Society's Emphasis on Getting into a Good College

A recent TIME article brought to my attention our societal values on colleges. Many parents and students believe that getting into a "brand name" college will automatically guarantee success. It is important to note that success is vague but when employers hire the top students, there is at least a blurry line to where success might derive from. Top students, however, does not mean from top universities. In fact, by using logic, it is safe to say that achieving the top spot in a less prestigious college is easier than achieving the spot in a prestigious one. This is only one example on how students must be reasonable in what they look for. My math teacher told a story on how a student from his school cheated his way into UCLA. Yes, he got into UCLA but could he stand the academic courseload UCLA gave him? No! What society must realize is that top colleges don't guarantee success, but persevering and using reasonableness will help you achieve that very vague word. Thus, instead of working to achieve the college, we must first work to improve ourselves.

Do you believe in karma?

There are times where you think you have won, succeeded, and accomplished something only to find out the opposite. Today, I've received a series of them at Santa Clara Invitational. Although I believe I crushed my opponent, when I asked my round 3 opponent what he thought he did, he said he lost both or at least one. Given that I think that I lost round 3, even though I also thought I did a better job, and when I realized the judge could remember little parts of my opponents case when she fell asleep during mine, a tournament I thought was an easy win could no longer be a win. These are times that leave you wondering: wow.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPod touch]

My First Post

My first post! In this post, I would like to describe the purpose of the blog. For me, as a debater, I like to take viewpoints on issues and I will be primarily using this blog to highlight my opinions on situations that are happening around me and around the world. In addition, I would like this blog to be a feed on my personal life - how's my situation at my high school, Dougherty Valley, and how it relates to the outside. Last but not least, I would like this blog to be a source of information, whatever you can take from this blog as I will also be posting my opinions and some strategies on Lincoln-Douglas debate as well as other academic areas. I hope you tune into this blog and I'll see you next time! Thanks!