July 6: The Final Countdown

It's Monday afternoon in Ithaca, and I can't help but remind myself of the fact that it will be the last Monday afternoon I spend at Cornell. Having become so accustomed to life on campus, it's kind of difficult to picture myself back at California at this point. Nonetheless, I must do my daily duties as apart of the ILC and report on my day thus far to my gracious sponsors and interested audience.

After a long weekend, I found it a huge pain to wake up this morning. To my detriment, I chose a soft song to wake up to on my iPod, so I'm lucky to have woke up on time. After stumbling around rounding up my belongings, I made way downstairs for my daily walk to Appel Commons with Julia and Ramiah. While slurping our cereals and slicing up our French Toast, we were in true disbelief that this would be our last Monday breakfast at Cornell (Sorry folks, I'm sure the 6 of us will be mentioning our "Cornellian lasts" for the next week). After fueling up on food, we went down to the lower level of Appel to print the 2nd draft of our Plato essays and took off for class.

Today's lecture in McGraw Hall was centered around Edmund Burke and his conservative views. Being a huge fan of Lockean liberalism, I found Burke to be a huge pessimist who I wouldn't want to be under the control of. Regardless, I took the best of notes I could and listened for any helpful information that would benefit me in our upcoming final. After our lecture, we broke into our discussion groups where we spent most of the time reviewing John Stuart Mill and Edmund Burke. The most important moment of our discussion was the distribution of our mid-terms. To my delight, I received a B. Although I was very proud of my work, I found a few inconsistencies with my exam's grading and planned to discuss this with Des following our writing session, for it was time for lunch.

After enjoying a healthy salad at Trillium, I made my way back to Goldwin Smith where I was greeted by a previously unseen face: a groundhog! Yes, a groundhog on campus! I'll admit, I have been a huge fan of the countless squirrels that dart around campus, so upon seeing a groundhog, I found myself smiling and taking pictures like a child. I can't help but share the cute little bugger with my audience. While on the subject of wildlife on campus, I think I should describe the situation a little better. Everyday since I have been at Cornell, I have seem some kind of animal run across fields in front of lecture hall or my very own dorm. It's a very exciting thing for me because I truly love animals to the point where it has become a passion. I'm sure Ramiah and Julia will tell you that I get overly excited anytime I see a squirrel or a flock of geese on campus. It's a big reminder of home, for I live in an area where animals are constantly coming in and out of my backyard. Sorry to go on for so long about these little creatures, but as I said, it's sort of a passion for me.

Now back to what I have come here to do: learn! Back at Goldwin Smith, our class arrived for our bi-weekly writing workshop. During the hour long session, we passed in our Plato essays, peer edited our neighbor's essays, and heard the first paragraph of every student's essay (without names, of course) by Des. I really liked this exercise because it allowed us to hear our voices through someone else. Everyone had great paragraphs, which made Des really proud. After class, I approached Des and asked about some of my mid-term corrections. I'm very happy I did so because he told me to come to his office hours so that he may add points to my score. Hopefully that B will turn into a B+! Either way, I am very proud of the work I put into my test, for Des had very good things to say about it. After my small chat with Des, I took a trip to Uris Library to snatch up some pictures. It's a truly beautiful library, and I hope to sneak in a few more trips to the "Harry Potter Room" before my return to California. Who knows? Maybe I'll actually sit down to read a few philosophers, instead of showing up just for pictures. It's an amazing environment, where one could truly hear a pin drop from across the room. I know a few readers are dying for some illustrations for my trip, so I hope you all enjoy.

Tonight's plans include visiting Des' office hours along with reading 28 pages of Karl Marx, an iconic philosopher in this course. We will focus on Marx for two whole days before moving on to Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X on Thursday. After that, it's time to wrap things up with the final exam on Friday. We are truly nearing the end!

Ms. Kronenberg has asked me to comment on the idea of high school teacher's holding office hours, so I'd like to take the chance to put in my opinion. In college, office hours are official slots where students may receive answers to their pending questions. In high school, students are required to take the initiative in order to receive extra attention. I think this is a good thing for high schoolers because it instills in students the comfort of knowing that it's okay to ask for help. It's better for students to take advantage of any type of help they can receive rather than assuming they can do everything on their own. Overall, in both high school and college, students can receive all the help they want, as long as they are willing to make the effort to obtain it. I don't think having office hours on a high school level will better scores or grade averages. If students want help, they will seek it out, regardless if sessions are previously planned or asked at a last moment's notice. I hope this helps!

P.S. I'd like to send a birthday shout-out to fellow Ivy Leaguer Stephanie Ny! She has been working ever so diligently on her Yale reading assignment, and I'd love to commend her for her commitment to the ILC. I'm sure that we all hope she has a great 17th birthday! She's definitely earned it!