The Dreams and Realities of Scheduling

Despite what the New Trier strategic planning board claims the mission of this high school is, I think that it's fair to say that the ultimate goal of most students at New Trier is to get into a good college. To get into a "good" college, you've got to have an impressive college transcript: great GPA, extracurriculars, good test scores, etc. But all this is easier than done.
More often than not, students choose to take higher level classes to boost their GPA or because it's what they think colleges will want to see. AP and level four classes are hard enough and on top of all that, students still have the added stresses of all the other extracurriculars-sports, plays, music, whatever they may be. I'm not saying this is always a bad thing, some people can handle it better than others. But for some people it simply gets unmanageable; sometimes it means you have to drop down a level, stop playing a sport for a season, or just end up with bad grades in good levels (which kind of defeats the purpose, don't you think?) Or then again there's always the other route one of my best friends is currently trying out-take a bunch of APs, keep all your extracurriculars, and just...forfit any form of social life for a year.
Regardless, i think it's important consider Murphy's Law (anything that can go wrong, will.) when deciding on a schedule. Afterall, yeah-you could get the easy teachers and have a really great year. But who knows? Maybe you'll get the hardest teachers in the whole school; So if you plan on swamping yourself with work so a "good" college will accept you-pay at least a little mind to your well being and be realistic with what you can handle. What matters is that you're happy.

Even McCain's Gotta Be Pragmatic

Typically when someone decides to be a presidential candidate, they ideally would like to become president. I mean, that's the hope, right? But with Obama estimated to win by 193 electoral votes (see for yourself-it fluctuates) along with the added dissappointment of a longtime supporter-Colin Powell-announcing his support for Obama, McCain seems to be facing reality, realizing there's a good chance he may not win this presidential race. This being the case, it is important that he not continue to bash Obama. In a recent meeting, McCain tried to comfort his strong supporters worried about the prospect of a nation with Obama as president; "I have to tell you he is a decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared of as president of the United States," McCain remarked. While the senator remarked that he's still motivated and cares about the election as much as his voters do, pragmatically, it makes sense that he try and warm his supporters up to idea of Obama as president at least a little bit. After all, they don't have to love him, but regardless of whether they like it or not-if Obama does win-he's going to be their president.

Pointing the Finger

Okay--so i was just watching Law and Order SVU, and lo and behold-it somehow connected back to American Studies, crazy! The episode was framed around a nine-year-old girl who had been molested. The SVU team (Police officers specialized in the "special victims unit"-typically cases concerning rape, assault, or murder.) questioned her about it and at first she refused to tell, but under pressure she finally blurted out that it had been her soccer coach. After this first accusation, the SVU team decided it would be best to question the other girls on the soccer team about the coach as well. In the waiting room of the station, there was complete hysteria. The girls all sat with their paranoid parents--who continued to ask them questions over and over about the coach with the correct answer already in mind. Most of the girls said no at first, however soon enough confessions started rolling out. As the detectives sat them down individually to ask questions, all the girls replied with the same basic story; that they had been molested by the soccer coach and that they were told not to tell anyone. When the DNA samples came back however, it turned out that the real criminal was the original girl's neighbor. The soccer coach was completely clean; however under the pressure of the questioning, the girls had given in and told their parents the story they wanted to hear. This reminded me so much of the Crucible when people were asked who they saw with the devil. If they accused someone else of trafficking with the devil, then the pressure was off of them. Of course, the little girls were not going to get in trouble for saying they weren't raped; however it seemed that admitting to being assaulted was the only way to stop the frenzied questioning. It brings to attention how universal this really is. During perilous times, people are desperate for some sort of closure, some sort of solution to the problem--even if it means falsly accusing somebody of rape or witchcraft. It's so much easier to point the finger rather then confront the problem head on.

Domino Effect

I found this article on the New York Times homepage that discussed the reverberations of America's economic crisis on the world around us. Almost every country, in areas ranging from Asia to South America to Europe, has suffered severe falls in stock indexes. It was just last week in class when we learned how the Great Depression, while it hit the United States very hard, was devastating across the globe. As i read it, it almost felt as if I could have been reading an article from back in the thirties. To be honest it was kind of creepy.
This whole ordeal reminds me yet again our overarching quote by Faulkner, "The past isn't dead, it's not even past yet." History seems to be repeating itself yet again; and while our current situation is nowhere near as widespread or harrowing, the similarities between the two situations are undeniable.

