Normal Teenage Problems

[Han Tzu]

Adam-
2.Are the older textbooks accurate for the things we need them to be. I don’t have pre-Calculus anymore and won’t be taking Calculus but this sounds like something useful for college. It would be useful to learn that (A*Derivative of B-Derivative of B*A/A*A) instead of F*D(G)-G*D(F)/F*F.

3.We already study military victory’s in Psych and Advanced Psych(which is a college course).

4.Good reading list, but I read Ender’s Game in sixth grade(and still pick it up on a yearly basis) and the Odyssey in 9th. I’ll probably be picking up the Illiad for the reasons you mentioned.

6.I have shoulder length hair. In Nebraska, this leads people to believe that I do drugs(haven’t even tried them), drink(nope), and/or smoke(which I don’t).

I’ve been that, it’s incredibly useful on pre-tests.

Entropy-
Unfortunately there are no mountains/hills in Nebraska. Oh, and I’m already in an organizations that gives me leadership experience along with general(history and electives) classes.

Schmedlap-
I’m in Spanish III(it’s a five year course). I find it’s best to turn your movie and game settings to Spanish and put on subtitles.

Adam-
Thankfully my English teacher cares more about us than her job. She, instead of teaching us how to write an essay the Junior English approved way, graded us on the SAT essay score which emphasizes logic and flow.

Unfortunately where I live is a mix of German/Irish and Mexican/Hispanic. Therefore I won’t be dating anyone outside of the languages and cultures I already speak or am studying.

Steve Blair-
I’m very interested in History, both military and civil.

SWJED-
Guy. However, I don’t have an email address and just use throw away accounts. That would be my mother’s email address.

[jmm99]

from HT
Unfortunately there are no mountains/hills in Nebraska.

and I was just going to suggest taking 25 mile hikes over hill and dale with ruck filled with bricks.

Spanish is good. I expect (hope ?) that a decade or so into the future, the US will be paying a lot more attention to Latin America.

You might also keep in mind that both political and military efforts are involved in what we call "Small Wars".

Cheers

Mike

[selil]

Hmmm, I joined when I was 17

I joined the USANG when I was 17 and a junior in high school. Went to basic training between junior and senior year, drove tanks, blew stuff up, and went back to high school for senior year. Emancipated, incorrigible, and generally despicable. Loved it so much I agreed to go active duty Marines and did it all over again starting with boot camp.

[82redleg]

In addition to getting in shape and participating in leader-development, team-building activities (sports, scouts, etc), I would suggest reading small unit leader's memoirs- you can never prepare yourself fully for the psychological reaction of your first combat, but having some idea of what is coming up can help, as well as reading of others challenges can only help you prepare to face your own.

Some specific recommendations:
Platoon Leader, by James R. McDonough
Company Commander, by Charles McDonald
Once a Warrior King, by David Donavan
If You Survive, by George Wilson
Comanche 6: Company Commander, Vietnam, by James L. Estep
The Battles of Peace, by Michael Lee Lanning (also wrote The Only War We Had, and Vietnam 1969-1970: A Company Commander's Journal, which I haven't read)
Acceptable Loss, by Kregg Jorgenson
Lifer and Team Sergeant, by William T. Craig
Top Sergeant, by Willaim Bainbridge
A Ranger Born, by Robert W. Black

I'll have to look at my library when I get home next month for some more specific ideas.

Roughneck 91, by Frank Antenori (I haven't read this one, but have heard of the author by reputation)
Follow Me I, II and III, by Aubrey Newman are pretty good.
all three books in the 6 Silent Men Series

Starship Troopers by Heinlein, and Once an Eagle, by Myrer are good fiction books.

[IntelTrooper]

As long as we're recommending books, I've had a fond place for CAP Mot since I read it in high school. It's more about unconventional warfare than leadership but a good lesson about the kinds of demands a small unit leader can face.

[Schmedlap]

Books are nice. Movies are quicker (and renting is probably cheaper than book-buying, seeing as though your local library probably doesn't stock most of our recommendations). Watch The Battle of Algiers, Control Room, Michael Collins, and Cromwell.

[Adam L]

2.Are the older textbooks accurate for the things we need them to be. I don’t have pre-Calculus anymore and won’t be taking Calculus but this sounds like something useful for college. It would be useful to learn that (A*Derivative of B-Derivative of B*A/A*A) instead of F*D(G)-G*D(F)/F*F.

Calculus hasn't changed. Yes, the textbooks will be accurate. If you plan on studying an area where you might have to use calc you should take it in high school. In most areas you will not have any use for your calculus. (That includes most sciences. Having calc may be a requirement, but it will be not used in many areas of study.) I always encourage people to learn new things in math. Calc will be useful in life!

