceptance speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jll5baCAaQU

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.