Pushing the Blame

"Don't Blame the New Deal", read the headline of an editorial on the New York Times. The article discusses the current economic crisis, and more specifically, it's cause. While the author admits to flaws in the current regulatory system, his claim was that the source of the crisis was not the set-up, but rather the management and regulation of it. Laws concerning financial regulation were made without much thought or clarification being put into them. Congress created a law in 1995 that "restricted the ability of investors to sue companies, securities firms and accounting firms for misstatements and pie-in-the-sky projections" which gave people a falsified sense of freedom when it came to giving out loans; An effect that would later play a large part in the mortgage crisis. Although it is a difficult point to accept, he states that it is something that needs to be accepted in order for similar situations to be avoided in the future.
All in all-I would say this was a very solid argument. The point is not exactly what people want to hear, it would be a lot easier to just push the blame onto the set-up of the system rather than accept that it was caused by the carelessness of those regulating it. For this reason I wouldn't say the argument appeals to the Pathos. However, by employing many examples backed up by strong evidence, the author appealed to the logos, or logical outlook.

All This Talk About Freedom

"Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?"
(Star Spangled Banner-Francis Scott Key)

Okay, so...one of the biggest defining factors of America that people take pride in is the concept of freedom. You see it everywhere. It's constantly worked into politics, and in fact both McCain and Obama brought it up during their presidential acceptance speeches. However when it comes down to it, distinguishing what exactly "freedom" means is a little tricky. I mean honestly, What exactly is freedom? In our bill of rights, all of the legal freedoms as a citizen of the United States are explained (freedom of speech, press, assembly, etc.), so, is that it? I feel that the notion of freedom is something much bigger then that. Everyone has their own definition of freedom. The Puritans believed that it meant getting rid of corruption (The American Dream, Jim Cullen), and their goal in life was, in essence, to achieve just that. They wanted to create a "city on a hill", a pure and holy civilization free from corruption to be an example for all civilizations to follow.

Now, typically I don't relate too much with the Puritans, however in this situation i'd have to agree with them. Once again though, it is all relative. While I would also say that freedom means getting rid of corruption, I believe it's also save to say that Hetty Shepard and I probably have different definitions of corruption as well. Afterall, I don't ordinarily rack my with guilt every time I smile at a boy in church or question my society. But I do believe that the United States' Bill of Rights is full of ammendments which help us escape corruption from many sources (censorship, stifling the public opinion, racial/gender/religious inequalities, etc.). In doing so, it helps us to maintain what we as Americans hold so dear, our freedom; however we may choose to define it.

Perilous Times Hit Home

What defines perilous times? Typically i might say war, death, or disease, but apparently dictionary.com thinks that it's exposure to injury, loss, or destruction. Reflecting on this past weekend, i think that this is a very fitting definition; and i think it goes without saying that the citizens of northern Illinois felt the peril as the massive amounts of rain washed through the area. (8 inches fell on Wilmette in one day alone!) Many people felt the immense feeling of loss and destruction as water flooded their basements, and the flooding led to fearful, and at times extremely dangerous, situations.
It led me to thinking more and more about the discussions we had been having in class, along with the overriding question, What happens to the authority of people in charge in a fearful time? I didn't personally observe the leaders of the town taking charge of the situation, however what i did notice was the leadership roles taken on by it's citizens. My neighbors took turns watching all the kids play outside in the rain while the other parents took turns managing their flooding; and every hour or so, my dad would go outside to clear the sewer grate, ensuring that no leaves could block the water from continuing the flow down the drain. Everyone worked together to push a car that had stalled in the high waters to it's house. The whole day was filled with communal efforts, and this coming from a block that hasn't had a block party in years. Perilous times lead to a great emphasis put on the community. We discussed this occuring with Puritans way back in the 1600's; and now we see it first hand during our own local perils.