Malcolm Gladwell.
Outliers
Published: Hachette Audio 11/30/2008
Blink
Published: Little Brown and Company 1/31/2005
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Make a Big Difference
Publoshed: Back Bay Books 1/31/2002
Articles from
The New York Times
December 15, 2008
Annals of Education
Most Likely to Succeed
ANNALS OF EDUCATION about how to predict performance in teaching and football. On the day of the big football game between the University of Missouri Tigers and the Cowboys of Oklahoma State, a football scout named Don Shonka made his way through a videotape of the Tigers’ previous contest, against…
by Malcolm Gladwell
November 10, 2008
Annals of Business
The Uses of Adversity
ANNALS OF BUSINESS about Sidney Weinberg and Goldman Sachs. Sidney Weinberg was born in 1891, one of eleven children of Pincus Weinberg, a struggling Polish-born liquor wholesaler and bootlegger in Brooklyn. At sixteen, Sidney bluffed himself into a job assisting a janitor at Goldman Sachs brokerage firm, on Wall…
by Malcolm Gladwell
October 20, 2008
Annals of Culture
Late Bloomers
ANNALS OF CULTURE about late bloomers and prodigies. Writer tells about Ben Fountain, who left a position with a Dallas real-estate practice to write fiction. In his first year, he sold two stories, He gained confidence. He wrote a novel, which he ended up putting in a drawer. He…
by Malcolm Gladwell
May 12, 2008
Annals of Innovation
In the Air
ANNALS OF INNOVATION about Nathan Myhrvold’s Intellectual Ventures and the question of whether the insights of inventors can be engineered. Writer uses Alexander Graham Bell’s invention of the telephone as an example. Writer describes Nathan Myhrvold meeting the paleontologist Jack Horner on the set of the “Jurassic Park” sequel. They…
by Malcolm Gladwell
December 17, 2007
Books
None of the Above
BOOKS about James Flynn’s “What Is Intelligence?” and the I.Q. race gap. In November of 1984, James Flynn, a social scientist at the University of Otago, in New Zealand, received a package containing the results of I.Q. tests given to two generations of Dutch eighteen-year-olds. Flynn found something…
by Malcolm Gladwell
November 12, 2007
Dept. of Criminology
Dangerous Minds
DEPT. OF CRIMINOLOGY about the validity of criminal profiling. Describes the Mad Bomber case in the forties and fifties. Someone calling himself “F.P.” left pipe bombs and angry letters at Con Edison and other locations in New York. In 1956, detectives visited a Freudian psychiatrist named James Brussel, who profiled…
by Malcolm Gladwell
January 08, 2007
Dept. of Public Policy
Open Secrets
DEPT. OF PUBLIC POLICY about the mystery of the Enron debacle. Describes the sentencing of former Enron C.E.O. Jeffrey Skilling on October 23, 2006; he got the maximum sentence of 24 years. National-security expert Gregory Treverton has famously made a distinction between puzzles and mysteries. Osama bin Laden's whereabouts…
by Malcolm Gladwell
January 08, 2007
Dept. of Public Policy
Open Secrets
DEPT. OF PUBLIC POLICY about the mystery of the Enron debacle. Describes the sentencing of former Enron C.E.O. Jeffrey Skilling on October 23, 2006; he got the maximum sentence of 24 years. National-security expert Gregory Treverton has famously made a distinction between puzzles and mysteries. Osama bin Laden's whereabouts…
by Malcolm Gladwell
October 16, 2006
Annals of Entertainment
The Formula
ANNALS OF ENTERTAINMENT about the Epagogix neural-network system, which predicts a screenplay's box-office potential before the movie is made… Writer describes a lunch with Dick Copaken, a movie lover and retired Washington, D.C. lawyer. Copaken goes to two or three movies a week. He discusses the movie “Dear…
by Malcolm Gladwell
September 04, 2006
Comment
No Mercy
COMMENT about discretionary justice toward students. In 1925, a young American physicist was doing graduate work at Cambridge University, in England. Depressed, he decided to dose an apple with noxious chemicals and leave it on the desk of his tutor, Patrick Blackett. School officials found out and put the student…
by Malcolm Gladwell
August 28, 2006
Dept. of Human Resources
The Risk Pool
DEPT. OF HUMAN RESOURCES about pensions… Writer discusses the 1949 contract negotiations between Walter Reuther of the United Auto Workers (U.A.W.) and Charles E. Wilson, the president of General Motors. Wilson offered every G.M. employee health-care benefits and a pension. Reuther had his doubts. The labor movement believed that…
by Malcolm Gladwell
May 29, 2006
Books
Game Theory
BOOKS review of “The Wages of Wins” by David J. Berri, Martin B. Schmidt, and Stacey L. Brooks. The first player picked in the 1996 NBA draft was a slender, 6-foot guard from Georgetown University named Allen Iverson. In every year since 2000, he has been named to the…
by Malcolm Gladwell
May 22, 2006
Profiles
What the Dog Saw [ABSTRACT]
PROFILES of dog psychologist Cesar Millan. In the case of Sugar v. Forman, Cesar Millan knew none of the facts before arriving at the scene of the crime. His job was to reconcile Lynda and Ray Forman, of Mission Hills, California, with their dog, Sugar. Cesar is built like a…
by Malcolm Gladwell
April 10, 2006
Books
Here’s Why
BOOKS review of “Why?” by Charles Tilly… In “Why?” the Columbia University scholar Charles Tilly sets out to make sense of our reason for giving reasons. Tilly seeks to decode the structure of everyday social interaction, and the result is a book that forces readers to reexamine everything from the…
by Malcolm Gladwell
March 06, 2006
Audio
Age Before Beauty
[Audio]
by Malcolm Gladwell
February 13, 2006
Dept. of Social Services
Million-Dollar Murray [ABSTRACT]
DEPT.OF SOCIAL SERVICES about solutions to problems like homelessness, violent police officers and high-polluting cars. All three problems follow a power-law distribution when plotted statistically on a graph… Writer tells about Murray Barr, a homeless alcoholic man in Reno, Nevada. Two local police officers, Steve Johns and Patrick…
by Malcolm Gladwell
February 06, 2006
Annals of Public Policy
Troublemakers
ANNALS OF PUBLIC POLICY about pit bulls and racial profiling. One afternoon last February, Jayden Clairoux, Guy Clairoux's young son, and his wife, JoAnn Hartley, were attacked by three ferocious pit bulls in their neighborhood in Ottawa, Ontario. Five days later, the Ontario legislature banned the ownership of pit bulls…
by Malcolm Gladwell
October 10, 2005
A Critic at Large
Getting In
A CRITIC AT LARGE about Ivy League admissions. The writer describes his application to the University of Toronto. In 1905, Harvard College adopted the College Entrance Examination Board tests as the principal basis for admission, which meant that any academically-gifted student who could afford private college had a straightforward…
by Malcolm Gladwell
September 12, 2005
Letter from Saddleback
The Cellular Church
LETTER FROM SADDLEBACK about pastor Rick Warren, author of “The Purpose-Driven Life,” and head of the Saddleback Church, which thrives on a cellular, rather than a congregational structure… Tells about Warren renting out the Anaheim Angels baseball stadium to address the entire congregation of his church… Rick Warren is…
by Malcolm Gladwell
September 05, 2005
Annals of Technology
The Bakeoff [ABSTRACT]
ANNALS OF TECHNOLOGY about creating the ultimate cookie. Steve Gundrum launched Project Delta last fall. Gundrum runs Mattson, one of the country's foremost food research-and-development (R. & D.) firms, which is located in Silicon Valley. Mattson created Mrs. Fields Chocolate Chip Cookie and many more supermarket products. That evening…
by Malcolm Gladwell
August 29, 2005
Dept. of Public Policy
The Moral-Hazard Myth
DEPT. OF PUBLIC POLICY about the “moral-hazard” theory behind America's failed health-care system. Several years ago, 2 Harvard researchers, Susan Starr Sered and Rushika Fernandopulle, set out to interview people without health-care coverage for a book they were writing, “Uninsured in America.” They talked to as many…
by Malcolm Gladwell
May 16, 2005
Books
Brain Candy
BOOKS review of “Everything Bad is Good For You” by Steven Johnson… Twenty years ago, a political philosopher named James Flynn uncovered a curious fact. Americans-at least as measured by I.Q. tests-were getting smarter. What on earth is happening? In the wonderfully entertaining “Everything Bad is Good For…
by Malcolm Gladwell
January 03, 2005
Books
The Vanishing
BOOKS lead review of “Collapse” by Jared Diamond… Writer tells about the Norse settlements in Greenland, first founded about a thousand years ago, which died out after four hundred and fifty years… This story is told in Jared Diamond’s “Collapse: How Societies Choose To Fail or Succeed”… Diamond uses environmental…
by Malcolm Gladwell
December 13, 2004
Annals of Technology
The Picture Problem
ANNALS OF TECHNOLOGY about mammography, warfare and the limits of photographs and X-rays… Writer discusses the use of the LNATIRN navigation and targeting pod by U.S. fighter pilots in the first Gulf War. The LANTIRN was supposed to help the pilots locate mobile Scud missile launchers at night. After…
