Peter's strongest identity traits

Making Me

Our identities are complex, made of many factors that can be classified in different ways. One common classification of the traits that make up our identities is based on how we come by them. According to this classification, identity traits can be ascribed, achieved or chosen. Because they are very variable, we expect different categories of traits to be strongest for different people. Jill’s chosen traits might be the strongest aspect of her identity, while John’s identity might be most strongly influenced by his achieved traits. For myself, although my first idea was that my chosen traits were the strongest, further reflection led me to conclude that in fact my ascribed traits are the strongest, which I think is probably also typical. 

First, my achieved traits are important to me. I’m proud of my academic record at Sydney University, where I did well in my chosen areas of study, mainly philosophy, mathematics and a couple of dead languages. My achieved identity as an honours graduate who won awards and scholarships for graduating first in the class my major certainly pleased my mother. Another achieved trait that is part of my  identity that is significant is my work as a teacher, where I hope I also help my students to achieve their goals that become a part of their identity. 

However, important though they be, my achieved traits matter less to me personally than do my chosen traits and have had a bigger impact on the course my life has taken to make me who I am today. While my academic achievements gave me options, it was what I chose to do with those achievements that really created my identity. If I had not chosen to visit Thailand many years ago, my life would have been very different. 

But what makes our achievements possible if not the situation and abilities ascribed to us at birth? I was born into a comfortably off family in Australia. That gave me not only my identity as an Australian, and the benefits of English as a native language, but also my family name and the advantages that came with that. Because of my ascribed status as their son, my parents happily cared for me, ensuring that I got the education that let me achieve the foundations for the choices I subsequently made. It was not only the ascribed position in life that came with when, where and to whom I was born; the truly unchangeable genes that I inherited from my parents created both the body and the brain that make me the person I am. As I’ve already said, the environment I was born into played an important role in forming my identity, but even more strongly ascribed are the intelligence and personality traits that come at least in part from my genes. Without that particular set of likes, dislikes, interests, emotional responses, personality characteristics and so on, I would have worked to achieve different traits, and I am sure I would have chosen very differently about how to live my life. 

Naturally, all the parts of it, the ascribed, the achieved and the chosen, contribute to my identity, but because of its foundational influence on all the others since at least the day I was born, I have to admit that my ascribed traits are the strongest in my own life. Perhaps for others it is different, but I suspect that for most people, even Jill and John, it was their ascribed traits that their identities are really built on. 

Skillful 3: Reading and Writing, page 12 - Critical thinking

What is it? 

In their critical thinking exercise that concludes the reading "Social Identity", Rogers and Zemach invite us to discuss questions that follow up ideas in the reading we have now read carefully, (2018). These questions invite us to reflect on the ideas in the reading and apply them to our own experience.

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The questions

1. What are some benefits of rivalries? What are some problems? Give specific examples.
    
2. When people meet for the first time, do you think they focus on similarities, or differences? Why, do you think?

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Writing  

We will respond to the the questions separately, that is, in two comments. 

For each question, you have 8:00 minutes to plan and write. I suggest: 

• planning = 2:00 minutes
• writing = 5:00 minutes
• editing = 1:00 minute. 

First, we will write our responses and replies to question 1 only. 

Then we will discuss question 2 in a series of comments and replies. 

 

 A helpful strategy

Imagine you are writing for someone who has not read the question you are answering or the reading that the question follows up. Your job is to clearly communicate your response to that reader. 

Because your writing should make sense independently of the question it might be answering, it is usually useful to give background. This can be achieved by paraphrasing the question into statements that begin your answer. This is also a useful strategy n exams such as IELTS and TOEFL. 

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 Reference

Rogers, L. & Zemach, D. E. (2018). Skillful 3: Reading & Writing, Student's Book Pack (2nd. ed.). London: Macmillan Education

 

Skillful 3: Reading & Writing, page 9 - After you watch

After we have watched 

Rogers and Zemach's three discussion questions invite us to share our own ideas in response to the content of the video about Doppel. Because it helps to get a greater variety of independent ideas, we will do this discussion here on our class blog. First, read the three questions the authors ask us to share our ideas on. 

You want to write one response that discusses all three questions. You will probably want to write two or three paragraphs, but that's up to you.  

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The three questions to respond to

• Do you like the idea of a gadget that can change your moods? 
   
• Do you agree with the inventor that the gadget is unique? 
   
• What gadget would you like to invent to improve your health?   

