2011 - 2012 Reflections 3

October 6, 2011
Today we talked about the accuracy of social science experiments. Generally, if people know that they are in an experiment, they would act differently than they normally would because they know that they are being watched. This reminds me of the surveys done in school. When the students know that the surveys will record their name, they are either hesitant to answer the survey or they lie in the survey. Humans...we always want to look good.

October 10, 2011
The discussion about the connection between history and memory was interesting. I think sometimes memory can be very manipulating because we might imagine something or dream of something and mistaken it as history. By saying this, I also mean that a memory doesn't necessarily have to be true, because as long as it happens in our mind, it becomes a memory. Sometimes dreams are so true that I'm not even sure if they are dreams or if they really happened in my life.

October 12, 2011
Historiography is written based on primary sources. Are primary sources reliable? Not really. Documents, diaries, and photos involve humans, thus they include opinions, bias, emotions, and possibly manipulation. Unfortunately, we still have to write historiography based on primary sources, because if not, we will not have any knowledge about history.

October 14, 2011
"You should have done this...you should have done that..." This is hindsight bias. We blame people for their actions for causing a negative consequence. However, it is easy for us to do so because we already know the outcome. Learning all these concepts in TOK sometimes make me wonder if I have been living my life in the right way. If I didn't know about all these biases and fallacies, would I notice them and see how unreasonable sometimes people and I could be?

October 25, 2011
Nature versus nurture - is an artist made or born? It seems to me that it is unfair to say that one can only be consider a true artist if he or she has talent. Einstein once said, "Genius is 1% talent and 99% hard work." If an artist is consider as an artist by talent, then the number of artists would be comparably lower. Hence, do we consider the creations of those who are not artists as artwork?

October 27, 2011
 Economics, one of the areas of knowledge, uses a lot of graphs to show trends and prove claims. However, the problems with graphs is that they can be manipulated in so many different ways that they can present something different that the original data is supposed to reflect. We should apply this knowledge to our real life that we must be skeptical and aware when looking at graphs. We definitely do not want to let our knowledge to be manipulated by graphs that are meant to be misleading. Oh, how useful ToK is...

October 31, 2011
Mr. Nomer showed us a very interesting presentation about signs and symbols and the concept of beauty. In certain cultures, being tan is considered as being beautiful while ugly in other cultures. Our concept of beauty is shaped by our culture, background, and living environment. This reminds me of the video that was showed in class last school year, when a blind person was first able to see after his operation. For a person who has never seen before, what is beauty?

November 2, 2011
I agree with Mai Vi that art has to have a response from a viewer. If a piece of art evokes a person's emotions, then it is a piece of good art. However, if an artist creates a piece of art that only the artist can understand and connect to - including the fact that the artist has high technical skills - then is the piece of art still good? Is there a universal agreement on what is a piece of good art? What is the purpose of judging whether a piece of art is good or bad?

November 7, 2011
I do not believe that 2012 is the end of the world! <-- Controlled by fear and rejection. What is the purpose of working so hard if the world is going to end soon? If I truly believe that the world was going to end soon, I would not go to school, go back to Malaysia, and then travel around the world with my family. As a result, I would be very disappointed on the first day of 2013 because the world didn't end.

November 9, 2011
I presented my TOK presentation today with Phil and Marie. Our real life situation was about a gay man who couldn't donate blood to his dying mother because of the high possibility that he has HIV. I remember while researching for the presentation, I became very angry because all the claims that were against gay men donating blood were just absurd. We live in the 21st century! We have technology to test blood!

November 11, 2011
Tadhg's presentation was very interesting - he talked about nature versus nurture. According to his presentation, our personality are based on genes, regardless of the environment that we grow up in. I started to question myself - I know that I changed a lot after coming to Vietnam. So is my old self part of my genes or my current self part of my genes or are is my personality as a whole part of my genes? If our personality is truly based on genes, then why are we, humans, easily influenced by other people?

November 15, 2011
Does Math exist in nature even before human existence or is Math invented by humans? In my opinion, math exists in nature. This can be seen through the creation of beehives, of DNA, and the shapes of snowflakes. The representation of mathematics - such as numbers, symbols, and equations - are then invented by humans to use math to understand the world.

November 22, 2011
We unpacked the prescribed TOK essay titles today. I thought there was going to be an essay in which I could write about language, there was one - "The vocabulary we have does more than communicate our knowledge; it shapes what we know." Evaluate this claim with reference to two areas of knowledge. Why is it AoKs instead of WoKs...

