The 21st Century

Guidelines of Decision Making- Traditions and Religions

The human race has evolved based on the traditions and the religions we have either innovated, or left behind by our ancestors; the Romans were Catholic and followed the path of Jesus Christ; the Chinese were Confucian and learned Confucius’ words and wise knowledge by heart; many Africans were Islamic, and followed the Shaira faithfully. Catholicism brought order and gave birth to breathtaking architecture that people still gush over today. The traditional cardinal human relations created by Confucius note the respect and relationship between ruler and the ruled; between parents and children, between siblings, between husband and wife, and between friends. People still follow this basic saying now, creating a much more civil and peaceful society. The Africans following the Shaira have learned the most basic idea of what esteem is, and it has also had a great impact on their population. Even though the religions or laws may have passed away along with a lot of our culture as time has passed, what is left of these traditions still guide how people think, becoming a rule people are bound to, affecting how they make their decisions, or who they decide to be.

As a student, one will be given the task to learn to have the correct values in terms of what is good or bad, or what is right or wrong. A major part of these values were decided by our ancestors, and they start to differ as religion and people start to change or separate. Chinese values, strongly affected by Confucian thinking, put most of its importance on family. Therefore, a lot of the choices and decisions Chinese people make will take in huge consideration of what their parents think, or what brings the most light to their family heritage. Expectations related to family life account for many difficulties that the first generation of Chinese immigrants met. The second generation found it hard to cope with the demands of their parents. As time went on, these Chinese children wanted to fulfill their own potential, so they moved out from the traditional position of children and went in search for their dreams, causing guilt on the children’s part and shame on the parents. Traditions may have weakened, but the fact that people make their decisions based on these rules of society have not.

With a different kind of religion, the traditions and values often affect decision making differently. Unlike the Chinese, Catholic thinking focuses more on social morality. Catholicism has brought religious unity to western civilization; a great example being how the Church rose to overthrow the Roman Empire. As the religion has transformed, many parts of it has shed away, but the belief in unity, uniqueness in individual, and bringing justice to this imperfect world still remains. These ideas are vague, but the ideas they stand for reflect on real life. People believe that they are different, and they make their decisions based on what their difference is good for. Our society was able to evolve to what it is today because of the uniqueness each and everyone in it contains. All religions affect the decision making of the people who believe in them. From the Catholic Church of the past to the faithful followers of the many religions that exist today, all have been basing parts of their lives on the ideals of what their religion stands for.

Traditions and religions are guidelines and encouragements that people today base their decisions on. Through their transformations, they have become beneficial in preparing people for society today. The Romans, Chinese, African Americans and much more have proved that the guidance and order brought by these religions and traditions are essential in the development of the communities. They help mature the minds of many people, and teach them the balance between themselves and their society. Our daily lives reflect on how ubiquitous these rules of our society are. These rules may not be government enforced, and may not have a 100% effect on our actions, but they are always there within our conscious, telling us what is right and what is wrong. These beliefs and customs are our values, and the motivation to keep us moving. In conclusion, there are no free choices or ideas that are not bound in some way by our rules of society.

The Answer is Just Not Enough

The newer generation of young children have been edified by the education system today to be capable of having the skills to find out the answers to a question very quickly. The reason why children are putting more of their focus on the answer is to satisfy the urge to score higher points, or to gain confidence. To solve a problem means to first understand the situation you are in and to familiarize the conditions or terms you are given. One has to comprehend concepts that this process may involve, in order to unravel the problem most effectively and smoothly. Without completely being in possession of these particular skills, people begin to become indifferent and unsympathetic towards the process of problem solving, which reflects on their actions when they continue to mature and results in some of the apathetic and unsociable atmosphere in our society today. By not having faith in the process, he or she often does not arrive at the solution. Without fully trusting your ways of solving a problem, you do not fully understand the concept leading to the discovery of the solution to the problem and can lose the chances of noticing the enjoyment solving a problem can have, and most importantly, letting go of the chances to learn. When someone can fully come to an understanding of the process, they can gain experience in solving different types of complications. This can lead to a discovery of a variety of different methods to solve a single problem, and can even uncover the pleasure there is hidden in the progression of solving a problem.