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Planning and writing = 18:00 minutes 

You have 18:00 minutes to plan and write a response to the set of three related questions. I suggest you divide your time roughly as follows: 

1. planning = 4:00 minutes 

It's usually a good idea to plan before you start to write.  Especially in quick response writing, you might change your mind as you write, or get better ideas, but having  a clear idea about what you want to say before you write the first word helps to produce a well-organized piece of work that communicates with your readers. 

2. writing = 12:00 minutes

When you know what you are going to say because you have planned, the writing step consists of turning your ideas into sentences organized into paragraphs.

3. editing = 2:00 minutes

You don't have much time to review, revise and proofread in a quick response writing activity, but it's still a good idea to quickly read over what you've written and perhaps make a few changes or corrections.

A useful strategy

Don't write things like "question 1," just write your ideas. Imagine your reader has never seen the three questions. You want your ideas to be make sense to that reader. 

 

Reference

Rogers, L. & Zemach, D. E. (2018). Skillful 3: Reading & Writing, Student's Book Pack (2nd. ed.). London: Macmillan Education

  

Pluem: my identity

How I display my identity in person 

Because I'm an easy-going and simple person, I usually wear clothes in plain color. I wear white t-shirt, blue jeans and white sport shoes. As for tone of voice, I usually speak in middle and low tone to my friends and family but when I speak in front of public I change my voice into high tone, in order to attract people's attention. I often have conversation about international politics, psychology and Marvel movies. When I like or impress something, I will lift my thumb up to show my satisfaction. People said that I often smile when I'm talking to people. Maybe it is the way to express my friendliness to other people.

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How I display my identity online

I have online identities in many platforms such as Facebook, Line and Instagram. I use my real name and surname in Facebook. I use nickname name in Line and Instagram. I don't use avatar on my profile picture. I use my real photo instead. As I have said earlier that I'm a simple person, I did not decorate my photo and my name with any fancy fonts. I sometimes share information about politics and Marvel movies in my facebook. I rarely write and share about myself and my feeling in social network. 

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Whether my online identity is accurately communicated 

My online identity is almost the same as my identity in person because I use real name and photo. I don't use application to make myself looks more handsome because I prefer to look natural and simple. I sometimes change the tone of my photo just when I feel sad, so it will look a little bit darker.

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Prang: my identity

How I display my identity in person 

Normally, my majority of clothes is blue and white color which are a various pattern. Before, I really did not know that it has only a single tone in the closet as it might messy and did not organise. When I am at home, I always wear casual style like T-shirt and short or skirt. While, when I went to my office, I mostly wear a shirt with pants because it looks more formal. It is hardly to see me wear a dress or skirt at office since it does not convenient to work cause sometime I need to visit outside places. Moreover, when I meet new friends or people who I do not know much, I usually listen to them more than speak and put smile on my face to response or reaction back to them. So, some people think my look is hard to talk with. In fact, I still listen carefully, learn about their identity and try to think a funny joke to impress them. In contrast, when I have conversation with my close relationship, I am a talkative person and do not have to think much before I said something. I express myself as I am. That is a little detail of my personal character how I show my identity which difference depended on the relationship.

How I display my identity online

When I am on the cyber world, I rarely use my real name. I have many names such as Luna P, Jade NP, Knightmaron, and etc. This is because sometime my pen name matches with others, so the registration always suggests name like Luna3456 or Nunnapat765, which I do not like it, and I also want an unique name. That is why I have so many pen name, but all of names have their meaning. For example, Jade NP is from my Chinese name which is mean Jade in English and NP is short form of my full name. Knightmaron is the oldest name I ever used it only in the online game since I was middle school. This name comes from the mystery thief in Conan (Japanese comic book) who never be caught. Furthermore, I use my real photo in some social applications. This is only one clue to describe myself. Therefore, if you want to find me in Facebook or Instagram, please look at my profile picture :)

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Whether my online identity is accurately communicated 

In my view, some clues in social media can describe my personality because I post everything which I interested. For instance, while I am travelling, I always post photos about the places where I just visited. Not only the photos, sometimes I create clip video like a brief story about what I enthusiastic with it at the moment. For example, currently I am passionate in a orphan bird since it dropped from its nest. It can changes my attitude about bird. I can learn from it and wondered it is clever species as same as dogs. Thus, my online identity can express an accurate about myself. 

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View: my identity

How I display my identity in person 

The most outstanding identity of mine in person is easily noticed through clothes. I always wear clothes in classic colors such as black, white, and beige as they can be matched into many various looks. In addition, I seldom wear shorts, except when I go to the places like beaches since I believed that pants or long jeans make me look better when wearing them. Therefore, I can be considered as an easy-going person with a little formal style.

