Banned and Challenged Books week!

This week is Banned Books week! Believe it or not, books are still banned from schools, book stores, countries . . .

But here at Sagasta we have no banned books and in fact our students read some of those books you can find on those lists!

On the list of the most frequently challenged books of 2015, we can find one of Sagasta's favourite books, The Curious incident of the dog in the night-time,  by Mark Haddon.

The Banned books week will finish tomorrow, let's hope we do not have many more of these weeks!!!

After a week at school . . . .

You must be tired after your first week at school!!!  I bet you!!!

Teachers, homework, books, getting up early in the morning!!!

Yes, you are right! It is exhausting!!!

But now . . . Think about all the people all over the world who would love to be in your shoes!!!

Here you are!

Please, check this other option out, and think again about how tired and exhausted you are!

Back to school!!!

I love Education!!! I am not the only one!!!

So you want... to get a degree

Why?

Let me tell you what society will tell you:

Increases your chances of getting a job,

Provides you an opportunity to be successful,

Be a lot less stressful,

Education is the key.

Now let me tell you something your parents will tell you:

Make me proud,

Increases your chances of getting a job,

Provides you an opportunity to be successful,

Your life will be a lot less stressful,

Education is the key.

Now let's look at the statistics,

Steve Jobs - net worth seven billion R.I.P,

Richard Branson - net worth four point two billion,

Oprah Winfrey - two point seven billion,

Mark Zuckerberg, Henry Ford, Steven Spielberg, Bill Gates

Now here comes the Coup de grâce,

Looking at these individuals, what's your conclusion?

Neither of them in being successful,

Ever graduated from a higher learning institution.

Now some of you may be like,

Money is only the medium by which we measure worldly success,

And some of you even have the nerve to say

"I don't do it for the money."

So what you studying for?

To work for a charity?

Need more clarity?

Let's look at the statistics:

Jesus,

Muhammed,

Socrates,

Malcolm X,

Mother Teresa,

Spielberg,

Shakespeare,

Beethoven,

Jesse Owens,

Muhammad Ali,

Sean Carter,

Michael Jeffrey Jordan,

Michael Joseph Jackson.

Were either of these people unsuccessful... or... uneducated?

All I'm saying is that,

If there was a family tree hard work and education would be related,

But school would probably be a distant cousin,

Because if education is the key,

School is the lock,

Because it rarely ever develops your mind to the point where it can perceive red as green and continue to go when someone else said stop.

Because as long as you follow the rules and pass exams your cool,

But are you aware that examiners have a checklist,

And if your answer is something outside the box then the automatic response is a cross,

And then they claim that school expands your horizons and your visions,

Well tell that to Malcolm X who dropped out of school and is world renowned for what he learn in a prison.

Proverbs 17:16

It does a fool no good to spend money on an education,

Why?

Because he has no common sense.

George Bush. Need I say more?

Education is about inspiring one's mind,

Not just filling their head,

And take this from me because I'm an 'Educated' man myself,

Who only came to this realization after countless nights in the library,

With a can of red bull keeping me awake till morning,

Another can in the morning,

Falling asleep between piles of books that probably equates to the same amount I spent on my rent,

Memorize equations, facts and dates,

Write down to the letter,

Half of which I would never remember,

And half of which I would forget straight after the exam,

Before the start of the next semester,

Asking anyone if they had notes for the last lecture.

I often found myself running to class,

Just so I could find a spot on which I could rest my head and just sleep without making a scene,

Ironic because that's the only time I ever spent in university chasing my dreams.

And then after nights with a dead-mind,

I'd den find myself in a queue of half-awake students, zombies,

Waiting to hand in an assignment,

Maybe that's why they call it a deadline.

And then after three years of mental suppression,

And frustration,

My "Proud Mother" didn't even turn up to my graduation.

Now, I'm not saying that school is evil and there's nothing to gain,

All I'm saying is: understand your motives and re-assess your aims,

If you want a job working for someone else then help yourself,

But then that would be a contradiction because you wouldn't really be helping yourself,

You'd be helping somebody else,

There's a saying that is: if you don't build your dreams, someone else will hire you to help build theirs.

Redefine how you view education,

Understand it's true meaning,

Education is not just about regurgitating facts from a book,

Or someone else's opinion on a subject to pass an exam,

Look at it.

Picasso was educated at creating art,

Shakespeare was educated in the art of all that was written,

Colonel Harland Sanders was educated in the art of creating Kentucky Fried Chicken.

I once saw David Beckham take a free kick,

I watched as the side of his Adidas-sponsored boot hit the patent leather of the ball at an angle,

Which caused it to travel towards the skies as though it was destined for the heavens,

And then as it reached the peek of it's momentum,

As though it changed it's mind,

It switched directions.

I watched as the goalkeeper froze,

As though reciting to himself the laws of physics,

And as though his brain was negotiating with his eyes,

That was indeed witnessing the spectacle that was the leather swan that was swooping towards it,

And then reacted,

Though only a fraction of a millisecond too late,

And before the net of the goal,

Embraced the Fifa-Sponsored ball as though it was the prodigal son returning home,

And the country, that I live in, Erupted into cheers,

I looked at the play and thought,

Damn,

Looking at David Beckham,

There's more than one way in this world to be,

An educated man.

Peace

9/11 Remembrance!

Watch live coverage in New York today!

Here we go again!!!

Here we go again!!!! Why not???

