Barack Obama´s re-election

What does the re-election of President Barack Obama mean for me and the world?

We have been following the American election and I have to say I was very happy with the results. I supported Obama´s policies during the last four years and I believe that his re-election was the right decision.  The United States still is the world´s largest superpower and their actions don´t affect the American people alone, but the entire world, so the election is as important for us as it is for them.

The United States influences the world economically, culturally, socially and in any other ly-s we can think of, but not necessarily in a good way. The USA´s stock market crashes, the rest of the world´s does as well, they go into an economic crisis, we do too. Also, not necessarily in politics or economics, but the influence of American culture is all over the world. Some countries like it, some countries don´t. But the fact is that there aren´t many countries that can just "not have" an opinion about the United States nowadays.  So the way they conduct their country will, some countries more than others, affect the way our lives will be like for the next years. Seeing how such way depends almost entirely on whether the next president will be a Democrat or a Republican, I was very glad the Democrats won. 

Talking about party ideals for a while, I agree much more with the Democrats´ general proposals and beliefs than with the Republicans. Seeing as how I didn´t see any of the candidates having many direct plans for Brazil, I have to content to analyse who I think is more appropriate to govern a country the size of the United States, considering the influence it has in the rest of the world. 

About the last few years, in Obama´s mandate. The United States were in such a way when Obama came into office that it would take much more than four years for them to recover. The debt and the crisis were enormous and Obama did do a good job trying to pull them out of it. . He has to be careful, because like I said, the United States is a huge economy and the consequences if anything went wrong would go beyond their borders, and would reach the entire world. He is going slowly, but he does have a plan and if one has the capability to analyse the situation, one can see that he is doing the right thing. He also took the army out of Afghanistan, focused on finding terrorists, successfully brought Osama Bin Laden into custody and has defended the United States for the past four years. Internally, he increased taxes for the upper-class, and even though they don´t like it, we all have to agree that it was the best thing to do. He has taken many other controversial measures (to the American eye) but I think they were all necessary and right. Overall, I think Barack Obama has shown he is an intelligent person, not only when governing his country, but as a human being, he has shown honesty, integrity, sense of justice and humanity. I think that those are the best qualities needed in a president (or in any position of power, really) nowadays. We can´t forget that the president isn´t only a president, he is a human being, and his actions have to show that he is capable of being good at both jobs. 

Mitt Romney, however, hasn´t show competence in neither of the aforementioned areas, in my opinion. For me, what he has shown is inconsistency of thought, distortion of information, shallow arguments and contradictory proposals. His main (and only) critique about Obama´s mandate was regarding the economy. Every time he mentioned that Obama was "going too slow with it,” I couldn´t help thinking, "so people from your party have caused the mess, left it to the Democrats to clean it up, and you complain they´re doing it too slowly?" I might not be fully informed about the economic crisis, but I imagine that fighting two wars at the same time has its share of guilt to the flourishing economy they have today. It is interesting how the opposition´s only argument was about the economy, and yet Mitt Romney couldn´t give a specific plan for how he would handle the problem. He can speak very beautifully, of course, about how the United States is a country blessed by God, that they are the most important nation in the world and how they are above any mundane law. But during the entire course of the campaign I didn´t see one valid argument for how he would conduct such an amazing country. Rather, he just gave contradictory and flawed plans, on how it was necessary to give more money to the army, but not raise taxes, how it was needed to build more jobs, but he is always supporting the richest part of the population. He has shown in more than one occasion arguments that opposed to something he had previously stated, and when asked about what happened to the former argument, he would deny ever saying such a thing. Another interesting aspect we have seen during the election was some of the arguments of “team Romney” people. Now, it would be a really good thing to vote for Romney if the opposing candidate was a “Muslim, Atheist and Communist.” That would really overcome Romney´s inconsistency. 

Now, how can a country like the United States (or any country, really) have a president who doesn´t stand by his word, changes his mind constantly and isn´t capable of giving one profound argument or plan to how he would conduct the country he claims to be capable of conducting? The United States is in a tough position, and they must admit it and try to change that. They can´t expect to continue doing the same thing and having the same standards they did before. Many of Obama´s policies might not be what the average American has in mind for their almighty country, but they match the situation they are in, and the sooner they recognise that, the more quickly they will recover. 

