Growing up in Korea Essay Example for Free

Growing up in Korea Essay Growing up in Korea and attending high school in the United States has taught me that in many ways people from different countries can be very similar. One thing that seems universal in my experience is that everyone hates politicians and jokes about the work the do. This is a bit awkward for me because my dream has always been to become a politician and a strong leader in the future of Korea, and to me that is not joke. My father teases that when I was little I would constantly ask him to tell me stories about famous politicians. My favorite politician was always Margaret Thatcher. I especially respected the way she led the successful recovery of England’s economy after the Great Depression. Her story stuck me even more deeply because I first heard it during a time of economic hardship in South Korea. Since then, I have always dreamt about becoming a wise and upright politician, leading Korea in prosperity as Margaret Thatcher did for England, and this goal has be very important in shaping my educational decisions to this point. When I was eleven, I visited my sister’s high school in Colorado. During this, my first time visiting an American school, I was impressed at the variety of students and how they appreciated the differences in each other. To me, the school seemed filled with opportunities to learn about other cultures and make friends with people from diverse backgrounds. I thought the experience I would gain in working with diverse groups of people in a school like this would be very important to my future as a politician because we live in such an international society with every nation and its people interacting with one another. I felt that the leader of the future would need to have an international mind and a sense of diversity in order to understand the world better, so I decided to attend high school in the U. S. I now attend a small private Catholic high school where am the only Korean student. Being the first Korean student in the history of the school has been an exciting for me. The students and faculty have shown great interest in Korean history and culture, and I have made sure to take advantage of their curiosity and shared information about my country and myself. On Korean national holidays such as New Year’s Day and Full Moon Festival, I often share traditional Korean food and decorations with my friends and teachers. I have also volunteered to prepare presentations about Korea and Asia for my history classes. I always remind myself that I am very fortunate to be able to be the representative of Korea in this community, and in turn I try to learn as much about American culture as I possibly can. I think that these experiences of cultural exchange are the start of my future as a representative for Korea. Now it is time for me to take the next step toward my dream. I imagine myself learning about political science, international relations, or economics in college, and look forward to the new insights the lectures and discussions will bring. I am excited to share my culture with a larger community and one that includes many other international students. I also look forward to continuing to learn about the U. S. At XXX University, I would not only study hard, but I would also join clubs that would help me develop social and political skills that will be necessary for me to succeed in my future as a politician. I believe that XXX University would provide me a great opportunity to gain the knowledge and experience that will enable me to realize my dream and become a strong leader for Korea.

War on Drugs = War on Terrorism??? Essay -- Essays Papers

War on Drugs = War on Terrorism??? The United States’ new claim in today’s world of propaganda and mind-warping media is that The War on Terrorism = The War on Drugs. Recently simple anti-drug slogans have been manipulated into aggressively and often erroneously exaggerated media assaults. (planetpapers.com) The United States claims that each person can help fight terrorism by choosing not to buy or use illicit drugs, and the government itself can help fight terrorism by implementing a more effective War on Drugs throughout the country. They claim that illicit drugs are the major monetary support of terrorist groups throughout the world, which in some respects is correct. Due to this claim, teenagers and drug users across the United States are seen as supporting these terrorists through their purchase and consumption of illicit drugs. The government has now stooped so low as to blame our own children for terrorism. The United States government’s claim, that if a person buys or uses illicit drugs then they are supporting terrorism, is outrageous and utterly false. President Bush claims, "It's so important for Americans to know that the traffic in drugs finances the work of terror, sustaining terrorists, that terrorists use drug profits to fund their cells to commit acts of murder. If you quit drugs, you join the fight against terror in America.† (peacecouncil.net) This is false because many of the illicit drugs being bought and consumed by the citizens of this country are being produced here in the U.S., so the purchase of these drugs cannot possibly be contributing to terrorism. Another reason why this claim is false is that many of the drugs being consumed in the U.S. are imported from count... .... advertisement and other propaganda to try and cover up their failures, and this should not be tolerated by the people of this country. Something needs to change and responsibility needs to be taken up. Bibliography Truth. Drugs and Terrorism. http://www.theantidrugwar.com. Hess, Michael. Mass Media Helps Distort Terrorism / Drugs Link. http://bbsnews.net/bw2002-02-05.html. 02/05/02 Coretnor. A War on Drugs Becomes a â€Å"War on Terrorism†. http://www.planetpapers.com/Assets/4989.php. Sept. 27, 2002 Anonymous Stoner. A toke from the Superbowl. http://smokedot.org/story/2002/2/4/1834/18948. 02/04/02 Bovard, James. The Bush Administration’s â€Å"Drugs = Terrorism† Fraud. http://www.fff.org/comment/com0204f.asp. April 2002 Moeller, Emily. The "War on Drugs and Terrorism": Madison Avenue Enlists. http://www.peacecouncil.net/709MadisonAve.htm

