With college prices climbing ever higher, there has been discussion about alternatives to a college education, like trade school. Do you think one is better than the other (including cost)?
Share why if you wish.
Trade School Or College?
Category: Education
How Would You Describe Your Civic Life?
Civic life can vary drastically from person to person, and from town to town. Are you active in your local community?
In our lives, there is some level of civic engagement.Even if you live out in the country, there are some services that are provided by the nearby town that benefit you.
The exact amount varies from person to person. While one person might have children in the public school system, another may check out books from the local library. You might serve on a town committee of some sort, or just organize a block party for your neighbors.
Listen to a podcast where Michael and Lee discuss a related question: ‘What makes a place feel like home?’ We also discuss a bonus question: ‘What beliefs do you have that might be wrong?’
There are some civic services that benefit everyone, like local roads we all drive on, or trash and recycling collection that is done on a weekly basis. What other services do you take advantage of?
Some people are simply good members of the town they inhabit. That might mean shopping a locally-owned stores rather than national chains or online outlets. Or it might mean picking up trash at a local park, or helping out a neighbor in some way.
There is also actual engagement in local politics. This runs the gamut from voting in town elections, to serving on select committees or attending forums to discuss issues that impact your neighborhood or city.
There are many ways of being a member in the town or city where you live. Which ones are meaningful or important to you? How would you describe your civic life?
Related questions: What are our responsibilities to others? What role should the government play in our lives? Why do you live where you live? Urban, suburban, or rural?
How Have You Been Impacted By The Place Or Time Of Your Birth?
There are many factors that make one individual different from another. One of those factors might be the location or the time of your birth. What do you think about yours?
There is no doubt that each person is unique, set apart from all the others by their experiences as well as by their DNA. It is also true that we human beings like to celebrate birthdays. Are those two things related?
Certainly, fans of astrology like to believe that the stars in the sky at the time of your birth, and possibly the position of the planets as well, determine your personality. That’s why, they say, a Gemini is different from an Aries.
Rationally, it is hard to imagine the mechanism which would allow stars to have that kind of impact. However, there may be a more earthbound explanation. Could the time of your of your birth impact your development? Does a child born in the winter have a different development curve than one born in summer? Is a spring baby different from an autumn baby?
Listen to a podcast where Michael and Lee discuss a related question: ‘What makes you you?’ We also discuss a bonus question: ‘What gives a person value?’
Similarly, does the geographic location have any sort of long-term impact on an individual? In a very simple way, this must be true — a baby born in a country that has a lower infant mortality rate is more likely to grow to adulthood.
But what about more subtle differences? Does the simple act of being born in Seattle make for a different experience than being born in Atlanta? Is being born in a hospital drastically different from being born at home?
Or are the differences instead due to childhood development that comes later in life? Does it matter more where someone lives at, say, five years old than where they were at birth?
Most of us know, with a great level of certainty, exactly when and where we were born. Do those facts say anything in particular about us as people?
Related questions: What makes a community? Why do you live where you live? How many times did you move as a child? Birthday: Celebrate or not?
How Has High School Influenced Your Identity?
Our high school experiences can’t help but influence our life and identity, and that’s true of practically everyone.
The reason is that at the time that we are approaching or in high school, we are in the process of maturing, emotionally, physically, and mentally. We are discovering who we are, what we like and don’t like, what we can or can’t do, and so on.
That it happens to coincide with spending 7+ hours a day in a building together with the same group of peers and teachers means those people and experiences will take on a profound meaning.
Related: Listen to an episode of the Intellectual Roundtable Podcast, where Lee and Michael discuss this question: ‘What makes you you?’ We discuss another question as well, ‘What gives a person value?’
For some people, high school is full of growth and liberation, a time of discovery. For others, it might be a time of persecution. You can discover there are others like you, or that you are alone.
Are there traits or behaviors that you have today that you can trace to an experience you had in high school? How has high school influenced your identity?
Related questions: High school or college? Why do we like what we like? How have you changed? What was the best time in your life? How do you learn?
Thanks to Ingrid Moon for the question.
High School Or College?
Did you prefer your college experience to your high school experience? Or is/was college just a waste of time and money?
Share why if you wish.
High School Or College?