Humanities Final Portfolio 2013

For the majority of Sophomore year I found myself sitting in room 308 in Mr. Blocks Humanities class. With having Mr. Block about 8 times a week i've learned a lot about life lessons, and how to interpret certain situations. I've taken the things we've learned about in class and learned to twist it into things I can take with my for the rest of my life.

**I understand that, religion is the basis for just about major decisions throughout history and throughout every civilization.

Despite your religious background whether you be christian, muslim, hindu, jehovahs witness, jewish, or catholic, every single decision a person makes is influenced by some type of religion. Throughout the entirety of the School year we’ve covered tons of different topics from Colonization to Religion to Revolution, and within each and every one of those topics there has been a recurring theme, Religion. For example, lets take the Cortez trial for instance. During this unit we learned about the Aztec’s and how Cortez colonized and tried to take over. During his invasion he tried to force religion on the Aztec’s then when they refused many were slaughtered. Ontop of that they were already looked at differently because in their religion and apart of their beliefs was sacrifice, something Cortez and his men were foreign too. The lesson soon progressed into an old fashion trial. My group was defending the Aztec people. Everything they did was for religious purposes, they didn’t believe in violence, it was against their religion. They did animal sacrifices, because it was apart of their religion, they built structures and welcomed the strangers with open arms, because it was apart of their religion. No matter what the situation was somehow it still spun back into religion and beliefs.

If you click on the link below, you’ll get a up close and behind the scenes peek at the notes and statements prepared by my group members and I during and before the trial. You’ll see evidence of the religion and beliefs of the Aztec people & how every move they made was to honor those beliefs.

The religion theme didn't stop with my school work, it was actually something that was reoccurring through my life as well. Every decision and choice made throughout life is based on religious views or beliefs. During our Prisons unit Mr Block gave a journal where we had to write about a time where we forgave someone for something they have done in the bath.
I took the short time we were given in class to write about the time my family gathered at my house for a celebratory dinner and the news about my recent conversion from Christianity to Atheism. My family are strong believers in Christ. They are hardcore Christians, I told my mom about my conversion in confidence, asking her not to tell any of the family. I'd tell them when I thought the time was right, going against my wishes she told them anyway. Below is a link to the exact Journal entry I wrote and turned into Mr. Block for a grade.

http://scienceleadership.org./blog/Forgive-Never_Forget-journal-42

Another general understanding of the school year, being in Blocks class has taught my that  No matter what social class you're in you can always fight the government. During the Industrial Revolution and the Colonization of several civilization people no matter what their social status is they still found a way to fight the system. Lets take the French Revolution for example. Marie Antoinette was at the top of the social class she had gold, jewelry, riches and power, yet people who were at the very bottom of the social pyramid were able to fight back against the people who were in complete power.
When we learned about the Arab Springs I was able to really apply this principle. The Arab Springs was a series of wars and fights that broke out all throughout the middle eastern regions. These wars were about power and wealth between the social classes. During the unit we had to write a piece detailing our final thoughts, on our the quotes I used is wriitten below,

 “By placing confidence in violent means, one has chosen the very type of struggle with which the oppressors nearly always have superiority.”  by Gene Sharp"

Below this is the final thought piece on the Arab Spings.

​https://docs.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/document/d/1ga9Wb07_AIVXJ8J9Fsl1R5jUnuV9qeGjRXNU3ASb8gM/edit
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The understanding No mater what social class you are in you can still fight the government didn't just go as far as Arab Springs, it went further than that. Mr. Block gave us a history journal on March 7th 2013 at the beginning of our Sweatshop industrial unit. We had to read an article on Foxcon, a famous sweatshop located in Asia that is responsible for making all of the products for Apple.
There are people in high power who are working and fighting the government to obtain freedom for people who are lower in power.
Below are the Notes I took about the sweatshops in Foxcon and the steps people are taking to fight against them.