How I display my identity online

I use Instagram daily so there are a lot of pictures posted. When hanging out with friends or traveling with the family, I always explore new restaurants and share food pictures after that.  I always go to the nice decorated cafe which has a nice coffee since I am a coffee addict person. In addition, the cafe should be instagramable so that the pictures I shared will be interesting.

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Whether my online identity is accurately communicated 

Not really, online identity is just a slice of my life. I posted all pictures online when I have special occasions such as sightseeing on holidays when I feel happy and relieved. People might think that I always have time and feel happy. On the other hand, most of the time, 8 AM to 6 PM on Monday to Friday, I work at an office and feel very stressed. I have never posted a picture while I worked and been unhappy so people have never seen this side of my routine.

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Kanoon: my identity

How I display my identity in person 

            In my opinion, I think I'm an adventurous person. I like to do outside activities. That's why my identity can explain by my style of clothes. 

            I like to wear jeans. I'm a simple and easy girl. I don't like to wear details clothes at all. I'm ready to dirty every time. So my favorite color is black or gray. I like the dark tone so much 

           My clothes can identify with my lifestyle. I like to wear simple dark color clothes because I like to go everywhere even if that place is a scorching one or an adventure trip. I like hiking and biking. I like the activities in which I can feel relaxed and exercise together like walking in the Chatuchak Market in the afternoon.

            My tone of voice is uncomplicated. It changes to follow my emotions and also my gestures too. it depends on my emotions or the person who is to face me. if I don't like someone or something in an event. I will show everyone how what I feel.

            The last one to a good way to explain my identity is my characteristics. Many people and also my friends said I look like a friendly and optimistic young girl. but when I am in an official hour like a meeting or presenting something. I look like another girl who has so much confidence and energy.     

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How I display my identity online

        For my profile on the online platform, I use a cartoon that My friend said it looks like me for my profile picture. I sometimes like to post a good picture or a good moment about my lifestyle on my Instagram but the only moment when I really like to share the good energy with everyone is not for everything or every hour in my real life.

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Whether my online identity is accurately communicated 

   In my opinion, social media platform is a part of my life. I think you can't decide on me or know me like in real life but you can also know a little thing which I like. and also we can't decide on someone just because you see his or her profile from online platforms. They aren't posted everything in there for sure. I think everyone also likes to have privacy and security in real life.

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Keet's Identity

How I display my identity in person 

I sometimes display my identity trough color of  my clothes whenever I feel happy I choose to wear bright and colorful clothes , Pink , Purple, Green are my favorites. But when I feel blue I describe my color such as black. It not always has to be black, It can be dark brown and dark blue.

my tone of voice , I'm kind of person who love to play around and playful. I speak nicely to people around me. Ahmad once says " Be gentle to others, People will be gentle with you" I totally agree with him. In addition I love to put smile to my face or maybe just a little smile when I talk to make people around me feel comfortable.

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How I display my identity online

I try to  avoid to show or post my personal picture on social media. I normally use my Instagram platform just to post pictures of my pets, Travelling .Use social media to contact with friends . But when it comes to Facebook it will show my picture when somebody in family tag me and I use my real name on my Facebook.

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Whether my online identity is accurately communicated 

It's totally different , It's more accurate my identity in person ( more cheerful and  bright , lively) And I think I prefer how I display my identity in person over my identity in online.

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Dear: My identity

How I display my identity in person

Normally, I wear the casual clothes with colorful, excepting a working time that I will wear the formal clothes to built a reliability to myself.

When I have to communicate with people, I always concern what I need to say and tone of voice as I think it maybe affects to a relationship.

However, in case of the serious topic, I try to explain it with reason without emotional.

Besides, to communicate efficiently, I also use the body language to make an understanding easier.

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How I display my identity online

To display my identity online, it depends on what the purpose is. 

In case it relates to business purpose, real name-surname, personal information with photo are applied to identify myself. 

On the other hand, I always show the real photo with nickname on the social networks  such as facebook, instagram, etc. as I concerned about the security. Avatar sometimes is used. In addition, I also like to share the travel photo with the comment at places where I visited for my memory.

Whether my online identity is accurately communicated 

I think the most information shared on my online are accurately because they are a general topic that can be shared to everyone. As mentioned above, I always share my travel trip, not be the personal information.

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Peter: my identity

How I display my identity in person 

showing several
aspects of my identity

One of my identities is that I'm a teacher, and my clothes display this identity. When I'm at work, whether in a classroom or online, such as in a Zoom class, I always wear a plain white shirt. I think it's appropriate for my identity as a teacher. But in my life outside of work, I also always wear button-up shirts with collars. This could be because I'm getting old, which would be another aspect of my identity, but in fact, I've dressed this way since I was at university about 40 years ago. I feel comfortable in slightly formal clothes, which I guess shows that part of my personality is to be a bit formal, and my my chosen clothes show this. I have not even owned a T-shirt for more than 30 years! (Thank you Keet for that very useful question to give me this idea to write here. 

