April 22-28

In some cultures dogs are part of the daily cuisine. In some cows are worshiped. What would other cultures look at as strange or unacceptable in our culture, food or otherwise? Well considering that most people think the things that they don't know are strange, and I live in Utah fry sauce could be considered strange, p.s. fry sauce is a mix of mayo and ketchup. Another thing that might be considered strange is dipping your fries in a frosty but here in America alot people eat their food that way. Something that might be considered unacceptable is tattoos or piercings, but in today society it seems to be perfectly acceptable. People often consider things unacceptable, when they do not understand the meaning or the reasoning behind the course of action. Another thing that might be consider unacceptable is that America has such a large amount of obese people but here we see that people are the same inside, even when there outside looks different, don't judge a book by its cover. When we talk about things that are unacceptable, the only reason they are unacceptable is because they have never had to make the choices that we have. The thing that I wish people realized is that, even though you don't understand it at the time, you should not always consider it to be a bad thing.

April 15-21

In what situations is it wise for a friend to give advice and what should they just listen? Well if your friend is complaining you should always listen never talk unless they ask you to, they only need to vent, get things of their chest so they can move on. If you want to know when it is wise for a friend to give advice to another friend, I would say that it is only appropriate when they are both struggling and confuse. Because only then are the looking for answers and if they are upset chances are that anything you say would only upset them more. When you give them advice only give them advice that helps the situation, don't tell them to go beat up their bully at school that would only make the situation worse. Advice should only be given to those that will use it, because if they don't use it then the advice becomes useless and thus pointless to give. When you decide it is time to give you friend advice be assertive, then sit back and wait for a response at that point you will know where to go with the conversation. Always let them control the conversation, you don't want to hit a soft spot when they are not expecting it, if you did that it would only hurt them more and make them more irrational.

April 8-14

You have been struggling financially your whole life. You just won a million dollar lottery. Do you give any to charity? I say yes but not the kind of charity you are thinking about, I would give some to my parents that are abvouisley living in poverty, because we all know that children owe their parents some kind of graditude. But most of the money would be mine because I was the person that it was given to, yes given to, I don't consider the lottery something that you earned. I would probably also allow my parents to stay at my mansion or if they were old enough help them get into a retirement home. Plus the way I look at it is that if you have no friends or family that some of the money is going to or would have gone to, then you are just giving to charity for they attention. If that was the case than why would you even do it, giving money for publicity defeats the purpose of charity. When you look at it also if the thought never crossed your mind previous to winning the lottery, then you usually won't give it to charity. These days people are more selfish and without a reason they will not give to anyone, without a purpose that has them in the big picture they will not put forth the time or the money.

april 2-7

If someone you loved was seriously injured or killed while someone was texting and driving would you still text and drive. Probably, but it would take a while before I decided that it didn't matter. Yes, I am very insensitive and I really don't value the opinion of others, I'm just my own man, and I do not get pressured into changing for other people. Although I would be sad about my friend dying, I would realize that I didn't do it and I might change some of the ways I did it, only texting at the stop signs, but I would still do it. Plus if someone did die it changes nothing there are still millions dying from it and everyone that drives knows that there are. The fact is if someone I loved died I would be grieving more than anything, and if they were injured they would probably still text and drive, they would just be more careful. People are selfish and only a select few will ever care about the reason why and would want to stop texting and driving. When you talk about such a topic as this people start to ignore it, because it is so repeated throughout high school that it becomes normal to do something like that, no one thinks about the consequences.  

