Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Synthesis Essay

The short story called, "The Most Powerful Question a Parent Can Ask..." by 'Neil Millar' shows the most respectful approach of parents to their children rather than "Be-ers and Doers" by 'Budge Wilson' in many ways. I feel that the story by "Neil Millar" is told in a calmer manner of speaking rather than the one written by "Budge Wilson". Everyone grows up differently but the effects grow depending on the matter of time when you are taught to become responsible. Every parent teaches their child different aspects at different times. Some are earlier than others and some must be later.

In the short story, "The Most Powerful Question a Parent Can Ask..." by 'Neil Millar' shows the most respectful approach of parents to their children because when they talk to their children, they make them understand in a calm voice and not be all tensed which will just confuse the child. Also they make their children understand by not forcing them to do chores, but telling them how responsibility will grow on you later in life, and eventually you will have to learn it at some point of life. They explain to their kids much more in a depth concept which makes their kids want to learn so they will be well prepared for the future. "Parents are guides and leaders to their children, not a nanny." Parents show their children and make them realize how important it is to learn it and they keep pushing until they want to learn it because it is only your parents who truly love you. Neil Millar starts his inspiring essay by setting the scene of, "a loving parent striving to give your children the best life you can offer", this is relating to most parents with their children. Neil is mainly setting his goal to help parents, "raise well-rounded, confident, considerate children that show gratitude and appreciation for all that is give to them". It is very clear that he shows that it is important to slowly develop a relationship with your child and then building from there will become a strong bond.


In the short story, "Be-ers and Doers" by 'Budge Wilson' shows a respectful approach of parents to their children but not as most respectful as it is done in the short story, "The Most Powerful Question a Parent Can Ask...". In "Be-ers and Doers", the parents tone of voice is told in a much forcing manner where you put your child in a position where he or she gets "fed up" and "doesn't care". Telling your child by making them understand is the main key in keeping a healthy relationship. If there is just yelling and forcing, the child will eventually never do anything because of the aggressive behavior. The mother in this story mainly focuses on having "doer" children rather than "be-er". She, herself is a "doer" and her loving husband was always the "be-er". "All the time she [was] talking, she'd be knitting up a storm, or mixing dough, or pushing a mop--hands forever and ever on the move." When she saw that Albert had a good report card, she still forced on him having a better one. Also he wasn't that great in math, and she kept forcing him to do better but he believed that he could count a grocery bill and besides that, math was useless to him. Although he was greatly successful in English. The mother mainly had high exceptions for her children, just like herself. Eventually as time passes by, forcing a child push he or she away from the parent. Albert got fed up and left in the end. He was working as a stevedore. He believed that he was living a happy life and he didn't need more to make him happy.

It is evident that in the short story, "The Most Powerful Question a Parent Can Ask..." by 'Neil Millar', shows the most respectful approach of parents to their children because there is not as much forcing as there is in "Be-ers and Doers". The way of respect is shown and understood in a calmer manner. The parents are basically just your guides or leaders to the future in front of you. The short story, "Be-ers and Doers" by 'Budge Wilson' shows that respect is important, but turning someone into who their not is just wrong. In order to do the right thing, it should also encounter the choice of who your making it to be. The mother in this story was always the "doer" and believed that her kids had to follow, but the stress and forcing behavior just pushed her child away from her. In order to maintain a proper relationship with your child, you must respect them the way you want to be respected.

Debates - Profanity

The use of profane language in our society is increasing vastly. The numbers are rising rapidly. Anywhere we go or where we are, we are always surrounded by racist, arrogant and rude people. Once you hear people using this arrogant language, you are being influenced to use it too and it sticks to your brain. Some people assume its "cool" to use this and they do it to fit in, but it is just making out society a much horrible place to be. Day by day, the English language is filling up with repulsive vocabulary. Society's morals have reduced to such a low level due to the excessive amounts of profanity used so carelessly in everyday speech. You see it in television, video games, and hear it in music. Mostly associating in "rap". Listening to this profanity is encourages us to use it, not only adults but young children who don't the the meaning of these words. Children, teens and adults using this is causing the respect grown in relationships to break due to this misuse of language. As you can see, profanity is not only losing respect in most people but it is influencing people with the wrong behavior.