As our society has evolved, the competiveness has increased exponentially, since people all around the globe are fighting for the opportunity to take hold of the occupation that best provides them with the resources needed in life. In order to grasp those opportunities, people often look for the most effective way to reach the goal. This attitude of life usually starts to develop during the formative student years, when the most important goal is to receive high grades. I remember times when I memorized methods in order to solve problems quickly, and since knowing that a lot of this knowledge wouldn’t be useful for my occupation in the future, I memorized ways leading to the answers just to manage the tests. I had no confidence in solving the problem since I didn’t know what this monotonous and complicated process would bring me, so I focused more on finding shortcuts that would help skip over the steps I would originally have to go through if I really went through the process. This approach of learning led to the momentary memorization of a lot of knowledge without full understanding. The memorization of the methods meant not fully grasping the variables and conditions given to me. This meant I never solved the problem, I just got to the answer. Many people today put more of their focus on the answers rather than the process of solving the problem due to the apathetic attitude towards what may not be useful for them in the future. By doing this, most members of our society are missing the point of learning from what Gruber calls, “the game, or the wonderful process, if you will, of thinking”.

In the public eye, the process of solving these problems may seem tedious and uninteresting, but what the eye is missing is the feeling of achievement reachable only through personally experiencing. By looking superficially on the outside, one could miss the joy of peering pass the complications on the outside and looking into the discovery of more doors and windows leading to different results and solutions. Emile Berliner wanted to solve the problems related to the bad quality of the phonograph invented by Thomas Edison. The original one was built together with a series of tin foil and wax cylinders. Emile modified the phonograph by using a variety of different materials from glass, to zinc, and eventually plastic. Through the process, a completely different device was invented called the gramophone. It reads and records groves and melodies by reading the vibration of different sounds. There could be no better example than Emile Berliner to explain how much knowledge and insight one could gain from the process of problem solving.

In conclusion, by not just being concerned about the answer, you could experience discovery, confidence, or how to react to failures or times when you don’t succeed. But at times when people do not have enough confidence or faith in the process of solving a problem, they tend to just put more focus on the answer rather than the process. In order to reach a higher level of understanding of your problems and potential in problem solving, one just has to learn how to be more effervescent and more receptive to the process behind the problem.

Question Yourself

Baltasar Gracian believed that self-knowledge is the beginning of self-improvement, and that is accurate from many perspectives. By gaining understanding about yourself, it increases the possibility to make better choices and decisions based on your personal qualities and needs. There is an old saying expressing the fact that no one understands you more than you do. This saying encourages people to dig past superficial understanding and focus more on their true nature. By gaining understanding about yourself from others, a person can also reflect on what their true personality is like. This instruction sounds simple enough, but the actual process involves true willingness and persistence. It may be painful sometimes recognizing the numerous flaws you may have. While recognizing good qualities in yourself, the process can also bring you a false sense of confidence and make you more careless, thoughtless, or arrogant. Either way, without truly understanding ourselves, we are never successful. Our lives may seem wonderful and joyous in the eyes of the public and the scale formed by our society, but we may never be truly happy according to our own meter because of our lack of understanding for it.

From the uncountable amount of ways to understand oneself, one of the most efficient and most thorough ways is allowing yourself to make mistakes, to have the tolerance to accept your flaws, and to have the courage to face all your strengths and weaknesses. Knowing one’s strengths and weaknesses can decrease the pressure on life in many ways. By knowing what you are good and not good at, you can easily adjust to your environment by choosing an occupation that suits your strengths, or to just simply know where your limits are and to prevent yourself from getting emotionally and mentally depressed or anxious. What is good about knowing your weaknesses is the fact that you will be able to pick out what needs to be improved. Like a math equation, by knowing a mistake, you could just fix your calculation error rather than redoing your entire equation. For example, Olympic Swimmer Michael Phelps succeeded in fulfilling his own dreams because with help from his mother accepting his ADHD, he was able to use it as a motivation. This way, his mom was able to get him the proper help he needs, and aid him in discovering his interests, rather than sulking about the fact that his child may not be “normal”. They were also able to encourage parents or families who are in similar situations as them to become more fearless in accepting flaw and taking action in improving it.

Nikki Giovanni stated, “If you don’t understand yourself you don’t understand anybody else.” So in order to introduce yourself to others, you need to first introduce yourself to you. An effective way is to use the people around you as mirrors, using their views and opinions of you as a reflection of who you are and what you are becoming. This mirror helps you better understand what flaws you have, and allows you to view the flaws closely.  But you needs to remember that an imperfection does not always have to be changed, because imperfections are the building blocks of both who you are and your unique personalities. Another important part of using the people around you as mirrors is the self-examination afterwards. You cannot always rely on other people’s perspectives to decide what is good or wrong; you must consider your own ideas and points of view in order to mold yourself into who you are destined to become.

The most successful peoples are those who don’t have any illusions about who they are. They know themselves well and they can move in the direction of their best talents. They know the kind of culture they thrive in and how they can benefit from that culture. In conclusion, it can be difficult to understand yourself, but through accepting your own imperfections and strengths, you can move in the direction that most benefits your future. By using socializing as a change for self-understanding and examination, you can increase the speed in finding your true direction. To know and understand who you are, stare fearlessly into your soul. That is when you can truly live as you.