essay project

Casey Clark

Mr.Gowans

12 LA

4/8/13

Research paper

Earnest as defined by  merriam-webster.com dictionary is, “ a serious and intent mental state”, having said that, seriousness and earnestness are almost the same. Oxforddictionaries.com defines seriousness as, “the quality or state of being serious”. So if you think about it the only difference is that when you are being earnest you also are being intent, were as being serious can have its consequences. Earnestness can be a form of ignorance, were you think that you’re always right and nobody can sway that opinion. Serious can also mean that while you are thoughtful and thus you can see someone else’s point of view and will allow yourself to really and truly analyze the situation. Earnestness can also be looked at as a good thing, to say that you are strong willed and you are comfortable with yourself. To say that you are earnest you can also say that you are a person that is happy with the way things are and you are very intent with the way things are. But being intent can also be ignorant you put off everything and everyone that you don’t like, simply because they are different. When you are allowing yourself to be too intent you are allowing yourself to become judgment also, saying do they deserve my attention, are they worth my time. Thus comes the ignorance that follows being earnest, you end up being someone that hurts others so in turn you can feel happy with yourself, you can go to sleep at night knowing that you stood your ground. For an example out of the book, “How can you sit there, calmly eating muffins when we are in this horrible trouble, I can’t make out. You seem to me to be perfectly heartless.” (Oscar Wilde Pg 78) In this case jack clearly points out that being earnest can be a horrible thing, when you do become to earnest you start to skip over things that matter. You skip over those things because in some past time or some prior experience you just didn’t give a crap about it. Seriousness is just fine because when you are being serious you can also analyze a situation every time one comes up, and you can act accordingly so that you are not rude or over bearing. Earnestness gives you no leeway to act in the way that you should so that you can handle a situation properly, cover every aspect of the argument or problem as to rid yourself of the difficulties. Fact of the matter is that you need to be more considerate than anything if you don’t first stop to find things out, you can never properly handle a situation, instead you will just fail to make progress into the problem at hand. But as long as you consider the other persons point of view earnestness can be an admirable trait, because you can be happy and you can be yourself without any complications.

blog post Mar. 11 - 17

One quarter of a year remains before I graduate high school, what rights and responsibilities come with high school graduation? I have a right to nothing, it's still school and you still get told. Responsibilities, there isn't a whole lot  because I'm in high school. plus you guessed it, I'm in high school. Plus who cares I am awesome and I will do whatever I want anyways. Some of the things that happen after graduation thought, that is the real stuff. Like after school I have to get a job, find a way to move out of my parents house, eventually get married and I have to make a living for myself; possibly even go to college. Plus all the rights that come after it's intense, right to vote, right to go to jail, even though that's not really a right. We still have to make a ton of decisions too, like were to work, if we are going to work or go to college, were we are going to go to college, are we going to a trade school, should we serve a religous mission, pretty much every thing we are going to do with our lives gets decided all in one moment. Yep life sucks like that.

Jan. 21-27

If I was given the opportunity to take a vacation to the Stonehenge or Great Wall of China. For sure I would go to china. Why you ask? Because Stonehenge is in the middle of nowhere, boring, plain, and useless. Now the wall on the other hand use... protection, plain not so much, boring yeah maybe and it is in china. Stonehenge is ancient for a reason it has no mystery everyone knows about it, they know that it is just some rocks made to look a certain way by ancient people. But the Great Wall of China is not as commonly known most people could not tell you why it is there, when it was put there, and what it's made of. People seem to like when there is a little mystery involved, something that they can learn that they did not necessarily know before. The mystery makes it more appealing to the people that do go. In conclusion I guess you could say that no matter what the subject or the place, the less someone knows about it, the more they want to know more on the matter. People get bored of hearing the same things, doing the same things and focusing on the same old things. That is why they say that something gets old, you are familiar with it.

Jan 14-20

.Why do I think that people care more about Hollywood than exploring Mars? honestly I think they care more, simply because Hollywood makes things that they can relate to, were as Mars they don't seem to see the relevance; it does not pertain to them on a personal level. Hollywood focuses on emotion for example; comedy, drama, thriller, and action movies all have a unique story that pertains to a certain emotion. Mars does not apply to our daily lives and is not useful or at least not yet. Most people have no clue what is going on with the whole Mars situation, but even the little kids watching cartoons get that the cartoons can make you feel sad, mad, happy, or put you on the edge of your seat. The common knowledge of people has more pertaining to Hollywood then it will ever have to mars. Most people only know that Mars is a planet... that's it. Hollywood can teach you a lesson; give you a little glimpse of truth that you can then use to improve your quality of life. The idea that Mars could even be of worth to us, is preposterous to the common man. Hollywood is of much worth, it serves as entertainment and moral.

