Education: The Key to Developing a Country

Utopia: an imaginary place or state of things where everything is perfect.

My Utopia would be a place where everyone has the rights to at least 5 years of education. Why 5 years? Because in elementary school, you learn all the basic things you will need to get a job. You learn to read, write, do simple mathematics and also you learn social skills as you go to school. You may also learn English at school, and this is important because if you learn English, you are able to communicate with most of the others.

Reading and writing are basic knowledges that is needed to be able to get a job. 28.7% of the population in Niger is literate. Being literate is important as if you are unable to read, you will not be able to understand what certain jobs need in their employees. Writing is also important because, as I know it, you will need a description of yourself, and you will need writing for that.

Some jobs only accept people who have been educated for 5+ years. This is also another reason why everyone must receive education. So they are able to get jobs and fund their families. This may also help with the economic issues. School is also important because the schools may teach things about the environment and tell the students how to conserve our planet.

If there is no education in countries, they might not go forward, such as Ethiopia, which is an LEDC, while Finland is an MEDC, and it is caused by the fact that most people get education there. If there is no education, the country will not be able to develop.

"The Key to Success" by Sofi Martinez

Education is relevant for a person to be successful. Education empowers a person to become a leader. Great opportunities are presented to professionals. The future of a Person can be unpredictable if she lacks education; an uneducated person does not have the knowledge of what the future has to offer for her. Education is an essential tool to make a pleasant and stable living out of a simple quotidian life. High Education contributes to the increase of the graduate in her social economic level. Education is the main Factor for one to become wealthy, Millionaire, or even Multimillionaire. Education offers the opportunity for a person to become the owner of a mansion. Education brings one the opportunity to please herself. Perhaps, getting to travel often to interesting countries/places, or to be the owner of the latest new brand sport car. Education enables one to reach success. Education makes one become influential. Education gives one the opportunity to be at the top with the highest wage. Education gives one self-fulfillment. A thief can take away money, a car, a property from a person. but is definitely impossible to take education away from someone. Education is worth $10,000 $50,000 $1,000,000 One puts it value! Education is certainly the main Element to become successful and overall to reach one’s goals and dreams.

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-key-to-success/

Photo Credits:

http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2009-05-15-Malawi4.jpg

Huffington Post

Kristallnacht- The Night of Crystals

Kristallnacht- the night of crystals. This tragic event happened on November 9th 1938. The day of the death of Vom Rath, assassinated by a Jewish Youth in Paris, which triggered the event. The Nazis were furious and started a riot. They destroyed Jew-owned business and burnt down 267 Synagogues, but only smashed Synagogues that were near non-Jew owned business. The Germans did not want to stand up, because if they did, they will get in trouble with the Nazis and will get sent to concentration camps. The Nazis made the Jews pay for the damages, which cost 1 billion mark. They were forced to give up possessions. 30,000 men were put into concentration camps, but the Nazis did not have a plan for mass murder of the Jews. Most of the Jewish people left wanted to leave the country, but the US only takes in 15,000 Jews/year and Canada only takes in 100s/year. The Jews were not able to immigrate because they refused to leave their families. Most of the Jewish population of Germany found refuge in Great Britain, which took large amounts of Jewish people in.

Propaganda: information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group,movement, institution, or nation. In Hitler's case, it's to Harm the Jews. Hitler started to brainwash people from a very young age, which started in kindergarten. The Antagonist of picture books were always Jewish people. They put in bad images of Jewish people everywhere. Hitler's Youth was a big part of his "Final Solution", he seduced children, particularly young boys, to go to his Youth Programs. Children as young as 10 would get in to the academies and would be given military training. Violence was highly recommended by the leaders. Some of the injuries were fatal, but they just said that German boys don't cry.

I think that Kristallnacht isn't really fair because the Jewish, who were the victims, were forced to pay for the damage that was targeted at them. Just because one Jewish man assassinated the diplomat, that does not mean that all Jews are the same. I also think that Hitler is trying to create "The Perfect Race" because he does not like difference. I think that what Hitler is trying to reach is like "The Giver" by Lois Lowry, in which the people of the city has absolutely no difference. Everyone was the same. I also think that Hitler is using the children in the youth so that they can go to war and wipe out an entire race.

I. am. the. Artist.

Last week, Mr. Whiting and Mrs. Narsiman helped the students in our humanities class determine their learning profile. A learning profile is based on whether you are gestalt or logic, and your dominant eye, ear, hand, and leg. My profile is an I.

When I am learning, I learn best through movement and by focusing on the whole picture. I need to be able to doodle on my notebook or somewhere. I tend to get distracted very, very easily and I need to feel a subject's emotional elements to learn it well. When learning, I need pictures because I am a visual learner and I can remember things easier when there are pictures involved.

I need to be able to doodle while learning. I don't necessarily need to move a lot, and just making small movements help me. I am a Visual and Auditory learner, which means I do well with pictures and listening. I am a Gestalt, which means that I don't like instructions at all and like to imagine my end results (although sometimes the end results are not what I expected). When I speak, I need to be relaxed so that the details can be communicated more efficiently. When I am under stress, my communication and movement is limited. The parts I am able to access while at stress are my arm and leg.

The strategies that would help me is to draw pictures, because I am a Visual learner, I am also an Auditory, but I work well with most teacher's teaching style. When I am under stress, writing/drawing with my non-dominant hand, walking, and Tai Chi can help me while I am at stress. Cross laterals are also useful. Soccer can also help, but I am not a very active person, and tend to stay indoors.

