Chapter 3 Good and Bad Procrastination

Good and Bad Procrastination is written by Paul Graham. In this article he talks about procrastination in ways that I have never heard before, and to me this article was really interesting, Instead of calling all procrastination bad. He says that procrastinating can actually be beneficial and productive if the right things are put aside. For example, if you are struck by a good idea, he says roll with that idea for a few days and not worry about all of the smaller things that you should be doing in that time.
Before, whenever I thought about procrastination, I thought of putting something off until the last minute because you didn't want to do it. That is why I always try to do things well before the due date, and work on large projects a little at a time to avoid procrastination. I now know that procrastination is a lot more complicated than that.

Ambition by Perri Klass

       Ambition by Perri Klass, is about the positives and negatives of ambition. No ambition and a person is lazy and doesn't do anything with their life. However, too much ambition can lead to people becoming workaholics, they become distant and have no social life. Now those are the two extremes, the middle ground is very good, moderate ambition makes people strive to work hard and be the best person they can be, they want to accomplish something with their lives.
       Question 2: Growing up all kids have ambitions. Some want to be a doctor, or a policeman, or a fireman or a famous sports player. Me, I wanted to be my Dad. My Dad was a naturalist at the time and he would spend most of his time outside teaching people, adults and kids all about Nature. From the beginning, I knew that I would want to be a naturalist as well, or something similar. Now all of those years later my ambition has not faltered. Only now I am in a spot to make that ambition a reality. I am double majoring in Environmental Science and Ecology. Both majors are directly related to that field. Now I don't know if I want to be naturalist or not but I do know my future job will some how incorporate the outdoors, science and nature, all things I am very passionate about. I am just surprised that not once have I thought about doing anything else.

Chapter 2 Making connections question 3

Chapter 2 discussed a lot of current trends on college campus, there is one important one that was not mentioned: the cost. There is no denying that the price of college is rapidly increasing each year. Private schools are $60,000 or greater for one year. When this happens for four years that is $240,000 a college student needs o pay. That is more than a lot of houses. Public schools are the same way, yes they are cheaper at around $20,000 a year but they are increasing in price also. This current trend is making college affordable for more and more people, resulting in more people not being able to get well paying jobs in the future.
Middle class families can sometimes send their kid to college, but a lot of times it is a matter of how much financial aid or scholarships the student gets. I think this current trend is unfair and many politician are discussing this problem and formulating ideas to make college cheaper and more affordable,

Chapter 2 Making Connections 1

Life is not always straight forward, there is no one way to go. Instead it is a maze of paths that go in every direction and have different signs telling one which way is out. This is life, there will be time is everyone's life where one receives mixed messages, these messages coming from any source imaginable. As one can imagine it can be tough to sort out which of these messages are bad and which ones are good. The first mixed message I can think of on campus is the Tobacco policy. There are signs on every door on campus saying that individuals can't smoke 25 feet of closer to the buildings. Then there are maps on campus saying that individuals can only smoke in the parking lots. So which one is it? I see faculty members who follow the rules and smoke in the parking lots and then I see the students who smoke where ever they please. So these two paths are definitely very tangled and confusing now and are sending these mixed messages. It would be interesting to talk to University Police or another faculty member on the issue.

Chapter 2: Earning and Learning: Are Students Working Too Much?

In this article the author talks about how the 1990's generation is over scheduled. On top of being a full time high school or college student, they are also working a lot of hours. This leads them to not have much free time on their hands to to other things and not much time to get their school work done. The article states that the students need to check their planner to see if they can fit in an activity. Sound familiar? Yeah it sounds like me on a daily basis. If the 90's teenagers were over scheduled than what are we? Double over scheduled? I currently don't have a job but there is a reason for that. Being a full time student and having a job is very difficult and time consuming especially freshman year. Next year I think I will try to find an on campus job and work a few hours a week but nothing crazy. Even still I need to keep a planner on my phone to remind when my classes and clubs are. It us way to much to remember without some help. However I see the appeal in having a job, students want some extra spending money or maybe the money is to help pay for the costs of college or a  car. Either way I feel like this generation is way more over scheduled than the 1990's students and students aren't going to get less busy anytime soon.

Chapter 2. Universities Seeing Gender Gap Enrollments

This article by Erin Mallants Rodriguez talks about the growing issue of more women attending college than men. The thing is, the gap isn't small either, its a very large gender gap. Recent polls have shown this. At Barry university only 28 percent  of the student body is male. Also at the University of Miami males made up 43 percent. This is the trend everywhere in the country. Part of the reason this is happening because women tend to be more well informed and are tend to be better performing students.
I answered question 2. Since men tend to be a growing minority in colleges I believe that colleges should create incentives to help draw in male students. First, I think colleges should market to men more to show them what college has to offer and why it can be beneficial instead of heading right into the work force. Also colleges could give scholarships and grants to male students that go to college as an extra incentive.

