Acountability

The world has had to adjust to being online. Schools all over the world are forced to either close or have cyber school. The John Carroll School decided to have cyber school, and although it has been hard, it is worth having. Students and teachers have both had to face new challenges with cyber school. A lot of students are getting more work then they used to, have to learn in an entirely differnt waythan they are used to, and have the ability to easily cheat on assignments that they shouldn't cheat on. Teachers are also getting more work with grading assignments, they have to change all of their lesson plans and adapt them to cyber school, and might be tempted to take shortcuts in grading. Cyber school is difficult because there is definetly a temptaion of cheating a lot, but I try not to because I would rather learn the material and come back to school ready for tests. A lot of my fellow students cheat, and I feel bad because they are not learning and will not be prepared when we go back to school. The workload for teachers and students has been a lot more than expected, but I think we are prepared to do it. Cyber school hs forced students and teacher to quickly adjuct to a new way of learning and teaching, which is hard for a lot of people. Although school's are facing the new challenge of online teaching, cyber school has taught a lot of students that they should be grateful for having school outside of a computer. Before the shut downs, all students wanted was to get out of school and have off. Now this break has shown students how much we miss real school. Mr. Shick asked "Does living in a time of crisis change who we are, or how well we behave, or alter our essential nature? Do we take advantage of a bad situation to become...bad?". I think that this break does not affect who we are, and especially students at John Carroll because we are strong and have good morals. This is definetly a bad situation, but I think that it makes our school community bond and helps us realize how much we all miss physical school. The coronavirus epidemic changed everything about the way we learn and teach, and it is human to adpat to these new challenges. The virus is dangerous and we are all doing a good thing by staying in our homes. Cyber school has lots of challenges, but having it is the right thing to do. John Carroll has showed us that we should stay strong during this time and learn everything we can through the challenges of the big work loads, temptations to cheat, the new learning situations we all have to adjust to. Even through all of this, I feel closer to the school community because we are all going through the same situtaions.

The plague of Athens and COVID-19

Epidemics are always a surprise. Diseases can be as small as a cell, but are one of the most dangerous things on our planet. The reason why diseases ,especially bacteria and viruses, are so dangerous is because they spread quickly and mutate a lot. Epidemics are unpredictable, especially for the city of Athens on their second year of the Peloponnesian War. The Great Plague of Athens swept through the city in 430 B.C. killing about 100,000 people. Historians are not sure what kind of disease it was, but most think it was bacterial. The disease weakened the Athenian democracy might even have been the reason it ended. Thucydides, an Athenian general who was exiled from Athens for being defeated in battle, notes how crowding in Athens, along with inadequate housing and sanitation, helped the disease spread more quickly and added to the number of deaths. The thing that made the plague worse was that everyone was freaking out and panicking, which tore the city apart. What made the plague worse was that Pericles, Athens's ruler, died so men were trying to take his place. Athens's plague is an example to help us understand why self-quarantine and social distancing is important. Maryland is a crowded state and that means the disease could spread quickly if we don't take the right pre cautions. Coronavirus came from no where and has threatened to spread all over the world, but it can't spread if people are in their houses and away from other people. At this moment in time, 509,427 people around the world have been infected wit the virus. 23,004 people have died of it, and four of those people were in Maryland. Although the coronavirus is scary, we have to learn from Athens that we shouldn't panic and avoid being in contact with others who could have the virus. Epidemics are scary and dangerous, but they can stop if we all pitch in and handle it the right way.

Phillip II, Alexander the Great, and Darius III: Brief Biographies

Phillip II - Philip the second was born in either 383 or 382 B.C. After his two brothers died, Philip became king of Macedonia in 359 B.C. King Philip II transformed the Macedonian army into one of the most feared armies at his time. Philip raised elite fighting forces, started military training at a younger age, and implemented a weapon called the sarissa, an 18 to 20 foot spear that could puncture armor and horses with its iron tip. His ability to create alliances and strengthen the Macedonian military led him to gaining lots of territory and increase Macedonia's wealth, security and unity. In 337 B.C., Philip created the League of Corinth, which was an alliance of almost all Greek city-states ruled by himself. With the League of Corinth, he wanted to look outside of Greece and try to invade the Persians. After crossing the Hellespont into Persian territory, King Philip II was assassinated by Macedonian noble Pausanias at 46 years old. His son Alexander had to take his place as king of Macedonia.


