Moving Sites

Well, I am moving this blog onto another site (due to ease of access on my side). So, if any of you are reading this at anytime, please go to:

http://asmallperspective3.blogspot.com.au/

Thanks!
: )

Lego

What is this about?
I have a large, quite healthy I might add, fascination with Lego. I did give a hint that this post would be about "playing well" and this is. Lego is basically blocks that one can build different things with. The Lego brand was originally wooden toys but has evolved to the current plastic blocks enjoyed the world over.

Why Lego?
I don't really know the answer is but I think it comes from the human idea to create something to our own mind. I really believe what Lego does is give ideas of expressions in forms of a physical object - forms of human expression are always in need of a way of doing so. Everyone has their own way of expressing things in differing ways and I believe that Lego is one of them - certainly one of mine.

Lego is loved the world round because of the way it gives people the avenue of being creative. Or in the case where there are instructions, to make a lovely model of their favourite theme - Star Wars being mine. While Lego is most certainly overpriced over here, what is not different is the amount of people buying Lego. Lego will continue to enjoy a wide audience, all they have to look for is their price tag!

Summation
Okay, this was really short but I had to put something up! Something juicer will be coming up, "juicer"? In any case it will be two parted. Hint! It will be about difference.
A VERY Small Perspective again.
Thanks : )

Exams...In the long term?

What is this about?
Since the exam period (for me at least) is now over, a question nagged me for a while. What is the point of these exams? Well, I think I have an answer for that, what I wanted to look at is viewing at what this short period of exams would mean in the longer run.

The lead up to the Period
I always find there is this air of tension around when one is going around their daily business. Always in the mind about the exams and what to do for it. This is where I find exams to be useful, not this air of tension and high competitiveness between people but the actual lead up to the exams. The studying, the prioritising, the notes - what do they do? If the content doesn't stick with you, then what does?

Handling the pressure - whether it is there or not, this stage is critical in growing up in adding to one's opinion. A valuable skill is adding to the experience of learning - patience. The counter to stress, on a mental note I believe, is patience. Patience is a valuable part of one's life, it teaches one how far they can go on their tether, it gives one understanding and it also gives one the feeling of content when in doubt (I hope...)

The Examination
I often find that the purpose of the exam is to test how well one is able to engage with the content . I often forget this purpose because the only raison de'tre I seem to hold for tests is...the marks. I am not saying marks are bad, marks are needed for the reflection of the content tested, the problem is the whole competitiveness and pressure than can really affect and push someone. It might not, but there are times where it may weigh one down. This in itself is another test and what does one do? Be patient!

The Aftermath
This is the part where I can grill this long-term idea of exams. Where do exams sit in the long term. My answer is two part. The first part is, you know the content and the content will help you in whatever endeavour there is. The second part is that it doesn't. That is also a two part answer.

Let's look at exams in the long run. These marks don't really mean anything after your schooling life, although a friend of mine says that if you can save it up one day to show off to friends in a conversation like: "Yeah? What have you achieved?" To answer with "Full marks in all my tests!". Of course, I don't get full marks in tests - but I know a guy who invariably does or gets close!

I hold the opinion that these grades, marks and most of the content holds no real value as you get older (well...most of the content translates into skills but). The whole marks issue and this stress only adds unnecessary pressure on kids but that's your point of view. No, this short term period only is a means of measure. What really matters in this short term, is what you make of what you do.

This means that what you decide to do and how you react are all what matters. The consequences of what you choose will manifest into change into the outlook on one's life. Or, a new skill may be learnt. But what I urge you to remember during all of this is patience. Key lesson here. : )

There is also an argument that testing is a reflection of how well you are versed in your particular work. I agree with this - partly. The problem here is that one examination cannot and is not a true wholistic reflection of the potential and level of ability one holds. I am all for testing but I do not believe for a final grade or comment be based on testing. There are numerous considerations to be taken including class work, class participation, book work, homework etc. This may be (and hopefully) already happening in schools but this zeitgeist that is currently present still is gripping students.

