Big Business and Economy

           Today in class we continued to watch the video we watched in previous classes and continued on our topic of capitalism. During the video we froze and each talked about what we thought about what just happened and what we can do. Like how we can get more business in America and keep businesses from leaving America to use cheap labor in countries like China. I had an idea of having everyone (who can afford it) pay the same tax, and for those in the lower class who can’t afford to pay the tax will have that tax lowered based on income. If we can do that then the upper classes will have to money to be able to make new businesses which will create new jobs for those unemployed and therefore we could possibly make the economy even out as well. If a government official does chose to go the way I had just explained I would like to see how it would play out in the end.

Big Companies

          Today in class we talked more about China and in general capitalism. We watched a video that talked about jobs and how the world relies on other people to make things. Not only that, but also how the United States is losing jobs to other people in different countries, because the people in those other countries will work for less and the companies can gain more money. In the video there were many examples of this happening including how a company moved its plant from Missouri to China and as a result over four-hundred workers were laid off. This also resulted in the fact that the Chinese workers were paid only up to ten percent of what the American workers were paid. This proved my point on how the companies were just greedy for money. There is change though in the price of items now that they can be made cheaper. Now we can all buy items that would normally be over one-hundred dollars for twenty.  

Those Countries

           Today in class we finally finished our lesson on different countries, their leaders, and their leader’s traits. We also got back our final test on this unit and many people did great on it including me. I got a perfect score and was really excited to score so well even though I didn’t think I studied my hardest, but it was great to see that studying at all can pay off. After we finished handing out the tests we spent just about five minutes reviewing and if anyone got anything wrong they were allowed to write the right answer on their paper. Then we started the next section in a way. We started by watching a video about capitalism and then as we went through the video we talked about what was going on in China and how the government tried to control parts of people’s lives and how jobs in China can affect us, here in the U.S. But since we didn’t get that far I guess I’ll just talk about that next time.

Essays and Tests

           Today in class we started out with handing in our papers that we did over the weekend. I talked about Iran, Israel, and the United States and their relationship to each other in the crises going on in the Gaza Strip. After we handed in our papers, Mr. Schick already started to read out the mistakes we made on our papers. I did see the rubric the day before our paper was due, but I guess I just thought that I had already done everything right. I think the only thing I did wrong was underlining the title.  

            After we handed in our paper we had to take our test. We even got to use our blog, but unlucky I, my internet was down. Although I was at a disadvantage, I found the test really easy and finished it before a lot of other people did. I’m sad there’s no Human Geography tomorrow.

First Paper Project

            In class after we finished talking about the countries and when they were declared independent, who they ruled by, and where they were located, we were assigned a paper to do by Monday. When we got this assignment I hoping me and my partner from our last assignment would be able to do the paper together, but that plan failed when they told me they were going to do the paper with someone else. I really did wish I could’ve had a partner for this assignment, but I guess I can do the best I can by myself anyway. I think for my paper I am going to write about Israel and Iran and their relationship with the U.S. and each other. Like the fact that right now they are currently launching rockets at each other daily. And then Israel is building up troops along the border and has assassinated one of Iran’s political leaders close to the border. But I guess I should wait until I say everything about my paper.

Countries And Reviewing

                   Today in class we continued to talk about countries as our topic and tried to finish talking about our facts. Although I don’t think we quite finished, we still did get a lot done. Especially for those people who didn’t quite have enough time to finish their research. I’m glad Erin and I got to finish ours though. We found a lot of information and checked each other’s facts to make sure that they were right.  After today I can say though that I learned a lot about what is and have gone on in these countries and how confusing or cruel the world can be. Mr. Schick even told us a story today about what happened to Iran when the Shaa was replaced by a man that changed Iran even now. When the Shaa was forced out of power Mr. Schick met a woman whose father was supposedly very highly ranked in the military of Iran before the Shaa was forced to leave. Even today she is waiting for the Shaa to regain power so she may return home.

Countries N' Stuff

Afghanistan- Afghanistan declared independence from the United Kingdom on August 19^th, 1919. Ahmad Shah Durrani found the tribes of early Afghanistan in 1747. Before they became Independent they were a commonwealth to the United Kingdom. Afghanistan is in an area called the Middle East and can also be found if you look Northwest of India on a map.

France- France was first thought to declare its independence in the year 1789 A.D. when it was freed by itself. Before France first was thought to declare independence it was ruled under a Kingship and heavily oppressed. Although France was under another rule, it wasn’t a country that ruled them. France is one of many countries that can found in Europe and is just east of Spain and west of Germany.

