Scholarly Review

For this week's Honors Mentorship assignment, we were asked to review a scholarly article related to our mentorship.

Since my mentorship is Accounting, I went digging through Galileo to find something relevant and, most importantly, understandable. Let me just say, it wasn't exactly easy. 

I finally found the following article.

Article

By Matthew Gilleard, Graduate of the University of Nottingham, Corporate Tax Editor for International Tax Review.

It his article Gilleard, describes the trend of American businesses moving to foreign countries, notably Ireland. The businesses have been moving due to foreign countries' preferable tax codes compared to America's.

He goes to quote Donald Marron, director of the Tax Policy Center, saying this, "'America's tax system is a mess. It's needlessly complicated, economically harmful, and often unfair,'" (Gilleard). 

Ireland's tax system, as well as those of many other countries, is much simpler and cost a great deal less to companies. 

One need not wonder why the companies moved. 

I have experienced the disparity of the tax system for myself in my by observing the writing and filings of personal and corporate tax returns. It is truly unbelievable the way the systems works and how people work it. 

Gilleard ends his article saying that the American tax system is in dire need of reform, and I most certainly agree.

I thought Gilleard was very unbiased and unpersuasive, though, since he wasn't trying to persuade, this need not reflect poorly on his writing skill. I found what he said to be fair and true and goes to confirm conclusions about our tax system that I had already formed.

Source:

Gilleard, M. (2012). Eaton's move to ireland highlights need for US tax reform. International Tax Review, , n/a. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1032770596?accountid=11023

Bring on the Learning Revolution

Ah, the Great Sir Ken Robinson. I have watched his 2006 TED talk videos in both my AP Lang and Comp and AP Econ classes to spark discussion about creativity, norms, resources, and a variety of other subjects.

If I had the time and the resources to study whatever I wanted, I would have to Literature, specializing in Mysteries. I love to read and mysteries are my favorite genre, have been for as long as I can remember. I have a literature class now at Gainesville State where most of the class is spent discussing Literature and it is by far, one my favorite classes. I am also reading the newest installment of one of my favorite mystery author's, Louise Penny, series, The Beautiful Mystery. Had I the time and the resources to do nothing but the aforementioned, I would be a happy girl.

I tend to think Attitude has more influence over a person and their learning. For example, at 6'2", I have the aptitude to be very good at a variety of sports. My attitude, however, rules out that possibility  (Basketball and I do not get along.) In addition to this, the phrase, "You can do anything you set your mind to" also comes to mind. It also seems to suggest that Attitude has more of an effect than Aptitude.

This class has brought to my attention my time management skills. I have always thought that I managed my time well, until now. There have been so many close calls and, quite frankly, failures, in this area, it has proven to be quite a 'quiz' for which I am grateful to have taken before my 'test' next year in college. 

I purposely skipped over the issue of the grading system and wrote about it last. 

I think that the current grading system needs to be changed. I don't know that it needs to be abolished necessarily but, something does need to happen. I come to this belief by the logic and reason below.

In his TED talk, Robinson refers to the education system needing not evolution but, a Revolution. With his theory, he is correct. However, History tells us that Revolutions tend to be bloody and messy and some one always loses. One would have to be very naive to believe that during the course of the education Revolution students won't get 'hurt.' 

Going back to the original question, something does need to happen to the current grading system. Being only a student and not having the experiences of a teacher, I cannot reasonably devise a system that is fair to both parties. What I can devise is this, whatever Revolution that comes to pass should take an evolutionary path. Many would say that means it not a revolution anymore but, an evolution which, is what we're trying to get away from. Well, I would like to convert the whole human race to Christianity but that's going to take some steps, now isn't it?

On a very different but, I feel related, note. I was in my Communications class Monday. In it, we discussing listening. The average person listens on a 25% comprehension level. An above average person listens on a 40-50% comprehension level. The best listeners listen on a 60% comprehension level. To those of us who thought we were pretty good listeners and gave ourselves an 80% comprehension level, this was a nice kick in the teeth. 

My professor went on to say that of the four main parts of Communication, we take classes for writing, (Lang and Comp), reading, (English Lit II), speaking, (Intro to Comm), but we don't take any sort of class for listening.

She was right which, isn't shocking but, so much of our lives has to do with Communication and listening, why don't we have classes for like the others?

It's these sort of classes that need to be included in the Revolution of education and, if I have anything to say about it, they sure will be.

The Top Three

As an Honors Mentorship student, I am often asked to look deeply into my dreams and future. This week, I was asked to look into my future. Not to far, just a few months, into where I would pursue the education of my field.

It was suggested that we use the BigFuture feature of College Board to find three schools that meet criteria that we think would create the perfect learning environment for us.

My major would be Accounting so, naturally, my schools would need to have an Accounting major program. The next biggest thing is keeping the costs down. To do this, I would like to live at home while I'm at school. For this to work, the colleges will have to be close to my home in Gainesville, GA. Though it wouldn't be required, it would be great if the college had multiple scholarships. 

I would also like for there to be an Honors program at the college I pursue my education at. Along the same line, I would like there to be a small student to faculty ratio.

Using the above criteria, and the Big Future college search program, I found the following three colleges:

Gainesville State College

Oakwood, GA

Brenau Unniversity

Gainesville, GA

North Georgia College and State University

Dahlonega, GA

The first of my three schools is Gainesville State College. I am already dual-enrolled there and have had a wonderful experience so far. I know from personal experience that the class sizes are small and they have an Honors Program, though a small one. 

