Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Plagarism Blog
1. In the case of University of Virginia, they punishment that those students recieved was pretty harsh, considering that they just left them in Greece, and made them retake all the classes they took that semester. I think that they should have recieved another form of punishment, but I am not sure exactly what it should be. When I read that the honor code is 150 years old, it made me think that they should look at plagirism from a 21st century viewpoint. I think that if a person writes a particular thing and then a teacher finds that same line someone on the internet, people have to remeber that there is only so many ways that a person can say a particular line or pharse. Alison just told me about this website called turnitin.com which seems crazy that common sentences that a person writes, even if they wrote them on their own, can still be considered plagirism. So, plagirism is a sticky, weird, subject.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
English Essay #5
Courtney Ryan
Lauren Servais
17 November 2008
English 1A
Every time I got to the grocery store, the clerk will ask me how I am doing. Most of the time I will just say, “I`m good”, even when this is not true. Lies, wait, aren`t people who tell lies liars? The other day in class we discussed lying and Lauren posed the question of, is it possible to lie and still be an honest person. My first response was to say, well no. Although the more that I thought about it, and we talked as a class. My views were opened up to realize that this question is not so black and white. Many things came up with this conversation. I think that most people do lie, as I it is very difficult not to lie, when we live in a culture that seems to accept small acts of dishonesty. There is a big difference between small lies that only affect you and a few others, and a lie that will affect many people.
An example of an accepted lie is Santa that we seem to tell children often. When adults become parents, many parents begin to tell children things that are not true. Christmas time is a good example of this. Most parents in our country begin to tell our children that Santa Clause is a real person. We do so, telling our children that he is real, only we cannot see him. I know of many people whom I would call honest, who tell their children about Santa. This is part of being a child is having these ideas and having an imagination to make believe. It is interesting to look back on how I viewed my parents, and how much I believed in Santa. They were also very honest people. This is because we have created socially accepted lies, that eventually every children find out the truth. This lie is only told to young people, and has become part of the childhood experience.
We live in a culture that seems to accept lies. I think that people often tell lies just to save themselves from something they did. In this case, it is often easier to just lie, than confess. We are a culture that doesn`t accept the truth as much as I think we could. When most people get pulled over by the cops, it is our first reaction to lie and act as though we didn`t know we had done something wrong. This is done because people want to save themselves, and don`t want to admit the truth. People would rather try to get out of a difficult situation, then to say the truth. We have these cultural norms that we are supposed to follow, and a certain way that we expect others to act. It is often times easier to act innocent then recognize what you did, and accept that as the truth.
When talking about lies, I must clarify that I think it is possible to tell small lies, and still be an honest person. We live in a society that makes small insignificant lies acceptable. Yet, if a person tells long involved “out there” lies, that they tell all the time, then I would consider them to be a liar. It is when a person tells a crazy lie, when the truth might have been easier, and perhaps not so difficult to discuss. It is when a person tells lies just because they feel that they can, or just to completely disguise the truth.
I think that how a person views lying has a lot to do with the morals a person has. I was raised in a family that taught me that lying is not good. Not in any situation, nor for any reason. I grew up as a pretty honest person, for that was encouraged in my family. In my house it was spelled out crystal clear that if you lie, you were a liar and that if you never lied you were an honest person. Meanwhile other families might either directly or indirectly teach their children that lying is acceptable, as long as you do not get caught for your actions. Your morals are your own personal beliefs about something, and I think that the subject of lying falls into that. I wish it wasn`t accepted for people to make up big lies, as they can cause many people harm. Many people believe that if they can get away with lying, then it is alright. This works for some people although it can have some very consequences.
One may say that a person will lie most to the ones that they care about. As we all know, people are sensitive and often time’s people will say lies to someone that we care about. Would they still be considered a liar? We as humans often want to hear what we think, even if this is not how the other person really feels. This often comes up when someone will ask another person how they look. Often times even when a person says you look great, they will say that they look good even when the other person doesn` t look very good in their opinion. I would prefer honesty, although some may argue that this is an acceptable lie, simply because you care about the other person. Yet, I think that this falls into the category of a white lie. For it doesn`t affect a large group of people of people, and the only person you are potentially hurting is the other individual.
As a society I feel as though we should strive for a culture that is as honest as we can possibly be. Even though small lies are always going to happen, I feel it would be in our best interest to try to be an honest group of people. People respect honesty and I think people would respect other people more if we all told the truth as much as possible.
Lauren Servais
17 November 2008
English 1A
Every time I got to the grocery store, the clerk will ask me how I am doing. Most of the time I will just say, “I`m good”, even when this is not true. Lies, wait, aren`t people who tell lies liars? The other day in class we discussed lying and Lauren posed the question of, is it possible to lie and still be an honest person. My first response was to say, well no. Although the more that I thought about it, and we talked as a class. My views were opened up to realize that this question is not so black and white. Many things came up with this conversation. I think that most people do lie, as I it is very difficult not to lie, when we live in a culture that seems to accept small acts of dishonesty. There is a big difference between small lies that only affect you and a few others, and a lie that will affect many people.
