Friday, August 28, 2015
No "Self Respecting" AP student would miss their first blog!!!!!
Read the essay, On Self Respect by Joan Didion. React/respond to this essay on a personal level. Do you agree/disagree –
approve/disapprove of her interpretation of self-respect? As an aside, also comment on the schools new honor's policy. Do you agree or disagree with the new policy. Explain.
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ReplyDeleteSelf respect is something I believe the world should not live without. I agree with Joan Didion's interpretation of self respect. I believe that self respect is something that fills people with confidence and honor. Self respect makes me feel proud and accomplished. I agree with Joan Didion's interpretation of self respect because she briefly states what self respect really is, character, nerve, and discipline. I agree with Joan Didion's thought on what no self respect does too, misses the point entirely.
ReplyDeleteSelf respect is character, according to Joan Didion. I agree that self respect is character because it tells us who we really are. I believe that self respect is in my character, but can always be worked on. At times, I know that my self respect should be better to others and can also put me to shame. Self respect can have its ups and downs such as my character in my daily life. Character, according to Joan Didion is abstract, just like my self respect which I believe is portrayed differently each day. A new day always brings different treasures and struggles for me.
Joan Didion tells that self respect is nerve. I agree that self respect is nerve because sometimes it takes me a lot strength to have self respect. I know sometimes for me it takes courage and is hard for me to put forth self respect on risky situations, such as being compared to others and reaching out to those considered better than me. Joan Didion says it takes power to live out self respect which has a big toll on my life by classifying the type of person I really am.
Self respect in this essay is also considered as a discipline. Self respect can be trained which I agree with, which is what discipline does too. I know as a whole I should work on my ethic of self respect on a personal and proper level. It is hard for me to put forth self respect on things and subjects I am not necessarily good at, but I strive to meet that goal someday. Self respect reaches for me to be more than what I am today which is the role of discipline. Self respect is a good thing both in and out.
Self respect, I believe is something the world should not live without. I have struggles and treasures everyday just like every human on this world. Self respect, according to Joan Didion is character, nerve, discipline. I know as a whole I need to improve my self respect in these areas, but I realize it is always inside me which is what makes me honored and feel accomplished every single day.
I believe that the new honor policy will be a good thing for our school. It will help our students reach higher goals and realize the act of wrong. Self respect plays a vital role in this policy because it will take some students time to adjust to good, but the act of self respect will give them strength and dignity to do the right thing on schoolwork. Although the task may be hard, I think this new policy will make our kids work harder and know right from wrong. It will also make our school look better knowing we are striving for a greater average overall.
Allie,
DeleteI like your perspective that each day your self respect differs. It was something that never occurred to me, but I totally agree with it. Also, I like how you talked about how everyone should have self respect, and how self respect is centered around character, nerve, discipline.
I did not originally see how self respect and the new school policy were linked, but now I see that there is a connection between the two. I also like how you pointed out that the school will be better for raising the bar.
Self respect is a quality that everyone should work on and try to solidify within themselves. I agree with Joan Didion and her views on self respect. She links self respect with character. According to Joan, character is taking responsibility for your own life. Not only that but it is the people that have self respect that embrace the risks and plan for the best even though they are aware things may not go their way. They are prepared to accept whatever happens due to the decisions they made. It really shows that self respect is about trusting yourself and being comfortable with who you are and what you do.
ReplyDeleteSelf respect is very important, if you do not strive for it or try to obtain it you will go through life not fully living it. Without self respect, life becomes worrisome and we fall into temptation. Joan points out that we make our own bed and we must lie in it. Every once in a while we are tempted and must deal with the consequences whether it be guilt or sorrow. We must accept it and move past it to enable us find true self respect.
I am still learning to respect myself, it is not something I can trick myself into believing or convince myself that I already have, because I must develop my own personal self respect in order to achieve peace. I tend to be someone who will back out if I sense a risk or if I am unsure of the consequences, and I never realized this was tied to my self respect. There are some aspects of my self respect that Joan brought up that I need to reflect on and try to improve. Self respect is such a big part of life that everyone should try and develop their own respect for themselves.
I think the new honor role policy will be good for the school. Although it seems like a negative in most students eyes, I feel it will make the students work harder. For those students that do achieve honors, it will be a bigger success. It seems unimportant when the majority of students receive first or second honors, but with the standards raised it will be more of an accomplishment and worth the extra effort. The school and the students will both benefit from raising the honor role averages.
Rachel,
DeleteI really like how you talked about that we must take responsibility into our own life, and how we must be aware of things when they don't go our way. It makes you stop and think about past decisions and how I could have handled them better.
In regards to your thoughts on this new school policy, I agree with a lot of your points that you made. I believe that some students will strive to work harder to to receive honors, but many will give up thinking it is too far out of reach. Therefore I don't completely agree with the raised honors, and I think we should find a happy medium. You also made a good point about how students will feel more accomplished when they receive honors, and that is a good thing.
Rachel,
DeleteI really enjoyed how you stated that if you do not strive for self respect in life you are not fully living it. I truly like this perspective on self respect because I also believe that life is not fully lived without self respect and confidence because we fully need to believe and accomplish something in ourselves.
I also agree 100% with your thoughts on the new honor policy. I believe this new honor policy will too make our students work harder and feel more accomplished. Honors makes our students feel determined.
Rachel,
DeleteI agree with your thought on self respect. I liked how you said that your not fully living if you are not striving for self respect. I feel that a lot of kids our days do not strive for a lot of things because they think it is to hard. Also you are absolutely right on how it is a big part of life. Everyone should have self respect, it is a wonderful thing.
I also agree with you on the honors policy because students that do get honors now will feel like they have accomplished something even bigger. I agree with you that the students think its a negative thing, but it is not it will make students work harder for what they want.
Self respect is an important concept to learn and understand. Everyone must learn to respect and make the best choices possible for themselves. However, Joan Didion notes that people no longer respect themselves when thinking of their failures. Recognizing mistakes is a part of life. Self respect may even be formed from analyzing the errors that have been made. No one can learn what to do and what not to do unless they learn from experience and accept that experience. No one is perfect. It may be easier to understand mistakes and learn from them than to just completely ignore them. Didion notes that self respect is a type of discipline. In many cases it may be. Respect for yourself does not necessarily come at once. For those who wish to have complete and total respect for themselves must work at it. No one can just decide to do something and be perfect at it. True self respect is a goal that must be worked for in order to be achieved. Didion also makes a statement about a phenomenon known as "alienation from self."
ReplyDeleteThis could be a serious problem. Disrespect for one's self begins when they no longer decide to be who they truly are. Everyone must know, understand, and accept who they are so that they can achieve true self respect.
