As I left the testing center today... I thought about how my studying habits were affecting my ability to perform on tests.
The first test in this class I got a 98.
The next was a 93 or something like that.
What do I expect on this one?
maybe a 90.
The first test I was able to study a lot because I had the study guide the first day of class.
The next one the study guide came a little late.
For this one, things kept changing and when I was taking the test was not really known.
Things keep changing so I have not been able to keep a stable strategy for this class.
I do the assignments so in theory I have SOMETHING to study even though its probably 80% more than what will actually be on the test.
To me, with shortened semesters, changing schedules, and the amount of memorization required by other classes as well, I am cramming my brain with a ton of information which feels like it is hurting more than helping.
Im getting stressed out a LOT lately. Perhaps much of it is lack of a balanced life.
I have decided that I am no longer learning at this point in the semester, I am only cramming what is necessary to get by.
Some of this attitude may be stemming from the idea given to me by my 11th grade English teacher who advised his students that a B grade is okay in school. You pass, you get your degree, and there is considerably less stress than trying to get the A. I agree in a way. Not stressing is imperative to good health and also proper concentration. Even more, some teachers have crazy expectations. Don't get me wrong, I love a challenge, especially an attainable challenge... as in one that I can attain in the given time. I don't like when at the end of the semester, I'm still struggling to get a B+. (well that hasn't really happened to me unless I neglected the class entirely) but as far as papers go, teachers expect different things. I have to not only learn material, I have to learn the teacher's style and how to appeal to that certain teacher. Sometimes I just can't figure out what they want! Much of that has happened in my music classes. I guess I just can't write about music. I haven't read a lot about music... and perhaps that is another reason why these higher level music classes are a bit harder. The vernacular and way things are stated are just not conventional to everything else I am used to reading. I guess I should have taken AP music theory...
But I digress. Some teachers... like mine in third grade not only believe in a bell for a class, but also for the student. It was impossible to get straight As on a report card because nobody is perfect. Wherever there was more room for improvement, expect a C, and secondary subjects, a B and only your most outstanding subjects earned you As. That could also be a part of my drive to always be better. In my mind, I thought, REALLY?! so if i didnt do any work at all in that subject i would get the same grade? (well maybe an f) but why did I do this A work in my mind (doing all the requirements to the best of my ability) and get a C... Im really not good enough for school?
Anyways. Professors in my classes today always emphasize how no one wants a B doctor operating on their brain. So since my English teacher wasn't a doctor, that was okay? Are grades subject specific? Or maybe degree specific? If you have to get As as a doctor, are there no more grades and just pass fail? (no really i dont know how that works)
So my whole thing about today is. Stay on top of things, but don't be a perfectionist on things you can get by with doing less (unless you have the time and energy). I totally don't prioritize well. I need spaced practice (a little review every day to solidify my memory). Cramming doesn't work for me well... especially in HISTORY with all these chapters of names, places, dates, concepts etc.~~~ ouch brain cramp.
Friday, November 11, 2011
Thursday, August 25, 2011
religious controversy of our time
REVERSING MORAL DECAY
NEW ATHEISM
two contrasting articles. We have talked about new atheism in class before and it is interesting. It is based on the terrorist attacks that religion is dangerous and should be expelled from society. It has been said that religion is primitive and full of superstitions (Einstein- yet he still believed in God). However, the reversing moral decay article suggests that to be civilized, religion is a pre-requisite. Personally, religion is a guiding factor to my life. It is a huge part of history for one- it lead countries to conquer others, had people rebelling for religious freedom, inspired people to move towards a manifest destiny. And depending on which side you were on, religion was good or bad. The Aztecs went around sacrificing people of neighboring tribes to their gods, and then Cortes came in and massacred a ton of indigenous in the name of Christ. But if there was no moral code, what would people have built their constitutions and laws around? And where else would they have learned the moral code? It is very interesting to consider both sides of this argument.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Inescapable race and Security's misfortune
Back to school for my last year! Already I am learning and experiencing again only one week into it. Terms are great in that they get right to the point. It feels more rigorous, as a school should be. I would quit my job if semesters were as rigorous as the terms. I totally would do it too. Great challenge.
