Pineapples belong on pineapples.     Image from Claire Chung. © Claire Chung 2018. All rights reserved. 

We’re on top of the world!                 Image from Claire Chung. © Claire Chung 2018. All rights reserved. 

We’re different flowers from the same garden.   Image from Allison Chen 

“A picture is worth a thousand words.” Every image – be it a geographic scenery, a family portrait, an abstract piece of art, or a random object – has its own significance and message to convey. It has the ability to replicate that moment in front of the camera and to bring back the emotions at that point in time. But most importantly, it restores flashes of memories that have seemingly slipped out of our brains.

And that is the reason why my partner Allison and I decided to choose our images based on the theme of “family.” After deliberately choosing the three best images we could find, we began to brainstorm ideas for interesting captions that can empower the image. In the first image, I was inspired by the joke from World Scholar’s Cup about how “pineapples belong on pizza.” Even though I was aware that not many people would respond to this, I felt that the caption adhered amusingly to the idea of having both me and my brother dressing up as pineapples. In the second image, I took advantage of the idiom “on top of the world” to express the happiness we had when my brother and I reached the tip of a tremendous rock, which also appeared physically to be “on top of the world.” It took the longest time for us devise a caption for the third image. In the end, Allison and I decided to focus on the inner significance of this picture, which was the strong bond between her and her sister. As we noticed flowers in the background of her image, we wrote our caption to convey that sisters can be different, but they are from the same origin.

Overall, my partner Allison and I worked well together and had a lot of fun coming up with the best captions. By tying these three unrelated images together by the theme of family and humor, I came to realize the importance of words and images; they cannot exist without each other.

When I was little, my mother would read me bedtime stories and give me long talks after the end of each book. This routine was influential to some extent within my personality, for example, whenever my teachers give us lectures on “academic honesty,” there is one particular story that I always think of:

Once upon a time, a beauty contest was held upon the Bird Kingdom. On the appointed day, a horde of birds flocked to a pond where they cleaned and smoothed their shabby feathers. The ambitious crow, however, was completely aware that its unremarkable appearance would not win the judge’s favor. Hopeless, the crow flew to the pond to mend its plain feathers when it spotted colorful feathers cast aside by the other birds on the water surface. “Aha!” it thought, as a WONDERFUL idea popped in its mind. Without hesitating, the crow began to ornate itself with different-colored feathers from other birds. Satisfied by its cunningness, the crow winged its way to the beauty contest.

At the opening ceremony, the crow’s exceptional appearance caught everyone’s eye. No one has ever seen such a beautiful creature! It was all until when the peacock recognized its feather dangling from the crow’s back that they began to realize…it was the plain crow in disguise. With that being said, the colorful feathers were pecked off by their respective owners, leaving the crow with embarrassment and disqualification from the contest.

You may or may not have heard of this fable, but either way, the concept of academic honesty truly applies to the situation of the crow and the colorful feathers. In reality, it is growing increasingly common among people to use resources from the Internet in order to embellish and upgrade the quality of their own work. With a more competitive learning environment and higher expectations from teachers and parents, the motivation behind academic dishonesty is becoming stronger and stronger by the moment.

Defined by the Oxford dictionary, plagiarism is to “present someone else’s work or ideas as your own, with or without their consent, by incorporating it into your work without full acknowledgment.” Truth is, among the many powerful benefits and advantages of the Internet lie one potential danger: the possibility of cheating.

Why Do People Cheat?

1. Pressure: The stress put on students to “achieve” is becoming heavier in the coming decades. While parents and teachers start to uncritically reinforce the concept that academic success is paramount, those who simply do not have the capability to do so will end up in the abyss of academic dishonesty.
2. Unreflective digital use: In this digital age, people are forming the habit of using the Internet thoughtlessly, carelessly, and uncritically. The digitals that technology gives has gradually been playing a role in students’ beliefs about cheating.
3. Learning environment: In specific schools, academic dishonesty is so commonly spread that it is difficult or resist the good grades that cheating can cause (without being found out). Peer pressure and the atmosphere of the campus can truly shape students’ perception regarding academic dishonesty.

Encouraging Ethical Collaboration

The term ethical collaboration was taught to me by my mother, but it was until in 7th grade that I understood the importance of being ethical to my family, my friends, my teachers, and even strangers. In a community of ethical collaboration, students are learning for themselves, not for others. In a world of ethical collaboration, no one is afraid to let the world know what they want to say. Taking this further, the concept of encouraging ethical collaboration echoes back to reducing academic stress from teachers and parents as well as alleviating peer pressure among students.