I believe that it is unfair to raise the first honors level. Many students work hard to achieve the grades they have and now they are being asked to receive even better grades in order to maintain the first honors status. It is good to challenge students more in their learning abilities, however, I believe this is pushing the students too much. Many teenagers fail when they are put under so much pressure and I believe that will happen to many people in our school. The previous first honors level was already challenging the students. In many ways, students may benefit from this change but several others will fail under pressure.
Hailee,
DeleteI really like the way that you addressed the importance of acceptance and recognition of mistakes. And I completely agree that the analysis can actually improve self respect. I also agree with your view on the new honor policy. I believe the policy will present even more stress for students, rather than making us work harder.
Hailee,
DeleteI agree with the fact that self respect can build off of someone's mistakes and I really like how you put a lot of emphasis on that. I also like how you said that everyone must know who they are to achieve self respect. I agree somewhat with the honors policy. Some students will have more drive to do better though. In order to get better grades we need motivation and raising honors might give us that push.
Hailee,
DeleteI agree with you on the self respect. People need to learn from their mistakes. They just need to accept them and make themselves better. It is a great thing to look at your past failures and then learn so you can be a better person.
Also on the whole honors topic I understand what your trying to say, but I do not agree with you. I believe that the school did a good thing by raising the honors. It will make kids that want to have good grades work harder. Working hard is a good thing because once you are out in the world things are going to be a lot more difficult. The students should learn a little bit more work ethic and pressure in life and in school. It will only make them better if they try harder. Nobody will get hurt by working harder. It is a wonderful thing and in the end they will realize that it was worth it.
Self respect is not something we can just pick up over night, but rather something we must teach ourselves. Everyone should learn self respect, and we should embrace the good it can do for us. I agree with Joan and her thoughts on self respect, and she backs up her statements with clarity. She speaks of how people who don't respect themselves can sleep easily at night, but she points out that they miss the point of it entirely. If these people could learn self respect, they would look back on how they use to be in disgust. People who have self respect are constantly making the best of things. They are capable of accepting the mistakes they have done, and accept consequences of their actions. Instead of running away from their problems, they deal with their problem and don't complain about unfairness. According to Joan she reminds us that our self respect truly shows our character. It truly shows who we are as a person, and that can be one of the most important things in life. Joan makes a comment that we must lie in the bed that we make. To me this is the perfect interpretation of self respect. Whatever decisions and struggles we have to deal with, we must deal with it ourselves head on. As humans it is important to work on our self respect for the good of everyone. These points have made me realize I cannot turn my back on something just because I don't like the outcome. Even if you think you have self respect, we all can improve on it each and everyday. There must be that little voice inside your head reminding you of the decisions we make and what we will do with the consequences.
ReplyDeleteThe new honor role policy is pulling me in two directions, Rasing the bar sounds like a great idea to get the students to work harder, and truly make it special to make the honor role. Although since the students have been informed about the change, all I have heard is negativity from the students. They are constantly saying it is to far out of reach, and that they will not even bother trying for it. Overall i Am against the new policy, and I think we should find a happy medium.
Brad,
DeleteYou hit the nail right on the head when you said that we cannot pick up self respect over night. I totally agree that this is something each and everyone of us much work on. Also dealing with our problems and mistakes right away is something very difficult to do but like you said we can work toward it. I like how you kept your response positive. For example when our honor policy was the topic you didn't bash it and say it was terrible, but suggested a happy medium. Good work.
Joan Didion was spot on in this interesting passage she wrote. In our world and our society today one of the biggest things people lack is self respect. Like Joan stated, people who have the attribute of self respect have the courage of their mistakes. When one is at fault it is very difficult to own up to it and admit that their action was wrong. That takes self respect and courage. One can discover that a person with self respect has something that seems to be lost in our world today, and that something is character. This short passage from Joan Didion describes the relationship between character and self respect perfectly when Joan states the following: "Nonetheless, character- the willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life-is the source from which self respect springs." One with character will have self respect because they work together as a combination in a sense.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Joan Didion when she hits the spot stating that self respect has nothing to do with the approval of others. One does not need the "okay" from anyone else to display self respect. Joan makes an outstanding point that obtaining self respect regardless of what others think is something that people with courage do. It takes a little bit of courage and character to be a person with self respect. If each of us would try and incorporate that into our daily lives this world could be something special.
In regards with Elk County Catholic's new honor policy rules, I strongly disagree. My biggest question to the person or persons in charge of this, is why are we punishing the students for doing well? It is to my knowledge that the reason for this change is because the number of students on the honor role is growing. I do not believe the reason for this is because the honor percentages are low, I believe the number of students on the honor role is growing as a result of assignments. Many of the assignments that students are given are multiple choice worksheets that teachers have taken right from the Internet. All students have to do is type in the title of the worksheet and chances are the paper will come up. I am not saying every student does this, because ECC has some very hard working students that will end up with great careers because of their work ethic, but what I am trying to say is that I believe the reason the grades are so high is because the assignments given out are not 100% original. I think this problem could be solved if homework assignments would be original and created totally by that instructor. This would spark better effort from the students and less cheating would be happening.
Gabe,
DeleteI really like how you mentioned the fact that self-respect has nothing to do with others' approval. It is something I did not point out in my response. I see it that way as well. I believe it is an internal conflict that we must learn how to manage and control independently, without the involvement of other people.
In terms of your reflection regarding the school's honor policy, I have mixed opinions. On one side, unlike yourself, I think that the Grade Point Average to meet the honor roll should be raised, to maintain the awards' value and magnitude. With too many students on the honor roll, the ultimate purpose of true distinction is diminished. On the contrary, I could not agree more with your reasoning behind why numerous students are doing so well. I think it is time for instructors to realize that anything and everything can be found on the Internet, and consequently, they now should have the responsibility of generating their own assignments.
Gabe,
DeleteI know Mrs. Messineo said not to agree with everything, but I agree with both of your thoughts. I like how you mentioned about not needing the approval of other people. I also agree with your thoughts on the new school policy. Teachers should be more original with their assignments.
First of all, I would like to point out that we used the same quote, which I didn't know you used when I wrote my blog. I like how you related the quote to your blog, it fit very well. I agree with how it takes courage to admit your mistakes, many people struggle with that idea. The world would be better if people just learn a little self-respect. With regards to the cheating policy, I agree that it is unfair for teachers to expect original work, when they themselves give out assiments that aren't original. Cheating is the cause of the high percentage of people receiving honors, and the student body as a whole should not be punished for this.
