CR 7: Internet Social Network

Often, original things are replaced by the new things. Human resources at workplaces were replaced by factory machines in the industrial revolution, and  2D films are replaced by 3D movies recently. Emergence of Social Network can be interpreted in the same way: the original way of human connection - or so-called human networking - is gradually replaced by internet connection. Long time ago, 'human networking' meant that people meet each other in person, and build some relationships. Otherwise, in the current society, people can easily build social relationship by just clicking one button, or simply 'adding' others as friends. 

No one can deny that internet social network has brought many advantages so far. Facebook, for example, is the most widely used network service in the internet. People can easily type their personal information, contact with other unknown people, and build social relationships. It's so convenient and easy to use Facebook that if you want to make a friend,  simply add other people as friends, write some comments on their status,  and press 'enter' key. How simple?

However, 'convenience' and 'speed' are not always good; as Catfish depicts, Facebook has some potential to have some problems. What happens if a person makes a fake account and get friends with the account? It means that the other people associate with wrong, fake, or even imaginary person. This is absurd.

Let me introduce my experience. When I was in middle school, I met a guy in the internet chatting room. I found out that he and I were both admitted to KMLA, and thus, we chatted, exchanged mail accounts, and etc: we became good friends on the internet - only on the internet.  That was all. When we faced each other in the school, we couldn't say anything, because we didn't think we know each other in the real situation.  I felt like a huge gap between the real-life social relationship and 'imaginary' social relationship. 

I think that at least, in terms of  building social relationship, internet social network cannot totally replace the original way of making friends. If people want to make some friends, what they have to do is to meet other people in person, maintain good relationships for a long time, and strengthen their relationship 'gradually', not just press keyborads. 

CR 6: Pax Americana?

          It is often said that the history is the process of shifting major power and its balance. Rome empire, which had millions of population and conquered vast majorities of territories in Europe, was never believed to lose its power. However, Rome empire's influence was weakened when Germanic and Slavic culture started to change the Latin civilization. How about the kingdom of Spain? The great power of Spanish Armada was believed to be an everlastingly unbeaten military power, but it was also defeated by English Navy at Elizabeth period. Likewise, in the 21st century, the United States is undoubtedly the greatest super-power nation in the world. And there comes a next question: when does 'Pax Americana' come to an end? 
           The term 'Pax Americana' was firstly used when United States  became the most powerful country in North America, achieving peace and balance after finishing American Civil War. Two world wars were an opportunity for US; its military power influence finally ended the wars in Europe, and when Europe was in  the abysmal economic crisis after the wars, America's economic, military support and the spirit of capitalism prevailed the Western countries. Even after the collapse of Soviet Union and its coalition nations, US is now encountering its golden age: US has the greatest economy and military power. Everyone seeks for the freedom, chances, and liberties in the territories of US. Many students dream for entering prestigious colleges and institutions in the US. Everyone watches movies and TV shows made in Hollywood,  buys iPhone, iPod, and uses Facebook and Google. No one can deny that US is the most powerful and influential country in the world. 
           The problem is that superpowers, most often, face the decline after they hit the peak. Throughout the world history, we have seen many examples: Roman empire, Great Britain, or Ming Dynasty. I think that there are some factors that weaken the power of United States as well. For example, the sub-prime mortgage crisis, which happened in 2008, enormously hit  the worldwide economy, and America is still suffering from high unemployment rate and the aftermath of recessions. Emergence of China as a new political, economic superpower is another threat to America.  
             However, I believe that the most significant factor that accelerates the decline of US power is, ironically, its hegemonism to expand its power all over the world. Inside this concept of hegemonism, there lies a spirit of 'selfishness'. Of course, all nations should pursue its own national goal, and it cannot be achieved without some extent of selfishness. However, in America's case, its selfishness to pursue its national interest goes way too far. How about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq? US started this war with the purpose of finding Osama Bin Laden, the terrorist. However, in this war, US showed off too much violence and cruelty by killing innocent civilians and bombarding the cities. US says that they are the worldwide-police, but many people in other countries believe that US just wants to pretend to be a superhero or just show off its power. We can see another example from environmental pollution: US didn't follow Kyoto protocol to reduce its CO2 and greenhouse gas emission, even though all other developed countries agreed to follow it.  Now, US is the second most environment-polluting nation in the world, following China, the first place nation. 
            I don't know whether its selfishness is justified or not; however, I think that its selfishness, or its excessive hegemonism continues to take place, it will accelerate the end of its 'Pax Americana'