Alexander the Great - Alexander the Great was born on July 20, 356 B.C. When Alexander was a boy, he looked up to Achilles and was inspired by the Iliad. Aristotle, a famous philosopher, started teaching Alexander in 343 B.C. and taught him for 3 years. After finishing school at Meiza, Alexander became a soldier. In 338 B.C., Alexander took charge of the Companion Cavalry and help his father in defeating the Athenian and Theban armies. When his father created the League of Corinth, Alexander and his mother, Olympia, had to flee to Epirus until Alexander and Philip stopped arguing. 19 year old Alexander heard about his father's death and was prepared to seize the throne with the help of Macedonian troops he fought with when he was a soldier. During the beginning of his rule, Greek city-states did not want to be in the League of Corinth, so Alexander destroyed Thebes as a warning to join. 334 - 333 B.C. Alexander the Great embarked on his journey to conquer Persia and fought King Darius III many times. Alexander used many great battle strategies to beat Darius, even when he was out-numbered, and finally captured Darius and declared himself king of Persia in the November of 333 B.C. Alexander conquered Egypt, the Middle East, Central Asia, and Greece. On his way back to Macedon, Alexander died at 32 years old from a mysterious illness in Persia in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II in Babylon. Alexander's empire collapsed after his death.




Darius III - Darius III was the last king of the Achaemenid dynasty. A servant named Bagoas poisoned the two kings before Darius started to rule and tried to poison Darius, but Darius knew what was happening and made Bogoas drink the poison himself. It was estimated that Darius had bout 2.5 million soldiers spread across his kingdom who were skilled and strong. Darius was not worried about Alexander the Great until Alexander defeated an Achaemenid army at the Granicus, won most of Asia Minor, and had reached the city of Cilicia. At Issus, Darius finally fully attacked the Macedonians, but the Macedonian calvery cut right into his army and he fled. The armies would not meet until two years later because Alexander has just come from conquering Egypt and Darius tried to delay the rematch. Darius decided to at a valley near the town of Gaugamela because he wanted to give his 250,000 Persian troops the advantage against Alexander's 50,000 Macedonian troops. Graham Wrightson, a history professor at South Dakota State University and author of Combined Arms Warfare in Ancient Greece, says “Just as Darius begins the charge, the Macedonians launch a devastating cavalry attack that goes right into the gap cunningly created by Alexander’s tactics". According to legend, Alexander killed Darius’ chariot driver and almost captured him before he fled on a horse. While Darius was fleeing from Alexander for days, his cousin killed him at 50 years old and brought his head to Alexander. Alexander thought what Darius' cousin did was treasonous, so he tortured and executed the cousin before declaring himself king of Persia. 

Alexander and Bucephalus

Bucephalus was one of the most massive and un-tamable horses in ancient Macedonia. Philonicus, a horse dealer, offered Bucephalus to King Philip II for a high sum of 13 talents. King Philip was annoyed and not interested in buying the horse because he thought that it could not be tamed, but twelve year old Alexander the Great decided to try taming the wild Bucephalus. Alexander made a deal with his father for the horse. The deal was that Alexander would pay for the horse if he failed to tame it, but his father would have to pay for the horse if he tamed it. Young Alexander had been observing the horse before he made the deal and noticed that Bucephalus was frightened by the movement of his shadow on the ground. Young Alexander tamed the horse by riding it towards the sun, so it could not see its shadow. King Philip II was impressed and said "O my son, look thee out a kingdom equal to and worthy of thyself, for Macedonia is too little for thee". As Alexander grew up, Bucephalus grew up with him. Alexander fought most of his battle while riding Bucephalus, and Alexander treat him like a hero. Bucephalus would only let Alexander ride him as they rode from Greece to as far as India. Bucephalus and Alexander had a great friendship, but it sadly ended at the Battle of Hydaspes. Alexander was battling against Porus, an Indian king, who had 200 war elephants that did a lot of damage. Alexander won the battle, but he lost his best friend Bucephalus. Greek historian Arrian says "Bucephalus, which died there, not from having been wounded by any one, but from the effects of toil and old age; for he was about thirty years old, and quite worn out with toil. This Bucephalus had shared many hardships and incurred many dangers with Alexander during many years". Alexander wanted to honor Bucephalus by naming a city after him. Alexander founded the city of Bucephala and it was located on the banks of the Hydaspes river, where Bucephalus was buried. Bucephalus is referenced in art and literature because of the legendary life he had with his best friend and the only man who could ever tame him. It's funny how a horse that was scared of his own shadow carried the world's greatest conqueror on his back and into great battles.

