College Admissions Essay: Moving Beyond Pastry :: College Admissions Essays

Moving Beyond Pastry A few days ago, I innocently happened upon what, according to the bakery sign, was an almond croissant. Delighted, I ordered one, and dreamily handed over my two dollars as memories of bustling Parisian streets and morning bakery smells drifted back to me. However, as I took my first bite a record screeched in my head, violently thrusting me out of my daydream and landing me back into the reality that I was not in Paris, but in the middle of the USA, eating what amounted to a dry piece of wonder bread with two barely distinguishable almond bits on top. Ah, Paris! If you were to ask me why one should live, visit, or return to Paris my answer would undoubtedly be, "Pastry." But on a more serious note, as much as I love pastries and sweets, I didn't take out student loans, search for scholarships and cross the Atlantic Ocean so I could eat a crepe or a pain au chocolat as shamelessly thin, stylish people wearing black walked by. I thought I was going to France to study French. And this I certainly did. My classes were all in French, including a religious studies class at the graduate level (funny how no one mentioned this to me before it was too late to drop it!). But the true benefits of my studies abroad continue to become more and more apparent the longer I am home in the United States. In short, I understand that the world is great big place with all kinds of places and people not in an abstract sense, but as a result of experience. When I see the Mona Lisa on television I think of my first visit to the Louvre as I stared awestruck at her small, mischievous face. When I heard that 200,000 Germans gathered in solidarity at the Brandenburg Gate to express their sympathy for the US citizens in the aftermath of the recent terrorist attacks I think about the German people I met this summer and the day that I walked through that gate myself. And when I heard that the Paris traffic and metro stopped as a display of sympathy and grief, I felt my eyes sting with tears.