by Malcolm Gladwell
November 22, 2004
Annals of Culture
Something Borrowed
ANNALS OF CULTURE about plagiarism in writing and music, particularly the use by playwright Bryony Lavery of material from an article by Malcolm Gladwell … Writer tells about friends of psychologist Dorothy Lewis who had seen Lavery’s play “Frozen” and told her that she should see it. One of the characters…
by Malcolm Gladwell
November 08, 2004
Annals of Psychology
Getting Over It
ANNALS OF PSYCHOLOGY about Sloan Wilson’s 1955 novel “The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit” and changing ideas about emotional resilience in the face of trauma… “The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit” is about a public relations specialist who lives in the suburbs, works for a media company in…
by Malcolm Gladwell
October 25, 2004
A Critic at Large
High Prices
A CRITIC AT LARGE about prescription drug prices and the pharmaceutical industry… Writer discusses AstraZenaca’s “Shark Fin Project,” an attempt to avoid losing revenue when the patent for their successful heartburn drug Prilosec expired. They created a new drug called Nexium, which was a reengineering of Prilosec and which was…
by Malcolm Gladwell
September 20, 2004
Annals of Psychology
Personality Plus [ABSTRACT]
ANNALS OF PSYCHOLOGY about personality tests… Writer tells about Alexander (Sandy) Nininger, who was posthumously awarded the first Congressional Medal of Honor in the Second World War for feats of bravery during fighting in Bataan. Writer notes that there was no way to predict that Ninninger would turn into a…
by Malcolm Gladwell
September 06, 2004
Taste Technologies
The Ketchup Conundrum
TASTE TECHNOLOGIES about the World’s Best Ketchup. Years ago, French’s mustard dominated the supermarket shelves. In the early 1970s, the Heublein Company expertly marketed a Dijon mustard called Grey Poupon with sophisticated TV ads and sales leaped 40-50%, proving that the American consumer was willing to pay more as long…
by Malcolm Gladwell
March 15, 2004
Annals of Commerce
The Terrazzo Jungle
ANNALS OF COMMERCE about the evolution of shopping malls. Victor Gruen grew up in prewar Jewish Vienna, studying architecture at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. He emigrated to New York in 1938. As M. Jeffrey Hartwick recounts in “Mall Maker,” his new biography, Gruen began designing stores in New…
by Malcolm Gladwell
January 12, 2004
Commerce & Culture
Big and Bad [ABSTRACT]
COMMERCE & CULTURE about the S.U.V. boom and the way drivers conceive of road safety… Writer tells about the 1996 introduction of the Ford Expedition, a full-sized S.U.V. based on the F-150 pickup truck. Describes the different fuel efficiency and body construction requirements for trucks and cars. Tells about…
by Malcolm Gladwell
December 01, 2003
Comment
Institutional Health
Comment about a steroid-abuse scandal in the National Football League (N.F.L.). A few months ago, an anonymous coach sent a vial of clear liquid to the drug-testing laboratory at U.C.L.A., calling it the sporting world’s dirty little secret. The liquid was an anabolic steroid called tetrahydrogestrinone, or THG…
by Malcolm Gladwell
September 15, 2003
Comment
Making the Grade
Signed comment about the Bush administration's new educational reforms... The sweeping federal reforms this fall resemble the industrial-efficiency movement of the early twentieth century, when engineers argued that efficiency could be measured and managed. The "No Child Left Behind" act seeks to compel individual schools to make a hundred…
by Malcolm Gladwell
March 10, 2003
A Critic at Large
Connecting the Dots
A CRITIC AT LARGE review of "The Cell: Inside the 9/11 Plot, and Why the F.B.I. and C.I.A. Failed to Stop It" (Hyperion; $24.95) by John Miller, Michael Stone, and Chris Mitchell... Tells about the failure of Israeli intelligence to determine that Egypt and Syria were going to attack…
by Malcolm Gladwell
December 23, 2002
Comment
The Politics of Politesse
Signed comment about a recent Presidential niceness trend... After Carter, the trend line starts to move upward: we had the abundantly genial Ronald Reagan, with his jars of jelly beans; George H.W. Bush, the master of the handwritten thank-you note; and Bill Clinton, the most charming and prolix Presidential…
by Malcolm Gladwell
December 02, 2002
Books
Group Think
BOOKS lead review of "Live from New York" (Little, Brown; $25.95) by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller; “The Lunar Men” (Farrar, Straus & Giroux; $30) by Jenny Uglow; “A Great Silly Grin” (Public Affairs; $27.50) by Humphrey Carpenter…
by Malcolm Gladwell
August 12, 2002
Books
Political Heat
BOOKS lead review of "Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago" (Chicago; $27.50) by Eric Klinenberg... The subject of the book is the July, 1995 heat wave that lasted for a long week... As the air mass settled on the city, cars began to overheat and stall…
by Malcolm Gladwell
August 05, 2002
Annals of Psychology
The Naked Face [ABSTRACT]
ANNALS OF PSYCHOLOGY about reading people’s facial expressions. Some years ago, John Yarbrough was working patrol for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. It was about two in the morning. He and his partner approached a parked car and, suddenly, a man jumped out of the passenger side and pointed…
by Malcolm Gladwell
July 22, 2002
Dept. of Human Resources
The Talent Myth
DEPT. OF HUMAN RESOURCES about the corporate culture at Enron, and how it was affected by advisors from McKinsey & Company... In the modern corporation, the system is considered only as strong as its stars, and, in the past few years, this message has been preached by consultants and management gurus…
by Malcolm Gladwell
May 27, 2002
A Critic at Large
The Televisionary
A CRITIC AT LARGE about new biographies of the inventor of television, Philo T. Farnsworth... Farnsworth’s business nemesis [David] Sarnoff of RCA lived in an enormous Upper East Side mansion and smoked fat cigars and travelled by chauffeured limousine. Sarnoff’s top television researcher was Vladimir Zworykin, the scion of a…
by Malcolm
April 22, 2002
Dept. of Finance
Blowing Up [ABSTRACT]
DEPT. OF FINANCE about Wall Street analyst Nassim Nicholas Taleb... Writer describes a visit Taleb made to the lavish estate of money manager Victor Niederhoffer... Niederhoffer had a huge and eclectic library and a seemingly insatiable desire for knowledge... There was just one problem, however, and it is the key…
by Malcolm Gladwell
March 25, 2002
Books
The Social Life of Paper
BOOKS lead review of "The Myth of the Paperless Office" (M.I.T.; $24.95) by Abigail Sellen and Richard Harper; and "Scrolling Forward: Making Sense of Documents in the Digital Age" (Arcade; $24.95) by David M. Levy... Writer describes air-traffic control, which depends on computers and radar. It also…
by Malcolm Gladwell
December 17, 2001
A Critic at Large
Examined Life
A CRITIC AT LARGE about Stanley H. Kaplan and his business of preparing students for the Scholastic Aptitude Test… In 1946, a high-school junior named Elizabeth, from Coney Island, came to him for help on an exam he was unfamiliar with. It was called the Scholastic Aptitude Test…
by Malcolm Gladwell
November 26, 2001
Annals of Technology
Smaller [ABSTRACT]
ANNALS OF TECHNOLOGY about the evolution of disposable diapers… Writer dissects the Huggies Untratrim disposable diaper… Writer describes quality control at the Kimberly-Clark plant in Wisconsin where Huggies are made… Tells about Moore’s Law which predicted that the number of transistors that engineers could fit onto a microchip would…
by Malcolm Gladwell
October 29, 2001
Contagions
The Scourge You Know
Signed talk story about influenza… Writer describes how difficult it is to use anthrax as a biological weapon, and how easy it is to counter smallpox… Writer suggests that the best possible thing to worry about is the influenza virus, which routinely kills tens of thousands of Americans every year…
by Malcolm Gladwell
September 17, 2001
Comment
Operation Rescue
Signed comment about American teen-pregnancy rates and sex education... Writer briefly discusses engineering improvements in cars which have led to lower injury rates in accidents… Suppose… that, instead of focussing on the legality of abortion, we focussed on the number of abortions in this country. That’s the kind of…
by Malcolm Gladwell
September 10, 2001
The Sporting Scene
Drugstore Athlete [ABSTRACT]
THE SPORTING SCENE about the use of performance-enhancing drugs by athletes… Tells about East German swimmer Christiane Knacke-Sommer, who won a bronze medal at the 1980 Moscow Olympics… Tells about a new book on the East German sports establishment, "Faust’s Gold," by Steven Ungerleider… Anabolic steroids have been…
by Malcolm Gladwell
July 30, 2001
Dept. of Motor Vehicles
Free Lizzie!
