Friday, April 8, 2011

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.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

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.