Response to the Article “5 Things it Turns Out You Were Right to Hate About School”

After reading a book I heartily enjoy, I tend to stalk the author and find out what else they’ve written. Such is the case with the author of John Dies at the End, David Wong. Surfing through the JDATE Tumblr proved to be quite useful during this endeavor, as I found several articles written by Wong on Cracked.com. They reflect his books perfectly (by which I mean they’re both oddly dark while oddly entertaining), but I centered on the article listed above for several reasons.

Throughout this trimester our English class has been discussing modern education: how it isn’t working, what we can do to fix it, how it’s already changing (for better or for worse). Reading this article, however, brought up some more interesting points we haven’t yet addressed.

The kicker is, I’ve asked several teachers for their opinions on these five grievances, and they agreed with every single one. So, why haven’t our schools modified their curriculum to include the solutions to these problems? Well, in another article written by David Wong, he writes that the human brain is always going to resist improvement. It’s that little voice in our heads that tells us to put off that homework, those chores can wait until tomorrow, someone else will fix this for me. However, it’s our choice to ignore that voice and press forward.

I wholeheartedly agree with this article. What I wouldn’t give to divvy up those final exams, had more recess, understood algebra, to do away with grade-borne competition and middle school. I just hope that those in charge are as curious (and fanatic) as I am, and take David Wong’s words to heart.

Response to the Article “Why Everything is Bad For You”

So, I need food to survive, but food is the one thing that’s really going to kill me?

Fantastic.

What a cruel and ironic twist the universe has decided to throw into our path. If only we didn’t eat anything, or subsisted on worms and dirt, we would be living longer and healthier lives. While I don’t mind eating worms (I hear they’re actually quite tasty once you get over the whole “three hearts” thing), I’ll acknowledge that most of my country disagrees with me on this.

Perhaps the article is subtly jabbing at the foods industry, saying that they aren’t doing a well-enough job keeping millions of people from getting diseases from their products. (Although I think I can safely assume that if even one customer is sick through the company’s ignorance, it’s one too many) In that case, maybe we as a population should do the same. How long can we stand for the syrupy mess of a soda that will dissolve a rat in America?

I remember a time when I wasn’t afraid that whatever I was eating would finally push me into the risk category. Those peanut butter covered waffles with maple syrup heartily drizzled over it never tasted so sweet. (Honestly, they tasted a lot like salty, soggy dough… but also freedom!)

Someday, we’ll reach that spiritual enlightenment everyone’s always talking about, where we’ll evolve beyond the need to eat and will soar into space and join the aliens we secretly contacted years ago. Until that time, however, leave me to my bags of M&Ms and cans of Coke; I want to go out on a sugar high.

Link to the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/24/fashion/why-everything-is-bad-for-you.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=1

“Time is an ocean, not a garden hose. Space is a puff of smoke, a wisp of a cloud. Your mind… is a flying corn snake hovering through all the possibilities.” -Robert Marley, John Dies at the End