Breya

//**I** **believe in inner beauty.**// //** I believe that a world without music would be a world without emotion. **// //** I believe war is tearing nations apart. **// //** I believe with ore peace on the earth people would be much less corrupted. **// //** I believe if you can’t face the real you, you will never be who you really are. **// //** I believe you control your own future. **// //** I believe everything happens for a reason. **// //** I believe respect is a two-way street. **// //** I believe many things in life aren’t fair. **// //** I believe meat is murder. **// //** I believe in god. **// //** I believe a good family relationship is necessary for you to succeed in all other future relationships. **// //** I believe self respect is the key to others respecting you. **// //** I believe education is important. **// //** I believe friends are like family. **// //** I believe surfing is the best sport ever. **// //** I **// //** believe kids should be given more credit for the good things they do and contribute to the community. **// //** I believe that the war will one day end in Iraq. **// //** I believe prejudice of any kind is wrong. **// //** I believe violence doesn’t solve anything. **// //** I believe most teenage girls are extremely dramatic for no reaso **//

Failure

In almost every situation you fail, good comes out whether it be knowledge or progress made. Lewis Thomas famous biologist and writer of __Medusa And The Snail__, states “If we were not provided with the knack of being wrong, we could never get anything useful done.” I agree, Thomas makes is point very strong when he says this. Alexander Fleming by __mistake__ created a drug Penicillin, in 1929. Fleming was attempting to find a way to kill off the bacterial infection //staphylococcus//. He made a wonderful mistake when he didn’t clean his Petri dishes, there was a mold growing in one of them and he realized the //staphylococcus// was disappearing. He found something that could save many lives, all by mistake. A story that relates to Thomas’ theory is one of my own. I am a surfer and I have made many mistakes surfing and learned from every single one of them. For example one day I was trying to do the crazy tail whip I had seen Kelley Slater do during a surf competition on television. I tried it the first time and did it completely wrong; I tried it a second time and fell on my face. The third time I tried it I was dragged under the water and thrown around. I practiced for weeks and realized exactly what I was doing wrong, I finally learned how to do it without a flaw, and this proves the theory that through trial and error you learn. In William Shakespeare’s __Romeo & Juliet__, a love is formed between Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet. Their love is forbidden by their parents, due to their families’ rivalry. Romeo and Juliet kill themselves due to this dilemma. From this their parents learned never to involve people in a situation that has nothing to do with them. Basically they learned from their failure to see that their children didn’t deserve that. I n conclusion I agree that through trial and error you always learn something, and you always get something good out of it.

Tiger Mom Should children choose who and what they want to be? Or should parents make every choice for their child? See there is no right or wrong answers it’s really all on the way you were raised and your morals. Chinese mothers also known as tiger moms believe in strong discipline and making every single choice for their child. While Western mothers (American moms) believe that their child could do whatever they want in life as long as they are happy, and their self-esteem is high. The controversial release of Amy Chua’s __Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom,__ and the release of an excerpt from the book published in the //Wall Street Journal//set off an extreme feud across the country. Many livid American parents incriminated Chua by saying she abused her children and raised nothing but robotic high-achieving daughters. Chua shot out many insults towards American parents calling them “too soft” and “they do not care about their children’s success”. She herself did not assume any weakness in her children only strength. In this research paper I will examine two different parenting styles, that of Chinese immigrant parents, and that of the Western (American) parents. Near the end of this paper I will compare the two and add my opinion.

