Below is a slightly rushed answer to the classic prompt "if you could sit down with any person in history, who would it be?"

If I could sit down with a single person from any time in history, I would choose to chat with FDR. Not only do I find him to be the most effective of all past presidents, but I deeply admire his resolve, as his plate was stacked high with issues, ranging from polio to the second world war. His guile and determination in leading the country through its most difficult time is deeply admirable. One of the reasons why FDR would make a fantastic conversation is that he lived through one of the most eventful times in American history. In the late 20s and early 30s, he battled the infamous Great Depression, and in a mere couple of years, found himself in the midst of America’s second great global conflict, facing an any who regarded surrender as taboo. My interest in FDR originates from my first real encounter with him, besides hearing his name mentioned in casual conversation. However, two years ago, I went with my family down to see a local production of Annie. Having seen this movie before, I thought it was going to be quite the bore. However, upon viewing the play, I was enraptured with the character of FDR, who surprisingly played a large role in the play. This perhaps opened my eyes to the magnitude of FDR’s deeds, and also the man himself. Another reason would be fascination with history, particularly the early 20^th century, a time that one might refer to as America’s coming of age, or entry on to the international stage. Last year, as I was researching for my US-History Class the correlation in between the previously mentioned coming of age and WW1, the topic of FDR kept on popping up, as the timeline of some of the books extended beyond the Great War. There, I was able to get my first in depth view of Roosevelt’s policies, and their impact on American society. In my current social studies class, Contemporary American History, I again was able to analyze the actions of FDR, and truly realized how interesting this hypothetical conversation would be."

For this, I responded to an old prompt that I found asking for a moment that shaped my learning experience. 

  

             One moment in particular that had great influence on who I am today took place in London nine years ago, at the age of seven. I was visiting my first cousins, who at the time resided in the city. On that particular day, we decided to visit the Museum of Natural History, which turned out to be an absolute blast. After an exciting visit, I was waiting on a bench while the rest of my family used the restroom. Bored, I craned my neck, looking for something to take up my time. Soon, my eyes fell on a framed Egyptian scroll, resting on a wall about five feet away. I curiously strode towards it and since there were no barriers in the way, I soon ended up nose-to-nose with this artifact. As my eyes scanned the scroll, the thing that fascinated me was not the intricate detail of the figures, nor the age of the scroll itself, but the brushstrokes plainly visible on the paper. The sheer fact that a mere sheet of plexiglass separated me from the brushstrokes of artisans thousands of years old made my jaw drop. That, I can say with confidence, is where my love for history started. Ever since then, history and social studies in general have been by far my most exciting subjects, and also have helped me figure out what motivates me academically. Because I found history to be one of my main passions, I branched off and discovered that political science and language pique my interest as well. Since my passion extends into those subjects, I have become an active participant in classes pertinent to my interests, and engaged in exciting and interesting dialogue with students and teachers alike. If it had not been for that encounter with the brushstrokes of the ancients, I would not be the intellectually curious person I am today.

5 Questions for 'Women Against Feminism'

5 Questions for Women Against Feminism

            Many people have probably heard of the budding social movement known as “Women Against Feminism”. I know, it’s crazy, right? These women seem to think they’re being oh so brave and bold and different when in reality they’re only hurting themselves. Here are a few questions I have from these “trailblazers” that I am dying to know the answers to…

1) Do you even know what feminism is?

   Many of the women state they are against feminism because “modern feminism doesn’t fight to be equal – it fights to be superior.” Okay, well there’s the first (of many) problems we will encounter on this exploration. Why preach against this awful, victimizing movement called feminism when you don’t even fully understand it in the first place? The definition for feminism is “the movement to achieve social, economic, and political equality between men and women.” Doesn’t that sound great? Or would you rather be marginalized for the rest of your life? Right, I didn’t think so.

2) Do you like women? 

This is where the problem enlies. Not only are women in our culture being oppressed by men, but other women are against women as a whole as well.  If women came together instead of perpetuating negative stereotypes about powerful females, then maybe there would be more equality in our culture. Feminism is working to empower women, not working to take over the world. Granted, there are some feminists who would like to take over the world. That would be pretty bad-ass, but I digress.

3) Are men and women really equal? Really??

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 10-15 years, you have seen an ad on TV or the internet objectifying women.  A woman’s body is seen as a tool for selling cars, alcohol, and even books. Women are not on this earth just to please a man, that’s not our only job. Granted, we’ve come a long way from the 50’s housewife era, but there’s still a lot of work to be done. I think feminism will no longer exist when a woman doesn’t have to walk down the street at night in fear of being raped. When a man doesn’t see a cat call as a compliment. And lastly when a woman can be valued because of her brains and not just the cup-size of her bra.

4)  Do you consider yourself particularly egocentric? 

Just in case you didn’t know, which I’m sure you didn’t little miss anti-feminist, feminism also works to empower women all around the world, not just you. So even if you feel you are equal to men, the world doesn’t revolve around you, while you’re sitting on your priveledged thrown, women in developing countries don’t even have the right to use condoms. Great for you that you have not had the same awful experiences of women across the world, that doesn't mean you should portray those woman as victimizing themselves or "feminazis". Each person has had their own unique experience with misogyny and no one has the right to criticize them. 

5) Do you enjoy voting, your ability to choose about your own reproductive health, and getting a sufficient education?

