The article is about how conformity kills individuality in teens. While conformity is necessary for a society to function, too much conformity can make people feel it is wrong to be themselves. Also, without non-conformists, society wouldn’t advance for the better. Overall, too much conformity can cause a lack of originality, which is a major problem many people, especially teens, face.

I completely agree with this article. I struggle to balance individuality with conformity because following the crowd is so much easier. However, sometimes you have to disagree with others and be original.

What can we do to increase individuality in our society?

To what extent should we conform, and to what extent do we be original?

https://medium.com/teens-in-the-21st-century/conformity-kills-individuality-35a398880fa5

I read the book Farenheit 451. I think the book was surprising in many ways, and I think the message still applies to this day. I’d recommend it to anyone who likes dystopias, and anyone wanting to read a dystopian novel. My project will be a test about the book.

People in America should be unique and have individuality; however, they should contribute to society for the greater good. America is a country based on individualism, and you can achieve the freedom to do whatever you want if you get enough money. However, people with so much money can forget where they came from and not give back to the community. We should be unique individuals with our own money, but we should all give back to the poorest people who do all the hard work that runs America.

Many of our actions reflect what society pushes us to do. Numerous people play a sport or do after-school activities because their parents force them to. People follow the rules not because they want to but because they fear getting into trouble. Some people live how they want and are autonomous. However, the average person conforms to society. What we can do about this is to be more encouraging of different people rather than force them to conform. We also have to admit that conformity isn’t completely bad. We must conform to be a part of society and build connections with others.

I chose the book Fahrenheit 451. I chose this book because it is a dystopian classic. The book is controversial; it is banned in several US schools. The story is about a world where books are outlawed, and any books found are burnt. The book is a social commentary on censorship, freedom of speech, and more. So far, the book doesn’t seem like a book that would be banned. I find it ironic that a book about censorship is getting censored. The book starts with a fireman named “Guy Montag”; however, instead of putting out fires, he starts them. Traditional firemen are no longer needed since all houses are fireproof; instead, firemen burn books. Overall, it will be a good read and a worthy classic to learn from.

• What does this quote mean to you?

This quote means that every now and then we have opportunities to help others, but that many smaller opportunities to help others happen to us every day around us.

• How do you help those around you?

Well, there are many ways to help those around you, they aren’t too complicated, and don’t all necessarily require money. Being kind to somebody that is having a bad day is an easy way to help those around you, even if you don’t necessarily like that person. Also, if somebody feels frustrated, sad, mad, just talking to them nicely can be enough. Also, if you see somebody on the street begging for food, or money, buy them a sandwich, some water, and give them some money to buy food and water for the next day.

• What is a “small opportunity” that you have around you to help someone else that you don’t take advantage of?  Why?

A small opportunity to help somebody might be to be nice to them when they’re frustrated, but you’re mean to them because you might be frustrated yourself.  There are lots of small opportunities that happen to you every day, that you may not take advantage of for many reasons.

This is the end of my blog post, bye!

The PSSAs are coming soon! So if you are reading this in a state that isn’t Pennsylvania, or you live in PA but you don’t do a test called the PSSA, let me explain to you what they are. PSSA stands for Pennsylvania System of School Assessment. So you know by what it stands for that it is a test, or an assessment. The PSSA is a state wide test in PA that most schools in PA take that cover English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science. (Science is for 4th grade and 8th grade only). The first week of testing is ELA (English Language Arts). Then, the next week is for Mathematics. It covers everything you should’ve learned from the beginning of the school year, until now. You take it from 3rd grade to 8th grade.

So now that I got that part of the blog covered, now on to the real part. My opinion on the PSSAs and overall standardized testing. My opinion on tests and the PSSAs aren’t really great. I understand that the PSSAs are necessary to test all your 6th grade students what they know from the whole school year. But I think they’re boring, and the stories aren’t near interesting. But, the PSSAs also have some perks. Most teachers don’t give away homework during the PSSAs, and no vocab tests. Also, you get lots of goodies and treats from the PSSAs. I think they’re decently hard, but the thing really gets me are the TDAs.(Text Dependent Analysis). They’re not way too hard to answer, but you have to write so much if you get a big one. There are a couple of small ones, but those are only about one or two paragraphs long. I’m not really a fan of most types of tests, but I’m ready for the PSSA!

