What Does Being Human Mean?

Very philisophical but also simple. What makes us human is in our species name: homo sapiens because we as humans have a higher thought process and intelligence than regular animals. Our own inventiveness and creativeness allow us to go farther than thought possible and to always push limits and break barriers. We argue, we agree, we wonder, we create, we love and we hate. Just being ourselves makes us as human.

Nick's Declassified School Survival Guide

Six word Slant

School is a wilderness to beware.

140 Character Claim

Students in agony over school need to give their best efforts into their grades and rest easy once they have perservered against adversity. (139 characters)

Students all over the country are beset by their teachers and almost all feel the pressure of work and expectations forced upon them. To relieve this pressure, we have to manage our time and make school a top priority.

                We have to be generous towards school because if we neglect it, the consequences can be dire. As Ron Kurtus states in his website, School For Champions, students need to manage time each day to complete assignments. As it turns out, students can actually spend too much time on assignments, taking more time than what is actually needed. So the best way to tackle that pesky homework is to have specific intervals free from distractions and with celerity. For example, every day when school lets out, set the interval from about 4:15 pm to 5:15, giving that hour of cushion to unwind from the day. Also, staying organized can help retain the grade point average. Moreover, keep every graded assignment that gets handed back. This will show what mistakes were made and so that next time the same mistakes will not be made twice.

                In order to make school more of a priority, schedules might need to be rearranged. In the online article, 10 Tips for Getting Good Grades, Randall Hansen advises us to, “use a planner or organization system.” Using a planner will definitely help those with bizarre and changing schedules to help plan out when and where school work needs to be done. In spite of the organizer, sometime in order to fully make school a priority, sacrifices have to be made. No one is able to do everything that they want so when it comes to this, decide what is most dear to keep and what is going to have to be given up. Although, a lot of extracurricular activities like clubs or maybe a job may take up most free time and obdurate people might never give these up. But the wanton truth is students have an obligation to do well in school and if that is hindered by anything, something has to change or school survival is slim. Similarly, in the book Call of the Wild, a dog named Buck is taken from his home and forced to live in the harsh Yukon. Buck has to change his ways and habits in order to adapt and survive in the Yukon.

                All have felt the pressure of school, threatening to make us crack. So if the pressure gets to be too much, help is offered to those who need it. Everyone everywhere has at one time struggled in a class. So if classes get too hard sometimes, most schools do offer tutoring to help students understand material.

                Too many students out there are struggling with grades and too many times it has been from lack of effort. Most would be obdurate as to consider the suggestions that have been stated. But this is promised to work. Make the sacrifice. Make the effort. Make the grade.

Works Cited

S Hansen, Randall S. "10 Tips For Getting Good (or Better) Grades." n.d. Quintessential Careers. May 2012.

S Kurtus, Ron. Get Your Homework Done. 26 September 2011. May 2012. <http://school-for-champions.com/default.htm>.

S London, Jack. Call of the Wild. Tom Doherty Associates, 1986.

The Cost of Life

Whenever someone dies before their time, is one person solely to blame, or do others shoulder some of the blame? We all carry the responsibility of the health and lives of the people next to us because we are our brother's keeper. If we don't care, who will? Why do we ignore the hurts and cries of others when we are the ones who should be helping?

A person is beset by thieves, stabbed and robbed at night and is left for dead. Later, he dies from blood loss. Who is to blame for his death? The first impulse is to say the one that stabbed him. But what about the person walking down the street who thought nothing of the screams? He hears the unwonted cries, but is too concerned trying to get home. All he had to do was investigate the scream, call 911, and the  person could have been saved. So who is to blame more for the death, the thief, or the passerby?


One hundred years ago, the famed ship Titanic sank on its maiden voyage. Over 1,500 souls lost their lives that night. Most could blame the deaths on the captain for not having slowed down that night. But it wasn't just the captain's fault that all those souls lost their lives. A ship sailing in the vicinity that night saw the flares of the Titanic but the captain thought they were just celebrating. There were only enough lifeboats for about half the people on board Titanic. To think that the ship that saw the flares thought nothing of it is... astounding.


Even when there is no one else to blame, sometimes the one guilty does not take it. In the book, Call of the Wild, we see a dog named Buck travel through the Yukon as a sled dog. During one of the treks, a master drives his team of dogs past their limits. The dogs are so exausted and in such horrid shape that one of the dogs actually dies from it. But the masters think nothing of it. All they think about is just getting to their destination as quickly as possible.

We all carry the weight of lives on our shoulders. Not just ours. We are responsible for the welfare of the people next to us because we are our brother's keeper.

How to Survive School

Six-Word-Slant

• School is a wilderness to beware.

140-Character-Claim

• Students in agony over school need to give their best efforts into their grades and rest easy once they have perservered against adversity. (139 characters)