Journal Entries
Rahmah Hussein
English 21003, Section M
Professor Matyakubova
3 September 2017
Journal Entry #1
Ben Goldacre: Battling Bad
Science
Ben
Goldacre, an epidemiologist, studies the occurrence of diseases or
other health conditions. He speaks about the false information that scientists
portray through articles, which is interesting because he explains how all the
information given could be incorrect. In addition, he mentions how scientists
give us evidence to support the idea of their medicine being better than the
old medicine that was used. Most of what Goldacre surprised me because I have
heard about scientists tricking the government in a way to sell their product
but I didn’t think it would be true.
One thing scientists must always do is test trials for their
experiments with the medicine they’re trying to produce. However, the other
thing that grabbed my attention is that the trials aren’t accurate because of
the different variables missing in their trials. Throughout the TED talk, I
learned that I must always do more research on the findings that scientists
claim to be true.
English
21003, Section M
Professor
Matyakubova
6
September 2017
Journal Entry 2
Why
We Need to Understand Science
Carl Sagan’s “Why We Need to Understand Science” explains
about the importance of science and how children grow up without questioning
science. I thought of how people mostly question just pseudoscience not aware the
inaccuracy of the information given by those topics. For instance, when Mr.
Buckley was asking questions about UFOs he wasn’t thinking about the “real
science” that involves everyday life, as Sagan mentions. After reading this
article, the topic of science interested me even more because of how well Sagan
explains what science consists of.
Science can mean many things from different perspectives.
When Sagan refers to scientists on television, apparently, it’s always a
psychotic man that represents it. That part of the article was humorous in a
way because that is true in most cases. Then when he discusses the statistics
relating to test results from the U.S. compared to other countries, I felt
surprised because of how low the grades were. In addition, the way science is
taught leads children to ignore the significance of science, which is a main
reason as to why I felt more attached to science. Science can be very boring
when it comes to lectures but the way everything works in the world opened my
eyes a little more. However, after reading this article I smiled because that’s
how I knew I was majoring in the right subject for me.
English
21003, Section M
Professor
Matyakubova
17
September 2017
Journal Entry 3
How Simple Ideas Lead to Scientific Discoveries
As I watched the TED Talk, I was
very intrigued by the information that Savage was providing. He stated that any
theory comes from just one simple idea. The simple idea could be as little as
asking yourself “how does the ball in the wagon goes to the back of the wagon?”
Then the term inertia was created by Richard Feynman to define the movement of subatomic
particles. I never reflected on the history of science even though I am
majoring in biochemistry.
Savage also mentioned how Christopher
Columbus discovering the Earth being a spherical shape was a myth. On the other
hand, it was during Aristotle’s time when it was revealed that the Earth was a
sphere. Honestly, I never did extra research to confirm the myth about Columbus
because that’s all I’ve learned throughout middle school and high school. It
upsets me how it was all lies. Eratosthenes is a name I’ve never heard of but
that’s who thought about the circumference of the globe based on just the mere
thought of his head blocking the sun through the well. I learned a lot more
from this TED Talk than throughout my years in middle school and high school.
English
21003, Section M
Professor
Matyakubova
25
September 2017
Journal Entry 4
Bradberry talks about so many ways to change your mindset
so you can feel happier. As I was reading the article, I seemed to relate to a
lot of what he mentioned. There were times when I would have a very negative
mindset but I changed the way I think based on what made me feel happier.
Accepting the past and moving on was a very important role in my life that I
did, which related to the article. I believe the author knows what he is
talking about because all that he mentioned is very realistic as to what helps
with making yourself happier.
Any professional should always strive to have a positive
attitude because bad things always do happen. For example, a surgeon didn’t get
the right tools to perform the surgery. Some people would react by panicking
but they’re trained to do everything the right way and if something messes up
they’d know how to solve it. Having a solution was one of the authors’ way to
become happier. It reminded me of an incident when people would complain to me
and I wouldn’t mind helping them but it’s as if it affected me in being the
same way as them, even though I enjoyed helping them. All the points that
Bradberry mentioned is very true coming from my perspective. It’s all about the
way you think is how life will move on from then.
