The World Archives - Page 8 of 10

Pete’s Declassified School Survival Guide: The Morning Routine

September 14, 2017 by szachik@pvs.org 1 Comment

By Peter Kadel, Senior Survival Scout

*Episode 1 in an ongoing series.

As we slowly acclimate to the total system shock of returning to school, I’ve noticed that many students are struggling with many aspects of everyday life here at Palm Valley. So since I enjoy helping others, I’ve put together a handy guide to school, drawing on my four years of experience and expertise for anybody who needs a helping hand to use. While many people will sugarcoat the truth or tell you lies to keep you ignorant and complacent, my guide will contain only factual truths.

The Morning:

One significant change that everyone struggles with when returning to school is adjusting to the change in sleep schedules and having to wake up early while also staying up late to do homework. This change is often a cause of struggle and stress for students. To prevent this stress, I fall asleep as soon as I get home. I strictly enforce a bedtime of 5:00 pm and always, religiously, wake up at exactly 2:00 am. This allows me to have nine blissful hours of sleep. Upon waking up, I proceed to run to the top of the tramway for a bit of fresh air. Now that I have reached the sweet spot of being wide awake after my run and refreshed due to my restful sleeping schedule, I am ready to tackle the assignments that I neglected to do the day before.

The key to effectively finishing your assignments before the start of school is speed; errors don’t matter. High school is supposed to be the best 5 ½ years of your life, but they won’t be if you worry about silly academic stuff. Just get it done as quickly as you can so you can focus on the important task of flirting with people your age and getting tattoos or piercings.

That is how I tackle the mornings. Stay tuned for the next installment to Pete’s Declassified School Survival Guide!

Editor: Brennan Nick

The things that Ms. America taught me

June 7, 2016 by szachik@pvs.org 5 Comments

–by Senior Blogger Ashley Zhou

Time has fled so fast, and suddenly it’s graduation season. I’ve been in the United States for almost three years. I have experienced both the happiest moments and the hardest times. If I can use a simple phrase to describe what America has taught me over the past three years, I will say, “America has taught me to ‘grow up.'”

I remembered when I first got out of the plane after a twelve-hour flight. I was so happy and excited to meet my first host family. But, things didn’t go as well as I thought. The lady in the little cell asked me about the signature on my I-20. I had no idea what was wrong with it, but something was. So, to put it simply, I was brought to a sealed room with people who looked extremely desperate in it. I was scared and didn’t know what to do. I didn’t have an American SIM card, so I had no way to contact my host family and let them know I was detained. So, I did a stupid thing and texted my mom. It was four o’clock in the morning in China, and my mom was worried to death. After waiting for like 20 minutes, they figured out what was going on with my I-20 and let me go. Nothing happened to me, and I met with my host family smoothly. In the evening, I got a message from my dad. He asked me how I was doing and said something I would never forget, “Baby, if you ever encounter something like this in the future, tell me, then we can figure out what to do. Don’t tell your mom. She will be worried, and this is not her fault. She doesn’t know about these situations, and she can’t do anything but be worried about you.” I felt so guilty for letting my mom worry about me. But this is what all mothers do; they worry and worry and worry. So, the second time I got into the secondary room upon arrival in a US airport, I didn’t say anything but let my family know I arrived safely. I’ve learned how to protect my family.

As we grow up, we see other people and ourselves in different lights. We are getting to know more about ourselves and have a more clear idea about who we want to be in the future. What I want to say is that in America, everyone’s talent is valued. There are artists, athletes, politicians, actors, writers, bookworms, scientists, musicians, and multipotentialites (elites who have multiple skills and potentials) in our school. They can be extroverts or introverts, and that doesn’t really matter. Even the slightest advantage in one person can be enlarged and appreciated. It sounds so easy a concept, but it is so hard to achieve and once achieved, it is actually amazing. I wonder so many times why my poor Chinese peers have to live a different life. Parents don’t understand that behind the ruthless and meaningless competitions between grades, their kids’ talents have been depraved.

