Toefl Essay #2: Globalization makes a difference

New changes in the 21st century brought by the globalization 

                Psy's Gangnam style has gone over 1.6 billion views. Arab Spring has democratized Egypt and Tunisia. Now, the 21st century has begun. Globalization of the 21^st century goes beyond the integration of culture and political systems. With the development of technology, information travels within a split second from the opposite part of the world.  Essentially, the world has become an integrated “town” marked by efficient communication and shared values. Among numerous changes that characterize 21^st century, I believe the international cooperation for human rights and integration of world economy will become the two most important outcomes of globalization.

               In the 21^st century, activism for human rights will see exponential growth with global legal coordination. In the past, it was hard to induce global cooperation for human rights because many countries prioritized national sovereignty and domestic laws over other international treaties. However, rapid growth of non-governmental organization (NGOs) and international law in the 21^st successfully prompted many countries’ coordinated actions against “crimes against humanity,” the universal harm to peace. The International Criminal Court (ICC)’s recent conviction of Pinochet, a former dictator in Chile demonstrates this point. A Spanish judge in ICC requested the arrest of Pinochet for genocide and terrorism in Chile and Argentina. ICC successfully earned British government’s cooperation to deport him for trial. As such, ICC punishes past war criminals, compensates for victims, and research further to prevent similar human rights disasters in the future. This example illustrates that growing practical power of international law is crucial to deliver justice to human rights violations in North Korea and other African autocratic governments in the new 21^st century.

In the 21^st century, a new economic order will establish with the rising influence of China and international organizations. When the Bretton Woods System was established in 20^th century, international organizations like World Trade Organization (WTO) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) were dominated by “Western powers,” such as United States and Britain because they are the biggest shareholders and have veto powers to shape their policy decisions. However, the rapid growth of China’s Multi-National Companies(MNCs) and Foreign Direct Investment(FDIs) in 21^st century led many scholars to believe that the new century will mark a transition in economic balance of power. MNCs not only initiate economic transactions, but also shape worldwide economic norms and trends by accelerating spread of information and values between countries. Currently, the US is the biggest shareholder influencing and vetoing the decisions of WTO and IMF.  However, the 21^st century will mark an important power transition in worldwide economy from US- centered dynamics to China-centered dynamics, leading world economy to become not only more integrated but also more “flat.”

The world has changed increment by increment in each decade and every century However, the 21^st century has seen particularly rapid changes, establishing new dynamics of international cooperation over universal human rights and new balances of economic power. Various problems of 21^st century, such as environmental issues, terrorism, human rights, and nuclear weapons, all require effective worldwide cooperation. How flexibly each country can react and adapt to the changes of 21^st century will determine the efficiency of the worldwide cooperation and will shape the future of human society.   

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VISION TRIP, memory that I won't forget forever!

VISION TRIP!

After the mid-term exam, KMLA 18th wave students got away from Hoengseong, visiting America or Europe, in order to refresh themselves from a busy life and seeking for their future vision. I went to Europe, even though the most of the international field students were heading East to America. This was because I have never been to Europe while I have lived for about 11months near Boston, America.

Trip in Europe was long and exciting. I almost loved every single moment of the trip. However, I couldn't forget my important memories of 3 days in Paris. So I will write about what I have cited in Paris.

Paris, France

Paris is one of the most well known and globalized city in the world. Thousands of people visit Paris every day, and diverse cultures exist in this city. To me, Paris was the best place in my Vision Trip. Every part of the city, parks, towers, buildings, streets was awesome to me, and I even planned to live in Paris at least for 5 years in my future life. So, what made me think this way about Paris?

Trash cans of Paris

First, I liked the streets of Paris. It was very very very, and very clean. Trash cans that look like the picture below was placed in every 5 meters of the street. Therefore, people could easily throw away their trash in the bins, without just throwing it on the street. I kind of saw French people's culture throughout this. French people are famous of having strong pride and self-esteem towards their country and its culture. They love their history, heritage and their city. Therefore, I think this kind of characteristic made them put so many trash cans on the streets, and keep it clean. All the citizens in Paris worked together to preserve their landmarks, buildings and even a small street. Therefore, Paris itself is a huge, well conserved museum. I also thought that in order for Korea to develop more, we should love our country more and work on preserving our important culture and heritages.