Anyhow, as much as I have tried to not be racist and ignore the blatant racism and elitist mindsets around me, I was reminded once again of the ignorance and naivety of others. One student in my Spanish class from the east coast, a background of knowing communities of whites and blacks, often separated still, a sprinkle of Mexicans, and maybe an occasional Asian, came to Hawaii and had his eyes opened to the world of the Polynesians. While I know the islands are easy to overlook and many people are unaware of their existence still (at least besides Hawaii), his harsh bias in thinking with only life experience in the east and with his mission in Mexico proved his mouth a premature speaker. Our break time conversation outside of the classroom lead to stereotypes of cultures and how many cultures become offended when mistaken for another. It started with Indonesians and Malaysians. I thought to myself about how Spanish don't like being mistaken for Mexicans, and how Samoans and Tongans aren't just one mesh of brown. However, this albeit young man made it known his insensitivity in how much the past can matter, or patriotism mattered to anyone but him as a white American. No, he didn't say this, but its what I got. He didn't become offended, he said, when others thought his dialect of English wasn't as proper or intelligent and so other people should be offended when they are mistaken for another. While it would be ideal to forget about the past and build a peaceful future, your accusations of that way of thinking as being stupid and insignificant is what makes peace impossible. History accounts for beliefs of a society, and society accounts for beliefs of individuals. You MUST be sensitive to these subjects to understand people and to build meaningful relationships with them. He continued to criticize the Haka, and how Maori's are too sensitive. And told a "joke" of how when the English arrived in NZ, they must have thought the Haka was weird and stupid and just shot them... as he laughed at the picture in his mind. Ignorance is bliss, clearly. Still, he had not finished. He went on to criticize all Polynesians for adopting the Haka as "their thing" when it was only the Maori's. I was close to boiling over. Cultures are different, but adopting a dance or some other form of expression as a cross cultural symbol for all of polynesia is quite the same as music representing "Latinos" or even latinos unidos. Its the same idea. Anyways I don't want to dwell anymore after this rant on the stupidity of mankind.
There is a book I want to read eventually http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brothers_Karamazov
The Brothers Karamozov. We had an excerpt of this read to us in class today because we have been talking about the concept of security. When conquerors came to other lands and offered protection, they also took away some of their freedom. This book talks about an "inquirer" who talks to Christ and lectures him about how when he brought more freedom to man, of choice, he made it infinitely more difficult for him because there was no security net of being told exactly what to do. Here I am in my dorms, new rules every year, said to be for my "security" however taking away some of my freedom at the same time. Yet the scriptures say that man should do much good by their own free will. I can't choose good anymore, I just must always do what is good. I can't even decide what is good, these people are telling me what is good for me. Self imposed parents? How am I to live in a world of choices after not being able to do anything. And people wonder why soldiers go crazy after they come back from deployment? It isn't just post traumatic stress from war. Think about having a tight schedule every day. You are told when you can pee and drink and relax your stance. Come home and suddenly you can do whatever. How do you know what to do? I came to an environment thinking I would be with people who choose to do good. Instead, I have placed myself in a well disguised moral prison. While I appreciate the security, I think I prefer freedom. At least I can appreciate that more when I leave.
