Being Smart

Today my sister was studying for a multiple choice history test that she will be taking tomorrow. I told her to take a break which prompted her to yell at me something to the extent of "You don't get it! You're smart so it's easier for you". This made me wonder- as IB kids, what do we have that makes us "smart"?
 I think that I work hard in school and study enough to get the grade that I want on a test. There are certain skills, like writing, that can't necessarily be studied but have to be developed. I understand some people being naturally better at these skills but what is the definition of "smart" because for me, I just set goals for myself and do what I need to do to achieve them. This is the definition of hard working, not smart.

Any thoughts?

Dreaming Too Big

With classes like IB Spanish I think that we can all agree that there are specific points in our day when daydreaming becomes unaviodable. I know that everyone dreams about different things but for me, I always end up thinking about what I hope my future will be like. Is this the same for everyone else?

If so, does anyone else fear that they are dreaming too big? I feel that I am not dreaming of goals that are unattainable, but rather, a future that is too perfect. Of course nobody hopes to have a curveball thrown at them in the future but I think my daydreams are setting my expectations too high.

Any thoughts on this?

Dia Day Los Muertos

Today in Spanish we celebrated the Day of the Dead, a holiday in the spanish culture the celebrates those who have passed. As skulls are the most well known symbol for this holiday, we were instructed to color paper skulls as is traditionally done on spanish speaking countries on this day. My skull consisted of various colors, dots and random lines. I have my skull eyelashes and a moustache. A classmate looked over at my desk and apparantly only saw the eyelashes and said, "oh you made a girl skull". This surprised me as I did not think about making my skull a specific gender. I lifted the skull to show her the full face and she saw the moustache and said, "oh I'm sorry I guess I just assumed the eyelashes made the skull a girl".

Why does our culture assume that eyelashes are feminine? Everyone has eyelashes and generally, men are the only ones who purposely grow moustaches but it is curious to think that eyelashes signify being a woman.

Street Signs

Today I was on my way home from school and I noticed the signs leading into the residential streets were different colors. I know on the highways the different colors signify the type of information found on the signs but these were residential streets. Some were a dark blue with white writing, others were a lighter blue (that did not apear to be from fading) and some were green. If anyone can give me insight as to why there are different color signs I would love to hear it!

Public Death?

Today I was researching the Arab Israeli conflict for my Internal Assessment in History. In the book I was reading, they mentioned a young boy who had been shot in a crossfire during a shootout. Somehow, a camara found this young boy in his fathers arms while he was dying. This video was posted on the internet for all to see.

I am confused as to how this can be ethical. First of all, why does anyone want to watch a small boy die? I understand that we see it in movies and the idea of it happening is terrible but this ACTUALLY happened. And people are watching this video. I am also confused as to why this videographer would think that it is ok to publish such a private moment. Not only is the child too young to understand and not here to make the decision, but the family was distraught and that moment should not be on display for the world. This video provoked anger in me over the innocent victims of the conflict which may have been the intent but the media has enough tactics for provoking anger in people without advertising a small child's death.

Parenting

As a 17 year old human being, I do not feel that I am mature enough to raise a child, nor is my life stable enough. That is not to say that some people do not adjust to certain situations and rise to the challenge but personally, I do not see myself having the strengh. I think it is generally viewed by society that people my age are too young to have children and in some cases they are completely correct. However, I think it is wrong for people to say you are ready to have a baby when you are "X" years old. From what I witnessed today, it is impossible to say that once you reach a certain age you are ready to be a parent.

As I was driving down 610 I looked over to the red minivan to my right. I saw a child who looked to be no more than 2 years old, sitting on (who I presume to be) his father's lap. IN THE DRIVERS SEAT! As I looked back to make sure that I was not hallucinating, I noticed a female, appearing to be about the same age as the man, sitting in the middle seat of the middle row of the car, poking her head to the front and making faces at the baby. You know, the baby in the drivers seat.

After witnessing hands down the most unsafe driving situation of my life, I realized that age has nothing to do with being ready to be a parent. Young people make stupid mistakes, and so do old people. But just because you have reached a certain age does not mean that you are exempt from making any kind of mistake that would be typically categorized as one made by a young and inexperienced person.

For that baby's sake, I hope someone knocks some sense into his parents. And for those who take anything that I have said personally, I do not mean to offend anyone I am just voicing my opinion.

Doing our best

Today, in TOK Jeff had brought up how, even after learning that English was the easiest EE subject, none of the DipCans in our grade chose to do English. Also, in Sam's blog, he had talked about how busy we all are. While I am sure that all students our age are busy, these two events got me thinking about what that certain drive is. From what I have seen, all of the 2013 DipCans have, to varying degrees, this quality. I think that we all have this drive to do as much as we can (sometimes more) and to the best of our abilities. This is not to say that people who arent DipCans don't have this drive, but it makes me wonder what makes us this way? Do we put it upon ourselves? And if so, then why do we do this? If we don't put it on ourselves, was it our parents pushing us when we were little? It is just a weird thought for me to that people don't have the drive to do everything they do to the best of their ability.

Happiness

For me, volleyball is generally how I unwind from a long day at school. Sure, there are practices that don't go well and times when the coach is yelling but even through all of that, I feel less stressed and much happier after a volleyball practice or game. In the fall, unless I am at school, I am at volleyball and it makes me happy. So if I can be so completely happy when I am playing volleyball, then how can I continue to be happy when it's over. It happens every year, off season comes and normal life without volleyball pursues and I'm still happy. I am sure this is said for all of those who play a sport or who have a hobby that has an "off season". Just a random thought from the day as the season is halfway over already and it is crazy to think that I can find other equally awesome things to do with my time!

Feeling In Control

What is it that makes people feel in control? Is it physical strength or power over another person? Is it being smarter than the person next to you? Is it the feeling of being needed by other people? Why do people feel the need to control certain or all aspects of other peoples' lives? These questions have been swimming around in my head with the drama on facebook about football games and the "popular people".

At this time in our lives, I feel that it is most important to be in control of your own life. Making your own decisions based on what you believe is right and moral. The need to be a part of a group exists for everyone but why would a person ever want to be a part of a group where their voice is not heard and recognized? Leading a group of people is one thing but what is it that drives an individual to become so involved in others' lives? On a large scale this is how dictatorship is formed but on a small scale, this exists in every high school. There is a group of people who elect themselves to make decisions that affect everyone else. And for the most part, at least at Champlin Park, a significant part of the senior class goes along with it while quietly mumbling under their breath about their concerns with the decisions being made for them.

As to what knowledge issue this concerns, I am not entirely sure but I do know that at some point this issue has affected every single persons thought process even if only in a small way. My big concern is why do people go along with these decisions and just do what they feel is right? I feel the need to be in control of my own life and my own decisions because at some point, I'm going to need to make these decisions by myself and I won't have someone there to tell me how things are going to be run. Being in control of my life is very important to me and I think we all could do a better job of making that message clear.