Snapshots of Development May 26, 2009

Infant Mortality Rate depending on Math Achievement in 8th Grade

Look at graphhttp://graphs.gapminder.org/world/#$majorMode=chart$is;shi=t;ly=2003;lb=f;il=

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In the Gapminder website, I chose to compare the infant mortality rate with the 8th grade math achievement worldwide. In the graph, there is a clear and visible diagonal trend line that starts in high infant mortality rate per 1000 births with a low math achievement, which is what I expected. As the infant mortality rate becomes lower, the math achievement becomes higher. Ghana has a high infant mortality rate (76 deaths per 1000 babies) and very low test scores (301). Ghana has the lowest test scores, yet Botswana has higher test scores (365) but a more prominent infant mortality rate (90 deaths per 1000  babies). Singapore, without surprise, has the highest test scores (596, almost 600) and the lowest infant mortality rate (2 deaths per 1000 babies). South Korea has about the same number of math achievement (595), but a higher infant mortality rate (5 deaths per 1000 babies). Within this downward diagonal line, there are a few outliers. Botswana and Bahrain lie outside the general trend. Something that surprised me was that within the range of 464-506 math achievement, there are five countries: Cyprus, Norway, Sweden, Czech Republic, and Slovenia, that all have the same number of death rates: 3 deaths per 1000 babies. I think this is interesting because for these countries, the death rate does not depend on the math  achievement. 

I decided to select the indicators of infant mortality rate depending on math acheivement in 8th grade for several reasons. I think that the countries that have very high test scores generally do not have a high infant mortality rate, because for one thing there are more students to take the tests, and the countries that have higher test scores a probably more well-off, so they have better health care to prevent babies from not making in to age 5. I was even surprised to see a trend because the chart is comparing infant death rate with 8th grade test scores, two different ages. Education and death rate have a lot to do with each other, because income and economy influences both of them. 

I do not understand why these five countries have different test scores but all the same birth rate. A possible way to figure that out would be to do in-depth research about each country’s health-education system and economy. Also, what is interesting is that 13 years ago, those five countries were all on different spots of the chart, and now they have evened out. Something that also remains unclear is that Hungary and Lithuania have high test scores, because I always assumed that they were poor countries. But here it may not matter as much.

Psychology of War. March 12, 2009

World War II had a numerous amount of effects on the soldiers and all the people involved with it. After experiencing something traumatic and terribly frightening, many people come down with PTSD (Post-traumatic stress disorder). This is a disorder that is affected by something horrifying or negatively life-changing. In the movies I can see the emotional and psychological problems that the soldiers go through. For example, in Flags of Our Fathers, at a party, when Hayes is crying to his friend’s mother about the loss of his friend. He says, “He was the best marine I ever knew.” Losing someone, a good friend, a mentor, someone who taught you something or meant something to you during the war caused stress and heavy sadness. This is one of the aspects of the psychological effect of war.

There is also the mental readyness war evokes. When one is so deeply connected with the battle they are fighting for their country, they situate themselves in a position of preparedness. They must be willing to go out there onto that battle feild and risk their life for their country. If they are unable to think, I am ready to do this, there is no point in trying to make that feeling happen. For example, when the battle is over, there is a sort of emotional upheaval but right after, bombs begin to go off and things go back to “usual”. I think this is interesting because it seems like there is no time whatsoever during the war to be emotional because anything could happen at any time and the soldiers must be physically and mentally alert.

I think that, in general, the sights that people see and the physical pain that people go through affect people emotionally a lot. After seeing ombs blowing up right in front of one’s face and having to point at other human beings and attempt to shoot at them, put bluntly, I would personally not be the happiest person when I came home to my family. It would not be a healthy atmosphere. The memories that the soldiers recall after the war are so vivid and become so painful. PTSD also has to do a lot with hallucinations and dreams–horrible dreams that recall these traumatic times.

In Letters of Iwo Jima, the men are very pained by what the war has done to them. It has taken away Saigo’s family and his life he left behind, has given most of them nothing but cold soup, and these enormous life changes can be quite traumatic. I have not seen the end, but at the end most of the Japanese soldiers suicide themselves, which is definitley a cause of PTSD.

I think the effect on soldiers psychologically is very strong and can cause some heavy mental turmoil.

