IFP Conference Reflection

Last Sunday, I joined the IFP(Initiative For Peace) conference in UWC Dover campus. It was an amazing experience.

The conference was all designed by UWC students and was divided into 4 sessions: discrimination, violence, identity, and media.

After a series of ice-breaking games, we started from discrimination session. Here, we discussed the definition of discrimination, types of discrimination and why people tend to discriminate others. We also played some games in order to let us have a better understanding of discrimination. We also talked about potential solutions of discrimination which were equality and equity. Equality is everyone gets the same whereas equity is to be fair, to decide who should get more based on different people’s different situation.

In order to achieve positive peace, we should pursue equity. However, equity is not something that can be achieved quickly. So governments should build equity based on equality.

The second session was violence. We started by a simple game which demonstrates us different roles in violence. All the students were divided into two groups. One group needed to use chairs to make a barrier in order to stop the other group from reaching to the other end of the classroom. Half of the students in the other group were blinded by blindfolds and the other half needed to guide them to cross the barrier. But the barrier group members can say something wrong to deliberately guide them to the wrong direction. In addition, 3 students in the barrier group were asked to be bystanders, that is, they can only watch in silence.

I was assigned to the group which was required to build barriers. Students in my group were so excited when they tried to block the other group of students. I think it is a kind of human nature to gloat, to feel kind of “funny” when others are in little troubles. This also applies to those bullies who want to “make some fun” and show that they are superior. One thing I may never forget is when a boy tried to lift a chair and cross the barrier, a girl who was acting the role of bystander in my group started to yell at me:”say something!” I suddenly felt lots of pressure and started to misguide the boy to the wrong direction and soon I got the hang of it and kept doing it. This makes me realize that in reality, lots of people are kind of “forced” to become a bully. “If you don’t join us, then you will be the one be bullied.” This is a complex situation, maybe at the first place people choose to join because they have “no choice”. But once they become one of those evils, they will be corrupted soon. Education is not only about the academic study but love and peace as well. Before we know how to solve a maths question, we must learn how to treat others, how to love others and how to be a decent man. We should build a positive value and stick on it. As a peace-builder, it is our commitment to stay impartial and kind to the world.

I like the topic “identity” because I am always proud of my identity as a Chinese, as a girl, as a dog lover, as “me”. We learned to respect other’s identities and other’s life choices. No matter what gender we choose to have; no matter what religion we choose to believe, at the end of the day, we are all humans. Everyone has their right to choose their own interests and preferences, we should fully respect other’s choices.

Last but not the least, we had a lesson about media bias and fake news. We read some fake news and posts on Facebook. These news really affect other people’s lives and have negative impacts on our society. In addition, biased news twist people’s thoughts and values, which may lead to the downfall of a whole generation.

After we finished our learning sessions. We sang and danced all together in the conference room. There was also some performances given by students. I really appreciate those seniors who worked so hard to make this conference a big success. I did learn a lot about peacebuilding from the conference and made lots of new friends from all over the world.

How does chemistry link to economics

I am sure that everything in the world has some certain bonds between each other. So does chemistry and economics.

Superficially, chemistry is related to economics in terms of commercial profits. We cannot live without chemical products such as shower gel, shampoo, perfume,  detergent and so on. There are tons of companies in the world that sell chemical products. Of course, these companies’ only purpose is to make profits. In this way, during the researching and testing stages, entrepreneurs need to consider the cost of these experiments and the cost of the product, as well as a reasonable price of this particular chemical good so that consumers will find the product price-worthy.

Philosophically, or specifically – epistemically, chemistry is linked to economics because “both of them are able to become alchemy.” There is a pun in this answer where “alchemy” has two meanings. In chemistry area, “alchemy” can be explained as a form of chemistry studied in the Middle Ages, that was concerned with trying to discover ways to change ordinary metals into gold. However, in terms of economics, “alchemy” means a seemingly magical process of transformation. For example, Alibaba used to be a tiny small company that nobody wanted to invest into; but now, it has become the largest e-commerce company in China. The word “alchemy” reveals that people believe these two subjects are able to bring people fortunes.

However, if we dig deeper, other philosophical relationships between chemistry and economics include how Chemists study the behaviour of particles while economists study the behaviour of humans. But if we think even more deeply, what is the difference between particles and humans? It is a true fact that humans are made up of particles. In this way, we can deduce that chemistry and economics are intrinsically the same in nature – content-wise, of course, the two disciplines differ vastly. However, both require the correlation between micro variables and macro variables, for instance, the relation between individual atoms and chemical reactions, and the relation between an individual consumer with the economy at macro level.

 

 

About CAS

Everyone is different. these differences, to a certain extent, determine what we like, what we are interested in and what we are good at. however, most of the time, finding out what we are suited to do may be an uphill task. therefore I find it paramount that before signing up for my IB CAS programmes, I find out more about myself.

based on past experience, I would surmise that my strength lies in doing things efficiently. I am not afraid of obstacles, willing to achieve more in the face of difficulty. the greater the challenge, the more I will be spurred on to give my all.

With the development of technology, the Internet has become an integral and inseparable part of our lives. I am really passionate about maths and other science-based subjects and my ideal major in university would be computer science. I find it both interesting and challenging to learn such a practical skill. Therefore for CAS, I decided to join maths and cipher clubs to train my skills for critical and logical thinking and to train my brain’s flexibility.

In addition, I am always willing to lend my help to those in need.  I thus see CAS as the perfect opportunity in giving back to society. Considering that I am also passionate about computer science, I think it is a good idea to link the usage of and the picking up of a practical skill, to helping those in need. Coding for good and tech thinker will thus be two perfect fits for me. In addition, the initiative for peace and smiles of China are all on my list as they give me space for personal growth through the process of formulating my own project and using such skills to benefit those around me, thus increasing both my social awareness and skill set.

 

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