Exam Prep

           We started off today's class by immediately turning in our exam essay's and I've never been more relieved in my life. Turning in those essay's took a huge weight of my shoulders and now all i have to worry about is studying for my exams. Then, we got our migration test back and I got a 100% on it and I honestly have no idea how. We have our human geo exam as the very last exam and I'm gonna be so happy to leave but, I can't let that effect my test. I'm planning on doing some studying this weekend but most of my studying is going to be done Tuesday night. I'm actually feeling pretty confident about this exam so, hopefully it will be okay. I'm very nervous for exam week but, I am excited to be on break shortly after it.

No Mr. Schick:((

           Earlier in the day before my human geo class, I looked at Mr. Schicks blog and noticed that he said he would not be in class today. I was honestly a little upset at this because I wanted to get feedback on my exam essay's but I think talking to my peers was good enough. Last night I finished my first essay and it took forever. Surprisingly, I am feeling pretty confident about it so I think I am going to get a pretty okay grade. I'm a little stressed out with how much I still have to do on the second essay and how much studying I have to do for other class but, I'll be able to make it work because I always do. So far for the second essay, I have planned out everything and found all of my facts, I just have to type them all into the actual paragraph. 

Test Day

           After what felt like 600 years of learning about migration, we finally took the unit test. I came into this test super worried because we learned so much information I had no idea how I would be able to retain it all. However, once we actually started the test, it was actually pretty easy. I thought the entire first page (front and back) was super easy. The only part that was a little tricky was the last page because there were a few curve ball questions. Overall, I think I did pretty good on the test so I really hope my grade shows how I feel. Now I just have to worry about our essay's and the exam which is a whole different problem!

Missed Class

           Today, I missed class because I was at an orthodontist appointment. At this appointment I got one of my teeth shaved down a little bit and it was one of the worst sounds I've ever heard but, it didn't hurt at all which was nice. I also looked at the exam questions and I think I am going to answer questions B and C but I'm honestly not feeling too confident about any of them. With a little thought and effort however, I think I'll be able to answer them pretty nicely.

I Have No Idea What to Say

         I'm just going to be completely honest and just start out by saying that I completely zoned out during class today and honestly do not remember what happened today. I remember that the room was FREEZING and I remember Katie's thought and thats about it. The room was a solid -2 degrees when I walked in and was NOT about it so I asked Mr. Schick to turn on the heat and I sat right next to it. During this time by the heater, I bug emerged from the wall and it scared me so so so bad. Then Katie said something about how babies born after a certain date should be deported with their parents and it honestly confused me so much. Today's class was just one of those days where I really wasn't feeling it and we just shared stories the whole class so I don't even thing we learned that much.

Why Do Immigrants Face Challenges?

          Today, we were haded out yet another packet of an article and there were lots of new definitions for some unknown words. The first new word that I came across was, unauthorized immigrant, undocumented immigrant and illegal alien. In all honesty, I had no idea there was a difference but, there actually is. An unauthorized immigrant is the term that is preferred for academic and educational use. Undocumented immigrant is used by the groups of people that advocate for them to have more rights. The illegal alien is what is used by people that want the enforcement of immigration to be tougher. Each of these terms all deal with a person coming into the country from a different one without following proper steps however, I had no idea that the one that you use could imply your beliefs. There were a lot of other facts in this article too but in my personal opinion, I thought this was the most alarming thing.

Notes On Changing U.S. Immigration

            The first thing that I learned about from reading this page is that there were three main eras of immigration. The three areas were colonial settlement in the seventeenth and eighteenth century, European immigration in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and lastly Asian and Latin American immigration during the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. These three areas is essentially a summary of what went on during each point in history in regards to immigration. There were two facts that I found super interesting and one of them involved how many people immigrated to the United States. Between 1890 and 1920, there were around 32 million people that came to the U.S. This is an insane amount of people given it was only 30 years and 32 million people is almost 6 times the amount of people that are in Maryland. The second thing that I found that was interesting but also helpful is that in 2006 Mexico overtook Germany as the country that has sent the most immigrants. This was crazy to me because of how many immigrants came from Germany during the holocaust. Also to do with Germany, in 1840-1850, 3/4 of all U.S. immigrants came from Ireland and Germany which shows just how astonishing it is that Mexico took over Germany.

