Support AER Today!

Welcome students to your new high school.
Welcome to a system that continuously changes.

Are you charismatic?
Can you work well under pressure?
Do hate talking in front of the class?
Have you missed a lot of schools and consequently a lot of assignments?

If you are any of those things,
Then you are in the right place.
Let me explain.

If you are charismatic,then you don't need to worry about rolling in the dirt for marks. Now with the new "Triangulation Of Assessment Data" you can simply have conversations with your teacher. During which you can spit out as much information as you can remember, and woo your teacher.

If you work well under pressure but the due date just doesn't sit well with you, then don't worry. With the new late policy you can hand in your work late and not fear getting any consequence. some teachers may assign a dead line date but that won't bother you, after all it is usually about a month after the project was really due and you work well under pressure.

Do you hate talking in front of the class but are really smart with written words? Then forget talking to the teacher or even participating in class because if you can show your knowledge on paper then you are golden.

I bet for some of you those lates and absences are really adding up. Well have I got news for you. While the system can't help you with your attendance issue it sure can make it so those assignments you missed don't matter. Simply show up to the unit test and ace it and you will be fine.

Just remember that no matter whether you fake it through high school or whether you actually know what you are doing, the system is here for you.

Support the AER system today.

SPOILER ALERT!
 
This is not actually how the system works but at a glance this is pretty much how myself and many of my peers thought it was. Also his is not how I see the new AER system at my school but this is my satire version of what it is. If you want to know what is really happening and how it can be beneficial or not then here is the link to the official AER Handbook. Also if you have any responses to the new system or to my post please email me personally at shyannal@gmail.com or comment below.

True Knowledge

We all like to know things. The grass is green, the sky is blue, I am a girl, I live in Canada, the world is round, and bacon is AMAZING!

But what if all of that was taken away. What if we could only know things by reading about them? No going out, no experiencing the wind, food, family, friendship, love, and heartache.

Do you think that we would be different people? or even a different society?

If you read about what a hug feels like, would you understand it even if you have never experienced a real hug? I know I wouldn't. I think that much of the world would become a fantasy and partially unknown to most of us.

I have found a poem that I believes captures the way that I see the world. Of course, it is a what if poem but this poem in particular, challenges what we think we know. It makes us think about our experiences and knowledge. It makes you wonder what you really know and if it is possible that you are wrong.

 

So let us think about this poem shall we? 

A tree - as far as I know the tree outside is not upside down

Clouds - the only cloud I know of that is on the ground is fog, and that isn't technically a cloud 

Chairs - hair? really?

Ice - I think my ice tray makes cubes

And so on.

I know these things as facts right? Yes. But, what if these facts were not true?

 I suppose it is kind of like the saying "a rose by any other name would still be a rose".

Would you ever challenge what you know as true?

25, 50, 75, 100!

Some people are amazing in school, some people are not. Passing a class all has to do with getting above that important number, 50! I can say that there have been times when I did not believe that I could do it.

Where do we sit?

But, what would happen if the passing mark was no longer 50? What if it was higher, much higher? Say, 75 or 80?

Take a minute and think of last year. How many classes would have turned into a fail? As hard as you might try, some students will never reach these marks.

In life today all that matters is your GPA.

Do you think that you would try harder to meet the passing grade? Or would you just give up?

I have no idea what I would do. I love school, so I have an easier time with it. But, I already feel stressed when my marks aren't supper high. I know for a fact that high school stress levels would go up for everyone. We would all be fighting to pass and to get the edge on everyone else.

Are we too dependent on grades? Do you overlook the person and their perseverance? I think we do. If you take a walk around any school you will see a number of things. There will be an Honor Role board somewhere, students who have gotten academic awards have their name posted somewhere and you also have the cliques.

People base their friendships on grades and brains, more and more each year.

There is also an increased need to have the best marks as you get into the higher grades. By grade 12 you must be the top of you class to get into the best schools.

That is not fair. And it would only get worse if the passing grade went up. How do yo think you would react to the change if there was one?

Judgement Day AKA Every Day

Okay, who has ever been judged? I'm sure everyone has, so do not try to deny it. We all know what it is like. We all know the self-doubt that comes along with someone judging you. And, we should also know that there are different ways people are judged. People are judged by their actions, looks, likes, family, status, brains, and even hobbies.

But, none of this is right.

Simon Cowell? King of Judging?

