Academic Words

List of the ten academic works I must study:

1. derive
2. parameter
3. legislation
4. acquisition
5. liberal
6. medial
7. regime
8. welfare
9. facilitate
10. entity

Response To Nawara's Message to Freshmen

"When I think about school, I imagine homework, quizzes, breaks, gossip, etc. When I came to Alameda Science and Technology Institute, I learned that I was in a smaller environment and in an area that is full time work, work, work. When it was my first day of school, all I was thinking about was college. I felt like I was not in a high school where they have rallies, dances, and football games. I was in a community where we succeed in higher educational standards. As a freshman, I was scared. I felt like I was not going to succeed even though I was accepted, I did not feel like I was ready. While the year went on, I became to fully understand the requirements and expectations to succeed as an ASTI student. I felt more relaxed. As a result, teachers should console the students about future classes so they can arrange themselves to be successful."

This quote from Nawara's blog inspired me to write this:

The transition form middle school to ASTI's vigorous lifestyle has been easier than I expected so far.  I was expecting a large pile of homework on the first night of school but was pleasantly surprised at how the teachers eased us into the transition, making it easier for us.  In eighth grade, at Lincoln Middle School, I was well prepared for ASTI, in my point of view, because the homework load has been the same so far, and the high expectations have been nearly the same as now.  Classes are comfortable now, but I am sure that they will become more difficult as the year goes on.  The one thing I must make sure to do, is to not let myself slack off.  I must keep good work ethics throughout the year, even if the homework load is not so bad right now.

I know that if I let myself slack off now, I will not be able to pull myself together by the time I take college courses.  That excites me most about ASTI, but I am also a little worried that I will not be ready.  On the other hand, I have faith in my teachers to prepare me for college life.  So far, attending ASTI may have been the most important decision for my life.  It will prepare me for the future, even if I am missing the "rallies, dances, and football games".

Rebuttal: Abortion- PRO Yen and Melissa

Rebuttal: Abortion PRO

Pro Opener:
Abortion is not an act of murder, it is rather a case of a decision on whether or not a baby should be kept for the better or struggle through life. We believe that abortion cannot be called murder because a fetus is not yet an infant until born. According to W.G. Derbyshire, PhD and senior lecturer at the University of Birmingham fetuses are unable to feel pain until birth. Having an abortion is a mothers choice. They should be able to decide the options in which can benefit the incoming child. For example, if a fetus is diagnosed with handicapped abilities and the parents are unable to afford certain necessities for the child, it is unfair to bring the baby into the world if it cannot be treated correctly.

Con Opener:
Our opponents, Alex and Victor, stated that abortion is murder of a child, and should not be legalized. (A fetus is not a child until born, also they are unable to feel pain until birth.)  Another one of their arguments was about the hypocrite oath in which doctors swear that they will not abort a baby. (This cannot be proven because there have been many cases of abortion.)  They also stated that 2 million parents are looking to adopt a child, while only 130 thousand are actually up for adoption.  They made an invalid statement that future heroes may be aborted, and never have the chance of contributing to the world(they have no proof of this because how many heroes of America have actually been aborted?).  Alex and Victor also referred to the Bible as one of their sources. We believe that it is an ineffective and unreliable way of collecting information. Religion is not a good way to get information. They responded to the Bible saying that abortion is not humane and should not be done. Yet this is not enough information to persuade us to make abortion illegal. The last statement they spoke about in their opener was that mothers who abort a child may have remorse about their action, and that it may lead to depression and/or suicide(we are debating on whether or not it should be legal, so it is the mothers decision on the abortion. if the government forces a mother into having a baby, it may affect the mother and/or the child in the future.)

Abortion should be legal -PRO Yen and Melissa

Pro: Abortion should be legalized

Mothers who wish to have an abortion should not be penalized for the mistakes that they have made in the past.  Stated by the Supreme Court, “It is a woman’s fundamental right to make the choice to have an abortion.”  Abortion cannot be considered murder because a fetus is not a human being. Having an abortion is relative to terminating a pregnancy, not a defenseless child.  Also, according to Stuart W.G. Derbyshire, a senior lecturer at the University of Birmingham, fetuses cannot feel pain until birth, therefore having an abortion will not harm the developing infant. Fear of unsafe procedures during abortions are common, but modern, professional abortions are quite safe;the numbers prove that: 1 in every 100,000 women die in an abortion, while an average of about 13 women die out of 100,000 from pregnancies.  Keeping abortions legal, prevents women from having to preform illegal, unsafe abortions, that may cause death and diseases because of unsterilized tools, or amateur experience; according to the World health Organization, over 68,000 deaths have occurred because of non-official abortions in countries that outlaws it. 1 in 800 babies are born with Down Syndrome, and 1 to 4000 males/1 to 8000 females are diagnosed with X syndrome; It is unfair to bring a child into the world who will face a lifetime of handicap-ability.  

