Charyce's blog

Anne Frank’s Diary–How it changed the world

charyce13 — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 03:30:21 +0000

Throughout history there have been many people who have changed the world, but there have been few teenagers who have made an impact like Anne Frank. Although she did not know that writing a diary would be a piece of history forever, all of her writing has meant so much to everyone in the world. Anne Frank was born on June 12, 1929 in Frankfort, Germany. Growing up Anne and her sister Margotlived a life like any other child. They had many friends in school and they played in the streets with these friends. But as they began to get older their parents, Otto and EdiRh, became scared because Adolf Hitler had started making Jews the center point of his hatred, making the anti-Semitism grow. In 1933, Hitler came to power changing Germany from a democracy to a dictatorship. Anne Frank’s parents start to become frightened and make the decision leave the country. They moved to Amsterdam, where they felt very safe, until the Nazis invaded. When they invaded they were planning on making all of the Jews move to Germany, which is what made the Franks and their friends the Van Pels go into hiding.

Before they went into hiding, Anne received a diary for her 13th birthday, this is where she wrote every thought about her experience in this hidden room. In this diary,she wrote about the fear and the agony that all of the people went through in this terrifying situation. She wrote about the experiences that they went through in this little room. They had nothing to do, all they could do was read and do work because they had to be quiet during the day. A friend of theirs, who was not a Jew, was bringing them food so they could survive. The food was scarce but they seemed to manage. The space was even less because of the number of people who were with them. Times were rough due to the fact that some of the family members did not get along. Anne wrote about all of this, she expressed her deepest darkest secrets, which were then revealed to the world.

This book made such an impact on the world because it put the situation with an actual face and it has given poeple an insight that no one would ever have heard without the existence of Anne Frank’s diary. As people read this book, they become attached to her for many reasons. She is only a child, although very mature, that has to go through something that some adults today could not live through. Throughout the book, she looks at the positives and says that she thinks her family will be okay. As people become more attached to her they also have a harder heart break at the end. When her family’s secret is discovered and they are taken to concentration camps in Germany. This is where Anne Frank and her family sadly died, with only two weeks till her camp was released. The only survivor of their family was her father he found her diary and kept it for safe keeping. This diary gives people the reality of what Jews went through during World War II, this one diary has changed many people, it has changed the world.

GRADES!

charyce13 — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 02:35:38 +0000

As we all know education is based on grades, it always has been. People look at grades like they define what kind of person the student is. They think grades reflect if he or she is responsible, hard working, and even smart. When parents talk to other parents they always brag about their children and how their graders demonstrate how amazing their child is doing in school. Parents are no the only ones who do this, colleges do as well. They base a lot of their decisions on acceptance on the applicants G.P.A. But they are getting better with dealing with this situation. Now colleges are beginning to consider how challenging the classes were that gave them their G.P.A. The way admission review board looks at classes is, if the classes are challenging and the student received and A, B, or C in the class then it looks as if they tried. This as a big step for schools in general because realizing that a 4.0 G.P.A. is not the most important thing in a student’s high school career. Although schools are finally beginning to realize this fact, students are still under the impression that they have to get a 4.0 grade point average to get into a high achieving college. This may be true for places such as Yale and Harvard, but other colleges, who could benefit the student just as much, would accept a student with less than a perfect grade point average. This puts to much pressure on a student because when he or she does not understand this idea it then leads to he or she becoming devastated when they receive their first B. This in the end can also lead to the dramatic ending of ruining a child’s drive to even go to college.

In my opinion grades are highly over rated and should be looked at in an entirely different matter. All of the pressure of getting a 4.0 has led me to believe that I may not be able to get into the college I want. But after speaking with one of my mom’s coworkers she explained to me that my challenging classes will show colleges that I didn’t slack off in high school. I do hate the way my mom would brag about my straight A average when I was little because I no longer have this. I try my hardest, like most students do, but sometimes it just isn’t enough. I also do not think that grades reflect our knowledge, they reflect what we could do at that moment on that day. Classifying every student into an A, B, or C range does not and should not tell people that they excel or are average in the class. I know this because many times I have wrote a paper that just wasn’t to par for whatever reason. Also I have been in plenty of classes where I have received an A and definitely did not know the material inside and out. On the other hand I have also been in a class where I received a grade that did not resemble what I knew because I freaked out on a test, which in return brought down my grade. Another reason grades should not reflect how smart we are is because some teachers, as we all know, just do not know how to grade fairly. We have all come upon this scenario and there is nothing that us students can do about it. All of these examples should prove that grades are not all what people say they are. They are an incorrect way to tell students that they are good at school or not, which is just wrong.

Wall Street Bailout!

charyce13 — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 00:15:07 +0000

This idea is a very controversial one, which is causing chaos among the American people. My opinion is that our government has a duty to help the American people because in one way or another they put us in this position. The banks should not have allowed people requesting money to pay for their home the funds if they thought they would be unable to pay them back. Although I do believe that the banks should have watched out to avoid this problem, I also understand when things go south for families who have no control over the situation. The reason I understand this is because my family is personally in this situation. It is a hard position to be in, but without the governments help my family and I would not have a house. I think that the bailout plan is definitely a good idea to help the economy get back on its feet, however this plan does not solve the economy’s problems. To help pay for this plan the government is planning on taxing the people for this year, which in return could put more families out of money. There is always going to be a cause and effect with everything that goes on in America and this time is no different. I think that the taxes should help bring America out of this reccession but I also believe that the people who are benefiting from this plan are obligated to pay back at least a part of the money they are given. I know how challenging this may be for families lacking in the financial area but this is the only plan that will not bring American into further debt.

I found this information at

Meanest Mom Ever

charyce13 — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 03:54:00 +0000

After reading the article about the “meanest mom ever” I was very surprised at what she did. I can understand why she would sell the car because if her son cannot prove that he is responsible enough to have a car then he should not have one at all. I think that maybe she should have done it in more of a civilized way instead of embarrassing her son in front of the whole country. Although she said that she did not want a lot of publicity I do not believe her for some reason. What I do not understand is why she would write something so sarcastic and not want some people to share their reaction. Also I think that she should have decided to withdraw the ad when she saw the attention she was receiving. But instead of doing the right thing to do she wanted to keep the ad up for another week to see what other reactions she could get from the other parents throughout the United States. If I was her child I would understand her decision to sell the car but i would not understand her ideas of expressing something that other people did not need to know. Although she did make some mistakes that could have been avoided i do believe her greatest intention was to do what is right, which is what she did.

What I would like to accomplish my Junior year

charyce13 — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:16:26 +0000

This year I have many goals that i would like to achieve ranging from school to my activities in school. My first priority is to have more A’s in my classes than everything else. I have said this all two years of my high school career, this year I mean business. I have taken three AP classes to challenge myself and show myself that I can do better. I would also like to advance my writing, especially in the grammar area. I have never really been the best grammatically correct person so i would like to change that. Another goal of mine is to score high on the ACT. I have been preparing for it all summer and i am hoping that all my hard-work will pay off. One other goal of mine is to join tennis and play on Varsity. This is more of a dream than a goal but I hope I can do it. I have been practicing all summer with my mom and I have been getting better, but I am not sure if I am capable of being a Varsity player. These are only a few of my goals but they are the ones that I did think of first when I read this question.