What did that have to do with the long term purpose of this article? That this short period of exams and marking is important - for a time. However, in the longer run of things, if you do not get past all those criterion in place through you reflecting on yourself then one sinks a little. You'll naturally get up again but this is where reflection helps. It drives towards change and change can be good or bad. Change is affected by how you reflect and change affects how one progresses as one matures.

Summation
So, what is the best way to have these exams useful in the long term? Simple:
1. Learn to have patience
2. Reflection
3. Change

That is everything condensed down. Please remember that this is all my own opinion and that I am open to you posting comments. Thanks for reading. Next article? A hint: "Playing Well". It may not be accurate, I can tell you that!
This is just A Small Point of View.
Thanks. : )

Small Talk...

What is this?
Exactly my sentiment. What is this? I recently found out that small talk is conversation made just for the sake of trying to have one. So, how well does one fare at this?

Talk
I often find I am no good at dealing with silences I have in conversations with people - even friends. So, I quite unconsciously start talking about topics related to work at school (Yes, I know) to get out of these silences. I absolutely can't stand them, but I am not sure talking about school can make it any better. The best times I can make conversation is if I start with a polite "Hello" or some facsimile thereof and talk about the day.

Topics for this requisite conversation
Often the one you find the one often referred to is the weather. Then perhaps the sport or what's on the news. We do it out of being polite or getting out of that awkward situation. It also can be very good to open conversations, so if one wants to get into a conversation, you probably have already started with small talk. Even the simple "Hello, how are you?" conversation is a "small talk". I remember I was introduced to a new person once and the first time we met, our conversation was first dominated by this. However, it developed into more mundane topic areas! But anyway, conversation is essential to a social component of one's lifestyle.

Summation
Well, this article was probably small talk as well. Nothing much was there? Next post is about something with a bit more substance - "Exams in the Long-Term".
This was A VERY Small Point of View.
: ) Thanks.

The Spirit of the Law vs. The Letter of the Law

What's this about?
Yeah, yeah, this is another boring article - but with these ongoing court cases here that may seem unfair, I'd like to talk about two black and white interpretations of the law although, the law is actually very grey!

What is the Law?
I suppose the very basic definition of "law" would be a system of rules that govern behaviour. Did we ever have laws and do we have a need for it? I believe its natural. Under this definition, laws are everywhere, in the home, in the workplace and in the country - everywhere! It is a human need to have laws in order to minimize chaos because the natural disposition of a human is peace. But what your peace is may be very different to others!

In this blog post, I'll be discussing two interpretations of the law there are and try to give you ideas on how to interpret the "law".

Spirit of the Law
Quite simply, the spirit of the law is what the law was intended to achieve by those who wrote it. It basically is that, for example, a law about Human Rights is about safekeeping human rights. Those who wrote it, intended for this law to be about the security of those rights wholly. It would basically be the essence of what the law is intended to do. This would be regardless of what was written in the law as under this interpretation, those words are only ways to express the idea in sentences that cover a whole range of issues that follow on from this interpretation.

Letter of the Law
As opposed to what the essence of the law was intended to achieve, what is more common and more prevalent is the "letter of the law". This is basically a little idiom for what is actually written in a Law. So basically if the law was the Racial Discrimination Act (for example), most would follow what the literal writing of the law was. This is an important part of those in the legal word because a law does a - z. But if it missed an e or a t, then it would become a loophole and cause some upheaval. So this maybe, if not, equally important to the Spirit because this is the expression of the Spirit.

Which is better?
I most certainly believe that there are certain times to apply each. The spirit of the law would be most important where there is a crime and someone or something has been hurt or damaged because the law is supposed to protect those who did nothing and punish those who did wrong. In cases where the letter of the law becomes important because the way it is worded may wrong people because of what it says it does, then things should be decided by that concept then and there.

But especially in cases of Appeal, the spirit of the law should apply because it no longer becomes what the law is saying but what it is meant to achieve. The law achieving justice, to be just - this is about what we need to be on the look out for!

