Reading Log - Forrest Gump (~30pp)

             Young Forrest Gump once said: stupid is as stupid does. This quote simply compresses the mindset of Gump – the real matter of life is about the attitude, not about the appearance.

             Talking in southern vernacular, Gump is an “idiot” – if we accept the common way people call him – with low IQ. He doesn’t have the intellectual ability which is expected for the people in his age. Unfortunately, he even had uncomfortable legs during his childhood. However, he never lost the most important truth in life – how to behave decides how to be treated by others. Although being bullied by bad friends, young Gump did not become frustrated or shrunken.

             He has his own way of life. He’s bright, and brighter than folks. He knows how to enjoy his own life. Perhaps he was affected very much from his mother who always told him that he’s not different from the others. Everybody has both strong points and shortcomings, and this is because we are not the God; we are imperfect creatures. If the awkwardness and poor ability in communication is what people think the problem of Gump, then it might be true. Some parts of Gump don’t meet the common standards of this world. But at the same time, he has unique abilities. Running fast is the representative symbol of Gump’s good qualities. And if we think about him from the viewpoint of good and bad points, he is one of the common people –having both bad and strong qualities just like others.

             So, is he really a half-witted idiot? Maybe, but only for the people who don’t accept the value of difference. If we have a wise eye in evaluating someone’s life, the top-rated item should be about the clear identity of life. Forrest Gump obviously has his unique way of living, and he is the owner of his life. Now take one step back and see what happened to this brave guy. 

Poem Practice

A Piece of Autumn

Now the noise of crowds in Notre Dame Stadium has been gone

On a beautiful Saturday of autumn, I wander above the fallen leaves.

All the trees point at the blue sky as the sunshine touches their skins

And for the people on the streets, they sing an anthem of silent season.

I see some tourists staring at the golden dome

But in front of the touchdown Jesus on the Hesburgh Library

These visitors are way too small.

Don’t care much about the way people walk

Just let the pleasing wind combs down my hair

And I, I’m on the way toward the Log Chapel.

Soon my eyes watch a greenish wooden house

Among the colored leaves so I kneel,

Kneel and pray for the God of innocence.

On the way back to my room I imagine a nice dream

A bright dream about the never-ending autumn yellow.

11/08/2011

Chang Woo Jung

Reading Journal #1 - Rita Heyworth and Shawshank Redemption

           When I reached to the near end of Stephan King’s “spring,” it was the patience and persistence of Andy Dufresne that impressed me most. Despite of the hopeless 20 years in Shawshank, Andy’s desire for escape had never been removed, not even blunt. Definitely he was different from the other prisoners in Shawshank. While the others were getting used to the Shawshank life he tried to find the breakthrough, and while the others were finally “institutionalized,” he dreamed of Zihuatanejo. The wall of prison was thick, but Andy’s hope made a crack on it, spread it apart, and eventually broke it down.

           Considering Andy’s life in prison, everybody would agree that it was not fair at all. First he was bullied and tormented by the Sisters. When he finally gained the protection by helping the prison guards with tax problem, a harsher future was waiting for him. Since every prison guards got helpful advice from Andy, the highest warden of Shawshank, Samuel Norton hired him for money laundering. Mr. Norton gave much convenience to Andy compared to other prisoners as cost. However, Andy was also forced to pay the price for Norton’s fabricated kindness: he would not go out from Shawshank forever. Maybe Andy already knew from the first day of Shawshank, that it’s impossible to get released in legal way. The more Andy is related to the Shawshank society, the more his innocence would be contaminated.

           However, Andy didn’t lose his most powerful weapon until the end. It was his hope and desire for the escape. Nobody would know what exactly was his motivation for keeping such invincible volition, but I believe he always left enough space for hope. Hope, as Andy once said to Red, his favorite mate in Shawshank, is something “good” and “imperishable”. Glimmering inside Andy’s deepest mind, the hope soaked his every night and made him dig the stone wall for 20 years. The rock hammer that was almost worn away at the end of story symbolizes how the hope made Andy endure under unreasonable treatment and abuse so desperately. As the novel approaches to the end, King made the meaning of hope elated higher by describing the scene of Red, who was finally released on parole and amused by the hope of meeting Andy in Mexico. Here it is proved again, that the hope would be never rotten.

           Instead of Andy, the overall storyline takes Red as the narrator. Using this ‘observer’s perspective,’ Stephan King provoked readers more curiosity about the secret of Andy Dufresne until the highlight. Andy’s hope and patience resembles the young sprouts which split open the frozen earth in every spring. That is why King chose “Rita Heyworth and Shawshank Redemption” as the first season of his book.

