Copying: A High School Epidemic

There's an epidemic spreading through the school where students wait until the very last minute to do their work. It seems to have turned into a competition, and you see students frantically working in the hallway, hoping to finish on time. Of course, my reaction to this has always been to just do the work, but it seems like this contagious mindset has convoluted into something involving ego and pride. "I can't do it because XX didn't do it and he's cool" has become the undertone to every argument that I hear about why people didn't do their homework. However, while some have adopted speed-reading and randomly writing down answers in hopes of a completion check, others have found a new way of doing their work quickly, accurately, and efficiently-- Copying.

Relatable.

Copying is somewhat easy to recognize nowadays. Simply look for an a-little-bit-panicked person with two sheets of paper while quickly looking at one and writing on the other. Normally, you'll be able to spot the person who supplied the homework looking bored and low-key angry at the other person for being so slow. I have been put in this situation before and have refused to pass over my homework done the night before, and it has seemingly scorched the railings of some of my bridges. People say, "Why?! Please?!" and "It doesn't even matter that much", but I stand my ground. And the reason that I stand my ground is because I hope that you learn something from an experience where you don't have your homework because you didn't do it. I hope that you stop procrastinating or using other people's work. I hope that you stop not doing your homework because you realize how harmful it can be. If not clear enough already, I'm all for the "tough love" mentality, and will explain my reasoning for my refusal below. Here's a link to the Purdue Exponent about the same issue. Here's a link to MIT News about the same issue.

People can learn to embrace laziness. If they have been able to pass a class with flying grades by being lazy and copying, this encourages the lazy mindset. People will begin to see laziness as an essential tool to success when it truly is not. The idea is simple: people notice patterns. When people notice that their work is normally not as good as their lunch table's work, they will begin to use the lunch table's work more and stop doing their own.

Copying takes credit of other peoples' work. Your friend did this,

Let's hope that this hasn't actually
happened before.

but you turned it in. That doesn't seem right, does it? Homework is expected to be one's own work, not an outright exact replica of another person's. Unless the teacher says it's fine (which I highly doubt), people should be doing their work separately and consulting one another for help on trouble spots.

Each time you copy, you put yourself at risk for getting caught. It may not seem like a big deal, but copying can be considered cheating and/or plagiarism, and has big consequences in our school. Two (only!) offenses can kick you out of National Honor Society and other prestigious clubs, and copying your homework from others simply increases the chances that you're caught.

Copying requires no reading/analysis/comprehension of actual homework and does not actually teach you anything. I've heard people say, "Oh, it's okay. Just give my your homework. I understand the concepts already; I just didn't do the homework", but for me, this is confusing. If you understand it, then why didn't you do it? Understanding it makes homework feel like a breeze. Not only that but what if you don't understand it but think you do? This makes for a nasty surprise on the test where you find yourself confused by questions that you thought you understood. Copying doesn't actually teach you anything-- you simply read individual words and copy them over. It doesn't test your understanding of a topic or teach you anything new about a topic because that's the purpose of doing your homework.

There are many other reasons as to why I personally discourage copying and have never copied off of others because I "didn't feel like it". This is also why I refuse to supply my homework to people who didn't do their homework. I'm sorry if I come off as "salty" or "too sensitive" or "caring too much", but I feel like as a peer, I have every right to do my best to help fellow peers. While I may not be correct about everything I do, this idea that I have isn't an easily arguable one. If you have a differing opinion, feel free to leave it below.

This idea is not meant to be shaming, hurtful, or maligning in any way. I am simply trying to put my ideas forth in hopes that others will agree and follow along. This idea is meant to be helpful and insightful and hopefully change behaviors to lead one to one's path of success.

Megan

Every Day: Confusing, But I Think I Understand It

I finished Every Day by David Levithan a couple minutes ago. It was one confusing heck of a ride.

First off, the concept of the entire thing is just bizarre. A person that switches into people's bodies every day. And this person has no gender because it changes every day. This person also falls in love with a girl. And this person is very confusing. I guess you have to read it for this summary to make any sense whatsoever.

