A look back at ' A look back at some things in hindsight, moving from fact to philosophy'

Well, my last post got some comments and I appreciate the fact the both of our 2 readers care enough to comment, thanks guys keep coming back, but I would like to comment on their comments and since there isn’t a place for that I suppose I’ll just repost what they said.


Comments will be in courier and they will be small and my responces that will be in times and will be red.

Beth said...
Excellent post, Adam, bravo encore I say

Thanks Beth your stuff is good too.


On to this guy

smartchild435 said...

I must disagree with you. Grades do mean something, they are a way of measuring success, they can be used to track one's improvement, they can be used to measure over a long period of time a student’s achievement. They tell you if someone can succeed in a class. Grades are a good measuring stick.

Way to go, you’ve completely missed the point. You need to ask yourself what you are using said measuring stick on and if that really matters, I seem to think that it doesn’t

The 'race for the highest score' as you call it, is a way of challenging another to be better. I don't have anything to work for without competition from someone else, even if it's not from Gross, there's a kid over at say Westside who is also trying to get into MIT, and I need to beat him out.

So it is. I will admit that when I heard that a certain someone had a better grade than me in pre-calc it was a wake up call and I ended up with high marks. But the fact that I ended up with a better grade then said person offers me no gratitude but the fact that they were doing better then me at that one point made me realize that I was capable of better.

Competition does NOT create a bad atmosphere; it creates an atmosphere of higher learning, of challenging each other to go above and beyond, and of maximizing everyone's potential.

You didn’t really offer any supporting arguments for that statement.

Also, if you think that competition is going to die out after school, no it won't. It will intensify. People will be trying to move up the career ladder and beat you out. It's only going to get harder, competition for grades definitely helps prepare you for the future.

Sure, I suppose that depends on what field you get into and your individual attitude. It still comes down to this: if you want to do better then you will. If you want to do something great I hope you have the motivation and the desire for your own purposes.

I think you're misinterpreting the reason most people want to know your grades. It's not to make a claim that they're better than you, it's to help everyone better themselves.

You contradicted your whole, already weak, argument with this conclusion. If I am supposed to compete in order to be better, like you said, why then should I ever want to make others better by sharing my grade, like you just clamed it would?

Mike said...
Grades don't matter.

There, I said it. All your high school grades do is somewhat help you with college. But even then, they aren't that big of a deal. If you're going in-state, you just need to get above average grades to have almost a full ride. If you're going out of state, you're fucked...hell, you all know what kind of grades I got, and they were only good enough to get me enough money from ISU to pay for about $8,000 a year of about $23,000 a year (tuition + room and board). As for ROTC, again, my grades combined with everything else were only good enough to get me a three year scholarship, not a four year.

And both of those scholarships are dependent on me retaining good grades in college...and your college grades are only important for getting your first job out of college, and really, only then if you are in a somewhat technical field. In anything else, getting internships and hands on experience is FAR more important than getting exceptional grades.

Now, all this isn't to say that you shouldn't do well in school. You should, but only because you should WANT to do your best.

Regardless, Adam is totally right in that some people let grades become their sole source of happiness. It's retarded. Grades should be the least of your worries...look, I've got a 2.5 GPA my first semester, and quite honestly, its not that big of a deal. Yeah, I need to improve for next semester, but I'm not overly concerned.

And that's how it should be. If you make competition with other people your sole source of happiness, you will never be truly happy.


I don’t even need to comment, he comprehended what I wrote. Grades don’t matter in the grand scheme of things. Thanks for the extra supporting arguments about your tuition and such. He’s right, I have the best grades that I can get and yet it’s still not enough to get me into my dream college. What have I worked for. But at least I’m more intelligent and that, sometimes, doesn’t have anything to do with grades.

smartchild435 said...

Woa I didnt say it's the sole purpose of happiness... that honor is reserved for music! But no, I think some good healthy competition is good for an environment, and that I don't think there's anything wrong with sharing your grades. That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.

Once again you missed the point. While it depends on the individual whether competition helps or not, that wasn’t the point. The point is that you shouldn’t get your panties in a bunch over your grades. If you have the drive to succeed in life, to do something great, then you will. You don’t need a degree from MIT to be a genius, and you don’t need to be a genius to impact the world.

Thanks again for commenting. I hope this doesn’t discourage others from commenting I just felt that there was enough here to say something.


Fair, Balanced, and Second,
Adam

A look back at some things in hindsight, moving from fact to philosophy

By now most grades should be in and we should mostly know how we did this semester in school.

There’s a problem though. All thought the semester some people, *points finger at crowd* you know who you are, felt it necessary to compete for who got better grades. Not just over all but on individual tests and crap like that. This competitive atmosphere is natural among ambitious talented students.

I’ll admit for a while there I partook in the race. But I called a halt. It was bad for me somehow. Apparently I couldn’t take the pressure of trying to do better then someone else. It is better for me to just focus on me, which is what I did. That is also why I stopped sharing grades with everyone. And I’m going to continue to not share grades with anyone.

That’s all old news, though.

Today I ask for everyone to stop sharing grades. I have a couple of reasons.

We can’t help each other if we are competing. If my main focus is doing better than you than I’m sure as hell not going to help you. If your main focus is do better than me and then rub it in my face when you do, I’m centrally not going to help you. Competition creates a bad atmosphere. We’re all trying to get through school and come out with a decent education. I think that if we help each other then we will be better off.