Signed talk story explaining how an incident involving the injury of sixteen people on a sidewalk could’ve been an accident... In the early morning of July 7th, thirty-year-old publicist Lizzie Grubman backed her father’s brand-new Mercedes-Benz S.U.V. into a crowd outside a Southampton night club, injuring…
by Malcolm Gladwell
July 16, 2001
Books
Super Friends
BOOKS lead review of "A Passion to Win" (Simon & Schuster; $26) by Sumner Redstone with Peter Knobler... [It] is an account of a man’s rise to the top of a multibillion-dollar media empire... But mostly it is a story about the value of friendship, about how very, very…
by Malcolm Gladwell
July 02, 2001
Annals of Public Health
The Mosquito Killer [ABSTRACT]
ANNALS OF PUBLIC HEALTH about Fred Soper, DDT, and malaria eradication efforts… Describes the discovery in the late nineteen-thirties of DDT by chemist Paul Müller for the J.R. Geigy company, in Switzerland… Describes how typhus and malaria were devastating American troops overseas during the Second World War… Under conditions…
by Malcolm Gladwell
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
What is Success?
Monica Davis
"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing." Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865) "It is possible to fail in many ways...while to succeed is possible only in one way." Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC) "The person who makes a success of living is the one who see his goal steadily and aims for it unswervingly. That is dedication." Cecil B. DeMille (1881 - 1959) Success has been pondered upon for centuries in the past and for centuries to come. From BC to AD there is still a search for a definition to the word success. How do you measure success? Can you physically lay it out and determine its length with a ruler? Can you pour it in a beaker and mark off a point of volume? Can you put on a scale and give a weight? The problem with figuring out who is really successful is determining what factors it should mostly be based on.
Success is such an abstract word that there is some difficulty in trying to explain the meaning of it. Seemingly, a word like success can be defined by explaining what it is as well as what it is not. To be successful you need to have an idea of what the word means. For some civilizations it is how long you are remembered and for others it is how much you have in the bank.
Success can be described in many different ways which make it confusing to determine who is successful or not. Often people think success is all about the money, while failing to look at other aspects of the word and the road it takes to get there. It can be interchanged with accomplished or prosperous, but neither of those words quite brings about the feeling as the actual word success. Success should be described by its background. The journey it took to get to that high position. Being successful can be looked at as having a couple of components contributing to the ladder you climb to be recognized as a successful person.
They say success is wealth and acclaim, but success is not based on money. Although, sometimes it does come with those things, it's not what it is always perceived to be. Universally wealth is a number one part of being successful, however having a million dollars does not make a person successful. Everyone would like to be rich, but it is not the defining factor of success. If a kid wants to become a drug lord and becomes it then he is successful. He’s rich isn’t he? So would he be considered a successful man?
To be successful there must first be a goal to reach. If a person does not want to be anything in life then he cannot be successful. There has to be something to work towards to realize the point of success. All effort has to be directed to this goal if it really means something. Sacrifices are made for this, risks are taken, and knowledge has to be gained in the process. When you are persistent in hard work, adrenaline can only be added to keep the progression going until the end of the road. When X marks the spot the arrow should be aimed directly at it, and when goal marks the spot, the aim should be directed at it. If you have no goal to set or reach, you cannot be successful. Think of this as playing soccer. If there is no goal to kick the ball into, what is the point of playing the game? There can be no winner. So, with no goal in the game of life there won’t be any success.
Determination and motivation are other aspects of being successful. If a person does not want something it will not be. Sometimes by chance or luck you might get your big break, but with no will to proceed the buck stops at some point. In order to be determined to reach a goal, something has to give you motivation. There has to be a force that drives the passion to make you strive for what you want. A self investment has to be made when no one else will contribute to the assertion to keep you going. Influences of your surroundings can make you want to be more than what you see. When you look at what a person has come from and where he is now, so much can be learned. A rich person is a rich person. But a rich person who does something, one that is determined and motivated to do something is a successful rich person.
A successful person is a leader that clearly has self-confidence and has their head held up high. It involves holding a position of prestige in whatever the field of work chosen. Soaring well beyond the normal standards and not settling for anything less than what you want to show what you are all about. Lazy people are not the ones at the top of their game; and if they some how get there, they won't stay there for long. Star quality makes a person successful. You are not expected to fall off the bandwagon as a leader. This has to be worked on. Leaders were once followers at some point, but successful followers become leaders.
Take Fantasia for example. She was given a big break by American Idol, but still it took so much determination to get as big as she has gotten. She loved to sing and set forth for her American Idol audition with a goal in mind. She made many sacrifices, learned the music business, and earned her respect. She had confidence in herself to know that she was something. She looked at the unfulfilled life she was living and was motivated to do something to get out of it. She pulled herself by her boot straps and made the first step, which led to the next step, which led her to success.
Everyone would like to be successful one day, but in order to be successful you have to have a clear vision of the idea and work towards it. Success is the determination to attain the telos of the goal set before you. Wealth can be attained through inheritance, but to be successful there has to be work involved. Determination has to be put into action. The ultimate strive of success should be happiness. It involves goals, motivation, determination, and leadership skills that lead to being happy. "He who met or accomplished gratifying results as an active player in the game we call life has given the word success meaning." Monica Davis
Monica Davis
"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing." Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865) "It is possible to fail in many ways...while to succeed is possible only in one way." Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC) "The person who makes a success of living is the one who see his goal steadily and aims for it unswervingly. That is dedication." Cecil B. DeMille (1881 - 1959) Success has been pondered upon for centuries in the past and for centuries to come. From BC to AD there is still a search for a definition to the word success. How do you measure success? Can you physically lay it out and determine its length with a ruler? Can you pour it in a beaker and mark off a point of volume? Can you put on a scale and give a weight? The problem with figuring out who is really successful is determining what factors it should mostly be based on.
Success is such an abstract word that there is some difficulty in trying to explain the meaning of it. Seemingly, a word like success can be defined by explaining what it is as well as what it is not. To be successful you need to have an idea of what the word means. For some civilizations it is how long you are remembered and for others it is how much you have in the bank.
Success can be described in many different ways which make it confusing to determine who is successful or not. Often people think success is all about the money, while failing to look at other aspects of the word and the road it takes to get there. It can be interchanged with accomplished or prosperous, but neither of those words quite brings about the feeling as the actual word success. Success should be described by its background. The journey it took to get to that high position. Being successful can be looked at as having a couple of components contributing to the ladder you climb to be recognized as a successful person.
They say success is wealth and acclaim, but success is not based on money. Although, sometimes it does come with those things, it's not what it is always perceived to be. Universally wealth is a number one part of being successful, however having a million dollars does not make a person successful. Everyone would like to be rich, but it is not the defining factor of success. If a kid wants to become a drug lord and becomes it then he is successful. He’s rich isn’t he? So would he be considered a successful man?
To be successful there must first be a goal to reach. If a person does not want to be anything in life then he cannot be successful. There has to be something to work towards to realize the point of success. All effort has to be directed to this goal if it really means something. Sacrifices are made for this, risks are taken, and knowledge has to be gained in the process. When you are persistent in hard work, adrenaline can only be added to keep the progression going until the end of the road. When X marks the spot the arrow should be aimed directly at it, and when goal marks the spot, the aim should be directed at it. If you have no goal to set or reach, you cannot be successful. Think of this as playing soccer. If there is no goal to kick the ball into, what is the point of playing the game? There can be no winner. So, with no goal in the game of life there won’t be any success.
Determination and motivation are other aspects of being successful. If a person does not want something it will not be. Sometimes by chance or luck you might get your big break, but with no will to proceed the buck stops at some point. In order to be determined to reach a goal, something has to give you motivation. There has to be a force that drives the passion to make you strive for what you want. A self investment has to be made when no one else will contribute to the assertion to keep you going. Influences of your surroundings can make you want to be more than what you see. When you look at what a person has come from and where he is now, so much can be learned. A rich person is a rich person. But a rich person who does something, one that is determined and motivated to do something is a successful rich person.
A successful person is a leader that clearly has self-confidence and has their head held up high. It involves holding a position of prestige in whatever the field of work chosen. Soaring well beyond the normal standards and not settling for anything less than what you want to show what you are all about. Lazy people are not the ones at the top of their game; and if they some how get there, they won't stay there for long. Star quality makes a person successful. You are not expected to fall off the bandwagon as a leader. This has to be worked on. Leaders were once followers at some point, but successful followers become leaders.
Take Fantasia for example. She was given a big break by American Idol, but still it took so much determination to get as big as she has gotten. She loved to sing and set forth for her American Idol audition with a goal in mind. She made many sacrifices, learned the music business, and earned her respect. She had confidence in herself to know that she was something. She looked at the unfulfilled life she was living and was motivated to do something to get out of it. She pulled herself by her boot straps and made the first step, which led to the next step, which led her to success.