However, no matter how strange the plot, the writers still have those key sentences that make you cry tears of happiness. Here are my favorites:

• "[Y]ou can learn a lot about people from the stories they tell, but you can also know them for the way they sing along, whether they like the windows up or down, if they live by the map or by the world, if they feel the pull of the ocean" (12).
• "Once you experience enormity, it lingers everywhere you look, and wants to be every word you say" (32).
• "I am what they fear becoming" (271).

I love one thing the most about this book: its ability to translate life lessons into a few succinct sentences. This person calls himself "A", and he seems to be years beyond his age, 15. It's like he's seen almost everything and every type of person the world has to offer, making for an interesting look on his emotions. There is one time that he becomes an obese boy named Finn and accidentally thinks about emotionally shocking Finn to stop eating. Immediately after that thought, A berates himself because he knows that it is not his business and that he is being too judgemental.

Their age has a drawback, though. While believable at times, most of the time, I can't grasp the concept that A and Rhiannon are only 15. It doesn't seem right-- if Levithan were to change their age to 17 or 18, this story would feel much more comfortable for me.

Overall, there is something magical about this story if you can get over the quirks of the plot, characters, and reality of the situations. Levithan does have a great voice though better suited for older, more mature characters. The end of the book is supposed to make you sad, but even I, an extremely emotional person who just spent hours watching touching commercials, did not feel any sadness. It's not a terrible book, but could've been thought through a little bit more thoroughly.

Recommend for: hopeless romantics, people who want some confusion in their lives, dreamers.

Simplified School Subjects

In the spring of 2015,  I was a panicked eighth grader with no direction in life. Physical science had confused the heck out of me, so was I ready for more advanced sciences? English class had become a faint ringing in my left ear-- was I going to be able to survive high school English? History surprised me and demonstrated itself as fun and interesting, but would that stay the same in the notorious high school? Then the deep part of my brain came around. What are life skills that I need? How do I develop them? What if I fail life? Scheduling always brings an aura of confusion and questioning with it, so I’ve organized a comprehensive list of simplified high school courses to ease the stress.

Note: By reading this line of text you agree that you, and not Megan Cui, will be held accountable for all actions done in accordance with and/or under the influence of this article. You also acknowledge and accept that information stated in this article may not be entirely true.

ALGEBRA: Trigonometric rationalized functions regarding parabolas and the derivative of the radical third of the eighth sector length of Euler’s number.

ANATOMY: Study guts.

ART: For the people who can draw a water bottle without making it look like an elongated pear.

ASTRONOMY: Learning stuff about the universe. Very important class to be able to predict when a thing will hit the earth and when the world will end.

BAND: A lot of shiny things getting spit and breath and sometimes there is a squeak.

BIOLOGY: What goes on inside of guts.

CALCULUS: When I see people crying, most of the time it is caused by calculus.

CHEMISTRY: Explosions happen if you do stuff wrong and glass beakers. Something about moles, too-- chemistry does involve animals!

CHOIR: They make you feel really bad about your shower singing. Guess that’s why you only sing in your private shower.

COMEDY: SEE ORCHESTRA.

COMPUTER SCIENCE: Learning how to code so you can hack into other people’s email accounts and find out whether or not they forward chain mail.

ECONOMICS: Math related class dedicated to singing “ECON, ECON, GONNA TELL YOU ABOUT ECON, ECON” every day.

ENGLISH: Essay writing every single day about, like, why the curtains are blue. Say goodbye to your GPA!

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE: Environment stuff, I guess. I mean, I’ve never taken the class, but “environment stuff” seems like a good bet.

GEOGRAPHY: Impressive skill for people who find naming a lot of countries impressive.

GEOMETRY: Protractors and “squares are not rectangles and vice versa” theory, I think.

HEALTH: Not for the light-hearted, especially during the you-know-what-I’m-talking-about unit. The only class where talking about the you-know-what-I’m-talking-about body parts are allowed. Super relatable class.

JOURNALISM: Makes the school newspaper. It’s really obvious when there’s been a slow news day.

LUNCH: The only class that’s not a class but should be a class. Most people tend to eat during this time period, but a select few will eat then complain of hunger after this time period.