We should not me judging people. Yes, I know that it is easier said than done, but think about what it would be like if you didn't have to worry about people judging you! It would be amazing. Think about all the people that would actually be themselves and be happy with themselves.

So, what if people didn't judge others? What would you do? What would you say? Who would you be?

Personally, I think I would be so happy. There would be a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. I would definitely dance in the streets, sing at the top of my lungs, be brutally honest all the time.

But, most importantly, I would not keep any secrets.

I think that with judgement of others comes this cage that we all think we need to live in. We are always watching what we do and what others do. We always have to say the right thing. It is like there is a perfect mold that we have to fit into so that we are not judged. The only problem is that even if you fit the perfect mold you will be judged for being so perfect.

There is no winning!

Do you think there is anyway to win this battle of judgement?

SPAM?

So, what is SPAM? Well, I could be talking about that mystery meat or I could be talking about something that we all can relate to.

Spam mail! 

Don't you dare tell me that you have no idea what I am talking about. Everyone knows about that annoying little attack on your emails. No matter what email you have, whether it be gmail, hotmail, yahoo, and even live, you will never escape the spam mail.

Now that I have everyone on the same page, I believe it is time to start talking about what I really came here to talk about. What if spam mail didn't exist? Wow, I feel happier just thinking that question.

Let's be serious here though. If there wasn't any spam mail, I probably would not be on my email all that much! I really only go on to delete all my spam mail, because to be honest I do not get that many real emails.
So any ideas what spam mail is exactly?  Those emails are also called junk mail but the whole idea of them are that they are identical emails that are sent to a LARGE number of people.

Any ideas why it is bad? Here are some of my reasons: they are unwanted, may include a virus, scams, encourages impulse buying, it's all garbage, may tarnish email reputation and even make you hate your email.

All in all, spam mail is bad! It is a waste of time! Your time and the time of those who send it.
So,
GIVE UP SPAM MAILERS!

"Memory" Chip

What if we didn't know who we were? What if we didn't know our own name, address, our family, or even our own face?
I don't know about you, but I would freak out!
Losing your identity, I think would be worse than having your identity stolen. Because when you lose who you are, you become a completely different person.

Just think about it. 

No home. 

No family. 

No past. 

No friends. 

Possibly no future.

"Memory" chip?

What would you think? Would it be a great blessing, or would you wish to have everything back?

I cannot imagine the stress and fear that would accompany the loss of your identity and being. 

So imagine you did lose your memory. And imagine that we had the technology to give it back to you.
What if you had to cut your hand open by yourself to do it? What if you had to trade your brain for a computer chip?

Would you do it? 

I sure wouldn't! 

As wild as my imagination is, I could never do anything my mind says. I'm a self proclaimed chicken, hence why I enjoy the world of what ifs. I do love the idea that we could possibly get our knowledge staight from a computer some day. I think it would make life interesting. Plus, imagine never having trouble understanding a concept. Yes, I know, very Matrix, but it's only in my imagination. 

Sight Seeing for Men

All too often, us women are lied to and taken advantage of. We are seen as bodies even if we do not show our body. "Eye candy", that's what we are. When will we become something more than just a sight for men to cast their eyes upon? When will we been seen as people? Will we even find the one that doesn't care what we look like? I truly hope so. I just wish it was easier.
Us women, long to feel loved and appreciated. Sadly this is why we get hurt so bad. We are pulled in by men who act like they like every thing about us.

Then the truth comes out.

We will never be more than just a body. 

I have had my share of relationships and I can truthfully say, every single relationship ended because I was not willing to use my body to keep them. I was not willing to have some guy, who doesn't truly love me, disrespect my body.
We need to fix this problem. And to do that we need to start with us, the women of the world. Yes, media does tell us women that we need to show everything to be pretty. But, what happened to the days when a man was not given the opportunity to look at you with hunger. A man doesn't want a women who lets every Tom, Dick and Harry, to see all of her. They might want that for a while but, if a man is truly looking for the one, truly wanting to spend the rest of his life with a woman that he loves unconditionally, he wont go for the slut. Sadly, most women only give men the option of being with the slut, so that's what men start looking for. Because it's easy.
NO, it will not happen over night. And no, you may not have a fleet of men chasing after you. But if you honor and respect yourself, and show that you do, then you will find a man who will respect and honor you.

There are still good guys out there, but you won't find them unless you yourself are a good woman.

"We accept the love we think we deserve." 

