Emily

I Believe… In myself that I can become successful in life There is no love at first sight God is always by my side in the both good and bad times Everyone is capable of doing anything they set out for We are all the same no matter where you’re from There should be no warmedia type="file" key="emily-cluesless-summerschool-2011-cannibalism.flv" align="right" width="360" height="270" Without music life would be boring There isn’t a big difference between Christians and Catholics Purple is a unique color Facebook is better than MySpace Dogs are better pets than cats In not judging a book by its cover Actions speak louder than words In following your dreams Humanity is slowly killing our world <span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 21px;">In being grateful for everything you have and don’t have

**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 24px;">Tiger Mom ** <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"> //The publication of __Battle of the Tiger Mom__ and the excerpt from the __Wall Street Journal__ caused controversy from western parents who believed that Amy Chua was abusive towards her daughters. Chua on the other side responded to that western parents “gave up on their kids” and not allowed them to succeed in life. In this research paper I will look at Amy Chua’s parenting style and other people’s point of view. Overall I will share my perspective.// <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"> //In the article by Amy Chua “Why Chinese Mothers are Superior” Amy talks about her opinion towards the difference between Western parenting and Chinese parenting. Chinese parents are very rigid towards their children and their education. They coercion their children to come home with straight A’s and addition to that they have to become a prodigy at playing the piano or violin. If they do not do as there told the parents will excoriate them by calling them “trash” or “stupid.” In my opinion I believe the Chinese way of parenting very tenacious compared to the western parenting.// <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"> //The westerns parents these days are too kind. The parents allow their children choose their own paths. They mostly show interest in their kid’s self-esteem rather than their future. According to Amy Chua western parents “Give up on their children.” Western parents see that their children aren’t capable of something and allow them to just give up on their self’s and not continue trying to succeeded in it. I believe that’s the reason why Asian children become successful in life because they are being encouraged and forced into achieving.// <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"> //In the article “Amy Chua is a Wimp” by David Brooks talks about how Amy Chua is really not caring for her daughters and instead of opening the doors she’s closing them for them. Chua believes “American parents lack authority and produce entitled children who aren’t forced to live up to their abilities.” According to Brooks that’s what she’s doing to her own daughters by not allowing them to experience social life. Amy Chua doesn’t realize that by keeping her daughters away from socializing with others is just hiding them from the real outside world. I agree with Brooks that “It’s harder being in the school cafeteria than the library.” Chua might raise her daughters to be the best in education, being a violin prodigy but not teach them how to socialize with others. Being able to have friends and learn how to socialize. If Amy Chua continues keeping her daughters away from socializing they will have to face problems later in life.// <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"> //In the article “In Defense of the Guilty, Ambivalent, Preoccupied Western Mom” by Ayelet Waldman it talks about a western mom that is a tiger mom but isn’t as rigid as Amy Chua. Ayelet is concerned about her children’s education but isn’t harsh. She allows her kids to find their own way up to success independently without pushing them. Ayelets children are more independent and have more freedom, which is good so that way they learn how to socialize unlike Amy’s daughters. Ayelet shows how you can achieve that your kids receive a better future in education and social life by allowing them to push themselves up.// <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"> //In the article “Mother Inferior” by Hanna Rosin it talks about how her parenting way which Amy Chua would describe as “a weak-willed pathetic western parent.” Hanna believes to wait for your children to show their true talent or interest. Calling your children “lazy” or “Stupid” isn’t the right way to motivate them. In my opinion I agree with Hanna Rosin that they “need to lighten up and roam free.” Children also need a childhood not having to be told what to do all the time and are allowed to find their own interest in order to become independent.// <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"> //In the article “An Asian Fathers Gift Permission to Fail” by Lyon Woo talks about an Asian girl who struggled with algebra. She tried her best and was taught by many different teachers. She survived algebra with a c-plus but wanted to do better. Her father then had told her “why don’t you try it?” he had dared her to fail her class and not worry too much about her grades. Her father had set her free which allowed her to succeed.// <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"> //Many western parents were shocked by Amy Chua’s parenting way described in the wall street journal. Is her parenting way right or wrong? In my opinion I believe there is no right or wrong way. Everyone can raise their kids whatever way they wished to. If they wish to raise them like Amy Chua then there free to do so. If they believe that’s being too harsh on them then they are free to change that. But who are we to say how to treat other people’s children?//


