Essay Writing Day Without Mr. Schick

     Today, Mr. Schick wasn't here and his room was pretty cold, so we went to the substitute's room on the third floor. I chose option A for my essay and picked the countries Japan, Spain, and Chad. I finished my first and second paragraphs, and began work on the third. I am not looking forward to exam week, since I do not feel prepared at all. I hate having extra work the week before exams, I feel that we should be given less homework this week to have time to study for exams. Also, why does honors have to do two essays, I have been told by multiple non-honors classes that they do the same exact things that honors does.

Test Day

  Today we took a test on migration, and thats really about it. The test had questions about the types of migration and other key words that we learned. I feel pretty good about it, and I think I only got a couple wrong. Although it would have been helpful to study a bit more. After the test we were allowed to start working on our blogs, but soon after everyone was done the test we had our assembly. It was a relatively festive assembly, and i'm just glad that all of the classes were shortened today. Exam week is next week, and I feel swamped with work so I'm going to end the blog now.

Notes on Illegal Immigrants and Other Things Relating to Migration

     Some motives for a person to enter the United States illegally are the employment opportunities, family reunification, and a better way of life. Some residents of Northern Mexico wish for more leniency towards migrants, from the U.S., while some of those living in the south wish to lower the number of migrants from Guatemala into Mexico harshly. Some U.S. citizens want more effective border patrol, but do not wish to spend more money on it. Some other citizens recognize that Mexican immigrants take jobs that no citizen would take, therefore they support immigrants gaining citizenship. Some people believe that if law enforcement was allowed to check anyone's documents for any reason, it would infringe upon peoples' civil rights. More than one hundred locations in the U.S. strongly support the rights of illegal immigrants, and these places are known as "Sanctuary Cities".

Can you believe it? It's more notes on Migration!

    I'm just going to get straight into the notes today so... Countries adopted selective immigration policies after the Quota act of 1921 and the National Origins Act in 1924. These laws marked the end of unrestricted policies. Family reunification makes up for 3/4 of immigrants in the U.S., and skilled workers make up 1/4 of immigrants. Diversity in migration is when a country that doesn't send many migrants sends some. The source country for 58% of immigration in the U.S. is Mexico. Out of the 11.2 million illegal immigrants 1 million are children. In 2010 35% of adult migrants had been in the U.S. for at least 15 years. Texas and California have the largest number of unauthorized immigrants.

Notes on Migrants and other things

   Today we were given another worksheet to take notes on. Transportation improvements have diminished the importance of environmental obstacles the block migration. Today the major obstacle a migrant faces is politics. The U.N. classifies countries by four types of immigration policies, the first is maintaining the current level of immigration, the second is increasing the level, the third decreased the level, and the fourth has no policy. The number of people allowed to immigrate to the U.S. is the most its ever been, but the amount of people want to come is greater.

Changing U.S. Immigration Notes

    Today Mr. Schick wasn't in class, so we were assigned to take notes on a hand out from awhile ago. 80 million people migrated to the United States between 1820 and 2015, including 42 million people alive in 2015. There are three main eras of immigration and they are colonial settlement in 17th and 18th centuries, mass European migration in the 19th and 20th centuries, and Asian and Latin American immigration in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The population of the U.S. in 1790 was about 3.9 million. Between the years of 1820 and 1920, 32 million people immigrated to the United States. Germany had sent the most immigrants at one time; about 7.2 million. Immigration dropped greatly in the 1930's and 1940's because of the world war, and The Great Depression. The number increased steadily through the 50's and later skyrocketed. Mexico passed the number of immigrants from Germany in 2006.

Class Discussion and Things

   Yesterday we had a class discussion about asylum. The discussion was led by a short podcast about the pros and cons of Trump's plan for asylum in the United States. I feel as if the podcast led the debate instead of us, but that is just my opinion. Honestly, I didn't learn anything new from my classmates, except for some of their opinions. I learned two things from the podcast itself though. I learned that Trump changed the policy that allowed victims of domestic abuse to be granted asylum. Also, Trump limited the number of people who can apply for asylum in a day. Trump limited the number of people who can be granted asylum a day to thirty. I hope to have more discussions like these in the future.