No matter how many times you try to stop profanity, it will always be used. Some people think its terrible vocabulary to be used in public, but really it's just letters combined from the alphabet and put into words just like any other words are. People say don't use that language, but its not like they haven't heard it before. Everyone is aware of the profane language and by using it is not making a difference in today's society. Using this tense of language is just another way of expressing ourselves. Everything changes while the clock is ticking, the time is changing and so is the language. The use of new language is being adapted to our lives. Most people such as adults tend to judge kids because of the use of their language, I believe you shouldn't judge people who are just using regular language that they probably have too. When we grow, the language happens to grow onto us. Freedom of speech is an important ideal that we have strived for and now we can finally put this language in use and allow it in our everyday life.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Letter of Concern

Jan 19, 2010

Mr. Kleats
174 Baller Ville Ave
AliHoop, British Columbia
Canada V5R 7D4

Robin Scott
534 Caribbean Drive
Vancouver, British Columbia
Canada S5H F7J

Dear Mr. Kleats:

My name is Robin Scott and I am the mother of Serena Scott. My daughter is involved in the Grade 11 Girls Basketball team and I'm aware you are the coach of that team. She has the biggest passion for basketball and loves playing for your team. She is a big part of your team since she is the starting point guard and has got awarded MVP for eight games in a row. I just wanted to mention some of the thoughts that have crossed my mind lately.

I have slightly just realized that you sometimes happen to arrive late to practices. You have a brilliant team and they love playing for you but they have also starting arriving late because they see their coach is. It would be beneficial if you would arrive on time so the players would look up to their coach and do the same as well. Or if you have any close graduated students that play basketball, having them help out would also benefit the time and the players would tend to arrive on time or maybe even earlier. Also another thing that also crossed my mind was the profane language that has been used to the young female stars. I would like to suggest that this might cause anger and violence during playing time because the players might get offended. Using positive language toward those players will encourage them to enjoy the game and just have fun. Therefore, they would use that proper language toward their opponents too.

I have noticed that some team members are receiving very little playing time which is making the players aggressive and offensive. If the team members play equally and work together to gain higher knowledge of skills, this will make all the players happy and there will be no violence involved over who got to play more than others. I realize that winning is important, but if you play all your team mates, they will all get to experience the game in different ways and get to play, and maybe even win because of their team work put together. In order for everyone to play, the coach must have balanced practices. It comes to my attention that sometimes practices get disorganized. My daughter loves playing basketball and always looks forward to come play with her team mates and improve her skills so it can benefit the team. I would like to suggest that maybe having practices planned ahead of time will cause no confusion for the team and everyone will be happy. Or also you could have one of your team mates organize them for you in case you have a busy schedule. This can benefit the team on improving skills and having fun.

Lastly, I feel that too much emphasis to placed on winning and I agree that it is a good thing to win, but team work is also the major key to success. Playing all your team mates will satisfy all of them because their playing for the enjoyment and exercise. Also to be out there with their friends. As long as everyone is having fun, I feel that the score board shouldn't effect on who gets to play more. Maybe after all, having fun out there can also bring you the championship trophy instead of playing with anger and hatred. Team work is what brings the team together.

I would like to thank you for looking at my letter of concern. I know you have a busy life with school, family and coaching your team. I feel that if you read this letter, it will strongly benefit your team in a great way. Also it will encourage your players that team work is the main key to success and it will make them phenomenal players with positive attitude towards their coach, team mates and opponents.



Sincerely,




Robin Scott

Monday, January 18, 2010

Expository Essay - Certain experiences mark the beginning of maturity

Many things in life can mark the beginning of maturity. Becoming mature is like another door opening in your life. The film "Coach Carter" is based on a true story. It shows how young boys can become men with the influence of one individual. It shows how somebody can change your life. The term"respect" is the main key in the movie which made a difference in each of the students. Also the film "The Game Plan" associates with a football player who doesn't have any idea that he has a daughter. The love between the two grows incredibly throughout the film. It shows whats more important in life and that family comes first.

