Journal 2_5

no previous question for week before.

This Week In Class:
A) We  began to talk about ethics this week in class.  The topic we talked about most was the quality of "The Greater Good."  It was an interesting and dynamic topic, and I honestly am not quite sure what to think of it at the moment.  With more discussion, I think that I will find a more concrete opinion about it.  The Greater Good is basically the concept that something is not ethical if  it does not provide "good" to the most people.  The first mind stump we discussed was defining the term "good."  We use it all the time, but what does it acutally mean?  Dictionary.com comes up with 49 different uses and definitions for the word. "good."  So What exactly does it mean?  In the case of "The Greater Good" I think it means progression, positive, and betterement where the loss is less than the gain.

B) The main argument we debated in class was the difference between giving one homeless man a $100 coat, or feeding 100 people with the $100.  Which is more ethical?  They are both obviously honorable actions, and yet neither could necessarlily be considered "The Greater Good."  What if the homeless man sells his coat for food, or even worse, drugs?  What if with $100 you can't feed people healthy food, only unhealthy food like soda that will make them more dehydrated?  It is a pessimistic way to look at things, but also a needed perspective.  The class went back and forth coming to an answer.  One of my classmates decided that "The Greater Good" was pointless because who gets decide what is better for other people?  I personally, would choose the coat.  The coat gives warmth during the winter, but also a monetary gain a man or woman can use for food, other clothes when it gets warm and just about everything else.  I would definitley pick who I gave it to, making sure it was someone who would be able to keep the coat and use it wisely, but I feel that effecting that one person significantly is better than disabling hundreds with unhealthy food. 
 vs.
C) To bring a different example into the mix, what if someone cheated, but didn't do well on the test anyway?  Is is better to let the bad grade be enough  of a punishment for not doing the work, or is the greater good to teach that person a lesson, and turn that person in for cheating?  If he or she didn't even get a good grade, how is affecting the rest of the class?  But what if that person cheats again, and this time: gets a good grade that is unfair to the rest of the class?  It is for the greater good in this situation to be preventative, or let it pass and not hit a classmate while their down.  I don't know what would be better in this situation,  certainly cheating is unethical, and turning this person in would benefit the class, but the loss of that classmate's integrity would probably be as big of a loss as turning he or she in would be a gain.   Does that make it the greater good?  I don't know. 

Question for next week:
I'm going to ask a few of my classmates about the above scenario and see the results.  I will ask the following questions:  How many people say to turn the person in, how many would say "let it pass"?  And do they think the option they chose is ethical?

journal 2_4: all about Leadership

I'm proud to be a member of the Leadership Center at James River.  I think it takes a certain kind of person to want to be in the center, and I'm glad that I decided to join before my freshmen year of High School.  The people are great, my favorite teachers have been a  part of the center, and I have come into my own a lot since freshman year.  The communications elective improved my speaking immensely, and made me much more confident.  The other students in the program, though we are divided in my grade into two seperate cliques, are interesting, share similar interests in classes, and actively want to participate which makes school more enjoyable and effective.  I know there are people I would have never met if I hadn't been in the program.  Theres no question Leadership has beneffited me in some ways, but it is still not what I thought I signed up for.

When I signed up for the Leadership and International Relations Program, I mainly signed up for my interest in international studies, and now three years into the program--the only class that has studied other countries is my favorite class I've ever taken, AP World History (I hate the fact that sophomores take AP Euro now, but I don't know the entire reason why it changed).  I also thought that the service oppurtunites would be easier to find within the center, and that there would be options for every kind of oppurtunity.  Instead, I have found the center's resources in service oppurtunities to be decentralized, boring tasks that are used soley to fill the 30 hour requirement.  I also joined the program because I got the feeling it was one of the only speciality programs that was connected to the rest of the school, and James River is a great school to be at.  I feel as though I have succeeded in being part of both James River and The Leadership Program through sports and friendship, but outside of leadership students at James River either don't know about the program or dislike it.  It's important for the program as a whole to reach outside of the quad and somehow include the rest of the school.  The program needs to get excited about itself again, and I think the best way to do that is what we are doing--talking about and impoving the areas students think need to be improved.

This year I took on the job of Interantional Relations Coordinator on the Leadership Council, and I need to really get going on being an effective member of the council, I'll admit I haven't done too much.  I think I would be able to do more though if I had a little guidance on where to start!  The harderst part about organizing something or community service is finding where to start, and during all of our busy days its hard to find time to sit down and talk about oppurtunites.  At the same time, I feel like the few great, exciting opputunites are not advertised correctly--and so only certain students get to take advantage of them, and thy are usually the same students over and over agian.  When my mom took me to visit the college she attended, Vassar, I remember there being giant corkboards and chalkboards with everything imaginable posted on them.  Just looking at it you got inspired to go and do something, and the feeling of seeing everyones unique handwriting, artism, different sheets and colors of paper lifted up the entire room as well.  If leadership had a board like that in the quad (I know the perfect spot for it), that everyone could use and contribute to, it would make leadership more centralized, connected, artistic and inspired.  Leadership service oppurtunties need to be pooled by everyone's connections in order to become a center of information and action.  The only way students are going to get involved and learn the lessons they need to is by action and experience, the more of those we have in the program the better. 

Community Outreach comes along with the becoming more connected.  When was the last time that James River Leadership did a service project TOGETHER?  I can't remember one!  With 200 people, the Leadership Program could do something great, and yet, we stay decentralized.  After we accomplish community outreach it would be amazing to do an international outreach.  A trip would be a great bonding learning and service experience for every single person in the program.  Isn't part of being a great leader understanding the different perspectives and cultures of different people?  That's what I am most interested in, and I feel there are other people in the program that are the same as me.  Leadership needs to bring in more international speakers and points of view, different political figures, scientists, marketers, rich poor, non-profit organizations etc., the more our program is exposed to the more likely we are as a student body to take action!  Also, Leadership applies to every field of study and workplace, and it's important for students to be exposed to leadership and relations in every field we can find.   

That, I think, would be the best place to start with improving the program.  The most important thing is including every single student in the program and help get them involved with their opinions and ideas, have everyone use their connections to basically have a database of activities to get involved in and reach out to the community and the world by doing local projects together (and maybe a more abroad project) and bring in every single different perspective we can find.  Getting people excited about being in leadership again is going to be the key to the improvement of the program.