3.We already study military victory’s in Psych and Advanced Psych(which is a college course).

What are you studying about military victories in your psych courses?

4.Good reading list, but I read Ender’s Game in sixth grade(and still pick it up on a yearly basis) and the Odyssey in 9th. I’ll probably be picking up the Illiad for the reasons you mentioned.

When you do so let me know. I'll e-mail you a few good texts to accompany it.

6.I have shoulder length hair. In Nebraska, this leads people to believe that I do drugs(haven’t even tried them), drink(nope), and/or smoke(which I don’t).

Be as tidy as possible and put your hair in a ponytail if it is straight. If your hair is curly and shoulder length you should cut it. Buy a Ranger UP t-shirt. This shirt will assure them you are not a hippie. So will this one, and this one. My main suggestion for you is to not dress like a hippie. Maybe try to play yourself off as more of a nerd or something (dockers, button down shirt, pocket protector..maybe not the pocket protector.) Above all else, don't act like a hippie.

Thankfully my English teacher cares more about us than her job. She, instead of teaching us how to write an essay the Junior English approved way, graded us on the SAT essay score which emphasizes logic and flow.

That's not what I'm really talking about. SAT essays score the most rudimentary logic. I'm talking about being able to right at a much higher level. I don't think I was very clear with what I was trying to get at. I am talking about critical analysis. The goal is not just to be able to create, but deconstruct. A great deal of your future academic and professional writing will involve analysis of a given work or situation. The SAT (I am very familiar with the test as well as the grading rubric) does not prepare you for this.
The best way to learn this skill is to read others works which provide models. A lot of the non-fiction that has been suggested in this thread will help you. If there is one magazine that I would have you read to learn from, it would be The Economist. The Economist might be the only broadly distributed publication that still maintains its high standards.

Unfortunately where I live is a mix of German/Irish and Mexican/Hispanic. Therefore I won’t be dating anyone outside of the languages and cultures I already speak or am studying.

As I said, this comes later. You are in high school. You are not old enough to start targeting who and what you want in a woman. Once you get to college, more realistically after you graduate, you can start a check list of the different types of women you want to date. Also, you date girls, not women yet. Remember that. You should just find yourself I nice young girl who isn't just eye candy. Eye candy is for when your older and you actually know what to do with it. Also, promise me that if you are doing anything with the girl you decide to date, which you shouldn't be as you are still too young, that you don't make a mistake that would really screw up your life. (You know what I mean by this. )


I am assuming that when you mean Mexican/Hispanic you really just mean Mexican, because you "Hispanic" covers a lot of different peoples. They may all be Latin, but they are very, very different. Argentinians, El Salvadorians and Dominicans are very different from each other. Culturally there are also a lot of differences. Dominicans came up with Bachatta while the Argentinians have Tango. They are different and reflect interesting cultural histories. Tango was developed in Buenos Aires. It was also invented by men dancing with men. (Don't try this in Nebraska!) The city at that time almost had a 3-1 ratio of men to women. So, men had to learn to dance with other men so that they could be good enough to get a dance with a woman. That's why it is so damn macho. Sorry for veering off like this, but you get the point I'm trying to make.

Adam L

[Levi]

Have you considered Rangers? They are still respected, from what I am told. You seem about a light year ahead of me when I was 17. Or Marine Recon, or FFL. Any of those would lead to a lucrative career as a private contractor, if you decide not to stay in. Special Forces looks like the way to go, these days. Although, for all I know they pick you. Basic skills? Amazon sells tons of used and obsolete (but still perfectly useful ) army training manuals. Just type in common infantry skills, or U.S. sniper manual, or whatnot. Get'm for pennies. Do you shoot allot? 9mm pistol, I would run through the air marshal pistol qual, you can google it. Need a shot timer, and lots of ammo. Do you know how to use rifle optics? I mean, really know? Thats a good skill. Land nav is easy enough I wouldn't sweat it. I guess I would say run and that stuff, that's good, but my best advice would be to look at your options and set yourself the greatest challenge. You won't regret it.

[Schoolkid]

jimm99-
That does sound like nice exercise, unfortunately the only hiking I can think of in Nebraska is a near vertical climb(Chimney Rock, part of the Oregon Trail). Oh, and yes, I would hope to think that any country wouldn’t strong arm its way through a conflict.

Adam-
I don’t plan on going into any field that needs extensive calc, but it still is good problem solving practice.

About Psych, we studied the Christmas truce on the Western Front, among other things, and subjects related to it. Deionization of the enemy, propaganda, why the officers tried to stop it. Psych is a social science and our teacher knows we’ll actually try to learn if we get interested in it so he ties it to parenting/war/money.