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My two different reflections on Nacirema story.

My reflections on Nacirema

'The pen is mightier than the sword.' This is a famous quote from Edward Bulwer-Lytton. He emphasized the strength of writings, which has changed the world many times over the history. This quote has been an ongoing debate topic, and many people have argued back and forth about the motion. In Nacirema story, the writer has proved this quote again by criticizing American society very sharply. In this essay, I will write about my first expression when I got before knowing the true meaning of Nacirema. I will deeply analyze why I thought this way and how my ideas were developed. Then, I will write about my reflection after knowing what Nacirema meant.


First, I read the story without knowing what Nacirema was. I was kind of suspicious about the location, religion and customs of Nacirema. It had a lot of similarity with the country America. However, I just kept thinking only about Nacirema without carefully thinking about the relation with America. Actually, the term 'Nacirema' kind of sounded like a name of Mexican tribe to me. Therefore, I wrote about what I just thought initially. I started thinking about religion since it had a strong relationship with all the rituals in Nacirema. I began throwing questions about religion. Mankind has been so obsessed with religion and their believes throughout the whole history. So I became very curious about this fact. Why are they so obsessed with their religion? There has been numerous wars and disasters caused by the conflicts between the religion. Is having a religion so important to them that they almost sacrifice their lives just for the religion? Even though I am a Christian, I had these questions. Then, I thought about my personal experience. I once had an incident when I maintained my mental stability through my religion. My mom had been very sick in my last summer vacation. She even had to go through a big surgery. This was a horrible news to me and I got confused when preparing for the KMLA admission. I also thought of giving up my high school admissions. However, at that moment, I prayed and I got back on track. My mom's surgery succeeded, and I also prepared well for KMLA. I remembered this story and partially realized the reason people believe in their religion. They get relaxed, remain calm and get prepared for anything that is coming to them. This was the first thought that I had in mind, and I thought deeply and critically about what 'religion' is.


Then, I realized what this writing was meant to be. I realized that the word 'Nacirema' is the direct opposite of 'American.' I was shocked, and my brain stopped working for a very short moment. Then, I found this story very interesting. I liked how this story was organized in a clear way to serve its purpose, which was criticizing Americans in 1950s. This story compared Americans to a native tribe, with almost no civilizations. It mentioned that Nacirema show how extreme human beings can be. From this part, it was easy for me to recognize the author's critical viewpoint. Also, Miner, the author of Nacirema mentioned American society with a one that has strict hierarchy. Nacirema had the medicine man at the top of the hierarchy. This symbolized the doctors in American society, which also spots the top of social hierarchy. Like this, Nacirema criticized Americans and their society by imitating it in a negative tone.

              

 In conclusion, reflection on a writing differs on each person. Also, it changes depending on a background knowledge of one. In this case, my impressions on the essay completely differed between before knowing the relationship between Nacirema and Americans and after knowing it. Reading the story and writing a reflection about it multiple times was a good experience to realize the fact that a reflection on an essay can change based on the information or background knowledge one has. 

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The Age of Stupid: Let's slow down!

Review essay f

or 'The Age of Stupid': Let us slow down!

The Age of Stupid: We had the chance to save ourselves.

What they wanted was this!

              Mankind has developed endlessly over few centuries. They started using fire, built cities and civilizations, also made electricity. They started using fossil fuels, invented car, and rode the airplane which enabled them to move around the world within a day. Their developments and progress has been remarkable, and the human's quality of life has been improving. However, they could not stop. The taste of progress was sweet, and humans suddenly got addicted to it. They always looked for methods or tools to make their own life more convenient. Having this as a primary goal, they got rid of all the obstacles which slowed them down from going forward. At last, humans even got rid of themselves.

               Humans started to have inner conflicts between endless development and balanced development ever since the industrial revolution. It was almost the first time in human history to have severe pollution and destroyed environment because of human activity. Therefore, people started to think whether they should stop, or at least slow down what they are doing and look for another way around. However, mankind never received any direct harms of pollution. As a result, their choice was to find the fastest way to develop, and ignore the destruction of ecosystem. At first, this decision did not have a major effect on environment. However, as time passed, it was more than enough to figure out that something was going wrong. World temperature rose gradually and natural disasters damaged a lot of people. Desertification has stole numerous lives of plants and trees. The ozone layer has been destroyed and ultraviolet rays have caused serious diseases.