How Poverty and Poor Education Affects Life

Getting an education is considered a blessing too many, in America many of us believe that everybody should get equality when it comes down to education, but is that really the case? I believe that education is something that many of us take advantage of, especially when you are a kid and you think your education is free and you dread waking up early in the morning for school. Though, when you grow older we are glad that we have received an education and we can contribute to new technology, or we have the opportunity to create a top selling novel, learn about the history of the world, or just knowing why the sky is blue. We all know, and if you don’t you should, that many of the poorer regions in the world don’t receive a proper education, but could living in a poorer region of the United States of America affect your opportunity for education? I hold this to be true. Many of us believe that we can accomplish just about anything when we set are minds to it, but does this inspirational quote fluctuate when you are poor? Poverty perpetuates poverty and the reason for this is that poverty provides the factors preventing proper education in America (Jayashanker, 2009). Public taxes are mostly funded by property taxes, so if the houses cost less, that means less funding for computers, good teachers, books, and anything else a school need in order to thrive. Also people with money can also obviously hire private tutors. When the No Child Left Behind act was passed in 2002 by George W. Bush, it awarded the schools that preformed better then other school, by awarding them with a source of supplies and materials, while schools that performed unwell, were punished by less funding to the school. I believe that the NCLB act was not reasonable, because the schools that perform better are usually the schools that are in higher income areas, I believe this act w as another reason why poorer people receive less education. Poverty also could have other negative affects on an individual such as; absence of health care, the consumption of less nutritious food, the on going influence to join a gang, or desperate attempts to make money such a robbing and selling drugs. At the same time I do realize that being rich could also have it negative affects such as a less strive to receive and education, because they may feel that they don’t need to, because everything is already given to them on a silver platter, but I believe this to be true to the ones that were spoiled. Bad influences are all around in poverty areas, or the â€Å"ghetto†, these â€Å"bad influences† will usually convince the children in the ghetto region, to do things that severely impact their education, which just adds to the ongoing cycle where the rich stay rich and the poor remain poor. I found a study on www.virtualcap.org, the found statistics that show children living in poverty areas that there 2 times as likely t o repeat a grade, 3.4 times as likely to be expelled from school, being a dropout from the age of 16-24 were 3.5 times as likely, and the chance of them from graduating from a four year college was cut in half. Poor education in children does not just affect them; it affects the rest of the nation. â€Å"Child poverty costs the U.S. about $500 billion a year, the equivalent of nearly 4 percent of the GDP (the total market value of all the goods and services our country produces)† (Baer, 2010). â€Å"Poverty puts children at an unfair disadvantage for future opportunities (Defining Poverty and Why It Matters for Children, 2005)†. I believe that children who are living in poverty areas are lacking the inspiration because of there economic conditions, so I wanted to talk about the story of Oprah Winfrey whose story inspired me to go to college and get an education, and also to strive to become financially successful. Oprah Winfrey was born to a 13 year old mother, In Kosciusko, Mississippi. While growing up she said she learned how, â€Å"to turn misery to wisdom†. She first grew up with her grandmother on a pig farm with no running water. â€Å"She then lived with her mother who moved to Milwaukee where she was sexually abused for the first time by a friend of her family and her own relative (Best Inpirational Stories, 2009)†. Oprah Winfrey, at the age of 14, gave birth to a baby boy, but unfortunately he died a week later. Her mother lost her patience with young Oprah, the result of this was the punishment of sending her to live with her dad. While living with her dad she learned discipline and learned how to use her great intelligence, from potential to kinetic use. At school she was know for her intelligent speaking and she received a scholarship at Tennessee University. She majored in broadcast communication and she scored a job as a reporter at a Nashville TV station. â€Å"Oprah left school at the age of 19 years old to become the first Afro-American woman broadcaster in Nashville (Best Inpirational Stories, 2009)†. She made various amount of mistakes at her new job, she felt exhausted all the time. The Nashville station management team didn’t like her attitude towards the camera; too, on top of that, they didn’t like her â€Å"appearance†. â€Å"They complained about her hair style, her big nose and the distance between her eyes. Tempted to glamourize her appearance, they sent her to a good salon in New York which did a disastrous remodeling that made her hair fall off (Best Inpirational Stories, 2009). She was ranked down from a TV boardcaster to a presenter of the show called â€Å"People Are Talking†, which was basically a talk show for housewives. After seven years of presenting the show â€Å"People Are Talking†, she gained the attention of a station in Chicago. They offered her to be the host of there show called â€Å"A.M. Chicago†, in basically a month she made the show â€Å"A.M. Chicago† to one of the most viewed shows in Chicago. In 1985 the â€Å"A.M. Chicago Show† was rename â€Å"The Oprah Winfrey Show†, and it began to be nationally broadcasted. Oprah said, â€Å"Failure is the way God chooses to remind you that you are on the wrong track†. Despite her troubled childhood the Oprah Winfrey show is one of most nationally viewed shows today. Oprah Winfrey is now estimated at an astonishing $2.4 billion dollars, according to Forbes Magazine. Oprah’s story was inspirational to me, and I hope for many others, to succeed in life. I believe when growing up in a ghetto region there are many roadblocks on receiving a superb education and go to a good college, but this is not impossible, nothing is considered impossible now-a-days, especially in America. It is relevant that as a country we need to break out of the cycle of poverty. Anne C. Lewis suggested that low levels of an individual’s literacy will usually result in low paying jobs. Anne C. Lewis suggests four steps in leading individuals out of the cycle of poverty. â€Å"For young children already in the system, educate their parents, especially the mothers, to the hilt. The educational level of mothers is the most important influence on the educational attainment of children (Lewis 186). Adults need to take advantage of educational programs that are sponsored by the schools. The second step is, â€Å"for welfare mothers (most of them teenagers) who must now make it in the job world, combine educational and contextual training. This means direct education for meaningful job goals. Cognitive researcher Thomas Sticht, drawing on results from the military, business, and education, argues that young people can learn basic skills best when education is embedded in job preparation (Lewis 186). It has been proven that improved literacy skills can raise their productivity levels in the workplace, while it can also increase your child’s vocabulary. The third step is to implant the idea of going to college in the child’s head as early as you can, according to a survey by Educational Longitudinal, students who have thrive to go to college in 8th grade were much more likely to graduate. The fourth and final way to break out of the ongoing cycle of poverty, according to Anne C. Lewis, is to start the development of literacy in the child as soon as they are born. Young parents from poor circumstances ought to leave the hospital as participants in support networks that will help them develop the language abilities of their babies. That support should be consistent and continuous until the school system becomes a partner with parents (Lewis). So basically what I’m trying to say is that poverty does have its severe impact on an individual’s education, but even though it may be harder for a child from the ghetto regions of Los Angeles, California to receive an equal amount of education then a person living in Beverley Hills, California. Just remember that is nothing is impossible in American, and a college education is available to almost anyone! This quote helped me with my education, and I wanted to end my conclusion with this quote, and it states, it's not about stuffing people's minds with knowledge. It's something inspirational and more†¦. It's about instilling a love for learning. It's about educating kids from your heart. It's about teaching others and oneself to learn from mistakes. It's about encouraging one to have the courage to lead one's life, and about helping others to raise to a higher level of awareness. When you choose to educate with a heart full of love, what you can do will reach far beyond what you can ever imagine.

