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TED Talks: The Key to Your Success

by Francesca Bottorff, Section Editor

February 2011: Volume 7, Issue 5

I used to balk at the idea of spending time meddling with anything mathematical. Now I’m able to tell you off the top of my head what physics can teach us about marketing, how to apply conceptual trigonometric functions to our lives, and why the quality of math education in a nation like United States pales in comparison to some of its less developed counterparts. High school tends to teach—and, in some cases, force-feed—students the how, but TED (Technology, Entertainment, and Design) Talks, a global set of conferences that disseminates “ideas worth spreading,” probes at the why. Even those who don’t like to grapple with prickly, elusive life philosophies will find something that tickles their intellec-tual tastebuds. At TED, no subject is taboo, and less is always more. No matter how convoluted or controversial the topic is, a speaker is given only an average of ten to fifteen minutes to deliver a highly convincing argument to a highly educated audience.

Most of us have watched a TED Talk at some point dur-ing our high school careers. High school math teacher Ms. McRoberts says the “entertaining and concise” nature of TED Talks make them appealing. The combination of brevity and an interesting, well-delivered argument lends itself to the at-tention span of a typical teenager. Its major selling point is its “cutting-edge speakers”—every year, the technology, enter-tainment, and design worlds’ best and brightest movers and shakers convene for a week of innovative discussion. Short, sweet, and provocative, TED Talks are addictive and often much more enlightening than your average so-called educa-tional videos. “I like [them] because the presenters obviously know their stuff inside out,” says Sophie Zhang (11). Not only that, but the information, as technical or specialized as it may be, is presented in a way that is both elegant and accessible. For that reason, listening to a topic that doesn’t particularly interest you won’t seem like a death sentence and might even widen your perceptions about topics you were previously unaware of, like how it’s possible to use math to predict the likelihood of war.

Teachers use TED Talks to explain challenging academic concepts, or to provide and alternate way of evaluating sub-jects. Debaters emulate the speakers’ oratorical mannerisms as well as their means to articulate themselves without notes. Students should develop a habit of listening to these talks to get their knowledge fix of the day and to enhance awareness about current events and issues. In “the real world,” we’ve been taught, it’s important to have an opinion. TED, much like the condensed version of a Theory of Knowledge class, takes your preconceptions and ruthlessly belies them. It helps you foster the mindset to never settle for a mediocre explanation and to never stop questioning. As Mark Twain fa-mously said, “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.”

After all, it might not be so bad to rethink what you’ve learned. My qualms about math’s supposed relevance outside the classroom wouldn’t have been disproven otherwise – in under fifteen minutes.

Who the Hell is Matt?2:30PM, February 19th, and about

thirty people are uncomfortably eyeing each other in San Li Tun’s SOHO, wait-ing for a leader to turn their tense fidg-eting into what would soon become a thirty-minute celebration of awkward-ness and cultural differences. That leader is Matt Harding, the 34-year-old Inter-net sensation who has made an occupa-tion out of dancing like what a nearby security guard describes as “an idiot.”

Harding is one of a select few You-Tube celebrities who has unwittingly been launched into international star-dom. His video series – perhaps bet-ter known under the moniker “Where the Hell is Matt?” – is composed of him dancing enthusiastically in different loca-tions across the world, often alongside locals of the country or other tourists.

Harding’s trip to Beijing was pre-ceded by an ad on TheBeijinger.com to spread the news, as well as his official website, emails, word of mouth and – for what it was worth in China – Facebook.

Despite the Facebook event sug-gesting that a meager “53 are attending,” 3:00P.M. saw a tidal wave of people gush-ing towards the centre of SOHO. Mem-bers of the dance troupe included wary three year-olds and smug-looking col-

lege students, as well as bemused par-ents and a man wearing a Mario hat.

After Harding introduced himself and shouted some legal jargon at the cam-era for participants to scream “YES!” to, he led a warm-up dance that was com-prised of his original travel jig. Follow-ing the warm-up, he attempted to teach the excited group a brief choreographed routine that ended in several injured

feet, due to the intense amount of jumping and kicking involved. The event took a brief thirty min-utes, concluding with Harding tak-ing down email addresses, orders for merchandise, and staying for an extra hour to chat with every single person that had shown up.

The crowd seemed more than pleased to hang out with Harding, although they all had various rea-sons for coming. “I like the way he dances!” exclaimed local college student Lu Ping. “And he’s gone to

so many places – I’d also like to visit all those places. Every time I watch his videos, I feel really happy.” Gao Yue, another col-lege student, explained that, “My friend showed me the videos, and I thought to myself ‘This guy is dancing everywhere, he has such an interesting life, I’d like to come see what he’s like in person.’”

Some international school stu-dents were also present at the event, such as Kevin Liao (9), who wanted to dance with Matt “because it’s awe-some!” Jerry Yen (9), on the other hand, went because “[he] felt like it. And Matt had a lot of hits on YouTube.”

Whatever the reason for attend-ing, it was clear that everyone en-joyed putting their best foot forward – no matter how bad their best was.

