Happy Friday! Today is our last day of the first semester here at Computech, and this will be my last blog entry for three weeks! This is a happy occasion, but I'm taking today to write about something very important and mournful. 

If you weren't aware, one week ago today in Newtown, Connecticut, 28 people died in a shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School. There were 7 adults (6 faculty members) injured and 20 children, none of them over the age of seven. Afterwards the gunman killed himself on the scene. Nobody knows why exactly the shooter did it, but I don't think we should keep quiet on the basis of bad things like this which affect us nationwide. 

I first heard about this shooting taking place when I was in 2nd Period on December 14th. We stopped doing our work and Mrs. Frazier read us a headline about it. She looked like she was going to cry. I didn't hear any other news about it until I got home. There on the news President Obama was speaking about the children's deaths. I noticed that he didn't say a word about gun control or assault weapons, but shows I saw later did. I identify most with a point I saw brought up by a congresswoman whose name I don't remember, that for years and years America has been putting off dealing with gun control and assault weapon bans, but year after year more and more mass shootings occur. 

I agree wholeheartedly with what she said. This type of thing is tragic and we shouldn't use these innocent deaths as evidence in our political arguments, but what else is going to happen to our young children if we don't stop distributing weapons to people whose hands might turn them into public dangers? This is why I'm for gun control, even though I can't vote. I understand if you want to hunt using a gun, but there's a big difference between a hunting shooter and an assault weapon. Other countries, even countries less advanced than us, have better and more humanistic social policies, which means the only thing stopping us is our will. I think, as a country and as a species, we don't realize how precious our own lives and the lives of those around us are until they're gone. Children shouldn't be victims to "people who don't want their gun rights taken away".

I heard another strong point brought up on Saturday Night Live the next day. Our rights as citizens to own guns are written in the Second Amendment, but that was written in in 1787, when shooting a bullet was slightly more powerful than a slingshot or throwing one. Guns are so advanced and high-tech these days, who knows what crazy things people will do with them? 

Lastly, I'd like to say that I feel sorry for the families of the victims, children or not, of this shooting and massacres like them. I don't understand how anyone could carelessly murder the most innocent members of our society. Rest in peace, too, to those teachers who died protecting their students. The greatest gift, even if it is cut short, to a child is the gift of an education and a chance at a great life as an adult. It's a tragedy that affects all of us when things like this happen. As a minor, it makes me feel endangered. I hope you have a good holiday, whoever reads this. Stay safe.

Happy Friday! I have nothing to write about, so I'll recount what happened last night.

Last night was my winter concert for my band class! Once I got home, I started my Cornell notes about Japan that were due Friday and used the little time I had on the internet. My parents got home around 5 o'clock with my brother as he had a counselling appointment. I didn't have much time to change and get ready, but I did.

We left a little after 6 o'clock. I live across town from school, so it took awhile to get there. My parents almost got lost on the way there, but I helped them out. Our call time -- or time at which we should arrive -- was 6:30. We managed to get there in time. My parents had to wait in the audience for a long time while I hung out in the band room at Edison with my friends. 

Finally, at 7:00, Computech's beginning band played their pieces. There were a lot of them, and pretty generic ones, too. We were next at about 7:20. Our performance lasted about 20 minutes all in all. My favorites of the five pieces we played were "Silver Bells" because I like Christmas music and "All the Pretty Little Horses" because I liked the harmonies in it. We left before Edison's concert and marching band went on. It was a good concert and I didn't have any flute anatomy or nervousness problems. 

I didn't realize how late it was until I got home! We had picked up dinner on the way home and I still had tons of work to do. My parents were tired and went to bed when I was still writing my notes, so I got to stay up more than an hour later than usual reading and note-taking. It was 10:30 when I finished my work, and I was exhausted. But I'm definitely getting the feeling of concerts at my new school. I look forward to our spring concert.

For our Free-Write Friday we actually had an assignment. It was to read an article posted to Mr. Kimbley's website about teaching methods here and in the Far East, think about it, and ask ourselves why it applied to our class.

This doesn't just relate to education. I think it actually has to do with psychology, as the article mentioned. It mentions that in Eastern cultures, it is assumed that struggle means smart, and the curriculum reflects that. In our education system, we usually hold highest whoever has not struggled with the concept. It also states that in the East, a student's intellect is not judged based on their grades, whereas in the West, it is. I agree with this. It's easier for intelligent people to grasp concepts at school, but grades are not eternally linked to intelligence.

I think that this relates to our class because at this school we, or at least some of us, try not to focus all of the emphasis and judgement on grades. It really bothers me when people cast someone off as stupid because their grades aren't the best. Usually we take it to mean that they haven't tried hard enough, which is often the case, but it could also mean that they're discouraged to ask for help because of the standards we set for grades.

We don't realize enough here, as our current curriculum reflects, that both struggle and trial-and-error are part of the natural learning process. Some people, Mr. Kimbley once explained to us, need to see something in a preview before they do it. For some people that's not enough and they might need to hear it or actually do it before they can finish something. In this way our curriculum is biased and narrow-minded.

I don't think this is a natural result of differences between these cultures. I think that the bias of our curriculum was somehow created unnaturally by whoever first developed it. There's a reason why test scores are so much higher in Asia, and it's because their education systems aren't diluted.