Learning Profile

1. The common themes I read about in the text were generally about how the decisions you make when you are young will effect the rest of your life. The book discussed a lot about career opportunities (especially through training and college), developing relations, and your personal attitude. In career opportunities it tries to focus on a triangle of things to remember when looking for a career. The first in this triangle is to enjoy what you do. No one wants to do something they don't want to, and if you enjoy something you will usually be better at it. The second thing is to look at what you are skilled at doing. Make sure that you have some skill at whatever you are going to do, because if you aren't skilled at what you do you probably won't like your job. The third and final thing is to look at the values of your career. You should look at the pay value, and the whole picture. Developing relations is a key part to almost every aspect of your life. Remember that friends will always be there for you and help you through tough times. Relations can also help you get a foot in the door. Your personal attitude effect how others perceive you, how you perceive the world, how you act, and basically everything in your life. The best advice here is to just keep your head on your shoulders and don't let anything bother you to much.

2. I have strengths and weaknesses as a learner. In high school I had trouble concentrating and absorbing information, but now I feel that while I was in the army I learned to pay more attention to detail. I feel that trait has carried through and is with me now in college. Now I soak up information like a sponge and have no problems concentrating (even though it still bothers me when I'm concentrating and someone is talking, tapping, or making some other noise). I'm good at sticking to what I need to do when I put my mind to it, sticking to a routine, and I'm good at getting a lot of things done at once. I've started to procrastinate as the year drags on, but I've found if I put something in my head to do it and I avoid temptation and distractions I can accomplish quite a lot. If I do something daily I will continue doing it without any problems and it actually makes me feel worse when I don't do it. An example of this is lifting weights (which is a great stress reliever by the way). I usually don't mess with the small stuff, but tend to fix the big problems (and let the smaller ones grow). For instance, I will let my room get messy for a while, but when it gets bad enough I pick it all up at once instead of occasionally picking something up here and there. I feel I'm also good at staying away from the party crowd and if there was one thing I would help someone with taking this class it would be applying his/herself to school, and to get their homework done right away instead of putting it off til later. Always make sure you do what needs to get done first and what you want to do later.

3. My biggest struggle would definitely be tests, but I don't know if that is just my lack of studying, staying up too late, or just that I'm not good at them. I've also started procrastinating as the year drags on, but try to keep myself on an even keel. I wish that I would go to bed earlier than I do but I just can't seem to fall asleep before midnight. Sometimes I wish I studied more, but sometimes when I study I find that I already know the stuff I'm studying and the stuff I don't know doesn't make any sense to me and I need more help from a teacher or someone with more knowledge on the subject. I just wish that I could do good on all my tests and figure out what it is that other kids do to do better that I don't. Sometimes I just get so stressed because I still am not making any income (the military still has managed to avoid paying me like I'm supposed to be), I have lots of homework to get done, and I'm driving a car with 160,000 miles and I worry just about making it to school, especially now that it's not running that well to begin with. Sure makes me miss my old car I had that was an '02 eclipse, but I had to give that up so that I could afford schooling.

4. Thanks to this class, I've done a lot of self-reflection on myself and changed some things that have benefited me this year in order to better myself. I've learned a lot about plagiarism, online databases, and many programs that Butler has to offer such as the tutor program. I've not taken advantage of many of these options yet, but may look toward them in the future. I've narrowed down my occupational interests to physical trainer, physical therapist, and a psychologist as a result of some of the things we have done in this class. The most significant skill I learned in this class would probably be speed reading. Normally I read at a normal "lax" pace and tend to get a little more information, but it would take me so long to get that information that I'd end up behind where I should be to begin with. When I speed read, I usually get done ahead of time, and even though I've missed a few bits of information here and there, I tend to get more out of whatever I'm reading just because of the fact I finished it (sometimes I'd get bored and just stop reading because it was taking so long).

5. Most of the things that we did in this class were relevant to my life and helped me. Even if they didn't help they caused no harm, so I'll begin by saying that the speed reader helped me a lot. I've never really speed read before and always took my time reading, but now I find more interest in reading and apply it to my every day life, whether I'm just reading the newspaper or reading an assignment I use speed reading all the time. Another thing that helped me a lot was the questionaire thing we filled out that told us our interests, skills, and whatever else about what job would be best for us. It helped me realize that there were a lot more careers out there for me than I thought was really possible. An activity that wasn't so helpful was the mirror activity where we tried to follow the line. It was fun and I enjoyed it, but it really had no relevance to my life. These blogs have been a very interesting thing as well. They have let me express myself and talk about my life, which has somewhat helped relieve stress. Of course at times I feel it has stressed me out to when I'm to busy and don't have the time to write the things in my life down on here.