Human beings tend to bully the weak and fear the strong. This is a universal phenomenon. But, I also have learned that this is totally wrong. Nobody should ever think or act this way. Being kind doesn’t mean being weak, and being rude doesn’t mean being strong. I hope everyone thinks the best of everyone. I guess this is called maturity.

These are some precious lessons I’ve learned from Ms. America, and I am sure there’s more to learn about growing up.

–Edited by Jordan King

Why Am I Persecuted?!

April 27, 2016 by szachik@pvs.org 3 Comments

–an Op-Ed* piece by Jordan King

Does anyone else remember the Kim Davis story? Well, if you don’t, she denied marriage licenses to same-sex couples in Kentucky even though it was her Job, and she was the only one in the county who could do that job. Well,… many people thought she was being unjust, but others took a different stance–most notably Ted Cruz who compared Kim Davis to Rosa Parks. After Kim Davis was arrested, Ted Cruz came out and said that Christians are persecuted in this country. So, are Christians persecuted in this country?

To better understand this topic, we should first see why some Christians think they’re persecuted. The main reason is something called “religious liberty.” Religious liberty is protected under the Bill Of Rights, the First Amendment states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” Religious freedom is necessary, of course. The problem lies in the fact that some think that religious liberty can be used to discriminate against people because of their belief. The problem with this discrimination… it goes against the Constitution, and against plain common sense. “…The concept of free exercise of religion is not self-defining. The boundaries of free exercise, like those of other rights, must be delineated as against the claims of society and of other individuals” (The Heritage Guide to The Constitution). What this is saying, is that religious liberty in the Bill of Rights is limited; it can’t go against the common good of society, and it can’t go against the law. Some believe that they are being persecuted because they can’t discriminate against gay people in their place of business. They argue, a baker who believes marriage is defined as a union between a man and a woman should not be forced to make a cake for a same-sex couple’s wedding.

Note, 92% of House and Senate members identify as Christian (The Huffington Post). To put this in perspective, only 72% of the American public identify as Christian (The Huffington Post). Christians are extremely well represented in government and in the United States demography. Also knowing that there are far more people who say they are Christian in the House and Senate then in the general population goes to show that it’s more likely you will be voted into Congress if you are a Christian. Non-religious, unaffiliated, people only make up 3% of the Senate but make up 16.1% of the general population (The Pew Forum). Popular opinion and our legislative body lean toward the Christian.

I conclude, Christians aren’t persecuted in this country. Christians are treated like everyone else, if not better. Your religious rights give you the right to practice your religion; they give you the freedom to have particular beliefs and ideologies. You can’t, though, have your beliefs interfere with the good of society, or the law.

*The opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints expressed by the various authors and participants on this blog site do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of thebirdonfire.org, the Upper School Blog Class, or the Palm Valley School.

What is racism?

April 15, 2016 by szachik@pvs.org 9 Comments

–by Gaven Li

We live in an extremely sensitive world. If people don’t use words like “black” or “colored” properly, they will be easily considered “racist.” I’ve been living in the United States as a Chinese student for about seventeen months and have met or heard many things that are a little “racist” but not hard to get over. So what is racism? In my very own opinion, racism is not the jokes that my friends often make about my eyes (sometime they are actually funny), or the fact that it took some teachers a year to stop calling me “Michael,” who is another male Chinese student in my grade. I don’t think these things are racist. They won’t even hurt my feelings.

The real racism is when mainstream media keeps conveying wrong messages to the audience that China is still a poor, rural country with uneducated people, while they never show the amazing changes China has made in the past thirty years. The real racism is the stereotype of “the smart Asian” or “the calculator,” without realizing how hard Chinese students study and how competitive it is to get into a good college in China. The real racism is claiming that “Chinese immigrants are taking over our land and our jobs,” while forgetting how European immigrants took land and livelihood from Native Americans two hundred years ago. The real racism is making fun of the Chinese internet blockade while praising the “freedom of speech” which was written in the U.S. Constitution while Edward Snowden has been hiding all over the world for three years. The real racism is laughing at China’s government system without even knowing anything about it, while the U.S. election system is about to let Mr. Donald Trump become the next president. The real racism is indignantly criticizing the child labor issues in China, while ignoring which country held slaves for two centuries.

