Success In My Eyes

Success In My Eyes
Successful people such as Bill Gates and President Bush have authority and
wealth. Money can get you a lot, but it is not all it is said to be. Yes, Bush is the
president and seems very successful, but does he have happiness. Does it make him happy
to send thousands of troops to Iraq every year, away from their families? Does it make him
feel good inside, to know that millions of people across the US dislike him and think
horrible thoughts about him everyday even though people see successful individuals as
having authority and wealth, I see successful people as having a good job, a loving
family, great friends, and accomplishing their dreams.
You can be successful and have a job that pays you enough to get by with food
and essentials that you and your family need that week. Some people say that they will
never be successful until they are millionaires, and there are very slim chances of that ever happening. I
don’t see why people connect success to wealth, because wealth usually just makes a
person greedy and stubborn. Does that sound like success to you? Authority is another
thing people usually link back to success. I know people who say when they make it to
head manager they will be happy. As long as you can pay the bills and have a little extra
money to spend on entertainment, I think that is just fine. Yes, it would be nice to be in
charge- if you like that kind of responsibility- but still people let it go to their head. Have
you ever worked with someone who got a promotion? I know I have, and it goes straight
to their head when they get that little ounce of leadership. Wealth and authority could be
indicators of success, but all I’ve ever seen is it go in the wrong direction.
A loving family is the main key to success in my eyes. When you have someone
to come home to after a long day at work that cares about you, it would be a nice way to
relieve stress. Some people prefer to live alone but have pets; pets count as family also.
As long as someone or something is at home awaiting your arrival, it helps. If you have
people that care about you enough to be at home for you when you need them most is
successful to me. I have a loving family in Waco and great friends all around. Whenever
I’m down or really stressed out, I have people to turn to for help, so I don’t go crazy.
Family and friends are most important in my life. I feel I am very successful, because I
have many people who care about me and would do anything for me. I would do anything
for them in return.
Having goals and setting your mind to them, is extremely important in the formula
of success, as well. Success can be measured to many different ways; it all revolves on
what the individual wants for themselves. If someone has a goal to become a manager of
a company such as Wal-Mart, then so be it. If they work hard to accomplish their goal
then they are successful. Then, you have a teenage girl, who just wants to get a little part-
time job at the local grocery and gets it. Do you count both these people as being
successful on the same level? I do, because they both had a goal and accomplished it just
as they planned. Now you don’t have to completely accomplish your goals to be
successful, but as long as you are excelling towards them and making progress; you are
successful. My goal is to become a veterinarian to large animals, so I am in college,
pursuing this as my major, and pushing forward in my classes. I feel I am very successful
in my schooling.
You may view success differently than me, but the main keys are having a loving
family, great friends, and goals to accomplish. Now learning this, do you feel you are
successful?

Clara

The picture I put on here is of a girl who looks like she could relate to Clara. When you look into her eyes it looks like she has lost someone important to her or that she is scared.

The picture I chose in the library is Clara. It is of a lady dressed in a long sleeve blouse and a striped shirt down to her ankels. She is wearing an old cowboy hat and a beautiful necklace and matching earrings. I would think her husband gave her the jewerly. Clara is outside a two-story house with a little white picket fence around the house. There is a huge hill, or Texas Mountain, behind the house about a mile back. There are two chemneys on the roof of the house and rocking chairs out front on the porch. The porch is wrapped around the house and there are many windows open. I would say this picture was from around the 1800's before they had any kind of air-cooling system. The weather is very windy, and when you look at the sky it looks like there is a huge storm on its way. The sky is very dark. The is standing outside the fence away from the house and she looks very sad. Clara looks lonely and scared; like she just look someone or something very important to her. I think the weather is connected to her feelings because it is getting very dark and about to ran, while she is looking lost, confused, lonely, and like she is about the start crying. When you look at the picture next to 'Clara', it is titled Leaving Clara. There are some guys on horseback riding off into the hills. I think they are connected and either her husband or brothers are leaving home. So she is feeling lost and lonely. And she is worried they might not make it back home.

