Book Review

Falling in love has ups and downs just like life does. Falling in love is like a rollercoaster that never really fades away. Love is sharing quality time together just like John and his father did over a coin collection. Nicholas Sparks' Dear John explores the inspirations of falling and being in love using a unique style.

John, the main character in this book, was on his two week break from is leave in Germany. During this time period, he met a girl named Savannah. Their attraction quickly grows into the kind of love that leaves Savannah waiting for John to finish his duty when 9/11 happens. When John is gone serving his country in the Army, John and Savannah wrote notes back and forth to each other. Savannah suddenly stopped writing John for months, and then she finally wrote a letter to John. This letter stated that she had fallen in love with another man. John was crushed and heart broken. His mind racing uncontrollably, he "burned all of the letters" she had ever wrote him. 

However, he still loved her, and she still loved him. Love is a powerful ability that can change over time. Spending time apart can affect a perfectly fine relationship, just like in the book Dear John. The setting affects both characters because John transferred to different countries. This affected their relationship tremendously. The time apart caused Savannah to fall in love with a guy named Tim. Savannah said to John, " I can't marry you if you're not around." This is exactly what happened.

Finally, John came home because his father passed away. He went to see Savannah and Tim was in the hospital. John ended up selling his fathers coin collection to pay for Tim's operations to save his life. He did this anonymously without Savannah knowing. John truly loves Savannah and will do anything for her happiness.  Love eventually works everything out, never fading away.

Nicholas Sparks wrote this book in first person using John. Nicholas Sparks is one of the best writers of love stories. I can compare this book to daily life and gender roles. Many men do join the Army, and do have to leave loved ones behind. I would rate this book four out of five stars and I would recommend this book to anyone that wants a love story. This book will keep a reader fully engaged. 

Current Connection 3:2

   Many believe that women have a natural instinct of taking care of someone  However, males are starting to come into the profession of nursing, a female dominated career. Women make up about 91 percent of all nurses in 2011, but this percentage is starting to change.

    Women are just naturally caregivers, especially when someone becomes sick or ill. In Christopher Neighbours' website article, he states,  "Florence Nightingale felt women were intrinsically nurses." This is because Florence believed that women should be nurses and that women have special characteristics that men do not have for this profession.

     Starting to become nurses, men are believing that they too could be just like the women in this profession.According to Christopher in the paragraph titled ‘Appropriate’ fields for Male Nurses ,  "Men are ‘tracked’ into what are seen as more appropriate fields for them to practice in. Uniquely, this means their pay and prestige are enhanced." Men want to be seen as a nurse, their masculinity that is not questioned. 

     More men are wanting to come into nursing. As stated in the same paragraph, "men in nursing are a privileged minority. In patriarchal culture, men have greater status and power than women." Because men know that they have power, they know that they can go into any career, even nursing, and be just as good as women.

     "The top roles in nursing emphasize leadership, technical knowledge, and dedication to work, all seen as being masculine traits." This is why most of the doctors today are men. Men in the world today are pretty much going into any career field and succeeding in that field. Men are empowered by their own mortality and that men are overpowering women in the work force.

     Men feel like they can do anything based on the power that they believe they have.Also, men are stereo typically the doctors and not many go into nursing.  However, females still dominate the nursing work field. Men are starting to come into this work field and more are still to come.

Current Connection 3:1

     Nursing

     Nursing is a female dominated profession, and not many men are willing to do this career. The nursing field has a positive impact towards women for more job opportunities rather than men. The culture of the nursing field is more geared to women because of their natural motherhood to take care of someone.

     Females tend to take over the nursing department rather than men. According the Health Science Journal and Cash, "this can be attributed to in part of issues,such as status and pay, but it is also result of the gender role stereotyping of the profession." Men are not willing to accept the fact that a nurse is not a manly profession, which affects them to enter this profession.

     Additionally, males do not tend to go into nursing as much as females do.  Also, according to the Health Science Journal in the conclusion paragraph, "even male students who study in nursing have role tension about nursing." Their tension is because that more females do this job and they do not want this job to take away their masculinity.

     However, women in this profession want males to see them as nurses as well. In the Abstract section of the Health Science Journal, the results are "close to half of the female nursing students (45.3 %) want to see males as staff nurses while most of the male nursing students wanted to occupy administrative or
administrative/instructor positions after graduation." Males do not want to be called a "nurse" because they want to still maintain their manly gender.

     Because I am a women going into this profession, I have a better job opportunity competing with a male. Males, wanting to keep their masculinity, tend to stay away from nursing as a career. I am wanting to go into the medical field to become a pediatric nurse. Females just have that motherly nature naturally in them already, so being a nurse is easier.

     Gender roles play have a huge impact when choosing a career. If being a nurse would not take away a man's pride, more males would be a nurse for their job.


      

Current Connection 2.1

In an article entitled “3 Year Prison Sentence for Former Lottery Security Official”, Remmele Mazyck, a former deputy security official, an employee that stole over four hundred thousand dollars, pleaded guilty to stealing money and cashing the money from the Arkansas Lottery.  He will serve 37 months in prison, and he will have to refund and pay back the money that he had taken.

 

According to Arkansas Lottery Commission Director Bishop Woosley, he stated, “The amount of money taken was substantial, it was taken over a long period of time, and Mazyck was in a position of trust.” People had trust in Mazyck and to deliberately break that trust is unacceptable.  Being a trustworthy employee, people were shocked that Mazyck would do something so drastic. Stealing over 400,000 dollars, Mazyck will face three years in prison.

