Matthew's Blog

      Going into my freshman year of college after graduating high school, I had a lot of uncertainties. People go in different directions after graduating and I wasn't sure if the path I was planning was sufficient compared to my peers.     Mainly, I wasn't sure if I was making the right decision by choosing North Central. Most of my friends chose to go to schools far from home for the "college experience"/partying, which is something I've never been into. I've always had the goal of graduating college debt-free, so I made sure to pick a school where I could commute and afford it without having to take out loans. After picking North Central, I was happy because it was a great school that I could afford and stay close to my family while attending, but other people didn't agree with my decision. I got made fun of by peers who expected me to go to an "elite" university because of my good grades and was told time and time again that I was going to m...

      I have been watching soccer since I was in fourth grade.       The first team I ever watched on TV was Arsenal, a team from London, England. They won the game and had cool jerseys so I decided to become an Arsenal fan. To this day I still support them but it has been a difficult ride.           Arsenal has historically been one of the best teams in the world. They used to be regulars in big competitions such as the Champions League and competed for the English Premier League title almost every single year, but things haven't been the same in a while. Since 2015, Arsenal has shown very poor performances and have struggled way more. It has been a disappointing 8 or so years with very little accomplished, but that could possibly change in a month.     Currently, Arsenal are sitting first place in the English Premier League. If they see it through, this will be their first Premier League title since the ye...

       The class discussion we had on freedom of speech today was intriguing.       From my own experiences in the past as well as from talking to friends and family members, I have noticed that in classes involving general debate or argument (english, history, etc.), a heavy bias is pushed towards one side of the argument with a lack of tolerance or even recognition for the other side. The "other side" oftentimes tends to be my side and it can be difficult to share that.      Certain views sound terrible when first presented (ex: we need to lower the minimum wage), but there is legitimate logic behind views like these. I don't want to "make people poor", but without discussing the rationale behind my view it may seem like this to some people.  This isn't what happened in my case, but I have seen it happen to other people in other classes with other topics and it isn't right. Automatically shooting down certain statements witho...