 * FAILURE **

//<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">In the passage “The Medusa and the Shall” by biologist Lewis Thomas, talks about how mistakes can actually solve the problem. “The misreading is not the important error, it opens the way.” What he’s trying to say is that what you sometimes might think was an error turns out to be the solution to your problem. “We are built to make mistakes, coded for error.” We are human and there is no human that is perfect so we are meant to fail. Sometime you fail and might think it’s the end of the world but it isn’t and we have to learn how to move on in life. In order to move on we have to go through mistakes like Thomas had mentioned, “What is needed for progress to be made, is the move based on the error.” // //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">After many years of research for an antibiotic that can fight off bacteria finally in 1929 a British doctor by the name of Alexander Flening found what he called Penicillin by accident. He spent years in his laboratory searching for a cure and he ended up finding it by mistake. He was sloppy and wasn’t so clean with his dishes. They came to grow mold and the then realized that the mold had helped cleared out the bacteria. He had made this discovery by mistake which is exactly what Lewis Thomas had explained that mistakes find the solution to the problem. // //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">I’ve happened to have a cousin whose failure was to become pregnant at age 15. She was smart, pretty, and her parents gave her everything she wished for. Her parents always wanted what’s best for her so they bought her own car and was sent to a private school. She really disappointed her parents but they continued encouraging her to stay in school. While my aunt took care of her baby she spent her time going to school and she ended up graduating with one of the highest grades in school. With that she planned on going to San Luis Obispo University and become an architect. She unfortunately changed her mind and left her education aside and went on to getting engaged and having a second baby. She is now 22 and hasn’t gone back to focus on school. We had thought she had learned from her mistakes but we were wrong. // //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">In my family I have another cousin that got pregnant and got married at a young age too. She finished high school but didn’t go on to college. She was busy taking care of her daughter that was unfortunately born pre-matured. She realized that her husband had a really good stable job and she felt like she had to accomplish something in her life not just be a stay at home mom. She wanted to make her daughter proud and she decided to go into cosmetology. She worked her butt off and is now working for a huge company in Vegas. She definitely opened her eyes and learned from her mistakes by moving on to a better future for both her and her family. // //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">All in all who knows? Maybe Lewis Thomas may be right on his opinion that mistakes can solve your problems. I had two cousins that went thru the same situation. Only one of them learned from their mistake, but the other didn’t. That proves that there’s people that do change and others don’t. I believe it all depends on the person. //

