Another Psychological Conundrum

There was a recent article given to me by my professor about how friendships between adolescent boys can be more powerful and have more of an impact on those involved than what was originally thought possible. The article talked about how teenage boys use their friendships with others of their kind to not only socialize but to also share their securities and insecurities with in order to mutually boost their mental state. However, the article goes on to show that this can lead to disastrous mental consequences for both parties involved if the relationship is either destroyed entirely or is seen by some on the outside as something to make fun of and take advantage of in their pestering of any involved parties of the relationship. In the end, those involved are left with an “open hole” that shows their insecurities (and we all know how males handle signs of weakness, unfortunately). Quite frankly this article really resonated with me not just because my general demographic is concerned in it, but because I’ve found this to be true throughout my life. People in my demographic often have friends in order to share insecurities and talk about them in a way that boosts their overall happiness and, when that connection goes away they begin to feel all different types of psychological effects that can hurt them for a little while or (more often) permanently damage their abilities to socialize and carry on with life. This article also resonates with me because I’ve been there and done that before to the point where I sorta have it in my moral code as the number one thing not to do to someone, male or female (unless it’s not mutual like the article discussed, of course). In short the article is right in saying that it’s an issue when people break off their friendships or are made fun of for having them and should be addressed appropriately. 

Contemplating College

There was a recent article posted to a news website that would catch most of any high school student’s eye. The article was about whether or not college is worth going to anymore in this day in age. This question has been proposed throughout the school community for decades. With all the talk of parents and relative having massive student debt and just barely being able to scrape by despite having a college degree under their belt, it doesn’t seem at first like college is a very economical option. However, the article that I found begs to differ from this point of view. In fact, it even goes on to state how the US needs more college graduates now in order to fix the economic standpoint of most high schoolers. The reason most people see college as uneconomical is because a degree doesn’t always mean a person will succeed in life, but it does go lengths to closing the wage gap there is between college graduates with a degree and high school graduates without a degree. The reason this happens is because there are not enough college graduates to fill all of the roles open in the economy of America and thus a gap in pay is present. Another point the article made was that if someone were to get a degree in college, of any level, that the cost of that degree in the long run would balance out to be negative 500,00 dollars (meaning that a person would  get more money out of a college degree than what they paid for in the beginning). Personally, I’ve always wanted to go to college no matter the cost, but this article has even further reaffirmed my views on going to college in these times of great uncertainty amongst myself and my peers.  

Chilly Concerns

I was recently given an article involving how certain school districts close more often for certain amounts of snow and just how diversified across the nation this was for all school districts. The results told in the article were surprising to me, since it turns out that school districts in heavily-snowed areas actually close LESS OFTEN than schools in either moderate or lightly-snowed areas of the United States. Although, to a degree, this is understandable. If people live in a climate that has a particular set of weather patterns they will more than likely be better prepared to deal with those patterns than an area with less of that climate’s weather patterns. For instance, the nordic scandinavians have been dealing with an intensely snowy and blizzard-like climate since practically the beginning of time. Since those who could not survive the harsh winters died, the majority of scandinavians in the past were usually hearty and used to the cold to the point where it hardly bothered them anymore. Just like in early scandinavia, certain states are better equipped to deal with heavy snowstorms. Some have altered snowplows to make them more efficient or quicker, have developed new methods of controlling ice on the roads, and have alternate ways of getting from place to place that isn’t hampered by snow (underground metro trains, etc.). In other words, they have adapted to deal with freak snowstorms more often since that’s the climate they live in while states that live in a warmer climate will be easily hampered by snow since they aren’t use to having to constantly deal with it. This would explain why school districts in heavily-snowed areas close for the snow less often than school districts in lightly or moderately snowed areas; those in lightly snowed areas simply aren’t used to that kind of climate.