Trust me when I say, every women, despite her faults and mistakes, deserves her own,

Prince Charming.

Appreciate

What is your biggest wish? What would your life be like if you got that wish? Would you miss what you had before you got your wish?
Say your wish was world peace. Your life would be so perfect and problem free that you wouldn't know what to do. I think that the average person would miss the conflicts and the drama.
Now think of your favorite memory. How old were you? Who was involved?  Would you want to be you, but without that memory?
Let's pretend you were five and your memory was the first time your parents showed that they were proud of you. Your parents were involved. Now imagine what your life would be like if you didn't have that memory or if it never happened. A whole list of things could've happened. You might not have a very good relationship with your parents. Your self esteem might be extremely low. For all anybody knows you could be in the slums scavenging for food.
Everything we have, everything we want, everything we need, we need to learn to appreciate. We need to understand that every little thing has an impact on who you are now and who you will be. From the bus you missed last week to your highschool relationships. Everything is something.

Matter of Personal Opinion

Today I had a discussion with one of my friends about a certain opinion of mine. I will start off with saying that I love talking about opinions because it helps you understand yourself and others. The opinion we discussed has no importance but I believe that no matter what opinion it was it should be respected. I am not saying that everyone should worship my opinions, because I would hate that, but I think that we all need to respect that others have different opinions.
What I am trying to get to is the fact that one of my friends attacked an opinion of mine. Friend started off the conversation by saying that we all have our own opinions. Friend then continued to attack me with a million reasons why my opinion was wrong and why I was not allowed to think that. For those of you who know me on a personal level, you may know that if I believe in something then I will defend it to the death.
My first reaction was to retaliate by defending my opinion, and sadly I did. I now regret that because some of my thoughts got mixed up when they were translated into words. I have been close with Friend for a while now and I didn't want to lose that friendship. I told Friend that I was sorry that Friend felt that way about my opinion, and that I understood that our opinions were different. After saying that, I felt like our discussion had come to a conclusion. Little did I know that Friend apparently not only felt harshly towards my opinion but Friend stated that Friend felt the same way about my personality.
On a closing note I am not sure how my personality and my opinion are connected. I have learned that I need to not defend my opinion as much, and not share my blog URL with people. From now on people shall find my strange thoughts, opinions, and poems by surfing the web.

False Advertisement

Growing up everyone has tried sour gum. It is the ultimate test to tell who is "tough". Every now and then I have a childish moment when I see a package of gum that says "EXTRA Sour Bubble Gum". While at a convenience store my friend and I decided to challenge each other. So we decided to buy "Cry Baby Extra SOUR Bubble Gum". After we bought the gum we got into a super competitive mode (well at least I did). The package said "Caution: Sour may last for 40 seconds!". Much to our surprise the gum wasn't even sour after 4 seconds and it had lost ALL flavor by 40 seconds. I am very disappointed in the bubble gum but on the bright side the package is also a piggy bank.

Homophobia

Lately there has been a lot of talk about being gay, lesbian or having any other sexual orientation. There are lots of people who don't agree with the lifestyle that people lead. Unfortunately when someone states that they disagree with the lifestyle, people who live that lifestyle become offended and jump to the conclusion that they are homophobic. There are many people who are homophobic but not everyone who does not agree with the homosexual lifestyle is homophobic.

If you look up the definition of homophobia you will get something like: intense hatred or fear of homosexuals or homosexuality. This is where personal definitions come into play. Hatred or fear do not mean disagreeing, although they almost always require a disagreement. Some people show their difference of opinion very verbally and that can cause others to believe that you have hatred towards the lifestyle or sexuality.
A lot of homosexuals attack the church and claim that the church hates them. I do go to church and I am here to say that the church or religion does not hate homosexuals. There is a part of our faith that does not agree with the lifestyle. Some Christians do hate homosexuals but they do not hate because of their faith, it is because of their own personal reasons. Christianity teaches that you should love everybody as your brother. That means that a devote Christian should look past the sexual orientation of a person and love them as we are told to do.
This is just my opinion and view about how some people accuse others of being homophobic. I am not homophobic in any way. Some of my best friends have been gay even though I do not agree with the lifestyle.

