Alan

__I believe essay __
 * I believe I will go on to become a family physician because I like working with people
 * I believe that I will be successful in life if I make the right choices
 * I believe my friends and family are the most important things in life because they will always be there for you
 * I believe God is real because of the biblemedia type="file" key="alan-thegroup-summerschool-2011-cannibalism.flv" align="right" width="360" height="270"
 * I believe OKC will win the championship with Kevin Durant
 * I believe depending what choices you make will determine where you go in life
 * I believe that all of the beliefs of the world ending is not true
 * I believe that maybe one day the world will be at peace as soon as the violence stops
 * I believe that I will be able to own a Chevy Camaro in the future if I work hard enough
 * I believe dogs are better than cats because they don’t just sit there and be lazy
 * I believe we should be able to go to school at nine in the morning every day because well have more time to sleep
 * I believe that Michael Jordan will remain to be better than Lebron because he has six rings and he has zero rings[[image:alan.jpg width="480" height="317" align="right" caption="Alan is ready to dominate the rest of high school."]]
 * I believe face book is one of the most famous websites around the world
 * I believe soccer is one of the most popular sports around the world because everyone plays it around the world
 * I believe I can get better grades next year if I get my act together and do all my work

__ Tiger Mom Paper __ The publication of the “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom:”, also an excerpt from it in The Wall Street Journal, created a problem for American parents saying that Amy Chua was a child abuser for making her daughters genius prodigy robots with no freedom. Chua tells American parents that they do not discipline their kids enough, and that they are afraid of hurting their self esteem. In this research paper I will explain Amy Chua’s crazy teaching style that got her daughters to become genius academic and music prodigies. Also with other critics explaining their reasons why it is wrong and I will explain my own opinion on this article.

First of all, in the article “Why Chinese Mothers are Superior” by Amy Chua. She explains how Chinese mothers are much stricter compared to western moms, although their children come out better as in more successful in life. Chinese parents believe until you are perfect at something you can not have any fun. As Amy Chua had said “What Chinese parents understand is that nothing is fun until you’re good at it”. They also believe that kids owe everything to there parent by succeeding in life. So chinese moms have good intentions but extreme measures with there kids. As for western parents their main goal is to keep their child’s self esteem up. “If the child comes home with a B on the test some parents will still praise there child” as said by Amy Chua. This proves that western parents care much more of keeping there child’s self esteem up. So western parents want their kids to get good grades from their child but discipline them enough for their child to know.

Next, in the article “AMY CHUA is a Wimp” by David Brook’s he believes, Amy Chua is a wimp because she wont show her kids what the real world is like. In his this is what David Brook’s said “Managing status rivalries negotiating group dynamics, understanding social norms, navigating the distinction between self and group”. By saying this he is saying that getting straight A’s and going to Harvard is the easy part. The hard part is having a social life in school so you can have the skills to survive in the real world. So that is David Brook’s message to Amy Chua knowing how to work with people and having the skills to survive in the real world is harder than getting to Harvard.

In this article “In Defense of the Guilty, Ambivalent, and Preoccupied Western Mom” by Ayelet Waldman. She shows that for every child there is different teaching method to be taught to them. As she said in the article “Amy Chua and I both understand that our job as mothers is to be the type of tigress that each cub needs.” Although they have different teaching methods they both wanted that their child could succeed. With Ayelets daughter she was dyslexic but didn’t want her to try so hard to read. But instead she would let her daughter guide herself to accomplishing her goal, and it worked she learned how to read. So the lesson to be learned was that every child must be thought differently. In “Mother Inferior” by Hanna Rosin what she believed and said was “The answer is not to aim for more effective child perfecting techniques; it is to give up altogether on trying to perfect our children.” So what she wants people to know is that she would rather give her kid a good childhood, then to be a tiger mom with them. To her kids it important that they have their freedom, and that she is a typical western mom. So she is the exact western mom that Amy Chua describes.

With this article “An Asian Fathers Gift: Permission to fail” Iloyn Woo is about a stressed daughter who had good grades but not at their best potential, because she had so much stress in her life and she didn’t want to disappoint her parents. One day she had gone to her father because she was struggling in math. He had told her why you don’t try to fail what’s the worst that could happen to you. In her own words she said “In that moment my father set me free.” When he said that there was no more stress to worry about her grades, so ever since that her grades went up even math. So she accomplished her goal and all because her father said she could fail.