India- India succeeded from the United Kingdom on August 19, 1947 just after World War II. Before they became independent they ruled by the British and were part of the British Empire. It was once said the British Empire was so big that the sun couldn’t set on it. India is a country placed to the north of the Indian Ocean and Southeast of Afghanistan.

Mexico- Mexico declared independence from Spain on September 16, 1810. Before they declared independence Mexico was part of the Spanish rule and only declared independence after the United States stepped in and helped them in a revolution. Mexico is known as Central America in many cases because it is located between North America (U.S. and Canada) and South America (Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, etc.).

United Kingdom- Although the United Kingdom has had many revolts and has had many governments and royal families overthrown, they haven’t actually been ruled by another country. They are an island nation located Northeast of Europe, and have ruled many other countries, but they have never been ruled themselves.

Brazil- Brazil has been under Portuguese rule for over three centuries and gained its independence in September 7, 1822. When Brazil was subject to Portugal, there was constant fighting, rebelliousness, and slavery. Although Brazil has declared its independence, it is still a country that speaks mainly Portuguese. It is in Eastern South America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean and several other countries that have also gained their independence.

Germany-Germany declared independence on January 18, 1871. Germany was never subject to another country. European power struggles immersed Germany in two devastating World Wars in the first half of the 20th century. The wars left the country occupied by the victorious Allied powers of the US, UK, France, and the Soviet Union in 1945. Germany is in Central Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, between the Netherlands and Poland, south of Denmark.

Iran-Iran gained their independence from a tyrant’s reign (Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavilran) on April 1, 1979. Iran is located in the Middle East, bordering the Gulf of Oman, the Persian Gulf, and the Caspian Sea. Iran was known as Persia until 1935 and became an Islamic republic in 1979. The Shaa of Iran was overthrown and replaced by someone called the Iatola enforced strict religious law that was unfair to women and gave people less freedom.

Suadi Arabia-Saudi Arabia has never been colonized, so their independence day is actually the day when their kingdom was created. Their independence was declared on September 23, 1932, which is now called “Unification of the Kingdom”. Saudi Arabia is in the Middle East and it borders the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea.

Venezuela-Venezuela declared independence from Spain on July 5, 1811. It is located in Northern South America, borders the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, and is between Colombia and Guyana. Venezuela was one of three countries that emerged from the collapse of Gran Colombia in 1830. For most of the first half of the 20th century, Venezuela was ruled by generally benevolent military strongmen, who promoted the oil industry and allowed for some social reforms.

Mo' Quizzes

         Today in class we finally got back our quizzes on the leaders and or president of each country and what they accomplished.  I was so happy when I got a hundred on the quiz. Not only that but I think everyone was also happy for Damian and amazed he got perfect score as well. We were so happy when heard we were also the best class in terms of number of A’s and in percentage. Not only that but I think we might also be one of Mr. Schick’s favorite classes. After we finished getting our quizzes back from Mr. Schick, we went over the answers. When we were going over the answers, Alex said that her letter B was a Q and we were all like “It’s a B” and she was like “It’s a Q”. I guess we had a fun time today anyway even if we still have to remember all this stuff for another time. 

Fight Me Bro?

           Yesterday in class after we studied and gathered information about the leaders of several countries we had a quiz about the leaders of each country and the attributes that make them great or what defines them. I found the test really easy and I also think I did really well, because of the fact that we’ve been reviewing the information for about a week or two. After the quiz we started writing notes on the next part of the lesson. We were also reminded about how the president of Venezuela challenged George Bush to a fist fight and the reason he hates us so much. The reason is that he thinks of us as an imperialist country which is also one of our key words this lesson. When he talks about the U.S. as an imperialist country, he means that we try to control other countries through our products, military, and our culture. Although we do have a lot of impact on other countries culture, I just think he’s jealous that he can’t do the same with his country.   

It's a Globe!

        Today in class a few things happened. One of which was that we had shadows! There were two shadows in our class today. One was named Cameron and was with Ellie, and the other was named Erin and was with Erin. We also got to play a game in class as we learned about the leaders of different countries. The game worked like this.  Mr. would call on us and we would have to either pick a country or a leader, and tell everyone a fact or two about it. Then after we decided if the fact was “worthy” Mr. Schick would toss us a ball in the shape of a globe and tell us to find the country that leader represents on the globe. Mr. Schick made the game even more fun and funny when he would pretend to throw the ball at us and constantly fake us out and make us paranoid. I hope we have more fun games that we can enjoy while learning!  