Trying too hard

On Sundays, I volunteer on a bus that picks up kids for church. Many of the kids on the bus annoy me but they do listen. There is one child who has the amazing ability to annoy everyone on the bus within seconds from picking him up. I do not believe he realizes that he does this. It usually starts when someone laughs at his jokes. When this happens he doesn't realize that he crosses the line from funny to annoying really fast. This makes me unbelievable sad. I don't like that he doesn't realize he is bugging people or that he feels he has to be funny for people to like him. This is just one example of someone trying too hard. If you take the time to really look around you will see that many people are also doing this. A lot of us get the idea that we need to fit in into our head. People try too hard and they don't realize that everyone is trying too hard. The majority of people today are being someone they are not. They might be being someone to make people happy or to fit in. What we don't realize is that if we all acted like ourselves, not someone else, then I think that more of us would fit in. My main point here is fit in with yourself. If you are you then you will find people who like you, not the mask.

And to quote the amazing and one of a kind Dr. Seuss 
         Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you.

Suicide

I think that suicide is a very cowardly and selfish thing to do. I understand that you may have a horrible life. You may be bullied, depressed or anything else but that does not mean that you should kill yourself. There is almost always someone who has it worse than you, but they are still living.
Suicide is something that you can't take back. It may be something that you decide to do in a split second and then its over. You are dead with no chance of getting your life back.
Suicide is something that even I have thought about once,but I know that for one I would never have the guts to actually harm myself, and two I wouldn't want to leave my life, everything that I've worked for, behind. In a time of trial you may think of ending it but you don't have to kill yourself. There are so many better options than killing yourself. Talk to someone, remove yourself from the situation, anything, but don't kill yourself. You will leave behind friends, family, a life, a future, everything and you wont ever be able to get it back.

KONY 2012

     Lately, there has been a lot of talk about a man named Joseph Kony. Unfortunately it is all too late. This man has stopped being a major concern in Uganda in the past four or five years.
     The video that was made by Invisible Children claims that people don't know who Kony is, but that is false. Many newspapers have written articles about Uganda, many of which are on the front page and about Kony.
     There have been so many people using incorrect information, and not tell the whole truth, that it is hard to create an educated opinion on the topic.
     Invisible Children has claimed to have made the public aware of Joseph Kony, and they state that they will help. On their website you can buy posters, brackets and t-shirts to help raise awareness for the cause. These things are not very cheap and the organization claims that the money raise will go to helping people evade Kony. A Kony 2012 bracelet alone, is $10.00. At the beginning most people assumed that almost all of the money would go towards helping the cause, unfortunately they were wrong. The majority of the money is actually kept by the Invisible Children foundation and only about 30% of the money raised is used to help.
     I find it very sad that this organization has convinced so many people that they are doing their best to help capture Kony. They have used false information, not told the whole truth, and worst of all they have kept the money that was to be used to capture Kony. I do not agree with the Invisible Children organization because of the way they are doing it. The cause is a great cause but they need to tell people the truth and not hide anything, because the truth always comes out.
  

One Life

Everyone gets one life. You get your chance to make mistakes, learn, regret, be happy and so forth. Unfortunately there are many parents that seem to think that they can have a second chance through their children. They decide what their kid is going to be before they can even talk for themselves.

I do agree that parents should have a say in what you do with your life but they shouldn't be able to live your life. It is called YOUR life and you should be able to make YOUR mistakes, regrets, discoveries, and so forth. We have parents to show and help us and protect us but if they don't let us see, or tell us, what they are protecting us from then we will never understand.

I am definitely not saying that you should go against your parents wishes, but I am saying that you need to make your thoughts known. If you don't, you will never have a chance to go for what you want. Dream about what you want, even if it's not exactly what your parents are dreaming for you.

If you haven't told your parents, or the authority in your life, what you want from your life then you need to do it. Just be careful. There are two ways that you can voice your thoughts. Disrespectfully or with respect. Chances are that if you are disrespectful, your thoughts wont be considered.

Respect isn't the only thing that you need for your thoughts to be considered. You also need facts. You need to have a reason for what you are saying and why. If you don't take the time to back up what you think then people won't take the time to consider it.

It's your life, live it, deal with the consequences, and make your thoughts about YOUR life known.

Stutter Social

I recently read an article about an online chat that bring people with speaking disabilities together. They talk about their stories, experiences and some of their coping techniques. This is an amazing way for them to communicate and reassure each other that they are not alone.
In society, people are isolated because they are different. We need to realize that they aren't much different. It's not a big deal that they can't speak properly, or don't understand basic concepts; they are still people.
A stutter can be very embarrassing, especially when you are trying to make a point and all people hear is the stutter. People laugh, criticize, and judge because of a stutter; its like being bullied all over again.

