Journal 13: Franklin Project Reflection

This project taught me that group projects usually do not work out.  This was learned because I was depended on for a lot of this project.  I had to compensate for other people in my group.  That is a good lesson to learn though, because that will probably happen a lot in life.  Things are not always fair, but it happens all the time.  This project also taught me that technology is unreliable.  I had to redo my video because technology malfunctioned and there were errors in the first time I tried to make it.  Also, one of my group members did not have internet at his house, so it was unfair to him for me to ask him to get it done and it was not fair for me to have to compensate for an issue he could not control.  Also, technology was unreliable because the communication aspect of this project.  E-mail was slow and at the other school it was blocked.  That was inconvenient because that was our main source of communication.  I also learned that Benjamin Franklin's virtues were more complex then I thought they were before.  Before this project, I did not analyze them as well.  I am glad I did and I am glad this project had some good to the many bad parts of it.  There were obviously many things I learned during this project.

There should be many things done to improve this project.  First of all, there should be more time to do it.  It seemed that I was not doing my best work because I had to rush through all of the steps so I could meet deadlines and be fair to my group.  It would have been nice to get an extension on the project so people could communicate better and do their quality work.  Also, communication needs improvement.  E-mail was not the best source of communication because many kids do not check their email daily, even when having an important project due.  Another fault is the distribution of work.  I think that students should not decide who is going to do the video because someone will spend hours on it, editing it and making it the best it can be, while other students do only one aspect of the final project.  That concludes my thoughts on this project.

Analyzing Franklin's Virtues

Franklin made his virtues so he could become a better person overall.  The common question that needs an answer is, were his virtues effective in his goal of being a better person?  Franklin shows in his autobiography, and Tuckerman supports this as well, that Franklin's virtues did make him an overall better person.  He became more frugal, sincere, and more intelligent in the ways he decided to live and dedicate his life.  He truly followed his virtues to become a better person.

Franklin began more frugal in his life in many ways.  A quote from his autobiography shows that the virtue of frugality helps other virtues be accomplished:

" Frugality and Industry freeing me from my remaining debt, and producing affluence and independence, would make more easy the practice of Sincerity and Justice, etc., etc ."(Franklin 85).

This quote shows that frugality was a chosen virtue that extended into other virtues. Frugality was one of the most important virtues that Franklin established because it did have more then just the lone virtue. It extended into silence, moderation, tranquility, and industry (Franklin 83). This virtue is the wasting of nothing. For example, silence is keeping your words to yourself if they are not useful. Frugality go into this because one must not waste their words on pointless thinks, therefore be frugal with your words. This virtue along with the other one's it extends upon made Franklin a better person. Tuckerman elaborates on Franklin's qualities with this quote:

"Who can estimate the vast encouragement derived by the lowliest seeker for knowledge and social elevation from such a minute chart of life, frankly revealing every stage of poverty, scepticism, obscure toil, dissipation, on the one side, and, on the other, of manly resolution, indefatigable industry, frugal self-denial, patient study, honest and intelligent conviction, by means of which the fugitive printer's boy,"(Bloom 2).

This quote shows that Franklin had indeed become a better person through all of these qualities he possesses, including being frugal.

Franklin also becomes a better person through his sincerity. He was sincere in his following of the virtues. He marked what he failed upon honestly and tried to improve his faults the best he could. Sincerity was such an important virtue to follow because without sincerity he would never be able to be honest with himself about being a better person. Franklin's journey to being a greater person would have been pointless if he were to pushed aside his faults and ignore them. It would have been an endless failure if he was not sincere in his pursuing of being a better man. Tuckerman says that Franklin a greater man than other philosophers:

"If we compare the life of Franklin, as a whole, with that of other renowned philosophers, we find that the isolated self-devotion, the egotism and vanity, which too often derogate from the interest and dignity of their characters as men, do not mar the unity of the tranquil, honest, and benign disposition which lends a gracious charm to the American philosopher."(Bloom 7).

Tuckerman obviously agrees with the opinion of Franklin improving himself as a man and philosopher. Franklin's sincerity was a key element to his journey to being a better man.

Another aspect that made Franklin successful in his voyage to being a better person was his increased intelligence from the experiences of implementing his virtues. He gained so much more personal insight on his life and how life should be lived. He made a whole system of virtues that gave him information about human life and what humans should do to gain more out of life and to put more value into his life and others. Ben Franklin shares one of his favorite proverbs in his autobiography:

" "O powerful Goodness! bountiful Father! merciful Guide! increase in me that wisdom which discovers my truest interest. strengthen my resolutions to perform what that wisdom dictates. Accept my kind offices to thy other children as the only return in my power for thy continual favors to me."(Franklin 87).

This shows that Franklin valued wisdom and that he wished to have wisdom so that he could live to his full potential and discover more about himself. His wish to gain more wisdom and the fact that he did, indeed, find his way of gaining this intelligence in life by implementing his virtues, proves that Franklin improved himself as a person.

Hence, Franklin became a better person through his increased intelligence, his sincerity, and his frugality. These aspects of Franklin's virtue system showed that he committed and was successful in his goal. He may not have reached the level of self improvement that he wanted, but nonetheless he progressed highly as a person. Therefore, it can be concluded that Franklin's system of virtues fulfilled its purpose of helping Franklin become a better person.

Franklin, Benjamin, and Leonard Woods Labaree. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. New Haven: Yale UP, 1964. Print

Bloom, Harold, ed. "The Character of Franklin." Benjamin Franklin, Classic Critical Views. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.