Chapter 2: Safe Sex

In the article "We're lying: Safe Sex and White Lies in the Time of AIDS" is written by Meghan Daum. It talks about some of the dangers of sex and that their is a risk for STD's and AIDS. The article states that people are aware of the risk of engaging in sexual activity but they don't think that they are actually at risk which is really counter intuitive. They also aren't aware of the what a real danger AIDS is and how it can affect one's life so dramatically. The article seemed a little long winded on the topic and I feel like it could have touched up on it better.

Question 5.

I absolutely think that sex education should be taught in schools, all schools too not just public. Sex is a huge part of the American culture and the youth need to be educated about it. I think parents should also teach their children about sex on a personal level, however since many parents may be uncomfortable talking about the topic I feel that it absolutely needs to be covered in school as well. The ideal age to teach this is in middle school before they start to engage in these behaviors. I would say between the 13 and 15 age would be ideal. Some of the topics that should be covered are all of the STDs and AIDS. Also include their symptoms as to enforce that these diseases are very dangerous. Also go over safe sex and practices on how to do this. I think both male and females should have to put condoms on bananas, so they can learn the right way to do it as many people screw this up. i also think both genders should be educated on birth control and how to use it and how to deal with the side effects. These are only some of the topics that should be covered and there are definitely more important topics out there that are just as important.

Chapter 2: Drinking Deaths Draw Attention to Old Campus Problem

In this section, the problem of underage drinking and alcohol poisoning was discussed. About 18 to 24 college students die each year from alcohol poisoning but many more die or suffer injuries from activities while they are intoxicated, usually traffic accidents. Many universities are stepping up their game to combat drinking related deaths and injuries. However many argue that these restrictions will only push students away and could actually make the situation worse.

Sink started off the piece by sharing two tragic accounts where college students died of alcohol poisoning.  “Samantha Spady… died of alcohol poisoning after an evening of friends in which she drank the equivalent of 30 to 40 beers and shots (Sink).” This intro was particularly grabbing because it showed that this stuff happens and it is totally avoidable. If students were more responsible and were educated better about how to drink safely. It also showed very clearly that alcohol poisoning is a real problem in universities today.

I personally feel that all universities can do is educate people about the effects of drinking, which SUNY Plattsburgh has done well. Also, make sure that stores that sell alcohol are constantly carding young people. Other than that there isn’t much they can do. If students want to drink they will find a way too no matter what. Students need to be in control of their actions and know that their actions have consequences.

Chapter 2 Could Facebook Through a Wrench in Your Future.

 Question 4

There is no arguing that most of today’s teenagers, young adults and even older adults use Facebook. Facebook started out just for young people but as it got more popular it branched out other age groups. Many people share information about themselves on Facebook, maybe a bit too much. Employers and colleges are looking and young people's Facebook pages to conduct a discreet background check. What they find isn’t always good. Young people put things on Facebook for their friends to see not their future boss. A picture of you doing something illegal or a post on your wall can make an employer not hire you.

Now employers are doing nothing wrong by doing this either. Facebook is a public network and anyone with an account could access one’s information. I think what they are doing is perfectly fine too. Jobs are hard to come by these days and employers want to know as much about you as possible. Employers are just using all the resources available to them to help them make the best decision.

“It’s a personality test. What you have on sites like Facebook is just another way the company can do a behavior analysis on you (Dince).” This is why I always make sure that my Profile has nothing bad on it that could potentially hurt me in the future. If young people don’t want employers seeing what they posting, then they should increase their privacy on their account so other people can’t see what they are posting. They should also be careful that if the “Friend” their boss they can see everything that they post. Students just have to accept that this is a fact of life and if they want to post other stuff then they should find another social media outlet to do that.

Chapter 2 Focusing on Friends

Question 5:

In this essay the author completely changes his mind from the beginning to the end of the piece. The author talks about how he loves all of his female friends in the opening. He states that he is really open with his female friends and he knows where he stands in their relationship.  Then at the end he wished he hadn’t been so forth coming with his female friends and ends up severs ties with all of his female friends.  The conclusion of this piece really did catch me by surprise.

               ‘“I told you I love you. What else do you want?” I can recoil in the impatient hostility of that voice but I can’t deny it was mine (Tesich).’ Tesich says this two his female friends after he becomes unhappy with them after remembering some of his best male friends. The author feels like his friendship with his female friends is too easy. Whereas with his male friends he has to work a little more and explore more ways to prove to his male friends that he loves them instead of just explaining it.

               I just found it odd that the author did a complete turnaround at the end. However it kept me on my toes and I totally understand the authors point.