DeleteTo me self respect is not something that someone can bestow you. It is something that we must find within ourselves. When reading this I felt that Joan Didion makes failures take away a piece of our self respect. I think that these failures in life are what builds of us our self respect. Without these failures we would not have a time to prove our worth to ourselves. Self respect is something that you can obtain throughout life and I do not think that failures make you any less of a person. The older people in our lives can help us obtain more self respect. These types of people would be our parents, older siblings, or grandparents as Joan Didion points out.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Joan Didion that the world should not live without self respect. With no self respect we would be rude to ourselves. Self respect is something that defines who we are as a person. Joan Didion believes that people that have this character can own up to their mistakes and I agree. If a person with a lot of self respect makes a mistake he or she would own up to their mistake. I feel that this world would be better. I agree with Joan Didion with this aspect. I agree that self respect is a form of self discipline. Without discipline we would have no self worth or value. I think having self respect builds our character and helps us grow into young adults. Didion identifies self respect as something that you can present to others without truly having. It is something that you can fake to others but when you are all alone you know whether or not you have it. If someone doe not have it, it is possible for them to obtain it. If someone does not have it I think that they should work hard to to get it.
I think that the school's new honor code will make the students work a lot harder but I also feel that we are punishing the students for doing so well in school. If we keep raising the bar then eventually very few students will be able to reach this goal. I think this could eventually make our school look very bad. Our school had so many students that achieved honors and there will be a drop in the numbers accomplishing this goal. I have mixed feelings about this because I know many people that get honors get it and do not work hard and I believe that the students who get it should have to work hard. I also believe that it should be a goal that students that normally do not get the best of grades should be able to reach the same goal as a student who reaches honors. I think that raising this goal may make it seem impossible to reach for some. I think that cheating has been a big problem in our school and I think that Turn It In is good for the students and the teachers. It will help us develop into better writers and not take the easy way out by plagiarizing. The penalties will be much more extreme in college then it is now. We have to learn to stop plagiarizing even if it is by accident.
I mostly agree with what you said, but I think it is very difficult for people to realize self-respect, and whether they have have it or not. I also think that most all of the students will not work harder to achieve honors. They will just give up and not care about it. Turn it in will only help with written papers, it will not solve the problem of students cheating on the packets and homework.
DeleteI believe that you made many good points on self respect and the new honor policy. I loved how you discussed that we must find self respect in ourselves and that someone cannot give it to us. However, I do not believe that we can learn self respect from those we trust in our lives. In my opinion, it is something that is completely and totally self reliant. I do completely agree with your statement on the new honor policy. I believe you are correct in noticing how much cheating takes place in our school.
DeleteKenz,
DeleteI agree completely with your estate,nuts on self respect. I agree that self respect defines the person we are. Self respect is fdefinantly a form of self discipline. It allows us to have a sense of value with outsells and the way we act. I agree with you that the new honors code is a bit to much for some students. That for some people it will be an impossible thing to reach and that It could make our school look bad.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteEssentially, self-respect refers to the confidence and belief that one has in oneself. However, it is much more than that one sentence as explained by Joan Didion. In her composition, Didion's thesis is "innocence," or in this case purity, "ends when one is stripped of the delusion that one likes oneself." I totally concur with this particular interpretation. The moment when one's perception about oneself changes, especially in a negative demeanor, a whole new outlook on life comes to mind. Lacking self-respect can be likened to the effect of a parasite. It inserts itself into the host and deprives the host of all virtuous distinction. It destroys integrity, character, appreciation, and gratefulness, and makes one question the purpose and reason as to why one is even here. Didion alludes to this sensation as "alienation from self." Once this stage takes course, we lose hope, abandon who really are at the source, and ultimately fail to be the people we were created to be.
ReplyDeleteIn order to prevent the parasite from making its way into our minds and our souls, it is of the utmost importance that we respect ourselves for who we truly are. Didion explains that we must work for it and become mentally and spiritually stronger through our every day triumphs and failures. I believe this theory is relatable to the epigram "Rome wasn't built in a day". Self-respect is one of the most difficult qualities to achieve and maintain. It is so easy to say that we love our families and friends and possessions, but never is it easy to continuously say that we love ourselves. Joan correlates the process of attaining self-respect to that of being disciplined, and I am of the same mind. Each and every day we must put forth a positive attitude, understanding that the times we fail to be people of good character and honor, our "punishment" if you will, is sometimes failure. Considering this, we have to know how to overcome adversity, retain the proper disposition, and learn from our mistakes so next time we are better prepared.
Something else I found particularly interesting was Didion's idea about taking chances. "People who respect themselves are willing to accept the risk that the Indians will be hostile, that the venture will go bankrupt, that the liaison may not turn out to be one in which everyday is a holiday because you're married to me." I agree with the philosophy of high risk, high reward. It is boring to be normal. Take risks, because taking risks ensures that if you succeed, a greater reward presents itself. If you fail, work harder the next time around. There is no one who can say he or she is successful one hundred percent of the time, so why not take the extra leap of faith? I believe that is the ultimate sign of self-respect.
In terms of the school's new honor role policy, I am all for it. I remember Mrs. Florig saying that last year in the final quarter, seventy-five percent of the student body made either first or second honors. If that many students are on the honor roll, I believe it takes away from its intended significance and value. It is certainly going to be a challenge that many students are not used to, but I think it will benefit our school in the long run.
Jared,
DeleteI like how you mentioned about taking risks and high risk, high reward. I enjoyed that little paragraph about the Indians being hostile. On the other hand, I completely disagree with your thoughts on the honor roll. Rather than students working harder, I think they will just give up. It's discouraging to be so far away from your goal. 96.5 is a lot different than 93.5.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis is round 2 since my entire thing deleted the first time when I pressed publish.
ReplyDeleteI both agree and approve of Joan Didion's essay on self respect. Self respect is one of the most important and influential characteristics that a human being has. Having self respect is key in being a successful person. How could a person be successful if that person didn't even respect himself. Yourself is the first person in the way on the road to success. Once you trust and respect yourself, all other obstacles seem easy. Self respect and character work hand and hand. They are both about yourself and how you handle yourself. Self respect and self approval are sometimes the two most important things in a person's life.
I completely disagree with the new school honor roll policy. I believe that it is going to hurt the students' gpa's. In the past, if you had a 92 percent, you would work for that 93.5 and get first honors. Now if you have a 92 you aren't getting first honors. 4.5 percent is a huge jump and that is hard to make that kind of improvement in the last few weeks of a quarter. This change is going to kill the work ethic of many students. Usually people are rewarded for the honor roll, but at our school they punish you. People start to work hard and start to make the honor roll more often, so ECC says nope, no more of that. The school is asking kids to be correct 96.5 percent of the time for first honors. Let's monitor their jobs and see if they are correct 96.5 percent of the time.
I disagree with your view in the Honors policy. In college and later in the work force, things are hard. Studying is required. ECC is preparing students by having them work harder for the title they want to receive. A students GPA is not hurt by the honors policy at all. A ninety two percent is still a ninety two percent, regardless of what title the student receives. If a student is always pushing to do better, they will try harder regardless of where they are on the scale. I think that the new honors policy will make many students live up to their full potential. A student who ended the last school year with a ninety five percent will try harder this year to achieve the new standard.
