Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Thoughts on the Educational Perspective of Obama's Address

Obama: "the countries that out-teach us today will out-compete us tomorrow."

As a student myself, I appreciated the emphasis Obama put on education last night in his speech. I think it is such an important issue and just doesn't get enough attention. After watching the speech, most of my lingering thoughts of the speech dealt with education in one way or another.

The story of Ty’Sheoma Bethea was inspiring and motivating. Here's a quote from last night that can't help but put a smile on your face:
Ty’Sheoma Bethea, the young girl from that school I visited in Dillon, South Carolina – a place where the ceilings leak, the paint peels off the walls, and they have to stop teaching six times a day because the train barrels by their classroom. She has been told that her school is hopeless, but the other day after class she went to the public library and typed up a letter to the people sitting in this room. She even asked her principal for the money to buy a stamp. The letter asks us for help, and says, "We are just students trying to become lawyers, doctors, congressmen like yourself and one day president, so we can make a change to not just the state of South Carolina but also the world. We are not quitters."

We are not quitters.

These words and these stories tell us something about the spirit of the people who sent us here. They tell us that even in the most trying times, amid the most difficult circumstances, there is a generosity, a resilience, a decency, and a determination that perseveres; a willingness to take responsibility for our future and for posterity.

Their resolve must be our inspiration. Their concerns must be our cause. And we must show them and all our people that we are equal to the task before us.

A question that remains mostly unanswered is what is this administration going to do to make education more affordable? I have one year remaining of undergraduate, and I aspire to be a lawyer. How am I going to afford that? Loans add up fast, and how will I ever pay it off? With the economy going downhill, getting a job will be incredibly hard - let alone a GOOD job.

Living in a country known for its opportunities, I want nothing less than the best education offered for me and for future generations of American students- how are we going to ensure our teachers are the best they can be and that they are provided with the funding to incorporate better educational services and resources for their students. I know too many teachers who have to pay out of their own pockets for classroom materials (like teacher's pay is sufficient to pay with!)

Internship Opportunity

I have an opportunity to intern at the Nixon Presidential Library in California this summer (June to August)! How neat would that be?? I don't have all the details yet, but my goodness.. what an experience that would be.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Obama's Address to Congress

Click here to view the transcript of Obama's remarks to Congress. Usually, I provide the transcript itself on my blog, it's LONG.

The speech is still going on, but my initial reaction - as I "tweeted" earlier was that: it's phenomenal to notice the difference in the tone/attitude of everyone in the chamber. It's so much more positive!

On a funny note: if you are watching (or planning to watch it later), notice Biden's reaction every time Pelosi jumps up for a standing ovation.

Here's the video:


Friday, February 20, 2009

Twitter - the new facebook

Is it just me... or did twitter suddenly become really big this week (for news reporters)?

It seems as if all the journalists on the major news channels (at least the ones i watch most often) have joined it this weekend and keep talking about it on their shows. It'll be interesting to see in the next couple of weeks. Even though I've been using it for a while now, I'm not sure yet of all the terminology (I think a person who uses twitter is a "tweep", and the message is a "tweet"... they sound like insults :/), but so far i like getting all of my news updates all at one place. So far, not many people i know personally have joined in on twitter, so for now it's just a news source.. and it'll be interesting to see twitter grow as more and more people join.

It'll be interesting to see if twitter becomes as big as facebook.. or even bigger (it has definite potential).

For those of you who are beginners at twitter, here are some tips to start you off:

1. Shrink Your URLs
Since you only have 140 characters to work with, instead of sharing a long URL, use one of several URL-shortening services to shrink that link, like tinyurl.com.

2. RT = Retweet
To copy and paste someone else's tweet, just put "RT @name" in front of their tweet and post it yourself so you give the original tweeter/tweep(?) credit for it as well.

3. @ Sign
To reply or someone on Twitter, place an @ sign in front of their Twitter name at the beginning of the message.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

T.G.I.T.

Is it summer vacation yet? I feel like classes just began (even though its been over a month) and I'm so overwhelmed with work, it's ridiculous! I know, I know... I should have taken less classes, but doesn't it feel like you have no time for anything no matter how much you are doing? This week was just particular bad because of the lack of sleep ALL WEEK. Last Friday afternoon my family and I went to Virginia for the weekend to visit family and so of course getting sleep wasn't even an option. Then I've had exams and papers due all week, so I've gotten absolutely no sleep... and I NEED MY SLEEP!

Anyhow, T.G.I.T.! Thank God it's Thursday (evening)... for now, I'll settle for the weekend for a little break (that involves two papers, studying for yet another exam, ATTEMPING to catchup in all the readings in at least some of the class, and an official practice test of the LSATs).

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