Everyone would like to be successful one day, but in order to be successful you have to have a clear vision of the idea and work towards it. Success is the determination to attain the telos of the goal set before you. Wealth can be attained through inheritance, but to be successful there has to be work involved. Determination has to be put into action. The ultimate strive of success should be happiness. It involves goals, motivation, determination, and leadership skills that lead to being happy. "He who met or accomplished gratifying results as an active player in the game we call life has given the word success meaning." Monica Davis
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Teens and Cosmetic Surgery
Teens and Cosmetic Surgery
Monica Davis
Over three hundred and thirty-three thousand people had cosmetic surgery in 2005, and all of those patients were under the age of 18. The number of young women under 18 that have implants have tripled within the last five years. When you think of cosmetic surgery you usually don't think about teenagers. Most of the time you would think about older people and celebrities trying to stall the effects of aging, but now more and more teenagers have been getting cosmetic surgery in recent years. It is a growing trend around the US, and oddly but commonly given as birthday or graduation gifts. There used to be a time when people were not up front about having cosmetic work done, but now people are more open about having cosmetic surgery. Thanks to television shows that admire cosmetic procedures, the industry has skyrocketed and even more so now with teenagers.
Teenagers under the age of eighteen must have parental consent to have the surgery; however parents should not give in to their child's demands to change his or her appearance. There are so many risks involved in cosmetic surgery that teenagers should not jeopardize themselves to face, just because they think their nose is too big or too pointy. Some people may ask what if the teen has a physical birth defect, or due to an accident some part of their body is deformed or missing? There is a difference in the type of surgery to fix this type of problem called reconstructive surgery, which is ok. Cosmetic surgery is only to alter a part of the body a person is not happy with no apparent physical defect.
Those in favor of cosmetic surgery in teenagers say that parents should listen to their children when they talk about being unhappy about their appearances. Some parents think that a nose reshaping or breast enhancement will make a teen feel better about herself. Technology is much more advanced than it was years ago, and many parents say why not, it’s safer. If it will give their child confidence then it is worth the risks. “The fact is social development during the teen years is of the highest importance and even though having low self-esteem can have many underlying factors, sometimes these issues are purely aesthetic,” says the Cosmetic Plastic Surgery & Beauty Network. Teens are more informed, knowledgeable, and understand the risks that come with it. Parents that have given in to allowing their child to have cosmetic surgery believe their child is responsible enough to make his or her own decisions. As long as it isn’t hurting anyone then why should other people care? Sadly enough appearance matters a lot in society. When people go to work they are expected to look a certain way. Bosses expect employees to look neat, to have combed hair, and so on. Combing your hair and cosmetic surgery are not the same thing, but if a teen is very unhappy with her appearance then she should be able to change it to feel comfortable in the real world. Social acceptance is an important role in the teen years and it is hard to overlook the big imperfections of your body. Some follow the saying “no pain, no gain,” which means they believe beauty is painful have no opposition in it no matter what age.
Some parts of a teenager’s body haven't grown or aren't proportionate with the rest of the body. This may change as the person gets older. Teenagers are still developing, so it is normal for most teenagers to have discomfort with their body. Growth charts show average girl between eighteen and twenty-one gain weight and their desire for cosmetic surgery may decrease. Parts of our body, such as our nose, may seem too large now, but it may just need time for the rest of our body to grow proportionally. Throughout teen years, a person’s body continues to grow. Getting cosmetic surgery at a young age leaves no time to find out if your body would have eventually been proportionate. The surgery may not have been necessary. It is not a good idea to choose cosmetic surgery as a first option when you feel uncomfortable with your appearance.
Going under the knife should be avoided, especially at a young age if Teenagers are still developing and no one really knows the long term affects this type of surgery will have on them. Few studies have been conducted to evaluate risks of these procedures in the future. Some of the most common types of cosmetic surgery are implants, nose reshaping, and liposuction. Economic costs of implants are considerably high since health insurance companies hardly pay for cosmetic surgery. Implants usually last only about ten years. So the teen would need to have several surgeries throughout her lifetime. It is very important to understand the risks involved with cosmetic surgery. Studies show that most women have at least one serious problem within the first three years with their implants. Sometimes women have their implants removed due to pain. Another reason they get their implants removed is because they are not compatible with their body. This leaves her parents paying for something she no longer has, thus becoming a financial burden. What if you are not satisfied with the outcome of the surgery? You’ve just spent a lot of money on something you are not happy with. Surgeons cannot guarantee you 100 percent satisfaction on a cosmetic surgery. If the surgery is displeasing then you would need more surgery to fix the problem, if you have enough money to do so.
There is a long process to go through before a teen can have the procedure done. Most surgeons have a screening process where they take the time to interview teens and their patients to make sure they are physically and emotionally mature enough to handle the surgery. They want to know that the teen is doing it for the right reason. Teens often times get cosmetic surgery to fit in and be accepted by other people, but this is not the reason to get cosmetic surgery. Teens’ expectations from the surgery sometimes are unrealistic such as to please a boyfriend or to make their clothes fit better. These are not reasons for such a drastic procedure. Teenagers just look at the positive aspects and of cosmetic surgery and fail to weigh the risks and benefits soundly. Sometimes a teen’s obsession with her appearance may be due to a psychological problem called BDD (Body Dysmorphic Disorder) and in these cases they should seek mental health instead of resorting to cosmetic surgery. Even with the procedure they may still be unhappy. All teenagers are concerned about their appearance and most are going to be unhappy about some part of their body. Cosmetic surgery is not a quick fix to the problem. Also, the recovery process of cosmetic surgery is not quick and easy. Often, people forget about the time it takes to heal after surgery which can be long and painful. Depending on the type of procedure you had it could take weeks to heal.
Serious risks of cosmetic surgery, especially with liposuction, or any surgery carry the chance of infection, damage to skin, nerves or vital organs, blood clots that could move to other parts of the body leading to death, or excessive fluid loss which can also lead to death. Let’s remember that cosmetic surgery is a complete voluntary, yet unnecessary procedure that could potentially put a life at risk. However skilled a surgeon might be, there are always the chances of something going wrong during surgery.
An eighteen year old college freshman from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania named Amy Fledderman died after having liposuction on her chin, abdominal area and flanks. A blood vessel in her neck was severed and the medication she was given caused an allergic reaction. She lie on the table for two hours, and an ambulance was not called until she was nearly dead. Two days later, while she was in the hospital, she died. Another eighteen year old, this time a high school senior in Florida, died from complications in her cosmetic surgery. After about two hours into her surgery, Stephanie Kuleba was rushed to Delray Medical Center where she later died within twenty-four hours. Her surgery was breast augmentation. The believed cause of death was malignant hyperthermia, which can be triggered by anesthesia. Donda West, the mother of Kanye West, died after having a breast reduction and a tummy tuck. She suffered from uncontrollable bleeding after the surgery. As sad and tragic as all of these stories may be, it can happen to anyone. No one is excluded from the unnecessary risks involved in cosmetic surgery.
Are teenagers really mature enough to put their lives in their own hands by choosing to have cosmetic surgery? These procedures are purely by choice, and teenagers should not have the option of having these procedures. With any surgery there are several risks, so why would a parent selectively put her child up to those risks? There is no guarantee that things will turn out the way you want them to. Teens should not have cosmetic surgery because most of the time they are in the here and now moment instead of thinking about the long run. Problems of confidence and self-esteem can be solved in ways other than resorting to going under the knife. If death can be the outcome of something you chose to do, why do teens need to be put in that position? Who’s to say that you won’t end up liking your nose? You may become proportioned with more time to develop, but with cosmetic surgery you risk the chance of looking worse if it doesn’t go well. Who wants to end up dead on the cutting table because of the necessity to have the perfect face? Everyone has imperfections. As a teenager myself, I know I have flaws, but I would not take those risks to fix them. Cosmetic surgery on teenagers is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration, nor should it be approved by parents to allow their child to have it.
Monica Davis
Over three hundred and thirty-three thousand people had cosmetic surgery in 2005, and all of those patients were under the age of 18. The number of young women under 18 that have implants have tripled within the last five years. When you think of cosmetic surgery you usually don't think about teenagers. Most of the time you would think about older people and celebrities trying to stall the effects of aging, but now more and more teenagers have been getting cosmetic surgery in recent years. It is a growing trend around the US, and oddly but commonly given as birthday or graduation gifts. There used to be a time when people were not up front about having cosmetic work done, but now people are more open about having cosmetic surgery. Thanks to television shows that admire cosmetic procedures, the industry has skyrocketed and even more so now with teenagers.
Teenagers under the age of eighteen must have parental consent to have the surgery; however parents should not give in to their child's demands to change his or her appearance. There are so many risks involved in cosmetic surgery that teenagers should not jeopardize themselves to face, just because they think their nose is too big or too pointy. Some people may ask what if the teen has a physical birth defect, or due to an accident some part of their body is deformed or missing? There is a difference in the type of surgery to fix this type of problem called reconstructive surgery, which is ok. Cosmetic surgery is only to alter a part of the body a person is not happy with no apparent physical defect.