November 24, 2011
The three essay titles that are my top choices are (1) The title mentioned in the last reflection (2) Knowledge is generated through the interaction of critical and creative thinking. Evaluate this statement in two areas of knowledge. (3) As an IB student, how was your learning of literature and science contributed to your understanding of individuals and societies. I am overwhelmed. I am not really sure what to do at the moment because it just seems so difficult to pull what I've learnt over the one and a half years together to write an essay.

November 28, 2011
The TED talk by the mathemagician Arthur Benjamin was short but fruitful. I think what he talked about was very meaningful. We should change the math that we learn in high school. I know as a fact that many students who are not interested in Math complain about learning Math because it just seems so useless to learn about calculus when we are not even going to use it after we graduate from high school. If we change the education system, it might even be more beneficial to the society.

November 30, 2011
We learnt about different concepts of ethics in class today. Whenever there is a topic that is related to religion, I am always a little bewildered. Today, the topic that was related to religion was the divine command theory. It states that an action is moral or immoral because God either allows or prohibits us from doing it. Because I don't have a religion, I am very skeptical of that statement, especially when I see news of people doing terrible deeds that are ordered by God.

December 2, 2011
Today we learnt more about concepts of ethics. To be honest, I'm not sure if I'm enjoying myself while learning about ethics. Whenever a question is asked, it is common for me to be taken aback and not know how to answer the question because I've either never thought about the question or I really don't know if there is an answer to it. I also realized as I grow up, there are more and more situations in which I don't know the answer to. I'm not very sure if I like the trend..

Source of Image: http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/379072/379072,1282381798,1/stock-photo-new-york-at-night-with-reflection-in-water-with-blue-hue-59448442.jpg

Life

IB Class: English

How should we live our life? Should we always be happy or should we experience both sadness and pleasure in life?

Obviously, in reality, we can't just experience happiness. We suffer, cry, and be angry. As if experiencing negative emotions in our life isn't enough, in English class, we almost always learn about tragedies. We read poems by Sylvia Plath, Emily Dickinson, read 1984, read Of Mice and Men, study Hamlet, and study Antigone. All of these are tragedies. If it is human instinct to be happy, why do we learn about people's sufferings? Some of us even suffer alongside with the fictional characters. 

A cliched idiom in Mandarin states that "we have to lose then only we learn how to value". Unfortunately, many of us do not know how fortunate we are, until we lose what we used to have. When we lose, we suffer. When we regain what we used to have, even if it is the same amount, we experience more happiness, because we now know how valuable it is. This shows that after experiencing sadness, pleasures in life become more pleasurable. If we have only experienced happiness, happiness would not be something valuable, and we might even take happiness for granted.

Yes, the poems of Sylvia Plath and Emily Dickinson are tragic. Because of them, I learnt that I am a fortunate person because I am not so depressed that I have to write poems to release my emotions. I lead a happy life.

Source of Image: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4027/4644826329_b1c38dc28e.jpg

Plagiarism

Out of Class

A few weeks ago, I read an article about rising numbers of Chinese applicants to American universities. While reading the article, I found something shocking - many Chinese applicants hire agents to help them write their application essays. Because they are not proficient in English, they recite what they want to say and the agents will write their essays for them. According to a research conducted by Zinch China, "90% recommendation letter are fake, 70% of the essays are not written by the applicant, and 50% of high school transcripts are falsified". What's worse is that the act of cheating does not stop at the application process. After these students are admitted to universities in the United States, they plagiarize in class, in assignments, in essays, and they do not think that they are doing anything wrong.

Why don't they feel guilty? In the Chinese culture, the most important thing when submitting an assignment is to get the answer right. Originality? It doesn't matter. I also read in another article (this was a few weeks ago so I lost track of the link) that they think taking information directly from a book is not shameful. In fact, (in a joking way) the author of the book should be proud because the information in his or her book is good enough to be "borrowed". In the American culture, a student can be expelled for plagiarism.

A part of me understand the Chinese students. When I was in Malaysia, no one taught me about plagiarism. Maybe no one thought it was necessary to teach it because we never wrote research essays, and the situation could be similar in China. Hence, when they go to the States, they were just doing something that they didn't know was against the rules. In addition, most Chinese students were doing the same thing, so why shouldn't they? This is the idea of relativism, where one action is unacceptable in one culture while acceptable in another.