My hair is straight but I don’t put it in a ponytail, may I ask why I should? I’m fairly white(can’t catch a tan) and have glasses so looking like a nerd shouldn’t be a problem. And of course, I don’t act like a hippie.

If you’re talking about ripping symbols, foreshadowing, and mood out of a story than we’ve been doing that since sophomore comp.

Where I live the Mexican population is about 80 to 90 percent of the Latin population. Unsurprisingly the smaller cultures have simply taken on Mexican customs. However, I was talking about learning a language because of the person I’m dating. Wow, that’s an interesting tidbit of info about Tango, I’ll remember that.

I figured that Special Forces would be the way to go. Western countries seem to be moving increasingly towards small operations.

[marct]

Hi Cole,

I don’t plan on going into any field that needs extensive calc, but it still is good problem solving practice.

I didn't either - then I discovered how useful Hildebrandt Space could be for what I do (I'm a symbolic Anthropologist) . It's definitely worth getting if you can, as is almost any dialect of math.

About Psych, we studied the Christmas truce on the Western Front, among other things, and subjects related to it. Deionization of the enemy, propaganda, why the officers tried to stop it. Psych is a social science and our teacher knows we’ll actually try to learn if we get interested in it so he ties it to parenting/war/money.

Interesting; sounds like you actually have a good teacher ! I remember listening to my great uncle and his friends as a young kid talking about it. In many ways, it presaged the actual way that WW I ended when you think of it.

Personally, I wouldn't call most of Psychology a "social science", although some of it is. From the sounds of it, what you are getting is primarily the social psych side of things. It would be very useful for you to learn as much as you can about the neuro-psych / neuro-biology side of things as well. I've found over the years that the best way to engage in a critical analysis is to be able to come at it from multiple directions, and having a fairly solid grounding in neuro-psych / neuro-bio is an excellent place to start one of those directions.

My hair is straight but I don’t put it in a ponytail, may I ask why I should? I’m fairly white(can’t catch a tan) and have glasses so looking like a nerd shouldn’t be a problem. And of course, I don’t act like a hippie.

Pony tails are a cultural signal that even though you may have long hair, you "fit in". They have become icons inside the IT sector for a particular type of programmer / analyst, and they signal that you are "not a drone". And, just in case you are wondering, I have longer hair than you and keep it in a pony tail ! Personally, I find it exceptionally useful since most of my work is with corporate clients and the military; the pony tail acts as a sign that while I can act as one of "them" I am not, which is very useful for anthropologists.

On another note, there's no need to shift your user ID. Why not get a 'net based, free email email account and stick with a single ID? It makes it easier for everyone.

Cheers,

Marc

[marct]

Your check is in the mail, Marc.

LOL - I'm actually thinking of assigning A Desert Called Peace as a textbook this summer for a course I'll be teaching .

[Tom Kratman]

LOL - I'm actually thinking of assigning A Desert Called Peace as a textbook this summer for a course I'll be teaching .

Now for _that_ I would consider driving to deepest, darkest C, eh? N, eh? D, eh? to be a guest speaker. (Problem is, I can commit to anything because I'm still on call for fun and frolic in other climes.)

[marct]

Now for _that_ I would consider driving to deepest, darkest C, eh? N, eh? D, eh? to be a guest speaker. (Problem is, I can commit to anything because I'm still on call for fun and frolic in other climes.)

Don't tempt me, Tom ! Actually, if you do find yourself available for a drive and talk, let me know. I'll be using it as a text for a 2nd year course this summer (mid-May to June), and I may use it for a 4th year course in either the fall or winter (it's not scheduled yet ).

BTW, the reason I want to use it, outside of the fact that it's a pretty darn good story (!), is that I really want to hammer home to the students that there is very little difference in "narrative construction" between "fact" and "fiction". And, let's face it, most students just don't want to read "hard" stuff. Picking the readings for these courses are going to be "interesting" !

Cheers,

Marc

[AmericanPride]

On top of the advice from everyone else:

Push yourself, know your limits, don't burn yourself out and make the most of your free time.

[marct]

On top of the advice from everyone else:

Push yourself, know your limits, don't burn yourself out and make the most of your free time.

Really good advice, AP.

Cole, some advice I give to my students:

• do what you love
• no knowledge is wasted as long as you never believe it is the "Truth"
• find a mentor - hell, find 10!
• ask everyone for advice and then make up your own mind

[Adam L]

Personally, I wouldn't call most of Psychology a "social science", although some of it is. From the sounds of it, what you are getting is primarily the social psych side of things. It would be very useful for you to learn as much as you can about the neuro-psych / neuro-biology side of things as well. I've found over the years that the best way to engage in a critical analysis is to be able to come at it from multiple directions, and having a fairly solid grounding in neuro-psych / neuro-bio is an excellent place to start one of those directions.

