How to Succeed

Quote: "Because Americans natural tendency towards "educational romanticism" Murray wrote, we push students to go to college who are simply not smart enough to be there. High school guidance counselors and college admissions officers, lost in a "fog of wishful thinking, and euphemisms" encourage low IQ, low income students to attend colleges that are too intellectually demanding and end up dropping out."

Comment: Wow! I think this quote is definitely powerful and it really catches my attention because it exposes the realities of going to college. Many people come from different backgrounds and many students probably want a different lifestyle rather than living in the traditional American college preparedness system they have everyone going for. I'm not in all means trying to say that going to college is bad, but I feel like many should have the choice to be offered this opportunity but, it's up to the students who feel that they are actually prepared to go through college, take advantage of the opportunity given and make as much out of it.

Connection: In my perspective, I think that college is good in many ways depending on how you take advantage of it weather you graduate or not. If you go to college and you gain experience as well as expand your knowledge and actually get to graduate, I feel like those students grew as they were going through the college experience and actually want to peruse higher education in the future. Whereas someone who went to college and  had the same experience but didn't quite take advantage of it at all, might just have a different kind of interest in the way they learn and expand their creativity. College, I think, is a place where you can go and expand your mind, absorb in all the knowledge, and bring in your creativity by sharing it with others. And it doesn't matter if your smart or not everyone has their own way of being unique and being someone in life weather it is through college or not.

Questions: How can Americans persuade their students to want to learn and be prepared for college?
How can the country contribute to Americas students learning process?

The Three Laws of Mastery

Quote
As Carol Dweck says, "Effort is one of the things that gives meaning to life. Effort means you care about something, that something is important to you and you are willing to work for it. It would be an impoverished exsistance if you were not willing to value things and commit yourself to working toward them."

 Comment
I really like this quote because it speaks in general terms about having effort and what it means in various situations that are essential to the way you live your life. In my own interpretation, the quote to me meant that effort is what you make out of it, either you apply it to how you live and depending on different situations you may encounter yourself, effort can be developed throughout these situations and may be beneficial towards the way you might see life afterwards. Having said that, in simple terms to me it means that basically if you don't have effort in any point in your life, then you really didn't live a good life and there was no point of living your life without any struggles and what not. Effort is a simple skill that I think everyone acquires at a certain point in their life and its up to them weather or not to take advantage of it.

Connection
 I can absolutely connect with what this quote is defining because there has been numerous ocassions in my life in which I've had to use effort to try and work for the things that I want and am passionate about. If it weren't for the effort I put into each and every situation I encounter, then the point of having the reward at the end is pointless because you need to feel satisfied with your hard work.

Questions
Why do some people have no effort what so ever in what they do? Does this help peoples self esteem to know that they can accomplish something, anything with effort, something they didn't expect to accomplish?

Sports: The Mindset of a Champion

Quote: "The mental toughness and the heart are a lot stronger than some of the physical advantages you might have. I've always said that and believed in it." -Michael Jordan Comment: I think this is such a powerful quote that one of the greatest athletes alive has said, because it speaks from the heart carrying out such a significant message about not giving up, that it makes you believe in it as much as he does. Many athletes who play sports not only train physically but also mentally because it's a way to support the endurance of their game if they win or even if they loose. I agree with what Michael Jordan said because it speaks out to everyone who might not be believing in themselves due to their physical appearance. It encourages them to go out and practice as many times as possible, to never give up, and to be prepared mentally for whatever comes their way. Many things can happen in the world of sports but you have to really know your game and if your not perfect physically, maybe you can try being better at studying your opponents and having strategy in your game, which by the way never fails. It's all about mental toughness and really getting to know what your capable of doing if you push yourself everyday to your goal, or even past your goal. Connection: My connection to this would have to be in math. Reading the article I stumbled upon a point they were trying to make about having natural talent versus working for it and being mentally prepared. I think this applies to me in the real world with math because I'm not a natural mathematician who can solve a problem in the matter of seconds or even minutes. Math has honestly been a struggle for me in high school and I haven't really got around to actually understanding every concept that was taught. But now being a senior, and having switched into a math x-block I've noticed that by having more practice I've grown to understand more than I would of understood a while back. Personally I feel like I'm working hard at trying to get better in math and now I see the real value in practicing. Now, I can fully prepare my mind for any class that I might find difficult in college or any other thing that might come my way in life. I will know how to prewar myself for any situation. Questions: Can someone be a natural and still have a metal toughness?