However, now the Chinese students are studying in America, so should they go against the norm of their home country and adapt America's rule? Who decides whether the Chinese students should let go of the norm of their home country? According to consequentialism, if the Chinese students can produce a good essay by plagiarizing, as long as their essays receive a good grade, aren't their actions justified?

I personally detest what they are doing. Cheating is wrong. Plagiarizing is wrong. Sadly enough, it seems to be a trend in China. How can admission officers identify whether submitted application documents are forged or real? Most importantly, how can the Chinese learn that it is ethically wrong to hire an agent to help write their application essays?

For more information, please read:
Plagiarism in Academia: China and the US http://gnovisjournal.org/2011/11/18/plagiarism-in-academia-china-and-the-u-s/
Busted: The top 5 ways that Chinese students cheat on their undergraduate applications to American schools http://www.washcouncil.org/documents/pdf/WIEC2011_Fraud-in-China.pdf
The China Conundrum http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/education/edlife/the-china-conundrum.html?_r=1

Source of Image: http://www.pyrczak.com/antiplagiarism/images/Roomie.gif

What is Good Art, Music and Literature?

Out of Class

Let's talk about what is considered as good art, music, and literature (inspiration from Mai Vi's blog post). A lot of people believe that technique is an important aspect of measuring what is considered as being good. However, I believe that the standard of good fine arts is relative. It all depends on whether we can connect with the creation itself, no matter if our understanding conforms with the creator's intention or it is solely based on our personal experience.

For instance, I love Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club. The book speaks to my inner self because it shows my struggle for my identity and it helps me to figure out who I am as a person. In that book, Amy Tan occasionally uses Chinese words and idioms. Although she does explain the terms contextually, a person who has no knowledge about Mandarin would have difficulty understanding the true meaning. In addition, he or she would not have been so touched by the book as I was. To me, the book is good literature because I am able to connect and relate to the characters and stories written. To a normal American student, the book could merely be a book, and no more.

If the purpose of art, music, and literature is to evoke emotions, then different people would have different opinions of what is good art, music, and literature because some people can connect to certain fine arts and other people can relate others. If there is always an audience for a piece of creation, then that creation, with no doubt, is good.

Source of Image: http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs43/f/2009/061/c/0/Face_Paint_by_Music_Books_Art.jpg

Acts and Omission

In Class

I have an example of acts and omission that I was too afraid to share in class for two reasons - I am ashamed for not doing anything (omission) and a few people in class would know what/who I am talking about.

I know a person, M, who seems to not have any friends. M does not have a friend who M can walk to class with, talk to, or eat together during lunch time. If I was in M's situation, I would feel lonely, because I belong to nowhere. I believe that many people know about M, but I feel guilty about M having no friends and I feel that it could possibly my fault that M is lonely. Why? Because I do not do anything even if I know about M's situation, I do not do anything even if I can sense that M wants to be my friend. I just didn't do anything.

If there was a way for me to defend myself, I would use ethical egoism - to do what is in my self-interest. (Sigh, sigh, sigh...I sound so mean) M wants to be my friend, but I don't want to be M's friend, so even though I most probably am hurting M's feelings, I take no care towards M's friendly gestures and actions. Honestly, if I feel guilty, and if I feel embarrassed enough to not show this story in class (emotion as a Way of Knowing), my actions are probably unethical. How can I just act as if everything is alright when I know that a person is lonely and needs friendship? How can I carry on with my life happily when I know that someone I know is sad? My moral teachings tell me, in a rational and reasonable way, that I should help M. On the other hand, my heart or my emotions tell me that I do not want to be involved in M's life.

I hope that you won't think too badly of me after reading this blog post.

Source of Image: http://capping.slis.ualberta.ca/cap08/MelindaSpears/train%20tracks.jpg

Ends and Means

In Class

Ends and Means: Consequentialism versus Deontology. The question here is: Do we use the end results to determine whether our actions are ethically correct or do we just consider the morality of our actions?

Here are a few examples that I have been thinking of. For instance, Z in my previous blog post. From the ends' perspective, China wouldn't be what it is today, hence no matter what Z did in the past, Z's actions are morally justified because Z was just doing what was best for China. From the means' perspective, if we just consider some of Z's terrible deeds, then Z is ethically wrong.

