Loving your child's mind: First week of school

Hey, Alana, how are you doing?

Good. How are you?

I'm well, thank you. So yeah, last week was the first week of real school before you had orientation. But how was the first week of school?

It was great. I love my electives. I love STEM, and I love the area I'm in overall. I am enjoying all my classmates and the work that I'm doing. And I think that today, this year is going to be a really good year.

Good, good, good. Talk a little bit about STEM. What do you enjoy about STEM?

Well, I think that my class is awesome. A lot of my classmates have very strong and good opinions and voices, and we have great conversations. Mm-hmm. I really like our, my guides, Sophisto and Nehemiah. I really enjoy seeing Nehemiah as a code guide because she was a graduate of TSE, right? Mm-hmm.

She was.

So that's pretty inspiring. And she's also really nice and great to get to know.

Good. And how about your electives? What electives are you taking?

I'm taking creative writing, and I absolutely loved it. I'm really enjoying the class. Jess is awesome, and all my classmates are awesome. And I had a really fun time writing the first day on Wednesday.

Good. And we talked about how You were hoping the creative writing course would kind of help relaunch your writing. Do you think it's going to have that effect?

Yes.

Good, good, good. And then did you go to Harvard CS50 this week?

I did. So I didn't sign up for the elective at first because I wasn't able to make the classes. But Zulake has informed me that they're changing the classes, and I can go. To the majority of them. So I will be joining every week and working on it every week. I found that over the summer, wasn't able to work on it as much. So recently I've taken the time to go back to not Week 0, but Week 1 and relearn and redo everything because that's much better. And I think I'm doing a lot better. I'm working on the last project of Week 1 and I'm having a lot of fun.

Good, good, good. Is it easier this time through?

Much more. I feel like the first time I went through it, I didn't get as much out of it as I am now, and I'm having a much easier time completing all the projects.

I think people rarely realize the value of relearning something. I think, you know, especially something as difficult as this is for you, it makes a lot of sense for me that you would go back and relearn it, and especially after kind of taking a break over the summer. Um, well, all good. And then books. Last week you told me about some really incredible books you're reading. Did you have time to read your books more?

Yes. Um, I read more of the Iliad, which again is interesting because it's in poem style. Um, in writing, I'm hoping to write more poems, and I think this is a great supplement. Um, and then I read, um, and then I read more Jane Eyre, um, which is really, really interesting. Um, I wasn't really able to go in depth in a lot of the other books, but I'm really, really enjoying those too.

Hey, The Iliad and Jane Eyre are plenty. How far into The Iliad are you?

Well, it's quite a thick book, but it's separated into books and I'm on book 2. They're all kind of short though. Got it.

And what is, what is your take so far? What do you like about it? What is strange about it? What— how do you grok it?

Well, I know the story of the Iliad from reading like easier versions and listening to it on podcasts and stuff. But reading it in this format and in this way as it might have originally been except in English is kind of eye-opening because I've never— or I think I'm just connected to it more this way. I'm feeling the characters more. Um, and it makes just more sense.

And what do you think of Achilles so far?

I think he's a bit different than I originally thought him to be. Um, some details I actually didn't know because they leave it out in like the children's versions and things like that. Um, but I actually— I'm on the part where Achilles and Agamemnon are having their little fight, um, which is interesting because I've never really thought of those two characters as against each other since they're on the same side. But I guess that it's wrong sometimes.

Do you think Achilles is in the right, or Agamemnon is in the right, or how do you, how do you parse who's more right?

Well, in my opinion, Achilles is a little bit more in the right than Agamemnon, just because he's presented more evidence— or not evidence, but like reasons why he's in the right, I suppose. Um, I kind of agree with his ideas of, um, I mean, just so far how Agamemnon is a bit controlling and not actually going and fighting and taking, but, um, and taking other people's spoils. Um, but yeah, that's where I'm at right now.

Um, so that makes sense. At the same time, I can imagine, uh, an interpretation where people think of Achilles as a little bit pouting, that, hey, you know, this is important, you need to go out there and fight, why are you just hanging out in your tent? Do you think there is some sense in which Achilles is, I don't know, self-indulgent or pouty or immature or something?

Yeah, absolutely. Not all of his reasons are perfectly crystal clear and good. And I agree that he's being maybe not immature, that's not the right word for it, but yeah, pouty, I guess. Um, if I were in his situation, I wouldn't do that. Um, I'd deal with it in a different way. Um, yeah.

Why do you kind of forgive him for being pouty, or why do you think his reasons are such that, uh, Agamemnon's more in the right, given that you wouldn't even behave that way?

I don't think that, um, well, I don't think that the way that Achilles is acting is the best way to go. Um, I don't think that the way Agamemnon is acting is the best way to go either. Um, I suppose the reason why I said Achilles is more in the right is because I liked his reasons, um, better, but I think he is overreacting.

What are his best reasons?

