Perfection Is the Wrong Direction

Hello,
Perfect -
1. having all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics; as good as it is possible to be:
2. absolute, complete.

Reference

It is something that most of us strive to be. But is that what we should be doing? I found this Ted talk by Isabella Fons the other day and I think that it is one that everyone should watch.



What do you think?
xxxPoppy

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The power of music

Music is a funny thing, don't you think? Ok, maybe not, but hear me out.
Don't you think it is amazing how listening to a certain song can bring back a thousand memories from years ago, and a different song can feel you with joy or sadness, what about that one song that makes you happy no matter what else is going on or how you were just feeling?

I don't play music, so I don't have a special connection to any songs like some people do (like the girl in the video below), but I still love listening to it. Sometimes it is the words that makes me like a song, sometimes it is the music. What about you?

Here is a video I have found, I haven't watched the whole thing yet, but the small part I did watch sounded really interesting and I hope that it adds to this post. I will definitely watch the rest later.
Enjoy...

What did you think?
xxxPoppy

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Original Ideas

Super excited because I've got the day off school tomorrow, and will have heaps of extra time to write some posts, find some awesome new blogs to read and I might even make a video for Thursday? If you have a blog, I'd love to check it out, leave your URL below! Oh, and of course, catch up on some homework. Also, if you have any video/post ideas, I'd love to see them below.

ANYWAY, to get onto the actual reason I am here today, I'm taking a course at school at them moment, called introduction to philosophy or something similar. I'm finding it kind of hard because it is asking, unlike most of my other subjects, for what you think. And just what you think, not what you think because of what someone else thought!

Does anyone else think that it is slightly alarming that we aren't being taught how to think for ourselves, but are just being taught to draw conclusions from what other people have said? Because I think this is a serious problem. If we are only being taught to make our 'thoughts' from what other people have said how will we deal with problems in the future, that haven't been faced before?

If we are only being taught,

or even told that we have to, model our ideas off others and any idea we have has to backed up with evidence FROM SOMEONE ELSE, we are never going to have original ideas. Yeah, it may not be a requirement in the workforce, but it that is how you have been told to do it at school for years, that is how you are going to do it. Original ideas are become rarer and rarer, because we are not 'allowed' to have them at school.

Having an original idea is becoming harder, because so many people have lived before,but it is not impossible. Original, by definition, means not dependant on other people's ideas. So even if your 'original' idea is similar to someone else's it is still original, provided that it hasn't been influenced by someone else.

But isn't everything influenced by something? Me, sitting here, writing this blog post, isn't because I suddenly had the idea that there was this issue. It was because of the conversations I've had, the things I think, and the people around me. Does this mean my writing isn't my 'original idea'? Or is the difference if you seek out the influence, if you are looking for something to tell you how to think and then have an idea because of that, it is not an 'original idea'? If we are constantly surrounded by other peoples ideas and thoughts, how will we ever have an original idea, something that is purely our own.

But then again, if you have a thought, and it isn't because of something you just read because you wanted to have that thought, is it an original idea? Yes it has been influenced by people, and the things you have experienced, but that is all part of who you are. Writing this now, I think it is what I believe.

So, I think we have established that you can have an original idea. Let's go with, if it's an idea you've had and weren't looking for, or reading something that told you what to think (cause hey, that would give everyone who worked for media a whole lot of power), it's an original idea! But are we ever going to use our ability to have an original idea if we aren't taught how? I don't think so.

If we are being told that we have to get the right answer, and that we have to base our work off what other people have said, we are just copying them, in a way. In a subtle way we are being taught that originality is bad (hey, let's save more on that for another post), and that we need to have evidence from someone else or what we are saying is useless.

I'm not saying we shouldn't listen to anything other people have said, but I am saying that I think it is important to have an equalish balance between 'original ideas' and researching what other people think.

I'd really like to hear what you think about this post, and what it's talking about? Do you think having original ideas is no longer important? Or do you think that we need to learn to think for ourselves?
xxxPoppy

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Letting it Go

I have been going through a bit of a hard time with  some people recently and I am sure everyone has been through something similar at some point.  It is a horrible feeling, and can make simple things feel a lot harder.  I am not going to share the story here as it involves other people but I will share what I have learnt from the experience. Maybe it will help you if you are going through something similar.

