America I Am! Are You?

     Today, Wednesday 13,2011, my classmates and I visited the National Geographic Museum to experience the America I Am exhibit. It was very eye catching and it was filled with lots of interesting information, photos, videos and artifacts, such as Martin Luther King Jr.'s jail cell, with his actual seat he sat on, or 2Pac Shakur's hand written poem. I'm pretty sure the creators of the exhibit took a lot of their time and patience to put together a outstanding exhibit as such but the title is apart of it all too. The title sums things up, it puts the bow on the present, so out of all names why choose America I Am? What is that supposed to mean? Are they referring to some plain ole American? Or is there a deeper meaning to it? I don't think they just choose a random name I think the name is saying you can be an American person but their are certain actions that people take to make them a "true" American, they did something to make a difference in the world or their community, famous or not they did something that can help someone now or people to come in the future. That's what I think the title means and the exhibit backs it up perfectly.

    "We must dissent because America can do better, because America has no choice but to do better. Take a chance, wont you? Knock down the fences that divide. Tear apart the walls that imprison. Reach out; freedom lies just on the other side." This quote was said by Thurgood Marshall, an American, the first black Supreme Court Justice, in this statement he is talking about freedom and equality in America. Saying that America must fight for what they believe in and if they all were to work together they can accomplish anything. "Freedom lies just on the other side" he said meaning that its not far away, they can "Reach out" and almost touch it, that they have the ability, the strength to "Tear apart the walls that imprison" they can break the racist comments and the injustice but they need each other, they need to help one another to make it.

When the creators say America I Am they are talking about things such as when Martin Luther King Jr. sat in a jail cell for fighting for justice and equality. An innocent man held in a cold box with nothing but maybe a toliet and a bench, just sitting there as time goes by. But what did he do? Nothing, he used non-violence, he used assemble and protest to get his word across and he gets punished for doing the right thing. That is America.

America I Am is when a solider puts his life on the line to fight for his country, when a solider leaves behind his life and family to fight for his country's beliefs when Fredrick Douglas says that a solider that fights in war has truly earned the right to citizenship in the United States, i don't think any one could have said it better.

America I Am is when a famous rapper gets shot in a limo in Las Vegas because he was caught up in a bad life and was set up. That's America, violence and cursing, children and elderly dying, kids not getting the education that they should, drugs, media it's all apart of America. The commercials that tell one that they aren't good enough, the bullying that takes the lives of teenagers. Yes, that truly is America.

America I Am is having an African American President for the first time. America I Am is the Constitution, The Declaration of Independence, The Bill of Rights. America is justice and equality, it's "all men are created equal". America I Am is democracy. America I Am, Are You?

Good vs. Bad/Pros & Cons, of History Standardized Tests

      Should it be? The question asked on whether History should have standardized test. I personally think not because it's just to much for students to handle. In addition we already have enough test as it is. I don't really like to many test because its to much pressure for me to have to deal with, having to prepare in class and remembering things. For example if we have a History standardized test we'll have to remember dates in order as well as why the date was important and who was involved. But I also think that NHD is a way of testing because we research on a certain topics in history. In this we learn new things about the topic we choose and may know a little about already. This is also good because in class we get to hear about other people's topics all together learning history.