The Plain People

Along with the modernization, people today are habituate to the present human civilization: we take the modern transport like cars, trains, trams, maglevs; we are dressed in shirts, jeans, other normal modern clothes; but the people from a particular community that we are going to focus on today prefer to maintain an extremely plain and traditional life style. The group is called the Amish.

The definition on "About.com" shows us: the Amish are a Protestant anti-modernist religious group founded in the 1690s by Jakob Ammann , a Swiss Mennonite leader. Today, Amish live in rural areas, refuse to use electricity and other modern things, and dress very plainly. As we can see in the video, they dress like the people from the Middle Ages and they take carriage as their main means of transport. And with regard to their beliefs, the Amish are very devout in their faith. They believe in the literal interpretation and application of Scripture as the Word of God. They take seriously the Biblical commands and insist on separating themselves from the things of the world. They believe worldliness can keep them from being close to God, and can introduce influences that could be destructive to their communities and to their way of life. But on the other hand, the leader favored stronger church discipline, including a more rigid application of shunning, the social exclusion of excommunicated members¹.

Actually, I find nothing that appear to me in the Amish culture. Firstly, they dress very plainly, that seems to be nice but it make everyone in the community lose their personality. The plain clothes make everyone look the same. Personally, I think it’s terrible because it’s just like the 1950s in China. Everyone was under the pressure of the government and hid themselves in the same clothes. Secondly, they don’t use electricity. That’s something really ridiculous. The electricity is one of the greatest discovering in the civilization of human being. Using electricity doesn’t mean that we are ruining the nature, we are just following the evolution of the technology, it’s overuse that should be criticized, so in my opinion, what the Amish people do is totally unnecessary. And by the way, it exists so many other ways to express their respect to god and their devotion. Thirdly, the social exclusion of excommunicated members really scares me. Amish children will have no chance to choose their life, they just follow all the rules to avoid being isolated. If I grew up in that condition, I could be really desperate.

Finally, let’s take a look at the attacks committed by an Amish splinter group. Sixteen members of this splinter group accused of terrorizing the Amish of eastern Ohio in bizarre beard-cutting attacks are scheduled to go on trial Monday in federal court in Cleveland². Why this horrible tragedy happened? To my point of view, I think it’s the pressure caused by the extreme severe rules. The Amish community is a long-term closed group, since the Amish people are too closed in the community and they have nowhere to go, even the tiny conflicts inside the group can cause terrible hatred. Althoug we call them “the plain people”, actually the situation inside this “plain” community is quite tense and the religious belief may not help.

Sources

1.      Article “History of the Amish”
 http://www.americanamishcompany.com/history/

2.      Article “Trial to Begin for 16 Members of Amish Group Charged in Beard-Cutting Attacks”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/26/us/trial-to-begin-for-16-members-of-amish-group.html?_r=0

Dear Hades,

This is the last month that I will spend on earth with my mum, everything is fine so far but I still feel empty, because you are not by my side.
Although I hated you and felt scared about you when you abducted me rudely at the very beginning. But then I found you handsome, gentle, kind and considertate. Before, the underworld in my mind is a cold and pitiless world, I will no longer laugh happily and my life will be stagnant. But in fact, your humor and romance change the underworld into a sweet home for me. We can barely see plants in this underworld, but everyday, you will find a rose for me by all means. Although the flower will wither sooner in the underworld than on earth(what can we do...here is the world of death), your love make them blossom eternally in my heart.
Before I knew you, the most important person to me was my mum. And to her, I'm the apple of her eye, she can't lose me because I'm all she has. But now you came to the first in my life, the life without you makes me anxious and confused. I can't stand my mother's prattle and overindulge, she is the god of nature and she contribute all her life to make the word full of vatality, but not my world. For god's sake, I'm missing you all the time, your voice, your kiss, your hug. But I still have to stay here, because she needs me.
Well, it won't take so long that we meet again. I'm so excited about it! Take care and I'm looking foward to your reply!

Yours Persephone
 

What's wrong with our education system?