The main thing I think that I learnt from this experience is that if you want something to change, you have to do something about it.  It may seem easier to sweep everything under the rug and pretend that nothing ever changed but this won't fix anything.  You need to stand up for yourself, and not let other people walk over you.

I have also learnt how to deal with stress and managing my anger (because a lot of this has made me really angry). I would have preferred not to go through this horrible experience at all, but to draw something good from it- it has taught me a few valuable skills;

-dealing with people I don't like

-ignoring things, rather than replying in anger

-and, most importantly, how to let something go and move on.

-and more, which you can read about in this post.

If you are going through something similar I would urge you to;

 -tell someone, like a parent or teacher. Not to make them fix it, but just to let them know what you are going through.

-try and be reasonable and calm. Don't reply when you are angry and always think before you say.

-not give the other person the power to hurt you (easier said than done), don't listen to what they might call you, and don't let them tell you that you did something you didn't do.

xxxPoppy

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Reading

I hope that anyone who started school last week had a good week (or as good as it could be). I've just started my 10th year of school, which in Australia, is the 3rd year of high school. (back to school posts can be found here)

The other day I was sitting in my English class, listening to my teacher talk about reading and how important it is that everyone is reading. It got me thinking, and although I might not have listened to the rest of her speech about reading, I was thinking about how important it is in my life. If you'd like to see some of the things I've been reading, check out these posts.

You think you don't read much?
A lot of people my age say they hate reading, or never read. But that is not true. You read everyday. Just think about it for a minute. You are reading this right now. But you also read when you turn on your phone to check social media, or when you get a text. You absentmindedly read all the signs and advertisements around you. Reading is such an important and significant part of your life, and you don't even realise it.

Think for a second, back to before you started school and learnt to read. Do you remember what it was like? I don't. But I can image it would be like being in a foreign country, where they speak a language that you don't understand- perhaps one with different letters or characters. So many people don't realise how much of an impact reading has on their lives, but it is just as important or significant, perhaps even more than numbers. But even then don't you read numbers too?

Why should you start reading?

Anyway, the main reason I am writing this post is because reading is such a huge part of my life, and I want to share that with you, and if reading isn't a big part of your life- I hope that I can inspire you to give it a go.

Reading a wide variety of things (from newspapers to blogs, novels to magazines) improves you vocabulary dramatically. You learn many different words, and the context they are used in, and this will translate and be evident in any writing that you do, and even in your everyday conversations.

Reading is also the best way to improve your spelling, which once again translates into your writing. (and when you have in class tests, it is reasonably valuable to know how to spell all those amazing words you hear.)

Why is reading such a big part of my life?

To be honest I don't really know. But I have always read, since I was little I have read for a while each night before I got to sleep, it is just normal in my family.
And I really enjoy it, it is something I can spend hours doing on the weekend or in the holidays, and generally speaking I never really find it boring.

Reading is a way of escaping, it gives us somewhere to go when we have to stay where we are. Through reading you can visit thousands of different worlds, without having to travel for even a minute.

Why is reading disappearing?

Most people don't read for fun. They don't enjoy, or have never tried, picking out the book at the shop and spending hours transported into another world. Personally, I believe that this is because we are so caught up with other things, and everyone is so busy. All the time that used to be spent reading is now taken up by social media or browsing the internet. I'm 100% not saying that you shouldn't still use the internet and social media. I just think that it is important that we still find time to do other things (like reading).

Another possible reason for how unpopular reading has become, could be schools. At the moment, we are constantly being told that we should be reading and we need to read everyday. And one way that is almost certain to make someone less likely or motivated to do something is to tell them they have to. By making 15 minutes of reading each night compulsory, or forcing books onto people, schools may just we working in the wrong direction.

One of my least favourite parts of school is having to read novels in class. The main reason for this being, that I find them boring. They always seem to choose the least interesting books for us to read in class, and really that is not going to help encourage anyone to start reading.  (and this paragraph is the actual reason I wrote this post)

Tying it up
It really frustrates me how people make it so loud when they hate or don't like something. Reading is something I really like, and I am perfectly fine if you don't want to read or have no interest in it. But I hope that you have read this and are aware of what you are missing out on by choosing not to read.

qotp: do you like reading? why?