In the //Wall Street Journal// Amy Chua truly explains why Chinese Tiger moms are “superior”, in her article __why Chinese Mothers Are Superior.__ Amy states, “Western parents are concerned about their children’s psyches. Chinese parents aren’t. They assume strength, not fragility, and as a result they behave very differently.” Amy Chua obviously believes that children shouldn’t be treated as delicate, fragile creatures but more like little robots, although she does love her children and want the best for them. Chua tells the story about how her daughter Lulu could not get a song right on the piano, she kept pushing and pushing and still Lulu couldn’t get the piece right. Lulu asked Chua if she could use the bathroom and eat, Amy simply said no. Some would look at that situation as child abuse; others would look at it as discipline. Chua is a strict mother but through the strictness she loves her daughters and has fun with them, work just comes before the fun. In David Brooks article __Amy Chua Is A Wimp,__ Brooks strongly states his opinions. Brooks believes Amy should be letting her children go to sleepovers and have a part in a school play rather than study for their whole life. He believes that Chua is ruining her children’s love for music. In the article Brooks explains, “Managing status rivalries, negotiating group dynamics, understanding social norms, navigating the distinction between self and group- these and other social tests impose cognitive demands that blow away any intense tutoring session or a class at Yale.” What David is saying is that children need to learn a lot of things in the social aspect of life, rather than study and learn things in the classroom. According to Brooks having sleepovers and negotiating with people is far more important than studying calculus in your own. In the article by Ayelet Waldman__, In Defense Of The Guilty, Ambivalent, Preoccupied Western Mom__, Western mom’s were definitely defended. Ayelet Waldman clearly states, if you push your children too hard, they will most likely succeed but they will feel forced and probably unhappy. Ayelet also confronts her daughter Rosie’s dyslexia and how Rosie persevered and taught herself to read. Ayelet only says this to prove pushing your children doesn’t always help, but if you don’t push them they are able to learn on their own. I believe what Ms. Waldman is saying is; for every child you need a different approach. __Mother Inferior?__ By Hannah Rosin, is in response of Amy Chua’s __Battle Hymn Of A Tiger Mother.__ Hannah is really putting her input in by saying, “I think Chua has the diagnosis of American children exactly backwards.” She is saying this because Chua doesn’t understand American parenting, she was raised by a tiger mother and she is one, so how is she in the place to judge? My opinion on this whole controversy is that every parent is different and every child is too. No one could judge by just a stereotype it is completely unfair, Amy Chua is not a terrible person she just shows her love towards her children the same way her parents did…Is that such a crime?

**//__ 30 Before 30 __//**


 * 1) Ride every roller coaster ever made.
 * 2) Meet my grandfather in Brazil.
 * 3) Get straight A’s the rest of my high school years.
 * 4) Visit 35 random countries in a row.
 * 5) Become a published poet.
 * 6) Surf in Australia.
 * 7) Get sponsored in surfing By **Ripcurl**.
 * 8) Start a band.
 * 9) Go to Harvard Law.
 * 10) Start a donut shop in Arizona with my best friend Hannah.
 * 11) Fall in love.
 * 12) Go sky diving.
 * 13) Live in Hawaii.
 * 14) Work in an aquarium.
 * 15) Live in Boston again.
 * 16) Become a lawyer.
 * 17) Go to Pepperdine University.
 * 18) Roll a joint with Axle Rose.
 * 19) Smoke that very same joint that we rolled.
 * 20) Get a pet Dolphin.
 * 21) Keep it in my pool.
 * 22) Shave Brittany Spears’ head for her.
 * 23) Collect over 4000 records.
 * 24) Collect every Marvel and DC comic ever printed.
 * 25) Visit Marilyn Monroe’s burial sight.
 * 26) Become an awesome scientist.
 * 27) Galapagos Islands to discover a new species.
 * 28) Become a vegan.
 * 29) Become a trillionaire.
 * 30) The first female president.

**__ Medea __** Jason and Medea are both villains, yet one of them was justified for their wrong doings in “Medea” a play written by Euripides. Medea a broken woman, who gave nothing less than her everything to Jason, who loved Jason unconditionally, she killed her brother, left her home land for him, caused hurt for her father, and eventually killed their children. Jason promised Medea forever, he later cheated on Medea with the princess Glauce and began to divorce her. Medea was so upset and set on revenge that she killed Glauce and her father the king, that just wasn’t enough so Medea decided to kill her children to get back at him and recall his broken promise. In my opinion Jason did deserve what happened, but killing their kids was wrong on Medea’s part. But what Medea did have reasoning behind it, Jason had no reason besides wanting to be of higher social and financial class. In this essay I will explain my opinions. Jason committed adultery, he lied and broke a very serious promise, along with a woman’s heart. A woman who loved him, gave him everything, and conceived two of his children. He threw it all away, with not a valid reason or excuse to pass his lips. No, Jason did not commit murder but he did things without reason at all. I think Jason is wrong in every possible way. Medea on the other hand is not so innocent after killing her brother, the king, the princess Jason was to soon marry, and her children. But I think what she did could be justified. She did have a reason, through anger and need of revenge she did these things, someone promised her a lifetime full of love… they then broke it for what? The need to feel superior? That is not valid at all, Medea shouldn’t have killed her children but she did it for a good reason. In conclusion, Medea was wrong for what she did but it could be justified. What Jason did is wrong, and such a terrible thing. He broke a promise and lied, he deserved what happened.