Sub day

The United States prides itself on being a nation of immigrants, and the nation has a long history of successfully absorbing people from across the globe. The successful integration of immigrants and their children contributes to economic vitality and to a vibrant and ever changing culture. The American government has tried to offer opportunities to immigrants and their children to better themselves and to be fully incorporated into U.S. society. In exchange immigrants have become American by embracing an American identity and citizenship, protecting the United States through service in its military, fostering technological innovation, harvesting its crops, and enriching everything from the nation’s cuisine to its universities, music, and art. Although our country has always been home to the immigrants a lot has changed over the years, affecting our countries policies in both positive and negative ways. This leads us to the question if our country is till home to the immigrants? 

Test Today

Today we took a test and I just finished it. I did look over everything and I think that I did good. The test was relatively easy. I was very confused because I didn't get C for any of the answers in the multiple choice, which never happens so hopefully I was correct. Today Im going to start to write my one essay and I'm going to finish the other.
Option A: Choose three nations from three different parts of the world. Discuss the challenges they face regarding population and migration, using information we learned during our studies (perhaps including CIA World Factbook data, population pyramids, Net Migration Rates, possible overpopulation or underpopulation). Also, analyze what each nation's leaders need to do to deal with these challenges.

Option B:  Consider our studies of immigration, push and pull forces, quotas, asylum, legal and illegal immigrants, civil rights and human rights, and the current state of our nation. Then, thoughtfully answer these questions: What are the different ways in which United States immigration policy has evolved over the last 100 years? What are the positive and negative effects of these policies? What immigration policies would you recommend the US implement right now, and what would be the effects (both positive and negative) of your policies?

Review

Mobility is the most generalized term that refers to all types of movements.
Short term and repetitive acts of mobility are called circulation
Migration is a permanent move to a new location
Ravensteins law for distance that migrants typically move-
long distance------major city
most within country----- short distance
2 Categories
International Migration move to another country
Internal Migration same country
3 main eras or Immigration(US)
Colonial settlement
mass European immigration
asain and latin america
California and Texas have the most immigrants

Notes Notes Notes

Today we took notes on how if you are an illegal immigrant and you have a child, the child is a U.S citizen. The question is are the parents then granted citizenship. It's true that U.S. citizens can petition for their parents to receive green cards; but only after the U.S. citizen child turns 21. Staying in the U.S. without permission for all that time could be difficult.

Also, anyone who entered the U.S. illegally (without inspection) faces further complications. One is that, after turning 21 and petitioning for the parents, the child will need to be earning enough money to serve as the parents' financial sponsor(or the family will need to have enough assets to make up the difference).

Why do Migrants Face Challenges?

Transportation improvements that promoted globalization. The major obstacles faced by most immigrants are political. The two reasons that most visas are granted are for specific employment placement and family reunifications.
1.) maintain the current level of immigration
2.) increase the level
3.) reduce the level
4.) no policy similar, emigration policies are identified by the same four classes
There have been immigrates allowed into the United States than ever before (2014)
U.S. Immigration at independence
U.S. population in 1790
1st census after independence was 3.9 million (including 950,000 who had immigrated to one)

Today I was sick

Today I wasn't feeling well so my parents wouldn't let me go to school. It was very annoying because I hate missing school and making up the work I missed. Today I slept all day then I did my make up work or at least anything I could do with what I had home.