Feb. 4 - 10

I do not think that rehabilitation of criminals’ works, at least not without them first wanting the rehab with is usually not the case. I do think that punishment is one way to go, but if the criminal has no sense of shame it would usually not work and knowing that the criminals often make a choice for no good reason, I would not see punishment working that well either. But the combination of the two is like a beautiful match, because rehab brings them back to the time when it was not worth hurting themselves and the punishment gives them that shame after the rehab, with the shame it is more likely to have a lasting effect. Although if the criminal chooses to refuse any of the rehabilitation methods give to him or her well then they won't have any sense of self worth, just the burning urge to drink one more beer or smoke one last cigar. Fact of the matter is that without them first deciding to let someone help them, anything you would do would be a colossal waste of time. The idea that you can make anyone follow your will is naive, their choice is their choice and you can't choose for them, because in the end we all have our agency.

Feb.11-17 blog post

Fast food is bad for you in the sense that it is lots of fat and protein, which means you, will get fat fast and slow from all the excess protein makes you slow. But fruit and veggies are a good source of calories that aren't necessarily stored as fat, plus they add sugar for energy and vitamins for good health. Most of the marathon runners go on a fruit and veggie diet for that specific reason. Although fast food is convenient it adds to the growing level of obesity in America. The biggest reason for the emphasis on less fries and for carrots is that people have learned that only fittest people will survive. For example obesity can be linked to many heart diseases and even certain cancers have been linked to obesity. Also if you want to be quick, strong, and healthy then you need to keep up on the exercise and cut down on the junk food. The reason that exercise is so fatal to you health is that your body will store any wasted calories for later, aka fat. Fact of the matter is that what you put in to your body is what you get out of it, and if you take care of your body it will take care of you.

Concept of determination

Casey Clark

Mr. Gowans

L.A. 12

1/9/2013

Concept of determination

My essay is on the concept of determination; determination is to have a firm purpose, a firm will or intention. Today’s society has a lack of purpose; they have no desire to accomplish their own goals. Today’s society is lazy, unwilling to put for the effort that is only necessary to complete that task at hand. And what is the cause for such idleness? “In an ideal world, people would act for the simple pleasure of it. Unfortunately, in the real world, people often do things because they feel compelled or pressured.” (Motiv Emit 1)  So we can see by what they have said, there it is a lack of motivation, Americans simply don’t want to do things, it seems like it is too much. This is where self-determination plays a role, we need self-determination is needed to motivate someone.

In the “Real World” there seems to be a lack of self-control that results in failure then nobody wants to complete tasks, at the off chance that they might fail. This might be because, “In short, self-control is often imposed or externally compelled.”(Motiv Emit 1) When externally compelled, people will begin to feel inferior, in turn the start to have little confidence and little self determination.  When imposed they feel pressured and in turn when no one is there to tell them to do something they just won’t.  In reality people should make choices, because they want the outcome of their choice, but no they don’t; what is the point. Self determination should come from the need to get the correct outcome. Life should be about making things better, because that’s all we have is hope.  We should not have to be compelled; the risk is the reward meaning the more risky the more rewarding.

In these days people have a lack of self- control, thus they fail to keep life good. “Recent research has shown that exerting self-control appears to deplete or use up a limited resource, which results in a reduced ability to exert self-control.” (Motiv Emit 1)  People allow themselves to limit their capabilities, which results in them being capable of fewer things. The fact of the matter is that there is no limited resource. People tend to just give up on doing tasks, because it simply seems too hard. Today's society gives a minimal effort to everything that they do. They should be able to accomplish their own goals, but they don't have the motivation to do so.

           The people that try to help the unmotivated, the ones with the lack of self determination often, scare the person they are trying to motivate. “In contrast, controlled motivation contains elements of behavior based on social norms, expectations and the avoidance of shame.” (The journal of correctional education pg 178) In turn you can see that although you are trying to help, you would in fact hinder the unmotivated man. People who try to help are often speaking to a rather timid person. If you really wanted to help someone, instead of pressuring that person into do something that he would rather not do, you might think to give him the reasons to complete the, task that this person could not find on his own. The fact of the matter is that if you were to just make someone do something they did not want to do, they would in turn resent you for it. It is far better not to harass a person who has problems with self determination, they already have a lack of purpose and if their purpose became to rebel against you, they might get nothing more accomplished.