This is Crazy

         Today in class, we got back to class after not having it Tuesday and started looking back over the facts we gathered about the presidents of our list of countries. It turns out that we learned just quite a few things from just researching the presidents of these countries and finding their background. An example is when Dilma Rousseff was in her early twenty’s she tried to overthrow the Brazilian government. Although she did not succeed at first and was imprisoned and tortured she later became Brazil’s president and is still president today. Not only that, but she is also Brazil’s first female president. We also learned about the king of Saudi Arabia and that he has over thirty children and thirteen wives! Mr. Schick told us that almost all of the king’s sons are in the military or some high place in ranking. Not only that, but he is watching them all carefully to see which son will be worthy of his throne after the king dies. I hope for the best for all these leaders in this crazy world!

Leaders and Achievements

David Cameron- The youngest elected Prime Minister of England. He also gave Middle Eastern countries weapons in hope to bring “peace”.

Hamid Karzai- He and his oldest brother were having a case put together against them, because of corruption. He was also part of a drug trade with his other brother Ahmed Wali Karzai. The Taliban ruled the country before him and now he is trying to stop the drug trade.

Enrique Pena Nieto- His wife died during his second term in office due to a seizure. Lots of people don’t like him because he killed two protesters when he called in for the state police.

Ju Hintao- He stabilized his country and its population, to make it a first class superpower. Meanwhile, he also closely controls the media to control what the public hears.

Pranab Mukherjee- He is an author of many different books including Beyond Survival and Off the Track. He is also one of the oldest presidents in India.

Mahmoud Ahmaddinejad- Vowed to destroy Israel at any cost. It is also claimed that he stormed an U.S. embassy in 1979.

Benjamin Netanyahu- He considers Iran the biggest threat to Israel and its people. He is not the only leader in Israel, his co-worker Shimon Perez is the president while Benjamin is the Prime Minister.

Joachim Gauck- He lived most of his life in East Germany in the time of the Soviet Union. Near the fall of the Berlin Wall Gauck frequently saw protesters including one peaceful protest in 1989.

Franquios  Hollande- Hollande grew up in northern Normandy, where the allies had first invaded France in WWII. Although he was raised Catholic as a child Hollande is now part of the agnostic belief. She was the first woman president to be elected into office.

Dilma Rousseff- Before she became president it was rumored that had handled weapons and organized operations. On January 16, 1970 she was arrested on suspicion and for possession of a firearm.

Hugo Chavez- He served in the army from 1976-1981 and was in the academy for four years. He later joined up with the Bolivarian Revolutionary Army and fought in many important operations.

Abdullah Al Suad- He secretly urged the United States to place tracking systems on released inmates from Guantanamo Bay and he also told the United States he would like them to destroy Iran and their nuclear program. He had thirty five children and thirteen wives. 

George Bush- He had a shoe thrown at him during one of his visits to Middle East. His father was also the president before him and both father and son served two terms. 

Being Busy

            In class on Friday, Mr. Schick finally came back to start class after two days with subs. Not only that, but I also got to where the birthday hat finally after waiting since Tuesday. Also in class we started to write our facts about the presidents and types of government’s countries had on index cards or just on paper. I think everyone in class got scared though, when Mr. Schick mentioned a pop quiz about our facts at the end of class. Luckily though that didn’t happen at all, and it turns out we’ll probably have our quiz sometime next school week.

Maybe if we didn’t have so many off days last week we would still have Monday off, but since that happened, we won’t have as much time to get ready. After so only having a two day school week I’m expecting to have a lot of homework and I guess I should get ready for the worst when it does come.

Testing Testing

          Today in class we had a substitute teacher since Mr. Schick wasn’t in today. Turns out we got Mr. Huber for a substitute and let Kishan and Cole go over our tests that we took on Friday. I did pretty well on my test, and didn’t think I needed to review much, but after hearing what happened I joined in. As Kishan and Cole went over the answers, where they actually let us answer the questions, it became a contest to see who got what right first. Turns out I must’ve known more on the day of the test than today, because I got nearly a third of what I called out wrong. Still, I found it pretty funny how people who didn’t do as well as others, manage to beat the people who did better at the review. I liked today’s class and hope we can review like this more often. Oh, and another thing that happened was I didn’t get to where the birthday hat. L