Class Discussion on Migration Asylum

           The class discussion that we had today was probably my favorite thing we've have done all year because it spiked so many interesting topics. Everyone had a different opinion on which asylum was "correct", which changes were good and which were bad and just the general idea of asylum. With this being said one of the biggest things I learned was that the exact characteristics of asylum was. The characteristics associated with this include, race, religion, nationality, political beliefs and social groups. This means that in order to seek asylum, you have to be suffering from one of these things. Eventually Obama added domestic violence to the characteristics. To build off of this, I found out that in the podcast what metering is and this goes hand in hand with asylum. Metering (as stated in the podcast) is the limiting of people that can apply for asylum and it is currently around 30 people a day. I honestly find it so sad that we are choosing to turn down people who are trying to escape horrible events that just drag them down. We are such a powerhouse of country so we should have enough courage and leadership to be able to try and tech countries that singling out people is not a way to run a country or treat your people. The biggest thing that I learned but cannot understand is that the immigrants either get detained or they'll be allowed through but they will be released with bond or released with an ankle bracelet. I really just cannot wrap my head around how that is fair. When you see someone with an ankle band on, you think they're some sort of criminal and that does not make any employer want to hire them. This is exactly why in our country we constantly put labels on people and have stereotypes because our very own government is encouraging it. It's so hard to understand how our president thinks because his only mindset it seems is to only focus on America and not anything else. Yes, this country should be his pain priority but it is very inappropriate to just turn a blind eye towards the people pleading to get inside for the better of their own life.

           All of these facts were mentioned one way or another in our discussion today which went pretty smoothly given our class can be a crazy bunch. Out of everyone in the class I personally thought that Colin brought really good points to the conversation that made everyone think and rethink. One thing that Colin mentioned is how we really cannot come to any true conclusion because with every news source will take the events and twist them to their own story. If we base our final opinion off of what the news says, we're choosing one opinion over another. Colin never really showed which "side" of the conversation he was on but everything he mentioned led the conversation in a very interesting way. Most people in the class added very good points and I was very impressed. There was one person in the class (who I actually will not name) who's viewpoint I completely disagreed with and I could not see any of the points he made. He kept saying things about how what Trump is doing is completely correct and that when they throw rocks, the military should be able to shoot them with a rifle. This is not any way to handle human beings. The odds of a rock killing you is much smaller much smaller then the odds of a rifle killing you.

          All of the things we've learned today and all of the information shared in the discussion is helping me to answer our key issue of "Why do people migrate?". This question is clearly answered by the qualifications for asylum. Some people choose to migrate due to race, nationality, religion, political beliefs, social groups or domestic violence. There are also other reasons such as economic events that would encourage someone to migrate. The general idea of asylum would encourage someone to migrate because of the hopes of escaping the hardships within their own country. 

Asylum

          In class today, we learned about what an asylum was in terms of migration and I'm still really confused as to what it is. When Mr. Schick first mentioned this word, all I could think of is American Horror Story because of their asylum chapter. It was very quickly brought to my attention that we weren't talking about American Horror Story which honestly made me kind of sad. We then proceeded to watch a podcast about what the asylum is. From what I understood about the podcast is that the asylum is when the nation is deciding whether or not to accept immigrants who have some sort of hardship back in their home country. The hardship has to be pretty significant and the whole purpose of this is to completely remove them from the issue. I am not entirely sure if this is correct but I think that with my information gathered, I have a decent understanding.

A Repeat of Last Class

            We started off class today by hearing a completely random story about how Mr. Schick played Tetris for five hours and I had no idea what that story had to do with anything. I find that Mr. Schick always tells really random stories but I'm not gonna complain too much because they waste time which is nice. Once his odd story was over he passed out an article that repeated everything that we did on Monday. Although this was annoying, it was kind of annoying it was nice to have a clear article with all of the information so that I don't have to write so many notes. We ended up just only getting through all of the information we already learned Monday but, this really helped the information stick in my brain. I'm actually a huge fan of this packet because it makes learning the information so much easier.

Migration!!!!