So, to answer the topic question, (I´ve gone out of topic, I think) to the rest of the world the re-election of Barack Obama means that we are going to have the next four years without any major wars or conflicts (involving the United States) and a slow but present growth in the economy. They will be very similar to the last four years, which in my opinion is a good thing. About me, I think the re-election of Barack Obama simply means all of the above, to the extent that if Mitt Romney had won, we might have another war, or some other crazy action being taken for a shallow or unjustified reason, and the world would be practically in the hands of a person whose all personality traits I have already given my opinion about. So, I am very happy with the results of the election, because not only the man I really didn´t want to win, lost and the man who I agree with won. 

Go, Barry Obama!

Time Management

 Assignment 2: Before the 9 Oct session, write a paragraph in which you reflect on the time management goals you set on 19/20 Sept.  In your paragraph, include whether or not you met your goals, any problems you had, any successes you had, and anything you learned.  Also include an updated version of your goals based on your experience.

We had a few classes about time management, and I think they were very useful. The results of the tests we took showed me I could manage my time fairly well, but I still have a lot to improve. I already use to do lists, and plan my time (though I usually do it as a form of procrastination rather than actually helping me plan my time- I'm working on that). I also "broke" down the work into pieces, so instead of doing one big assignment, I did a few things everyday and it made it look more possible and achievable.

We had several things to do the past week, so I tried using some of the skills we talked about in class. One of them was rewarding myself. It actually worked! I was surprised on how easily I could be manipulated by myself. We had to write an essay for BHG, and I told myself that if I wrote half of it, I could finish reading the book I was reading at the time- it worked. The next day I said that if I finished the essay, I could start reading the sequel. It worked just as well. Also for BHG we had to research on a topic of our choice and then write another essay about it. The rewarding system proved itself effective again.

Another thing I noticed during class that I need to work on is being more flexible. I always schedule my time to the very last detail, so if something comes up I usually get late with all of my assignments. I usually didn't do homework during the evenings, only the afternoons, for many reasons, but once I accepted I wouldn't have time to get everything done in the afternoons and started doing things at night, it suddenly became a lot easier and less stressful to finish everything I had to.

But the hardest thing to do is conquer procrastination, definitely. I think I am a good procrastinator, because I hide my procrastination in doing work. I tell myself I am "planning my time" but I spend way too much time doing that, to the point that I could have done half of the things I had to do in the first place, if I had started on time. I am trying to overcome that, but it's not easy. Since I have the "I'm planning my time" excuse, it's easier to fool myself. For this I am putting another learned skill in practice, trying to do the right thing at the right time.
There are some homework assignments that I really don't want to do, so I work on the not-so-bad assignments before, even if I would have more time to do them than the ones I really don't want to do. I think that is a general rule, when we have to study, even the most absurd things become more acceptable to do than actual studying.

Overall, I think I met my goals, but I still have a lot to work on. I think these following weeks will be very busy as well, and that will give me time to work on my time management skills too.

College - Post 2

I know a number of people who had no idea what they were going to do in college until the very last minute. My father, for example: he was in the line to give his application to a Brazilian college and he still hadn't decided which course he was going to take. In my case, that is definitely not true. I already know what I want to do for college. Well, not exactly, but I have given the matter a whole lot of thought already. I know that I want to go to a university in the United Kingdom. My dream is Oxford, actually, but I know how hard it is to be accepted. I have been preparing as much as I can though. That is the reason why I came to ISC to begin with. I met a college recruiter in 2011 and he told me that the best way into Oxford was through an international school. At the time I didn't know about ISC, so we (my mother and I) thought I would have to move to São Paulo, so when we found out about ISC, we were quite relieved. I have also researched pretty much everything there is about colleges in the UK, (especially Oxford) and I am trying to follow all the steps necessary to be accepted.

My only concern is money. I don't know if I can afford studying abroad: colleges are really expensive. I have looked into scholarships, but it would still be very hard. Especially studying at ISC, since it is not exactly a "cheap" school and I can't save money for college. My parents told me that we will have to figure that out later, and I must do whatever I can to get a scholarship, but it still worries me. There are a few scholarships for international students, but the general price of the university tuition also increases: for Oxford, English students pay an average of 9,000 pounds a year, while international (overseas) students pay 12,000 pounds. Add that to living expenses and the college (accommodation) fee, it becomes a lot of money.

