TP Night

So I think most of us are aware that the traditional senior TP night is approaching, and that got me to thinking. Personally, I do not understand why such a large portion of our senior class will go tp-ing. I understand the urge to do something rebellious and the fun of participating in school traditions, but I feel like this particular event only leads to trouble. First of all, you are putting yourself at risk to be caught by the police and either receiving a curfew ticket, or even a vandalising charge. Also, we all know that the issue of hazing came into play a couple years ago. Besides the legal risks, people are also missing out on sleep! My shock over this issue might just be my IB-ness talking, but I cannot imagine staying up all night, running around in the cold, and then going to school for 7 hours. Another thing to keep in mind is the fact that people, often parents, will have to spend hours cleaning up the "fun." I know people often TP their friends, but all that really does is punish them. They, or their parents, will have to spend hours removing toilet paper from their yard. Overall, I believe that the risks outweigh the "gains" of this tradition.

Choices

It's hard when you really want to do something, but your parents will not allow you to. For my 18th birthday in a week, I want to get my nose pierced. However, my mom is very against it. I guess I understand her hesitation, but I was not expecting to be forbidden to make this choice. I think it's interesting how there really is a different mindset between teens our age and our parents. It really is a generational gap. My argument was that it is my body, and as an adult, I should be able to do to it what I please. She countered with the whole "my house, my rules" routine. This demonstrates the knowledge issue of whether or not you should do something knowing that there will be consequences because someone else is against it. This is one issue I have been thinking about lately. I've more been trying to place myself in my mom's shoes, just trying to understand her strong opposition to a nose piercing. The subject of the conflict really isn't the point here. What I'm trying to get across is how we have the decision to choose what we want to do or to defy our elders and do what we think we have the right to. A very interesting topic I think.

Young At Heart

I don't know about the rest of you, but I loved Young At Heart. It was phenomenal! It was so great to see seniors still being very involved in their community and living an active life. They were so supportive of eachother, especially when it came to illness and health crises. It's interesting to think that worrying about health is such a big concern in their lives. I also thought it was amazing how the group performed even after losing two of their long-time members. That really took courage. I think this movie should show us that we really can do what we want- I mean 80 year olds are performing in a show choir! This was also a very good way of showing us how to write an ethnography.

Politics... yay

So with the upcoming election, there has been a ton of talk about different political issues. All of my friends seem to identify with the opposite political party than I do, so I feel like lately I have been subtly influenced by their opinions. I don't like this, because I am proud of what I believe and these beliefs have always been a part of who I am. Interestingly, today I have the chance to talk with someone who actually agrees with me. It was refreshing to be able to converse freely without feeling slightly awkward, or holding back what I want to say. Don't get me wrong, I respect everything my friends think and I have actually had some pleasant conversations with them on this topic, as I mentioned in my last post. However, I still felt like I could not freely say what I wanted to. It was nice today to hear someone agree with what I think, since it seems like I am a minority at this school. But anyways, I feel like today I got some sort of reconfirmation of what I have so long believed in.

Conversations

Lately, I have been having many deep conversations with my friends. I don't know if we have just been in the mood lately, or if perhaps the looming life-changing decisions surrounding college have made us sentimental, but we have covered a variety of topics. I think it's nice that I have close friends that I can respectfully and confidentially converse with.  For instance, one evening, two friends and I discussed politics for over an hour. It turned out that they were both the opposite political party than what I identify with, and yet I did not feel uncomfortable at all. We were able to respectfully discuss our views, and I think this has a lot to do with the fact that we are IB kids. I value their opinions very much and I think it's cool that we feel comfortable opening up to eachother.

IB upper-level thinking for the win!

Secrets

Something I started thinking about is if it is ever ethical to disclose something that one person said to you to another. An example is if a friend tells you something that is a secret, tells you not to say anything, and then you tell it to someone you trust and tell everything to. I think it's hard because if you have someone that you really tell everything to, is it okay to keep things from them? It's tough and there is a lot of grey area, I feel. There are a lot of ethical issues like this in our lives. Just something to think about.


Mackenzie

IB exam week

So I know we are all already anxious about that week in May when we will have all of our exams... I personally am not looking forward to it. I think having so many exams in such a small period is going to be very stressful. I am having a slight dilemma about this because exam week is also Ovation "Hell Week" (the week of the first performance when we have to stay there until like 10 pm). As a few of you have learned in my personal narrative, Ovation changed my life, so I am definitely going to do it again this year. I'm just a little worried that this decision might impact my IB scores... I feel that it is important in the long run that I do Ovation. Just something I've been thinking about.

Thanks guys!

Seminars

So in many of our IB classes, we have all class discussions, or seminars, to sort of get an overview of the topic we are learning about. It seems to me that many teachers really like this teaching style, but I know of many students who don't like it. I think that since our class sizes are so large now, that it makes it hard to get a word in and get the points. I know many people are also very uncomfortable talking in front of large groups, so then they fail the seminar for not talking. Though I understand that teachers want to push kids to speak, since they'll need that skill later in life, but I feel like it is not as easy as you would think to get a word in. Just something to think about, I can definitely see pros and cons of seminars.

