This chapter responds to a question that has been unanswered for eleven chapters: Why is history taught like this? My hypothesis was that textbook authors do their best to avoid including anything controversial or extreme to satisfy any readers. In fact, it states that "publishers produce textbooks with several audiences in mind." Loewen has been also stating that textbooks tend to be biased since the majority of the authors are usually whites and conceal painful illustrations of slavery or unjust discrimination against African Americans. Other chapters include description of how certain historical figures get more attention than others, what Columbus and other settlers did to Native Indians, or the truths of the Vietnam War. As Loewen says, history textbooks failed to grab my attention and made me become a passive learner of American history. My high school history teachers must have done their best to make the topic interesting but my interest toward American history was unmoved. In comparison, this book uncovers many censored information that made this book intriguing.
This chapter was relatively harder to write a blog post about because it is a sum-up of previous eleven chapters, but there were still some details I had reactions to. Loewen acknowledges that textbook authors cannot include every event but it does not take much space and time to explain that Helen Keller was a social activist. Yet we have been only told that she was a deaf and blind woman. Probably no one can reject what George Orwell stated in his book 1984, "Who controls the present controls the past." This phrase reminds me of LLA lecture on MSM censorship Rab has given us; media controls the present and controls what information we get about the recent past. Next interesting point was how An Inconvenient Truth involves with this. I wrote a book report on this but never knew that it was initially refused by NSTA for its "unnecessary risk upon the capital campaign." An educational association like NSTA is responsible for censoring academic writings or reports that possible have harmful effects on the national economy or politics, or themselves. In this case, NSTA was receiving $6 million from Exxon Mobil.
Additionally, regardless of living in the U.S. for 14 years, I have never known the existence of textbook adoption boards in many states. The level of censorship, types of textbook used at school and criteria for length, coverage and reading level all vary depending on the states. The state I lived in, New Jersey, has an adoption board apparently, so I am curious how much information was censored compared any other states without adoption boards. I am interested to ask this question to my history teacher at high school, if she lets me ask it. The last thing I found interesting in this chapter is the correspondence of parents about their children getting taught by these textbooks. There was a survey conducted in the late 1970s that asked parents whether they believe authorities and want children to believe them. Surprisingly, more than half the parents do not want their children to doubt the authority while they themselves do. All adults are hindrance for children to learn. Is there any solution, and do children need to keep learning American history mostly composed of lies? Apparently, next chapter would explain why they don't.
2013年5月30日木曜日
2013年5月28日火曜日
5/27 ARW Response
Today's lecture was about making our own websites using Google Sites. Google realizes anything we want to make. In high school, I have learned to make own websites using Microsoft Publisher or Wix but procedures were so complicated and exhausting. How about this Google Sites? Well, as usual, whatever Google provides is awesome. It is easy to deal with and has a variety of options to make an website creative. If we click "Manage Site", we can change the font, background color, background image, or any other settings.We can even add calendars, docs, charts or maps on the web page. At last, Rab came up with a fantastic idea: we individually made a test web page and shared with a classmate for him or her to mess around with the page as much as possible. I tried out with Megumi (Kii)'s page but it was harder than I thought. I have learned that I need to be creating even when I am trying to destroying someone's work. Finally, I made the web page for psychology group with Narumi. She was the one who showed a high level of creativity in "messing around" exercise so I will learn from her creativity.
I am just curious about one thing. Google tends to push away programs that they do no prefer much because of producing less profits than other major programs like Gmail, Map, News or Drives. Google Sites does not even appear on "even more" section. Is Google going to shut down Google Sites as well?
I am just curious about one thing. Google tends to push away programs that they do no prefer much because of producing less profits than other major programs like Gmail, Map, News or Drives. Google Sites does not even appear on "even more" section. Is Google going to shut down Google Sites as well?
2013年5月26日日曜日
ARW 5/24 Response
I do not know why but on this day, I felt like we are having a class in H-159, although Rab officially told us that we have Friday classes in macs room more than a month ago. I finally arrived at macs room. I later realized there is no way we could have Funky Fridays in a room without any computers. I often make this kind of strange mistakes.
Anyway, more things to learn regarding computers! The first topic was internet security. We are usually not aware of our computers being tracked. But if we do not violate certain laws, such as illegal downloading or hacking, we can be easily tracked and arrested. Even emails we send back and forth everyday can be supervised. These are due to IP address. This is why we should be careful sending an email from computers in ICU since "emails are like postcards", according to Rab. Additionally, I learned about VPN for the first time. This allows me to pretend that I am accessing from certain regions so I can use websites that limit the locations of access. When I used to live in U.S., I often used a video website called Youku, which only allows an access from U.S. and China but now I cannot watch anything on this website. If I wish, I can watch anything I like for 1000 yen per month. I am not going to do that, but it is a powerful tool.
In order to make presentation slides, PowerPoint was the only option for me before Rab introduced a new tool: Keynote. I have seen this desk-looking icon every time I used macs, but I have not expected its high performance. It has much more useful and exciting tools, 3D graphs or Alpha for example, than PowerPoint. I asked Rab if this only works on macs, and his answer was "Of course!" Yeah, I should probably admit that Macs are better than Windows. So every time I need to use Keynote, I should come to ILC. I might have to stick with PowerPoint but I would like to use this if I have a chance in the future.
Anyway, more things to learn regarding computers! The first topic was internet security. We are usually not aware of our computers being tracked. But if we do not violate certain laws, such as illegal downloading or hacking, we can be easily tracked and arrested. Even emails we send back and forth everyday can be supervised. These are due to IP address. This is why we should be careful sending an email from computers in ICU since "emails are like postcards", according to Rab. Additionally, I learned about VPN for the first time. This allows me to pretend that I am accessing from certain regions so I can use websites that limit the locations of access. When I used to live in U.S., I often used a video website called Youku, which only allows an access from U.S. and China but now I cannot watch anything on this website. If I wish, I can watch anything I like for 1000 yen per month. I am not going to do that, but it is a powerful tool.
In order to make presentation slides, PowerPoint was the only option for me before Rab introduced a new tool: Keynote. I have seen this desk-looking icon every time I used macs, but I have not expected its high performance. It has much more useful and exciting tools, 3D graphs or Alpha for example, than PowerPoint. I asked Rab if this only works on macs, and his answer was "Of course!" Yeah, I should probably admit that Macs are better than Windows. So every time I need to use Keynote, I should come to ILC. I might have to stick with PowerPoint but I would like to use this if I have a chance in the future.
2013年5月23日木曜日
ARW 5/22 Response
ARW 5/22 Response
We had our class at Bakayama. The first thing we heard from Rab was stupidity of the ELA Director. I can accept the fact we are not able to observe other ELA classes, although I was interested in this idea and have already signed up for Miguel's class, as long as an appropriate and convincing reason was given. Her answer was that students in Stream 3 and 4 could be possibly demotivated from our higher levels of English. This is not so convincing. When I heard this, I thought her opinion symbolizes currently popular "Yutori Kyoiku", or relaxed, overprotective education. I believed that professors at ICU know this policy is ineffective, but there was one who does not. I might not be able to be objective about this issue because I am the one who gets to observe them, but still I don't understand why she has a right to make this decision by herself. I mean, she is the director but isn't she supposed to pay attention to all other people's opinions? In fact, many ELA teachers were willing to carry this out, and what she really should have done is conducting a survey on students in other sections. It does not have to be anything official; each teacher could just ask his or her students if they allow us to observe them. Before considering any of these solutions, the director shut this opportunity down. I personally think she does not deserve to call herself a professor. According to Rab, it's been only 5 weeks since she got her position. She might know what ELA stands for, but definitely does not know what "liberal" signifies.