Summation
This may have been a useless post but its because I wanted to start my understanding on legal topics. If you have any opinions otherwise, please let me know by commenting! Of course, you need a Google account to do that below but the email is on the side - I think. I am open to your views as long as they are constructive!

But please, the point of this is that the law is always meant to achieve the best outcome for those who do the right thing. Or to protect from those who did wrong. It is important that we citizens take active interactions in our legal world because if we don't, how the heck do we know what's going on? Then, it may affect us! We never know.

Next article will be something about life, so look out!
Remember, this is A Small Point of View...
Thanks : )

Viewing the Public vs. Private Issue

What's this about?
A friend of mine attended a Public High School before he chose to make the switch to a Private school. This reignited with me the debate between the two schools and reinforced what I believe with regards to this issue. The question you might want to keep in mind is, "What does education offer to the student?" – And no, I won’t be answering it directly. This will be looked at in a very general Australian context.

 Problem with the Question
The first problem that I have with this issue is the use of "vs." or "better" or any similar word where one is being compared to offer something more than the other. Whilst it is natural to judge and make our evaluations on which is better than the other, we must view what each offer that are the same. In reality, no school type is better than the other because so many contextual questions have to be asked. For example, different public schools in different socioeconomic areas would have varying methods of teachers and the quality of the school. The same can be said for private schools, private schools in the area of higher socioeconomic backgrounds would have a more expensive fee than others. Then comes into consideration the quality of teachers, funding, quality of welfare, student backgrounds or even number of students. There is no definitive answer to put to this but remember, the content is almost the same just some other factors are different. 

So? What's the issue then?
It is important to note that there are two different options to go, which branch out into other options. If you go public, you can have your local area, selective, agricultural (selective too) and go into other areas. If you go private, you can have your different religious and different independent schools. I hope that you notice that Choice plays THE part in this whole issue. That there is the ability to exercise your right to choice to choose different schools. So, it is up to one's discretion to what they want but it is essential to see that different factors affect how one can choose.  

The Real Comparison
Now that there is no residual difference in difference between the school types and only becomes one of choice, what really sets up schools apart? We can take into account comparison between public schools vs. public schools, public vs. private or private vs. private. In a Private School, you pay money and as a student, one receives a higher return than in a Public School because of that funding. Believe you me, if Public Schools had the funding that Private had, there would be no difference between the two. So, two considerations come to mind:1. What can the school do for the student's interest in learning.2. What the student brings to the school learning environment. Obviously this is all up to one’s discretion but take into consideration the bottom note. What we must all remember, the education system has the student’s best interests at heart. Not sure about the Governments though… 

Little Notes
A little earlier I talked about the idea of the socioeconomic backgrounds that can affect how the outlook of school may affect the individual. However, one point that must be made is that in both systems, the same (just about) content is taught as per the rules of the National Curriculum (will be getting to that sometime). So, in terms of what is being taught, there is pretty much no difference but how it is taught. Teachers play a very important part as a result and quality of teachers in important as well. But when you are weighing up options, sometimes it can be hard to pick quality of the 5 w's over what type of institution offers best pleasure.

Summation
So the important point to note is that in terms of the “what” being taught, there is really no difference. Only as to the “how” and anything else extracurricular. But if one searches hard enough in one’s heart, one can make the very best of school anywhere they are. I know I may have been going around in circles, but I need content! Jokes about the content bit! But I think I was going around in circles and only stating the bleedin’ obvious… Education is essential and is a gateway to many pastures (will be talking about education’s importance as well some time!). Well, thanks for reading but content updates will be slowing down slightly, otherwise I’ll run out! If you have any opinions on this matter, please let me know!
This is only A Small Point of View.
Thanks : )

Understanding...Extremism Thoughts

What's this about?

