Voices In My Head

William Tjahyono
Humanities 8
End Of Year Reflection
5/14/2012

End of the year already? Brace yourselves reflections are coming!

This year have been a year unlike any other because, after all, this is my first time in eight grade and there have been some unexpected ups and downs. Even though most of the downs were in other classes, that doesn’t mean that there are no bad experiences in Humanities class. There were some downs but very few of them. I have learned from the concepts of exploration in the early years, to the basics of the human rights. From the is class I learned to enjoy the little things because sometimes the class could be a great one but sometimes it could be stressful due to the amount of homework assigned. I also learned how to organize time to do homework and to put aside the distractions later because throughout the year I began to understand that to do these assigned homework, I must push away the distractions.

In this year the way I think and write have changed quite a lot because I have changed the way I use to write with excessive thens, and trust me, I used a lot of other unnecessary connecting words in 7th grade. The way I think has also changed because I learned more about the world outside of the school and started to change the way I think which affects the way I write my essays and other assignments. I try my best to relate my writing to the real world as close as I could so that I can make it as realistic to the real world as possible. Even though many have changed there were still some things that never change which is at this point, the habit of not taking my time to brainstorm and list out the details that will be necessary to make the written paragraph detailed. Another part that I have improved on is to limit the use of the word “thing”. Even though you might spot a few parts where I used the word, I have improved on to limit the use of the word so that it wouldn’t become repetitive.

Speaking and listening has also been a big part of my improvement because I am talkative and used to be impatient and just want to cut to the chase instead of waiting another second or two. Obviously my speaking skills have improved more in 8th grade because we get to present in front of the class more frequently than in 7th grade where we only get to present in front of the class once a semester. I think that the presentations that are presented in front of the whole class helps in my speaking skills and also my improvising skills because I prefer to keep it natural so that I don’t have to keep looking down at the script every time I have to say my line, wasting more time looking like an unprepared presenter. Another thing is that public speaking can help me boost confidence because I can talk to large groups without feeling nervous or anything. My speaking skills have mostly improved by speaking with my friends everyday in english so that I would be used to the language.

This year I have read more books than I have read in seventh and sixth grade, most likely because of SSR which in a way, forces me to read books. I can say that my reading skills have improved but not too much because I don’t embrace the book when I’m reading unless it is a book with suspense and thrill, so because of this I read only a couple of books that I have heard that is good and full of suspense. The latest book I read was called Assassin and honestly, I expected a little more from the book because there was more talking then there were more action so because of that I expected a little bit more from it. There were also other books that I loved because of the plot where it is setback in time around the renaissance and also the time of the discovery of gunpowder. I think that overall that this year my reading objective was reached because I have read more than I have read in 7th grade and also 6th grade.

My study skills are probably the least I have improved on because during this year, we are given netbooks to use for educational purposes and also as a resource tool. But instead the netbook slightly plays a bigger role as a distraction to me than its main purpose is suppose to. I think this happens because that I was too absorbed by the internet and was very distracted by the netbook. When I say “least improved” it didn’t mean that I didn’t improve in anything though, because I did improve on my organization skills. I learned how to separate time so that I have enough and equal time for each homework assignments. I used this skill to complete and turn in my home work in time and it have helped me avoid many crisis. Sometimes, this method doesn’t work because of the netbook so I use another tactic to push away my distractions and finish my homework so that I can pick where I started.

In conclusion I have improved on many parts throughout the year and also learned new skills that I can use in high school too. If I had to look back in this year I would say that it wasn’t the best year I’ve had so far but it was close to being the best year. If I could change anything from the year I would change the goodreads update because I forget most of the time after I read a book because sometimes I would feel sleepy after reading a book and fall asleep, then when I woke up I forget what to do.

William Tjahyono
Humanities 8
Final Research Paragraphs
04/5/2012

Cause of Armed Conflicts

Armed conflicts has existed almost as early as the dawn of civilization, armed conflicts have been a main reason to blame for the death of millions throughout history. “In conflicts across the globe, governments and armed groups routinely attack civilians and commit war crimes and terrible abuses of human rights.” This quote means that there are many innocent bystanders that are affected by the conflicts. Some people that are involved in armed conflicts have nothing to do with it and are just innocent victims caught in the crossfire. Even if they don’t know what the cause is, they will want it to stop because it is nothing but trouble for their country and it disturbs the peace between them (Amnesty International). Not only that, it is also a threat to their lives and maybe their children or loved ones. Some people didn’t want to take part in wars but they are forced to support their country in the war because of their government or leader, wanting to win the war claiming what ever they desire from the opposing force. In this essay we will be telling all of you how armed conflicts usually start, why people want to start wars, and also how can we stop armed conflicts. (British Institute of International and Comparative Law).

Now, you might be wondering why people want to start wars because they’re nothing but trouble for everyone, not just for themselves, everyone. People usually start wars because of many different reasons. Another reason is that someone that have greater power over them forces them to join in the act so that they can be a part of it and the force can gain more support from more people (Wikipedia). Many people only want to conquer another country because they could gain control of the area and power so that they can gain money by investing their business there. People don’t just start wars for only resources, they also start wars for land. They usually fight for land because of their strong sense of ownership towards the land, saying that it was an important piece of land.