What is even more upsetting is that Rab does not get to teach Stream 1 next year. I would like to question this to all other ELA teachers too, but I do not understand why they do not prefer the way Rab teaches. Since I got into Stream 1, I've learned a lot: a bunch of Google programs, Zotero, iMovie, flaws of MSM, Web 2.0...I can't even recall everything. His segmentation method always made the class interesting and intriguing. It was the first time for me to take English class that does not involve any grammar rules or boring repetition of readings and writings. And they are not letting him teach next year and replacing with someone less enjoyable. This is a complete nonsense.
We had our class at Bakayama. The first thing we heard from Rab was stupidity of the ELA Director. I can accept the fact we are not able to observe other ELA classes, although I was interested in this idea and have already signed up for Miguel's class, as long as an appropriate and convincing reason was given. Her answer was that students in Stream 3 and 4 could be possibly demotivated from our higher levels of English. This is not so convincing. When I heard this, I thought her opinion symbolizes currently popular "Yutori Kyoiku", or relaxed, overprotective education. I believed that professors at ICU know this policy is ineffective, but there was one who does not. I might not be able to be objective about this issue because I am the one who gets to observe them, but still I don't understand why she has a right to make this decision by herself. I mean, she is the director but isn't she supposed to pay attention to all other people's opinions? In fact, many ELA teachers were willing to carry this out, and what she really should have done is conducting a survey on students in other sections. It does not have to be anything official; each teacher could just ask his or her students if they allow us to observe them. Before considering any of these solutions, the director shut this opportunity down. I personally think she does not deserve to call herself a professor. According to Rab, it's been only 5 weeks since she got her position. She might know what ELA stands for, but definitely does not know what "liberal" signifies.
What is even more upsetting is that Rab does not get to teach Stream 1 next year. I would like to question this to all other ELA teachers too, but I do not understand why they do not prefer the way Rab teaches. Since I got into Stream 1, I've learned a lot: a bunch of Google programs, Zotero, iMovie, flaws of MSM, Web 2.0...I can't even recall everything. His segmentation method always made the class interesting and intriguing. It was the first time for me to take English class that does not involve any grammar rules or boring repetition of readings and writings. And they are not letting him teach next year and replacing with someone less enjoyable. This is a complete nonsense.
LLA 5/21 Response
LLA 5/21 Response
I was looking forward to take today's lecture by Gavin Whitelaw on konbini. Prior to this lecture, we were assigned to visit the Hachiro Yuasa Museum and look through the exhibits. It was a good opportunity because I was probably not motivated to walk to the museum unless it is mandatory. I highly enjoyed the exhibit, Konbini: Is this a mingei? Every time I come back to Japan from U.S., one of the first things I feel envious of people in Japan was the existence of konbini. As Gavin said, U.S. convenient stores are described as 4D's: dirty, dangerous, dull, depressing. I've been to Seven Eleven in U.S. several times but there aren't anything special to buy and I kept avoiding to visit after 10 P.M. In comparison, Japanese konbinis should be described as 5D's: clean, comforting, cool, couteous and finally, convenient. I admire Gavin's effort of working at several konbinis in order to practically collect data from his own experience as an anthropologist.
I learned the precise definition of culture for the first time. It is defined as "the contingent and courteous emergence of meaningful conventions." It should be something we are proud of. I personally think konbini is a representative of Japanese culture. It represents Japanese polite manner, high standard of food, meticulously planned system, and endurance of opening 24hrs everyday. Every time I come back to Japan, konbini is like a treasure island for me.
Some of the interesting facts I learned in this lecture were that a cashier functions as a data collection machine and konbini staffs endeavor creating food friendly to seniors. Every time a new customer arrives, a cashier presses a button with a demographic that best matches to that customer. In this way, they are collecting data. Additionally, staffs repeat trial and error to pursue more softness and less size for easily-eaten food. Back to the first question, Konbini: Is this a mingei? I would claim, it definitely is!
I was looking forward to take today's lecture by Gavin Whitelaw on konbini. Prior to this lecture, we were assigned to visit the Hachiro Yuasa Museum and look through the exhibits. It was a good opportunity because I was probably not motivated to walk to the museum unless it is mandatory. I highly enjoyed the exhibit, Konbini: Is this a mingei? Every time I come back to Japan from U.S., one of the first things I feel envious of people in Japan was the existence of konbini. As Gavin said, U.S. convenient stores are described as 4D's: dirty, dangerous, dull, depressing. I've been to Seven Eleven in U.S. several times but there aren't anything special to buy and I kept avoiding to visit after 10 P.M. In comparison, Japanese konbinis should be described as 5D's: clean, comforting, cool, couteous and finally, convenient. I admire Gavin's effort of working at several konbinis in order to practically collect data from his own experience as an anthropologist.
I learned the precise definition of culture for the first time. It is defined as "the contingent and courteous emergence of meaningful conventions." It should be something we are proud of. I personally think konbini is a representative of Japanese culture. It represents Japanese polite manner, high standard of food, meticulously planned system, and endurance of opening 24hrs everyday. Every time I come back to Japan, konbini is like a treasure island for me.
Some of the interesting facts I learned in this lecture were that a cashier functions as a data collection machine and konbini staffs endeavor creating food friendly to seniors. Every time a new customer arrives, a cashier presses a button with a demographic that best matches to that customer. In this way, they are collecting data. Additionally, staffs repeat trial and error to pursue more softness and less size for easily-eaten food. Back to the first question, Konbini: Is this a mingei? I would claim, it definitely is!
2013年5月21日火曜日
Lies My Teacher Told Me (Chapter 9&10)
Chapters 9 and 10 were discoveries of new American history for me as usual. However, as I was reading the first few paragraphs, I was not so confident if I can have a proper reaction since I did not know much about the Vietnam War (I should be ashamed). In the prior chapters, it was easier to react because I already knew how the topic is typically taught by textbooks used at school and I was able to see the difference by reading how it is SUPPOSED to be taught. But the way Loewen writes highlights both how it is taught and what actually happened so it was relatively easy to follow even without much prior knowledge. Still, I would not ever think that the combatants of the war in Vietnam were North and South Korea. I wonder how this knowledge twist occurred.
Chapter 9 elucidates an interesting phenomenon that how much information people know about the Vietnam War depends on their ages. Older they are, more accurate the information is. This is because authors of more recent textbooks are more likely to conceal some facts disgraceful to U.S. This chapter also introduces the significance of photos taken during the war. Pictures of the little girl running naked down Highway 1, fleeing a napalm attack or a Buddhist monk sitting at an intersection setting himself on fire to protest the South Vietnamese government clearly show how cruel and horrendous the war was. When people can see or recall these photos, none of them would think that the Vietnam War does not deserve to get much coverage on textbooks. This is why authors avoid these photos to be on textbooks. By now, I see a tendency; authors simply try their best to hide any facts disadvantageous to U.S. or its government. I was also shocked when I read the line "in Vietnam the United States dropped three times as many explosives as it dropped in all theaters of WWII, even including our nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.(248)" I knew how disastrous WWII was, but the Vietnam War was equally catastrophic or even worse. I also remembered the discussion we had last week that U.S. has demanded the Vietnamese for money it spent on supporting because U.S. army lost the war. I do not know if Loewen was not able to find this information, but textbooks obviously do not contain this fact.
