Well, well, well...It's finally over. I'm sure I'll never forget this school year. Although it was not as tough as I'd been said it would be, it really tired me out... Read more
I don't think many of you have hear about our amateur school theatre "Earnest" before, but this year you had a chance to not only hear about it, but catch in "in the act". Its actors have been working hard the whole year to stage "The Glass Menagerie", and fortunately they succeeded! Read more
Latest articles:
The Ivory Coast, a small coca farm. 8-year old Hussein just as 1.8 million of children under 18, has to work the whole day in hazardous conditions. He gets no pay, even though he puts his health in jeopardy being exposed to... Read more
How I fell in love with TOK
10.02.2013
My friend's daughter is suspected to be pregnant. All the adverts addressed to her on the internet include offers of articles such as prams or baby clothes. Even a wedding dress because she is not married yet. What is strange in that? Actually she is not pregnant at all. The conclusion about her state was drawn from the data she provided on her Facebook profile. Each user's profile is the target of advertising firms which cooperate with the social network and make money on easy access to its users. But I hope you realize that. So it is not a warning against being an internet user. If you want to be one, you have to put up with its disadvantages such as the sometimes wrongly placed adverts. What I'm interested in is if you realize who you really are - the person from your profile or from your reality? To what extent is your internet profile in agreement with you? Should it be at all?
You understand the difference in literature between a biography and autobiography. Which ought to be trusted more? You think the autobiography? Well, it seems the person who wrote it lived through the life she/he is describing and knows how it was. But to what extent is the confession reliable? Isn't it just a creation of a particular life? One of many possible versions of events? Omitting shameful events, adding enthusiasm to situations which were welcomed with mere interest?
Your profile is a kind of autobiography and you present in it a creation of yourself emphasizing, revealing and concealing whatever you want. You decide what sort of auto-censorship you must introduce. The only problem is that if you are not careful enough, you may not only have to expect strange adverts but also pretend to be someone different. And that may be a problem.
20.12.2012
What comes to my mind first when I think about Christmas is Andersen's girl with matches, who suffered from cold so much. The winter weather is at least supposed to be like there, in the tale: snow, frost, few passers-by hurrying home to celebrate the holiday. You know what I mean? I hope so. But what if you don't? If you have never heard of Andersen and his tales? Nor of the Grimm brothers' stories? Nor even seen a Disney's filmed version because you hate Disney? Does it matter?
Well, when it comes to think of it, sharing the human heritage which is included also in fairy tales is one of the features which distinguish humans from animals. (Or at least we know too little to conclude about animals possessing their own animal heritage.) Of course you may protest saying that perhaps some people in Africa or Asia haven't heard of Andersen's tales. True, still they share the human heritage with you. For example you and them have seen a film, any film, or have been to a concert of any kind of music. The heritage is in fact not only about culture but generally about the experience we share with all other humans. And due to globalization it is easier now to find the common grounds even with people from far away.
The human heritage is the base for keeping in touch with the past. Ask your parents - they surely have heard of Cinderella or Thumbelina. They may one day tell your children the stories and that way the link between the past and the future will be created. People will remember. The human heritage in fact exists as long as memory is kept. You should remember as well.
Of course it is not possible to remember everything. Our memory is selective and sensitive to emotions. What worries me as a human though, is the fact that nowadays people tend to believe that they can afford to not remember. They are sure that everything worth remembering is on the internet websites and will always be there so why worry about memory or heritage. I wouldn't be so sure...
16.11.2012
I was walking along the school corridor on the first floor when suddenly a piece from Coordinator's Notes hanging on the wall among other material addressed to our IB students caught my eye. It was information about the least interesting (or should I call it "drag") parts of the IB programme among which the average IB student mentioned Theory of Knowledge.
You may think I got upset but in fact I didn't. Why? Well, the explanation can be found easily if you are experienced in Theory of Knowledge itself. Let's think about the statement:
"The average student finds TOK boring".
What does it really mean? I asked myself a set of questions:
- What does "average student" mean?
- Who exactly was asked?
- How many students were questioned?
- What was the question or questions? Was it an open question or multiple choice? What was the choice if it was the latter?
- How many students answered? How many omitted the question if it was a part of a long questionnaire?
- What were the exact results of the survey? (Give me the data, please)
You can perhaps multiply the questions.