The Lemon Tree (4) February 5, 2009

SUMMARY

Bashir sees the inside of his old house in chapter 9. He gets invited in by Dalia Eshkenazi, the woman currently living there now. Seeing his every detail of his own house makes him remember the old days spent there with his family. Bashir invites Dalia to Ramallah, and says she can come whenever she pleases. Bashir tells his family, when he returns, about the old home and leaves with his father in a yearning state of nostalgia. Dalia decided to go visit Bahsir in Ramallah.

QUOTES

“She knew it was not advisable in the wake of war for a young Israeli woman to invite three Arab men into her house.” All the time, I was thinking of how Dalia would react when Bahsir asked to enter. In the 1st chapter we see how his 2 cousins react when they approach their old homes. Now, Dalia, an independent, smart woman is presented with thre Arab men that she has no idea who are or where they come from, asking to enter the house. How much can she confide in them?

” ‘You are welcome. Come in, feel at home.’ It was a universal welcome–make yourself at home, yet these particular words seemed strange to Bashir as he approached the front door: Feel at home.” This interested me because it is Bashir’s home, or rather, it was, and he feels as though he shouldn’t FEEL at home, he should BE at home. Except now, it isn’t his home, it is Dalia’s.

“Dalia came in with the drinks–Bashir would remember samll cups of Turkish coffe, Dalia is certain she served lemonade.” This minor detail is curious and mysteriosu to me. What really was the drink? Lemonade from the lemon tree? And how does this affect Bashir and Dalia’s differences? Lemonade and coffee are both delicious, just as Bashir and Dalia are both good people, but they are both also extremley different.

THOUGHTS

I especially liked this chapter because it was part of the story, not part of the history. The history was interesting but only certain parts, and it helped get to where Dalia and Bashir are, like the final paragraph of the 8th chapter says. I was anticipating to see Dalia’s reaction to Bashir appearing at the door, and Bashir’s reaction to his old home.

Lemon Tree (3) February 3, 2009

Nobody really likes to speak about the past. The Bulgarians are quiet and discreet about it, and not much is said. Bulgaria is, in some ways, in a sort of trance, shocked, and without much insight on where they are or how they stand in the place of societ. Yet, the Arab and Jew tension is increasing and this is on the verge of causing a war. War comes, between the Palestinians and the Israelis. The pece treaty is signs to share Palestine and part of the Gaza Strip.

One passage that caught my attention was, on page 119, “The idea, recalled the editor, was to “wash off that old Jew” to erase the image of the “squirming ghetto Jew” and to focus on the “new Jew” who was “standing tall for the first time”, plungin his hands into the soil to create a new country.” I think the Jews are finally beginning to gain some self-confidence. Before, they were absolutley powered by the Nazi forces and were poor, helpless people. Dalia’s generation is growing in respect for one another and respect from others. Later we will discover that some Jews are also using, in certain terms, violence, rebelling against the causes of their struggling in the years before.

Questions: Why did the Jews agree to share Gaza and Palestine if they were sharing it with their most prominent enemies? Wouldn’t this just create more problems?

Lemon Tree (2) January 28, 2009

Chapter 4 deals with the story of Dalia’s family in Bulgaria.  Not before long, many Jews in Bulgaria began being taken away to death camps. Dimitur Peshev was the vice president of the Jewish parliament, and he was one of the people who stopped this horrible treatment in Ploviv, Bulgaria. His friend Asen Suichmenov, a shop owner who was kind to Jews and had grown up around them, helped him.Chapter 5 is the story of what Palestine was going through around that same time. The Khairis travelled north, and growing tensions between Arabs and Jews were causing bombs and unsafe environments.

1st Passage:

“Yitzhak Yitzhaki, a strong, good looking twenty-year-old, was sent to a work camp on the Serbian border (…) we were very lucky indeed’.” (entire paragraph, p. 28 )

This peice stood out for me because I didn’t notice anything too bad about it. It made me think of the late 19th century and the conditions for soldiers fighting during the American Civil War. I thought that all work camps were terrible, but Yitzhak said he was lucky compared to what was occuring in Europe because he was on the Serbian border. It made me see things differently because I didn’t know that Serbia was probably better off than Europe in those times, but now I can see that it clearly was. Questions: Why were some Jews sent to work camps while others were sent to death camps?