The Secondary Education in Britain

The Secondary Education in Britain Introduction The United Kingdom has a completely world-leading education system. The education in the United Kingdom has hundreds years of history, which is quite perfect and complex, and also has a very large flexibility. It is quite different from the education in China. Overall, the education in the UK is divided into three parts: primary education, secondary education and tertiary education. The secondary education in the UK and China The difference of education between the United Kingdom and China is mainly started from secondary education.In the UK, students enter the secondary school by taking the 11 plus exam at the age of 11. Private schools and public schools are the 2 types of British secondary schools. Public School is totally free and private school will cost a lot. But Private schools are usually much better than public schools no matter in facilities or teachers. But in China most secondary schools are public schools, which is better than private schools. British secondary education lasts seven years and it can divide into two stages. One stage is before the age of 16 and the second stage is 16 to 18.The first stage is the period of compulsory education in the UK. British students have to learn many subjects during the secondary education before the age of 14, and then take the Key stage 3 exam. Students from the age of 14, they need to learn the core courses such as English, mathematics and science classes, but also need to learn four to five elective courses. Two years later, when they are 16th, they will take the GCSE exam. But in China, the first three years of secondary education is compulsory education.During this period, Chinese students have no choice to choose courses which they are interested in. They have to learn all the courses which Entrance Exam to Senior High Schools required. So Chinese students usually have much express of examination. After British students complete the first stage of secondar y education, they can choose continue their study or go to work. Of course, most of the students choose the first choice. If they do this, usually they will have two more years to take the A-Level courses.A wide range of subjects opened in the A-Level courses such as business, legal, media and politics etc. Finally they will take an exam to enter the university and finish their secondary education. But it is easier than the College Entrance Examination in China. Chinese students can choose Science or liberal art. But they still need to learn all the subjects of the college entrance examination required. They don’t have a lot of self-selective. Therefore, the secondary education in the UK and China has a lot difference, but they both have their own advantages and disadvantages. The Compulsory educationBritish compulsory education is 11 years, which two years longer than it is in China. And all the tuition of British compulsory education is paid by the government, but in China students have to pay some small parts of it like the cost of the kooks. In China, the compulsory education finished at the age of 15. The government will not pay for their further study; this may result in some of the students in poor families cannot enter junior high school. They cannot find a suitable job with such a young age. It both increased the pressure to individual families but also to the whole society.Longer compulsory education means that British students can get a better education. It not only can solve these problems, but also have a lot of benefits: Firstly, it can relieve some of the pressure on employment. Longer compulsory education can make some people’s employment time delay for years, to avoid the employment peak period and relieve the pressure on employment. Secondly, the children in poor families can get â€Å"knowledge assets†. With the help of â€Å"knowledge assets† they can get more income and then go out of poverty.Thirdly, it can imp rove the quality of all the people. Longer compulsory education can give all the school-age children better education. Result or process? In China, the assessment of student test scores only. In China, the score is the only way to assess the students. In other words, the only standard which decided the university they will go to is the College Entrance Examination scores. Therefore, with the education system in China, some students become abnormal: Academic performance is very good, but the other ability is almost a zero.The original intention of education is to make students smarter, but if the students pay all of attention on their scores, and lost the interest of the subject, it will make the students stupid. But British education always pays more attention to the comprehensive development of students. British schools have fewer exams. However, students have a lot of coursework and presentations. This kind of coursework usually focused on practical problems, and always need teamw ork. It is very helpful to improve the students’ abilities of express and create.Young people’s knowledge composition The different education made the young people have different knowledge composition in different countries. Secondary education opened in the UK has a wide range of courses. With the grade increased, students can gradually find which subjects that they are interested in or they are not good, and then the next semester, they could give up a subject that not interested in or not good at, and keep their favorite subjects. This is just like a pyramid; Students can fully demonstrate their own interests and hobbies with their learning initiative.On the other hand, it is very helpful for future university study. At the same time, this kind of course selection can help students limited their concentrate on their favorite courses and can improve their efficiency of learning. But in China, students in secondary education have to take all the subjects which the Col lege Entrance Examination required. So they may have to learn some courses which they are not interested in. But this kind of education made the foundation of the Chinese students very solid.In other words, Chinese secondary education pays more attention to comprehensive education. So, Chinese students always have comprehensive knowledge. But they are lack of creative ability. If there is a competition, the championship always belongs to China. Conclusion Overall, British secondary education system is pretty perfect. Student study in the UK can cultivate an interest easily. They can choose their favorite courses and learn a really useful knowledge that would be helpful to their whole life. ReferenceA survey by HM Inspectors of Schools, (1979), Aspects of secondary education in England, [online]. Available on http://www. educationengland. org. uk/documents/hmi-secondary/index. html Becky Francis and Louise Archer, (10 November 2003), British–Chinese pupils’ and parentsà ¢â‚¬â„¢ constructions of the value of education, British Educational Research Journal, Vol. 31, No. 1, February 2005, pp. 89–108 Montreal, (November 2008), The UK Education System: a summary input to the Canada UK Colloquia. Organization of the education system in the United Kingdom –England, Wales and Northern Ireland, UKENG/WLS/NIR