Photographs Courtesy of Liza Borgonjon

Staff List

China & Beyond Feature

Editors-in-ChiefMelissa PowersStephanie Zhou

Managing EditorJulie Leong

Section EditorsFrancesca Bottorff

Emily ChangRena Minegishi

Amelia ParkTeresa TeoEric Wang

PR / LiasonElise Jiang

JournalistsCindy Liu

So Yeon ParkAmanda Song

Sarah TanJJ Wong

Brian Zhan

Cover ArtRena Minegishi

Artists / PhotographersLiza BorgonjonRosalind ChangMaura DentinoChan Ah Jung

Audrey LinJudy ParkBridget Ye

Kathy Zhou

AdvisorsGriffin LoynesCinder Merritt

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by Melissa Powers, Editor-in-Chief

Brief Interview with Matt Harding:Matt Harding was kind enough to answer a few of The Break’s questions after the group dance.

TB: Could you briefly state how it all started?MH: It started for me eight years ago. I was on a trip around the world; I quit my job and I was traveling through Vietnam. And my friend said, “Why don’t you go stand over there by the curb and do your stupid dance?” So I did it, and I got in the habit of recording those dances every-where I went, and put it all together and put it on the Internet. [It was] mostly just to show my friends and family where I’d been, and it got away from itself. I started getting all these views from people, and I didn’t realize that other people would en-joy it, but they did. And soon I got millions of views and then a company contacted me and asked if they could sponsor me to keep

on travelling. Five years ago, it be-came my job.

TB: Why do you think dance in particular is a good medium for all these people to connect to?MH: Because it’s simple. And ev-erybody does it. Everyone, every-where in the world dances. There’s nowhere in the world where it’s not a part of the culture.

TB: How long do you think you’re going to keep it up?MH: I don’t know. I don’t think too far ahead. If you’d asked me that five years ago I would have said not much longer, but it keeps on growing and changing and, you know, I try to follow it where it leads me and find new and in-teresting things to do with it. So, first it

was just me dancing by myself, but now it’s me and hundreds of people doing choreo-graphed dance routines. Who knows?

Harding can be seen dancing in the middle, as he teaches the crowd a new, choreographed, routine.

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Extracurricular Activities:

While ISB students may be bet-ter known for their academic rigor, they also participate in a wide va-riety of extracurricular activities. The reasons behind their involve-ment vary from CAS hours to col-lege applications. As many ambitious students participate in multiple clubs and teams, however, the is-sue of over-commitment surfaces. The common belief is that stu-dents who “over-commit” or join because of academia-related con-cerns will not be able to provide the best quality contributions to the teams of which they are a part. Some students, however, point out that an apparent lack of dedication does not always equal reduced quality.

Some maintain that students who join teams and clubs for more superficial rea-sons can make valuable teammates as long as they are competent enough. Woo Sung Choi (10) has “seen many students who joined sports teams for reasons like college applications and managed to help improve performance in matches.” Choi would not say, however, that all of them “were truly interested in playing sports.” Yet, he notes that “because some of these stu-

by So Yeon Park, Staff Reporter

dents were already capable athletes, they could still contribute to the team’s over-all success despite their lack of passion.”

Fred Chang (11) agrees, stating that what his club, ISB’s Draxonic Design Studio, really looks for is “students with enough skills to work on the countless de-sign offers the studio receives.” In this case, a student’s abilities take precedence over their levels of interest towards the activity.

On the other hand, some students believe in the connection between lack of interest and lack of quality. YK Kim (11) reports that “when the motivation behind

students’ participation is primarily to get requirements like CAS done, stu-dents may not necessarily be interest-ed in the activities.” She further main-tains that “such lack of true passion and dedication cannot result in work at a promising and consistent level.”

Furthermore, Hoi Fung Ma (11), a chair of Habitat for Humanity, sup-ports that lack of true passion can lead to a reduced quality of work, stating that the success of major fundrais-ing projects is largely determined by “how much responsibility and enthu-siasm the members promote their activities to the student body.” His

belief lies in the principle that students with keen interests are “the most valu-able asset of student-led organizations.”

Whether true devotion directly points to the quality of work that student mem-bers produce is a controversial matter. Since both passion and competence are among the most essential characteristics of student members, clubs seem to ben-efit most from dedicated students who are willing to provide the best of their abilities.

Photo Courtesy of http://www.isb.bj.edu.cn/

If someone asked you, “Where can I borrow a book in school?” your one re-sponse would probably be “the library.” However, you might be surprised to find that there are more places that offer books for your enjoyment– and all without re-quiring a library card.

One such location is the ISB study room. Although this room is directly con-nected to the MS/HS library, its books are not actually recorded in the school’s official catalogue. In fact, the only mark

Crouching Novel, Hidden Volumethat distinguishes these books as being

school property is an in-conscpicuous label on their spines that reads, “ISB HS Library.” According to librarian Mr. Anichowski, these books are “donations from all different kinds of people.”

He explains that do-nated books usually un-dergo a three-stage veri-fication process: they are checked to make sure that the volumes are both in relatively good condition and volumes which the library does not already have. These books are then sorted into two groups - those that would probably

interest students, and those that would interest parents and teachers (the parent/teacher books are placed into a separate room near the study room).

