I wish I had updated this more regularly.

I think if I had done that, I would have been able to write about things as they happened.  I could have talked about how I was feeling at the time, without the benefit of hindsight, and it could have been pretty interesting and informative for, say, high school juniors and seniors who were wondering what getting used to college is like.  But such is life.  I won't regret being lazy before and not updating; I'll just remember this next time I feel like not posting, and I think I'll still write about stuff that happened before, but in sort of a retrospective point of view.

I carn't spel: A blog post about U.S. education

According to President Barack Obam, "A world-class education is the single most important factor in determining not just whether our kids can compete for the best jobs but whether America can out-compete countries around the world" (Source).  In recent political discussions, education reform has been largely overshadowed by debates about health care and the economy.  However, ensuring that future generations have access to quality education is one of the most important things that we can do to further progress and innovation and to secure America's position in the global market.

It's well known that American students consistently score lower on standardized tests than students in other countries.  Critics of the U.S. education system use this fact to argue that schools do not adequately prepare students for college or the job market.

President Obama made a step in the right direction when he replaced the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) with Race to the Top.  NCLB, while well-intentioned, over-emphasized standardized test scores as a way to gauge students' progress and did not place enough importance on teachers' abilities.  While standardized tests provide a convenient and across-the-board way to measure student performance, they force educators to "teach to the test" if they want funding for their schools, rather than focusing on the students' needs and making sure that they understand the concepts.

The makers of these tests could never understand the needs of each school and classroom.  Students in poorer regions have fewer resources and need more individual attention than students in wealthier areas.  It should be up to each city or county -- not the state or national governments -- to ensure that their education systems are meeting the needs of their students.

Teachers, the people closest to students in the classroom, are one of the most important factors in improving education.  (The attitude of family members and the environment where students live play an important part, too, but the quality of teachers is something that the government can control.)

Therefore, if there is to be any significant change in education, it is imperative that teacher quality improve.  This would require greater motivation for good teachers to teach and methods for evaluating teachers' effectiveness.

There is no surefire way to evaluate and identify unqualified teachers.  However, some combination of student, parent, administrator, and peer evaluations could be used to pinpoint and fix problems that educators are having.  In addition, the government must give qualified people more incentive to become teachers, starting with increased compensation.  If teaching were viewed as a high-status occupation — on the level of engineering and law, for example — as it is in other countries, more of America's brightest people would be motivated to become teachers.

Lawmakers in both state and national governments need to pay attention to students' and teachers' needs.  America's education system will not fix itself, and ensuring that future generations can get jobs and compete globally should be the most important issue in the upcoming election.

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This is an official blog entry for the YourLocalSecurity.com Blogging Scholarship. If selected, I'll receive $1000 towards my college expenses in 2012. This scholarship is sponsored by YourLocalSecurity.com

Update: I love texting now!

Over the summer, I wrote a post about why I hate texting.  Well, since starting college, I've learned to love it.  (I know, I know, call me an assumption-having, conclusions-jumping hypocrite.)  Here's why:


1.  No one leaves messages anymore.

Or at least, I don't.  Whenever I get sent to voice mail, I just hang up and hope that the other person will see my missed call.  It just feels so awkward for me to leave voice mails -- like I'm talking to myself:  "Heyy... It's, um, me...  Shela.  I guess you're not there, so, like, call me back when you get this!  ...This is Shela, by the way.  Bye."


2.  It's convenient.

It's true that texting is not as fast as having a conversation over the phone, or even over Facebook.  But both people have to be online to actually have a Facebook conversation, and I am awkward even on the phone.  So texting is an easy way for me to make plans and talk with friends.


3.  It's fun!

There are few things more exciting than hearing the familiar tri-tone coming from your own phone.  (Or iPod Touch with texting app.)  That might just be me.  I don't get texts all the time.

Yo, I'm back!

Hello, all!  I'm back... again!

I guess I overestimated my ability to stick with a once-a-week blogging thing.  Maybe just the thought of having to write so much was just too much for me.  But it's winter break now, and I've got way too much time on my hands.  I think I'll stick to short posts that I'll just write whenever I feel like it.  I might write about how I'm adjusting to (and enjoying!) college life, my recent relationship (which crashed and burned), and other things that have been going on.  Blog posts will no longer be the carefully drafted, link-filled things that they were.  (Seriously, the last couple ones took me over an hour each!)  So, fingers crossed for a successful winter break!  Blogging-wise, that is.