 

In the article, “the ALC will sustain no monetary loss from this theft.”  The Arkansas Lottery Commission should have no money loss from this man, ordered to pay back the money. Money, to some people, is very precious. Everyone needs money. Civilians equip themselves with the money they need during these troubling years while determining what to do with the money they earn. Some need food and shelter to provide for their families; some need much more like cars and trucks.

 

Why did Mazyck steal the money? Working for the Arkansas Lottery Commission, he probably thought that he could easily get away with stealing the money which is “a violation of the public’s trust and resources is unacceptable.” I bet he thought he could get away with stealing the money because he worked for this amazing company.  He has to refund the money and is sentenced to 37 months in prison for this crime. The Arkansas Lottery Commissions helps students that go on to college by offering them a scholarship to help the college cost less.

 

Stealing money from the place you work and defying the public’s trust is completely wrong and immoral. Everyone’s parents have taught them that stealing is bad, including my own parents. When I reflect back on this life lesson, nearly every time a parent has told their own child not to steal. My mom has said it. Reality is that grown adults, steal. Surely, stealing should not even be an action any of us should do or even cross our minds. It has been drilled in our heads not to steal.

 

Many Arkansans were completely appalled at how much money that was stolen. The morals of people nowadays are fading and frankly need to start increasing. Trust is a key factor in today’s world and no one should break it.

 

Works Cited

Unknown. “3 Year Prison Sentence for Former Lottery Security Official.”  Fox16News.com. 07 Nov. 2013. Web. 07 Nov. 2013.

 

 

 

Current Connection: 1.2

Should Kids Wear School Uniforms

 



     "Do school uniforms help curb violence, foster a better learning environment or promote discipline in students?" Sherry Bowen's article Should Kids Wear School Uniforms, informs us others opinions on this particular subject. I, for one, do not think schools should require students to wear uniforms.

     In paragraph number seven of this article "Uniforms may be a part of the solution, but they are not the only way to improve schools." In many public schools, the students usually are not required to wear uniforms, and many students do not want to wear them. Students, teenagers who want to express their individuality, usually resent wearing school uniforms because many of them express themselves by their clothing.

     
     Sherry, an optimistic writer, states, the uniforms "cost too much for families who already struggle to make ends meet." This day and age, money and budgeting is extremely hard for many families; the economy is going down hill, especially with adults making money. Public schools are already on a tight budget, but private schools tend to have more money to require their students to have matching uniforms.

     Also, Sherry states that "many schools have jumped on the bandwagon despite students' expressed concerns about their freedom of speech." If students were required to wear school uniforms, the students are not really expressing their true identity. I, a high school girl at Batesville High School, would be upset that we all matched. Girls love to dress nice. They want to always look their best at all times, and clothes is one of the ways that express ourselves.

     Many students would not approve of the school uniforms. I am pretty sure that teenagers in general will not want to go to school if there is a required uniform.  In my opinion, school uniforms should not be required because it would lessen the students on their freedom of speech. School uniforms, also, are costly.




    

Goals of a True Education

Current Connection 1

Goals of a True Education

“To what extent do schools serve the goals of a true education?” I honestly do not think that they are hitting all the goals of having a true, concise education.

There is a major difference between education and knowledge. “Education is referred to as the act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing for mature life.” It seems that the goal of a true education is for one to obtain knowledge, but teaching random facts and perceptions of the world decided by a committee with which to teach teenagers in America is absurd. The goal of knowledge is for someone to have their own philosophical perception of the world, having their own ideas and having belief in them.

There is a difference between obtaining knowledge and obtaining an education.  “Rationalism, where knowledge is obtained through reason and introspection, “empiricism,” where knowledge is obtained through observation and experiment, and finally by “mysticism,” where knowledge is revealed through faith, emotion, or revelation .One gains knowledge through an education. Knowledge is a fact that is learned and education is the process. So therefore, we strive to acquire knowledge instead of education. Knowledge is gathered through the education, a process that is needed to gain more knowledge.

Schools fail to teach students how to actually apply their “education” in the real world. Education should be taught and applied to daily lives. “The human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, those are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.” Education happens by experience, by learning to throw a ball, speak, and how to live a good, happy life. In order to be a success in life is to set goals and achieve them and I believe that schools aren’t helping students do that.

Also, students do not get the deserved attention in the classroom as they should receive. “Most private schools havesmall class sizes.” Private schools tend to get a higher education and that has most to do with individual attention from the teacher to the student. Making sure the student understands what he or she is learning is the most important role that the teacher can make sure that they do understand.

To answer my question, personally I think that schools aren’t reaching the “true” goals of education. They also need to provide the extra care in teaching them how to apply the subjects that they teach in class into everyday life and build character. That’s where schools are failing in making sure we are educated.

 

The Titanic- Who is to Blame?

There is a lot of talk about who is to blame for tragedy of the Titanic. Personally, I do not think there is one person to blame , but if I had to pick one person it would be Captian Smith. The captian of the Titanic didn't slow down the ship knowing that there was icebergs. If I was a passenger, I would be extremely angry. Also, I would be saved, but there was thousands who died and lost there life. If I was the captian of that ship, I would feel so bad and guilty. So if any one person would be blamed, it would be the captian. Yes, the captian should be forgiven, but he should feel a little bit of guilt.