Those in favor of cosmetic surgery in teenagers say that parents should listen to their children when they talk about being unhappy about their appearances. Some parents think that a nose reshaping or breast enhancement will make a teen feel better about herself. Technology is much more advanced than it was years ago, and many parents say why not, it’s safer. If it will give their child confidence then it is worth the risks. “The fact is social development during the teen years is of the highest importance and even though having low self-esteem can have many underlying factors, sometimes these issues are purely aesthetic,” says the Cosmetic Plastic Surgery & Beauty Network. Teens are more informed, knowledgeable, and understand the risks that come with it. Parents that have given in to allowing their child to have cosmetic surgery believe their child is responsible enough to make his or her own decisions. As long as it isn’t hurting anyone then why should other people care? Sadly enough appearance matters a lot in society. When people go to work they are expected to look a certain way. Bosses expect employees to look neat, to have combed hair, and so on. Combing your hair and cosmetic surgery are not the same thing, but if a teen is very unhappy with her appearance then she should be able to change it to feel comfortable in the real world. Social acceptance is an important role in the teen years and it is hard to overlook the big imperfections of your body. Some follow the saying “no pain, no gain,” which means they believe beauty is painful have no opposition in it no matter what age.
Some parts of a teenager’s body haven't grown or aren't proportionate with the rest of the body. This may change as the person gets older. Teenagers are still developing, so it is normal for most teenagers to have discomfort with their body. Growth charts show average girl between eighteen and twenty-one gain weight and their desire for cosmetic surgery may decrease. Parts of our body, such as our nose, may seem too large now, but it may just need time for the rest of our body to grow proportionally. Throughout teen years, a person’s body continues to grow. Getting cosmetic surgery at a young age leaves no time to find out if your body would have eventually been proportionate. The surgery may not have been necessary. It is not a good idea to choose cosmetic surgery as a first option when you feel uncomfortable with your appearance.
Going under the knife should be avoided, especially at a young age if Teenagers are still developing and no one really knows the long term affects this type of surgery will have on them. Few studies have been conducted to evaluate risks of these procedures in the future. Some of the most common types of cosmetic surgery are implants, nose reshaping, and liposuction. Economic costs of implants are considerably high since health insurance companies hardly pay for cosmetic surgery. Implants usually last only about ten years. So the teen would need to have several surgeries throughout her lifetime. It is very important to understand the risks involved with cosmetic surgery. Studies show that most women have at least one serious problem within the first three years with their implants. Sometimes women have their implants removed due to pain. Another reason they get their implants removed is because they are not compatible with their body. This leaves her parents paying for something she no longer has, thus becoming a financial burden. What if you are not satisfied with the outcome of the surgery? You’ve just spent a lot of money on something you are not happy with. Surgeons cannot guarantee you 100 percent satisfaction on a cosmetic surgery. If the surgery is displeasing then you would need more surgery to fix the problem, if you have enough money to do so.
There is a long process to go through before a teen can have the procedure done. Most surgeons have a screening process where they take the time to interview teens and their patients to make sure they are physically and emotionally mature enough to handle the surgery. They want to know that the teen is doing it for the right reason. Teens often times get cosmetic surgery to fit in and be accepted by other people, but this is not the reason to get cosmetic surgery. Teens’ expectations from the surgery sometimes are unrealistic such as to please a boyfriend or to make their clothes fit better. These are not reasons for such a drastic procedure. Teenagers just look at the positive aspects and of cosmetic surgery and fail to weigh the risks and benefits soundly. Sometimes a teen’s obsession with her appearance may be due to a psychological problem called BDD (Body Dysmorphic Disorder) and in these cases they should seek mental health instead of resorting to cosmetic surgery. Even with the procedure they may still be unhappy. All teenagers are concerned about their appearance and most are going to be unhappy about some part of their body. Cosmetic surgery is not a quick fix to the problem. Also, the recovery process of cosmetic surgery is not quick and easy. Often, people forget about the time it takes to heal after surgery which can be long and painful. Depending on the type of procedure you had it could take weeks to heal.
Serious risks of cosmetic surgery, especially with liposuction, or any surgery carry the chance of infection, damage to skin, nerves or vital organs, blood clots that could move to other parts of the body leading to death, or excessive fluid loss which can also lead to death. Let’s remember that cosmetic surgery is a complete voluntary, yet unnecessary procedure that could potentially put a life at risk. However skilled a surgeon might be, there are always the chances of something going wrong during surgery.
An eighteen year old college freshman from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania named Amy Fledderman died after having liposuction on her chin, abdominal area and flanks. A blood vessel in her neck was severed and the medication she was given caused an allergic reaction. She lie on the table for two hours, and an ambulance was not called until she was nearly dead. Two days later, while she was in the hospital, she died. Another eighteen year old, this time a high school senior in Florida, died from complications in her cosmetic surgery. After about two hours into her surgery, Stephanie Kuleba was rushed to Delray Medical Center where she later died within twenty-four hours. Her surgery was breast augmentation. The believed cause of death was malignant hyperthermia, which can be triggered by anesthesia. Donda West, the mother of Kanye West, died after having a breast reduction and a tummy tuck. She suffered from uncontrollable bleeding after the surgery. As sad and tragic as all of these stories may be, it can happen to anyone. No one is excluded from the unnecessary risks involved in cosmetic surgery.
Are teenagers really mature enough to put their lives in their own hands by choosing to have cosmetic surgery? These procedures are purely by choice, and teenagers should not have the option of having these procedures. With any surgery there are several risks, so why would a parent selectively put her child up to those risks? There is no guarantee that things will turn out the way you want them to. Teens should not have cosmetic surgery because most of the time they are in the here and now moment instead of thinking about the long run. Problems of confidence and self-esteem can be solved in ways other than resorting to going under the knife. If death can be the outcome of something you chose to do, why do teens need to be put in that position? Who’s to say that you won’t end up liking your nose? You may become proportioned with more time to develop, but with cosmetic surgery you risk the chance of looking worse if it doesn’t go well. Who wants to end up dead on the cutting table because of the necessity to have the perfect face? Everyone has imperfections. As a teenager myself, I know I have flaws, but I would not take those risks to fix them. Cosmetic surgery on teenagers is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration, nor should it be approved by parents to allow their child to have it.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Uniforms in Public Schools
Seventy-five percent of all schools in America require their students to wear uniforms. The debate over school uniforms is complicated. Debates about the school uniforms in public schools have received much attention in the past years. Dress is conduct where it conveys messages about self and suggests countless qualities about identity, attitudes, values and moods. Whether uniforms should be worn at school is a matter of opinion.
Does it really matter what students wear to school? Some argue yes that school uniforms make students feel more safe and comfortable because they look like everybody else. Others argue no and that it suppresses students’ individuality and creativity.
In 1996 President Clinton endorsed school uniforms in public schools in his State of the Union Address beginning the controversy of whether or not students should be required to wear uniforms in public schools. He said “If it means teenagers will stop killing each other over designer jackets, then our public schools should be able to require students to wear school uniforms.” Since then he has been promoting school uniforms saying that “we must get violence out of our schools and we must put discipline and learning back in our schools.”
In today's society image is very important to students. Students' main concern should not be about his or her appearance. Some say that students should get into practice of making themselves polished and neat. In the corporate world looking professional is mandatory, why not start at an early age. A uniform does not necessarily consist of everyone wearing the same color top or bottom, however, the sole purpose of a uniform is to be able to identify a particular group of people associated with professionalism. Children in uniforms tend to take school more seriously and focus more on their learning.
Crimes in public schools are on the rise and the majority of these crimes are gang related. Schools report that uniforms decrease fighting and violence that arise over certain colors and arguments over fashionable clothes. Children are often ridiculed by other children because of the way they dress. When this happens children start to withdraw themselves from people, therefore, forming a poor behavioral habit and failing grades. Teachers argue that school uniforms change a student’s outlook on school and are less of a distraction than revealing and inappropriate clothing. They also believe it aids in identifying students and separating them from intruders. School uniforms are a bargain; they are less expensive and more durable. From all of these positive outlooks, several schools are adopting the school uniform policy.
For example, the tragic massacre at Columbine High in Colorado on April 20, 1999 revealed a school dress code that permitted trench coats, excessive jewelry, make-up, eccentric hairstyles and clothing alone stimulates the argument that the lack of a dress code may affect campus safety. If those students were not permitted to wear coats such as those it would have been harder for them to hide their weapons.
On the other hand, there is no evidence that wearing uniforms will better the schools, because a statement could also be made that the Columbine massacre would have happened regardless of whether or not a dress code was instated. However, uniforms act as a Band-Aid solution to a set of serious problems that do not have easy answers. Under the first amendment, which states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances,” school uniforms violate students from freedom to control their appearance. A uniform is seen today as an act of forced disciplined and also being one with a group. The uniform is known to be the epitome of submission obedience system and education. What is the logic behind forcing children in uniforms? McCarthy in opposition of uniforms says that “the wearing of school uniforms is cosmetic at best and will not change the way a child learns.” If administrative spent less time acting as ‘dress code police’ and more time teaching and supporting the school programs, there would be fewer dropouts and more high school graduates.