Anyhow, as much as I have tried to not be racist and ignore the blatant racism and elitist mindsets around me, I was reminded once again of the ignorance and naivety of others. One student in my Spanish class from the east coast, a background of knowing communities of whites and blacks, often separated still, a sprinkle of Mexicans, and maybe an occasional Asian, came to Hawaii and had his eyes opened to the world of the Polynesians. While I know the islands are easy to overlook and many people are unaware of their existence still (at least besides Hawaii), his harsh bias in thinking with only life experience in the east and with his mission in Mexico proved his mouth a premature speaker. Our break time conversation outside of the classroom lead to stereotypes of cultures and how many cultures become offended when mistaken for another. It started with Indonesians and Malaysians. I thought to myself about how Spanish don't like being mistaken for Mexicans, and how Samoans and Tongans aren't just one mesh of brown. However, this albeit young man made it known his insensitivity in how much the past can matter, or patriotism mattered to anyone but him as a white American. No, he didn't say this, but its what I got. He didn't become offended, he said, when others thought his dialect of English wasn't as proper or intelligent and so other people should be offended when they are mistaken for another. While it would be ideal to forget about the past and build a peaceful future, your accusations of that way of thinking as being stupid and insignificant is what makes peace impossible. History accounts for beliefs of a society, and society accounts for beliefs of individuals. You MUST be sensitive to these subjects to understand people and to build meaningful relationships with them. He continued to criticize the Haka, and how Maori's are too sensitive. And told a "joke" of how when the English arrived in NZ, they must have thought the Haka was weird and stupid and just shot them... as he laughed at the picture in his mind. Ignorance is bliss, clearly. Still, he had not finished. He went on to criticize all Polynesians for adopting the Haka as "their thing" when it was only the Maori's. I was close to boiling over. Cultures are different, but adopting a dance or some other form of expression as a cross cultural symbol for all of polynesia is quite the same as music representing "Latinos" or even latinos unidos. Its the same idea. Anyways I don't want to dwell anymore after this rant on the stupidity of mankind.
There is a book I want to read eventually http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brothers_Karamazov
The Brothers Karamozov. We had an excerpt of this read to us in class today because we have been talking about the concept of security. When conquerors came to other lands and offered protection, they also took away some of their freedom. This book talks about an "inquirer" who talks to Christ and lectures him about how when he brought more freedom to man, of choice, he made it infinitely more difficult for him because there was no security net of being told exactly what to do. Here I am in my dorms, new rules every year, said to be for my "security" however taking away some of my freedom at the same time. Yet the scriptures say that man should do much good by their own free will. I can't choose good anymore, I just must always do what is good. I can't even decide what is good, these people are telling me what is good for me. Self imposed parents? How am I to live in a world of choices after not being able to do anything. And people wonder why soldiers go crazy after they come back from deployment? It isn't just post traumatic stress from war. Think about having a tight schedule every day. You are told when you can pee and drink and relax your stance. Come home and suddenly you can do whatever. How do you know what to do? I came to an environment thinking I would be with people who choose to do good. Instead, I have placed myself in a well disguised moral prison. While I appreciate the security, I think I prefer freedom. At least I can appreciate that more when I leave.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Academically Adrift
This was the book of the semester for Honors Colloquium Winter Semester 2011. This took my feelings of school and backed it up with data. There is something wrong with the data though because they won't openly share any more than they have included in the book. One of the professors at my school emailed them and they refused due to "privacy issues". My professor believed that this meant some info may have been taken out of context.
However, the idea remains. They tested over several colleges not for intelligence or knowledge in any subject but for growth in skills such as written communication, complex reasoning, and critical thinking. Across all campuses, there was little to no improvement. A lot of the reasons are because of the present day attitudes of the purposes of universities.
Many professors are more concerned about their own research than about the quality of learning their students obtain. They make their classes easy so that the students will rate high therefore ensuring that they keep their jobs. All the professors then have to lower the bar to remain employed. Another problem is that students do not value learning so much as they want to steadily keep up good grades and obtain a diploma. If there is any intellectual value behind that diploma, they don't care. Also, because of how many universities there are, parents and students go "shopping" with the idea in mind of the quality of the facilities, percent of graduates, and how much financial aid would be able to cover the costs of university life. No one is really thinking about learning and the employers of the new graduates are less than impressed.