09/22/11

Chang Woo Jung

When the world cries for Timmy (fake essay)

I remember the day of death of my beloved cat, Timmy. It was raining day. After a harsh days of struggle against cystitis, this tiny life escaped her small cage forever without any regret. I felt tangled. Why the world the God took this poor and weak creature?

However I also know, that I should understand the providence of great God. If there's one precious lesson I gained from this experience, that is the patience and courage in front of the death. Now I know that I'll stand still roughly in front of the death of my parents, grandparents, friends, and even me. I believe this is one of the most royal and noblest virtue which you, the college officers want from the applicants. 

I have a bunch of other stories to support my matured attitude towards the world and life, but it will only let my readers tired and boring. For this reason, I finish this essay with my poem about the tangled feeling I felt in front of Timmy's dead body.

Tangled

Shooting your gun into the dark

Let’s see who fires back

When a bite comes without a bark

Who's gonna watch your back

So little in so much time has been tasted

You wasted all that we had

Maybe we were wrong from the start

Because we are sorry,

Sorry excuses for love

Summer's never coming again

We will tangle in the wind and rain, oh

It's ok with me though

I will just keep my radar low

If you knew what I know

It's nothing new at all

But love stay with me

Love stay with me

Creative Writing - A Harsh Memory

1

In my dream you smiled at me, who was late for the meeting. What an abnormal smile. In dusk of hot October’s day, we didn’t feel the wind. Your friend used to sneer at us – “Don’t you think it’s a harsh love?”

2

On the road we walk along, the streets were dirty with aimless souls and drunken dumbasses. Taking each step, my shoulder cracked by the alcoholic air. But your lips were harder than usual, and your breast was colder than what I thought. Aren’t you tired? I was unable to hear your words. A cold robot talking, without a piece of true heart.

3

You used to smoke, sitting next to me. Silently, watching a point in empty sky or the shoes of walking people, you swallowed the toxic world and split it out. Give me one. I said quietly. In a surprised face, you fumbled the rattling handbag and took out the cigarette pack. Then you hesitated. Were you scared of me, or couldn’t you just endure the familiar situation.

4

I was already exhausted when I walked in the dusky road. I went over and over, splitting the darkness and trembling my tired legs, leaving the unreasonable footsteps. It was a summer night neither hot, nor cold. The dark solitude was broken by insects’ crying, and the light from unknown people’s house spread out into the foggy air. I closed my eyes for a while, opened again, and stared at the empty sky. A girl I used to know disliked the cigarette smoke. I filled my lung with the shining starlight and blowing wind climbing up trees. The sky of city was always obscure. I patiently walked over, following the footsteps of you. Waving my tired arms, I escaped the fog area that became more and more sticky.

5

When I wandered around, I smelled the sweat of running boys. I greedily bite off the memory you left. The endless summer of city was gradually forgotten under the shadow of anonymous evergreens. I spent more time with the girl. The grass seemed burning, under the stinging sunrays. The memory of sad cigarette smoke. Now a wet air comes through my throat. A fish who wanted to live in your air forever. The streetlamps sick of insomnia shed light on me and the girl.

6

If I could go back to the painful past, would I flutter again on the unknown street with my hidden gills opened? I still find you sometimes, with no trace in my places. The young people wandering streets. And the story flowed between them. I was too young. Today, I take a walk again to the park where the girl would be. She stares at me with her round eyes. I see you inside her iris, burning the rotten world. Inside my harsh memory, there is you, who sigh a gray smoke. 

Chang Woo Jung

09/03/11

1st assignment for Comparative Adaptation

Group: Five

Film: The Spiriting Away of Sen and Chihiro
Why we chose it:
This is the only movie that all of us have watched which includes the element of hero's journey

<ACT1>
1.Ordinary world:
- an ordinary japanese town
2.Call to adventure:
- a strange tunnel on the way to the family's new home
3.Refusal of the call:
- Chihiro's family is lost in an unoccupied town. Hungry, Chihiro's mom and dad eat the food gregariously without paying for the food.
Chihiro, however, chooses to look around the town and when she comes back, she sees pigs instead of her parents.
4.Meeting the mentor:
-Haku appears to tell Sen to leave the town immedately
5.Crossing the threshold:
-Chihiro, failing to find the way out with her parents, steps into the world of Ubaba by getting a job at spa town.