Growing up in China, we are taught that the United States of America is an amazing country with liberty and democracy—Hollywood, New York, the NBA…it sounds a wonderful place. When I first came here, however, the one question that I was asked so many times was, “Do you eat dogs?” This really shocked me. I don’t know if it’s because of TV, newspapers, or the internet; it seems like most Americans’ knowledge and understanding of China is from the 1970’s. Even though I know the United States is probably so perfect that the people don’t necessarily want to learn too much about other countries, what really upsets me is the fact that so many people accept the wrong, misguided images of China or Chinese people without thinking or researching. The comic-strip caricature of the evil Fu Manchu, for example, was perpetuated by the media and politicians. I can live with all the racist jokes, but it is the disrespect and unfair judgement to my motherland that hurts me the most.

Because of cultural differences, Asian people usually don’t speak out for themselves or protest in public, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have feelings. I’m not pointing at anyone since most of my friends and teachers are nice to me and I really appreciate it. I’m just expressing how I feel about racism as portrayed in the media and internet. Indeed, Asians have small eyes, but they are big enough for us to see the unfairness and discrimination we are facing.

The most influential persons in history

April 8, 2016 by szachik@pvs.org 10 Comments

–comments and summary by senior Blog Correspondent and future “Influential Person” Ashley Zhou

The other day when I was browsing the old bookshelf at home, a book caught my eyes: The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History by Michael Hart.
I have thought about this topic but was never able to come up with my own list of influential persons.
The first names that popped out of my head were Isaac Newton, newton Jesus Christ, and maybe Sherlock Holmes. So, I opened the book. I was curious to find out who is the most influential person. Muhammad. The book said, “Muhammad.”
Ummm. I have to admit that I was a little bit shocked because I didn’t know a whole bunch about Muhammad. So I continued reading and tried to find out more about him. In the preface, author Hart admitted that ranking Muhammad first might be controversial, but he felt that from a secular historian’s perspective, this was the correct choice because Muhammad is the only man to have been both a founder of a major world religion and a major military/political leader.
As I kept reading the book, I find that the list was clearly dominated by religious leaders (implying that they were the most influential group of people). Next, came innovaters and scientists, and then political figures. The highest ranked political/military figure does not come until #17 (Qin Shi Huang, the first Chinese emperor to unite China), followed by Caesar Augustus (nephew of Julius, creator of a peaceful Roman era) at #18. This view would be consistent with the idea that “the pen is mightier than the sword.” jesus-christ-munir-alawi
But, why are the religious leaders the most influential group in history? Or, what evidence did the author use to support his point?
Firstly, the influence of religion is much more profound and widespread across the world than that of military or politics or fashion, etc. People nowadays still keep their beliefs and religions as very important parts their lives. In history, those founders went through a harsh, austere, and long process of establishing those religions. Hart explains religions lead their people to fight battles, teach them about the theories or save them from their sufferings. Religion wasn’t only a redemption but also a main support in people’s lives. A kingdom may last a century or so, but it doesn’t expand beyond its borders. Religions spread worldwide and last for generations. That is why religions and religious leaders have such widespread influence across the world.
Inventors and scientists bring us steam engines, paper making, electricity, the basic knowledge of the universe, pasteurization, magneto, airplanes, radios, telephones, photography, X-Rays and many other technologies to better our standard of living. These changes are tangible and practical, and, more importantly, these inventions and discoveries are the foundation of the progress of human civilization. So that’s why inventors and scientists are ranked the second most influential group in history.
As I mentioned, the highest ranking political/military figure doesn’t come till #17 on Hart’s list. Hart explains that’s because the influence of an empire usually doesn’t last longer than one or two centuries. Even though those kings and emperors were great leaders and fighters, they weren’t as influential as religious and scientific leaders. And, of course, Hitler is a member of The 100. He’s #35 (#39 in the revised edition).
As we enter the 21st century, there are many other notable and notorious individuals who truly influenced our lives: Steve Jobs, Ronald Reagan, FDR, Mark Zuckerberg, Oprah, even Benedict Cumberbatch. I am looking forward to the update of this book. In another 50 years, I hope I am on the list. Hehehe.