Mr. Anichowski encourages students to look around in the study room, as he feels that “the room acts as an ongoing book-swap area,” while also “providing an alternative for students who are unable to check out books due to overdue items.”

Other locations for book borrowing opportunities can be found within your

by Amanda Song, Staff Reporter

China & Beyond

classrooms – for example, in rooms 3207 and 3206. Waist-high bookshelves stand in the corners of both rooms and overflow with books of great variety. Within, stu-dents can find works by authors ranging from John Grisham to Charles Dickens. According to English teacher Ms. Samarzia of 3207, “not a lot of people borrow these books, but anyone interested is welcome to.” There are certainly more than text-books just waiting to be discovered here.

3110 is yet another classroom rich in textual resources, but one that specializes in history. China’s Cultural Revolution, the roots of Communism in the former-USSR, Europe since the 1900’s - these slim volumes explain them all. Social studies teacher Ms. Pratt says, “these books are meant to be used in IB History, but we don’t use them all the time. Any students interested are free to borrow them.” Books surround us every day, but after a while they tend to blend into the scenery. The study room and classrooms men-tioned above are only a few examples of alternative spots around school that offer fair-sized selections of books. A little ob-servation can go a long way, and you may be delighted at what treasures you find crouching on a shelf, or hidden in a stack.

Photo Courtesy of Judy Park

Is Quality Possible Without Passion?

Commitment? Nah.

For when the library just isn’t enough.

by Brian Zhan, Staff Reporter

Student Life

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As of next year, Effective Study Skills (ESS), a 9th grade course that helps bol-ster students’ study habits, may no longer be a mandatory course. To make space for free hours, the two ESS teachers – Mr. Russell and Mr. Keams – hope to teach fewer ESS classes by making the course non-mandatory. Some students agree with the decision, but others see the benefits of the ESS course and argue that it should still be present in the curriculum.Mr. Russell supports the decision of making ESS optional because he hopes to “work directly in classrooms with stu-dents and teachers to aid them in differen-tiating instruction to improve learning out-comes for students” with any blocks he may free up. He believes that this approach will be more helpful for struggling students.

In agreement with the decision is Jef-frey Yau (11), who stated that “While ESS certainly aided me, it could have been much more helpful.” For instance, near the end of the course, one of Yau’s assignments was to create a daily exam study schedule. He did not end up following this sched-ule because he always underestimated how

much time he would spend studying ev-ery subject. Yau believes that the schedule could have been more effective if a teacher had worked more closely with him to cre-ate it.

Admittedly, some of ESS’ more inef-fective qualities are due to factors that are

out of the course’s reach. Benjamin Martindale (9) understood why organiz-ing a daily study plan was important, but lacked the willpower to do so. Though it would be unreasonable to expect ESS to guarantee all students use the strate-gies taught, the fact that students like Martindale are unable to muster up the motivation to do so still un-dermines the value of the course.

On the other hand, proponents of ESS claim

that the course familiarizes stu-dents with their learning styles, allowing them to implement more effective study strategies (subconsciously or otherwise). By learning whether they are visual, audi-tory, or kinesthetic learners, and gauging their EQ and mental health levels, stu-dents are more able to self-tailor their own study with minimal guidance. “It actually did help,” notes Ha Na Lee (12). “Dur-ing Chem, when we were doing bonding

structures, I knew that I was a visual and kinesthetic learner, so I requested that we work with models in class.” At the very least, ESS teaches students to think about the way they think, a level of introspection that rarely appears by itself.

Additionally, many students believe that ESS goes beyond teaching study skills and encourages more critical thinking, a mentality that will both help academic performance and broaden a student’s worldview. Jack Wines (9) believes that “the ESS course taught [him] to analyze situations more deeply. During class, we studied critical thinking and analyzed Co-lin Powell’s speech on Iraq’s Weapons of Mass Destruction. Ever since, I have begun to ask questions that allow me to explore subjects more thoroughly.”

The fact that ESS in its current, man-datory form is being considered for the chopping block implies that it, perhaps, has not been as effective as many had hoped. Nonetheless, some students, who have re-acted more dynamically to the class than their peers, maintain that ESS has been valuable. Perhaps those deciding whether ESS should stay or become optional should consider whether a course that positively benefits all students can exist. While some students aren’t going stop procrastinat-ing no matter what tricks you try to teach them, perhaps the students who have ben-efited from ESS are the ones who count.

Artwork Courtesy of http://hubpages.com

Students who participate in the Inter-national Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma pro-gram are bound to feel pressurized at some point during the hectic two years. A large part of their stress certainly stems from try-ing to churn out assignments on time – for IB courses are known for their rigor – but another significant, oftentimes overlooked factor is the struggle to finish learning the entire syllabus on time.

Procrastinators and non-procrastina-tors alike, students taking higher level (HL) classes genuinely have insufficient learning time – the school calendar allows for at least twenty hours less per class than the Interna-tional Baccalaureate Organization’s recom-

mended 240 hours.Currently, student consensus main-

tains that the shortage of IB hours is causing much stress. “Teachers expect so much from us and give us so much work,” asserts Nata-lie Wong (11). Similarly, Andrea González (12) believes that her “workload does not decrease even with the lack of time available – it’s ridiculous.” Even teachers are feeling the pressure. “I fret over whether I can fin-ish teaching the syllabus in two years,” says IB HL Chemistry teacher Mr. Cavallerano. Concerns over insufficient course hours are widespread among the faculty, and some teachers have even held additional classes after school or on weekends just to finish the syllabus.

