Today I went on the IB hiking trip, along with Mr. Laughlin and 10 other kids at Powder Canyon. (This entry is going to double as some CAS hour evidence). We went on about a 1.7 mile loop, and I wish I brought my camera so I could share some amazing views, but alas I forgot to bring it. But it was a wonderful way to spend the first day of Spring!
To be honest, before going, I was somewhat apprehensive, and wasn't sure what to expect. But was I in for a surprise. I had never gone hiking in the Powder Canyon area, and needless to say, I thouroughly enjoyed today's hike.
Mr. Laughlin was a great choice for an advisor too. It was a very active experience to have him along, especially because he has a lot of knowledge about nature. We saw a red tailed hawk, potato bugs, various types of sage, wild cucumber, walnut trees, and poison oak! It was a great experience for me, and at the top of the first hill we climbed, there were some beautiful views of the valley (well, there was the ever present haziness of the smog, but besides that!) We were even able to see the Rowland gym (well Mr. Laughlin saw with his binoculars. I just kind of squinted in the general area - should have brought a pair myself). I was also surprised with how happy other people on the trail were - a couple, bikers, and even a family with a stroller and baby.
After the hill crest, we descended into the canyon itself - which was a lot cooler, due to the trees overhead. It was nice to see everything green, since we had such a great rainfall this year. We saw a dry (but moist!) creekbed - very Jurassic Park: The Lost World like, where the stegos are. But it was breathtaking all around.
So I never realized this little gem that we have in our backyard. And thanks to that, I'm more aware of the importance of nature, and how we should try to preserve it. There's a bit of irony that in protecting it, we're building trails to let people come into it. But I think it's important to educate people about nature, and the only way to do that is to let them experience it for themselves. And trails are alot less intrusive than houses built along the ridge which disrupt animal traffic. At any rate, humans have been making trails through nature for thousands of years. Nevertheless, this has helped me become more aware of how we should treat nature with respect and protect the jewels of nature around the world from the encroaching posion of civilization. If we could just - step aside - life - will find a way.
Just some thoughts about my latest school involvement work to get a guest speaker for the Rowland High School 2010 Graduation - in a semi secret fashion - so I'll continue that here.
So it was about 2 weeks ago, when I came across the '\@& )$ |#! %|# competition on Twitter. (The symbols don't stand for letters, so don't even try). And I sent it to a certain school counselor who suggested I send it to the principal. Basically what ended up happening without going into too much detail is that the principal said yes, and I got a group of a few people together. @*;!%## and (#!$^& are who I contacted first, and then letter a couple others. Needless to say, we met with @%@ !&*#&& to talk about things to put in the application and so forth. And then Sunday night was at my house for about 8 hours to write up the thing, as well as today at school, some of the group staying until past 8.
Anyways, the important thing about this, even if the guest speaker isn't able to come to our graduation is that we took a stand - well more like staked a position I suppose - but that we took some sort of action, which I think is more than alot of people do, and that puts us ahead by a lot. In one of my interviews (a college scholarship interview for #^ #(*^#)@), I talked with my interviewer (a very nice lady and professor of education), about the idea of standing up, and she said something that impacted me. When you stand up and say something, the other side can never say that they were uninformed. Because it's important to know that you may not be able to change everything, to convince everyone to your point of view. But you can still speak. Just because they don't act isn't cause for us to put a self imposed censorship of silence upton ourselves. In fact, it only serves to motivate us more to speak out, and at the least, the very least, the other side can no longer say that they did not know how we feel. And that probably is what creates the key difference. We know how we feel. And now they do, and what they do with our information is in their hands, but we can be proud that we didn't let this opportunity just slide by, no matter what the outcome.
In retrospect, I think I really enjoyed this process. Which kind of reminded me of political dealings - last minute mark ups to the speech language, that sort of thing. A couple years ago I wondered what it would be like to be a speechwriter as a career. Maybe it's time to take a look back at that idea.
As promised, I am going to write more often on my blog.
