College knowledge

            It’s that time of year again at New Trier, where colleges come to visit and pitch their schools to curious students, and Seniors stress for countless hours writing letters to their university of choice.  The college application process, at New Trier especially, is treated like a life or death situation in many cases.  Obviously senior year of high school is extremely important for individuals who plan to attend college, and understanding the process going into senior year is essential for career planning.  But there is a point where high school students and their parents tend to stress too much at the wrong times.  On the north shore especially, kids are brainwashed from an early age about college, and are asked by adults what university they plan to attend before they are out of grade school. 

         
   My college of choice was at school today so I decided to do a little experiment on what my teacher, Mr. O’Connor said in my American Studies class (that they are a waste of time).  He couldn’t have been more right.  For a Junior in my first semester especially, the information that I got did not concern me yet, and I’m sure won’t have any influence on whether I get in or not.   In my opinion, our only goal regarding college up until our Senior year in high school should be maintaining a reasonable GPA and achieving your goal on the ACT.  Our college counselors will do their jobs and help us, to the best of their abilities, get into the institution best suited for us.  What do you guys think about how New Trier students handle the college process? Does our “head start” actually benefit us?

Another United States Tragedy

Just days after the indictment of Nidal Hasan for his involvement in the Fort Hood massacre, a nearly identical act of malice against innocent US citizens has occurred.  This morning at 8, a former Naval reservist was able to drive his car up to the Navy Yard base in Washington D.C. where he immediately shot and killed a police officer before making his way inside to execute more civilians.  It seems too coincidental that this attack is so disturbingly similar to that of the one that took place at Fort Hood in November, 2009.  Aaron Alexis, the gunman, was discharged from the Navy in 2011 for a "pattern of misbehavior," similar to the situation of Hasan.  Both took their abilities out on their own military division bases, killing an almost identical amount of people.  The motive of Alexis remains unknown, but weeks after the anniversary of 9/11 and the Benghazi attacks, Americans are on edge as to what will happen next.  Regardless of the thought process of this disturbed cold-blooded killer, nobody feels safe anymore! Eleanor Holmes Norton, the congressional representative for the District of Colombia, referred to the events that took place today as "an attack on our country."  What measures of security do we have to go to in order to keep our people safe if some of our greatest enemies are citizens of our own beloved country?  A recap of today's events can be seen here.

The Role of a World Power

The world has been informed in great detail about the events that have taken place in Syria over the past 3 weeks.  The appalling acts of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad have left the United Nations in a very difficult predicament regarding what to do. Since that time the main course of action has been a "strike" delivered my the US military without setting any American boots on Syrian soil. Best of both worlds right? We end al-Assad's regime and don't risk placing American soldiers in harms way. Unfortunately the world is a much more complicated place than we always envision it.

This evening at 8, President Obama addressed the Nation regarding the crisis.  Over the course of the speech he repeatedly cited a quote from a letter that he received from an ordinary US citizen, that the United States are the "world policemen."  Obama's denial of that terminology may seem out of line certain people, as the assumption is that whenever a catastrophe occurs we need to step in. When Obama said that my father (Republican) replied with an explitive. But if we think about it, did any US army members step foot in Darfur? No only emergency aid provided by the UN was deployed, more info here.  Or what about Rwanda in 1994? The only troops deployed there weren't even given weapons, they were there simply to help the displced citizens, reported here.

People across the country express and foster the misleading assumption that the United States is the "World's Policemen." But in this situation some type of action needs to be taken.  Russia's recent "agreement" to extract all chemical weapons from Syria is the primary option, but if that falls through, who knows what Assad's regime will do next?  The congressional vote regarding wheter to strike Syria has been postponed until Russia's decision has been made, summarized here.  If Russia backs out, all eyes will be on the United States, and regardless of what happens with Vladimir Putin and the Russian government, Assad's atrocities cannot go unpunished