I remember one of it is that he thought that, or he came to fight in a war that didn't really concern him, and now Agamemnon was taking his things and kind of lording over him when he himself thinks of him as the best Greek fighter, which there again goes maybe, you know, ego. But I didn't really understand Agamemnon's reasons for doing what what he did to Achilles, like stealing his, you know, woman that he captured, I guess.

And, uh, yeah. So do you think that Agamemnon is completely in the wrong, that Achilles is kind of in the wrong, but Agamemnon is even more clearly in the wrong?

I think they're both sort of in the wrong, but from where I'm at now, I was kind of thinking that Agamemnon is a little bit more in the wrong. Aside from doing all the stuff to Achilles, he also angered Apollo or something. Um, and of course I have to take note of that because that's kind of big.

And what do you make of the Greek gods? Um, presumably you don't personally believe in the Greek gods. As a modern American reader, how do you make sense of this world where the Greek gods are such a force?

I enjoy reading about the Greek gods and Greek mythology because it— I mean, one, it's fun to read into it, kind of, or it's interesting to read what other people believe to be true a long time ago. And I guess this is one case, even though like the Trojan War might not be absolutely 100% real, it's still really interesting to read about the so-called interactions between humans and gods and how the gods reacted because In a way, they're kind of human too, even though they're gods, just how they act and what they do.

So because they believe in a certain kind of Greek god that we don't believe in, do you think that, um, that makes them less responsible for their actions? And what interpretation of modern times is it? We're— and this is an interesting question. Do you think that we humans today are 100% responsible for our actions or mostly responsible or not at all responsible? How do you think of personal responsibility?

Well, I think that you are the one that's responsible for your actions, but you might be influenced over, um, maybe if you were, you know, by the government or a politician or somebody you know to do something, um, and you don't really judge what you're doing, you just do it. Or in that case, since you were influenced by the person, the fault may not be entirely on you, but you're the one who did it, I guess. You could have stopped if you wanted to. Um, in this case, that politician or person in your life could be the Greek gods, as they influence you to do things. Um, but believing in them isn't wrong. I don't think, and doing what you do to believe in their culture is not wrong. They might do things differently than we do today because they believe in those gods, but obviously that's not wrong either. It's just what they believed in. But I think that today, I think people are responsible for what they do, at least, I mean, definitely, I mean, their own actions, 100%. If they were influenced by it, their intentions not 100%, but their actions definitely.

Do you think that if the gods are more influential in the Iliad, the people are less responsible there than we are today?

Well, if you're talking specifically about the Iliad, then maybe, because they I don't know, it's kind of hard to think about because they actually like believed that they were real and they had interactions with them. And supposedly in the Iliad, they were talking to them and the gods were saving people mythically, pulling them out of danger. So I think they did play a big role in the Trojan War and the entire Iliad. But I think that the actions taken by the people are greatly influenced by the gods. I don't know, some god might have told one person to do something and that changes the course of the war. So in a way, the gods might be part of their consciousness and part of them because they're so influential. You could think about it that way. And so in that case, it would be entirely 100% their fault for that thing happening. But if you're thinking of the gods as like a totally separate identity, then maybe not because you've been influenced.

So I think these are interesting questions. And as you get farther along into the Iliad, we should return to them. Um, you know, both, you know, Achilles and the character of Achilles, I would say is a big, very interesting question as well as Agamemnon, but obviously it's more about Achilles than Agamemnon. So Achilles, uh, sense of personal responsibility and so forth, but then also the gods and the relationship between the gods and the human humans is really interested in the other end. Um, jumping to Jane Eyre, what's going on in Jane Eyre?

So in Jane Eyre, she's just got to the school and it's a completely different environment for her because when she was at, um, she was back at home, um, I think she was treated kind of like scum because she was an orphan and another figure who was— who had passed away made them take her in, and they didn't really care for her, but they had to. Um, and so once she gets sent off to this school, I think the atmosphere changes, and I think it's going to change her. But I haven't, um, got to the part where she realizes that.

Got it. But I take it you're still enjoying it?

Yes, very much so.

What do you like about it so far?

Um, I I enjoy reading it and I like the story. I guess you could say I enjoy the thought of a different time, I guess, because I don't live there. I've never experienced what she's experiencing. Everybody I know, except for like, I don't know, competitors who have a grudge against me or something, like me, and I'm friends with a lot of people, having those experiences and going off like that is something that's kind of strange to me. So reading about those kinds of things is interesting.

I would say one of the things that I love about reading books, and I think even more when I was your age, is going into a different world. And I think it's interesting that The Iliad is such a different world. And as you point out, even Jane Eyre, Jane Eyre is such a different world. Um, would you say you like going into these two very different worlds?

Yes.

Yeah. Yeah, it's kind of magical, I think, that, you know, you just stare at this page and all of a sudden you're in ancient Greece or you're in 19th century England. Cool. Anything else?

No.

All right. In which case, have a wonderful week and we'll see you next week. Take care.

Thank you, Michael.

Bye-bye.