School on Saturday (again), still no class
As my schedule (and all schedules) will change as of this Monday, today is sort of a waste, yet we have school today. I went into my Secondary 3 Geography class knowing that on Monday I will have 16 additional students. I really didn't know what to do as these students were already going to be ahead of the new ones and I didn't want to teach anything new. Three students had acoustic guitars with them in the room. They are going to be performing at our weekly assembly on Monday and had them with them to practice. Some kids knew that I played guitar as they had seen me when I brought it to play for J.'s class a few weeks ago. They asked me to play and I did and then continued to play for the rest of the hour. It was fun, but not really educational. I am rationalizing on the grounds that I was building connections to the students--not sure how that would sound to the powers that be...but not certain that they could blame me either.
The school used to have a dean and now has a dean again. In the interim the prinicipal took on the dean's duties, and apparently, the Singapore people who we try so to impress felt that things were amiss. So, the new dean has made some changes. Chief among them, so far as I am concerned, has been to increase the mandatory hours (and therefore the importance) of humanities at the school. That's good for me.
The Indonesian government condemned the N. Korean nuclear tests arguing that such a development stood to increase the likelihood of SE Asian arms race. Fair point, I think. Other than that, I haven't seen much comment on the subject.
I wrote it in the comments section but it bears repeating, I chose my words poorly when I wrote that Iran has the only significant Shia population. Iraq has a majority of Shiites as well (still fewer than Iran). The hostage taking at the US embassy in Tehran in 1979 is my first, and I think many Americans first, impression of Islam. The Western media has a fondness for showing the Shia as self flagellating, riotous, flag burners. For a long time, I don't think the Western media even made much effort to distinguish between Shia and Sunni. This effect may explain why, after 9/11, even Sikhs faced persecution or feared it in America.
I noticed a story in the Jakarta Post about a new US Dept. of Homeland Security measure that will use newly created software to scan the global media for what's being said about the US. How this will help prevent terrorist attacks is beyond me. Foreign media and free media advocates find this a worrisome move, I just think its highly paranoid and silly. Are there not CIA all around the world who report on the countries they analyze? The Jakarta Post is mostly an outlet for wire services, save the local news--the local news is always the most interesting anyway, here.
The school used to have a dean and now has a dean again. In the interim the prinicipal took on the dean's duties, and apparently, the Singapore people who we try so to impress felt that things were amiss. So, the new dean has made some changes. Chief among them, so far as I am concerned, has been to increase the mandatory hours (and therefore the importance) of humanities at the school. That's good for me.
The Indonesian government condemned the N. Korean nuclear tests arguing that such a development stood to increase the likelihood of SE Asian arms race. Fair point, I think. Other than that, I haven't seen much comment on the subject.
I wrote it in the comments section but it bears repeating, I chose my words poorly when I wrote that Iran has the only significant Shia population. Iraq has a majority of Shiites as well (still fewer than Iran). The hostage taking at the US embassy in Tehran in 1979 is my first, and I think many Americans first, impression of Islam. The Western media has a fondness for showing the Shia as self flagellating, riotous, flag burners. For a long time, I don't think the Western media even made much effort to distinguish between Shia and Sunni. This effect may explain why, after 9/11, even Sikhs faced persecution or feared it in America.
I noticed a story in the Jakarta Post about a new US Dept. of Homeland Security measure that will use newly created software to scan the global media for what's being said about the US. How this will help prevent terrorist attacks is beyond me. Foreign media and free media advocates find this a worrisome move, I just think its highly paranoid and silly. Are there not CIA all around the world who report on the countries they analyze? The Jakarta Post is mostly an outlet for wire services, save the local news--the local news is always the most interesting anyway, here.
posted by athensinternational at 10:45 PM
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