Monday, February 22, 2010

Hw 41 - Initial Internet Researching on Schooling

"What's the Purpose of School? "
http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/2009/02/whats-purpose-of-school.html
The author asked the question "what's the purpose of school?" he said we know what education is for, the government told us. Education is about covering the standards, aiming for the good grades on government test, improving and competition. He's been ask many question and now that he thinks about them, his answer aren't the predictable answers like "The purpose of education is to prepare our children for their future." But now his answer is "The purpose for education is to make the world a better place," his answer change when think about his experience and how much people have changed.


Seth Godin's list on the purpose of school was longer and it seems like it had no importance at all but when you add them all together, it seems like school is a distraction for us children not to see the real world until it's time but in the end they train us so that we become useful humanoids. School gives us something to do while our parents are working and give us a desire, those kind of things create feelings and experience inside of us making grow in both a positive and negative ways so school is like a risk.

8 Essential Skills They Didn’t Teach You In School
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/8-essential-skills-they-didnt-teach-you-in-school.html
The things we are learning may not be so important, it's just fairy tale told either long or short but the point of the story is the lesson learned. In school the thing they want us to learn most are the skills. Improving in your daily work is improving the skill. The first skill is testing whether you are capable to reaching to others around you. This builds up confidence and trustworthiness as well as giving your impression to your audiences. The second skill is speed in reading, in the future the job that you decide will probably require reading, the less time it takes for you to read, the more time you have for yourself. Skill #3 is learning to set a goal and managing your time, making sure you finish everything before hand so that you know you have accomplish something for the day rather than waiting til the end to get everything done. The 4th skill is reading financial statement, schools don't really focus on this part enough. The 5th skill is to learn to negotiate, use contracts, and not get taken advantage of, being able to do everything on your own is great but you are bound to be force to work with other people, teachers can never help you here since people are lying that they did something or they are looking through their notes. There aren't enought teachers in the world to have the skill to know when a kid didn't do any work at all. Save and Invest is the next skill though we haven't learn much about this topic either. Being successful in life is the 7th skill, not many people know what they want to do with their life. We say we want to do this but do we end up doing the things we want to do? Our goals aren't big enough sometimes, a goal like getting a job, what will we do with our life after accomplishing that goal. Last skill is spreading an idea and basic marketing, just convince some people to help you out and see how it works out.

Preparing students for Their Future
http://www.leadered.com/pdf/Preparing%20Students%20for%20Their%20Future%206-05.pdf

Saturday, February 20, 2010

HW 40 - School Interviews x 5 & Synthesis

Part 1
-Making school better
-The experience of being a student
-School as a sorting machine
-School as machine for conquering and puppeteering a population
-Pedagogic techniques - grading, testing, etc.
-The motivations of school - for the student, parent, teacher, system
-The functions of school - both actual and claimed/rhetorical
-The historical development and transformations of US schools



Human #1
-To make school better, they could add culture festival and sports festival.
-Hard working, you just have to keep up with everything or else you fall behind.
-Sorting machine is discrimination.
-So total true, they don't think about the time we spent with our family, forcing us to participate with each other which is making it harder
-We shouldn't be graded upons these things, it makes people stuck up and looking down at others
-it's all competition, makes everyone want to go for the best, # 1
-educated children and best them look better
-the historical development are better and worst in their own ways.



Human #2

-school for 4 days a week

-I wish I never went to school because it feels like a waste of my time when I can be doing more important things

-Sorting machine wouldn't be fair since the smart people wouldn't understand much except to be full of themselves and the average kids wouldn't get much help since there aren't much teachers around to help.

-They are forcing us to learn things we don't want to know.

-People now don't mind showing off their worst grades, and the people who got higher grades don't show unless ask too.

-No motivation at all.

-School is only to make us smart.

-It's hasn't gotten any better because we're not learning anything interesting, they are teaching us things that we don't understand at all.



Human #3

-There's no way school can be better, they've force us into their ways of learning as if this world only had one system of learning, they stuff about police out of the street making sure kids are in school. The only reason I see school for is to make sure we aren't causing trouble for the adults.

-Being a student for a long time, I have to say I dislike the way I was force to grow as a student. Looking at the lives of other people I can't help but wonder why and how they came out to be the person they are when school looks like a perfect world. But the perfect world is a boring place, those who want the things as they call peace and harmony are just lies made by school, those people teaching us to find something we want to be when we grow up. We never see how much we've changed and compare to back then we're a much uglier person.

- Grading and testing, those are like to test your skills in memory and explanation. The numbers and letter grades don't really mean anything, they are only there for a purpose to test your reaction, how strong of a heart you have to choose between moving on, doing better, giving up and so on. Everything has it's purpose, it has a reason for being there. Life is a long quest(quiz and test) for us to look for something.

