Absent For Class

I was absent from class today because I am currently in North Carolina visiting my sister at college.

God Grew Tired Of Us Movie (Continued)

Today in Mr. Schick’s Human Geography class, we extended our notes on the movie. The movie is called God Grew Tired of us. It is about the Lost Boys who had to escape from the civil war in their country of Sudan. We started watching this movie yesterday and continued today. What we saw today was some of these men, had the privilege of coming to America and living there.  The Untied Nation would pay for the men to have an apartment and it was there job to find a job. Once they found a job, they would pay back the money they borrowed from the United Nation and then pay for their housing once they could afford it. The men were spread out into several cities in America. It was a very sad and happy time for them when they had to leave what they have come to know as their brothers. Ever since they had to run away, they have never been apart, so it was an emotional time for those leaving .

God Grew Tired Of Us Movie

In Mr. Schick’s Human Geography class, we started the class by going over the test that we took on Friday of last week. After we did that, we then watched a movie. The movie was called God Grew Tired Of Us, which is a movie about the Lost Boys of Sudan. The boys are fleeing their country of Sudan because of a civil war that is going on in this country. Most of these boys, who were separated by their parents by the government, were orphans. They travelled by foot from country to country searching for safe refuge. The boys travelled thousands of miles and through two countries. These countries were Ethiopia and Kenya. Among these boys, there were many deaths. They died of starvation, dehydration, and sicknesses and disease that they picked up along the way of the gruesome journey. This war had a major negative effect not only on the country but on its people as well. 

Sudan Civil War

The Second Sudanese Civil War started in 1983 and ended in 2005. It was fought between the People’s Liberation Army and the Republic of Sudan. The government was made up of several groups that were heavily armed. The war was a combination of conflicts between races with the Arabs being in the central government and the Africans supported by the People’s Army and the countries of Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Uganda. Over a million people were killed and they were mostly civilians. They died because of lack of food and no water due to the drought. The war also was divided by religion. The government was Muslim and the People’s Army was a combination of African religions and Christians. The fall of the national economy, made things worse as prices went up and riots started. Government leaders were forced to move toward a peace plan or be forced out of office. The more the government tried to force things on the people, the more they fought against it. As people protested, the government attacked them. With the two year drought, came a lack of food and water and wide spread illness. Women and children were forced into slavery and villages were attacked. A peace treaty was signed in 2005 where the countries split oil money, the religion became Islamic, jobs were split between the government and the people and the armies were merged. 

Presentation Day (Continued)

In Mr. Schick Human Geography class today, we met mod one. First, to begin the class, we finished the presentations that we were working the on the previous days. The final group to present was the group who had our nation, the United States of America. Caroline and Erin presented the power point. After their presentation, Mr. Schick mentioned some things that will be on the test on Monday. We went through his Human Geo blog and he pointed out any special details or sections that we need to review for the test. As we were going through the blog, we came across the “Did You Know?” video. Mr. Schick played it for us once again. This time, he broke it down for us. Every time that there was a fact that really stuck out or was amazing, he would pause the video and ask us some questions such as: Why is this happening? How does this make you feel?  Do you believe this? etc. He also explained the fact into detail. We ended the class by going over what would be on the test.

Presentation Day Blog

For today’s Human Geography class, we presented our power points, which we worked on yesterdayin class for the entire mod. How it worked was one person went up to the front of the room and presented the country. Everyone else from that group stayed at their seats. Those who were not presenting the project, had to look up the answers to the questions that Mr. Schick asked. They found the answers on the CIA World Factbook website. The first presentation was on the country of Thailand. Mary presented the project. In that group, were Greg, John, Adrianna, and Mary. The second presentation was my group. We were assigned the country of Nigeria. Kishan presented the PowerPoint. This group has Ellie, Kishan, Ryan, Andrew, and myself. The final group to present yesterday had the country of Italy. Stoots presented the project. The people who did this country were Haley, Alex, Cole and Stoots.  We ran out of time and the last group did not get to present.

First Project

In Human Geography class today, we started our first project for this class. During class and for homework, we had to break up into four groups of five by counting of by fours and do some research on an assigned country. Our research is taken place on the CIA World Factbook website. Our group was assigned the country of Nigeria. Nigeria is a country that is located in the continent of Africa. It is a very poor, undeveloped country. For the project, we have to construct a PowerPoint on this country and present it in class on Thursday. Our group has Ellie, Kishan, Ryan and Andrew and I. We used pretty much the entire class mod to start our research and what we did not finish in this class period was to be completed for homework because we will be presenting our projects tomorrow in class and they must be completed.