Class Disscusion

Today in class we continued to listen to a podcast about asylum in terms of immigration. Asylum is granted to people in need of a safer, more secure environment out of their home country. In order to be given the right of asylum in the Untied States, the government looks and  takes account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. One of the points discussed in the podcast, was the new category put in place by Obama. This new category was domestic violence, mainly pertaining to woman. This was taken away by President Trump. I know everyones noses came out with steam when hearing this. By stating that he was taking away this category people immediately assume that means that Trump doesn't care about our countries recent issue of domestic violence. Domestic violence is a very awful thing that I would never wish on anyone. The mental and physical scarring left with you till the day you pass is something most of us can't comprehend. This being said it has to do with people. The country you are living in doesn't give a person the impression that placing your hands on a woman with the intention of harm is okay. If we are giving asylum to anyone who has accusations of domestic violence where do we draw the line? How do we know which cases are legitimate? The United States itself is struggling with this issue, with countless woman marches and protest against the discriminatory behavior of men towards woman. It was great to see everyones point of view on the various topics, but it just didn't seem right how whenever someone hears the name Trump its immediately a bad connotation. After hearing what Colin said about a compromise and taking both extremes to a solution was quite interesting. Also at the same time taking both extremes and people with opposing views and have them come to agreement is unrealistic. As ideal as it sounds, our county feeds off controversy and stubbornness. I don't consider my self a very strong conservative although I agree with most points behind the political views. I chose to look at it both ways and see how someone else is thinking. I think a few classmates had a hard time with someone else telling them to look at the situation in a new prospective. I also don't agree with anyone telling someone that their opinion is the correct or right opinion. It is an opinion for a reason. I wish more people would've given their input although many people participated. Overall I would do this again, but I would sit back and just listen.

Immigration

On October 31, 2018, the Trump administration promised to send up to 15,000 troops to the Mexico border. The migrants are seeking asylum from dangerous and oppressive conditions in their home country. They have banded together to protect each other on the dangerous trek and to avoid using human traffickers. On January 26, 2018, Trump released an immigration plan. It would offer a 12-year path to citizenship for 1.8 million immigrants who arrived in the United States illegally as children. It would replace President Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.On April 24, 2018, the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the Department of Homeland Security must better explain its reasons for canceling DACA. If it doesn't do so in 90 days, the department must resume processing DACA applications.DACA offers a two-year deferral of deportation for eligible immigrants. Eligible people are those under 31 who were illegally brought to the United States as children. President Obama launched the program with an executive order in 2012. Since then, it has given 787,580 “Dreamers” a work permit. The Cato Institute estimated that elimination of DACA could cost the economy $215 billion over 10 years. That's the amount of lost spending power from these employed young people. On August 4, 2018, a federal judge ruled the Trump administration must fully restore DACA. On November 8, 2018, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld DACA

 

Migration

Migration is the movement by people from one place to another with the intentions of settling, permanently or temporarily in a new location. The movement is often over long distances and from one country to another, but internal migration is also possible; indeed, this is the dominant form globally. People may migrate as individuals, in family units or in large groups. There are pull and push factors that encompasses in each causes. The causes include social, political and economic aspects; the effects also vary for both sending and host countries. Firstly, human migration is due to social factors such as, racism, sexism and religion. 

The rate of Mexico-U.S. migration has declined precipitously in recent years. From 25 migrants per thousand in 2005, the annual international migration rate for Mexican men dropped to 7 per thousand by 2012. If sustained, this low migration rate is likely to have a profound effect on the ethnic and national-origin composition of the U.S. population. This study examines the origins of the migration decline using a nationally representative panel survey of Mexican households. The results support an explanation that attributes a large part of the decline to lower labor demand for Mexican immigrants in the United States. 

Belle is stressed

I was feeling good after break. Excited to see my friends and go to class because my grades are doing well. As soon as I step into class, we get a full lecture on how exams are coming up and we should start studying now. Also exams are worth 20 percent of our grade so if you bomb it then you're in a tough situation. Anyways, in class today we took some notes on migration. I didn't realize how much of Amercia's population is immigrants. Today, more than 40 million people living in the U.S. were born in another country, accounting for about one-fifth of the world’s migrants in 2016. The population of immigrants is also very diverse, with just about every country in the world represented among U.S. immigrants.

BREAK

I am so excited about break! For Thanksgiving, all of my family comes over to my house. I wish that we went to my grandparents, but its way easier for the whole family to come to ours. My cousins, grandma, and mom are the ones who cook. Me? No. Cooking is not my thing. I will burn everything I touch and poison everything I lay my eyes on. I'm much more comfortable with hanging out in the basement with most of the guys. We usually go outside and play lacrosse or basketball. If we're not outside then we're all talking by the fire and sneaking some early snacks. Once it's time for the feast, we all gather and eat for about 3 hours. We just sit and talk forever, it's truly the best. The day after Thanksgiving we all decorate for Christmas. That is the best because we goof around and listen to Christmas music all day.