I agree completely with this. Neuro-psych/bio is excellent area and you will find it is very useful in almost any field. Just be prepared to suddenly have a desire to study a lot of chemistry and then physics so you can understand the chemistry. Then you will start getting frustrated with physicists for their inability to resolve the conflict between relativity and quantum theory. Without this stuff you can't figure out how any of the Neuro-psyc/bio works. LOL!

Pony tails are a cultural signal that even though you may have long hair, you "fit in". They have become icons inside the IT sector for a particular type of programmer / analyst, and they signal that you are "not a drone". And, just in case you are wondering, I have longer hair than you and keep it in a pony tail ! Personally, I find it exceptionally useful since most of my work is with corporate clients and the military; the pony tail acts as a sign that while I can act as one of "them" I am not, which is very useful for anthropologists.

Also, in the event of society's collapse (or the creation of Waterwold,) you and Marc will be able to patch and/or make rope. LOL!

About Psych, we studied the Christmas truce on the Western Front, among other things, and subjects related to it. Deionization of the enemy, propaganda, why the officers tried to stop it. Psych is a social science and our teacher knows we’ll actually try to learn if we get interested in it so he ties it to parenting/war/money.

Interesting. I'd love to see the curriculum at some point. I find it interesting how so many secondary schools are offering basic psych courses.

If you’re talking about ripping symbols, foreshadowing, and mood out of a story than we’ve been doing that since sophomore comp.

That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about critical analysis of scholarship. For example: You are given an essay by a Cambridge scholar on the Odyssey. It is entitled, "Class and Gender in the Odyssey." Your job is to write a critical analysis of the essay. Your job is to deconstruct the whole thing and see if it works. Does he have a clear thesis statement? (Sadly, many scholars in very prestigious opinion seem to be incapable of having any idea what they are writing about.) Are the arguments logical? Are they well supported? Are any of the arguments cyclical? Does the author have any biases? Are they justified? Do his views have merit? How does his essay compare to other scholarship.

I am trying to think of good examples to give you. The only example I have a critical response to is a bit too complex, and long, to get the point across. When I get home in a couple of days I'll try to find you something.

However, I was talking about learning a language because of the person I’m dating.

I was discussing culture because of Schmedlap's original comment about how learnging about other cultures is very important in learning to understand your own and other.

Wow, that’s an interesting tidbit of info about Tango, I’ll remember that.

Dancing may be hard to learn where you are, but it is great exercise. Also, you will have a lot of fun with it when you go to college. Dancing, especially Latin and Swing, seem to have become a very popular activity on campuses (I have found there are clubs on many college campuses.) Actually, a lot of places seem to have ballroom teams these days. When I was observing the exercise Meh held last year for his COIN course, I was surprised by how many of his students were wearing "Tufts Ballroom Dancing" clothing. That reminds me, I have to e-mail him. I've had a hell of year and haven't had a chance to sit down and do anything till the last couple of weeks.

Adam L

[davidbfpo]

You will need to resolve two practical, moral questions - maybe not at your age, certainly before making a choice - can you kill people and always obey (lawful) orders? If you cannot answer those two questions in the affirmative the military is not for you.

[jmm99]

Two books by Dave Grossman - which should not be considered bibles, but which raise many issues - are On Killing and On Combat. Not your average psych class stuff, but pertinent to David's two questions.

Another large elephant in the room for officers and NCOs is the impact of having to order your brothers into situations where some will be killed and some horribly wounded.

Tough stuff for Christmas Eve.

Mike

[Adam L]

Another large elephant in the room for officers and NCOs is the impact of having to order your brothers into situations where some will be killed and some horribly wounded.

Fick's book discusses that a little. It has been suggested on this thread.

Adam L

[Schoolkid]

Marct-
Our teacher forces us to view most lesson through the 6 major approaches to psychology: functionalism, behaviorism, psychoanalytic, physiological, social-cognitive, and humanistic.

I created a new account because I didn’t want anyone to think I was trolling due to the email address I was using.

Truth varies from person to person. To a schizophrenic person the truth could be that all cats really are conspiring to assassinate them. It all depends on perceptions. What I mean to say that the “Truth” is shapeless and will transform according to what and how important the information I take in is.

Oh, and alternatively, find twenty role models and take what you like from each.

Adam L-
Don’t state a thesis well. How hard is it to say, “Mac McLeod uses manipulation to dictate the tempo of action.”, or “For decades this Dream has reduced generation after generation of Americans to ashes.” Can you give me an example of a cyclical argument? The only ones I have seen are example, Mr. Lyon is the greatest teacher ever because he is the best.