Journal 12: American Dream

The American Dream has changed in the past decades and now it seems to be very different than it once was.  The American Dream used to be having a family and living in a nice neighbor hood and having barbecues in your little suburban yard.  However, now the American Dream seems to be more individualized.  If it were to be broadened however, I believe the new American Dream is to go to college, find a job, and be successful.  This is due to the newer technology and the need to be an individual in everything we do.  I think that social media sites have made people want to be an individual and do different things.  Therefore, when people go to college, they will want to go to different place and they will major in different things.  This has always been true, but it seems that there are more places to go now, and there are more options.  As for jobs, there are many new jobs that have been created and that will be created while I am attending college.  This is a new adaption the American Dream that  is changing while we are changing with the world.  We are slowly turning into a nation that was too conforming, then we broke through it, and now we are beginning to conform once more.  That is why the American Dream seems to be a lot like how it was fifty years ago, but it is still different because there are still some individuals in the world. Finally, we all want to be successful.  We go through school wanting to achieve as much as we can so we can go to a good college.  Then, we want to work hard in college so we can have a job when we get out of college.  Then, we work hard in our job to pay off college and to pay for other things we need to survive.  Also, we need more money for our kids to live this "American Dream" as well.

Journal #11

Virtues are very important to have in this current society.  As adolescence, we are bombarded with theories and values that we should be following or not following and it is just a big jumble of information that is too much to process.  Instead of conforming with the crowd or rebelling what we are told to be doing, everyone should create their own personal list of virtues to follow.  Personally, I would create mine according to what I like to do and how I think I should live my life with myself and according to how others react to my actions.  Therefore, I would create mine due to my personal outlook and how others are affected by my actions.  My virtues would also have to be reasonable and able to follow.  My virtues would be:

1. Kindness- treat others in a kind way and you will most likely be rewarded.  If not, then you will still feel pretty good about yourself for being nice.
2. Necessity- You should know when your opinion or words are necessary to an event.  You should speak when needed, but if you cause a problem by being rude of unnecessary then you caused an unneeded conflict.
3. Sincerity- I took this from Ben Franklin's virtues because I believe it is good to have.  You should be sincere in all words and actions so people can trust you.  Also, people do not appreciate lying even if you think it will benefit them.  Therefore, you should just be sincere to begin with. 
4. Positivism- One should always look at life in a positive outlook.  This is probably the hardest virtue to follow because it is tough to remain positive.  This virtue is important because if you are negative all the time, it would be hard to go through life happily.  
5. Consideration-  You should always be considerate of what people have to say.  Never look down on others voices and opinions.  You should listen to what they have to say and take it into consideration.  In a world with no one to listen, you would be very upset and feel quite worthless.  

Those are my beginning virtues.  If I were to go into more depth, this list would be miles long.  These are the virtues which I thought were most important and I hope to be able to follow them.  

Reflection of Franklin's Autobiography

Benjamin Franklin's autobiography represents the growing rationalism in this era.  Benjamin Franklin was very rational in his writing and thoughts to maintain his virtues.  He made rational virtues to follow, he made a organized and logical way to make sure he followed these virtues, and he explained his reasoning behind making these virtues and why they should be valued.  There is a clear connection between the rationalist value and life that is in Franklin's writings.  

Franklin's virtues show a great amount of rationalist values.  Some examples would be temperance, silence, and order (Franklin 83).  These are just a few examples from the text, but they show rational thinking very well.  Rational means to be logical, reasonable, or sensible.  Rational values seem to make sense.  Rational values are easy to explain and see why they are necessary.  The values Franklin chose make sense in why they should be followed.  Temperance is important because it is important not to be greedy (Franklin 83).  This is a rational virtue because it will make the world a better place for you and others by not taking more than you deserve.  Silence is logical because people should know when their opinion is necessary (Franklin 83).  If you speak out of turn, than you only create unneeded problem.  Order is also another very rational virtue because if there is no order to the world and nobody knows their rightful place, there will be chaos (Franklin 83).  These rational virtues show that Franklin rights with rationalism in mind.

Franklin's system of following his virtues in his life also prove him to be a rationalist.  He made a very organized chart with his virtues and days of the week (Franklin 85).  He would put a dot down on the day and by the virtue if he were to fault in following his virtues.  He tried to go at least a week without having to put a dot down on his chart (Franklin 86).  This was a very organized and rational approach to how he should follow his virtues and make sure he follows them correctly.  He also had an effective way of re-using his chart and this is another small way he is logical and rational.  This chart kept him following his rational values in a very logical way.  This is a big demonstration of his rationalist attitude in his writing.

The reasoning behind each virtue also makes Franklin's rational reasoning appear in his writing.  When Franklin lists his virtues, he explains what he means by each value.  For example, Franklin has the virtue of moderation.  Franklin writes: "MODERATION. Avoid extreams; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve." (Franklin 83).  This value is easy to understand because Franklin makes the reasoning behind the virtue clear in his writing.  Obviously, Franklin made the reason behind it logical.  

Therefore, Franklin kept his virtues clearly reasonable and his method for following them clear.  He explained each virtue, he had an effective way to keeping his virtues in check, and he made a rational decision when deciding on a virtue to follow.  Franklin was truly rational in his writing.

Franklin, Benjamin, Dixon Wecter, Larzer Ziff, and Benjamin Franklin. Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1959. 81+. Print.