“College is nothing but high school with ashtrays.” My friend Ron left me with this original piece of advice before I left for college on August 30th. In the weeks following, this cliché would seem prophetic. It would not, however, be accurate today. It was September 1st, and I was officially a college freshman. All my dreams were to be realized. The halls would be paved with intellectuals, and the walls would be plastered with philosophers. State College was my Ellis Island. It would be a far cry from my high school, whose halls were paved with punks and whose walls were plastered with simpletons. The entire student body would be eager to debate and discuss the Bible, politics, philosophy — everything that I love to talk about. “State College is Plato’s academy reincarnated,” I thought to myself as I kicked and hopped my way into my left pant leg. No one could convince me otherwise. All of these things were true. They had to be: this is college. No nervous stomach, no second thoughts — just an anxious heart.
By 10 p.m. on August 31st, I was in bed. “You are going to be ready on Wednesday,” I said to myself. Granted, my first class did not start until eleven, and I had not gone to sleep earlier than two in the morning all summer. But I felt as if I had to be in bed by ten.
Time always seems to be the tortoise when you want it to be the hare. That was one of the many thoughts taking refuge in my mind as the clock ticked past 11:59 p.m. As the first hour began, I lay motionless on my bed of rocks. During this time, I became eerily familiar with my new ceiling. Its flawed construction, rippled paint, and simple off-white hue comforted me. These otherwise unnoticeable imperfections reminded me of home. Earlier that month, I exclaimed to my mother how eager I was to escape from the penitentiary that I called home, and now I was having nostalgic thoughts about it. I laughed at the glaring irony and slowly drifted to sleep.
By 10:45 a.m., I joined the procession of pupils on my way to my first college class. Uniformity among the masses seemed like one of the many luxuries that freshmen were not deemed worthy to have. (Kindness from most upper-classmen was one of the others that stood out on that day.
This paper deals with the stance of our schools and government on prayer in school. In this paper I will show how our government is hypocritical in its dealings of the prayer in school issue and how some of us as citizens are hypocritical as well. I will discuss the freedom of religion rights and how its interpretation affects prayer in school. Also, I will address the popular phrase, “separation of church and state”, that is often used to argue against prayer in school.
In Paul Toughmay’s “Who Gets to Graduate,” he follows a young first year college student, Vanessa Brewer, explaining her doubts, fears, and emotions while starting her college journey. As a student, at the University of Texas Brewer feels small and as if she doesn’t belong. Seeking advice from her family she calls her mom but after their conversation Brewer feels even more discouraged. Similar to Brewer I have had extreme emotions, doubts, and fears my freshman year in college.
“School can be a tremendously disorienting place… You’ll also be thrown in with all kind of kids from all kind of backgrounds, and that can be unsettling… You’ll see a handful of students far excel you in courses that sound exotic and that are only in the curriculum of the elite: French, physics, trigonometry. And all this is happening while you’re trying to shape an identity; your body is changing, and your emotions are running wild.” (Rose 28)
Bird, Caroline. "College is a Waste of Time and Money." The Norton Reader: An Anthology of Expository Prose. 9th ed. Ed. Linda H. Peterson et. al. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1996. 481-490.
There are many different philosophies regarding prayer in public school. It seems to be a difficult issue to decide upon. The opinions are wide-ranging and convoluted. This paper will attempt to highlight the many ideas and opinions as to whether prayers in public school should be allowed and to what extent. It will further show how our founders' idea of a separate church and state has been taken out of context and why prayer in school should be allowed, but not required.
It was my first year at the most venerable institution in the world, and my high-school dreams had been achieved. Yet, that fall, I was feeling empty inside. As I drowned my sorrows in a latte at Au Bon Pain near the "T" entrance, I noticed a large crowd gathering outside. I later learned that a short time before, an undergraduate running to the co-op had carelessly knocked a homeless man to the ground. As I looked up from my latte, I saw a homeless man crawling around the sidewalk, yelling something about being
3. The behavior generates negative externalities— other people suffer. However, sins are often generally, but not universally, considered to be socially undesirable. Consumption of the product or service raises concerns or is generally judged to be counter to socially desirable behaviors or to be dysfunctional in terms of the social welfare. Others suffer from the acts of an individual.” (Lorenzi, 2004) In other words if it is deemed bad for us in an offical way then a sin tax can be added to it wheather the people like it or not.
...for school is education, and praying to one’s self is just as effective. If everyone would open their eyes to these facts, there wouldn’t be much of a debate anymore. Debaters should spend time on topics of equal or greater importance, because this school prayer case has been ruled out.
The gods treat the mortals lives like a game of sorts. The gods act and behave like their playing a board game with characters that can both move on their own and be easily moved by the gods hands. It is also a board game where the characters are aware of, rely on and are separated from the ones playing the game. The gods all pick sides and influence characters to do specific things to help the side they are on. In the Iliad there are 4 on each side, on the Trojan side are: Aphrodite, Apollo, Artemis, and Leto. On the Greek side are: Athena, Hera, Poseidon, and Hermes. Like a board game where they push the characters to do things that may end up causing things they don’t want to happen, to happen. Ei. Hector killing Patroclus which ends up lending to his death. Whose death was first initiated by Apollo s...
Light, J. R. (2001). Making the most of college: Students speak their minds. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
The third maddening buzz of my alarm woke me as I groggily slid out of bed to the shower. It was the start of another routine morning, or so I thought. I took a shower, quarreled with my sister over which clothes she should wear for that day and finished getting myself ready. All of this took a little longer than usual, not a surprise, so we were running late. We hopped into the interior of my sleek, white Thunderbird and made our way to school.
The First Amendment of the U.S Constitution states "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for the redress of grievances" (Greenberg). This first amendment protects both believers and nonbelievers from government interference in their decision to pray. Students have the right to pray and read the Bible in public schools. Yet the educators and administrators who facilitate our schools cannot lead children in prayer or force them to pray. The constitution also prohibits the following: requiring students to recite prayers in class, saying public prayer at high school games and teachers and co...
To think that my first semester of college will be over this friday makes me realize how fast time flies. The first few weeks of college were tough, tiring and full of anxiety. Being in a new environment, a different state and not knowing one single person was something that I did not prepare myself for. Throughout all of the tears and the frustrations, I had to constantly remind myself that I am at The University of Akron to gain an education and become a successful individual.
must stick with it. A cabinet could be opened at home and a variety of tasty
To have prayer in the public school system is against the idea of separation of church and state. The state should not institute school prayer because the public schools are for education, not a place where religion should be taught (Gaylor, 1995, p. 1). The state should not force every child to say a prayer in the classroom because not everyone believes...