The Sound and the Fury Quotes

The Sound and the Fury Quotes The Sound and the Fury is a complex and controversial novel set in the Deep South. Its author, William Faulkner, is considered one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. The novel is required reading for many high school and college students as an interesting study of humanity. The quotes from the book below have been separated out by chapters for an easy way to get a sense of the storyline and characters. Notice how Faulkner developed his characters further through the use of intentional misspellings and poor punctuation. April Seventh, 1928 Youre not a poor baby. Are you. Are you. Youve got your Caddy. Havent you got your Caddy. Father and Quentin cant hurt you. Carry Maury up the hill, Versh. Versh squatted and I got on his back. They aint no luck on this place. Roskus said. I seen it at first but when they changed his name I knowed it. They aint no luck going be on no place where one of they own chillens name aint never spoke. We watched the muddy bottom of her drawers. You got him started on purpose, because you know Im sick. Caddy held me and I could hear us all, and the darkness, and something I could smell. And then I could see the windows, where the trees were buzzing. Then the dark began to go in smooth, bright shapes, like it always does, even when Caddy says that I have been asleep. June Second, 1910 I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you might forget it now and then for a moment and not spend all your breath trying to conquer it. Because no battle is ever won he said. They are not even fought. The field only reveals to man his own folly and despair, and victory is an illusion of philosophers and fools. That never had a sister. Because if it were just to hell; if that were all of it. Finished. If things just finished themselves. Nobody else there but her and me. If we could just have done something so dreadful that they would have fled hell except us. I have committed incest I said Father it was I. Its not when you realize that nothing can help you- religion, pride, anything- its when you realize that you dont need any aid. Holding all I used to be sorry about like the new moon holding water. What a sinful waste Dilsey would say. Benjy knew it when Damuddy died. He cried. He smell hit. He smell hit. I didnt mean to speak so sharply but women have no respect for each other for themselves. Father and I protect women from one another from themselves our women. There was something terrible in me sometimes at night I could see it grinning at me I could see it through them grinning at me through their faces its gone now and Im sick. Purity is a negative state and therefore contrary to nature. Its nature is hurting you not Caddy. And maybe when He says Rise the eyes will come floating up too, out of the deep quiet and the sleep, to look on glory. And after a while the flat irons would come floating up. I hid them under the end of the bridge and went back and leaned on the rail. Only you and me then amid the pointing and the horror walled by the clean flame. I could not be a virgin, with so many of them walking along in the shadows and whispering with their soft girl voices lingering in the shadowy places and the words coming out and perfume and eyes you could feel not see, but if it was that simple to do it wouldnt be anything and if it wasnt anything, what was I. Ill tell you how it was it was a crime we did a terrible crime it cannot be hid you think it can but wait. Dont cry Im bad anyway you cant help it. Theres a curse on us its not our fault is it our fault. Listen no good taking it so hard its not your fault kid it would have been some other fellow. I hit him I was still trying to hit him long after he was holding my wrists but I still tried then it was like I was looking at him through a piece of colored glass I could hear my blood. I seemed to be lying neither asleep nor awake looking down a long corridor of gray halflight where all stable things had become shadowy paradoxical all I had done shadows all I had felt suffered taking visible form antic and perverse mocking without relevance inherent themselves. The dungeon was Mother herself she and Father upward into weak light holding hands and us lost somewhere below even them without a ray of light. A fine dead sound we will swap Benjys pasture for a fine dead sound. it was to isolate her out of the loud world so that it would have to flee us of necessity and then the sound of it would be as though it had never been. April Sixth, 1928 Once a bitch always a bitch, what I say. Ask her what became of those checks. You saw her burn one of them, as I remember. Im bad and Im going to hell, and I dont care. Id rather be in hell than anywhere where you are. I never promise a woman anything nor let her know what Im going to give her. Thats the only way to manage them. Always keep them guessing. If you cant think of any other way to surprise them, give them a bust in the jaw. I began to feel sort of funny and so I decided to walk around for a while. Mother was going to fire Dilsey and send Ben to Jackson and take Quentin and go away. Im glad I havent got the sort of conscience Ive got to nurse like a sick puppy all the time. If Im bad, its because I had to be. You made me. I wish I was dead. I wish we were all dead. Sometimes I think she is the judgment of both of them upon me. And just let me have twenty-four hours without any damn New York Jew to advise me what its going to do. I just want an even chance to get my money back. And once Ive done that they can bring all Beale street and all bedlam in here and two of them can sleep in my bed and another one can have my place at my table too. She had been a big woman once but now her skeleton rose, draped loosely in unpadded skin that tightened again upon a paunch almost dropsical, as though muscle and tissue had been courage or fortitude which the days or the years had consumed until only the indomitable skeleton was left rising like a ruin or a landmark above the somnolent and impervious guts. April Eighth, 1928 It was as different as day and dark from his former tone, with a sad, timbrous quality like an alto horn, sinking into their hearts and speaking there again when it had ceased in fading and cumulate echoes. I got de ricklickshun en de blood of de Lamb! I seed de beginnin, en now I sees de endin. harshly recapitulant, seeming to get an actual pleasure out of his outrage and impotence. The sheriff did not appear to be listening at all. Of his niece he did not think at all, nor of the arbitrary valuation of the money. Neither of them had had entity or individuality for him for ten years; together they merely symbolised the job in the bank of which he had been deprived before he ever got it. Caddy! Beller now. Caddy! Caddy! Caddy! There was more than astonishment in it, it was horror; shock; agony eyeless, tongueless; just sound, and Lusters eyes backrolling for a white instant. The broken flower drooped over Bens fist and his eyes were empty and blue and serene again as cornice and faà §ade flowed smoothly once more from left to right, post and tree, window and doorway and signboard each in its ordered place.