Mr. Compton and his crap

Me. Compton brought up some very valid points in his presentation and in his documentary, Two Million Minutes. However in his search to scare the hell out of Americans, he scewed and stetched his support and evidence so to the extreme, and in my opinion well out side the line of acceptability. The schools that are chosen in India and China are both public schools, Carmel High School is a public school. The city of Bangalore is the 3rd largest in India with over 5,000,000 inhabitants, thats quite the pick of the litter in my opinion for one school. The city of Shanghai has more that 14,000,000 inhabitants, way more than Bangalore and 217 times more than the number of people in Carmel, Indiana: 64,400. Granted I would have accepted the information if he had choosen two students from say New York Cities top preperatory school. Undoubtably the differences would be much more minute. Also the charter school visited in Shanghai is funded by a the Xiwai Corporation. If thats not biased than I don't know what is.

Christmas time is here.

I love Christmas time. Its the time of the year when everyone enjoys cpending their money. Its the time of the year where it starts to get a little chilly and then all of a sudden you wake up one morning and unexpectedly there is snow on the ground. Well, maybe not around here. Its the time of the year when the clothes begin to layer and the brains begin to fire on all cylinders for the imminent finals week. Coming from New York, where the Christmas meal is planed for a month in advance. Where there are more cookies than there are counter space to keep them. And where there are more cooks in the kitchen than there are cooks. Christmas time is when the world slows down a little at the end of the year, getting ready for the next one, bringing up the caboose of the holiday train. Christmas time is a time to reflect upon one's self and plan on what you could do differently or better for the next year, the next christmas.

Two weeks forward

There is only two more weeks left in this semester, and only this week is in actual class where next week is reserved for finals administration. This is the first time in a while that I'm both worried and calm. Im calm because I have actually cared about my grades, for the most part, for the whole semester (a task normally half-heartedly attempted however never accomplished) and have good grades to show for it. I am worried however because I have cared all semester and some kind of phenomena forces me to worry more and more with every passing day that goes without studying for my critical Bio Lab final the week I come back or the term paper due for English 1101. I am glad I have developed this uncanny "phenomena" to care about my grades and their outcomes because for the first time in my long standing academic career I feel like the grades actually represent an outcome in the immediate future. In four years these grades could either mean I go out and get a job, I get a nice job offer, or I continue my education at a higher level. Hopefully the care I have "cantracted" this year for my grades will play out for the next three years and if I'm lucky enough through the rest of my life.