English
21003, Section M
Professor
Matyakubova
12
October 2017
Journal Entry 5
The
Miracle in Front of You
Who created these standards for doctors to have no
emotion towards the patients? This question could be worded differently; why
are doctors taught to show no emotion towards the patients? There could be many
versions of this question but it has one central idea: emotion. I understand
that they have too many patients to worry about showing any emotion to the
patients. Of course, there are doctors that have a great personality and show
that they care 100% and all doctors must show respect and be kind. However, in
some situations, such as a patient always surrounded by the doctors and nurses,
the patient might need to receive attention or they would not feel as if they
want to live anymore.
“The Miracle in Front of You” is an interview that opened
my eyes to the medical field from a whole different perspective. I have always
wanted to become a pediatrician because I love kids but then the amount of
years and work changed my mind to Physician Assistant. After reading this
interview, I feel more attached to the medical field because I know I would
show emotion. Yet, there are still debates about that since doctors have too
many patients to show any feelings to them. Some doctors can get affected
psychologically which can be a reason as to why they don’t try to create an
emotional relationship. Medical schools try to avoid teaching communication
skills to the graduating doctors which can also be another reason they lack the
basics of simple communication with their patients. There are many arguments
based on the simple topics of emotion and communication with their patients.
English
21003, Section M
Professor
Matyakubova
19
October 2017
Journal Entry 6
From
Prison to Ph.D.: The Redemption and Rejection of Michelle Jones
Being incarcerated then having the ability to motivate
yourself into becoming someone in the world is very inspiring. Michelle Jones
was sentenced for 20 years because of her son’s murder. As I was reading this
article, I thought to myself on how she felt when she abandoned her son. I got
very shocked when I read on this case because why would any do that to a child?
I believe the staff members, that were reading through her application, were
asking the same question. However, she presented academic effort while she was
in prison. Prison cells are very disturbing and traumatizing because someone
can go insane, which is why I believe that punishments that show no improvement
have no purpose. The same punishments are given to people who commit different
crimes but the only difference is how long the sentence is.
Similar to Jones, Stanley Andrisse was going through a
difficult time in his life when he was sentenced for 10 years due to drug
trafficking. He served his years and while he was in prison, his father passed
away. Andrisse’s father was his motivation to get into the medical field to
study and become an endocrinologist. However, when he applied to all the
colleges he could, they rejected him until he got accepted into a Ph.D.
program. Both Jones and Andrisse went through difficult times while applying to
colleges only because of their felony. They went through the same punishments
but Jones’ punishment was twice as much as Andrisse’s time. Also, Jones learned
through her time helping her receive her education which can become helpful
later in a convict’s life. Felons should go through time in prison but while
they are there, there should be educational programs for them to benefit their
mental state, instead of traumatizing it.
English 21003,
Section M
Professor
Matyakubova
31 October 2017
Journal Entry 7
Front
of the Class
An educator is a person
who provides information or instruction. They could teach it in a way that
others learn from a distinct perspective. Based on the film, Mr. Cohen was a
beneficial educator, meaning that when he explained to the students about his
Syndrome, they asked questions and learned from the information Cohen offered. As
an educator, Cohen demonstrated to his second grade that everyone should be
accepted to the rest of the crowd. The children absorbed Mr. Cohen’s actions
and formed it into their own thoughts and actions, for instance, when they
accept others and be polite to others. Also, when Thomas called Mr. Cohen a
“weirdo” in the beginning of Cohen’s teaching career, he later stops the
disrespectful names because Cohen was an amazing educator.
An inspiring professor
that I currently have is my Writing for Sciences professor. She has always
inspired the class with the readings we read and the clips we watch. When we
read one of the assigned readings called “The Miracle in Front of You”, even
though she didn’t write it herself, she lead me to read something that moved me
emotionally. In addition, my professor advised us as to how we can push
ourselves to get high grades and stay career-oriented. I have never felt so
inspired by a professor that genuinely cares and shows it as well as staying
professional.
