CLASSES & JOBS

In high school, we were required to take health class. Our health teacher was a bit crazy, but I couldn’t possibly think of anyone to better be a high school health teacher. “Mr. B” as he was fondly called, used to be a body builder and idolized Arnold Schwarzenegger. He could do an Arnold voice better than anyone I’ve ever heard. I can’t imagine that teaching a bunch of high school kids about eating well and exercising regularly could be an easy task, but he did a great job.

Our health teacher’s sense of humor, energy, and the fact that he was a role model made him a great teacher. Mr. B helped us learn about living a healthy lifestyle by playing games in class and simple competitions. The biggest competition of junior year health class what the weight loss/muscle gain competition. The top three people in each category for guys and girls got free memberships to Mr. B’s gym. This was great encouragement for everyone to practice the healthy lifestyles that Mr. B had taught us.

It is easier than ever to study a language whether you are an adult or a child. Language immersion programs start in elementary schools, and continue throughout secondary and collegiate levels. As early as kindergarten, in some communities, parents can apply to have their children put in classrooms taught in only Spanish to help them become bilingual.

As you advance through your language classes, your teachers will begin to educate you about culture as well as language. In high schools there are usually at least some different options for language courses. Students can decide which they are most interested in early on and then follow the program until graduation from high school. In some cases, the knowledge acquired at that level can help when reaching college. If successful in taking those courses in high school, sometimes they can test out of the early levels of language in college. Furthermore, college-sponsored study abroad options help students become multilingual by actually placing them in the environment where that language is spoken; this is more effective for some than learning language in a classroom because it forces them to learn from people who speak in different dialects and with slang.

One of my friends from high school went to school for massage therapy. I was really good friends with Casey before it, but after her schooling, wow, it was great to have her as a friend! She’d gather up all of our friends, including me, and practice her massage skills on us. She said she had to build up the strength in her hands and arms so that she could start working as a professional massage therapist. Boy, was she great!

Getting a massage is like getting a tune-up for your body. I never knew that I didn’t feel my best possible until after I got a massage and felt even better! There are even different types of massages using stones and oils. I like the old fashioned kind though, just a masseuse’s hands rubbing away all my stress and knots in my muscles. Especially after a stressful week at work, a massage is great. It’s almost like a masseuse can run away your mental stress as well as your physical stress.

Computer programming used to be for the “nerds,” but do keep in mind that you would not be reading this blog if it was not for them. Times have changed though, and it is crucial for any new entrepreneur to know how to do simple programming. Every opportunity for a new business is going to have a technological side to it, and in order to save costs from minor applications and websites it is both necessary and beneficial to know how to program.

With this trend, it is not coincidental that learning to program has never been more accessible either. Programming is not easy, but you can get the basics simply by going to any bookstore or library and spending a few days reading. Also, you there are many online tutorials for free that will teach you how to program. If you are going to need a huge application that can process mounds of data, you might want to hire it out, but if all you need is something simple and you have a few spare hours, I would highly recommend a “do it yourself” approach.

Today there are so many scientific discoveries being made about health. I just read an article about there being waves of energy in our bodies that can be calculated using mathematics. It always interests me how science and nature can combine to create something even more amazing.

This article described how these energy waves are what make us physically do what we do. They control our nerves and muscles. There’s a type of chiropractic study called network chiropractic that harnesses these waves. Network chiropractors “adjust” you by moving your body’s energy around and taking away the bad energy. These experts can, without even touching you, make your body move involuntarily by moving the energy in your body. It’s quite an amazing science and is a very interesting natural and alternative medicine as well.

Recently, my parents bought brand a new HP computer. It came with a 30 trial of Microsoft Office, but after that they were asked to pay upwards of $200 to purchase the full version and to keep all the documents they had created. It was a little frustrating considering they just spent $1500 on a computer that cannot even be used as a word processor or spreadsheet application. However, recently people are becoming more and more aware of open source software available all over the Internet.

Instead of my parents paying $200 to get the full version, I downloaded OpenOfficeSuite off the Internet, which has nearly all the features of Microsoft Office. The only noticeable difference is desktop icon and the names. For a matter of convenience and ease for my slightly computer illiterate parents, I named the word processor Word and the spreadsheet application Excel. It was quick and easy, did not require any registration fees or credit card, and most importantly is compatible with any document or spreadsheet created with Microsoft Office.

I find personal blogs very interesting because I can never figure out if a person is writing their thoughts because they think someone out there is actually reading them, or if they are writing them as some sort of emotional release. I find them to be interesting, but also kind of self-absorbed. That being said, I think really good things can sometimes come from them. Writing is a cathartic release for a lot of people, so if they want to post their thoughts online, that’s great. Also, writing personal blogs is a great way to stay connected with friends and family. Last but not least, keeping a personal blog allows you to practice your writing skills (which are important for any career) on a daily basis.

Also, blogs seem to be a new kind of outlet for people to get creative in their writing. Rather than scribbling thoughts down in an old fashioned journal, people are taking to the Internet. This is especially true for young people, who have kind of developed a whole new dialect of English on-line. I like that blogs are informal and everyone can voice what they want to on the same level.

Some college students who excel in certain areas of study choose to tutor others to make some extra money. There are lots of tutoring opportunities out there, and they are easy to find. Usually people on campus or on athletic teams need tutors and are willing to pay by the hour. Also, people who need extra help in learning a second language are good candidates to tutor.

My roommate tutors a young boy after school in his home and is paid by the hour by his parents. It’s a great setup for her because she feels like she is doing something good for someone else and it’s good for him because he gets to benefit from her knowledge of math. You can become a tutor by posting signs at local elementary schools or looking for jobs in the paper. Or, alternatively, if you need a tutor, post signs or take out an ad in your local college paper. Choose college students who are more experienced and have several years of education under their belt.

I would encourage anyone with any opportunity to study abroad to do so, because you learn so much more about different cultures by experiencing them and immersing yourself in them than you would by just reading about them in a textbook. You can get a different kind of education when studying in a foreign country than from studying at home. I had the opportunity to study abroad and I came back to the States with a whole new perspective about life.

Specifically, when I hear about certain global issues and partake in discussion, I am quick to think of those people I lived with and what their concerns would be. It’s easy to think of things in the context of your own culture, but it is much more meaningful when you step outside what you know and use your experience to broaden your horizons. Traveling abroad is one of the best and most enjoyable ways to educate ourselves to other cultures, political events, foreign policy, and languages.

There are now several options in educating children compared to the past. It is no longer uncommon to see children being educated at home by a parent or tutor through homeschooling programs. Some parents are choosing this option because they want to play a part in the education of their children themselves rather than sending them to school. Also, many choose to send their children to public schools in their communities or private schools where they pay tuition. It is becoming increasingly common for states and communities to offer some sort of help or allowance for parents who want to send their children to private schools but cannot afford to do so. This is to diversify the usually upper-class dominated private schools and create a higher-level learning atmosphere than found in some public schools.

However, this is not without controversy because many feel that in taking students away from public schools in hopes that they will be getting a better education, we are no longer focusing on the issue of improving the public schools themselves. Many people feel that states should always be trying to improve the public systems where anyone can afford to send their children rather than switching focus to the private sector.