Chapter 10 introduces an interesting division of humans: those alive on earth, the sasha, and the zamani. Apparently the borderline between the sasha and the zamani is relatively hard to locate because not all historical figures recalled by name are simply living dead. So far, most historical figures appeared in this book that we thought are the sasha, were actually the zamani since most of us had been deceived by textbook authors and we did not realize that we were being taught lies. It says "the less said about the recent past, the better. (260)" From authors' perspectives, it is easier to deceive us, current students, than elderly people since they have better knowledge about the past. The world of the sasha is controversial because readers with better knowledge may not agree with what is written on a textbook. Loewen also brings up 9/11 incident occurred in New York, U.S. For the first time, I slightly understood why textbook authors avoid answering "why" questions. President George W. Bush gave his answer to the question "why were we attacked?" by stating that they hate our freedoms and peace. This is nonsense and not only fails to calm us down but also even provokes us. We all know that there are some kinds of political and economical reasons behind the incident. It is better not to touch a bomb if they cannot defuse it. Authors are presumably having a hard time dealing with this issue since 9/11 is the sasha for most students who are learning history right now.
I liked the quote by William Faulkner, "The past is never dead, It's not even past." The past is living-dead. If authors determine to teach us what exactly happened few decades, centuries or millennia ago, three categories of humans or historical events will not be necessary.
Chapter 9 elucidates an interesting phenomenon that how much information people know about the Vietnam War depends on their ages. Older they are, more accurate the information is. This is because authors of more recent textbooks are more likely to conceal some facts disgraceful to U.S. This chapter also introduces the significance of photos taken during the war. Pictures of the little girl running naked down Highway 1, fleeing a napalm attack or a Buddhist monk sitting at an intersection setting himself on fire to protest the South Vietnamese government clearly show how cruel and horrendous the war was. When people can see or recall these photos, none of them would think that the Vietnam War does not deserve to get much coverage on textbooks. This is why authors avoid these photos to be on textbooks. By now, I see a tendency; authors simply try their best to hide any facts disadvantageous to U.S. or its government. I was also shocked when I read the line "in Vietnam the United States dropped three times as many explosives as it dropped in all theaters of WWII, even including our nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.(248)" I knew how disastrous WWII was, but the Vietnam War was equally catastrophic or even worse. I also remembered the discussion we had last week that U.S. has demanded the Vietnamese for money it spent on supporting because U.S. army lost the war. I do not know if Loewen was not able to find this information, but textbooks obviously do not contain this fact.
Chapter 10 introduces an interesting division of humans: those alive on earth, the sasha, and the zamani. Apparently the borderline between the sasha and the zamani is relatively hard to locate because not all historical figures recalled by name are simply living dead. So far, most historical figures appeared in this book that we thought are the sasha, were actually the zamani since most of us had been deceived by textbook authors and we did not realize that we were being taught lies. It says "the less said about the recent past, the better. (260)" From authors' perspectives, it is easier to deceive us, current students, than elderly people since they have better knowledge about the past. The world of the sasha is controversial because readers with better knowledge may not agree with what is written on a textbook. Loewen also brings up 9/11 incident occurred in New York, U.S. For the first time, I slightly understood why textbook authors avoid answering "why" questions. President George W. Bush gave his answer to the question "why were we attacked?" by stating that they hate our freedoms and peace. This is nonsense and not only fails to calm us down but also even provokes us. We all know that there are some kinds of political and economical reasons behind the incident. It is better not to touch a bomb if they cannot defuse it. Authors are presumably having a hard time dealing with this issue since 9/11 is the sasha for most students who are learning history right now.
I liked the quote by William Faulkner, "The past is never dead, It's not even past." The past is living-dead. If authors determine to teach us what exactly happened few decades, centuries or millennia ago, three categories of humans or historical events will not be necessary.
2013年5月20日月曜日
ARW 5/20 Response
ARW 5/20 Response
It was our first ELA class since we came back from Retreat. It was a lot more fun than I expected! It was shocking how that huge was reserved just for us! Time I spent with friends I never met before was exciting, but moreover, I got to hang out with my section mates overnight. It will be my one of the most memorable moments at this university. Anyway, today's ARW class took place at macs room. First Rab showed us presentation slides describing our class. He first introduced the book "One cubic feet" which illustrates biodiversity that can be found in one cubic feet of land at several different places. I knew that he is going to connect this to ELA 1A class somehow. In fact, this was a metaphor to our diversity, countries we've been to. When we make a presentation, we should avoid being boring and try to be as creative as possible.
Afterward, we were taught various programs related to videos. The first thing he taught us was very eye-opening because I was thinking that any kinds of free downloading are banned in this country. However, by using Flash video downloader located under Add-ons of Firefox, we are able to download any Youtube videos!! I mean, I know that I should be using this program mainly for educational purpose, but I can also download some music videos and import to my iPad. I am very excited to use this. Two other programs he taught us are Quick Time Players's screen recording and movie recording and iMovie. By using the former, I can create a narration of any websites or a Webcam video recording. The latter allows me to edit the video in various ways. It is much more powerful and useful than Windows Movie Maker, the program I used to use when editting videos.
At last, we did a birthday surprise to Yuca. Happy Birthday Yuca!!
It was our first ELA class since we came back from Retreat. It was a lot more fun than I expected! It was shocking how that huge was reserved just for us! Time I spent with friends I never met before was exciting, but moreover, I got to hang out with my section mates overnight. It will be my one of the most memorable moments at this university. Anyway, today's ARW class took place at macs room. First Rab showed us presentation slides describing our class. He first introduced the book "One cubic feet" which illustrates biodiversity that can be found in one cubic feet of land at several different places. I knew that he is going to connect this to ELA 1A class somehow. In fact, this was a metaphor to our diversity, countries we've been to. When we make a presentation, we should avoid being boring and try to be as creative as possible.
Afterward, we were taught various programs related to videos. The first thing he taught us was very eye-opening because I was thinking that any kinds of free downloading are banned in this country. However, by using Flash video downloader located under Add-ons of Firefox, we are able to download any Youtube videos!! I mean, I know that I should be using this program mainly for educational purpose, but I can also download some music videos and import to my iPad. I am very excited to use this. Two other programs he taught us are Quick Time Players's screen recording and movie recording and iMovie. By using the former, I can create a narration of any websites or a Webcam video recording. The latter allows me to edit the video in various ways. It is much more powerful and useful than Windows Movie Maker, the program I used to use when editting videos.
At last, we did a birthday surprise to Yuca. Happy Birthday Yuca!!
2013年5月16日木曜日
ARW 5/15 Response
ARW 5/15 Response
It was exciting to have class at Bakayama again. It was very hot yesterday, but having class under tree shades made us feel comfortable. At the beginning of class, we met Paul Wadden, the editor of the first reading in ELA Reader. Apparently there are students from U.S. coming to our university today! Unfortunately I cannot meet them due to schedule issue, but I am glad that the Japanese government has chosen our school for one of destinations for them to visit. Mr. Wadden smiling at girls was a awkward yet funny moment but it was the introduction to our first discussion topic. The first question was whether Barna's article is still applicable to today. In fact, that article was written a long time ago so the answer is supposed to be no. I wrote as if it is still up-to-date on a previous blog so I changed my idea. Still, I partially believe in differences in perception of greetings depending on the nationalities.
It was shocking to hear that Rab's children were not permitted to wear LEGO Starwars hoodies to elementary school. Moreover, it was a hoodie that caused the problem. I personally like hoodies so much, so I can't stand school keeping this restriction. What is so bad about hoodies? Masamune mentioned how Japanese schools tend to require uniformity in the class, so that can be the reason. I agreed that it is a possible answer. In order to find another possible answer, I looked up why hoodies got banned in UK originally. Apparently, it is because criminals tend to wear hoodies to hide their faces and disguise so they give a bad impression...what? Then every single cloth worn by typical criminals should be banned. This reason is not so quite convincing.