Mont Blanc

               An old man, working as a mountain guide, has experienced Earth's unpleasant changes throughout his whole life. He tells his miserable experience. Fernand Paro has completed the mountain guide training in 1956. In 1956, the mountain, Mont Blanc had strong glaciers as well as gorgeous summer. Cows went around the glacier to eat the grass. People could experience the real nature in this place. However, since 1945, 150 meters of glaciers was melting in Mont Blanc. Now, only winter and summer exists in Mont Blanc and summer is too hot for the glacier as well as human itself.

               Secondly, humans also started to have conflicts within themselves, caused by the greed for natural resources. For sustainable development, humans needed fuels to accelerate the machines, factories and vehicles. Best example for this conflict is the fight going over fossil fuels. Fossil fuel was a perfect equipment for the development of mankind. However, the amount of fossil fuel in Earth was very limited. Therefore, to gain the most profit from fossil fuel, humans began to fight. This fight later developed to war. Also, some countries and companies with finance and power began to exploit the natural resource from undeveloped nations.

Shell: Its name is related to nature, but actually destroys nature! 

Nigeria

               

              One of the largest oil company, Shell has given inhumane harms to environment and people of Nigeria. After Shell finding oil in Nigeria, they soon intervened Nigerian community. They dug many holes and got oil out from it. However in the process, oil ran into the river. River was polluted and all the living creatures in the river also got polluted. Nigerians could not fish in this river anymore, and they could not find any clean water to drink and wash, neither. Shell got criticisms from international society. So they decided to build medical facilities like hospitals in Nigeria. However, they stopped the construction, and left the village. Shell never heard any voice from neighbors. Also, they bombed the town if they found oil under it but people in the town were resisting not to move.

             "We wouldn't be the first life formed to wipe itself out. But what would be unique about us, is that we did it knowingly." This was a notable quote from the movie clip 'The Age of Stupid.' Humans claim themselves as the smartest of all the animals. They are proud of what they have made, built, and sustained. They say that humans got through many crisis in the past because they were strong and wise. However, reality in the current society proves why these are not true. In fact, humans might get rid of Earth, and themselves totally. Today, I want to warn mankind to slow down and look around of what they have done.


Reference Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Dutch_Shell -----about the company 'Shell'
http://www.nrdc.org/globalwarming/-------------------- about NRDC(natural resources defense council)

                                                 Video 'Nature's advocate.' related to NRDC

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What is happiness?(discussion in Mr.Garrioch's class and the prezi)

                                This video is about GNH(Gross National Happiness) Enjoy the video!


In April third, I made a prezi and presented it in front of  Mr.Garrioch's english conversation class! Minseok Koo and I were in the same group, and we had to make a prezi together. However, at first, we had a hard time choosing the topic. But at last, we decided to talk about the real 'happiness'. We though this could be a hard and abstract topic, but this was the topic that everyone should constantly think in their life. Therefore, with our thoughts and knowledge, we made a prezi.

First, we discussed about the relationship between wealth and happiness.

Does having a lot of money make one happy?   This was the question we throw and the whole class actively discussed about this point.

Second, we discussed about the relationship between social status and happiness.

Graduation a good high school or university and gaining lots of fame makes one happy?
Having an occupation like a doctor, which everyone respects always make one happy?
This was a hard question. We had to both consider the reality. We also looked at many examples related to this topic.

At the end, Minseok explained an interesting speech from a Korean millionaire.

This millionaire addressed in front of t'he people:
"I have 1000억(uk) won. From 1000, 3 zeros each symbolize my fame, wealth and authority. BUT! If I erase 1 in front of 3 zeros, it becomes nothing. This 1 is the most important part of my whole life. This 1 can be different and it depends on each person. To me, it is my family."

Minseok introduced this AWESOME speech and the whole classed was surprise!
We talked about this 1 through out the class.

In this class, by preparing and presenting the prezi, I learned a lot. We had a fun discussion with Mr.Garrioch  about the real happiness. This was kind of philosophical and deep, but it made us think critically. I think this discussion can not end until the end of my life and I will PURSUE my happiness since then!

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One of my favorite academic activity: Mock Trial!

Fun picture of KMLA mock trial club!

Recently, I have started learning mock trial in KMLA mock trial club! It has been fun and I am learning a lot from this activity such as improving English speech skills and logic.