It becomes common that people fail to motivate themselves. “Yet a lack of student motivation is just as common in any classroom instructional setting.” (The journal of correctional education pg177) Although it is common to see failure, it should not be common to see a lack of self determination. But no one seems to have purpose they see no reason for doing the small everyday tasks that matter so much. People see the failure and how common it is and they do nothing to solve the problem, in fact they do quite the opposite they sit, and they sulk, and do nothing short of shed a few tears. They refuse to look for the reason of doing their tasks, because they simply do not want to waste the energy doing something when they could just sit on the couch. You could say that Americans are lazy, the assumption would prove to be true, we just have the means to survive hand to us, which means that we would do nothing else to thrive; there is simply no point.

When people are compelled to complete a tasks it is worse, then if they were to just make the decision themselves. “In particular, feeling compelled to exert self-control may deplete more strength than having more freedom when exerting self-control.” (Motiv Emot 1) This could be in part, because of the sulking and shedding of tears. It is much harder to fail a task that you feel is appointed to you, than one that you have chosen to do, in part this could be because you don't just let yourself down, you let someone else down too. People have no problem failing, it is the fact that they fail someone that never fails to help out.   You would have no problem failing yourself, because you can find another way of completing the task at hand. But to fail you friend, who was relying on you in the first place, you feel there is no other option or you peer would have found it prior to asking you for assistance.

People tend to take to many things personal; it seems as if every failure is a shot to their confidence. “Arguably, how well people negotiate these tasks has a direct and deep impact on their sense of worth and well- being.” (Jennifer G. La Guardia pg 90) When someone fails it simply knocks them of balance, no longer do they feel confident in their capabilities but instead feel like they may not be able to do something that is completely easy. They can no longer keep themselves in check, they lose self-control and they screw up; each failure making them feel even less then they really are, when they continue to fail it hurts them in a big way. Americans today are so emotional, because they are so caught up in the little things that they fail to acknowledge the big picture. The risk of being so emotional is simply that you easily damage your self confidence.

So how do you gain self confidence and self determination? “parents and teacher that show autonomy support attempt to grasp, acknowledge, and convey understanding of the child's wishes, preferences, and perspectives, and encourage the child to initiate, and explore new activities, interests, or roles” (Jennifer G. La Guardia pg 93) So in short, we need to just keep going, pushing through the trials and gaining experiences that may help you along your way. Many Americans these days just keep pushing on through their problems, they refuse to give up and to let their own laziness over come themselves. When you decide that you are going to stick with it, you may find yourself with problems such as depression; so the idea is that you should move on, before you get to the point where even the smallest of tasks become a challenge. You also need to know yourself, your capabilities, you interests, the roles you could play in today's society. Then you just need to put your best foot forward and continue to find the ways that you can succeed in your own way.

In conclusion, you need to put forth the effort, you need to have the intention to succeed, and you need to do things without being asked. Life is what you make it, but first you have to make it, it seems simple but when you decide to do something, you might just be surprised at what you might accomplish. When you feel like giving up sometimes you should, you need to gain more experience in order to be successful sometimes. You need to take pride and have joy in your success; it will give you a little boost and help you to have confidence in order to succeed in your next goal. You must have a desire to accomplish your goals, because if you don't you simply will not put forth the effort need to complete the task. People can only push themselves so far, in order to be successful you need to know when to call it quits. You should never give up the idea that you can choose things for yourself, and you should never give up on success, less you want to fail; you would be non-desirous you would have a lack of purpose therefore you would fail.

Works Cited

La Guardia, Jennifer G. "Developing Who I Am: A Self-Determination Theory Approach To The Establishment Of Healthy Identities." Educational Psychologist 44.2 (2009): 90-104. ERIC. Web. 5 Feb. 2013.

Mark Muraven, Heather Rosman, and Marylene Gagne. “ Lack of autonomy and self-control: performance contingent rewards lead to greater depletion.”  Motiv Emot 31 (2007) : 322-330. Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection.  Web. 1/11/13.

McKinney, Dani, and Michael A. Cotronea. "Using Self-Determination Theory In Correctional Education Program Development." Journal Of Correctional Education 62.3 (2011): 175-193. ERIC. Web. 5 Feb. 2013.