Something I recently found out about Gainesville State is that they have great student activities. I have recently joined a discussion for 'The Book Thief' as part of Banned Books Week. Not only did they give a copy of the book for free, I get English credit hours for participating. WooHoo!

Sadly, Gainesville State only has an Associate's degree program for Accounting. I'm alright with because my plan all along has been to get cores done at a junior college and then transfer to a larger school to get my final degree. More recently, that 'larger' school has become Brenau University, which leads me to my next school.

My second school is Brenau University. Granted, with a student to faculty ratio of 9:1, Brenau isn't exactly larger than Gainesville Sate. I have recently come to realize that larger doesn't mean more expensive nor does smaller mean less expensive as I previously thought. Most importantly though, is that they have a Master's program in Accounting, the required degree to become a Certified Public Account (CPA).

Since I will be transferring from Gainesville State, it will be important for my credits to transfer. You must have a minimum of 30 hours to transfer, (I'll have that many at the end of my Senior year in High School) and you can have a maximum of 65, (I don't think that will be a problem).

Brenau is about as far from my home as Gainesville State keeping it a possibility to live at home while in school and, hopefully, keeping costs down for getting a degree. However, should this not work out, I have a Plan B.

Plan B and my third and final school is North Georgia College and Sate University. With a student to faculty ratio of 19:1, it is between Gainesville Sate and Brenau. It has a great Honors Program and is within driving distance from my home. 

Downside, it only has a Bachelor's in Accounting. 

My thing to remember is, Gainesville Sate and North Georgia are merging. So, I could get the Honors Program at North Georgia and all the student activities at Gainesville State and still transfer on to Brenau. 

With all these things in mind, there is still one rather crucial thing missing. Scholarships. 

My family makes just enough 'too much money' to qualify me for financial aid, leaving me to use my wits to get avoid financial ruin. 

I have a short list of Scholarships I plan to apply before and while I'm in college:

The Medical Center Auxiliary Summer Teen Essay Contest

Riverbend Gun Club 2nd Amendment Rights Essay Contest

GA Power Energy Essay Contest

(Thanks go to my AP Lang teacher Mrs. Gibson for teaching me how to write an essay.)

With everything I have found and researched, I think I'm now ready to take the nest step in my educational journey.

My Sentence

And no, I have not been charged with a crime that requires me to spend time in a state or federal correctional facility. 

As an Honors Mentorship student, I was challenged to create a sentence, something that someone would say when I was gone that summed up what my life was about.

For my sentence, I created,

"She brought a brightness to her surroundings and a lightness to those nearby with her integrity and willingness to help others," and below is my video.

Enjoy.

My Experiences at Gainesville State College

This year, I am dual-enrolled at Gainesville State College. At some point during the summer, I nearly had a panic attack when I realized I was going to be starting college. It was going to be totally different than any education experience I had ever had. 

My first day, I was SO nervous. I had driven down there with my mom for the first time with traffic and was running late. I didn't even turn off the car. I just pulled over, jumped out, and ran, with as much dignity as I could muster, to class.

Heading to my class in the Martha Nesbitt Academic Building

Once in my first class, I realized the class was small and about half of the students were full-grown adults with kids. Now that, was weird. Another strange thing was when we were done with getting to know each other and going over the syllabus, the teacher let us go, 20 minutes early. I had no clue what I was supposed to do until my next class. I took my time, wandered around, and ended up sitting in the floor in the hall outside the classroom. 

My next class was mostly freshmen and about twice as large as my first. Come to find out, there was another student who was dual-enrolled. This professor was so energetic and, quite frankly, loud, it took some getting used to. 

My first College 100!

In both classes, there were a few things that took getting used to. For one, the short classes. Each class was only 50 minutes. That's shorter than my high school classes.There was also the fact that we didn't meet everyday. At first, I thought, 'I'll have plenty have time to do my homework.' I quickly realized this was not the case and only with serious time management would I be able to do all my work and do it well.

Overall, I have enjoyed my time at Gainesville State and I look forward to next semester.

Debt Decisions

Debt seems to be the new face of the American way. Don't have money for something right now? That's okay, charge it on your credit card and pay for it later. Nothing harmful in that, right? The harm come in when people charge more than what they can pay when the bill comes around. Instead of getting scared and learning their lesson, they see there's a minimum balance due that they can pay. So, they pay it, feel relieved, and continue to charge things until they're in a hole so deep, they'll never dig themselves out. 

This means that the flow of information about credit, credit cards, fees, etc. is going the wrong direction. Part of the problem being that citizens are not taking the time to read and understand the ins and outs of credit cards. A credit card company draws people in with rewards and high spending limits, written in big, bright, letters. In tiny small letters that you need a magnifying glass to read, they tell you about the late fees, compounding interest fees, other ATM fees, things that add up so much, so quickly. 

I was taught a little bit about personal finance but, most of it I learned through the experience of having an allowance. I learned very quickly the importance of money management.

To say money has something to do with my Career Path of Accounting would be a major understatement and while I don't intend to get rich off being an accountant, I would like to make enough to live comfortably and, possibly, support my family. 

My Mission Statement

My mission is to use my talents with numbers and math and ability of creative thinking to help people succeed and represent the Lord in the best way I can, both in the workplace and in public, so that the world can see the amazing power of His Grace.

I would like to gain a better understanding of the Accounting profession so that I may better decide whether I would like to pursue it as a career choice. I am making sure I pay attention to what my mentor and his staff teach me and make the most of the hands on experiences they give me so that I can get the most of my experience. This experience shapes my future in that; I am beginning to see multiple workplaces and what dynamic I prefer.