From a financial point of view, uniforms are not cheap because uniforms are in high demand. Parents must now purchase an extra set of clothing specifically for events outside the school. Who has money like that? The primary focus should instead be on learning and the students’ safety. Danger is created not so much by the absence of uniforms, but by the way schools operate. At the beginning and ending of each school day schools have hundreds of people driving through to drop off and pick up their child. Since all students have to wear uniforms wouldn’t that make students an easy target for people with bad intentions?
What kind of people steer away from students wearing uniforms, rapist, pedophiles, street gang and bullies? Wearing uniforms make students easy targets and identifiable to strangers because some students walk the same route everyday around the same time. Dictating what students should wear suppresses individuality, development of personality, and creativity. In doing so this only causes rebellious students to alter their uniform by making some drastic change, such as, tightening, widening, shortening, or lengthening them.
Whether or not public schools should be required to wear uniforms will always be a heated debate. These ideas are not new or anything out this world. It is just now, with the freedom and globalization of the internet, that the ideas are more accessible to a wider audience and therefore, wider acceptance or non-acceptance. At the least, schools should address the uniform policy with the best interest and welfare of the students in mind. There is no simple solution to solving issues such as peer pressure, violence, and discipline among students in schools. The supreme decision is left up to the student themselves to choose to conform to uniforms or to be completely against them. The controversy of public schools requiring students to wear uniforms may never have a winning side. There is no definite proof that schools are better off with or without the uniform policy enforced. Our society as a whole has a responsibility of what it shows to the younger generation what is most important and valuable in life. Is it looking the best or a certain kind or way? Is it being the ''toughest”? Or is it being comfortable and confident in who you are as an individual ? It’s not what everyone else may be, but treating others with the respect and kindness that one would have wished to have done on to themselves. So the question still remains, does it really matter if students wear uniforms or not?
Seventy-five percent of all schools in America require their students to wear uniforms. The debate over school uniforms is complicated. Debates about the school uniforms in public schools have received much attention in the past years. Dress is conduct where it conveys messages about self and suggests countless qualities about identity, attitudes, values and moods. Whether uniforms should be worn at school is a matter of opinion.
Does it really matter what students wear to school? Some argue yes that school uniforms make students feel more safe and comfortable because they look like everybody else. Others argue no and that it suppresses students’ individuality and creativity.
In 1996 President Clinton endorsed school uniforms in public schools in his State of the Union Address beginning the controversy of whether or not students should be required to wear uniforms in public schools. He said “If it means teenagers will stop killing each other over designer jackets, then our public schools should be able to require students to wear school uniforms.” Since then he has been promoting school uniforms saying that “we must get violence out of our schools and we must put discipline and learning back in our schools.”
In today's society image is very important to students. Students' main concern should not be about his or her appearance. Some say that students should get into practice of making themselves polished and neat. In the corporate world looking professional is mandatory, why not start at an early age. A uniform does not necessarily consist of everyone wearing the same color top or bottom, however, the sole purpose of a uniform is to be able to identify a particular group of people associated with professionalism. Children in uniforms tend to take school more seriously and focus more on their learning.
Crimes in public schools are on the rise and the majority of these crimes are gang related. Schools report that uniforms decrease fighting and violence that arise over certain colors and arguments over fashionable clothes. Children are often ridiculed by other children because of the way they dress. When this happens children start to withdraw themselves from people, therefore, forming a poor behavioral habit and failing grades. Teachers argue that school uniforms change a student’s outlook on school and are less of a distraction than revealing and inappropriate clothing. They also believe it aids in identifying students and separating them from intruders. School uniforms are a bargain; they are less expensive and more durable. From all of these positive outlooks, several schools are adopting the school uniform policy.
For example, the tragic massacre at Columbine High in Colorado on April 20, 1999 revealed a school dress code that permitted trench coats, excessive jewelry, make-up, eccentric hairstyles and clothing alone stimulates the argument that the lack of a dress code may affect campus safety. If those students were not permitted to wear coats such as those it would have been harder for them to hide their weapons.
On the other hand, there is no evidence that wearing uniforms will better the schools, because a statement could also be made that the Columbine massacre would have happened regardless of whether or not a dress code was instated. However, uniforms act as a Band-Aid solution to a set of serious problems that do not have easy answers. Under the first amendment, which states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances,” school uniforms violate students from freedom to control their appearance. A uniform is seen today as an act of forced disciplined and also being one with a group. The uniform is known to be the epitome of submission obedience system and education. What is the logic behind forcing children in uniforms? McCarthy in opposition of uniforms says that “the wearing of school uniforms is cosmetic at best and will not change the way a child learns.” If administrative spent less time acting as ‘dress code police’ and more time teaching and supporting the school programs, there would be fewer dropouts and more high school graduates.
From a financial point of view, uniforms are not cheap because uniforms are in high demand. Parents must now purchase an extra set of clothing specifically for events outside the school. Who has money like that? The primary focus should instead be on learning and the students’ safety. Danger is created not so much by the absence of uniforms, but by the way schools operate. At the beginning and ending of each school day schools have hundreds of people driving through to drop off and pick up their child. Since all students have to wear uniforms wouldn’t that make students an easy target for people with bad intentions?
What kind of people steer away from students wearing uniforms, rapist, pedophiles, street gang and bullies? Wearing uniforms make students easy targets and identifiable to strangers because some students walk the same route everyday around the same time. Dictating what students should wear suppresses individuality, development of personality, and creativity. In doing so this only causes rebellious students to alter their uniform by making some drastic change, such as, tightening, widening, shortening, or lengthening them.
Whether or not public schools should be required to wear uniforms will always be a heated debate. These ideas are not new or anything out this world. It is just now, with the freedom and globalization of the internet, that the ideas are more accessible to a wider audience and therefore, wider acceptance or non-acceptance. At the least, schools should address the uniform policy with the best interest and welfare of the students in mind. There is no simple solution to solving issues such as peer pressure, violence, and discipline among students in schools. The supreme decision is left up to the student themselves to choose to conform to uniforms or to be completely against them. The controversy of public schools requiring students to wear uniforms may never have a winning side. There is no definite proof that schools are better off with or without the uniform policy enforced. Our society as a whole has a responsibility of what it shows to the younger generation what is most important and valuable in life. Is it looking the best or a certain kind or way? Is it being the ''toughest”? Or is it being comfortable and confident in who you are as an individual ? It’s not what everyone else may be, but treating others with the respect and kindness that one would have wished to have done on to themselves. So the question still remains, does it really matter if students wear uniforms or not?
Monday, October 6, 2008
Those Sundays
She wishes the Sundays could go to her father, or at least on day could go to him. She would get up early for him. His hands, his working hands that probably ache from his labor each weekday, would be waiting for a bear hug. It seems like this child adores her father and just reminisces on those good days.
He takes that day, Sunday, to break on his life with his family. He shows her love in his own little special way. He’ll wash the dishes for her when it’s her turn and he sees that she is tired. He’ll come ask her about her about her homework and try to help when he sees that she is frustrated. He’ll occasionally wake up early and make a big hot breakfast and have it waiting for the whole family when they wake up and walk in the kitchen. She wishes she could spend more than just those winter Sundays with her daddy, like Mondays and Tuesdays and Wednesdays and Thursdays and Fridays and Saturdays in the warm presence of her daddy.
She wishes she could put her little hand in his and swing it back and forth, or rub his cheeks when his five o' clock shadow came back, and let it tickle her hand. She longs to look him square in the face again and brush his bushy mustache, while he squint his tiny eyes at her. Sometimes he'd pick her up and put her on his bear back and crawl around the living room until he was tired. Only a five nine man, he was a manly man, and you couldn't say otherwise.
Now she can spend everyday with him, and doesn't mind doing so because he deserves it, but things will never be the same. Jackie still feels like she gets her special attention, but often blames herself for why he can’t do some of the same things he used to do.
On a walk to the park just Jackie and her father Robert, they lingered on the sidewalk at a slow pace eating the ice cream they bought from the corner Saundra. Jackie had an orange sherbert push up and her dad had a blue freeze pop. They always took the long way there because it gave them more time to talk. This particular Sunday afternoon as they walked, they approached a neighborhood dog that never harmed anyone before, but that day something was different about it. There was a look in its eye, and it came closer and closer as they bagged up. It growled ferociously at the two. They continued inching away from the beast until Jackie was so frightened that she turned and began to run.
"Don’t run Jackie, don't run" Robert screamed, but it was already too late. Jackie had taken off in the other direction and at that moment the dog took off behind her. Jackie dropped her push up, and smeared it all over her shirt, but she didn't care. All she knew was that there was a dog chasing her and she wanted to get away.
