Time

"Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore,
So do our minutes hasten to their end;
Each changing place with that which goes before,
In sequent toil all forwards do contend.
Nativity, once in the main of light,
Crawls to maturity, wherewith being crown'd,
Crooked elipses 'gainst his glory fight,
And Time that gave doth now his gift confound.
Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth
And delves the parallels in beauty's brow,
Feeds on the rarities of nature's truth,
And nothing stands but for his scythe to mow:
And yet to times in hope my verse shall stand,
Praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand."

For school I had to read this sonnet by Shakespeare for an AP audition test. It really got me thinking about the joys of life. I believe that Shakespeare was absolutely right that time will destroy everything. Time can't be stopped and it is something that life revolves around. If I could have anything in the world, I think I would have more time. It feels like just yesterday I was learning how to read and write in first grade, and in a year from now I'll be done with high school. Where does all this time go? I wish I could just make every minute feel longer and more genuine but I know that is impossible. Life moves at an unbelievable rate and it can be so hard to just look around and enjoy it. I have made a promise to myself that I am going to live a great, passionate, life but I just wish I had more time to do this.

The Problem With Schools

Lately I have been looking at the school system. Mitt Romney visited our school the other week, and he failed to mention anything about the education system. I thought that was a little strange considering he was in a school, and apparently so did everyone on the Facebook world. There were posts left and right about his lack of discussion on the education system. Anyways, every Sunday I meet up with a bunch of other high schoolers and we talk about issues like this. Last Sunday while we were talking about school, the topic of learning came up. That really got me to look at the teachers that I have currently, as well as past teachers, and critique them in a way. In my view, the teacher needs to create new level of thinking in a individual. Personally, I really like learning but some teachers can make it very difficult to do. I cannot stand lectures, because they can't make me think in a new way. Listening to the teacher can make me learn of course, but it is through interaction and discussion that a student can actually learn. Discussion can create new ideas that can morph into a great learning experience. I understand that different teachers have different teaching styles, but lecturing a class of teenagers on something they don't understand can make learning very difficult. Everyone knows what it is like to listen to an hour of constant lecturing, but who can really efficiently learn from that? Plenty of people have supported this idea of mine, and a lot have also retorted it. "You better get used to the idea of lectures because when college comes around you are going to need to be able to learn from it." Yes, I understand that college classes have hundreds of students and teaching them can be difficult unless it is through lecture, but for now, I want to see more teachers really opening up their classrooms and letting ideas flow through it. Great ideas come from what other people say, and how can one think great things if they are only listening to one person? Not to mention that person is more than double our age. Let me focus on learning now, and then sharpening those ideas in college. Listening to others is a great learning tool.

Givin' It A Shot

I've never actually blogged before so we will see how this goes. I don't know who will end up reading this but I guess I will write these posts as a blogger that is highly read. Ha. I plan on blogging pretty much about anything. Life, running, school, music, religion, reading, etc, etc, blah blah blah. All that fun stuff. Anyways, I am from Colorado, I run cross country and track, I am a high schooler, I enjoy the outdoors, I really love old music and can talk about it all day. Recently I have noticed I actually really like writing. I have always been an avid reader, but I never really took writing as seriously. I never saw myself as someone who could create with words. I guess one college writing class and two high school writing classes a day will do that to someone. Well I guess that is me.