-Motivation from school? I don't have any motivation, I just have something I want to look for, finding the truth about things I may no longer want to help them in their lame plans for the future of the world. I want to do things my way without having to be a puppet for the future of this planet. That stuff is pretty lame, I don't have any interest and I hate being used by other humans. Why not just find a replacement for me, there are plenty of humans to help do that.

-I thought school was a place to train us children so that when we are ready they can put us to better use. Like after we leave college most of us will be looking for a good job and help the government in improving the economy and stuff like that. They even got our parents into this, our parents are asking us to aim for the best so that we can live a better life then the life they had to live. They say parents just want what's best for us, is there anything else in these words that we haven't seen yet?

-It seems like school at taking a step forward in teaching, I look around in the train station and seem those middle schoolers with books and homework with things that I've been taught in 9th /10th grade. I think they are pushing is a bit too much since my siblings come home with homework and I can't even help them with it. I don't want them to stress with school work like the way I had to.



Human #4

- School could be better students actually had a choice in the things they want to do. Maybe they can change middle school so that students can start deciding what they want to learn that way they won't have to wait till college.

-My experience from being a student is that it's the same as working as an adult that works in an office, you need to stay organize, lots of work, little time to rest and learning faster ways of doing things.

-Sorting machine sounds like the sorting hat from harry potter, they categorize people in certain places that would best fit them but people don't really know what's best for them or know what's best for others. I think it's best to just let them choose so that if they make a mistake they will realize it and there's another lesson learned in life. Since kids are young, it's better that they learn these lesson through experience since by the time they are adults they just forget these things and not realize it till it's too late.

-It's best not to use letters or numbers in grading and testing since students will just look at the grade, some may look at the part they got wrong and look for a right answer but for those kids that are younger than us, they are always going to look for a way to pin point people down or get stuck up from their grades.

-I remember when I was a kid the motivation I got was usually awards for something that was new on T.V. but as I grew up I realize that I shouldn't have wanted those things since there are many others kids who wouldn't have the chance I had to get those things. The motivation I have now is wanting to pass on the experience given to me.

-The function of school may be just a place to keep you safe and give you something to do. Just look how many kids just sit at home on that snowy day having nothing to do, even thought there are so many things to do, it's like the brain just stops working. Besides not everyone has the same interest in the things they want to do.

-School is like a advantage for those who can read over those who can like rich people have the advantage back then for a better job since they had money to pay for better education or something like that. I'm grateful that I got to go to school but I wish that I never did sometimes since there are so many things school can't teach me and I feel like there should be more hours in a day because when that hand hits 12 I have to get up and get walking on that long path to school.


Human #5

Part 2
School has influence me the most in my life since it's has changed me a lot. Parents are always talking about the smart kids in my class and asking why aren't I better than them. That how the words "I don't know" became a part of who I am, a person that never knows. I used to like school but after awhile I hated it more and more, the only part I enjoy is learning but if I were to see a person with books all day I don't really want to be near them because I think about how they waste their time to get better only to be used by the adults in this world. Why do people even bother trying to be #1. When my parents bring up number, I leave the conversation because I know that even if a person is really smart their will be tons of things that they still won't understand. From the past all those people who were smart tend to bully others so I'm glad this school isn't the same. School is just a place that trains us to be the best, but I don't want to aim to be the best. Is there any other purpose for school? What made school more enjoyable back then, then it did now?

If not #1 in being the smartest kid then they look for something else they can be the best at. Is there? Will there ever be a person who will not look for that #1. To be given something is to take from others even without knowing this it is true. So if we were to accept something from a person then we have taken the chance of other humans receiving this something. If we were to aim to be the best and end up being the best other people will fight to be better than you or no longer know what to do anymore. Besides what will you do if you ever reach to be the best? Will you know? Probably not since you wanted this so much, you threw everything else away just as those adults planned it. But they want us to keep moving forward so even if you have reach to be the best, they will make you work harder so no one else can steal that place from you. For those who have given up, adults try to get them to their senses and most of the time it doesn't work because we as students and as kids think that adults don't understand how we feel. Friends? Can we really trust them all the time? There are times where friends can help but there are also times where we have to face it alone. When I turn on my computer at home, I always ask "how are you today?" and they would talk about how bad their day was or if there is any problem they have that they can talk with me about. I want to try my best to help them but I can't get them every step, there are things they must do on their own, after the problem is solved I would wait for someone new to talk but my parents would always tell me get off the computer. They say it's best for me to study but that's not what I want. I want to continue helping these students who don't understand how much they are giving up, so I try to get them to look for this something that they are missing. My parents ask for my rank in my class, I would say it doesn't matter and that our goals are not the same so ranking in class is useless. I'm not allowed to help anymore, I'm limited to everything I can do because they compare me to those other kids that are better than I am. I keep wonder why they won't let me do things my way. If only they didn't have this "who's the smartest" thing in the minds of humans. I want to walk a path on my own even if to others my life isn't as good as theirs, I want a life I will enjoy and school can't give this to me so I walk a life outside of school. School has only given me this chance to decide the things I want but it's something that can be replace.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Hw 39 - Edited