Population and Settlement Blog

In class today, we took notes on a power point presented by Mr. Schick. One thing that we learned in the power point is that there are over seven billion people on the planet right now. Of this, ninety percent of the growth population happens in the places such as Africa, South and East Asia, and Latin America.  We also learned about Life Expectancy. Life Expectancy is the average number of years to be lived by a group of people born in the same year. In the United States, it is 78.49 years. Crude Birth Rate is the number of births per 1,000 of the population. Crude Death Rate, is exact same but instead the number of deaths. Net Migration rate is the difference between the number of persons entering and leaving a country during a year. The United States has a NMR of 3.62. People migrate for multiple reasons. First, there are push forces, which include civil wars, environmental degradation, unemployment, and religious or ethnic persecution. Second, there are pull forces such as better economic opportunity, better healthcare services, and religious or political freedom. The Total Fertility Rate is the average number of children born per women. All these things represent what kind of world we live in and how diverse it really can be.

Absent For Class

Today I was not in class because I had an Orthodontist appointment.

Did You Know? Blog

Today in Human Geography, we finished going over the questions, which were based on the CIA World Factbook website. We continued that every country is different and unique. Two things really stuck out to me in the video. First of all, it was that China will soon be the number one English speaking country in the world. It stands out to me because China’s native language is Chinese and you wouldn’t think that they would adopt another language and would be the number one in that one. That seems very shocking and incredible to me. This will help them find jobs. Second, there are about 540,000 words in the English language, which is about five as many as during Shakespeare’s time. It is crazy to think how many words we have adopted that were derived from other languages. So many words have evolved since Shakespeare’s time.  There are so many words with origins that are from all around the world. 

Discussions About CIA World Factbook Blog

Today in Mr. Schick’s Human Geography class we went over the questions that we had for homework the previous night. The questions were based on the CIA World Factbook website.  The CIA World Factbook   has an extreme amount of information about each country in the world. It has the countries’ population, government, current events, etc. It contains many information concerning the country. We answered the questions, which were based on getting us to think about how the other countries see the world. This put us in the perspective of their shoes. Some countries have a big unemployment percentage. Some have a major death rate percentage. It forces us to be thankful for all we have; to be a fairly healthy and safe country meaning we don’t need to worry as much about diseases as some of the countries in Africa. We have to keep in mind when we are complaining about the food we eat, or going to school, or what clothes we don’t have, that we are blessed just to have these things.

1. What is the population of the United States? 313,847,465

2. What are the five largest countries in the world, by population? China, India, United States, Indonesia, and Brazil

3. What is the population of Pakistan? 190,290,129

4. What kind of government does the Untied States have? Constitution- based federal republic; strong democratic

5. What is the unemployment in Zimbabwe? 95%

6. What is the largest country in the world by area? Russia

7. What country has the third greatest number of airports? Mexico

8. What country has the greatest number of exports? China

9. What country exports more oil than any other? Saudi Arabia

10. What country imports more oil than any other? United States

11. What country consumes more oil than any other? United States

12. Can women serve in combat roles in China's military? yes

13. What is GPD? Gross Domestic Product

14. What country has the highest GPD per capita in the world,and how much is it? Liechtenstein and $141,100

15. Is the US in the top ten for the GPD per capita? no

16. Most of the countries with the highest birth rates can be found in what continent? Africa

17. 11 of the top 12 countries with the highest number of deaths from HIV/AIDS can be found in which continent? Africa

18.What other country is in the top 10? India

19. Where does the US rank in the HIV/AIDS deaths? 18

20. Is the US #1 in number of cellular phones? no

21. What percentage of the US is Roman Catholic? 23.9%

22. What percentage of Mexico is Roman Catholic? 76.5%

23. What is Net Migration Rate? the number of people entering and leaving the country per 1,000 persons

24. Does the US have the highest Net Migration Rate? no

25. What is the current population of the entire word? 7,021,836,029


The first question that really caught my interest was the the population of the world. It's one way to show how amazing God really is. Just to think I am one of that 7,012,836,029 people in the world is crazy to think about.

The second question that caught my attention was the amount of deaths due to HIV/AIDS. It is so sad to think about. It also makes me feel grateful to think we live in a country where it isn't as bad and likely.

Evaluating Websites Blog

1. This first source, the CIA World Fact Book, looks pretty reliable and helpful to use for a research paper. It looks reliable because it is a government website and has useful, accurate information.

2. The next source regarding "A Message To Garcia," also looks helpful to use as a source. It gives so much information about the author and the story.

3. The Forbidden Knowledge source does not look very real because it doesn't contain a whole lot of information about the topics so it would not be very helpful to someone who is trying to write a research paper.

4. The NASA Kid's Club website seems real because it has very helpful information for kids. It makes learning more fun for kids, but a lot of the facts are things people our age already know so I do not think it would be too helpful for writing a research paper on your topic.