In order to provide students with more teaching contact time, a possible change for upcoming seniors would be an exemption from semester one exams. Along with the consideration of other plans, IB Coordina-tor Mrs. Farr discloses, “IB students next year will have a minimum of 229 hours,” a huge improvement in comparison to the current 217-hour minimum.

There are already many policies in ef-fect that ISB has implemented to help HL students cope with their heavy workload.

Tick Tock: Shortage of IB Hours LeavesSuch methods include a free SL block every six-day cycle for seniors, which aims to al-leviate students’ stress by giving them more time to work on university applications and HL homework. Teachers are also allowed to allocate more homework for HL courses. In-terestingly, an underlying problem could be that the teaching contact hours for SL classes are far too many. “SL courses currently have an excess of 60 hours,” reveals Mrs. Farr.

Surprisingly, HL Biology teacher Ms. Kinsella believes that the heavy workload can benefit students. “There is not enough time for us to cover everything in class so students have to study by themselves. This teaches them valuable skills and allows them to learn to work well independently.” In-deed, students should focus on the benefits of such a hectic schedule. One could hone study habits that lead to excelling in academ-ics.

Nonetheless, with additional HL teach-ing contact hours next year, the burdens of IB students will likely decrease. Future stu-dents can look forward to more free time to tackle other activities such as their CAS hours!

Photo courtesy of http://faqs.org

by Sarah Tan, Staff Reporter

Effective Study SkillsMay No Longer Be Mandatory

The clock’s a-tickin’.

Students and Teachers Hard-Pressed for Time

Anybody up there?

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Arts & Culture

In this day and age, music has become more accessible than ever before, no lon-ger confined to just CDs and mixtapes, but expanded to digital files, uploaded on social networking or video sharing sites. Musicians are heard on various portals, al-lowing them to gain widespread popular-ity through a variety of ways. For aspiring musicians, this is also a great way to get themselves known. People from across the globe post their music up on the internet in hopes of spreading their music, and, in suc-cessful cases, gain international stardom.

On video sharing sites such as YouTube, musicians post up videos of themselves singing covers of existing songs or original songs of their own. Virtually all provide

links to their music and information posted on Myspace, Twitter and Bandcamp, and some even generously release full albums for free download to the public. Upload-ing such videos “is a great way to gain pop-ularity, which is very important for aspir-ing musicians,” remarks Joey Cheung (11).

ISB student Leo Xia (10) has posted many acoustic covers on YouTube of songs by popular artists, including the likes of Jason Mraz, Train and Maroon 5. When asked about his purpose of uploading such videos, Xia replied, “It’s just a hobby that I

do for fun. I’m not really expecting any benefits, but I just want to put myself out there to show others what I can do.”

For musician Jack Lo (12), who uploads his music on Mediafire, the internet is a great platform for him to share his music with “friends and other people, fast and efficiently.” He makes music solely because he “loves and en-joys music,” and believes that online music sharing is definitely going to be a trend for the future music industry,” as it is easier for artists like himself to gain

exposure. He finds inspiration from his fa-vourite online musician, Dumbfoundead, an LA based Korean-American rapper who “posted his freestyle battles on You-Tube and successfully gained exposure.”

Posting up music on the internet has not only become a way to spread one’s music around the world, but also to at-tract interest from music producers on the lookout for new talent. Music sensa-tions such as Esmee Denters, Mia Rose and even Justin Bieber are among many artists whose talents have been discov-ered online by hit producers like Justin Timberlake1. Cheung, who much “pre-fers [these musicians] to many popu-lar mainstream artists”, believes that they should be listened to more widely.

Opportunities to be heard by the world are hard to come by, but with the development of social networking and vid-eo sharing sites, all those with a burning desire to showcase their talents are able to conveniently do so. So for all those aspir-ing musicians out there, take every chance you’ve got! Who knows, you might even rise to become the next Justin Bieber.

1Bachmeier, Jeff. “Musicians Discovered on YouTube | Internet Radio & Online Mu-sic Blog.” Internet Radio Station. Web. 12 Jan. 2011. <http://977music.com/blog/2010/03/m u s i c i a n s - d i s c o v e r e d - o n - y o u t u b e / > .

Photo Courtesy of Chan Ah Jung

by Teresa Teo, Section Editor

Perhaps more so than any other, this quote by the influential 20th century Ger-man playwright and theatre director Ber-tolt Brecht embodies the essence of ISB’s One Act Festival: “From the start it has been the theatre’s business to entertain people ... it needs no other passport than fun.”

This year, the One Acts were held from January 20-21, 2011. The One Act Festival is a theatre event held annually at ISB, and is unique in that all of the plays presented during the festival are student-directed, and in some cases, 100% student-made as well. Plays that are completely student-produced allow students full control: they write their own scripts, create their own sets, hold auditions for roles in their plays and organize their own rehearsals. In short, the plays presented during the festival are, from beginning to end, entirely the fruits of the students’ hard work and efforts.