Debate Motions:
1. THBT George Bush administration did more harm than good to world peace
2. THBT wars in Afghanistan cannot be justified.
3. THBT US has to follow Kyoto protocol

Favorite Debate Motions

My favorite debate motions are:

<Politics/ Diplomatics>

This House Would ban media coverage of ongoing military operations

This House Supports the unification of Korea Peninsula

This House Believes That WikiLeaks is a terrorist organization

This House Believes That China is a threat to world peace

This House Would cease an aid to North Korea

This House Believes That cold war between US and USSR did more harm than good to current world

This House Believes That Barack Obama is not qualified to get Nobel Peace Prize

This House Would expand the permanent membership of UN Security Council

This House Believes That no-fly zone in Libya is justified

This House Would make disseminating false information punishable by criminal law

This House Would support autocratic regimes in third world nations to maintain regional stability

<Economics>

This House Believes That economic development is more important than environmental protection

This House Believes That Genetically Modified Food is an answer to world hunger

This House Would regulate hypermarkets in Korea

This House Believes That G20 has solved 2008 worldwide economic crisis 

<Rights/Morality>

This House Would legalize abortion

This House Would not eat meat 

This House Believes That gay marriage should be banned

This House Would allow gay couples' adoption

This House Believes That plastic surgery is wrong

This House supports Euthanasia

This House Would not allow prisoners to publish their criminal accounts 

This House Believes that the state has a right to separate married couples in the cases of domestic violence

<Education>

This House Believes That private education in South Korea does more harm than good

This House Believes That standardized tests should be banned

This House Would allow corporal punishments in classroom

This House Supports free-lunch in elementary schools in Korea

CR #5: Excessive Competition

It is often said that competition promotes development and improvement. Competition makes people do their best; it prevents them from becoming lethargic, and gives them a strong motivation to put their full efforts into something. This is how competition has worked in this society. However, when competition goes way too far, it causes disastrous results.





Let's talk about Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), which is one of the most prestigious science&engineering universities in South Korea. It is said that only selected students who have good talents at Science and Math can enter KAIST. It provides them a high-quality science education, lab facilities, and internship experience. What's more, KAIST also provides them three years of graduate school programs as well.


But the truth is not so. This year, four students in this university committed suicide. Something wrong is happening inside the school. There must be a reason that caused four students to commit suicide. Then, what is it?





Many people say 'excessive competitions' in KAIST forced the students to quit their own lives.  KAIST's main educational policy can be abbreviated into 'Punitive Tuition Fee System', which means students have to pay different tuition fees according to their grades. For example, if students get good GPA in first semester, they have to pay just 2 million won. If they don't get good grades in the semester, they have to pay 6 million won. If they get F, then they have to pay even more money. This is how punitive tuition fee system of KAIST works.


The four students had a common that their grades were not that good. They suffered from the stresses that they had to pay so much money and there is no hope for them. Funny thing is that nobody in the school - faculties, peers, or whoever- actually cared about their pains and frustrations. Everyone in KAIST was living in excessively competitive atmosphere; they just praised how competition can promote the development and improvement of students. Nobody cared much about the side effects.




I think the punitive tuition fee system of KAIST should be abolished. Competition is often good for people. But if it is too excessive, it not only deteriorates their development, but also destroys their lives.  


Motions:
1. THW make students pay different tuition fee according to their grades in the college
2. THBT suicide cannot be justified
3. THBT competition is better than cooperation

30 days without Meat

Thirty days without eating Meat


        '30 days' is a TV program that broadcasts thirty days of life experiences with special  conditions such as a straight guy living in gay village or a normal citizen working in a coal mine. It shows how some ordinary people go through these special experiences and what they learn from them. They learn some important lessons on various issues; especially, viewers can often learn about minority's perspectives on controversial matters in this society. 


       My '30 days' program is 'thirty days without eating Meat'. Of course, in this society, some people do not eat meat at all. These vegetarians refuse to eat meat, because they believe eating meat is to go against animal's rights and dignity. They also believe eating only vegetables is much healthier than eating meat. But for majority of this society, it is very common to eat meat. Since we eat so many hamburgers, steaks, pizzas, and chickens in our daily lives, it would be so painful and disastrous for us to abandon eating meat. 