People Matter

Relating to our society is building a stabilized supporting base for your life that lifts you higher in social relations or workplace status, and at the same time, is there to cushion your fall. The special skill of empathy can allow you to show the more friendly and devoted side of you, increasing the intimacy you have with many different types of people. Whether it is at your workplace, or anywhere you go in life, sympathizing and tolerating others can provide you with more feeling of security and confidence. Knowing that some of those people will be there to support you, they become part of the support structure of your life. Empathy can also earn you more respect and show a more responsive side of you to not only your boss, but to your fellow colleagues. This increase of respect in your working environment can boost your efficiency and self-esteem. Trying to balance out being amicable and respectful to most people around you may seem impossible to do, but this method is applicable and accomplishable, and the results are appealing.

George Washington Carver, having been a successful research scientist during his years at numerous research centers and colleges, was despised by many of his colleagues due to his level of fame, fortune, and success. Being one of the most demanding and stubborn scholars many administrators have ever worked with, he distinctly left a strong impression on the people around him. Born as a slave, he knew what it was like surviving in a surrounding where everything was lacking. With these hardships in mind, he was motivated to create a method to increase the efficiency of the growth of their staple crops, which consisted of cotton and legumes. By teaching farmers how to restore nitrogen back into the soil and to practice crop rotation, positive results could be seen in farmers’ alternative cash crops. Carver was able to connect with the people whom he understood. He was once one of those hardworkers who plowed the land nonstop until his hands bled. With that connection, many people of his kind supported him and rooted him on when the colleagues around him loathed him. On his grave was written “He could have added fortune to fame, but caring for neither, he found happiness and honor in being helpful to the world.” These words are the best proof of the love and care people can receive from being sympathetic to the people around them.

Having a sympathetic attitude towards the people in the working environment is just as vital as being compassionate to the people in your comfort zone. Unlike Carver who treated his colleagues brutally and sacrificed the relationships he could’ve had with his coworkers in order to achieve the goal of making the lives of the everyone who was suffering easier, the board of directors at Google has been able to balance out maintaining a professional attitude towards work and treating their employees of all age and gender with care and consideration. Through constructing hospitable workplaces that welcome all employees, they managed to encourage people to have fun during their workday. A strong sense of community develops in organizations where people feel that they are part of a team and a family, which, connected by common values and purpose, results in cooperation within and across departments. Google helps prove that by displaying hospitality and openness to coworkers and employees, a workplace can be more efficient; they are able to spark more creativity and originality. Also, through treating employees with generosity, they are able to gain respect from the people who work for them, upgrading their workplace status and making sure that others will work faithfully for them. Respect in both the social life and the workplace can be difficult to balance, yet when balanced can help a person reach their ultimate potential.

Varg Vikernes once said, “People are like books, and the world is like a library.” By interacting and socializing with all different types of people, or to even step into other’s shoes and take a look at what the world is like from their position, a person can be surprised at the contrast there is in the world from their perspective. Through socializing and commiserating with the wide spectrum of humanity around themselves, a person will gain strength from the growing number of people who care about them and are willing to catch him or her when they fall. Taking small steps in tolerating diversity, being tender and compassionate to humankind, and being sympathetic to everyone’s needs are what help our society function. Whether it is in life today or life in the past, one tiny step is a big step to opening up hearts to accepting divergence. It not only blesses us with smooth sailing for the rest of our lives, but also pushes our community forward towards a new level of humanity.

Creativity – A Change in Taiwan

While the majority of the society would think that the root of all of problems that the human race is facing in this twenty first century is economics, we should be looking for something other than economics to fix. Economics is something not only our country, but also the entire world, have been putting a lot of their attention on, but intellectual development is nonetheless the real root of the downfall of our society today. The base of all civilizations, the core of human development, is the creative, outside the box thinking that only we humans have; so the key to this problem is to encourage creative thinking, and a good way to begin this immense project is to start small. One thing I would change about my country is to adjust and modulate the education system so that the children of the new generation would be taught in a way that would stimulate their imaginative thinking.