Preparation for Debate and Asylum Notes

    In today's class we spend the first part preparing for a debate over asylum tomorrow. Mr. Schick wanted to see if we were mature enough to have this debate, and hopefully we proved to him that we are. First, we got to see who was neutral, pro, and anti before we started to get a baseline. We then decided how it was going to be run, and we decided that Mr. Schick would moderate the debate instead of leading in. I think this is a good change, because it lets us express ourselves easier, and it seems like an interesting idea. For the rest of class we talked about asylum, and what it includes. Asylum is granted to those suffering from discrimination in race, nationality, religion, political beliefs, and social groups. I look forward for our debate tomorrow, and I am excited to see how it turns out.

Tetris Dreams and Migration Schemes

   Today we started class with a life lesson from Mr. Schick. He taught us the dangers of Tetris, and how it consumes your soul for hours on end. In his quest to destroy his nephew in a game of Tetris he lost a good five hours of sleep on vacation. Today felt like a special day because we got another life lesson about the importance of meaningful punishment. After Mr. Schick misbehaved in class years ago he was assigned the punishment of writing a sentence 1,000 times. His mother thought that this was a meaningless punishment, so she wrote a heartfelt letter to his teacher, and made him write a report on a saint. For the rest of class today, we reviewed some facts on migration. This class was very informative, and I appreciate the close look and knowledge of Mr. Schick's life that we received today.

Migration Notes

     Mobility is the general term for all movement. Short term and repetitive acts of mobility are called circulation. A permanent act of mobility is known as migration. The difference between immigrants and emigrants is net migration. Ravenstein's laws for distance that migrants move include migrants that relocate a short distance within the same country, and migrants that move to another country. There are two categories in migration which are international and internal. 9% of the world's population are international migrants. The United States has more foreign born residents than any other other country. There were three main eras of immigration in the United States, colonial settlement in the 18th century, European immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries, and Asian and Latin America in the late 20th century to the early 21st century. 

Pop Quiz and other Shenanagins

     Today we took a pop quiz on Hans Rosling's video on population and health. The quiz had the exact same questions that were on the worksheet. We reviewed the worksheet right before taking the quiz, so it was relatively easy. Many people in the class got 100, but a few people got lower. We took another picture with the whole class. Patrick was also obsessed with singing Sicko Mode for some reason. We also saw a video on how America is not the greatest country in the world anymore. The video brought up some points like newborn death rates. Not much else happened today, but at least we got to work on our blog in class.

Population and Migration Stuff

     Today in class we were given a worksheet, and we watched a video on some countries' wealth and life expectancy. The man that made the video was named Hans Rosling, and he made the video in 2009 or so. Hans decided to create a chart that shows a country's development with wealth on the x-axis and life expectancy on the y-axis. The lower left of the graph represents the poor and the sick, and the upper right represents the rich and healthy. Each country was represented by a colored circle, and the size was of the country was determined by its population. The graph showed a trend of increasing life expectancy and wealth over a 200ish year period. Towards the year 2009 the United States of America was almost the top country for life expectancy and wealth, but a few European countries had higher numbers. The graph was very well presented, and the information it provided was very interesting.

More Notes on Demographic Transition

      There are four stages in demographic transition that help explain rising and falling RNI's over time in a country. No country has ever reverted back to a previous stage. The first stage is called low growth, and in this stage there are high birth and death rates, as well as no long term natural increase. Currently there are no countries at this stage in the world. Stage two is known as high growth, this stage is marked by rapidly declining death rates and extremely high birth rates. This stage has a high natural increase rate, and Europe and North America reached this stage during the Industrial Revolution. Stage three is called moderate growth, in this stage there is a rapid decline in birth rates, and a slower decline in death rate. The RNI of a country during this stage is moderate, and the population grows. European and North American countries reached this stage during the first half of the twentieth century. Stage four is known as low growth, and in this stage the birth and death rates are very low. A country at this stage has zero population growth, and the population mostly changes from immigration.