But more importunately:

WHO GIVES A CRAP WHAT YOUR GRADES ARE? Really, people, grades don’t really mean anything. Yes, I know that colleges want you to have good grades, and I know that your parents want you to have good grades and I know that you have been duped into feeling that having good grades is all that matters in life. Well, snap out of it.

Such is the greatest deception of our time. That race for the highest score. That which kills our imagination, kills our muse, kills our potential. Yes, become educated but fucking do something with it. How long will we measure our worth on the grading scale? Perhaps when you want to validate your life you should look at how many hearts you’ve warmed or how many souls you’ve inspired. Look at what you have really done. Don’t let your imagination and inspiration die in the pursuit.

Do your best in school, yes. But remember that school is just the preparation for life it isn’t actually life itself. Don’t be fooled.

Fair, Balanced, and Second,
Adam

What Goes Around, Comes Around

In a world where the unpredictable can happen and no one really knows what the heck is going on most of the time, is it true that there is some unexplainable "force" somewhere controlling whats happening in our lives? Do we have any control over the good times and the bad times? Or does karma really exist? What goes around eventually comes around.

Here are the two basic theories:

Karma and fate is for the people who aren't smart enough to do something about their own lives. For the people who don't want to take responsibility for things so they blame it on something they can't explain. For people who sit around and hope that something good comes around instead of doing something about it themselves.

Or

There is such thing. Its not stupid, its real. For every good theres a bad, and vice versa. Somethings happen in our lives where there is no explanation just that it was supposed to happen. Who knows why we live in this state, were born into this family, why we posess the talents we have, and why we can't do things some people can do so easily. Its meant to be and you can't explain it. Karma is real, if you want good you have to put out good.

So what do I think?

I dunno.

I think some people rely on karma to heavily, others need to believe in it a little more. Depends on a certain mood. I hope that people don't wait around for good things to happen to them, cuz you are in control of your life. But then again, somethings happen that no one can really ever control. And I think that its true that what goes around does come around.

I like this quote:

"The universe may not always play fair, but it sure does have one hell of a sense of humor."

Christmas Eve Eve

Aye! The frivolous Mada has unleashed some of his secrets about what he shall post about. If you think I'm going to tell you, guess again my friend! Just read it for the love of God, don't plan on it. I'll give you one hint though: He posts with journalistic decorum, I post the scmutt. Its the circle of life.

Speaking of life and all that is holy, I was wondering just how capable senior citizens are behind the wheel. I was taking an order at drive thru at the unfortunate place I call a job, and I took the order from an elderly lady and she sounded as though she was finished so I said, "is that all?" and she said, "Hold on I haven't ordered yet." Another time, an elderly man ordered food, then drove past the window. Didn't stop, didn't pay, didn't pick up food. I bet when he got home, he was hungry, sleepy, angry, bashful....he probably was all the 7 dwarfs mixed together. But mostly confused, and probably thought we ripped him off.

If old people can forget that they ordered food...when they are at the restaurant...they can easily forget how to stop at a red light or or use a turning signal (which, is a hot-button issue for me. Its not just the elderly that forget how to move their finger, ALL people switch lanes at their own pleasure, leave signals on for at least 45 blocks, or take an uncalled for left turn on 84th and Giles that surprises even me). What the hell was I even talking about? GOD turning signals issues tick me off.

Just wear your seat belt, ok?












Mada backwards is Adam.

Posting

For the two of you that currently read this regularly: I do promise that I will post something of substance soon. Then maybe there will be more than two of you.

I have really been thinking about what I should post about. I've thought about writing about topics ranging from death, to grades, to how my day is going. Well, not actually how my day is going. That would make us just like the rest of the blogs out there or worse; it could lower us to xanga status, God forbid.

When I write I feel that I owe it to the readers to have some sort of journalist decorum. That I should tell them something that is actually interesting not something that they just happen to find interesting just because they are bored. So I try to avoid that "how my day is going" stuff, the "deep" personal reflections, and other such smut. But I realized that it's the smut that people usually want to read. And although I’m no longer amused by my "deep" reflections or insights perhaps someone else will be.

So, I'm just going to post whatever I feel like, when I feel like it and if it has journalist decorum then I suppose it was a good day. If it doesn’t then I hope you still enjoy reading it. And if you don't enjoy reading it then, HA HA SUCKAS YOU READ IT ANYWAYS.

Fair, Balanced, and second,
Adam

Snaptizzle foshizzle

Yes, the rumor is in fact true....which means it is not really a rumor. Two fairly acceptable minds, one with the attention span of a fly, the other we shall not delve into for fear of our lives. (You can decide which mind belongs to which person. Please don't think to hard about it though.) We have decided to have a joint blog because a). lets face it, two minds are better than one. Actually, to be honest, my mind kicks ass by itself. b). joint blogger stuff is the hot thing right now. c). Nothing really does rhymes with purple and finally d). cuz we're just that cool.

Hold on to your seats kids. Get ready for disagreements, agreements, blogs about things that make no sense, make perfect sense, and knock you senseless. Right. I'm done. Until next time!

O SNAP!

It begins, the clashing of opinions, the non-clashing of agreements expressed in different ways, the slaying of the dragons. Who would have thought to put these crazy aspiring journalists together. Strap yourselves in, we expect to have at least half a post every 3 weeks.