Presently, the systems that make up every government are based solely off of corruption, greed, and social gluttony. Racism no longer exists because of hatred for one another. Instead, it is brewed out of the struggle for a superior social class. People oppress the different groups of the world to gain an advantage in life. Evidence of this stems from the theory that the education  system is purposely weak to send more lower class minorities into the grasp of the judicial system. It turns into a cycle where each new generation has no degree of acceptable education and must turn to a life of crime if they are to survive. Higher levels of education are granted only to those who are born into the superior social class. Our world segregates because of the need for power, not because of the need to hate.

During the second quarter of my World History class I was assigned to write a play that emphasized the meaning of social struggle and change. I decided to base my play off of the idea that our society works in a pyramid structure of class that depends solely on somebody’s race. The play was about the different ethnicities of the world banning together to defeat a greater evil. At one point in the play, a character declares, "The oppression of a race has nothing to do with racism or hatred, it has to do with the struggle for superior social class" (Play, Brek Carlier). Brek hit an understanding here that people have to be taught to hate and are never born with hatred. What they are born with is a struggle to survive in a world where there is no social equality. This is what could drive people to oppress another race even when they know doing this is wrong. Of course, there are people born into ignorance and begin to oppress merely because that is what they know to be true.

At first I found it hard to believe that the entire world could operate in this way. After completing a worksheet called “Scientific Revolution” I realized that an idea, no matter how good or bad, can spread globally because of the amount of success it has. I wrote, “An idea works like a virus. It starts out in the deepest reaches of your mind and spreads like a framework until every last inch is infected by it. When corrupt views move like a ripple through socialism it is not very unlike an epidemic. When these views are accepted globally that is when it turns into a pandemic" (Scientific Revolution Worksheet). By this I mean that ideas are infinite and can control the minds of many if they fit people’s needs. When the world is separated by class it must have seemed appealing to be able to fight for your betterment even if it is out of corruption.

I researched further on how people segregate different social classes without seeming too openly racist. I even took it out of the World History class and into the English 10 class. I found out that our education and judicial systems co-align so that more people fill jails while less people with schools. On a worksheet I stated, "A country's crime rate is solely dictated by that country's education system. It works in a cycle where you can only invest in one. Investment in education leads to a more peaceful country while an investment in the amount of jails drastically drops the quality of education the citizens of such country receive” (Global Education Worksheet). Members of superior social classes want to keep the minorities at the bottom of the food chain so there is no sharing or equality. They do this by providing a poor education system which leads to high crime rates which then eventually leads into the incarceration of many.

As unfortunate as it is, our society works in oppression. In my opinion, the only way to fix this problem is to spread empathy and awareness amongst the public. Then and only then will we have the encouragement to try and make a difference. I wanted to focus solely on the idea above but below is some other quotes that lead me to different general understandings. I will not go into depth on them for the sake of keeping your attention. Instead, I’ll let you make what you want of them.

Additional Thoughts:

"Without the attention of the world the people of revolutions would be left unsupported. Social media can be the most effective and yet the least helpful way of communicating change globally." (History Digital Story Script)

"Religion is not a road to happiness for people. The sole purposes of religion are to lend structure and reassurance to lives." (Journal #10)

Throughout my year, I’ve learned many things and have increased my knowledge on various topics. One class especially would be World History. I’ve learned things about the past as well as the present. We focused quite a lot on change as well as equality. When I say change I’m talking about revolutions today and years ago. When I say equality I’m talking about how women aren’t paid as much as men, human rights, and sweatshops. There is so much that I’ve taken into consideration after stepping into the classroom. I looked at my daily life through a new lens. I looked at the clothes I wear today and wonder why I’m wearing it. I wonder why I’m wearing the clothes that someone in another country made that is underpaid and living in harsh conditions. I wondered about how technology has changed the way other changes take place, such as the Arab Spring. There is so much to touch on yet, so little time.

The first thing I want to talk about is the Arab Spring. This topic was introduced near the beginning of the year and was one of the first to introduce the topic of change in the classroom. I learned how technology helped spread the awareness and support for the revolution. The people in Egypt did not accept the way they were treated, therefore, they fought for independence and are still fighting at this very moment. There is violence and many have died. In one of my journal entries, I address the idea of nonviolence and violence.  A specific quote that stood out to me and summarizes the whole idea is “Nonviolence shouldn’t have to be trained, but just present all the time.”

Click here to view the full version of this journal.

The second thing I want to talk about is just revolutions in general. Later on in the year, we were assigned a digital story benchmark. For this benchmark we had to focus on multiple revolutions and revolve them around a certain point. I studied the French Revolution, Arab Spring, and much more. The certain point that I decided to focus on was “What is the importance of spreading awareness with the use of social media in a revolution?” I constructed an iMovie with my partner Javier on the subject. A quote that stood out to me in the video was “Outside help can and will be the difference between a gallant victory or a dreadful defeat.”

