4/29/13 ARW Blogpost

Today we did a recap on the second chapter of "Lies My Teacher Told Me". Rab told us that his benchmark of looking back at historical figures resided on whether a certain problem was prominent in his/her surrounding culture. For example, George Washington clearly knew the emerging belief of slave abolishment. However, history clearly provides evidence that he had kept slaves at his disposal. This would be enough to state that Washington was notorious in that field, maybe even as a person. I myself have been looking for a straightforward way to analyze a person's belief, and this seems to be a very convincing way to look at it. Rab mentioned in a previous lesson that one of the objectives of his lectures was to introduce the reader to a new idea, problem, belief, etc. I agree to this idea. It is our job to look beyond the surface and find out what is right and wrong.
We then went on to discuss about the second chapter in more detail. As I learned from my last discussion, I had decided to review the information and impression of "Lies" into a mind-map prior to having one. Thanks to this, I now could express my ideas and beliefs in a compact and informative manner. Overall, I think I did a pretty good job at todays discussion. If there is one thing I could change from today's discussion, it would be to feel where the discussion is going.
Finally Rab introduced us to discrimination in the book. People in one group tend to think that what they do is normal and what others do is abnormal, when what they do is really the same

One thing I really want to question is this; have you really been building ships?

Lies My Teacher Told Me (Chapter 2)

The second chapter of "Lies" takes another deeper step into the controversies American high school textbooks have left out. Christopher Columbus is introduced in this chapter, where not only is he whitewashed into a goody-goody character, but the entire history of the founding of Americas is perverted. I knew vaguely that the Santa-Maria wasn't the first vessel to cross the Atlantic Ocean, and that Columbus had exploited the native Americans on arrival. However, the detailed information written in this chapter caught my by surprise. For example, the Olmec heads are obviously a sign that the Negros had previously been in the Americas. The fact that Columbus had sent a thousand slaves off to Spain (and more than half died on the trip) singlehandedly hit me hard.
Some of the evidence written by Loewen was so sympathetic, that I almost felt like blindingly following Lowen's argument. Then it hit me. Maybe that was his plan? If I was a student in the US completely ignorant of the controversies, I would have definitely been moved into sucking Lowen's belief in one gulp. His evidence in this chapter is so strong (take De Bry's image for example) that many people may be so convinced that they do not even bother to question the arguments Lowern proposes. Not that he did a sloppy job on supporting his arguments. It is quite the opposite. This chapter really made me realize how hard it is to undermine a officially published piece of writing with criticism. For example, Lowen's belief that the American textbooks are written not to teach history but to build character (pg. 60) is well supported by two quotes by prominent historical figures and good arguments.
There was one belief that Lowen presented which has a very strong bias attached to it; racism. Lowen seems to lure the audience into the world of racism where he can fight in his own ground. "This may be because blaming Turks fits with the west's archetypal conviction that followers of Islam are likely to behave irrationally or nastily" (pg.34)
"Thus they keep students from understanding what caused the world to develop as it has, including why Europe Won" (pg. 64)
"Textbooks themselves it seems, practices cognitive dissonance" (p68)
These three examples on their own present how desperately Lowen is trying to connect the founding of USA with racism. This outright offense against Islamic countries, and the statement that "Europe won" compared to the rest of the world questions his creditability as a racism expert, casting shadow on his outlook of history as a whole.

4/26/13 ARW Blogpost

Funky Friday!
We learned how to use google reader, how to export it to feedly, and google images.
I really thought that google reader and feedly is really interesting and attractive' but I'm not sure if I have enough websites to keep track of.
We also learned about stereograms and which side of our brain is more dominant. Don't look just at the surface, look deeper.
Also, look for good quality information. Do not care if the info fits your preconceived ideas. It is much more valuable to have well structured information going against your initial belief than to have mediocre support for it.

4/24/13 ARW Blogpost

U4/24/13 ARW Blogpost

I'm sorry for getting your nativity wrong, I wasn't sure if you were from Scotland or from Wales so I just went with Northern English (Scotland is north of England right?)

