Yesterday I was discussing with a friend, who takes history IB here at Lincoln school, about what was the point on learning history… his answer was “because it is cool!” I was like?! What the hell? What is the point on learning from the past when it might not be useful…? So I went to ask two history teachers (I did not ask “what is the point of history class” because that will demerit their abilities and is rude but I asked: why are we taught about WW2, Hitler and all that stuff? How is it useful…? I received two different answers, one answer: (clears throat, with a deep voice) “To make you a better individual of course, less ignorant….” Una persona más culta like we say in Spanish.. the other answer I had was: “So that it won’t happen again…”

Even though I am not an expert on critical thinking, thanks to ToK class I was able to realize that they were both fallacies, in my opinion nonsense. I’m going to comment on both answers.

1.     Even though you do not learn history you have some culture influence, you are always culto/a. With ignorance it is the same thing, for example I have a friend called Benjamin Durán, a pro-golf player from El Salvador, the last time I went to E.S he invited me to play golf, I had never in my life played golf (and will definitely never play again after that, it is not for me). Well that time he called me an ignorant because I knew nothing about golf. Then I asked him to tell me what soccer shoes were used for synthethic, hard, fair and soft grounds he failed every try. Then I asked him about the rules of soccer and measurements of the field, missed again. Finally I asked him about the different positions in football, and guess what he was only able to say goalkeeper… But does mean I can call him an ignorant too? Of Course.. NOOOOOOOT. He knows about other things, no one will know everything about everything…. So this answer makes no sense to me, you are never ignorant you will always know at least something that a history teacher doesn’t. Like Socrates once said: “One thing only I know, and that is that I know nothing.” Smaaaaaaarrrrrttt

2.      This is probably the worst answer I have ever heard, just because we learn about it does it mean that it won’t happen again? I believe that if we cover it is less probable to happen; this will be because if we cover it well we would never know it happened therefore it would be the first time.  Even though we learn about catastrophes and wars they can still happen again because sometimes people follow these ideas and learn about them more, they are attracted. I get to the conclusion that there is no point in learning history, why must we know about the past? What is the thing of history that attracts us when there is no point? At least I cannot see any…

Happiness: We rarely feel it.
I would buy it, beg it, steal it,
Pay in coins of dripping blood
For this one transcendent good.

Amy Lowell

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     “Dream as if you’ll live forever, live as if you’ll die today.” James Dean

I want to briefly comment on this quote, i think this means to dream big, with no boundaries at all but live as if its your last day. You should never set boundaries in your goals and desires but you must live each day as if boundaries can come in that day.  I personally love this quote, it motivates me and I think that James Dean is a genius …

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This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” Winston Churchill

Being these journals perhaps the last ones we will make, I would like to thank Lissy for her introduction to thinking , even though i hated the class at the beginning and found it useless now I like it a lot and I have been cursed to argue, discuss, think and believe that there is no absoulute truth. This is why I picked this amazing quote, because the skills we are learning in ToK will be very useful in the future.

Thanks, merci, gracias, danke schoen Lissy!

In the InterTok my whole life changed, and the world as I know collapsed. I left the place at 4:30pm confused and with a huge headache. There was one topic which I remain confused on, the big bang theory…

Ok, we get it, there was a huge explosion and.. PUFF everything appeared, planet, stars, space and Chuck Norris… but in order to be an explosion there must be something that explodes!! What was there before the big bang? Scientist don’t know.. so let’s call it a flying fadoodle, from where did the flying fadoodle came? From a smaller bang? From every perspective you see it, there is always a probability of divine force/intervention (energy, god, etc). The ToK god said that “every time scientist try to figure out what is going on they are able to find god.. or some kind of divine intervention.” I have to say I loved his presentation and learned a loooot, well actually I learned that I knew nothing. But I have no idea what came before of the b.b… there must have been something, anything but scientist say there was nothing.

