Fatoumata Foly Balde
What work of art, music, science, mathematics, or literature has surprised, unsettled, or challenged you, and in what way?
"The Really big book"
Reading is what makes the human civilization the most advanced species on this earth. I mean can dogs read? Can birds read? Can a fish read? No, it is one of the most valued accolades that a species can inherit. Reading was very easy for me to attain even in a third world country like Guinea, everyone knew how to read and you had to learn it under the French system. Later on though when I came back to U.S. around the age of seven I had to learn how to read all over again in a completely different language "English". I have to say it was quite hard for me to assimilate, one time in school my ESOL teacher was instructing me how to pronounce "ch". I could not pronounce it for my life and my teacher got very annoyed by it so I just cried under my desk because I'm not use to disappointing my elders. Back in my country I was the top student in my school but over here I felt like I was nothing. When I went home that day, my cousin decided to bring me and my brother to see Harry Potter. After watching it I was so mesmerized by this world of magic and ubiquitous unknown wonders it contained. For Christmas that year I got the first Harry Potter book and it's known that Harry Potter is a very tedious and prodigious novel to read. Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets surprised and challenged me, because it was so tedious, but I could relate to it, Hermione Granger was one of my favorite characters. I could share several similarities with her; she came from a different background because she was a muggle in a magical world where humans were seeing as being weaker. I kind of felt like that in my situation because I came from a very different country and this novel helped me find something I could connect to. Overcoming that big book helped relish my different qualities and writing skills which I'm proud to say that helped me attain a perfect score twice on my SAT essay.
Fatoumata Foly Balde
In The Dumbest Generation, Mark Bauerlein asserts that social media and youth culture undercut the skills necessary to be a global citizen when he writes: "We need a steady stream of rising men and women to replenish the institutions, to become strong military leaders and wise political leaders, dedicated journalists and demanding teachers, judges and muckrakers, scholars and critics and artists. We have the best schools to train them, but social and private environments have eroded." Do you agree with his assessment of not?
"I want to rap when I grow up" this is the typical answer I get when I ask my peers about their future goals. There is a copious amount of knowledge to find throughout this ubiquitous universe. In the more ancient epochs social media and youth culture drove the innovations that are used today by many of our youths like iPods and laptops. I accede with the argument that Bauerlein asserts that social media and youth culture does undercut the skills necessary to be a global citizen. It's like a farm if you don't have good seeds than you can't grow anything or expand. In the time of Benjamin Franklin and Aristotle, where conducting experiments and being bound for higher education was expected of the youths unlike the current era were its all about trying to becoming an entertainer or being famous for an infamous act. In this day and age not many young people are interested in becoming politicians or scientist when they don't know scientist acquire more money than most rappers. Social medial and youth culture like T.V. shows promotes inadequate activities that are around sex, drug, and illegal ventures. Even in our music scene all rappers talk about is killing people and fondling with different woman. What this generation forgets is that the billionaires, pioneers, and entrepreneurs of our time worked hard for their money. For example Bill Gates the innovator of Microsoft for hours would study during his youth to master the computer. Bill wasn't wasting his time trying to learn how to moonwalk, he was trying to make something of himself and he did so by being a good global citizen and providing the other subjects of the world with useful recourses to expand our knowledge. If this and other coming generations don't try replenishing our world with useful citizens then I foresee a future that is full of uneducated individuals which is a very deleterious world.