Questions:
Does school give you something to do in life or just a way to past by another day of life?
How would your life be like if you were home school? Which is better? Why?
Is school really helping you reach your goal?
How would your life be like without school?

Experiences:
I really like school since I want to believe there's no limit to learning, the only one who can limit you is yourself. Even though I don't understand a lot of stuff I try to do things on my own, other people are always busy so I don't want to be like those people. There are a lot of smart people in our class, some pretend to be dumb so that they can get more attention or keep the smart people all to themself. There are some who we call average but I think they are really smart and sometimes just need to spark to get working. The people we call smart in our class tend not to see the easiest answers but I never say a thing about it since it's better that way. People are very selfish since they know that other people need help but still keep the smart people to themself and smart people are no longer smart. I'd say the people that we call smart aren't smart and those who won't amdit it may the real ones. I can understand this group we call asians and their knowledge, it's really nothing. Those people always competing to get better numbers grades then other people, don't they ever forget what they are missing out on. In gym, there are those people who do their homework, why can't they ever take a break from all of this school work. What's the point in being the best, it's not like you'll enjoy your life, is life all about books and paper? I'm tired of watching them just sit there and working, don't they know how to have some fun, you won't have this if you grow up in books.

I've never like being limited or caged, that will never change. I'm grateful to the people I've met in the past and some in the present but it's not the same anymore. People continue to move forward for themself and no one else. Whenever I walk down the hallway I hear friends say "I love you" and I'm sure that it no longer means I'm so glad to have you as a friend or those other meanings from long ago. The words I actually hear are "Thanks for letting me use you" I wonder what it'll mean in the future? In school and out of school, we continue to use others for our needs and other use us for theirs. So who in this world can you trust?

From school everyday back then was interesting, there are people who wanted to ruin my life and those who wanted me dead. But I can't die because I want to protect those humans call siblings. From school I learn courage, even though it was hard and how to defend others. Beside of this I learn the things student should learn in school. But isn't this a bit too much for a kid, do people even care, what can teachers ever do? When we think that teachers/adults don't understand that, do you really think it's true? There's nothing they can do, nothing at all because we won't accept them. Many other kids have this problem so no matter how I'm feeling at school, when I come home to help people that are in similar situation I'm glad I was still here but there's one person I still can't save. Those scars that people have in their heart never heal but can be treated. School has given me something I want to do and hope no one else gets in my way. If they do, then the truth about them will reveal. ='.'=

Ideas:
Teachers play both the parts of a devil and angel, in every society there has to be a person to play each part to make things go right.
School is a place for students to battle/compete.
School is just a place to keep us off the street, robbing store, killing people,etc.
School tries to keep us occupied, giving us something to do, and planning how we will live the rest of our life.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Hw 39 - First School Assignment

Part 1
Most people don't really care about school, all they need is to pass, leave and live a life they want too. People like us are just plain stupid and decide on their feeling of what they want and not what they need, these humans never think about the consequences before doing anything. School is a way to teach these things since it's not everyday where someone will come and plan this to be a lesson of the day for you. School is another escape from living all day at home so that we can see the outside world but there are those who believe home is a much safer place while others could care less as long as they have what they need to safe. 

Do teachers get annoyed when we won't listen? I wonder about that a lot since there are so many kid who would not listen at all, to them, it's free education and aren't taking things seriously, do they care or are they trying to make it seem like they care? Students try their best and so do teachers and all we do it throw them into a hole, making every other person seem useless. Humans can be so stuck up, they pretend not to understand or know things for attention and never think about those who really need help. People are so selfish, keeping everything to themselves, never lending and if they do lend they'll probably ask for something in return one day. 

The most interesting about my life is school, I do enjoy a lot but because I wanted to keep learn, because I'm still here that I cause pain to others. I enjoy getting in other people's way when I know their motive, enjoy their stupidity from failing in their plans. Because of school, I am the way I am, because of that I'm not just one person anymore. people are capable of learning so much from school but instead they spend their time talking and fooling around. If you didn't have parents, would you have been in the place where you are now. Humans should be grateful for what they have. Learn while you can, keep what you are given and don't throw it away. There's only one chance so don't throw it away.