High School Courses Needed for Chemistry Degree

What special courses do you need to take in high school so that you can get a college degree in chemistry or chemical engineering? Basically, it boils down to science and math. You can talk with your guidance counselor and teachers for more information. Also, always feel free to contact the department chair in the college program that interests you to get more detailed advice. College catalogs are also a good source for learning about requirements. Algebra Understand ratios, direct proportions, and inverse proportion.Solve linear and simple nonlinear equations.Set up word problems.Identify dependent and independent variables.Understand the slope and intercept of a line.Be able to graph data points.Understand exponentials and scientific notation. Geometry Geometry is critical in understanding college-level  chemistry. Youll need this to understand bonding, molecular models, and crystal structures. Trigonometry Youll need trig for much the same reason as you need geometry. Plus, trig is essential for completing physics. Pre-Calculus Calculus is perhaps the most important math subject to take in high school for a future in the sciences. It may also help you place out of pre-requisites! You have a lot of calculus in your future. Hope you enjoy it! Physics Physics and chemistry are inseparable. If you major in chemistry, youll still take college physics. If you major in physics, youll take chemistry. Chemistry In addition to making college chemistry a bit easier, high school chemistry gives you a taste of what the science is all about. Be sure to master these concepts: Be able to define atoms, molecules, elements, and compounds.Be familiar with the periodic table and know the symbols of common elements.Understand how to read a chemical formula (e.g., H2O).Know what a mole us. In addition to this list, its a good idea to be proficient with a computer and keyboard. Statistics and biology are also useful courses, although your schedule probably wont allow you to take everything you want!