First Semester Reflection

In the first semester I have learned a lot about writing and history, but there are a few things that I learned the most about.
The one area that we spent the most time on was our writing skills. I am fairly certain that improving the way we write will come in handy in anything we do, which is why I’m glad I had this class. Eliminating clutter was a big help for me because that was my main issue. I do still have clutter sometimes, but it’s not nearly to the extent that it used to be. Using a thesis statement and getting right to the point was another thing that I improved on. It took me seventeen tries one class period, but I eventually got it and it has never taken me that long since. We used writing in every single topic we studied and I, personally, feel like I have gotten at least a little bit better than I was at the beginning of school.
The thing that I felt was the most interesting to learn about was the genocide in Rwanda. Before this class I had no clue that anything like this had ever happened, and now I know more than the average Joe. For instance, I now know that the conflict had been going on since practically the dawn of time (not really, but it went on for a while). I learned what started the whole situation, how it ended, and just about everything in between. The debate that we had at the end of the unit was actually a lot of fun. We got to see the genocide from every side possible; who to blame, who not to, what they were thinking and so on. It got a little out of hand at some points, but we at least got to see how a debate would usually work.
Finding a credible source when researching was something else that I learned a little more about. I learned that it you want to find a website that is known for having good information that is accurate. Also, that you may want to have a source that is not biased, because you’re only seeing the story from one side. However, it is okay every once and a while to have a source from both sides, and a neutral article. For example, Wikipedia might not be the best source because the information is not always correct because anybody can go and change it. Another example not to use would be somebody’s blog because they can say whatever they want and post it.
Another thing I learned about was the history of Australia. The history of Australia was really interesting because you could make connections with the history of America. In Australia, the tried to get the Aborigines out of Australia, and in America, everyone wanted the Indians to be gone. Where the similarity ends, however, is how the people in Australia tried to get the Aborigines out. The white people literally bred the Aborigine out of the natives, and slowly but surely, every generation would become lighter and lighter. We saw exactly how the white people did this in a movie called Rabbit Proof Fence.
At the end of this semester, where we took the four country’s histories and compared them to one another was pretty cool as well. I learned that those four countries have a lot in common as far as colonization went. They all had some sort of racism, slavery (or “workers”), and they all ended up being controlled by somebody else other than who colonized them—for the most part. It was kind of sad to see that they had so many things in common because you could tell that they obviously did not learn a thing from one another.
As you can see, I have learned a lot of important stuff that I am going to most likely use or need at some point in my life and I’m really grateful for that. This semester has helped me a lot and I will never forget the things I learned.

South Africa would be the best place to live as a native population during colonization.

In South Africa the Khoikhoi were indentured slaves. The Dutch made them work for food or anything that they might need. If you think about it, it is the same thing that every adult that has a job does. However, instead getting a loaf of bread, they get money to go buy the loaf of bread. It would not be much different than what I am going to have to do in a few years; work for what I need. If they don’t work, they don’t survive.
Some may say that Rwanda is the best place to live, but I disagree. It may have been the best place to live a while ago, because they didn’t have “slaves”, or workers. But, in the following years hundreds of thousands of people were killed. Rwanda had experienced a terrible act of genocide in the 90s. Most people would not want to be there to see something like that first hand and I’m one of them. Rwanda is the last place I would want to live, because at least in the other countries you could stay alive.

Over winter break I spent a lot of time with friends and family. I got up every day and had to get ready, while other people laid in their pajamas all day. The week before Christmas my family and I would spend time with the same exact people, but each day we would go to somebody else’s house. I love my family and everything, but can’t we just do one big day where we all get together at one house? We watched the college football bowl games, and the college basketball games. We watched Michigan beat Ohio State =] and Michigan State beat Northwestern. That’s all we did pretty much for a week straight. And it was a lot of fun.
Christmas morning isn’t as exciting now that we don’t believe in Santa. It seems like that magical Christmas feeling when you wake up isn’t there anymore, and it’s kind of sad. My brother and sister and I didn’t get much on Christmas, because we each got a trip somewhere. However, my mom and dad got a lot of the stuff that they wanted from us, and it made us all happy. For the rest of Christmas, we went over to my aunt and uncle’s house to watch more basketball and football, and for Christmas dinner. We left around eight and I had to finish packing for Chicago.
My brother mad me get up at seven