I agree with Amy Chua she has the best of intentions for her daughters to succeed in life, and she loves and adores her children. The dedication she gives to them working with her kids for long hours. Not many parents are dedicated to doing this with their child. Her teaching method must be working if all her kids are going to Harvard. So Amy Chua’s methods must work look at her kids there prodigy’s.\

On the other hand her teaching methods are cruel, so when she was with them all those hours they could have been doing activities, going to sleepovers, or hanging out with their friends. To parents everywhere they see her as a child abuser. Making her children robot prodigies with no social life. So Amy Chua is seen to many as a cruel parent. In Conclusion, Amy Chua has the ability to show her daughters that they can succeed in life. Although her methods are harsh and can leave permanent scars in their head and have to go to therapy for years. So I believe that Amy Chua has good intentions but takes it too over board with the harshness.

__Failure __

In the story “The Medusa and the Snail” by biologist Lewis Thomas, He explains that it is necessary to make mistakes, so in the outcome you can learn from it. So even you have made a mistake it could be the breakthrough to discovering something new. Although I don’t think that’s how it works for everybody some might learn from their mistakes. And others might continue to keep failing and learn nothing from it.

Alexander Fleming was doctor who had made a ground breaking discovery just because he had made a mistake by not cleaning out his Petri dish. He was trying to find a way to eliminate staphylococcus but instead found out that the mold from the Petri dish had killed it. By doing this he had discovered penicillin and he would save many lives during World War 2. This is a great example that mistakes do lead to greater things.

In my own eyes I see people I knew where there life has only lead them to get worst and worst in life. My cousin and I had a friend that played in a soccer team when we were little she had always been a happy person, but years later her parents had divorced and from there on it all went downhill for her. She had been getting in trouble at school, she started doing drugs and she hasn’t had anything positive happen to her. So this story shows that failures don’t always lead to more positive things but that to some they might just keep failing.

In the story “The Medusa and the Snail” by biologist Lewis Thomas, He explains that it is necessary to make mistakes, so in the outcome you can learn from it. In my opinion failure is important in life although not everybody learns from their failures. That is why I believe that not everybody learns from their failures.

__ Medea __

In the story “Medea” by Euripides is a fictional story made 2,400 years ago. This woman Medea was betrayed of Jason’s promise and she wanted revenge. But in no situation is it ok to kill your children just for revenge. If she loved them so much why did she kill them? So that is why Medea is the villain. So in this essay I will discuss the good and the bad of both sides, and the express my opinion who was the right one.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> First of all, Medea had her reasons to kill her children. Medea had given everything to Jason she had helped him escape, killed her brother, betrayed her country and her father. So for Jason to break his promise she was furious and heartbroken. So she wanted revenge so she thought the only way to get revenge so she thought the only way for him to suffer was to take everything away from him, including their children.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> Although, Jason was the correct one when he broke the promise it wasn’t because he didn’t love her anymore, but instead he was thinking for his family. If he married the kings daughter his kids would be half royalty and would be higher in the ranks, and that Medea would happy for them to see their royalty. So Jason saw it more as a political view, but Medea thought it was because he didn’t love her anymore. And besides when she helped Jason escape why did she have to go with him and be all in love with him.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> Clearly, in what time is it o.k. to kill you’re your children just for revenge. Medea did this all just so Jason would have everything taken away from him. Medea did not have to kill her kids she could have just kept them away from him instead. No matter what the situation it is not ok to kill your child just for revenge. It was bad enough that she had already killed the king and her daughter so that is why Medea is the villain.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> In Conclusion, in the story “Medea” by Euripides is a fictional story. In which a woman named Medea is betrayed of a promise from her husband Jason. And she knows wants revenge so she takes everything he cares about and destroying them. Including her children that is why Medea is the villain.

__ Cheating __

An AP high school English teacher caught twenty eight of her students cheating so she gave them all an F for the semester. But when the school board agrees to lower the punishment, the teacher outraged quit her job and went on strike. So was the school board right to lower there punishment? And why did the students cheat in the first place? So I will be explaining the reasons of both sides and my opinion.