Part1 Comprehension exercise
1. Katherine Birbalsingh believes that there is a problem with UK's education system. Can you identify it within the first three minutes of the video? What is the problem?
The problem is that nowadays children have little sense of responsibility, they always find excuses and accusation and exclusive quotes are not helpful in this case. There is lack of right-wing value in UK's education system, including being responsible to themselves, not allwing children to excuse away bad behavior, holding people to accout for what they do. To improve the system, we need children to know that they are responsible for their school work and competition should be brought back.
2. Why does this problem exist according to this teacher? (from 3 min to 4 min 26 sec)
Because many people find excuses for children when they behave badly, including ADHD, difficult background and angry issues. People usually turn to find an excuse and that became a culture in the end, so we've moved away from the idea that people(both teachers and pupils) should be responsible for themselves.
3. What do the government ministers think about this problem? Who is to blame for the condition? (from 4 min 30 till about 6 min)
They think that they have made efforts to solve the problem, to support the teacher to set disciplines.
And according to their opinion, it's the complaints culture caused by making disciplines to blame for the condition.
4. Which suggestions does Katherine make to improve the system? (6-7 min)
She suggests that since we have the culture of looking after everyone for many years, it need to be more fair for all, people should be held to account for what they do, instead of having a job or having a place in school no matter what they do.
5. Which changes would Katherine make in the education system if she were given a choice? (till the end of the video)
She will let teachers and head teachers to be able to do what necessary to bring about disciplines in their schools and she appeals people to accept that the exams is getting easier now.

Part 2 The problems of the Chinese education system
First of all, I think it's very interesting that the improvements which the teacher in the vedio appeals for exist in the Chinese education system. Most of the students in China study in particular school disciplines and we have always considerable competitions in schools, so the problems is THAT'S TOO MUCH. The chinese students suffer too many disciplines and competitions, and that cause the lack of imagination and creativities. So if these two systems can share each other's strong point, that will be a great combination.
Then I will talk about two major problems in Chinese education system and present my suggestions in the end. The first problem is that chinese teenagers often have much more pressure on studies than teenagers in western countries. Today, in China, students spend most of their time on studies and the competition begins even in primary school. If you have chance to visit Shanghai, maybe you can see poor little pupils with eyeglasses doing their homeworks on the underground, and their school bags can be filled with heavy text books and failed exam papers on which their parents should sign on. And in the other parts of China, the situation can be even worse. Where the pressure comes from? To the children who come from those undeveloped region in China, their work in school can probably change their life, even the destination of the whole family. Good degrees help them to enter the top university and then they can get a well-paid job--people believed in that. And to children from metroplis like Beijing, Shanghai, the desire of fame cause the pressure. Parents and society influence the chidren by a thought that people who fail in school are shameful, they become less competitive and will be badly paid in the future. Even though many "bad students" turn out to be very successful in their jobs, that kind of prejudice still exist. To improve this stuation, I think our society should creat a more fair atmosphere and push the people to change their thought of value: education is not a tool to gain wealth and how much we earn can't decide our value. If we can't change our idea, what we do in improving education system is all in vain, because the children don't know what they really need through the education and what kind of people they want to be in the future, we just keep the poor children poor.
The second problem appears in the higher education system in China. Our campus lacks guides for students, both profession guides and moral guides. People have made an all-out effort to enter the university but they still get confused after graduation. We don't really have a career centre for students who seek a job, and we don't really have tutors who can give practical advice to students who want to further their study. Students work so hard just in order to pass the exam and get the diplom, we have too little chance to get spiritual guides. Although there are many lectures and speeches hold by successul graduates or other successful figures, they seem too far away and the majority of the students can't be really inspired. So I think that we should creat a real career center to help students to prepare for their future from the very beginning of their campus life and the teachers should take the responsibility to give students individual advice. I think students get confused, it's not because they are not active or they are too lazy to take their own responsibility, it's because most of the time, nobody gives them real advice so they have little opportunities to show their potential.
Finally, I think it's really hard to make improvement that can quickly change the reality, so we should keep trying and, step by step, we will be able to make the change and finally let education value our future!

 
 

Oh! The exams...