My tone of voice tells people, I hope, that I'm friendly and generally relaxed, but what I say can sometimes be serious and emphasize the importance of being logical. When I was in high school, mathematics was my favourite subject, and I did well at it. I also studied mathematics for three years at university. My major was philosophy, where one of my main areas of interest was logic, which went well with my interest in mathematics. Today, if I'm in a discussion, and even in some of my classes, I can be a bit pushy that people give logical reasons for what they say. It doesn't worry me what their ideas are, but I like strong, logical reasons to be given, and this fondness for logical thinking is an important part of my personality, which is itself a major part of my identity, of who I am. 

And I think I've written enough on this aspect of my identity. 

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How I display my identity online

On my personal Facebook page, I use my real name and images. I don't post very much. Mainly photos with very short comments about what I'm doing in my life. And after ten or more years on Facebook, I now have 32 friends. They are all people I know in my life outside of Facebook. Because they are close friends and relatives, they might even be interested in the meals I post about, or my shopping trips with Ea and his dad, and my thought about current issue. 

other sides of me

However, I also have another online identity that shows a very different me. One of my hobbies is joining online comments and discussions in articles published in a few of the newspapers and magazines I subscribe to. For that I use a screen name unrelated to my real name, although my avatar does include a real photograph of my face. My avatar is of the cartoon character Felix the Cat. He was very popular when I was a child more than 50 years ago, and is still fairly well known, although some young people who recognize the image might not know who the character is. I liked his bag of magic tricks and his mischievous attitude. Sometimes I like to be mischievous, like giving strong arguments to support a position I know will annoy someone. But the photograph in my avatar is really my head. I made Felix punch me to show that I'm happy for other people to disagree with me and present their supporting arguments. 

from the Vergilius Romanus 
manuscript, 5th century

My screen name is a little more complex: it's the first two words of a line in one of my favourite poems by Virgil that refers to the author of what really is my favourite Latin poem. I don't expect most people to know the reference, but it does show things about my identity: that I studied Latin at university, that I love philosophy (the poet Lucretius's de rerum natura is really a series of philosophical arguments written as poetry. It's brilliant.), and that I enjoy being a bit controversial. 

After uploading the image for Virgil's Georgics, I was tempted to write about my own rural background to fill in that part of my identity, but I think I've given enough details here. 

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Whether my online identity is accurately communicated 

I don't think that my online identity represents me incorrectly, but it is incomplete. Although the few photos and comments I post on my personal Facebook page are all real, they give a very biased view of me, one that emphasizes the fun, cheerful things. I do occasionally post unhappy things, but those are certainly in a minority, far smaller than their quantity in my life. Similarly, on my other Facebook pages, such as my AUA Facebook page, everything is true and correct, but only presents the aspect of my life that is related to my work as a teacher. I don't think this is a problem: professional pages are supposed to relate only relevant content, not the person's personal life, and my other Facebook page similarly reflects on the aspects of my identity that are relevant to that: it should present limited aspects of my identity.

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Good: Surreal self-sufficiency

 

According to “Self-Sufficiency Is Overrated” written by Sarah Wildman (2021) in The New York Times, the author had been helped by her friends and strangers and this kind of generosity bettered her to understand her real feeling and new points of view of self-sufficiency during her struggling times. First, the author exemplifies the situation when she borrowed her friend’s house for a summer week. On top of that, her friend also made additional generous offers, asking if she wanted some supplies such as eggs or milk. Ms. Wildman stated that “I brushed off her offers. Really, I said, we don’t need anything. It’s kind of you just to lend us the space.” However, her friend insisted, and this kind of entreaties enlightened her to realize that she “want[ed] someone else to take care of”. Being isolated from covid has worsened everyone’s mental health as the research conducted by NPR has shown that a half of families have been facing serious mental problems in the past few months. Some added stresses also aggravated the situation to become not only weary but also frayed, and her daughter aged 12 would be an example for this. Her daughter received chemotherapy for cancer and was under numerous treatments before that. On top of that, her mother couldn't think of words and was sent to the hospital. Spending time for four days to monitor her mother, her family was offered some help from friends to take shifts looking out for the patient. Although she denied it at first, then she thought it was the time to not take on self-sufficiency anymore. She then had an opportunity to receive tremendous kindnesses from friends, salespersons, and even strangers, all of which made her reflect on a way of thinking of the concept of self-sufficiency that we, humans, need to live with other people and sometimes we need someone to support us at some points. However, it is difficult for us to not hold strange feelings when bumping into long-lost friends. Just simple words like “I love you” made the author feel more buoyed. 

