The Twenty-Six Malignant Gates

     In the book, Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, she includes an introductory piece in the beginning of the piece, "The Twenty-Six Malignant Gates." From my observations, I think that the purpose to her introductory it to explain the period of time where kids will start making their own decisions. The daughter was told by her mother that she was not to bike around the corner because her mother can not see her. The daughter chooses to disobey her mother and fell before she reached the corner. The purpose might be that if you don't listen to your parents, you might regret it in the end because you might end of making wrong choices. From this short introductory I think that it means that the first step to independence is hard because you will get lost later on and need someone to carry you back up.

     In the story called Rules of the Game, the mom had high expectations for her daughter in the game of chess. She would be always next to her to see her make her next move so that she will not make a mistake. The daughter was bothered by the fact that her mother was always standing by her side. It seems as if she was not able to choose her own path and always follow the orders from her mom:

"But I found it difficult to concentrate at home. My mother had a habit of standing over me while I plotted out my games. I think she thought of herself as my protective ally. Her lips would be sealed tight, and after each move I made, a soft "Hmmmmph" would escape from her nose" (Tan 98).

 From  this reading, the daughter wanted to make her own choices and she doesn't want her mom to choose the next steps that she took. Her mom is being over protective about her, and she brags about her achievements to other people which upsets her. The daughter runs away and come back home in the end. This means that even though the daughter was able to escape her mother's expectations, she came back home because she still needs someone to support her. In the end of the story it says, "I closed my eyes and pondered my next move" (Tan 101). From the ending when she was all alone, she starts to think about her own decisions without her mother being too protective of her. When she was able to make her own step towards the game, it was like making the next step to her life and choosing to balance out her mother and herself.

     In the story called The Voice from the Wall,  when the daughter and her mother was walking around chinatown, her mother said,

"Don't look at her,"said my mother...And of course I looked...."She met a bad man," said my mother. "She had a baby she didn't want." And I knew that was not true. I knew my mother made up anything to warn me, to help me avoid some unknown danger. (Tan 105).

This means that the reason parents often tell us these lies is because they want us to be safe. They don't want you to be in danger. Although you might know that they are lying to you, you will just follow what they say to you because you know that they are just being protective.

      Parents cannot dare to let go their child, and they want to make their decisions. They don't want them to go through the wrong path and make the wrong decision. This is the reason parents or mothers tell you to follow what they tell us. I have a question through this introductory. Do we really get to grow up because we keep taking orders from others? Shouldn't we make you own decisions and fall down at times and learn from it? Isn't that the meaning of life? To fall down and stand back up by ourselves....

Rebuttal to John: Should Child actors be held as Role Models?

     In John's post about how child actor should not be served as role models :

 "Miley Cyrus has done it all as you can say. In the past years, we has seen her grown more and more out of control. At first, she started coming out with pictures that leaked on to Myspace of her basically half- naked. Then she showed up on T.V. dancing around on a pole and in her music video for ‘Party in the U.S.A’, she was also wearing little to no clothes on. Also, she was dating a guy who happened to be a little older than her. He was 20 while she was only 16. The most recent news on Miley Cyrus was that she was smoking out of a bong and the drug was supposedly salvia. Miley Cyrus is not a good role model and for that reason."

     There were some great points that John made, but he didn't have evidence that she did all those things. These might be all gossip that people spread around. Miley Cyrus is not the only child actor out there. Her actions does not contribute the all the other actors. She doesn't define everything. Although I must agree that child actors must beware about their actions because there are children that follow up and look up to them. Without evidence to cite this and where he got this information, it makes his argument weak. There are lots of counter arguments to this. The question is, what does her actions do? Does it make children follow up with her actions and do the same thing she does? There isn't proof that children that look up to her are taking pictures of themselves half naked. Children have the choice to make their own decisions, everything can't be blamed on the celebrities because they are the role models.


     It is not the celebrities fault that the children follow them as an example. Parents are the ones that are responsible for their own kids. Celebrities are not the ones responsible for the action of their kids. Parents have the chance to discipline them, and they have the choice to tell their kids about whether their actions are good or bad. There are lots of celebrities that are bad role models, and everyday, they have influenced many people's lives. This doesn't mean that we can stop them from doing what they are doing. They are just basically doing theist jobs and they are also human beings. We are not all perfect and we all make mistakes.


