Slovenia

The Wave 19/ March/ 08

“The past is never dead, it’s not even past.”

1) This quote means that the past is constantly repeating its’ self. I also believe that it means that the decisions that were  made in the past, affect us now in the future. So if we can see how problems were solved in the past , then we can most likely relate a current problem, to one of the past and see how it was solved.

2) The Wave is a perfect example of this quote. As Mr. Ross has created a 21st century “Nazi army.” I think that later on in the book, he will look back to see how the Nazis ended their reign of terror, and possibly use the same method, with his class.

3) There is not a direct connection that I can make from this quote to American history. People are constantly talking and arguing about history, but in the end of it, whether it be mistakes or great accomplishments we all learn our most valuable lessons from the past.

The Wave

“Laurie has noticed that non Wave members are being bullied into the Wave.”

1) I do not believe that I have ever been forced to do something totally against my will, but I do think that many people do get forced into doing something that we do not necessarily want to do. Peer pressure plays a huge role in this. “Oh common just do it, it’ll be funny,” is a phrase that you will hear  over and over again throughout your school life. Now, the Wave has turned into something where kids are being pressured into joining, or else they will be considered “outcasts.” Kind of like the loyalists and the patriots, the Patriots abused  the loyalists, and many loyalists ended up leaving. Maybe this will happen with the school, and those who do not wish to join the Wave.

2) I believe that it depends greatly on whether or not you should intervene if someone is being bullied. Ok, even though the counselor and most teachers are convinced that you should always intervene and “it really isn’t that hard to at least make an effort,” well, it is a lot harder than it looks. For example, sticking up for a person that you don’t even know is very difficult, and maybe you, yourself is scared because you don’t want to get involved with those people. The times when you should get involved, is if the bully or the victim is your friend. Then it makes it quite a lot easier.

3) Well, i pretty much answered this question in question 2, but I will try and add to it. Again, people should intervene if they are friends with anyone involved in the conflict, but personally, if I do not know the person then i probably would not bother, as I would not want to risk, a) making the problem bigger, or b) getting personally involved in the issue, where it becomes my problem as well.

Weekly Blog 3/March/08

Its funny how a whole week can pass by so quickly while completely forgetting about the past couple of days. So I’m going to try the best i can to remember what i did this week.

This week in class we talked and did a lot. One of the discussions we had was on power, and whether or not, it corrupts/ influences people. I think it totally influences people, but I’ve explained all that in my other blog post. I did learn quite a lot from writing that blog on power, it really made me think. It’s interesting that when a teacher gives you an assignment, that sounds boring and pointless, you do actually learn from it. Mr. R brought up a very interesting point in class one day. He said that he is beginning to think that you really do not learn about the important stuff in school, and that you do not pick up the skills that you need for the rest of your life. So I have been daydreaming about that lately. I have been thinking about school, and what would happen if there wasn’t any. It brought up the questions, is school really worth it? What do you actually learn at school? Like whether it be history, language arts, science or math, the teachers are all teaching it for a reason, but what reason? What is the message that all the teachers are trying to convey?  And that is really all that I want to say for this week. Maybe, hopefully, I will get some answers in the up coming week.

The Wave/ Power

“Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

I do agree with this quote. Of course power influences people, but many have different perspectives on what power actually is. To some, someone powerful is someone who is successful in what they do, while to others, someone who is admired, like a celebrity withholds a lot of power as well. I believe the quote can go either way, power can be influential, but someone who is influential also has power. That brings me to my next point, about absolute power corrupts absolutely. If someone has a lot of power, people usually will not have their opinions acknowledged, making a community biased. This would raise anger, and possibly even lead to war. Or, someone could have so much power and influence, that people will not know what is really right. Look what happened with Hitler and the holocaust. I am a strong believer in “everyone is equal,” therefor the power is balanced out, giving people their own opinion.

Today 21/ Feb/ 08

Today in class, we talked about a lot things. First of all, Mr. R asked us “why do we write.” We came up with the usual, to communicate, to reflect, and to express ourselves. He was trying to get us to understand the importance of writing, so that we would write more and get better at it. So Mr. R came up with this idea, to write a blog about a class that we had that day. Not too many people were happy with that idea, but hopefully we will benefit out of this and become better writers.  We also read a poem called Thoughts From Within. It was all about the problems that we all face, due to pollution and a growing economy, in which there is no love. In the poem they talked about Monsanto and Dupont, and that brings me to my next point, “what did I learn today.” I learned about Monsanto, and what it was. I had never heard about that company before, so it was interesting to hear about it. I have become quite interested in this company, so this would be a good topic to do personal research on. “What did I day dream about,” hmmm, if I were to answer that question, it would take all night, so i don’t think I’m going to answer that question today. Also, today in class i said all that I wanted to say.

My Goal

This is our first assignment on our new blogs. We have to give ourselves a goal, of what we would like to get out of using a blog.

By using a blog, I would like to become a better writer. I hope to get new ideas from seeing other people’s work and possibly experiment with other writing styles and techniques.

In June when I look at my blog, I look forward to seeing how I have improved in my writing. I think that if I continue to put my work on this blog throughout my school life, it will be very interesting to look back and see what my writing was like in 8th grade, and then how it has changed as I go through high school.