Standarized Testing

This week in class, we furthered our discussion on the American school system, specifically standardized testing. The discussion is lead by the question of, "Who does the American school system serve?" In an article by Lori Higgins, it is revealed that Michigan government will be closing school that are underperforming on standardized tests, specifically, "in the bottom 5% academically,"(Higgins 1). I believe that this will benefit both student and government respectively. According to the article, "Schools wouldn't close if there are no high-performing options for the kids who are displaced."(Higgins 1). This means, that students will not be deprived of an education. On the contrary, they will be transferring to a high-performing school, which will give them an opportunity to learn at a better school. Closing schools also benefits  government because the money that went to that school, can be used somewhere else. Not to mention, the poor scores of the closing schools will no longer bring down the state's education rates. The only downsides are the possible relocation for families and the difficult transitions for some children to a new school. Though they will be entering a higher-performing school, this transition can be detrimental to students who already struggle in school. This can be resolved if they are relocated with many of their peers. In conclusion, I believe it is a win-win situation to close schools, despite a couple downsides.

The American Education System

This week in class we studied the American Education System, by watching multiple videos on the subject. Each video described problems or flaw with the current system. For instance, one resource we used a poetry video titled, "I Just Sued the School System." This video related students to fish and it explained that one can not judge a fish one it's ability to climb a tree. This analogy is used to describe how the school system is made to test everyone in the same way, and this outdated system is not effective in determining each individual student's intelligence. This is because each student learns in their one unique way, and some students are adept to success in the current system, while others struggle because the school system is not tailored to them. Like most issues, this can be related to superheroes. Each superhero has their one unique abilities, just like students. One cannot expect Spider-Man to lift the same things as the Hulk, and one cannot expect the Hulk to swing from building to building with webs. In this way, the Finnish school system is more successful. According to a video we watched in class, each student has classes more tailored to them, and have, "equal opportunity," and the teaching profession is much more respected. These are the type of changes that  need to take place in the American school system, because the current system is not tailored to each specific student's ability to learn and be successful.

Bilingualism Vs. Monolingualism

This week in class we read an article called "In Plain English: Let's Make It Official," by Charles Krauthammer. Krauthammer talks about how his experiences growing up in Canada, and how the bilingualism of Canada has caused a political war. He believes that the United States should take advantage of the common language of English and make it the official language. He believes that monolingualism will bring, "a critically needed cohesion to a nation as diverse, multiracial and multiethnic as America." (Krauthammer 744). I believe that monolingualism is beneficial to this country, mainly because of the way it brings many people of different ethnicities together. This idea is similar to that of the division between DC Comics and Marvel Comics. Similar to the division of languages in Canada, many people are divided between these two comics. My belief of the issue is the same as my belief about the unity of language. I think that people should enjoy both of these comics respectively, to experience more great superhero stories, because both are very rich in lore. They should do this instead of only choosing to follow and enjoy one comic. Comics and language are both more successful when brought together, because they bring people with different walks of life together in unity, which is the basis on which America is built on.

Comics and the English Language

Comic books were originally created to portray super humans in tights who save the world. Now, they are portrayed in large block buster movies, as not only super humans in tights, but as demi gods. This concept is due to the changing society since comics were first introduced. Technology has not only allowed for this change in portraying superheroes, but the general population would rather watch an action-packed film with their favorite superheroes than read a comic book about them. This noticeable change in how society views superheroes and how they are portrayed is similar to how the English language has changed to accommodate to changing society. The English language is based on the rules "Standard English" but as teacher Anne Curzan believes, "all speakers have the right to make informed decisions about when those rules are appropriate." (Curzan). This idea of English being flexible based on the choice of the speaker is exactly why the language has changed. As society develops, some tend to speak with more slang or colloquial terms, and others tend to change the established rules of grammar. The new environments that children are exposed to will cause them to adopt the language that is spoken there and as time goes by and society changes, the environments and education for children will change. English's flexibility will be the reason it continues to change with times, and so will superheroes.

What superheroes would say about Huck Finn

Superheroes would have many different opinions of Huckleberry Finn.  And here is what they hypothetically could have been:

Iron Man: Well, Huck is a stupid character. I mean, come on, make up your mind kid, are you a good guy or a bad guy. I mean Jim was an idiot, but at least you know he had a sense of morality. The real heroes of this story are the Duke and the Dauphin. I mean the guys scammed a whole town and made some serious money! Now that's genius.

Spiderman- I don't know man I just read it for school.

Captain America- Personally, I commend Huck for making tough decisions in morally difficult situations. Society's standards have taught him one thing, but he uses his feeling and experiences to make decisions he believes is right. I believe we saw a boy turn into a man.

Batman- I didn't like Tom. The boy was a villain. He craved the thrill of adventure so much that he would risk the lives if others for his own personal pleasure.He reminds me of the Joker.

Superman- I think every character had good in them. I believe Tom was just misunderstood, and he did not mean harm to those around him. He was the product of his upbringing. And in the end I think we should all have sympathy for those kind of children. In regards, to the Duke and the Dauphin, well obviously they did not have enough confidence to be who they really were. We should have allowed them to be rehabilitated through therapy.

Huck Finn the Anti- Hero

An anti-hero is a hero who helps or saves people for his/her selfish reasons. Deadpool is the face of anti-heroism in the Marvel universe because he does not help people for the good of others. For example, in his feature film, the only reason he took down a bunch of bad guys was to find the guy that pretty much gave him his abilities, but also made him ugly. Basically, he killed a bunch of villains to be pretty again. That is a perfect example of the intentions of anti-heroes. By this definition Huck Finn can be considered an anti-hero, because of his relationship with Jim. He travels with Jim across the Mississippi river, not to help Jim escape slavery and find his family, but rather to have help in his own travels and escaping his father. When he finds Jim he states, "I was ever so glad to see Jim. I warn't so lonesome now." (Twain 52). This quote exhibits Huck's true desire to travel with Jim. When Huck is asked if he is harboring any runaway slaves, and he lies to save Jim, he does because he believes he would feel bad if he had given him up. This is another scenario where Huck helps Jim but for his benefit. Unlike Deadpool, Huck seems to change the reason for his actions. He sends the coast guard to help the sinking ship because he genuinely feels bad for the murderers that are going to die. I believe Huck is only an anti-hero because he struggles with morality and cannot define right from wrong. As opposed to Deadpool, who is really just a scumbag.

Proctor-Man

John Proctor reminds me of Batman. Not in the literal sense, seeing as how I doubt John Proctor has ever fought the Joker, yet they are both tragic heroes. John Proctor's fatal flaw is how important his name is to him. He refuses to betray his friends when asked to sell them out to the court, because he cannot sign his name to the document for the town to see or his name would be tarnished, and he would have to live with the guilt. Batman has a fatal flaw as well, and that his inability to kill. This does not seem like a bad thing, but when bad guys are constantly trying kill him and the many civilians of Gotham, it would help he didn't focus on arresting them rather than finishing the job. In  many iterations of Batman, his refusal to kill has been his downfall, as it much harder to detain an insane criminal with super powers, rather kill him/her/it, believe it or not. Batman's and John Proctor's fatal flaw make them great characters, and tragic heroes respectively.
Not only are they both tragic heroes, but I would describe them both as role models. John Proctor is role model because he cannot sell out his friends to the court, because he will not be able to his children, "how to walk like men in the world," (Miller 207). For this reason, John Proctor is a role model to his kids because they can see he did not show cowardice in the face of death, and would not betray his friends. This is similar to Batman because he pretty much does that every day. He runs into danger to protect the lives of the innocent, there is no greater role model. He was every little boy's hero, simply because he is Batman.