Notes on Demographic Transition

  Today three people need to take a test, so we were assigned to take notes on demographic transition. Demographic transition is the transition from high birth and death rates to lower rates as a country develops into an industrialized economy. This concept was introduced in 1929 by Warren Thompson who observed different countries economic activity for some time. Most developed countries have completed the demographic transition while most developing countries are in this process, but there are some exceptions. A few of the exceptions are in Pakistan, Yemen, and Afghanistan, all countries that have some sort of fighting going on. I find this concept relatively interesting and I hope to see what else we learn about it.

Notes on a bunch of things relating to population

     Fertility and mortality rates vary not only spatially,but also temporally within a country. A dependency ratio is the number of people who are too young to work or too old to work, compared to the number of people in their productive years. People from the ages of zero to fourteen and sixty-five and older are considered to be dependents. Larger dependency ratios mean that there is a higher financial burden on the working class. Sex ratio is the number of males per 100 females in the population. Developed countries have more females than males since females tend to outlive men by about seven years.

Notes on Population

     Here is some information on population and where people live. Two thirds of the world's inhabitant's live in East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Europe. Most people on the planet live in low lying areas, fertile areas, temperate climate, and near a river or an ocean. People don't want to live in areas that are too hot, wet, cold, or high. Places considered too harsh for occupancy have diminished over time, because of advancements in technology. There are three ways to define density they are arithmetic, physiological, and agricultural. The arithmetic way is calculated by the total number of objects in an area, as well as by dividing the population by land area. The physiological way is calculated by the number of people supported by a unit area of arable land. The final way known as the agricultural way is the ratio of farmers to arable land, the way to calculate this is by dividing the population of farmers by arable land area.

Test Day

  Today we took a test on information from the world fact book, and our notes. For the first part of the test we were given fifteen minutes to find specific information on the site. I finished with four minutes left, but I messed up on one of the problems since I went with crude oil information for both of the problems instead of oil then petroleum. Once, I finished that section I moved on to the rest of the test which was simple enough. I tried my best with the extra credit, but I don't think I got any of it right. After that, we were forced to keep our tests until the bell rang. Not only that, we had to make a comic relating to what we learned. I drew a cowboy and a cactus, because that kind of relates to what we learned.

Examples of Population Pyramids in the United States notes

   Today we discussed some population pyramids from certain places in the country. The first example was Ann Arbor, Michigan, since there is a college there, most of the people living there are 20-24. The businesses there are geared toward this demographic, so the only older people living there are teachers and other people working at the college. The second example is Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, this is a military base, so it's a similar story to Ann Arbor. The people living there are mostly 20-30 year olds, there are lots of men, and no older people since they move off base when they retire. The third example is Buffalo County, South Dakota, this is an Native American reserve so there aren't too many children. The unemployment there is very high, and some of the people that grew up there come back later to start a family. The fourth example is Manhattan, New York, there are lots of high paying job opportunities, but no housing left, and the people living their don't usually start families. There were a few other examples, but I felt that these were the most important.

Population Pyramids and things like that

     Today we started to learn about population pyramids. I don't really see the point of these except to plot data instead of just reading it, but who cares what I think. A population pyramid measures the growth or decline of fertility, mortality, and migration to cities. Each age group is measured in five year age increments. Children are considered to be nineteen and below, economically active/ adults are twenty to sixty four, and senior citizen are sixty five to over eighty. Statistically, seniors cost more money than children, because when they get ill, they become extremely ill, and it costs lots of money to treat them. The basic shapes of population pyramids are the Christmas tree, the box, and the cup. The Christmas tree represents a developing nation where population growth is high, birth rate is high, and the life expectancy is short. The box symbolizes a developed country with low infant mortality, slow population growth, and a long life expectancy. The final shape, the cup, represents a developed country where the birth rate is low, the population is shrinking, and there a long life expectancy. An example of the cup is Namibia as well as Bangladesh. Two examples of the box are the Unites States of America and Sweden. An example of the cup is Japan. Hopefully if you're some random person on the internet you learned something if not, oh well.