           In class today, we started our 4th or 5th unit (I honestly have no idea) and it's on migration. During this unit I plan on actually taking notes because it was brought to my attention that exams are right around the corner and I've been treating this class as one big joke (sorry). In class today we learned about the actual definition of migration which was "a permanent move to a new location" and from there, there are two types of migration. The two types of migration are international migration and internal migration. International is moving from country to country but internal is just making a big move but within the same country. These are probably the most important notes I took today but, I can already tell I am not going to have any interest in this unit at all. However, I have learned over the years that you cannot have everything you want!

Yet Another Quiz

          I feel like the days are on repeat and I've been constantly been writing about quizzes. Today's quiz actually wasn't that bad because it was the same thing as yesterdays quiz. I of course complained about it because have to do so many quizzes gets really annoying. I'm pretty sure I got a 100% on it because we literally just went over the answers. Everything we did was about the Hans Rosling video and that video was super boring. I'm kind of tired of all of these quizzes but if they continue to be exact replicas of what we just did in class then I think I will stop complaining. I wish we could do some fun group activities or other hands on activities but I guess I can't have everything that I want. It's just so hard for me to find anything in this class entertaining because human geo doesn't have anything that entertains me.

Quiz??

           We walked into class today and Mr. Schick starts to pass out what I believed to be guided notes but, it sadly wasn't. The paper he ended up passing out was actually a "quiz" that went along with a video. I could not stand the guy in the video's voice because it seemed so fake. I also got really bored during the video because I do not find any part of human geography interesting in the slightest. The video today wasn't super confusing but there were five questions on the quiz that were not even talked about so that was pretty confusing. I'm pretty sure I did good on the odd quiz we took but every time I say that in this class I don't.

Missed Class

           Today, November 14 I was not in class because I had a doctor's appointment for my hip injury. When I went to the doctors, he did all of the movements on my hip and then I got an x-ray to ultimately conclude that I have a high grade 2 or low grade 3 strain in my hip flexor. This means that I am unable to run for 2 weeks and it could be a full 3-6 weeks before I am cleared for full activity. Dealing with injuries is challenging for me because I am always so active and having to sit out of sports is something that I hate doing. It's very challenging for me to slow it down and rest for a little because I am constantly go-go-go.

Demographic Transition

          Demographic Transition (DTM) is yet another model used in the world to help understand population growth. DTM was developed in 1929 by the American demographer, Warren Thompson. Adolphe Landry of France and Frank W. Notestein both built upon Thompson's idea's however, the initial thought is given to Thompson. DTM refers to the transition from high birth and death rates to lower birth and death rates that typically occurs when the country is transitioning to a pre-industrialized economy to an industrialized economy. This model proposes the theory that population will eventually stop growing. This theory has proven true for many countries but for certain countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and some Middle Eastern countries, there is an exception because they are poor and are negatively effected by their government/military. Within DTM, there are five different stages. Stage 1 is known as high stationary which means, the birth and death rate are both at their highest providing a very stable population growth. Stage 2 which is called early expanding has a high birth rate but a rapidly falling death rate, ultimately resulting in a very rapid population increase. The 3rd stage which is also known as late expanding has a falling birth rate and a death rate that is falling slowly and because of this, the population increase slows down. The second to last stage known has low stationary has both a low birth and death rate resulting in a stable or very slow population increase. The very last stage has a very low birth rate and a low death rate which will allow for a very stable population of allow for a very slow decrease.

What Did We Do in Class??

           Look, I am going to be completely honest, I have no idea what we did in class. I was falling asleep at 11:20pm on Saturday night when I suddenly realized that I need to do my blog and that’s exactly what I’m doing. I’m currently in New Jersey for a tournament so this blog is also extremely random. My only recollection of what we did on Friday is take some class selfies (courtesy of me) and then I proceeded to email them to everyone in the class. Then I’m sure we did something but I have absolutely no idea what we did. Probably just did more with population and growth but still not sure.

New Unit!