Another interesting issue to discuss was the age limit for certain actions, such as smoking, drinking, gambling, marrying, going to war, or voting. The question was whether there should be a different range of age limit or they should be all unified. Our group came up with an interesting answer that there is no point setting the age limit for drinking or smoking because it is just individuals' responsibilities to do it or not. But for marrying, going to war and voting, they all require official documents and involve more responsibilities to others; therefore, they should have certain age limits. We did not have enough time to come up with an actual number.
Tomorrow is Retreat!!
It was exciting to have class at Bakayama again. It was very hot yesterday, but having class under tree shades made us feel comfortable. At the beginning of class, we met Paul Wadden, the editor of the first reading in ELA Reader. Apparently there are students from U.S. coming to our university today! Unfortunately I cannot meet them due to schedule issue, but I am glad that the Japanese government has chosen our school for one of destinations for them to visit. Mr. Wadden smiling at girls was a awkward yet funny moment but it was the introduction to our first discussion topic. The first question was whether Barna's article is still applicable to today. In fact, that article was written a long time ago so the answer is supposed to be no. I wrote as if it is still up-to-date on a previous blog so I changed my idea. Still, I partially believe in differences in perception of greetings depending on the nationalities.
It was shocking to hear that Rab's children were not permitted to wear LEGO Starwars hoodies to elementary school. Moreover, it was a hoodie that caused the problem. I personally like hoodies so much, so I can't stand school keeping this restriction. What is so bad about hoodies? Masamune mentioned how Japanese schools tend to require uniformity in the class, so that can be the reason. I agreed that it is a possible answer. In order to find another possible answer, I looked up why hoodies got banned in UK originally. Apparently, it is because criminals tend to wear hoodies to hide their faces and disguise so they give a bad impression...what? Then every single cloth worn by typical criminals should be banned. This reason is not so quite convincing.
Another interesting issue to discuss was the age limit for certain actions, such as smoking, drinking, gambling, marrying, going to war, or voting. The question was whether there should be a different range of age limit or they should be all unified. Our group came up with an interesting answer that there is no point setting the age limit for drinking or smoking because it is just individuals' responsibilities to do it or not. But for marrying, going to war and voting, they all require official documents and involve more responsibilities to others; therefore, they should have certain age limits. We did not have enough time to come up with an actual number.
Tomorrow is Retreat!!
2013年5月15日水曜日
LLA 5/14 Response
LLA 5/14 Response
Even though the title says LLA, today's lesson was different from normal LLA class and took place at macs room! Before I went to the class, I saw some Stream 1 people taking pictures with our Section 1A sweatshirts on! It finally came! It is all thanks to Haruka and Moe. I am so glad that there are people who come up with these fantastic ideas and actively carry them out in my section. Even after we graduate, we won't forget being not only a student at ICU but also a member of Section 1A or "Patterson Children". Moreover, I was even more glad to know that Rab loved our sweatshirts. We will definitely wear them at the section yearbook photo.
So at macs room, we had a lecture on several topics in addition to technology stuffs. Rab's lesson on the effective method of teaching was intriguing. He introduced "segmentation" which considers the students' concentration levels as the class runs. According to him, students tend to lose their focus after 7-10 min of constant teaching. Basically, when a professor keeps talking and talking forever in front of blackboard, many people start to get sleepy or distracted. Honestly, I experience this almost every time in any other classes I am taking: math, physics and music. Well for music class, the professor Ito plays several pieces composed by famous composers but for the most part he verbally explains the historical background of musical composition. Anyway, from my experience, I agree with what Rab said. In order to deal with this brain mechanism, under segmentation, teachers try to get out of mannerism every 7-10 min to keep grabbing students' attentions. In fact, when Rab does a lecture in ARW class, he constantly changes the teaching methods, such as showing us video clips, making us get into groups and have discussion, teaching us some useful techniques on the computer or telling us an interesting story related to the theme and so on. I finally knew why I never get bored in his class while I often do in other classes. Segmentation is highly effective and grabbing our minds.
Afterward we learned even further techniques on Zotero. One inconvenient fact about citing books using Zotero was that we had to manually type in the place where they were published. But we no longer have to do that by finding ISBN codes from actual books, amazon or Google Books. Zotero has a million of possibilities. Even Microsoft Word has surprised us; by clicking a Zotero button, we can set up the entire paper into any citation format we like and Word automatically does in-text citation. I remember this process was one of the most tedious tasks when writing an academic paper in high school. Now it's all gone!
Tomorrow, we are going to have the class at Bakayama again!
P.S. I have actually bought an iPad mini today, and could download iTunes U so now I can access to your documents all in one place!
Even though the title says LLA, today's lesson was different from normal LLA class and took place at macs room! Before I went to the class, I saw some Stream 1 people taking pictures with our Section 1A sweatshirts on! It finally came! It is all thanks to Haruka and Moe. I am so glad that there are people who come up with these fantastic ideas and actively carry them out in my section. Even after we graduate, we won't forget being not only a student at ICU but also a member of Section 1A or "Patterson Children". Moreover, I was even more glad to know that Rab loved our sweatshirts. We will definitely wear them at the section yearbook photo.
So at macs room, we had a lecture on several topics in addition to technology stuffs. Rab's lesson on the effective method of teaching was intriguing. He introduced "segmentation" which considers the students' concentration levels as the class runs. According to him, students tend to lose their focus after 7-10 min of constant teaching. Basically, when a professor keeps talking and talking forever in front of blackboard, many people start to get sleepy or distracted. Honestly, I experience this almost every time in any other classes I am taking: math, physics and music. Well for music class, the professor Ito plays several pieces composed by famous composers but for the most part he verbally explains the historical background of musical composition. Anyway, from my experience, I agree with what Rab said. In order to deal with this brain mechanism, under segmentation, teachers try to get out of mannerism every 7-10 min to keep grabbing students' attentions. In fact, when Rab does a lecture in ARW class, he constantly changes the teaching methods, such as showing us video clips, making us get into groups and have discussion, teaching us some useful techniques on the computer or telling us an interesting story related to the theme and so on. I finally knew why I never get bored in his class while I often do in other classes. Segmentation is highly effective and grabbing our minds.
Afterward we learned even further techniques on Zotero. One inconvenient fact about citing books using Zotero was that we had to manually type in the place where they were published. But we no longer have to do that by finding ISBN codes from actual books, amazon or Google Books. Zotero has a million of possibilities. Even Microsoft Word has surprised us; by clicking a Zotero button, we can set up the entire paper into any citation format we like and Word automatically does in-text citation. I remember this process was one of the most tedious tasks when writing an academic paper in high school. Now it's all gone!
Tomorrow, we are going to have the class at Bakayama again!
P.S. I have actually bought an iPad mini today, and could download iTunes U so now I can access to your documents all in one place!
2013年5月14日火曜日
ARW 5/13 Response
ARW 5/13 Response
It was so coincidental how I was telling Rab that I am thinking of conducting a survey for my research paper and today's lecture started with how to make a survey on Google Drive. I remember making one in high school; what I did was typing up questions, letters from A-D and four choices, printing out hundreds of copy and giving out to people. It was a waste of time and paper. I wish I knew this program, Google Forms before. Procedures are so easy and smooth. I can send out the survey through Gmail and Google Forms will collect responses for me as well. I would seriously consider using this program for my paper. Afterward, we made groups for research paper based on categories of the topic. Since Narumi and I were only ones going to write about psychology-related issue, we formed a Google Group by ourselves. First, we decided to do individual research for a week, while sharing any sources that we think are beneficial for both of us. Tomorrow, we will be in macs room again for further lecture on technology. I do not have any particular problems about the use of any programs Rab taught us so far, but I would like to review how to use Zotero appropriately.
