Witch Hunt

While reading The Crucible, i started thinking about other "witch trials" that have gone on in the past. For example, In Germany during World War II, there was a kind of witch hunt going on after the jews. They were advertised as being evil and bad for the human race, they were even refered to as "bad mushrooms" in childrens books and movies. The main goal was to round up all the jews and despose of them, leaving a pure race. There was a mad hunt to find every jew in Europe. Another example of this was the armenian genocide. It was the deliberate destruction of the Armenian Population in the Ottoman Empire. This was the same goal that salem had. To get rid of the evil in their society, which in that case was the witches. Each of these societies "evil" had specific qualities that they told people to be looking out for so they could be identified. This also kind of made me wonder where these kind of things started. What made these societies take normal people and turn them into enemies? To make people so scared of these enemies that is starts a whole phenomenon just to get them out of their lives, and so they can feel safe. Was that one little thing worth all the innocent lives lost?

Rights in School?

The other day, my sister came home from school very upset. She's a 7th grader at Washburne, and in her science class they're beginning to talk about dissecting frogs. Everyone in our family is Vegetarian, and we all believe strongly in animal rights, so naturally we are against the dissecting of frogs. After her class was over, my sister went up to her science teacher and told him that she didn't feel comfortable dissecting the frog, since it was something she strongly disagreed with. He asked her if she ate meat, and she said no, and explained to him why she felt so strongly about animal rights. He told her he understood, but that there was nothing he could really do about it, and if she didnt dissect the frog, she would get a failing grade. The teacher could tell how big of a deal this was to my sister, and i feel that it is really unfair that he still told her that she had no other option. Especially since there are many other options, like virtual dissections, that help kids learn the same things they would in a real dissection. The teacher put my sister in a very hard position, and i think he used his authority against her. He definitly should have tried to see it from her perspective, and not be so close minded

The Renaissance Schools Fund

In our Student Bill of Rights project, each group put down the things they thought should be a necessity for all students in the state of illinois. Some of these things where a safe learning enviroment, safe transportation to and from school, qualified teachers, up to date technologies, textbooks and other learning tools, nurses available anytime during the school day and social work support. These things reminded me of something my family has become involved in this year. The Renaissance Schools Fund is an organization that works to give students living in the inner city of Chicago what we agreed where every students rights. A large group of people from the North Shore have donated thousands and thousands of dollars to open schools, called LEARN Charter Schools, in safe areas. While in these schools, the students wont have to listen to fighting and gun shots, and they can feel safe from the violence most of them see and experience at their homes. Every day, buses come to transport the children to school, and home once the school day is over. Alot of the money has also gone to hiring qualified teachers, nurses and social workers, as well as buying resources such as textbooks, maps, computers, and books to fill the library. This organization gives us proof that having a good learning enviroment really does make all the difference. LEARN Charter schools had ISAT scores that where over 20% higher in both math and reading then any other inner city school, as well as an attendance rate that shows 95% of students coming to class on time, everyday. But the most exciting accomplishment of the LEARN Charter schools is that 97% of its students go on to graduate from highschool. 97%! Thats as good as New Trier! It is just so good to know that so many children are getting the opportunities to become the best that they can be and the chance for a better life.

Which works better?

In class on Friday, we where talking about how Mccain has been pushing this idea of his "rebirth" in his campaign. He started out in a really wealthy family, went to someof the best schools in the country, and then suddenly hit rock bottom when he was being held prisoner in the vietnam war, and once he was saved went on to running for president. George Bush also went through this same kind of curve in his life. On the other hand, Obama's life has gone in a completely different direction. He started out at rock bottom, and worked his way up to the top. What im wondering is, which tactic do people like better? Personally, i feel like people would like and respect Obama more because of his life. He started out with nothing, and worked hard to give himself a better life, and has gotten this far because of that. Mccain and Bush started out with alot of money,and had alot of things in their lives handed to them. It is pretty admirable, once they had their decline that they had the strenght to work their way back to the top, but i think that Obama needed to have alot more strength to start at nothing and to work his way up with nothing to help him out.

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