Hans Roslings Video

Hans video is about the Demographic Transition and how it changes over time acoording to the nation and its culture. Rosling’s review of the past 200 years leaves me rather optimistic about the years ahead. As he has outlined elsewhere, there are serious problems facing us in regards to exponential population growth and global health. Yet there are also solutions to humanity’s grand challenges of poverty, health, energy, etc. Demonstrations like this one could help broader audiences not only grasp the seriousness of the situation, but have hope that we can improve the world with out policies and technologies. As Rosling shows, the world is always changing and our beliefs must change with it. Perhaps colorful graphs and exciting lectures will help us reshape how we think of the world. At the very least they’ll change the way we think of statistics.

Should contraceptives be given to Africa

The more people who inhabit the Earth, the more they must compete for its resources. Although human population has grown steadily, developments in recent decades have been encouraging. Globally, women today give birth to an average of 2.5 children, half as many as in the early 1950s. Extreme growth threatens Africa's development and stability. Africa needs a new approach to slowing its population rise, to preserve peace and security, improve economic development and protect environmental sustainability.International donors shifted their focus to promoting general health care reform including fighting HIV/AIDS and other deadly diseases.Better education of young men is also vital. Young people of both genders who complete comprehensive sex education courses are more likely to delay having sex which reduces early and unwanted pregnancy.

Demographic transition

Demographic transition (DT) is the transition from high birth and death rates to lower birth and death rates as a country or region develops from a pre-industrial to an industrialized economic system. The Demographic transition model (DTM) is a model used to explain the process of shift from high birth rates and high death rates to low birth rates and low death rates as part of the economic development of a country from a pre-industrial to an industrialized economy. It is based on an interpretation begun in 1929 by the American demographer Warren Thompson of prior observed changes, or transitions, in birth and death rates in industrialized societies over the past two hundred years. Most developed countries are beyond stage three of the model; the majority of developing countries are in stage 2 or stage 3.

More notes...

Today in class we took the best class selfie. Everybody smushed together and clung together so that we could fit in the frame of Sydneys Photo Booth on her computer. There are so many different filters you can use to distort your face and some can even make your face look better. I personally think that the swirl feature makes me look the best, but its all in what you like. After the photo was taken, everyone wanted a copy so we had to get everyones emails. After we gathered everyones emails and sent it everyone Mr. Schick returned. I just realized I never even mentioned he left. Well he did, but just for a little. Then we told him all about our selfie, but something tells me he didn't really care.

Extended Notes on Population

Since a lot of students are out because of the play we did some extended notes on population. The notes were from an AP Human Geography class powerpoint. After guessing if the next slide was going to be a map, graph, or more notes the class started to ask Mr. Schick more personal questions. For example, if he remembered memories from his childhood. He then looked up his school after it got hit by a tornado. He told us in vivid detail the tornado hitting the school and how he had to hide under a mattress so that he would stay safe with his family. A tornado is a violent rotating column of air extending from a thunderstorm to the ground. The most violent tornadoes are capable of tremendous destruction with wind speeds of up to 300 mph. They can destroy large buildings, uproot trees and hurl vehicles hundreds of yards. They can also drive straw into trees.

Test Day

Today in Human Geography we took our test on the material we learned the past 2 weeks. The test was fairly easy in my opinion. I think that I did well, especially on the cartoon pictures at the end of class. I drew a picture of a man that was surrendering because he was shot in the heart with an arrow. Pretty interesting, right? Well maybe not to some people, but I thought it was quite interesting. The best part about taking a Human Geography test is that when you get an A the bell rings. It's like scoring the winning goal or finished that run. It feels like all the hard work paid off. It also looks good on my grade, which may be the best part but the bell is cool too.

