Author: OwenPitts

Why a blog site with lots of content will help me get my first full-time job after college. A student in the “normal” school system has assignments and papers and tests that he or she must complete in order to earn good grades and do well in the class. A good student will work hard on his or her assignments. They will study, they might spend many hours in a library doing research, they might even interview people. They turn in their paper with pride knowing they have worked hard and have done a good job. But what is the point? The teacher may like it, you may get a good grade, but where will it go? Most likely it will be stored in the teachers files and trashed at the end of the year. Even if the student still gets his paper back, it may still end up in the trash. This is not the case with the Ron Paul Curriculum. I still do papers. I still do the same assignments as “normal” schools. I still do research. I still ask questions. But here’s the big difference. Instead of my papers ending up in the trash or a filing cabinet, I get to post my papers on my blog and let the whole world see them.

I have a lot of content on my blog that can help me in the future. This is how. First of all, I want to tell you what my blog is. It is called “Herping With Owen”. It is where I type in and keep all of my school papers. I have a blog so that people all over the world can read my papers and maybe even learn something. If I want to get a good  job I can show the company my blog and they can see that I have been interested in that job and maybe they can give me the job. I also have a YouTube channel about herpetology. If I want a job as a herpetologist than I can show them my channel and they can see that I really want a job as a herpetologist and maybe give me a job.

My school makes me publish my content to the internet to help me build skills that real business’s need. WordPress powers thirty-five percent of the internet. That is about four hundred, fifty-five million websites that use WordPress. So that means that the business that you want to work for will most likely use WordPress. So lets say that there is a business that uses WordPress and they need a new employee and there are two people who want to sign up. One knows how to use WordPress and the other does not. Which one do you think the business will hire? Well, it has to be the one who knows how to use WordPress. Same thing with you. If you want to be part of a business that uses WordPress, than you need to practice your skill in knowing how to use WordPress. My blog is built on WordPress so I know how to use it. Same thing applies to YouTube. My school is structured around preparing me to add value to a business.  

Sergei Kourdakov wrote down in his autobiography that in the beginning of his book The Persecutor, he jumped off of a Russian boat into the ocean off the coast of Canada during a storm. How did he get into this situation and why would he ever jump off of a boat into the ocean? Here are some of the choices that led him to this failed assignment. He chose whether to join the Army or Navy, joining a crime syndicate or staying clean, and telling the truth about suicide or telling a lie. We will look at each of these in turn.

Kourdakov’s father and grandfather were both in the army, until they were worked to death at an enemy camp. Later in Sergei’s life, he wanted to go to either the army, or the navy. He talked it over with some other people. He asked them if he should go to the army. They all said no. They told him to stay away from the army. “It’s a hard life ” they said. “You come out of the army and you start as a factory worker. What kind of future is that?” Then he decided to talk with people who were actually in the navy at one point. He talked with them, and after hearing of their experiences in the navy, he decided to join the navy.

When Kourdakov was a teenager, he joined a crime syndicate. According to the dictionary, a crime syndicate is a loose affiliation of gangsters in charge of organized criminal activities. A crime syndicate is another word for mob or mobsters. A crime syndicate makes money by drug trafficking, arms smuggling, extortion (threatening people to get what you want), theft, and financial crime. Because of this joining of a crime syndicate, he did very well at being a KGB (Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti) agent (which he received the honor of later in his life).

When Kourdakov was in the military a fellow officer jumped off a three story building and died. Kordakov’s boss told him and other officers to spread the word that the officer who had just died was drunk and did not know what he was doing. Kourdakov knew him better. Kordakov tried to help the officer who had died, but instead of accepting Kourdakov’s help, he committed suicide (the act of killing oneself). Suicide is such a terrible thing. Instead of telling the truth and coming clean about the officer, he did what his boss told him and lied.

There were many turning points in Kourdakov’s life, including these, that led to him jumping off of a Russian boat in the ocean off the coast of Canada in the middle of a storm. I have not finished his autobiography, but I am interested in other turning points in his life, and where they will eventually lead him. So far, Kourdakov’s life decisions have led him down bad roads, but jumping off the Russian ship is a huge turning point, maybe his largest. Maybe this turning point will not only change his life, but also his decision making.

We all face moments in our lives when we must make decisions that will determine which way our lives will go. These moments are called turning points. Some people experience many turning points in their lives, while others only experience a few. For someone, it might be stopping smoking after being told that they have lung cancer. For another person it might be choosing to start wearing a seat belt after getting into a car accident where they were injured because they were not wearing a seat belt. Maybe your turning point was a spiritual turning point, like mine was. Let me tell you about it. 

I have grown up in a Christian home all of my life. My family and I go to church every Sunday. We also go to Awana every Wednesday night. Both my mom and my dad are Christians. They have always taught me about Jesus, and they still do! They taught me about Jesus and that He died on the cross to pay for my sins. They showed me in the Bible that the only way to get to Heaven was to be saved, to ask Jesus to forgive me of my sin and to be my Savior. 