Another topic I would like to comment on is infinity. There is no way that such a thing can exist. Math generally works on an abstract level and there is no way we can reach infinity if it is no abstract, the gap in math saying that there is no final number is just crazy. There needs to be a limit or at the end the gap we get is huge. How can something be endless? Infinity is not growing like we think, it is just there standing at an unreachable level. “Infinity is not a number, is an idea.” But I hate it. It must end somewhere!!!!! This creates a huge gap in some exercises, here are some examples:

0 × ∞, 0 × -∞, ∞ + -∞, ∞ – ∞, ∞ / ∞, ∞^0, 1^∞

^{There must not be any gaps in an area that we consider true, because then we realize that math after all might not be correct or true, those gaps clarify that math works in an abstract level, therefore it is never concrete meaning that it is an invention of mankind and are useless because usually abstract things never have an impact on real life.}

I know I have blogged on this already but this time I will talk about amulets of luck in sports and other things… I consider myself really superstitious with some stuff that I use for playing soccer… like shoes, shirt, gloves, etc. But there are some players that even use the same boxer to play important games or that use an old “lucky” shirt underneath and always enter with the right foot to the field… I suppose this is like a clear sign of narcissism because sometimes we players blame the equipment and not ourselves for the mistakes. For example I have a rule that I never use new stuff in games because it gives me bad luck; however this is a clear example that humans never blame themselves for the mistakes they have committed. It is always someone else fault but never ours. Everyone can be mistaken but it takes vise men to fight for themselves even if they are wrong, however only the extraordinary and the brave accept they were wrong (dedicated to Ernesto). I believe that al these superstitions is a clear example of human narcissism, I am certain that not everyone is as superstitious but a vast majority of the players I know are. One of the best soccer player, Zinedine Zidane, used to wear an upside-down shirt underneath his team shirt, he believed that this made him play better, he felt empty when he did no use it. Once again I would like to refer to the desperation for things to succeed, like it says in the bible, we only seek luck and divine intervention when we want things to go well and when we are afraid.

This does not happen only in soccer, it also occurs in almost every sport, even in horse riding and racing. Comfort is the word!!! I have been looking for the perfect word to explain this since the past blog entries and it is comfort. We want to feel hope therefore we seek comfort in beliefs, these have no evidence of existence but no evidence that disproof them either. They might be real… hope is the opium of the people. It can trick us but at the same time save us (im not saying that opium will save us btw :p). I have to admit that I have trust on my superstitions and that they make me feel more secure, however I know that this is a bad habit. I was wondering, Lissy, do you have any superstition at all? I know you are a ToK teacher but you never know XD…

What the hell? I can see that there is a lot of controversy about the game itself but why does it have to get banned? First of all I agree that it is a violent and pointless game, however does that imply that it must get banned? Today we have many games that have sexual and violent contents, The Grand Theft Auto saga for example, this game is one of the most realistic games, nevertheless is one of the most violent ones, if not the most violent. Even though this game is so cruel it was awarded for the best game of the year and it received the highest score of all times in GameStop website.

People say that our society is without doubt a violent and cruel one, Stephen King, for example, mentions that it is better to keep people doing or watching violence virtually than to provoke it in real life; he argues that people are attracted to see horror movies or play violent video games because he says it is a modern version of executions. He argues that people are thirsty of violence and that this type of games and movies avoids people to personally commit crimes. I believe this is right to some extent but I don’t think that everyone is thirsty for violence, not even unconsciously although some are, especially the younger generations; the video games are turning into their reality… Anyway the more some try to ban games like this the more popularity the game gets and therefore more users before it gets banned… Back to Stephen King, I think that this person is the less indicated to criticize society when he is famous for writing in this genre, I ask myself who is more violent, the writer or the reader :s? I guess that at the end we are violent, we destroy the planet and ourselves. This is why we have today so many problems. I think we are attracted to movies, books and games that show a brutal reality because they take us to another dimension that might never happen in the real life, we are attracted to uncommon things. These are like a circus where you go and see things that you have never seen before; this type of stuff definitely attracts people and get a huge audience. In conclusion we are not that violent, those games shouldn’t be censored or banned, we just love weird stuff……..

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1. How long should your introduction and your conclusion each be?
2. What is the single most important element of the introduction? Where should this element be placed in the introduction? What form (question or statement) should it take? Why?
3. What should the first sentence of each paragraph be? What form (question or statement) should it be in? What kind of content is inacceptable for the first sentence of each paragraph?
4. How can you make sure that your topic sentence connect to your thesis?
5. How should each paragraph be organised? That is, what are the essential elements of each paragraph?
6. How do you ensure that the argument develop in a paragraph makes logical sense?
7. What kind of examples must you use? What kind of examples must you avoid? What kind of examples should you avoid?