Priorities

Lately, I've been struggling a lot with setting my priorities in order. Maybe it's because I have so much on my plate (with theater, IB diploma, friends, work, NHS, college apps etc), but I have been having a hard time figuring out what I should spend my time doing after school. I think a lot of us who have a lot going feel overwhelmed at times. So I guess my knowledge issue is if people really can "do it all"? I think us Dip Cans are really in the most challenging position at our school. Though it can be argued that  AP classes are equal in rigor, we have all the other aspects of IB (EE, CAS, TOK) to manage. I feel like in a way, we are doing it all. Even though it is difficult, everyone survived junior year. I guess what I am trying to convey is the fact that I appreciate how hard it is to balance a busy life. It's interesting that college admission officers want to see a "well rounded" student. Well, I think that is easier said than done. It's hard to excel in multiple areas in life, such as being on a Varsity team, or in a theater show, as well as a Diploma Candidate. People do it though, and I applaud them.

Overall, I have recently been feeling the stress I know many of us Dip Cans have chosen to endure, and I thought that this was the perfect venue to share it!

Good luck to everyone this week, we can do it!

~Mackenzie

Social dynamic

After reading a couple posts about the social dynamic at our school, I decided to add my view to things.

Like others already mentioned, there is definitely a "popular" crowd at our school. They also seem to have taken the responsibility upon themselves of running all the special senior stuff. I think it is interesting that these people (I think we all know who I'm talking about?) are considered popular, because even though they are well known, they are definitely not the most well-liked people in the school. This led me to think about the cliques at school. Though certain groups, let's use the theater kids as an example, might not be the most "popular" kids in school, they definitely have "popular" people within their own little group. I think this holds true to all groups in our school. It's interesting how this social dynamic of "popularity" also is present when you break the school down beyond just that one group of people considered to be the popular crowd. I think the most important thing, rather than popularity, is having friends you love and who love you. Who cares if everyone in school does not know your name? That's the real definition of popularity. I'd rather just know that the people I have decided to spend my time with know me well.

I think since a lot of people have been blogging about this issue, we should see if we can discuss it in class.

-Mackenzie

As we have been working on our personal narratives in class, a knowledge issue that I thought might be able to relate to my specific paper is "What gets someone to try something completely new?"

This relates to my topic, my solo in Ovation (I also wrote my English essay on this). I had never done Ovation before, I was not in any sort of performing group and I had no experience. The fact that my brother had been in the show actually did not have much to do with my decision to audition.  In fact, I don't really know what got me to do it. This is where my knowledge issue comes in... what made me make that decision? It's sort of weird actually, as if I subconsciously knew that this would be one of the best decisions of my high school career. Perhaps I did it because I had watched the show for two years and saw how fun it looked? Well, I guess I'll never know exactly what it was. I am just so grateful that I did it! I want to encourage everyone to take risks and have that "yolo spirit" (sorry if that is annoying). It is interesting to think about how different my life would be if I had not taken that risk last year. That decision to audition for Ovation, as well as for a solo, also led me to audition for the musical (I'll find out on Friday if I made it!). It's hard to wrap my mind around some things seem to be almost pre-planned for you. Well, I just wanted to share a bit of my story. You will hear more about it  in my personal narrative :)

Thanks!

Mackenzie

Teachers and professionalism

Hello- I just had another idea of a blogging topic!

An issue I have noticed at our school is teachers expressing their opinions in class.

Since it is an election year, I think this issue is becoming even more prevalent.

Personally, I believe that teachers should not tell us their political preferences, or even allude to it, and should act professionally. I think I feel this way because I disagree with many of my teachers beliefs, so I feel uncomfortable when they start talking about it in class. I have experienced teachers say outright that they are a "raging liberal" and expressed their opinions on individual political issues. Some teachers express their opinions in more subtle ways though, such as hanging only an Obama poster on the wall or just a quote by a former Republican president. Overall, I think expressing political opinions is unprofessional and teachers should stay objective while in the classroom. If they want to go to rallies on the weekend, go for it.

By posting this, I do not mean to say that these teachers are "bad" or anything along those lines. I just feel like teachers expressing their political opinions can only really lead to conflict in the classroom. I think that classrooms should be places of objective learning and open discussion.

Just something I have been thinking about recently. Thanks guys.

9/9/2012

So I finally figured out how to navigate the blogging world! Yay!

Today, I'd like to talk a little bit about the upcoming election (an idea I got from Christian :)), which I am very excited to vote in, and some of the issues that are involved in talking about politics.

One issue I have noticed with teens, and really anyone, and politics is that people can't really have a civil conversation about things they are so passionate about. I was thinking that these were the knowledge issues: How do I respectfully disagree with others? Can I see both sides of the issue?

One example I noticed this happening with is the "Vote No" campaign. Many people are very passionate about getting people to support their "Vote No" belief and are very upset when they see people supporting the "Vote Yes" side of the issue.

A friend of mine was very disturbed at those who want to vote yes, and believes that that opinion is "wrong."

I personally can get myself to understand the thinking behind both sides of the issue. I just thought it was interesting that, the "Vote No" campaign as an example, each side is so entrenched in their own belief that they cannot understand the other side's thinking at all.

I guess this is the reason that there are such vicious debates between the two different political parties, as well as on Facebook.

So just a quick thought I had! I'm sure many, many other people have noticed this too when it comes to politics.

Thanks for reading guys!

9/6/2012

Hello friends!

While working on my homework this evening, I noticed a connection between our work for TOK and for IB English. Our discussion in TOK about the definition of knowledge yielded the conclusion that many, many things can be considered knowledge; we decided that there really was not one correct definition. Well, today in IB English, we talked about different kinds of media. For our assignment, we had to log all the different kinds of media we have used recently and their purpose. The fact that there are so many types of media with different functions reminded me of how there are also inumerable kinds of knowledge that have different functions in certain knowledge communities. For example, opinion might be of a great importance in one area, but not accepted in fact-based communities.

I thought that it was cool that we were really talking about the same basic comment in two of our classes today!

-Mackenzie