MANDARIN: Good class for students who like to doodle and to sound angry whenever they speak.

ORCHESTRA: SEE COMEDY. Most people join to whack other people on the head with their bows.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION: Makes people stinky and really competitive. Kind of dangerous too. I would be careful, especially during dodgeball.

PHYSICS: Probably the only class that you will cry more about than calculus because it is calculus-based. Hooray.

PRE-CALCULUS: The precursor to calculus. Makes you cry, but less than calculus.

PSYCHOLOGY: Studying brains so you can brainwash people like that guy in Phineas and Ferb.

SPANISH: Kind of confusing because, like, I don’t even know how to speak English.

STATISTICS: Calculating probabilities of outcomes because you can’t make the jump without knowing whether or not it is a 35.245% chance of failure. Common terms include: “#1 missed question on the SAT” and “Can I get a new test? Because mine is soaked in tears.”.

Very many important things happen in a year’s time. I became less stressed, more organized, and more focused. I also developed a comprehensive understanding of my school’s course catalog through my comprehensive list of simplified school subjects.

After all, these are essential life skills.

Andy Borowitz: Funny Dude

Andy Borowitz is a force to be reckoned with.

Funny dude.

Don’t get on his bad side.

We googled “humor column donald trump” and found this dude. His dry humor kills us and gives us a LOL. (Insert Nose Snort). He has a political point of view and likes to mock presidential candidates. Specifically, the more ridiculous ones.

You know who we’re talking about.

Yup.

Jeb Bush.

Jeb Hopes to Woo Voters with Ad Featuring Worst President in U.S. History

“The former Florida Governor Jeb Bush is hoping to jump-start his lagging Presidential campaign with a new television ad featuring the worst President in U.S. history, campaign aides confirm” (Borowitz).

…

He may also hold a grudge against ridiculous Republicans.

Conspiracy Theorists Say Republican Party Did Not Die from Natural Causes

“Conspiracy theorists believe that the Republican Party did not die from natural causes but was instead the target of an elaborately planned killing, a leading conspiracy theorist has confirmed” (Borowitz).

Andy Borowitz specializes in throwing major shade while maintaining a very professional tone. He uses elevated diction (credibility) and satire (funny) to get his point across, and even the people who disagree with his points must agree that he’s pretty good at roasting Donald and Jeb. Every day is another day to roast some Republicans. He seems to specialize in rhetoric and uses it to his advantage. It’s hard not to question your own beliefs when reading his columns, and that’s where you can see Andy Borowitz’s true genius shine through. While he does focus on politics, he isn’t trying to explain the gap between the Democrats and the Republicans. He simply focuses on creating a fun and funny atmosphere around a highly controversial topic and uses rhetoric to convince people of his hilarious standings on issues.

“With the crucial New Hampshire primary just hours away, the Bush campaign believes it can finish strong by reminding voters of Jeb’s connection to a man who left the nation in smoldering ruins” (Borowitz).

Sorry, Jeb. At least you tried!

- Megan and Karishma

2011 Sick Day

1-26-2011

The snow trickled from the sky, the clouds hollowing.

Grey.

Gone.

I stood outside, my legs covered by a thin layer of purple cotton leggings. My elementary nail art peeked out from the holes in my mittens-- the mittens that caused a ruckus in the household just a few minutes ago.

“Megan, you have so many mittens. Why do you wear the ones with holes? You will get sick!” My mother tried to reason with me as I huffed and puffed reluctantly into a winter jacket.

“I like them,” I answered, clapping the old pink-and-grey mittens together. “They are warm and soft and they give me more snow days and they are good for making snowmen.” Before she could respond, I excitedly stomped out of the house in my spring-colored rain boots.

The backyard was a perfectionist’s dream: perfectly white, perfectly flat--

“Perfect for stomping in!”

Flurries trailed my eager steps.

One step was ankle-high.

Two steps were knee-high.

Three steps were ankle-and-knee-high.

Four seconds into the snow and I was already soaked to my skin.

At this rate, I’ll get sick by tomorrow. My mother’s frowning face appeared, and I pursed my lips.

And smiled.

Sweet!

I took a nose-dive and, respectively, did a five star sub-Arctic somersault.

