My Civil Disobedience

As a 16 year old, there are many driving laws to follow. There is the law that I can only have one person (not directly related to me) in the car. There is also a driving curfew of 10pm on weekdays and 11pm on weekends. Last weekend, I went to an event with my Youth Group, where we went down town for a scavenger hunt in limos. The problem was that were not supposed to get back to the temple until 11:30 and my parents couldn't pick me up. What should I do? Should I try to hurry up the event so we could get back before curfew? Thoreau states: "But if it is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law," (Thoreau 274). In Civil Disobedience Thoreau says that it is worse to do injustice upon someone else than to break the law. To me, this translates to: Don't hurry up the event, because it is unfair to your friends. So, in the end, I decided to break curfew. Was this the right decision? Well, since I didn't get caught, I guess it worked out. What would you have done?

I know that the rule about only driving one person at a time is rediculous. Why does it matter how many people are in the car or if they are related to you? I know many 16 year olds have broken this law, so why even have it? Should laws like this be followed? Why is J-Walking illegal? I'm not saying to break seemingly rediculous laws, rather I am questioning them. Is it "OK" to break curfew or drive with multiple people if the reason you are doing it is just. Do the ends justice the means? I believe in some cases they do. I am curious how many people follow these laws, even if they see them as rediculous. Do you follow the law or do you find yourself leaning towards civil disobedience?

Simplicity in Education

After talking about simplicity this week in class, it seems that our society does not embrace anything remotely close to simplicity in our education system. As a junior, I am very interested in "the college search" and finding a school that suits me. I have found that there are so many schools! And getting into certain schools is increadibly difficult. So many schools nowadays require more than hard work and good grades, but good ACT or SAT scores, SAT II scores, teacher recommendations, unique essays and much more. This process is overwhelming.

When creating the typical day at New Trier in class last week, we defined that our person's (Talyor's) goal was to get into a "good college." This goal is much easier said than done. There are so many colleges! And sometimes it's not always fair. Maybe you didn't get in to Stanford because they needed a trombone player. This process, to me, goes against HDT's philosophy and desire for simplicity. Our educations system is so complicated! Is there really even a difference in going to Harvard or going to Illinois? Well, in our society a degree from Harvard will help you get a "good job," but isn't the education at Illinois still the same? Don't they have the same classes and books? So then why is our society divided into "good schools" and "bad schools" and why is it so hard to get into the "perfect school?" I guess it comes down to ambition and determination. If Taylor is determined enough to go to a certain school, (s)he will probably get in. So why not a simpler system? Would it be better if all students received the same education? What if all students went to the same school? Some people might see this as equality, others as communism, but in my opinion it would make the process of getting into college a lot simpler. The reason I would not be in favor of it is because finding your "perfect" college is fun. What do you think?