<ACT2>
6.Tests, Allies, Enemies:
-Test: In the spa town, people are gradually subjugated by Ubaba as they eat the food of the town and forget their original name.
Since Chihiro is unaware of such danger, she initially eats the food people give.
-Allies: Haku warns Chihiro of the danger, and she therefore manages to keep her identity.
She also becomes friends with the faceless ghost (Gaonashi).
-Enemies: Ubaba & her loyal eagle
7.Approach to the innermost cave:
-One day, Sen discovers Haku soaked in blood.
8.Ordeal:
-Chihiro discovers that Haku got hurt because he tried to steal the stamp from Ubaba's twin sister.
To ask for forgiveness and save her parents and Haku, she takes the Train of Death and arrives at Ubaba's sister's home.
9.Reward:
-On Haku and Chihiro's way back to the spa town, Chihiro suddenly remembers Haku's original name, thus liberating him from
Ubaba. Chihiro also saves her parents.

<ACT3>
10.The road back:
-Haku accompanies Chihiro in her way back to the ordinary world.
11.Resurrection:
-Chihiro finds her parents who were waiting for her at the tunnel.
12.Return with the elixir:
-The value of family
Points of contention (ifs/ands/buts):
Resurrection is a little unclear

Chang Woo Jung

09/02/11

Waiting for Guffman

  Who decides the fate of passionate person? Is it the enthusiastic man himself who create own future? Or is it an influential figure who has the power to evaluate someone else's passion? The answer for the above question might be "the both." The evaluation among other people cannot completely prove whether someone is really full of zeal. Like this, the passion alone cannot guarantee the social success. 


  In the mockumentary [Waiting for Guffman], the main characters started to have a real strong passion - performing a musical on the stage for 150th anniversary of their town, Blaine. With the lead of Corky, the enthusiasm inside these star wannabes began twisting. Corky attracted them with the possibility of their musical to become a Broadway-scale show by the critique from Mr. Guffman. So the people practiced harder and harder until the last moment. (Although they were not so good at acting and dancing.) 


  On the day of performance, finally the show started but the reserved seat for Guffman was empty. Corky calmed the casts down, believing all the Broadway star critiques are late for shows. Was he right? Soon one person came inside and sit on the reserved chair. Happy with the arrival of assumed Guffman, all the members    did their best and finished the performance successfully with the large cheer from audience.


  Right after the show, Corky took the assumed Guffman in front of the main characters, who were desperately waiting for Guffman's positive critique and dreaming to be Broadway stars. But Oh My God. The man who should be Guffman argued that his name is not Guffman. Something's wrong. At that moment, Corky received a telegram noticing Mr. Guffman's airplane was grounded due to the snowstorm (even though  it was summer). 


  What can we say about the powerful passion of main characters? Was their effort meaningless since Guffman actually didn't come at the first place? Maybe. Maybe they could earn lots of money, building the reputation in Broadway. Or maybe not. However, I think all of the performance members found their way out at last. Some became extra actors in Hollywood, and some began working as an entertainer. Someone just went back to the original life. The real important point is, that everybody anyway found the way of life, despite of the Guffman's absence. 


  The real point this film tried to make is (sure, the first and foremost one is comedy but) this: the life always go on. All we can do is just carrying it. Accept the life as itself, then it would be neither too sickening nor too sweet. (To be honest, life doesn't have any flavor at all.) Now let's answer the very first question again. Who decides the fate of passionate person? It's easy to discover the serious irony in it. No one can ever decide fate at all. Even Guffman, too.

30 Things about me

1. I am very sensitive.

2. I have natural-born curly hair.

3. I love chicken.

4. There are too many girls and rumors around me, but I love no one.

5. I’m a little bit bipolar.

6. I am an “Expert Wanna-be” in every field I work.

7. I love playing the guitar and the drum.

8. I have two little sisters.

9. The youngest sister is 13 years younger than me.

10. I was once immersed in hip-hop.

11. I’m a huge fan of rock.

12. I have my own band.

13. I once participated in acting club, but I quit 1 year ago.

14. I’m participating in a club Sinabro, helping old Korean women who were forced to sexually volunteer for Japanese soldiers during Pacific war.

15. My favorite rock band is Radiohead.

16. I wore my first glasses when I was 8.

17. My first love started when I was attending to middle school, but it failed. I messed up.

18. I can legally take the Driver’s license examination now.

19. However, I can’t drink and smoke until January 1^st, 2012.

20. I like to be alone.

21. I usually take the bus and subway alone, but always with music in my ear, and sometimes even with books I like. And I love to do so.

22. I enjoy writing poems and short stories in my handwriting.

23. I like hot coffee, but I don’t like the franchised products. I like a cup of coffee, came from a small and humble shop.