      My scenario of 'thirty days without eating meat' is this: firstly, I'll choose one person randomly. I'll will let him live with vegetarian for a month, so that he can copy the vegetarian's daily diet menu. For the starter, it would be very challenging not to eat meat at all. He will suffer from kind of withdrawal symptoms, as many people usually do when they quit smoking. 


        Then I'll let him visit Meat production company and show the exact process of how meats are produced. In the animal slaughtering process, cows, pigs, sheep, and chicken are slaughtered in very cruel and disgusting methods. Perhaps he will obtain a strong motivation to quit eating meat after watching the horrific scenes and thinking about animal's rights and dignity.

        
         My purpose of the program is to let people know the cruelty of animal-slaughtering process and think about animal's rights. I also  want to let people think about vegetarian's life and daily diet as well. I think it would be very good to eat only vegetables, if they can tolerate. It can be a much better diet plan for many people, especially who are suffering from obesity. 




Motions:
1) TH would not eat meat
2) TH would ban animal-slaughtering process
3) THBT 30 days program is a good education program for teenagers 

Does school have to teach CREATIVITY in the classroom?

          What is the purpose of education? The main purpose of education is to give everyone equal chance as a means to succeed in life. Through learning knowledge and skills, students can learn how to deal with problems they might face in the future. For example, main reasons why students learn language are that they can learn how to understand others' opinions, express their own ideas, and solve problems through communication.  They learn Math, because Math teaches them not only how to calculate figures precisely, but also how to think logically and systematically.  
           How about creativity? Should creativity be taught in the classroom? Does it have to be considered as important as other subjects like Language, Math, and History? Sir Ken Robinson answers "Yes"  in this video. He claims that current educational system is not enough for the students to increase their creativities. As current education system was established during industrialization period, the traditional methods do not work in this modern era, which demands people more creative thinking. "Education kills creativity," says Mr.Robinson,  emphasizing the necessity of creativity education. He claims that creativity is so important that it should be considered as a main subject.
            Of course, creativity is a very important factor, especially for those who live in this modernized and diverse society. I strongly agree with it. However, Mr.Robinson's claim contains some problematic points as well. I would like to point out those problems of his speech.
           His claim lacks feasible methods. He does not suggest any tangible solution to change the status quo. He claimed that creativity should be considered as importantly as other subjects and it should be strongly taught in the classroom. But the problem is, "How?" How can we actually teach creativity to students? How can we raise the creativity level of the education system? It's not an easy question to answer. Some people say that we should make a new subject called 'Creativity', which deals with creative thinking, reading, and writing skills. However, this is a very bad way of teaching creativity, because it can make students lose interests in the subject 'Creativity' itself. Rather than making a new subject, we have to find a new way to teach creative skills in other subjects. I think the best way to raise creativity is to increase creative activities in the coursework. For instance, under conventional educational system, teachers only gives a lecture to students. Instead, I would recommend teachers only suggest a conceptual basis and problems, and let students freely discuss and try to make their own solutions. Similarly, we can do apply same process in other courses. For example, in history class, students have to get opportunities to conduct their own research, read old historical sources, and write historial paper. In Science courses, students have to get chances to freely discuss about scientific phenomena, conduct their own experiments, and write a scientific research paper. These activities should be included in the courses; just giving lectures and taking exams do not raise the creativity of students.
                 Another point is the 'attitude' of people. Many people agree that creativity is very important, but they also mind entirely changing educational system. They are quite conservative when it comes to educational matters.  For example, in South Korea, many parents say 'creativity' should be prioritized, but if we ask them, "Do you want your kids to study in liberal atmosphere?" they woud say "No." They would rather answer, "Still lectures, exams, and quizzes - these conservative methods of learning- are also very important and should remain as well." These conservative attitudes prevent new liberal educational system from being applied. Many people are still obsessed with grades and test scores, and I think the grades and scores are main factors that deters the increase of creative thinking in classroom. Attitudes of people - obsession with grades and old ways of learning - should be reformed to enforce new mechanism of creative learning.



  

The true meaning of student newspaper?

