Down The Generations

     With every generation, people make new discoveries, make advances forward in technology, and are always finding new ways to make life easier.  But as more and more generations pass by, we become more dependent on technology and the social acceptance of certain expressions and ideas change.
     During my parents time, roughly 20 years ago, the concepts in technology were still the same, but it was way more basic.  People couldn't afford mobile phones and not many people could afford a computer. The internet was not widely used and there wasn't much information on it either.  In my grandparents time, the idea of the computer was not even conceived.  They had house phones, but even then, not that many people had house phones either.  People did not use machinery as much to do work, rather, they had more manual labor during those times. 
    In the generation I'm growing up in, we are more dependent on machines to do our work for us than the previous generations were.  In a way, that's good because it reduces our workload and  not as many people go home suffering from fatigue.  In a another way, its bad that we depend on technology so much because what if there comes a day where we cannot use machines anymore due to lack of resources? We wouldn't know how to do manual labor because we would have forgotten how to do it. Our dependency on machines also makes us lazy and we don't see the value in physical labor anymore.  We won't be able to take pride in our work anymore because the idea of taking pride in your own work will be lost eventually.   
     Another way that my generation is different from the past two generations is that we have created new medicines for many diseases many suffer from. A way that is a good change is that many don't have to worry about  getting sick and dying from illnesses that used to be deadly, such as the flu.  A way that us creating new cures for diseases can be seen as a bad thing is that new, deadlier strains of viruses come up.  As we create these new cures, we become more dependent on them and our immune systems get weaker.  This is bad because our immune systems are becoming weak and new strains of deadly viruses and bacteria are coming up.

Self Assessment 

The classes I take are:

        1) American History

       2) Chemistry

        3) Chinese

       4) AP English

       6) Algebra 2

       7) Junior Seminar 

Im doing well in my first period class.  I think I'm doing pretty well in chemistry too.  In Chinese I'm doing the worst because almost the entire grade depends on behavior and homework.  Same goes for AP English. In algebra 2 I'm barely passing.  Although I did most of the classwork and excelled in my test scores, I didn't do any of my homework which resulted in my barely passing status in that class. In junior seminar I do most of the work so I'm passing.  I'm pretty sure I understand most of the things that are being taught to me but I'm just lazy so I don't do the work.  This has resulted in my grades dropping.  What I could do is find some motivation and stop slacking so that I could bring my grades up.  I do the work in the classes that I like, so I guess what I could do is learn to appreciate the subject I don't like? Maybe that would be the solution to my dropping grades. 

Settling For Mediocrity

       There are many ways that I've settle for mediocrity. For instance, I'm aiming for my diploma rather than doing well and choosing to excel.  Another example of when I've chosen mediocrity is when I've gone out to eat and rather than spending more money for better food, I chose to save and have the more mediocre food.  I'm sure my life would definitely be different if I made different decisions, like my stomach would have been happier that one time if I wasn't afraid to spend more money and I'm sure I'd probably have an easier time right now if I wasn't afraid of not knowing what could happen in the near future.  Allow me to clarify.  I'm scared of not doing something that would make me happy now because I don't know what could happen in the next minute, the next hour, or even the next week.  So many things could happen to you, like you could suddenly be crushed by a building tonight, hit by a car, experience spontaneous combustion.  I'm afraid of failing to do something that would make me a less happy person were something to happen to me.  My life would probably be much more simpler, although a lot more dull, it would probably better in certain aspects.  Ways people can overcome their fear of failure is people could simply care less.  Other ways is to look forward to the future and think of the positive consequences to what they are afraid of failing to do. 

Why did I do it ?