24. I love to watch movie on my bed.

25. I like the scent of old, very old books.

26. I like historical maps.

27. Inbody examination said I’m a little bit obese.

28. I live leather shoes.

29. I love color red.

To where is the South Korean education system going? (2nd draft)

             What is the most fundamental function of education? This question should be differentiated from asking “what is the purpose of learning,” because of the different scale each word covers. “Learning” is usually used to describe the tasks of students – the act of accumulating knowledge and storing it in the brain. This is important, since no one can grow up properly without proper learning. However, “Education” has even more importance than “Learning,” due to the fact that a wise teacher is more crucial in society than wise children. True education should be able to respect each student’s different ability, and strengthen it through diversified teaching. True education should not be a system which abandons the students at the bottom. Therefore, it is important to let children experience and enjoy life, raise their diverse creativity, and most importantly, give them inspiration - both academic and living - over the simple knowledge books offer.

             Like this, the concept of education contains so many crucial things that influence children to ‘grow up.’ However, the education system in South Korea tends to see children just as imperfect beings which need to become finished products as fast as possible. Recently, many video clips depicting harsh school life made by South Korean students have increased greatly in number. They directly show how heavy the education system is on this small peninsula. From elementary school to high school, the 12 years of education before university seems only as the preparation for KSAT - the ‘one-shot’ entrance examination for domestic colleges.[1] Due to this regime, there are barely any teachers in public schools who successfully do what a teacher should do. Instead of encouraging critical thinking or engaging in creative thought, students are forced to cram for exams. From the very start of school life, children are mostly evaluated only according to their scores and grades.

There are some differences in private schools, but only the “social bourgeoisies” in South Korea can make enough money for tuition, in a nation where there is not much educational welfare. Perhaps that’s why every parent and kid makes excessive efforts to get into high quality universities - which somehow guarantee high social position. Basically, this vicious circle of college degree, social position, and future income make parents and students obsessed with numerical results, therefore losing sight of meaningful learning from school. One phenomenal example of the fierce educational competition in South Korea is the “gireogi appa,” literally a "goose dad" whose kids go abroad and live with their mother for learning a foreign language. These dads live alone in South Korea, just earning money for the education of their children.[2]

             In this education system, South Korean students are easily exhausted. The system is mostly focusing on results and ignoring the procedure of each student’s unique creativity development. Naturally, the students who are not accustomed to choosing the right answers should be seen as the poor ones. Only the “correct answer pickers” can grab the decent position of honor students in South Korea. However, this method has a significant risk (or maybe a wrong presupposition): every child does not have the same ability. Depending on characteristics, dispositions, and many other factors, the strong points of each student are obviously different. But the current system in South Korea mandates that students follow one standardized path. Sir Kenneth Robinson, a British author, speaker, and international advisor on education, once spoke about human creativity: “[…] life is not linear, it's organic. We create our lives symbiotically as we explore our talents in relation to the circumstances they help to create for us.”[3] As he mentioned in the later part of the speech, human communities “Depend upon a diversity of talent, not a singular conception of ability.”[4]

Contrary to Robinson’s words, the South Korean public education sorts out every “mutant student” from its territory - which is quite an old-fashioned style, not encouraging students to find individual aptitude. Instead this system is manufacturing them through a conveyor belt for the needs of society. Mr. Robinson talked about this problem as well, warning about the danger of “cramming education”: “[…] If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original. And by the time they get to be adults, most kids have lost that capacity. […] We are now running national education systems where mistakes are the worst thing you can make.”[5]

             Considering the current situation, there needs to be a total reform of education in South Korea. First and foremost, the social view on the purpose of education should be changed. The purpose should not be to make students desirable stereotypes of society, but to let them have life and talents, and find their own reason for studying. Like Anatole France, a French novelist, once said, we should acknowledge that “‘the errors of enthusiasm’” are more preferable than “‘the indifference of wisdom.’” in today’s society.[6] Only from diversified thinking without the fear of being wrong can we expect extended creativity; and only from this extensive creativeness can the students have a nutritious environment for their talents in schools.

One possible alternative is a system “Waldorf education,” which is a humanistic approach to pedagogy. This interdisciplinary approach concentrates on integrating practical, artistic, and conceptual elements of learning, and emphasizes the role of the imagination (creativity) within it. Schools and teachers are given considerable freedom to define curricula under the arch of Waldorf education.[7] Secondly, the social support for the education should be enlarged. The education in Finland gives an effective answer for this matter. Finland requires no tuition fees for full-time students in its main educational system. Before the age for college, there are two lines of school: upper secondary, which focuses on academic, and vocational, which provides occupation training. Finnish people don’t think one is superior over the other. The Finnish society opens the door for each different talent. Finnish politicians set their education’s purpose to educate the vast majority of Finns to a higher degree - leaving no stragglers behind.[8] In contrast to the education in South Korea, in Finland we can find a system which guarantees good quality teaching for every students.

