Monday 26 September 2011

...Why People Are All Slowly Becoming Inconsiderate and Rather Anti-Social. To a Certain Point.

Ever since phones became affordable and internet became available to the common household, society has slowly changed even more from what it used to be. We no longer rely so much on "snail-mail" and stamps (gosh, who buys those anymore?) and now we rarely hog up the phone line by making hourly-long phone calls to our best friends (or even by using dial-up internet - oh good times) and telling them about how icky dinner was, what sleepover was lame and how the new Twilight movie is so good (my apologies, I attempted to channel my inner typical teenage girl - the other day I heard some of them talking on the bus and I really wanted to hit them with... the HOP card in my hand. I know it's not as dramatic as it was suppose to be. But usually people don't hold clubs or bats on the bus.) Instead we text, we instant message, we call on our own little phones (or via Skype etc) and we Facebook-wall post (now, with that new stalk bar there, I don't even think we need to ask what people are up to.)

But what are things that shouldn't be done by technology and actually done in person? Where do you draw that line? Texting, calling and talking over the internet is so much more handy and efficient, accessible and popular and you don't even need to leave the house - you can just find all this out sitting in your room. But what happened to good old conversations in the park? What happened to just hanging out for the sake of having a real life person there with you? Through technology, most people (even including me, sometimes) have lost the ability to have an actual deep, emotion conversation in person. It's so much easier doing it through a device that doesn't show you their real reactions and allows you time to think about your answers. But is that necessarily a good thing? Proper face-to-face conversations are so much more valuable than a long string of texts (with "lol" inserted every now and then for no reason). Texts, phone calls and what not may be efficient, but they are not capable of capturing the emotion, the connection and the meaningfulness of a real conversation.

And while we're on this, why have people become so inconsiderate? I hear frequently that people break up with their boyfriends/girlfriends over emails or text (or even Facebook messages). I even heard on the radio the other day this guy got fired by text. What the hell is up with that? Just because you can avoid their anger/sadness and get it over and done with in a simple message doesn't mean it's the best thing to do. It may be easy for you, but think of them. Think how they would view it, knowing that you don't even have the courtesy of telling them its over in person, or even on the phone. Have some respect people. Please step closer to the line where you can at least see it.

Monday 19 September 2011

...Why People Like to Leave Things to the Last Possible Moment, Panic, and then Say Goodbye to Sleeping For a Few Days

We all understand that procrastination is, well, a bitch. It is one of the things that everyone ends up doing. You know, we've all been there - you open up the browser to research for your assignment and before you know it, you've commented on three statuses, stalked seven of your friends' friends and moved up six ranks in Tetris on Facebook, bought some t-shirts online and taught yourself Spanish via YouTube videos (with the occasional video in between of some person failing and hurting themselves). The things we do just to not have to do that god-awful assignment or -insert equally painful thing here-. Heck, I'm doing it right now - I've got things in front of me to colour in and yet I'm typing this.

In my defense, this is a weekly thing so I want to get it done - although I'm rather overly excited about colouring in! (Don't judge me).

A little procrastination is normal. We all need breaks and distractions to make a study/work session more tolerable. But why would you keep putting something off till like one or two days before it is due? You get stressed, you don't sleep, you panic and you end up doing things in a rush. This isn't a cooking competition - your assignment doesn't need to be hot and sizzling when you hand it in. Nor is this the sprints - you don't get more points for finishing your assignment in the shortest amount of time. You're given the question or topic in advance for a reason and that is to give you sufficient time to complete it.

If you think about it, the logical option would be to complete your assignment and then relax afterwards, knowing that you're all done. If that's too difficult then your other option would be to do a set amount of work and that way when you do end up procrastinating, you won't feel as bad. Furthermore, finishing early would also give you the time to review what you have done and see if you can make it any better. I personally cannot really enjoy anything knowing that there is an assignment looming over my head or when I haven't done as much as I would have liked. I don't think you would like to miss out on your sleep and pull all-nighters so why not just spread the work-load out? Time management is the key and it's probably a good time to start effectively using it.

Yeah, I'm done with my procrastinating. Time to colour in some boxes!

Monday 12 September 2011

...What The Hell Rich Parents Are Thinking.

So, this morning on the radio I heard about some preschool. Not just any preschool. A very prestigious preschool. Want to send your children to it when you start a family? Well, you probably can't. If I remember correctly, it's acceptance rate is like 2.6% (compared to that of Harvard, which is 6.2%). Plus, you also need the money - it's annual fee is like $2000 higher than the school fees of Harvard too. That's around US$32,000 per year. Confused? So am I.

Sadly, I forgot the name of this place and therefore failed to find sufficient information to back up all the data that I had provided above. However, I did manage to do some snooping and I found a school called Ethical Culture Fieldston School. The section of that school I'm focusing on is the Lower School, which consists of kids between kindergarten age to 5th grade. It was ranked the most expensive preschool by Forbes in 2007. It apparently costed $30,440 per year (let's just hope that if you enroll multiple children you can get some discounts) and who knows how much it costs now with inflation and suchSo, basically as a parent, you would be paying over 30 grand a year for your child to go to this amazing place and... take naps, laugh, play with blocks and make new friends.

What is the difference really between a normal kindergarten and this one? Probably not much. So what if those kids get to play with golden play-doh? It's still just play-doh - it can't make your child fly or what not. So what if those kids get to have amazing preschool teachers who can recite A-Z backwards in under 3 seconds? Children at that age can't even learn that much, (nor adults, I'm pretty sure my example is an impossible feat... oops) - well there's definitely a limit as to what they will be able to take in. So what if those kids get to go on miraculous field trips that involve human sized Barbie dolls and life-sized HotWheels cars? Most kids won't even remember that experience. Want to keep your child confined to a snobby rich atmosphere where their only friends each have a herd of ponies and their own little mansion? That's the way!

I can understand if the rich sent their children to prestigious primaries, middle/intermediate, high schools and universities. That's acceptable - children need a good academic basis/beginning to develop, they need a good environment to learn and they need opportunities and advice for growth. But seriously, paying that much for your child to go to pre-school is just illogical. 

Plus, since you barely even know what your child is good at and how academically capable they are, you might be even setting them up for failure - think how angry you will be if your child, whom you spent over $100,000 on preschool education, turns out to be an average or difficult student. You're technically pressuring them. Money does not assure success. That money could probably be used much more efficiently. I would choose to give a handful of deprived children an opportunity of proper education over one single preschooler having quality naps in a bed made from the best silk in the world (after having taken a trip to the Grand Canyon of course).