You Say You Want a Revolution

     On July 14, 1789, an angry mob of Parisians attacked the Bastille, a medieval fortress in the center of Paris.  The crowd was hoping to free the hundred of political prisoners rumored to be held captive inside and gain access to weapons and gun powder.  For decades the fortress served as a symbol of the power of the French King, and caused resentment amongst the population of Paris.

  

     The crowd beheaded the captain of the guard, and freed all the prisoners inside (there were 7). The people of Paris now had weapons and confidence  and the kings guards were forced to flee the city. The French Revolution had begun.

    In class yesterday we talked about what motivates people to rebel against their government.  There are major political revolutions in history that you will study later in high school and college, most far more violent then the American Revolution.  No matter if the Revolution is taking place in Russia during the early 1900s or France during the 1780s, there are always common themes and demands of the groups revolting.  These are: Power, Money, and Land.  The holy trinity of revolutions.

    The Power issue in France had to do with the political system that was set up.  The King had absolute power, and did not need the help of the Estates General (French legislative branch).  He could raise taxes or declare war on a whim.  The people who had power were a small percentage of the population, members of the nobility and the clergy. They had special privileges and held the best jobs in government.  In addition to that, these people controlled the majority of the land in France, forcing farmers to pay heavy fees to work the land.  

      Soldiers returning from fighting in the American Revolution spread the ideas of democracy and freedom.  Many of these men did not understand why they had to fight for freedom against a king, to return home to a king.  Americans now had a government of elected rulers, not officials  appointed by a king.  In America people who were qualified got a job, not people who were born into the nobility. 

    Those special privileges had to deal with money.  The clergy and the nobles did not have to pay taxes.  The middle class, the farmers, and the poor city workers paid the brunt of France's taxes.  In addition to the tax burden, a series of droughts and famine caused the price of bread and grain to become unaffordable for many middle class and city workers.  These people became upset that the government did not step in and help them.  Farmers could not sell their crops and had troubles paying their taxes and rent to the rich land lords. 

  

    Hungry People+Poor People= Angry People.  

   The majority of the population of France was ready for a change, and change happened quickly.

Within the matter of a few months, Louis XVI, the king of France was removed from office, replaced with an elected Republic.  The French government issued "The Declaration of the Rights of Man", which promised that the people of France were entitled to "liberty, property, security, and the resistance to oppression".   Ideas that were borrowed from the Declaration of Independence.   

   Many politicians and Americans were pleased with the French Revolution.  Happy to see that the ideas of democracy and freedom were spreading to Europe.  This happiness, would soon disappear.

   France became immersed in bloodshed.  Governments changed, and mass executions of political enemies took place.  The King and Queen of France were among the 40,000 people who would become a victim to the "Reign of Terror".  The guillotine, invented as a more humane way of executing someone, became the symbol of death and anarchy.  Monarchs across Europe, declared war against the French, hoping to prevent the violence and disorder from spreading to their nations. 

   Back in the United States, President Washington faced the task of deciding what course the United States should take. 

   

Viva La France

Responses and Reactions

Periods 1,6, and 7 took a quiz today.  The quiz had questions from the map activity, the Eli Whitney reading, and from the reading on African Americans in Philadelphia.  Tonight for homework all of the classes need to do the following.

1. read pages 316-317

2. Identify the following: Little Turtle, Anthony Wayne, The Battle of Fallen Timbers, and The Treaty of Greenville

3. Answer question number 3 on page 320.

In periods 3 and 4, I wanted the connection to be made that the A.M.E. church and Free African Society were both created from the reactions of African Americans in Philadelphia.  Since white churches would not allow Africans to worship or be buried on their property, a group of African Americans decided to take matters into their own hands and form their own parish.  When charitable organizations began to take advantage of black widows and orphans, Absalom Jones and Richard Allen took it upon themselves to form a society that would provide for the poor blacks in Philadelphia. 

   History is a story of how people react and respond to events and actions in their lifetime.  On the board there was a list of events that ranged from the attacks on 9/11 to the hitting prowess of Ted Williams.  We took some time to describe how people responded to those events/actions. Some of you even came up with your own events that brought about reactions. 

Here is what was brought up in class: 

Event/Action Response/Reaction

99 cent value meal at Wendys $1.00 menu at McDonalds

Starbucks better coffee at McDonalds

people pay more $ for coffee

Ted Williams the infield shift is used

Twilight more Vampire books, movies, T.V. shows

The Beatles "British Invasion", the Rolling Stones, The Who

Toy Story (1996) other compute animated movies

Jackie Robinson other baseball teams sign African American players

Guitar Hero classic Rock becomes popular, Rock Band video game

Michael Jordan's Retirement some people felt that the number 23 should be retired throughout the NBA

McDonalds had to respond to Starbucks because billions of dollars was at stake.  The result was a premium coffee made available to McDonalds customers.  When the infield began to shift over to rob Ted Williams of base hits, it was because teams were being killed by his hitting abilities.  People respond in order to survive. 

