Population Pyramid

We talked about the population pyramid in today's class and discussed how it changes over the years. A population pyramid shows how the population changes due to how many people die and how many are born. The chart shows the percentage of people in the country its focus is on and its death and birth rates. Some things that might affect these rates are natural disasters that could kill many people and wars. Also industrialization and the change of women getting good education affects how many babies are born. For example, a woman trying to get her college degree might wait until she gets out of school to have a child which means the birth rates decreases. Another example of how the pyramid changes is when the baby boom happened after World War II. When soldiers came home from battle, a huge amount of babies were born and this still affects the pyramid today. The baby boomer babies aren't such babies anymore, in fact they are entering their older years now and taking up the elder population. The pyramid also tells us about the country's health care for people. In many African countries, the oldest people on the chart are at the most 70 years old. This makes the birth rate sky rocket because they have children younger since they won't live long enough to have them later. If a pyramid looks almost even on the sides, you have an example of a advanced industrialized country. This means that the country has a low death and birth rate, good living conditions, long life expectancies, and a stable population. This chart is a flashback to the past and a fast track to the future as well and can show us a lot about our population and surrounding world.

Facts of the World

In class on Friday, we explored the CIA website with facts everyone found interesting. I went up to the front and showed everyone the islands I explored on the website. I talked about the military systems and its main government focusses. Many other people went up to present their facts that they had found for homework the night before. Some that I found interesting were the ones concerning Africa's struggling with the disease of HIV. Mr. Schick told us that this could most likely be because the people living in these countries didn't have the means of protection from this disease. Woman that get this disease and have children the child usually doesn't live past their first birthday. Then we explored the country of Syria which is going through a horrible event called Isis. Isis was caused by the people of Syria trying to over throw their leader and he got angry and is now punishing them. The people of Syria are getting bombed and beheaded by their own country's leader. This is why the country's migration rate is at its all time high because people are trying to get out of there as fast as they can. The United States actually stopped a 911 like terrorist attack that was almost caused by people that support Isis. We were so angry at Syria for this attempt that we pounded the country as hard as we could with bombs. I think that the world needs to be more aware of this event that's happening right now and how important it actually is. We need to find a way to stop this horrible murder spree dead in its tracks

Mr. Schick Rap Battle Star

We kicked off our class today with a very intense rap battle between Cody and Mr. Schick. Mr. Schick laid down his paper clip along with some rhythms that beat Cody's attempts. After that we went over the test again to the people who weren't there the day before. We discussed the Socrates essay more today and how he was one of the most influential speakers of his time. Socrates actually trained the philosopher Aristotle who also became one of the most well known philosophers. We talked about how Socrates could've gotten himself out of killing himself but chose not to. He had such brilliant way of speaking that he could've made an amazing defense against his case but he didn't. Even if he didn't make a great statement for himself, his friend's had an escape plan for him and he still didn't go. He respected his government so much that he forcibly killed himself because his fellow citizens voted that ruling. One of the greatest minds took his own life because he loved his democratic government. I've learned so much about Socrates in my Human Geo class. We started small but expand a little more every day on our knowledge of Socrates and his legacy he left. His legacy speaks to us in many ways pushing us to search for what we want and to achieve it.  Socrates was a great example of Greek's word arete meaning excellence. He was the greatest mind you could ever find see how that rhythms?

Ding! You Got Grades!

Today in Human Geo, we went over our graded unit one tests together. First we went up to go get our papers from Mr. Schick one by one. You knew immediately if you got and A or not because if you did Mr. Schick rang his bell on his classroom on wheels. I was very pleased to hear that bell when I approached Mr. Schick to accept my test grade. We went over the multiple choice questions on the first part of the test by going around the room and saying our answers. We only had big problems when it came to the essay writing portion of the test. I had a hard time with the description of Socrates but that was it. It seemed like I wasn't the only one. Cody said he was hurt by Mr. Schick's comments on his essay which we all had a good laugh about. He said that Mr. Schick said that he was a big mistake which made me laugh pretty hard. Turns out we cleared out the whole thing out and mistakes were corrected with no crying. Also we discussed the essay on Socrates' saying "the unexamined life is not worth living". Mr. Schick explained this didn't mean go run out into traffic like there's no tomorrow, it means more than that. He only counted the explained answers for that essay question because he felt like he was reading the same thing over and over. I was quite satisfied with my grade and though the test was pretty easy for me. I hope the rest of this year goes this smoothly for me in this class.

