I need some opinions

[wisdomeagle]

I'm almost done with the rough draft of my Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School (CRCDS) application personal essay. (Ah, I love procrastinating. :)) I've talked about myself, my gifts, my understanding of the church and of the ministry and of ministries. And I'm pretty much down to the "pick an issue of importance and tell us about it," which is sending me flailing. Well, not flailing so much as... deeply tempted.

*In high-pressure situations, I generally go with queer rights, and in this case might do gay marriage except that would be my separation of church and state rant all over again, which I already did in response to the "role of the church" question. And also I always feel like when I do queer rights I'm -- not cheating, maybe? But taking the easy way out.

*Most of my strong opinions are about religion, and not the kind of socio-political thing they're looking for. And the other opinions are Buffyverse, but my opinion that while the Buffyverse characters themselves impose belief systems on the world, the 'verse itself is inherently agnostic, while very important to me, is perhaps not so important to the admissions people at CRCDS.

*I don't think I can muster up a strong opinion about foreign policy or poverty.

*Since most of my current knowledge about the State of the World comes from the Beeb, the issue I care most about at the moment is the German economy and the election they had yesterday, but since according to a quick glance at Google News, no one knows what the results mean, and so that's not very helpful, now is it?

*I also seem to suddenly care deeply about a fair and impartial judiciary, but am not sure how to put this opinion into words and... and I don't know the answers! I suck at politics because I'm always seeing both sides of the issues, except on things that are like, gay rights, pretty much. Abortion? Flail. Death penalty? Opposed, but also, flail. War? Opposed, but also, flail. How can I have strong opinions about what needs to be done when I don't know what needs to be done?

*Since I've been watching West Wing as a procrastination technique, I'm so tempted to do a Big Block of Cheese Day issue -- actually, currently elimination of the penny is topping my list of Random Interesting Yet Ultimately Unimportant Issues.

*Supporting some form of government that isn't democracy (like, oh say, Plato's oligarchy) is probably not such a good idea 'cos of the youthful naïvite, and also the Issue of Great Importance vs interesting thought experiment thing.

*I'm so tempted to get my rant on about copyright laws and internet downloading and possibly even yay!fanfic, but ack, I don't know!

I am distressed.

I'm going to eat an apple and try to come up with some strong opinions.

Comments

[melwil.livejournal.com]

If it were me, I'd probably talk about education and the creep towards removing the teacher's role as a professional by the use of constant standardised testing. And how much the Australian Education minister is an idiot, but that won't help you much *g*

[wisdomeagle]

Yes! Standardized testing! Or actually, education in general, which would nicely segueway from my discussion of why the church needs to be thoughtful and intelligent and educated, and I'm sure I could think of something decent about education (and how standardized testing is stupid and insane and doesn't address the real problem, which is apathy and poverty.)

And how much the Australian Education minister is an idiot, but that won't help you much *g*

Despite the temptation, it's probably not such a great idea to talk about problems a country other than mine is facing.

[melwil.livejournal.com]

We like to ask our lecturers about standardised testing just to watch steam come out of their ears and their heads spin around.

At the moment we test Grade 3, 5 and 7 on Literacy and Maths, and Grade 12 on Literacy, Maths, general knowledge, analytical thinking and logic. From next year we will be testing Grade 3, 5, 7 and 9 on Literacy, Maths, and another 'important' subject such as Science (*wtf*) and 'Civics'. And we will have to assess state-set assessments for year 4, 6, 10 and 11.

There's so many issues here, including inclusion, the professionalism of teachers being degraded, the problems for students from non-English speaking backgrounds, the reproduction of social classes and the constant monitoring and recording of students in order to rank and label them as hard working (successes) and lazy (failures)

(If only I could write my assignment as a LJ comment *g*)

[sk8eeyore.livejournal.com]

Argh. I so lucked out because I don't think I had to write about anything socio-political in my essays. I wrote some vague stuff about how to address entrenched divisiveness within the Church, but I think that was about it. Honestly, I don't think you can go too far wrong with queer rights...Write about something about which you KNOW you can be passionate and articulate.

[wisdomeagle]

Oooh, entrenched divisiveness in the church. I could talk forever about what's wrong with churches/Church in America today, and it makes me whiny that I have to talk about politics when I intend to stay in the Ivory Tower forever, though I know that head-in-the-sand is not a healthy attitude. *mixes metaphors and frets a lot*

[alixtii.livejournal.com]

when I intend to stay in the Ivory Tower forever, though I know that head-in-the-sand is not a healthy attitude. *mixes metaphors and frets a lot*

Aww, don't fret. Does it help to know that that line made me laugh and smile?

[viciouswishes.livejournal.com]

I say write about fandom and how it reflects in your world views and how you live in the world. Like say, you love Angel so much that you live in the world how it should be, not as it is. Or you're a Trekkie and want to live with an atheist government with a clear separation of church and state in your utopian ideals.