             We should ask one more time: “What is the main goal of education?” Nobody can deny the long history of antiquated education in South Korea. Now it’s time for changing fixed concept with new paradigm - teaching not for the sake of high scores, but for the sake of the individual child. Every student should have the right to expand personal talents and creativity, which include the possible capacities to change our society in various ways. To accomplish this, both the common viewpoint on teaching and current social support for schools and teachers should be changed simultaneously. Finally, we should know our children are raw stones - which can be polished into precious jewels with soft care. Accordingly, they can also be left as useless stones if not treated properly. The future of education in South Korea should be reinvented as a system which lets its students spread their wings freely.

References

[1] Video Clip: An Issue of Concern: Korean Education - Raising Dragons URL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMwUwIi8a5s&feature=fvsr

[2] Wikipedia Article: Education in South Korea URL http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Korea

[3] Sir Ken Robinson on TED, “Bring on the Learning Revolution” URL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9LelXa3U_I

[4] ibid

[5] Sir Ken Robinson on TED, “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” URL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY

[6] Wikipedia Article: Anatole France URL 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatole_France

[7] Wikipedia Article: Waldorf Education URL http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldorf_education

[8] Wikipedia Article: Education in Finland URL http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Finland

04 21 2011 Chang Woo Jung

AP Lang at KMLA

To where is the South Korean education system going?

             What is the most fundamental function of education? This question should be differentiated from asking ‘what is the purpose of learning,’ because of the different scale each word cover. ‘Learning’ is usually used in the perspective of students-somebody who need to take knowledge and put it in their brains. This is important, since nobody can grow up properly without proper learning. However, ‘Education’ has even more importance than ‘Learning’ just has, due to the fact that wise teacher is more crucial in society than wise children. Everybody becomes a student in some time, but not each one of them can become a teacher. Without teachers, there are no education of kids and thus no learning in school-which is seriously damaging in today’s world, where schools are quite common. The need of teacher, which can be substituted by the need of education, is based on this formula: teacher (same as educator, or education itself) is someone who can provide more than books can. Back to the first question, this is the most basic function of education: let children experience and enjoy life, raise their diverse creativity, and most importantly, give them inspiration-both academic and living-over the simple knowledge books have.

             Like this, the concept of education contains so many crucial things that influence children to ‘grow up.’ However, the education system in South Korea tends to see children just as the imperfect beings which need to be finished products as fast as possible. Lots of video clips on harsh school life made by South Korean students, recently increased greatly in its number, directly show how heavy the education in this small peninsular is. In South Korea, from the elementary school kids in age 7 to the high school students in age 18, 12 years of school life before university seems only as the preparation for KSAT, the one-shot entrance examination for domestic colleges.[1] There are barely no teachers in public schools who successfully do what a teacher should do-no critical thinking but only cram for exams. From the very start of school life, children are mostly evaluated only by their scores and grades. There are some differences in private schools, but only ‘social bourgeoisies’ in South Korea can make enough money for tuition. There is not much educational welfare in the country. Perhaps that’s why every parents and kids in South Korea make excessive efforts to get into renowned universities-which somehow guarantee the abundant life after graduation, so allow them to send their children to high quality private school. Basically, this vicious circle of college degree, social position, and future income make parents and students go mad only at ‘numerical results’-no middle process of any meaningful learning from school. One phenomenal example of the fierce educational competition in South Korea is “gireogi appa,” literally a "goose dad" whose kids go abroad and live with mother for learning foreign language. These dads live alone in South Korea, earning money only for the education of their children.[2]

             In this education system, South Korean students are easily exhausted. The system is mostly focusing on results, and ignoring the procedure of each student’s unique creativity development. Naturally, the students who are not accustomed to choosing right answers should be seen as poor ones. Only the “correct answer pickers” can grab the decent position of honor students in South Korea. However, this method has a significant risk (or maybe a wrong presupposition): every child does not have the same features. Depend on characteristic, disposition, and many other factors, the strong points of each student must be different. But current system in South Korea mandates to its students to follow one standardized path. Sir Ken Robinson once talked about human creativity: “…life is not linear, it's organic. We create our lives symbiotically as we explore our talents in relation to the circumstances they help to create for us…human communities depend upon a diversity of talent, not a singular conception of ability.”[3] However, unlike what he said, the South Korean public education sorts out every “mutant student” from its territory-which is quite old-fashioned style, not encouraging students to find individual aptitude but manufacturing them through conveyor belt for the needs of society. Mr. Robinson talked about this problem too, warning the danger of “cramming education”: “…if you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original. And by the time they get to be adults, most kids have lost that capacity…we are now running national education systems where mistakes are the worst thing you can make.”[4]

