1st marking period reflection

This first marking period has been very eye opening for me in terms of what will be expected of me for the remainder of the year. I know that allow I am quite busy in other classes, I have to make sure I keep up with reading for this class. In an honors level class, I have realized that I'm not just going to be told everyday how much I should read or where I should be. We are given something to do and we have to manage our time appropriately to get it done. Also we are using technology a lot, which I'm not used to. I have realized all the cool tools that are at my finger tips, like the one we are using right now. Also the class wix page is really cool and anytime I make a website from now on I will use wix. Every year it seems like we are guided a little bit less by are teachers and we are expected more and more to just get our work done. At first it was hard to get used to, but really it is funner and it leaves us better off for the future. I hope that we continue to be given space as students and that we also continue using technology during class and for projects. This is also a stretch but I hope that the books we read will continue to be as good as To Kill A Mockingbird, but i doubt it.

Mockingbird expressed by Miley Cyrus

I can almost see it.
That dream I'm dreaming, but
There's a voice inside my head saying
You'll never reach it
Every step I'm takin'
Every move I make
Feels lost with no direction,
My faith is shakin'

These song lyrics are from the Miley Cyrus song, The Climb. This song and these lyrics imparticular are about trying to accomplish something that people say you can't do. These lyrics connect to Jem because he believes that his father can actually win the case even though people are telling him that his father doesn't have a chance. And when they decide to convict Mr. Robinson, Jem's faith is really shakin because he realizes how unjust the situation is but he can't do anything to change it.

Father:
I was once like you are now, and I know that it's not easy,
To be calm when you've found something going on.
But take your time, think a lot,
Why, think of everything you've got.
For you will still be here tomorrow, but your dreams may not.

Son
How can I try to explain, when I do he turns away again.
It's always been the same, same old story.
From the moment I could talk I was ordered to listen.
Now there's a way and I know that I have to go away.
I know I have to go.

This is from the song Father and Son by Cat Stevens, which about the relationship between a father and a son. The father is trying to explain to his son that somethings you just can't help from happening, and that everyone has through what he's going through. The son comes back saying his father just doesn't understand and his opinions should be heard about things. This has to to with the relationship with Jem and Atticus, in that Jem is trying to act like a man, and wants to be treated like one but Atticus tries to calm him down and make him realize somethings just are what they are.

Injustices In Today's World

Of course there always have been and always will be injustices. Especially in the last 60 or so years in America there have been way to many injustices in a society thought to be more forward thinking than most. This is why that even though some of our injustices haven't been as bad as that in Darfur and other genocides, we are supposed to be setting an example for the way countries around the world are supposed to treat their people. That is why I think its so important to focus on the past, and the history of our injustices so we can learn from them and avoid them.
I think that the biggest injustice that has happened in the last 10 years is the court case about the firemen who didn't get a promotion because they were white, even though they had the highest test scores. The test was called racist by the African American firefighters because there was no way that only white men could have had the highest percent on it. They argued that the questions were more directed towards the white community. The first time I heard about this court case I thought it was a joke. Are you really blaming the test for why you didn't do well? How much longer is the white society going to have to give back for what happened so long ago. I think its racist that African Americans are given an advantage in not only this situation, but in college admissions as well. They are basically saying that they need a little extra help if they want to get into a certain college, so we will accept them over a majority student. If I were African American I would say, we don't need this help, we are just as capable of getting into your college as the man next to me, we don't need special treatment or any type of help. And we want the children of our inner cities to start getting a better education and start working harder, but instead of giving them the same expectations, we make it easier for them, so how are we teaching them to work any harder. What we are saying is that because of there situation, they don’t need to work as hard, which isn't going to get them anywhere in life. I know I got a little off topic but I really think we are doing an injustice to African Americans and other minorities by giving them so much extra help, because it might help them right now, but your it hurts them for when those kids actually get into the real world and have never had to work. And to be clear I am not saying this is at all the minorities fault, I think it is the mentality of our government that puts this idea into there heads that they can work less hard to achieve what they want in life, which is exactly the message we are sending.

