Screening Process

            If everyone went to college after they finished high school, then the colleges would be overcrowded.  High school is the last stop on the free and required educational journey.  So, not everyone can go to college.  But how do colleges decide on who does get the privilege to attend a post high school educational facility?

            Schooling is a very interesting concept.  You go to school to learn and become smarter.  But what are grades for and how do they help learning? Well grades don’t necessarily help with learning but they make separated “classes” of students.  There are the academically poor students, then the middle class (average students) then there are the smart kids, and at the very top are the students who go above and beyond a 4.0 GPA and take weighted classes.  Now in most colleges, they accept entry based on three topics, one being GPA, or grade point average.  Without grades everyone would be equal.  The idea is to cull out the weak and make sure they are not receiving the same benefits as people who do not try as hard or do not learn as easily.  Colleges do have admission limits and over packing students can jeopardize the schools reputation and/or learning capabilities. 

           

            Some kids do not learn as easily as others and that is unfortunate.  Usually the students with higher grades will get into the academies over students with lower grades.  As each college reaches its limit the fewer students it can take in. 

           

            To make some students stand out, high schools started a AP program, or Advanced Placement.  The goal of this program is to offer smarter and more intellectually minded students get a taste of what college will be like.  These courses are 5.0 weighted with lets students earning an A in that specific course exceed the 4.0 GPA.  This is what creates the top-most class of students.

            The AP weighted courses stress out a lot of students.  Receiving a B in an AP class is the same as an A in a normal high school class.  But the students in these classes most likely have not had too many experiences with receiving a B and to them, it may seem like failing.  Obviously the intended effect of these courses is to stress out students and make their high school years full of bad memories, but it does teach students to accept challenges and learn how to conquer them. 

           

            One concern in high school is that if everyone takes the same courses, then the less intelligent students will hold back the students who learn at a faster pace.  This is true and is another reason AP courses were started.  In an AP class there is no longer “popcorn reading.”  If we get assigned a literary work to read or analyze it is done at home.  The teacher doesn’t check in on how the book is going.  The AP courses are much more independent. 

            In math, there is less teacher involvement in the AP courses.  Although the teacher gives the lesson and answers questions students may have, the course flies by in a fast rhythm.  The daily agenda is correct homework and learn something new.

            In a lot of cases, grades don’t mean exactly what they say.  If a teacher gives his/her class a lot of homework, then the grade will be affected by the mass amounts of homework.  With homework, you can bring it home and get help from people so homework does not necessarily show the real learning advancements of a student.  And if homework is a large part of a student’s grade, then the grade will be affected.  Another example of why grades aren’t always reliable I that some teacher are harder than others.  Not every teacher can be the exact same grader so grades will fluctuate depending on teacher difficulty.

            The SAT is another way to weed out the not as smart students from the students with erudition.  The SAT is a standardized test that colleges focus on.  Throughout America, students are required to take the test to enter a college.  It is not just a test that you take.  Most students start studying for it sophomore year by taking PSAT (Practice SAT’s).  Throughout the school year, multiple SAT tests are offered to high school students.  It is a very prestigious test and with an important test comes stress and anxiety.  Although the SAT is available to be taken over again if you are not satisfied with your score, it still is very nerve-wracking to take the test that will in-turn, decide your future in education.  There are many opportunities and method of studying for the big test.  At school counselors can help find websites on the internet for finding SAT study questions and also test taking skills.

            To keep test takers from just guessing answers, the SAT is a rare test that subtracts points for getting the wrong answer.  This makes the test more difficult and also discourages students from guessing.  This is beneficial to some kids who just know the answer to lots of questions but to students who have used a guessing method throughout high school, they are at a disadvantage.  There are two sections on the SAT.  One section is mathematics and the other section is English.

            Colleges also look at extracurricular activities like sports are volunteering when they are looking at students applying.  Those three screening processes help the colleges determine what students get the opportunity to attend their choice of college.  I think these screening processes are also beneficial to the students because they learn important life lessons are ways to manage time.  Stress is a very big problem in today’s society and if people learn at a young age how to handle it, they will have an easier time dealing with it in the future.  The AP courses not only show the admissions workers that you are a student that challenges yourself, but also teaches you college material that will be beneficial in the long run.

Compare and Contrast

            Born and raised in Seattle, Ben Haggerty is famous for being a rapper.  If this name is not recognizable, it is probably because he goes by his stage name Macklemore.  In 2000, Professor Macklemore, his stage name at the time, distributed his album Open Your Eyes by himself.  Throughout his musically career, Macklemore had problems with substance drugs which led to the years between 2005 and 2009 with a low production of songs.