As creative thinking is the central of the civilizing process, to promote a new creative educating system would be a huge boost in the advancing society of today. Mihaly Csikszentmihaly, writer of “Flow and Creativity”, The NAMTA Journal 22, no. 2, did research based on how creative thinking would affect society. Through her research, she discovered that creative people are more likely to choose to do more difficult and complex tasks. From her research, evidence shows that creativity derives from individuals identifying a pattern that can be broken and figuring out a new way to use an already existing concept or product by taking the influence from society and tweaking it so it has a fresh new look. Methods to triggering creative thoughts such as leaving interesting and resourceful materials around the classroom for students to explore and to play around with is effective in terms of providing students a place to put their creative thoughts and ways of thinking into use. Also, by setting up a space for students to start and accomplish their own projects with their own materials can also help children reach their creative potential. By creating a healthy atmosphere in class where students are taught to accept and treat mistakes as turning points is crucial in developing and maintaining the creativity level in class. Healthy competitions in inventing can also be a major motivation for students in activating the urge and eagerness to become more creative. In my hometown, most familiar concepts of learning are writing tests and memorizing information word by word. That concept is desperately in need of change, so society can once again step out in creative glory.

The change in the educational system in my country would lead to great outcomes, a level of learning where students are not pressured by the immense competitiveness that are often handed to these children. A new change in thoughts and teaching would result in students’ ability to connect and relate situations, making it easier to connect and see relationships. As change in the educational system begins to take place, students will gain insights and experience in the area of envisioning, where questions such as “what if” would arise and alternative, fresh thinking would appear. Consequently, students will be more likely to explore a variety of ideas and options, and reflect on their observations and perspectives. For a city or a society to be filled with people with creative thinking, it is necessary to have huge chunks of people who will be expressing their identity, which accordingly will create new looks of the society from many perspectives, including politics, cultural renewal, economy, or even the transformation in the aesthetics of the metropolis. With places such as Turkey sponsoring “The Best Idea Competition”, Adres Patenta, a Turkish law firm that operates internationally to protect patent rights, has come up with a competition where people will be able to voice their ideas on new products, services or social projects over the Internet, with the best ones chosen weekly. This activity has been implemented in South Korea, the States, and many countries around the globe. It helps people be aware of the fact that creative thinking is important, putting a twist in the test-taking, fact memorizing education system we have today.

“We humans have not yet achieved our full creative potential primarily because every child’s creativity is not properly nurtured. The critical role of imagination, discovery and creativity in a child’s education is only beginning to come to light and, even within the educational community, many still do not appreciate or realize its vital importance.” -International Child Art Foundation. A change in how students are taught in my country would be a small action that would make a huge impact on the direction of the development of the entire world. By putting this spark of change in the system, not only students, but also citizens of my country would be more alert to the significant effects creative teaching will have on the community. This tiny transformation and adjustment is the pivotal chance for my country to step out of the troubles it is in. Once the creativity in the children’s minds is unsuppressed, the possibilities waiting for our community to discover would be infinite.

If you could change one important thing about your hometown, what would you change?

The Greatest Wealth of Life

In the 21^st century, people are living longer because they are reaching an older age with better health.  Through new and enhanced health systems, facilities, and policies bettering the structure of life, humans are now putting more focus on life and on health. With the public media advocating the importance of health, people are beginning to realize how crucial health is to their lives.

Life expectancy has increased for the majority of the population on Earth, and a huge part of it is due to the incredible speed at which the medical and healthcare systems are cultivating. However, more of it stems from the understanding of the meaning and importance of life. With this knowledge about the significance of life, humans are increasing the standards they have for basic needs of life, such as hygiene, food supply and nutrition, all of which add up to the increase of life expectancy. According to Wikipedia, studies have shown that from the early modern Britain to the present day, life expectancy has increased from 25 to an average of about 67.2. Public healthcare measures are hugely credited for this huge boost in the lifespan of humans. With simple methods such as vaccination, promotion of washing hands with soap, and the distribution of condoms, or in more severe cases such as treating diseases with pathogens, public healthcare has encouraged a healthier lifestyle for the majority of the people. 2004, the World Health Organization, an agency that focuses on aiding global health issues and local health departments, has associated with UNAIDS and have reduced the number of those aged 15–24 years who are infected by AIDS and HIV by 50%; reduced new HIV infections in children by 90%; and reduced HIV-related deaths by 25%. Research shows that more than 46 million people have received help and treatment from the WHO and its associated health organizations. With the generous assistance and support from these organizations, life expectancy and health are able to advance. It has also progressed humanity in terms of encouraging philanthropy, gathering money, resources, and help from all over the world and giving it to the people in need. Since then, deaths due to diseases have dropped by 28 percent. Health organizations work to improve nutrition, food safety, and food security; to ensure this has a positive effect on public health.The reason why most humans are able to live up to the average of 83 years old is through them.