Areas of the world and their population patterns

Today in class, we were shown a place in our country and their population according to age and gender. We saw how a city that has a big college has an influx of people from the age 18-26. This is because the majority of people there are students in college. We saw how a military bases population is mainly men because more men decide to go into the war. There was also a fair amount of kids at the base because many of the solider's significant others come along with them and live in housing on the base. Mr. Schick informed us that a military base isn't a bad place to start a family and in fact it's an overall good place to have children. We looked at a city and Florida and saw how many elderly people choose to retire there. I would not want to live in a place with that many old people, but thats just my opinion.

Prymaids

There are three types of population pyramids: cone, Christmas tree, and box or better known as ;expansive, constrictive, and stationary. Expansive population pyramids depict populations that have a larger percentage of people in younger age groups. Populations with this shape usually have high fertility rates with lower life expectancies.Constrictive population pyramids are named so because they are constricted at the bottom. There is a lower percentage of younger people. Constrictive population pyramids show declining birth rates, since each succeeding age group is getting smaller and smaller. The United States has a constrictive population pyramid. Stationary population pyramids are those that show a somewhat equal proportion of the population in each age group. There is not a decrease or increase in population; it is stable. Austria has a stationary population pyramid.

The 5 page test

Today we learned and talked about the huge test we are going to have coming up. We have 15 minutes to complete a 15 question scavenger hunt through the CIA world fact book. I am very confident with myself that I will be able to complete the 15 questions within the allotted time and get the correct answers. We also had a shadow that was homeschooled. I was fascinated on how she teaches herself so I did some research. I saw that in the homeschooling lesson plans there are options where you can interact with a teacher, but a lot of it is on your own.

More on the Cia Factbook

Today in class Mr. Schick reviewed our grades and some people discussed with him about how they found errors. Veracross was down so it took awhile for the whole class to get on. Then we all shared facts on the CIA Worldfact book that we found to be interesting. I shared that I thought it was very interesting how much of the population of kids under 5 in India are underweight. This made me concerned for how the children in India are going to be treated years from now when their population is even more than it is now. Children need certain nutrients to grow and stay healthy so if they aren't being given these nutrients then their life expectancy will be very low. I found that About 60% of India's nearly 1.3 billion people live on less than $3.10 a day, the World Bank's median poverty line. And 21%, or more than 250 million people, survive on less than $2 a day. These are very alarming numbers because you can barely go to McDonalds with that money so its impossible to get a healthy nutritious meal.

5 facts about the CIA World Fact Book

1. -When I was looking at the mother's mean age of the United States I saw that it was 28.5, but I found it interesting that Japan and Ireland's mean age is 30.7. This may be to the fact it’s probably easier for  the United States mothers to retain their jobs/continue working after childbirth, and the difference in education-related costs. In Japan and Ireland, mothers may have to wait till their older so that they can have a better established job and are finically stable because the higher cost of a child.
2. -When looking at how many people in each country use internet, the top ten countries (in millions) are China 730.7, India 374.3,United States 246.8, Brazil 122.8, Japan 116.6, Russia 108.8, Mexico 73.3, Germany 72.3, Indonesia 65.5, and the United Kingdom 61. The countries that are more developed have a high internet usage. I also noticed that China is the country with the most people who use the interment i predict that this is because they have the biggest population in the world. 
3. -Greece has a lower population than I would've thought. It is ranked number 85 and has only 10,768,477 people. I found that Greece has been struggling with a deep economic crisis for the past decade. As a result, many economic immigrants left for other countries. Some returned home as in the case of many Albanians and Bulgarians, even Georgians/Russians. In addition estimates are that 500,000 highly skilled and educated Greeks left seeking employment in other European countries.
4. - I found it interesting that 98.1% of the population in Japan speak Japanese. This is because of Japan's a country thats very loyal. They don't usually accept immigrants and they don't adapt to other cultures well.
5. The United States is the 12th most obese country while most of the other well known developed countries all have low obesity rates. This is because the US many fast food places and an abundance of processed food.