Even though I understood what I was being taught at home and at church about Jesus, I still had not made the decision to follow Jesus. When I was around 4 or 5 years old, I began having a lot of nightmares. Almost every night I was waking up and going to my parents bedroom because I was so scared. My parents would always pray with me and then tuck me back into my bed. This went on for a while. My dad started playing an audio version of the New Testament on his iPod every night when it was time for me to go to sleep.  I feel asleep every night listening to the Bible. During this time, I finally believed in my heart that I was a sinner and needed Jesus to save me. I prayed and asked Jesus to be my Savior! After becoming a Christian, my nightmares completely stopped. I was no longer living in fear. I knew Jesus was protecting me and loving me. A few years later I chose to be baptized to show the world that I was choosing to follow Jesus. I am not a perfect person and I still struggle with sin, but I would not be the person I am today if I had not trusted Jesus and asked Him to be my Savior. Becoming a Christian was a huge turning point in my life, and it will probably be the biggest turning point I ever experience.

A smaller turning point in my life has been starting the Ron Paul Curriculum. I had to change from PACEs to doing all online schooling. It was difficult getting used to writing papers every day instead of taking tests every couple of weeks. This is my third year and I am finally understanding how to do it well. I am extremely thankful that I get to stay at home and do school through the Ron Paul Curriculum!  

Is it better to determine one’s own ideas of right and wrong or follow the crowd? Imagine you are walking on the sidewalk on your way home from school and some some kinds want you to throw rocks at passing cars with them. What do you do? You should make your own decision on whether it  is right or wrong. And then you should make your choice. In this case you should not follow the crowd because the crowd is doing wrong. Imagine you are in church and the crowd is singing praises. In this case is it better to follow the crowd or make your own decision? It is better to follow the crowd because the crowd is doing right. Now, if you see the crowd doing wrong and you know it is wrong, don’t do it. But if the crowd is doing right, follow along with the crowd.

Do you believe it would be better to raise the driving age to 21? Imagine the driving age is 21 and you are 18. It is your first day of college. You can’t drive yourself to college so your mom has to. What if your mom has work so you have to walk. Or what if your late. What if your mom or dad has to drive you every where you needed to go. To school, to a friends house, on a date. Not good. That is why the driving age should stay at where it is at, at 16.

Their is good argument for raising it to 21 though. This is because 21 year old’s tend to be more responsible and mature than 16 year old’s. They are also less likely to break the law and get into accidents. If the driving age has to stay at 16, then 16 year old drivers need to learn to be more responsible.

Should students be able to listen to MP3 players of headphones while studying? I think so. One reason is that music soothes the mind. It makes you feel relaxed while you do school. It also helps you concentrate better. It even makes you feel more good about life. Different kinds of music can help you do these different things.

Music also keeps you from being distracted. If you go to school, or if you homeschool, their might be some distractions. Well, music came help you if you let it. Just turn on some music, and listen to it while you do your school. It will help. 

Music can also help you with memorization. It clears your mind so you can focus on your school. It can also help aid endurance. Most children are bringing  headphones with them to study halls to listen to music. That way they can study better. 

I used to listen to music when I did school. I homeschool, so when I have to read a book online, I sometimes turn on some music and read. It really helps. Also, sometimes at night, my dad lets me listen to music on my headphones when I read at night. Music can also really help if you have problems. Music is just amazing.

Should celebrities who break the law face stricter penalties? I do not agree with this statement. Celebrities are famous people like, movie stars, television stars, musicians, bands, politicians, movie directors, and sports players. These celebrities are just the same as people who are not celebrities. One reason is that we are all part of  the human race. Also, we all work for a living. In the end, God is going to judge us all by the same standards. 

Unfortunately, the world doesn’t always agree with me. Recently, there was a collage admissions scam where celebrity parents lied and cheated to get their children into collage. They were caught sentenced to minimal prison time. One celebrity mom only got two weeks in prison! The reason they got so little prison is because they were worth so much money. They Did not have to lie or cheat to get they kids into college. They had the money, but they thought that since they were celebrities that they could get away with it.

All people are individuals. We all generally agree that people should not be judged differently because of their skin color, their origin, or their net worth. The statue of Lady Justice is portrayed as a woman wearing a blindfold holding a beam balance and a sword. Since Lady Justice judges people and deals out punishment, as represented by her sword, she should not be bias by peoples attributes.

If a celebrity does something good like donate a lot of money to a children’s hospital, people praise them. We cheer them on when they win an award that none of us would ever be able to win. But how quickly we change our minds when they do something wrong. We do not cheer them on when they receive less punishment than you or I would get if we did the same wrong thing. This is called a double standard. Until the people stop holding the celebrities in high esteem, the double standard will remain.