Why Dress?

Sadly, appearance is a big part of what and how people define each other. Even if one may have the nicest personality, if he or she has a rough appearance, most people will be reluctant to speak to him or her. Following this topic is the standardized mind sets of the people in the society. One is expected to dress appropriately according to the events; one is expected to have “quiet” appearance to school, formal appearance at work, “fun” appearance at concerts, and so on. Hence, because society has created what is called “normal looks,” or narrow views of the people, people live each day modifying their appearances.
As a product of the society, even I gasp at people who dress “outrageously.” I would think to myself, ‘is that person not afraid of what other will say?’ Because appearance delivers strong impressions and messages, people often judge each other based on it; appearance speaks one’s identity. I dress not only because I simply enjoy it, but also because I do not want extra attention that may cause others to think or judge my identity incorrectly. Although one may claim that he or she is not afraid of what others think of them, in the end everyone is ought to care about it since it will provide as the source of his or her perceived views of identity. Why is it such a big deal to impress the correct identity? It is because of how people treat each other based upon it. Identity greatly influences how one is going to behave.
People modify appearances to reflect accurate identity they want to portray. As the society evolved, it became a place where people choose how to treat each other based on appearances and identities. Also, as the range of “acceptance” became narrow, people adjusted to be treated as what they deserve.

This I Believe: Study Hard, Play Harder

I came across this quote in a magazine I picked up at Target on an ordinary day in 2006, when I was in Rhode Island spending one year with my dad who was on a sabbatical leave at Brown University. The quote was said by the headmaster of Rhode Island School of Design. It made me think for a while, and somehow it lingered in my head. “Study hard, play harder”… Yes, indeed! You have to work hard to be successful, but it is more important to enjoy moments of your life while you may. Over the next few weeks, it slowly became clear to me that I should live my life based on the quote. From then, I believed that I should study hard, and play harder to seek a satisfying life.
The world today is very competitive; I mean super competitive just like a jungle where animals fight each other for survival. Have you seen Mean Girls? Yeah, I’m talking about the scene at a mall where Lindsay Lohan imagines people as mean and aggressive as animals: explosive, destructive, and savage-like. People these days would do whatever it takes to become successful. I swear, if SIS students were given guns and weapons with the words that we will be granted 4.0 GPA, they will start shooting each other. Well, they may not. But my point is that SIS students are that desperate to get good grades. In Korea, private institutions, so called hagwons, are flourishing throughout the nation. Parents would literally make their kids live there whenever they get a bit of break from school. Even my parents signed me up for a full week program of hakwon during the Korean thanksgiving break from 9 A.M. until 4 P.M. We are little teenagers whose brains are still fresh and malleable. We need a lot of experiences and fun for proper maturation of our brains. However, we are under enormous pressure to study hard and get good grades. Of course, one better study hard to have a successful life in the future. Yet, experience also plays a huge role in making one’s life successful. Additionally, for one to be motivated, it is important to relieve stress by having fun. Hence, whilst studying, one should know how to enjoy life. Enjoying too much will disrupt your studying nonetheless. One should know how to balance between studying and having fun, as I like to put it.
So, study HARD during the school days and play CRAZY on Friday nights. That way, you will have no regrets when looking back to your past. If you do not study hard, you will definitely be disappointed and discontent. But if you only study alienating yourself from the wonderful land of excitement, your life will be miserable. I guess another way to state this quote is "live life to the fullest, without regrets." To me, two important things for high school students are “studying” and "enrichments." We are in the critical time period that will shape our future; our grades and experience will pave the pathway of our lives and set our personalities. I am going to study hard, in order to seek success and not to disappoint my parents, whilst seeking every excitement I can get from my life.

44% of Korean Ivy League Students Quit Course Halfway

1. I was not surprised by the article at all. My parents and I often talk about how rigorous and blind Korean parents are. They work their children like machines, sending them to hagwons at every chance they get.
2. I never heard of such case where students drop out However, I did hear a lot of cases where students were not doing so good. Usually they had hard time managing the work load since they’ve been trained to do everything so perfect, they couldn’t handle all the work given.
3. I believe the problem is the mind sets of the Korean parents. They OVER work them to the point where they wear out by the time they reach college. Also, because they send their children to hagwons makes the children’s studying habits very dependable; they can not manage to understand and study independently in a given time. However, the fact that they are too worn out is indeed the biggest problem.
4. Participating in extracurricular activities enriches one’s mind and allows one to have a well circulating social life. It broadens one’s point of view and reduces stress. Overall,
having some time off from studying helps one to take a step back and open up for other aspects of life.
5. Likewise as I mentioned in number 4, studying can interfere with the one’s views on other aspects of life. He/she will have poor socializing skills and will have high level of stress which will definitely affect his/her behavior.
6. Whilst studying hard, one should know how to get out of the studying mode. He/she should have experiences in diverse activities which will ensure them to have an open mind and views. Studying too hard may be the longest way to reach success. Hence, Korean parents should learn to know the balance of studying and other activities that will lead them to success.

Fiction 59: time is ticking

'Flip flip... Punch punch," the room was filled with sounds of students flipping away pages and punching numbers in calculators. Anxiety, suspense, timorous... This was the moment they have studied for months. 'Tick tock," regardless of their feelings, the ignorant clock wept through a cycle around. A moment later, I heard the proctor call the time, "all pencils down!"

Fiction 59: Mood

As i walked into the classroom, I felt the sudden change of atmosphere; the room was tensed up. "Haha... What's everyone up to?" I nervously tried to uplife the mood. Yet, the only response I got was frightened looks. "Okay, what the heck is going on? Oh snap..." I instantly froze when I saw the gun on the floor.

Grammar

Writing is something that we encounter until the end of our lives. Whether it is just simply writing a letter to a friend, or writing a journal, or even writing a report for a class, it is inevitable to avoid writing. Thus, it is crucial to have a solid fundamental--grammar. However, even after years and years of learning about grammar, some topics are hard to master. The topics are: commas, verb tenses, and prepositions, at least for me. When writing a paper, I easily get verb tenses and prepostitions mixed up, resulting in a confusing essay; the sentences become awkward, and not flowy. Additionally, the incorrect use of commas add to the poor sentence fluency. Hence, in order to successfully deliever my thoughts effectively through out my life, I believe I should work on being able to write sentences that flow well. In other words, improve my ability to use appropriate commas, verb tenses, and prepositions.