#section editor

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Evolution of technology opinion article for issue 41.3 of The Communicator. November 5, 2009 Section Editor for Perspectives Photo Credit pg. 7 

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Referendum 71 opinion article for issue 41.2 of The Communicator.  October 22, 2009 Section Editor for Perspectives. 

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Healthcare reform Opinion article for issue 41.1 of The Communicator.  October 8, 2009 Section Editor for Perspectives.  

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M is For Money, Not Morals

BY: Emily Chang, Section Editor

Over the years, China has come a long way in terms of economic and industrial development. Legions of skyscrapers and apartment complexes have materialized, and the air quality seems to have improved slightly from governmental measures. However, underneath this façade of progress and wealth hides a corrupted moral compass, one that has and continues to lead some Chinese citizens to prioritize money over morals. In Guangzhou’s recent double-hit-and-run of two year old Wang Yue, questions of China’s moral standards have surfaced.

On October 13, 2011, toddler Wang Yue was hit by a truck on the streets of Guangzhou. As the truck sped away, the child was left bleeding on the ground. In the seven minutes after the initial accident, eighteen passersbys ignored the bleeding toddler, and another truck ran her over without stopping. Finally, an old bottle collector arrived and moved the child to the side of the road. Despite efforts to save the child, however, time and additional injuries from the second truck caused her to pass away a week later.

This incident has since been broadcasted around the world, sparking anger and astonishment from both foreign and domestic audiences. Many believed that Wang Yue’s death could change the hearts of those immoral citizens. But less than two weeks after Wang Yue’s accident, five year old Xiong Maoke was killed in a similar accident. Walking home from kindergarten, Xiong collided with the side of a large truck and fell. Nearby witnesses attested that as Xiong stood back up and began to collect his belongings from the floor, the driver purposely drove forward and crushed the boy. When interrogated by the police the driver merely replied, “How much should I pay?” Witnesses speculate that, as the driver of the truck that killed Wang Yue infamously stated, “If she is dead, I may pay only about 20,000 yuan. But if she is injured, I may have to pay hundreds of thousands of yuan.” It seems that people are afraid of not only being sued for injuring others but also of being held responsible for paying lifelong medical bills, and may thus choose murder over morals.

The problem seems to stem from a recurrence of lawsuits that has happened over the past few years. In August, a report indicated that a woman who had been climbing over a fence near the street fell onto the road. The driver of the car behind her immediately stopped and proceeded to help the woman up, making sure she was safe. A few days later, the driver was sued for allegedly injuring the woman, and was forced to pay 100,000 yuan. Similar incidents have occurred in areas such as Nanjing and Shanghai.

Over the years, along with economic development, income inequality has heightened; China’s poor has become poorer as the rich become richer. Hence, it may be that in such desperate times, some citizens will take desperate measures to make money. While these individual citizens are responsible for their own unethical actions, an even larger issue rises to forefront. The desperation or desire for money has driven people to turn an accident into a crime in order to prevent a greater monetary loss. And although egocentricity is said to be innate to humans, does our self-centeredness really prime us to go as far as to take from others without substantial reason, or for that matter, commit murder?

Some believe that the Chinese judicial system provides more opportunities for individuals to sue, even without real evidence of the specific incidents, possibly increasing the likelihood of such events as Wang Yue’s death to occur. Others believe that the education system that focuses solely on academia and, in previous years, patriotism, does not seem to cover the aspect of ethics or morality that most schools teach from a young age. Perhaps for this reason, it is sometimes difficult for people to realize what is truly immoral, especially when judgment is clouded by self-seeking intentions.

Sources:

Richburg, Keith B. "Toddler in China Hit by 2 Cars, Then Ignored, Dies - The Washington Post." The Washington Post: National, World & D.C. Area News and Headlines - The Washington Post. 21 Oct. 2011. Web. 31 Oct. 2011.

Jiang. "Woman Perceived as Framing Man Jeered outside Court." CRIENGLISH. Shanghai Daily, 24 Aug. 2011. Web. 31 Oct. 2011. 

Herrick, Joel. "In Wake of Yueyue's Passing, Another Child-death Tragedy Strikes in Sichuan: Shanghaiist." Shanghaiist: Shanghai News, Food, Arts & Events. 22 Oct. 2011. Web. 31 Oct. 2011.