5. The CNN Opinion website looks like a cite that has information on the current 2012 elections.

6. The New York Times website would be a great source to use because it is an online newspaper so you can always be caught up on the current events which may be very important for your paper.

7. The Fox News source looks like it could be very helpful to use if you needed helpful information if you were writing about the 2012 elections.

8.Wikipedia contains a lot of helpful information about The Washington Times, but there is always a chance that what people post may not be 100% true so its probably not the best idea to use it for a research project.

9. The last website is a blog. A blog is not helpful information for a research paper because it is based only on a person's opinion rather than the facts.

Wikipedia Blog

Today in Mr. Schick’s Human Geography class we learned why Mr. Schick loves using the internet source Wikipedia. He warned us that the teachers in the English department would probably not allow to use Wikipedia because it is known to be unreliable.  It is known to be unreliable because anyone can change the information given and post something that is false. But as Mr. Schick said, Wikipedia contains a lot of information and there are people who edit the posts if they are undependable. Also, there are many things that are blocked so you can’t post whatever you want to on those cites. For example, when you look up President Barrack Obama on Wikipedia, it is impossible to add any information. They are protecting him and reputation especially with the elections coming up. The bottom line is Wikipedia is not always a source that does not have true information. It can give helpful information.

Essay #3

“Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives - choice, not chance, determines your destiny.” This quote by Aristotle identifies excellence. To earn success in excellence you must first have a plan. To strive for excellence at John Carroll, I must first have a positive attitude for my next four years. Meaning, I should come to school every day with a constructive mindset that is ready to learn. Second, I will represent my school by participating in sports and keep in mind what name is on my uniform. This part of my plans demonstrates respect for my school and what it represents. Third, I must show respect to my teachers, administrators, coaches, friends, and classmates because if I want respect, I must show and give it. So, it is not just my school that deserves my respect but all the pieces that make it a school.  Fourth, I will always keep an open mind by listening to everyone’s point of view even if I do not agree. To be excellent means that you care about others no matter where they are from, what beliefs they have or position they take on topics. By listening and caring, some of my current thoughts might be changed or I may be able to change others thoughts. Lastly, I will show determination and perseverance through my work. I will do my best to never back down from a challenge. With this basic plan of action, I feel I can accomplish my goals while showing respect and caring for others.

Essay #2

If Elbert Hubbard could time travel to the year of 2012, he would be shocked to see how lazy this generation is. He probably expected the future generations to buckle down and get the job done with no questions asked. But in reality, this generation constantly asks questions and gets the job done when we get to it. Hubbard was disappointed  with his generation and pointed out that there are not many people who do what they are told unless they have some kind of harsh whipping to motivate them. Meanwhile, if Socrates could travel to the year of 2012 he would be impressed. Socrates spent so much time pursuing his method of getting people to think and then to have them shut down by the Athenian government had to be frustrating. Whereas. nowadays we have a schooling system that encourages critical thinking in all classes. Also, there's freedom of speech, which allows people to express their thoughts with no penalty, unlike ancient Greece where you could be condemned to death. For both Elbert Hubbard and Socrates, time travelling to 2012 would be an eye opening experience.

Essay #1

The word arête means reaching full potential with good character. This is a top of what a person or people can attain and doing it in a way that others would respect. Socrates was an ancient Athenian philosopher who developed the Socrates Method. The Socrates Method was a debate or argument that started between a few people and was used to develop critical thinking between them. Socrates exemplified  arête because he stood up for what he believed in. He would walk the streets asking random people questions to get them thinking.  Socrates was penalized for disrespecting the gods and corrupting the youth of his time. However, he held his position in the wake of criticism. Socrates was heroically willing to die for his beliefs, which shows his true perseverance and excellence. The ancient Greeks also demonstrated arête. They were the first to develop the system of Democracy. This was incredible because it was the first time where everyone had a say and a chance to vote for what they individually wanted and believed in. Socrates and the ancient Greeks certainly demonstrated arête by standing by their beliefs and not giving up to get others to accept.

A Message To Garcia and Socrates Wrapping up Discussion

On Friday, we began the day in Mr. Schick’s Human Geography class. We finished going over the “A Message to Garcia” vocabulary words that he assigned us the previous night. Then he told us the assignment for the weekend. Over the weekend, we have to have all our blogs posted on blogger.com and also we have to answer three essay questions. The questions are based on what we have been discussing in class such as the intelligent Socrates and the honest Elbert Hubbard, who wrote the article “A Message to Garcia.” Then, Mr. Schick answered any questions we had. Because it was the first mod of the day, we had extra time at the end of class so Mr. Schick showed us the video about the Starfish and told all the football players that if any of them scored a touchdown, they had to give Mr. Schick a special shout out and then spike the football. Because that would resolve in a penalty, he agreed that they could just drop the ball or hand it off the referee.