Thoughts on Standardized Tests

I loathe the concept of standardized tests. I do see its benefit that it allows for easy comparison of standard academic abilities between the students for universities. However, I believe it plays a far crucial role than it needs to, since these test scores basically determine which university you will be attending.

Standardized tests do not successfully reflect the student's full capacity. Just like the student mentioned in the article, some gifted students are not capable of performing well under pressure. This should not be the reason that a talented young individual be barred from further education. Just like the student in the article, I do not perform well academically under stressed situations. Things tend to escape from my brain, and I am not able to show my full skills to the colleges. For example, I have a 35 in the ACT Math section, one point below the perfect score. If this is not under testing conditions, I am confident that I will be able to get a perfect since then I will be relaxed and will not make stupid mistakes like I do on these standardized tests.

I also do not understand why these tests needs to be timed. I do see that if there is no time limit, then some students will sit there for hours and even days to finish their test. However, I believe that these time limits are unfair to students that are slow readers or others that take time to comprehend the material. Just because a student can solve a reading passage in 15 minutes compared to another students 20 minutes, does that mean that the faster student is academically superior to the slower student? I do not think so. There are multiple types of gifted students, and being a fast problem solver is just one of them. Being this gifted type of student should not be the sole reason that they get into their desired college and the other types of gifted students not.

To summarize, I believe that standardized tests are not an accurate representation of the students academic abilities and that colleges should not use this as such an emphasizing factor. Instead, I believe colleges should focus more on daily grades, which really shows the brightness of the student.

Themes in Video Games. Part 1

After a long day of Robotics, I am sitting here trying to come up with something to write for my blog. I only have 30 minutes left, and I have came up with nothing to write about. Trying to get my brain thinking, I put my iPod on shuffle. The first song that came up was part of a soundtrack for the video game Final Fantasy X. I thought back about this game, and noticing it has lots of themes worth mentioning, I decided to write about it and how its worth playing.

Final Fantasy X is a RPG game developed by Square Enix and is the 10th game in its series. This specific game has been one of the highest selling game in the series, and also regarded as the best one in the series.

I would like to describe the story, but to describe it just enough so people would understand it, it would take a couple blog lengths to make it understandable. So, I would have to skip this part and go on directly to the themes of the game. (Summary of story: http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Final_Fantasy_X#Story)

As I mentioned previously, while this games purpose is totally commercial, it holds literal values just like a good book. While there are many topics worthwhile to be discussed, I will focus on one theme specifically. The literal value illustrated in this game is the concept of Gnosticism.

For those that do not know what I just said, Gnosticism is a belief that human existence itself is sinful and that the spirit world should be embraced. This idea can be seen throughout the game, such as with Yuna's summons (Aeons) and the setting of the world itself (Spoiler, so will not mention).

The antagonist believes in Gnosticism  and to make an extremely complicated story simple, the protagonists are trying to stop the antagonist from eradicating physical existence. This epic struggle between the characters makes the player think deeply about our own human existence, and just like the manga that I mentioned in last blog (Kiseijuu), the purpose of human existence.

I am running low on time here, so I will need to save additional discussions for a future blog. I STRONGLY recommend EVERYONE to play this masterpiece. I am a pretty hardcore gamer with experiences in a variety of games, but this game definitely makes it into my top 3. The story line is great, the music is great, the game play is great, everything is great about the game. Again, I wish that everyone would play this game to appreciate the grandness of this masterpiece of art.

P.S. - I legitimately cried at the end of this game, it is that good.

P.S.S - If you are not a gamer, give the music a try. Nobuo Uematsu is a charisma in the field of game music, and he did it once again in FFX. His music significantly amplifies the game experience.

Some samplers: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxRd_5ERYKw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xRCjjiTR7I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C34BzC7rnos

Are Mangas a waste of time? Part 2

About 2 months ago, one my blogs was about a manga named Detective Conan (Case Closed in English) and how it was educational and benefited the readers. Today, I want to introduce another title that is not only commercial but has some other values in reading it. For this blog, I will focus on a manga called Kiseijuu (Parasyte in English).
The story is about a high school student named Shinichi. One day, worm-like aliens called Parasites invades earth and takes over the brains of human hosts through the hosts nose and ears. The parasite that tried to invade Shinichi failed due to earphones, so instead it digs into his right hand, failing to control the brain. These parasites feeds on humans, and Shinichi and the parasite that invaded his right hand decides to fight the other parasites, including the parasite that killed his mother.