           We started a new unit today but in my personal opinion its really just part two of our previous unit so, I call it unit 3.5. In class, I feel like we really didn't start anything new but I also was extremely tired so I kinda zoned out if I'm being entirely honest. The only thing I really remembered from class today is that we looked at Mr. Schick's old school that was very damaged by a tornado but beyond that picture, I have no idea what we did today. However, after school today we had our soccer banquet and it was so nice to get everyone together for one last night and to recognize all of the good that has happened this season. I don't think that I could've ever had a better freshman season then what I had this year. I cannot wait to see what next year brings for me and the team.

Third Test

           In class today, we took our third test and I have mixed emotions about it. For starters, the first section which was about navigating the world fact book and we had 15 minutes to do so was fairly easy in my opinion. All you had to know how to do was use the CIA World Fact Book website, and if you knew how, you were good to go. The only challenging question was about the amount of crude oil consumed because well, that wasn't even stated on the website but eventually, the class figured it out. The questions dealing with population pyramids were a little more challenging because of how vaguely labeled they always are but, I think I did pretty good on them. So far, our tests this year haven't been super challenging which I find really, really nice.

Population Pyramids Cont.

           In class today, we continued to talk about population pyramids but, we focused today on individual cities and not big countries. While looking at each of the charts it was very interesting to see how certain places have a very young population while many others have a population with a high amount of old people. Even though this was interesting, the most interesting thing was how in one of the cities, there were no 80 year old and then all of a sudden, there was an odd growth in the amount of male 85 year olds. I don't really understand how theres no 80-84 year olds but then there is a random amount of new 85-89 year olds. The old men just randomly appeared and I don't understand how. I asked about this in class but I was never given a true answer.

Population Pyramids

           Before I get started about todays class, I figured I would provide an update to my last blog about my absence from class due to my game. We lost (sadly) but it was probably one of the best games we've played all season. It's so sad to see my first high school soccer season gone just like that and I'm gonna miss it so much. To be completely honest, I am not nearly as sad about the game as I am about our seven incredible seniors leaving. When I was first on varsity, I was kind of intimidated by them but once we got close, I began to love them so much and formed an incredible bond. They are all so helpful and so kind, next year is going to be so hard without them. I've already cried about them leaving and I am still getting emotional as I type this.
           Anyways, now on to what we learned in class today. We started to talk about population pyramids and they're actually pretty interesting and super easy to read. Compared to many other graphs, these graphs are a lot easier to compare and see the differences between the two sides. In all honesty, I have no idea what to write about these graphs so the only thing I really have to say is that they are pretty easy and different.

Game Day

           I was not in class today because of our first playoff game! I'm writing this before the game so I don't know how it will go but, I hope we leave it all out on the field!

More From CIA World Fact Book

           In class today we shared a ton of extra facts that were interesting from the CIA World Fact Book website. The one piece of information I had to share with the class was about the school life expectancy- what it is, what the U.S. expectancy is and what the world expectancy is. When I clicked on what this educational expectancy is, the definition read "School life expectancy (SLE) is the total number of years of schooling (primary to tertiary) that a child can expect to receive." This actually made a lot of sense when reading it so, then I dug further. The SLE in the U.S. is 16 years for men and 17 years for women. This is actually really shocking because normally, the men would be in school longer. When you take these numbers and compare them to the world, the SLE goes from 16 and 17 years to 12 years for both genders. This mean the U.S. is actually doing much better then most of the world which is shocking because in many cases, we are slacking.

CIA World Fact Book Exploration

           The CIA World Fact Book is a website where all of the countries in the worlds averages on many different categories can all be found. It is extremely interesting to see the drastic differences amongst the world all in one spot. With this being said, the first category looked at was the median age 229 nations. The median age in the U.S. is 38.1 which ranks us at 60. The youngest median age is 15.4 which is in Niger. The difference in the age here is incredible. The U.S.'s median age is more then double but, that's what happens when people aren't living very long in Niger. Next, I took a look at the unemployment in the U.S. which is 10.4% which is extremely good compared to Bosnia and Herzegovina where it is 62.3%. Clearly, the U.S. is doing very good with unemployment rates. Then with population, U.S. ranks 3rd with 326,625,791 people and China is in first with 1,379,302,771 people. China has over one billion more people then the U.S. which is insane! Two things that are in close relation with one another are, maternal mortality rate and infant mortality rate. In the U.S. the maternal mortality rate is 14 per 100,000 live births putting us at 138 out of 184 countries. This is significantly lower then the countries at the top which is very good. For the infant mortality rate the U.S. is sitting in 170 with 5.8 deaths per 1,000 live births. This rate isn't incredible however, it is still better then Afghanistan with 110.6 per 1,000.
           Based off of all of the facts that we're found, the U.S. is fairly average. Within the five categories researched, as an overall country we aren't thriving but we also aren't suffering. Our fairly large population and technology we have plays a huge role in what our statistics are. We are a very advanced country and we will only continue to get better so, we could be moving up/down the list in very near years. All of this information ties back to class because every single category has some effect on population. Some of these numbers would draw people into the country or force people out which would affect our population.