Reference 

Wildman, S. (2021, November 25). Self-Sufficiency Is Overrated. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/25/opinion/self-sufficiency-generosity.html

Num: Sex ed, one Instragram post at a time

 

    According to “Sex ed, one Instragram post at a time” (2021), The New York Times’ reporters Mona El-Naggar and Sara Aridi reported that social media such as Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, or TikTok were used as enlightening sources to provide sexual education to Arab women by numerous activists who are aiming to support reproductive health, solve cultural sexual misbeliefs based on religious doctrine and patriarchal societies in the Arabic world. Arab women have been facing gender equality. Moreover, standardized sex education is nonexistent in schools, with 40 percent of the unintended birth rate in Arab countries (Guttmacher Institute, 2018 as cited in El-Nagger & Aridi, 2021) attributable to women and girls have been left wondering, uneducated, and ashamed of their bodies. Activists are trying to mitigate the issues with the internet. Nour Emam, 29, an Egyptian activist, a professional doula, who helps women giving birth, and a former DJ broadcasts her show, “motherbeing”, via Instagram and TikTok. Fatma Ibrahim, 32, the founder of “Sex Talk in Arabic” posts her content on Instagram and Facebook. Dr. Sandrine Atallah and Dr. Deemah Salem, physicians from Lebanon and the UAE broadcast their show through Youtube and Instagram. The array of such online platforms and their ability to reach out to Arab women throughout the region is changing Muslim cultures. It's a common ground to provide a safe space for women to understand anatomy and open women to knowledge considered as harmful. To accomplish the main goal, to change a common religious belief that women have to oblige their husbands’s, every sexual desire, where those who refuse their husbands “the angels curse”, activists try to renew the idea with consent. Another misconception that they try to break is that families value women’s virginity, although many conservatives said that the platforms provoke unashamed, unembarrassed acts from women such as having sex before marriage, or learning about sex, which are not appropriate manners. However, many advocates found that the contents boost women’s confidence, and they can overcome their fear by understanding their nature.   

Reference 

El-Naggar, M. & Aridi, S. (2021, November 18). Sex ed, one Instragram post at a time. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/18/world/middleeast/sex-ed-arab-women-mideast.html

Pamin: Enhance educational lessons with machine-learning systems

 

   According to "The Machines Are Learning, and So Are the Students" (Smith, 2019), many classroom tasks like grading and providing immediate feedback are more and more being performed by a machine or so-called Artificial Intelligence, and this is optimizing and revolutionizing education. For example, in SAT exam preparation, "A plethora of online courses and tutorials also have freed teachers from lecturing and allowed them to spend class time working on problem-solving with students instead." Most tutoring systems in the past used rule-based artificial intelligence, cognitive theory, and decision trees to guide students to a pre-defined learning path. Nowadays, the machine-learning revolution enables the new capability of learning algorithms to learn from data. They know about the student through their interaction with the system.  Smith cites Kulik and Fletcher to support the claim that machine learning systems can now do better than human tutors in terms of improving student performance one reason is that it is more patient and insightful. More and more applications are being developed to support education. For example, Riiid TUTOR, an AI-powered TOEIC preparation application developed by a Korean start-up, and Acuitus's digital tutor application, created by a Silicon Valley start-up company, both use A.I. technology to support education.  Smith mentions in the article that schools, classrooms, and teachers are still important to teach social skills and subjects like art, music, and sport. As for A.I.-aided learning, its challenge might not be “technology but bureaucratic barriers that protect the status quo.” Dr. John Newkirk, co-founder, and chief executive of Acuitus, comments on A.I.-powered education that it is already proof that it is possible but still has much room for improvement in a decade or two. New education technology can reach students at home directly with machine-learning systems and the internet. Smith concludes by quoting Dr. Terrence Sejnowski who said that "Parents are figuring out that they can get much better educational lessons for their kids through the internet than they're getting at school." (Smith, 2019)

 Reference 

Smith, C. S. (2019, December 18). The machines are learning, and so are the students.