My feelings on Cyber School

Cyber school has been a big adjustment for teachers and fellow students, but I think it is working out better than I thought. The positives about having cyber school is that you get to sleep in, can portion your work throughout the day, and I feel like I am still learning through it. Cyber school is a good alternative to having no school at all, because my brother is off school for these next few weeks and he is always bored. I think that when we get more used to the technology, cyber school will be a lot easier. I am surprised that it requires as much work as the normal school day, and even more work in some classes. There are a lot negatives about having cyber school because it does not compare to real school, but it is our only option during the epidemic. Surprisingly, I miss normal school because of the paper worksheets and assignments we did, being able to see teachers and friends, and being able to play sports. I still try to go outside everyday and workout because being is cyber school feels restricting and like I am working in an office square. I think that we will probably have more than two weeks off of school because the first person in Maryland died from coronavirus, but I believe everyone will become more adjusted to it as we do it more.

Philosphers paragraph

Socrates and many other people would start questioning traditional beliefs at the time ,after Pericles's death, because Athenians were concerned about the longevity of the democratic government and were questioning their values. Great Greek thinkers called philosophers started to think about the origins of their beings and the truths of the world around them. These philosophers based their beliefs on two assumptions: the universe is put together in an orderly way and is made up of definite laws, and people can understand the universe's laws through logic and reasoning. A group of philosopher's called Sophists questioned the citizen's beliefs on traditional values and justice because of the failing democracy. Protagoras ,one of the most famous Sophists, gave dangerous ideas to the Athenians about the existence of their gods. Athens, at that point in time, was in total disaster because of the sickness ,and death of influential people in Athenian culture like Pericles and the great generals who defeated Spartans at sea. Socrates had a real reason to start using his method of questioning society when the generals ,who were at sea, returned. The generals were accused of murdering the men that fell off the boats during the battle and were never saved. Socrates was the only one who voted against putting the generals to their deaths because they were not able to save the men that fell off, and they were important to the future fate of the Peloponnesian War. The generals were put to death by drinking poison hemlock, despite Socrates's efforts to save them.

Athen's plan paragraph

The Pelopinesian War started between the Spartans and the Athenians. Sparta started to invade Athens and burn their crops, but Athenians were stuck behind the walls of the city. Pericles's plan was to hide behind the walls and wait out the Spartans, since the Spartans were more experienced fighters on land. The Athenians was forced to rely on shipments from overseas to supply them with food and other essentials. The only problem with Pericles's plan is that he was not prepared for the consequences of overcrowding the city. An illness fell over Athens ;which was described to have symptoms of inflammation of the eyes, violent heats around the head, and incontrollable diarrhea. Over 1/3 of Athens died from the sickness. After six months of having the illness, Pericles died in 429 B.C.. The death of Pericles had a huge effect on the Athenian people and it started to cause chaos. Men from all over Athens tried to gain the favor of the people and become the next ruler. These men would do anything the people wanted as long as it would give them power. The democracy of Athens had a chance of turning into mob-rule. Athens was too busy fighting an internal war that they were not focused on the threat outside of theri walls.

Textbook Paragraph (Also why did I get two points off my blogs because I thought I did them all?)

