Entry 39: Lucky You

You have just won ten billion US dollars. You never have to work again, nor will any of your relatives for the next several generations. What will you do to fill your days? Why? What are you NEVER going to do again?

• I would say that I'm really lucky if I ever have the chance of winning ten billion US dollars. Though, I doubt that this will ever happen. However, under the hypothetical situation where I do happen to win ten billion US dollars, there are several things that I would like to do. Well, before that, I would just like to say that I'm going to continue my normal life, and continue to stay on a low profile (if that is even possible with me winning all that money). The main reason for this is because I'm afraid that I might be targeted by "bad people" if everyone knew that I happen to win ten billion US dollars. Anyways, with all this money, I would be able to buy anything I want, which would most likely be electronic and technological devices. I would not be buying too much new clothes since I'm not really one for fashion. One thing that I would definitely want to do is to travel the world. I would most likely want to visit Europe and travel in Eurasia. This is mainly because I want to experience what it feels like to be in those countries. Another thing that I would want to do is to take whatever class that I want to take, most likely dance classes. I would also like to read all the novels that I have been wanting to read for the longest times, but didn't have time for because of all the academic pressure. One of the musts that I will continue to do is to exercise. This is not only for pleasure, but also to maintain my body and keep myself healthy - I would not want to end up as an obese, because I might lead to a lot of diseases. I would also donate money to charities, as well as volunteer, since I have all this extra free time. There isn't anything that I wouldn't want to do, at least for now.

Entry 38: Opportunity Cost

As a student you have limited time and a lot to accomplish. Time management is probably the most important skill that sets successful students apart from unsuccessful ones. Opportunity cost is the sacrifice related to the second best choice available to someone who has picked among several mutually exclusive choices. Opportunity cost is a key concept in economics, and has been described as expressing "the basic relationship between scarcity and choice". The notion of opportunity cost plays a crucial part in ensuring that scarce resources are used efficiently. Do you think that your time is being spent the best way to ensure that you receive an education that is both broad and deep? What ways might you better spend your time to ensure that you develop key skills and subject knowledge? Try to break down how much of your time you spend on work that will have a long-lasting impact on your learning, versus how much time you spend on things like recreation or test preparation.

• My time is mostly spend on a few specific things, usually in a set routine. Academics is especially major, and it takes almost half of my time. The other major, essential, and important activity is sleeping and resting. This activity takes up more than half of my time. Other activities include a few "relaxation" activities for me to relax and not think of academics, as well as well as eating and transportation time.
• Within the academics category, I believe that most of the time spent on academics is worth it and pays off, because I learn knowledge and skills that I will need in the future. However, there are some parts of academics that I believe are not worth it, and are basically just wasting my time. An example is SAT. I am not saying that SAT is useless or worthless. Instead, I believe that the large amounts of preparation classes are not really worth my time. Though they help improve my score, they don't really help me in the long run. They also don't show that I know skills; these classes only teach test strategies that may help on standardized tests but not real life tasks. I believe that I can actually spend the time I use for SAT prep classes on other more meaningful activities, such as studying for other classes or learning other skills outside the classroom.

Entry 37: Test Prep Effect on Writing

Comment on this passage from an article in The Telegraph about the negative effects of “test-driven” education:

Bright students are starting university unable to structure an essay because of the “damage” caused by test-driven schooling, Cambridge academics warned on Monday. Many undergraduates are struggling to show their natural flair after being ordered to write in a highly-structured way to pass exams, it was claimed. Robert Tombs, professor of history at St John's College, Cambridge, warned that students were “drilled into writing” in a formulaic manner between the age of 11 and 18, leaving them unable to articulate their ideas on degree courses. David Abulafia, professor of Mediterranean history at Gonville and Caius College, also told how extremely bright students were “grappling with difficulties” that “would have been inconceivable” in the past, even among their weakest classmates.

What do you think about the findings of these university professors? How would you rate your ability to write? Are you able to show “natural flair”? Given that good writing is really the process of developing and articulating one’s own ideas in a coherent way, and not just filling in blanks in order to meet the requirements of a formula, how would you rate the training you have received in writing? What do you think you can do—on your own—to improve your writing?

• I believe that these findings are indeed very true - all the prep classes that students are taking are affecting writing because it restricts and limits students to write according to a specific formula. I believe that I am also influenced by this, because my essays also have a specific structure to it. However. I believe that there is still some natural flow to my writing despite all the lessons on how to formulate my essays; this is because there are times when I will write my own stories (most of the time for writing for enjoyment). This helps improve my natural flow of writing because when I write my own stories, I am able to write in any structure or form that I want. I am able to choose between narrative forms or descriptive forms, and I can also practice forms such as conversations and the changing of point of views throughout the story line. I believe that the training that I have received in writing might impede my natural flow of writing because it may block my creativity and prevent me from being creative about what I want to write about when I start on a new short story.