Giver/Anthem Essay

Casey Clark

Mr.Gowans

12 LA

12/11/12

Giver/Anthem Essay

This essay explains two books, The Giver by Lois Lowry, and Anthem by Ayn Rand. The Giver has a utopian society; the rules control the people in such a way that if you are to screw up you may be killed aka released. The Anthem has yet another utopian society, were the idea is that there is no “I” just a “We”, of the people, for the people, you are the people nothing else. They have strange rules, like the word ego is forbidden. As for the punishment you are whipped and lashed for every mistake you make, even if all you do is out smart someone.  This essay is in end going to prove that, human nature is destructive, and to rid a society of individuality is to lessen that destructive nature.

For example “I apologize for interrupting” (Lowry 77). They literally fear hurting someone even in just a small way. The way they are raised makes them the same as everyone else. Individuality is considered a transgression, a sin that should not be committed. They even put a few insane punishments, on the rules their corrupt leaders made up. In the giver they kill people when they make a costly mistake and in the anthem the whip people, burn them at the cross if they were to break a bad enough rule.

Another proof is, “it was a sunburn” the old man told him. It hurt a lot “Jonas said” (Lowry 86). They couldn’t even have experiences that would be individual. They didn’t let them feel pain, and pain is destructive, therefore their lessening of individuality lessens their destruction. Jonas was a special kid the only one that got memories and experiences of pain or loss, he was the only one to see color, and have feelings that are natural to the human society .A simple sunburn was almost more than Jonas could bear.

“The community was extraordinarily safe, each citizen watchful and protective of all children” (Lowry 44).  Everyone protects the children, not like today’s society with our rape artist, and child molesters. It’s extremely safe, means people probably don’t have very many accidents and that means for sure that there are no murders. Every time they follow a rule, they are indirectly lessening the destructive human nature. In this book they forsake all human nature by creating an extremely strict base of rules.

Not everyone has their own, “nature” or choice to make. For example “He would receive his assignment fourth” (Lowry 51). They don’t choose a job, they receive an assignment. They don’t even get to choose what order, they are just told what to do and everyone follows like a bunch of sheep. Life in their community is chosen for them; people are told what to do and can’t exercise their opinion on the matter.  In our world we are tossed in to reality, forced to survive our hectic lives. In reality many people make bad choices; because that is the only choice they have left. In their society that is impossible, their live are easy and they don’t even know that if they mess up they are going to be killed.

“For men are forbidden to take notice of women” (Rand 381). They are forbidden to even admire women, even in just the smallest ways. People can’t even look at women, thinking wow she is attractive, less they be whipped and tormented for the transgressions. Men won’t every fight over women; there is simply no reason in their mind that would lead them to do so. Women are not worth much to them; they wouldn’t see them as very valuable.

“What is the unspeakable word” (Rand 51). In case you were wondering what in the heck the unspeakable word is, it is “I”. This means that there are words no one in this community can even speak, could you imagine never being able to say even just one word. They burned somebody, at the steak, for saying a word; the guy never even had a freedom to speech!!! You could never say I am hungry; you would have to say we are hungry. I would hate having to under mind myself, for the sake of someone else’s ego.

“It is forbidden not to be happy” (Rand 45). People in Anthem could not just have a bad day and feel sad. It was forbidden for them to feel sick or tired or even just bored. They just have to be happy all the time, and for what to spare another person the feeling of being inferior. Happiness is their only option, you wake up and you’re sore; be happy, you break your arm; be happy. The only feeling any one would feel is to be happy!!!

“So we were taken to the Stone Room under the Palace of Corrective Detention” (Rand 64). People are taken to a chilled stone room with no windows and lashed when they sin or trangress. It was so bad that the leaders had to take, this guy in to the other room just to punish him. The punishments vary so that no one will make the “wrong choice” or the choice that the world counsel doesn’t like to be chosen. The leaders don’t truly give you a choice, because they have you so scared to do something wrong that no one would ever rebel.

  In conclusion both society’s keep such control over the community that no group of men is able to rebel and to make the utopian society crumble. The leaders of those community’s are intelligent people leading a groups of uneducated being's. If one person makes all these rules that you have to follow and they are designed to keep you safe; then in turn your community the society you live in is going to be full of people that naturally they just aren’t destructive.  In a utopian society people are often extremely uneducated in turn they can’t put their will above someone else’s.