First Amendment Rights

The first amendment gives us the right to Freedom of Religion, Speech, Press, Assembly, and Petition. The one most people seem to think is the most important is the freedom of speech. It entails that you have the freedom to state your opinion and say what you want about what you want. Although, you may not say something if it may "create clear and present danger," contains "fighting words," has "obscenity," and the "time, place, and manner," in which it was said. My question, is what makes something have one or more of these qualities, and who gets to decide that.

Certainly there have to be restrictions on freedom of speech in order to prevent danger, but who should get the power to decide how severe the restrictions are? Do these people need to have a degree in law, because I believe that they should. Also, how many people are on the comity for deciding? Obviously, one person can't just decide what can and can't be said. But are there any specific things that make a statement illegal? In a recent event, an anti-Islam video was released, and it offended many people, who started riots and killed an ambassador. Whoever released it probably didn't intend to start a riot, but does that make him innocent? I say that he was just expressing his opinion, and just because some people thought it was offensive, shouldn't make it illegal. People can get mad over anything, really. The maker of the video was sentenced to a year in prison, because the video violated his parole, but even if he was on parole, he should still have freedom of speech.

After some research, I've found out that the supreme court makes these decisions about freedom of speech. They are appointed by the president under the consent and advice of the senate. This occurs whenever an opening in the supreme court appear, which is about once or twice a term, or maybe not at all. Due to how strongly the first amendment is worded, most people think that we can say anything we want. However, the supreme court decided that things like national security, personal security, and justice outweigh freedom of speech. Therefore, if someone says something threatening, they are taken into custody. Those are the restrictions on freedom of speech, and who makes them.


Sources: http://www.freedomforum.org/packages/first/curricula/educationforfreedom/supportpages/L04-LimitsFreedomSpeech.htm
http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/50146.pdf

Grading in Schools

We have grades in schools to tell us if we're doing well or not. Therefore, why do we have number grades instead of standard grades. Standard grades are simply if you're doing well it says you're advanced, if you're average, it says average, if you're slightly below, you're slightly average, and if you're far below, you're potentially average. This makes more sense than number grades, because number grades are trying to put you into these catagories, but it's more accurate if you simply go by the standard system. The current system is not nearly as accurate, and will hopefully be changed in the near future. That is my opionion on grading systems.

My Learning Style

I just took two tests to determine my learning style. In the Gregorc test, it said I learn in an abstract random pattern, and a concrete random pattern was second, so i guess I'm pretty random. This tells me that, for example, I'm unusual, inventive, emotional, have deep feelings, imaginative, and enjoy games and simulation, which is very true, I'd say.

In the other test, the Gardner test, I got the same score for Logical-Mathematical, Bodily-Kinesthetic, intrapersonal, and Musical. Therefore, it says I think by reasoning, through somatic sensations, through rythms and melodies, and by bouncing ideas off other people. I agree with most of those, but I'm not too sure I think through rythms and melodies. Although, i do enjoy listening to music.

After gaining this information, I think i should try to work on things more in groups, due to the fact that both tests said I have good ideas, work well with others, and I am innovative, as well.

School are killing creativity

In class, we discussed creativity. Specifically, we watched a TED Telk by Ken Robinson, who says that schools are killing creativity. He said that creativity is as important as literacy, and we should treat it accordingly. Instead, we squander their crearivity very ruthlessly. I agree with this statement completely. Schools put too much value in subjects like math, reading, and history. As a result, kids become convinced that's all that's important, and they become lucky to get one class a week where they can express themselves or be creative, such as art or music. Ever since we're young, we're forced away from what we want to do. People say that you'll never get a job where dancing will help you, or that you'll never be an artist, which isn't really true.  Recently, kids have been getting lower and lower scores on tests that attempt to determine their approximate creativity. Creativity is one of the most important someone, can have, and it should be treated so. Schools have to start embracing the intrests of children, instead of trying to steer everyone towards focusing on math and Reading. In conclusion, schools should put more effort into teaching creativity, and encouraging the interests of students.

Being Gifted

Most people think being gifted is the best thing ever. Sure, things come pretty easily, and we're pretty creative, but that's where the fun ends. Everyone has huge expectations of you, and sometimes it's too much pressure to succeed. Also, you get labled as a nerd or a dork, and because of that, people dumb themselves down. Then, since they're so used to pretending to be dumb, they sometimes become dumb, and waste their talent. In addition, more often than not, gifted children tend to get  bored with classwork and end up not even doing their work. I know I've done that plenty of times.

There are many myths about gifted people, such as we're all straight a students, or everything is easy for us, which definetly isn't true. People think we're all snooty and better than everyone else, and that is far from the truth. Although, a few things that are true about gifted kids are, for example, that certain things seem to come easily. Another one is that gifted kids tend to be smaller or unstable, and this is due to asynchronous development, which i won't get into. So, as you can probably see, being gifted has it's ups and it's downs.

A lil bit about me

My name is Shaun. My favorite subject in school and my favorite to learn about is probably math. In my freetime, I play football, snowboard, and play computer games. When i grow up, I wanna be a chess  grand master. Sorta. Not at all. I don't really know what. But yea. What makes me happy is playing sports, and hanging with friends. Well, that's it for today. See yaa.