There are many similarities between the college life in Taiwan and the college life in the US. They all have beautiful campus, advanced research facilities, quiet environment, and convenient accommodations. In Taiwan, college students can display their talents in different fields. They can organize different groups or clubs to pursue their interests and personal goals. For example, people who enjoy playing music instruments can get together and practice with each other. College students not noly aquire academic knowledge from the school but also gain social experiences from these activities.
In the US, college students also have lots activities beside the classes. The most significant difference is that they have more variety in their activities. In the US colleges, they can give students more resources to support their activities, most are helpful and advantageous to the school, and have students from different countries and different cultures. This unique characteristic of the US college give students a great opportunity to explore the world and gain numerous international experiences, an advantage which is lacking in the colleges in Taiwan. Through the college life, students can learn how to deal with people from different backgrounds and have an open mind to face the dramatic change in the future, a change which is caused by the globalization. That is why the graduates from the US college can adapt to different working environments and fit in different foreign societies so quickly and easily.
In Taiwan, most college students are native residents and they share the same cultures and social experiences. But in the US, most students are from different countries or races and have different cultures and backgrounds. I think the diversity of the student body in the US college is a big advantage to their college students. They can learn more from their school mates and realize why people have different point of view about the same event. In Taiwan, there is still a long way to go to help our college students gain more international experiences and have a global view. In sum, the diversity of the student body in the US college is the biggest difference comparing to the college in Taiwan. This difference make the college life in these two countries become quite different.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
what if
In history, there are plenty of events that affect the world right now. If some events had happened differently, the world would have been very different. For the US, if the northern allies, led by president Lincoln, had not won the Civil War and the black population would not have been freed by the government, then the US would have become a very different country.
In 1860, the Republican candidate Lincoln won the presidential election and his anti-slavery proclamation led to defiance to the prevailing belief in southern states that slavery status is the most suitable stauts to the large black population. At the beginning of the Civil War, Lincoln's priority was to maintain the unity of the country, not to free the black population. But later the civil war did become a war to end the slavery in the United States. The Emancipation Proclamation, announced on September 22 and put into effect on January 1, 1863, freed slaves in territories not under Union control. After the northern allies won the war, the llarge black population became legal citizens and had equal rights like white people.
Coversely, if Lincoln had not won the battle and freed the black people in the US, the severe slavery and human right issue would have become a big problem to the US. The virtue of the American spirit is to tolerate and integrate different races and cultures. If the large black population had remained in the slavery status, these blcak people would have fought for their rights and would have caused more social disturbances in the US. Then the US would have had no peace and the economy in the US would have not developed so quickly and stably. Furthermore, some black people have talent in sports and music. If these black people had not been freed by Lincoln and had not given the equal rights to take education and join these specific professional fields. These telented athletes and singers would have no chance to contribute their talent to these fields. Then, we would have no chance to watch these amazing athletes, like Michael jordan or Barry Bonds, playing on the fields and presenting their incredible skills to people around the world. Also, we would not have these super stars, like Michael Jackson or Mriah Carey, to entertain us and bring us so much fun in our life. In sum, Lincoln government made a big move in the US histroy. He maintained the virtue of American spirit and gave American people a progressive view about the human rights, which helped the US become a diverse society and the strongest country whcih they had not imagined before.
In 1860, the Republican candidate Lincoln won the presidential election and his anti-slavery proclamation led to defiance to the prevailing belief in southern states that slavery status is the most suitable stauts to the large black population. At the beginning of the Civil War, Lincoln's priority was to maintain the unity of the country, not to free the black population. But later the civil war did become a war to end the slavery in the United States. The Emancipation Proclamation, announced on September 22 and put into effect on January 1, 1863, freed slaves in territories not under Union control. After the northern allies won the war, the llarge black population became legal citizens and had equal rights like white people.