Review, or something like that

   Today we went over the format of the test that is scheduled for around Tuesday next week. We were told that we would be given fifteen minuets to find random facts on www.cia.gov. In class we did some practice and we managed to find one of the answers in eleven seconds. The questions ranged from percentage of christians in a country to availability of electricity to people in the world. One of the questions was about a country's military budget and compared to a person's salary. We also had a shadow in class today who was home schooled, but wanted to come to John Carroll. Mr. Schick made a few jokes about wishing he didn't have to deal with us, but we all know he has to deal with us for a while. Not much happened today, so I'm just going to end the blog at exactly one hundred and fifty words.

Eeeeehhh Blog on Stuff

    Today we did very little in class. We went over our Veracross grades, to see if we needed to fix and mistakes. Except veracross wasn't working for the first ten minutes of class, so I just browsed the internet. When it finally loaded, I saw that there were no mistakes with my grade, so I just kept browsing. One interesting thing about today's class was that we had an exchange student named Claus from Uzbekistan. After everybody was happy with their grades we went over our homework, which was doing our previous blog. Some interesting facts were about the average age of women giving birth to their first child in different countries. Not much happened today, but I am glad that I got to see some of my friends in class. 

5 Facts That I Find Relatively Interesting

   So we were assigned to find five pieces of information from the CIA world fact book, so here we go. The first fact that I found interesting was that sadly 37 million people suffer from HIV, and that 940,000 people die per year due to it. This was interesting to me since I thought that HIV was a nonexistent issue, but it turns out that it is still a problem. This fact relates to our studies of the death rate in the world and the cause of some of these deaths. The second interesting fact is that the literacy rate in Vietnam is 94%. This fact surprised me because I thought that there wasn't very much education there, but it turns out that their literacy rate is higher than the Unites States. Fact number three is that in the Dominican Republic people in the armed forces are not allowed to vote by law. I find this idea interesting, but I'm not 100% sure why this is a law, I'll have to do some more research, but this still surprised me. The fourth fact is that in the U.K. you only have to be 16 years old to serve in the military (with parental permission). This was interesting since this may contribute to the death rate of teenagers in the U.K., or it may not. The final interesting fact is in Bosnia unemployment from the ages of 15-24 is 64%. This is an insanely high statistic and is probably caused by the high number of people living in such a small area. All of these facts were very interesting to me, and I hope whoever reads this finds them interesting too.

Could it be... more notes from Human Geography? Dear God!

    You guys know the drill on slow Wednesdays like these. Insular basically means to be proud of one's culture, and not willing to leave their country of origin no matter what. Total Fertility rate is the average number of children born per woman. For a population to remain relatively the same, the total fertility rate must be 2.1. If its above 2.1 the population will rise, and if its below 2.1 the population will fall. The world total fertility rate is 2.42, the U.S. 2.01, Nigeria 6.89, and Japan 1.4. The reason Nigeria's total fertility rate is so high is because some children will die very early on, so the mothers have more babies. In Japan the rate is so low because there are many more elderly people than young people, and the young people don't have that many children either.

Notes and Stuff from a class I don't Necessarily Remember What Happened in

     I hope you guys are prepared for all the notes that I'm going to regurgitate onto this webpage. Crude birth rate is the number of births per 1,000 of the population. Crude death rate is the number of deaths per 1,000 of the population. Rate of natural increase is produced by subtracting the death rate from the birth rate. This gives the annual natural growth rate this is given in a percent for a specific country or region. Net migration rate is the difference between the number of persons entering and leaving a country per year. An excess of people entering the country is net immigration, which is represented by a positive number. Canada has 5.65 migrants per 1,000 population, and the U.S. has 2.45 per 1,000. An excess of people leaving the country is net immigration. Mexico has a net emigration of -1.38 per 1,000.