And if you are an experienced TOK learner, you cannot just believe in a statement like that! You need to consider such information together with real data based on a survey in all IB schools all over the world (there nearly 2200 of them) and it must be clear after your analysis that more than 50% of the students were of the opinion. But is over 50% convincing for you?
Think about it next time you read, "The average ..."
Supervisor
My friend's daughter is suspected to be pregnant. All the adverts addressed to her on the internet include offers of articles such as prams or baby clothes. Even a wedding dress because she is not married yet. What is strange in that? Actually she is not pregnant at all. The conclusion about her state was drawn from the data she provided on her Facebook profile. Each user's profile is the target of advertising firms which cooperate with the social network and make money on easy access to its users. But I hope you realize that. So it is not a warning against being an internet user. If you want to be one, you have to put up with its disadvantages such as the sometimes wrongly placed adverts. What I'm interested in is if you realize who you really are - the person from your profile or from your reality? To what extent is your internet profile in agreement with you? Should it be at all?
You understand the difference in literature between a biography and autobiography. Which ought to be trusted more? You think the autobiography? Well, it seems the person who wrote it lived through the life she/he is describing and knows how it was. But to what extent is the confession reliable? Isn't it just a creation of a particular life? One of many possible versions of events? Omitting shameful events, adding enthusiasm to situations which were welcomed with mere interest?
Your profile is a kind of autobiography and you present in it a creation of yourself emphasizing, revealing and concealing whatever you want. You decide what sort of auto-censorship you must introduce. The only problem is that if you are not careful enough, you may not only have to expect strange adverts but also pretend to be someone different. And that may be a problem.
20.12.2012
What comes to my mind first when I think about Christmas is Andersen's girl with matches, who suffered from cold so much. The winter weather is at least supposed to be like there, in the tale: snow, frost, few passers-by hurrying home to celebrate the holiday. You know what I mean? I hope so. But what if you don't? If you have never heard of Andersen and his tales? Nor of the Grimm brothers' stories? Nor even seen a Disney's filmed version because you hate Disney? Does it matter?
Well, when it comes to think of it, sharing the human heritage which is included also in fairy tales is one of the features which distinguish humans from animals. (Or at least we know too little to conclude about animals possessing their own animal heritage.) Of course you may protest saying that perhaps some people in Africa or Asia haven't heard of Andersen's tales. True, still they share the human heritage with you. For example you and them have seen a film, any film, or have been to a concert of any kind of music. The heritage is in fact not only about culture but generally about the experience we share with all other humans. And due to globalization it is easier now to find the common grounds even with people from far away.
The human heritage is the base for keeping in touch with the past. Ask your parents - they surely have heard of Cinderella or Thumbelina. They may one day tell your children the stories and that way the link between the past and the future will be created. People will remember. The human heritage in fact exists as long as memory is kept. You should remember as well.
Of course it is not possible to remember everything. Our memory is selective and sensitive to emotions. What worries me as a human though, is the fact that nowadays people tend to believe that they can afford to not remember. They are sure that everything worth remembering is on the internet websites and will always be there so why worry about memory or heritage. I wouldn't be so sure...
16.11.2012
I was walking along the school corridor on the first floor when suddenly a piece from Coordinator's Notes hanging on the wall among other material addressed to our IB students caught my eye. It was information about the least interesting (or should I call it "drag") parts of the IB programme among which the average IB student mentioned Theory of Knowledge.
You may think I got upset but in fact I didn't. Why? Well, the explanation can be found easily if you are experienced in Theory of Knowledge itself. Let's think about the statement:
"The average student finds TOK boring".
What does it really mean? I asked myself a set of questions:
- What does "average student" mean?
- Who exactly was asked?
- How many students were questioned?
- What was the question or questions? Was it an open question or multiple choice? What was the choice if it was the latter?
- How many students answered? How many omitted the question if it was a part of a long questionnaire?
- What were the exact results of the survey? (Give me the data, please)
You can perhaps multiply the questions.
And if you are an experienced TOK learner, you cannot just believe in a statement like that! You need to consider such information together with real data based on a survey in all IB schools all over the world (there nearly 2200 of them) and it must be clear after your analysis that more than 50% of the students were of the opinion. But is over 50% convincing for you?
Think about it next time you read, "The average ..."
Supervisor
This website is created with WYSIWYG Web Builder from http://www.pablosoftwaresolutions.com
website design by Stanis�aw Kabaci�ski
website design by Stanis�aw Kabaci�ski