1. What so you think causes the achievement gap?
I think what causes the acievement gap is the lack of effort students put in their work. And the fact that they don't work to their full pontential. SO they rather fool around and not do good in school, and just givin up without even trying. Or because they don't want to be white.

2. What can students do to close the gap?
One thing a student can do to close the gap is that they can first TRY! before giving up so easily. Another thing they can do is ask for help and put effort. For example if they are doin bad in a material they can ask for futher help and go to tutoring rather than just going home and saying I don't get, o well. And probably the last thing they can do is believe in themselves.

3. What can parents do?
One thin the parents can do is motivate their kids to do good and just support their kids. They should also put interest in their kids grades or at least act like they care, and ask them how their day was and how their grades are and what they should do on their low grades. Lastly they could probably talk to the kids teachers and ask them what else can their sons or daughters can do to get their grades up. And if they have like little 3, 4, 5 kids they should start teaching them early and not wait for the school to do all the work.

4. What can the teachers/schools do?
The pre-k can teach children their numbers and abc's and not just eat, nap, and play the whole time. The kids may be small but their brain is there for a reason and they should put it at work so it won't go to waste at such early age.

1. What did you think of Tom Hayden?
I thought Tom Hayden had good thoughts. For example he compared the war in Iraq with the war that we lost against Vietnam. He thought we were not able to win the war, and that we just had to stop sending troops. And he also thought that we were fighting this war for the most stupidest reason, for soil.

2. Tom Hayden does not see himself as a civil rights leader. Do you see him as a civil rights leader? Why or why not?In my point of view I do see him as a civil rights leader because he did a lot of good stuff for people and he wasn't mean about stuff and he was involved into political things.

3. Tom Hayden feels that leaders are not as important as the hundred or thousands of people behind him. What does he mean by that? Maybe because the leaders did not feel the same way as the people that were following them because the leader was just there to represent them and help them but of course the followers got impatient. So the thoughts of the followers counted more than the actual leaders.

.I Love Musiccc.

Bands I listen to:
+AFI
+Anti-Flag
+Avenged Sevenfold
+Armor for Sleep
+Aphex Twin
+The Cure
+Foo Fighters
+Linkin Park
+My Chemical Romance
+Nirvana
+Panic! at the Disco
+Ramones
+Rancid
+System of a Down
+She Wants Revenge
+Wolfmother
.....and more

"Stop Hurting Yourself"

I think the phrase means not to think so hard that you start getting fustrated and just go out of control. The reason I think Mr. Hsu put it up there is because when we are working on new stuff people might get fustrated that they can't do it as fast as everyone else or just not do it at all. And this might cause people to get into a moody attitude, so then you could say stop hurting yourself, and it might change their attitude.

Or it can also be said in a literal way. Like people might do stuff that they think might make them look but really it makes them look stupid. Like when people go around saying stuff like I do drugs and I drink, I guess they think it makes them look cool but even if it does make them look cool it affecting them in many ways. For example people might say that person is dumb for doing those things and then they're not so cool after all, or they can be affecting themselves and thats where the phrase "Stop Hurting Yourself" comes in.

One example I have seen is in school. When a girl got poisoned by alcohol and they had to send her to the hospital. I really don't know the reason why she did but I hope its not because she thought she looked cool. She was hurting herself, and noone told her she was.