Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Just keep dreaming.

Children are the biological reason for anyone on Earth to continue being on Earth. Children are the paths to tomorrow, the future leaders of the world. Teachers and educators should take great honor in their positions in society, because they are literally shaping the future of all humanity. No adult should ever tell a child to stop dreaming, their dreams are the future discoveries of science, classic novels, or end to famine. In fact, although any child is best at dreaming, everyone should be doing it. Think up new and exciting things is what makes life really worth it. The things we learn enable us to put to use the things we dream up. As the school year comes to a close, remember that although learning may stop, thinking does not have to. This is a message widely known to the population, and continually expressed through speeches and media. These speeches below are just some of the few. The new movie Tomorrowland focuses on the dreamers of this world. People, however, usually do not get the message. Start thinking, start dreaming, start doing things that can change the world for all of us or change your world. Stay hungry, stay foolish, keep thinking.

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Testing

This post is going to go a little off topic, as recent testing has opened my eyes to some issues.
Throughout high-school we are taught to constantly be thinking about our future, constantly be thinking about what we plan for our lives. As always, there are two sides to this story. One side believes that the future, and what we do with it, can be planned for, controlled. On the other side stand those who believe that destiny is a cruel mistress, that already has a path planned for all of us. If our destiny is in our own hands, then we should do everything in our power to best ourselves and set out on the correct path. If we cannot control destiny, then why try to, why strive to be the best possible if all we can do is sit along for the ride. Here lies the problem in believing in predestination. A lack of work output results in an overall lack of effort. This lack causes the disappointment seen in many teachers faces when students show up without any effort put into their work. A separate, usually overlooked, problem with the school system, is the overuse of tests. These tests mandated by suit-wearing politicians and business professionals do not aid in evaluating the understanding of a subject. Many students may know all of the subject material but are simply not good test-takers, they then have no power to get good scores or grades. Many companies have even begun to monopolize testing, turning it into an industry instead of an education. This video discusses many of these topics in further detail, with some added satire.

Thursday, May 7, 2015

The Big What If

In John Green's best-selling novel, Looking for Alaska, he addresses a concept called "the Great Perhaps". On a side note, this novel, while some may view it as uneventful, contains many exquisite outlooks on life. The Great Perhaps is a concept that embraces the randomness of the universe. Statistics allows for predictability, however, in the end, the universe does everything based on randomness, unpredictability. The Great Perhaps can be interpreted in multiple ways by different people. To some, this perhaps may be the future, an unknown to everyone. To others, this perhaps could be life. Life, governed by the unpredictable universe, is unprecedented in its ability to surprise us. Life can be something wonderful or something terrible, usually a combination of both, the important thing is how we view it. Everything has a reaction, a chain of events that follow. These events can always be viewed in a positive and in a negative way. It is up to the individual to view the occurrences in their lives as positive or negative, and as such, view the entirety of their lives as well-lived or a waste. This viewpoint on life a mystery determined by subconscious. If we are able to realize this, however, we can grasp our outlook and change it for the better. Lastly, the Great Perhaps can be interpreted as death, death which is the most unknown and most feared thing by all living things. For all living things have a programmed desire to live. Many go into this Great Perhaps unready and unwillingly, but what for all humanity knows, it could be something wonderful. For death should not be feared. All of us are going to die, it is one of the many inevitability of life, a gift granted at our first breath. The important thing, is to accept this death as an incentive to do great things in the short time available on this Earth and in the known reality. Perhaps the Great Perhaps is not meant to mean one thing, it is meant to leave us wondering, exploring, striving, living.