TFR

 Total fertility rate TFR that if sustained leads to each new generation being less populous than the older, previous one in a given area. In developed countries sub-replacement fertility is any rate below approximately 2.1 children born per woman, but the threshold can be as high as 3.4 in some developing countries because of higher mortality rates. Taken globally, the total fertility rate at replacement was 2.33 children per woman in 2003. This can be translated as 2 children per woman to replace the parents, plus a third of a child to make up for the higher probability of boys born and mortality prior to the end of their fertile life. Developing countries have a higher TFR because they have more kids because they don't have birth control. Countries that are poor can't afford to have protection therefore they keep producing kids. The countries or areas that have the lowest fertility are in developed parts of East and Southeast Asia: Singapore, Macau, Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea.

Migration

Today in class we discussed how migration affects a countries population. For a long time, migration from Mexico to the United States has been largely driven by low-skilled, unauthorized workers seeking economic opportunity. However in recent years, migration patterns have changed due to factors including the improving Mexican economy, stepped-up U.S. immigration enforcement, and the long-term drop in Mexico’s birth rates. Birth rates are the number of live births per thousand of population per year. More Mexican immigrants have returned to Mexico than have migrated to the United States, and apprehensions of Mexicans at the U.S.-Mexico border are at a 40-year low. Mexico is also no longer the top origin country among the most recent immigrants to the United States. In addition, newer immigrants from Mexico are more likely to be college graduates and have stronger English skills than those who arrived in prior decades. This has positively affected the countries population and overall well being. This will allow less crime to occur and establish goid values so that younger generations will flourish. 

New Unit.

Today in class we started a new unit about population. It talks about how the population of the world is always growing and how by the time we're in college the population will be at 8 billion. Death also does play a big factor in this also, if more people die and less children are produced then maybe the population will stay under 8 billion for longer than we all think. It was also very interesting to me to see that many of the countries with low populations have the most kids. This was shocking because if they can't afford to have kids, then why do they keep having them? A reason for this is because they want to have a male in the family. If they keep having girls then the family will continue to keep trying in order to have a boy so that the family name will remain. it's crazy to think that woman will nearly kill themselves in order to have a boy, when in fact the male life expectancy is low for men. We determined this was because of the mental make up of a male. They find more enjoyment by being risky and dangerous. When woman don't find that enthusing. They want to be safe and go to the hospital if they are in a need to. I'm looking forward to this unit coming up because I find it very intriguing. I see how the population can affect our future world.

Today test

Today in human geography  we took the test that we have been preparing for. I studied a lot last night and went through my notes during health class. I felt good about everything except the one question when it asked about where the name El Paso came from. I took an educated guess so hopefully I was right. If I don't do good then I'll cry. The best part of class was when we all sang the iCarly theme song together. It was the funniest thing. I'm sure the shadow was scared but hopefully she understood we aren't completely crazy. I'm also looking forward to this weekend with my friends. We're all going to our districted schools homecoming together. Hopefully it will be lots of fun.

Review

Review Notes:
Geographer describe where things are by using latitude and longitude. Each point on earth is unique because they religions with different characteristics like culture. Places are similar because of scale, space, and connections. Some human actions are not sustainable because of globalization.
First map by Erototheses.
Age of Discovery
Distortion- area, distance, size, direction
absolute location- exact degrees
relative location: less specific
Gps- global positioning system

In the future

In the future, I think the world will be a much more chaotic place. The world in the year 2040, which is 22 years from now technology will have taken over the world, one square mile at a time. Robots won't just be found in factories. They'll be found everywhere. People won't be have nannies anymore or butlers. They can just have their robot companions do any chores they would need to complete. This would also cause kids to become ungrateful spoiled brats. In the future, nothing will exist other than these emotionless, self centered, machines full of gears and wires. They will destroy the world and overpower the government until dirt is left to dry. I also think that social media sites like Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and Youtube will become a more popular thing.

Globalization

Globalization is a process of interaction and integration among the people, companies, and governments of different nations, a process driven by investment and aided by technology. This process has effects on the environment, on culture, on political systems, on economic development and prosperity, and on human well being in societies around the world. Globalization is not new, though. For thousands of years, people—and, later, corporations—have been buying from and selling to each other in lands at great distances, such as through the famed Silk Road across Central Asia that connected China and Europe during the Middle Ages. Likewise, for centuries, people and corporations have invested in enterprises in other countries. In fact, many of the features of the current wave of globalization are similar to those prevailing before the outbreak of the First World War in 1914.

