Kendall



I believe I will be successful in life. I believe I can be a good person. I believe that my friends and family will always be there for me. I believe that I am trustworthy. I believe that I am honest. I believe that dance is my passion. I believe that my parent love me. I believe in God. I believe I can do better in school. I believe that I will get a good education. I believe I will get married one day. I believe in karma. I believe that you pick and choose what you want. I believe that you have no one else to blame but yourself. I believe that I will graduate High School. I believe that my teachers believe in me. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">I believe that my parents raised their children to have respect. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">I believe that I can make a difference. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">I believe that no one can change my life. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">I believe that my parents expect better from me. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">I believe that Six Flags is awesome because I’ve been on every ride. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">I believe in myself.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">Believe… **

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">The story of the //Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom//, including an excerpt from it in The Wall Street Journal, created a rage of problems among American, or in Amy Chua’s words, Western parents. Which they had advised the cruel, rigid stuff Amy Chua did to her daughters. In other words, I will be discussing Chua’s parenting in comparison to Western parents. Then finally, give my own opinion to what I believe.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Chinese parents raise their children differently than Western parents do. For instance, Chinese parents strive for their children to be superior in everything they do. Whether it’s in school or playing an instrument. In the article, Amy Chua stated, “I used every weapon and tactic I could think of. We worked right through dinner into the night, and I wouldn’t let her Lulu get up, not for water, not even to go to the bathroom.” This statement written by Amy Chua herself is abuse. Telling your child they can get a drink of water or even using the restroom, in my opinion is quite ridiculous.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">On the other hand, Western parents do have a different way of parenting their children. “Western parents try to respect their children’s individuality, encouraging them to pursue their true passions, supporting their choices.” As you can tell, they try to understand each of their kids individually, they’re more lenient and they try to pursue their children’s hopes and dreams.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">The article Amy Chua is a Wimp” by David Brookes, simply advises how although Chua is tough and hard on her kids, Lulu and Sophia, Amy is weak. David Brookes says that she’s a wimp in letting her kids go to sleepovers or doing a school activity. He says by Amy locking up her children, they wouldn’t understand the real world. Such as, going on play dates, understanding the difference between a group effort to individuality, or even managing bullies. David even states himself, “I wish she recognized that in some important ways the school cafeteria is more intellectually demanding than the library.” He means that, by making your children always in the library studying, they aren’t able to see all the different dynamics in people.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">In the article “In Defense of the Guilty, Ambivalent, Preoccupied Western Mom” by Ayelet Waldman, states the diversity between herself and Amy Chua. Ayelet Waldman is a western mom caring for her four children. Unlike Chua, Ayelet lets her kid’s sleepover at friend’s houses, quit any instrument or extracurricular activity, or even be in a school play. Although, she still has rules. Which are, never required to drive for more than ten minutes! Even though Amy Chua and Ayelet Waldman raise their children differently, they do share some similarities. For instance, Amy’s kids had t have a grade higher than an –A! Mrs. Waldman also expects the same. The difference though is that Amy would sit with her kids all night getting those grades up! But Ayelet had a tutor help her. Now, Ayelet’s daughter, Rosie, accomplished a great deed. Rosie was diagnosed with dyslexia. But one day, she taught herself how to read! She pushed herself to read, not her parents telling her she had to or else! In the article, Ayelet stated, “Roaring like a Tiger turns some children into pianists who debut at Carnegie Hall but only crushes others. This means that sometimes coercioning people to do something may scornfully want the child to rebel.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">In the article “Mother Inferior?” by Hanna Rosin, simply advises her way of parenting vs. Mrs. Chua’s ways of parenting. Rosin believes that kids should be kids and life live without any worries. Even she has once voiced, “There are fierce tigers who churn out child prodigies, and then there are the pussycats who waste their afternoons playing useless board games and get bested by their own toddlers.” What she means by that statement is how Amy is the tiger who takes away what they want, but Hanna is the pussycat who coddles her children. She believes that her kids should have their own freedom and how she wants her kids to find what they love! Not what she loves.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Llyon Woo’s article “An Asian Father’s Gift: Permission to Fail” tells the story about her high school years. She stated how she was mostly a B student with an occasional –A. Until one day, her father asked her, “What would happen if you failed?” Llyon was utterly shocked as her father told her, “So what? It’s not the end of the world.” As her father mentioned to her to try to fail, she then stated, “In that moment, though I would not realize it until later, my father set me free.” In my opinion, that statement means, that her father just wants her to try different things. But by that sense of letting her fail, she realized her grades began to soar! Now she is a Law School Professor at Yale and telling her students what her dad told her.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Now a days, kids have a lot on their plate. Whether it’s in school, a sport, friends, or maybe even family. Parents need to let their kids be kids and live life. They should not have to worry about all the little things that they do not need. Amy Chua, for an example, pushed her children at everything they worked on. Instead she should’ve let her kids live a little.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">On the other hand, what Chua made her kids do was to only help them. Such as, she made them maintain an A all throughout school, sat with them and help them study for school or practice the piano and violin. Although, she made them practice for long, painful hours, it was only for their best interest.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Amy Chua’s Wall Street Journal article has made an impact on other parents and other citizens. Many people think she should be in jail for what she did. Others think we need more strict parents. Speaking for myself, I think that yes, we do need parents that have tough discipline but Amy Chua took it way over board.