Rwanda Debate

The debate we had in class was somewhat of a learning experience for me. The groups who got to talk explained their role in the Rwandan genocide while still arguing a point, allowing for a more in-depth understanding of the situation as well as each individual group. I was disappointed that many groups did not get to talk or answer questions as much as they probably should have. The people seemed more focused on the groups that didn't do anything, rather than the groups who were actually directly involved with the genocide. It eventually got kind of annoying when someone would raise their hand, but nobody would call on them because they might bring up a good point, or argument. Everyone had something interesting and important to say, and some just didn't get a chance.

I thought a lot more people would make it simple and easily blame my group, the Interahamwe, the group that actually went around and were doing the killing. Turned out, almost everyone went further and thought about who was leading the Interahamwe, supplying and supporting the mass murder, and what/who caused this. the true answer obviously was not, and never will be, known because, to be honest, nobody was single handedly responsible for the one hundred day tragedy that happened. Every person played their part in allowing the genocide to occur.

Nobody likes not getting a final solution, and there are a lot of things left uncovered. One class period was not nearly long enough to have a real in-depth debate about this. There is just way too much that needs to be said about the situation.

Overall, I am glad that we got to do this debate, even though not everyone fully got their point/side across or explained.

"The American Scholar"

Ralph Waldo Emerson's argument from "The American Scholar" about American society is still valid today.

People in American society allow others to think for them, which has caused it to continually degrade. "In the degenerate state, when the victim of society, he tends to become a mere thinker, or still worse, the parrot of other men's thinking." (Emerson). They have failed to let their voice be heard, because one man believes that their single opinion will not have an over-all impact on the outcome of society. This is one of the main problem's with society in America today. Americans no longer speak out against things that they believe are unethical in fear of getting publicly ridiculed.

The civilians in America, men in particular, who are skilled in many fields often get favored and, in turn, achieve a higher position on society's social ladder. Not to say that they don't work for it, but they tend to be perceived as being more intellectually advanced, as opposed to a man who is highly specialized in a single skill. "Him Nature solicits with all her placid, all her monitory picture; him the past instructs; him the future invites." (Emerson). These people, in particular, are favored throughout their whole lives, ever since they were little kids playing on the playground.

First Day Memoir

9/18/09 My expectations for high school when I first started weren’t very much at all. But now that we’ve been back for a couple of weeks, my expectations slowly, but surely, are growing by the day. I feel like this year has potential to be a lot of fun, however, I’m not totally convinced quite yet.
I’ve met some people that seem to be really outgoing and funny and I’m guessing why I’ve gotten along the most with them is because they’re the only ones that are like my friends from home. Not that the other people here are mean or unfriendly, it’s just that they don’t seem to as open to new people and I haven’t gotten a chance to get to know anybody yet. I’m sure once I meet them I’ll have a completely different mindset about everyone.


9/24/09 I just read over what I started to write on the 18th and it made me laugh. School is great now. It’s funny how something can change so much in just under a week. I, in fact, do have some friends here now, and I don’t just eat lunch with them. I actually talk to them. Most of them are from swim team, so we stay after school and walk to the gas station. Already, we’ve had pretty good times, and it has been about four days since I started to do that. Because I’ve met these people, I enjoy going to school in the morning-with the exception of getting on the bus at 6:42 in the morning. I mean, first hour is still boring, but that’s because everyone, including me, still wants to be in bed. Second hour, my teacher is pretty weird, and we laugh a lot; not at her, with her. Third hour is okay, I guess. The classroom smells funny, so my friends and I joke about it. Fourth hour is where I’m at right now. I kind of dread going to this class because I know we’re always going to have to write something. Fifth hour is basically a class full of weird people. I was pretty much forced to take it. Sixth hour is arguably the best classes ever. Enough said.