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Being a quiet person.

Hi there,

I have a different kind of post planned for today, it's going to end up being a pretty long one. Today I wanted to share what I think about 'class participation'.

Every semester (that's twice a year) I receive a school report and must go and meet with all my teachers to discuss my learning. The feedback is almost always good. I am doing my work, achieving well in my assessments and I do most of the things that the teachers ask. But the one thing I hear from almost all my teachers is that I need to speak up and participate in class more. Sometimes every single one of my teachers will tell my parents and me that I can get better grades, especially for application to studies, if I participated in class discussions and shared my ideas with the rest of the class.

Honestly it makes me annoyed that I am expected to be willing to share my ideas with the rest of the class all the time, even if that is not who I am or what I want to do. Often it is overlooked that I do all my classwork and go up to ask the teachers questions when I need to. I am told that because I do not put my hand up in class discussions very often I am not participating in classes. I am always told that one of my goals could be contributing to class discussions more, and to a point that is a good goal. But my point is that it is not fair to expect me, or anyone else to be someone who they are not and do things they do not what to do simply to be participating.

I am an observer. I don't like jumping into things that I don't know anything about. I will listen, and think and form an opinion and idea and then, if I want, I will share it. I am not the sort of person who puts their hand up every single time the teacher asks a question, or just shouts out the answers. If I know the answer I will occasionally offer a response. But I don't want to be called upon all the time when I am perfectly happy to write my thoughts down and share when I have something meaningful to say.

I am tired of being overlooked, or told that what I am doing is not what they want. Especially when it comes to class participation. It is not taken into consideration that I take the time to carefully formulate my ideas before sharing them. No, it just isn't good enough that I am rarely sharing my ideas and answers. I am expected to adapt and fit in with all the noisy students in the class who shout out and are perfectly happy to share meaningless responses with the rest of the world. I am generally not allowed to learn in the way I prefer, quiet.

I believe that we, as a society, need to learn that it is important to value everyone how they are...not make them change to suit to circumstances all the time. I understand that I need to learn to adapt sometimes, but I do not think that it is fair to expect me to change all the time when there are some students who meet all the requirements, simply because they are vocal with their ideas- all the time! I find it difficult, especially since starting high-school last year, to be comfortable enough to speak up in my classes when the people I am around are constantly changing. Eventually, usually around this time of year, I am comfortable enough to start regularly contributing my ideas. But even then, I find it hard to keep up with the pace at which the discussion moves- I barely have any time to think of a response. I think that it is vital that we learn in include everyone, and give everyone equal opportunities to succeed and have a go- regardless of what type of learner they are.

There are ways around this problem. One of my teachers uses discussion based programs that give everyone a chance to properly think of a response before sharing it and seeing what others have done. Some teachers mark class participation on more than just speaking up, they take into consideration class work that you complete and completing the required activities. But some people don't seem to understand that not everyone wants to share, some people participate in different ways. There is one class in which I often get ignored because the teacher is too distracted by people yelling out to them.

I understand that I need to learn to work with others and share my ideas. But I don't believe that it should be this way all the time. The class needs to be suited to all different types of students not just those who work best bouncing their ideas off others. Or, at least, if we must do group work and share our ideas with everyone else at least the students pick people they are comfortable with talking to. Knowing one person in a group of 5 makes all the difference for me, yet no one seems to understand this. I am constantly being overshadowed by more vocal students.

Our world is increasingly becoming one for vocal and extroverted people. People who want to share and work in loud and stimulating environments. Everyone needs to be reminded that there are people who are not like this, people who mightn't work best in loud and stimulating environments. Yet no consideration is taken for these types of people. Everything is tailored towards more confident, out-going and extroverted people. We need to remember that our world is a balance of different people and just because someone doesn't speak up doesn't mean they don't have a valid opinion and something to share.

Below I have included a TED talk that I watched and found related closely to what I was taking about in this post.

Also, take a look at these articles, about being a quiet learner in the busy classroom, quiet students and being a quiet person.  

Please let me know in the comments if you enjoyed this post, any thoughts you have or if you would like to see more of this type of post.

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