Thankful for a Classmate

If I had to choose someone to be thankful for I would probably choose Haley since I've "known" her the longest.  She's in my division and we live very close to one another.  I first met her in freshman orientation and freshmen connection.  Since then our relationship has developed into a brother sister relationship.  It's weird but funny in way as well.  Haley is a good classmate and friend because we have a very good understanding of each other and unfortunately for her I know how to make her angry.  However, she also knows how to come back at me with jokes.  So all in all we are very good friends that know how to piss each other off and make each other laugh.

For me it seems that the longer that I know Haley the more dependent I have become on her.  I find myself asking her lots of questions about homework and other various questions.  I think I definitely depend on her more than she depends on me but I'll never admit that to her.  Haley has saved me many a times and I thank her for that, and that is why she is probably the best classmate.

I am a Plow

A plow to me is a agricultural tool. However, I doubt Mr. McCarthy wanted us to talk about how we help a farm. So a plow in this sense, to me, is a person who goes through life with their head down and does the same thing everyday. These types of people are "Going through the motions." Therefore people that take initiative in the world and are passionate in what they do are the ones that aren't plows.

People that are plows wear in the same path everyday by doing the same thing over and over again. On the other hand people that don't do this make new paths. In all both groups of people could be looked at as a plow. One makes the same trench over and over while the other makes a new path each time.

A Direction the Class Needs

A few of my class get to be a little tedious because of the repeated class structure: Go over homework, lecture, in-class work, and then assign homework. To me this shouldn't be how we learn. Classes should be taught the way we want to be taught. We're the ones learning after all. People learn better if they are taught in a way they can relate.

Everyone learns better a certain way so I think they should be taught based on how they learn best. For example, if a student learns chemistry best with hands on examples like labs, then that student should have more labs in his/her lesson plan. Or if someone learns better with lectures then they have more lectures. All in all for me a class has to intrigue me for me to maintain focus. So therefore the classes I like are classes that have aspects that I enjoy.

American Lit this year hasn't had this problem yet because we have discussions that I can jump into if I have an opinion to put forth. I tend to excel in classes that have aspects that are my learning strengths. So in conclusion, I think that if we are taught the way we learn best we can all make it through high school learning and having fun.

Modern Day Slavery

Around the world, children are working in more dangerous jobs than the average person in America. Approximately 1-6 children ages 5-14 are victims of child labor. Millions in the world work in very hazardous conditions such as mines, chemical plants, and around dangerous machinery.  Most parents are worried when their kids start climbing trees or rough housing on a jungle gym. They couldn't even fathom having their five year-old breathing in harmful chemicals and doing tedious labor for twelve hours. These children are in need, yet they are invisible to most of the world. The majority of people don't care how they got their gold necklace, but if they knew that a child almost died to make it; maybe they'd think twice.

The child slavery all over the world for the most part goes unnoticed, due to the fact that cases aren't publicized.  I find this sad because this means that companies that use children are getting away with child labor without penalties.  Also child labor isn't exactly thought as slavery it's looked upon more as a wrongful crime. People don't think it is as serious of a problem as it really is.  So all in all we all know it is happening yet we don't do anything because no one knows how serious it is.

In conclusion, I don't think child labor is seen as a very serious problem because it is not publicized a lot.  The slavery most people think of is either the sex trade or sweat shops.  However, child labor is just as serious. To sum everything up child labor should be explained to people so the rest of the world knows of this massive world wide problem.  Just think billions of children around the world are victims of child labor. So the next time you buy something made outside of the US, think about the idea that a 5 year old child may have had to suffer in order for you to get that product.  And then if you buy that product you support child labor.