Category: NEW MEDIA REVISION

To Future High School Students,

Many of you kids may go into high school wanting to be cool and wanting to fit in. That might not be the best case scenario. I as a former high school student know what I had to do to get through high school and possibly make it to a college which I did. When you first step into high school many kids want to cut class and they just want to hang out and end up being in the wrong crowd. When I first started high school I did not make the best decisions. As I came in as a freshman I met many different types of people and I made a whole bunch of friends. When I first started school I would always go to class and hang out during lunch and after lunch my friends would tell me lets leave and go to the park and hang out. In the begging I would say no, but as time went on I would tell myself that it wouldn’t hurt to skip one class. That was the main problem because skipping class is like an addiction. You would tell yourself that doing it once wouldn’t hurt, but little do you know that it becomes a habit and it is hard to get out of it because then you would think to yourself how am I going to go class now and make up all the stuff I missed and it just would get harder from there. The student that I tended to be was the one that would say that there is four years of high school and I  have enough time to make it up, so a couple failing grades wouldn’t hurt me. That is where I messed up because that was my mentality for the whole freshman year of high school. When I got into my sophomore year I was a little better but I barely passed all my classes. When I got to junior thats when I noticed that I had to change my act. I noticed that in two years my high school years were coming to an end. I had a meeting with my guidance consular and she was telling me that there was a chance that I wouldn’t graduate. That is when I had a change of mind. I had ended up taking more classes my junior and senior year. That I started feeling as I was going through stress because there were many kids that had it all easy because they worked hard before and just because of the mistakes I had made I noticed that I was the only one that suffered and the only person that I could blame was myself, but all through that what I can say is that I have learned a major lesson. What you end up doing in your life are all based on your actions. You can go around blaming everyone in the world for all your mistake but you will once have to realize that you have no one else to blame but yourself because the only person that will be getting hurt at the end of the day is yourself, but that doesn’t mean that its the end. You may have to work a little harder but the main issue is many people give up and that is the main problem because that will hurt the most. You will have to realize that giving up shouldn’t be the solution because everyone has a purpose in this world but if you give up, you will never find out what is you purpose. I have realized that now because I feel as if I am a whole different person and I have change my ways in life because I noticed that one of the biggest opportunities you will get in the world is having an education that some people around the world have. Many of you all may mess up but always take in to the matter that you may have to work a bit harder but you should never give up because you don’t want to end up telling yourself that you are a nobody in this world.

David Wu

5/15/19

Prof. Hall

Eng 1121

To me, Kendrick Lamar is the greatest rapper of our generation. His music is different unlike other rappers who rap about money, fame, etc. In 2017, Lamar released, what seems to be his best album, “Damn”. The album tackles on issues that the African American race face such as police brutality and discrimination. One of the hit songs in the album “DNA” shows us how DNA is powerful. Kendrick soon released the music video a couple months after which is racking up over 200 million views.

The video starts off with Kendrick being cuffed to a lie detector inside what seems to be an interrogation room. A couple seconds later, famous actor Don Cheadle walks in to interrogate Kendrick. He then states, “You know what D.N.A. stands for? Dead Nigger Association.” Cheadle’s interpretation of the acronym DNA speculates on how society target black people. This relates to society issues like police brutality and discriminating African Americans. In the next scene, Cheadle turns on the lie detector and seems to be possessed. Once the lie detector was turned on, we can see it going crazy without Kendrick even saying a word. This can maybe represent African Americans in real life society being accused of anything without even getting a chance to say anything. Cheadle then returns back to normal but he looks like a whole different person. He then starts to rap the first verse and Kendrick soon joins in. Kendrick raps in one verse “I know murder, conviction, burners, boosters, burglars, ballers, dead, redemption, scholars, father dead with kids.” This shows us that Kendrick knows people of his race that are murderers, criminals, or been murdered. This verse tells us how the world views the African Americans in society.

They continue to rap in sync since the lie detector has now linked them together. Their, hence the title,“DNA” has been connected. Cheadle and Kendrick are both connected by their past experiences since it is shown that they are rapping as if they were one person. Kendrick wraps up the first verse with “Salute the truth, when the prophet say”. Cheadle then sees the truth which leads to him setting Kendrick free from the handcuffs. He is then greeted by a group which looks to be Kendrick’s group of friends. The second verse then begins with Kendrick stating “You mothafuckas can’t tell me nothin. I’d rather die than listen to you.” As he says the second line, it shows a priest yelling at Kendrick while he is lying in a casket. This can mean and be a message to his race that they shouldn’t care what society says about them. The verse ends with “Sex, money, murder our DNA”. Kendrick wraps up with this showing us that society views his race with sex, money, and murder built inside their mind and DNA.                                                                 

Kendrick’s visuals in the music video shows us the meaning behind his lyrics very well. Kendrick shows us throughout the video that his race is being portrayed as the villains in society. Kendrick told us an amazing message through this video which I would have never found out without this assignment. Being able to analyze a video this deeply really shows us the meaning in the visuals and lyrics.