Joey Cheung (11), co-director of “So Much Drama,” states that she loves how the festival is “an opportunity for students to direct and write their own plays” and how One Acts are a “com-

pletely different experience to the fall play and school musical, as they are entirely student-run.” Likewise, co-director Sunny Lee (11) of “Kisses for Sale” fame explains that the One Act festival “allows students to experience every as-pect of theatre, from directing to backstage, and thus nurture deeper appreciation for theatre.”

Moreover, as Partel Unga (11), an actor in “Greed: a $exy Bea$t” markedly points out, the festival “is an amazing chance for aspiring actors to showcase their talents” and that it’s “always nice to see new people try their hand

One Acts: By JJ Wong, Staff Reporter

Aspiring Musicians Find Opportunities to Fame

Written by Students, Produced by Students, Presented for Everyone

The next Justin Bieber?

Partel Unga and Ian Evans in “Greed...”

at acting, even if it is not their main inter-est.” Furthermore, Unga asserts, the plays are “entertaining to watch” and they are a “nice reprieve from all the stress of academics.”

Supporting the suggestion that the fes-tival is a good chance for students to chal-

lenge themselves, Lee adds that “direct-ing a play is really difficult as there is an enormous amount of responsibility on your shoulders,” and the crucial thing as a director is to “find the right bal-ance between guidance and flexibility.” From an actor’s perspective, Unga ex-presses how “acting is sometimes men-tally and physically draining, as you al-ways want to put your best effort into it.”

Lastly, as advice to future One Act-ers, co-director of “So Much Drama” Kai-lene Chen (11) emphasizes how important it is for a director to “be flexible” and to “treat your cast well, as they will act bet-

ter for you.” Like Chen, Unga stresses the bal-ance of power between directors and actors, and also states that “as an actor, listening to those around you who are more experienced is priceless, since you can learn so much.”

Photo courtesy of http://www.isb.bj.edu.cn/

Arts / Sports & Recreation

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“I want to observe the people around here before I can paint the people in my paintings,” says Chinese painter Lu Yong-zhong in response to why he has not com-pleted certain segments of his mural, on display just inside the main entrance of ISB.

Last December, ISB students were lucky enough to watch the previously bare wall transform into a painting that inter-

fuses the school community with the style of a traditional Chinese peasant painting.

Artist Lu Yongzhong was first called by Dr. Razik, who had worked with him previously in the Shanghai American School (SAS). Upon his arrival at ISB, Dr. Razik immediately noticed that the “inte-rior of the school seemed to lack color.” In an attempt to create a more color-

ful environment, he then called Mr. Lu to “brighten the facility up”, and “make it more user friendly for the children.” Dr. Razik adds that “the idea was two-fold,” also intended to “get some tradi-tional Chinese painting in the building.”

During his stay at ISB, Mr. Lu spent his daytime selling art outside of the PTA store. In the evenings, once the hallways

were silent, he labored over the meticulous de-signs of the peasant paintings alongside six of his students from his painting school in Shang-hai. The painting school in Shanghai is known as the

“Lu YongZhong Peasant Paint-ing Vacation Villa,” where he trains both local residents and expatriates interested in Jinshan peasant painting. The hand-painted works sold outside the PTA were, in fact, done by the same students who arrived in the evening to help him paint.

Painting in international schools is not uncommon for Mr. Lu, who has also deco-rated walls and boulders at SAS. Reach-

ing out to the wider expat community fits with his main objective, which is to allow everyone to “learn peasant painting, have peasant food, and enjoy peasant happiness.”

Art teacher Ms. Lueth is one of many who enjoys the painting, stating that the “changed size” of the Chinese painting is “taking something familiar and making it unfamiliar.” This use of aesthetics “makes a big impact on students,” as they can look at Chinese culture with new eyes.

Over the years, it is clear that ISB has been working to enhance the visual en-vironment of our school; in the past few months, both main entrance and main hallway have been completely renovated. Dr. Razik himself hopes that the “‘feel’ of the school will change,” and to “get some feedback” before making any decisions as to whether or not more of the same sort of additions to the facility will occur. While some students like Michael May (12) be-lieve “it’s kind of a waste of money,” these changes to our school setting are signifi-cant, as they symbolize an interaction be-tween our international cultures with the culture of our local Chinese community, just as Yongzhong has so masterfully done.

Photo Courtesy of Maura Dentino

Great Mural of Chinaby Amelia Park, Section Editor

Model Unit-ed Nations and Forensics, like Facebook and Twitter, Newsweek and Time, and The Simpsons and

Family Guy, are invariably lumped into the same categorical pot. Despite both being well known as public speaking-centric extracurriculars, the two are birds of a very different feather – birds that, despite peacefully coexisting, occasionally get into minor territorial squabbles. But how do ISB students (participants and outsiders alike) perceive these clubs? And what, in-deed, are the distinctions between them?