New Lesson on Population and Settlement

     Today in Honors Human Geography we started a new lesson about Population and Settlement. Some key issues are where the world's population is distributed, why the global population is increasing, why population growth varies among different regions, and why some regions face health threats. Here's a list of some facts about population and settlement: There are currently over 7.5 billion people on the Earth. The population is increasing by 73 million every year. 200,000 people are born a day (8,377 per hour, 149 per minuet, 2.5 per second). 90% of the population growth takes place in developing countries like those in Africa, South and East Asia, and Latin America. Life expectancy is the average number of years to be lived by a group of people born in the same year. The country with the highest life expectancy is Monaco with an average of 89. The U.S. average is 79, and the lowest is in Chad 49.

Test Day

  Today we took a test on some basic Geography terms and facts. Before we started this test we talked amongst ourselves and were told to settle down by Mr. Schick. We had a shadow named Carly in our class, so us being the people we are, we sang the iCarly theme song out of tune. This was an excellent way to prepare for our test, it stimulated our memories, and may have helped us to remember what we may or may not have studied. I studied the night before for fifteen minuets, and at the end of Health class I read over my blogs. I'm pretty sure that I did enough studying, but I'll only know for sure when I get my test back. The test itself had a few challenging questions, but I felt relatively prepared. When I finished my test I sat there and messed around, so that I wouldn't be too bored. When everyone finished their test I went on my computer, and stared at a website for the last couple of minuets, while talking to other people. I have to say this was a pretty good test day.

Wednesday Shenanagins

     Today, we reviewed for our test tomorrow. We went over time zones, map scale, distortions, and some vocab words. I really have no idea what else to write so I'm just going to write the notes I took today. If its 7am in Bel Air, MD then its 6am in Chicago, Il. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west, so the west is going to be earlier than the east. The Earth is divided into 24 time zones, and each time zone is 15° longitude. The globe is 360° and the prime meridian is at 0° longitude. At 180° longitude there is the international date line, and the prime meridian goes through the town of Greenwich, UK. The town was named after the Royal Observatory that was located there. Map scale includes ratio, written scale, and drawn scale. The four types of distortions are shape, direction, distance, and relative size. Cartography is the science and/or art of making maps. A 2d scale of the Earth is a map. Antipodes are a place on the Earth where if you dig straight through the Earth you will reach land when you come out the other side. All time zones converge on the south pole, and the scientists there decide what time it is.

Today's Discussion

      Today we had a discussion about culture. We started our discussion by looking at the difference between Christianity and Catholicism. Some of the main differences are that Christians don't believe in purgatory or confession. I learned that other forms of Christianity aren't allowed to receive communion at Catholic masses, yet Catholics are allowed to receive communion at other forms of Christianity's masses. We talked about how some schools do confession differently. For example, Grace's school did confession in a dark room, and Saint Margarets did it in an open church in a corner. One topic we brought up was the separation of church and state in America and in Saudi Arabia. In America our court system is based off of the states' laws, and in Saudi Arabia it is based on the Quran. I love having these discussions, but I always have a hard time remembering what we talked about. I can't wait to talk about more issues our society faces!

Friday's Notes

     We took quite a few notes Friday, so I'm just going to paraphrase what I wrote. Geographers study why customary ideas, beliefs, and values of a people produce a distinct culture in a particular place. A culture's values derive from language, religion, and ethnicity. The second element of culture is the production of material wealth, such as food, clothing, and shelter needed to survive and thrive. Scale, space, and connections help geographers explain why similarities among places and regions don't result from coincidence. Scale is the relationship between the portion of the Earth being studied and the Earth as a whole. Globalization is a force that involves the world and results in making something worldwide in scope. Globalization of economy was created by transnational corporations, called multinational corporations. These corporations research, operate facilities, and sell products in multiple countries. Recession began in 2008 this involved home buyers in the U.S. to store clerks in Japan, and they all were caught in a web of falling demand and lack of credit (as in credit score).