Culture

When I lived in Seattle, I wasn't used to how the culture was so much different. The people in Seattle weren't used to the culture I grew up in either. In Seattle, the weather was always rainy. There wasn't a day where the day wasn't gloomy and grey. The rain sprinkled down everyday when I used to walk to my phone. In Maryland, the sun used to be shining down whenever we walked to school and I used to wear short sleeve shirts with shorts. I then in Seattle wore pants and a rain jacket.

Regions

A region is a unique area. An area on Earth defined by one or more distinctive characteristics.  A region derives its unified character. There are three types of regions. Formal which is an area where all share common traits, language, climate. Functional is the other region type. Mr. Schick said that he doesn't like functional region.  A vernacular region is a distinctive area where the inhabitants collectively consider themselves interconnected by a shared history, mutual interests, and a common identity. A think I am understanding this stuff about region good so when we have a pop quiz or test I'll do good.

Powderpuff Game

The football game was so fun today. It was very exciting to see all the girls dressed in blue and green. They put glitter everywhere and there wasn't a spot of paint that wasn't on somebodies legs. Everyone at John Carroll has such enthusiasm for being a student at the school. I do admit, I've caught spirit day syndrome. Because of all the extraneous outfits and silly traditions, I've been quite talkative. School is going to be so odd on Tuesday not seeing everyone in their uniforms. Everyone will most likely be quiet and docile, unlike this week. I can't wait to not be a freshman because the whole "freshie" thing is getting quite old. Overall, this week has made me more comfortable being a freshman at John Carroll. 

GPS and Smartphones

Today in class, we talked about how the GPS on our phones doesn't work more than half of the time. It's also crazy to think that our phones know our location at all times. That would stink if the government could see our phones because they could see me at all times. I was thinking that if I was a criminal and I had to find a way to hide without the government every finding me, then the first thing I would do is get rid of my phone. Then I would definitely free the country to another country like Mexico and Cuba. I'm also more scared of Alexa then I've ever been. My mom never let me get one and I know understand why. I don't appreciate a random piece  of metal and wires knowing where I am at all times and listening to my "private" conversations.

Review Test

Today we went over the test and looked at our first test. It was good getting to know how Mr. Schick grades his tests and goes over the. I know exactly what I need to study for the next test we have. After discussing what the answers were for the test we took, we worked some more on labeling maps. I noticed how many time zones we have and how the times differ depending on where you are in the world. I really do find the maps and time zones interesting, since I haven't ever payed attention to them before I had the class. This week has been so fun and exciting. I love walking into school and seeing the outfits people come up with. I even got away with wearing my pajamas 2 days of school. It kind of feels like private school again which is a comforting feeling to have. It feels like home almost, but I know it'll go back to feeling like school again once we have our uniforms.

Catch up

While Mr. Schick looked and graded some of our blogs we worked on our maps... more or less. The class instead decided to discuss how Mr. Schick could possibly be a murderer. The facts aligned more and more so we came to the conclusion that Mr. Schick is a criminal. I'm slightly concerned, but it's okay. Since we then finished all of our work, we looked him up on white pages. We found mostly everything about him. We found his address, relatives, age, birthday, address, hometown, and middle name. Creepy right? Actually its kind of scary and I'm worried that someone might search me. There goes all of my personal information. Who cares about privacy anymore anyways. At least I finished all my maps and had a good laugh. I got to do my french homework because I didn't finish it last night, but I'm now frightened about the test we took in human geography last week. I think I did good, but you never know in human geography.

