shaping young minds

I was just on Facebook and someone posted something about "shaping young minds." Ugh. For some reason, this phrase bothers me. I don't know, it just doesn't seem right to take credit for molding and shaping the minds of the young ones, even if you are an actual teacher or member of the academe. The human mind is more complex than that. I think students shape their minds however they want to.

Yes, input from teachers matter, but in the end, it's up to the student to decide how they want to make use of the input, how it comes together with all the other influences and information that they take from the world around them. Teachers share knowledge and viewpoints, they can't actually dictate how a person's head should be (using the term) "shaped" like.

I wouldn't want anybody taking credit for "shaping" my mind. I decide on what I want to think about and how I want to think, thankyouverymuch.  This doesn't mean I'm ungrateful to my teachers, because I am, I truly am, I'm just saying that one teacher alone can't take credit for the way I think. :)

NEEDS

Saw this updated version of Maslow's hierarchy of needs on Facebook and it made me laugh. How things have changed. Without the internet, how on earth are we going to post photos of the food we eat, check-in the cool places we go to, tag or tweet the people we hang out with? How do we cope with our other needs if we can't express them on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram or Tumblr, Blogger, etc, etc, etc. We need the internet or else we go crazy. I know it's wrong, but I admit that I'm guilty of this dependency. Somebody save me. haha

And the most adorable girl in the world sums it up here. I can imagine her exact tone of voice as she says it. (And no, I don't post a photo of everything I eat. But yes, there are times when I can't help it. Food's too pretty!)

"…my dad finds Twitter just infinitely unrelatable. He’s like, 'Why would I want to tell anybody what I had for a snack, it’s private?!' And I’m like, 'Why would you even have a snack if you didn’t tell anybody? Why bother eating?'"

– Lena Dunham

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/15/lena-dunham-interview-quotes_n_1601073.html#slide=1101618

Young Scientists

There's this 15 year old kid who invented a cheap and effective way to detect pancreatic cancer who recently won the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. Really awesome stuff for a high school freshman.

photo taken from this site

Question is, where was I at 15??? Why couldn't I come up with a science project that could change the world? (hahaha)

I went to a (public) science high school and yes, we had to come up with investigatory projects for the annual science fairs, too. I remember going through the motions, swabbing bacteria samples, testing the anti-bacterial properties of some seaweed and not really feeling the gravity of what I was doing. It was a requirement we simply had to complete. Wish we had more encouragement back then.

If anything, I really wish our educational system put as much effort in promoting sciences and not just the arts. We need good science programs, not just schools passing off as "science high schools" and not having the proper equipment and the facilities to support our advanced science classes.

Anyway, I'm not saying that my life would be any different had we had the proper program and facilities. But it could have. Maybe I'd be a forensic scientist by now(one of the many things I wanted to be, growing up), investigating murders everyday. And maybe there would have been less kids confused about what they wanted to do and who would eventually end up taking nursing (as was the popular course for the undecided during my time) instead. I have nothing against nursing, I just feel that a lot were pressured into taking it because it was popular, but without any real desire of actually being a nurse.

Going back to this genius kid... How could hundreds of older, more experienced scientists not have figured out what a 15 year old could figure out? I guess there's really a lot that a young, simplified mind can figure out. Must really start them young, I suppose. Out of coincidence, I found a very apt bible verse in my email a few days back. “For although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike.” – Matthew 11:25

Here's to young scientists:)

Saturdays

I know it's still 8 in the morning. Who blogs at 8 in the morning on a weekend? Me, apparently.

I woke up before 6 a.m. today. No, I have nothing to do and yes, it's a Saturday. Funny how it's so much easier to wake up on weekends than on weekdays. It's probably the anticipation of not having to go to work (or school, when I was much younger) and wanting to make the most out of the free day. Also, there's that comforting feeling, knowing you can always go back to sleep anytime within the day.

So far, I've played Tetris Battle (used up all my energy and am STILL on the same rank), watched Charice's new music video (okay fine, I watched a lot of Charice videos, not just that one), replied to Twitter and Facebook messages, checked out a couple of blogs... Yes, the bumming basics.

I don't plan on doing much today, I have already decided to do everything tomorrow. Ah, procrastination. :) Today is reserved for watching Burlesque, Gilmore Girls (the best series ever), a bit of reading (planning to finish The Great Gatsby this weekend) and writing on my 5-year journal. Most likely (and most importantly), I will be taking multiple naps within the day.

Sigh. I love Saturdays. 

I Will Try Again

I don't know why I can never seem to blog  frequently.  I am in awe of people who have so much to say and actually have the guts to say it. More than the bloggers who talk about what they wore to the mall, or the ones who talk about where they ate and which events they attended (80% of the photos they post actually have their faces in them), I actually like reading blogs that are more personal, that deal with feelings, or with mundane things that happened in some guy/girl's life. I get excited by blocks and blocks of text. I like photos too, but I like them better when there are good stories behind them.

I don't know why I can't come up with anything to write. You see, all these random thoughts keep popping in and out of my mind throughout the day and I think, "Hey, I'll blog about that." But, either I forget about them or by the time I get home, I come to the realization that it's stupid, immature or shameful, or just too private to air out in public. (Public is probably not even the appropriate word to use here, given that this blog is some sort of a wallflower among the millions of blogs in the world wide web.)

Today, I went through my account and and found a dozen drafts. Entries I can't seem to finish. It's either I got bored with it or I by the time I got around to finish writing it, it just didn't feel right to post it anymore. Sometimes I realize that it's been so spur of the moment, a rush of emotion, something that's gone by and doesn't need rehashing.

But then I realize that if I keep up with this, I will never be able to write anything. True, I've got to keep the right things private. But there's a lot of things out there that I can still write about.

So here's the thing. I have decided, that from now on, this Blogger window will be my home page, a tab im gonna keep open. (I will still use Live Writer, but for the sake of an in-your-face reminder, I think keeping this as my home page is a better idea.) I will make sure that every time I open my laptop, I write something new. Not for the sake of random bored internet stalkers, but for my sake. I need to hold on to some memories. (My recent increase in forgetfulness is kind of alarming.) And while an actual journal might be helpful, I actually prefer to type because thoughts fly away too quickly for my slow penmanship.

So yeah. Here's to giving blogging a serious try. :)