            As a member of Minjok Herald, KMLA's student newspaper, I was quite interested with Michael Moore's proposals: let's spread out our own opinions freely and go against adult's world! He says students and young people can join this by participating his 'Highschool Newspaper'. It seemed like a very attractive option for us at the first place. However, there are some problematic points in Moore's arguments. 
             The most fundamental question is as to whether student has a right and responsibility to freely criticize and go against government. Michael Moore says that children, teenagers, and students should freely stand up and make out their voices being heard by the government. He praises the students in Cairo, Wisconsin, or wherever, that made their own decisions and the decisions were significant enough to change bigger changes. However, he is neglecting that student's main role is 'to study', not 'to fight'. Of course, if there are some problems around this society, students can deliver their opinions and voices to adults, and it can make some changes in the status quo. I acknowledge that point. But if this goes way too far, and if the students start to neglect 'studying', it would be a serious problem. What happens if students are only concerned about the matters outside the school, and always talk about worldwide political, economic and diplomatic issues? What Moore's suggesting is to letting them join his own online newspaper, but this can lead students neglecting their major job - studying.  
            Another problem that Moore's proposal contains is that he does not teach how 'censorship' really works. You may argue that 'censorship' is bad and should be abandoned; however, censorship is indeed necessary in some cases. For example, some information that contains excessive violence, pornography or military secret are categorized into the area of 'censorship'. And student needs to know that censorship is sometimes necessary for the greater social good. But Moore doesn't seem to care about censorship: he just want students to freely make their opinions on whatever issues, and collect them, and post them on his online newspaper. In real world, for example, the articles of Minjok Herald are written by student writers and editorialists, and some of them are 'censored' by editors and teachers, because some articles can be somewhat controversial and harmful to the school and the students themselves. This proper censorship is always taking place behind the publication of newspapers. However, Moore's proposal is just to collect young people's idea freely and spread them without any kind of filtering process. This is very dangerous.
               Of course, I strongly agree that students, young teenagers should make their voices louder and try to make some changes. Young generation's feedbacks and criticism could be very beneficial for the society. However, if Moore really wants to implement his plan, then he should promise that students will not neglect their major role - 'studying' - and learn some necessary filtering and censorship process as well.

Motion:
1. THBT student newspaper must deal with political issues
2. THBT censorship does more harm than good to student journalism
3. THBT Michael Moore's Highschool Newspaper should be abolished

Biased and Inaccurate argumentation

         Many people agree upon the fact that the earth is at stake; the temperature of this planet is increasing because of global warming and greenhouse effect, and the natural resources is depleted in unprecedentedly fast speed ever. Moreover, Amazon,  world's biggest forest, is devastated and Pacific Ocean is now full of trashes. Something needs to be done.
         However, the Story of Stuff, which is a video clip that deals with the environmental problems of the earth, is obviously exaggerated and overblown. I know the environmental pollutions are serious, but I also question the accuracy of the information in this video clip.
        Firstly, this video clip has a problem of misuse of figures and statistics. For example, the speaker in this video says "Most of the forest in USA is totally devastated", or  "More than 50% of Federal Government budget is used in purpose of military budget". False advertising!
US government does not pour that much money into military budget. And if the forest of America had been destroyed at the speed she claims, the world would have been gone already. Inaccurate use of statistics and numbers  should be blamed.
        Secondly, Leonard's opinions are very radical and extreme. Of course, no one denies the earth is at stake. No one denies something needs to be done. However, her radical and extreme stance not only distorts the truth, but also causes even more serious problems. If this clip is shown in elementary schools, many students will accept her extreme and biased opinions. What's even more problematic is that she targets Capitalism and Consumerism, which are the fundamental basis of  current political system. She just seems to express her hostility against the government.
         Her opinion is partiailly right. We need some changes because the earth is at very dangerous stage. Everyone knows it. However, the way of her argumentation is just absurd. The examples and statistics she provided are factually incorrect, and her logic is extreme, radical and unbiased.


Motion:
1. This House Would ban plastic shopping bags in supermarkets.
2. This House Believes That the state has a right to ban extremely hostile speeches against government.
3. This House Believes That  Greenpeace should be allowed to use extreme methods to protect Earth 

Blog Open

This is a blog for KMLA English Debate Course