:MiNTaE’s SuPeR DooPeR!! BloG~~~

“Jean Valjean’s Conscience”

In Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables, the hero, Jean Valjean, is an ex-convict, living illegally under an assumed name and wanted for a robbery he committed many years ago. [Actually, no — he is only wanted for breaking parole.] Although he will be returned to the galleys — probably [in fact, actually] for life — if he is caught, he is a good man who does not deserve to be punished. He has established himself in a town, becoming mayor and a public benefactor. One day, Jean learns that another man, a vagabond, has been arrested for a minor crime and identified as Jean Valjean. Jean is first tempted to remain quiet, reasoning to himself that since he had nothing to do with the false identification of this hapless vagabond, he has no obligation to save him. Perhaps this man’s false identification, Jean reflects, is “an act of Providence meant to save me.” Upon reflection, however, Jean judges such reasoning “monstrous and hypocritical.” He now feels certain that it is his duty to reveal his identity, regardless of the disastrous personal consequences. His resolve is disturbed, however, as he reflects on the irreparable harm his return to the galleys will mean to so many people who depend upon him for their livelihood — especially troubling in the case of a helpless woman and her small child to whom he feels a special obligation. He now reproaches himself for being too selfish, for thinking only of his own conscience and not of others. The right thing to do, he now claims to himself, is to remain quiet, to continue making money and using it to help others. The vagabond, he comforts himself, is not a worthy person, anyway. Still unconvinced and tormented by the need to decide, Jean goes to the trial and confesses.

1. Did he do the right thing?  Why?  Why not?
   Yes, he did the right thing because that innocent man would have been punished for no reason.
2. What do you think?
   I think that he should not be punished because he lived a peaceful life until now and he confessed.

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Today is a great day because it is the day before THE FOUR DAY WEEKEND>~ oh right.. i’m going off-island on Saturday. Well, before that, I better experience some joy in guam. I have already made plans on what do for THURSday and Friday~ I’m very excited..~ oh yeah..  I was on KTouch and i completed level 10 and 11 again.. well time to go~ also i even explored some more gimp..~

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Today I came down to the linux lab.. As USuAL~ Today, Mr. Walker was our Substitute teacher. I started typing on KTouch. I was challenging Xiang again.. AND I BEAT HIM~ haha sorry xiang.~ anyways, I went ahead to explore more on GIMP. It turns out that everybody found out how to do most of the things, but not me! I have no idea why.. THen~ I went to go blog, and yeah.. TIME TO GO~

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As usual, I went down to the Linux lab after math class. As soon as I came down, I waited very patiently and quietly in line. Then the substitute teacher came. After that, I went inside and turned on my computer! On KTouch, I decided to go back to level 10 because level 2 was so boring! Xiang and I were racing and it forced me to type faster than I had ever typed before. Then I went to explore Gimp. It was so hard and I did not understand anything. I decided to go explore more tomorrow. That’s enough for today , i think..~

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Today, I heard that Mr. Maiquez went to JAPAN!! In my mind, I thought that He IS SO LUCKY!  Anyways, as usual I went to go type in KTouch. I was on level 2. It was fun. After that, I went to KTurtle, and I finally created a christmas tree. I was so proud of myself. This is it for today. Hurray~

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We have been blogging since April 5. Mr. Maiquez gave us these questions to see what we think of blogging so far:

So far, what do you think of blogging?
Blogging has been fun. It is very easy to use.

How do you think this can be used in your studies?
We can go to blogs of people from other countries and learn about them. The teachers can also use blogs to post assignments or something like that.

Have you been following the blogging rules of our class?
Yes, I have.

Are they difficult to follow?
No. You just have to do what the teacher tells you and make sure you don’t hurt someone’s feelings.

How do you think blogging can be used outside of school?
You can inform people about something. You can also advertise and share your feelings. People can come to see what your life is like maybe and we can learn something about others by visiting their sites.

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1. When someone says “just be yourself”, what does that mean?
I think it means that we should act the way we usually act.

2. Is it always easy to be yourself, or can it sometimes be difficult? Why? How? Give examples.
I think it’s easy to just be yourself as long as you put your mind to it~

3. The kids around talked a lot about “fitting in.” What does “fitting in” mean? How do you do it?
“Fitting in” is like…..talking and hanging out with a group of kids and other people with the same interests as you. You don’t have to act like something you’re not to “fit in”.

