A couple of Plato's beliefs

"...he believed, and demonstrated, that educators must have a deep care for the well-being and future of those they work with."

This was Plato's philosophy on education. I completely agree with this and this is part of what I wanted to talk about in my philosophy essay. Educator's are one of the biggest influences on one's education.

"...knowledge will not come from teaching but from questioning."

A student will not learn just from listening to a teacher teach. To really learn something, a student must ask questions. That is how we learn.

A response to statement 7

7. To allow an innocent child to suffer needlessly when one could easily prevent it is morally reprehensible.

I disagree with this statement. I believe its important to let a child suffer sometimes because that is how they learn. If a child asks for something that they really want, like a toy, it's important that that person does not give in to that all the time. I nanny for three children and one time we were going on a walk and one of the boys said he wanted to run. I told him it was not a good idea because he was in sandals. He said he wanted to anyways. I told him it was his decision. He ended up falling and scrapping his knee. I knew that was probably going to happen but by just telling him that it wasn't a good idea would not have been enough to convince him. Most times, kids have to learn things on their own by making their own mistakes. It is difficult to watch a child suffer but that is life and children need to learn that sometimes life is hard.

Why Rush

I am at the point in my life where I am supposed to be planning my future, deciding the best place to go to college, picking a major, blah, blah, blah. I was planning on going to Northern Michigan University only because that was the first school I had gotten in to and they had a good nursing program which is what I originally wanted to major in. I had applied to a few schools, but none of them really stuck out to me. Over spring break, I went to San Diego. I had a lot of time to sit and watch the waves and think about my life. I realized that there was always a way out. I thought I was stuck and didn’t really know what to do. I researched on google for travel abroad programs which is when I saw this great program in Israel for kids who wanted to take a break between high school and college. It was the perfect solution. There are a few academic classes I will have to take, but it’s mostly volunteering and hands on activities. I have never been much of an academic person. I have confidence in a lot of things, and academics is just not one of them. Almost everyone in my school goes to college right after high school so I felt pressured to do the same thing but then I stopped, stepped back, and thought why rush?

Why all the pink? #1

I am currently reading "Cinderella Ate my Daughter." for my Issues in America class. So far, I love the book. It explains so much. Have you ever thought to think that princesses had a bad influence on one's kids? Until I read this book, I didn't even think of it. If one payed really close attention to disney princess movies and books, one would realize the terrible message it sends to girls. We all know that Ariel sacrificed her voice to fall in love with a prince she's never even met because that was the way to live happily ever after. Or when Cinderella didn't have anything to wear to the ball where she was going to go fall in love with a man that she has never met, her fairy godmother came and granted her every wish. Is that really the message people should be sending to their kids? I understand that disney princesses are kind of hard to avoid. They are everywhere and even if a mother doesn't overwhelm their kids with pink, princesses, and princes, they are going to hear it from their friends or their friend's mothers. Ever since I started reading this book, i've been trying to think of a way to get rid of these influences, and the author, Peggy Orenstein, said there already was a solution, American Girl Dolls. Instead of buying your daughter a barbie or a princess, get her an American Girl Doll. These dolls are realistic to what is going on in the world. There is an African American, Indian, homeless, jewish, etc. But why are mothers still buying barbies and princesses more than these dolls? Well, these dolls are about $110 and why would parents buy that when you can buy a barbie for $5. A lot of parents found it to be a great lesson to their daughters but the girls can't take their eyes off the outfits and the salon long enough to look at their dolls history.

Nineteen Minutes Blog Post #2

Peter Houghton's best friend is Josie Cormier. Josie succumbed to peer pressure and joined the "popular crowd." The popular crowd are the ones who instigates the harresment against Peter. One final incedent pushes Peter over the edge and leads him to commit an act of violence. This book takes us back to the past a lot, showing us the relationship Josie and Peter used to have. They used to be best friends. Now, because of Peter being bullied all the time and Josie joining the "popular crowd," they had drfted apart. Josie went into a comma after the shooting and woke up 24 hours later. She claimed she didn't remember anything. Her boyfriend, Matt was the only one in the shooting who was shot twice.When her mother, Alex, who is a judge told Josie that Matt was killed, Josie was devastated. Later on in the book, I got suspicious because Matt was the only one who was shot twice and Josie never really seemed very happy with Matt and the people she hung out with. When Josie was found unconsious on the locker room floor, she was found laying next to Matt who was dead.

Abortion

On the organization's, National Right to Life website they show the baby on an ultrasound growing from month to month. I do not believe they should have this on their website. It would just guilt a woman into not having an abortion. A woman is already going through a lot by having to make this decision but to show this is just guilting them even more. They also talk about the complications they can happen from having an abortion but they refuse to talk about the fact that most woman who undergo an abortion have no complication whatsoever. The pro-choice website lays out everything very well. They do not hide anything about having an abortion and it gives a woman places where they can go to talk or a hotline to call to find a doctor or clinic where they can have an abortion. As a 17 year old, I believe parents do not have the right to know if their child is having an abortion. They do not have the right to consent to it. Now that their child has had sex and is now pregnant they are now an adult and can make their own decisions. If they made the decision not to use contraceptives while having sex, then they can make the decision on whether or not to have an a abortion. If they were adult enough to have sex, then they are adult enough to make their own decisions.
I believe that the father of the child is allowed to have an opinion but overall it is the womans decision because it is her body and she gets to decide what she wants to do with it. I would hope that a woman would take her husband or boyfriend's opinion into account when making that kind of decision but in the end, it is her decision and if she does not want to hear his opinion, she does not have to.
I agree with Illinois's law saying that a woman should be able to make her own decision on having an abortion. Something I disagree with is some Insurance companies including medicad will not pay for a woman to have an abortion. Why should having an abortion be any different from having an appendectamy? It is needed by the person either way.

Speech Codes on Campus

The article, Jim Crow on Fraternity Row, is very disturbing to read about. It is horrifying to hear that these college students were using very offensive and disruptive conduct. The pictures showed them painted black and dressed up like the KKK, pretending to hang "black" people. This kind of behavior should be outlawed at the school because it is very offensive to the point where it disrupts people's lives. I believe these kids knew exactly what they were doing and they knew it would be offensive to people. I don't believe they were trying to make a point, they were just trying to get on people's nerves. Their actions also threatens  the lives of any student on campus. By putting a rope around a "black" persons neck, it promotes a threat to any black person on campus. There are certain restrictions to freedom of speech.
At the University of Oregon, their speech code says that any harassment or speech because of another person's race, gender, color, national origin, age, religion, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, or veteran status is strictly prohibited.