Brown V Board

Brown vs. Board is one of the most influential court cases in the history of the Supreme Court. The court case decided that by having "separate but equal" public schooling was inherently unequal for black students. This ruling overturned the court case of Plessy vs. Ferguson, which established the idea of separate but equal. The ruling was unanimous, separate but equal was no more.
For 90 years, this racial segregation had been used in america. To get an idea of how people were back then, scientists were trying to scientifically justify racism. They actually believed black people were scientifically inferior to whites. The plaintiff's were 13 black parents defending 20 black children. This all started because a child of one of the parents had to walk 6 blocks to take a mile bus trip when a white school was only 6 blocks away. I actually thought it was much more drastic before doing my research. Anyway, when they tried enrolling into the white school, they were obviously denied. When the case was taken to the district court, the ruling was in favor of the board of education. But the parents new that what was happening to their children was unconstitutional, so they kept on pushing for their childrens rights.
Eventually the case got taken to the supreme court, and the court made a decision that helped define that time period in our history and define America as a hole. This decision was made at a time where the public was very liberal thinking, and pushing America towards becoming a more free nation. The government had just kicked out McCarthy, and people's moral level was on the rise. If this case hit the supreme court 4 years earlier, I would doubt that the outcome would have been the same. But lucky for all of us, it did. And now history is history.

Doubt connections

A couple days ago in class we saw a clip from the film, Doubt, about the effect of spreading rumors, and how hard it is to stop it from spreading further than you could have ever expected. The film clip showed a preacher talking to a woman about her false rumor, and how bad what she had done was. He explained the a rumor spreads like feathers when thrown off a roof top. In the book, To Kill A Mockingbird, there are rumors spread about the man, Boo Radley. He had grown up in a very strict religious house with little connection to the people in the neighborhood. Therefore, few knew the real him. It all went down him for him once he stabbed his father in the leg with scissors. After that nobody was really sure what happened to Boo, but people sure liked to talk about what they think happened to him. In the neighborhood, people regularly talk about the crazy Boo Radley and kids play games about him. This is extremely sad because from what the reader sees, Boo actually is just a product of his environment and is a nice person. But because these rumors spread about him, the ideals put into the peoples heads about him is almost unrepairable. Boo will most likely never be able to live a normal life even if he did decide to leave and was allowed by his brother Mr. Radley. You can see clearly peoples true feelings about Boo when Scout had a blanket put around her when her neighbors house caught on fire by who she thinks was Boo. People seemed nervous and when she realized it was Boo who had done it, she nearly threw up. It is really a shame what rumors do to scoeity today not only in our high school world, but in the world of polictics. If a person is aspiring to become someone high ranking in our government, and a completely false rumor comes out about them, even if they are proven innocent, they don't really have a chance anymore to do what they really wanted. Even when rumors are proven wrong, that rumor is forever imprinted on the minds of the people on the receiving end and they will always have that in the back of there mind. And I dont think its a coincident that we are being taught the effects of spreading rumors because we are in high school, where stereotypically the most rumors are spread. Actually I think the most rumors are spread in middle school, but thats besides the point. We have to learn eventually that even by spreading a little rumor or talking about people behind there backs, we can cause a lot of hardship and pain for that person, and once you make the decision to do it, there is no turning back the clock. Overall it seems like we will see more about the effects of the rumors spread about Boo Radley in the future sections of the book, and the clip from doubt really helps us understand why rumors spread the way they do and make us realize the implications of spreading one.

Who is Harper Lee

Harper Lee

Harper Lee was born in the 1920’s, and was one of 4 children. She lived in Alabama and grew up with a mentally challenged mother and a constantly busy father, who ironically was a lawyer, like one of the main characters in To Kill A Mockingbird . Speaking of that, To Kill A Mockingbird was her first and only book. She was only able to write this book because of her good friend who happened to have some extra money to give to Harper, allowing her to quit her job and focus on writing. For decades after releaseing her incredibly popular book, she ask her solitude. Rarely coming out of her house in Monroeville Alambama. Much like her mother, she keeps very much to her self and ask for privacy as much as possible.

http://www.biography.com/articles/Harper-Lee-9377021

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/30/books/30lee.html

http://www.shmoop.com/to-kill-a-mockingbird/trivia.html