“The Rose that Grew from Concrete” by Tupac Shakur
Did you hear about the rose that grew
from a crack in the concrete?
Proving nature’s law is wrong it
learned to walk without having feet
Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams,
it learned to breathe fresh air.
Long live the rose that grew from concrete
when no one else ever cared.

What is he trying to teach in this poem?

I think what Tupac Shakur is trying to teach in this poem is that a human can do whatever other people think that person cannot do. Like everyone could laugh at you at your dream to become a famous basketball player, but then you someday become a famous basketball player. This person followed his or her dreams, and ignored all the others. Just like the rose grew just from concrete when nobody thought it would survive because every other rose needs soil to grow. So the theme basically is, follow your dreams, no matter what the other people say.

What does the rose symbolize? 

The rose symbolizes a person that nobody thinks can succeed. But the rose (person) proves everyone wrong by proving that by follow his or her dreams, he or she could grow out of concrete by following his or her dreams. (Just like a person that was doubted by everyone, and finally makes it big.)

 What is his tone towards his subject?

His tone towards the subject doesn’t seem way too serious, but not to careless either. It explains that by following your dreams you can do or be anything you want in life. Just like the rose growing out of concrete.

Well that’s it for the blog post. Hope you enjoyed reading!

Hello, I know I haven’t posted in a REALLY long time. But lets hope I can start posting more often again. So, here we go. Yes, rap definitely is a form of poetry. In poetry you use lots of figurative language, sometimes lots of rhyming words, and much more. You use these things in a poem. Well, rap basically has all the same things. Rap may sound a lot different then when you read a poem. But that’s because of auto-tune, and the way they sing the rap songs. Rap, and poems are basically the same way, they just sound different because the way they sing them. So yes, rap is a form of poetry.

Hello everyone, today’s blog post is going to be about economics. Economics is an interesting thing to talk about, and it’s all around you everyday. In today’s blog post I’m going to be talking about what I learned about economics, and what we’re doing inside the classroom to learn about.

So first, what I know about goods.  Goods are items that a person purchases, usually food or drinks or things that a person needs/wants.  An example of a good might be steak, or potatoes, or something else a person purchases. But there’s something else too, something called a service. A service is a job or something you do for another person and then you get paid for doing it. Like for example if your toilet or sink needs to be repaired, also you either don’t want to do it yourself or you don’t know how to do it yourself you can call a plumber, and you can pay them to do it for you. There are a lot of services nowadays, like getting a haircut or constructing a house. All of those things are jobs/services that you pay money for. Now a different topic, opportunity cost. This one is really easy to explain. So imagine you were deciding between buying carrots for $2.00, or potatoes for $2.00, if you decided to buy the carrots, then the $2.00 for the potatoes was your opportunity cost between the two items. Finally, I’m going to talk about one more thing before the blog post moves on to what we’re doing inside the class about economics. Supply, and demand. This is actually a big thing in our classroom. Supply and demand is how much there is there is too sell, and how many people want it. For example if an item is super popular but there aren’t that many of it. The price is going to be very high. But if the item isn’t really popular, also there are a ton of it, the price isn’t going to be high so people buy it anyway.

Inside of the classroom we have something called a “checkbook” where we earn money from doing things in the class, and we earn a paycheck every other week. We also pay bills, and if we do bad in class we pay money. We bought a car, we’re planning a “vacation” at the end of the year, and we’re doing much more. This helps me learn real life economics because I know what I should spend money on, how I should finance, and much more.

I think when I grow up I may be more in the middle of a saver, and a spender. I really like to buy things, and there are lots of things I really want in life. But I also know that I need to save money if I ever want to get anywhere in life. Saving is a really good thing to do when financing, and I plan on doing a lot of it. But spending will most likely always be a part of me.

Finally, here’s why it is important to save for a rainy day. A “rainy day” is a quote for when a surprise bill or emergency comes up without expected. I think you should always save for a rainy day because you never know what will happen next. Also if you have to call the ambulance or a fire happens, or you need a trip to the doctor because you’re sick. If you don’t have money to do this, then problems may start to arise.