While reading an article on Time.com called The Myth About Boys I was surprised by statistics I read regarding education with boys and girls. In a very small nutshell, it says that girls generally do better in school than boys. Now, that's a REALLY general statement, so I would deffinately reccomend reading the article. It's four pages of words, but it's not a terrible read. I tried to get through four pages of "How to Leave Iraq"... didn't happen. Ah, the small attention spans of teenagers. At any rate, here's one quote that disturbed me:

The standardized NAEP test, known as the nation's report card, indicates that by
the senior year of high school, boys have fallen nearly 20 points behind their
female peers. That's bad, not because girls are ahead but because too many boys
are leaving school functionally illiterate. Pollack told me of one study that
found even the sons of college-educated parents had a 1 in 4 chance of leaving
school without becoming proficient readers.

Ouch. My soul. How in the world do you get through high school without being
able to read!? I see that as a failure on the teacher's part, mostly. I understand that not every student can become a CEO or a doctor or a lawer. Some people just aren't academically inclined (which is intirely different that academically incompetant; there was quite the fight about that on the reality show Beauty and the Geek. I just made a B&TG reference. I might just be a nerd.).

At any rate, not becoming a CEO is far different than not being able to read proficiently! Good Lord in Heaven, reading proficiently doesn't mean you have to go through "Crime and Punishment" and be able to do a 100-page synopsis on plot, characters, and the symbology of cheese in the story. I should research what the standards are. I do know, though, that they're reasonable.

That's so frustrating to me, to be trapped in a school system in which roughly 25% of graduates can't friggin read! How are these people supposed to get good jobs? God help them if they start a family and still earn minimum wage because of the flaws in the education system!

Though I must pause for a moment to say something positive about our education system and be a little less judgemental and a little more understanding. Schools do produce CEOs, doctors, and lawers. They do provide a quality education for those who really want it. I've been blessed enough to be in advanced classes at my high school. I've really learned a lot from those. Also, my high school's drama program is really good. We're pretty poor, not gonna lie, but we still do five major productions a year, and two productions of student-directed one act plays. The high school one town over, though, isn't as lucky. Though they have more money than us, they only put on three productions a year. That's it. Sad, really.

I sympathize with the delima teachers face while teaching general classes. I was in a US History class this year, opting out of the Advanced Placement US History becuase of its reputation for destroying GPA's (unless, of course, you're a history nut or have a history teacher for a parent, neither of which apply to me). I was bored out of my MIND. We literally wrote down what the teacher said, word for word, and then did worksheets. WORKSHEETS! Anyway, there were still kids who were struggling with the class.

So the challeng is: How do you provide a class that caters to all levels of -I hesitate to say intellegence- academic-type-stuff that is challenging to students who are easily bored, but still not have a class that is impossible for a not-so-academic-type to learn something from because they don't grasp it.

Maybe someone'll figure it out.

Love, Sinatra Style

Ah, Sinatra. Perhaps the best male voice I've ever heard. Micheal Buble is a close second, but he still just can't rival Frank.

Am I too young to appriciate Sinatra? Maybe. I strongly prefer the more up-tempo songs of his, though that taste applies to other music too. It's nastalgic, Sinatra's music. Can one feel nastalgic about an era in which she never lived? Maybe.

So many maybe's in this post. I must admit, his smooth voice is distracting. It's hard to write about anything with substance when "I Get a Kick Out of You" is being crooned to me through the computer speakers.

Mmmmm.

Ouch.

List of things that hurt:
1. My eyeballs.
2. My head.
3. My stomach.
4. My leg. But only because it fell asleep. Should be better soon.

What normally is a quiet office has become far too much stimulation for my poor head. The light is making me nauseous, the TV is distracting and loud (even though I can barely hear it), and the music I was playing, which normally relaxes me, only made things worse. So I turned it off.

I will now be accepting pity and backrubs. Only those two things- wait, no, I'm also accepting chocolate- only those three things will make me feel better. Wait. Sleep would be nice too... those FOUR things!