Pericles was an honorable and wise politician who ruled Athens for 32 years. Pericles' goals were to strengthen Athenian democracy, to hold and strengthen the empire, and to glorify Athens. Pericles led Athens during its Golden Age, and valued things like the arts, politics, and military strength. Pericles decided that more public officials should be paid salaries. This meant that anyone could become a public offical and vote on controversial topics. A direct democracy is a form of government in which citizens rule directly and not through representatives. The direct democracy of Athens was one of the most important and influencial ideas that Pericles put into place, and his reform made Athens one of the most democratic governments in history. Male citzens in the assembly decided on all of the rules and policies that affected the polis and city-states of Athens. Pericles saw that everyone in the assembly should be treated equally and have a fair vote. In "The Funeral Oration", from Thucydides, Pericles says "Our constitution is called a democracy because power is in the hands not of a minority but of the whole people". After the Persians were defeated in war, Athens took over the Delian league. The Delian league was a group of Greek city-states, led by Athens, created to fight the Persians and keep money in a treasury in case of a war. The money in the treasury was supposed to be used to make gear for war, but they had nothing to use it for when the Persians were defeated. Pericles used the money from the Delian league treasury to make Athens's navy the strongest in the Mediterranean and buy materials to make sculptures and buildings ,like the Parthenon.

we have off monday

Today in class we got to do more on the corona virus. It is becoming a serious threat to our world, and a rising threat to Maryland. We do not know what is going to happen in the future, but sports and school may be cancelled for longer than 2 weeks. I don't think these two weeks are going to help because coronavirus will still be spreading, but I think it could help. In class, we talked about how we are going to do this online thing and how to do the assignments on the blogs. We even had to take pictures of the textbook pages. A lot of teachers have been telling us about their online plans, and they all have different ones. Mr.Shick doesn't believe that tests should be taken online because there are so many ways that we can cheat. Other teachers though are giving us online tests. I hope the quarantine does not last long, so I can go back to school and do sports. Coronavirus is dangerous, but I will probably still hang out with my friends.

Corona time

Today in class Mr. Shick talked about the coronavirus and how to properly wash her hands. He believes that there should be more regulations on this and that we should’ve close a long time ago. He told us about the guy he saw on the news and that he washed his hands on them properly. The guy am the news touched the bathroom door handle after he supposedly washed his hands. Our teacher showed us how to do it properly and said that more people should learn how to do it the right. We didn’t know this at the time but our school is now canceled on Monday because of this epidemic. The coronavirus is really dangerous and then it’s all over China in Italy. A lot of people have said the origin is from a guy at an animal market eating a raw bat which I believe.I do not know how they’re going to do all of the work that they have to do for school online, but I think they will figure it out after school on Friday and hopefully this Quarantine doesn’t last that long. I also believe that we will not have sports seasons or anything like that, and that is disappointing

the revolution pt.2

Today in class we watched the rest of the revolution video.The rest of the video showed how Cleisthenes came into power and started the democracy. It also hinted at the fact that while this was happening, the Persians were growing stronger everyday. The only thing that confuses me is why Hippias had to kill lots of people to feel good about himself. He thought that by murdering he was avenging his brother, but in reality he was not. If Is agoras was never overthrown by the commoners, than Cleisthenes might not have created the first democracy. This video also taught us about the traditional Olympic games the Greeks had at Olympia. Thousands of people would go to watch, but women were not allowed to even enter the stadium. If you won you would get lots of fame for awhile,, and lots of people wanted it. Anyone could be a hero, although after democracy everyone was a hero. The Olympics had chariot riding, running, wrestling, and boxing. Anyone could compete against each other, so a potter could compete against a king. Anyone had the chance to be great or embarrassed.

video time!!!!

Today we watched a video called episode one:The revolution. The video is about what we have been learning about Greece, but gives more insight on it. A lot of professors speak about Greek history that are from great colleges like Princeton and California. They are probably all teachers or historians because that is all you can do with a degree in history. That is why I won't get a history degree, but I love learning about it. I like how the video gives more insight on Cleisthenes and his childhood. It talk about how he was brought up in a aristocratic family and was rich from birth. The video mentions that Greeks wanted to all be heroes because they were inspired by the heroes from stories. These stories were told by bards and musical instruments and passed down by generations. Homer made the two most popular stories called the "Iliad" and the "Odysseus". There was also a man with a weird "P" name that was a tyrant. He brought a tall girl to Athens, claiming it was Athena, and started ruling. He got the common people to like him by giving free loans and lowering taxes. He also brought up the olive oil business. Greeks were lucky because they could trade with many different civilizations and they all wanted Greek olive oil. This increased the economy a lot. We will watch more tomorrow, and I am missing lots of info too.