1-27-2011

My pillow was a sponge of nighttime sweats, and according the the man in the white robe who smelled like disinfectant, I was sick with a complicated-sounding sickness (the cold).

  The kicker: “Megan, you’re contagious as well.”

My mother shook her head and laid it on the accountant’s counter.

“Dr. Dines, what medicines will we be needing?”

He did a quick scribble on professional paper that meant pink bubble-gum flavored candy.

“Acetominophen, ibuprofen or naproxen,” he muttered. He then turned to me.

“You aren’t going to go to school today, and you’re going to stay in the house all day. Drink lots of fluids and stay warm. Don’t go in the snow!” He chuckled when I looked away at the last part.

Maybe I can sneak into the snow and get sick enough to miss school tomorrow...

Dr. Dines looked at me funnily as I dazed off.

“Don’t go into the snow, Megan,” he warned.

All day at home meant all day watching PBS Kids and sneakily eating hot chocolate powder under my mother’s disapproving look.

Majority ruled. Two pros outweigh a con. Today was going to be a good day.

---

A short writing piece to show the lengths a fourth grader would go to miss school. 2016 sick days mean three missed tests, a project, and a Broadway-worthy skit on the American revolution.

And yes, I did eat hot chocolate powder. (My mom doesn't know that yet.)

-Megan

No Experience, No Case, No Problem

This weekend went exactly as the title suggests.

I went to my first Speech and Debate tournament this weekend (just a little bit late) and was flipping out. My partner, Hannah, and I had unintentionally signed up for (and surprisingly got into) Wooster, an apparently hard tournament. Of course, this entire fiasco (that we're thankful for now) happened over a simple communicational error.

Miscommunication

GOOGLE HANGOUTS:
Hannah: do u want to do wooster? i mean its a pretty difficult tournament and its in 10 days and we dont have much...
Megan: yeah... we need to work though.

Turns out that I meant to say "yeah" to "'it's a pretty difficult tournament" and not to the actual question: "Wanna do Wooster?".

Thank you for the same joke!

Of course, everything is now over and I'm glad for that tournament. It was my first tournament, first time debating, first time doing Public Forum, and first time working with Hannah. It was our first tournament together since I dropped from Lincoln-Douglas (sucks) and Hannah dropped from Duo Interpretation.

Hannah for the umpteenth time: clearly I have dependency issues
(She made that joke like 14 times)

And we went 2-2. Won two rounds, lost two rounds, and extremely surprised. After all these un-credentials and this tournament being the first for me ever, we managed to actually win two rounds and place 28th out of 48th?

When we saw that, we screamed, stomped down the halls, and continued screaming. We thought that we had placed dead last, and with some fortune, possibly second-to-last.

Talk about luck, hard work, and 4 hours of sleep.

It was exhilarating nonetheless. Such a competitive environment with people who cared about Russian sanctions just as much as you did. I would do it all again in a heartbeat.

And that's why I am. Fremont Ross, here we come! (If we make the roster)

Just for kicks, here are some of the funniest argument I heard all day and a kick from the ballots we got:

• Resolved: On balance, economic sanctions are reducing the threat that Russia poses to Western interests.
  
• Con argument from Round 4: Russia will behave like an animal when it is cornered: retaliate.
• Unfortunately, Russia is not an animal and, therefore, will not react like one.
• Same team's argument: The poor Russian people are hurt by sanctions!!
• Same team: The citizens of Russia will get mad at Russia (about the sanctions) and join the army.
• Same: Russia takes money from its citizens and gives it to the military.
• Sa: Russia is a communistic country.
• S: Communistic countries don't care about their citizens.
  
• BALLOTS about the same team: Taylor, why are you putting on socks while your opponent is speaking?

I will update you all when we find out info about Fremont Ross. So excited! Check out all the Wooster debate results here.

The Martian: a Botanist or Sailor?

If you didn't get the joke about being a sailor, it's because he has a foul mouth.
Badum tss.
Okay, it wasn't funny and it wasn't planned at all. You definitely haven't crushed my dream of being a comedian at all.