6. I believe the course was one-hundred percent successful. I learned many things and I feel that the course not only educated me, but also changed my attitude in a positive way. Out of all the things we did I would not recommend anything to be dropped. Even the things that seemed pointless were somewhat interesting, and made good class activities. I would definitely keep the speed reader to help students learn how to speed read, especially those less educated (and if they can't read help them to learn). I would also definitely keep the job finder application thing. It helps students better understand their strengths and weaknesses and would maybe help them decide what to major in. I don't know what could be added to better the class. I think the class already has about as much as it can handle, so I don't think it really needs anything else. The only real change on the course I could recommend is maybe cutting down the blog assignments and increase take-home homework. However, that would be kind of an experimental deal because I don't know if it would help the course any or not. I did enjoy the class and believe that I also benefited from it.

7. When I look around the room I notice most people have a "don't want to be here" attitude and think the class is pointless. My best advice is to come in with an open mind and a positive attitude. When you get an assignment do it. Don't wait until the last minute. If the teacher assigns a blog do it. Most people wait last minute to do theirs and I'm sure they are either just dismissing the thought of finishing them all up or frantically trying to get them all done. This class is also a great way to meet new people like yourself. Don't be closed up and talk to everyone. Maybe you will meet someone who will be your friend down the road, or maybe even your girlfriend. When I came in I wish I would have known those things. I definitely would have been more friendly and open. So the top three most important things to know about this class are: Don't wait last minute to do your work/blogs. Be open and meet people that are new, just like you. Finally, you should also have a positive attitude toward the class and take in whatever information is provided.

8. After taking this course I will have a more positive attitude towards things. More importantly I will have a better attitude towards doing my homework and not procrastinating. Spending some time on school work on the weekend wouldn't hurt either. In this class I always had my work done on time and I will try to use that as a building block for my other classes. When writing papers I will be more careful to not plagiarize them. While I'm at work I will make sure to do all my duties and get along with co-workers to avoid conflict. I'll try not to miss class as much but that's hard sometimes since I live so far away. Also I will try to narrow my decisions down and figure out what I'm going to major in. Another good thing to do would be to be more open to meeting people and developing relations with people here at the college so that I can always have a friend to fall back on when I'm struggling with some aspect in my life. I hope that students in the future find this course as helpful as I have and hopefully give it a chance instead of dismissing it as "just some required class."

Academic Honesty

Academic honesty is a serious topic. Too often we find students who find it much more convenient to copy and paste something off the Internet into a paper that is considered their own. I mean what is wrong with that? It saves time and you get a great grade on your paper. Who wouldn't want that? A mindset like that could get you into a lot of trouble. If you were to copy and paste information onto your paper without citing a source, that is called plagiarism. Plagiarism has many dire consequences and here are a few. If you are caught plagiarizing then you could get a zero on your paper! Imagine what that would do to your grade. Oh so you think that a zero is worth the risk? Well what if I were to tell you that you could also lose your scholarship and even get kicked out of school for plagiarizing? That's right you could suffer far worse than a zero on your paper, but it gets worse. The author of whatever information you copy could also sue you. Still thinking it's worth the risk? I didn't think so. So you want to know what plagiarism is so that you don't accidentally get caught up in it? The definition of plagiarism is the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work. Often times when plagiarism and other academic dishonesty's are committed is because the student is stressed out, has too much homework, or just doesn't have enough time to do the assignment. Imagine how stressed you would be if you had to go through one of the consequences listed above. It's just not worth it. If you are interested in knowing more ways to avoid plagiarism check out this link. My best advice to avoid plagiarism is to keep in your head the knowledge of why plagiarism is wrong. Even if you are hurting for time, do as much of your paper as you can and/or ask the teacher for more time. If the teacher won't give you more time, then turn your paper in as is. Any grade is better than a zero right? Just make sure to cite your sources, and keep credit to the original creator of the information you take in from a source. If you have trouble citing sources then don't worry! You can always use a citation machine.