So this brings me to today's thoughts about the International Baccalaureate program (IB). I'm probably one of the few in my class who truly like it, which is somewhat of a shame, because I think it's a genuinely good program. So today I think I'd like to discuss a little about why people are apprehensive about IB - and I'll talk about why I like IB on another entry (because I have homework - kind of ironic? Maybe, but I still like it). Anyways, I think that one of the daunting aspects of IB is spelling it out. I mean, really. Even I go to google to check if I spelled it correctly. And of course "Advanced Placement" is alot easier to type out than "international baccalaureate" (see, I just copied and pasted that from google). Maybe that's just a symbol of American culture - and the impression that other countries have of our lack of intelligence. Maybe they're right. Or maybe we're just lazy. And fat. Either way, international viewpoints of Americans are probably right in one aspect or the other. But I digress. I know alot of students are scared of IB because of the workload (which is hyped up), and things like that. I get conflicted here, because it seems like a bad excuse. Well, let me back up a little.
I generally see good excuses and bad excuses for dropping out of the IB program. A good excuse is something like - I want to be involved in Tennis, ASB, Yearbook, and Journalism, and IB won't allow me the scheduling times to do those, but taking AP courses will. That's fine, that's a great reason not to do IB. However, I see a reason like "I don't want the work" or "I want a real social life" as not so good excuses for dropping IB. But then maybe that's just my outlook and what I value in education. Maybe it's because I see students dropping out and I know there are students out there who would love the opportunity to take part in our IB Program, but lack the access or quality or some other factor that doesn't allow them to take a class at that caliber, and I see people pass that door of opportunity without a second thought.
Anyways, that's all the time I have allotted for tonight's writing, I'll come back to talk about pros of IB (and address cons - which I probably didn't talk about. Sorry for my digressions, but you should read this blog with the disclaimer that I'm just writing stream of conciousness for the most part).
First, I think I will update the blog more often. Or more likely, I will get myself my own paid website or a blog on wordpress. But anyhow, I've spent the last 6 months as a Senior in IB, watching the Winter Olympics, discovered 30 Rock, been on Twitter, applied to 11 colleges, built http://rinconroadrunners.org, done Books of Hope, and more. Really, most of this is on Twitter. But anyways, I've been accepted to college, I'm going to college! UC Berkeley, as I found out in my interview today for the Regents' and Chancellor's Scholarship. I'll find out about the scholarship in a few weeks. But that's just my little check in , I'll try to update this more often - writing every day will help me! So with that, I bid you goodnight as I attempt to finish my IB physics lab write up before morning.
School’s out! And now to a summer full of fun, exciting things. Like the IB Extended Essay. Though I’m sure that shouldn’t take up too much time – just need to avoid that ever so present pit of death called procrastination. Lots of band stuff going on, and hopefully, I’ll finally go out there and do a driver’s ed class and get my permit. And get a Facebook. But I said both of those things last summer, and neither ended up happening, so I’ll see…
Had a clarinet party – and no, we don’t get together and play music for hours (not saying that’d be bad…we just don’t really do that at a clarinet party) – on Friday, and had a great time. Basically, it consisted of badminton, super smash brothers, Pictionary, and a lot of food! And yesterday, it was my cousin’s 5th birthday, so we went to his house, which consisted of watching over a dozen little kids, Wii Fit and more food.
And I’m thinking about moving over to a blog at Wordpress. Actually, I think that this template is based on Wordpress. Mostly, because the main focus of my site is the blog, along with a few other random bits. And from what I’ve seen, you can add pages on wordpress, similar to this site. Anyone out there with advice on this? I think their blog options are probably more plentiful than just the ability to approve comments, and use RSS feeds, though the options on the other pages are less than what Weebly offers. But I bet that it’d be easier to edit than this is. Right now, I need to log in, the choose the site, wait a long time for it to load, then go to the blog page, and a whole host of other steps. It just seems like a long, arduous process to update the blog page, and since it’s what I update most often, I’d rather move over to a place where the blog isn’t as hard to update. Plus, the Weebly editor seems to lag, so right now, I’m typing into Word, so I can just copy and paste it. But anyways, that’s to see in the future during this summer…
Mailbag:
And now, the first edition of the mailbag, straight from the comments of the last entry!