PartI
     According to the vedio clip, Mr. Bean had many incredible actions which are definitely unnormal to an adult during the exam.
At the start of the exam
-A few minutes before the exam: take out too many pens and even some toys
-make pression on his partner
At the beginning of the exam:
-get desperate about the question that he has no idea about
-try to calm down by choosing a pen and writing some simple words(maybe his name)
-nearly freak out, scratch his hair and bite his nails
-try so hard to cheat in the exam (he did it in a very stupid way, I can't believe that his parter was cheated by that childish trick...)
-cast a glance at the partner's paper
-blow the partner's answer sheet in order to get the answer
-move smoothly near to his partner
-cry for mum
At the end of the exam
-get crazy because of forgetting to do the trigonometry paper
-try to write some words at the last second of the exam

Part II
     So far, the university entrance exam is the most expressive exam for me. I was anxious before the exam because it can decide my future to a certain extent. The exam lasted for 3 days in the beginning of June, and before the exam, all the senior students in high school in Shanghai have nearly one month of "vacation" during which everyone stays at home to do all kinds of preparing, and I went to the temple during this period to make a wish to the Buddha and I bought an amulet. At the first day of the exam(the first subject is Chinese Litterature), parents accompanied their son or daughter to where the exam was hold, the teachers waited at there to encourage the students with a final "Good luck", and I was the last one in my class to arrive at the examing room, and my teachers are even more nervous than me. After I've found my seat, it was 15  minutes before the exam, I touched gently my amulet in the pocket that I've bought from the temple and tried to repeat in my mind several important poems that might exist in the exam. Suddenly, "Hey, what's the writer of On Yueyang Tower?"said the classmate who sit in front of me. I answered him quickly but my own mind has been interrupted. I was a little bit sad about the interruption and I didn't remember what I had reviewed. But I decided to stop thinking and began to do some simple meditation and tried to modify my breath. I kept telling myself that I had been prepared it for nearly ten months, and I had got the first place in the past two mocks, so there was nothing to worry about, so all I should do is being confident about myself and keeping calm. Then I left my mind a blank space until the exam finally began.

Simply! I'm Sophie from Shanghai!



5 mins before the live of Lady Gaga at Nikaia Palais

Born this way

My friend & Me

       Hello everyone! I'm sorry for being late here, for I went to Nice for the Born This Way Ball of lady gaga this week, so I have to finish so much cleaning stuff at the residence. Once again, sorry guys and I hope you like the photos.

       Let me introduce myself, my Chinese Name is CHEN Qiuzi, it's quite hard to pronounce so just call me Sophie. I'm a junior student from the French Litterature Department of Shanghai International Studies University(SISU), and I can speak French, English and a little bit Japanese. Generally, juniors in Shanghai are trying so hard to find a intership in order to fill their CV with more outstanding working experience, and then they might search for fulltime job after the graduation, but for me, I just can't make my future decision so far, so I choose to go abroad to be an exchange student, to live in a different way and to make an appropriate decision.

      I have been in Grenoble for one month and I really like the city. It's quiet, peaceful and there isn't much crowd, so that's totally contrary to Shanghai.  In Shanghai, the shopping plaza, the market and the street are always full of people and our life pace can be very fast. So I really enjoy my new life in France, for I need to slow down, to see the world and to think.

      After entering the university, I try to read a lot, but finally I just can't do it, joining in the activities, working for the students union, doing volounteer job and spending more time with friends attract me more. I will tell you about one of the most impressive experiences.

our drama club

 

      I became the chef of the drama club of SISU in the passed semester. We have presented two plays and got warm feedback on the campus. The rehearsals and those complicated behine-the-scenes work are really tough, but our team has succeeded to overcome all those difficulties and finally gave the audience two wonderful shows. 






photos for propaganda




on the stage(tha's a bad one, I haven't take the clear professional drama photos with me)

This is the second play acted mostly by the senior students.

 The play is called The Crucible which is an American piece.

 



 

 

 



      Well, that's all I want to share with you at the present. Thank you for reading and see you in the next blog :D!