Coversely, if Lincoln had not won the battle and freed the black people in the US, the severe slavery and human right issue would have become a big problem to the US. The virtue of the American spirit is to tolerate and integrate different races and cultures. If the large black population had remained in the slavery status, these blcak people would have fought for their rights and would have caused more social disturbances in the US. Then the US would have had no peace and the economy in the US would have not developed so quickly and stably. Furthermore, some black people have talent in sports and music. If these black people had not been freed by Lincoln and had not given the equal rights to take education and join these specific professional fields. These telented athletes and singers would have no chance to contribute their talent to these fields. Then, we would have no chance to watch these amazing athletes, like Michael jordan or Barry Bonds, playing on the fields and presenting their incredible skills to people around the world. Also, we would not have these super stars, like Michael Jackson or Mriah Carey, to entertain us and bring us so much fun in our life. In sum, Lincoln government made a big move in the US histroy. He maintained the virtue of American spirit and gave American people a progressive view about the human rights, which helped the US become a diverse society and the strongest country whcih they had not imagined before.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Criteria for Evaluating a Documentary
1. The point of view should be objective
2. The documentary should have a coherent point of view
3. It sholud provide strong evidences to support his argument
4. It should not simplify the question
5. It should make a reasonable connection between cause and effect
6. It should provide some solution to deal with this situation
In the documentary "Bowling for Columbine", the director tried to use Columbine tragedy to argue against the gun abuse. The director first presented how easily people can buy guns and ammunition from the stores, then he compared the gun shooting statistical data from different countries to support his argument that gun abuse is the main cause causing these tragedies. He also mentioned some other influences like racism and violent TV shows, which might cause schoole violence. At first glance, this documentary seems to be an impressive one, but after a closer examination, it has some falwed points and wrong connections between cause and effect.
First, this documentary mentioned about school tragedies and gun shooting problems. He then attributed the main cause to the NRA organization and loose gun regulations. But by looking at most research and academic papers, we can find out there are numerous causes associated with school violence. Like physicological problem, violent family background, isolation from peers, etc... In this documentary, the director did not mention anything about these important issues. He just tried to simplify the problem and made people believe that "gun" is the only one cause to trigger these school violence events. There is also no coherent point of view in this documentary. It seemed to discuss school violence at the beginning, but it does so in a shallow manner and superficially. Then he talked about the gun shooting in US and other countries, and then make an argument that gun abuse is the main reason to cause these differences. But these connections between cause and effect are not reasonable and convincing. We should do more interviews and comprehensive investigations to figure out what caused these gun shooting events and school tragedies. Whithout doing these surveys, we cannot conclude a reasonable connection between the gun abuse and these tragedy events. In other words, we cannot just use the gun shooting statistical data in different countries to infer that loose gun regulation in US is the main cause leading to these differences.
At the last, this documentary didn't provide a good solution to deal with this problem. The director believed that these tragedies can be halted if selling guns is prohibited in US. But obviously, it is not the best solution to solve the problem. Because people can always find other tools to commit these crimes if we don't help them to release their anger and rage. We need to pay more attention to family and school environment to prevent these school violence events. Maybe a good counseling program can be a more effective way to help our child to deal with their anger and prevent the tragedy happening.
According to these points we discussed above, we can see that this documentary has no coherent point of view. And the director is too subjective, making a suspicious argument that the gun abuse is the original cause causing these crimes. There is also no convincing connection between cause and effect. The director oversimplify the problem and provide no effective sloution to this problem. In sum, We cannot persuade ourselves that this documentary is a good one.
2. The documentary should have a coherent point of view
3. It sholud provide strong evidences to support his argument
4. It should not simplify the question
5. It should make a reasonable connection between cause and effect
6. It should provide some solution to deal with this situation
In the documentary "Bowling for Columbine", the director tried to use Columbine tragedy to argue against the gun abuse. The director first presented how easily people can buy guns and ammunition from the stores, then he compared the gun shooting statistical data from different countries to support his argument that gun abuse is the main cause causing these tragedies. He also mentioned some other influences like racism and violent TV shows, which might cause schoole violence. At first glance, this documentary seems to be an impressive one, but after a closer examination, it has some falwed points and wrong connections between cause and effect.