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Movember: the Joys, Woes, and Motives of Moustache Cultivation

BY: Amanda Song & Rebecca Qian, Section Editors

Movember, a portmanteau of the words “Mo” (short for “moustache”) and November, is a month-long moustache growing charity event dedicated to “[raising] vital funds and awareness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer.” 1 Embracing the hairy month is more difficult than you think. As the men’s health awareness celebration draws to a close, several male teachers give The Break the run-down on the heart-wrenching, month-long separation from their beloved razors.

While staff and students alike agree that the moustache movement is for a good cause, some teachers are finding the actual execution challenging to deal with. Math teacher Mr. Maddock, for one, states that he “dislike[s] all facial hair,” finding it “annoying” and “itchy.” During the course of his attempt to grow out his moustache, he had shaved it off a couple of times out of irritation. Chemistry and Music teacher Mr. Beckstead agrees with the “itchy” factor, and thus is “quite reluctant” to grow a moustache. 

Others simply miss their alter ego sans hair. Economics teacher Mr. Green admits that feedback on his moustache so far has not been positive, ranging from “it’s interesting” to Mrs. Farr’s reminder that “some men should never grow moustaches.” Mr. Green himself compares his new appearance –albeit reluctantly – to that of a “used-car salesman.” Mr. Maddock also jokes that he feels and looks “much older” with a moustache. Fortunately for them, their suffering has not gone unnoticed. Mr. Beckstead comments that he “respects people who have the fortitude to grow facial hair, even when it looks ridiculous.”

While some male teachers express hesitance in growing facial hair, others dread the day it must all come off.  According to Spanish teacher Mr. Lopez, “the feelings that men have for their moustaches or beards can be compared to that of women for their hair.” This emotional attachment is what led Mr. Lopez to keep his moustache and goatee for at least fifteen years, until he recently shaved them off to campaign against the “scary war known as cancer.” Similarly, PE teacher Mr. White finds the process of growing a moustache to be “enjoyable and very easy.” In fact, he finds shaving more difficult, and notes that “[Movember] is fun, since [the participating male teachers all] look different, and [they] can tease each other a bit.”

Some teachers are also willing to participate because Movember has become annual tradition in their lives. Mr. King had participated in Movember in Australia, and continues to do so at ISB. With years of dedication to the moustache-brewing campaign, Mr. King is confident that he “would probably continue to participate in the future.”

Female teachers may hold surprising views toward Movember. History teacher Ms. Pratt thinks that “it’s very ironic that [in celebration of] men’s health month we have all the men in the school grow unhealthy looking facial hair,” but nevertheless thinks “it’s great that it leads everyone to talk about the importance of men’s health.” On whether there should be a Movember spin-off for women, Ms. Pratt says that “ribbons for AIDS awareness, or armbands” are good ideas to start with.

For all you young men and women out there smirk not — growing a moustache is not always an easy task. ISB’s Movember participants deserve a round of applause for their dedication toward spreading cancer awareness. You may poke fun at Mr. Green’s slightly felonious demeanor, or Mr. Maddock’s awkwardly aged appearance, but as long as you are talking about the men’s health movement, then Movember has achieved its purpose. Though November has come to an end, the campaign for health awareness is far from over. As teachers shed their hairy get-ups, remember that the fight against cancer continues—with or without hair.

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Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better: The Perception of Women and Humor

BY: Maura Dentino, Section Editor

I think at one point or another we have all seen this scene unfold – a strapping young lad makes a witty quip that rouses hearty laughter from all those around him, yet, when a little lass comes along with her bon mot, it fails to stir up any amusement in her peers at all, leaving her to fester in the awkward silence she herself created. These kinds of situations bring up a question: Why are males perceived to be funnier than females?

Scientists have tried to validate the idea. As revealed in a study published by Gil Greengross and Geoffrey Miller1 in 2011, four hundred students at the University of New Mexico participated in an experiment were they were asked to write as many captions as they could for captionless cartoons within a span of ten minutes. A panel of judges then rated the cartoons on a scale of one to seven, with seven indicating that the cartoon was extremely funny. On the whole, the captions produced by male participants were rated as funnier than those written by females. However, we must consider the subjectivity of humor – who is to say what is funny and who is not? I doubt the pitiful panel made up of only two women and four men (bias, anyone?) used in the experiment would truly be proper judges of hilarity. 

Still, we cannot deny the distinct gap between guys and gals in terms of funniness. It could relate back to attraction: for many ladies, humor is an extremely important factor when considering potential significant others. A boy could have all odds against him – perhaps he is ugly, dumb, smelly, or a combination of all three – but he could still have a fighting chance to get to the girl so long as he can make her chortle.  The same does not apply to females, though: a pretty face and a slim figure would seemingly more than make up for a lack of wit. It is because we are not expected to be funny that there seems to be fewer witticisms among the fairer sex. 