DeleteChest,
DeleteI agree 100% with your look on the new honors policy. I also think the work ethics of students will decrease because it is now so much more difficult to receive honors. It is a reward to get honors and if students don't think they can they will give up and no students will get honors. I think your last sentence is vary funny.
Yeah, but this is high school. And thanks Doug
DeleteAnytime chest
DeleteSelf respect is something that everyone needs to cultivate. Joan Didion's views on self respect are something that I agree very strongly with. The school's new honor policy could be great or horrible; it depends on how it's implemented into classes.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Joan Didion's views on self respect. Self respect doesn't have to do with other people's opinions or their approval. To have self respect, or to feel good about yourself at all, doesn't require the approval of others. It requires for you to be okay with your wrongs and move past them. It has to do with what you think and how you feel. The thing with self respect is, that you can't lie to yourself about it. Self respect, as Didion put, is the basis of a person's character. It defines who the person is.
When you don't have self respect you begin to judge yourself. You begin to live without pride in yourself and begin to doubt all of your abilities. People with self respect can overcome their mistakes. They have the ability to get over and learn from their mistakes, compared to someone without self respect they tend to let their mistake weigh them down. They let their mistakes pile up and overburden them. People without self respect don't seek comfort, they don't necessarily want help, they look for a way to overcome this on their own. Didion does a good job of explaining this, "To live without self respect is to lie awake some night, beyond the reach of warm milk, phenobarbital, and the sleeping hand on the coverlet, counting up the sins of commission and omission." People with self respect don't want help they want to help themselves.
I actually like the school's new honor policy. I feel like it will make writing easier for students. If a student is allowed to use Turn It In to check their own work, it would be beneficial for the student in case they didn't know they plagiarized. I think that if the students weren't allowed to use Turn It In, it could be problematic. Some people don't know they plagiarize and do it by accident. Turn It In could end that problem for people, it can allow students to have better original work.
Self-respect is a life long quality, it grows and develops as we get older and more mature. Self-respect shows how a person truly cares and thinks about themselves. Self-respect is shaped and developed with almost every decision that they make. I agree with Joan Didion she makes great points about self-respect, and how to accept your mistakes and own up to them.
ReplyDeleteSelf-respect is continuously developed and changed everyday in our lives. It will grow and change as we do, and it is only changed by yourself. At the age of sixteen our self-respect is just starting to truly take shape. Joan says that "self-respect is a discipline, a habit of mind that can never be faked, but can be developed, trained, coaxed forth." I agree with this completely, self-respect must be worked on all the time to be able to truly respect ourself.
Joan Didion mentions how the older generations had more self-respect them today's generations, but think this is partially because the newer generations are not yet fully mature. The newer generations are also raised in a much different time with different standards, and this is mostly to blame for the falling self-respect. This comes down to the school and parents to help guide the young adults to developing their self-respect to have them develop into the type of person they want to be.
I do not agree with the new changes to the honor system at all. It seems very strange to punish the student body as a whole for working hard, and trying your hardest to get good grades. It does not seem right to punish the students who are barley achieving the second honors, to move the honors up that great amount. I think that the changes were way to great and it will do do more harm, because the students who were working hard to achieve those honors will stop trying and be content with a lower grade.
Every post I have read agrees with Joan Didion's perspective and revelation of self-respect and therefore, I am not going to talk about that at all.
DeleteHowever, I would like to comment on your views and your argument in terms of the new honor policy at ECC. I do not look at it as a punishment, but rather a reasonable and logical change. The purpose of the honor roll is to reveal true distinction among the student population. If we have seventy-five percent of the body achieving this mark, in reality our school actually appears to be weaker, because statistics would show it is extremely easy to attain honors. However, if there is a reduced number of honors students, I believe it gives our school a more challenging reputation, which we want to see. Lastly, I refute your theory about students who will be "content" with a lower grade. You are implying that just because a goal is harder to reach, our student body will give up and be satisfied with being average. That is contradictory to the attitude that our school hopes to endow upon us as we leave the building. We are taught to embrace difficulty, not run away or be "satisfied" with mediocrity.
The new changes punish everyone with a very difficult schedule and those students who are taking hard classes, because it forces the students who normally expect to achieve first honors to put in much more time that they can handle, because of all the difficult classes that they need to average 3% more to just barley make honors. The reason why our school has such a bad cheating problems because students do not want to put effort into thier work. Yes some students will work harder to achieve this goal, but as a majority the students will just be satisfied with whatever their grade is and not care about honors.
DeleteJared,
DeleteWhile "punishment" may be too harsh of a term, the new honor policy is quite harsh also. It is a huge difference to have first honors 4.5 percent higher. Yes, the policy might push some students to work harder, but most students are just looking at the numbers. The higher standards will only make cheating more common, and some students may decide to give up because the pressure to get honors is just too much. I believe this policy will make students learn even less because they'll only be concerned with reaching the correct grade point average.
I see where you are coming from in terms of how students may only look at GPA instead of really focusing on learning new concepts throughout their years of education. However, my main argument derives from the fact that when we are presented a challenge, we take it to heart and work harder instead of accepting mediocrity.
DeleteI am with Jared on this one. I am alright with the fact that so many people achieved the honors because this shows that we as a student body care about our education and want to excel, but since so many achieved this honor it devalues the meaning to those who took the hardest classes possible in there schedule and still achieved it. Many students who achieved these honors were not truly challenging themselves to their fullest potential. I am not saying they still did not have to work hard in the classes they took, but it is important to set a high standard when talking about honors. In middle school, the standard is the same as it now is in high school. I think it should be that way. A 97% is very high, but it give the student who are over achievers that much more to strive for each and every day while in the classroom.
DeleteI think that we are al, forgetting that the first honors status is just a way of congratulating the students for working hard. In a way it is unfair because many people coast through high school without pushing themselves to their fullest potential. However, for those that do try to do well are rewarded with their grades. Just because you make the first honors list does not necessarily mean you are perfect. I don't think we can look at first honors as a whole. We must break it down to see the pieces that made the whole.
DeleteI like this discussion!
DeleteI agree with Jared. It was smart to raise the honors policy because we can now distinguish the high honor students from everyone else. The only thing that we are all forgetting is that high school is meant to teach teens, but now shooting for the "A" is the top priority.
DeleteHaving self-respect is something that people,would not be able to survive without. To me, self-respect is a make or break thing in life. People who do not have enough self-respect do things that normal people may not do. There prime examples of this if all around just look at who people hang around with. If someone is hanging out with the wrong crowd, they obviously do not have enough respect for themselves to find a new friend group, who will treat them better than the one they are with now. Noticing someone who has a lot of self respect for themselves is not a hard thing. They normally are very confident in themselves, and they carry themselves to a higher standard.
