“What alarms me is their indifference tward grades as an indication of personal effort and performance.”

The grade we recieve usually shows the effort that has been made on the students part. Our grades reflect the time and effort that we apply to the class. I find it puzzling that students actuall contact an instructor after final grades have been posted. I am guilty of contacting our instructor because I had difficulty with aspects of this online class. For instance, Not being able to get into my blog. Everything has deadlines and without the understanding of how to get into the programs to do the work, it is hopeless to expect a good grade. I don’t expect something for nothing though, I put in a lot of time and effort into my classes and hope my grade shows that. I believe students need to get the grade that their work shows. It has to be hard to be an instructor that feels the pressure of giving grades. Every teacher should know that they are doing a valuable job. We have to learn from our grades. If they are just given good grades, without being earned they will never learn where their troubled areas are. Only way to grow and excell is to know what needs the extra work.

“Woman feel such pressure to be everything, do everything,” I say. “Career, kids, art, politics. Have their babies and get back to the office a week later.

This is sooo true. Woman struggle to do it all. These days many men struggle to be more involved in their childrens lives too. So we have created situations that most days there doesn’t seem like we have enough time in the day to accomplish what we feel we need to accomplish. Therefore, we feel more pressure. We put this pressure on ourselves, struggling for perfection.
This essay covers many different races and there struggle to make ends meet. This struggle has been going on for what seems like forever, through there. generations. Different problems because of different situations, but still same kinds of issues.

Thesis Statement- I like to think that in spite of my being so unwilling at first, I did some small service to country and to that enduring love of mine, The United States Marine Corps.

Very strong thesis statement. Gives a clear statement on what this essay is about.

This essay covers many issues on the war. The biggest issue becomes the draft. The author is a military man who believes strongly that the draft should be re-instated. He gives many good points for re-establishing the draft, however, I am not convinced. There are many people who have found ways of manipulating the system to determine who serves. That isn’t fare, the guidline needs to be clearly outlined , Therefore, privelaged or not, everyone is on a level playing field..

“The most dangerous criminal may be the man gifted with reason, but no morals.”

This hit home for me. We can be very educated, and knowlegdeable, but without morals, none of this matters. Morals are what keep us in check with reality. The difference between what is right and wrong is what keeps life in balance. We can go to college and get a great education, but without being taught at a young age, manners and proper etiquette, we can still be lost.

“Many of my enlisted marines were college-educated: some had been to graduate school.”

This is a good example of miscommunication. Most of the American people see the Service as a way for the inpoverished Americans to get an education. This is what I believed myself. I have a cousin who served 20 years in th Airforce, she joined the service because she couldn’t afford college and this was the best way for her to get her education paid for. She did not grow up wealthy, but far from poor, basically the middle class. We need to be proud of our service men and women, they are out there day after day putting their lives on the line for our saftey. Moreover, they are very smart and talented and caring people, very honorable. I am proud of our military, I do not believe we need to re-instate the draft, we have many willing and proud to serve.

“Over the years, I learned to smother the rage I felt at so often being taken for a crimminal.” This was very impowering to me. Growing up a child of an alcoholic parents, life wasn’t a breeze by any means. Scared to death to divulge any family problems to strangers, I lived my own personal hell. We were poor, so everyone looked down us,which just added to the anger I felt inside. Reading this story sends me back to my childhood days, unfortunately he experience a different kind of discrimination, but there are many kinds, and they all hurt. Life is to short for us to feed into discrimination, we all need to go back to the bible, where it states we are all created equal! There is no statement saying the white, black, poor, or wealthy are better than any other.

“Anyone who defines marriage largely in terms of what happens in bed has never been married.”
Wow, now that’s a powerful statement, therefore I need to say I don’t believe it is determined on what happens in the bedroom. Although I don’t believe it is all about the bedroom, I do believe it is about a man and a woman. God has given us the 10 commandments and throughout the Bible he has described everything between a man and a woman. I don’t judge individuals on their sexual orientation, that not who I am. Goverment has many options and I believe that we the people need to get out and vote in order for our voices to be heard.

“If there is a fatal notion on this earth, it’s the notion that wider horizions will be fatal.” I believe the same. Knowlegde is power, we need to read and experience life ourselves in order to understand. Our parents can explain situations to us, but without experiencing life ourselves, it can be difficult to grasp what they already know. Many times we could be spared some unfortunate situations, but experiencing things for ourself makes all the difference in the world. There are many issues that are hot button topics, For instance, race, sex, discrimination, the list can go on and on, therefore we need to research ideas and come to our own conclusion on the issues.

“Education must enable a man to become more efficient, to achieve with increasing facility, the legitamate goals of his life.”
This is a bold statement that tells exactly what he expects from his education. I agree. Education is the building blocks of our society. With knowledge comes power, power is what we need to be in control of our day-to-day lives. We need to understand issues and learn from them what we can do to make life better. Education increases our chances in life.