2nd Passage:

“Violeta recalled, ‘I told him to give me the documents.’

‘I cannot give you the documents.”

‘Then give me my money back.’ Violeta told the governor.

‘No, I’m not giving you the money back,’ he replied, ‘Please leave the room.’

The young woman with the yellow star stood up and left the office. She returned to the house shaken, with no money and no documents.” (p. 34)

This piece stood out for me because I can see that it is not a fair game that is played. The governor, Miltenov, even though he is Bulgarian, will not stand to be persuaded to grant the travel permits for the Jewish deportation to Poland. The Jews were not treated with dignity, and even little things like this are important. I think that Violeta did exactly what was right; she did not say or do anything wrong, and she acted civilly. But she could’ve persuaded him more than she did, becuase they chose her to ask him to give him the documents. What Miltenov did was cruel and injust, and it should not have been done. Questions: Why didn’t Miltenov give Violeta the papers? Would there have been any bad consequences if he had given her the papers?

3rd Passage:

“For many of the people of al-Ramla, it was their first glimpse of Khairi women, who almost never left the family compound. Some of the women were pregnant, and there, in the heat, a woman’s water broke. She had her baby on the ground…Firdaws saw a boy peeing into a can and then his gradmother drinking it.”

This passage stood out for me because I didn’t think that someone would include such a detail in the story of the Arab travel from al-Ramla to Salbit. But I think this is very important, because in these stories, the main ideas are important, but the small things that occur should not be forgotten. On the trip to Salbit, it was extremely hot and tiring, and that we know, but the causes of the length of the trip, the heat, and the exhaustion should also be shown. This portrays humanity at its core. Questions: How will Bashir remember this trip when he is older? Why were only the Khairi women there and not other women?

BLOG COMMENTS

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The Lemon Tree (1) January 26, 2009

The first chapter of The Lemon Tree introduces to us two characters: Bashir Khairi, a Palestinian who journeys to Israel to see his old house where his family went for rescue and shelter years past; and Dalia Eshkenazi, a young woman who left Europe for her home  country, Israel, because of the Holocaust. Dalia lives in Bashir’s family’s old house, and they do not know it yet but they are destined to meet. Bashir travels in train with his two cousins and arrives at al-Ramla, a gentle and beautiful city in Israel. Dalia stays at home, sipping tea and eating bread, unaware of who she will encounter in time’s moment, and what possible life-changing consequences this encounter will bring.

The second chapter is a description of the history of the house, it introduces Ahmad and the reasons why he built the house, and the hertiage story behind it.

1st Passage:

“For nearly two decades, since he was six years old, Bashir had been preparing for this journey. It was the breath, the currency, the bread of his family…It was what everyone talked about all the time: return. In exile, there was little else worth dreaming of.” (p.1)

This piece stood out for me because it is a yearning for home. Bashir has been away from home for so long because of the conflict between Israel and Palestine, that his return almost seems magical. It makes me think of one’s love for their past heritage and the need to regain the power and patrimony that his family had in Israel. It made me see things differently because I usually thought that in those times, everyone put up with the situation they were in and did not try to do anything out of the ordinary to fix it. But I now see that Bashir is determined to see his house again and he will not let anyone get in the way of it. Questions: If Bashir is Palestinian, then why is he going to his old house in Israel? When he sees his house, and when he is in al-Ramla for enough time, will he see it differently than he is imagining it? What new improvements/deteriorations will have happened since Bashir left? Why did Bashir have to go to Palestine in the first place?

2nd Passage:

“Dalia’s family had been spared the atrocities in Bulgaria by acts of goodwill from Christians she was raised to admire and remember. Now she beleived her people had a destiny on the land of Israel. This was partly why she believed what she had been told: The Arabs who lived in her house, and hundreds of other stone homes in her city, had simply run away….In school Dalia learned that the Arabs had fled like cowards…as a younger child, she hadn’t questioned this story, but the older she got, the less sense it made. Why would anyone voluntarily leave such a beautiful house?” (p. 3, 5)