Kevin writes: And can you elaborate on the part about the "based on the wealth of the test takers"?
Answer: Basically, the based on the wealth part applies to SAT classes, private tutors, etc, some of which can run quite expensive. I just feel that it gives people with more money an unfair advantage to raise their SAT scores by x number of points. Say if there are 2 students that both have scores of 1600, and are equal in every aspect except their financial situations. And there’s a program that says they’ll raise a student’s score by 400 points – is it fair that the student with more money gets to have the score of 2000? Of course people could point out that the student with less money could study on their own, but why couldn’t the student with money do that. And people may say that Colleges look beyond SAT scores. And if that’s the case, why should the student with more money even take the classes?
Kevin also writes: The essay is in fact an acceptably good way to test one's ability to analyze, because the essay is just a 2 step process of coming up with a point and proving it.
Answer: I suppose, it does test in that respect. Though there are several professors that say that it doesn’t encourage a good writing process, like outlining, drafts, editings, and the like, because of the severe time constraints. And is it really analyzing? All they want to see is that your support your ideas, so you can make up facts, statistics, and quotations and throw them in there. I don’t feel that it really gives adequate time to really develop an idea. But it’s a double edged sword – improve it, and the test goes on longer, which no one really wants. But get rid of it, and you’re getting rid of something that at least some people find a valuable test.
There’s my response, Kevin – feel free to pick it apart more if you want! :]
I was emailed this article:
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/04/16/node_196531
called “SAT at war with Itself” and found it a very interesting read – I’d highly recommend it!
Mr. Houghton writes: What would be some alternate ways for colleges to predict the likelihood of an applicant's success?
Answer: I’m not sure if there’s a single way. I feel that looking at students transcripts, and their performance in the context of their schools is a better indicator, and I know some schools look at that more than the SAT scores. Even though students better off financially can also get more aid for their regular school work, I think that it’s still a better reflection, because school courses (at least they should) test the abilities of students to think critically, broadly, and out of the box, things neither a tutor nor a multiple choice test can really instill in a student. Or, instead of just a test, there could be several options for students (not all of whom do as well on a test), used a basis of standardized comparison. There could be some sort of visual project, oral presentation, written essay, or standaredized test component, and maybe students choose 2 to do, and are judged on a standardized criteria. That way, students could choose to be tested on the same material, but in a way that suits their own learning method. Though for those who clamor for some standardized comparison, I wonder if it’s possible to somehow standardize state testing, or add a national standardized component. Then, it’s integrated into testing students already take, and doesn’t take additional time. Also, if it’s with state testing, it gives a wider range of subjects that could have nationally standardized results, akin to the ACT I suppose.
Just my take on the standardized tests, I hope my ideas are clear enough to make sense!
Yes! SAT's are done with, forever and ever. Not that I'm done with College Board. The horrid acron, the harbringer of stress and pain. Wonderful slew of AP tests to take next year.
I'm not sure what's worse. That the basis of higher education in America seems almost totally reliant on a single corporation (well 2, there's the ACT. But regionally, ACT is middle of the country, SAT is the coasts. Not a huge amount of choice, espcially if you live in an area where SAT is 2 miles away, and ACT is 20. Or vice versa.) Or, that we have all accepted it for this many years.
Now I understand that colleges like to have some sort of standardized way to compare students, but sometimes I feel the College Board keeps milking us for money. When you get your answers, they tell you "Students with your score tend to gain __ points when they take it again." Why not just say "Come take it again, so you can get a couple more points, and we can get a couple more dollars?" At least it's truthful. But then it's like - people take the ACT for other subjects? Let's make subject tests! Parents send younger kids to take the SAT? why not make a special test for them, PSAT! (I'm sure that these weren't the only reasons for making additional tests, but it seems like it to the unsuspecting test taker).