Favorite Unit

           This unit so far, is by far my favorite unit because it really isn't a ton of world facts. Personally, my least favorite thing is learning about the history of the United States/ the world. Whenever I sit in a class and learn about the world, I cannot pay attention to save my life. However, in this unit there is just something about population and the things that effect it that I find pretty interesting. I never would have thought that TFR and immigration and emigration would be so interesting but, it truly is. In previous units, I would just zone out and not listen to a single word that is said. In this unit, I can actually see myself listening and being attentive.

Monaco's High Life Expectancy

           In class today, we spent most of the period talking about how people in Monaco live well into their 90's and the things that effect this. As a class, we started to generate a list of the things that would effect the life expectancy of one place vs. another and we came up with several things. For Monaco, we said they have such a long life because everyone is so rich there, they can afford the best trainers, medical care, and everything in between. We also mentioned how there's no super big cities which lead to pollution and there is less crime because everyone already has everything. We also generated a list for a place with a lower life expectancy, Chad. The things that we said effect Chad are war, famine, AID's and government issues. Essentially, Chad is the exact opposite of Monaco and has literally nothing that Monaco has. It is sad to see that in the same world, different places in the same world can have such drastic differences in their quality of life. Just trying to imagine someone only living 48 years, is very sad to think about.

Unit Three

           Today we moved on to out third unit (I never thought we would make it this far) and this unite is probably my favorite out of the three. This unit is all about the worlds population and the things that effect the global population. In class today we covered the fun facts which were all very interesting and very eye-opening. The fact that surprised me the most was that every hour there are 8377 people born. This is extremely shocking because as one person, we cannot see this but when you think about it, you can understand it. I also wish that more of the world was educated because as we learned today, 90% of the population growth occurs in the developing countries. This is really sad to think about because lots of little tiny children are being brought into a place where their lives will be far from good.

Second Test

           Today we FINALLY took our second test after staying in the map unit for what felt like 4 years. I really thought the test would be really challenging because on our last test there were very specific questions. However, in all honesty the test wasn't very challenging at all. Aside from the test, we started off singing the iCarly theme song which is probably the highlight of my year. That was so relaxing and took off a little bit of stress. Everyone was so into the song which made me so happy and relieved. Now back to the test, (which is probably what this should be about) if every test this year is that easy, I will be extremely happy and will not stress about the tests anymore. Despite my wishes, I highly doubt they will be this easy.

Test Tomorrow

           We're roughly a month or so into school and we are about to have our second test. I'm not going to lie, I am definitely not feeling confident but I think I'll be fine. We did some review in class and I surprisingly knew a lot of the answers. Hopefully our mini-review will prove to be helpful during the test so I do not fail. The only thing I struggle with is remembering the tiny little details that sometimes Mr. Schick likes to throw in there. So far, I have reviewed my notes a few times and really went over the things I am clueless on so I'm starting to get a little bit of hope about this test. As I am typing this blog I realized we were never told if there are written responses on the test so I am just going to pray that there aren't any because I really do not want to do any writing. I think I would do fine if there is one or two responses but, I still would prefer not to write any.

Mr. Schicks Class from Bella's Point of View

          Today in class we just argued about confession and how the Christian and Catholic religions are different. However, we also had a shadow in class, Bella. I already knew Bella prior to her shadow day but, I decided today that I would interview her and ask her about her day.

Q: What was your favorite class today? Why?
A: "Math was my favorite class. I thought math was fun and interesting. Today I helped Sydney do her practice test which was kind of hard."

