November 2014 archive
Body 1: Why is Gen Ed necessary? Why does it have to be present in our current education system in order for it to function effectively?
Body 2: Reflect on our current Gen Ed system, and what can we improve from the system we’re using now to make it better and to meet the goal of it. What are the things necessary in this system？
Body 3: The school should focus on the flexibility, exploration, and real life application of the Gen Ed program. There should be several different types of Gen Eds programs for students to choose from since every student is different and has his/her preference. Think of a way to meet the needs from all different kinds of students.
I’ve been a big traveller since I was a child, and my parents brought me to all the places that I’ve never dreamt of traveling to. They did everything possible to let me learn and explore outside of the classroom, and I would have to say that, I did learn so much from going to all different places and looking at all different people. A few years ago, I weren’t mature enough to realize the point of traveling, and I simply took it as a way of enjoying life. However, after all these years, I came to the realize that traveling is far more than this simple enjoyment, but it’s more about exploring the unknowns, learning the world, and finding yourself. Travel is far more than buying a plane ticket and booking the hotel, it’s about planning and getting your hands on those things that you would otherwise never have the chance of experiencing.
I’ve travelled to so many places in China, and even in Asia, but I could say that out of all of these trips, the ones that I think are the most memorable are those that I actively involved myself into the planning process, and those that I actually learned something about people and life. It’s more than likely that you’re going to forget some scenes during a trip from 5 years ago, and maybe you could only remember how amazed you were by these artworks of nature, but it’s nearly impossible for you to forget the experience and knowledge that you took from this trip–those that have become part of you.
Among all of these places that I introduced to you, where I’ve actually been to, the one place that I remember the most clearly about is Aden Daocheng. It was definitely not the most relaxing and fun trip, but it was for sure the most important one which let me reflect on myself. Comparing myself to the bikers I saw along the streets, I seem to lack something–maybe the strength and perseverance of doing one thing. Why couldn’t I do it? I felt like that I was too afraid of it, and I was scared that I would give up in the middle. I was too vacillant about also making a decision. These things are the weakness of myself that I would otherwise never realize unless someone else tells me about, but this trip and the people that I met along the way enabled me to look at myself right through someone else’s eyes.
It seems not as much a big deal where I travel to as what I could learn from one trip. I agree that we need the real enjoyment in life sometimes, but we’re really going to realize at one point in our life that happiness lies far beyond the physical enjoyment. The intellectual enjoyment is the one that could truly grant you the longterm happiness, and this happiness is never going away even after the happiness of the physical enjoyment has gone away.
Personally speaking, I think general education is absolutely necessary for the college students. General education makes students more well-rounded, and it helps the students to better fit into the society. However, when the general education has gone too far and it’s not even “general” anymore, the system should be changed in order to better serve its original purpose.
From learning the 3 prototypes of general education, I think Modern Literacies serves the best for the purpose of general education, which is to let the students to explore the possibilities and strengthen themselves. General education should include enough freedom and options for the students, and it shouldn’t be limited to one specific area of study. While the other 2 prototypes seem to be interesting and enjoyable for a small group of people, they might be too specific for the majority of students. Originally, I thought the idea of Chosen Topics would be cool, just because that it lets me to actually explore every single aspect of the education system. However, later I found that different people may have different interests, and they should be promised with the freedom of choices since this is general education that won’t deal too much with students’ careers later in life. Modern Literacies, in this sense, would be certainly a better choice because it not only grants students the opportunities to explore, but also it doesn’t limit the students’ choices to specific fields of study. It gives students the chances to choose, and this freedom of choice is one of the most important things for college students. In the other one, the Scaffolding prototype, the idea of general education seems to be completely thrown away, and it only leaves the professional aspect. The general education should be more about exploring than forcing the students to commit 24 credits to one specific subject. Taking the general education to a level of 400 course is just too much.
Overall, I still prefer the Modern Literacies prototype since it not only allows the students to explore, but it also helps the students to prepare for their lives in the society. For example, it has a requirement of financial literacy that improves the students’ knowledge of something that they will be frequently dealing with after they graduate, and even when they are in school. This prototype of Modern Literacies will certainly prepare me and the other Pennstaters better for their future.
Hong Kong is a administrative region under the control of China, and it’s right beside Shenzhen, where I came from. It’s a huge financial centre ranked right after New York and London. From 1842 to 1997, Hong Kong was a British colony, and it officially returned to China during 1997. Today, most of the people only look at Hong Kong as a crowded modern city, but Hong Kong is much more than a modern city.
Nightview in Hong Kong
Since I live right beside Hong Kong, it’s such a piece of cake for me to travel to Hong Kong. Actually, Shenzhen and Hong Kong are only a river away from each other, and I can go to Hong Kong as many times as I want with a year long pass–which is a privilege to the citizens in Shenzhen. I can also apply for the finger print service, and from then on, whenever I travel to Hongkong, I only need to bring myself without any pass.