Cover of Kiseijuu - Volume 9

You might be wondering, how does a manga about parasites might be beneficial to the reader? Well, this manga allows for the reader to think the purpose of human existence and the purpose of life.While these parasites kills humans, they themselves have no means of reproduction. So, their population is limited to the initial group that invaded on the night. Several intellectual parasites asks themselves: Why are we alive?

After I read this manga, it made me think deeply of why we exist. Do we exist to live in society and perform our citizen duties? To learn and reproduce? What is the purpose of life? The list of question goes on and on.

While Detective Conan provided useful tips of survival, Kiseijuu questions the reader the purpose of human existence. The series is short, with only 10 volumes, so I encourage people that are into grotesque stuff (this series is pretty grotesque) to give it a try.

The Count of Monte Cristo Review

Finally it is over. The 1243 page tale of Edmond Dantes and his life, originally written by Alexandre Dumas and translated by Robin Buss. I have been immersed in this experience everyday for the past month, and it definitely has been the most educational and entertaining piece that I have read in my life.

I do not even know where to start in describing how perfect the book is. The description of characters, historical context, pace of the story, portraying of emotions, everything is balanced out by Dumas in this masterpiece. Every page out of the 1243 pages has its significance, and contributes to the illustration of the sorrow and revengeful tale of Dantes.

What I believe to be one of the factors that makes this book as enjoyable like no other is its numerous characters, each with their unique personality and effects. The characters are strongly inter winded with each other, and the reader continuously discovers links between two characters that seemed they had no connections what so ever. The Count of Monte Cristo uses these subtle connections to torment the four men who were responsible for his imprisonment. While it seems like there are too many characters to remember at first, the length of the book provides for the reader to encounter with the character multiple times, allowing a chart to be created within the reader's mind of all the characters and their connections to the others.

The historical context also adds to the experience. Dumas includes ample amounts of cultural and historical context within the story, which takes place in the 1800s in mainly Italy and France (Paris). The references that he includes ranges from plays, artists, political situations, Napoleon government, and any other important historical detail/reference. In the edition that I read (Penguin Classics), Buss provides footnotes and explanations of these contexts, which significantly enhances the experience of the story as a whole. This story not only entertains the reader, but also educates the reader in historical philosophy, arts, and the government.

While the book is the longest book that I have ever read (1243 pages, not including the 31 page note section), I did not feel bored at any point of this book. Dumas does an excellent job of jumping prescriptive and scenarios, providing multiple context of the same situation, seen from different characters. The amount of detail that Dumas includes also allows for the reader to portray each of the characters and some specific scenes, such as Dantes in prison and later as the Count of Monte Cristo in the royal social life of Paris. He keeps the story moving, through encounters or death, and leaves questions to be answered, which compels the reader to keep reading, eager to find the answers to the mysteries.

Last but not least, the method that Dumas portrays the emotions of the various characters, especially the Count of Monte Cristo, makes the story worthwhile to read in a psychological context. Through descriptions or quote, the diction that Dumas uses creates a tone which is obvious to the reader, which is used to enhance the personalities of the characters. The reader entertains themselves by hypothesizing who is linked to who in fraud and malicious ways through how the characters react to the actions and speeches of the Count fo Monte Cristo.

Phew, I want to keep writing more about how awesome this book is, but unfortunately I have to go work on my research poster. So if you were too lazy to read the wall of text above, here is a one sentence version. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas is a masterpiece, and everyone should read it.

P.S. - Don't let the length of the book discourage you! As I mentioned, the story is interesting, and the vocabulary is not too difficult. If anyone is interested in reading it, I will gladly lend you my copy!

Is outlining really needed?

I honestly do not know what to blog about this week. I just blogged about The Road in last week's blog, so repeating a topic is not good. Also, my next week's blog will be about The Count of Monte Cristo as a whole, so I will not be able to write about it this week. So, this week, for the first time, I will actually be using one of Mr. Mullin's blog suggestions.