Funny women could perhaps even be seen as a threat because of this, and therefore be perceived as less humorous. It is the man’s job to kill them with laughter and win all the ladies. Why would a woman try to step on his turf like that? Why you gotta front, girl? 

Furthermore, observations from any schoolyard show that guys are more willing to laugh at other fellow’s one-liners, no matter how lame. Bros find other bros inherently hilarious. This is not the case with females. In fact, we tend to do the exact opposite. We are much more critical when it comes to jokes. In a report published by the Stanford University School of Medicine in 2005, researchers found that “women are quicker at identifying material that they considered unfunny.”

There is not a complete lack of funny females, though. When you look at the big names of comedy today, ladies are pretty dominant – Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Kristen Wiig. The list goes on. They serve as beautiful, sparkling rays of hope for the many women of the world.  They send the message that we have the capacity to be just as funny as men, if not funnier. Take that, absurd gender stereotypes!

Sources:

Greengross, Gil. Miller, Geoffrey. (2011). Humor ability reveals intelligence, predicts mating success, and is higher in males. Intelligence. (39). 188-192. 

Hitchens, Christopher. "Why Women Aren't Funny." Vanity Fair, Jan. 2007. Web. 25 Oct. 2011. <http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2007/01/hitchens200701>.

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Trending in ISB: Simulation Games

BY: Rebecca Qian, Section Editor

Just when we thought the era of childhood role-playing had long passed, a new wave of simulation games has begun to sweep the high school. Yet far from being frivolous activities, these games require intensive strategic thinking. Stock Market and Assassin are two such games that have been introduced in ISB, and simulate many aspects of “real life.”

For Stock Market, the name of the game is all-revealing. Participants enter an online stock market simulation, where they compete to gain the most profit from purchasing virtual stocks that mirror real-world stock trends. 

Stock market behavior is notoriously difficult to predict, with fluctuating trends that confound newcomers and practiced economists alike. While luck is certainly a large factor in the stock market, IB Economics teacher Mr. Green, who leads the Stock Market ASA, maintains that performance is largely determined by the amount of effort put into market analysis. “It is a competition, so students have to do research on companies if they want to do well”—similar to the real stock market, in which investors must accumulate knowledge of companies before making decisions. Unfortunately, this is where some students fall short. Kevin Zhao (11) explains that he lost six thousand [simulated] dollars due to “not putting enough time for research.” Despite doing research, Brian Tsang (11) states that he’s “losing hard.” Although he made calculated investments—choosing to buy stocks from Apple due to familiarity with the company’s products—his investment turned out to be fruitless.

Now this is where the advantage of the simulation kicks in: if all else fails, at least only virtual money has been lost. The monetary worth of the stocks is the most significant distinction between the real world market and simulated market. This seemingly small difference in the worth of stocks instills in Stock Market players a sense of security and a willingness to take risks that the real world markets may not necessarily provide. 

The other real-life simulation game, Assassin, allows players take on a slightly different role. Participants are given “targets” to “assassinate,” with no knowledge of other players’ targets. “Assassinations,” which can only occur when two players are at least three meters away from others, result in the transfer of the “victim’s” target to the successful assassin. Since “assassinated” players are then eliminated from the game, the objective is to become the last assassin standing.

In many respects Assassin imitates organized crime. The convoluted web of systematized crime crosses over into the game, since players are aware of game participants yet are unable to identify their “enemies.” The guesswork does reflect the uncertainty in mob life: with gangs constantly battling it out for the spotlight, the fates of individuals are truly unpredictable.

Hawkens Bory-Baar (11) says the unpredictability of the game is “suspenseful and surprising,” and that “there’s nothing worse than the feeling of betrayal when your friend kills you out of nowhere.” Indeed, much of the game is dictated by chance. It forces participants to be more aware of their surroundings.

“You quickly learn never to walk alone with someone playing the game,” says Bory-Baar, “and to try and be as sneaky as possible.” While this tactic appears straightforward enough, it is significant in that it redefines the participants’ day-to-day experience in school and sharpens students’ observance skills. 

Once again, the protective shell of the simulation is what ultimately provides pure entertainment without fatal consequences. Assassin mimics mafia plotting in the real world without putting individual lives on the line. Competition then becomes the sole motivator for game participants, since only one “assassin” can win. 

