What Would The Ancients Think?

Somewhere along the way, I think we got off track in our education system.  Somewhere along the way we stopped caring about how much we learn in a class and began worrying only about what grade we earn.  I realize that grades are intended to be a reflection of how much you have learned, but our execution of this is askew.  I, myself, have been guilty of merely regurgitating information for a test or quiz multiple times without thinking anything of it.  We tend to think, "I don't like this subject. I'm never going to use it again. Who cares?" Whatever happened to being an all around well educated person, a positive contribution to society.  I see now that many of the classes that I received a lower grade in are the ones that struggled in the most, therefore I worked harder.  Because I worked harder, I retained more information.  I am not saying that we should strive to make lower grades, but I am saying that we should challenge ourselves more.  I think our educational system would be much more effective if students received slightly lower grades because they were being challenged more. If we were required to take the hardest course we were capable of taking, we would all have lower GPAs, sure, but we would be much more educated human beings.  I am not saying that making good grades is a bad thing.  I am merely proposing the idea that perhaps it has been made all that is important to students.

 Many students, myself included, never studied a day in their life before 11th grade, or 12th grade, or college even.  This is because we were never challenged in their younger years.  Because we were never challenged in our younger years, we made 100s without trying.  We learned nothing, yet were rewarded for scholarship.  This is where our idea of grades mattering more than content came from.  I cannot help but wonder what the ancient scholars, such as Aristotle or Socrates would think of our number obsession, and our apathetic view of actually retaining some knowledge. But, this all in the name of academia, of course, so that we can achieve a higher score on a test, so that we will not be requited to take an exam, so that said exam would not hurt our precious averages and prevent us from getting accepted to some prestigious institution of higher learning, where we plan to do that thing of which we have forgotten the importance...oh what's it called...learn?

Brief Synopsis

I haven't blogged in a few weeks, so let me give brief synopsis of what has been going on lately.

Over labor day weekend I went to England with my Dad. Yes, I went to England for the weekend. Let the heckling begin. This past weekend I went to Pioneer Plunge with my fellow Wyldlife leaders, Young Life leaders, and a couple of Young Life kids. It was a good time. Other than that, we Knights have just been living our lives of football games, chest painting, oh, and that other part of senior year called "school." Me personally, well, I've been babysitting a lot.  I really feel as if childcare has become a full time occupation for me.  I babysit at least once a week sometimes twice, and I drive kids all over Florence everyday.  It's okay though, because in the words of one of the Freshmen I drive around, "I love my kids."

Oh, and I finished reading The Time Traveler's Wife. It was possibly the best book I have ever read.

No One's Gonna Rain On Our Parade

I woke up Friday morning and put on a black t-shirt with a big blue neon lowercase letter "a" on the front of it. On the back, the shirt read "High Wattage" and had a light bulb drawn beneath that.  My friends and I had spent the week making this shirt and fifty-seven other similar ones, all with different neon letters on the front, and different nick names on the back.  They were made for our pep rally line up, and together, 58 people strong, we spelled out "Taylor Elmore, you will always be in the senior's hearts." My class agreed to spell this out to honor our late classmate.  It made those of us who knew him feel that in someway he was with us for that first pep rally of senior year. This is one of the many reasons I love my class.

   We screamed and jumped around like children who had consumed far too much sugar. I am quite confident that one of the things I am going to miss most about West Florence is dancing to the traditional band songs.  They become a part of you, and never fail to get us fired up. How they managed to get us back to class amazes me.

   That night my classmates and I headed out to the stadium to tail gate.  It had been raining all afternoon, and we were really hoping it would stop. The girls all had on button-ups and ties, as is tradition for the West Florence seniors at the first football game of the season. We were gathered around, painting the guys chests, (they were going to spell out "One Knight Stand;" our mascot is the Knights) and it continued to rain.  Not only did it continue to rain, it began to pour.  