Pass to Hong Kong and Macao
When I was a child, I always dreamed of going to Hong Kong because there is the closest Disney Land. I went there twice, and it actually disappointed me since it was nearly nothing compared to the ones here in United States. Everything is minimized there probably because they don’t have as much land resource. There is also a Ocean Park in Hong Kong, and I loved going there even though the lines got pretty long sometimes.
Hong Kong Disney Land
Ocean Park
There is also a Walk of Fame in Hong Kong with 73 film stars handprints here just like the one in Hollywood. It’s quite interesting to come here and have a walk beside the sea while learning the history of film makers in Hong Kong. It’s one of the best spots in Hong Kong for you to shoot some pictures too.
Statue of Bruce Lee
Handprint of Jacky Chen
Victoria Harbor is the largest harbor in Asia and third in the whole world, and it’s definitely the most stunning one out of all. It’s the centre of Hong Kong and it documents the growth of Hong Kong.
On the Victoria peak, there is the Madame Tussauds, a wax work museum of many famous actors and actresses. I love to go there, and during Halloween, they sometimes hold a special haunted house inside the museum that always creeps me out.
Look at Jacky Chen! Does he not look real?
The place I love the most still belongs to the Causeway Bay because I get to get all my shopping done here.
Sometimes you run into famous people in Hong Kong, and this happened to me several times so don’t be so surprised if you really identify someone who you dreamed of seeing one day in Hong Kong! This is Hong Kong, and what do you expect!
In my perspective, the Gen Eds is extremely important for the college students. We come to college not only for the purpose of finding good employments in the future, but to learn and explore the unknowns. Gen Eds provides the opportunities for us to build ourselves into well-rounded people. We all need passion in life, and this passion may not necessarily related to our majors. I’m a business major, but I also like music and art. I think the Gen Eds offers me the chance to learn more about my passions. Later in life, these knowledge is going to build me up into a stronger person, and I will always have something that I’m passionate and knowledgable about.
It’s also too early in our life to say what we want to do for the rest our lives. The Gen Eds helps me explore the unknowns, and offers me more possibilities for my paths into the future. It’s not until we learn something we find out whether we enjoy learning it or not. If I don’t want to take the risk of choosing a class that I don’t like, how would I ever find out that it doesn’t suit me well? College is about exploring, and it’s about finding yourself. We are lucky since we are still young, and we have the energy and time to make mistakes, and correct them.
There is one more thing the Gen Eds gives us–the social network. When you encounter new people, if you have something that you are professional and passionate about, it’s easier for you to build up a topic and talk about. The more you know, the more you could talk about it. It’s quite pleasant if you could also find some people sharing the same interests with you this way. Knowledge builds on your social network, and it makes you seem wiser than the others
Today, we’re going back to Guangdong, and I’m going to tell you a little bit about what do people eat here in Guangdong. Just as a reminder, if you do have friends coming from Guangdong, don’t ever presume that they eat everything. Stereotyping may be really bad sometimes, because you are simply assuming what you know to be the truth. I even get offended sometimes while people asking me whether I eat everything. I would probably put it this way: there are people who eat nearly everything here in Guangdong, but I don’t, and most of the people don’t either. For me, just thinking about myself eating random creatures gives me a vomiting feeling. You’ve probably heard many people saying that Cantonese eat everything, but as a Cantonese, I’ve never seen those people who do eat everything before. I’ve heard of it too, but nearly every Cantonese around me feels disgusted towards consuming weird things. Today, instead of focusing on the “eating everything” topic, I would tell you more about something I like to eat as a Cantonese.
Does it not look delicious in the picture above? It’s the Cantonese Dimsun. It’s more like the breakfast or brunch here. Family usually get together in the late morning, around 10:00 am (it varies depending on the situation) to have some chatting while enjoying the delicious food. Some people go to work after eating the Dimsun, but for the older people, they usually come early in the morning and stay for a long time reading newspaper. When I went to Hong Kong, I noticed that most of the people in the restaurants eating Dimsun were the older. They usually order a pot of tea and two dishes of Dimsun, and then they would sit there quietly enjoying the morning.
Some of the restaurants with Dimsun are expensive, and you usually need to get into a long waiting line if you haven’t made a reservation ahead of time. In these restaurants, there are always some carts with different Dimsun going around, and you could just pick whatever you like.
There are some other restaurants like this where you go and get your own food, and they will stamp on a card given to you to keep track of what you’ve ordered. I’m not saying that these restaurants aren’t good, but it depends more on the running style of the restaurants.
This is probably one of the most famous Dimsun dishes, and it’s called rice rolls. It probably doesn’t look as good as it taste, but I promise that it’s one of the best things in life (if you go to the right place). It’s wrapper is rice made, and you could choose different inside–there are beef, pork, shrimp, roast pork…and so on.
This is called the roast beef bun, and it’s my favorite for sure. It has a kind of sweet taste, and just thinking about it makes me feel so hungry!
I really can eat a lot when I go eat the Guangdong Dimsun, and I will show you more of them below.
Steamed pork ribs
Chicken claw
Turnip pudding
Shrimp dumpling
Water chestnut cake
Crispy durian cake
Pan-fried sponge cake
Cream custard bun
