Thirst to Learn or Not

Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X both grew up a situation is which it was hard to learn to read and write. Douglass was a slave and Malcolm X was imprisoned when he was twenty. Douglass learned to read and write by copying directions from a local shipyard and competing against other friends to see what they knew. He used these competitions to further his education. Malcolm X began to read and write by copying words from a dictionary at the prison. After learning so many words he began to read other works that were available to him, including black history, which he had a “thirst” for.

Now on the other hand, other students were forced to attend school. I was able to learn to read and write in school. The government makes kids go to school until they are seventeen and by that time most students are in the eleventh grade with only one grade left. I think nowadays kids take this for granted. What would it be like if you were not able to read or write? Would there be a void? Would you have the need to fill the void?

In my opinion, there would be the need to learn to read and write. I would feel like I was being left behind in life. And I would not be able to keep up with society. I would not be able to read if I wanted to talk to friends from a different state unless it was on the phone.
What would you do in the situation? Would you have to fill the void or would it matter to you?

How Smart are Babies?

How smart are babies? They come pre-wired for every language when they are born. I remember my Psych teacher telling me about how when I was born I was able to learn any language in the world. I could tell different phonemes apart that I cannot tell apart now. Pinker goes into this a little bit when he refers to the “ba ba ba ba” against the “pa pa pa pa”. To me this is very interesting. I would love to be able to speak a different language, not to talk about someone although that would be cool, but just to do it.

Can you just imagine not knowing how to speak English or any other language and having to learn it with no help from an outside source except for maybe people talking English around you? I cannot even begin to picture how difficult of a time I would have. Going back through my memories of elementary and middle schools when I learning grammar; all I can remember is how hard of a time I had. Those problems would only have been worse by a hundred fold if I did not have the help of a teacher.

Since babies can learn to order words correctly with remarkable accuracy and speed without being taught how, what else could one be taught to do? Is there a measurement?

Ways to Change Problems in America

In Eden’s essay about casual sex, she talks about how her childhood affected her views on the subject. Society taught her that casual sex was the right thing to do. She, later, made up her own mind about it and does not have casual sex.

To me casual sex today seems like it was in her time. People seem to need to do something to pass the time and to fill that void they have sex instead of going and play an extracurricular activity.

Why do people just play a sport with some friends? Then, there wouldn’t be a need to worry about getting pregnant, cheating, and many other things. I, also think this could lead to less overweight people in America because they would be getting more exercise by participating in sports.

So here is what we need to lower the amount of casual sex, pregnancies, abortions, and overweight problems in America. Stop spending free time in bad ways. Just get together with some friends and do something physical for a change.

These are just some of my opinions and there may not be true to everyone. But for the most part I think it would work. What are your thoughts on the subject?