             Considering current situation, there needs a total reform in education scene of South Korea. First and foremost, the social view on the purpose of education should be changed. It is not to make the cohorts of student desirable stereotype of society, but to let them have life and talents, find their own reason for studying. Like Anatole France, a French novelist, once said, we should acknowledge that “the errors of enthusiasm” is more preferable than “the indifference of wisdom.” in today’s society.[5] Only from diversified thinking without the fear for being wrong we can expect extended creativity, and only from this extensive creativeness the students can have nutritious environment for their talents in schools. One possible alternative is the “Waldorf education,” a humanistic approach to pedagogy. This approach concentrates on the interdisciplinary, integrating practical, artistic, and conceptual elements of learning, and emphasizes the role of the imagination (creativity) in it. Schools and teachers are given considerable freedom to define curricula under the arch of Waldorf education.[6] Secondly, the social support for the education should be enlarged. The education in Finland gives an effective answer for this matter. Finland requires no tuition fees for full-time students in its main educational system. Before the age for college, there are two lines of school: upper secondary, which focuses on academic, and vocational, which provides occupation training. Finnish people don’t think one is superior over the other. The society opens the room for each different talent. Finnish politicians set their education’s purpose to educate the vast majority of Finns to a higher degree-leaving no stragglers behind,[7] contrastive to the education in South Korea which guarantees good quality teaching only for wealthy students.

             We should ask one more time: “What is the main goal of education?” Nobody can deny the long history of antiquated education in South Korea. Now it’s time for changing fixed concept with new paradigm-teaching not for the sake of high scoring, but for the sake of individual child. Every student should have the right to expand personal talents and creativity, which include the possible capacity for changing our society in various ways. To accomplish this, both the common viewpoint on teaching and current social support for schools and teachers should be changed simultaneously. Finally, we should know our children are raw stones-which can be a precious jewel with soft care, but also can be left as useless stones if not treated properly. The future of education in South Korea shall be something which let its students spread their wings freely.

References

[1] Video Clip: An Issue of Concern: Korean Education - Raising Dragons URL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMwUwIi8a5s&feature=fvsr

[2] Wikipedia Article: Education in South Korea URL http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Korea

[3] Sir Ken Robinson on TED, “Bring on the Learning Revolution” URL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9LelXa3U_I

[4] Sir Ken Robinson on TED, “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” URL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY

[5] Wikipedia Article: Anatole France URL http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatole_France

[6] Wikipedia Article: Waldorf Education URL http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldorf_education

[7] Wikipedia Article: Education in Finland URL http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Finland

04 02 2011 Chang Woo Jung

AP Lang at KMLA

AP Synthesis Prompt In-class Practice (03-21-11)

Write an essay in which you develop a position on the effects of advertising. Synthesize at least three of the sources for support.

             From the start of ‘modern days,’ when the birth and development of mass media occurred, the formats of advertisement had been improved together. As the capitalism society encouraged more and more competitions between companies, the companies began to find the way to make people attracted by their own products-and eventually consume their goods. However, more and more advertisements don’t seem to make the overall society healthier today. They might improve the income of certain companies and give economy health by increased consumption, but don’t contribute much on the well-being of social individuals. Indeed, they even harm average people’s life under the name of free market economy.

             One of the most important features of the advertisements is that their initial purpose is to let people buy or do something which certain organizations or companies want. People may become more satisfied with a new high-quality shampoo, or more comfortable with a newly developed robot home cleaner. Also, people might get proud of themselves after donating their own precious blood to volunteering organization. And the most important point is the fact that most of our consumptions are based on such advertisements in these days. Perhaps it’s very natural phenomenon since our lives are saturated with ads today. However, in other words this means advertisements seriously interfere in our way of life. Like the dandruff shampoo, which nobody cared at all before advertisers mentioned.(# D) The advertisements, even more as the media around us developed, set the standard of our lives without our consent. It should be us who decide what we need, not the advertisements.