In the film "Coach Carter", based on a true story, young black African American boys lived in a little place called Richmond. These boys had no sense of responsibility or respect. They didn't care about school, their grades or any other sort of important thing in their lives. They thought this high school journey of theirs would be a walk through with no rules or discipline until they got a new basketball coach. His name was Coach Carter. When these young African American boys had met their new coach, they gave him no respect at all, used slang words such as "nigga" which they said to him and threatened him that they weren't afraid of him and could take him out. Unfortunately they did not end up getting their way this time. Coach Carter made them run multiple times more than they did before and taught them to call everyone "sir" because it is a form of respect. These boys developed to grow mature day by day by the help of their new coach. They only won four games last season with their old coach, but this year, Coach Carter trained them to the ultimate amount and they got to the state championship. Coach Carter had used many different techniques to accomplish his goal, if he was ever talked back to, he would make the player run 500-100 suicides and do 1000-2000 push ups. Having respect for the coach and everyone else is what brought these young boys to a much different level. When Coach Carter came to teach basketball at Richmond High School. The Coach made the players sign contracts which required them to maintain a grade point average at 2.8, attend all classes and sit in the front row of those classes, wear suits and tie on game days, and they must pass all classes in order to play. When the coach found out more than half of his players were failing, he put a lock on the gym door, called their teachers, and helped them achieve their goal because he wanted his players to go to college. When he used to play for the Richmond team, most of his team mates ended up in jail or dead and he wanted to make a difference. Until these boys reached their goal of achieving the grade the Coach insisted on, the gym remained locked. They put lots of hard effort and time into it and finally they reached that goal and never gave up. Coach Carter said "I came to coach basketball players, and you became students, I came to teach boys, and you became men". The results show that Coach Carter made a difference and matured these men within time. Respect was the main key in order to have achieved this goal.

In the film "The Game Plan", Joe Kingman, the NFL quarterback is living the bachelor lifestyle until he discovered he has an eight year old daughter from a previous relationship. Joe had no idea about him having a daughter, he was living the life with a fancy house, car and a girlfriend. Having parties almost every night was what kept Joe going and made him believe that it was the key to life and nothing else could get better than that. He had his terrific friends and the entire city that thought greatly of him. Although one of his friends is married with kids, he shows him that family is more important than having parties and that the love from your family is never replaceable with anything else. Joe Kingman's daughter is Peyton. She was suppose to go to ballet school because her aunt Kiran had to go to away on a trip. Peyton's birth mother, Sarah, passed away in a terrible accident. Peyton tricked her aunt Kiran by saying she's going to ballet school but she went to stay with her father. The day she showed up at Joe Kingman's door, and told him, he was in a sudden shock. He thought it had to be a mistake. Joe thought to himself that his life was over now, but really it was just the beginning of a new chapter. Joe's friend who also has kids loved Peyton and wanted Joe to realize how special it is to have your own kids. When Kiran found out that Peyton was staying with Joe, she rushed back from her trip. Peyton had ate nuts which caused an allergic reaction and Peyton ended up in the hospital. Her aunt Kiran showed up at the hospital and was furious. This made Joe realize that his daughter is the best thing that has ever happened to him because Peyton constantly asked Joe what was the best thing that has ever happened to you. Kiran did not let Joe keep Peyton because he had her for 3 weeks and she was already in the hospital. When Peyton left, Joe became lonely and missed her incredibly. This made him play poorly at his big game. When Peyton showed up, his face lit with joy. He got to keep his daughter. This marks maturity because in the beginning Joe did not want anything to do with Peyton and as they grew together, the love between them became strong and showed that family is more important than having a reality lifestyle.

It is evident that in "Coach Carter", the boys grew up with no respect at all, and by having a new basketball coach, it taught them many different things such as calling everyone "sir" because it is a form of respect, maintaining good grades and going to college. If it was not for the coach, these boys could be in jail or dead, having a new coach marked maturity because he taught them the how to be more respectful. In "The Game Plan", having a daughter could change your life but it also starts a brand new chapter in your life. When Joe Kingman first found out, he was appalled. He wished it to be a mistake, but throughout the film, they grew together and love bonded between them. He always wanted her to with him. This marked maturity because family is more important than having a paparazzi life.