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

1. 15 – 20% of the essay.

2. Thesis statement is the most important part of intro, it comes at the end but before a transition. Arguable statement.

3. Topic sentence and in statement form. Topic not related to thesis of essay or examples, analysis.

4. Outline the thesis and topic sentence of each paragraph

5. Topic sentence, explanation example, analysis, transition

6. It will always relate to the thesis and there is a flow of ideas when someone reads it

7. Examples which are vital to your argument. Only those which are completely necessary. Avoid which are unnecessary. And do not give in examples which are not relevant.

U.S history has been criticized lately due to the lack of freedom of speech and going against their constitution. Although the United States is known for being a “super” nation, they have one weakness that some small nations have… unity. This union is so powerful that they could take any action if it is for the good of the nation. Respecting the constitution has been one of the basic concepts that every (most of them) Nations must have, or has and respects it. It is there where “all” the rights are expressed, rights that can’t be taken away from any person… this sounds nice right?… but in reality, not EVERYONE receives these basic rights.

African American cultures… citizens that have suffered, since the times of colonization have been used as slaves. In the past century we have seen many examples of violation to human rights, for example Martin Luther King fought for the rights of the color people but he was criticized by high ranked politicians and was practically brought to the floor. But this violates one of the most important articles of the constitution: freedom of speech. This occurs again with one politician who I cannot remember his name or rank but he was against the “reds”. Even though I do not agree with communism for many reasons this does not mean that I won’t let others believe in it. Every person has the right to believe in anything even though this belief is not followed by society (obviously without affecting others). So, there are two basic points here related to history, having an African American that isn’t afraid of expressing his right for freedom of speech and his opposite, the president that (based on communism) doesn’t want to allow people to follow this trend. Who is right here? Is time a great issue for both of these actions? Yes it is. Time period is extremely important to allow the understanding of why people act in a given way. For example, let’s take Martin Luther King and his speech for the rights of the African American. It was a time in which these culture couldn’t ask for any more rights since they were treated as slave, region is also a very important aspect in this situation since the southern Americans didn’t want to allow these new citizens have any basic rights since they were taken away from them (money was their situation… supposedly).

There are more issues to this controversy that still takes place; this is the case of freedom of speech. This problem is not only part of the United States it is a problem also of Venezuela. This because Chavez does not like it when people go against the rode he is taking. Freedom of speech is not the only area that is affected also the torture-free Country has just adapted this new theory. This affects people who have followed these ideas. Obama is making many changes in the way that the country is seen, and how it sees many aspects. The only thing that we can hope is for this country’s “unity” can relate to the new presidents ideals. If this happens to occur, then the countries ideals will also change with them. This is good, because many people still believe in the old south or other factors that relate to the old south. This being what affects and intercepts the relationship between the fulfillments of at least most of the basic human rights that are not being fulfilled. If this change occurs in other countries basic human rights will be able to expand and get to everyone or at least most people.

In Pre-school and the early years of elementary school children have more liberty toward deciding on how to do things. For example, when drawing and painting the child is able to decide what color to paint it and what to draw. People say that in middle-school and high-school creativity of kids is destroyed, I believe of creativity being a quality that lets people do their best their own way with scarce tools and resources, therefore instead of school limiting creativity, in my opinion, it encourages it. We are able to exploit creativity within the boundaries set to us. I also believe that in order to fully exploit creativity, broader subjects should be implemented. For example, in math there is no creativity, there is only one answer and if you have it different then is wrong. 2+2=4 and nothing else. It is because of this that people end saying that school destroys creativity when this is a generalization of all subjects when there are many like art, music, ToK, etc. which do not stop people from thinking but encourage critical thinking. I have to say that I found Sir Ken really funny and must of the things he said in the presentation are true especially this part:

-If you are not prepared to be wrong – you will not come up with anything original. People are being educated out of their creative capacity. We do not grow into creativity, we grow out of it. As far as education for children, we need to educate their whole being. Picasso said” All children are born artists.” How do we remain artists as we grow up?- Sir Ken Robinson