Labeling the Map

Today we spent class finishing the notes we took and started to label the three maps we were given. I also learned that I'm worse at geography then I thought. I can't believe I actually thought that Japan was in China. While working hard on my maps, Mr. Schick spoke very loud next to me and I have no idea why, but it scared me to a close death. I then jumped out of my seat and let out a frantic squeal. I scared the whole class into thinking that an emergency was happening. I don't remember very clearly, but I'm pretty sure I jumped out of my skin.  Now Mr. Schick most likely thinks that I'm a crazy person, but what's new. Tomorrow I have to finish all my maps and hopefully spell Arctic Ocean correct because I didn't that correctly either. What a eventful yet good day.

Time zones

Today at the end of class, Mr. Schick brought up a really good topic. Why do we start our day at 12 o'clock? I've thought about this one night when I couldn't go to sleep. I then couldn't think of a reasonable answer. so I gave up. I looked up why there's 24 hours in a day and it said this, "Our 24-hour day comes from the ancient Egyptians who divided day-time into 10 hours they measured with devices such as shadow clocks, and added a twilight hour at the beginning and another one at the end of the day-time, says Lomb. " Night-time was divided in 12 hours, based on the observations of stars." As I looked more into this topic I found there's a more in depth explanation for the division of night-time into 12 hours which is based on the number of "decan" stars which were seen to rise during summer nights in Ancient Egypt. This made more sense to me, but I still ponder on why we always stuck with the 24 hour day. Then again we are still primarily using a map from 1569. I hope that the class of 2022 can be the class to help make more discoveries and possibly make a difference in the world.

The Netflix Clip

Mr. Schick ditched the Honors Human Geography class today. After we cried about Mr. Schick being on a field trip with his class, Mr. Blair read out our assignment for the day. It is to "rewatch the clip that was shown in class and in your blog, describe the points made by the cartographers.  Are they valid points? You may wish to explain whether you agree or disagree with these points, and why."

In the clip, the said that the Mercator map created an ethnic bias against a third world, Germany.
I see how they could say this because when I look at the map, right in the middle in Germany. I don't know if this was done on purpose, but it is very suspicious. If you did however face the map upside, that would put America on the bottom and Germany no longer in the middle. That leads us to the question, does size and position equate to power in todays society? I do agree with this statement because personally I never even think of Australia. I know that it's a country, but it's never one of the first ones to pop into my head. I do agree that this is because it's at the very bottom of the map so not many people acknowledge it. 

Welp

Today's class was interesting to say the least. My classmates went on question every about the world. At the end of the day, no one has to be right or wrong.I think being correct or inncorect is what frustrates people most. If you truly believe in something then you'll never be 100% wrong. So instead of complaining about being lied to all of the time, and wishing harm against maps or people (Socrates), we should focus on what we do know. The facts. We know that we've been blessed with endless information to know and learn. There will always be the what ifs, but if we waste all of our time worrying about them, then we won't have time to learn about true facts. I think that the class took Socrates point of view a little too literally. It's okay to question life, but not every aspect of the proven world. I really hope that people don't live on the fact that the earth is "flat". Crazy.

The World Maps

Today in class, we learned that we've been lied to all of our lives. In fact, we apparently don't even know the size of Greenland. Yes that is an overreaction, but my mind was still blown. When I first saw the clip, I thought it was all fiction. How could they make a map that is wrong and still use it? I would think that if you knew a map was very incorrect and displayed unfair love to countries, then they would switch out the maps to the correct one. Well there is no correct map since the map is in the shape of a spheroid and a map is on a flat piece of paper. I also saw that we don't always have to look the north side of the map first. I always assumed that the map was supposed to be faced in that direction. It is only faced like that so North America is seen first. Poor Australia is always seen at the bottom, but if you flip the map you can see it first. This topic today seemed to anger some of my classmates and I understand why. Todays lesson was one of my favorites so far.

Today's Test

The test today wasn't as bad as I thought. I thought that I was going to be flustered and not know some of the answers but I knew pretty much all of them. I wish that I would have gotten the notes I missed from class because I didn't understand two of the questions. Overall, I really hope I got a good grade because I made sure to study and do what I was expected to do. I wish I would've gotten the extra credit right. I knew that it was a car, but I just couldn't remember what kind. If I didn't study the notes I took, I definitely would've failed. The class shockingly finished really early. I thought that the test would take a long time, but it went by surprisingly fast. It was hard to keep track of the time though because the clock was going insane. It was like it had a mind of its own.