Who would be on your list of “The 100 Most Influential”? Mr. Sarkis? Kobe? Rihanna?

Tesla Unveils the Model 3

April 6, 2016 by szachik@pvs.org 2 Comments

–by Jordan King, Blog Auto Industry Correspondent, future driver who will probably get a Toyota Corolla because the Tesla 3 doesn’t come out until the end of 2017, and he can’t WAIT THAT LONG!

March 31st marked the beginning of a revolution: the electric-car revolution. Tesla unveiled the Model 3–the most mainstream electric car ever. Why is this so exciting? Well, first off, the Tesla 3 gets 215 miles of range for the cheapest model! All models (except the cheapest model) come with autopilot! What’s even more exciting is the price; the Model 3 is $35,000 at its cheapest, but after government incentives the price drops to $25,000. Also, just look at it!

teslamotors.com

teslamotors.com

Well… There are a few complications though. Firstly, if Tesla sells more than 200,000 units, there won’t be an incentive. Tesla already has over 270,000 pre-orders for a car that won’t ship for another eighteen months. Also the base model probably won’t have any of the features that people want. Autonomous features won’t be available unless you have a model for potentially $50,000 or more. Also the Model 3 isn’t expected to ship until the end of 2017. How can anyone wait that long? It’s madness! I’m betting, however, the Model 3 will disrupt the auto industry. It’s the first affordable electric car that gets over a hundred miles of range. Already, everybody wants one.

Right now, it may not seem realistic to drive an electric car every day, but soon it will. Tesla is doubling the amount of superchargers in the world. If you didn’t know already, the Tesla Supercharger fully charges a car in half an hour, and the charging time could be even less in the future. You’ll find Superchargers in malls, at grocery stores, at train stations, etc. So, hold onto your hats because this is going to be one heck of a ride.

Are you going to put a Tesla in your garage?

A Christmas Day Without A Christmas Tree

March 30, 2016 by szachik@pvs.org 1 Comment

–by Zhenzhou Hu

Back when senior Hugh was applying to colleges, he wrote this essay about a community-service project served with his host family, the Wessmans. Hugh used this essay as part of his college application. It worked. Hugh will be attending the University of San Diego next fall. He shares now his essay with The Bird on Fire.

“I guess I’m not going to see a beautiful Christmas tree tonight,” I whined on Christmas Eve as I wandered across the highway 20 miles north of the Mexican border. I had been looking forward to my first Christmas ever since I arrived in America. With child-like wonder, I envisioned a tinsel-topped tree, a traditional turkey dinner, and maybe even a visit from Santa Claus. It was not to be! My host family announced they were going to give away Christmas this year. They wanted to make Christmas about what they could do instead of what they could receive. To me, it didn’t sound like giving it away; it sounded like giving it up.

The plan was to build a house in a week for a needy Mexican family. And now, before we even arrived, we had car trouble. The tension pulley on the fan belt froze. Stranded! Hardly a car passed, and not a store was open. After all, everyone else was already at home enjoying their own beautiful Christmas tree.

Eventually, we made contact with another “Family Helping Families” group traveling toward us. We had never met before, but these people brought us hope and cheer. They backtracked several hours to find the needed parts. They brought water, shared granola bars, and helped find an open Pizza Hut. It wasn’t turkey, but pizza never tasted so good.

Next day, I awoke to a stocking stuffed with work gloves, measuring tape, and a hammer. These weren’t exactly the items on my wish list to Santa. After preparing some food, we drove to the train tracks. As soon as we dropped the tailgate, hungry villagers appeared out of nowhere. We sliced turkey, dished potatoes, and handed out oranges. At first it was awkward; I had never done anything like this before. I couldn’t understand them; they couldn’t understand me. One by one the Mexican children smiled; I smiled back. Later, I surprised myself by playing football in the desert.