Whitesnake

I don't know where I'm goin' 

But I sure know where I've been

Hanging on the promises in songs of yesterday

An' I've made up my mind, I ain't wasting no more time

Here I go again, here I go again

Tho' I keep searching for an answer

I never seem to find what I'm looking for

Oh Lord, I pray you give me strength to carry on

'Cause I know what it means to walk along the lonely street of dreams

Here I go again on my own

Goin' down the only road I've ever known

Like a drifter I was born to walk alone

An' I've made up my mind, I ain't wasting no more time

Just another heart in need of rescue

Waiting on love's sweet charity

An' I'm gonna hold on for the rest of my days

'Cause I know what it means to walk along the lonely street of dreams

And here I go again on my own

Goin' down the only road I've ever known

Like a drifter I was born to walk alone

An' I've made up my mind, I ain't wasting no more time

But here I go again, here I go again,

Here I go again, here I go

'Cause I know what it means to walk along the lonely street of dreams

Here I go again on my own

Goin' down the only road I've ever known

Like a drifter I was born to walk alone

An' I've made up my mind, I ain't wasting no more time

Here I go again on my own

Goin' down the only road I've ever known

Like a drifter I was born to walk alone

'Cause I know what it means to walk along the lonely street of dreams

Here I go again on my own

Goin' down the only road I've ever known

Like a drifter I was born to walk alone

I Will Not Let An Exam Result Decide My Fate !!!

Right now

There is a kid finishing parents' evening in a heated discussion with his mother

Saying, why does he have to study subjects he will never ever use in his life?

And she will look at him blanked eyed, stifle a sigh, think for a second and then lie

She'll say something along the lines of:

"You know to get a good job, you need a good degree and these subjects will help you get a degree, we never had this opportunity when I was younger".

And he will reply:

"But you were young a long time ago, weren't you mum?"

And she won't respond although what he implies makes perfect sense that societies needs would have changed since he was 16

But she will ignore him, grip his hand more sternly and drag him to the car

What she doesn't know is that she didn't ignore him just to shut him up

She didn't lie because they are just returning him from parents' evening

And an argument in the hallway would look bad on her resume

She won't lie because she had just spent the last one hour convincing a stern face teacher that she would ensure that her child studies more at home

No! She will lie simply, because she does not know any better herself

Although all her adult life, she has never used or applied

Pythagorean theorem, Pathetic fallacy, and does not know the value of "X"

She will rely society to tell her child who has one of the sharpest mind in the school, is hyperactive, unfocused, easily distracted and wayward

Students!

How many equations, subjects and dates did you memorize just before an exam never to use again?

How many "A" grades did you get, which were never asked for when applying for a job?

How many times have you remembered something 5 minutes just after the teacher said: 

"Stop writing"

Only to receive your results a month later to realize that you were only 1 mark short of the top grade?

Does that mean remembering 5 minutes earlier would've made you more qualified for a particular job?

Well, on an application form it would have

We all have different abilities, thought processes, experiences and genes

So why is a class full of individuals tested by the same means?

So that means Cherrelle thinks she's dumb, because she couldn't do a couple sums

And if this issue is not addressed properly, it then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy

Then every school has the audacity to have policy on equality

Huh, the irony!

Exams are society's methods of telling you what you're worth

But you can't let society tell you what you are

Cause this is the same society that tells you that abortion is wrong, but then looks down on teenage parents!

The same society that sells products to promote nature hair, looks and smooth complexion with the model on the box, half photoshopped, and has fake lashes and hair extensions

With pastors that preach charity, but own private jets

Imams that preach against greed, but are all fat

Parents that say they want "educated kids" but constantly marvel at how rich Richard Branson is

Governments, that preach peace, but endorse war, that say they believe so much in the importance of higher education and further learning

Then why increase tuition fees every single year?

I believed Miss Jefferson when she took me into the office, said that my exams would be imperative to my success

Because we were taught to always follow when Miss Jefferson led

Then I took Jefferson out of the equation and learned to think for myself

I realized, we were always taught to follow when misled

Huh, the irony!

Test us with tests, but the finals are never final

Because they never prepare us for the biggest test which is survival!

And what I suggest is fairly outlandish

So I don't expect everyone to understand this

Except for the kid that knows what it feels like to be worth no more than that D or that A that you get on results day

And the ones whose best stories were never good enough for your English teacher

Because apparently you missed out key literal techniques

Did not follow the class plan,

And the language was too "informal" for him to understand

But then he'd reference Hamlet and Macbeth

And you'd fight the urge to express your contempt by partially clenching your fist with only your medius finger left protruding in the middle of your hand

And asking if he was aware that Shakespeare was known as the innovator of slang

Or the kid at the back of the class who thinks:

"Why am I studying something that doesn't fuel my drive?"

But when confronted with a maths problem his eyes come alive

So this one is for my generation,

the ones who found what they were looking for on Google,

the ones who followed their dreams on Twitter,

Pictured their future on Instagram, accepted destiny on Facebook.

This one's for my "failures" and "dropouts", for my unemployed graduates, my shop assistants, cleaners and cashiers with bigger dreams,

My self-employed entrepreneurs, my world-changers and my dream-chasers!

Cause the purpose of "Why I hate school, but love education" was not to initiate a worldwide debate,

But to let them know that whether 72 or 88, 44 or 68,

We will not let exam result decide my fate!

Participación programa EOI!!!

Si estás interesado en participar en el programa de Colaboración con la Escuela Oficial de Idiomas de Logroño , estás en los cursos de Tercer o Cuarto de ESO, o en alguno de los cursos de Bachillerato y tienes más de un 7 en la nota final de inglés del año pasado,

NO PIERDAS EL TIEMPO!!!

SOLICITA TU PLAZA EN EL PROGRAMA!!!

HASTA EL 6 DE SEPTIEMBRE!!!

Titulación:
4ESO, B1
2BTO, B2