I have never been a fan of prewriting. It seemed to me like a waste of valuable time which could be used to work on the actual piece that will be graded. For that reason, I used a similar tactic as the one described in the posted article, which is to write the actual piece, then go back and create the outline. This guaranteed exact matching of the content, and it was also easy/efficient. I practiced this method basically from 4th grade all the way up to this year.

Just like all the rest of us, I wrote essays in such intervals that I have never written before. I had to produce quality writing while I also had to do it at a decent pace.

With my writing style, I jumped straight into writing the responses for the various prompts that the colleges give us. Even though I manged to squeeze out an essay at the end, I did not like it at all or it went on a tangent of the prompt so it was useless. So, this resulted me in scrapping the idea and actually brainstorming ideas before getting to work on the writing. I was actually OUTLINING before I started work on the essay. This allowed me to get my thoughts together, and I was able to produce essays that I thought were some of my best writings.

While outlining did help me, I want to make a disclaimer. I believe that detailed outlines restrict the writing, and prevents it from improvement. The type of outlining that I like is just a list of phrases and ideas that I will use in the paper. This will allow me to combine/formulate the ideas and phrases in whatever order and method I see best fit, allowing me to create the best writing possible.

So, in conclusion, I do believe prewriting helps, but for me, only as a list of phrases and ideas that will be used in the writing.

The Road: Reflection up to this point

In class the other day, we were discussing the parts that we enjoyed about the Road and other parts where we thought it deducted from the book. While I am not done with the book, I thought I would give my opinion on where I stand regarding how much the book is enjoyable.
For me, the book is a mixture of appealing points and loathing factors. One of the main factors that I believe adds to the appeal of the book is how much detail the author includes. He explains in detail the troubles that they come across and the terrain that they see, allowing the reader to feel like as if he was accompanying the man and the boy on their journey. While he does include alot of detail, he keeps the story bare bone and gives ample amounts for the imagination of the reader. This allows each reader to interpret the story differently, giving multiple meanings to the book.
The factor that I believe which deducts from the story the most is the pace of the story. To me, it seems like its the same plot over and over again of finding food, travelling south, and then running our of food and finding new food again. I understand that this story development is necessary due to the structure of the story and the effect of the novel, but for me this made the story feel repetitive and not as enjoyable.
Overall, while the book is enjoyable, it is not as exciting and enjoyable to read as The Count of Monte Cristo (yes, I did mention this book last blog but I felt the need to mention it again, it is A GREAT BOOK). However, I have heard promising things about the ending of The Road so I am looking forward to see what will happen to the man and the boy.

The Count of Monte Cristo: Thoughts so far

While I am enjoying reading The Road in class, my blog would be boring by writing about it just like everyone else. So, I thought of writing about another topic: The Count of Monte Cristo.

I am currently reading this masterpiece by the French author Alexandre Dumas. The story is about Edmond Dantes, a young sailor who was about to be appointed to be the ships captain at the age of 19 and marry the girl that he loved. However, jealous people around him forges a letter that gets Dantes imprisoned in prison. He learns the truth and escapes, acquires a fortune at the Island of Monte Cristo, then use that gained fortune to seek revenge for the people responsible for his time spent in prison.

This book is possibly one of the books that I have ever read in my entire life. One of the main contributing factors to this such enjoyable experience is the details included in the story. Dumas succeeds in explaining every necessary detail, allowing for the reader to fully understand the historical and cultural context of the time. It might seem like he is including stories of random characters here and there (I thought this at first), it all makes sense as you keep reading the novel.

The plot, along with the pace of the story, enhances the experience of the novel. While there are sub-stories tailored into his writing, the main story of Dantes and his revenge moves at a quick pace. His 14 years of prison is extremely thoughtful and interesting to read, to learn what he discovers by spending the time there and also interacting with the Abbe. Once he escapes prison, he is still has to overcome many challenges to reach his treasure, making the story entertaining to read.

The experience of The Count of Monte Cristo has been both an entertaining and an educating one. While the book is 1250 pages, I do not regret choosing the book.

P.S. I do actually slightly regret choosing this book, since this book is so entertaining that I did not read "the Road" in depth, resulting in me performing poorly on the quiz.