As students’ opinion may vary from the Internet, honesty is a significant virtue to own in order voice out your thoughts. If an ethical collaboration is built upon all school communities, the world will definitely see more youth voices being heard.

Source: 
“Ethical Collaboration.” Harvard Graduate School of Education. N. p., 2018. Web. 20 Nov. 2018.

What do “liking” a tweet, searching on google, referencing sources, and commenting on a post have in common? Even though they are seemingly unrelated, these are all actions that leave a digital footprint. You may or may not have truly experienced the importance of “digital footprints” or “digital citizenship,” but it is a pivotal concept to be aware of while revealing yourself on the Internet, especially in this digital era.

Photo credit: Shutterstock

Digital footprints are left in many ways, for example, leaving a comment on someone’s post, registering accounts, and even uploading videos. It can be an action as automatic as pressing a like on someone else’s post or as harmful as posting a toxic comment under a video. Either way, the entirety of actions done are the Internet are what you reveal about yourself online.

Being a Twitter and Facebook user, I don’t reveal too much of myself on social media. Most of the times, I only “like” posts from my closest friends or environmentally concerning ideas that I can respond to (UN Environment, UNESCO, Marine Connection…basically everything about the ocean!). In other times, I use social media to communicate with my clubs and classmates for schoolwork purposes. This can certainly sound a little paranoid, but for me, cyber safety is the priority while I hope every footprint that I leave on the Internet can be beneficial to the world rather than being pure entertainment for short-term purposes.

Whenever I see people commenting on unsecure posts (replying to random sources so that the source could message more information seems like a trend nowadays), revealing every moment of their lives, or chatting with made-up identities, it’s extremely difficult for me to imagine people not thinking about safety on the internet. The Internet is a totally different world than real-life, but danger could be anywhere if people don’t watch out.

But it’s not just safety, the purpose of being a digital citizen is not to appear as superficially “perfect”, but to be able to leave influential footprints that records your mental growth throughout the years to come.

Photo Credit: L.C.Nøttaasen via Compfight cc

Here is an insightful story on the significance of digital footprints:

What is the first thing you do when you receive a new book, play a new musical piece, or watch a new movie? Do you flip the book over to read the synopsis, search on the Internet to read the piece’s appreciation, or scroll through the critiques of the film? While it may seem like a meaningless act for those who have read the book, played the piece, or watched the movie, these clues from the synopsis, appreciation, and critiques are handy resources for clueless people to determine:

Can I relate myself to this book?

Am I suitable for this piece?

Will I enjoy this movie?

Every day, people encounter new experiences in their lives. Whether it is trying a book by an unfamiliar author, attempting to play a musical piece by a composer who is unheard of, or having a friend dragging you to go watch a new movie – it is always difficult to start.

This is where “school handbooks” comes in. Not only that handbooks have the capability of displaying the mission statement of each school and reinforcing the rules in the learning environment, they also have the capability to convey their culture, values, and ethnology to the readers; for a new student, a new parent, or a new teacher, school handbooks provide a sense of security and warmth.

Almost every school handbook circles their content around school operations, school courses, academic honesty, disciplinary codes, safety issues, and health support. However, an insightful reading of the handbook can proceed from plain school rules to the core of a handbook. From the tone of written accounts regarding to school operations, mission statements, and disciplinary codes, one can tell apart what each school values. As each handbook is personalized to fit the style of their education, the format and tone of the handbook are able to reveal what type of general feeling the school can give you.

Taking Kaohsiung American School’s handbook as an example, the pertinent statements for each section conveys a sense of freedom within the school campus. This can lead to students tending to have more diverse thoughts; this sense of diversity and creativity is what makes Kaohsiung American School special. Morrison Academy Kaohsiung bases their education on God. With religious values, students can develop stronger cohesion with peers while being united as a whole under their faith in God. On the other hand, 90 % of the handbook from International Bilingual School at Hsinchu Science Park are disciplinary codes and penal systems. This establishes a more principled character within the students of IBSH in order to prepare them for more in-depth studies in the future.

Education is a powerful tool of influence. Each type of education builds a different character within the student, parent, and teacher, which is why it is essential to judge which type of education is most suitable for one’s development depending on their needs, talents, and beliefs.

But how?

A handbook is powerful because it is like a synopsis of a new book, a piece of appreciation for a new piece, and a critique for a new movie. It is an introduction to a new school life. It is what makes you say – confidently –

Yes, I can relate myself to this environment. 

Yes, I am suitable for this type of education. 

Yes, I will enjoy this school.