Rahmah
Hussein
English
21003, Section M
Professor
Matyakubova
2
November 2017
Journal
Entry 8
Tyler Sexton and Brad Cohen have many similarities and
differences because of their conditions. One similarity they have is the discouragement
they received from others. As Cohen was growing up, everyone always called him
weird because of the effect of Tourette’s syndrome and never believed in him to
succeed in his future. When he graduated with his bachelor’s degree, he was
trying to apply to as many childhood education careers as he can. Every time he
was interviewed by the staff of the school he applied to, they would make
comments such as “how is anyone going to pay attention while you’re making that
noise?” Similar to Cohen’s situation, Sexton always had people cast him down
because of his neuromuscular disorder. One doctor told him that he would be
“better off sharpening pencils for a living”. Both broken by people’s words but
never let their condition conquer their motivation.
Another similarity was the way Cohen and Sexton dealt
with their daily lives after getting accepted by the community. After Sexton
was interviewed many times and accepted to a medical school, he then started
working with the young patients. When the patients would come to the hospital
they would ask for Sexton. Also, Sexton always wore superhero shirts to help
his patients always think of themselves as superheroes. Comparable to Sexton’s
behavior is Cohen’s gratitude towards his career. After he was accepted as a
second-grade teacher at a school, the students started to love his class. Then
a student was removed from Cohen’s class because her father believed she would
not be able to focus without a “normal teacher”. That student loved his class
to the extent she passed by the classroom to ask for Cohen as her teacher
again. Like Sexton’s superhero t-shirts was Cohen’s hats that he would change
every class to keep the students engaged. They are both very inspiring people
that believed in themselves and succeeded without the help of anyone but
themselves.
Rahmah
Hussein
English
21003, Section M
Professor
Matyakubova
22
November 2017
Journal Entry 9
Wait
for Me
The poem, “Wait for Me” by Konstantin Simonov is a very
interesting poem because at first, I imagined it from a woman’s perspective.
The only reason I found it to be from that point of view was because of the
name “Konstantin”, then I thought again about how it could be a man’s name. It
is a very emotional poem that lets the reader imagine all the details given to
describe the feelings of a soldier, that could’ve possibly died, but tells his
lover that she shouldn’t believe what anyone says, that she should wait. This
word is repeated several times to emphasize that she must let time pass and he
(the solider) will come back even when everyone else thinks he passed away.
This poem and the video that ties along with it do
correlate to how the poem must be used in the scene of war. After watching the
video, it made the poem more emotional than before watching it because the
video provides a visual image of how the poem is meant to be expressed. During
the war, letters were always sent to families saying that the family member in
the army had passed away. So many of those families believed that their loved
one was gone, but this poem repeats that the narrator’s lover must ‘wait’ for
him to return home.
Rahmah
Hussein
English
21003, Section M
Professor
Matyakubova
22
November 2017
Journal Entry 10
The
Perils of Obedience
Stanley Milgram conducted an experiment based on the
level of a person’s obedience towards authority. I have learned about this test
from my psychology course, but after reading the many findings I haven’t
learned about, it made me wonder how I would react if I performed in this
experiment. The whole idea of this study was to test out on what level would
people obey authority even if it inflicts harm on another human being. Based on
my morals, I would not be able to conduct any of the shocks because I would
feel guilty, but the participants surprisingly went along either because they
weren’t held responsible for the damage done to the learner or because they
wanted to please the experimenter, or the person in authority.
When
someone is in a position of authority, most people tend to listen to any order
because he/she holds a higher position. However, it’s hard to believe that
people listen even when an order causes harm to another person. The findings of
Milgram’s study amaze me especially when Bruno Batta, the last subject, was
performing the shocks to the learner without showing any sympathy towards the
learner. Batta’s goal was just to please the experimenter no matter how extreme
the voltage was. I find it a duty to listen to authority but when it imposes
any pain then that’s when obedience should step aside.
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