Population Project Work Plan for the Week

I was sick for most of the week, so I couldn't do a Population Project Work Plan for the Week.

Analysing Globalization Picture

What are the main visual elements?
In the picture there is a man sting in an armchair holding a newspaper and wearing suit with a tie, and without the blazer. Next to the man there is a dog looking a bit shocked lying next to the man. Then a next to the man’s other side a little further away is a little girl looking mad. The man is saying “No you may NOT outsource your homework to India.” The man is probably the girl’s dad.

What issue is this cartoon about?
The issue is that the girl wants to outsource her homework to India, meaning that she wants get information from India. Her dad is saying no, meaning that she has to do it herself.

What is the cartoonist’s opinion on this issue?
I think that the cartoonist doesn’t like outsourcing, or globalization.

What evidence in the cartoon supports your opinion on how the cartoonist feels?
Because in the picture, he is saying no to outsourcing.

How does this cartoon relate to our study of globalization?
Globalization is making the world “flat”, and outsourcing is one of the ten flattners why the world is flat.

What other techniques could the cartoonist have used to make this cartoon more persuasive?
Maybe to show that the cartoonist really didn’t like outsourcing and globalization, the father could look a bit mad or annoyed while saying “No you may NOT outsource your homework to India”.


Image from: www.sandiegohomeblog.com

Population Project Recap

The three most valuable things I learned from UBD (or Population Project) was:

• How to write a research paper. Even though we learned with the Africa research paper, I think that this time I focused more on it and worked harder on it this time, I learned more. This is a very good skill to have in the future, in high school and college. Now if I get an essay in high school I would know how to approach it, and how to write it.
  

• I learned that it's a symbiotic relationship between educational levels and economic growth. This is useful to know for future references. And could be a topic I might study in the future, which is useful to know.

• Thirdly I learned how to take data and write about it. Before I would just look at the data and wouldn't be sure what to write. But now, I learned how to look at data and apply it to a text. This is also good to know how to do for future essays in high school and college.
  

Sameness & Equality

Precise use of language is an important theme in The Giver. Why does Lois Lowry purposefully use the word ‘sameness’ instead of ‘equality’? Explain what the difference is in the meaning of the words. Then using the Giver and Animal Farm cite examples of how we have seen each word used. Which author uses language more precisely?

The difference between sameness and equality is that sameness is when everyone gets the same things and they do the same things. At dictionary.com it says “the state or quality of being the same; identity; uniformity.” Equality on the other hand is when everyone is treated the same way. According to dictionary.com equality is used when talking about quantity, rank or ability.

In “The Giver” everyone had the same things, and everyone did the almost then same things everyday. It was a pattern without real feelings, since they could feel some small feelings. But nothing big and complicated like love or pain. Equality on the other hand is when everyone is treated the same, but they might not do the same things everyday or the same things as everyone else.

The giver feedback

The Giver in many ways is a “coming of age” story, in which we witness Jonas’ growing up. To begin our discussion of The Giver please address the following three questions in your blog using “good” paragraphs.

1. When does one become an adult?
2. What does it mean to be an adult?
3. At what age are people no longer useful to society?

Becoming an adult is a very big step. When becoming an adult you have many responsibility and independence. If you are mature enough to take responsibility for your actions, and be independent and not rely on anyone else all the time. To be an adult means to support yourself and be able to make the right decisions for the future and yourself. You should be responsible enough to take care of yourself, and if you wish to start a family, you should be able to take care of them too.

I think that everyone is useful all the time in the society. The old people can still do something useful in the society in the giver. And the young kids are the future generation who will one day take care of the world. But I don't think anyone is useless to society. They can still help in their way. Wether it is mantaly helping (like thinkig of the ideas of the future) or physically helping (like doing the actual building and stuff). I mean some old people are still very sharp but they are so old. They can still help with their ideas for a better future.

Blogs and parents

Please analyze the above cartoon and post your ideas to your BLOG. As part of your analysis please address the following questions:

1. What are the main visual elements?
2. What issue is this cartoon about?
3. What is the cartoonist’s opinion on this issue?
4. What evidence in the cartoon supports your opinion on how the cartoonist feels?
5. Why is this cartoon ironic?
6. What other techniques could the cartoonist have used to make this cartoon more persuasive?

There is a family eating dinner in their kitchen. The family consists of a mum, a dad and a little kid. They all look unhappy. The kid has a football head, while the parents have long heads (could the kid be adopted?)

I think that the issue is that the parents don’t care. I mean, if the kid tells them, they could choose not to listen. But if they have to read it, it would be really hard to pretend to read it, and then they have to give feedback on it. Or, that parents are getting very lazy nowadays. And they can’t be bothered to read their kid’s own work.

I think that the cartoonist thinks that parents have become lazier and more careless. And that they don’t really want to listen to their kid’s day. This is because they all look sad and bored. And also, the text under the picture is “Well, yes, we could read your blog…or you could just tell us about it” saying that the parents can’t be bothered to read the blog.

I think that the picture is ironic because the kid is asking his parents to read the blog, and the parents can’t be bothered to read it. But in real life, we have our own blogs, and most of us can’t be bothered to tell our parents about our blog.

The parents could be sitting on a sofa and watching T.V. while the kid is standing in the doorway, looking sad. Or the parents could look bigger, to show that they are lazy. Or both!

Evaluation of Kurt Vonnegut's statement

Using examples from “The Euphio Question” and current events evaluate the statement:

“Do you know what a Luddite is? That’s a person who doesn’t like newfangled contraptions. Contraptions like nuclear submarines armed with Poseidon missiles that have H-bombs in their warheads, and like computers that cheat you out of becoming. Bill Gates says, “Wait till you can see what your computer can become.” But it’s you who should be doing the becoming. What you can become is the miracle you were born to work—not the damn fool computer.”

- Kurt Vonnegut

I think that there is some truth in what Vonnegut is saying. But having said so, I don’t agree with him fully. People shouldn’t make things that they can’t control, but I think that they can use things that they can control, and can help people. In “The Euphio Question” the humans couldn’t control the machine, so it was seen as bad. But not everything is like that. For example vacuum cleaners are built to make life easier. Instead of cleaning with a broom that is very time consuming and can give you back pains, you can use a vacuum cleaner, which is 10 times more affective and quicker to use. Now there are even vacuum cleaners that vacuum by themselves, which you can control! Vonnegut seems to think that everything that is electronic technology is bad, but I don’t think that he really understands the gadgets. Maybe it scares him that he won’t be in control (or humans for that matter) but machines will be some day.