Some problems people will have in improving the situation is that professors can use their high status and knowledge of writing to speak out against any changes that would give them more responsibilities or a larger work load. It is not only the students that are trying to laze about. Students need to have a love of lifelong learning so that they actually put in effort to their classes whereas right now they don't have a sense of purpose. They aren't looking for what would be meaningful in life, but instead on what will help them to be well off financially. Guess which major had the lowest gains in learning? Business. Highest? Science and Math, closely followed by HUMANITIES/ ARTS (take that king arthur). Anyways here is an example of that generation that I so dispise
"I don't really have any goals for my future. What's the big deal about that? It would be fun to travel. I'd like that, especially if I could get someone to pay for it"Talk about boomerang generation. In some of their surveys, most students had never taken a course that cumulatively required them to write 20 pages or to read 40 pages a week. Not even 400 level clases. Instead a lot of the classes with titles relating to race, gender, sex, cinema, film or movie is what students were drawn towards.
The sad thing is that Universities used to be so much different. Dorms were built so that students would be able to live in a community where they are constantly enriching each others intellectual endeavors. All of student life was built around education. Now days, it is all about social life. How sad is that? It is fine for there to be activities and to give yourself a break, but if you are socializing more than you are studying, that is NOT what a university is all about. Thats what this retarded generation is about though. How sad.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
what you have become
I am really annoyed right now with a friend of mine who turns down jobs because they dont pay enough. I can see that if you were looking for a better paying job, but as he doesn't have one in the first place and is living with his parents... not doing a whole lot with his life, I think less money and some work is better than no money and being a freeloader. And he has for some time. It is more dignifying to work at Mcdonalds and bring in a bit of income instead of sitting there and letting your mom spoon feed you applesauce.
This got me to thinking. People who are "educated" think that merits them a well-paying job, but have you seen some of the kids on college lately? You know the "copy and paste" generation? but I guess this IS what the world wants. Have you seen the office? Its funny because its true. There is so much work delegation that people can slack and talk SO MUCH. In the more manual labor type jobs, there is no time for that. These people work their butt off and get maybe half the pay their bosses do. And this because the boss does the paperwork. Well sip on your lemonade mista overseer! I'll come an rub your legs right after I'm through harvesting your crops and doing your laundry, and cooking your dinner.
I have a lot more respect for people who work hard every day to SURVIVE instead of those who sit back and "make decisions" (they dont even have to be good ones *cough* king arthur) to live luxurious lifestyles. Dear Lord, Law of consecration PLEASE. Its a little communist sounding but I'm really sick of rich pricks and lazy bums.
The Boomerang Generation
This got me to thinking. People who are "educated" think that merits them a well-paying job, but have you seen some of the kids on college lately? You know the "copy and paste" generation? but I guess this IS what the world wants. Have you seen the office? Its funny because its true. There is so much work delegation that people can slack and talk SO MUCH. In the more manual labor type jobs, there is no time for that. These people work their butt off and get maybe half the pay their bosses do. And this because the boss does the paperwork. Well sip on your lemonade mista overseer! I'll come an rub your legs right after I'm through harvesting your crops and doing your laundry, and cooking your dinner.
I have a lot more respect for people who work hard every day to SURVIVE instead of those who sit back and "make decisions" (they dont even have to be good ones *cough* king arthur) to live luxurious lifestyles. Dear Lord, Law of consecration PLEASE. Its a little communist sounding but I'm really sick of rich pricks and lazy bums.
The Boomerang Generation
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Sovereignty
Well history seems to be all about imperialism at times. Very negative. People claim to "discover" places already inhabited by a people. And then they make it their own.
Prime example that I've been learning about...
HAWAII
I could get over it but...
there are still some elitest haoles that think that their race is better
or their race was better, and thats why they "won" possession of the land.
HAHA good one king arthur...
anyways, here are a few things you all should look into
and please read the comments after this article
http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/hawaiinews/20110123_Smaller_projects_progress_in_Laie.html
and then tell me that saying "haole" is being racist.
Prime example that I've been learning about...
HAWAII
I could get over it but...
there are still some elitest haoles that think that their race is better
or their race was better, and thats why they "won" possession of the land.
HAHA good one king arthur...
anyways, here are a few things you all should look into
and please read the comments after this article
http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/hawaiinews/20110123_Smaller_projects_progress_in_Laie.html
and then tell me that saying "haole" is being racist.
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