Review and Some Notes

       Today we did a review of all that we learned about geography so far. We also talked about tracking devices and the benefits and disadvantages of putting them in people. Last of all we took some more notes on region. We reviewed how geographers describe where things are, how each point on Earth is unique, and how different places can be similar. Our discussion about tracking devices included how they could help strict parents and law enforcement, but could harm everyone's privacy and basic human rights. I personally believe that no human should have tracking devices in them unless they are on active duty in the military, and the chip be removed after the operation. Even though tracking devices could help solve crimes, they would violate every fiber of our privacy, at least whats left of it. Notes: Regions of Culture are the body of a customary belief, material traits, and social forms that constitute the traditions of a group of people. Cultus is the latin word for to care for/about.

Pop Quiz and Notes

    Today we took a pop quiz on parts of a map and some vocabulary terms. I don't really enjoy having pop quizzes, because I need to study before any kind of test where we learned the content more than two days ago. I believe that I at least got a six out of ten on the test, and if I had time to go over my answers then I would definitely gotten a higher score. We discussed this in class and talked about how this type of test put extra pressure on some of the students including me. We also took some notes on some of the types of regions. The first type is the functional region which is an area organized around a focal point. The second type of region is the vernacular region which is an area believed to exist because of the peoples' cultural identity. Next time we have a quiz, please give us a heads up Mr. Schick.

Places and the Reason for Their Names and Other Shenanigans

    Today we learned about how locations get their names, and Patrick also gave us some insight. A place is a specific point on Earth distinguished by particular characteristics. A location can be identified by a name, site, and situation. Names are toponyms that derive from people, religion, physical features, ect. Site derives from climate, water, topography, soil, vegetation, and elevation. Situation is the location relative to other places. Region is defined by one or more characteristics spanning political states. A region derives from cultural landscape which is culture, religion, and physical features. Also, we voted to have Patrick teach some of the lesson, and he did a pretty good job. I appreciate Mr. Schick's approach to this, since instead of immediately getting rid of Patrick, he took a vote to see if we still wanted him to teach. We voted yes and continued the class. I feel like we should do this more often. 

GPS and Being Stalked by AI

   Today we did a quick lesson on GPS and their uses. GPS stands for global positioning system, and it accurately determines the precise location of something on Earth. Satellites are positioned, and tracking stations use up to four satellites to determine an object position. A receiver can figure out the distances between the four satellites, and calculate their precise positions in space. GPS technology is used in cars, by pilots of airplanes, and by captains of ships. We got on to the discussion of companies constantly knowing where you are, and where that data goes. Then, we talked about Alexa and Google Home, and how they are constantly listening to us. We ended the class talking about sites like Ancestry. com and how they have your DNA and can do whatever they want with it. They could even... make clones of us!

Test Review and Map Work

      Today we went over our tests and read the answers aloud. We took the test around 2 weeks ago, and I was curious to see what I got. Mr. Schick explained his "bell system", where he rings the bell for any score above a 90%. Like always we got a little sidetracked, but I believe that getting sidetracked can lead to learning more than you usually would. The test review gave me some new information, and new ways to look at the problems and their solutions. We also were given three more maps and were told to mark some locations. I only got one map done, and half of the other. I like to do these map activities, because it gives me a chance to know the people that I sit next to better. Some of the people I know from middle school, but I'm just starting to learn more about other people who sit near me. These more relaxed classes are great to have in a day where you have no off mods. 

Overview of Introduction to Human Geography

     This week we got a basic introduction to Human Geography from Mr. Schick. We learned that Geography is the study of where things are found on the Earth's surface and the reasons for their locations. A map is a two-dimensional model of Earth's surface, or a portion of it. Cartography is the science/ art of making maps. The first maps were made in 276-194 BC, and was later improved by Ptolemy. Most improvements were made by Islamic and Chinese cartographers. Map scale is the relationship to an item's size on a map to its actual size on Earth. Map scale can be represented by a ratio or a fraction scale. Projection is the scientific method of transferring locations to a flat map. Earth's shape causes distortions, and there are four types of it. Shape, distance, relative size, and direction between points are all types of distortions. As you can see when learned a great deal so far.