Well guess what?? If it wasn’t for feminism, you wouldn’t have any of those things. Take THAT!

If anyone has an answer to these questions please contact Kelsey Aaron. Otherwise, take some time to think about your actions and reconsider your stance on feminism. Please, for the love of all things good in this world. 

Response to "Worthless" College Majors

As a kid in his senior year I feel the pressure of college. However, I have been focused on my life after college. I want to get a History major and minor in things related to it, but after reading articles from various sites such as Forbes, I found out that my major is considered one of the top ten "worthless" degrees. The reason it is considered "worthless" is because of the high unemployment rate of around ten percent and the annual salary a person receives. Pretty much any social science and anything that is not match, science, or technology, is considered "worthless". 

I can't say I'm surprised. Math, science, and technology fields require a great amount of work and skill. To major in any of those fields would make a person stand out over the majority of the population. The reason being is that Americans are horrible in those fields. It's no secret the US is 25th in math and 17th in science among developed nations. All of the Employers in the country are looking for mathematicians to do the math for them. The country is looking for new medicines to fight against cancer, viruses and diseases. Also people are investing in the innovators that will change the world like Steve Jobs. I admit that building a Mars rover or developing new touch screen technology is extremely harder than reading and analyzing books and documents. 

Any "successful" job is going to be tough. I'm not saying people who major in history, language, or English have it easy. Those studies are very time consuming. Since unemployment rates are higher, competition is fierce. I read that if you go to grad-school the unemployment rate cuts in half, but I doubt I will do that. 

Admittedly at first I was intimidated by these findings, but after several hours of thought and research I'm fired up to succeed more than ever.

You shouldn't do a major because of money, but because you are good at it. You get money by being good at something. People might say it is a much smarter move to do computer science rather than history if the intention is getting money and having a better chance of getting a job. While that is true from a statistics standpoint it should be pointed out that just because you have one of those math, science, and technology degrees doesn't mean you are guaranteed a job. Also if you naturally struggle with math then you probably won't get the major anyway.

Life is unpredictable. You can succeed or fail. It's scary because you never know. I don't know if I will succeed or fail. However, "failure" is a word that people define differently. People who define success by what they want will never be satisfied. However, those who define success by what they actually have will be satisfied.

I’m looking forward to the future and seeing what I can do with my passions. All I hope for is that I will be happy.

School Taxes in Hanover

I just recently found out that all the students at Richmond Middle School got an iPad each. Does anyone else think that is ridiculous? Thats at least 400 dollars per iPad, not including the cases and whatever protective and technical services they also pay for. And according to previous students at RMS, there are about 500 students. Roughly that could add up to a quarter of a million dollars. Does that seem at all realistic? This is just at the middle school! This year in the high school (from what I saw) we got a massive MacBook pro cart with roughly 30 laptops. Once again, each one is $1200 which comes out to $36,000. Why would we ever need that many laptops in one cart when about 80% of the student population has their own device? That money could easily be allocated to much more valuable resources or even helping out the seniors with our class trip/prom/all-night party. Basically, the Dresden District is run by a bunch of blind nitwits that get roused when someone bring up the notion of buying more gadgets. Be smarter about what you buy! We have internet that doesn't even run fast enough for me to write on GoogleDocs. The tech department gets upset because most of the internet is used on youtube and music streaming but guess what video streaming for just four websites (Youtube, Netflix, Amazon Video, and Hulu) make up 53% of all the internet used in the world.

Lets be realistic and stop trying to make our school something its not. Stop buying gadgets and give us internet.



http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/video-accounts-53-percent-internet-655203

our school turned into a pig sty

I can't stand the fact that there are police in the school. Not only do they do nothing but intimidate students, waste tax dollars, and eat all the donuts from the caf, but they also are wasting their own time. Shouldn't they be out in hanover protecting the citizens, instead of standing around in our atrium and chatting with the administration? There is honestly no reason for them to be here, hanover has never had a school shooting, or any problem that needed police assistance, and i dont see how that will happen in the near future. Why would we need to institute a police presence other then to make the administration look more powerful? that i believe is why they are here. all in all, they need to leave, and soon, they are simply hurting the overall feeling of the school, and waste everyones money and time.
ben fiering

My Opinion on Homework & School

At this point, its obvious that any student in my position has been doing homework for about 12 years. For about 4 years now I have had a very specific view on homework that I have felt very passionate about. The core of my "position" or theory is that school should be just like a job. If we can call students "part time" or "full time" just like we would call someone working a part time or full time job then shouldn't they be the same? If schools are adopting a full/part-time views on being at school then we should make school just like a job. When you leave the campus then your work is done there. Just like when you are done with work and you go home and enjoy free time, school should be the same.

Homework should be made obsolete on that basis that we should do our leaning in school and in class not at home. Local tax dollars go to the school in order for them to educate the minds of our young. Education is defined as the process of receiving or giving systematic instruction or an enlightening experience. I feel strongly against the idea that students should be teaching themselves to any capacity because otherwise we should just teach ourselves completely and rule out schools. If we are paying a school and its faculty to educate students, why are we sending them home with assignments and readings? I am in no way trying to demean the work that teachers do but over time society has created this stigma that schools are expect to give students extra work out of school. The only work we should do outside of school is work we cannot get finished in school and studying. There should be a bigger emphasis on study halls, efficiency in school and hobbies in our free time.