Week #9

I do not have any questions on utilitarianism. I do, however, agree that if the majority of people want something, they should get it. I don't see any problem with making the majority happy. Although, I do disagree that it is right for the lesser amount of people to have to suffer because of their loss. I think it was wrong how in the article the older peoples lives were worth less than the younger just because the chances of the younger people to live longer and have happiness are higher than those who are old.

I also do not have any questions on libertarianism. Libertarians believe that they have the right to live freely the way they want to unless it has an effect on others. I believe that in some cases this is alright, but i mostly disagree with it. This view can lead to people doing things that can hurt themselves (but not others) and still think that its okay.

I have no questions on how to develop my affirmative speech.

Week #8

One issue I am very passionate about that I would like to see changed in my lifetime is the use of recreational drugs and alcohol. I feel like this topic would be most beneficial for people to hear about because nobody really realizes how bad the impact is on society. I feel like it would be best to present to an audience who is younger, even if they may seem too young to hear about such terrible things, because I feel like when talking to high school students about this issue they won't change their mind because they are already set in their ways. When presenting to a younger audience and scaring them away from doing those awful things you teach them at a young age to not want to do that stuff.

 

The two topics I would like to discuss are:

• Should we lower the drinking age to 18? Or, should we enforce stricter laws to curb underage drinking?
• Should we teach sex education in schools?

Justice is when thing are fair and justified.

Week #4

The revision strategy I found most useful this week was receiving comments from my classmates and from Stephanie. This was most useful because I felt like my structure and everything else was good and I just wanted to work on the flow. Based on the qualities of an exemplary narrative we wrote today, I feel like my narrative is hitting most of the things we covered. This weekend I want to revise all of Stephanie's comments by adding more information to certain parts of my narrative.

I feel like the writing norms we have set for class have been working pretty well. I like the quiet, but I still would rather have a little background music because listening to my Ipod is too distracting.

Out of all of the questions Stephanie listed for potential arguments, I feel most passionate about what San Diego can do to help the homeless community. The reason I am passionate about this topic is because my grandma is in charge of a church where she facilitates a lot of volunteering for homeless people. I participate in almost all of the events she plans and am very involved in it.

Week #3

The current book I am reading is The Lord of the Rings: Part One. So far I love it. I guess the part I'm struggling with is that I'm a slow reader so I have a lot of catching up to do before the 25th. I love this book so much and I can't wait to start reading the others as well. It suites me well because I love everything fantasy related, so reading about a different world is enjoyable. The way I am planning on sharing the book with the class is by doing a Goodreads review.

I chose to write about horseback riding for my narrative topic because it is a big aspect of my life. My narrative takes place at Camp Strawderman which is a camp I go to every summer for the whole summer. It is literally my summertime home which is a reason I'm so passionate about writing about it. Because its something I really love, I think that the structure of the story flows really well. One thing I think I might need help with is that everything's in the right order but it still seems sort of choppy.. maybe its missing more of myself in it? I'm not sure what its missing but it's missing something.

Week #2

I took away from our discussion of Pygmalion and My Fair Lady that there are many different views on what perfect language is and whether or not Professor Higgins helped Eliza or not. I believe that perfect language doesn't exist, because if everybody talked the same nobody would have personality behind what they say. I also do think that Professor Higgins did help Eliza because now she is actually accepted in society while she wasn't before.

Week #1

This first week of English class has been really fun! So far I've noticed that I'm not THAT bad of a writer. It is really fun and easy for me to write stories that have happened in my life. During this class I would like to work on being able to use more adjectives and muscle verbs in order to make my writing more descriptive, because descriptive writing is more fun! The exercise I found to be the most useful was when we shared our ideas for our snapshot narrative with a partner and had them write down notes in our notebook. Talking about my ideas made it make a lot more sense in my mind. To make a class experience that allows us to work to our maximum potential I think we need to be collaborative and talk to each other a lot and have discussions often. The book I wanted to start reading this week is "The Fellowship of the Ring" which is the first book in the Lord of the Rings series. At first I couldn't go to the library to get it so I read "Fight Club" for a day, and then when I went to the library to get it I accidentally got the 2nd book, not the first, so I have yet to actually start reading it. I'm going to start reading it this weekend though!