MUN, undoubtedly the more estab-lished of the two, certainly has numbers on its side. According to Mr. Aitken, the head of MUN, “around 115 ISB student delegates” participate in BEIMUN each year. When asked to attribute the reasons for MUN’s popularity, students tended to agree on certain points: “It’s more well-known, and I’ve heard you meet a lot of people,” says Richard Li (10), who is in-volved in neither MUN nor Forensics. “It has globally recognized appeal,” adds two-year veteran Heather Budimulia (10). Others noted that students don’t always participate in MUN for the debate itself. “Half of the people go for the trips,” sug-gests Toni Lehtonen (12), who traveled to The Hague this year. “And I guess college applications are pretty important, too.”

Naturally, the perceptions of ISB’s Model United Nations program run the gamut. From the reactions of mostly clueless outsiders to those of the impas-

MUN vs. Forensics: The Debate Over “Debate”by Stephanie Zhou, Editor-in-Chief

Mural, mural, on the wall...

sioned MUN haters and loyalists, consen-sus seems to maintain, in particular, that MUN conferences are a fantastic way to meet new people. Some students, how-ever, find the social aspect frustrating. “It’s like a formalized three-day dating course. And it’s all about looking hot in a tux,” declares Edward Huh (10), who made the switch from MUN to Forensics earlier this year. “Of course the social aspect’s going to be there,” notes Mr. Aitken. “That’s go-ing to happen. I don’t mind it. I hope that students can have some fun at these con-ferences.”

The reactions to Forensics, on the other hand, seem to hover between unin-formed and completely clueless. “I don’t know what ISB Forensics is,” says Cullen Chen (11). The name also, unfortunately, leads to mix-ups with other organizations. “It’s like CSI, right?” asks Li. Among those who do know a little bit about it, Foren-sics has established a reputation for being a debate competition, but what most don’t realize is that it is much broader than that.

According to coach Ms. Raynolds, aside from the team event of debate, there are the “individual events of extemporane-ous speaking, impromptu, original ora-tory, oral interpretation, and solo acting.” Most Forensics participants maintain that Forensics is more than just debate. “I think I’d describe it as high-intensity verbal ac-robatics,” says Sophie Zhang (12). “I have a short attention span, and I like Forensics because it continuously challenges me and forces me to think. You can’t just sit back and relax; you constantly have to be per-forming.”

In any case, it does seem as though a lack of awareness is one of the most sig-

nificant problems plaguing Forensics, es-pecially in terms of recruitment. Says Li, “If I had to do either Forensics or MUN, I’d probably be more interested in Forensics. I would’ve picked MUN, though, since I didn’t really know about Forensics until today.” According to Ms. Raynolds, the Forensics team is brainstorming ways to earn more support – among them “per-haps a Beijing awareness-based competi-tion,” which would be brought into school so that “kids can see what Forensics is like.” Zhang also maintains that some people have drawn interpretations from precon-ceived notions. “It bothers me when peo-ple say that forensics is for ‘MUN rejects.’ How about you try Forensics first?”

Either way, it’s important to remem-ber that neither extracurricular is nec-essarily better than the other. “They’re two completely different programs,” says Zhang, “and the only commonality is that they have the public speaking as-pect.” Model United Nations is probably

best suited to those interested in interna-tional relations and diplomacy, because it, unlike Forensics, spot-lights issues from a na-tional and international rather than individual perspective. Those in-terested in an emphasis placed on individual opinions should con-sider trying Forensics.

Artwork Courtesy of Bridget YePhoto Courtesy of http://globalsolutions.org

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Standing Columns

5: When confessing your undying loveHave you ever adored someone so much

that you couldn’t put your amorous feelings into words? Or you were too embarrassed to tell that person face-to-face, yet felt that any other way would minimize the theatrical Ro-meo and Juliet balcony-esque effect it deserves? The next time you face this situation, look your significant other in the eye, and confess: “My love’s more richer than my tongue.” He/she will probably: a) immediately fall in love with your excellent English Lit knowledge; or b) be terribly perplexed - in which case, you may want to gift them with their very own copy of one of the Bard’s greatest works for reference.

4: When having “failed” a testConsidering the academically rigorous

environment at ISB, it is easy to find a stu-dent who frets over that A-. Before worrying about facing your parents and your inevitable “death,” arm yourself with the line “is this a dag-ger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand?” in hopes that all is a hallucination.

3: When you walk into the class-room and realize something was due

Most of us have experienced this situation: walking into your classroom, laughing with your friends, the teacher asks for the home-

by Cindy Liu, Staff Reporter

Until 2001, Napster was a peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing service with millions of free tracks available to anyone. However, Napster’s two-year reign ended when heavy-metal band Metallica filed a lawsuit against the company for copyright infringement1. With the fall of Napster, anti-P2P figures be-lieved that the problem of music piracy had been solved, but in the midst of the mayhem, a new P2P service emerged—LimeWire.

LimeWire’s ten-year reign ended in late 2010 when the company lost a lawsuit for copy-right infringement and intellectual property theft. Throughout the past decade, LimeWire has been the channel through which avid music listeners download audio clips without spend-ing a penny. Recently, however, users were dev-astated as LimeWire was shut down by the Re-cording Industry Association of America (RIAA) after it was reported to have funneled away $1.5 trillion of files from the music industry alone3.