It was so coincidental how I was telling Rab that I am thinking of conducting a survey for my research paper and today's lecture started with how to make a survey on Google Drive. I remember making one in high school; what I did was typing up questions, letters from A-D and four choices, printing out hundreds of copy and giving out to people. It was a waste of time and paper. I wish I knew this program, Google Forms before. Procedures are so easy and smooth. I can send out the survey through Gmail and Google Forms will collect responses for me as well. I would seriously consider using this program for my paper. Afterward, we made groups for research paper based on categories of the topic. Since Narumi and I were only ones going to write about psychology-related issue, we formed a Google Group by ourselves. First, we decided to do individual research for a week, while sharing any sources that we think are beneficial for both of us. Tomorrow, we will be in macs room again for further lecture on technology. I do not have any particular problems about the use of any programs Rab taught us so far, but I would like to review how to use Zotero appropriately.
Lies My Teacher Told Me (Chapter 4 and 5)
Lies My Teacher Told Me (Chapter 4 and 5)
Chapter 2 and 3 have been bringing up Native Americans and chapter 4 talks about them even further. According to Loewen, the way textbook describes Native Americans has improved recently but textbook authors still need to relearn this part of the history because some textbooks still elucidate Native people using terms like "half-breed", "primitive" or "savage". Loewen's logic is that if they prefer to use such aggressive terms for Natives, then whites deserve to be described as "invaders", not "civilized."
The term "civilized" is quite hard to define, but is usually used as an antonym of indigenous, primitive or tribal and signifies more advanced human cultures. If the textbook authors really want to use this term to describe the European culture, they need to have some evidences. However, how was the reality? After contact with Europeans, American Indian societies certainly changed; they took new weapons, foods, languages, construction methods and religious ideas into their cultures. The thing is, Europeans also had a lot to learn from Indians and even relied on Natives' trades because it became easier to trade for food than grow it. These two groups were definitely in mutual or even syncretistic relationships. This is not fair to call just whites "civilized", and conceal this mutual accommodation on textbooks. Even more unforgivable fact is that in return for the support from Natives, Europeans moved on to enslavement of Natives. Most textbooks do not even mention Native Americans slave trade. This is simply returning evil for good. Their tendency of obliterating the existence and accomplishments of Indians is distinct; for example, we've never learned that American Indians were directly or indirectly responsible for the public-meeting tradition, freedom of speech, or even democracy, which are the basis of the American government today. Moreover, most textbooks do not mention contributions of Native Americans to American culture, such as regional cuisines. I was surprised that even in describing the French and Indian War, some textbooks leave out the Indians. And today, European textbook authors leave out the multicultural nature and don't give any credits to Natives as if they do want to exclude the existence of Natives from American history.
Chapter 5 is closely related to chapter 4 in terms of racism, but focuses more on another race, African Americans. My reaction for this chapter was a bit different from other chapters since I was surprised with how this topic is generally taught in U.S., not what actually happened. In other words, when I learned about slavery and slave trades, the lecture also focused on the harsh conditions and treatments of slaves. We even watched a video on a documentary with painful depiction of slaves being whipped and abused. Even about the Civil War in 1860's, many people might be thinking it was the confrontation between the South, who were supporting slavery, and the North, who were against the slavery. My history teacher in sophomore year taught us in the first lesson that this is a wrong interpretation. The North was never against slavery, but did not want it to be expanded into their territories. As I recall, I could learn these accurate historical facts probably because my high school was in the town where a lot of African Americans resided. We also had the Black History Month, so our school might've intended to teach "true" history about black people as much as possible. My high school had probably provided a good environment. However, I was taught that Lincoln was a hero for freeing slaves, but his Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves only in states in rebellion against the United States. It was not a universal declaration. Lincoln did not even have an intention to do that.
These two chapters focused on how racism influenced the content of textbook. Although this might be a hindrance for European authors, but they have to deal with that dilemma for students who have both responsibilities and rights to learn accurately.
Chapter 2 and 3 have been bringing up Native Americans and chapter 4 talks about them even further. According to Loewen, the way textbook describes Native Americans has improved recently but textbook authors still need to relearn this part of the history because some textbooks still elucidate Native people using terms like "half-breed", "primitive" or "savage". Loewen's logic is that if they prefer to use such aggressive terms for Natives, then whites deserve to be described as "invaders", not "civilized."
The term "civilized" is quite hard to define, but is usually used as an antonym of indigenous, primitive or tribal and signifies more advanced human cultures. If the textbook authors really want to use this term to describe the European culture, they need to have some evidences. However, how was the reality? After contact with Europeans, American Indian societies certainly changed; they took new weapons, foods, languages, construction methods and religious ideas into their cultures. The thing is, Europeans also had a lot to learn from Indians and even relied on Natives' trades because it became easier to trade for food than grow it. These two groups were definitely in mutual or even syncretistic relationships. This is not fair to call just whites "civilized", and conceal this mutual accommodation on textbooks. Even more unforgivable fact is that in return for the support from Natives, Europeans moved on to enslavement of Natives. Most textbooks do not even mention Native Americans slave trade. This is simply returning evil for good. Their tendency of obliterating the existence and accomplishments of Indians is distinct; for example, we've never learned that American Indians were directly or indirectly responsible for the public-meeting tradition, freedom of speech, or even democracy, which are the basis of the American government today. Moreover, most textbooks do not mention contributions of Native Americans to American culture, such as regional cuisines. I was surprised that even in describing the French and Indian War, some textbooks leave out the Indians. And today, European textbook authors leave out the multicultural nature and don't give any credits to Natives as if they do want to exclude the existence of Natives from American history.
Chapter 5 is closely related to chapter 4 in terms of racism, but focuses more on another race, African Americans. My reaction for this chapter was a bit different from other chapters since I was surprised with how this topic is generally taught in U.S., not what actually happened. In other words, when I learned about slavery and slave trades, the lecture also focused on the harsh conditions and treatments of slaves. We even watched a video on a documentary with painful depiction of slaves being whipped and abused. Even about the Civil War in 1860's, many people might be thinking it was the confrontation between the South, who were supporting slavery, and the North, who were against the slavery. My history teacher in sophomore year taught us in the first lesson that this is a wrong interpretation. The North was never against slavery, but did not want it to be expanded into their territories. As I recall, I could learn these accurate historical facts probably because my high school was in the town where a lot of African Americans resided. We also had the Black History Month, so our school might've intended to teach "true" history about black people as much as possible. My high school had probably provided a good environment. However, I was taught that Lincoln was a hero for freeing slaves, but his Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves only in states in rebellion against the United States. It was not a universal declaration. Lincoln did not even have an intention to do that.
These two chapters focused on how racism influenced the content of textbook. Although this might be a hindrance for European authors, but they have to deal with that dilemma for students who have both responsibilities and rights to learn accurately.
2013年5月12日日曜日
ARW 5/10 Response
ARW 5/10 Response
5/10's Funky Friday was fun yet meaningful lesson. First, Rab gave us instructions about the research paper project by using e-portfolio. Although I have ideas for the topic I am going to write about (either music or psychology) I have not determined. I better decide it as quickly as possible and start writing the first draft of the introduction.