Click here to watch the full video.

Now, I would like to touch on the subject of equality. Equality plays a major role in our lives today. Just being a woman is a major factor of equality. Women are paid less than men and aren’t treated as equally in the justice system as well. The same can be said for particular charges against men and women, but that’s another topic. When I was writing a journal entry one day I had to think of a woman scientist off the top of my head. The sad thing was I couldn’t. A quote from that journal is “I could imagine a woman’s idea in science being rejected based on their gender.”

Click here to view the full journal entry.

During the year, we’ve had many trials where we can debate with our other peers on matters that are important in the world today. Towards the middle of the year, we began a trial about sweatshops and the class was divided into about 5 sections. Each section being a different part of the chain to the making of sweatshops such as U.S. consumers, Corporations, etc. After the trial was over we had to post a reflection on how we can change the global economic system. One part of the reflection that I’d like to highlight is “Companies began to be questioned and pressured to make a change in the factories they produce their products in. Some have made a change, but not enough. There is still a fair amount of factories and companies out there that are under the radar and continue to abuse their workers. Suicidal nets are set up outside of some factories to prevent people from jumping out the building to their eventual death.”

Click here to view the full reflection.

The final piece I’m going to talk about that will wrap this up nicely is the Human Rights Benchmark. For this benchmark, we got the chance to work exclusively with Kate McGrath who works for the Philly Young Playwrights. She came down to help us make our plays and give us tips as amateur playwrights. I focused on the unfair conditions in china’s factories and took readers on a journey through the eyes of a man named Minho who escapes the factory and seeks help in America. There are many twists and turns in this play, but a quote that sticks out to me is

Click here to view the full play.

I enjoyed my year in world history due to the fact that I've learned so much in such little time. I've taken many things from this class such as morales, values, and life lessons. I've learned through the perspectives of those thousands of miles away from me. Those who got to experience this class is to be envied for.

What is a good student? How do you become a better student everyday? By collaborating? By participating? Becoming a better student for me is definitely by learning. I must admit that my biggest highlight in this year of world history has been a great learning experience. It wasn’t much of the informational facts, it was more as personal aspect as how you look at the world. One of the biggest accomplishments, if not the biggest accomplishment of this year in history class has been without a doubt the play I wrote about stereotypical views in societies. This play has definitely changed the way that I view myself as. Women and A Touch of Trophy is a play about the latin women stereotypes, and latinos in general.  Scarlett Castillo is a Colombian beautiful young girl who wins Miss Universe and tries to fight stereotypes while finding true love, forgiving her mother, and reliving her past. This play is a very long one, Kate McGrath has contributed immensely with revisions and has made the play better. It was my favorite thing to do in history class this year. Not only did I like writing this play, I now realize that I love writing plays! One of the quotes inside the play that I really liked was  “Coming from a Hispanic culture. When we think of trophy wives we immediately see an image of a rich old white man with a beautiful young woman on his arm”.This was a quote that gives a controversial side to the play. 

• click here to view original copy
  

​In one of the units of world history class we studied revolutions.  We learned quite a lot of information about revolutions. We used guiding questions like; “What causes revolutions? What determines a successful revolution?” “Why are revolutions made?” From those guiding questions came a great project. We were assigned to make a digital story about revolutions. I decided and chose two guiding questions. What determines a revolution's success? How does media interact with a revolution? Based on these two questions I decided to focus on the way that leaders are interpreted in revolutions, and the censorship that plays in media. This project was definitely one of my favorite! Many of the media that saw during this project was that life changing and eye opening. 

• click here to view
  

The unit of Religion inside world history has been one of my favorite. In the beginning of the unit I thought that religion was just a mindset that was meant to be followed. I now realize that religion is a very touchy subject that many of us live of. “It’s a way of life”. To most of us it’s extremely important. Personally as being a catholic believer and follower it was very interesting to learn about the many religions out in the world. For this project I did a wiki page on Morals/Sins in Hinduism and Confucianism. Two completely different religions. This was a project of where I gained tons and tons of knowledge. I also enjoyed every aspect of learning, and the different views that are out in the world. 

• click here to visit page
  

 Also, another part that I enjoyed in history class was journaling. The journal prompts were varied in topics. Some of the topics didn’t even relate to school, and it was interesting the way that others shared their ideas. One of the journals that I enjoyed the most was about a reading called My Faith in Nonviolence (journal 28). I selected a quote and wrote about it. “Nonviolence is a weapon of the strong.” I really liked the way that the word nonviolence was being presented, as if nonviolence were  actually an object you could use to harm someone. Another journal I enjoyed was about how ideas become popular (journal 22). “Social media definitely plays a big role, when it comes to making something popular”. This quote was definitely the most important one I wrote inside my journal. Overall this year has been a great learning experience in all aspects. It was a very comfortable environment that I really enjoyed.  