             In addition, today’s advertisers focus more on the profits of their companies or organization than on the general well-being of the consumers. Why people buy or do something after all? It’s because they want to be happier and more comfortable, more satisfied by those actions. If smoking cigarettes cannot do any good for the smokers, they would quit it as soon as possible. However, although there are piles of reports on the physical, social and other risks of smoking, the smokers don’t quit. Because they believe there are still some positive sides of cigarettes, for example looking cool. Then who, at the very first, set such social images of smoking? It was cigarette advertisers. I strongly doubt that they didn’t notice the possible danger of smoking cigarettes in old days. However, they made advertisements which emphasize some good images of smoking to sell their products.(# B) Although it’s bad for people’s health, they recommended cigarettes through their ads-indirectly and immorally-to make money. This is one example which shows how the desire for profit ruined the reasonable and moral role of producers, under the name of healthy and free market economy.(# F)

             There may be some positive side effects of advertisements in society, like informing people some up-to-date data(# C) and encouraging them to do social good.(# A) However, considering the most initial background for the birth of advertisements, and the advertising itself, they exist for the benefit of producers, not for the bigger social good. In present age, with the appearance of more effective media like internet, the means of ads armed themselves with more powerful accessibility and come into our lives unconsciously. And they set the shape of ‘desirable life’ regardless of our opinions, sometimes even against moral common senses. This is why the advertisements have more bad side effects than good ones. 

03 21 2011 Chang Woo Jung

AP Lang @ KMLA

Future of Education / Rough Ideas and Sources

“What is the purpose of education?”

In my opinion, the recent educational issues can be compacted into these two disputable arguments

“One genius supports one 10 thousands normal people. (Lee Kun-hee)”

-“Upbringing of gifted students” in Nation-scale

vs.

“Everybody should get the same educational opportunity”

-Removing educational polarization

What’s happening in South Korea?

1. The “highest quality” education : KMLA / Science schools in Korea

http://kimss58.cafe24.com/zero/zboard.php?id=kssline01&page=8&sn1=&divpage=1&sn=off&ss=on&sc=on&select_arrange=subject&desc=desc&no=928&PHPSESSID=57e97f973ddcde05e4b0deaa90d83bec This article talks about the importance of supporting and raising genius. After all, those gifted children will be the precious national resources-the resources which produce amazing ideas among each of their team.

2. Alternative education : E-woo school in Korea

http://news.khan.co.kr/kh_news/khan_art_view.html?artid=201007152056341&code=940401

This school talks about “total education reform” in Korea. It picks its new students not based on the grades, but depends on everything about the students, even including family environment. The fundamental purpose of this school is to let every normal student know their own possibilities and abilities, and produce the students with talent of cooperation.

3. Abroad institutions, famous for the quality of education

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandes_%C3%89coles

This Wikipedia article briefly introduces the Grand ecoles, which are higher education establishments outside the main framework of the French university system. They traditionally produce most of France's high-ranking civil servants, politicians and executives as well as many scientists and philosophers.

http://www.understandfrance.org/France/Education.html

This article talks about the overall educational system in France, which concentrates on producing students with one specialty-which is one difference from Korea’s newly rising educational trend, which emphasizes the education for one student’s all-sides.

Personally I stand for the first argument: if there should be any ignition for not only education but also broader society, the answer will be prodigies. But then, we would confront with one serious question: “Who do we call as a ‘genius’?”

Here is a video clip for Taylor Mali’s “What teachers make,” which lets us think about the true meaning of education. What is education? How can we define “educating a child?”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxsOVK4syxU&feature=related

What teachers make / Taylor Mali

He says the problem with teachers is, "What's a kid going to learn 
from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?" 
He reminds the other dinner guests that it's true what they say about teachers: 
Those who can, do; those who can't, teach.

I decide to bite my tongue instead of his 
and resist the temptation to remind the other dinner guests 
that it's also true what they say about lawyers.
Because we're eating, after all, and this is polite company.
"I mean, you¹re a teacher, Taylor," he says. 
"Be honest. What do you make?"
And I wish he hadn't done that 
(asked me to be honest) 
because, you see, I have a policy 
about honesty and ass-kicking: 
if you ask for it, I have to let you have it.
You want to know what I make?
I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could. 
I can make a C+ feel like a Congressional medal of honor 
and an A- feel like a slap in the face. 
How dare you waste my time with anything less than your very best.
I make kids sit through 40 minutes of study hall 
in absolute silence. No, you may not work in groups. 
No, you may not ask a question. 
Why won't I let you get a drink of water? 
Because you're not thirsty, you're bored, that's why.
I make parents tremble in fear when I call home: 
I hope I haven't called at a bad time, 
I just wanted to talk to you about something Billy said today. 
Billy said, "Leave the kid alone. I still cry sometimes, don't you?" 
And it was the noblest act of courage I have ever seen.
I make parents see their children for who they are 
and what they can be.
You want to know what I make?
I make kids wonder, 
I make them question. 
I make them criticize. 
I make them apologize and mean it. 
I make them write, write, write. 
And then I make them read. 
I make them spell definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful 
over and over and over again until they will never misspell 
either one of those words again. 
I make them show all their work in math. 
And hide it on their final drafts in English. 
I make them understand that if you got this (brains) 
then you follow this (heart) and if someone ever tries to judge you 
by what you make, you give them this (the finger).
Let me break it down for you, so you know what I say is true: 
I make a goddamn difference! What about you