Before I start this, I do want to apologise for anyone who is reading this if they feel offended or feel taken aback by anything written here - I do apologise in advance and thank you for your understanding on a sensitive topic.
Why do this topic? Well, I have been requested by someone to explain my thoughts on why there is much conflict around the world because of this term we use. Also, I feel like I want to get it out there so I feel more at ease with the topic - and so I can have an opinion about this. This will be a long blog post (I think), since there are many different concepts to talk about.

Defining Extremism

Of course, it is hard to define a word that has so many connotations people have with it. So, let's start with this definition: the act of having ideas that are considered too radical from the normal perceptions. This is of course a very general and very basic definition but note how I have not defined it as "action of doing" but as the "act of having ideas". Evidently, to be an "extremist" and "terrorist" in this are going to be different.
It is obvious that someone who is a terrorist has extreme ideas, or they wouldn't do what they are doing, but an extremist is not necessarily a terrorist. So, I will be also describing that: the use of violence and threats to intimidates, especially for political purposes.
There are of course examples of different extremist groups who acted upon their actions: the Spanish Inquisition, The KKK, The Nazi Party and the IS group. There are many examples that fall under this definition. In this blog there will be a focus toward understanding the modern extreme ideas but there will also be some looking back at the past. History is studied so that we learn lessons to apply to our lives or mistakes to avoid, so History will play a part in this as well.

Freedom of Speech

I often find that I am grateful to be living in a country where freedom of expression is an ingrained value. In fact, from birth, most of us have the grace of, we have the right of expression - we cry. Of course that may seem a little trivial point but pause and think about it for a while. I often find that whilst we have the right to express, we often turn away those who hold views of threat. I for one believe that everyone has the right to express but if this expression holds intent to harm, then we need to be seriously considering our point of view.

We think like that because that is how majority of society think. Place yourself in the shoes of the other side; they probably think society evil whereas the converse is true as well. Perspectives and freedom is such an interesting thing. Please consider these things very carefully! 

1. Psychologically Speaking

I am no psychologist so I have a meager to an almost zero understanding of the human mind but I will try to put this logically. In terms of younger people growing up, (I myself am young so perhaps I have no right to say this) often their journey of growing up is about self-identity. Discovering who they, as an individual are. As such, without the ethics (or because of them) in the individual, they may be susceptible to opinions they may deem true. It is of course easy to believe an opinion if one does not know any better.

In the case of morals too, everyone has the inclined view to do what is right. But if they develop or are taught an understanding that "right" means to do something bad, then that is where a problem is. This is a part of extremism and terrorism, as the people have a sense of "right" and "wrong" that is distorted. They say and believe in one thing but it is important to note that politics plays a massive role in that and I will be detailing that later.

It may also be developed from the idea that one has been wronged. It is often taught, and is a part of legal systems the world around, that if you feel you are wronged – you have the right to correct the wrong in the appropriate manner. As I will detail later regarding politics, some people are doing this because they truly believe they are righting wrong and truly believe they are doing something good for the better. We must be empathetic and sympathetic for these people as they know no better but we also must not be complacent into those who have no fear in pushing their views to the extreme.

2. Education

The greatest tool to combat all problems in our world is Education. It is a powerful tool indeed if it is used and taught in the correct way. However, all types of Extremist views come from the education that the people holding them have. Different educational values and different views (or bias) of the content of education taught all contribute to one's understanding of ideas.

However, it also depends on the individual to what they do with the education. To put it simply if they have an understanding of something but do not choose to use its power over their actions (or in the case of bias, use it to the wrong effect), then they will inevitably end up not being the person they could be. Therefore, it is vitally important that everyone involved in one's life have an interest in what somebody is learning.

I often see around the world that the Islamic terrorists, and we really shouldn't be calling them that and I will get to that later, that their "Islam" is not the same as most Muslims - in fact far from it.

