Blog Enntry # 11

I suppose as my English teacher you can do whatever you want to my assignments.  The list does make it harder to find a topic and still yet even harder to find one that would be easier to argue about.  I kind of figured that was you’re goal. I do not mean that in a bad way.  I just figured you were trying to push us to think a little out of our comfort zone.  That or you are just making sure we don’t pick a topic we already know about therefore forcing us to do research for the project.  In all honesty I’m not sure why you give us a list of topics we cannot choose from.  I mean at this point in this class I am struggling just to get all the assignments done on time.  As far as it goes on how I feel about whether or not you should be able to ban a list of topics or not I do not suppose it is my place to decide.  I believe you are my teacher and were given that position for a reason. So as far as I am concerned if you have a list of topics to ban you must have a reason.  Surely you haven’t banned them just to be mean.  So either way at this point I am sure you can tell I am just trying to get my two hundred and fifty words for this assignment and on that note.  Thank you.

Money for Grades

Giving children money for hard work seems a lot like the real world to me.  If we lived in a world with unlimited funding for education this would be a great idea.  Kids would get a better idea of what it is like to be rewarded for their hard work.  They would also be given the opportunity to learn how to manage money at a young age.  Managing money could quite possibly be one of the greatest things a child could learn.  I believe one of the largest problems for a person when they get out on their own is finances. It seems to me that money management and finances is overlooked in the education process.  We would give our children a far greater chance for success if we helped them learn more about finances.  So while there is probably not enough money in the education budget.  Maybe this could all be done hypothetically.  Maybe even letting the children invest the money they make for their grades.  The kids earning the most money with their grades and investing could receive some real money in the form of a scholarship.

While I do not see anything wrong with giving children money for hard work it really does not seem possible to be able to afford giving every student in the school money for their grades.  But I do believe it would be a great idea to teach them more about money management.

 I do not think you meant that college students were receiving money for their grades if they are maybe I need to transfer schools.

                                                                                                THANKS JEREMY.

Marijuana Legal?

I definitely believe the use of medical marijuana should be legalized.  There are so many ways that marijuana can help people.  From cancer patients all the way to simpler things like anxiety.  People take all kinds of medication for depression and anxiety.  These medications can be very addictive and harmful to the patients.  Marijuana has no physical addictive property, while many other legal substances are considered to be very addictive both physically and mentally.  While marijuana does little to cure any diseases, it does a great deal to ease the suffering caused by many different ailments without adverse side effects. 

The reasons for a substance to be determined illegal is supposed to be directly related to the amount of social damage caused by the substance.  The only social damage caused by marijuana is due to it being illegal.  People smoke marijuana in the privacy of their home without harming anybody and can wind up arrested or fired from their jobs not because they made a mistake at work or caused someone physical harm but because they smoked some marijuana.

Not only do I believe that medical marijuana should be legalized but I believe marijuana in general should be legalized.  Not only are the laws against marijuana useless but they are also ineffective and a giant waste of our taxes. 

I personally have an extensive history of drug use and have been sober and living the good life for three years, so while I no longer use marijuana myself, I do believe that Americans should have the right to use marijuana.  I also believe that our taxes could be used for better things then arresting and imprisoning people for relaxing in the privacy of their home.

                                                                                                Thank You, Jeremy

Steve Irwin

Mrs. Hall sent me three names in her message to me: Steve Irwin, Bessie Smith, Sylvia Plath.  I have chosen Steve Irwin for my biography assignment.  Steve Irwin is a very interesting person to me.  When he was alive I really enjoyed his show.  I greatly appreciated his love of animals, as well as the fearless way he approached them.
As a child I was a lot like Steve Irwin.  I was Always curios about animals and never scared of them.  Even to this day I enjoy keeping and taking care of animals.  I also find it very interesting how he died, and the way his family is keeping up his work.
Steve Irwin died while doing what he loved and his family seems to take a lot of comfort in knowing that he died doing what he loved.  His wife and daughter both remain very dedicated to wildlife education and conservation.   
Steve Irwin was born in Australia and was also the host of a popular television show.  While there was some controversy over some of the things he did on his show I don’t believe any of it was done with bad intentions.  Some people accused him of exploiting the animals.  From what I could tell he just used his popularity to bring the troubles of these animals into the public eye.  There was also a lot of attention brought to Steve Irwin over the involvement of his children in his show.  Steve Irwin simply seen it as a part of everyday life, he was raised in a zoo and wanted the same for his children.  As far as I can tell Steve Irwin was agreat guy with a very interesting life.
                                                            Thank You, Jeremy.