Entry 36: Cheating

Comment on this passage from an article in Forbes magazine on the recent revelations about the prevalence of cheating on college applications by Chinese high school students:

Many Chinese [people] don’t have any moral qualms about cheating, especially as long as it’s not within your close family and trusted friends within the guanxi networks. Many feel that the history of guanxi networks and even bribing often seen in the past three decades in China’s “economic growth miracle” mean that they at some points in their lives must cheat to succeed. Thus, many Chinese parents have simply been acting “normally,” ignoring or not even understanding that some actions might be unethical.
 
Do you think that the attitudes reflected in this passage might be applicable to Taiwan as well as to China? What do you think of cheating? Is it ever acceptable? If so, under what circumstances. What constitutes cheating?

See the full article here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonma/2012/02/13/how-to-stop-chinese-kids-from-cheating-on-college-apps/


The article was written by Jason L. Ma (馬良傑), Founder, CEO and Head Mentor of ThreeEQ, Inc., an organization that prepares young leaders for top universities.

• I believe that in Taiwan, there are many places where this passage does reflect the attitudes of people in Taiwan. One example is the Taiwanese education system, especially the public education systems. Many students are cheating during their tests, and are also plagiarizing when they write their essays as well as applications (including both college applications and job applications.
• I believe that cheating is a very bad action that anyone can do. By cheating, one does not learn anything from cheating. It takes away the opportunity for one to learn new skills and knowledge, and slowly corrupts and person as cheating becomes a habit. I believe that cheating should never be accepted. People might be able to accept using clever ways to complete or pass a task, because they used their own knowledge and ability to create such strategy, but cheating cannot be accepted because one does not give any effort for the work that they produce.
• Cheating is mainly constituted of one person copying another person's work, and claiming it as his or her own. If one quoted their source, then that would not be considered as cheating, since the person does not claim the piece of work as his or her own.

Entry 35: Race to College

   At dozens of universities across the nation — including, in September, the University of California, Berkeley — Republican or conservative student groups have kept the issue of considering race in college admissions at the boiling point with “affirmative action bake sales,” where the price for cupcakes or cookies is based on race, with whites charged more than blacks, Hispanics or native Americans.
   Some institutions have blocked such bake sales, bowing to complaints that the price differences are inherently racist and that the sales create an unwelcoming campus atmosphere. But, wrote Shawn Lewis, president of the Berkeley College Republicans, “It is no more racist than giving an individual an advantage in college admissions based solely on their race or gender.”
 
What do you think about the above quotation (from a New York Times article)? Should race or ethnicity be considered in college applications? What about gender? Nationality? What do you think is fair for college admissions boards to consider when looking at potential applicants? Why do you think so?

• I believe that the above quotation can stir quite an argument concerning the issue of racism. I believe that race and ethnicity should not be considered in college applications. This also implies to gender and nationality. Instead, the economic status and situation of a applicant should be what is actually considered. This would be the most reasonable because the reason for race and ethnicity to be considered by colleges when looking at college applicants in the first place is because of the differences in economic status. It just happened to be that people who are ethnicities or races other than whites have lower levels of economic status. These people are usually immigrants or African Americans, and many of them have stayed in America because of either slavery during the past, or because of hopes for better opportunities. Therefore, the best way is to just look at the economic status instead of the race or the ethnicity.
• Even though it is important to consider economic status when deciding which applicants should the college accept, it is also import to put the majority of the college's focus on the applicant's actual grades and his or her qualities and characteristics, because that's what is the deciding factor is. It is only when two applicants have similar grades and qualities should the college consider economic status.

Entry 34: My Activity

Practice writing a mini-essay about your extra-curricular activity. Tell what it is, why you do it, and what benefits you derive from it. Try to include how it is something that makes you an attractive candidate for university admissions. Remember, the purpose of your college application essays is to sell yourself.
Limit yourself to 150 words.

• The extra-curricular activity that I enjoy the most is dancing. Sometimes dancing is an official extra-curricular activity, but other times it's just a pastime. Both dancing by myself and performing in front of others gives me a feeling of satisfaction of releasing and expressing myself. I am not limited to the usual rigid regulations of reality, and I get to practice my confidence on stage as well as in front of crowds and audiences. Dancing also helps me practice my self-discipline, since performing on stage is not something one can do well with one or two days of practice. By setting a well-defined goal, I can work hard and prove to myself and others that I can do something without the help of others and without the pressing of others.