Link to DNA music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLZRYQMLDW4

English Composition ll

Hello..My name is Brandon Ma.

There are many things that I would like to discuss today regarding America. One of the things I will talk today is something that everyone of you should went through in your life….and it’s our education system. Growing up as students, everyone has the same curriculum to follow and it’s hardly changed in these past years. The America’s education system can be very competitive among students that want to achieve better in college but are uncertain what they are passionate about. The American education system should adopt some policies from all around the world, but specifically things that worked well in Finland’s education.

The first topic that I will discuss is what America has implemented from the “early 1900’s” which  is the standardized testing. One of the many thing that students get anxiety over which is the testing. According to Big Think “Finland has no standardized tests. Their only exception is something called the National Matriculation Exam, which is a voluntary test for students at the end of an upper-secondary school (equivalent to an American high school)”. Students should not be studying and getting stressed until the standardized test or even the SAT just to get a good score so people they know would be proud. Not everyone is capable of doing well in tests and while there are others who can do well but does poorly in school. This can relate to discrimination in our society because if a student was not able to achieve certain expectations, thus these students tend to be neglected.

[My story]

Growing up has been challenging for the first 12 years of my life in public schooling. Why would this matter?

[Pause]

For most of my life, I was in public education and I never felt learning was something that I can be passionate about. Standing here now, I’m afraid of running out of time before it’s too late.

I didn’t know what I wanted to do from an early age and all I’ve done up to know is study the main curriculum to pass these upcoming test like the common core, standardized test, and SAT test.

Here I am in college, being penalized by Excelsior Scholarship Program in college. The reason was changing my major and an elective that I previous took does not transfer over. This can be very frustrating for me personally because I still don’t know what I can be passionate about.

Now I’m worried about running out of time before it’s too late.

[Introduction]– Moving onto our next topic, is student’s interest going to school.

Not everyone likes to go to school and attend class especially at the end of the day, they get piles of homework. According to the website The Big Think, “students in Finland have the least amount of outside work and homework than any other student in the world(qtd.Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD)). The students of Finland may not worry about stressing over homework that is due the next day and is able to relax. While America gets a lot of homework, and students worry if they can maintain still be motivated to go to school.

[Story]

In my high school no one liked to sit in class and learn.The environment was very rebellious and causing all teachers being irritated everyday. Whenever students were given homework, not everyone completes them. This led to the teachers giving less homework or little to no homework at all. On top of that all, the students in my class was always distracting others in class and teachers when they are not getting personalized treatment to help them learn.

[Transition] The education system we have today may not be ideal in some ways but it can be improved.

[Introduction]While education had worked well in Finland, America still struggle to follow the trend. According to the website The Big Think, “There are fewer teachers and students in Finnish schools. You can’t expect to teach an auditorium of invisible faces and breakthrough to them on an individual level”. This clearly shows how Finland has small classes because of that students are more focused in class and interested to learn. However America still has its overcrowding in schools causing students not want to learn. I would like to talk about American University School of Education, and their mission “is to create knowledge and prepare students to transform societies through education.” The American University talked about, “Acknowledge and address overcrowding”. This often lead to students losing interest in schools, less personal support, and more stress between teachers and students. This shows that America should change some policies like effects of overcrowding schools.

[My story]

In my high school, the teachers felt out of place. The students never wanted to learn because of that they often distract other classmates and even the teacher. While the teacher can’t remove the student from the class, even if they are distracting is not a great solution.

One of the most common thing that is happening to our very classrooms is overcrowding. According to School of Education

[Conclusion]

Not everything can be changed overnight but as a society, we can change things little by little. There should be more personalized care for students in school, not everyone learns the same way or students are able to understand the material. Thank you for listening and you should be one to help education be better even if you’re a parent or a student.

Works Cited

“5 Ways Policy Makers Can Improve the Quality of Education.” American University School of Education, soeonline.american.edu/blog/5-ways-policy-makers-can-improve-the-quality-of-education#first.

Colagrossi, Mike. “10 Reasons Why Finland’s Education System Is the Best.” Big Think, Big Think, 7 Feb. 2019, bigthink.com/mike-colagrossi/no-standardized-tests-no-private-schools-no-stress-10-reasons-why-finlands-education-system-in-the-best-in-the-world.

Helsinki, Visions of. “Why Finland Has the Best Education System in the World.” YouTube, YouTube, 15 Sept. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHHFGo161Os.