Leibniz

Quote: "With Leibniz the mind and the hand went together so closely that thinking and writing were almost a single act, and he coped with the flood of his thoughts by writing them down." Comment:This quote really stood out to me because of the way it explains how everything literally happened without giving to much or too little. The information that was inferred in this quote was made to be very well understood by everyone, giving that it intended a simple message. In my understanding it was clear to me that there are various things that make up the world today, and without any of them nothing would have existed. One thing leads to another and once we realize it, there we have the world that we see everyday, growing and growing. And it really amazes me that it all happened very fast to a point where nobody can define the accuracy of the time period in which the Universe had started in. Connection: My connection to this is personal. Reading this has made me open my mind to many curiosities in life that I would like to know more about. As I was growing up I always wandered where everything came from and how everything was made, but I guess that's everyone. But as time went by I started noticing that there were certain beliefs and facts that people had of the universe. And at the time, I only believed in one certain person that could possibly ever create such a world, and that was God. And as of now I'm almost in between my beliefs and the facts researchers have came across. Question: How do the small atoms know what to form? What guides them? Do people really now why the ocean is salty? Whats the key of the start of the universe?

Newton QQC

Quote: "In his scientific efforts Newton somewhat resembled a live volcano, with long periods of quiescence punctuated from time to time by massive eruptions of almost superhuman eruption." Comment: I picked this particular quote because it was fascinating to read how people saw him as this incredible human being who changed the world of science and identifying his discoveries to be the start of modern science back in the day. He was described as a monumental man and considered to be one of the best made human beings god had created. I absolutely agree with the way they described him to be as an active volcano because he was constantly questioning why everything was the way it was, which then brought him to discover the many theories he has for things such as his discovery for the law of gravity. His mind was outstanding and I think that anybody will understand how his mind worked, or what he thought. Connection: The only connection that I have with this quote is how I see the world, I constantly wonder about the things that happen and why they happen, or certain things that can only work a certain way, so feel a connection to the way Newton felt when he first started wondering about the things around him. Question: How create the equation for gravity? Was he ever wrong about something?

Bill Bryson Chapter Five

Quote: " At least today we can bring some sophisticated dating techniques to the table. For most of the nineteenth century geologists could draw on nothing more than the most hopeful guesswork. The frustrating position then was that although they could place the various rocks and fossils in order by age, they had no idea how long any of those ages were. " Comment: I really like this quote because it has a lot of information that is condensed into one sentence and for me it summarizes the reading which is really interesting and confusing at the same time. So, having found this quote made me see all the important things that were important back when geology was first discovered. Reading about how geology was first discovered was fascinating to me because everything Hutton proved about Earth and how it was made, was really overwhelming and made all the more sense when put into practice back in the time that they were living in. It's just beautiful to see how our way of living and certain practices are changing very quickly and becoming more and more efficient. Connection: The only connection I have with this is the interest in geology because it's a very interesting subject to learn about and see how it has evolved with time. While reading about the many obstacles that Hutton had to overcome to have people believe in what he said about Earth was very inspiring because he never gave up and always kept trying to prove his theories to make sense of everything. Question: Why didn't they publish Hutton's last book?

Bill Bryson Chapter Four

Quote: "Everywhere the dwindling party went it was met with the deepest suspicions from officials who found it difficult to believe that a group of French scientists would travel halfway around the world to measure the world." This quote really stood out to me since the beginning of the chapter because once you read it, it doesn't really make that much sense. I mean, honestly nobody would travel that far just to measure the world. But as I was reading further into the chapter I found out that a lot of these experts wanted to find this out because for a long time this clueless measure was to every geniuses interest, weather it being for the fame or the money, they all wanted to be the first one to discover this worldwide mystery. It was something only mathmeticians and experts in the field knew how to figure out. They had all this background information based on what Einstein believed in how Earth was formed, and it's structure, so they had reason to travel all the way to South America to measure the Earth and everywhere else since the measurements weren't the same in every country according to what Einstein stated. "Once in a great while, a few times in history, a human mind produces an observation so acute and unexpected that people can’t quite decide which is the more amazing—the fact or the thinking of it." And this quote is just fascinating to me since it's truly amazing how back in the days there were so many intelligent people who lived and discovered nearly the impossible. This quote just does a really good job of describing how the feeling of discovering something amazing feels like. Connection: The only connection I have with this chapter are the many questions I have about life and why it works the way it does. I mean, honestly reading this chapter apart from being very engaging it came to me as really deep and made me reflect on the way I see math now. I'm not really good at math because I truly don't understand the meaning behind it all, but having read this has totally changed my mind and made me look at math to be very important and useful in life. The various people mentioned in the chapter were beyond intelligent and changed the way we seem to perceive life on Earth as well as question it, and to me that it more than enough as to value the art of math. Comment: I loved reading this chapter, it has to be the best chapter I've read so far. It caught my attention since I never knew who had discovered the many things we now know about Earth and the way it functions. Questions: Can we read more of these chapters?