3. Sense of being Right

Once the view is developed, at some point, like everyone, they will believe they are right. So much so that they are inclined to act on their "right" opinion. This, in cases of terrorism, translates into action. They will believe in this "right" so much so, that they become intolerable of anything else that is not part of their view. This is developed from their meager understanding and once they reach this point, they become selective when information comes their way. If it doesn't sound like their point of view, then they would reject it. Whether or not it comes from science, leaders or even from their own beliefs they think they believe in! Arrogance then kicks in and makes this "right" opinion better than anyone else's view. Then their opinions become manifested in their actions and make them act on these views which could potentially cause harm to innocent human life.

4. Politics

I of course believe that this is THE biggest reason behind terrorist actions. Politics is defined as the views on how to govern a certain issue. In terms of what people believe about “Islamic Terrorism” a bit of history is called for now:

So, when Islam was reasserting itself in the world in the 1970’s-1980’s, after much decline in previous years, there was a higher spike in conversions to Islam. There was also much more involvement of Muslims in their faith. It is important to recognize that there weren’t a great many deal of Islamic scholars who were experts in their field and were far out of reach from some areas of the Globe which had Islam but were lacking the strong leadership to implement it.

The very first spark, I believe and please make counter-arguments if you disagree, was the enormous power vacuum in various nations with a high Islamic majority of followers and the greedy rule of failing democracies. Afghanistan, for example, had their Government collapse numerous times due to different factions of people until finally succumbing under Taliban rule. Egypt and Iraq both had Presidents who were corrupt and their countries in disrepair. Of course, this issue now becomes one of politics and not of religion.

The Taliban, for example, was (is) run by young scholars and young men trying to make a change for their country but their understanding was slightly out of balance. Unfortunately, it is my opinion, that they were slightly misguided and the pressure from surrounding countries and warlords in the North of the country forced them to take action.

All of this had led to a certain number of groups who developed ideas that could potentially solve some of the problems in their respective countries. Of course, which countries can you go to that are part of the problem? The Soviet Union dissipated at this point but much of the evil was seen to be in America which of course led to tragic circumstances. Subsequent invasions of different countries have not done any good and some countries have been left worse than when they started. These people truly believe(d) that they were doing something right, they were doing something that was for the best. Something that will help all those suffering. But was it? I leave that up to you to research.

The Situation in Iraq now with IS is of debate as well. This is purely out of the differing views between different factions in the country. Also due to previous leaderships not being able to take into account the different needs a country has after they had to take the difficult reins of government after the Iraq invasion ended.

As you can see in this situation, these terrorist threats are as a result of the world’s political play on each other with this situation in the cross-fire. It is also important to note that some of the leaderships in this area were something to be irked at. So, a combination of failing leaderships and politics has driven this to the crisis we have today.

Of course, that was looking at it in one context. In a greater situation, this would apply to all extremist points of view or terrorist perspectives. Different backgrounds, cultures, governments, families, friends or a whole different range of circumstances can always affect an individual’s perspective. In differing individuals, the outcomes may be different. However, the decisions that all World Leaders take, always has a consequence later on – good or bad. It is very important to note that this is politics, different to what religion brings about.

5. Leadership

People often look forward to those who can lead. Those who can do good. As a result of which, they may look to the people who are doing something "good" as they believe that "good" should be done. They ignore some leaders because they are ineffecient and do not speak for them. Whilst others appeal to their ethics and appeal to their understanding of the situation. It is important that we build strong connections as communities and especially with our community, religious and political leaders because these are the people who wield power to change views. We need to barrack for change and look toward a future where we have effective and tolerant leaderships.

Summation

I know this has been long and I do apologise. I once again apologise if I have offended anybody and if my opinions are not quite what is actually happening. This is a developing understanding of what is happening and I am open to all criticisms or feedback from you. I endeavor to bring to you, the reader, some understanding of this situation which is very complicated – to which I assure you there is much more to it!

As a summary, here are the points I talked about:

1. Developing views

2. Education

3. What is Right

4. Politics

5. Leadership

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this and make comments if you want! Next blog post will about something less controversial, I assure you! Remember this is only a developing perspective,

A Small Point of View.

Thanks

: )