Anyway we had another class on discussing "Lies my teacher told me". In this class I remembered that Japanese people are the polite when looking at the world as a whole, and that if you wanted to get your opinion out you have to speak up more for yourself. Sometimes it is even important to cut people in the middle of their sentences if you think its worth it. I have not had an "proper" argument for many years, and Rab made me remember what real discussions were.
I'm going to work hard to become a good debater!

4/23/13 LLA Blogpost

Today we had a LLA lecture by Rab. Unlike the lecture we did last week, we had an entire classroom by ourselves and it was much more interactive. I did miss my friends in stream 2 though. Today was Moey's birthday, and we sang her the birthday song and gave her edible presents (food).
Rab's lecture was spectacular. If I was to comment on one thing that really made me appreciate coming to this university, it is listening to Rab's lectures. I have never, in all of my life (although it is very short, I must say) met anyone better at presenting than Rab. The moment he starts talking, the noisy class suddenly becomes attentive. The words that come out of his mouth seeps into our ears, and finds its way into our memory. He knows what to say and how to say it to convey the message to the maximum. Even his Scottish accent seems to help things out. I swear that I will become a presenter as good as Rab someday!

4/22/13 ARW Blogpost

4/22/13 ARW Blogpost
Today we had a through orientation on the web based application called Zotero. Rab showed us how to use Zotero to the full extent (at least I thought so) and we tinkered around the web searching for news articles, books, videos, etc. and referencing them. I researched extensively on the theme "bogey" and came up with articles such as "the bogey general" or "how eating bogeys are good for you". Zotero is a very very powerful application that can do much more than simple referencing, and I cannot wait to have our next class on working in groups using Zotero.

Lies My Teacher Told Me (chapter 1)

Lies My Teacher Told Me (chapter 1)

The shocking conspiracies of Woodrow Wilson and Hellen Keller really made me realize that James Loewen wasn't saying some hoax. He truly believed that the American education system was feeding students with fake information. Both of the arguments on Wilson's concealed manifests and the adulthood of Hellen are strong evidence towards James' belief. However, I feel that the points given out is inconclusive in supporting a biased belief.  

James has a powerful educational background. He has taught in the University of Vermont for twenty years and has a profound view in the aspect of education. However, James does not have enough experience to support his views on the field of sociology and mass media. He states in chapter one that "Few people know, because our schooling and mass media has left it (Hellen's adulthood) out" and claims that the entire social media covers up the conspiracies such as the ones of Wilson and Hellen. James does not have the authority to say that. The examples he gives of the archetypes of Betsy Ross is inconclusive. James should have consulted other professionals in the field of sociology prior to writing this down.  

Another point which caught my attention was James' criticizing of the textbooks making historical figures too goody-goody. He states that many students pick either foreign of African American figures comparing to white American  individuals as their historical heroes, and then uses this example to reinforce his belief. How does he conclude that less students picking white American heroes means that they are the only ones being whitewashed? He has not given us any reasons to believe that African American and foreign figures haven't been whitewashed as well. We all know Mahatama Ghandi as a peace-loving, heartfelt person, yet forget that the caste system he approved of drops a dark shadow upon equality in India. James' reasons for white people being the only goody-goodies is too far-fetched and inconclusive. 

4/19/13 ARW Blogpost

4/19/13 ARW Blogpost

We Spent the majority of the class discussing about Meiland's article to do with college education. We reviewed Meiland's biographical background and discussed  many aspects of contemporary Japanese education critically. I was in the same group as Millie, Yuca, Moey, and Mana. Although I believe that I participated in the discussions with enthusiasm. I may have been a bit too active. There were a couple of times when I interrupted somebody who was talking. I also did not have a planned structure for speech, and was simply voicing out whatever came into my mind. As a result, our group did not reach a verified conclusion on some of the topics. 

During the course of todays discussion, I have recognized anew about my lack of patience and planning. I have the esteem and motivation to speak up during classes. However, I need to rethink about why I am voicing my opinions, and what I want to achieve by doing so.