Guilty Pleasures

Wow. Okay, so my mom just read to me an entry from Jeniffer Crusie's blog, Argh Ink. The blog said that "we use our tastes to define us and how limiting and ultimately dishonest it often is because we choose to advertise the things that reflect who we want to be more than who we really are." These are apparently called "shadow faves" (although I really just think this is another take on the whole "guilty pleasures" thing). So here are my five "shadow faves":

1. Even though it goes against pretty much every moral value I have, and I think it's a reflection of how chauvinistic and patriarchal American society is, I am addicted to America's Next Top Model. Maybe it makes me feel superior, I don't really know.
2. I prefer Hershey's chocolate to Godiva
3. I have a Jonas Brothers' song on my iPod. And it's not on the "25 most played" list because of my little sister. *wink wink*
4. Even though I claim to be this huge Leo Tolstoy fan, I was never actually able to get through War and Peace. ;)
5. I can't really think of another one, but I think my last four are horrible enough to make up for it. :)

So, what are your "shadow faves"??

Expository Writing Samples - I HATE them

Yesterday, in English, we had to do YET ANOTHER "expository" writing sample. I HATE expository writing samples. And you know why? Not because I hate writing (because I love writing. duh) or because I hate expressing myself (again, duh) or because I don't think the school should gauge people's progress as a writer, but because EXPOSITORY writing samples don't fulfill ANY of those needs. They limit a person's ability to express oneself, and so many people aren't able to write within the cookie-cutter needs of an expository writing sample, that people are wrongfully discouraged as writers!

Whew. Thank goodness that's out...

MASH - and why it's the stupidest thing I've ever heard of

Um... yeah. Sorry (to the nonexistent person reading this) that I haven't posted in a while. I actually don't have any excuse, unless you count having a completely unremarkable life as an excuse, which is kind of stupid, because most of the people on this blog aren't blogging about incredible, life changing events. Instead they continue endlessly about how empty and not incredible their lives are. I mean really? Who cares that some random person was inspired by the shape of the taco shells at taco bell? It's completely insignificant, and although you might be able to make some point that it's an example of how prominent genetic engineering in the American culture has become, because that's TRUE. I mean, I'm surprised we aren't all suffering from some crazy disease in which you have limbs growing out of the side of your head, because something like 85% of the food the average American ingests weekly is genetically modified...Wow; I digress quickly, so MOVING ON...

Our school started this thing called Mandatory Afterschool Study Hall (MASH). And it is the STUPIDEST THING I'VE EVER HEARD OF. It's basically detention for those of us who don't do our homework (that would be me). Apparently, NCLB (the idiotic program that our current president started that doesn't actually help the children that are being "left behind") requires homework to "show a mastery of the skill", so when those of us who don't do our homework get a zero for not turning an assignment in, it screws up the whole guage. So my question is- why can't we just NOT have homework?

Exams are OVER!

exam- (n) A cruel and unusual form of punishment in which students are forced sit in a classroom for 3 hours, taking a test that covers materials which haven't been covered (i.e. our MATH exam!)

Why do we even have to take exams anyway? What is their purpose? I mean, we already have state standardized tests to make sure we're learning everything we're supposed to, so who knows what the heck is the purpose of a mid-term, huh? Well... do ya, punk?

I mean, exams are such a prominent part of our lives that they have hundred-year-old traditions that go with them. For instance, Harvard's primal scream. That's Right. They run around naked, screaming right after winter exams. I swear, I think taking exams at the most difficult school in the country must have some effect on their frontal lobe, because no sane person I know would do that. (although I must admit, many of the people I know aren't sane)

Reasons Our Educational System Suck:

1. They don't pay teachers enough. Seriously. My teachers should get paid MILLIONS of dollars for having to deal with being responsible for educating a bunch of adolescent punks who don't care about their grades, but instead, they get paid something around twenty bucks an hour. That's what people who work at the GROCERY STORE get paid!

2. The kids who are barely holding on to the course curriculum are in the same classes as people who are pulling their hair out from boredom. This is SO wrong! The students who are behind continuously build up a massive inferiority complex, and the advanced students have to wait five years to learn anything! It's a no-win situation!

3. You don't have any variety. If you want to do something (like band, for instance), then that's ALL you get to do, and you have to stick with it for the rest of your public school career. So, since I'M in band, I can't just decide to do Art next year, because I would have had to do it as a prerequisite.

I would love for America to just go towards the whole European school system, where they start sorting kids into the "college" and "vocational" tracks at an early age, because it seems to work for them, but it's just kind of sad, you know? What about those kids who are put on the vocational track at eleven, and then they decide later when their sense of self has increased, that they want to college - well they can't! They're stuck! It's just a no-win situation, you know?

I have a lethal weapon!

Yes. This lethal weapon is also known as a "blog". Unfortunately, the people who thought of "blogs" did not think of people like me. Because know I can use this blog to write every bizarre thought that I feel like sharing with the (zero) people who will read this! Mwahahahahaha!