ReplyDeleteJoan Didion tell of self respecting person who commits adultery, and this statement sticks out very well. They know that what they did was wrong, and they also know that they were not the only person involved. She also makes a comparison to Jordan Baker from the Great Gatsby that really stood out. Jordan knows where she stand in the world, and she respects herself enough to know exactly what she wants from life. This seems to be the reason why Jordan would be seen as a controversial figure in this time period. She knows what she wants, and she knows exactly how she is going to achieve her goals. Another fact is that she, is obviously, a girl, and she is a girl who plays golf, a "mans sport" in the 1920s.
As far as the new honors policy goes, I believe it is highly unfair to the students, like myself, who try hard every year and just barely make the deadline. "Raising the bar" is idiotic honestly. If a student is seen trying their very best, and makes a constant effort, I believe they should be awarded for their hard work, but raising the honors policy does just the opposite. Hard work pays off, and someone students do not have to try as hard as others to achieve honors. Their are some people who have to work super hard to maintain good grades, and I think they should have kept the honors as it was, because as it seems now some people who work extra hard, will never receive honors.
I loved how you incorporated Jordan Baker into your response. Although I did not know who Julian English was, I agree with how Didion thought of Jordan. In The Great Gatsby, Jordan does play a “man’s sport” like you said which was controversial. I personally know how hard you do work because of the amount of classes we have had together throughout the years. For those who do not know, Emily has a large amount of knowledge and applies it to her schoolwork. Emily pointed out for students, who try and try, the new honors system will not reward them for their efforts. There needs to be a benefit for these students, who try and try and do not get rewarded.
DeleteEmily,
DeleteYour opinions on Didion's report are respectable. We both agree on Joan's statements. I love your perspective on the new honors policy. I agree that there are many students involved in other things that try to maintain their good grades, and end up not getting honors, yet there are other students who easily achieve honors. It is unfair for the students who go the extra mile, and are still not rewarded for their work.
I agree with Joan Didion's beliefs on self-respect. Self-respect is character. When somebody goes to an interview, what does the interviewer look for in a good employee? The person looks for someone who is dressed nicely, is polite, and treats themselves and others respectfully. If the world ran on the basis of respect, our country wouldn't even need a government.
ReplyDeleteThere is so much disrespect happening on social media today. On Elk County Online Garage sale a lady was looking to get some roofing done. A guy said that he could do it and he gave the lady his phone number. His profile picture and his profile in general did not show and respect at all. There is no way that lady let that guy come anywhere near her house. If the man had respect for himself, the job would have been his.
The school should not have switched the minimum grade for first honors. The problem in the percentage of people receiving honors is not in the first honor group. The problem is in the second honor group. Almost my whole grade gets second honors. The change has caused some people to stop caring about what their grades are. The grade a student needs for honors should not be what is needed to improve their study habits.
Zach,
DeleteI do not agree with your thoughts on the honors system at our school. Most people in our grade think that second honors is "good enough" to prove to the school and their parents that they are studying. That is why they raised the standards. If people now strive for second honors, it would be just as good as getting first honors, last year. Although some people will stop caring about their grades, I think that most students will strive for the greater goal and learn a lot more.
Zach,
DeleteYour example of an interview is a very good description of respecting yourself. With self-respect you carry your head high and dress professionally, which employers look for. You made an interesting point about second honors. Do you notice that second honors are one point away from last year’s first honors? That is what I think many students’ issues are, with it being so close in margin.
Joan Didion has a very strong view on self respect. She believes that self respect does not come from other people's approval. This is logical because other people are easily tricked into praising a decision they do not fully understand. The only person who knows the complete act is the one who committed it, and therefor the only one who can have a completely authentic opinion. Joan Didion explains that self respect requires a certain discipline. This discipline requires the person to face their actions head on, instead of trying to simply not think about them or dismiss them as unimportant. While Joan Didion understands how someone must deal with actions, she neglects to talk about using this discipline before the action is committed. It is before the action is done when someone must think about if they can live with their decision afterward. Guilt keeps many individuals from self respect. Joan Didion would say that the person needs discipline to deal with the guilt, but really the person needs discipline to not commit the action at all. And if discipline fails and the act is committed, the person doesn't need discipline as Joan would suggest, but rather courage to face their sins.
ReplyDeleteThe new honors policy at Elk County Catholic raises standards for all students who attend the school. This includes the standard being set higher to achieve the honor role, and a zero tolerance cheating policy. This policy has a positive effect on students in the school. Some people may argue that it is unnecessary and will only result in discouragement. This is not only showing a sense of distrust that their pupils can rise to the challenge, but it is also implying that the students need to be protected from rigorous studying because they can not handle it. This new policy will prepare students for a world that does not give second chances, a world which is harsh and uncompromising. Students will be challenged to make better choices that will help them obtain self respect. And as any person with self respect knows, anything worth having in life comes with a price.
Catherine, I agree with your statement on the new honors policy at our school. I enjoyed when your wrote about how it will prepare students for the challenges of our harsh and uncompromising real world. I also think that it will raise the standards of our education and push us to study harder. Your blog was very well worded.
DeleteCatherine,
DeleteAlthough I think you had a great point about Joan Didion's failure to address using discipline before taking action, I disagree with your thoughts about the new honor policy. I agree that anything worth having in life comes with a price, but I believe it already has a price, and a high one at that. The statement that it will make a stronger cheating policy is simply untrue. On the contrary, I think higher standards will result in more cheating because students already know how to cheat without getting caught. A different punishment for this offense wouldn't change anything. Students need to be monitored more closely if cheating is truly going to be avoided. Also, when we say that students may be discouraged or stressed, we do not say it out of "distrust" in our peers, but out of concern. We are not suggesting they need protection from studying, but I believe we are saying that it will just give students more reason to protect themselves from studying. Higher standards for students that already cheat or use shortcuts to avoid work and studying will only cause them to continue those practices. Why would they change their course when their method has worked so far? We do not make these points to protect or place distrust in our peers, believe me I don't want do that, but I've known most of them since preschool, and I know how they work.
Catherine,
DeleteI really enjoyed how you pointed out what Joan Didion did and did not say about self respect. I think how you stated the honors system was accurate but I do not think it is a distrust of the pupils. I think it is just to better prepare us for college and beyond that. Overall I really liked how you put everything into perspective. Good job!
Joan Didion interprets self-respect in a unique way. Self-respect is learned, and grows with time. This quality is a fundamental aspect of life that all people need to have. I do agree with her thoughts as she describes self-respect as a discipline. Joan expresses how a certain discipline grows with venturing out of a comfort zone. This leads to a main point, which is belief in oneself. Self-respect is taken to a different level when a person truly can believe and depend on themselves to do anything.