fridayyy fridayyy it is awesome friday

Today in class we took an unexpected pop quiz. I am happy abut it though because I only got one wrong, so I hope it brings my grade up. I need to bring my grade up if I want to at least get a 4.4. I have to keep my GPA up because I want to get into a really ,really, really, good college. We took the last of the notes today on Aristotle. Here they are: Aristotle - was a student of Plato at the Academy

• he helped foster the idea of Athens as an intellectual destination
• his school, the Lyceum, focused on cooperative research and building on knowledge gathered from all over the world 
• he dreamt of having the sum of mankind’s knowledge easily accessed in one location
• he wrote extensively on such topics as logic, physics, biology; ethics, politics, rhetoric; motion, theatre, poetry; metaphysics, psychology, dreams, etc.
  
• He also tutored Alexander the Great for 3 years, and was a great inspiration to him;
• The Iliad was the most inspirational thing to Alexander though and he used to to plan many battles

it's wednesday my dudes

Today in class we took more notes on philosophy. Here they are: Socrates - looked to science and logic (not the mythological gods) for explanations of how the world worked.
the Socratic Method fostered critical thinking. “The unexamined life is not worth living." Socrates was charged with serious crimes: impiety (disrespecting the gods) and corrupting the youth of Athens. at his trial, he described himself as a stinging gadfly, and Athens as a lazy old horse. did not deny what he had done; asked for free dinners. found guilty by an Athenian jury, and sentenced to death by drinking poison hemlock (nasty way to go). Plato was a student and follower of Socrates. he wrote out Socrates’ teachings, and described his trial in Apology. Republic was Socrates’ discussion of justice and the ideal state - one of the most influential books on philosophy ever written (it includes the Allegory of the Cave!)

tuesday is for the tuesday

Today in western civ we took more notes. We learned about the fight between the Persians and Greece. Here are some notes I took: 

• Athens had a great infantry, too, but nothing could compare with their navy
• their most effective weapon was the trireme. Trireme: a technological marvel, fastest ship in the world at the time, rowed by up to 170 men on three levels ,could be used as a battering ram, agile and fast. Phalanx:close-rank, dense grouping of warriors, armed with long spears and interlocking shields, soldiers would advance slowly toward the enemy, until they broke through their ranks. Greek army: iron weapons meant ordinary citizens could afford to arm themselves, foot soldiers (hoplites) trained from an early age, armed with spears, swords, shields, often fought in phalanx formation, “home field” advantage, motivated to preserve democracy. Persian army:first archers (do damage from a distance),then cavalry (they disrupt communication between generals and soldiers), then lightly armored infantry (carried spear, sword, and bow), huge numbers, long way from home, professional army (soldiers for hire, or mercenaries)

monday hahah monday mondayyyy

Today in class we took notes on Greek gods and godesses. Lizzy knew all about them and she told us about it. I also remember some Greek mythology. I think it is interesting how the gods interacted with the humans because it was something that had never been done before. Here some notes I took: Poseidon (god of the sea) interfered with Odysseus trying to return home. Aphrodite (goddess of love) had lovers of both gods and men. Dionysus (god of wine) was son of Zeus (a god) and of Semele (a human princess). Zeus - ruler of heaven and earth; father of Athena; god of the sky, weather, thunder, lightning, law, order, and justice. Had a temper and was known to hurl thunderbolts. Athena - Goddess of wisdom, skill,  warfare (and peace), intelligence, battle strategy, and handicrafts. She was born from Zeus' head fully formed and armored. A special patron of heroes - such as Odysseus. She was the patron of Athens (the city was named after her).

Apollo - god of music, arts, knowledge, healing 

• Zeus was his father, Artemis was his twin sister
• he’s associated with the sun, his sister with the moon

Poseidon - god of the sea, rivers, floods, earthquakes

• brother of Zeus, king of the sea and waters

Aphrodite - goddess of love, beauty, desire, sexuality

• her lovers included Ares (god of war), Adonis (demi-god of desire), and Anchises (a mortal who fathered a baby)

Demeter - goddess of grain, harvest, agriculture

• Zeus’s sister