THE IDEAL STUDENT: PART DEUX

I remember when I did this the first time. I thought to myself, "What in the world is Dr. C talking about?" So I decided that I would say the obvious answer: good grades, extra curricular activities, blah blah blah. But now that I think about it, I was somewhat wrong.

Let's start with the grades part. Honestly, I think that your actual grades don't matter. As long as you are doing your best thats all that matters. From personal experience, I am making A's and B's right now. But it isn't because I am "intelligent" (sorry to use the dreadful word), it is because I study a lot. Just from that, I feel accomplished (and that feels good). This also ties into a growth mindset. If the ideal student gets a sub-par grade, that does not stop them. That just inspires them to do better next time.

Extra curricular activities are great. But they don't necessarily have to be on campus. To me, extra curricular activities are things that you enjoy doing (things that are healthy of course). Go for a jog, have a pizza with friends, go see a good movie. The ideal student balances studying with mind-relaxing activities. This prevents he/she from going completely insane.

The ideal student doesn't worry about how to make a creative attention getter or Marita's bargain, the ideal student ponders about how continuing their education and making right decisions will impact their future. The ideal student wants to make a positive impact on the world. I found this quote that kind of ties in with this topic. Mahatma Gandhi said, "Be the change you want to see in the world." This is the ideal student.

Communication Domain and Stem Cell Research

The Communication domain consists of written communication, visual communication, and oral communication. The ongoing debate about stem cell research is among these various types of communications.

As far as written communication, there are thousands of popular articles and scientific journals regarding stem cell research. Political journalists try to convey their view points to the uneducated population reading popular articles. Scientists publish their research findings to the scientific world through journals and scholarly articles.

Stem cell research is involved in visual communication. This includes political cartoons and television advertisements. The political cartoon above just one of several different animations on the subject. These are put out in various newspapers across the country. This is done so the majority of our country's population can see these biased animations.

Oral communication is a large part of stem cell research. We've all watched Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, etc. We've all seen the heated discussions about different things. You can witness heated debates on stem cell research. Stem cell research is also involved in something of a smaller scale such as a classroom debate.

The fact that stem cell research is such a controversial issue makes it a hot item for the communication domain. It is involved in all of the communication domain.

I AM AGAINST GENDER DIVIDED CLASSROOMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When I first thought about the disadvantages of gender divided classrooms, I thought about what if I had to go through a gender divided classroom going through school. After much thought on this, I've come to the conclusion that I would have absolutely hated going through gender divided classrooms. Some of the closest friends I have are girls and I met them in the classroom. I wouldn't have developed the social skills to be able to interact with people (girls) who had different personalities. Like Ms. Jenna said, girls and boys think in different ways (right brain vs. left brain). If you know how to interact with different types of personalities, then it's pretty safe to say that you could develop really good leadership skills. 

In an article called "Advantages and Disadvantages of Single Sex Public School Education," a gender divided classroom actually costs the school more than a regular classroom. In these tough economic times, I really don't think that schools want to spend more on something that would cater to a certain sex. Which leads me to my next point...

In the United States of America, we are all about equality. If this is true, then why would we allow gender divided classrooms? All the time, girls are being told that they are the same as boys; perhaps they might question this claim when they are in an all-girl classroom. Then some male-chauvinistic kid might think they are superior to girls. 

Due to the economic impacts, inhibitions of social skills, and issues with equality, gender divided classrooms are not a good idea.