Barna's article was a good introduction for this day's lesson. As the title states, "stumbling blocks" often appear when we think intercultural communication is easy. People from different nationalities have different cultures, thus have different knowledge. One quick example is whether taking off shoes inside the house or not. The example Barna used, which is the comparison of nonverbal behavior, illustrates the difference among students from four respective nations. Although they are all Asian countries, the difference is clear. Barna also gives detailed explanations on language differences and nonverbal misinterpretations; the sense of humor is another interesting topic to bring up.
So the theme of the lesson was how the sense of humor is related to perception of different cultures. First, we watched a video clip about sushi. I've watched this before and found this funny for two reasons. One reason is that we know that we follow certain rules when eating certain foods. Although I think there is barely anyone who follows those rules, they sound possible to exist. The second reason is that two of the actors in this video were one pair of my favorite comedians, "Ramens." Their contes are meticulously created and "foreshadowing and collection" strategy always amazes the audience. The second clip, Sea Shepherd's commercial, effectively conveys the message of anti-whaling but it is quite hard to consider this funny because of bloody scene. The purpose of this commercial is to make viewers feel pathetic to whales by replacing that position with a human being. This also shows sarcasm by shooting this video clip at a sushi restaurant, which is also meaningful. I would like to comment the same thing on the third and fourth video: Dirty Sanchez and Endurance clips. The first impression that most viewers have when watching these videos may be crazy or ridiculous. I felt slightly obnoxious to watch the fourth video because not only it was painful to watch but also there were people who considered this funny few decades ago (and even now probably).
In fact, I am a big fan of Japanese comedy, but not something like this. Modern Japanese comedy is more meticulously planned. Rakugo is a Japanese verbal entertainment. A storyteller sits on stage and tells funny story using only a paper fan and a small cloth as props. This requires high qualities of talking skill and acting skill. After this, manzai, a traditional style of stand-up comedy, became popular in Japan (first made in the Heian period) This usually involves two performers and they tell a story with funny jokes in between, within a time limit of 3-4 minutes. They usually spend a lot of time thinking of the best scenario (called Neta) because the standard of laughing is getting higher and higher and jokes should be logically and intelligent funny in order to be successful comedians. There are even competitions for manzai. There is another type of comedy called conte, which involves more acting. Although there are still some TV programs similar to Endurance aired today, I believe that Japanese comedy has been evolving. Certainly, time is another factor that changes our interpretation or perception.
5/10's Funky Friday was fun yet meaningful lesson. First, Rab gave us instructions about the research paper project by using e-portfolio. Although I have ideas for the topic I am going to write about (either music or psychology) I have not determined. I better decide it as quickly as possible and start writing the first draft of the introduction.
Barna's article was a good introduction for this day's lesson. As the title states, "stumbling blocks" often appear when we think intercultural communication is easy. People from different nationalities have different cultures, thus have different knowledge. One quick example is whether taking off shoes inside the house or not. The example Barna used, which is the comparison of nonverbal behavior, illustrates the difference among students from four respective nations. Although they are all Asian countries, the difference is clear. Barna also gives detailed explanations on language differences and nonverbal misinterpretations; the sense of humor is another interesting topic to bring up.
So the theme of the lesson was how the sense of humor is related to perception of different cultures. First, we watched a video clip about sushi. I've watched this before and found this funny for two reasons. One reason is that we know that we follow certain rules when eating certain foods. Although I think there is barely anyone who follows those rules, they sound possible to exist. The second reason is that two of the actors in this video were one pair of my favorite comedians, "Ramens." Their contes are meticulously created and "foreshadowing and collection" strategy always amazes the audience. The second clip, Sea Shepherd's commercial, effectively conveys the message of anti-whaling but it is quite hard to consider this funny because of bloody scene. The purpose of this commercial is to make viewers feel pathetic to whales by replacing that position with a human being. This also shows sarcasm by shooting this video clip at a sushi restaurant, which is also meaningful. I would like to comment the same thing on the third and fourth video: Dirty Sanchez and Endurance clips. The first impression that most viewers have when watching these videos may be crazy or ridiculous. I felt slightly obnoxious to watch the fourth video because not only it was painful to watch but also there were people who considered this funny few decades ago (and even now probably).
In fact, I am a big fan of Japanese comedy, but not something like this. Modern Japanese comedy is more meticulously planned. Rakugo is a Japanese verbal entertainment. A storyteller sits on stage and tells funny story using only a paper fan and a small cloth as props. This requires high qualities of talking skill and acting skill. After this, manzai, a traditional style of stand-up comedy, became popular in Japan (first made in the Heian period) This usually involves two performers and they tell a story with funny jokes in between, within a time limit of 3-4 minutes. They usually spend a lot of time thinking of the best scenario (called Neta) because the standard of laughing is getting higher and higher and jokes should be logically and intelligent funny in order to be successful comedians. There are even competitions for manzai. There is another type of comedy called conte, which involves more acting. Although there are still some TV programs similar to Endurance aired today, I believe that Japanese comedy has been evolving. Certainly, time is another factor that changes our interpretation or perception.
2013年5月10日金曜日
ARW 5/8 Response
ARW 5/8 Response
On 5/8, we had a ARW class on Bakayama for the first time. It is one of the interesting features of ICU!
We had group discussions on several topics that are closely related to the LLA lecture we had the day before: power of people and media's interaction. The first topic was the most interesting point; why Japanese people appear not to be as enthusiastic as people in other countries in terms of demonstrations. The first reason is excessively contradictory; citizens need to get a permission from the police to protest. For this restriction, most protests won't work. Well, they can even ignore that rule in the first place, but they can't. This is for another reason; Japanese are traditionally and culturally humbler than people from any other nationalities. When I used to go to an American school, people frequently asked me, "is it true that Japanese bow to each other before they start a conversation?" The answer is generally yes because we are taught to do so. We tend to believe that is the beauty of modesty; moreover, we also believe in the beauty of ambiguity. These two factors had actually made Japanese well-mannered from a hundreds of years ago, but at the same time, they made us weak, unenthusiastic, and fragile. As a result, Japanese became not be able to take an aggressive action so easily and not so many people join protests or demonstrations today.
I was also surprised that we are not allowed to make students union in our campus although we signed an oath that guarantees our freedom of speech. There are some parts in our educational system that is not "liberal." Topics we discussed in the later part of the class were much harder in my opinion. The first question was, "what kind of freedom of speech do we have here at ICU?" Well, students union is not an option, so the only things left are school newspaper or the use of Web 2.0, such as Youtube or Facebook. We also talked about NHK; we did not know much evidences to support that NHK is biased and censoring information as well. However, Takumi and I were arguing that it does not make sense how everyone who owns a television is obliged to pay fees to NHK because we can never choose not to receive a signal from NHK. Since Shinzo Abe, the current prime minister of Japan, is for the nuclear plants, NHK may censor any opinions that is against it. This "mass media and the society" is a big theme for ELA this term. I assume we will continue discussion on this theme in the class.
On 5/8, we had a ARW class on Bakayama for the first time. It is one of the interesting features of ICU!
We had group discussions on several topics that are closely related to the LLA lecture we had the day before: power of people and media's interaction. The first topic was the most interesting point; why Japanese people appear not to be as enthusiastic as people in other countries in terms of demonstrations. The first reason is excessively contradictory; citizens need to get a permission from the police to protest. For this restriction, most protests won't work. Well, they can even ignore that rule in the first place, but they can't. This is for another reason; Japanese are traditionally and culturally humbler than people from any other nationalities. When I used to go to an American school, people frequently asked me, "is it true that Japanese bow to each other before they start a conversation?" The answer is generally yes because we are taught to do so. We tend to believe that is the beauty of modesty; moreover, we also believe in the beauty of ambiguity. These two factors had actually made Japanese well-mannered from a hundreds of years ago, but at the same time, they made us weak, unenthusiastic, and fragile. As a result, Japanese became not be able to take an aggressive action so easily and not so many people join protests or demonstrations today.