Having an abortion is a mother’s choice.  73% mothers who have abortions do so because their finances would not be able to support another human being, while 38% say that their baby would interfere greatly with their studies or pursuit of their career.  If the mother is unable of providing for her incoming infant then it should be her choice on whether or not to keep the child. Legalized abortion lowers crime rates by 50% . When a teenager or poor parent is forced to raise a child because of a mistake he/she made in the past, they must resort to crime to pay the bills and keep the baby alive.  But when a baby is raised in a crime filled neighborhood, he will grow up seeing crime all around him, and wont be able to differentiate crime from survival from unnecessary crimes.  They will grow up thinking that exploiting theft, or other sorts of crimes, not because of bad parenting, but the environment they were forced to grow up in because the parent was not financially ready to support a child.They cannot bring up a healthy child because of the influences around them.  By having an option to have an abortion it gives mothers a second chance to decide if they want to raise their kid in an unsafe environment.  

Response To Devin's Thoughts on Bullying

This is a response to Devin's thoughts on bullying:

One of the never ending issues is bullying. There is cyber and school bullying. I think the latter is more severe because it’s face to face. The more serious one usually involves ganging up because then bullies would have a lot of support and feel confident.

        People have several options to deal with that. One can be to tell the teacher which might not be so popular. They might be called a snitch. Confronting the bully is stupid because the victim is normally outnumbered. Staying silent would be best and that would give the bully an opportunity to pick another target.

I completely agree with Devin's thoughts about how school, face to face, bullying is much harder to deal with than cyber bullying.  If someone has the guts to bully another, that means he must have support that will out number the bullied.  With this support, he will will seem to be invincible to the kid he is picking on.  They follow the kid around relentlessly bothering him in anyway they can, and don't usually stop. While on the other hand, cyber bullying is something much more easily dealt with.  If ignored, it would go away after a while; news gets old but bullying is never ending, unless one takes care of the matter.


Staying silent, or ignoring them, may work, but sometimes, that just challenged the bullies to see what gets to the kid. It may work, it may not, but it would be my first option if i were getting bullied.  If that doesn't stop them, I would take matters into my own hands. 

One thing i disagree with is that  it is not a stupid to confront the bullies.  Standing up for oneself, but with nonviolent intentions, of course, is never stupid.  Never be afraid to stand up for yourself, because you are the only one that will stay with u forever, no matter what.  

Stand Up

             Bullies are not like the bullies in the movies.  Now, they are the angels to the teachers and hurt the shy boy with subtle words that sting.  They will make him squirm as he sits trying to pay attention to class while the bully relentlessly glares at him with eyes that burn the skin.  They will “accidentally” trip him while waking down the hall, saying sorry without any meaning.  They seem untouchable to the shy boy, but they aren’t.  Bullies are the ones who are insecure.  They make others feel bad to make themselves feel better. They take away part of one’s pride to fill the void in theirs.  But their pride is no longer repairable.  They have made a fool of themselves by even insulting that first little boy they saw, making fun of his rolling backpack and following him during passing periods kicking it from all sides.  People stare, and they think they are thinking, “Wow, they are cool,” but they are actually thinking, “look at those jerks.” 

            When ganged up on, it seems impossible to feel good about oneself, but one must never believe what ever they are saying.  Once again, they think they are “cool” but, everyone knows, they are really just weak people who are confused and have nothing to do.  But does that make it right?  No.  Some one must take a stand. And once done, others will join in the effort to break down this bully and turn him in to a friend.

            Bullies are the ones in need of a friend, and though it seems impossible to befriend them, one must take it slow, and find a common interest, and figure out how to convert him from a tormentor into a friend.  The bullies feel in power, so they wouldn’t step down from their “throne” so it is the jobs of the victims’ to band together and solve the problem.