The School Systems in America

The School Systems in America
The system in American school has been alternating through the years, some for the better, most for the worse. I feel there are many flaws disempowering the American education for the students. There are many examples all around about how students should have parental support, proper funding, and the encouragement from the people around them to better their education.
A student’s environment at home is the first key to their success. If they do not have the encouragement at home, how will they ever know what they can do in the world? When a child is raised their whole life in an environment where they are told they are going to work in a sewing factory, such as in Still Separate, Still Unequal, how will they ever know differently? I went to a decent school growing up and had a fantastic environment at home. My mom and dad always pushed me to do my very best and informed me about all my options after high school. If they had not done that, then I probably would not have come to college right away. They did not force me to come, but they encouraged me to go to college, because it would benefit me in the future. Some teenagers do not have a family that supports the school systems. In the movie, Stand and Deliver, when the girl is in her living room studying and her mother walks in, she does not care that her daughter is studying but instead she tells her to turn the light off so she can sleep. Does this sound supportive at all? My best friend, Vanessa, has had a tough 12 years of schooling. Her mom was in and out of jail her whole life. She was never there to support Vanessa with anything she did. I remember Vanessa calling me crying many times because her mom was not there for her. She has been in and out of counseling for the last ten years. Vanessa has struggled through school and communicating with others. When her mom met a guy named, Scott is when this all happened. He was very abusive towards her mother, and he liked to showed Vanessa and her little sister this all the time. When they started a drug lab is when her mother started going to jail. Vanessa tried to talk her into moving away from him and back with them (she lived with her grandmother). Every time her mom would come home, she would only stay for a day or two then go back to Scott. She was never there to support Vanessa with anything she did, including school. Her mother was not there for any banquets, any sports events, or any parent-teacher meeting. Vanessa saw no point in reaching out and trying to achieve anything because her mother did not care either way. She is not going to college right now, does not have a job, and is still living with her grandmother. Vanessa even telling me, to this day, that if her mom would have been there for her more, she would probably being doing something different with her life; not following in her mother’s footsteps.
All schools should have the same funding. Schools should not get any less amount of funding just because they are in the “ghetto”. I understand they are not paid the same amount as the people living on the rich side of town, but every student should get the same amount of money spent on them every year for education. The cities should take some of the taxes from the richer schools and give them to the less fortunate schools. The schools, mentioned in Still Separate, Still Unequal, are great examples. Those schools are in walking distance from the “rich white school,” but are hardly given any funding compared to them.
The next key to the American school systems is the encouragement given by the school. Every student, in every school, should be given the same opportunities and pushed to do their very best. In the movie, Stand and Deliver, the faculty of the math department did not believe the students should be pushed to their potential. They felt if the students were pushed or challenged, they would give up. When the new teacher arrived, he felt that the students should be challenged so they could succeed at life. He challenged them with AP Calculus and encouraged all of them. When they went to take the AP test, they all passed with extraordinary grades and finally new what they capable of doing. Not all schools are privileged enough to have teachers that care this much about their students’ lives after high school.
The school systems are disempowering the American population, because the systems are decreasing in value. The parental support is decreasing along with the school funding, and the encouragement from the faculty of the schools. When all these reasons begin improving, then the final key to better the students’ education is the student’s willingness to take on the responsibility of bettering their own education.


Colombo, Gary, Robert Cullen, Bonnie Lisle. 2007. Boston: Bedford. Rereading America. “Still Separate, Still Unequal.
Stand and Deliver. Dir. Ramon Menendez. 11 March 1988.

Class Discussions

The class discussions we have had over the education really got my thinking, because I didn't realize that the schools were becoming segregated again. In the Waco area is a perfect example because in McGregor we are pretty much even if blacks, mexicans, and whites, but in Waco the school in mostly black, then there is a private school right in the middle of Waco where you could not find an african american there if your life depended on it. Waco High and Midway high are within about 5 minutes away from each other and there are very few whites in Waco and blacks in Midway. I've known this my whole life but it never dawned on me that the schools were becoming segregated again. I really enjoyed this section in English!