Our next topic is going to discuss how the United States responded to the demand to expand further west, beyond the first thirteen states.  We will also talk about how Native American tribes respond to American expansion.

Albert Einstein, Alfred Nobel, Eli Whitney and Dr. Emmet Brown,

   All of those scientists and inventors made lasting contributions in their field, and saw in their lifetime, how their creations could be used to do horrible things.  

  

    In class we talked a little about the phrase, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions." Now, we were not debating the afterlife for those scientists but my goal was to get you to think about the consequences of our actions. Sometimes people have positive intentions and want to do good, however, the result may have a negative impact.  For example, when I was younger I used to help my brother with his book reports.  He did not like to read, and I did.  I also felt like I was doing a good thing by reading the books for him.  My mom had always encouraged us to help each other, and I thought I was doing the right thing.  What I was actually doing was denying my brother the skills he would need in school.  I could not do his readings for him in class, and he struggled with reading for several years.  My intent was good, but it ended up having a negative consequence for him.

  

Alfred Nobel came from a wealthy family in  Sweden that owned several factories.  Nobel went on to invent dynamite, hoping to help with the mining business.  During his lifetime his invention would be used for warfare and used to spread destruction.  A newspaper published an obituary for Nobel while he was still alive.  The article went on lambasting Nobel for being responsible for the deaths of millions of people.  Nobel, became upset that his name would be associated with destruction set aside his fortune to an institute that would reward people in the areas of physical science, medicine, and chemistry that have helped mankind.  Over time, the Nobel Prize has been rewarded to people in the categories of literature and promoting international fraternalism. 

Albert Einstein saw his works in quantum theory and in physics be used to create nuclear weapons.  After witnessing the destruction the atomic bomb had on Japan, Einstein became an advocate of promoting peace and calling for the end of nuclear weapons.  For the rest of his life, he would speak about living with the guilt of feeling responsible for helping to bring about the atomic age.

    Dr. Emmet Brown from Back to the Future saw that his time machine could be used for selfish and evil purposes.   He intended for his invention to be used to promote science and once he and Marty stopped Biff, he wanted the time machine destroyed. 

  We talked a little bit about the life of Eli Whitney and why he traveled to the South. Eli Whitney's invention was intended to help the plantation owners of the South but also make the life of slaves easier.  What ends up happening is that the gin makes it more profitable to own cotton and helps spread slavery across the nation. 

   When Whitney saw down in the kitchen of Mrs. Catherine Greene he was not thinking about altering the Southern economy, the spread of slavery, or the Civil War.  Eli Whitney was thinking about how he can make a profit and a name for himself.  In history, the actions of an individual can have tremendous impact.

For homework finish the questions for the Eli Whitney sheet.

President Obama's Speech

   Every September as students return to school the media brings about the focus on the Public School System of the United States.  Some critics say that the schools in our country are not doing enough for the students.  They point to standardized test scores and other performance based materials. 

  In class we spoke a little about the culture of education.  I asked you to write down what should the purpose of education be and why should someone attend school.  Many of you talked about how achieving an education will help get you a better job.

   The other topic that was reflected on was to list one positive aspect and one negative aspect of school.  The responses were all great and ranged from "insane teachers" and no sleep, to getting to see our friends and learning new things.   I am not going to win you over by signing the praises of school, I know that there are both good and bad things at any school, my goal was to see that even in the negative aspects there can be some positive things.

  For example, many people complained that school takes away sleep time.  I will be the first to admit, that I am a big fan of sleep.  If sleeping in was an Olympic event I can guarantee a medal, lets put it at that.   However, during school I need to adjust my schedule to make sure that I get enough sleep for the next day.  This may mean going to bed a little earlier and not staying up for Conan.  These sacrifices that we make, are survival skills.  So if I have to change a habit for school, I will be able to do it again if I need to.  

  This can be applied to the way we study, do our homework, eat our meals, or any other habits we change during the school year.  By changing and adapting we are bettering ourselves and can change for bigger issues if we need to. 

  

Tonight for homework you need to finish the reading on the education system of Singapore.  Be sure to complete the questions on the other page.

When that is over I would like you to choose a quote from President Obama's address he gave this afternoon.  I want you to take a quote that you either agree on or disagree with.  You need to bring it in into class for tomorrow.  In class we will put some of these quotes on the board and talk about them and the address in general.  If you could not see the speech today, try and watch it on youtube or a news site.  It might help you with the homework.

I look forward to seeing what is brought in.

Prepared Remarks of President Barack Obama

Back to School Event

Arlington, Virginia

September 8, 2009

 

The President: Hello everyone – how’s everybody doing today? I’m here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we’ve got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through twelfth grade. I’m glad you all could join us today. 

I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it’s your first day in a new school, so it’s understandable if you’re a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now, with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you’re in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could’ve stayed in bed just a little longer this morning.

I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday – at 4:30 in the morning.   

