Schedule Coincidences

My '06-'07 schedule is as follows:

A-Day:
1. IB Theory of Knowledge
3. IB History of the Americas
5. AP Computer Science
7. IB English III

B-Day:
2. IB French IV
4. IB Biology II
6. IB HL Math II
8. IB Physics II

Some notes and thoughts:

I don't share any lunches with Clare, which sucks big time. At least we'll see each other at the writer's club meetings and such.

I've got most of my right-brain, humanities courses on A-days, and my left-brain, math and science courses on B-days. Because my French and Computer Science teachers don't assign pretty much any homework, my homework schedule really lines up like that.

I've had none of my A-day teachers before, and all of my B-day teachers before either my freshman or sophomore year.

Ms. Berini, he teacher for English III isn't quite as bad as some people make her out to be. She seems like a nicer to-your-face version of Ms. Anliker. I'll bet that she grades with an iron fist, but I'm not quite sure yet.

Difficulty vs. Rigor - A few thoughts

"You should make an effort to take the most rigorous classes that you can." - Mr. Spivey, address to Myers Park (somewhat paraphrased, forgive me.)

An article that I read online (sorry, forgot to bookmark it) got me thinking about higher-level classes in schools, namely the AP and IB programs.

So much emphasis is placed on this thing we call rigor. It prepares us for college, they say. It's probably why I have to spend hours on homework per night, when I could likely learn more by just reading the durn textbook. (Mr. Abbott, can you hear this?)

I think many people in the school system fail to see the differeence between rigor and difficulty (for lack of a better word). Taking multivariable calculus as a senior is difficult. Having to do 80 algebra problems for homework per night is rigorous.

I propose that instead of trying to make the advanced courses in schools more rigorous, school systems should try to make their programs actually teach the students more stuff. More interesting stuff, mind you. More difficult stuff, mind you. More stuff that actually make us want to learn, not more boring textbooks and note-taking and quiz preparation and quarterly projects, mind you.

Come to think of it, high school these days seems to be a giant college entrance exam. So much pressure to get a high GPA, get a high class rank, do the best on your SATs, ace those standardized tests, cram your life full of extracurriculars, find leadership opportunites, do more community service, spend all your free time slaving away for school.

What ever happened to learning? What ever happened to preparation for the real world?

I don't need to take notes on more chapters of my U.S. history textbook. I don't need to write another literary analysis paper. I don't need to make another poster on who-cares-what.

How does senseless tedium help us out later in life?

Sorry if this post turned from thought-out argument to stressed-out rambling. Stupid IB program is beginning to rule my life.

Bookselling, Served Two Ways

You know the little books section you see in grocery stores, like Bi-Lo? Why the heck would they ever sell books in a grocery store? (Come to think of it, it may be reminiscent of the good ol' drug store days.) An even better question: Who actually regularly buys books from a grocery store anyway? My dad claims to have bought a few books from a grocery store, and I can picture an old lady that doesn't get out much getting her novel at the grocery store, but I fail to see how it can be profitable enough to not replace the shelf space with some sort of food. There's gotta be a something that I'm not seeing.

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On the way back from La Grange to visit relatives, we stopped in a mall to grab some lunch. (When none of my family can agree on a place to eat, variety often wins out.) Anyways, we passed by a book store in the mall that was having a closing sale, probably due to a Barnes and Noble moving in across the street. Hardcover books for $4, paperbacks for $2. I saw some copies of one of Seth Godin's books (who I'm a big fan of), so I picked up a copy.

I was wondering how hard it is to sell something on Amazon.com or Ebay, so I bought 2 copies, with the intention of selling one on Amazon, and reading one myself. When I went online this evening, I saw something that suprised me. Two people were selling used copies for one cent each, and several people under a dollar. It didn't take much reasoning to figure out that these people were making their profit off of shipping and handling, not the sale price.

This seems like a quite obvious problem, and quite obviously is keeping new sellers from entering the marketplace. Why doesn't amazon.com come up with a better solution to the shipping profit problem, when it is a definate bottleneck to their already flustering growth?

Obligatory News Post

I've been dreading having to make this post.

NCSSM didn't work out for me. I basically felt too homesick to stay up there, and ended up disenrolling.

On the bright side, I can access my blog again.

(Jerks up there blocked blogger but put myspace on quota time. Why? Who knows.)