Why I love classical music

Why are there people who don't like classical music?  Do they think it's boring?  Snobbish?  Only for old people and nerds?  I gotta say, those are some pretty unfair assumptions right there.  (Well, I mean, there is of course some nerdiness going on here, but really, what music fan isn't at least a little bit of a nerd?)

Okay sure, we don't get that much exposure to classical music these days, and that might be part of the reason -- it's not like Mozart and Rachmaninoff are on TV or Vevo lip-syncing and shaking their goodies (yeah, I just said that).  (Since I sort of bring it up, though, according to my mom, classical music was the "pop music" of the time when she was a college student in China.  Just in case you were curious.)

Below are the reasons why I love classical music, and why those who haven't really listened to it should at least give it a chance:

1.  It's beautiful and exciting.

Again, I ask, Who says classical music is boring?  There's a reason it's been around for hundreds of years -- it sounds good; people like it; and on top of all that, it showcases the talents of composer, conductor, and musicians.

One thing about classical music is it's complexity.  The composers need a lot of skill to turn out the pieces they wrote (huge understatement).  But the composers themselves being geniuses is not enough:  It's up to the conductor and the musicians to turn the notes on the paper into rhythms, melodies, harmonies, and (dare I say it) feelings.

That's right, feelings.  Because I have a theory that it's impossible to listen to any kind of music without feeling something.  Love, anger, disgust, confusion, happiness, sadness, excitement...  Even when I'm listening to The Beatles or Lady Gaga, I feel these things -- never mind when I'm listening to a good classical piece, which can leave me drowning in a flood of emotions.  Or holding my breath, on the edge of my seat from excitement.

And besides all that, there is the simple fact that just watching an orchestra play is awesome.  Seeing the musicians move with the music, seeing the bows and trombones move in unison, and seeing the conductor get worked up over the music is just one of the coolest things.

For samples of some of my favorites pieces, click through the YouTube links that I posted above.

2.  It connects you with people from centuries ago.

I admit, this is not one of the things that I think about often when I'm sitting around or playing the violin in orchestra.  Still, when I realized that, Wow, some genius guy wrote this piece a really, really long time ago, and now I was playing the notes that he wrote, it's kind of mind humbling.

Maybe it's just me, but I find it so fascinating that it wasn't even recordings, but notes on pieces of paper that got handed down through so many generations, and now here are are, trying to understand what the composer wanted us to do with those notes.  We're hearing what they heard so long ago, but still, we're not hearing the same thing.  (Make sense?)

3.  It makes me feel sophisticated.

Okay, so I know I said that classical music isn't just for snobs, but I do have to admit that it is kind of satisfying listening to people talk about Ke$ha and Drake and things like that, and then turning around and talking to my friend about the piece in orchestra that we're playing.  I mean, I wouldn't say that I feel superior for liking classical music -- just, you know, kind of hipster or something.  Because even though I'm saying that more people should like classical music, it is a relatively small community that actually does listen to it.  But, you know, I'm happy to be in that community.

Introducing... the Why I Love series!

So, I was in China, brainstorming blog ideas, typing them up in my iPod, when I realized that a lot of my ideas started with "Why I love..."  (Now that I think about it, I was probably inspired by my earlier post, "Four reasons why I love The Beatles.")  I carried the idea further and discovered that I love a lot of things -- things that other people might not necessarily like or understand; things that people don't think about usually; and things that lots of people like, but there needs to be a list of reasons why those things are awesome.

Now, without further ado, I present the first post in my Why I Love series (well, technically it's the second, if you count my first Beatles post, but this can be the first official post in the series.  Anyway, without further ado...):  Why I love classical music!

I'm back!

Hello, everyone!

My apologies for neglecting this blog for so long.  (Wait, who am I apologizing to, again?  No followers.  Sigh.)  Anyway, I've been back from China for a while, now, and I came up with a lot of ideas while I was there.  The hard part is actually sitting still and writing it all down.  So I've decided that I will try to get at least three posts up each week.

In other news, it's getting to that time when I have to start shopping, cleaning, and packing for college.  (I leave on the 19th!  How exciting is that?)  So I'll be writing about those sort of things, too, if I can think of anything.  Soon, this blog's name will change from "The Lazy Pre-Frosh" to "The Lazy Freshman," and that will just be too awesome.