So today, I am going to post about mock trial briefly!


1. What is mock trial?
A mock trial is an act or imitation trial. It is similar to a moot court, but mock trials simulate lower-court trials, while moot court simulates appellate court hearings. Attorneys preparing for a real trial might use a mock trial consisting of volunteers as role players to test theories or experiment with each other. Mock trial is also the name of an extracurricular program in which students participate in rehearsed trials to learn about the legal system in a competitive manner. Interscholastic mock trials take place on all levels including primary school, middle school, high school, college, and law school. Mock trial is often taught in conjunction with a course in Trial Advocacy. (from wikipedia)

KMLA students in KMTA competition

2. Competitions 
     In korea there is KMTA competition. If I do well in this competition and your team rank high, we can go out to international competition in Guam.

Guam has been hosting the Asia-Pacific Invitational Mock Trial Competition annually. In 2011 and 2012, there were 14 teams from Guam, South Korea, and Saipan in its 4th annual competition. The competition was held at the Superior Court of Guam. The teams made up of mostly junior and senior students from high schools. The Champion for 4th Annual Asia-Pacific Invitational Mock Trial Competition was Marianas Baptist Academy of Saipan. (from wikipedia)

I hope I also go out to this competition and do an outstanding job. I know it will not be an easy job, but I will learn a lot from 17th wavers and develop myself.

witness testimony!

Thanks for reading my short post! 
Next time, I will also upload some mock trial videos!

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Power of Sports!: Narrative speech

Power of Sports

131109 JeeHoon Lee

Even Korea and Japan shake hands in soccer game!

               What do you think is sports? Do you like playing or watching sports? Is it just a kind of a hobby? Many people here indeed have played at least one kind of sports before, right? At least kendo or taekwondo as morning exercise. I have played many kinds of sports especially soccer. Also, to me, soccer is not just a sport to enjoy. I also learned a lot from it, too. So today, I am going to talk about an interesting, and precious story which I learned while playing soccer. This experience is very important because I chose my future career and dream because of this.

               My story is related to my experience in America.  I went to America when I was in fifth grade. At that time, I followed my mom to the town called 'Lexington' which is near Boston. I found out this plan very late, and I could not learn English before going to U.S. When I went to America, I could only say like "Hi!, Bye!, and words like 'starcraft,' which is a computer game. When I began my school life, I did not know what to do. I just spent every day in my school meaninglessly. Even though many teachers helped me, lack of communication meant that I could not get along with friends. But one day, I went out to the fields on lunch time to get some fresh air. Then suddenly, I saw some friends playing soccer. I went there and asked them whether I could play with them, of course with body languages. Starting from that day, I began to play soccer with a lot of students. We really enjoyed that moment altogether. We got sweaty together, ran together and laughed together. The most important thing was that playing soccer together does not need much of a language. We knew all the basic rules for the game. After playing soccer with them, my life in school changed a lot. I got close to them, and many friends began to exist around me. I was called to the town's varsity soccer team also(may be because it was a small town.) I began to do many group projects with new friends, too. Meanwhile, I developed in my English fluency slowly. I got my confidence back and I happily spent rest of the time in U.S. I still don't forget all the pleasant memories in Lexington.

               After I went back to Korea, I kept thinking about my experience in Lexington. I became curious about the whole change of my life in U.S. Then, I started to believe in some kind of special power in sports. So I looked up for more examples about the 'power of sports.' In 2002 World Cup, I am pretty sure that all the Korean citizens became one and called out "Dae han min gook!" All the people got extremely happy together and it was unusual to see this nation getting united. Also, there is a famous soccer player Didier Drogba, who united the citizens in the Ivory Coast and ended a long-lasting civil war. After him and his national soccer team qualifying for the World cup, he kneeled down in front of T.V. camera and cried out "Let's please stop the war at least for this one week and enjoy the festival of the world altogether!" The government and the rebellions actually stopped the war. This was a miracle. How can a single person stop the war? This was a huge war that could not be stopped by numerous negotiations. However, sports could bring all the citizens into one, and it could even stop a war! It had super power to move many people. So I started to dream working for the peaceful relationship of South and North Korea using this power of sports, like Drogba did, and make a change here, too. I believe that sports could do what normal diplomacy and politics could not do.

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