Revelations

I learned that the book contained an entire chapter on religion and faith. The majority of it was covering different views of religion. I found Anne Lamott’s, “Why I Make Sam Go to Church.” I really like the quote, “I make him because I can. I outweigh him by nearly seventy-five pounds” (Lamott 464). It is so true, her son is five years old and has no right to decide if he is going to go or not. This is because he lacks sufficient reasoning capability at the age. There is no way that he can examine all possibilites and possible outcomesand make a judgment on the best course to take. However, she also states the human reasons why she wishes for him to have a church experience.

Lamott, Anne. Why I Make Sam Go to Church. Composing a Civic Life. Bernt, Michael and Muse, Amy. p.464. Pearson Education. 2007. Print.

There is a lot one needs to know when entering the school environment. This guide will hope to provide helpful solutions by addressing some key issues. It is important to know that you are not alone. The best way to prepare for your future is to protect against or avoid these pitfalls. Remember the one in charge of your educational success is you. Now, this is what the guide will contain. The three issues that will be covered in this guide are avoiding class overload, underperforming teachers, and school e-mail. 

            The first issue to be discussed is that of classes. Knowing the right amount of classes to take can be difficult. Although, there are a variety of factors to consider, this section will strictly avoid the topic of a social life. This will be left for the reader to decide for themselves. The problem is how do you know if you are taking too little or too many classes.

            This may sound simple but it is not. Although, you may think four classes are not that many there are a multitude of things to consider. You must examine what time of day the classes are being held, the workload, and the level of expectation of the teachers. Some teachers are willing to give students a break and accept late work, while, other teachers are strictly against it. It is important to know how much work teachers hand out and what their expectations will be.

            There are several possible solutions. The best would be to ask people who have had experience with the teacher. This personal knowledge can go a long way in your educational planning. They may have had a bad attitude or had other classes interfering with their work that caused a bad experience with that teacher. Remember to evaluate your own personality with what you have heard about the classes that you are interested in taking. An important reminder, just because someone has had a good experience with a teacher does not mean it will be the same for you.

            The second problem to be discussed is that of incompetent teachers. They do exist. The word of mouth method is effective in this situation. It is important to remember that many are well-trained instructors. However, there will always be those that slip through the cracks, and this will help you to deal with them.

            If you know of any teachers like this avoid them it is for the best. If you have found yourself in a class with a bad teacher, don’t panic; there are things you can still do. The first step is obvious; if it is not past the drop date, then drop the class. This becomes more problematic if the semester is well under way. One option is that you work hard and pray that you get a decent grade.

            However, if working hard for a teacher that may fail you is not for you, there are more options. You can report the teacher to your school for failing to do what they were hired for. If the teacher has tenure this could be more difficult. In either case, the school may not accept your verbal testimony. It would be a good idea to buy a voice recorder, if you do not already have one. This still may not help you with tenured teacher, however. Remember, it is your duty as a student to inform them of underperforming teachers.

            Another important step is to keep a copy of your work. It may be that you do not want to keep any reminders of that class. However, it is important to keep such materials as it can prove you case later. Assuming that you will have to engage in such an action. If nothing else works and the teacher looks like they are about to fail you, then drop the class. It is better to get a withdrawal than an F. Furthermore, tell other people the experience you have had to prevent this from happening to them.

            In the Students Complaints and Grievances portion of Lake Superior College’s policy section 3.8 it states, “A student has the right to seek a remedy for a dispute or disagreement through a designated complaint or grievance procedure.” The policy goes further in stating, “This policy does not apply to academic grade disputes.” (www.lsc.edu/policy/policy38.cfm). The policy in grade appeal varies greatly. For instance, Lake Superior College allows teachers full say as far as deciding students’ grades. Grade appeals are only allowed for arbitrariness (Instructor did not exercise professional judgment), bias (discrimination on the part of the instructor), and error. (www.lsc.edu/policy/policy3175.cfm). 