Migration Rates

In class, we discussed the migration rate of many countries around the world. We mainly focussed on the United States and Mexico's migration relations with each other. In Mr. Schick's power point which was made in 2013, it said that United States' migration rate was 3.62 which means per thousand of the population. But that number has decreased, at the moment our country's migration rate is 2.45. The new website that Mr. Schick showed us was pretty interesting as well. I explored around the website for a while but I always went back to one very small country called the Pitcairn Islands. This small place is actually quite amusing to how small it is considering it only inhabits 48 people. It's no wonder they don't have any disputes with any other countries since one of their main focusses is postage stamps. Also, since they have no problems with other countries they don't have their own military, they are protected by the UK forces. It's fascinating how migration works in our world with so many people going here and there and everywhere. The website I explored was very captivating and I think it could be helpful in the future as well. Learning about our world's migration rate and pollution variations was an interesting lesson that I plan to expand my knowledge on even more.

Population of Our Planet

As of right now, the planet earth is inhabiting over 7 billion people and it is not going to get any smaller. The build up of people was slow at first, but then a burst of population came through and doubled, even tripled the population on this earth. By the time I'm in my forties or fifties, there could be some possibility that the 7 billion people could double to 14 billion, maybe even more. An example of how much the world expanded is China's culture. They are ruled by a communist government that tells them how to live because they pay for everything their citizens buy. They have a law that states a couple cannot have more than one child. China is inhabiting about 1.3 billion at this point in time, imagine how huge it would be if they hadn't made that a law. This shows how much our population keeps growing day by day. We don't know how many people are really out there and there will be more and more after them.

Substitute

The other day,  Mr Schick wasn't able to attend our class. We had Mr. Myeryel substitute in for him to look after our insane class. We had to study the whole class for the test the next day. I used some quizzing websites I had picked up from other teachers to study for the test. I also used my blog which surprisingly was really helpful because it was basically a set of online notes. Mr. Schick wasn't kidding when he said our blogs were gonna be one of the biggest deals of his class. We were allowed to listen to music and for some reason, music really helps me study. I don't like studying with people talking around me, but I can focus really well when I have my headphones in. The next day was the test, which I thought was gonna be really hard considering someone cried during one of Mr. Schick's finals. The test was surprisingly easy for me, paying attention in class was really essential for this test. Many of the class discussions we had were topics on the test. Since I usually participated in the class, I knew almost everything by heart. I think talking through the subjects so much really drilled the conversations into my head which was really helpful. I hope I did well on this test to keep up my grade. I have a lot of confidence in this class and hope to get the good grades I plan to work for.

Globalization

Last class, we talked about globalization, which means the connections of the parts of the world. We discussed Japan's globalization to the American economy and culture. Japanese people have a history of having the longest life expectancy to most people. This was because of their healthy diet of raw vegetables, fish, and many other healthy foods. This life expectancy number started to lower when Japan started putting more American fast food restaurants on every corner. The culture was affected along with the health of the Japanese people. Dinner was usually a very traditional meal of discussion and dining together. This changed when people started to eat out on their own because they could just go through a drive through and be done. Many people liked the restaurants but didn't like the affects of the food. High cholesterol and blood pressure levels from all the fat and sodium lowered the people's chances of living a longer life. Globalization is good in some ways, but sometimes all it is for is for money. People think that we all connect deeply through this blending of culture, but there are down sides to it.

The Speeding World

Why would we want social media on a watch? Shouldn't that just be on your cell phone? Well, today in class we discussed how people had the same thoughts about cell phones with social media and text message. People used to ask why they would do something they could do on their computer. Maybe that's how our generation will react if the new Apple Watch gets as big as the iPhone. Shouldn't watches just tell time, maybe not. Mr. Schick told us a story about his first time using a cell phone, it was so fascinating at the time. It used to be so mind blowing that you didn't have to have your phone connected to a wall to talk to people. What if that's how we will be with the new Apple Watch. It talks about how it could memorize your credit card information and you could make transactions without your card. Maybe it'll turn out that we don't even have to take our credit card with us everywhere. If this new "smart watch" blows up, imagine what would happen to all the expensive watch companies. Our world is moving faster than you think, and if you think about it someone's life could've changed in the time of me writing this blog. Maybe I'll look back on this post and say "Wow I can't believe we used to carry our credit cards everywhere with us". Maybe even "Wow I can't believe we used to type on laptops for homework".