Plus now, there's a whole industry of test prep books, classes, and more. And yes, I've fallen into the trap, I have a stack of SAT prep books on my bookshelf. Though I never really agreed with the SAT classes. To me, it says that those who have money and can afford it get good SAT scores, and too bad for those who can't. Should someone who can do more get some sort of reward compared to the person who pays their way? Or the child who studies at home diligently compared to the one who paid a tutor to come? Maybe, maybe not, it's not for me to decide how you should think. Though it seems that if we can pay to get good SAT scores, then it defeats the purpose of the test. We now have a Scholastic Aptitiude Test that measures neither Scholarship nor Aptitude. Just test taking skills. And our continual reliance on them to provide some "standardized comparison" seems biased, as there is no standardized basis in scholarship or aptitude if so many students' scores are determined by money. The tests seem to promote, well test taking skills, and not actual knowledge. So I ask is the benefit really worth it for a college to see that we know how to bubble in letters, and write a few paragraphs of meaningless lead marks in 25 minutes if all we're doing is throwing millions of dollars down the drain a year to one corporation that stands to profit from the millions of students who apply to college every year?
I understand that College Board is a business, and needs to make a profit to survive. Especially during this economy. Though maybe not. Since more people are applying to colleges to be more competitive in the job market, I bet there's an increase in SAT takers.
I'd like to see, however, what would happen if students across America were to boycott one date of the SAT. How would College Board respond? How would the colleges and universities across America respond? Maybe they wouldn't, knowing that we'd need to take them again the next month. Or maybe they would stop a moment and use it as an opportunity to change the testing system into a fairer, less monopolitic one, not based on the wealth of the test takers, but the actual scholarship and aptitude of the students taking them.
Do you ever notice how you never seem to have enough time to do stuff? Even if you know that you can do something in an hour, and you give yourself 2 hours, it takes the whole 2 hours to complete the task! It happens to me alot - and I end up not doing alot of things that I'd like to do because of it.
I know it's a random topic, but I'm bored, and thought I'd enter a blog entry. OH! There was a survey about technology that we took the other day. I didn't think about it then, but now, I think about it, it's hard to integrate technology into classes because the darn internet blocker that the district uses blocks so many things that could be useful. Like blogs. And youtube. I'm sure they have the fear that we'll abuse the privilege of sites that aren't blocked. But I feel as a high school student, most of us have proper judgement, and shouldn't be subjected to an internet blockade that allows us to visit sites that are only appropriate for 6th graders. Well maybe that's a bit exaggerated, but it becomes frustrating. Sure I may look at a non-school related Youtube Video, but shouldn't the teachers or staff be able to monitor those uses? That's why our computer lab allows the teacher computer to view the other desktops of the students - why not integrate that into the classrooms too? And with youtube, they should be able to disable to "log in" feature, but still allow us to view videos, which can be beneficial to our school work. For a school that's trying to find new ways to use technology in the classroom, there are alot of things they could try now, that are cost effective, and could create a big impact.
So today is Rowland High School's Prom. I'm not going. Instead, this afternoon, I went to a presentation by Northwestern University, at the LA Downtown Marriott. Oh well, it was worth it I guess - there's Prom next year! Northwestern is in the Chicago land area just fyi, seems like a nice place though.
Went to Costco today, great samples! I bet that's why most people go there, it's those free samples. It's crazy, I walk in and on the furniture, I see people sleeping, reading books - it's like they made it home! To their credit, it was nice and air conditioned in there, in contrast to the 80/90 degree weather outside. I also realized I haven't been there in a while - there are so many clothes! And only 1 small table of DVDs and 1 table of books. It used to be about 2 tables of books, 2 tables of DVDs, and a table of games and cd's. But I guess it's okay - why buy books or movies when you buy your own pair of Kirkland Signature Jeans!
On the school front, it's mixed. Relieved to be done with AP and IB tests, only to face a whole slew of homework and projects. But we march own, through the waves and the winds, each toward our own goals......
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