             This last problem I will be discussing is school e-mail. Whether we like it or not, schools are using e-mail for their official means of communication. Knowing what to do becomes very important for your academic future. I have learned that schools send out a lot of e-mails, most of which are unimportant. However, it is important to regularly check your e-mail. E-mail in school accounts can build up quickly and blend in with important messages. This is why it is very important to clear out your inbox so important e-mails, which are unlikely to be sent in other forms, are read before it is too late.

            This is the end of this “Guide of College Life.” Hopefully, you have found this helpful. This is not an exhaustive compendium of all there is to know nor of all possible solutions. Independent critical thinking is still the best answer for the problems you may encounter in college. These are just suggestions that will hopefully help you in your educational endeavor or in coming up with ideas for yourself.   

Works Cited

Minnesota. Lake Superior College Policy 3.8. 2009. Web. 2 Nov. 2009

< (www.lsc.edu/policy/policy38.cfm).>.

Minnesota. Lake Superior College Policy 3.17.5. Web. 2 Nov. 2009.

< (www.lsc.edu/policy/policy3175.cfm).>.

I had not yet realized that the class was half over. It’s hard to really know what I have learned. I have learned of several sites to help in the citations used in works cited. I do not think that I am actually confused. I am actually uncertain how I will conduct research papers in the future. I am really not that good at planning what information I will need and how I will obtain it. All the suggestions provided in the book are for visual people. You have to envision your project, something I can not really do. I just resort by playing it by ear and looking for the information when I need it. I just do not have that natural researcher drive. I can understand if there was a purpose or drive that would inspire me. In addition, I never get when to use quotes. I believe the only time one should use quotes only when it would enhance the quality of the work and clarify the information. However, in the assignments we have to use qutes that seem rather arbitrary. Every work is not necessarily going to use quotes. I also have a problem with the citations. I use a lot of knowledge that I already have in my papers. This makes it extreamely difficult to know when to cite. I think this ids really all I have as far as my feelings regarding the class.

The opening statement for chapter five sparked a reaction within me. It starts, “As members of various private and public communities, you can use your critical literary skills to create and share your knowledge with others (p.156).” It depends on what the term various is used to imply. Is it meaning a few which is true or is it using a loosely defined term where communities are being broadly defined. This would also be true. However, if it means many different communities within peoples’ personal and public lives; it is absolutely not true. My personal feeling is that it is the second option. It is probably included all those with the title “son” as belonging to that community, for example. The rest of this statement is true. Critical literary skills are vital to a successful life. “Working out your research method in more detail can also help you anticipate any problems and purpose  alternative methods or sources of information.” This statement is also only partially true. Planning your research method further only aids an individual when they have had sufficient time to already be under way. It would be ineffective if you were beginning a research paper, for example. The plan in the first part of this statement is only helpful for visual people. Those who have to have everything before them and an idea of what they needed to do would not find this helpful.The anticipation of problems and devising alternative methods is only possible when one has already been given the time to complete the entire process. Therefore this statement in that regard is completely unhelpful and inaccurate. Some may argue that no one would be given enough time to learn that. Then, this part of the quoted statement is unattainable since no one would actually be given the time to either do it or properly learn it. Often times, the need for more or differing information is discovered to soon. Since we admitted that there is a possibility that time may not be given to complete the process then it is likely to presume that one would continually learn this too late. Since it is impossible to know all the information that one would need to know. So after examining the entire statement fully analyzed we find out that it is partly impossible. It is impossible for it is a false promise that no one intends to fulfill. They say it is the individuals’ responsibility to learn how to do this without completing the mental process but this is not possible and would only hamper the individual’s development. This is due to the individual putting more and more energy into an unattainable goal. The statement is also partly true for those authors who are visual people. This is due to the ability to map out their plan in their minds and therefore do not need to actually experience it in order to adapt to the challenges of the task. I hope this is helpful. This is one of the reasons why I believe the educational system in America needs to be seriously reevaluated.

I believe that the person that travelled to Hawaii is Alex. He seemed to know more about what Hawaii would be like. He spent two weeks near a military base. What hurt their case is neither went on a sightseeing trip or remember much specifics. This is common among tourists and did not real boil down to anything really discernible.