The New York Times. Retrieved December 7, 2021, from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/18/education/artificial-intelligence-tutors-teachers.html

Sea: World's 1st 3D Printed Neighborhood

 

According to “How an 11-Foot-Tall 3-D Printer Is Helping to Create a Community” (Kamin, 2021), a partnership is working together to create “the world’s first community of 3-D printed homes” for the low-paid residents in Nacajuca, Mexico. Recently, the use of 3-D printing for building objects has grown rapidly in different fields, one of which is for construction. With the speed and requirement of less than three workers, the completion of a home can be finished within 24 hours. New Story, the nonprofit organization who is involved in providing homes for people in poverty, saw the advantages of 3-D printed houses. Therefore, in 2019, they started a project in Nacajuca, Mexico with Échale, an affordable housing social enterprise based in Mexico, and Icon, a construction technology company who had experience in a wide range of projects from charity to commercial. About 10 houses and more were printed by Icon’s Vulcan II printer, an 11-foot-tall three-dimensional printer. By placing layers of lavacrete, a special concrete mix, which  “looks much like a massive soft-serve ice cream cone” but forming a house. Then Échale played an important role in on-site building and selecting members for the village based on the needs. One of the chosen families is the Hernández family. Mr.Hernández is a carpenter with little income. Moving from the last tiny and messy place to a new home will provide him more working space and the feeling of a safe place for his daughter. Henry D’Esposito, JLL lead of construction research, agrees that this is an appropriate way to use 3-D printing for single-family homes in Nacajuca because of their size, repetitiveness and tolerance of  a magnitude 7.4 earthquake. On the other hand, he suggested that right now it might not be fit for all markets, especially the commercial real estate market. The study had to be made more about the building life expectancy and how it will perform over time.

Reference 

Kamin, D. (2021, September 28). How an 11-Foot-Tall 3-D Printer Is Helping to Create a Community. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/28/business/3D-printing-homes.html 

Yujin: Who, and Where, Is Peng Shuai?

 

In “Who, and Where, Is Peng Shuai?”, a New York Times article, Raymond Zhong informs readers about the disappearance of Peng Shuai, a Chinese tennis star, after she accused a Chinese “top leader” of sexual assault. Peng Shuai began her tennis career two decades ago, during which she gained titles as a three-time Olympian, a world No.1 in doubles, and the 2014 French Open double, but she disappeared from public view for several weeks in November. It is speculated that her disappearance was because she had posted an accusation of sexual assault by Zhang Gaoli, an influential politician, and a former vice premier serving from 2012 to 2017, on Weibo on November, 2nd. The post stated that three years ago Zhang Gaoli had invited her to his home and tried to pressure her into sex. She did not consent at the time, but ultimately, they started a “consensual, if conflicted, relationship”. The post became viral across China; however, within minutes, Ms. Peng’s account vanished from the internet, including her posts and almost all other posts of the related topic.  Nevertheless, these measures did not succeed in covering up the story because Steven Simon, the head of the Women’s Tennis Association called on Beijing to investigate the situation on November 14th. On December 1st, the association announced that it was ending all tournaments in China, losing an extreme amount of money. According to Steven Simon, if China does not comply with their requests, they are not going to play in China due to the safety of the players and staff. The International Olympic Committee is also in the process of trying to sort the situation. Many have called out the Chinese government, including The Wall Street Journal, publishing an essay advocating for the removal of the Winter Games from China, the Biden administration and the United Nations human rights office, and fellow tennis luminaries speaking out on social media. The Chinese government has not responded in an official way, but news outlets have been posting on social media trying to persuade others that Ms. Peng is safe. Ms. Peng has only appeared in a video in a Communist Party-controlled newspaper showing her eating in a restaurant and attending a tennis event in Beijing, and some time after that in a video call with the president of the International Olympic Committee. 

Reference 

Zhong, R. (2021, December 3). Who, and Where, Is Peng Shuai? The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/article/peng-shuai.html 

Emma: Why people care about math education and politics

 

Image from The New York Times

In her news article “California Tries to Close the Gap in Math, but Sets Off a Backlash” (2021), Jacey Fortin reports that in California, the attempt on revising mathematics instruction in public schools, which has been done by the state, has been strongly criticized as bringing “woke politics into a subject that is supposed to be practical and precise.” According to the news article, since the proposed draft on math education has opened for public comment in February this year, it has created intense debates over “the fundamental question on what or whom is math for?” In addition to that, the controversial issue has been used by Glenn Youngkin, a politician from The Republicans, to win his candidacy for governor in Virginia. Despite the fierce criticism, Dr. Jo Boaler, a professor of education at Stanford University who has been working on the proposed draft, argues that its aims are to provide high school students with alternative math courses such as data science and statistics to calculus, improve equality on accessing high-level math courses to students of different races, deny the belief in gifted children, and use math lessons to connect students to social issues such as immigration or inequality. As mentioned in the news article, in the United States, there is a racial gap in math achievement among the students. The statistics from the civil rights office of the Education Department indicate that 16 percent of students in high schools are Black students and only half of them studied calculus in 2015 to 2016. In contrast, students who are White and Asian dominated in high-level math courses. Although the proposed draft of the new guidelines on math education does not recommend that public schools select students who are good at math for gifted programs to study in advanced math classes in mid schools, the critics argues that it can prevent those students from the benefits of learning advanced materials. According to the news article, the proposed draft is still in the process of revision for further public comment that is expected to be arrange in summer to get approval from the education board of the state.

