Please post your final essay in the comments section here. Daniel read Kevin's essay, Kevin read Tyler's essay, Tyler read Daniel's essay.
I know you are all excited about this being your last essay, but I have to admit I'm sad about it. I am going to miss seeing them pop into my inbox every two weeks. I always thoroughly enjoy reading them. If you happen to write anything else, send it my way:)
Good luck with this final essay! Enjoy the process. Please let me know if you have any questions.
This is a picture of the Willamette River which runs through the Willamette Valley where I now live in Oregon. If you come and visit Jimmy and I will take you out on the boat!
5 comments:
I chose to answer prompt three. Here is the essay:
Social and Academic Education
Is education primarily the result of influences other than school? I don’t believe so. The actual academic learning stems from schooling. People learn subjects from books, teachers, and tutors. There world view depends on many factors, such as race, religion, culture, family, and the home situation. Outside influences will often alter people’s perspectives, but not academic achievements.
In Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany children were brainwashed with propaganda at an early age. They began to think a certain way because of the government. The government took the role of the parents. This began to shape these young minds into believing wrong facts. Yet although their world view was changed the actual academics did not. Physics itself cannot be altered by world view.
Often world view is the direct result of the situation a child is born into. It will soon begin to have an optimistic or pessimistic state of mind. The most influential phase of a child’s life is undeniably the family situation. A child will often learn to think like those around it, adopt the same customs, beliefs, and habits of its family.
Academic education is the result of school. Social education is the result of the circumstances surrounding a person. The way we think is often determined by our parents, teachers, government, and country we live in. Amir (the boy in Kite Runner) was told by his teacher to hate Hazaras. Amir saw through this social flaw and remained friends with Hassan. It is important for individuals to see through the many flaws of society and make educated decisions on how to live upright and honest lives.
Prompt 4-
Which is better—to change one’s attitude, or to change one’s circumstance? In my opinion, we will be happier if we tailor our attitudes to our present situation rather than try to change it. Kumalo, the main character in the novel Cry the Beloved Country, demonstrated this in every situation he was faced with. Also , Hassan showed us this virtue in The Kite Runner. In my life, I am constantly being bombarded with unpleasant things, yet I strive to change my attitude accordingly.
Kumalo is an excellent example for us, and he illustrates my point very well. When he realized that is son was involved with the murder of a white man, Kumalo grieved. But despite his apparent suffrage, he sought to adapt to this drastic change of events. Instead of giving up in the city of Johannesburg, he used his son’s plight to reach out to those around him. He also because good friends with the father of the man his son had killed. Kumalo an excellent example of one who makes the best of a situation and changes his attitude to fit it.
Although Hassan’s like could not have been worse, he never failed to find joy. As a boy, Hassan had been raped by a bully while his best friend stood by and did nothing. He was falsely convicted of stealing and silently took the punishment. Because of his social standing, he was constantly looked down upon, and lived in a small hut which he eventually died defending. Despite these incredible obstacles Amir, Hassan’s best friend, described him as the most joyful person he had ever met. Hassan constantly maintained his joy no matter what life threw at him.
As I continue on this raod of life, I come across many bumps and glitches. From my experience, it is better to take what life gives you and change your attitude to fit it. We often do not have the power to change circumstances to that they are more comfortable or easy to deal with. We will be much happier if we can accept these obstacles or inconveniences in a way that is helpful and Christ-like.
great job daniel!
great points and structure. great job in 25 mins.!
Good job Kevin. You did an awesome job applying the books to the prompt question. Both examples from the books help make your points more powerful. Great work. It has been really fun getting to do this class with you this year. Your a fun guy to work with.
Is it better to change one’s attitude or one’s circumstances? In almost all cases, it becomes much better when you change your own opinion and not covet different things, homes or places. We can show this through just a few of many examples. Two examples are from The Great Gatsby, and the other is from Kite Runner. All three of the characters were discontent, caught in the past and didn’t exactly end up like some of us would like to.
Our first character is from Kite Runner. His name is General Taheri. He “worked” at a flea market. He always wore an army uniform. Although he was a pretty nice and kind to a lot of people around him, he had many flaws. First of all, the reason he always wore his old army uniform was because he was waiting for a call back to Afghanistan to fight against the Taliban’s. General Taheri could not remove himself from the past and was not content with his situation.
The second character is from The Great Gatsby. His name is Gatsby. He lives on the eastern coast waterfront, USA. He has a mansion, riches, and even though most people don’t know him, he was constantly throwing parties for his neighbors, and most weren’t even invited. A lot of people thought that he was some kind of thief by all the money he had, but most generally regarded him as a pretty nice guy. But the real reason he threw those parties almost every night, was because he was obsessed with the girl of the childhood. She lived nearly across the village/street. They had been separated when Gatsby went to war. Her name was Daisy. Daisy was then married but that didn’t stop Gatsby. He tried to get her to divorce her husband because he had thought of her every day of his life since he had left her. Gatsby ended up failing. Daisy stayed married to her husband, Tom. Gatsby still couldn’t let go but was shot in his own pool. Not a wishful ending.
Our final character is also from the Great Gatsby. He is the husband of Daisy. His name is Tom and is a former football player. His former life of playing was suiting for him because he a thrill-seeking person who couldn’t stop. When he actually settled down, he couldn’t let go. He was continually looking for something to keep him going. He ended up essentially cheating on his wife just for a little excitement. After he found out that Gatsby was trying to win over his wife, he stepped up for himself, even though he was doing the same thing to another mans wife. In the end, Tom was basically the reason of Gatsby’s death. Because of what Gatsby had done, he decided to get back at him by lying. He lied, and Gatsby was shot.
From these examples, we can see that things do not end up well when we covet other things or other circumstances. We need to see the good in what God has given us and not focus on what we don’t have, instead focus on what we do have, and give praise to Him in all things.
Post a Comment