Robert dropped his freeze pop on the ground and ran after Jackie and the dog. He caught up with them quickly and tossed himself on top of it, with a dramatic thud to the ground. He was on top of the dog trying to wrestle it to a halt. Now Jackie had noticed that the dog was no longer chasing her so she stopped running, and turned around to see why. The battle was on between her dad and that dog. The dog had a strong grip on his leg, ripping his pant leg to shreds and beginning to penetrate the flesh. There were red blood spots seeping through his blue jeans and dripping on the concrete. Robert had his arm around the dog's neck in a choke hold trying to slow its reaction, and make it stop, but it was no use, or at least it seemed like it. He kept tugging harder and harder until the dog let out a strange groan and freed Robert's leg from its grip.
From Jackie's view it looked like a blood bath, because blood was everywhere. It was all over the dog and all over her dad and all over the ground. Tears had already begun rolling down her face and flowing down her cheeks like a waterfall. Her eyes were pink and her hands were shaking like chattering teeth. Frozen in that one spot she screamed to her dad asking him if he was ok.
"Go get your mother" he responded.
Jackie took off running back home to get her mother. Some how she took on extra powers and ran like a fighter jet taking off the runway. Her small legs got on up in a time of need, and before she knew it she was back at home. When she tried to tell her mom what had happen, it sounded like another language, like gibberish. She was talking so fast trying to explain the horror she had just come from. Her mom kept telling her to slow down and to speak slower, but it was no use. Jackie grabbed her mother's hand and ran back to the scene.
Robert was still on the ground with the dog right beside him. It was barely moving, but it was still alive. He hadn't released the choke hold yet, so they were in an awkward position on the ground. Robert couldn't even get up if he had tried. His leg was too wounded from the bite. Both Jackie and her mother ran over to him, each grabbing one arm trying to help him to his feet. Luckily he was a skinny man, so they successfully lifted him up and sat him on the neighbor's porch. Her mom knocked on the door to get some assistance, and to use the phone to get an ambulance. Looking again at the dog on the ground, Jackie's mom noticed white foam around its mouth, and looked again at her husband’s leg.
"That dog has rabies" she screamed, "We have to get you to the hospital now!" They didn't have a car, but the neighbors had on and were nice enough to drive them there. They piled into the red station wagon and headed there. The doctors saw him immediately, rushing him into a room at the sight of all the blood. Robert insisted that he was alright and could wait like all the other people. Jackie sat in the waiting room with her neighbors. Hours later her mom came out with the doctor and told them they could go see him now.
They all walked in the hospital room that Robert was in. Jackie looked at him and began the water works at the sight of her father’s distortion. The leg he was bitten in was missing. It wasn’t there anymore, and Jackie couldn’t bare it. Her dad with no leg was a little too much for her to handle. She ran out the room and stood in the hallway crying her eyes out. Her mom came out to comfort her, but nothing she said could soothe Jackie, nothing at all. About thirty minutes later Jackie returned in the room, still a little shaky, but with dry eyes.
"I'm o.k. Jackie" he said "just a little dog bite."
“Dad how could you say that? You don’t have a leg” Jackie said.
“This little ole thing here, it’s not gone stop me. I’ll bounce back. I'm still here, but don't think about that, we have many Sundays to come."
He takes that day, Sunday, to break on his life with his family. He shows her love in his own little special way. He’ll wash the dishes for her when it’s her turn and he sees that she is tired. He’ll come ask her about her about her homework and try to help when he sees that she is frustrated. He’ll occasionally wake up early and make a big hot breakfast and have it waiting for the whole family when they wake up and walk in the kitchen. She wishes she could spend more than just those winter Sundays with her daddy, like Mondays and Tuesdays and Wednesdays and Thursdays and Fridays and Saturdays in the warm presence of her daddy.
She wishes she could put her little hand in his and swing it back and forth, or rub his cheeks when his five o' clock shadow came back, and let it tickle her hand. She longs to look him square in the face again and brush his bushy mustache, while he squint his tiny eyes at her. Sometimes he'd pick her up and put her on his bear back and crawl around the living room until he was tired. Only a five nine man, he was a manly man, and you couldn't say otherwise.
Now she can spend everyday with him, and doesn't mind doing so because he deserves it, but things will never be the same. Jackie still feels like she gets her special attention, but often blames herself for why he can’t do some of the same things he used to do.
On a walk to the park just Jackie and her father Robert, they lingered on the sidewalk at a slow pace eating the ice cream they bought from the corner Saundra. Jackie had an orange sherbert push up and her dad had a blue freeze pop. They always took the long way there because it gave them more time to talk. This particular Sunday afternoon as they walked, they approached a neighborhood dog that never harmed anyone before, but that day something was different about it. There was a look in its eye, and it came closer and closer as they bagged up. It growled ferociously at the two. They continued inching away from the beast until Jackie was so frightened that she turned and began to run.
"Don’t run Jackie, don't run" Robert screamed, but it was already too late. Jackie had taken off in the other direction and at that moment the dog took off behind her. Jackie dropped her push up, and smeared it all over her shirt, but she didn't care. All she knew was that there was a dog chasing her and she wanted to get away.
Robert dropped his freeze pop on the ground and ran after Jackie and the dog. He caught up with them quickly and tossed himself on top of it, with a dramatic thud to the ground. He was on top of the dog trying to wrestle it to a halt. Now Jackie had noticed that the dog was no longer chasing her so she stopped running, and turned around to see why. The battle was on between her dad and that dog. The dog had a strong grip on his leg, ripping his pant leg to shreds and beginning to penetrate the flesh. There were red blood spots seeping through his blue jeans and dripping on the concrete. Robert had his arm around the dog's neck in a choke hold trying to slow its reaction, and make it stop, but it was no use, or at least it seemed like it. He kept tugging harder and harder until the dog let out a strange groan and freed Robert's leg from its grip.
From Jackie's view it looked like a blood bath, because blood was everywhere. It was all over the dog and all over her dad and all over the ground. Tears had already begun rolling down her face and flowing down her cheeks like a waterfall. Her eyes were pink and her hands were shaking like chattering teeth. Frozen in that one spot she screamed to her dad asking him if he was ok.
"Go get your mother" he responded.
Jackie took off running back home to get her mother. Some how she took on extra powers and ran like a fighter jet taking off the runway. Her small legs got on up in a time of need, and before she knew it she was back at home. When she tried to tell her mom what had happen, it sounded like another language, like gibberish. She was talking so fast trying to explain the horror she had just come from. Her mom kept telling her to slow down and to speak slower, but it was no use. Jackie grabbed her mother's hand and ran back to the scene.
Robert was still on the ground with the dog right beside him. It was barely moving, but it was still alive. He hadn't released the choke hold yet, so they were in an awkward position on the ground. Robert couldn't even get up if he had tried. His leg was too wounded from the bite. Both Jackie and her mother ran over to him, each grabbing one arm trying to help him to his feet. Luckily he was a skinny man, so they successfully lifted him up and sat him on the neighbor's porch. Her mom knocked on the door to get some assistance, and to use the phone to get an ambulance. Looking again at the dog on the ground, Jackie's mom noticed white foam around its mouth, and looked again at her husband’s leg.
"That dog has rabies" she screamed, "We have to get you to the hospital now!" They didn't have a car, but the neighbors had on and were nice enough to drive them there. They piled into the red station wagon and headed there. The doctors saw him immediately, rushing him into a room at the sight of all the blood. Robert insisted that he was alright and could wait like all the other people. Jackie sat in the waiting room with her neighbors. Hours later her mom came out with the doctor and told them they could go see him now.
They all walked in the hospital room that Robert was in. Jackie looked at him and began the water works at the sight of her father’s distortion. The leg he was bitten in was missing. It wasn’t there anymore, and Jackie couldn’t bare it. Her dad with no leg was a little too much for her to handle. She ran out the room and stood in the hallway crying her eyes out. Her mom came out to comfort her, but nothing she said could soothe Jackie, nothing at all. About thirty minutes later Jackie returned in the room, still a little shaky, but with dry eyes.
"I'm o.k. Jackie" he said "just a little dog bite."
“Dad how could you say that? You don’t have a leg” Jackie said.
“This little ole thing here, it’s not gone stop me. I’ll bounce back. I'm still here, but don't think about that, we have many Sundays to come."
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
I walked in the door of my grandparents’ house for the weekly visit with a gaping smile on my face. I love going over there because my granddaddy used to always give us a dollar a piece when ever we saw him. The sun beamed down on my back as I leaned into my granddad to give him a hug and a kiss. He was in a wheelchair and had only one leg but he always acted like he didn’t have a care in the world. My granddaddy was always a happy man.
I heard my grandma walking down the long hallway, with the wood floors cracking beneath her feet. With each step the came a squeak of being trampled on.
“Hey sweetie how you doing?”