Am I ugly?

There is a new topic of videos being uploaded to the internet, especially YouTube. Kids, girls and boys alike, are asking viewers to tell them if they are ugly or pretty. Putting videos like this on-line, is just asking for people to be mean to you. No one in school thinks that they are pretty, even the so called "perfect" ones. If you have self-esteem issues and you decide to post a video on YouTube to make yourself feel better, it wont work. All my life I have been told that anything put on-line, will never disappear. I do not understand why these kids are asking complete strangers if they think they are ugly or not.

One of my favourite sayings is: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. This is very true. The only "beholder" that you should care about is yourself. All your life you are going to run into someone who thinks that you are ugly. But does their opinion matter? No, it doesn't. The sooner you start to love, or at least like yourself, what other people think wont matter.

Everyone is so worried about what people think of them. Unfortunately they are forgetting to get the opinion of the person that matters most: themselves.

Been bullied?

We've all been in a class where the teacher says, "Put up your hand if you've ever been bullied." How many kids usually put up their hand? None. Unfortunately we all know that's not true. We have all been bullied in some form or another, whether it is by a sibling or by a class mate.

If we've all been bullied then why are we so afraid to admit it? Perhaps because we are only focusing on one  reason why people are being bullied, being gay. We often forget about other reasons like being socially awkward, mental capacity, looks, speech patterns, religious views, and so many more reasons than we can fathom.

I would never say that some bullying is more or less important than another. What I will say is that some is not talked about enough. The media does not talk much about bullying unless it has to do with someone being gay. I think that this is a main reason why kids are afraid to admit that they are being bullied. Children don't feel like they can talk about being bullied because they don't think people will listen, believe them, or care. Another fear could also be that talking about it would make it worse.

On top of all the fears that a child may have about talking about being bullied, there are people that think that being bullied is part of growing up. I am hear to say that bullying is NOT part of growing up. Many kids get bullied from a young age and they get bullied all their life but that doesn't make it part of growing up. Being bullied starts at a certain point in time because of an event, effecting the bully or the one being bullied.

When a kid starts to be bullied they change in many ways. Their attitude toward school changes, or life, eating habits can change, grades can drop, and so many more things. Unfortunately people don't pay attention to these signs. I am not saying that if you see any of this that a kid is being bullied but you should be paying enough attention to notice when something is wrong.

When I was younger I was often bullied, but not in a way that most people would notice. I would be alienated from a group of kids, people would say comments that would insult me, and on sports teams people would ignore me. I also had a friend who turned out to be not my friend at all. Never did I think that it would ever stop. But the bullying did stop and I started to notice others being bullied.

I am proud not to admit that I was bullied, but that I allowed myself not to care. It took a lot of will power, friends who were true friends, and a family who I could talk to. I used find myself picking on someone the way that I was bullied. Luckily I put a stop to it and I started using my anger and shame to stand up for others.

The point of my ranting is to say that other reasons for being bullied are put on the back burner. People would rather talk about someone being bullied because they are gay than because they spoke differently. I am not saying that one type of bullying is worse or less important than others. All I want is to make it so that all reasons for being bullied are talked about (even if there are a lot). I want kids not to be ashamed because they were bullied.

Three A's of Awesome

Recently I watched a TED Talks video, with one of my classes, about being able to appreciate and be thankful for all the small things in life. While watching the video we were instructed to participate in a chat about the video. The idea of discussing the video was a great one, unfortunately it distracted many of us. Many students had started chatting before the video had started and that caused them to be distracted before anything happened. Reading the comments also took time away from watching the video because there were many conversations going on at once. There were many things that distracted us, but next time the chat will benefit us more.

re:Parenting

In my previous post I talked about a father who shot his daughters laptop. At the time I was not able to access the YouTube video. I just finished watching the video. My views on what he did remain the same, but I do understand why he was so angry now. What I don't understand is why she complained about making her OWN bed, doing her OWN laundry, putting the dishes in the DISHWASHER and sweeping the floor! That is nothing compared what many people have to do daily, like doing their OWN laundry, sweeping the WHOLE house, doing the dishes BY HAND, cooking for the WHOLE family, taking care of kids, and WORKING a FULL-TIME job. This generation of kids are spoiled. We don't know what hard work is, or what work really is compared to what our parents had to go through.