So how does a crime-plotting scheme relate to a money-making competition? Despite having different rules, both stock market and murder mystery simulations have a certain degree of risk, unpredictability, and competition, injecting students with a rare thrill of adrenaline amid the humdrum of daily life. The best part of these games, though, lies in the sense of security, since the actual ramifications of failed investments and murders are a world away. Perhaps the greatest lesson that can be derived from playing these games is the power of chance. Being prudent will minimize our losses, but when we are competing for a single title, individual success rests largely on luck—and how far one is willing to go in order to triumph.

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Top 5: English Class Books with Multiple Uses

BY: REBECCA QIAN, Section Editor

For Ninth Graders Learning German…The Book Thief Death is the omniscient narrator of this stirring novel, which depicts young Liesel Meminger's life in Nazi Germany. Melancholic tone aside, the novel provides an indispensable repository of German vocabulary and slang. Take, for example, the insults “Saumensch” and “Saukerl,” which have the same definition, yet are differentiated by gender. The novel also appears to have become an essential part of the English 9 experience; Ms. Samarzia confirms that despite recent course changes to the ninth grade curriculum, The Book Thief remains unmoved on the list of required readings. German vocabulary accumulated while reading The Book Thief could truly come in handy. You could be in Germany and not know a single word of German, but saying “danke” (thank you) will earn you cheers and smiles.  

For Ordering Mexican Food…Like Water For Chocolate Don't click on SparkNotes just yet—this is an ILA class must-read. What better way to lighten up literary analysis tedium than with a mouth-watering black bean enchilada? Of course, English teachers would tell you to analyze the role of cuisine in the plot, food as an emotional outlet and in the context of oppression. However, enjoying Mexican food and analyzing literature are not mutually exclusive; just keep in mind that some of the recipes given at the beginning of chapters should not be taken literally. For example, the recipe for the “Chabela Wedding Cake” calls for seventeen eggs in its list of ingredients. Other recipes require exotic ingredients such as ox tails and rose petals, thus the actual cooking should perhaps be left to individual interpretation. Ox tails may be substituted by the more conventional beef, and rose petals could be replaced by mint leaves. If all else fails, it never hurts to know your dishes when ordering Mexican take-out.  

For Creating A Dystopian World…A Clockwork Orange   Juniors surviving the recently introduced English Language and Literature courses know that A Clockwork Orange is not a book to be taken lightly. The novel explores the nature of violence through the fictitious life of teenager Alex DeLarge. Much of the buzz revolves around author Anthony Burgess' creation of a new language “Nadsat,” which he frequently integrates into the book. “The book completely brainwashes you, as the author implements the creation of a new language,” says Jenny Sze (11). So is this applicable to our daily lives? Not necessarily, though Louis Krieger (11) notes that the obscure dialect helps students create “insider jokes and a subculture.” Nonetheless, this book is not recommended for the faint-hearted.

For SAT Prompts…Catcher in the Rye In the future, English 10 students will be thanking their English teachers for making them read and analyze Catcher in the Rye. As Bobby Yin (11) notes, Catcher in the Rye was “helpful for SAT topics,” as “it covered themes such as fitting into society, identity, and rebellion.” For underclassmen who have never even seen an SAT essay question, the questions are notorious for requiring test-takers to have a wide range of knowledge. Rather than blindly memorizing examples to incorporate into their essays, it is strongly suggested that students opt for works such as Catcher in the Rye that involve multiple themes. Another advantage of this is that Catcher in the Rye has routinely gained recognition as an American classic, and therefore would guarantee approval from College Board's essay graders. In fact, one of the Princeton Review SAT manual's sample essays refers to Catcher in the Rye, complimenting its “appropriate supporting examples.” 

For School-Accepted Swearing…Shakespearean Works Shakespeare’s plays seem to have become the quintessential high school English repertoire. Whether it is A Midsummer Night's Dream in ninth grade, Romeo and Juliet in tenth grade, or Hamlet in twelfth grade, Shakespearean works are bound to become a part of any ISB student's high school English experience. While the Old English may appear baffling to students (for good reason, too), students should remember that much of the vocabulary is only obsolete because it has been replaced. For example, A Midsummer Night's Dream is littered with expletives; they merely slip past us as "just more weird Shakespearean words.” “Shakespeare actually uses a lot of swear words,” says Josh On (12). “We just don't find them offensive.” So use this to your advantage: next time, vent your fury with Shakespeare's language for a classier-than-thou aura.

If you find yourself slogging through analysis, be assured that these literary gems are abundant with much more than allusions, motifs, and the slew of other literary features that we’ve been conditioned to find.