The next morning we arrived at a foundation waiting for walls. I made electrical boxes and screeded sand. Trowel in hand, I laid block with mortar. Interior walls appeared with the help of hammers and saws. Roof rafters were hoisted, lined up and set in place. An inexperienced army nailed plywood sheeting. Luckily, the roof held the army’s weight. Finally, we presented the home to a tearfully grateful family.
The building was simple in looks but not simple in meaning. The walls rose up not only block by block, but also with the sweat of our caring character. The building showed I learned several new skills in just five days and also represented an achievement of which I am proud. Recalling the image of the crude building, I see the scenes of my transitional experience in Mexico: the scratchy feeling of sand blowing into my eyes; the callouses earned while troweling a block wall; my host brother and his newfound Mexican friends communicating with their invented sign language; me, enjoying my first delicious street taco; and finally exchanging the overwhelming heat, dust, and poverty for the quiet and contemplative comfort of my own room that was still missing a Christmas tree. The person who left that room on Christmas Eve, however, was a boy. The person who returned was an adult.

The Difference between an American and a Chinese Education

March 30, 2016 by szachik@pvs.org 1 Comment

–Zhenzhou Hu, former and forever “The Bird on Fire” blogger, ponders the differences between an American and Chinese education. He’s been educated under both systems. Here’s what he had to say.

When I first arrived at boarding school in China far away from home as a six-year-old, I did not cry like many other pupils. Instead of being fearful, I was curious about the new environment and eager to find something enticing. School would be an interesting place, and teachers would be angels who would impart knowledge and encourage exploration. However, I was mistaken. We were required to sit upright with hands still on the desk. “Why can’t we sit leisurely?” When I doubted why 1507.m00.i104.n047.p.c25.classroom-education-thin-line-concept-f 1+1 = 2, my math teacher confirmed, with an indisputable tone, “That’s truth. Just remember it.” I was once scolded by my teacher because my score held back the overall GPA of my class. As we entered upper grades, the academic workload became increasingly heavier and most of our spare time was occupied by being tutored. School was no longer the paradise I had expected, and teachers were not the angels I had hoped. Gradually, I felt like I was becoming a puppet–doing what the teachers expected me to do and believing all that the teachers said without questioning or experimenting. I even put away my interest in drawing to save time for the heavy academic burden. 1+1 must = 2! No room for argument.

In 2014, I came to the USA. The first classroom I walked into at Palm Valley School was so refreshing I will always remember it: small class, beautifully decorated classroom, seemingly random but actually well-organized seats, a group of vibrant students, a nice teacher, and a comfortable environment. My classmates were encouraged to express their various ideas, and the teacher gave us tremendous inspiration. The most impressive teacher to me was Ms. Mckee, my math teacher. When I asked puerile questions (like what was the difference between relative maximum and absolute maximum), she always answered, “Excellent question!” and then proceeded to explain it. If I had asked a question like that in China, the teacher would have given me a disparaging glance instead of encouragement. Ms. Mckee gave me the courage to ask questions instead of hiding behind them.
Although I was shy and dared not speak in the first place, I fell in love with this kind of education. Mr. Sarkis, my drama teacher, showed great patience in correcting my pronunciation, which greatly enhanced my performances. I bravely performed Shakespeare as Julius Caesar’s servant at the Fullerton College High School Drama Festival in front of native English speakers. I may not have won an award at this festival, but I won the feelings of success in a job well-done, confidence, and friendship. These prizes will last longer than any trophy.
Compared with my previous school in China, things are quite different at Palm Valley. I am no longer the timid boy who just arrived. I am once again the boy who was passionate, curious and energetic. As a result of my educational experiences in the United States, I want to return to China and teach math to middle school students. I am determined to find young boys and girls who want to know why 1+1=2. And, I will answer like Ms. Mckee, “Excellent question!”

Oh, the Places We Do Go!