However, though one of the most popu-lar music sharing sites has been shut down, users are still not opting to purchase music.Music piracy is still virulent, primarily be-cause perpetrators fail to realize that it is, in-deed, a crime. Shang Loh (11) agrees, stating that “people think downloading free music is harmless, when in actuality it is theft and takes money from...hard-working people.”

Users have been able to exploit loopholes to continue pirating songs through LimeWire. Although LimeWire implemented secret up-date that allowed the company to disable the program in many computers, Helen Chang (10) points out that “those who have not updated their versions of LimeWire can still access the

file sharing service without a problem.” Pirated versions of LimeWire PRO have also been created to allow users to continue downloading music.

Additionally, many former employees of P2P services have branched off and created small-er sites such as The Pirate Bay and FrostWire that continue to commit copyright infringe-ment today. Sophia Lin (10) attests, “Even though people have had more difficulty find-ing the newest music, they still find ways to download tracks using a variety of services like mp3skull.com and remix-nation.com.”

Clearly, even after the shutdown of LimeWire, free music is still easily accessible online. “Especially in China,” states Jeffrey Yau (11), “people don’t really put a lot of empha-sis on copyrights, so users can download with-out worrying about being accused of intellec-tual property theft.” On the other hand, users living in areas such as the United States risk prosecution and heavy fines for such actions.

Though the exception rather than the rule, some students such as Audrey Lin (9) do pay for their downloaded music through monthly subscription sites like Zune Pass, because they “didn’t want to risk download-ing any viruses,” and such subscriptions are cheaper than iTunes’ 99-cents-per-track charges. Krystal Koh (11), who also purchases music, believes that “LimeWire’s shutdown was inevitable, but it has been delayed for too long. Now [former LimeWire users] have to

spend money to buy music, but the shutdown is beneficial to improving users’ morality.”

No doubt, music is expensive and many are unwilling to purchase tracks when they could download them for free. Still, illegal-ly downloading music is a crime, as people are essentially stealing income from mu-sic industry employees. While it seems that P2P services will never be fully eradicated, one should do his/her part to honor musi-cians’ hard work in producing catchy tunes.

Tech Corner:LimeWire Shutdown Fails to Stop Music Pirates

by Emily Chang, Section Editor

Speakeths for itself.

Top 5: Shakespearean Moments

1 Mann, Charles C. “The Heavenly Jukebox.” The Atlantic Monthly. 15 Sept. 2000. < http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/2000/09/mann.htm>. 2 Fanning, Shawn. “HomePage.” Napster Page. Web. 04 Dec. 2010. <http://music.napster.com/napsterhomemain. htm?signin=1>. 3 Halliday, Josh. “LimeWire Shut down by Federal Court” Guardian.co.uk. 27 Oct. 2010. <http://www.guardian. co.uk/technology/2010/oct/27/>.

Artwork Courtesy of Kathy Zhou

We’ve all had times when we sense that emotion bubbling inside with no way to express it, yet we can’t afford to spit out profanities and subsequently risk getting caught by the Assistant Principal. Here are some Shakespearean quotes that’ll save you a few trips down to the Princi-pal’s Office, or help you to declare your love without being completely humiliated. Cross your fingers and hope for some to understand you— heavy-duty analysis may be required!

work (s)he assigned. Everyone pulls it out but you don’t know what’s going on… until you re-alize you hadn’t been paying attention last class and forgot about those worksheets. Instead of a swear word that will bring you punishment, “What the dickens!” will keep your civil tongue.

2: When recalling your pastAlthough most high school students are

not old enough to mourn the passing of their “glorious youth,” we certainly have had mo-ments when we wish we had less homework and less troublesome matters to deal with. Shake-speare’s “My salad days, when I was green in judgment” will wistfully echo your melancholy.

1: When you’ve had a tough dayNo doubt, there are days when we feel

like we cannot have it worse. The Bard defi-nitely understood. The line “when sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in bat-talions” perfectly illustrates our student lives laden with tests and assignments. How better to prepare ourselves for the stresses of school life than by soliloquizing with full literary force?

“William Shakespeare Quotes at AbsoluteShakespeare com.” AbsoluteShakespeare.com. Web. 14 Feb. 2011. <http://absoluteshakespeare.com/trivia/ quotes/quotes.htm>.

Art Courtesy of Rosalind Chang

Not quite the sinking ship that the RIAA wanted...

Opinions

PAGE 8

With social networks like Face-book offering users the opportu-nity to publicize their relationship statuses, peoples’ personal connec-tions are no longer private mat-ters. Even outside of cyberspace, one finds that more-than-amicable feelings end up being displayed to the general public through physi-cal intimacy, often referred to as “public displays of affection” (PDA).

PDA not only shatters the value of maintaining self-dignity, but also creates scenes that may be largely inappropriate for the school com-munity. Some may argue that times have changed from when it was necessary to keep everything to ourselves, yet the basic rules of social etiquette should still remain to guide our actions.