My teachers should know that when I am not looking at the speaker, I am still listening to them, and when I doodle, it helps me on my work and it makes me do my best. I think that sitting in the middle of the class might help me because I am able to access all my dominant parts. Pictures also tend to help me more, but words work equally as well.

Gita Skywalker

Being under House Arrest is better than being in Prison: Aung San Suu Kyi

Why is Aung San Suu Kyi a hero? I personally think that she is a very important one because she is trying to free the people of Burma from the junta. She gives away her freedom so she can fight for justice in her country. I remembered back in 1st/2nd grade, I had a scenario exactly like it is in Burma. This one girl in my whole class got mad at me and then she got everyone to be on her side.
She kept it like that for a few weeks, I was all alone with only one friend to keep me company. I watched as all the bystanders kept it that way, which was really hard. So eventually, I told the teacher and things got back to normal, except that the girl was still mad at me.I think that it is important for others to speak up for injustice because if left alone, it could become a worldwide problem.

Little things that you do can impact somebody's life. Werther it is positively or negatively.

The story of Jesus Colon can occur in anyone's daily life. Jesus came home late from work, and he saw a woman-a white one- holding a big luggage with 3 small children, one is a baby. Colon's Negro side told him that he shouldn't do it because it was the time period when all the blacks and whites are separated in the United States. But his Puerto Rican side told him to help her because it is the right thing to do. Alas, he followed his Negro instincts and ignored the white woman. He feels horrible afterwards. This is a connection to Jason van Genderen's "Mankind is no Island" because in the video, van Genderen said to not walk away from people that need help, but Colon just walked away from the woman that really needs help.

This painting is called One world, One hope by Joe Average. He is a painter that lives with HIV/AIDS.



What Do We Do with a Variation?

What do we do with a difference?
Do we stand and discuss its oddity
or do we ignore it?
Do we shut our eyes to it
or poke it with a stick?
Do we clobber it to death?
Do we move around it in rage
and enlist the rage of others?
Do we will it to go away?
Do we look at it in awe
or purely in wonderment?
Do we work for it to disappear?
Do we pass it stealthily
Or change route away from it?
Do we will it to become like ourselves?
What do we do with a difference?
Do we communicate to it,
let application acknowledge it
for barriers to fall down?
James Berry


I think that this poem relates to Jesus Colon because instead of breaking the racism in his time period, he just ignores the lady so he doesn't get in trouble. "Do we clobber it to death?" wrote Berry. This line really stood out to me because it reminds me of Hitler. Differences make us who we are and nobody has a right to change that. When I was little, I used to think that everyone in the world lived all happy together, but that was back when I was naive. While growing up, I learnt that not everyone is connected. But I think that that's the way to live. Hand in hand.

No Man is an Island: Everyone is connected in some ways.

No man is an island, entire of itself
every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main
if a clod be washed away by the sea, 
Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, 
as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were
any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind
and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls
it tolls for thee. 
-- John Donne

This poem is the exact opposite of "The Island" by Armin Greder. This poem tells you that everyone is connected to each other in some ways, while "The Island" shows that the people of the island can't accept the little man for who he is. Donne wrote "any man's death diminishes me this line shows that even if it was a stranger that dies, it may affect you in some ways and in "The Island", the little man's arrival affected all the people by scaring them, they all told lies about the man and used him to scare children. "No man is an island, entire of itself every man is a piece of the continent, apart of the main" wrote Donne, this line really stands out to me because it's saying that it's not possible to survive on your own, while the people of the Island is completely isolating themselves from all the other people. They built a tall wall around the Island so that NOBODY ever gets in or out of the Island. They shot all the seagulls because sometimes, people on boats follow them, and the people of the Island want to be separated from the rest of the world.

Video by: Jason van Genderen

I think that the whole message of the video is listen to others, maybe they have an interesting story to share, and to be humane and not ignore all the homeless people on the streets, and just listen to them. The film shows how the 2 cities (New York and Sydney) are joined together by hope and hunger. "I walk by you today, I always look away" describes most of the people that were in the video. The homeless people are just there, sitting, while the luckier people just look away and not help. I have personally experiences this on the weekend. I was in the Great Eastern mall and there was a stand in front of Cold Storage. It was a deaf art stand. I found it really pretty, but didn't tell my parents that I wanted one.The whole trip home felt like a guilt trip. Not helping others makes me have this feeling in my stomach that won't go away for a few hours. Van Genderen took pictures of the words that make up the sentence showing negative things, and that if you show that you care, you might make the person's day, giving them hope, and sort of telling them that someone cares. It also says that nobody's different from each other. Everyone thinks like we do, sure, we might look different, think of the different things, and speak differently, but we're all human. Lending a hand can make a difference to somebody's life.

Four letter words story

The cat. That wild cat that was once mine. The damn car that hit her. He won't care. All I can do now is bury my cat. I miss her. He won't say sorry or even buy me a new cat. But a new cat is not the same. Not the same meow or even the same blue eyes. My cat, Beth, she was one of a kind. Her meow was like music. Her purr like a song of dark. The big blue eyes that stare at me as if I was a work of art and she was the artist.

I wrote this story for a writing exercise with John Marsden, an author from Australia that visited us.