Academic Plan

I have several reasons for going to college. One reason is that I had nothing else better to do unless I wanted to work a "dead end" job the rest of my life. A second reason is for the education. I want to learn and know more about the world and an area of my choice. Reason number three would have to be that the army is giving me $2,000 a month to go to college, so I had a choice to get paid basically a full-time job while getting a cheap education, or receive no money and no education. The choice was simple. I will go to Butler for 2 years, then move on to a university such as Kansas University or Wichita State University to finish my degree in either physical therapy, physical training, or psychology. I suppose my interests and skills will change between now and the time I transfer, but I doubt they will change much. I originally was set on physical therapy but now I am thinking that psychology is more interesting. I also have a personal interest in physical training. Hopefully by going to Butler I will have all my general classes out of the way and a grasp on the concept of college. I should be more organized and I should know what to expect and what to be ready for in the future. If I could go back I'd recommend most of my friends going to juco's to get a foot in the door, for a small portion of the cost.

Butler Resources/Online Databases

I found the online databases and the information obtained from them very useful. They were easy to use and easy to find. In the future I will definitely use the citation machine to help myself cite sources. Something I may use leisurely would be the opposing view points. I've always liked reading about a subject and seeing both points of view on the topic. The topic I read about was called Frequent, moderate drinking benefits human health. I found that drinking one serving of alcohol three to four times per week actually decreases the chance of heart disease. I am not taking an English class this semester, but will be next semester and I can guarantee I use the online database on a regular occasion. I took a Speech class in high school, so I can't use the online database for Speech, but I know for a fact it would have made things much easier to have known about such a thing. I doubt that I use everything on the database since there are so many things, but I would like to find out more about the things I haven't used yet. Maybe someday when I get some free time I will check them out, but for the time being I'll stick with the ones I know. The only things I don't understand is why you have to have a user name and password to access these tools. I don't know why they aren't accessible to the public and believe everyone should be able to benefit from the online databases and not just students.

Time Management

I am usually very good at managing time. Right now I have been keeping up well with my school work and keeping a healthy relationship with my girlfriend and family and keeping in shape. I have quite a bit of free time and need to get a job or start training for football. I'm afraid to do either because it will cause me to have less time for my girlfriend and less personal time.

On occasion I do fail to manage my time and it makes me feel worthless and lazy. It always starts out with me putting off whatever I need to get done. Before I know it I'm on a deadline and rushing last minute to get whatever it is that I need to finish. Very rarely will I ever completely fail to get something done, however I feel stressed and pressured when I'm procrastinating and it makes everything in my life seem much worse than it actually is.

In highschool I never was very good at managing my time, but I think through maturity and discipline managing time has become second nature to me. I don't conciously think about managing my time, but I make sure I get everything done as soon as possible and never "take a break" until my project is done. When I get things done it gives me time to relax and do the things I want to do without having a project or task in the back of my head bothering me. This leaves me stress free and open for a spontaneous day.

I took a year off from highschool while I was in the army and I think it paid off. I don't feel that I was bad at managing time in highschool so much as I was just tired and bored of school. I'm sure I matured since highschool and I'm sure that helps, but it does help to have a break from school after twelve years of it. If I had jumped into college right after highschool I'd probably be doing a lot worse than I am. I always get my homework done, I have plenty of time since I don't need a job since I earned plenty in the military and they are paying me $2,000 a month to go to school, and I'm a stronger person, physically and mentally than I was in highschool. All shyness that I once had is gone and when I'm not talking it's because I don't want to, not because I'm shy.

Community Service

Their are three issues in this world that bother me considerably. The first would be a military problem dealing with the way soldiers are treated, the way recruiters go about recruiting, and how badly organized the army really is. The second would be all the business and people trying to make a buck dishonestly by taking advantage of people and ripping them off (this includes high interest rates). The final would be about George Bush, the war, and its effect on this countries economy.

Out of those three issues I will talk to you about the last one, since it is the most major and impersonal issue. George Bush is a moron and a master of sugar-coat speaking. I apologize for slandering the good President of the U.S. but this President I supported in the beginning has proven to be a very bull-headed and stubborn. I'm sure the government pulled some stunts in getting the public pro-war in the beginning, but things like 9/11 aren't even on anyones minds anymore. That was more than 5 years ago and what one man and his followers did to our country led to us invading a country having little to do with Osama Bin Laden, who didn't even run to Iraq in the first place mind you. What I find funny is that most of the rumors going around claimed Bin Laden to be in Pakistan. Do you find it funny that we invaded Afghanistan and Iraq, but left Pakistan alone? It sounds like the Iraq war should be renamed the Bush Family Crusade. After all was it not George Bush's father who started the Gulf War? Could George Bush be looking to finish what his father started?