Test on Monday

Today in class, Mr. Schick couldn't get his computer to work so we talked about our test on Monday. He also gave us the question that we will be writing about. The question is, "Is the unexamined life not worth living?". This weekend I will review over my notes and decide which way I would like to answer the question. Right now I think that the unexamined life is not worth living, but my opinion could always change. Then in class, we discussed our schedule which is very confusing. Today out of all days I'll most likely get lost but that's great!! I'm also super excited to win our game today against Bel Air. I stayed up last night and pictured all the plays I'd make and the different goals we'd score. All my family is coming so if we lose, that would be a little embarrassing. I usually start out on the field, but this is my first year playing so I never know for sure.

Socrates The Controversy

I think that Socrates was charged unfairly with the two crimes. I don't think that having a different mindset is a bad thing. If no one had different theories about life then we wouldn't have half the knowledge about the world that we do now. It would be a different if Socrates had a no followers or supporters but the trail was a close call. People loved him so much that they developed a way for him to escape the death he was sentenced to. Just because someone views their way of life different doesn't make them any better of a person than you are. I think that this lesson showed me that I need to be optimistic about the world and it's many mysteries. This class has also inspired me to read more books about history. I used to find them boring, but now its very intriguing.

Missing Class

Today I had to miss class because of a field hockey game. I didn't want to miss class and drive an hour away, but it was all worth it because our team won 8-0. I can't wait for the battle of Bel Air now and I really hope we play as well as we've been playing.

Arete

Today in class, I learned about the word arete. I had never heard of this word before we started talking about it in class. It means excellence of any kind and moral virtue. This word is all about taking initiative, which is something to keep in mind for this school year. I need to focus on what I have to complete in school and take that initiative in order to reach arete. Excellence is something that I believe we should all strive for. We also can't expect to always be perfect. Excellence can mean a lot of things according to the person. I know that excellence for me is straight A's, but for some people it's just passing the class. No matter what you should try your hardest and put in all your effort in order to reach your goals.

A Message to Garcia

   Elbert Hubbard was an American writer, editor, publisher, artist, businessman, anarchist and libertarian socialist philosopher. But what he is most know for, is his essay called A Message to Garcia. The 1, 500 word essay, which is now a 42 page book is short but full of meaning. 

  The story tells of the U.S President William McKinley needing to get a message to Garcia, who is located somewhere in Cuba. Rowan accepted the task without questioning. He took the letter from President McKinley and traveled to Cuba to deliver the president’s message. Rowan took a boat to the coast and made his way through jungles, to complete the mission all alone. Eventually, he found Garcia’s hideout in the mountains and delivered the president’s letter. 

  Reading the essay , I found that the point of A Message to Garcia, is not that you shouldn't blindly take a task without knowing all the details. I found that the point of the story, is to show the value of personal responsibility. No matter how big or small the mission is, it's up to only you to complete it. You can't rely on others to do the task for you and you also can't continuously make excuses for yourself. When reading about the essay by Hubbard, I found that most people think it's just a lesson for soldiers, but I think it's a good life lesson for everyone.

9/5 First Day

   Today was the first day of high school and it was interesting to say the least. I got in school a little later than I was expecting, especially because I needed to set up my locker. It's really not my fault my mom insisted on taking more or less than 1,000 pictures of me. Clearly, she doesn't see how weird I look in my uniform. But no matter how bad I look, my moms Facebook friends always find me cute. I got to my locker at 7:57. I go to open my locker and to my luck, it was jammed. After 2 minutes of pulling and tugging to open my locker, I asked for help. At this point, I didn't have any clue of what time it was. By the time I sprinted as fast as I could in a school friendly manner, it was 3 minutes past the time I was supposed to be in class. I tried to explain my whole situation calmly as she demanded I get a late pass. As you can tell, my day didn't start off too good. My day got better as the hours passed. It was finally the end of the day and I felt good. Somewhere deep down inside all the stress, I had a feeling this year would be good.