As far as a career is concerned I haven't made up my mind completely yet. I know I want to be an author, but that is not enough to live a comfortable financial life (as my father insists to point out) so I am considering every option (except for business: that is something I would definitely not be good at). One of the courses I considered taking was called "History and English" and you receive two diplomas, one in History, one in English. Those are two courses I would love to study, but there is again my father's financial aspect, so like I said, I am considering every option. That is the only thing I have not decided yet, and I know it is the most important aspect, but I know I will have four years to decide. It is a long way until college: I can't be 100% sure now what I will do for the rest of my life, so I believe it will take some time until I actually decided what I will do.

One important advantage US universities have over UK universities is the possibility of choosing a course whilst in college. In the universities I have researched about, you apply for a certain course, and you will be considered for that course, but you have to apply for a specific one. That makes life a lot easier, I have to admit. But the entry standards in UK universities are more of my profile than US universities, so I believe it will be easier for me to go to the UK. That is not the only reason I am planning on going there, but it matters a lot.

As far as being an academic leader, I believe that is a key point to being accepted anywhere, not only for college but also for jobs. Universities are looking for capable students who will contribute to their college somehow, and being a leader is extremely important. Most of us have so much to offer, we just need to know how to manage the usage of our ideas and how to get the most out of them. Not only that, but being an academic leader means being prepared to make a difference, to lead people to change and to new ideas and innovations, since that is the base of the world. So being an Academic Leader will help us achieve academic excellence, which is what colleges are looking for.

Academic Leadership

The Academic Leadership course is new to us, and it prepares us to the International Baccalaureate course many students at ISC take during the last two years of High School. But not only that, Academic Leadership teaches skills that will help us during our entire lives. It will teach us to research, how to use our time well, and above all, it will teach us how to be good leaders. Since "all leadership is academic," it is a course to prepare students to be future leaders in whatever field they enter. It is combined with technology, so besides leadership, we will develop important technology skills for the modern world.

We have seen that very often people manipulate information to their advantage. It can happen for a number of reasons, depending on what will benefit the talker. We have seen an example of how the American candidate Mitt Romney has distorted the information contained in a book written by Jared Diamond. The book talks about the reasons why some countries are wealthy and some are poor. It is a very complete research and explores many possible causes. Mitt Romney changed the content in the book to his advantage, saying that the American people should believe in America, not because of geographic features, but because America is the greatest country in the world. He simplified Diamond's research in a way that benefited his speech and gave the public a wrong idea of what Diamond actually said. That made Diamond angry, of course, and the author published an article explaining what his book was about, and criticizing Mitt Romney's action. That kind of manipulated information is more common than imagined. Not only in politics, but in marketing, campaigns, and many other situations. People use any kind of information to their favor; they simplify it, they change it. All adapted to the public they want to reach. And the interesting part is that people actually believe them. If you say something with confidence, people are likely to believe you. Very few will take the time to think your argument through. It is important that the population has judgment, otherwise people that manipulate and abuse their academic knowledge (or lack of it), will be future leaders and the population will always be fooled and manipulated, like has happened in countless situations in History so far. Instruction is needed not only for the people in charge, to create academically sophisticated and intellectual leaders, but also to the population, so they will know whether they are being told the truth or not. With ignorant voters, corrupt governors will come to power and the population will always be lied to. That will cause a corrupt democracy, where life conditions are poor to the residents of the country, and the population is not respected. A factor that is treated in Jared Diamond's book about a country's wealth is an honest government. Intellectual capable people will make smarter choices when choosing future leaders. But for a country to develop, it does not depend solely in a capable voting population: it depends on capable leaders. If there is an intelligent population, but no leaders worth voting on, it won't make any difference. The leaders must be prepared and taught to use their academic knowledge in an honest way. If both the population and their leaders are honest, able to use information in the right way, and be prepared to fulfill their duties correctly, the country will move forward and society will be benefited.

Now, last but not least, (definitely not least), possible subjects that I would like to transform into a project in this class are either music or literature. I love both, and I haven't made up my mind yet. I am sure either one would make a good project, and I will have to make a decision at some point. But right now, I really don't know.