Another example would be rude truths and white lies. From the ends' perspective, we should not tell rude truths but white lies, so that we would not hurt the person who we are talking to. On the other hand, we should not tell white lies but rude truths, because morally, we should never lie even though we might hurt the feelings of other people.

From these two examples, it seems as if there are only two extreme options in ethics - absolutism. I personally dislike this, especially in collectivism which states that we should all agree on one thing to have a common truth. I believe in relativism, because no matter what side we take, whether it is the ends or the means, we will always be doing something that can be both ethically justified and morally wrong. Hence, let's just do what is correct in our society, because there is no way that the whole world can agree on one thing.

Source of Image: http://blogs.ksbe.edu/anchung/files/2008/03/09142007.jpg

Bias in History

In Class

There is no doubt that bias exists in history. The three most common types of bias in history are topic choice bias, confirmation bias and national bias.

I've personally experienced bias in history. When I was in Malaysia, I studied at a Chinese independent high school. Naturally, the history textbooks that we used were imported from China. They were written by Chinese historians from China. At that time, I was taught that an important Chinese leader, let's just call the person Z, was a very respectful and great leader. If it wasn't for Z, China wouldn't be what it is today. China probably wouldn't be the world's second largest economy. That was what I learned and what I thought was the truth. Or was it?

Studying history in Saigon South International School made me learn that sometimes what I was taught may not necessarily be the truth. Or at least, it is the truth in one culture but not in another. I was shown documentaries about Z, and the documentaries were said to show historical events that the majority Chinese do not even know of. The Z that I saw in those documentaries was still great and mighty, but I also saw Z did dreadful things that one could never imagine. Why is there such a discrepancy by just studying one historical figure in two distinct cultures? The answer is: national bias. It is natural for the Chinese government to want their citizens to only know that Z was a great leader, and nothing else. However, is that argument justified? Wouldn't the Chinese population, like me in the past, only learn about partial truth? Do they not have the right to know everything about Z, if Z was truly such a great leader?

Source of Image: http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/bve/lowres/bven737l.jpg

2011 - 2012 Terminology 3

1 Verstehen Position
The meaning (what we are trying to figure out) of an observable action depends on context. The context is different for different times/people/location/etc, hence it is often difficult to generalize because the observers cannot observe the person's motive, purpose, and intention.

2 Historiography
The study and recording of past events. It is an academic inquiry carried out by historians. Historiography is different from history because it includes opinions and perspectives, which is also an analysis of historical evidence.

4 Hindsight
The perspective of the past event and its effects in later events. Hindsight bias: It is easy to say that someone should have done something differently to avoid the terrible outcome because we already know the consequence.

5 Bias in History
(a) Topic Choice Bias: Topic choice of the historian is based on current focus of the time
(b) Confirmation Bias: Ignoring counter evidence in favor of what supports our perspective
(c) National Bias: It is difficult to be objective in certain matters such as national pride

6 Great Person Theory of History
The course of history is determined mainly by great individuals. If the person doesn't exist, the course of history would be different. Examples of the Great People: Mao Tse Dong, Hitler, Shi Huang Di, and Stalin.

7 Theory of Empathy in History
We should try to understand the causes and motivations of a historical figure's actions as they would have understood them.

8 Economic Determinism
A person's action is determined by his or economic status. The course of history is mainly determined by economic and technological factors.

9 The Categorical Imperative
We must act based on morals, regardless of the consequence. The opposing idea is hypothetical imperative, which states the certain conditions only apply to certain people.

10 Relativism
There are no absolute or universal truths. All moral assessments should be made relative to the group's social norms.

11 Collectivism
A general feeling towards a certain idea. With collectivism, it is possible to come to a conclusion with one solution, with the majority's agreement on something to have a common truth.

12 The Divine Command Theory
An act is moral or immoral solely because God commands us to do it or either prohibits us from doing it. This theory is refuted by the Euthyphro Dilemma as it questions, "Are morally good acts willed by God because they are morally good, or are they morally good because they are willed by God?"

13 Consequentialism
An action is ethically or morally right if only its consequences are good. An action can only be determined as good or bad after the outcome is known.

14 Deontology
Regardless of consequence, our actions determine our morality.

15 Utilitarianism
We do whatever we do to maximize our happiness. The greatest happiness principle promotes human pleasure.

16 The Golden Rule
We treat others as how we want other people to treat us.

17 Acts and Omission
We are presented with a dilemma with solutions in which we can act (to do something) or omit (not do anything but allow something to happen), which leads to negative consequences.