An article in the 2010-2011 Parent-Student Handbook succinctly addresses the topic of PDA: “In public, certain dis-plays of affections, such as holding hands or walking arm-in-arm, are perfectly ap-propriate. Other public displays of affec-tion or physical intimacy are not.” It might be easy to say “yes” to some words in ink, but actions still speak louder than words.

Physical intimacy between couples can indicate love and affection, but may

not convey the same message to observ-ers. When I see PDA around school, I’m unsure of whether to stare rudely, or “casually” walk by as if I didn’t see any-thing. Staring will reflect upon me as be-ing a “weirdo,” but pretending not to see it doesn’t mean nothing is happening. If I don’t want to be informed of someone else’s relationship progress, I would like to have the choice of not needing to en-counter it as I’m walking around school.

Of course, there isn’t an extreme amount of PDA is observed on cam-

pus, but once in a while, in or out of school, some things go a bit too far. For example, my friends and I go to the Formal with the intention of having some fun, but when some couples are enjoying each other’s company a little too much, we have no choice but to stop what we’re do-ing and scoot to another part of the ballroom. Once we’ve made a round around the room, we resolve to take a break outside, and a few explicit scenes once again interrupt our en-joyment. Thus, the problem begins when some people’s enjoyment becomes a distraction for others.

On the other hand, obstacles to preventing obscene PDA must also be mentioned. Restrictions for PDA are dif-ficult to enforce, and some people might not even see the problem as too big of a deal. At the end of the day, every by-passer has the capacity to endure at least a few discomforting moments, but it still doesn’t mean it should happen. It is difficult to deny that bonding has other ways of pre-senting itself – without having to go too far.

Artwork Courtesy ofAudrey Lin

When “Bonding” Goes Too Farby Cindy Liu, Staff Reporter

Christopher Columbus was a jerk. Unfortunately, he was the worst kind of jerk: one who, despite never really doing anything to deserve the title, is continually lauded as the “man who discovered Amer-ica.” When considering Columbus’s cred-ibility, it’s really imperative to note that: 1) Leif Ericson reached America about half a century before he did1; 2) the Na-tive Americans were most certainly there before that; and 3) he died with the belief that he’d found India, on the other side of the planet.

The first entry in his travel log upon arrival was an assessment of how eas-ily he’d be able to exploit the natives2. Upon realizing that he wouldn’t be able to return to Spain with shiploads of gold as promised, Columbus instead filled the hulls with native “Indians” who’d be forced into slavery. The remaining natives were put to work; those who didn’t find gold panning in the streams “had their hands cut off and bled to death.”3 In two years, half of the formerly 250,000-strong popula-tion of Indians on the island of Haiti had been decimated4.

That doesn’t sound like the Columbus I knew from elementary school.

I believe that the Columbus example illustrates one of the fundamental prob-lems with the way history is instructed, especially in the elementary school years. By lionizing a man who championed hu-man rights abuses and sparked a centuries-long tradition of subjugation, we are effec-

tively accepting those human rights abuses as admissible. I can see why history might be oversimplified for small children, but there’s a point at which oversimplifying becomes remiss. The glorification of un-deserving individuals is, in my view, negli-gent. The end, no matter how illustrious, does not justify the means, especially if the means involved the slow slaughter of mil-lions.

Of course, it’s important to consider the difference between acknowledging Columbus’s discovery and justifying it. We can acknowledge that, in the time period, Columbus’s behavior was the norm. How-ever, that doesn’t mean that it was justi-fied, and it certainly doesn’t mean that he should be touted as a role model for children. The fact that the man himself has

a holiday in his name (Columbus Day) is problematic, in that the exploitation and disease (including, as compelling scientific evidence suggests, syphilis5) he wrought upon the Native Americans is forgotten in favor of a one-sided view of the man.

From my experience, ISB high school history does a pretty good job of ensur-ing that students consider multiple sides of every historical argument. But the fundamental problem lies in the fact that conventional wisdom, carried over from elementary school, continues to pre-vail. Perhaps we don’t do much thinking about Columbus, or idea thief and kitten killer Edison6, or other historical cretins, but it’s important that we now reevaluate our thinking somewhat to obtain a more multi-faceted view of these figureheads, so that we finally see them for who they re-ally are – jerks or otherwise.

1 Auster, Bruce B. “A Leaf from Leif.” US News and World Report. 24 July 2000. Web. 9 Dec. 2010. <http://www.usnews.com/>.2 Zinn, Howard. A People’s History of the United States: 1492-present. New York: HarperCollins, 1999. 1. Print.3 Zinn. 4.4 Zinn. 5.5 Stein, Lisa. “Did Columbus Bring Syphilis to Eu-rope?” Scientific American. Nature America, Inc., 15 Jan. 2008. Web. 10 Dec. 2010. <http://scien-tificamerican.com/>.6 O’Brien, Daniel. “5 Famous Inventors (Who Stole Their Big Idea) | Cracked.com.” Cracked.com. 28 Mar. 2008. Web. 17 Feb. 2011. <http://www.cracked.com/>.

Image Courtesy of http://lebrund.glogster.com

Christopher Columbus Was a Jerkby Stephanie Zhou, Editor-in-Chief

PG-13.

Would you like some syphilis with that New World?