Money is a wonderful system, it can solve almost all the problems in the world, but yet, it causes more problems than we could handle to stop. Which leads me to the other reason that people want to start wars, the first reason are resources they need for their country such as wood, oil, iron, and coal with some more useful resources that are wanted by many countries (Wikipedia). “These conflicts are often triggered by issues of identity, ethnicity, religion and competition for resources, particularly oil and mineral wealth.” For example is the war in Iraq which is for a recourse that the world urgently needs, oil. Another reason of a war for resources is in Afghanistan where they are also fighting for oil. People don’t just start wars for only resources, they also start wars for land. They usually fight for land because of their strong sense of ownership towards the land or property. This happens because every country needs resources to keep them away from bankruptcy and so that they can keep their citizens satisfied. Some wars are also started for Power, because the people demands equality and their leader to step down from their position and let go of the power they have been holding on for a long time (Wikipedia).

Armed conflicts aren’t as easy to solve a simple problem because it is hard to make people like each other once they had a fight between them. “Continuing violence feeds on unresolved grievances arising from years of destructive conflict and this failure to hold perpetrators of grave abuses to account.” This quote means that continuing violence only makes it worse instead of resolving it. Another way is to convince the government to pull back their troops because they would die and many people could be saved instead of going to kill their self blindly while following orders from their seniors or from the upper commands (British Institute of International and Comparative Law). If everyone are willing to cooperate, wars can be stopped easily and simply with no violence involved, sadly, not everyone are cooperative and wants power so that they can gain control. Truth be told, if the power of love don’t overcome the love for power then the world will never know peace.

Amnesty Interantional. “Armed Conlfict.” Amnesty International. N.p., n.d. Web.
27 May 2012. <http://www.amnesty.org/en/armed-conflict>.

British Institute of International and Comparative Law. “Armed Conflicts.”
British institute of International and Comparative Law . N.p., n.d. Web.
21 May 2012. <http://www.biicl.org/atlas/>.

“Genocide.” Wikipedia.org. Wikipedia.Inc, 20 May 2012. Web. 27 May 2012.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide>.

A few minutes ago I finished reading the topic about how the populations of birds are about to be extinct because of what the environment that the humans are making worst. This extinction to the black and white lemurs are making the zoos worried of their future population and that they worry that there are little percent chance to safe the species. I think that this it is going to be hard to repopulate some species when some of them refuse to reproduce in captivity, because of this, zoos are being called to sustain more animals so that they can be saved from extinction. The problem is that there are many animals that are already in the zoos and that it feels like they’re building a bigger and bigger shelter for the animals. So the zoo officials start to choose specific species that are endangered and species that are necessary to be rescued.

The zoo officials wants to raise money so that they can built and find more endangered species. I think that this wouldn’t help much until people decides to stop harming the environment and take action to stop illegal logging and stop actions that harms the population of the almost extinct animals. It is difficult to help the animals with only money because the number of the population continue to decrease day by day because of the situation surrounding us and their shortage on help to save them. Maybe if we all helped and reduce logging we could save many kinds of species and don’t have to worry about habing another animal going to the path of extinction.

Just a few moments ago I read an article about illegal logging in the forests of Cambodia and how two person was open fired at by a group of loggers in order to escape. There was proof this time because there was a cameraman and also a journalist that was with the two person when they were shot. One of the person who was named Mr. Chut Wutty, who loves to protect the forest from illegal loggers and have called the police for back up to arrest them. The second person is a military officer who was called for back up and to help aid the arrest of the loggers. Unfortunately when the loggers saw them coming up close with guns on their hands, they started to open fire and escape from the site, killing Mr. Wutty and the military officer. The journalist and the photographer ducked for cover when the shooting happened and survived the shooting. In Cambodia they said that they law wasn’t obeyed by the people because the government’s power is weak and are being ignored by the people.

Before this incident happened Mr. Wutty have been confiscating chainsaws, axes, wood, branches and others, from the loggers that was caught in action by him. This has happened for a long time, because of this he has received death threats by anonymous people which was most likely to be the logger’s company so that they can save their business. All the death threats and harassment worried him so he starts  to carry a gun in case any one attacks him. Unfortunately, the gun didn’t help when the loggers open fire at him and the military officer. After his death people starts to recognize him more and respect what he has done to help the environment and what he died for was for the people not for him. Another thing is that the untied nations start to investigate what happened and who were the loggers that did it. I think that Mr. Wutty died a hero because he was willing to sacrifice his life to safe the people around him and care about his surroundings and not only about himself.

Brothers and Sisters,
let us put an end to the tyrannical reign
of Kony after years of cruelty

In the unit 7 we learned about market and bargaining, we learned how to say money, how much the price of an item is, objects, items for sale at the market such as fan, lantern, fireworks, and etc. Most of the time when I’m learning about this I had a couple of images about the topic that pop out while the teacher is explaining the word meaning, and the images helped me remember the words when I am at the test. In this unit we also did a project where we have to draw a poster about what our market would look like and then we have present it to eh whole class. After we finished presenting people would ask us questions that they would normally ask in the market such as, how much is this which is 多少钱，or why is it so expensive? Which is 为什么很便宜 in Chinese.  There are many other words that we learned and I’m about to list some of them,this is the list of words that I learned in this unit

Souvenir: 小商品 Xiao shang pin

Straw Hat: 草帽 Cao Mao

Buy: 买 Mai

Sell: 卖 Mai

Enough: 够 Gou

Firecrackers: 鞭炮 Bian Pao

Again: 再 Zai

Some: 一些 Yi Xie

Expensive: 贵 Gui

Objects: 东西 Dongxi