I was also surprised that we are not allowed to make students union in our campus although we signed an oath that guarantees our freedom of speech. There are some parts in our educational system that is not "liberal." Topics we discussed in the later part of the class were much harder in my opinion. The first question was, "what kind of freedom of speech do we have here at ICU?" Well, students union is not an option, so the only things left are school newspaper or the use of Web 2.0, such as Youtube or Facebook. We also talked about NHK; we did not know much evidences to support that NHK is biased and censoring information as well. However, Takumi and I were arguing that it does not make sense how everyone who owns a television is obliged to pay fees to NHK because we can never choose not to receive a signal from NHK. Since Shinzo Abe, the current prime minister of Japan, is for the nuclear plants, NHK may censor any opinions that is against it. This "mass media and the society" is a big theme for ELA this term. I assume we will continue discussion on this theme in the class.
2013年5月8日水曜日
LLA 5/7 Response
LLA 5/7 Response
Today's LLA was a full of shocking facts. We learned about Web 2.0 and the correlation between mass media and societies. First of all, we subconsciously knew the definition of Web 2.0 by our daily experiences: use of SNS (social networking service). Some major examples are Facebook, Twitter, tumblr or yelp. Compared to Web 1.0, which we are only allowed to visit and view the websites, Web 2.0 allows citizens to post, share, or upload their information freely. We are right in the generation of Web 2.0 and are benefited in many ways. However, the development of Web 2.0 meant something bigger; it gave power to the people.
Rab then showed us several video clips of people protesting against WTO meeting taken place at downtown Seattle in November 1999 and police's correspondence. Police was not expecting the protest to be so successful; therefore, they forcibly suppressed the movement, by spraying pepper spray directly at their faces. That was just simply unbelievable; I probably had a dubious expression on my face throughout the clips. How was it reported by mass media? Well, what they are supposed to do is to defend the police, so most reports started with the phrase, "Police said." They even answered at the interview that injury was less than 20.
Similar kinds of disasters occurred at Wall Street protest. Police used a tactic called kettling, and again one of the officers sprayed pepper spray on females' faces. However, Web 2.0 gave people power. Someone was video-recording that incident and uploaded on a video website and from the information gathered by everyone else who found out his identity, he was brought to the court. Web 2.0 became a strong weapon for people by sharing information. Afterward we watched a clip on UK police attacking a man on a wheelchair, and it was as horrendous as other videos.
I learned that "collaboration is everything." At the same time, I questioned "what is justice? what is freedom of speech?" Strong bond between mass media and police keeps censoring any information that is harmful to them. So what should we do to cope with this? We should be the one to create the media.
Today's LLA was a full of shocking facts. We learned about Web 2.0 and the correlation between mass media and societies. First of all, we subconsciously knew the definition of Web 2.0 by our daily experiences: use of SNS (social networking service). Some major examples are Facebook, Twitter, tumblr or yelp. Compared to Web 1.0, which we are only allowed to visit and view the websites, Web 2.0 allows citizens to post, share, or upload their information freely. We are right in the generation of Web 2.0 and are benefited in many ways. However, the development of Web 2.0 meant something bigger; it gave power to the people.
Rab then showed us several video clips of people protesting against WTO meeting taken place at downtown Seattle in November 1999 and police's correspondence. Police was not expecting the protest to be so successful; therefore, they forcibly suppressed the movement, by spraying pepper spray directly at their faces. That was just simply unbelievable; I probably had a dubious expression on my face throughout the clips. How was it reported by mass media? Well, what they are supposed to do is to defend the police, so most reports started with the phrase, "Police said." They even answered at the interview that injury was less than 20.
Similar kinds of disasters occurred at Wall Street protest. Police used a tactic called kettling, and again one of the officers sprayed pepper spray on females' faces. However, Web 2.0 gave people power. Someone was video-recording that incident and uploaded on a video website and from the information gathered by everyone else who found out his identity, he was brought to the court. Web 2.0 became a strong weapon for people by sharing information. Afterward we watched a clip on UK police attacking a man on a wheelchair, and it was as horrendous as other videos.
I learned that "collaboration is everything." At the same time, I questioned "what is justice? what is freedom of speech?" Strong bond between mass media and police keeps censoring any information that is harmful to them. So what should we do to cope with this? We should be the one to create the media.
"Don't Hate the Media, Become the Media" should be our motto.
2013年5月6日月曜日
Lies My Teacher Told Me (Chapter 3)
Lies My Teacher Told Me (Chapter 3)
The first two pages of this chapter already grabbed my attention; I wondered, why do most of us consider white people who came to America "settlers" and Indians "the indigenous"? Indians obviously settled too, but our stereotypical categorization makes us think and memorize this way. The word "settle" is hard to define. So this chapter is about Thanksgiving; what I think of when I hear this term is pretty much the same as everyone else, a roasted turkey with gravy sauce on top, served with mashed potato. This term always reminds me of a feast, or something joyful. Basically, I did not know much about the historical background of Thanksgiving, but at least I believed its origin was the celebration of harvest. This chapter overturned my prior impression.
I had the same reaction as the Loewen's students when I read the word "plague". It is shocking to know that the Europeans suffered the plague and brought diseases to the Americas which caused the Indians to suffer too. Since the plague was considered a punishment by God for human sins, everyone in that medieval time had presumably sickened for repetitive epidemics. If I were one of them, I would question, "what did we do to deserve THIS?" But they were helpless because their religion even provides no solution. This is a long history of epidemics in the early seventeenth century and is something textbook authors determined to include just recently. It does not make any sense.
Another interesting point the author brings up is how textbook authors do not urge students to question, think, share ideas with other individuals, and come to their own conclusions. What they do is simply presenting facts, including some "lies" according to this book, and forcibly put into students' memories. This is why, although unreasonable, they decide to conceal vices of Wilson or Columbus, and disastrous plagues or Pilgrims' hijacking hypothesis from this chapter. This method of picking one statement or reason and presenting it as a fact would deprive the ability of critical thinking from students.
It took very long to get to the explanation of the first Thanksgiving. The Pilgrims were not friendly to Native Americans at all; they were rather harmful to the indigenous. So how was this tradition even created? The wire-puller was Abraham Lincoln. He proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday in order to enhance the patriotism during the Civil War. I had never imagined that Pilgrim settlement and Civil War had a connection and that the Pilgrims had nothing to do with this tradition. We have found another embarrassing holiday that we have been celebrating for years without knowing its root, following the last chapter about Columbus.
The first two pages of this chapter already grabbed my attention; I wondered, why do most of us consider white people who came to America "settlers" and Indians "the indigenous"? Indians obviously settled too, but our stereotypical categorization makes us think and memorize this way. The word "settle" is hard to define. So this chapter is about Thanksgiving; what I think of when I hear this term is pretty much the same as everyone else, a roasted turkey with gravy sauce on top, served with mashed potato. This term always reminds me of a feast, or something joyful. Basically, I did not know much about the historical background of Thanksgiving, but at least I believed its origin was the celebration of harvest. This chapter overturned my prior impression.