ReplyDeleteThe most prominent idea that stuck out to me was finding oneself within. If a person knows who they are, what they stand for, and can own up to their mistakes, self-respect is most likely radiating from them. Personally, I find it important to surround oneself with positive people who have self-respect and concern for the future. Joan points out that we must live with the choices we make, and people with self-respect are able to accept the consequences of their actions. In order to fulfill happiness and achievement, acceptance of oneself is key. In the essay, Joan uses the word "worth" to share her point of view, and with this statement underlines the first bridge that is needs to be crossed to find oneself. Discovering self-worth is the first step to gaining self-respect. Often if the people who are around are secure in themselves, you will be influenced by them. Finding and accepting yourself is by far the most important lesson that I got from this interpretation. Self-respect has nothing to do with other people's opinions or approval, it comes from an individual's character. One must first love themselves in order to love others, which is something I think everyone could reflect on and practice.
As for the school's honor policy, I do not agree. Students should not be penalized for working hard to get honors by having the average increased. I find that this is wrong because I know of many students who worked hard to get first honors that fell short by an extremely small amount in the past, and now the school is still asking for more. By raising the standard, getting first honors will be hard to attain for anyone, especially considering the other pressures teenagers face.
Kara, your beliefs and idea surrounding self-respect is true and worthy. I appreciate the fact that you proclaimed that we as people have to find ourselves and love writhing our hearts. Also, I do agree with penalizing the hard working students, but I feel as if making students work harder can prepare them for future experiences.
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DeleteKara,
I really like how you began by saying we need to learn self respect, and it grows with time. I also said something similar in my post. I also like how you added we need to believe in our self because that is definitely an essential tool.
Your thoughts on the school policy are legitimate, but i believe that by raising the average everyone will find out who is willing to put in the extra effort. I do agree that many students fall just short, but we always have a little left in the tank to put more into our work.
I agree with saying that self-respect is learned over time through experience. The connection between self-worth and self-respect is important, as it shows that confidence plays a huge role in respect. I like that you mentioned that self-respect does not involve other's opinions or thoughts. As for the honors policy, I agree with saying that people already work their hardest to get honors and that raising the honors will not make much of a difference.
DeleteKara,
DeleteI really like how you identified finding one's self worth. I agree that it is important to find a sense of self worth in order to gain self respect, it is something I missed when I read the essay. I agree with your look on the honors policy as well. Students who try very hard to get honors will now get cut short by their grades even more.
Part 1
ReplyDeleteSelf respect is an important concept for a person to understand in order to succeed in life. I agree with most of Joan Didion's interpretation of self respect. Her essay opened my eyes to a much more sensible way to view self respect. I had always thought of self respect merely as confidence in oneself, but her explanation clarified its true meaning. She says self respect means not living in the past, accepting consequences for ones actions, and escaping people's expectations. Although most of her points were valid, I believe some of the issues Didion associated with lacking self respect can be beneficial in small doses.
Joan Didion makes various statements about the downfalls of lacking self respect. She says that a person with no respect for themselves would lie awake at night remembering all of their mistakes. This example was incredibly relatable for those of us that can't seem to stop thinking about past mistakes. I believe a person whose self respect is fully intact can live with their mistakes and move on. Although living in the past may put a dent in my self respect, I don't think it would diminish it completely. I am the type of person who dwells on my mistakes and is always thinking of ways I could have done something better. In my opinion, I can actually use the knowledge of avoiding these mistakes to avoid them in the future. That being said, I cannot emphasize enough that in order for this to have a beneficial effect, the person must have self respect and strength to know the point where it is no longer helpful.
Part 2
ReplyDeleteAlso, Didion addressed that a person with self respect does what he or she believes in with full knowledge of the possible penalties. This goes along with escaping people's expectations of what they should do. I believe this view of self respect is more about doing what you believe in and not caring about what another person might want you to do. Religion seems to be a perfect example for both of these instances. If a person has a religious belief that they feel should be acted upon, they often refuse to allow another person's beliefs and drawbacks to affect their decision. Many of these people are also prepared to accept any punishment that may come for speaking about or acting upon these beliefs. The penalties could be as minuscule as disrespect from peers, but nonetheless they have a major effect on the final decision. Awareness of the possible risks prepares us for anything that might happen.
Self respect can be an incredibly difficult goal to achieve. While I can tell other people that I have self respect and act like a person who accepts herself for who she is, inwardly, I can never achieve that without working on it. No matter how much I tell myself or others that I have self respect, it wouldn't change the amount of self respect I have. Society also challenges my self respect because advertisements are always tell us what to do, buy, wear, and look like. With all of these expectations, it is incredibly difficult to accept myself for who I am.
I strongly disagree with the school's new honor policy. I believe raising the GPA required for first and second honors was the worst decision ECC could have possibly made. The grading scale in our school is already very high, and I believe the intentions behind that scale were incredibly clear: to ensure students work hard for their grade. This change, in my opinion, would do just the opposite. Now that our school has decided to raise honors even higher, students may be taken to the breaking point. At ECC, we put a great emphasis on good grades, but that isn't what school is all about. While it is important for students to care about their grades, caring too much about the numbers keeps students from actually learning because their too concerned with getting an "A." Also, the goal of this new policy is to make students work harder, but I believe most students would just be discouraged by the tremendously high standards, and most students who would have worked harder to make the honors will already be within the range.
While you make a very good point, I do not agree with you completely. No, students should not just be worried about the "A" they receive. But if a student is graded on an easy scale and receives honors their entire life, they will have a rude awakening when they go to college. I believe that students should receive the title that their grades deserve. Honors is not a reward or a punishment for hard work. And If the schools main concern about honors was if everyone could receive it, then honors would lose its value.
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ReplyDeleteIn Joan Didion's essay, On Self Respect, the subject of self respect is covered very thoroughly. I agree with her statements claiming that self confidence needs to be present in our character and desires. Without it, we can never truly move forward in life. One of the most noticeable and vivacious statements in this essay is when Joan states, "The dismal fact is that self-respect has nothing to do with the approval of others." What others think of us is nothing but a mere opinion. We need to train ourselves to forget about the words and actions of others who try to drag us down. Instead, we need to teach our minds to develop our self respect.
I believe that if a person lacks self respect in themselves in our modern day society, they will have a certain feeling of hollowness or emptiness. We all need confidence in ourselves. Didion tells us a story of how she was not accepted into a society of college scholars, known as the Phi Beta Kappa. This is when she realized that every "light would not turn green for me." An arrow always needs to be drawn back to be shot forward. Even if we fall down, we need to stay positive and have honor for ourselves. Without loving ourselves first, how are we supposed to love others such as our family and friends. Self respect and confidence is what our world is lacking. According to Didion, we need to have the courage to admit our mistakes and display our certain toughness called character. To have the ability to respect ourselves in our modern society means everything.