Cheating

Would you rather lose honestly or win dishonestly? In my opinion, I would rather lose knowing I tries my best than taking a shortcut and winning knowing I cheated.

I do see student cheat in school or being dishonest with others. Whether it's in school, the significant other, or in a sport. Many people think it's the way to go! But in reality they're only cheating on themselves.

Christine Pelton, a high school teacher in Piper, Kansas, fall 28 or her students. Do you think that was a good thing or bad thing? In my opinion, i think what she did was the right thing to do. Her 28 sophomores needed to face the punishment instead of getting out the easy way.

Mrs. Pelton assumed that 1 out of 5 of her students plagiarized. In that case, she decided to fail all the 28 sophomores even the principal and superintendent nodded their heads with agreement! Although, by her failing the majority of the class, parents start to complain. So by them complaining the school board advised for her to go easier on them. Pelton did not agree and quit.

People need to realize that cheating, plagiarizing, and stealing are all the same thing! Such as, stealing clothes or a different item is just like stealing someone else’s thoughts or words. It’s not fair for the person who did all the work get the same grade as the person who cheated! People who will cheat will never learn what’s right and what’s wrong! They won’t be able to do things for themselves.

I applaud Christine Pelton for what she did! Parents need to stop babying their children by not letting them face he punishment they rested upon themselves. Because obviously they aren’t learning and they’ll keep doing that they’re doing.

**Failure**
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Failure, one of the main things people in our society dreads, as Lewis Thomas explains in the passage from __The Medusa and the Snail.__ Although, does failure or making an error towards something have an advantage or disadvantage? In my opinion, I believe that you can learn from your mistakes but sometimes that mistake you have created, can’t always be fixed.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">In 1929, Alexander Fleming discovered the first from of an antibiotic. He discovered, Penicillin. Penicillin kills the bacteria that can kill us! He first started studying a deadly disease called Staphlococcis. Alexander was a messy person and never cleaned out his dishes with all his experiments. When he went back to check them out, he realized that there was a mistake. Mold began growing on one of his dishes. But that did not stop him! He worked with the mold that had been formed. Just like Lewis Thomas said, “Failure will or may occur but sometimes that’s the way you learn."

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">In my eyes, I see my parents’ divorce as a failure. The reason why I think that is because when two people get married, their plan is not to get a divorce; it’s to live together for as long as they both shall live! My parents have been divorced for about nine years now. Each year I was able to comprehend the situation more clearly. Although, at first moving from my mom’s to my dad’s or vice versa was hard, I came up with a plan. My plan was to stay with my mom one week then the next week with my dad. That way I am able to be with each parent for an equal amount of time! It was hard having to see them go through that, but seeing the fail of their marriage to now, we are more of a happier and closer family than we ever were before.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">In Harper Lee’s book, __To Kill a Mockingbird__, Scout learned from her mistakes as in fighting to a young little lady. When Scout would get into an argument with other kids, she though violence was always the answer. Until, she saw how her father, Atticus, talked with people when they disagree on something. She learned, to argue with her words than with her fists.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Yes, I do believe that when you make a mistake, sometimes you learn from it. Although, I also believe that some of these mistakes can’t always be fixed. But honestly, that’s for yourself to make that choice.