The World Around Us

Today we watched a video on the rapidly developing world around us. One thing that really struck me was that 1 in 4 couples that were married in the past year met online. This made me kind of sad cause I feel like just an online profile doesn't define your soulmate, ever heard of opposites attract? I feel like they would connect on some levels but then realize there's no passion behind it because they didn't meet on a face to face level. Also, the video described how we could possibly be preparing kids for jobs that don't even exist yet. This amazed me that our technology and intelligence advanced so much in matter of just a few years over time. I was also overwhelmed when the video stated that I would most likely have at least 10 jobs by the age of 38. That age isn't even middle age and i will already have worked for 10 different companies maybe even more than that. These jobs could also be in completely different fields of business and I'd probably have a hard time keeping up with it. This video taught me that our world is already 10 steps ahead of us before we even have the idea of the future. We are changing almost as fast as the world around us and we don't even realize it until it's gone.

The Life Worth Living

The great Socrates had a saying which stated, "the unexamined life is not worth living." What i think this meant is to explore yourself a little more. Ask more questions but don't complain, ask about why you're doing what you doing and if it fulfills your desire in life. Ask yourself what are my values or what's the most important thing to me right now and why? Is it worth it? Explore you're feelings and express them even if it's scary. My perfect world might be much different than other people's, but we all have the same thing in ming, happiness. Explore what you want so badly and what you have to do to get to it. The unexamined life is one that you don't know what you want, and who wants to live in a life of no purpose. Set your goals and work to achieve them. Set your values and priorities straight so you have a clearer patch to your goals. I think the examined life if one where you ask yourself who am I truly?

Ancient Greece 2.0

Today we expanded our knowledge on the subjects we focussed on the day before and doing cheer kicks in the process. We talked about Greece's voting system and how they vote on ideas. The big gathering area known as the agora holds the meetings of the citizens to discuss the matter at hand. There isn't one big superior person to speak the entire time, one by one people give their honest opinion for people to consider. When it comes to voting on the discussion, they bring around a large vase to each person to put their rock in. They have a white rock for yes and a black rock for no. After counting, they announce the winning decision to the crowd of voters. Then we moved on to expand on the famous Greek philosopher Socrates. Socrates died a very cruel death because he was forced to commit suicide by drinking poison. He was forced to do this because he told others he thought political important things were more important than the gods. His friends told him they had an escape plan for him, but Socrates said he didn't want to escape. He respected his people's decision, took the cup, and killed himself in front of his friends eyes.

Ancient Greece and Excellence

Today we learned a few different things about Greece and it's people's arete, which means excellence.    As a greek citizen, you had to participate in voting for ideas or decisions in the town. It was mostly men because women weren't allowed to vote at the Agora, the voting area in the town. Another thing we learned about was the city of Polis, which was like the capital of Greece because of how popular it was. We learned that in 508 BC, Cleisthenes grants full rights to all free men of Athens to vote for town decisions. Our class also got to learn about the Greek philosopher Socrates. The philosopher had method to his teachings; finding out the real truth behind things in his own light. Socrates was eventually forced to commit suicide by drinking poison. Finally, we learned that being an idiot in Greece isn't that bad. Being and idiot meant being a private person and one that didn't vote. Ancient Greece had a very interesting history of excellence.

Five Ways to Success

I plan to put my best foot forward in my four years at John Carroll. Organizing myself will lead the way to my success in and out of school. Making lists of what I need for homework or when tests are will help me pull through all the difficult tasks of a student. Giving myself a certain time frame for homework so I can get a good rest is important as well. In another way to succeed, I plan to use my phone less so I can focus on my homework more. I don't need to be on Twitter reading useless tweets when I could finish my homework early and then go to sleep. Being on my phone less will allow me to pursue another lead to success, to study more. I need to start getting used to studying before I go to bed instead of the morning of the quiz or test. Cramped studying might have worked in middle school, but I don't think it's going to cut it in high school. Also, I want to have a better relationship with my teachers so I can communicate more with them. I used to be really stubborn and not ask the teacher for help on a concept or homework I didn't understand. I know it would help more to communicate my problems then try to solve them myself. Last but definitely not least, I will be working on my patience. I'm awful at computers and get really frustrated when I don't know what to do on my computer. I also have trouble having patience with homework, especially in Math. I will try to strengthen my patience and learn to solve my problems before exploding.