Japanese education conceptions –Eric

My posts have been describing the difference of the educations but now I am going to explore the ideas and concepts behind the scenes. In Japanese society, academics are considered to be the most important aspect of kids’ growth. There is no doubt that academics are very important, but Japanese parents see it in a difference way. Parents see it as an absolute obligation and they need to push their children as hard as possible to achieve the goal, which is to get in the top ranked high school and university.

Hard at Writing– By Nate

I want to begin by giving special credit to Isabel for a fantastic performance on Friday.  I too am working towards the end, though with more than one “all-nighter” pushing me along.  I have nearly 75 pages of writing, and another twenty of annotated bibliography, and I have slowly worked my way up to the present times, though now I am adding a part of my essay designed to bring together all the themes I discuss in the sections devoted solely to the history.

Plugging Away – by Emma

Coming out of my previous mishap with my work, I am starting to push on a bit stronger. The work that I missed over those two weeks did seem like a lot at first, but after consulting with my mentor and examining it throughly, I have been able to make some considerable dents in working to completing it. I am now on a six week plan of writing.

The Finishing Touches -by Tristen

This past week Habeeb and I have been diligently working on compiling the early stages of our book.  As we are trying to make the uinner story throughout the poems flow as smoothly as possible, we have come to some difficulties.  It has caused us to rewrite parts of our poems so that the story remains recognizable.

Reflection/Advice – by Conor

Looking back now on the writing process, I feel, more than anything, satisfied. It was a bumpy road working on the story and I’m not entirely out of the woods yet. However, now being entirely in the editing stage and coming to the end of my project, there are a few things I’ve learned, and would like to share with those who plan to do Independent Seminar in the future.

Recital on Friday – by Isabel

Wow, it has been a crazy journey leading up to the biggest performance of my life and I feel very accomplished and have learned so much. All of my hard work paid off and overall my recital went very well. Of course there were some problems but in general I was very happy with it. Now that it is over I feel a mix of emotions. I am relieved, sad, content and determined. It was so strange to not spend all of yesterday practicing and planning and instead just spending time with my family who were visiting.

Art of Problem Solving — Shuangcheng Du

During the passing several weeks, including Thanksgiving break, I have quickly gone through the two Art of Problem Solving books that Math Department ordered. Overall the first book is more fundamental, while the second book really explains advanced and complicated topics. As I expected, these two books are targeted to help high school students preparing for math competitions such as AMC and AIME.

Scene Continued – by Taylor

Last evening, I sent in my final rough draft to my mentor: forty pages of late nights writing, reading, editing, and rewriting (every author’s dream). As the deadline of my final project gets closer, I’m finding myself feeling more frantic about the small committee of people who will be reading my completed piece. Yet, at the same time, I’m oddly excited about sharing my work and getting feedback from a group of supportive faculty and peers who I know I can trust with my 6 year work-in-progress. It’s a big step in all writers’ careers when they show their major project for the first time.