Q: What made you want to shadow at John Carroll? Do you actually want to go here?
A: "I chose to shadow here because of my cousin, Sydney. This is definitely one of the schools that I am considering."

Q: What would you change about this school if you could change something?
A: "I would change how interesting the classes are. I personally would want to be more involved in the classes so they are more fun for me."

Q: What is your overall thought on today?
A: "Today was good."

Thanks to Bella for assisting me with today's blog and providing an excellent interview. I cannot wait to see her in the halls next year!

Things are Starting to Pick Up

           Finally, after roughly a month of class we are starting to consistently learn things without an overwhelming amount of random arguments along the way. If I am correct, we went this entire week (which only consisted of three days) without arguing and I actually learned a lot of things. During Friday's class we spent majority of the time talking about globalization. The biggest example of globalization that we discussed is McDonald's and it's huge effect on the entire world. McDonald's is in nearly every country all over the entire world and in most situations, has a negative effect. McDonald's is everyone's go-to meal when they are short on time, the fast food industry has just opened the doors for no more home cooked meals. Now all over the entire world there are people who are consuming so much they are becoming obese. This is especially bad in places where obesity used to not be a thing. I'm enjoying our new routine of doing things that are actually helpful and beneficial to me.

I Can Understand Now!

           In today's class we actually did the most helpful thing I think that we have done all year long. Today, instead of rambling on about how the earth is flat or some other thing that doesn't matter, we reviewed what we learned this unit. Not gonna lie, I've been so confused for this entire unit because we hardly learn anything...at all. However, now that we actually took time today to summarize everything we should have learned, I feel very caught up and actually understand these maps. Hopefully, my new understanding is proven on the test we have next week so I actually get a good grade. I am hoping for no written responses but, we all know that I'm promised at least one. Out of all twenty something days of class, today was definitely the most helpful.

We Actually Learned Today!

           In class today, we were actually told things that I didn't know before and things that were worth writing down. It's not that we don't learn on other days, it's just that we constantly get side tracked and end up talking about something extremely random and off topic. However, today in class we were talking about the different types of regions. The four regions are functional, formal, vernacular, and perceptual. I actually have never heard of these regions before and I actually learned about them without getting side tracked with a discussion about ...? Along with this, we also had a pop quiz which wasn't too bad in my opinion. I got an 80% on it which isn't incredible but I thought I was going to get a 0% so, I'll take my 80%. My one problem with the pop quiz was the 10 second time limit. I personally would have rather been given a sheet with all of the questions on it and been told I have 6 (or however many) minutes to complete it. On some questions I didn't need the full 10 seconds and on others it would have been nice to be able to skip it and go back to it. However, I guess the point of a pop quiz is to answer questions on the spot so, I'll manage.

Patrick is a Teacher??

           If I am being entirely honest, I have no idea what I learned today because Patrick wasn't a very good teacher. Mr. Schick let Patrick take over and teach the class and well, it was a disaster. He had no idea what he was teaching thus, I had no idea what I was learning. For the entire class I was just writing down notes and I don't even know what any of it means. With this being said, I wrote about the significance of place names (toponym), sites, and situation in relation to a location. The other main thing I wrote is how a region is a distinct area with one or more defining characteristics. Other then these two things, I have no idea what went down in class. Personally, I really want directed notes that are just fill in the blank because this way I know I have all of the important information and I'll have a better chance of understanding the topic. Sometimes taking notes is hard to do because the slides move too fast and sometimes I am just carelessly writing down what I see without actually processing it. This makes tests a lot harder, especially since I frequently forget to study.

GPS and Alexa are Creepy

           Todays class was actually very interesting and I liked this argument we had today much more then the map arguments we had. We started to discuss how anyone in the entire would can see where you are right after you "allow" a website to view your location. This is so creepy and kind of makes me want to get rid of any technology I have that can track me. The technology in the 21st century is almost too advanced, it has gotten to a point where it's terrifying to people. Along with just GPS tracking abilities, we were all sharing our opinions about the Amazon Alexa. I've always thought that the fact that Alexa has the ability to hear her name being called was odd. Today however, our class talked about how if she can hear her name, she is ALWAYS listening. This is so disturbing because as a consumer, you bring this device into your house to be helpful, not to be a stalker. In fact, while typing this, I unplugged all of the Alexa's in my house.