The Martian (click here for a summary) is something like an interesting read. Many more adjectives would describe it in a more multi-faceted sense, but interesting seems broad enough and the least biased.

I'm about 14% of the way through it right now, and here are some of my observations.

First observation: He has the mouth of a sailor. Each entry in his diary seems to cover the whole spectrum of words enough times that if they were pennies, he would have enough to build himself a rocket ship, fly back to Earth, and sue every person who has ever done him wrong (he could probably afford to lose 99% of those cases and still keep a Jaguar). It seems like every other word is a curse word. However, I fully understand his circumstance. I guess that everyone handles being stuck on Mars alone, with resources only lasting 1.5 years when 4 years of resources are needed, and fearing seemingly inevitable death differently.

Seems like Watney likes dealing with stress by taking long walks across a hostile horizon and cussing a lot.
Who wouldn't?

Second observation: Mark Watney sincerely loves his family. And I love him for that.
Andy Weir does a fantastic job of balancing too many problems in one book. Many authors going for the omg-he's-going-to-die-but-he-doesn't idea would make Mark have some familial problems, but when Weir makes clear that Watney loves his family, it helps us understand why he's fighting so hard in an environment working against him. It softens this story perfectly, and hopefully will impact readers to think about their own relationships. Who empowers you? Who will help you through dire situations, even when they aren't there? I am sure that Weir wrote this way on purpose, and I admire it. Kudos to him.
Sweet quotes that he doesn't cuss in:

• "I'd give anything just to let them know I'm alive" (Weir 16).
• Even in this life-or-death place, he still makes jokes. "I'll just have to survive to make up for it" (Weir 16) when thinking about how much his family is worrying.
• Mark Watney is really cute when he talks about his family.

Third observation: The jargon. But even though it doesn't make sense, it adds umph to the story. Words like:

• unused hydranize
• liberating hydrogen from hydranize
• rocket-assisted fighter fuel
• iridium catalyst
• water reclaimer
• static discharge

Make some sense. Sound pretty cool.

For now, I'll give The Martian 3.75 stars out of 5. Hopefully, it'll increase as I read further into it.

(The Goldfinch is currently rotting away in my Kindle bookshelf. I don't think I'll touch it again: not because of its confusingness, but for fear of an allergic reaction to mold.)

Semester 1 Reflection

Reading Round-Up: A list of books I've independently read this semester, in difficulty level order (1 hardest, 9 easiest)

• The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
• Difficult to get into
• The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
• Beautifully worded, challenging
• Currently: A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
• Very sarcastic, hilarious!
• Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
• Great voice!
• Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
• Well-written, not believable
• All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
• Not believable
• Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
• Fun, cute, not believable
• Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
• Easy read, pretty fun, good to relax on
• Reached by Ally Condie
• Difficult book to read because of its lack of characterization and diction/syntax

Some patterns are that I seem to stick to realistic fiction and dystopian fiction, and that I read a lot of female authors. I also, surprisingly, enjoy olden-timesy realistic fiction (The Secret Life of Bees) and modern day fiction (Where'd You Go, Bernadette). I also enjoy stories with strong characters over strong plots. I kept track of my reading through Goodreads, and selected many of my books based on recommendations on Goodreads and opinions of close friends.

Reflection on My Blog Posts: I believe that I have gotten much better over the semester at writing personal, interesting blog posts. They have gotten a whole lot easier to write, and my personality is evident throughout the reading of it. It's fun to write and organize, and really helped me get into the story and realize things I didn't know before. I also used lots of pictures and some videos, as well as hyperlinks to summaries to avoid wasting blog space on my own. I made sure that my blog posts were always on time, and tried my best to update Goodreads as much as possible. I stayed active on Goodreads as well, looking through others' updates, reviews, and recommendations. My voice is very apparent throughout all of my blog posts, and they are structured to please the eye and to easily follow by using bullet points, line breaks, and pictures/captions. I also cite specific textual examples to get readers to truly understand the type of voice that the writer has.

Goal Setting: 
Blogging

• Use more videos and interactive things in posts
• Use more hyperlinks to other articles/pages pertaining to the discussed topic

Independent Reading

• Read two fantasy books
• Read two (auto)biographies