An example of an accepted lie is Santa that we seem to tell children often. When adults become parents, many parents begin to tell children things that are not true. Christmas time is a good example of this. Most parents in our country begin to tell our children that Santa Clause is a real person. We do so, telling our children that he is real, only we cannot see him. I know of many people whom I would call honest, who tell their children about Santa. This is part of being a child is having these ideas and having an imagination to make believe. It is interesting to look back on how I viewed my parents, and how much I believed in Santa. They were also very honest people. This is because we have created socially accepted lies, that eventually every children find out the truth. This lie is only told to young people, and has become part of the childhood experience.
We live in a culture that seems to accept lies. I think that people often tell lies just to save themselves from something they did. In this case, it is often easier to just lie, than confess. We are a culture that doesn`t accept the truth as much as I think we could. When most people get pulled over by the cops, it is our first reaction to lie and act as though we didn`t know we had done something wrong. This is done because people want to save themselves, and don`t want to admit the truth. People would rather try to get out of a difficult situation, then to say the truth. We have these cultural norms that we are supposed to follow, and a certain way that we expect others to act. It is often times easier to act innocent then recognize what you did, and accept that as the truth.
When talking about lies, I must clarify that I think it is possible to tell small lies, and still be an honest person. We live in a society that makes small insignificant lies acceptable. Yet, if a person tells long involved “out there” lies, that they tell all the time, then I would consider them to be a liar. It is when a person tells a crazy lie, when the truth might have been easier, and perhaps not so difficult to discuss. It is when a person tells lies just because they feel that they can, or just to completely disguise the truth.
I think that how a person views lying has a lot to do with the morals a person has. I was raised in a family that taught me that lying is not good. Not in any situation, nor for any reason. I grew up as a pretty honest person, for that was encouraged in my family. In my house it was spelled out crystal clear that if you lie, you were a liar and that if you never lied you were an honest person. Meanwhile other families might either directly or indirectly teach their children that lying is acceptable, as long as you do not get caught for your actions. Your morals are your own personal beliefs about something, and I think that the subject of lying falls into that. I wish it wasn`t accepted for people to make up big lies, as they can cause many people harm. Many people believe that if they can get away with lying, then it is alright. This works for some people although it can have some very consequences.
One may say that a person will lie most to the ones that they care about. As we all know, people are sensitive and often time’s people will say lies to someone that we care about. Would they still be considered a liar? We as humans often want to hear what we think, even if this is not how the other person really feels. This often comes up when someone will ask another person how they look. Often times even when a person says you look great, they will say that they look good even when the other person doesn` t look very good in their opinion. I would prefer honesty, although some may argue that this is an acceptable lie, simply because you care about the other person. Yet, I think that this falls into the category of a white lie. For it doesn`t affect a large group of people of people, and the only person you are potentially hurting is the other individual.
As a society I feel as though we should strive for a culture that is as honest as we can possibly be. Even though small lies are always going to happen, I feel it would be in our best interest to try to be an honest group of people. People respect honesty and I think people would respect other people more if we all told the truth as much as possible.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Male and Female Ideal
As discussed in the article, the media shows that women need to look a certian way, and that this is the only way that someone will find you desirable. That if you fall into a particular body type, you will have a great life. Men need to be manly and they need to be a tough, gruff man. This is shown in movies where men always appear to be muscular. This is also shown in magazines that Lisa is looking at, including Mens Health. Masculine and feminine are also taught by our parents who show us the way that a boy and girl are supposed to be. Parents whether aware of it or not are teaching there children the way a child is supposed to act, soley based on their sex. I work at a health club, and it seems like kids are wearing adult clothing, just smaller, it is as if we are teaching our children to grow up and become young boys and girls as opposed to just kids. Looks seem to matter at a small age.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Election Results
I was so very excited to see Barack Obama become our new president!!! Last night was so historical I feel grateful to be alive to have witnessed history. I know it sounds cliche, but it is true. I knew he was going to win, but to see it happen, ah just amazing. He may not accomplish everything we want him to during his term, but I at least I know he is on the right track, and I feel like he cares about the people. I volunteered for his campaign, so it was nice to see my work, and, the work of so many others pay off. It is weird to me how we can vote for an African American to be president, yet we ban gay marriage in California. We take these huge steps nationally, yet on a state level, we cannot even give people the freedom to marry who they want to marry. I don`t get it. I heard that the smart train passed, which seems rather silly to me. Seeing as this train only goes to Larkspur, I don`t think it is a cost effective project. Even though you will be able to get on a train, you still have to pay for parking, and then the train. I don`t get it. I have mixed feeling about this election, but thank goodness Obama is our president!!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)