First, this documentary mentioned about school tragedies and gun shooting problems. He then attributed the main cause to the NRA organization and loose gun regulations. But by looking at most research and academic papers, we can find out there are numerous causes associated with school violence. Like physicological problem, violent family background, isolation from peers, etc... In this documentary, the director did not mention anything about these important issues. He just tried to simplify the problem and made people believe that "gun" is the only one cause to trigger these school violence events. There is also no coherent point of view in this documentary. It seemed to discuss school violence at the beginning, but it does so in a shallow manner and superficially. Then he talked about the gun shooting in US and other countries, and then make an argument that gun abuse is the main reason to cause these differences. But these connections between cause and effect are not reasonable and convincing. We should do more interviews and comprehensive investigations to figure out what caused these gun shooting events and school tragedies. Whithout doing these surveys, we cannot conclude a reasonable connection between the gun abuse and these tragedy events. In other words, we cannot just use the gun shooting statistical data in different countries to infer that loose gun regulation in US is the main cause leading to these differences.
At the last, this documentary didn't provide a good solution to deal with this problem. The director believed that these tragedies can be halted if selling guns is prohibited in US. But obviously, it is not the best solution to solve the problem. Because people can always find other tools to commit these crimes if we don't help them to release their anger and rage. We need to pay more attention to family and school environment to prevent these school violence events. Maybe a good counseling program can be a more effective way to help our child to deal with their anger and prevent the tragedy happening.
According to these points we discussed above, we can see that this documentary has no coherent point of view. And the director is too subjective, making a suspicious argument that the gun abuse is the original cause causing these crimes. There is also no convincing connection between cause and effect. The director oversimplify the problem and provide no effective sloution to this problem. In sum, We cannot persuade ourselves that this documentary is a good one.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Bowling for Columbine Questions
1.Micheal Moore opens a bank account so that he can get what item instead of interest?
Ans: Guns
2.where did Michael Moore grow up?
Ans: Michigan
3.Charlton Heston is president of what organization?
Ans: National Rifle Association (NRA)
4.Who are Timothy McVeign amd Terry Nichols?
Ans: They carried out Oklahoma City bombing which claimed 168 lives on Apri 19, 1995.
5.Why does the man from Michigan militia say you must carry a gun?
Ans: You need to protect yourself first, or no one will protect you.
6.James Nichols was arrested in connection with which booming?
Ans: Oklahoma City Bombing
7.James Nichols says, "I use the pen, because the pen is mightier than the sword. But you always have to keep the sword handy for when the pen fails." What does this statement mean?
Ans: Everyone still needs a gun to protect himself.
8.Does James Nichols believe that nuclear weapons should be restricted? Does he contradict himself?
Ans: He believes that nuclear weapons should be restricted, but he contradict himself because he agree to use nuclear weapon to defend the United States.
9.Describe the Littleton community
Ans: Residents claimed that the community is a good place to live in and raise their children.
10.The security expert in Littleton talks with Michael Moore about security in houses. What is a safe room? Why would you want one?
Ans: A safe room is made of concrete and steel, and it is hard to break in. Because they are afraid of people who want to robber or hurt them.
11.This security man gets emotional and says that Columbine did something. What did Columbine do?
Ans:
12.What does the Lockheed spokesman mean by "We are Columbine"?
Ans:
13.Why did Lockheed donate $100000 toward anger-management programs?
Ans:
14.What happened in Kosovo on April 20, 1999? what happened one hour later?
Ans: The NATO bombed Kosovo on April 20, 1999. After one hour, the tragedy in Columbine high school happened.
15.What organization held a major rally in Denver 10 days after the shooting?
Ans: NRA
16.How did Matt Stone and Trey Parker choose to respond to life in Littleton?
Ans:
17.What were some of the responses form schools nationwide to the tragedy at Columbine?