• Click here to view journals entries
  

Since the beginning of the school year, many world and historical issues have been addressed and explored. I’ve learned the value of civil rights and revolution, as well as learning to value the things I’d originally take for granted. But one of the main things explored was self identity and human rights. Self identity is important for everyone, and it's something that most struggle with. Since the introduction of colonialism, almost everyone has struggled with self identity. Self identity defines who you are on the inside and on the outside, but is influenced by the means of culture and environment.

Many of the units explored some aspect of self identity. Such as the colonialism and culture/religion units. As we learned, during colonialism, “foreign” countries were stripped of their native cultures in replace of European nationalism. This caused a large majority of the people’s identities to get stolen from them, and when they tried to regain them, the culture was either too far gone or they were ashamed. This is similar to the way things nowadays around the world. Western countries usually force their culture onto the people, and those who don’t already fit the mold (aka people of color) while literally force themselves to try to be as eurocentric as possible in order to avoid ridicule. This year, I learned that self identity is very important, and if you’re not comfortable with who you are (or at least accepting), then you’ll never be satisfied. Trying to change who you are to fit what someone else believes in will only hurt you in the long run.

During the colonialism unit, Mr. Block had posted a link about an African girl who had lost touch with American culture and moved to Nigeria in order to feel “at home”. I responded with,

"Those who try to maintain a culture that is foreign to the American eye are usually ousted despite this being considered the land of the free."

Trying to change who you are to fit what someone else believes in will only hurt you in the long run. The rest of this response can be viewed here.

Another important aspect of this year was the revolution unit. It taught my peers and I that standing up for what you believe in matters. That there will always be a grip that keeps you from succeeding and it is up to you to break and rise above it. Revolutions start with an idea of a few, and then expand to many and eventually becomes a mind for the people. The success of a revolution depends entirely on the message and aftermath of the event. If nothing positive comes from a supposed revolution, there might as well not have been one. This unit taught me that all should stay informed on what is happening in their governments. Also, to not let seemingly intimidating powers to continue to oppress. Each and every one of us has a responsibility to care for the wellbeing of the people and themselves.

On February 10, 2014, I wrote a paragraph in response to the French and Haitian revolutions. I had connected the historical French and Haitian revolutions to that of modern day and had a great time researching and gaining an understanding. The last few sentences of the paragraph included this,

“The only ways for a revolution to take flight and be successful is for the unison of the people. The people must be passionate and genuinely care for one another and the country, and are willing to risk their wellbeing to defend against a corrupt government. “

The rest of my response can be viewed here.

Another proud aspect of the year that I created was my “Guide to Revolutions” video. My focus in particular was exploring the aftermath of a revolution and what happens exactly. The objective of the project was to express our understandings of a revolution as well as expand on our own individualized topics about them. This video is definitely my favorite of the bunch.

Journal #33 in my World History Journal was interesting and appealing, and stood out from many of my other responses. It entails my personal beliefs on how to start, pursue and end a revolution. Not only this, but difference ways to protest during a revolution that avoids turning to violence.

Another journal that stood out to me was #46. It was in response to a question along the lines of “Are mentalities shaped?”. I thought my response to this in particular had everything to do with self identity. If you take a look at journal, you’ll see that I stood my ground on the topic. Self identity is created by your mentality, as mentalities are created by your environment and influences. Each interconnect to one another and having another person create who you are would in turn change your mentality to only suit them.

In this unit we traveled across seas (not literally) to learn about revolutions all over the world.. We talked about the Arab Spring and Revolutions all over Africa. There was always a common topic of people being tired of being treated poorly by their rulers. Their rulers made promises to make better lives for the people but never did. To change the way the police force would treat the people (they did but the police force was just a corrupt). Enough was enough there was time for changed to be made. changes that actually did some good for the people. We would discuss about what makes a good revolution and what actually is a revolution. As a class we agreed a revolution is a change (good or bad), that can impact a way of life. For our benchmark is was our job to decide what makes a great revolution.

I decided to focus on the arts and colors. Me being who I am I feel like the news always portrays the bad sides of revolutions (violence and death ). The media can talks a little about the positive side or fun sides to revolutions but that doesn't get views.. People like drama (as long as it’s not theirs). So I wanted to do something a little more uplifting like bright colors and arts. My question was how does the arts keep a revolution from not falling apart? I will answer my question and hopefully brighten your day.