These kids did not deserve to get that bad of a punishment failing the entire semester. So I thought it was ok to lighten the punishment, I think there was many different ways to punish these kids. They could have given them a week’s detention and also lowering there grades. Maybe for some kids it was there first time cheating because they were just too tired or something came up. So some of them might have never done it until that day so I could see why the parents stepped in to protect the kids from getting such a bad punishment.

Although what these kids did was completely wrong why in the world would they cheat in the first place. Christine Pelton had every right to get those kids in trouble cheating is wrong in the first place. So getting an F for the semester was suitable punishment even the principal and superintendent agreed with her. But when the parents got angry about this they went straight to the school board to complain about it. The school board weak let the parents and the kids get what they want by only lowering there grade by a little bit so they could still pass the class. The teacher out raged quit her job and went on strike.

Finally, in my opinion I thought it was wrong for the school board to lighten these kids punishment because how would they learn there lesson. These kids were going to fail because of there actions and now they can still pass the class as if nothing ever happened. The parents also were to blame how can they defend there kids for cheating why didn’t they let them take the punishment. Most likely most of these kids will continue to cheat at school and in life. The statement I said earlier about some might have cheated for the first time, it might have only been two or four of the kids and its good that they could have learned there lesson early, but know we don’t know if every kid learned there lesson.

In Conclusion, I thought it was wrong for them to learn there punishment if I was a school board member I would have left the kids to get there punishment. I thought the school board could have settled it much better because in the end they lost a teacher and have bad reputation at their school. So that is why I have to side with the teacher in making these kids get an F for the semester.

__ Margaret Mead’s __

In this essay I will show how a small committed group of people can make a huge change. I will show both the good and the bad of how small groups can make a big a difference. I will then share my opinion if I think Margaret Mead’s quote is meant for good or bad. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has” Margaret Mead’s.

This small group of terrorist of just 22 had jacked 4 planes and had killed around 3,000 people. They caused terror all over the United States, they had to land all planes immediately some were even landed in Canada luckily they were nice enough to be helpful and let people stay at there houses. They caused terror all over making MLB to be canceled which has only ever happened once. There has never been a more terrifying than 911. They would even start a war after, and America would never be the same.

On the other hand the group of people boarded on flight 93 did help for the better and saved many more lives. These 3 people leading the group Todd Beamer, Mark Bingham, and Jeremy Glick. These 3 guys knew they were going to die so they risked there lives as well as others to save many more people. These people were heroes as Jeremy Benthom once said “The greatest good, for the greatest number”. And this is clearly what these heroes did; this is a perfect example of Margaret Mead’s quote.

In my own eyes Margaret Mead is right there are many who will make a difference for the better. An example of this is in “To Kill a Mockingbird” when Atticus Finch was defending Tom Robinson many at the beginning thought he was crazy for defending him but at the end everybody ended up rooting for him. This is the perfect example of how a small group of people can make a big difference for the better.

In conclusion, I think that a small group of people can make a huge difference for the better. That is why I agree with Margaret Meads quote, so that is my opinion on the whole idea.

__ 30 by 30 __

2. Go to Hawaii with my family
 * 1) Become a family physician
 * 1) Go to NY and see the statue of liberty
 * 2) Shoot a gun
 * 3) Go to each of my favorite spots teams game
 * 4) Go to IHOP with Gabriel Iglesias but make him pay
 * 5) Go to Las Vegas with friends and get drunk
 * 6) Fall in love with a beautiful woman
 * 7) Have 3 kids
 * 8) Survive 2012
 * 9) Go on a cruise with my family
 * 10) Live in Santa Barbara
 * 11) Learn how to snowboard and surf
 * 12) Own a bulldog and name it Pumba from the lion king
 * 13) Go to one of Eminem’s concert VIP
 * 14) Play basketball with Michael Jordan
 * 15) Go watch the summer Olympics
 * 16) Graduate from a UC school
 * 17) Travel to Italy, Spain, and Rome
 * 18) Go to Disneyworld with my family
 * 19) Go sky diving