Response to "Why We Never Truly Leave High School"

After reading this packet, I was slightly disturbed and upset. After years of believing that those of us who never quite mastered high school would become the successful ones in the future, this paper provided a shocking reality. Perhaps the way we behave in high school is what the future will really be like.

While I am biased against this idea, J. Senior does make several valid points. Senior discusses how high school is where we learn to interact with others and learn our social skills. In the "real world" these social skills can make or break us, so I was able to understand Senior's point here. However, I disagree that popularity factors (again I am heavily biased) because I believe that the reasons why some are popular now will be different than what will make someone "popular" in the future.

Plus, I think it is impossible to make such a large generalization that the way we are in high school is how we will lead our lives in the future. There are many instances where people defy the odds. In fact, I would beg to argue that each individual person is different in the way that high school impacts their future, all though there is no denying that it has am impact of some sort.

2010 AP Free Response-DBQ

The 2010 DBQ was regarding Daylight Savings Time (DST) and the benefits (or lack of benefits) associated with it.

 The first paper I read did a great job of analyzing three sources and taking his arguments to the next level. He went beyond what was given to him by the documents and truly synthesized them into his essay to SUPPORT his argument rather than letting the sources BE his arguments. He took an opposing stance to DST which seemed more challenging to me, but made an extremely convincing argument.

The second response was good, but did not stand out. The author had good arguments for DST and used the sources appropriately. It was a standard response. The sources backed up the arguments, which were good, but not stellar. I thought had the student perhaps taken the arguments a step further and really gotten in to the essay it would have gotten a higher score. One aspect that I did not like was the structure. The essay was very formulaic, but did have am intriguing introduction.

The third response began poorly. Within the first few sentences the student had derailed from the question and somehow correlated DST with global warming and went on a paragraph or two rant about the effects of global warming and how we need to change. Finally around 2/3's of the way through the first page the student returned to the prompt. Overall however, the student simply restated what the sources had been saying rather than using original arguments and backing them up with sources. At one point there was not even an argument but rather a summary of all of the times DST had been changed. It was clear that the student was not sure how to write about this subject and misused the sources.

I think this would have been an essay where it would take me a little to get into it and figure out what I wanted to write. It probably would have been rather slow moving until about the second paragraph when I found a groove. Overall, I think this essay would have been challenging to really pull my own arguments and take them to the next level as in the first essay response I read. 

Gender Studies and Queer Theory

After reading the  piece on Gender Studies and Queer Theory, it is clear that The Poisonwood Bible contains many passages that allow for this type of criticism. For example, the mother of the  Price family is described in a manner that makes her seem as if her only purpose is to run the home and that is all she is good for. When Anatole comes to dine, the mother is ovewhelmed because she tries to make everything perfect.

Another, more clear example is how the father will not let the girls continue with schooling because he fears it will ruin them. They are not valued for their intelligence despite the fact that they have great potential, especially Adah.

Beyond the daughters, the other girls in Kolunga and the surrounding villages are not allowed to go to school at all, whereas the boys go until about the age of twelve.

There is an extreme difference between what is expected of women and men both in the Price family and in the village. Despite all of the differences between the daughters and the women in the villages, they are still treated and viewed in the same manner.

Differences between the movie and the book

Apocalypse Now and Heart of Darkness have many similiarities, but also drastic differences. The main difference is that the movie takes place in Vietnam whereas the book is centered in the Congo. This ultimately create a larger difference than it appears ut would. In Heart of Darkness the purpose of the location is because it shows why the white men were there. There was a lust for the wealth that the ivory inthe Congo could give them. In the movie there is no explicitly stated purpose for them being in Vietnam. It leaves the viewer wondering why they white men are there. Without a purpose there is little reason for the drive and motivation of Mr. Kurtz and it takes away a layer of complexity.

Difficulties

While I have many difficulties in life, just functioning normally, I think it will come to no surprise that I also had a challenge analyzing some of the passages from Heart of Darkness. So without further ado, my passage that I had difficulty with was the meaning of the following quote:

     " We could not understand because we were too far and could not remember because we were travelling in the night of first ages, of those ages that are gone, leaving hardly a sign- and no memories"  (108).

I can understand that the passage is referencing the jungle and the prehistoric times, or the "night of first ages".It is foreign to him and his men. The part I am troubled with is more what exactly they can not understand.  I speculated that there was no one to pass down the stories and information so there is no understanding of (at least for Marlow) the history of the jungle and the way of life there.

Foreshadowin. A quote.

     "But darkness was here yesterday. Imagine the feelings of a commander of a fine--what d'ye call 'em?--trireme in the Mediterranean, ordered suddenly to the north; run overland across the Gauls in a hurry; put in charge of one of these craft the legionaries--a wonderful lot of handy men they must have been, too--used to build, apparently by the hundred, in a month or two, if we may believe what we read. Imagine him here--the very end of the world, a sea the colour of lead, a sky the colour of smoke, a kind of ship about as rigid as a concertina-- and going up this river with stores, or orders, or what you like. Sand-banks, marshes, forests, savages,--precious little to eat fit for a civilized man, nothing but Thames water to drink. No Falernian wine here, no going ashore. Here and there a military camp lost in a wilderness, like a needle in a bundle of hay--cold, fog, tempests, disease, exile, and death--death skulking in the air, in the water, in the bush. They must have been dying like flies here."


I thought this quote was a jem because it draws an obvious and almost direct parallel between ancient London and the Congo. Down to the forests and wilderness. This quote allows the reader to predict what the entire book will be about. Just as the men came to London and "suffered in an uncivilized" land, so did (I predict) Marlow during his adventure up the river.

Psychology of Exploration

 Prior to reading this book, I could not find much wrong with the exploitation of material goods in foreign colonies other than the damage exporting these resources and harvesting them did to the earth. After reading part one of this book I realized I was severely mistaken. The gruesome acts that were committed against the natives in the Congo were deeply disturbing. It made me question my knowledge of what is occutring this very moment in the "far-flung" colonies. My ignorance is something that I believe I share with many others who too are simply on the receiving end of these goods. I believe there ought to be more strict regulation on companies who wish to exploit foreign soil. I believe as a first-world country we often have a savior complex. This in and of itself is a major issue with exploration. We view ourselves as better because of the material success we have had as a country and use this as a suitable excuse to invade, in order to "help" other  countries obtain the success we have. The twisted outcome of this mentality is currently causing the suffering of many children in Haiti:

"The practice of Restavek - from a French word meaning "to stay with" - began with the noble intentions of educating children from rural villages. But over the years, the practice has become twisted. The result is that many children are now exploited rather than helped." -Leif Coorlim

One underlying question this book presented was whether our riches make us successful. Hoshchild demonstrated how Leopold's country in no way favored him as a leader and in fact many of the explorers were unhappy and troubled. I beg to argue that their psychological troubles and disturbances far outweigh the physical  and economic troubles the native population suffered prior to the arrival of Leopold. Certainly, their situation did not improve after his "exploration". Part one has clearly demonstrated the issues that can arise from exploration.