As a side note, I think that the new honors policy at our high school is fantastic. It will push students to strive for bigger goals and higher standards. For the many students who were already achieving high honors, it will make them feel even greater if they reach this new bar. When over seventy-five percent of the students at Elk County Catholic were receiving honors, the title of honor student was not as special. Now that it is more difficult, their will be a smaller quantity of these students. If you truly respect yourself, try as hard as you can to meet these new standards.
While reading this passage, memories and thoughts were floating in my mind. Any normal person who goes through everyday situations would completely agree with Joan Didion on a personal level. While Joan was interpreting the feelings surrounding the thought of self-respect it was easy to accept what she was feeling. This is because she goes through personal memories, like not being excepted to Phi Beta Kappa. She revealed, with that story, that even though she didn't have the grades, she thought she had the spirit; she thought she had what it takes; this is what lowered her self-respect. She was drowning in her failures; that hurts. By living through personal experiences, being proud then dramatically negative about ones stature is hard on a self-esteem. Learning to love and except oneself takes awhile to absorb, like Joan clearly stated. The story shared that there will be ups and downs, but the way we accept the outcomes is how our self-esteem will progress into something great. When an individual makes a grave mistake there self love will shine through. By not running away, facing the failure, and accepting the punishment, they can fully develop a great love for their own personal being. Joan does not state about this, but with God anyone can feel love within their soul. The Honors system at Elk County Catholic has an effect on developing self respect, self love, and self worth. The new installment of having higher grades to receive honors is a challenging task. Lots of work and pressure come along with this policy. It is a positive idea that students need to work harder and if the goal is met their self-respect will rise. Only positive outcomes will show from this do advancement in policy. The only negative side effect of this system is that the number of people who honors may decrease because of the rise in difficulty. This can decrease self-esteem, but if there is hard work involved then goals will be achieved.
ReplyDeleteReilly,
DeleteThis response was excellent. I am with you, going back through personal experiences made reading this easier. Sometimes we think that we deserve everything just as Joan stated. When things don't go out way it can be an eye opener. I appreciate your sentence saying that with God anyone can feel love within your soul. So thank you for that. I'm going to have to disagree with you on the honor system. You said that only positive outcomes will come from this, but I think differently. I think that think could have a negative effect on the effort put forward. Students feel like this "bar" ECC raised is too high to get so what is the point. I hope that I am wrong and this only caused our school to work harder. Overall very good response in my opinion.
Reilly,
DeleteYou and I think alike! I too was filled with memories and thoughts while reading this passage. Our lives are filled with ups and downs but as you stated, everything turns out okay by accepting the facts. I am in total agreement with your thoughts on the new policy also. I agree that it will be challenging, but goals will be achieved overall.
Reilly,
DeleteI like how you incorporated Joan's story into your response. I agree with you on how facing failure can allow us to grow in self respect. Also, I like how you brought up the point of accepting outcomes and how it enables us to progress into a better version of ourselves. We have different views on the school policy, but I understand where you are coming from. Your point of view shined some light on this debatable topic.
Although I do agree with your opinions on Joan's excerpt about self respect, I do not agree with your views on the new honors policy. You are involved in various sports, so you know what it is like to have many things going on and how difficult it can be at times to maintain good grades. For the people who do not have to work as hard, it may be a positive outcome, but for those students who have to work harder to understand and achieve and still have other things going on, they may not achieve honors, which is a shame if they work so hard for something and it ends up not happening because the school sees just the grade percentage instead of the hard work and learning ability put into it.
DeleteChildren have the idea in their head that the world is not a scary place and, for the most part, everyone gets along. Joan Didion noted, “..innocence ends when one is stripped of the delusion that one likes oneself.” I believe the way you feel about yourself changes once a person begins to realize the world is not what they thought as a child. Didion also talked about a green light, if you want something in this world, you must go after it. When you understand the world, you learn the loneliness in this world and you have to stand on your own two feet.
ReplyDeleteSelf-respect is the approval of oneself, not having others approve of you. I believe self-respect, courage, and confidence go hand in hand. If you have self-respect, you can have the courage to be confident about your actions. A person who does not have self-respect is a person who worries about how others respond to their actions, or follows the actions of others. With self-respect, you learn who you are in this world.
With regards to the new honors policy, I am on the fence. Trying to be better than you were yesterday is very important. So, with raising the standards, the students can try to get better grades than they did in the past year to still have first or second honors. From listening to my other classmates, many are upset with the new policy, and do not see the point. As I will be going to college next year, I understand that it will only get tougher from here. The major point is that the students at Elk County Catholic learn something, not the grades on their papers.
Elise,
DeleteI like how you pointed out the green light analogy and how you must go after your goals. I also agree with your point how if someone does not respect themselves they worry about how others perceive them, because that is something I personally need to work on and think about.
I respect how you are not completely sure of the new policy. I like that you are kind of testing the water and not jumping in headfirst. I like how you are being cautious, but also are accepting of the new policy. I also like how you put in the opinion of other classmates and how they feel about the issue.
I agree with Didion's views and opinions on self respect, as most people will. Obviously, having self-respect is a discipline that everyone wants to achieve. Many teenagers lack self-respect because they lack the ability to make safe and reasonable decisions. But in their defense, self-respect is a characteristic that takes time to develop and truly understand. Everyone has to have self-respect in order to prepare for the future. If you don't have self- respect, how can you expect others to respect you?
ReplyDeleteI agree with the connection that Didion makes between self-respect and character. Didion says that "character-the willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life-is the source from which self-respect springs". Didion wants readers to understand that self-respect is directly related to our thoughts and actions, the foundation of who we are. It is impossible to respect others without first respecting ourselves. It's disappointing that when our grandparents were kids, they understood self-respect at a much earlier age and were better adults because of it. They could respect their elders better because they respected themselves first. Our generation needs to learn to be more responsible, in order to be more respectful.
On a more personal level, I don't believe that I nor most teenagers have a great deal of self-respect. Learning self-respect is all part of the process of growing up. It would have been better if we learned it earlier in life like generations before us, but it is too late to change that now. I believe this should teach us the importance of stressing self-respect to the next generation. As we get older, we will get more responsible and be more disciplined, but first we need to learn from our past mistakes that have prevented us from having self-respect.
I have mixed feelings on the school's new honor system. We were told that over seventy percent of the school was receiving honors, which takes away from the distinguishing that honors is meant to do. But raising the honors standard up by 4% was too much. The fact that honors is harder to achieve, does not motivate me to work harder. For example, if I'm working on an AP Lang paper two weeks before the quarter ends, I'm not going to work extra hard to make it good so that I get honors. I believe that the reason so many are getting honors is because some people take easy classes that don't require much work or time. I think the school should raise both second and first honors by only 2%. Raising the honors by so much, feels like a punishment, which causes the opposite intended effect.
