12/2/2009
This didn't work the first time so hopefully it works this time. If america is ranked 40th in innovation what are we doing wrong? The problem seems to always come back to our laziness. The standards for education are not nearly high enough. America has spent so much time fighting wars than worrying about the problems we have right here in america. Dr. Pillay talked about when america wants something from Africa they have to butter them up and make it sound all great for the media. China comes in with no BS and says we will give you a hydro-electric plant if you allow us to sell our cars here. This makes me wonder if america is ran completely by the media. It seems america is too worried about what people think than they are worried about the things that really matter. What if all the walls in the world were torn down? Would things get better or worse. The walls article was very interesting in that we keep building these walls and continue making them bigger and stronger, but is this really a solution? If we tore down all the walls that are separating us from our problems we would then have to face the problem and it would sooner or later become resolved. Coach Morris showed us a picture of a soccer game in which there was a wall built between each side of the stadium. This wall was built by people. The stadium security trying to keep the fans separated from each other. What if this wall was to be broken or taken down? How many times would people get killed and trampled before the fans realized that fighting amongst themselves was wrong and it was only causing grief. My journal has been mostly about education in america and around the world. There is a real problem with the education in america. I liked one of the questions posed during class asking whether it should be blamed on technology or the parents. I believe many parents do raise their children properly, read with them every night, and encourage them to get good grades. I also believe that an enormous amount of parents are doing none of the above. I think that a big problem in america is welfare. Welfare promotes people to be lazy. The problem is that so many people who are intelligent are waiting till later in life to have children. The intelligent population also tends to have fewer children. This poses a real problem when those people in the lower class who are lucky to have a high school education are having more and more kids just to receive more welfare money. This causes the american population to become increasingly lazy and unintelligent. Welfare is a great program for some, but for most it is badly abused. There are so many children in third world countries that would give anything to have an american education. How many doctors, engineers, and teachers are overlooked because they were never given the chance at an education. The creation of a school that would house all the greatest minds from all over the world would be an idea to help stop the starvation of education in these countries. The school would also help tear down some of the walls amongst countries. The students would learn to get along with each other despite their differences and become friends. Whether this idea is possible or not, it would benefit the entire world. As for the Geo-Genius questions, a tidal bore is a wave formed from a rising tide moving upstream into a narrow inlet or channel. A Butte is an isolated hill with a flat top and steeply sloped sides all around. Lastly, a polder is a coastal area below sea level that is kept dry by the use of embankments such as dikes.
Posted at 12:16 PM by Daniel Roth