In America, there is a testing system in place that determines if you get accepted into certain schools, and if you don’t, there are always other options. In China, there is testing system in place that determines your future. This is a system that unfairly gives students only one chance, and if they don’t do well, they are fated to work as construction workers or factory workers. This is too much to be determined by a single test that lasts about nine hours.

In China, if you do well on the gaokao, you can go to college. But if you don’t, you become a construction or factory worker. In the article “China’s Cram School” by Brook Larmer, it states that “If they failed to do well on the gaokao, [the students] would join the ranks of China’s 260 million migrant workers who have left their homes . . . in search of construction of factory jobs”. This is a test that determines their future. It is unfair that so much, if they do well in life or not, rides on this single test.

Also, since so much rides on this test, the conditions that these students are forced to study in are horrendous. They come from miles to study at a school that preps them for the gaokao, to find they study day and night with little rest. As told by Brook Larmer, “[In the school, the] first class [was] at 6:20 in the morning, and . . . the end of [the] last class at 10:50 at night.” Thats sixteen and a half hours. That means they get approximately six hours of sleep to function more hours a day than kids in America are allowed to work a week. Also, Larmer states that “Teenage suicide rates tend to rise as the gaokao nears.” Kids are so afraid that they won’t do well, that they prefer death to the gaokao. Also, she talks about a photo that was released two years ago, showing “a classroom full of students all hooked up to intravenous drips to give them strength to keep studying.” These are the conditions these students are forced to study under to try to do well on the gaokao so they won’t end up as construction or factory workers.

Overall, these students are forced to work under terrible conditions such as sixteen and a half hour days and extreme conditions such as intravenous drips to help them study more. The students do all this because if they don’t do well, they are fated to work in factories or as construction workers. This is the pressure they are faced with, and it not fair that they are faced with it because so much is riding on one test.

Enders Game

The book Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card is a book about a futuristic six-year old boy named Andrew “Ender” Wiggin who is recruited to a military school for kids. He is determined to be the best one, and battles the Formics, an alien species more commonly known as “Buggers”. In this book, Ender learns that killing your enemy doesn’t always mean winning. In the book, Ender is put up against multiple enemies. Each time, though he wins, he does not rejoice in, instead crying over the fact that he had to fight at all.

One of the fights Ender endures is with his former commander, Bonso. When Bonso feels like Ender made a fool of him, he attacks Ender in the bathroom, with intentions to kill. When he has Ender in a headlock, Ender head-butts him in the nose, driving his nose back into his skull, unintentionally killing him. Even though Ender doesn’t find out he killed him until later in the book, Ender still cries as he is escorted away from the scene. When his friend, Dink, is helping him away from the scene, Ender says to him “I didn’t want to hurt him.” Even though Ender was the one attacked, Ender still was crying. Even though Ender won the fight, he still was sad that he had to fight.

Another battle that Ender has to fight is with the Buggers. He is told he is playing a combat simulation, while he is actually fighting real battles. After his final battle, Ender burns the whole planet, committing genocide and  wiping out the buggers forever. After he finds out that the battle was real, he breaks down. A couple days later, when he awakens, his explanation is “In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him. I think it’s impossible to really understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves. And then, in that very moment when I love them.... I destroy them.” Ender felt empathy for the Buggers. He did not want to destroy them. Even though the buggers had endangered the whole human race, Ender still wanted to call a truce instead of fight. And after he was forced to fight, he felt so bad that he spent the rest of his life looking for a place for the last bugger egg that the last queen bugger had given him where the  buggers could colonize again.

Throughout the book, Ender is faced with many enemies, all of which he defeats. And, after he defeats each enemy, he always cries. Even though Ender kills all of the enemys, he still doesn’t win because he never wanted to kill them. In our time, there is a lot of war that our world endures. In the war, many people are killed. But in the end, what is gained? Really, the only thing that comes from fighting is death. And nothing good ever comes from death. Ender learns a very important lesson - that hurting your enemy doesn’t mean winning. And I think that is a lesson that we all should learn.

Charlotte Kahn 802

In the book Out Of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper, the main character, Melody, is presented with many obstacles because she has cerebral palsy and is very smart. Melody learns that just because someone doesn’t believe you can do it, doesn’t mean you can’t do it. Melody learns to overcome the obstacles of her appearance and superior intellect to face other peoples judgemental behavior and jealousy.