Blog on Human Geography Spet. 27th

     Today we took a few notes on GMT. Greenwich Mean Time is located at 0º longitude. The international date line is 180º longitude. For the remainder of the class we labeled places on three different maps. We labeled the oceans, continents, the equator, the tropic of cancer, the international date line, the tropic of Capricorn, the prime meridian, and the country where our ancestors came from. We labeled these on the Robinson Projection map, the Mercator Projection map, and Peter's Projection map. We also talked about a possible orange party, and I suggested we take some of the babies from the hospital and give them so oranges. I see nothing wrong with this suggestion.

Notes on The Earth

       The scientific method of transferring locations on Earth is called projection. Earth's spherical shape causes distortions when flattening it out to make a map. There are four types of distortions shape of an area, distances between points, relative size, and direction. The geographic grid is a system of imaginary areas drawn in a grid pattern. Points on Earth's surface can be communicated by referencing points of latitude and longitude that intersect. The Earth is a sphere that is divided into 360º of longitude. When you divide the longitude of the Earth by 24 you get the different time zones, and each time zone equals about 15º.

West Wing Cartography Key Points

     I think that the cartographers have an interesting point when they say that the old map has created an ethnic bias towards third world countries. They also mention how the map was a tool for navigation in the 1500's, which I believe to be accurate. I agree with the point that they make about how the relative size of countries is distorted because of the way the map was made flat. I don't agree with the cartographers when they say nothing is where you believe it is, because the maps aren't too different that the actual location of countries. They say that when third world countries are misrepresented they are thought to have lesser value to first world countries, but I don't think anyone really cares if Africa is bigger than the United States.

Notes on Geography

    On Thursday, we learned more about how Christopher Columbus was actually an evil man. We discussed how this wasn't being taught in any schools, but some states were either getting rid of the holiday or changing its name. We learned that Geographers use latitude and longitude to describe where things are, and that some places on opposite sides of the Earth have similar weather, when they are on the same latitude. Mr. Shick let us know that we will be studying the role of map scale, the difference between old and new maps, and how latitude and longitude are used to locate points on Earth. Geography is the study of where things are found on the planet. Human Geographers ask where people are found on Earth. They also ask why people are found where they are on the globe. A map is a two dimensional or flat scale model of Earth's surface.

Enlightenment on the Map

       In today's class we learned about a more accurate map of our world. Our enlightenment started with a few scenes from the show West Wing. The scenes portrayed a group trying to convince the president's advisors to switch to the more accurate map, and to make it standard in all public schools. We didn't find out if the president actually did this in the show, but we can only hope that he did. The more accurate map makes Greenland much smaller, and Africa much larger than it is in the other map. We learned that the old map was helpful for people crossing the ocean, but that was about it. The correct map is called Peter's Projection map and was created in the mid 1800's. I hope that all of the schools in every country switch to this map, instead of teaching with an outdated map. Maybe one day all of our textbooks will use the Peter's Projection map, until that day we can inform people on its existence.

Test on Excellence

      Today we took a test on excellence. The test was overall a good difficulty, the questions weren't too hard, but they weren't too easy. The part of the test that I thought was odd was the requirement to write two essays. I feel like we should have gotten a choice to do either one essay or the other. It surprised me that each question was worth four points, but what shocked me was how the essays added up to forty points. I think I did a pretty good job on the essays, and I believe that I got all the multiple choice questions right. When I finished the test I wish that I could have used my computer since the person behind me had already finished. I don't think it would have been much of a distraction anyway. I am glad that I was allowed to go to my locker though. So far this was a pretty good first test of the year in Honors Human Geography.

Today's Class Thoughts

      In today's class Mr. Schick had some difficulties signing in to his google account. Probably because of our negative vibes towards google that day. We were supposed to present information from a PowerPoint for an oral grade, but that wasn't possible. Instead of a presentation we had a Q&A session with Mr. Schick about school policies. We also had a brief review about the content of the test. I hope that the test isn't too hard, and that everybody does well. We also went over a future quiz and reviewed for it. Our class was cut short by ten minutes because of the school mass. 