       Why had caused me to miss more than half of the ninth grade and about 2 months of school in tenth?  What had made me do the things I did? Why made me do it? I was sick of the fact that so much of the fact that so much of your life depends on how well you do as a teenager.  I was sick of the all the expectations that I was expected to meet.  Sick of all the pressures that were coming from home, from school, from society.  I was just sick of everything and everyone.  I felt as if everything was coming from me from all sides.  I was wanted to be left alone, take a break from reality.  I wanted to do my own thing and just have fun.  I didn't care about what would happen to me, I lived for the moment.  I was self destructive.  But then I eventually realized how badly it could end, I realized there's way to balance out things, there's a time for fun and a time for work. I came to the realization that I was becoming my own obstacle, that I'd have to get past myself to achieve my goals.  I'm still working on the whole balancing things out and doing good, but I'm in a much better place, and I'm certainly making my dreams into plans.  

Design Your Own Roster

Since I want to be a psychologist I'd want to take classes that would help me prepare for it. I'd have my classes in this order:        1. Statistics       2. Health       3. Physiological psychology        4. Introduction to cognitive science       5. Lunch       6. Sociology 
I'd want to have fun while I'm in school too so I'd also take:        7. Art       8. Gym       9. English

Impression of Myself

       If I seen myself walking into a room I'd probably think I was weird.  I mean, you don't see many people walking around with greenish blue hair.  I'd probably think I was a extremely random person because sometimes I can be super talkative, other times I'm not.  I'd probably think I was an emotional person, because sometimes I can be really angry, really happy, or just really timid.  That probably runs along the lines of the random part of me.  I'd probably think that I was an intimidating person due to my rapidly changing temperaments.  

Career Choice

        I want to be a child and adolescent psychiatrist.  I feel as if there isn't enough people who'll take the time to really listen to the small voices who are crying out for help.  There aren't many people who won't listen because they refuse to change the whole "children should be seen but not heard" mentality.  I feel as if I could be there for those who need someone to help them.
     
       To pursue this career, I would have to take many kinds of courses.  Psychiatry combines biological, neurological, and social knowledge to figure out what is wrong with the patient.  I would first attend medical school for four years, finish 3 years of adult residency, and have two years of specialized training of psychiatry for children.
     
       On average, psychiatrists can expect to start out making $70,000 to $170,000 a year.  In Pennsylvania, after 10-15 years, a psychiatrist can make $180,000 to $196,000 on average.  There is a shortage on psychiatrists, and about 46% of all psychiatrists are at least 55 years old.  The shortage on psychiatrists seems to be more in rural areas then urban areas though.              
      One way I could gain experience now is I could volunteer at retirement homes.  I would help out at a retirement home so that I could gain experience with elderly people and get to know how they act.  I could also volunteer at the library to help with children.  Since I want to be an adolescent psychiatrist, helping with elderly adults and helping out with kids could give me some forehand knowledge on how children and the elderly generally act.  
      
       In conclusion, I want to be a adolescent psychiatrist.  This job is compatible with what I like to do and what I'm interested in.  There is also a high demand for this job so this job would definitely be something I'd love to pursue. 

Standardized Testing 

          Every student in America has to take standardized tests.  We have to take tests such as the PSSA, the Keystone Exams, and the ACT.  I believe that we shouldn't have to take these tests.  The first reason I think we shouldn't have to take these tests is that these tests do not improve the students performance.  Second, standardized tests are unfair to ELL learners.  Lastly, time that could be used to used to teach is wasted for test preparation.  

         These tests do not improve students performance.  For the past decade, ever since the No Children Left Behind Act was passed in 2002, we slipped from 18th place internationally in the world in math to 31st in 2009 for the Program for International Student Assessment.  There were similar results for the science too.  In May of 2011, the National Research Council found that no test-based incentive programs are working either.  

          In order for students to understand what they are supposed to do for a test, they have to know English right ? In America, there are 4.7 million ELL learners.  These tests are not made to meet the special needs of a ELL student so the tests are harder and more of a challenge to these people, so it sucks that they must pass the test just to pass. 

        We spend so much time for test preparation instead of learning.  We go to school to learn right ? So much of the time we spend everyday in the classroom until May being taught about how to take a test rather then just learning.  Also, there's less motivation for school when we're being taught on how to take a test rather then just purely learning.