I had the same reaction as the Loewen's students when I read the word "plague". It is shocking to know that the Europeans suffered the plague and brought diseases to the Americas which caused the Indians to suffer too. Since the plague was considered a punishment by God for human sins, everyone in that medieval time had presumably sickened for repetitive epidemics. If I were one of them, I would question, "what did we do to deserve THIS?" But they were helpless because their religion even provides no solution. This is a long history of epidemics in the early seventeenth century and is something textbook authors determined to include just recently. It does not make any sense.
Another interesting point the author brings up is how textbook authors do not urge students to question, think, share ideas with other individuals, and come to their own conclusions. What they do is simply presenting facts, including some "lies" according to this book, and forcibly put into students' memories. This is why, although unreasonable, they decide to conceal vices of Wilson or Columbus, and disastrous plagues or Pilgrims' hijacking hypothesis from this chapter. This method of picking one statement or reason and presenting it as a fact would deprive the ability of critical thinking from students.
It took very long to get to the explanation of the first Thanksgiving. The Pilgrims were not friendly to Native Americans at all; they were rather harmful to the indigenous. So how was this tradition even created? The wire-puller was Abraham Lincoln. He proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday in order to enhance the patriotism during the Civil War. I had never imagined that Pilgrim settlement and Civil War had a connection and that the Pilgrims had nothing to do with this tradition. We have found another embarrassing holiday that we have been celebrating for years without knowing its root, following the last chapter about Columbus.
2013年5月2日木曜日
ARW 5/1 Response
ARW 5/1 Response
Today's ARW class took place at H-405, a room without any computers so before the class started Rab told us that this lecture is going to be boring. No Way! It was as interesting as usual. First he announced about an upcoming test, which I am being nervous about, but apparently it is going to be not so hard since it will be an open-book test and we can have access to the internet, too. Still, before the test I will read two chapters of Lies over again just in case.
Today's main theme was how to write a good essay. For the most part, I've learned already at schools in U.S. but his lecture got to deeper parts. I've been always wondering how to write an "attention-grabber" because none of my previous teachers have ever taught me examples. He explained four effective ones: Shock, Quotes, Humor and Stats. Another technique I learned for the first time is 5A's, since I was not at the startup program. 5A's stands for: Academic, Argumentative, Achievable, Access, and Attractive. We are going to choose a topic for research paper that can pass through all these five filters. I am interested in writing a paper about music, but I should come up with a topic that can be quantitatively compared. After all, my understanding of how to write a strong five paragraphs essay, or five sections essay rather.
At last, here are my answers for the psychology tests. Although I wrote "obedient" for the second question, I don't intend to have an obedient partner in the future...maybe. Anyway it was very interesting and I think this test would be 60% accurate. I am looking forward to the visual version of psychology test that we are going to take in the near future.
Green (Myself): eco-friendly, refreshing, relieving, fresh, healthful
Dolphin (Partner): intelligent, athletic, obedient, therapeutic, adorable
Ocean (Love): huge, indispensable (in terms of providing food for us), strong, blue, smooth
White Room (Death): nervous, confused, exhausting, anxious, sparkling (to eyes)
Today's ARW class took place at H-405, a room without any computers so before the class started Rab told us that this lecture is going to be boring. No Way! It was as interesting as usual. First he announced about an upcoming test, which I am being nervous about, but apparently it is going to be not so hard since it will be an open-book test and we can have access to the internet, too. Still, before the test I will read two chapters of Lies over again just in case.
Today's main theme was how to write a good essay. For the most part, I've learned already at schools in U.S. but his lecture got to deeper parts. I've been always wondering how to write an "attention-grabber" because none of my previous teachers have ever taught me examples. He explained four effective ones: Shock, Quotes, Humor and Stats. Another technique I learned for the first time is 5A's, since I was not at the startup program. 5A's stands for: Academic, Argumentative, Achievable, Access, and Attractive. We are going to choose a topic for research paper that can pass through all these five filters. I am interested in writing a paper about music, but I should come up with a topic that can be quantitatively compared. After all, my understanding of how to write a strong five paragraphs essay, or five sections essay rather.
At last, here are my answers for the psychology tests. Although I wrote "obedient" for the second question, I don't intend to have an obedient partner in the future...maybe. Anyway it was very interesting and I think this test would be 60% accurate. I am looking forward to the visual version of psychology test that we are going to take in the near future.
Green (Myself): eco-friendly, refreshing, relieving, fresh, healthful
Dolphin (Partner): intelligent, athletic, obedient, therapeutic, adorable
Ocean (Love): huge, indispensable (in terms of providing food for us), strong, blue, smooth
White Room (Death): nervous, confused, exhausting, anxious, sparkling (to eyes)
2013年5月1日水曜日
LLA 4/30 Response
LLA 4/30 Response
Today, at H-367, we had a LLA lecture taught by Rab with Stream 2. The lecture was on propaganda and Managing the Machiavellian MSM, basically how information we get is controlled by mass media. The first thing Rab mentioned is "effects of time." Books, articles or any documents that talk about this issue can easily go out of date. So instead of reading the article on ELA Reader, he recommended us to read the first chapter of Larson's "Persuasion: Reception and Responsibility." How new that source is influences its reliability.
In this lecture, we learned 5 major problems of mass media: Ownership, Advertising, Access, Flak and Ideology. Each of them is a big issue, but I thought the first two are more evil than the others. Ownership, on the one hand, is basically described as "owning the media means controlling the media." Every mass media has somewhat of a bias with every topic; the example Rab gave us is, supposedly Rab establishes a newspaper company, he would order his journalists to write articles that praise Macs and degrade Windows. No one can disobey because Rab owns the company and journalists work for him. This is how information is dominated by power. Advertising, on the other hand, is all about money. There is an inequality, "money > fact." Mass media get advertising rates from companies that want to advertise their merchandises, but at this point, there is an unspoken contract. That media promise not to criticize anything about those companies; otherwise, they lose money. We later watched a video on Monsanto's rBGH incident, which exemplified this problem. I was surprised when I learned that lying in a news in not a crime.
The way we stay informed is to find the alternative media solution, one without an access to big companies or money. When we look up something and think it sounds trustworthy, we should carefully examine that information because it might be censored by these 5 filters listed above, especially when we are using outside sources to support our thesis in a writing.
Today, at H-367, we had a LLA lecture taught by Rab with Stream 2. The lecture was on propaganda and Managing the Machiavellian MSM, basically how information we get is controlled by mass media. The first thing Rab mentioned is "effects of time." Books, articles or any documents that talk about this issue can easily go out of date. So instead of reading the article on ELA Reader, he recommended us to read the first chapter of Larson's "Persuasion: Reception and Responsibility." How new that source is influences its reliability.
In this lecture, we learned 5 major problems of mass media: Ownership, Advertising, Access, Flak and Ideology. Each of them is a big issue, but I thought the first two are more evil than the others. Ownership, on the one hand, is basically described as "owning the media means controlling the media." Every mass media has somewhat of a bias with every topic; the example Rab gave us is, supposedly Rab establishes a newspaper company, he would order his journalists to write articles that praise Macs and degrade Windows. No one can disobey because Rab owns the company and journalists work for him. This is how information is dominated by power. Advertising, on the other hand, is all about money. There is an inequality, "money > fact." Mass media get advertising rates from companies that want to advertise their merchandises, but at this point, there is an unspoken contract. That media promise not to criticize anything about those companies; otherwise, they lose money. We later watched a video on Monsanto's rBGH incident, which exemplified this problem. I was surprised when I learned that lying in a news in not a crime.
The way we stay informed is to find the alternative media solution, one without an access to big companies or money. When we look up something and think it sounds trustworthy, we should carefully examine that information because it might be censored by these 5 filters listed above, especially when we are using outside sources to support our thesis in a writing.
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