Through the media is how most people are affected. The media send messages out to the public through advertising and promoting some ideas, making it persuasive and influential to humans. From advertisements, commercials, soap operas, and other programs we see on television, it is often we see the wonders of the world we live in from a different perspective. The public media is a guidance to help members of the society to view things from a positive point of view, where they can find something or someone to live for. Through advertisements governments put on televisions, passion for life is evoked. Inspirational stories about old men and women fighting cancer together have not only taught society how cruel and unpredictable life can be, but more importantly, how we can treat and value life in the best way possible. TV ads about medication or spa treatments that are good for the body circulation to yoga camps that are beneficial for revitalizing the body, mind, and soul all lead to an ultimate goal, that life is the finest wealth one can have. With the aid of healthcare, one will be able to explore and experience the beauty in everything. That is why people desire longevity, to enjoy life to the fullest. So not only are medicine and healthcare able to support human life, but also to inspire people to value and lengthen it in order to experience and enjoy the beauty the world can offer.

From the 1600s to the present day, humans have not only been able to apply methods related to medicine and astounding technology to lengthen life, but they have also been motivated to value it. Humans are taught the beauty of life; how privileged it is to be able to get a taste of growing and maturing, interacting with different people, or traveling. From the past to the present, the majority of the population is able to balance out life and make time to experience life. Being able to enjoy longevity is the greatest wealth one could have.

Problems with Education

The 21^st century is a crucial period of human evolution that brings focus and attention to the core of developments and advancements: education. However, the education curriculum is at a stage where learning is limited in the form it takes, and individual thinking holds less importance in the system. Is this something we should be proud of, or is it a sign for us to press pause and take a step back to analyze overall some of the flaws this current system has? Due to the fact that education holds great power in molding humans, we need to be more circumspect in ensuring the effects that learning brings to us as phenomenal influence in critical thinking and the growth of interest or exploration in the vast sea of knowledge. Noam Chomsky, the father of modern linguistics, has theories that take controversial aspects of teaching systems at school, and has given birth to a more established definition to education, which is “the production of human beings whose values are not accumulation and domination, but instead are free to association on equal terms.”

To children today, piles and piles of multiple-choice questions have become the norm, something they have to face every single day of their school life. But with this causing a significant degeneration of children’s natural capacity, outspoken figures such as Chomsky have begun to pinpoint problems that concern the transition of knowledge. Glitches in learning, such as students deliberately pushed through the memorization of facts rather than through critical thinking or society automatically reducing education to the requirement of the market, leads to educated students nowadays just being ones that are conditioned to obey power and structure. The reason why pupils at school are discouraged to improvise and to create is because the common practice of the market generally does not promote individual thinking and controversial personalities. Companies require workers who are capable of following orders passed down by the selected few who are also assigned and forced to invent. In the society today, people are rarely urged to be inventive and imaginative. At school, teachers force knowledge into the limited minds of students, leaving no spare time nor space inside them to be free to think their own thoughts, or simply to ponder the question why.

Alternation in the current educational system is inevitably needed. At schools, in order to solve problems concerning the student’s lack of interest in different subjects, teachers’ methods of teaching should include projects that may intrigue schoolchildren into wanting to learn more about the information that is passed down to them. Since the grade-based curriculum at schools today makes it impossible for children to pour their hearts into thinking and applying their knowledge in real life, modifications have to be made to set the path of learning towards events that are useful in stimulating learning by doing. In-class activities such as debates, presentations, or even acting that is beneficial in enhancing participation, motivation, and critical thinking in class. According to articles in Newsweek, hands-on project making aids students in pursuing their goals creatively. The “Market Your Thoughts” association is a program that includes competitions that help children discover entrepreneurial solutions to problems in original ways. It also inspires intermediate students to discover special skills or curiosities in a wide spectrum of subjects ranging from science to language. So instead of putting pressure on students today with countless tests and examinations, we should be putting the value of learning on critical thinking skills and gaining useful and applicable knowledge.

For decades, humans have been following the same pattern, the test taking, bubble filling education system which is no longer helpful to human development; it has got us this far, but it is time for a new transformation. The same phenomenon happened in the Ming Dynasty, where “jinshi”, the blank filling, poetry writing education led the entire dynasty towards the wrong direction. It limited the thoughts and creativity of people all over eastern China, and resulted in the Ming being taken over by the Qing dynasty. Critical thinking is the solution to problems concerning the inside the box thinking students of the 21^st century use. Debates, group activities, and speech competitions are all ways that motivate students into discovering their true talents and abilities. Schools should be the ultimate factor that brings children closer to science, English, and math; a place that enlightens the passion inside to strive harder for the improvement of the human race. Once our education system has been revitalized, we will be able to see the true capability of the human brain, and realize the true significance we hold within.