Taking a Gap Year Between K-12 and College?

Nowadays, students only have maybe two months (summer vacation) to rest between high school and college. I read a news yesterday which recommend high school graduate taking a gap year before entering college.In my opinion, it maybe have some positive effect for students because of the huge gap of knowledge between learning in high school and in college.

A lot of students have no way to learn very well in their freshman year and sophomore year because of this huge gap. So they need some time to prepare the undergraduate-level lessons. For example, American students in high school just only need to learn the background mathematics and some easy linear algebra unless taking AP courses, but they have to learn advanced mathematics such as calculus and discrete mathematics in their freshman year in college. It is a big challenge for them to adopt the difficult knowledge which they have to learn.

Otherwise, the possible negative effective of taking a gap year also cannot be ignored. Some students with poor self-control do not use time sufficiently in their gap year. Thus, it hard to say whether taking a gap year good for students, or not.

Two Significant Difference between Chinese universities and American universities

There are many differences between Chinese universities and American universities, especially in the following: admission mode and content of courses.

In China, people have been attaching great importance to examination since ancient time. The colleges entrance examination (Gao Kao) which is almost the most significant examination to determine students’ life is the product under examination-oriented education system. Under this circumstance, almost all schools ignore to cultivate student some social abilities. However, in United States, students in senior high school have up to 24 chance to take SAT. They can select their highest scores to apply colleges or universities, and scores only account for a small percentage in role of admission. Their extracurricular activities and teacher’s recommendation are more important.

Mention to the content of course in Chinese college, as a result of China’s national conditions, universities graduates face heavy pressure of employment. Meantime, the education and training in colleges do not match the demand of employment market. The teaching process also do not match the employment guidance. Conversely, American colleges strengthen the innovation of personal training and strengthen interdisciplinary connection. They focus on cultivating students the abilities of enterprising spirit.

Reflection of the movie “The Great Debaters”

This weekend, I watch a very nice movie called The Great Debaters. I will do the reflection and recommend this movie to you. This movie tell a story that happened In 1930s in Texas. At that time, government still mired the law which was created since 1870s to develop the implementation of apartheid or racial discrimination. Black people were denied the right to vote, and in the schools, settlements, public transportation, public places and employment, justice, military service, marriage and other aspects, by the brutal segregation and discrimination. Marvin as a knowledgeable black person hope to do something through their own power for their fellow citizens. He has a firm belief, in addition to his superior talent. So, in the leisure time he started to create a black student debate team in a college school. In his careful selection, the four students were chose into the debate team. These students had no concept of the debate, but in fact Marvin also does not have experience in debate. He can do only through their own words and deeds to improve their language skills. On the way to growth, Marvin constantly challenge the traditional concept of society at that time, against the existing rules of the games. His rebellious spirit and his intense teaching methods were bombarded by other people, but he always to persist their beliefs. Finally, they achieved the chance to debate in Harvard University and defeat their opponent. It is a very great movie. It criticized the racial discrimination in the United States, but still in praise of the mainstream culture of America. While black debaters entered Harvard hall, they worshiped for Harvard, completely subservient. Although Black debate team defeated Harvard’s debate team in the film, their greatest victory is admitted or recognized by Harvard. In short, they accepted the amnesty.

Miami University website(paper-related)

I decide to choose Miami University website as the topic for my rhetorical analysis paper. As my aspect in paper, the high school students(finding a college) and their parents are the audience of the website. First, the background color of the website are red and white, which are the Miami traditional color. At the top page, there is a large Miami’s newsletter roll board. It can let visitor know the university’s new things quickly and obviously. Secondly, six subtitles are clearly showed on the top, in order to let visitors using this website easily. Clicking into this tabs, we can know the Miami’s culture, academic situation, admission information and so on and so forth. Thirdly, in the bottom of the website, it shows the information of the regional campus of the university. Otherwise, it also posts its pages on the several mainstream social networks, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, etc. Visitors can link these pages with themselves through the links shown on the website and interact with Miami. Even more, there is a tool called virtual tour on the website that can make visitors visit campus at home. I think all of thins i talked above and the content in their links can persuade and let people to choose Miami.

Homework and its effect

Generally, homework is some questions or tasks assigned by the teacher and is to be completed by students outside the class. I think homework is necessary and has a lot of positive effect for the students. The goal of homework is to help students deeply and totally understand the knowledge they learned in the class.  Throughout the homework, students increase the knowledge and improve their ability and skills. It is useful for them to prepare the upcoming exams and upper lessons.

Otherwise, homework can enhance the independent learning skill and habit of the students. Also, some creative homework can promote students’ intelligence and creativity. As we know, teachers assign many co-operative homework which may train students the team spirit. At the meantime, teachers can clearly know the situation of the students in time while students hand on the homework. Thus, i think it is important and meaningful for students to complete their homework carefully on time.