In a scene she remembers from childhood, Melody's doctor quizzes her about four objects. He asks, "Which one of these is not like the others?" Melody thinks for a minute and when she points to one, though she is right, the doctor underestimates her ability of understanding, and tells her she is wrong, and tells her mom Melody is retarded. Melody remembered that, and even though that doctor didn’t believe in her, she pushed through and was able to go so far as to be the only one in her school to ever get all the right answers on a extra-hard test her teacher gave. Even though the doctor said she wouldn’t be able to do it, she did.

Melody was also faced by her teacher, Mr. Dimming, who made a rude remark to the classroom about Melody’s disability. To reciprocate, Melody works very hard to prove him wrong with her neighbor, Mrs Valencia. "You know how athletes get ready for the Olympics? They swim early in the morning and late at night. They run around the track for hours and hours without a crowd to cheer them on". When Melody jokes, "I can't run very fast," Mrs. Valencia says that she will have the "strongest brain in the school" after studying with her. Mrs Valencia helped Melody prove to Mr. Dimming and herself that she did have what it took, and she proved it by acing Mr. Dimming’s test.

Melody is presented with many obstacles and must rely on herself and others to help her overcome them. She overcomes them by making the quiz team by acing her test despite her disability, and showing her class and teachers how intelligent she is. Many people today are marked with cruel, unnecessary labels like ‘fat’ or ‘retarded’. Not only is it cruel and offensive and inconsiderate, how can you say that without even knowing the person? It can hurt the person much more than you know. Next time you see something, be sure to say something. Treat others how you want to be treated. And most of all, believe in yourself.

Charlotte Kahn     802

“Ashes” Reading Response

        The short story “Ashes” by Susan Beth Pfeffer is about a girl named Ashes with divorced parents. In the story, the protagonist is put in a position where she has to make a decision between her parents when her dad asks her to take money from her mom. This story shows that it is not always easy to make choices, especially if it’s a choice that might affect the people you love.

        In the story, Ashes’ dad wants her to “borrow“ money from her mother. Here, Ashes is forced to choose between her mom and her dad.  Her dad tries to convince her that it’s alright, by saying “I just thought maybe you could borrow the money . . .  just for a day or two . . . Your mother would never know the difference.” If Ashes takes the money and her mom finds out, she could really hurt her. After all, she would be betraying her mom’s trust. But if she doesn’t, then she could hurt her dad because he needs the money. She could also hurt her dad’s feelings, because he might feel like she chooses her mom instead of him. Any teen might succumb to the pressure of having to choose between parents. Nobody should be forced to make that decision.

        Also, a decision that her mom and dad made that was a hard choice that affected Ashes deeply was the decision to get divorced. Although them being divorced might have hurt Ashes in some ways, it may have helped her in others. Because they got divorced, they saved her from having to see them fight, even if she didn’t get to see her dad as much. That must have been a very hard decision for him, because it meant he didn’t get to see her as much. But, for her sake along with his, he made that decision.

        Big decisions are always hard to make. But if the decision affects someone you love, it can be near impossible. When I was younger, I always wondered why my parents broke up. Now I realize that they did it not only for them, but for me too. My earliest memory is one of them fighting, but now, I am not exposed to that. Ashes was also not exposed to that because her parents love her. All decisions are hard to make, but if you strive to make choices that benefit the ones you love, there will always be a good outcome.

Allegiant Book Review

Although Veronica Roths' writing in this book is phenomenal, I felt like the storyline could have used some work. Out of the three books in this series (Divergent, Insurgent, and Allegiant) I felt like this one, though it's the last one, disappointed me most. There were parts in the book that were almost boring and made me want to skip that part, which is never a good quality. Although Roths' first book, Divergent, was a strong piece that I could really connect to, Allegiant did not meet my expectations. Although, Roth discussed serious topics in a way that made me think about them, I found myself feeling that they were too serious, so it lost some of the playful qualities that made the earlier books so enjoyable. It was also harder to focus on the plot. Overall, though the book did discuss serious topics, it lacked in playfulness and was unenjoyable.