ELA 5/24

First, Rab showed us how to make our own unique photo album with more than half the price the Yearbook Committee sells the Yearbook! Rab’s album starring his two sons was absolutely adorable! One of the reasons I am hesitant to buy a university yearbook is that unlike in High School where there are 250 students per grade, this university has 650 and it seemed that the whole school (meaning 650x4 students) are covered in the Yearbook... A slight chance that I will actually be in any other photos except the ELA and the clubs. When I heard that the Apple Company actually prints out the album you make on the computer, I was amazed! This makes life easier as you wouldn’t have to manually print out the pictures, glue them on, and decorate them (although that is also fun). I think it’ll be nice to make one in our IA classJ

Showing us the President’s message on the ICU website, Rab pointed out the controversies between ICU’s goals and its actual practice. The President mentions that one of the essential qualities of becoming a globally talented person is “the ability to interact in a positive manner with student of different backgrounds”. Obviously, the director of the ELA isn’t too supportive of this idea as she does not want us IAs to interact with students from the other streams in an English class. Up until now, I have lived like a sheep where I believe everything that teachers tell me. Whenever I had complaints against the educational system at my school, I just complained and complained for hours but did nothing about it since I took it for granted that these things were unchangeable and that students were powerless. This is the first time that a teacher has deliberately and kindly pointed out the controversies within the school and showed us the way to make a difference. It’s a lot to think about. If we protested and were able to make a difference in the current English program at ICU, that would be great. Rab said, “if you’re going to fight against something, do it all the way or don’t do it at all”. I am almost sure that merely pointing out the controversy between the President’s words and the Director’s action is not going to make them rethink the English program. They will most probably come up with an explanation that is not satisfying at all (like the ones the Director gave to Rab). So how much would be enough to actually make the president and director rethink the program? Would that involve the whole school? Honestly that makes a little bit tentative because I have never done anything so daring. One thing I thought about today is before we decide to do anything, we really need to make sure that everyone is willing to “protest” until the end. Perhaps asking students to sign a petition is a good start?