Reference 

Fortin, J. (2021, November 4). California Tries to Close the Gap in Math, but Sets Off a Backlash. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/04/us/california-math-curriculum-guidelines.html

Phum: Age Check Protecting Child ?

 

In the technology section, "Anonymity No More? Age Checks Come to the Web" (2021), The New York Times’ David McCabe exposes the pressure from activists and parents' desire to protect children from inappropriate content on the internet. In action, a lot of governments already require age checks for sensitive content, such as in Japan, where users need to verify their age to use the app Tinder, and in the same way, in Germany and France, users need to verify their age to enter pornography websites. In response, many companies and authorities are taking action on this matter by registering a new law on age checks to protect children. Leading online platforms are taking action on this issue, with YouTube requiring identification documents or credit cards for entry to watch adult videos, while Google and Facebook were looking for and developing new methods of age verification to prevent users from lying about their age. In the opposite way, Twitter doesn’t require aggressive identity verification for adult content. Users are allowed to click through to 18+ content without any document. The new rule of age-checking requires users to give personal information to websites, which might lead to concerns about privacy and hacking. Daly Barnett, staff technologist, states that users’ information given to websites is "a treasure trove of data that’s exploitable." Responding to a concerning privacy issue, many companies and governments have introduced new measures to protect the privacy of users by limiting the period of storage of data. Another worry about aggressive age checking is that anonymous users are no longer anonymous anymore. Requiring a lot of documents and evidence for verification brings more uncomfort and frustration to users. Some new technologies could help with this issue. Mr. Farid, along with regulators and companies, suggests that "We don’t want the solution to be more harmful than the problem." Automatic facial analysis is one possible solution for comfortable age checking, but there are a few bugs with female or darker skin. Anyway, the new trend of age-checking might be beneficial for Roblox, the game company, in order to ban inappropriate players, who cannot reenter with the same government document, which the possible method they suggest is video chat and ID card. From the customer point of view, some don't want to disclose their personal information for service that they might pay for,  or the age-checking policy might suit only adult 18+ content.  

Reference 

McCabe, D. (2021, Oct 27) Anonymity No More? Age Checks Come to the Web. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/27/technology/internet-age-check-proof.html 

Peter: A right regular joy

In The New York Times article “Why Does Coffee Make Me Poop?” Alice Callahan (2021), while also addressing related health issues, summarizes the available evidence and theory behind the rapid laxative effect that coffee has on some drinkers. In addition to causing a rapid desire to defecate, or to poop as Callahan likes to call it, coffee’s effect on the digestive system hastens the return to normal eating and pooping for those who have undergone colorectal or gynaecological surgery, for which reason her main source, Dr. Robert Martindale, medical director for hospital nutrition services at Oregon Health and Science University, offers his patients coffee the morning after such surgery. Similarly, some see coffee as an antidote to constipation, although Callahan reports that dietician Sonya Angelone advises that this is better dealt with by eating enough fibre, of which coffee contains only one gramme per standard cup of 0.2 litres. According to Martindale, the explanation for coffee causing a substantial percentage of drinkers to poop within minutes of drinking it is mediation by hormones or other factors in the brain, which are rapidly stimulated when coffee reaches the stomach, and which brain action stimulates a response in the colon long before the coffee itself gets there an hour or more after it has been drunk. However, the theoretical explanation is tentative since, as Callahan, citing Martindale, tells us, the research studies are largely “small, old and limited.” For example, while a 1990 study reported only 29% of coffee drinkers needed a quick trip to the toilet, Martindale reports his experience suggests that up to 60% of his own patients to be so affected: there is no strong consensus even on how prevalent the pooping effect of coffee is. Research from 1998 appears to rule out caffeine as the responsible chemical, since the effect is found to occur whether the coffee consumed is regular or decaffeinated, which leaves the cause to be found among the other 1,000 or so chemicals that make up coffee. Finally, having noted that the US Food and Drug Administration says that four or five cups of coffee daily is not a problem for of its drinkers, Callahan concludes on the cheerful note restated from her opening that for many people, coffee is “part of a comforting morning routine, waking us up in a multitude of ways.” 