I liked this because although I don’t completely agree, I found the las sentence completely certain, how do people in some schools that do not offer other than logic subjects, how can they exploit their creativity, is there any other exit for them? I believe that even public schools should have drama and classes that enhances creativity where the student should be able to develop not only the logic part of the brain. I would also like to discuss another point that Sir Ken makes, is our body only a way of transport for our brain? Why is there no P.E in IB? This should be a requisite because usually IB eats up students extra time therefore there is no space in our life is to exercise and we end up having health problems. So we are using our body only as a transport to our brain and nothing else, IB has this flaw that I hope someday they might think of a better way to solve it.

Have you ever wondered why do we need to believe in something bigger, something divine or supernatural?  After reading Steffan’s blog this question started to haunt me… so much that I have decided writing about it. Since the beginning of times people are attracted to paranormal issues and find amazing explanations for mysteries. Dr. Cronk says that the human brain is constantly looking for answers and when we are not able to find it we just invent some incredible things to explain it. I come from El Salvador and I can say that there people are really superstitious and believe all kind of stuff and myths. These superstitions disturb people’s sense perception in an enormous way. As I said before people perceive what they want to perceive, our brain usually transform information into many things and we end up seeing, hearing or smelling things that are not there. In some cases we want to find a mystery solve by something that science has no evidence of and can’t explain. In some cases we believe in things to hope that everything is going to be fine. For example in Mexico and Colombia the drug dealers have a saint they pray to before and after every business. I also read of a saint in Mexico’s jail that supposedly takes care of the prisoners. Most of them are really desperate for something that gives them hope, anything.  We are all vulnerable to believe in something for a mere feeling of comfort, when there is actually none. We are hard wired to believe that science can explain everything and that science never lies but after taking the ToK class we know that there is no such thing as an absolute truth and that nothing is “proven”. So we all are trying to fight against this idea creating stories or myths to disproof science. And sometimes we can’t bear no answer there must be an explanation and if non we create it. But there is one question that I still have no possible answer. Why are there more myths and beliefs in Latin America than in any other country? Is it ignorance and poor education? My hypothesis is that in Latin America usually there is a lot of people that live in bad conditions and that have a low economic income therefore their education is usually low and sometimes they have not received it. This ignorance and their isolation from the technologic and informational tools make them guess on the causes of “phenomena”. Some say that without these beliefs culture, tradition and the world as we know it will change amazingly but I believe that this are a crucial part of each country’s tradition, we can’t take these hope from people because even though it might be false it has a placebo effect as scientist say and helps people psychologically to overcome the problems.

This week we were analyzing trends and fashion in English class and I started thinking on why we have changed to a consumer society in the past 100 years. How many of us have changed iPod or computers because they are too old although they still work? Or buy extra shirts from the ones we need? Or even extra food? 

I would like to quote Gandhi: “There is enough on earth for everybody’s need, but not for everyone’s greed.” But is this our fault or has the competiveness of our world (the one Vale explained in her blogs last semester) changed us to what we have become?  Truly life has become a battlefield involving brands. Who has the best, unique and expensive brands is now a crucial question in today’s society. A type of material “Darwinism”, I completely disagree with this type of shopping but agree that other types of consumerism involving “efficiency” and “commodities”, this for me might be crucial on today’s life.

Some compulsive buyers argue that if we buy less products or services, companies will diminish production causing unemployment. This, we like it or not, is a necessary evil to run the world and society itself. We do not need machines, computers, telephones or videogames but we must accept that they are efficient and make our life easier, if we stop buying this stuff then companies will stop producing them and at the end we would be living in a low-tech world. Some argue that by buying only what we need our costs will diminish significantly and we could end the long working hours or extra hours and be happier and less stressed.  But aren’t we happy now? If not then why do we keep buying?

Even though we don’t need to watch movies we still do because they cheer us up and this is why they are called entertainment. This is where we must take a decision in what is more important, technology and employment or tranquil life without much stress from work. I get this topic because many have told me that we are monsters when shopping but really this is a need. It is true that compulsive buying pollutes the environment indirectly but the problem is that some might stop buying what they don’t need but others will just keep buying, there would not be a concrete agreement amongst people, which way should we take?