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.