= = =**30 by 30**=
 * 1) At least one or two tattoos
 * 2) Go skydiving
 * 3) Graduate from high school
 * 4) Travel around the world
 * 5) Go white water rafting
 * 6) Go bungee jumping
 * 7) Run in a marathon
 * 8) Get married to Brandon
 * 9) Go to college
 * 10) Own a house
 * 11) Own a pair of Louis Vuitton
 * 12) Own an iphone
 * 13) Go to Vegas
 * 14) Go to Hawaii
 * 15) Go to the biggest mall in the world
 * 16) Fly in a plane
 * 17) To meet Oprah
 * 18) To live in Santa Barbara
 * 19) Become a Therapist or a Physical Therapist
 * 20) Swim with the Dolphins
 * 21) Get a college degree
 * 22) Have at least one kid
 * 23) Dye my hair
 * 24) To own a car
 * 25) Watch Due Date with Brandon
 * 26) Jump off a waterfall
 * 27) Stay in a House Boat for a week
 * 28) Help out a food drive
 * 29) Have a huge picnic with friends
 * 30) Go to Disney World


 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Margaret Meade **

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">The quote “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has” by Margaret Meade simply states how just one or a few people can change the world, but history shows that just a small group can change the world in bad ways as well. I believe that yes, a small group of people can make a positive impact on the world, although, a small group of people can make a negative impact on the world!

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">September 11, 2001 was the day a small group of people changed the lives of Americans in a horrible way! 22 terrorists hijacked four planes. In doing so, they targeted three major places. Which were, the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and either the White House or the Capital building in Washington D.C.(we still aren’t sure). Their leader was named, Osama Bin Laden. He was the man who plan this whole scheme. But for some reason, he did not actually participate in the whole crashing of the planes. In order to succeed with this plan, the terrorists, had to dress themselves up to look like normal American citizens. For instance, they shaved all their hair off, wore the American clothing, etc.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Although, Flight 93 has whole different story! Yes, four terrorists hijacked a plane and hurt many citizens and families, but a small group of men decided to change the plans a little bit. For instance, Todd Beamer, Mark Bingham and Jeremey Glick made a plan to some how takeover the aircraft. After discussing how and when, they finally came to the conclusion. Which was no or never. If those men were to not try to takeover, that planes plans was to crash and destroy into either The Capital or The White House. Instead, that plane crashed in a wide open field of grass, in the middle of no where!

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Something I will never forget was the time a group of friends and I had decided to go pick up trash down at the beach! By us doing so, we help <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">make our beach look pretty and clean! The way the Ventura Beach should look like! That day it felt so good to just get out of the house with some friends and make a difference to our community. No, we didn't get rewarded for it but it felt good just doing it! That day we had learned a lot. A small group can make a difference in something, you don't need the entire universe of people too!

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">That day, September 11, 2001, twenty-two terrorists hurt the United States in horrible ways. Because of what they did, we have had two wars in Afganistan because of Osama Bin Laden. Still till this day, we are still at war. That little group of people changed the world in a negative way.Although, the passagers on Flight 93 did not.

=__Medea__=

==The statement “Till death due us part” defines that you marry as one. You love each other with your whole heart. And you never leave each other’s side until on descends. In the fictional story “Medea” by Euripides explains a story about a lady named Medea, who kills her children in revenge of her ex husband, Jason. In my opinion, I think what Medea did was a selfless act. Even though what she did was wrong, neither of them are heroes.==

==Medea killed her children for what Jason did to her. Jason made a promise to stand by her side and love her no matter what! He broke that promise. By Medea getting revenge on Jason, she felt that killing her own kids was the best thing to do. For instance, the other people were going to kill them as well. Maybe Medea felt that she should probably do it herself rather than someone killing them slowly.==

==But, I whole heartedly disagree with Medea killing her kids. Just because Jason left her, doesn’t mean she should have the right to kill them! Yes, I do agree, what Jason did was wrong as well, but what Medea did to her two little boys was much worse!==

==Instead, Medea should have hurt Jason in a different way! Not by killing him, but maybe by hurting him physically. Such as, making him go blind or hurting his physical endurance. She could have thought of many other ways in getting revenge on Jason. Rather than killing her own blood!==