Part 2
You started out with everything and chose to throw many of those things way. You made your life pointless throwing these things. I started out with nothing and placed into a life that isn't mine. I followed the life that she suppose to lead. At times I'm tired of this life, I'm free but humans caught me and locked me in this cage. I choose not to leave this cage because there were many other so I stayed. After awhile I walked around in this cage. I talked with the many others. They flew away when they were ready but I stayed behind. Now I don't want to understand, I want to hate, I'm tired of being one just staying behind even if I'm not ready, I want to break the lock on this cage. I keep trying but it hurts because those outside of this cage are humans throwing rocks at us. In this cage there is no where to hide. If one tries to fly the others will get hurt so I have to protect so they can be safe. A human came and threw me out of this cage, now in that cage there is someone else to do my job. I walk a path with nothing again, watching others with everything and just throwing it away. Watching people do things for attention and others who are alone. If humans were all the same it would be as boring life  but it's better because there won't be anyone else. Why can't we have the world that way? What would the world be like with humans that have no emotion and no control over themselves? I want to see that. 

Your time will continue to more forward and mine has stopped. Time separates us because of what you have and what I'm missing. I wait at the end of my gate of time. Both of me continue to wait till those doors open. I've waited and kept waiting, maybe I should give up. I left my world and enter the world of those others who have also locked the door to their world. I walked over to them, when the light of their world shines once again I must leave to find another world. The other me waiting for the gate of time to open. People on the other side of the gate blocked the gate from opening. So the other me stopped waiting as well. She went to the world of many others and when she left the light in that world disappeared. Me and the other me now walk two separate paths. Where there is light, there will will darkness as well. 

This is the path school has given me, to create and destroy the dreams of many others. If this isn't doesn't make any sense, hmm...too bad then =^-^=

Sunday, February 7, 2010

HW 38 - Art Project Cool

I know longer know why this video is here ='.'= I'm not sure what I'm doing anymore but enjoy. YES! I know I'm lame but this video was fun and that's what matters. =P

DC soundtrack 44 & Again By Yui-chan

One world & Again from Mitsuki on Vimeo.

It seems like the things we think are cool are the things that we lack, don't have. Cool becomes a part of our desire and so we forget and take the wrong path. What is it that people need and what is it that we want? Are they the same? What's the difference between one person and another that makes one call "cool"?

No memory of who I am? Giving a life that isn't mine. What am I? Looking at the other kids play on the street with their parents. The fruit basket, what fruit am I? How does it feel like to watch the other kids on the street have everything you wanted. Knowing where you came from, knowing who you are. All I started out with is something I don't remember, after the day I was taken to a place called home, the dream of the past repeated over and over again. Wondering why I'm even here, I grew tired of the hospital and ran away after that I was taken in, that's all I could remember. Is this dream real? Who am I? Watching other people wanting to be cool and throwing away who they really were. I hated them to point I no longer had a reason to live. I shut myself away in my own world, I kept thinking and thinking. A part of me hated them and the other me understood why they were doing this. This was the birth of my other self I guess, even though I hate those humans, part of my hatred was protection this was a person I could never be, the self I wanted to be but didn't want as well. Always getting beaten up by others, how does that feel? Watching the person I call little sister protecting me, it painful watching her get hurt, why is she even here? I ran over to those humans and hit then hard, even though my hand stings from pain, them seeing me doing such a thing they left. I was scared, didn't know what to say all we did was cry. They came after us every day, each year there would be someone new taking over the last, my parents signed me up for karate but I skipped instead because I wanted things my own way, learning from experience. Middle school is dangerous, most fight are life and death fighting on the streets, neck strangle, dodge ball fight me vs. the class of guys, it isn't fair but it's just how life is and life never seems to play fairly. All I wanted was a brave heart but for every wish a person makes there is a something you must also give up in trade for the things you wanted, nothing in this world is ever free.

Brave Heart By NERDHEAD & Kana-chan

Brave Heart from Mitsuki on Vimeo.