March 16, 2016 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

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Mr. Griffin explains the construction and design of Disney Concert Hall’s architecture.

Zach Jenkins (l-r), Bryan Johnson, Henry Huang, Mac Spears, Mr. Griffin, and Asher Mai polished off their French Dipped Sandwiches, replete with hot mustard and pickled eggs.

On our half day, Friday, March 4, Mr. Griffin led a team of PVS cultural enthusiasts to Los Angeles. After a brief side excursion to a Chinese bakery (led by a hungry Bryan Johnson), we started with an early dinner at L.A.’s iconic Philippe’s, where the French Dipped Sandwich originated back in 1918. Then, Mr. Griffin scheduled us into The Broad, L.A.’s New Contemporary Art Museum–the big white building downtown sporting the innovative honeycomb “veil-and-vault” architecture. The night finished breathtakingly at Disney Concert Hall with Gustavo Dudamel conducting Mahler’s Third Symphony. Time could have stopped for us right there, right then. Los Angeles Times critic Mark Swed said Dudamel “excelled in revealing the power of Mahler,” leading the L.A. Phil to play “with gut-wrenching strength.” Word is, Mr. Griffin and Ms. Zachik are creating a Culture Club next year adding more expeditions for the culturally adventurous.

PVS students scrambled over the Disney Concert Hall winding architecture, taking in the L.A. skyline.

David Kocen beside the oversized Table and Chairs installment at The Broad.

Jeff Koons Balloon Dog at The Broad

Are the Robots Taking Our Jobs?!

March 3, 2016 by szachik@pvs.org 8 Comments

–by Jordan King, a new voice in the blogosphere–here’s his take on “the real world”

In the near future, we will surely see more technology and even more automation. Functional self-driving cars are already here; they’ve been around since 2008. There are robots that perform factory work; there are robots that replicate white-collar work; and there are even robots that write music! What’s going to happen to jobs? Will robots take them all?

For now, we don’t really need to worry; current robots can only do basic factory work and repetitive computer work. Currently, there is a robot called Baxter; he’s a multipurpose robot that can pour drinks, fold clothes, cook food and perform many other simple tasks. Baxter learns by humans physically moving his arms and showing him what to do. He can be programmed to perform multiple and varied tasks.

Here is a video of Baxter Brewing coffee.

As you may have noticed, Baxter is extremely slow; a human is about 10 times faster. Baxter can work all day without human supervision as long as he’s doing repetitive tasks. For now, Baxter is probably not a threat to people’s jobs. Although in the next few decades Baxters and other multipurpose robots will definitely be much faster and able to do more complicated tasks.

In the near future, the first people to lose jobs likely will lose them to self-driving cars. We’ve already had functioning self-driving cars for eight years. Uber is already planning on having self-driving cars enter the workforce in a decade from now. In 20 years from now, most if not all of Uber’s workers will no longer be working for them. There’s also self-driving trucks, which some believe will enter the workforce in less than 10 years! According to alltrucking.com, there are currently 3.5 million truck drivers employed in the US. Transportation is one of the most likely sectors of jobs to be replaced by automation.
The United States Department of Transportation says 16 percent of all US jobs are in the Transportation sector.
Here is a list of 12 jobs most likely to be replaced by robots according to Oxford University data.

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Another study states that 47% of jobs are at a high risk of being replaced by robots. So how can we deal with this? What will potentially half the population do if they don’t have a job? According to Forbes, robots will be the biggest job creators in history. Is this true, though? I say, it probably is. Just look at historical unemployment rates.

unnamed (United States Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Unemployment rates have relatively stayed the same despite recession, economic growth, and economic turmoil, so robots won’t make a difference. Even though there have been jobs outsourced 0806-Took-Jerbs to China, India, Latin America and most factory work is replaced by machines, the unemployment rate, historically, stays relatively the same.

With the onslaught of robots, unemployment rates will rise initially as they have during other periods of economic turmoil. But, after all the steam blows over, unemployment rates will return back to normal like they have throughout US history.

So… robots probably won’t take our jobs.