Are you Army Strong?

On August 14, 2007, around six o’clock P.M., my boyfriend’s mom was throwing a going away party for him and me. The next day, I was leaving for college and he was leaving for the Army. The party had a pretty good turnout except for the few people who either had prior arrangements or couldn’t make it for some other reason. That night was full of many secrets and surprises. Shawn, my boyfriend, asked me to marry him, and I proudly accepted. Now he is at Fort Benning, GA, proudly representing his family and me. The men and women fighting for this wonderful country we live in sign up voluntarily. These soldiers are fighting for what they believe in, and they are fighting so we can wake up safely in the morning. The people in the military are loosing support, are undergoing changes, are getting the temptation to quit, and are taking on challenges that regular people could never imagine.
The military is loosing more and more support every day because people are forgetting why we are over in Iraq. If 9-11 would have never happened, then we would not be in the predicament we are in today. That day, America was hit deep in the heart, and we should not let that happen again. One of the reasons we may be fighting is because Bush senior didn’t finish his end of a bargain, but the main reason is because of the attack.
Shawn has always been a loner, but now he is in a brotherhood. He has learned to work on a team and to never leave a man behind. Shawn wants to fight for what he believes in; he wants to take a stand and fight for our freedom. He is forming a brotherhood with his fellow soldiers, he is going through changes that only a soldier would go through, he is missing his loved ones, he is showing commitment, he is becoming a leader, showing intensity, and taking on the challenge. When he gets out of Advanced Training he will wear his uniform prouder than anyone else I know because he stuck with it and committed himself. He has already been told that he is leaving for Iraq as soon as he gets out of Advanced Training.
The soldiers, particularly in the Army, go through nine weeks of basic training, then turn around and go throw twenty weeks of Advanced Training. Today, during the first nine weeks of training, they can only receive and send letters, they get one phone call every three weeks, and they have to run like there is no tomorrow. Shawn is going through this right now, and he is feeling very homesick, sore, and pain he has never felt before. He could do like some people do and get hurt, or something along those lines, to get an honorable discharge, but he isn’t going to quit.
The military is the most beautiful commitment there is on this planet. The soldiers take time away from their loved ones to fight for what they believe in. The people in the military are loosing support, are undergoing changes, are getting the temptation to quit, and are taking on challenges that regular people could never imagine. Are you Army Strong?

The Norman Rockwell picture

What is happening in The Spirit of Education? What is Norman Rockwell saying about the situation- and about education- through the attitudes of the boy and the seated woman?

When I look at this picture I see a boy who doesn't want to be at school, or in the learning atmosphere. It looks like he is having a hard time accepting that he has to do what the teacher is telling him to do. But on the other hand it looks like the teacher is encouraging him to do nothing but the best and to not give up on his education. She is keeping a smile on her face and not getting mad at him while it looks like he is refusing education. The Spirit of Education is being forced onto the children because they are not wanting to do it. Through the attitudes I would say that it is showing that they had some ups and downs during the time they were bringing education into the picture.

My high school

My freshman year in high school, it was pretty much the best. All the seniors parents were strongly involved in everything! The football team, band, drill team, UIL, all the other sports, all of these were greatly covered with parents and local fans. We were a 3A school at this time because we had the numbers! Then all the seniors graduated and all the parents and fans went with them. it was like our school wasn't even there. Our school lost students, team players, and grades. We sunk deep down into a 2A school and sucked at everything, the very next year! Just this last year did everything start getting back into the swing of things. Our school got funding from another school, because of the Robin Hood Act, I think. The take from the rich and give to the poor. We got a new assiant principle who wanted to change things around, just like the teacher in Stand or Deliver. He started getting the students modivated to do their work and active in organizations. McGregor's grades have started improving and more people are getting involved, so you don't just see the same people at every event. He has raised McGregor up so much in the past year that more people are starting to move there. So parent support is really important because if you don't have it for the school, and they don't support what their kids do then everything will fall!