Ans:
18.Who were some of the people/things blamed for the tragedy at Columbine?
Ans: Movies, vedio games, Mrilyn Manson
19. How does Marilyn Manson respond to allegations that he is to blame? Who does he imply was influential?
Ans: He sais he just did what he want to do, and he didn't mean to ignite any violent events. He thought the family is influential to their children's behavior.
20.What class were the boys enrolled in the morning before they killed at Columbine?
Ans: Bowling Ball class
21.What other countries besides the U.S. have violent pasts?
Ans: Japan, Germany, Canada...
22.When was the Colt revolver created?
Ans: 1836
23.When was the NRA founded?
Ans: 1871
24.What does the news media want people to feel?
Ans: They want people to feel fear and unsafety.
25.How many kids have been killed by Halloween candy? Was it on purpose?
Ans: Only two kids have been killed by Halloween candy, and they were killed by their relatives not by other people.
26.Who is the most common suspect on television?
Ans: Black man
27.Who most often gets in trouble for gun possession--kids in the city or kids in the suburbs?
Ans:
28.Who conditions people in the United States to believe that their communities are dangerous?
Ans: When there are many black men living around them.
29.What does the former TV producer of Cops say sells in the media?
Ans: violence
30.How many gun murders were there is Sarnia, Canada, in the past three years? How many in Windsor?
Ans: Only one in Sarnia, and zero in Windsor.
31.What are some misconceptions about Canada? What is the truth?
Ans:
32.Does Canada have guns? In 2001, could they get guns/ammunition easily? Explain.
Ans: No
33.How is Canadian TV news different from TV news in the United States?
Ans: No different
34.How is the health care system in Canada different from health care in the United States?
35.How long did it take the news crews to show up in Flint, Michigan, to cover the youngest school shooting?
Ans:
36.How did the Welfare to Work program impact Tamarla Owens, the mother of the boy who shot the little girl, Kayla?
37.How did people capitalize on September 11?
Ans: Because people fear another terrible attack, so they purchase many weapons or equipments to protect themselves. Firearm companies can sell more guns and relative equipments to people and profit from it.
38.What does Michael Moore take Richard and Mark to do at K-Mart headquarters?
Ans: To ask for stopping selling ammunition in K-Mart.
39.What do Mark, Richard and Michael convince K-Mart to do about selling ammunition in their stores?
Ans: K-Mart decided to stop selling ammunition in their stores.
40.Whom does Michael Moore visit at his house in Hollywood? What is the outcome of their discussion?
Ans: Charlton Heston. He refused to take Michael Moore's advise and refused to apologize to the victims of the former tragedy.
41.What did you learn from the film?
Ans: When we take some actions to protect ourselves, somehow the negative impacts will exceed our expectation. We need to do a complete analysis before we take some obscure actions, or we might be harmed by our unwise decision.
42.What are some of the questions this film poses?
Ans: Racism, gun control, violence movies and vedio games, Marilyn Manson.
43.After watching this film, what else do you want to know?
Ans:
Ans: Guns
2.where did Michael Moore grow up?
Ans: Michigan
3.Charlton Heston is president of what organization?
Ans: National Rifle Association (NRA)
4.Who are Timothy McVeign amd Terry Nichols?
Ans: They carried out Oklahoma City bombing which claimed 168 lives on Apri 19, 1995.
5.Why does the man from Michigan militia say you must carry a gun?
Ans: You need to protect yourself first, or no one will protect you.
6.James Nichols was arrested in connection with which booming?
Ans: Oklahoma City Bombing
7.James Nichols says, "I use the pen, because the pen is mightier than the sword. But you always have to keep the sword handy for when the pen fails." What does this statement mean?
Ans: Everyone still needs a gun to protect himself.
8.Does James Nichols believe that nuclear weapons should be restricted? Does he contradict himself?
Ans: He believes that nuclear weapons should be restricted, but he contradict himself because he agree to use nuclear weapon to defend the United States.