   We were soaked down to the skin.  But, none of us left.  We went into the game, and claimed the student section as always.  We danced and cheered and prayed for our Knights. We were playing our rivals, the South Florence Bruins, whom we had beaten every year for the past eight years.  This year broke that tradition.  The Bruins beat us 47-7.  So there we were, the boys with paint running all over them, the girls in neck ties and button ups, soaked all the way through, losing miserably to our rivals for the first time in eight years, we all claimed to be miserable, yet, we were all having a blast.  It is a memory I know we will all keep with us for years.

    After the game, several of us went to Waffle House.  I was talking to one of the guys who had painted up for the game, and he said, "Ya know, I hope every game is like that one." I replied "You mean us being annihilated while soaking wet?" He laughed a little and said, "No, I mean I hope we get that crazy and have that much fun at all of the games."  If my school has one thing, it's spirit.  Even though we were losing, we had at least twice as many fans as South Florence.  That is one of the main reasons I love my Knights, and I love my class. Seniors 2010, the perfect ten, that is.

               

If It's Any Indication...

I do not even know where to begin.  The first week a senior year was definitely a success.  From catching up with friends, to late lunches after early dismissal, everything just seems to be falling into place.  As cliche' as it sounds, my class feels like a family to me this year.  

We had a meeting at Groucho's Wednesday to discuss the t-shirt line for the pep rally.  Now, I cannot say what we are spelling out. We agreed to keep it a surprise. However, I will say that I am extremely excited about it. I really love my class right now. 

Today we all went to Janie's to paint shirts for the pep rally. We spent hours on them, but we are almost done now.  Tonight we went to hear our friend Drake play at Aroma Underground Coffee Shop. Then we all just hung out at Janie's and chatted like the old friends we are.  

If this weekend was any indication of how this year is going to go, then I'm definitely on board.

Day One.

First day of senior year=Fabulous.  I love being a senior. It is really neat to be the oldest, and getting out at two feels wonderful.  

Adele was at my house at eight, and we went to pick up Ben and Charlotte.  I pulled into the parking lot, and parked in my spot which is incredibly close to the building.  I got out and took pictures with my friends, and then we walked over to chat with some of our other classmates.  The day flew by, and I have great people in all of my classes.  

My class is already planning pep rally shirts for next Friday's game against our rival school.  Now, I'm not going to say what we are planning, but I can say that they will be the coolest pep rally shirts my class has ever done, and possibly the coolest ones any class has ever done.  This year is going to be the best; and I can hardly wait to see what all happens.

Movie Reviews & Summer's End.

Whoever you are, you need to go see The Time Traveler's Wife.  It was a phenomenal picture.  Rachel McAdams is brilliant and beautiful, and Eric Bana isn't too bad either. (Understatement, his role of Henry may be the most attractive character I've ever encountered, minus the constant disappearances.)  This film makes you laugh, brings tears, makes you want to fall in love, holds your attention, keeps you thinking, and shows the importance of cherishing your time with people.  I went to see it because some friends suggested it, and it blew me away. Time Traveler's Wife definitely surpasses expectations, and then some.

(As a side note, I have decided that any current pop culture is completely relevant to 2010's senior year; including movies, TV, songs, concerts, trivia, news, etc.)

On a less exciting (while at the same time extremely exciting) note, tomorrow is the first day of school.  Our last first day, well at least of high school.  It is both ordinary and unique; familiar, and strange.  Hold on tight, ready or not, we're about to start the year we've waiting for and our parents have been dreading since kindergarten. 

In order for tomorrow to go as smoothly as possible, I am going relax on this, my last day of summer.  As soon as I finish this and press the orange "PUBLISH POST" button, I am going to take a nap, go to the gym, and then go sit with my beloved LK at her church's annual Youth vs. Adults softball game.  It's a wonderful life. =)

Three.

I currently want to see three movies:

500 Days of Summer

The Ugly Truth

The Time Travelers Wife

Most of my friends have already seen The Ugly Truth, and my sister cannot get into an R rated movie. No one else seems to have heard of 500 Days of Summer.  I'm seeing The Time Traveler's Wife with some of my girlfriends tomorrow. I'll have to work the other two in sometime.