What Did We Do Today??

           In class today, we did so many random things that didn't relate to one another at all. We started off class by going over the test we took several weeks ago and I got a 95% on it which is much better then what I predicted I would get. Most of the points came off on the second essay and if I'm being honest, I wasn't feeling too confident about that one anyways. I was a little confused about how to approach that question so my three points off is very acceptable in my mind. After explaining the test was finally over, (which was about 35 minutes later) we started to label cities all over the world on a time zone map that Mr. Schick handed out. I got through a few cities but it was a very tedious job trying to find a location of a tiny place on a huge map. I have a feeling we're gonna have to continue this tomorrow and hopefully it wont feel as challenging. Aside from the actual learning aspect of today, it was so hot in his room, I could hardly concentrate. It could have just been the pajamas I was wearing but I am most certain that it was roughly 90 degrees in this classroom. I complained for quite some time about it but eventually just had to resort to fanning myself with a folder. If I didn't choose to fan myself, I think I would've melted. 

Catch-Up Class

           Today's class was definitely one of the best classes so far because 1) it's a dress down day and 2) we didn't really do much. All that I had left to do was one of my three maps and I managed to get that dine very quickly because I didn't talk. These maps we labeled I actually think will be very helpful when it comes to studying for the unit test and midterms/finals. Now, the necessary lines and locations are very clearly labeled and without these, I don't think I would be able to remember what I need to know. After I finished my maps, I joined the class in uncovering information about Mr. Schick. We ended up finding out way too much information about him and I feel like a stalker now. Eventually, we kind of went back to actual school work and he stared to tell people what tweaks they should make in their blogs. I was told that I am doing a great job and should keep up the good work. For the most part, no one was doing a bad job with their blogs which is really good for an entire class! When we were first told about blogs, I thought I was going to hate them but I don't mind them too much.

Labeling Maps

           Today, Mr. Schick had some students pass out three different maps, the Mercator, the Gull-Peters, and the Robinson. My immediate thought when I looked at these maps was "what could we possibly be doing with three different maps?!" Then, he proceeded to explain to us that we have to label a bunch of different locations such as the prime meridian and equator on each of the maps. This actually was pretty challenging because I've never done it before. It was especially challenging when it came to the tropic of Cancer and Capricorn because I have never even heard of those prior to today. Eventually, I figured it out thanks to Google and some help from my peers. It actually started to become fun because it reminded me of drawing and I enjoy drawing. Prior to making the maps, we talked about the International Date Line which was the first time I've heard of that. I'm still a little confused about what the International Date Line is but I think I'll be able to figure it out quickly. I am glad we are done arguing about maps for hours (for the most part).

ALL of the Maps

           Finally, our honors class stopped arguing about if the Earth is flat or not and about the Mercator Map vs. the Peter's Map. Just like I said in a previous post, the maps were interesting however, they were not two classes worth of interest. Anyways, today we learned about a map that Eratosthenes created and several other odd-looking maps. The map that Eratosthenes made was supposedly of "the world" but it excluded half of the world (yes, I know a lot was undiscovered) and there were waterways and land masses all over the place! This map was definitely special looking but, for one of the first ever maps, it a very good depiction. Then, we continued to observe many other maps and they progressively got closer and closer to what maps now a days look like. One of my favorite maps was the one that looked very accurate except for Antarctica was gigantic, South America had Brazil growing out of the side of it, and Australia was on the wrong side. I actually found it pretty interesting that Australia was on the left and not the right. Personally, I found these distorted maps a lot more interesting than the Peter's and Mercator maps, but that could just be me.

The Validity of Cartographers Points in West Wing

           When the Organization of Cartographers for Social Equality (in an episode of West Wing) came for their meeting to prove why the Peters Projection Map needs to be used, they made many points and many of them were perfectly valid for the main goal they were striving for. The goal that the cartographers were striving for is to make it mandatory for all public schools in America to teach geography using the Peters Projection Map instead of the standard Mercator Map. One of the first points that was made to reach this conclusion was that the Mercator is instilling attitudes in people that is leading them to believe the false map. The detailed evidence that was provided shows that this is very valid. On the Mercator, Greenland is the same size as Africa, but in reality Africa is 14 times larger than Greenland. Along with this, Europe appears to be the same size as South America but, South America is double the size. Lastly, Germany is shown to be in the middle of the map when in reality, it is in the northern most corner. All of these points are extremely true and exactly what has been put in the minds of humans. Saying that the map puts false information into our minds is very much so supported by the truth of the nations and continents being completely different sizes and locations on the Mercator.