9.Describe the Littleton community
Ans: Residents claimed that the community is a good place to live in and raise their children.
10.The security expert in Littleton talks with Michael Moore about security in houses. What is a safe room? Why would you want one?
Ans: A safe room is made of concrete and steel, and it is hard to break in. Because they are afraid of people who want to robber or hurt them.
11.This security man gets emotional and says that Columbine did something. What did Columbine do?
Ans:
12.What does the Lockheed spokesman mean by "We are Columbine"?
Ans:
13.Why did Lockheed donate $100000 toward anger-management programs?
Ans:
14.What happened in Kosovo on April 20, 1999? what happened one hour later?
Ans: The NATO bombed Kosovo on April 20, 1999. After one hour, the tragedy in Columbine high school happened.
15.What organization held a major rally in Denver 10 days after the shooting?
Ans: NRA
16.How did Matt Stone and Trey Parker choose to respond to life in Littleton?
Ans:
17.What were some of the responses form schools nationwide to the tragedy at Columbine?
Ans:
18.Who were some of the people/things blamed for the tragedy at Columbine?
Ans: Movies, vedio games, Mrilyn Manson
19. How does Marilyn Manson respond to allegations that he is to blame? Who does he imply was influential?
Ans: He sais he just did what he want to do, and he didn't mean to ignite any violent events. He thought the family is influential to their children's behavior.
20.What class were the boys enrolled in the morning before they killed at Columbine?
Ans: Bowling Ball class
21.What other countries besides the U.S. have violent pasts?
Ans: Japan, Germany, Canada...
22.When was the Colt revolver created?
Ans: 1836
23.When was the NRA founded?
Ans: 1871
24.What does the news media want people to feel?
Ans: They want people to feel fear and unsafety.
25.How many kids have been killed by Halloween candy? Was it on purpose?
Ans: Only two kids have been killed by Halloween candy, and they were killed by their relatives not by other people.
26.Who is the most common suspect on television?
Ans: Black man
27.Who most often gets in trouble for gun possession--kids in the city or kids in the suburbs?
Ans:
28.Who conditions people in the United States to believe that their communities are dangerous?
Ans: When there are many black men living around them.
29.What does the former TV producer of Cops say sells in the media?
Ans: violence
30.How many gun murders were there is Sarnia, Canada, in the past three years? How many in Windsor?
Ans: Only one in Sarnia, and zero in Windsor.
31.What are some misconceptions about Canada? What is the truth?
Ans:
32.Does Canada have guns? In 2001, could they get guns/ammunition easily? Explain.
Ans: No
33.How is Canadian TV news different from TV news in the United States?
Ans: No different
34.How is the health care system in Canada different from health care in the United States?
35.How long did it take the news crews to show up in Flint, Michigan, to cover the youngest school shooting?
Ans:
36.How did the Welfare to Work program impact Tamarla Owens, the mother of the boy who shot the little girl, Kayla?
37.How did people capitalize on September 11?
Ans: Because people fear another terrible attack, so they purchase many weapons or equipments to protect themselves. Firearm companies can sell more guns and relative equipments to people and profit from it.
38.What does Michael Moore take Richard and Mark to do at K-Mart headquarters?
Ans: To ask for stopping selling ammunition in K-Mart.
39.What do Mark, Richard and Michael convince K-Mart to do about selling ammunition in their stores?
Ans: K-Mart decided to stop selling ammunition in their stores.
40.Whom does Michael Moore visit at his house in Hollywood? What is the outcome of their discussion?
Ans: Charlton Heston. He refused to take Michael Moore's advise and refused to apologize to the victims of the former tragedy.
41.What did you learn from the film?
Ans: When we take some actions to protect ourselves, somehow the negative impacts will exceed our expectation. We need to do a complete analysis before we take some obscure actions, or we might be harmed by our unwise decision.
42.What are some of the questions this film poses?
Ans: Racism, gun control, violence movies and vedio games, Marilyn Manson.
43.After watching this film, what else do you want to know?
Ans:
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