Hidden Secrets (OOOOOOH!)

Today, my distraction of choice from the mundane of my job has been:

ADVICE COLLUMS!!!

I found one by Dear Mrs Web, a deliciously vanilla woman who, according to one of her posts, has always had a housekeeper. She's SO conservative. Read this:

"Dear Mrs. Web,
My husband has Playboy, Penthouse and Hustler magazines in our house. I recently found our twelve-year-old son with one in his room. I took it away from him. But I am not sure about how to handle this. I really don't think they are good for him. My husband thinks I am overreacting.

"Not wanting your son to play "inspector" with the detailed pictures of naked women sounds pretty normal to me. Your husband is already an "inspector", though. Sounds like a clash of values to me. Since the porn is already in the house the both of you will need to decide at what age it is appropriate material for your son. By the way, I have never met anyone whose personality or character was improved by porn."

My advice: Hide your damn porn better. Duh.

I should write an advice collum.

Gah!

Gah. Just... GAH! I'm so pissed off right now. Well, actually, it's sort of fading away. BUT! I was really pissed like ten minutes ago (my wrath is short-lived, at best), so I'm going to blog about it!

Things that pissed me off today / are currently pissing me off:
1. The second I walked in my house, my mom started bitching at me.
2. Because of said bitching I didn't have time to cook anything for lunch, so:
3. Waited in line for 20 minutes for really crappy and rediculously overpriced Long John Silvers.
4. Got stuck behind someone going 28 mph. The speed limit is 30! 30!!! Will rant more about this further down the page.
5. I have to pee.
6. I'm not currently in bed with Jon (what a delicate way to put that! kudos, me).
7. I don't have any tampons left.
8. I have four hours and fifteen minutes left of work and no actual work to keep my busy.

Okay, while I'm on a ranting rant, let me elaborate more on why exactly number 4 got me so upset. It's just a pet peeve of mine. So, okay, maybe I have a little, tiny speeding problem that's accompanied by an even smaller amount of road rage. That is besides the point. Why in the world are people compelled to go under the speed limit! They aren't going to get pulled over for doing 30 in a 30. Crap, they won't even get pulled over for doing 35. That's all I ask people, is just going the speed limit. 35 is nice, but I can deal with 30.

Wow.

I'm not mad any more. Like, at all. Well, that sort of kills the whole mood of this post.

:)

Hello, world!

As I listen to the B-52's, a startling question swirled around in my brain. What does it take to be remembered? I'm not talking about being remembered for centuries: I'm no Caligula (so Poseidon is safe... FOR NOW!!!). I'm not even talking about being remembered for decades, like the B-52's. I'm just talking short-term. More specifically talking about auditioning for theater conservatories this fall.

I think I need to learn how to be charming. When out of my element, or when I don't know anyone, I'm really rather shy and not really me. Which is okay; everyone is different around their friends and in private than in the public eye of, say, a new school. Then again, theatre is my element, so I think I'll do okay there. I just need to not be shy. Easier said than done.

The thing is, I audition in November for DePaul, and they don't decide until February. So, being remembered is a big deal. I figure it's about the same for other schools, too.

Ah, such is life. Leave an impression. Have a clean car. Be prepared to answer hard questions. Ask hard questions.

Oh, and don't forget to tie your shoes.

My Nerd-dom is Official

Like this cat, I learned how to play Dungeons & Dragons.

Oh yeah, my nerdiness is vast! First a gaiaonline account, then getting a little too into Risk (mongooooooolia!), and now D&D. I'm an elf Druid... a BEEFY elf druid... who wears leather... and carries a spiked chain (for bitches... at a distance!)... and rides a bear.

I named my bear THE BEARINATOR!!! Orcs, prepare to be BEARINATED!!!

In other news:
I'm eatin' some cake!

Today's my birthday! I'm now seventeen, which is actually just like being 16, except it's a different number.

The end!