           

Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. was born in New Orleans, Louisiana.  At age nine, Carter joined Cash Money Records as its youngest member.  This was the start of Lil’ Wayne’s powerful musical career.  Lil’ Wayne has released multiple albums, and most recently, he released, Tha Carter IV.  Lil’ Wayne is also known for drinking something out of a white Styrofoam cup.  The substance in the cup is cough syrup and a soda.  In We Takin’ Over Lil’ Wayne rapped that. “I like my Sprite Easter-pink”.

           

            Although both rappers, Macklemore and Lil’ Wayne, have used substance drugs, Macklemore has admitted to it causing problems and eventually getting off them.  Lil’ Wayne has never had a public problem with the drugs and still uses them.  In Lil’ Wayne’s songs he addresses the drugs and glorifies it.  Macklemore, on the other hand, has been sober of drugs and alcohol for two years now and also writes his songs without the mention of drugs unless it is to explain the harms of them.  In Macklemore’s song Otherside he raps about a friend dying from overdosing on cough syrup.

            Lil’ Wayne has had problems with the law, however.  Lil’ Wayne was sentenced to a year in County Jail for criminal possession of a weapon and marijuana.  He was released four months early for good behavior.  Macklemore has not had legal problems, or at least any that are known of by the public.

            Lil’ Wayne and Macklemore have very similar and different qualities.  Lil’ Wayne is very outgoing and likeable.  Similarly, Macklemore is a likeable rapper but is much less low key than Lil’ Wayne.  Since he is not as popular or well known, Macklemore is more passive and just does his thing.  Lil’ Wayne, however, is always in the limelight.  His big ego and popular rap style and songs contribute to the love of him by his enormous number of fans. 

            Although Macklemore has been in the rapping business for over 10 years, compared to Lil’ Wayne he is a rookie.  Lil’ Wayne, becoming very popular at a young age and throughout his career has produced many hit songs including: "Go D.J.", "Lollipop", "Got Money" and "Let It Rock".  Macklemore is best known for his hit songs: "My Oh My", "Otherside" and “Irish Celebration”. 

            Macklemore is not officially part of a rapping group, but he does have a band that plays the music that he raps too.  Ryan Lewis is the producer, the violinist is Andrew Joslyn, Owour Arunga on trumpet, on bass, drums and guitar, Zach Fleury and on piano is Noah Goldberg.  Lil’ Wayne is currently with his producing group of Young Money.  He has created this group into one of the most well-known groups of the time period.  Drake, Nikki Minaj, Tyga, Gudda Gudda, and Cory Gunz are all part of the famous group.

            Lil’ Wayne made a documentary about himself and his life.  It is called “The Carter” and it was released in 2009.  Since the film is a documentary, there is no acting involved.  Lil’ Wayne just is filmed doing his normal everyday things.  There are scenes of him rapping songs and others where he is on his tour bus.  Lil’ Wayne spends a lot of time in Amsterdam, where it is legal to smoke marijuana.  In most of the interviews, Lil’ Wayne is either smoking marijuana or sipping his cough syrup and soda, sometimes he is doing both.  Lil’ Wayne was asked, “Does [your career] put pressure on you?”  He responds saying, “What is a life without pressure?”  Even though Macklemore has not been in any movies or been the subject of documentaries, he is still very famous in his hometown of Seattle.  Macklemore performs often at the Capitol Hill Block Party in Seattle.  A lot of his fans are from Seattle but he does have many fans from all over.

Macklemore and Lil’ Wayne have experienced the same drugs and are in the same career.  However the difference is that Macklemore has cleaned up and now preaches the harms and dangers of using substance drugs, or any drugs for that matter.  The young generation of our time that listens to Lil’ Wayne is being greatly influenced by what he does.  Some kids even look up to him as a role model and he is not setting a good example.  Even if young kids don’t look up to him as a person but they like and enjoy listening to his music, they are still being influenced by it.  Although they might do it unintentionally, kids absorb what they listen and see and apply it to there own lives.  If they hear Lil’ Wayne rapping about codeine and marijuana they will assume that it’s alright and safe for them to try.  These problems are what Macklemore is trying to fix.  By writing the song Otherside, for example, he portrays a scary scene of someone overdosing on drugs.  Macklemore raps, “Room spinnin', thinkin' he might of sipped just a little bit too much of that cough syrup, his eyelids closed shut, sat back in the chair clutchin' that cup
girlfriend came and a couple hours later said his name shook him but he never got up”.  He also says, “Now he just wanted to act like them, he just wanted to rap like him, us as rappers underestimate the power and the effects that we have on these kids”.  Macklemore basically presents the same argument that I addressed before.  Rappers may not think that kids will take what they say to heart but in reality a lot of young people do.