Now I wasn’t too happy about getting up that early. A lot of times, I’d fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I’d complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and say, "This is no picnic for me either, buster."

So I know some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But I’m here today because I have something important to discuss with you. I’m here because I want to talk with you about your education and what’s expected of all of you in this new school year. 

Now I’ve given a lot of speeches about education. And I’ve talked a lot about responsibility.

I’ve talked about your teachers’ responsibility for inspiring you, and pushing you to learn. 

I’ve talked about your parents’ responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don’t spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox. 

I’ve talked a lot about your government’s responsibility for setting high standards, supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren’t working where students aren’t getting the opportunities they deserve. 

But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed. 

And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself. 

Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide. 

Maybe you could be a good writer – maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper – but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor – maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine – but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.

And no matter what you want to do with your life – I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You’re going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.

And this isn’t just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future. 

You’ll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You’ll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You’ll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy. 

We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that – if you quit on school – you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country. 

Now I know it’s not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.

I get it. I know what that’s like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn’t always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn’t fit in. 

So I wasn’t always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I’m not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse. 

But I was fortunate. I got a lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle Obama, has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn’t have much. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.

Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don’t have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there’s not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don’t feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren’t right. 

But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying. 

Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future. 

That’s what young people like you are doing every day, all across America. 

Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn’t speak English when she first started school. Hardly anyone in her hometown went to college, and neither of her parents had gone either. But she worked hard, earned good grades, got a scholarship to Brown University, and is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to being Dr. Jazmin Perez.

I’m thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who’s fought brain cancer since he was three. He’s endured all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer – hundreds of extra hours – to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind, and he’s headed to college this fall. 

And then there’s Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods, she managed to get a job at a local health center; start a program to keep young people out of gangs; and she’s on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.

Jazmin, Andoni and Shantell aren’t any different from any of you. They faced challenges in their lives just like you do. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their education and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same. 

That’s why today, I’m calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education – and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book. Maybe you’ll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you’ll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you’ll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, I hope you’ll all wash your hands a lot, and stay home from school when you don’t feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.

Whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it. 

I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work -- that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you’re not going to be any of those things. 

But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject you study. You won’t click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.

That’s OK.  Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures. JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, "I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." 

These people succeeded because they understand that you can’t let your failures define you – you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time. If you get in trouble, that doesn’t mean you’re a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to behave. If you get a bad grade, that doesn’t mean you’re stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying. 

No one’s born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work. You’re not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don’t hit every note the first time you sing a song. You’ve got to practice. It’s the same with your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right, or read something a few times before you understand it, or do a few drafts of a paper before it’s good enough to hand in. 

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don’t know something, and to learn something new. So find an adult you trust – a parent, grandparent or teacher; a coach or counselor – and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals. 

And even when you’re struggling, even when you’re discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you – don’t ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.

The story of America isn’t about people who quit when things got tough. It’s about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best. 

It’s the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and found this nation. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google, Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.

So today, I want to ask you, what’s your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?  

Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I’m working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But you’ve got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don’t let us down – don’t let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.

Never write about a place until you're away from it, because that gives you perspective

~ Ernest Hemingway

If you are going to take some advice on writing, you should take Mr. Hemingway's. Hemingway spent years traveling throughout Spain, Africa, Cuba, France and Italy. Based on his own experiences, his stories are filled with vivid descriptions of these places and the people that inhabited them.

In class we talked about what forms or creates our perspective. Some of the examples we came up with included:

family, religious beliefs, peers, the media, our education, what we have seen and experienced, where we are from, and our values. All of these factor in to how we form an opinion.

With all that in mind, I put these two newspaper headlines on the board about the same event, "Hell Freezes Over" and "The Chokes on Us". I wanted you to try and figure out what event the headlines referred to. Some of the guesses included the stock market crash and the attacks of September 11th. In 6th and 7th periods, the classes figured out what I was referring to, the 2004 ALCS. Those headlines were from two New York newspapers. If you were not from New England, or did not experience that series, it might have been harder to guess it was about the Red Sox.

I also wanted to point out how the newspapers did not even mention Boston or the Yankees in the headline, but we still knew what it was about based on our experiences. Since the headlines were from New York we agreed that the article do not imply that the Red Sox won the Pennant but that the Yankees lost it. The Boston newspapers would have a different headline with the attention being on a Red Sox accomplishment not a New York shortcoming.

Welcome Back

     Well, you got through the first day of your last year of Middle School. A year from now you will be starting at a brand new school whether it be down the road or somewhere else.  I know that the first day can tend to be a bit repetitive with all the teachers going over the rules and guidelines of each of your classes but it needs to get done. 

     The homework for the class is to have the letter to your parents signed and placed in the Tool Box section of your binder.  If you do not have a binder, you need to go out and make the investment.  On Tuesday I will be checking to see that everyone has their letter signed and in their binder.  

   I am really looking forward to this year.  Good luck and see you tomorrow.