Reference 

Callahan, A. (2021, December 1).  Why does coffee make me poop? The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/30/well/eat/why-does-coffee-make-you-poop.html 

Peter: A necessary evil for constructive politics

In their opinion piece “It Is Every American’s Right to Curse the President” (2021), The New York Times’ Editorial Board argues that the strong free speech protections enshrined in the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States must themselves be protected from the good intentions of those who would restrict speech that is deeply offensive to the community or to national leaders, as seen in a recent court decision where a woman was ordered to remove banners that used extremely offensive language about President Biden. The Editorial Board agrees both that the signs in question, which Andrea Dick had put up in her front yard in full view of her neighbours, are extremely offensive, and that she had intended to offend her neighbours. However, the board rebuts the argument that obscenity is a sufficient reason to ban such language from public display. Their first argument is the legal one that a previous US Supreme Court opinion in 1971 has clearly established that even the English verb which is “not actually advocating sexual intercourse” with the object noun in such contexts, as a lawyer in that case described it, is “legally protected in political statements” by the US Constitution, and that the New Jersey court ruling is contrary to that precedent set by the Supreme Court. The Editorial Board next explains why the Supreme Court is right to have upheld the right of Americans to use the most offensive words even in public and why all Americans should support that decision to maintain the strongest legal protection of free speech. They argue that keeping their freedom depends on Americans continuing to support their democracy’s emphasis on the value of free speech. The first opposing concern the board notes is that some are questioning the traditional American respect for free speech because divisions over politics mean that many no longer trust the other side to respect the tradition of tolerance for ideas that they dislike, so that Republicans in some states are passing laws to ban some expressions of ideas, such as race protests. From another side, Democrats are said to be guilty of falsely equating offensive speech with violence that must be outlawed. Whilst insisting that actual violence not be tolerated, the Editorial Board emphasizes that “Democracy requires that we feel safe while shouting at each other.” 

Reference 

Editorial Board. (2021, July 24). It is every American’s right to curse the president. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/24/opinion/sunday/free-speech-case-New-Jersey.html 

Skillful 4: Reading & Writing, page 179- Critical thinking, E

What is it?

In their critical thinking questions that conclude "Successful Teams and Conflict", Warwick and Rogers (2018, pp. 179) invite us to apply the ideas in the reading to our personal experience. 

Write one comment that responds to both questions. 

The order of the questions seems logical: question 1 asks us to reflect on our own experience working on teams, which will review and apply the five stages of Tuckman's account of team development to our own experience, after which we can move to our own approach to conflict management. However, can address the two questions in the opposite order if you prefer. 

____________________________________ 

The questions to respond to in one comment

1. Think about when you have worked on teams. Did you develop in the manner Tuckman describes?
    
2. 
    Which conflict management styles described in the text is your dominant style? What do you think are the strengths and weaknesses of this style?

 

You have 18:00 minutes to plan, write, and edit a response to both questions. 

I suggest you divide your time roughly as:

• planning = 4:00 minutes - 
• Which specific example(s) from your experience will you discuss? 
• Which details should you include to make them effective examples?
• What main ideas do they support? 
• ?
• writing = 10:00 minutes - it's much easier to write when you have planned 
• editing = 4:00 minutes

____________________

A useful strategy - as usual 

Imagine you are writing for someone who has not read the question you have chosen to answer or the article that the question follows up. Your aim is to clearly communicate your response to that reader, so it might help to paraphrase the question at the start of your response to it. 

_________________________________

Reference

• Warwick, L. & Rogers, L. (2018). Skillful 4: Reading & Writing, Student's Book Pack (2nd. ed.). London: Macmillan Education

Skillful 4: Reading & Writing, page 174 - Critical thinking, E

What is it?

In their critical thinking exercise that concludes "Groupthink", Warwick and Rogers (2018, pp. 173) invite us to reflect on why concepts such as that of groupthink can remain popular despite the absence of solid evidence. 

Since we are asked to discuss theories "like groupthink," it will be useful to apply your explanation to more than the theory of groupthink. 

____________________________________ 

The question

1. Discuss why theories like groupthink remain so popular despite a lack of empirical data to support them. 
   

You have 16:00 minutes to plan, write, and edit a response to question 1.

____________________

A useful strategy - as usual 

Imagine you are writing for someone who has not read the question you have chosen to answer or the article that the question follows up. Your aim is to clearly communicate your response to that reader, so it might help to paraphrase the question at the start of your response to it. 

_________________________________

Reference

• Warwick, L. & Rogers, L. (2018). Skillful 4: Reading & Writing, Student's Book Pack (2nd. ed.). London: Macmillan Education