//Dear Ventura Star and Readers,//

Plagiarizing is something that’s done by many people around the world all the time. Do they know it’s wrong? Of course they do, they just think its okay as long as they get away with it. Many people do get away with it, like the students from a school at Kansas. One fifth of Miss. Peltons class was caught plagiarizing a 100 point assignment. With the complaint of many angry parents the incident was taken to the school board, which demanded Miss. Pelton to go easier on her students. With that Miss. Pelton refused and quit her job. I believe its wrong that the parents were infuriated by the fact that their children had gotten a zero on the assignment. They deserved it because it wasn’t their own work so why should they receive credit for it? Their parents seemed to not care for what their children had done and thought it was okay for them to do that. I mean aren’t parents suppose to know what’s the best for their children? They have to teach them how to be honest. I also disagree with the fact that the school board ordered Miss. Pelton to be easier on her students. If those students plagiarized, they shouldn’t be rewarded for it. The school board basically made it okay for them to cheat. If students got away with that then they think that it’s okay for them to cheat on anything and they will continue doing it. Christine Pelton was simply just doing her job, which is to teach. The school board was wrong and didn’t respect her student expectations. The school board doesn’t understand that cheating is not okay. She definitely did the right choice of quitting her job. <span style="color: #e36c0a; display: block; font-family: 'Earwig Factory'; font-size: 29px; text-align: center;">30 By 30 <span style="color: #e36c0a; display: block; font-family: 'Juice ITC'; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;">Become someone big <span style="color: #e36c0a; display: block; font-family: 'Juice ITC'; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;">Travel around the world <span style="color: #e36c0a; display: block; font-family: 'Juice ITC'; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;">$Win the Lottery$ <span style="color: #e36c0a; display: block; font-family: 'Juice ITC'; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;">Learn many different languages <span style="color: #e36c0a; display: block; font-family: 'Juice ITC'; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;">Invent something successful <span style="color: #e36c0a; display: block; font-family: 'Juice ITC'; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;">Go to space <span style="color: #e36c0a; display: block; font-family: 'Juice ITC'; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;">Buy my own house(s) <span style="color: #e36c0a; display: block; font-family: 'Juice ITC'; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;">Be in national television <span style="color: #e36c0a; display: block; font-family: 'Juice ITC'; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;">Attend a fashion show <span style="color: #e36c0a; display: block; font-family: 'Juice ITC'; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;">Get married at the beach<3 <span style="color: #e36c0a; display: block; font-family: 'Juice ITC'; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;">Get my own car (range rover) <span style="color: #e36c0a; display: block; font-family: 'Juice ITC'; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;">Appear on a magazine <span style="color: #e36c0a; display: block; font-family: 'Juice ITC'; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;">Ride in a hot air balloon <span style="color: #e36c0a; display: block; font-family: 'Juice ITC'; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;">Go skydiving <span style="color: #e36c0a; display: block; font-family: 'Juice ITC'; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;">Scuba diving <span style="color: #e36c0a; display: block; font-family: 'Juice ITC'; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;">Meet a Great guy <span style="color: #e36c0a; display: block; font-family: 'Juice ITC'; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;">Become a good cook <span style="color: #e36c0a; display: block; font-family: 'Juice ITC'; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;">Meet all the hot actors/singers; p  <span style="color: #e36c0a; display: block; font-family: 'Juice ITC'; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;">Get a tattoo <span style="color: #e36c0a; display: block; font-family: 'Juice ITC'; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;">Save a life <span style="color: #e36c0a; display: block; font-family: 'Juice ITC'; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;">Have Straight A’s <span style="color: #e36c0a; display: block; font-family: 'Juice ITC'; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;">Get taller <span style="color: #e36c0a; display: block; font-family: 'Juice ITC'; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;">Be involved in a street race <span style="color: #e36c0a; display: block; font-family: 'Juice ITC'; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;">Visit every amusement park <span style="color: #e36c0a; display: block; font-family: 'Juice ITC'; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;">Go to a club with friends Party at 21! J   <span style="color: #e36c0a; display: block; font-family: 'Juice ITC'; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;">Go on a cruise Go on a shopping spree! J   <span style="color: #e36c0a; display: block; font-family: 'Juice ITC'; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;">Maintain healthy Accomplish every single thing on this list J  <span style="color: red; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Calligraphy'; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;">Medea

How far would you go for love? In the story”Medea” by Euripides I believe Medea isn’t the hero of the story. She is considered more as a villain. She worried more about her love with a man than love for her children. Jason is the hero of the story he who cared for his children and wanted a better life for them. Medea was a strong woman that gave up everything for her love with Jason. She was a women that fought for her rights and wasn’t let down by anybody. She believed if betrayed they will have to face the consequences. She was let down by a man who she gave up everything for. He who had broken his promise of loving her till death takes them apart. She felt like trash and revenged against him by taking away his most precious gift, his children. But, aren’t mothers supposed to risk anything for their children? Her hatred towards Jason was stronger than her love for her children. What mother on earth would kill her own kids? Her own blood? A horrible mother only. The children aren’t supposed to be punished for their parent’s relationship. They didn’t wish to be part of this conflict and be used to cause revenge on someone else. Men lie. Did Medea really think Jason was going to stay with her forever? People divorce all the time and that doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world and you have to go ahead and murder your children to get back at your husband. Jason was going to have a political marriage for a good reason. He was going to provide more for his children but Medea didn’t seem to understand that. She was willing to go as far as to committing murder to her own kids as long as Jason got his revenge. Medead actions were wrong. She didn’t have to go through all those murders in order to get back at Jason. There were other options she could have chosen. Like my mom would say, “A woman has to always be a mother before a wife.” Medea was a crazy woman that was blinded by love and hatred.