03 14 2011 Chang Woo Jung
AP Lang @ KMLA

Pink Plastic Flamingo

          After the fierce and long-lasting WWII had been gone, Americans could enjoy the sense of freedom from the pressure of wartime experience. With the recovery of economic abundance in domestic level, the American 50s are now remembered as the time of flourishing. Price, in her recent essay, took her peculiar approach to this era of productive social atmosphere with the figure of pink plastic flamingo, especially in cultural context. Using proper diction to draw the lively sketch of 50s and hiring apt examples for the detailed images of the period, Price tried to explain the meaning of pink plastic flamingo in the writing. Moreover, she also pointed out the ironical etymology of the term to catch the impact and meaning of it, which eventually supports her idea quite efficiently.

           The first important feature of Price’s writing is the usage of appropriate dictions. From the very start, she used “splashed” and “boldness,” in which contain the remarkable impact of pink plastic flamingo. Through this terminology, her essay gives the hint of what this newly rising trend in 50s influenced on the American society-she is indirectly saying the huge impact of pink flamingo. Also, at the example of Miami beach’s Flamingo hotel in 1910s and 1920s, Price mentions “wealth and pizzazz” as the example of pink flamingo’s popular social image in old America. While the Miami beach story focus on the meaning of flamingo itself, the quote from Tom Wolfe effectively conveys the nuance of “pink” to the readers. The “sassy pink” color was one of the ‘electrochemical pastel’ hues produced under the idea of forward-looking, rather than old-fashioned. Together, these dictions she used imply the background atmosphere of 50s, when there was a compensation psychology of Americans about terrible wartime experiences through the fashioning of pink flamingo.

           While Price’s vocabularies give readers the social nuance of pink plastic flamingo, the anecdotes she quoted produce the minute phase of American 50s. She wrote about the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, in 1946. It says, when the pink flamingo was located in the middle of desert, the impact of this ‘sassy’ symbol became even more striking. Furthermore, Price wrote about the motels, restaurants, lounges and other building with the pink flamingo concept. These examples show the reason behind such great popularity: pink flamingo was the symbol of brightness and freshness after hard war, and American people in 50s already accepted it as an emblem of productivity and wealth. The most fundamental question under her anecdotes and examples is nothing but straightforward. “Why pink plastic flamingo became the symbol of American 50s?” And Price answered to the question by herself, providing the significant social evidences from history. She took some historical images of flamingo as the sun God Ra of Egypt, and flamingo in Mexico and Caribbean. Emphasizing the specialty of flamingo itself, there are enough examples in her essay which support socioeconomic trend of flamingo in American 50s.

           Lastly, Price questioned the irony of the terminology itself. “Why it’s ‘pink’ flamingo, as if they could be blue or green?” This is very curious point indeed, since every flamingo is pink naturally. Additionally, she focused on the fact that plastic flamingo products are even more pinkish than the actual one, while the real flamingo itself is already quite noticeable in color. Through this ironical situation, Price emphatically conveying the meaning of pink to Americans in 50s. As she mentioned, the bright sassy pink became popular trend for the Americans who experienced Depression and WWII. Maybe the hard times they went through are the strongest reason for putting ‘pink’ in front of the word ‘flamingo’, which is already pink-so to produce brighter image from it. By pointing out the etymology, Price explained why the richness and ampleness of pink color had such huge social context in 50s, like Elvis Presley buying a pink Cadillac, not blue or green ones.

           In conclusion, we can understand from Price’s writing that social atmosphere of 50s created the tempting image of pink flamingo, and brought the syndrome all over the States. Through the usage of diction, examples, and question to basic etymology, Price successfully crafted her essay, making her readers notice the social relationship between American 50s and pink plastic flamingo.

03 08 2011 Chang Woo Jung
AP Lang @ KMLA