     There are steps that parents could take to teach their kids to not follow the wrong path by informing them  about what they should do. " For example, if a celebrity they like is in trouble with alcohol, ask whether their peers are using alcohol or whether they have any anxieties or questions about drinking. Take time to share your opinions -- and expectations -- about the issues." By talking to your kids, even though their favorite celebrity might be taking bad actions, taking to your kids can help them clear their minds up and not follow up with their role models because they are oftentimes confused. Parents need to point out that the misbehaviors of celebrities id mostly because they want to make money. Most importantly, parents should set themselves as role models for their kids. "Explain that poor decisions now can lead to a reputation that can hurt them later." Informing kids about these things can lesson the chance of them being influenced by these peers. Even though their role models might be not responsible for themselves, kids will at least know what is the right decision they should take.


Cites:
http://www.commonsensemedia.org/celebrity-role-models

Elite Colleges

     Whats the best choice of college? The elite ones or the average ones? Its really our own decisions to answer this question. After reading through the many responses, it was surprising that each response persuades a different idea. The one I found most persuasive is: What You Do vs. Where You Go by Martha (Marty) O'Connell. Shes states that a student's decision of what they will accomplish in their time during college contributes to their success in college and beyond: 

"The key to success in college and beyond has more to do with what students do with their time during college than where they choose to attend." (Par. 4)

     This phrase proves and interesting point. She is saying that it is not where you choose to go to college that matters, but the effort that you have contributed in your work. Even though this other person might have choose to attend a elite college, but they did not contribute their best effort. This doesn't mean that they will get hired just because they went to an elite college. Companies mostly hire the person with the most experience and someone who really tries their best. She proves a point that hard work is the answer to success. She says that when people hire you, they look beneath your cover and don't judge you by the college that you attend. This was also a persuasive piece because she supports her point with cited evidence.

     The respond that I found least persuasive is: Skip the Admissions Game by Kevin Carey. He provide some points about how rich people should attend an elite college to their advantage and that the poor should look for an alternative rather than going to an elite college:

"If you're among the small handful of students who have stellar SAT scores and parents with several hundred thousand dollars to spend, you should seriously consider going to an elite college or university." (Par. 1)

     This point is not so persuasive because he is letting the rich know that it is a best choice to attend an elite college. He is saying that if you are rich, you will be able to do anything and the poor have to stick to the less costly colleges. His points are that an elite college is the best and the non-elite ones are okay. This phrase makes his response unpersuasive because poor people can also find their way to attend an elite college by scholarship. There is no precise answer that all rich people should attend elite colleges. I think that we should separate the difference of being rich and poor, and that we should not use our status to determine the best college for us. Even though this part was not persuasive, there are some parts in his response that was persuasive.

The Future

     What does future mean? What is the future that awaits us all? I have been thinking about my future recently and thought that there is no answer to what that will await me. There is no way I would know what my future will be like, for I have to decide that myself. For every decision that I make in life, there will be a result to things. No one can really change what they have done or go back to the past and start over again. We will also have to look at the road ahead and make better decisions.

     There are something that I really regretted. Things that I feel that I should have done better, but there is no turning back. I have to create a new future and everything is depended on what decisions that I make. Although we can't predict what will happen in 20 years, you could start creating it by every step we propose. If we make bad decisions in life, it would lead of to a bad future, but we can always change out decisions change that around. We decide our future ourselves and no one can do it for us. Everyone has a different road to follow, a different dream, a different goal, and a different inspiration.

     I have started to making a new decision in my life that will lead me to be successful. I have to be successful in school and my education to go to a good college. If I want to go to a good college, I will have to try my best in accounting for all my grades and keeping my studies up. I think that these are the decisions that I should make right now. For the future ahead, I will decide on that later. Until then, I will focus on what is ahead of me.

    I think the meaning of life is to experience failure at one point and learn from it. Nothing can stop you if you once failed, you can always stand back up and start a new day and be successful. That's what make life great. If you failed, it doesn't mean that your future will be bad, it will just mean that you need to try harder. Nothing can be decided right now, we will just have to wait till the time comes.