I really liked the idea they had in the beginning of Chapter four for ways to improve the quality of civic life. “The State’s profit from the prisoners’ labor can be used to pay for the prisons and prisoners can learn a useful trade,”  is an interesting idea. It has worked, in some degree, in the state prisons that they have been implemented in. Prisoners who are taught a skill are less likely to repeat criminal activity. This is not fool-proof but it would seem to reduce the cost of running prisons while improving civic life. The next statement was in Susan B. Anthony’s, “Women’s Right to Vote.” “No one denies that before government were organized each individual possessed the right to protect his own life, liberty and property.” The only reason they possessed said right were because they were forced too. Before governments, people could have their liberty, property, or even life taken from them at any interval. It was necessary to defends oneself. It was more of a demand rather than a right. It was a difficult time for both men and women. I support the position made by Susan B. Anthony. However, let us not exaggerate. Men never really had it good while under a king who gave them a list of things they could not do. Even in America, men were given more freedom than in the past. They still had the right to pay taxes, work back-breaking hours with little to no recognition, and go to jail for failing to make payments if life get too difficult.

I thought the suggestion of a utopian society was very surprising. In the text it states, “To build a society on common ground,” which implies such a thing would be possible. Now, well that may not indicate a utopian society, it does indicate something that is quite impossible. There is no place where no one can agree to such a degree. In the past there was such a thing as group identity.  Now, everything is so individualized that you can not build a society on common ground. Later in the text it becomes more clear. On page 99 on main paragraph three it states, “people interested in developing utopian communities often use the term “intentional community” or consider themselves part of the movement for “communitarianism.” This provokes several questions within me. For instance, why do we need to know about people building utopian societies.  In addition, aren’t all communities intential communities.  Are there a lot of communities that have happened by accident? Whoops, you there! Most communities in some form are planned, so “intentional communities,” is just a code word for something that people use when they don’t want to state something that other people are most likely to object too.  This also constitutes my thought provoking and annoying statements. The information was mostly helpful but I doubt that I would use most of it. I just do not see why they have to mention utopian societies. It seems like they could have used anything else to start the chapter. And, why does it have to be a recurring theme. What would happen if they had said the “ideal religious community?” Would it have received the same reaction?

I have not entirely decided. I might go with the concept of the swine flu vaccine causing paralysis. However, I am not sure how much detail I would have to go into. I have also thought of the government using television commercials to control the mind of another. Or, maybe some type of government coup. I would  have the media being complicit with a blackout of information thus resulting in the lack of public awareness. Every conspiracy needs vast monoliths misleading the people for no reason. I promise I have a reason in mind. I think maybe knowledge about how the vaccine is made would be helpful. The process the media may already do for information suppression, i.e. to avoid embarrassing stories. It may even be helpful to know how wide spread the disease is by knowing its’ highest area of concentration.

I learned about the different grants one can obtain to go to school at LSC. I learned that I really need to learn how to give more helpful advice while reviewing someone’s paper. I hope that I honestly provided helpful information regarding their papers. However, I personally doubt it. I did not really struggle on doing the assignment of peer reviewing. I think getting started reading was the hard part. After that, it was really easy to review the papers.I found that I am good at writing a coherent piece within a very short period of time. Especially, when I can base it on my own experiences. I don’t think that peer reviewing made me think about my own writing. Except, I kept wondering what other people were saying about mine. I think any type of academic criticism can be helpful. In continuation, I think unhelpfuk comments such as great job, like I mostly do, isn’t very helpful, but unavoidable if the reader does not know a way to improve it.

I think my strongest virtue out of Ben Franklin’s thirteen virtues would be resolution. I really do not have a problem with following through with what I have committed to do. If I have to do something I will no matter if I want to or not. My biggest weakness may be frugality. I can control my spending fine. However, I tend to be impulsive when shopping and have a propensity for spending by desire. In addition, I don’t look for the cheapest price or work hard at keeping a budget. Budgets kind have been a rough quess with me. I think if you committ to improve yourself you will. If you do not, then keeping track of all your misdeeds would be pointless. It would just make that individual depreesed by their focusing only on the negative and too little on the positive. I probably would use a different method, however.