What is the meaning of life? Greed. When I heard this answer I was wondering if she was referring to the 7 sins, humans continue to repeats those sins no matter what they choose to do. Doing nothing and doing something both ways we will always be hurting someone. Life is a long lesson, it all starts out with a simple question, why? One question leading to another and continue eternal wanting to look for answers for our existence. I thought about why would she say greed, if it was the 7 sins then an easier answer would just be sins so there must be something else. Throughout the week I've been thinking, what would life be like if I just swapped with the person I am at home so that I would have that personality at school. I tested it out, in the end the result were just as planned. It's didn't fit with what I was looking for. I notice things that I felt like I shouldn't so I decide to keep this personality just as home and keep the me and school just the way it was. Sometimes changes are better off not made and I've come to understand the answer given. I believe that in the begin inside of us, our soul is like white snow, as times goes on there are some that turn the snow black while other keeping trying to keep it clean. They say the rich have nothing they want and the poor try hard to get everything they can, I'd say part of this is true but the rich do have something they want and it's something they can only find in poor people and the poor people were given a lot of things in the beginning almost everything they need to live a happy life but they just don't see it. Humans become blinded by their desires, they go for what they want and not what they need, they forget the importance and leave behind the things they had. I don't understand why is it that you humans can start out with everything and just throw it away like it existed to begin with. That fake light you see I wanted to crush it, taking down everything inside of you, wanting to take you back to show you the things the rest on the other side. There you find the person you left behind waiting for you behind your tainted world. Please don't throw those precious things away, treasure what you have because not everyone can have the life you having now, though you don't show it, you're grateful for the life you have and the people that are near you, even though at times we may fight, we're sorry in the end because we're grateful to have met such a wonderful person like you. Even though it's something as simple as this, it's still cool to hold on to the things that were given to you from the start. You don't have to be like others, don't have to have it your own way, don't need be alone, you don't need anything that's not you to be cool. You just have to be you, find the you trapped in that tainted world, Look for life and head toward the light. No one is this world can ever replace, you can one and only.

There is more in this world than humans. More than humans can sense. But...every now and again a human will come up against those things that humans can't sense. But they'll experience something...an existence, a will, a shape, or maybe a feeling of fear...and that human will try to tell other humans. However, since there are few people who will believe in anything inhuman...quietly almost as if it were a code...that person's warning will creep into human consciousness. It could be a legend...it could be some unusual custom. In the beginning we were given a gift but many of us threw away this gift because humans around us tell us things which make it seem like we're lying and no one will believe us and that is one reason we might throw away our special gift. Those who keep this gift can sense many of the things humans can no longer see. No one would believe us since they can't see it, no one will trust us since it's inhuman. The things you can see that others can't is rare, too humans rare would be something cool since it's unusual.

I play the role of two character, this other role I play came out of wanting to protect. If there was anything I wanted to experiment on, the first thing I would use is myself because I nothing to lose. My personality change when I was thinking and making the video, I no longer knew what I was looking for and what I wanted. The truth of this world is frightening and disgusting, if only a diamond is capable of scratching a diamond than same with humans. Words are my weapon, they are pierce the human heart, bringing them to their senses. I thought about the things I would do every day, I wondered if it would be the same if I wasn't there. I come home every day and go straight to my computer and wait, just waiting for someone. If that person doesn't say anything then I would go talk to them. If a person wants attention I won't give it to them and those who cry out in thought and won't say a word are like an attractive spell that draws people in. Those who have attention and want more are just plain dumb, I would just leave them alone because if I gave them what they want then they will keep asking for more and more. All humans play an important role in life, even if one person were to disappear it would change what will become of certain people in this world. This just showed how important every single person is, if I wasn't there then would someone else be there to give that person the message, I don't know but I want to be sure that that person will be alright and won't choose death as their path. If this was a group I don't think I would have realize this, there are people out there that believe that they can replace other and those who are being replaced and last there are those who are rare. My choice for this project isn't as good as others but it's what I choose to do, my one and only. =]

Art was something special, it was my own another way of defining it would be my style. The main things taught at school are special but they are not my own, but art is my inspiration and gave me something I wanted to do in life. Art is me pain and happiness, humans would say they understand but most of the time they are lying since I've dealt with many before. Art can express one's feeling no matter how hard they try to hide it, it will show even if you're a professional. Everything aside from the 4 main subjects in school I had to learn by myself. I wanted to learn them through inspiration and no wanting to fall behind. It's special because It's my own, I didn't have anyone teach me these things unlike other students. When I first learned origami I was given a paper with instructions and folding paper, that was all. I looked at the instructions many times and tried, at times I would near the point at which I would gave up but instead I would start all over again, if I understand it I would picture it inside my head like a film showing how to fold it. I put my feeling into the things I make because I want others to feel the same inspiration I did. Each time you fold a paper crane, there's always something different from the last one, just like people each and every one of us is unique. WE ARE ALL COOL IN OUR OWN WAY. Don't lose sight of who you really are, it's deep inside of you, it's not a lie. People are all kind even if they try not to show it, people may act to stand out but don't realize that the person we want to be with is the person inside and not the person you want to be.