Now people are begging Bush to withdraw the troops, but he says if we do all our progress will be lost. The Iraqi people would be better off without us there anyways. First of all the majority of them don't even want us their in the first place. Second, we have a pretty good foothold on the country right now, but the only way the country will ever hold together is if we spend the rest of forever there, because the Iraqi people do not have the structure or man-power to keep themselves from falling into the hands of the Taliban. Isn't it ironic how we go into a country looking for one man and end up in the middle of a country's civil war? The Iraqi religion, government, and fate is not up to us and it's ridiculous that we put ourselves in the middle of their conflict. It is my belief that the people of the United States are considered mindless puppets of the government and that they are keeping some very large dark secrets from us. For instance, if terrorists were so concerned with the downfall of the U.S. then why have their been very few attacks on the U.S. in our own country? Sure their have been attacks in Iraq on a terrorist level, but aren't there supposed to be attacks in a civil war? You could say that the reason we haven't had attacks is because of our high security level and alertness, but that has absolutely no factor on terrorists attacking the U.S. If a terrorist wanted to blow up a bunch of people in the U.S. he would move here like any foreigner, find a packed place like a mall or any gathering, and blow himself and everyone else to smithereens. And another thing, what ever happened to all the nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons that Iraq supposedly had? Why did we never find them? Could it be that they possibly don't exist? A final example of one of the reasons we shouldn't be in Iraq is how much our country has spent on the war. 2 trillion dollars will have been spent on the war by the time it is over. Bush says that we have put to much into the war to turn back now, but that's his own fault. If the war drags on a lot longer costs will just keep climbing, and that is killing our economy back here in the United States. Oil prices have doubled since the start of the war. The war is the obvious cause for this price gouging, which is another thing I find funny considering we have been stealing Iraq's oil. Did you know that George Bush also owns a very large majority of oil facilities and product in Texas? Interestingly a quick way for Mr. President to get rich quick. I supported the war for a very long time, even when the majority of the U.S. did not, but even a war-monger like myself is sick of this pointless war and see through all the sugar-coated talking of George Bush.

Al Jazeera English News Report:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/D035485E-40E4-47CD-A758-D26784FD782A.htm

Internet Magazine Report: The $2-Trillion War
http://harvardmagazine.com/2006/05/the-2-trillion-war.html

Coping with Change

The biggest change I've gone through in the past year would probably be my transition back into the civilian world from the army. I just got out of the army in august so I've had some time to adapt to my surroundings, but the hardest change for me when I first got back home was a few different small things. For instance I had to teach myself how to sleep in past 4:30 a.m., I had to learn how to enjoy my meals instead of engulfing them, and I had to learn how to relax and just enjoy myself. I know those aren't really bad things and it's a good thing to be responsible and up to speed like that, but as a civilian there really isn't much point to being able to do those things. I mean honestly who goes to work at 4:30 a.m.? I wake up at 6:30 a.m. now to go to school and that feels like sleeping in. Also after time wears on all of that stuff takes its toll on you and for a while my stress levels were very high so the change was definitely vital. It's been a while since high school, but I know college is different in the fact that I have much more time to do stuff since I have 2 days of school that go until 12:25 and 2 days that go until 2:25. The school work isn't really all that hard in college, but the teachers definitely don't sympathize as much. Also I'm not used to going from building to building for different classes, and the 30 minute breaks are kind of nice in between periods. I usually just go with the flow so I can't think of a time I've really initiated change. I was also thrown into college quickly so didn't really have time to let it dawn on me that I was actually going back to school. I had planned on going to Tabor and backed out last minute so that I could go to Butler. I ended up enrolling the day class started, so I've been to busy to really think about it. The army is giving me $2,000 a month for a year while I go to school, so I really haven't been worried financially. The biggest thing to cause anxiety was trying to catch up with all my classes. Right now I'm just booked between doing school work, spending time with the family, and keeping a healthy relationship with my girlfriend. Plus I am probably going to get a job soon, so I may get a little stressed in the future. Also I wrecked my 2002 Mittsubishi Eclipse and just bought a $300 1993 Chevy Lumina with 150,000 miles on it, so I do worry a little bit about breaking down on my way to school sometimes. I believe your attitude and the things you do have an effect on each other. If you have a good attitude you will be successful and enjoy what you do, but if you have a bad attitude you will hate what you do and have a higher chance of failing. However, it is also true that if something happens that is bad, it can change your attitude that way, and vice-versa with something good.