Campus Life

My own thoughts

A part of being a college student in this day and age allows us to have this ability to think outside the box. To bring new ideas and insights to a thought process that makes people think differently; or in some cases have people tell us that our ideas are  ludicrous. We have grown up in a generation where there have been many technological and medical advances, terrorism, poverty, wars, new laws, and we have also been witness to the tensions amongst the Democrats and Republicans grow to a point where they don’t listen to what the others are saying. They assume that because it is coming from a different party, that the odds are it isn’t a good idea. This also goes for people in their own party. If a member of the Republican Party says something (or vice a versa with a Democrat), then the rest agree with it; now I know this isn’t always true. There are those people whom actually see things as they are but for the majority, this is true.

During last nights State of the Union address, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. Like puppets on a string, just waiting for their puppeteer to instruct them to stand up, I was able to witness half of the members of Congress stand up, after what seemed like every thought, and cheer. While they were standing, the other half remained emotionless in their seats, only on occasion showing some emotion in their face. I wish I could have been able to be inside the heads of those sitting down (whom were Democrats) just to hear what it was they were thinking.

Now,  I know that I don’t think like everybody else, and my thoughts may not make sense to some but they are my thoughts, they are my words. Some of them may come off as being rude, disrespectful, and even make me seem like an angry person, but I can assure you that they are by no way meant to cause harm to others. They are purely things that come across in my head. So as you continue on with reading my blog, please understand that I am simply just speaking my mind and the questions/comments that came to me last night as I watched The State of the Union address.

In one part of The State of the Union address, President Bush spoke about how we have been able to capture a number of leaders from Al Qaeda and Iraq. After he said this, like puppets people stood. At that moment, I spoke to the T.V. I said “But what about all of those that have lost their lives, whom are permanently injured, and the families that will never be the same. In my opinion, once the first person died in the attempts to make us “safer” and to catch the bad guys, we lost a battle with others and with ourselves. The way my mind looks at it is this way. On September 11^th we lost a lot of innocent lives due to a terrorist attack. It is something that will be debated over for years to come if it could have been prevented or not but one thing that we can all agree upon is that innocent lives were lost. Innocent lives are being lost now due to trying to capture the bad guys and to liberate Iraq. To me it is the same thing because innocent lives are being lost and it needs to stop.

Another thing that raised questions during the address was when the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was mentioned. I’m not sure if it the pessimistic, competitive, or real side of me but asking every kid to be equal is just not something that is doable. I understand and am for each child getting the best education that is possible for them, but we are not all equal in the sense of academics. We can’t ask a third grader whom is at a first grade level to be just like the kid next to him who is in third grade but can read at a fifth grade level. These tests add extra stress and anxiety upon students, teachers, and parents that when it comes test time people are at wits ends. Personally I feel as a society we are trying to make everybody equal that we are losing our diversity and what it means to win; to be the best.

For example. Growing up there were always just prizes for first, second and third place. At times there was the occasional extra award given because two kids were equal but that was it. Nowadays, at a competition every child is a winner and receives a prize. Or my favorite is when organizers say that every kid is a winner so awards don’t need to be given out. I am sorry but where is the fun in that for the kids who deserve a prize? Most people go into a competition wanting to be the best (I know I do). Winning develops character. Getting a most improved award doesn’t build character. Kids aren’t stupid when it comes to these things. We know what kids are the athletes and what kids aren’t. By trying to give each child an equal playing field, we are holding back the kids who can be better than what they are and we are adapting to kids who aren’t going to be the best by not giving them something to strive for.

Now I know that not everybody is going to agree with all that I said and I am ok with that. Part about living has to deal with people who have different view points upon life. I am not going to sit here and say you have to believe this, or you should believe that because that is not what I am about. All I want to do is to give you a different way to look at things. I could continue on with more from The State of the Union Address but I won’t. I think that just by some of the things I have written that you can figure out where it is I sit.