This stood out for me becuase I can see that even though there was cruelness in Bulgaria, Dalia was still a doer of good deeds and now Israel will bring forth good for her people, and the Arabs that used to live there had fled for unexplainable reasons. It made me draw connections to more familiar episodes of migration, as in the problems the United States is facing with the desicion about illegal immigrants. I can see, through the immigrant’s eyes, that they are hoping to find a more prosperous life in the US than in some parts of South America, just like Dalia, who had put her old and unhealthy life aside and came to live to a place in which she could appreciate life. I thought it was interIt made me see things differently because she was different than most of the people she had been taught with. She questioned the thought of the Arabs running away from such a lovely home, instead of just leaving it blunt as “they were cowards”. Questions: I would like to know more about the reasons Dalia left Bulgaria. How long has Dalia been in Israel? When Dalia meets Bashir, will she understand better the answer to her question?

3rd Passage:

“It is a fine city (…) fine mosques and broad roads.” (p.11, entire paragraph)

This stood out for me because I personally really like description. It made me visualize al-Ramla very clearly. This made me think of why Bashir must yearn to go back, and also that the people living here must be very fortunate. It made me see things differently because I always had this picture of Israel as being a very poor country but I realize now that I am compleltey wrong and that there are very beautiful parts of it. Questions: If it is so beautiful, as Dalia asks, why did Bashir’s family leave? Are there any parts of Israel that are equally admirable, or would Israelis agree that this city is the most wonderful? Could Israel compleltey change so that almost all of it/most of it was the same as al-Ramla, or are there parts that are too helpless to even attempt to make better?

COMMENTS ON OTHER BLOGS:

(There are no other blogs yet.  I will put them when they appear.)

Global Voices: Children and Mobile Phones in Japan November 17, 2008

This is a very brief Global Voices blog on the rights and priveleges in Japan for children with usage of mobile phones. Basically what the Discussion Group for Education Rebuilding in Japan wants to do is make “special telephones for children so tha only calls can be made, and to set up a system for tracking the position of the unit”. Although this may seem like not such a big deal, it is something that has probably gotten so out of hand in Japan that they had to put a stop to it. Parents and teachers in school must have been worried that their child was spending all his or her time texting, taking pictures, and using up money to call or download ringtones.  It is quite silly, but when you think about it, it makes sense. The children need a good education, and a good education is not acheived when one is only half paying attention to their schoolwork or homework. I think some children–not all, but some–especially throughout the ages of 11-16 are more prone to being distracted than adults. And the biggest form of distraction nowadays is electronics–computers, television, cell phones. I do not think that the Discussion Group for Education Rebuilding should be paranoid about the issue, but if it is such a problem in schools and at home and the cause of bad grades is this, then it should be controlled a bit more.

Global Voices Online–Haiti School Collapses November 10, 2008

A blog was written on Global Voices Online because a school in Haiti collapsed. A hurricane came and the school walls crumbled with kids from kindergarted through high school trapped inside. Most of the children in the school died, and the rest were injured. Basically, if Haiti had more Bulldozers, people would be more safe. I think that it is not fair for children to have to go through this. They should be more careful; the schools should be built in a way in which there is some sort of protection or evacuation plan. People can’t just expect, especially in a country in which hurricanes are frequent, that nothing will go wrong and that the school will be fine. A school, of all places! Where the poor children are being taught. It is not a place in which hurricanes should damage, let alone destroy and kill children of school age.

Reflection: Children’s Rights Blog November 3, 2008

I read a Human Rights Watch blog. There is a UN urge to ban execution from crimes comitted by children. The death penalty for children shouls not be valid, but in five countries, Iran. Pakistan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan have carried out 32 execctuions for children. This is horrifying. If children commit a crime, they should be disciplined and not killed. The reason they commit crimes is probably because they come from a bad background, and they can’t help it. I think this petition should be signed very soon.

Reflection on Audio File October 27, 2008

I think the audio file was very helpful. I thought that it was good that you read through it and made comments while you read instead of reading the whole thing and then making comments afterward. It was easy to follow and you gave mostly clear advice. However, occasionally I would hear “This doesn’t make sense,” and then you would continue forth in making further comments, so I didn’t really know what to do. I suppose you wanted us to figure out why it did not make sense, so I understand that, but maybe if you could be a little more specific that would help. Other than that, it was really helpful and I noticed some things that I wouldn’t have noticed myself.