I ran and gave her a big hug too. This time like usual my whole family had come-- which included my mom, sister and brother -- so we took a good five minutes giving everyone hugs and kisses and getting reacquainted. At the time I was little at the time about seven years old but one thing I knew was that whenever I visit my grandparents, grandma always had something cooking in the kitchen. I headed straight back there to see what was on the stove. From the second I walked in the door I could sense the aroma of something that would be good to my stomach, and sure enough there was. As I made my way back there my stomach began to growl. I wasn’t hungry when I walked in the door, but somehow once the scent of my grandmother’s cooking went up my nose that all changed.
I was first in the kitchen but not the first with a plate because it was tradition for my granddaddy’s plate to be fixed first. Once his plate was fixed we all followed. The fried chicken had the perfect amount of seasoning like grandma always does and it was juicy and every bite had flavor. I rubbed butter all over my corn on the cob. I sprinkled what my mom thought was too much sugar on my rice. The kitchen was free from talking but full of smacking and crunching and silverware hitting plates. Granddaddy tore into that corn on the cob because every time I looked up he had a kernel on his mouth unaware of it unless someone pointed it out.
We finished up and then headed back to the living room to talk and just catch up. I hadn’t forgotten about the dollar granddaddy gave us and I hope he hadn’t forgotten either. I didn’t want to be rude and ask for it. On the way to the living room he stopped in his bedroom and gave me a dollar along with my sister and brother. We continued to the living room to chit chat. Everyone sat in there with full bellies until conversation broke out. Someone turned on the television and the volume of six voices rose higher. Not long after I noticed granddaddy was tired and roll his wheelchair out into his room to take a nap. We continued on with what we were doing.
“My grandchildren sure have grown, what have you been feeding them children Brenda?” grandma said.
I sat there listening mostly not doing much talking at all. They had a dog that I absolutely adored. Her name was Patches. She was very old and moved slowly. After realizing I was no longer a part of the conversation, I called patches to me, who was lying under the living room table from the time we walked the door till now. In turtle speed she lifted her head up and began moving the rest of her body until she was away from under the table and on all fours.
“Come here Patches” I repeated, so she started walking toward me. She laid her head on my lap and I lightly stroked it.
Moments passed and I realized I had to go to the restroom. I stood up and walked down the squeaky hallway to the bathroom passing my granddad’s bedroom on the way. I was almost there when he called me.
“Who’s that walking down the hall?”
“It’s me granddaddy.”
“Come here for a minute.”
I walked back a few steps to his room. The door was wide open so I walked in and asked what he needed. He was lying the bed, relaxed and comfortable.
“Can you reach over there and hand me my teeth?”
My head slowly turned until my eyes came upon a glass with teeth in it. At that exact moment I froze. At age seven I had no idea that teeth could come out and be put in a jar. I though everyone had teeth like mine up until that second everything made sense to me. Still standing still in shock, frightened to death, thoughts ran through my mind. I felt hot then cold. A rush of blood ran to my face and I couldn’t move. I just stared at the teeth in the glass. The pink gums looked so real and the teeth were perfectly straight. I was fascinated yet frightened at how real they appeared. Just an hour and half ago those teeth were cleaning a piece of corn on the cob and some fried chicken, but now they were in a glass just sitting there in a clear liquid. I assumed it was water until I regained consciousness and feeling in my legs just enough to take a step towards the glass to peer in. That’s when I smelled s minty scent. Now as I begin to think about it there was something peculiar about how he chewed. His teeth did sound a little different when they clamped down together on that corn on the cob especially. The sound of quiet horse trods came to mind or two hard coconuts being tapped together. Granddaddy’s gums were pinker than anyone’s I have ever seen. I just thought he had perfect teeth. How could someone take his gums and teeth out like that and put them in a glass? At that age I had no idea that was possible.
A bubble surfaced and I stepped back to my original spot. What seemed like twenty minutes was only about two or three minutes.
“Monica” my granddad said startling me.
“Grandma!” I screamed to the other room “granddaddy want his teeth.”
I heard my grandma walking down the long hallway, with the wood floors cracking beneath her feet. With each step the came a squeak of being trampled on.
“Hey sweetie how you doing?”
I ran and gave her a big hug too. This time like usual my whole family had come-- which included my mom, sister and brother -- so we took a good five minutes giving everyone hugs and kisses and getting reacquainted. At the time I was little at the time about seven years old but one thing I knew was that whenever I visit my grandparents, grandma always had something cooking in the kitchen. I headed straight back there to see what was on the stove. From the second I walked in the door I could sense the aroma of something that would be good to my stomach, and sure enough there was. As I made my way back there my stomach began to growl. I wasn’t hungry when I walked in the door, but somehow once the scent of my grandmother’s cooking went up my nose that all changed.
I was first in the kitchen but not the first with a plate because it was tradition for my granddaddy’s plate to be fixed first. Once his plate was fixed we all followed. The fried chicken had the perfect amount of seasoning like grandma always does and it was juicy and every bite had flavor. I rubbed butter all over my corn on the cob. I sprinkled what my mom thought was too much sugar on my rice. The kitchen was free from talking but full of smacking and crunching and silverware hitting plates. Granddaddy tore into that corn on the cob because every time I looked up he had a kernel on his mouth unaware of it unless someone pointed it out.
We finished up and then headed back to the living room to talk and just catch up. I hadn’t forgotten about the dollar granddaddy gave us and I hope he hadn’t forgotten either. I didn’t want to be rude and ask for it. On the way to the living room he stopped in his bedroom and gave me a dollar along with my sister and brother. We continued to the living room to chit chat. Everyone sat in there with full bellies until conversation broke out. Someone turned on the television and the volume of six voices rose higher. Not long after I noticed granddaddy was tired and roll his wheelchair out into his room to take a nap. We continued on with what we were doing.
“My grandchildren sure have grown, what have you been feeding them children Brenda?” grandma said.
I sat there listening mostly not doing much talking at all. They had a dog that I absolutely adored. Her name was Patches. She was very old and moved slowly. After realizing I was no longer a part of the conversation, I called patches to me, who was lying under the living room table from the time we walked the door till now. In turtle speed she lifted her head up and began moving the rest of her body until she was away from under the table and on all fours.
“Come here Patches” I repeated, so she started walking toward me. She laid her head on my lap and I lightly stroked it.
Moments passed and I realized I had to go to the restroom. I stood up and walked down the squeaky hallway to the bathroom passing my granddad’s bedroom on the way. I was almost there when he called me.
“Who’s that walking down the hall?”
“It’s me granddaddy.”
“Come here for a minute.”
I walked back a few steps to his room. The door was wide open so I walked in and asked what he needed. He was lying the bed, relaxed and comfortable.
“Can you reach over there and hand me my teeth?”
My head slowly turned until my eyes came upon a glass with teeth in it. At that exact moment I froze. At age seven I had no idea that teeth could come out and be put in a jar. I though everyone had teeth like mine up until that second everything made sense to me. Still standing still in shock, frightened to death, thoughts ran through my mind. I felt hot then cold. A rush of blood ran to my face and I couldn’t move. I just stared at the teeth in the glass. The pink gums looked so real and the teeth were perfectly straight. I was fascinated yet frightened at how real they appeared. Just an hour and half ago those teeth were cleaning a piece of corn on the cob and some fried chicken, but now they were in a glass just sitting there in a clear liquid. I assumed it was water until I regained consciousness and feeling in my legs just enough to take a step towards the glass to peer in. That’s when I smelled s minty scent. Now as I begin to think about it there was something peculiar about how he chewed. His teeth did sound a little different when they clamped down together on that corn on the cob especially. The sound of quiet horse trods came to mind or two hard coconuts being tapped together. Granddaddy’s gums were pinker than anyone’s I have ever seen. I just thought he had perfect teeth. How could someone take his gums and teeth out like that and put them in a glass? At that age I had no idea that was possible.
A bubble surfaced and I stepped back to my original spot. What seemed like twenty minutes was only about two or three minutes.
“Monica” my granddad said startling me.
“Grandma!” I screamed to the other room “granddaddy want his teeth.”
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Quiz
1)
- classroom is an information dump
- authorized information is beyond discussion
- trust the authority for good information
- information is scarce and hard to find
2) The classroom can be an information dump but the information is just sitting ther because nine times out of ten students really are not taking in what is being put out. All of this knowledge is being put out but if there is no understanding then it really is useless. When teachers just talk and talk and talk away making no sense at all students don't benefit. They think that because they are giving students so much information it all is going to be taken seriously.
Authorized information most ccertainly can be discussed because there is nothing stopping it from being challenged. Going along with what is always said isn't good because many things, many untrue things would have would have remained to be fact when it really wasn't. I think everyone would just be a little bit dumber without stopping to ask questions and wondering why something is instead of going along with what authoruty says is.
Authority cannot be trusted with good information because first of all they do not know everything and besides who are they?
Information is almost relatively unlimited with all the resources we have out here today. With the internet especially there is too much to go through but you have to be careful and pick out or be able to find the truth. The information is out and it is endless.
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