After reading your entry I could not agree more with your statement as to why so many people are achieving honors. If kids are taking classes that do not challenge them and they are getting 100% on everything then of course they are going to get first honors. Too many kids take the easy path out and are not challenge themselves. I feel like sometimes kids are not taking harder classes is because they have no motivation and also so they can keep a high GPA. They figure if they take a class a level lower than what they are capable of and fill there schedules with arts and study halls then what are they being challenged by. Good entry.
DeleteJustin,
DeleteAs Brad referenced in his response, I think you discovered the "Happy Medium." I never even thought of the honor roll from your perspective, but it has changed my way of thinking. Too many students take the easy way out, then when report cards come out, they boast about their GPA. The process of determining class rank should also be addressed and possibly altered. You have people who are taking sub-par or average courses getting straight A's undoubtedly, while others are challenging themselves through accelerated or advanced courses and getting the occasional B. For instance, in college football, Strength of Schedule (SOS) factors into a team's final résumé. I think our school should develop Strength of Schedule and it should factor into class rank. I believe our school should give credit where credit is due.
Back to my college football analogy, a power conference team may have a loss to a quality team, whereas a non-power conference team may be undefeated. Who earns the right to play in the national championship game? Shouldn't it be the power conference team? Despite their loss, they had the toughest schedule. That is why I am likening this theory to school. If you take on much harder courses and get maybe one B, you should be a higher rank than someone who took average classes and achieved straight A's.
DeleteJared, great analogy! I totally agree with both you and Justin. This would be an excellent idea that should be brought to administration.
DeleteJared,
DeleteYour response was down right perfect. If we could get some type of system that helps analyze difficulty of class and factor that into class rank that would be awesome. Excellent idea
Is the weight of the class applied before or after honors are established?
DeleteJustin,
DeleteI completely agree with your connection between self respect in character, as I shared similar ideas in my blog. I enjoyed how you brought in the aspect of our generation lacking respect towards others, themselves, and most importantly adults. Teaching the next generation self respect will be our job, and I like that you acknowledged that. As for the honor policy, I share your view that the average was raised too much. Students always take the easy way out, and you hit this spot on. Two percent sounds like a great balance.
Before a person can respect others they must first learn how to respect themselves. By learning how to respect ourselves we are learning how to be the best person possible. Joan Didion gives us her perspective on what she thinks self-respect means, how it can be achieved, and what we gain from respecting ourselves. She talks about having character and the fact that what others think is not an opinion that matters. If we base our life on the lives of others we are living life all wrong. Without self-respect how can we say that we truly, genuinely love ourselves? How can we say that we are living the life we want to live? Sure we can hide in the shadows, be a follower and not a leader, or have a closed-minded mind set. But, by having these attitudes we are not loving ourselves. We are not giving the respect that we should. We must build up our character within ourselves. Respecting oneself does not come from other people. Thus, it is called self respect. Rather, it is that voice inside our heads that is an influential part of who we are. We need to listen to this voice and work towards becoming the person we want to be and not what others what us to be. One way to become who we want is by building up our character. Character defines who we are. It tells the people around us what type of person we are. If we lack self respect, we lack character. Once we figure out how to respect ourselves our character will also follow. This type of love towards ourselves does not come naturally. We must gain the confidence to show others that we are not afraid to stand alone. Jesus stood alone while on trial. He had twelve other disciples who denied him in front of the soldiers. Jesus was able to show his unfailing amount of love towards us because he was not ashamed of who he was. He did not care what people said about him. Just like we should not concern ourselves with the opinions of others.
ReplyDeleteThroughout Didion's entire composition, she portrays to us, in reality, self respect. I agree with what she says. She wants people to realize that if they want to be the best person possible then they will continually work to love themselves and gain self respect. Respect is something that we earn, it is not given. So each day from now on we must earn our own respect by loving ourselves. Once we do that we can truly be happy.
Now about the schools new honor policy. I agree with the decision to raise the grade point average to one that gives students a feeling of accomplishment. Before, the old percentage was far to reachable by any student who turned in their homework and did average on their test. High honors is something that should not easily be accessed. It's called high honors for a reason, not average honors. This change will only give the people who regularly made the list in prior years that much more of a drive to do the same this year. Grades mean everything. If people are willing to put in not only effort but extra effort then they will have that extra sense of accomplishment when they see that their hard work paid off and they made it on the honor role.
I believe that self-respect is the back bone in all people. I also believe that Joan's statements were spot on because in order to be the best that you can be, you need self-respect. People have rough spots in life and times are tough being confident is one self will make any situation better as she stated through her memories. Joan had stated that people must live with their own mistakes. This is a huffed deal when it comes to self-respect because one should hold high standards and make good decisions which will lead to less mistakes.also with with respect for the future people need to be confident in themselves so they take good influential advice. Overall I agree with Joan in saying people must acquire self-respect to be successful.
ReplyDeleteI do not agree with the advancements of the honors at ECC. I believe is is unjust to the students because the school thinks since so many students have honors they should bump up the standards. We as students work hard to get the grades we so and now it will be even harder to achieve those goals. Moving first honors to 96.5 will be vary difficult to receive but it will also give students more of a challenge. It also makes students that can not achieve honors even more likely to be unable to make honors.
The Golden Rule is known as "love your neighbor as yourself". Yet very true, we cannot love others if we do not know how to love our own selves first. I do agree with Joan Didion's write up "On Self Respect". Self respect is not something that just comes naturally. Self respect comes when one learns that how God created them is just as great of a miracle as the next person He created. Self respect is learning how to be confident with yourself. Didion states, "We flatter ourselves by thinking this compulsion to please others an attractive trait: a gist for imaginative empathy, evidence of our willingness to give." This is a very powerful statement because in today's society that is how it works. Degrading other people to make ones self feel better is how people feel is the easiest way to get through life. Having good self respect is what other people see in someone, also. If someone has poor self respect and a poor attitude, that is what everyone else sees in that person. Having a good self respect will help in future career paths. If a person posts inappropriate things online and a person hiring them sees that, it could immediately decrease their chances of being hired. An attitude of good self respect will lead to an easier path through life, and easier to show respect towards other people. Although I agree with Joan Didion's statements, I do not agree with our school's new honors policy. It should not be considered a bad thing that over half of our high school achieved honors. I mean sure, raising the percentage might make ambitious students work harder, but other students may feel that they cannot achieve that and not try from the beginning. It is a special achievement to get honors, and with the percentages before, students still had to work hard to achieve them. We are a very academic and athletic based school, and achievements in both are a big accomplishment. Now with the new policy, it not only seems hard, but almost impossible to achieve first honors and be a great athlete.
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