Thoughts on Today's Class Discussion

           In today's class, we talked about Socrates, and his trial. Socrates was put on trial for corrupting the youth, and for not believing in the Greek Gods. We discussed whether or not we thought he was guilty thinking like ancient Greeks, and students in a classroom. As an ancient Greek the charges against Socrates were highly punishable, and his defense was relatively bad. When the class voted on whether we thought he was guilty or not as Greeks it was six for innocence and thirteen for guilty. As students in a modern class we found the charges against him to be unimportant and not illegal with today's laws. The voted was unanimous for him to be innocent. Apparently our class thought like the Greeks with the first vote, because Socrates was sentenced to death. When it came time for Socrates to be killed, he bravely drank the poison hemlock and suffered a horrible death.

Notes on Arete

         Today we took notes on some of the Greek's ideas and Socrates. One Greek idea/place is the agora which is a gathering place, market place, or a center for athletics, arts, and spirituality where anyone could express their opinion. Another Greek thing is polis, which is the root of politics and is the name for a city state. Socrates was a stones-man who fought in the Peloponnesian War, and his experience changed the world. Socrates is known for the Socratic Method which is asking questions to determine someone's beliefs. The Socratic Method also led to the development of the scientific method. One important date is 508 BC because that was the first time anyone had risen up against their rulers in order to govern themselves. This event created the first Democracy, and the Greeks were the first people to govern themselves. Athens was a popular city where people shared their knowledge on many important topics. Some of these ideas were contrary to traditional teachings, like the sun being a chariot instead of a star.

Powerpoint on Excellence Blog post

         A Message to Garcia was published in 1899, and it was used to motivate workers. It was made into two movies in 1916 and 1936. These movies made A Message to Garcia into a popular saying meaning taking initiative and is still used in the military today. Rowan was a real person and he was a Army officer at West Point class of 1881. President McKinley was assassinated by an anarchist six months into his second term. The mountain named after him was renamed in 2015 to Denali. Slipshod means being careless, slapdash, and remiss. A missive is a letter especially a long official one. Arate is the Greek work for excellence of any kind. Arate means moral virtue, fulfillment of one's purpose or function, and the act of living up to one's full potential. All human abilities are derived from knowledge, and the highest form of knowledge is about knowledge itself.

A Message to Garcia

         I though that A Message to Garcia was relatively confusing. I don't understand why a soldier delivering a message is something to erect statues for. All the soldier did was his job, but I suppose this is what the author is trying to say. Hubbard is obsessed with people doing their jobs blindly without asking "idiotic questions", but I think asking questions is important in getting a job done right. If the soldier asked where Garcia was he definitely could have found him faster. People are supposed to ask questions, if we didn't we wouldn't know anything. Elbert also says that nobody succeeds unless they are a thief or bribes others, but I disagree. There are plenty of people that are successful that haven't stolen or used bribery to get into their position. For example, Bill Gates is extremely famous and well respected and hasn't gotten to where he is today by ill means. One good point that A Message to Garcia brings up is that in every factory there is a weeding out process going on. I think that all factories already do this or should. A factory should constantly be analyzing it's employees and seeing if they are fit for the job. A Message to Garcia has some good ideas, but also some pretty odd ideas that probably wouldn't work.

Freshman John Carroll School Experience

        So far my freshman school year is going wonderfully. My fellow freshman and the upperclassmen are helpful and respectful, which makes me feel welcome here. The teachers seem to truly care about me as a person and as a student. I'm glad that all of my teachers are willing to let people ask questions and get help after class. I am grateful that a lot of my teachers have textbooks in their classrooms so that I don't have to bring my own. All throughout middle school I had to carry all of my textbooks to my classes, so this is a welcome change. The lockers are bigger than the ones I had during my time at Saint Margaret Middle School, except I have trouble opening mine sometimes. I like how we get off mods so that we can do homework or just relax in school. There are a bunch of great clubs and sports to participate in, and I can't wait to be part of them. Overall, this is shaping up to be a great freshman year.