           Along with this, the cartographers said how as people we associate the size of a country with their value and power. This point is also very valid because naturally, when something is bigger we say that it is greater. This mindset makes us think lesser of the smaller countries and put aside third world countries, just like they said in the video. All of the points made during the short clip are all valid because they all prove how American's mindset on the maps is completely distorted because of the Mercator Map. The cartographers are completely correct when saying that all public schools should transfer to the Peters Projection Map.

All of the talk About Maps

           Personally, I thought at first that the Peters map was super interesting because of how much better it was and now, my mind is slowly changing. In class today all we did was argue about our views on what Earth's real shape is and what we thought about the new and old map and I was getting really tired of it (if I am being 100% honest). I do not like spending days and days not learning about much of anything and I'm worried that this is where this class is going. Don't get me wrong, the differences between the two maps are very interesting but I cannot find them nearly as interesting as my peers do.
           Once we actually started to do something in class today, I learned what the true definition of geography was, map's purpose, and what cartography was. The definition of geography is the study of where things are found on Earth and the reason for their locations and cartography is the art and science of map making. Prior to todays class, I have never heard of the world cartography and no one has ever given me the true definition of geography. Actually learning today was the most interesting part in my opinion and I'm sure many of my peers would disagree. I would much rather take notes on something then sit there and discuss for nearly two class periods.

The Original Map is a Lie

           During class today, my entire view on the world was completely changed and I was extremely confused. Mr. Schick explained for nearly the entire class today how the map that I’ve seen all my life (Mercator projection map) is a complete lie because everything is disproportionate, and some countries aren’t in the right spot. For example, on this map, Greenland appears to be the same size as Africa. In reality, Greenland is really one-fourteenth the size of Africa. Antarctica seems to be huge when, it really isn’t that big at all. There are so many countries that were completely thrown off on the Mercator projection map that it’s hard to believe students trying to get a valuable education have relied on this for hundreds of years. Now, in more recent times, the Peter projection map is updated to show the countries in their proper size, shape, and location. Greenland, Alaska, Africa, Antarctica and many other countries are all the correct size and now people can actually take value from the maps that we see every day. It is still very shocking to me that my 9 years of learning about maps have nearly been useless because the map was wrong!

First Test

          Today we had our first test and it wasn't too hard but, there were a few questions where I had no idea what the answer was. The hardest question was asking me about the origin of a word (that shall remain unsaid so no information is leaked). For some reason I could not remember what words this word stemmed from even though I vividly remembered writing the answer to this in my notes. I eventually just completely guessed based off of what the word sounded like and reminded me of. On a positive note, the multiple choice questions were very easy to me and I was done those in a minute or two. The short-answer ones were definitely a little harder, but they were still manageable. Other than that one question, the test didn't seem too hard so, hopefully the grade I get on it will reflect how I felt about it. From this test on, I think I'll be pretty prepared for the tests and quizzes we take this year.

Test on Monday

            On Monday September 17, 2018 our honors class has a test on everything we have learned so far this year. This includes, Elbert Hubbard, A Message to Garcia, arete, Ancient Greece, and Socrates. This class was notified that we would have a small essay that accompanies our test that is about what Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” In my mind this quote means that if you don’t have very much knowledge, your life isn’t going to be fulfilled and it isn’t worth living. With this being said, I am going to write about the meaning and how Socrates would teach people by asking them questions so that they wouldn’t have to question any task that they are given. Along with this I might relate it to how Elbert Hubbard wanted someone to just do something without asking questions and how Socrates would ask questions for someone so that they don’t have to. Both of them wanted people to have all of the knowledge they might need by allowing a person to teach themselves through questions or a journey. I’m feeling fairly confident about this test so, hopefully all goes well!