4. Is it true that there is a lot of pressure in this school? What do you have to do to fit in here?
It’s not true that there’s a lot of pressure in this school… You don’t have to do anything to fit in….. Just be friendly~

5. Does fitting in ever make it hard to be yourself?
“Fitting in” does not mean you have to be someone else. Maybe if you meet the wrong group of people.. They might try to pressure you, but then you should try to “fit in” somewhere else.

6. What if you don’t fit in? Is that okay, or does it mean there’s something wrong with you?
Even if you don’t fit in, it’s okay~ It doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you… If there is, then try to learn what it is and fix it.

7. Are there groups here in school? Cliques? (Gangs) What are they?
No.
8. Why do these groups exist? What do they do for the people in them?
They don’t exist.

9. Does being in a group sometimes make it harder to be yourself? How? In what way? Examples?
It might. I saw on t.v. or sometimes read in books about these things happening.

10. Are there pressures to fit into these groups? If so, describe the pressures.
Yes. There are sometimes people pressure you when you want to join a group. They might make you do something that you don’t want to do or something that is wrong, just to prove a point.

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Here’s an ethical dilemma about a boy in 3rd grade named Brendan:

Brendan was doing really bad in math. His parents said that they would not let him play on the baseball team if didn’t improve, so he cheated on his quiz. He was caught and a parent conference was called. He had to sit with his parents, his teacher, and the principal. They discussed the school policy on cheating and lying.

On the way home, his father told Brendan that he was deeply disappointed in him and expected more from him in the future. That night, Brendan felt like the whole world was against him, but he also felt guilty for letting his parents down.

On the weekend, Brendan and his family went to the movies. Brendan’s dad asked for children’s tickets for both Brendan and his 16 year old brother. Brendan looked over at his brother, who stared down at the sidewalk and hunched his shoulders hoping the ticket seller wouldn’t notice that he was well above the age for a child’s ticket. The ticket seller glanced suspiciously back and forth between the father and the brother, and then, with a doubtful look on her face, she handed them the the two child’s tickets. This happened every time they went to the movies, and it always made Brendan feel weird.

On the way home from the movie, Brendan asked his father why it was okay to lie and cheat the theater out of money but not to cheat on his math quiz. His dad responded that sometimes its okay to lie as long as nobody gets hurt.

• What was Brendan’s dilemma?

Brendan did not know what to do. His dad said that lying and cheating is okay as long as it did not hurt anybody. Nobody was hurt when he cheated on the test. Brendan did not know if he should stop his dad or not.

• Have you ever seen an adult or friend do something you felt wasn’t right? What did you do? How did it make you feel?

I have seen a friend do something wrong once. I told him it’s wrong but I didn’t try to stop him whole-heartedly. I felt guilty about not stopping him. I also felt worried and kind of scared

• Do you think Brendan should try to talk to his Dad again about his lying at the movies?

Yes I do. His dad should set himself straight before it’s too late.

• Who might Brendan have hurt by cheating on his quiz?

I don’t Brendan hurt anybody except himself.

• Brendan’s Dad said it was okay to be dishonest if no one was hurt. Who do you think might have been hurt by his lying at the movie ticket office?

I think that Brendan’s dad will be hurt and also the lady at the ticket office.

• Have you ever felt like doing (or have you actually done) the “wrong thing” because you felt like it was worth it? Do you still feel that it was worth it?

Yes I have. Now that I think back on it, I don’t think it was worth it.

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An ethical dilemma story is one where there are no right or wrong answers outright or at all.  It is a situation involving an individual or several people.  It is usually the type of story where you are caught in between a rock and a high place… Here is an ethical dilemma that I made up…

Mac is a model student. He had good grades in every subject and he was the best at everything. He was also very kind. His teacher, Mr. Cheese, was also kind and he loved all his students. Mr. Cheese and Mac had a special bond. This bond was like the kind a father and son would have. They cared for each other and they also did many things together. Everyone in the school knew about this “bond” between them.
Toward the end of the school year, there came a foreign exchange student named Bloop. He was a big bully at his old school. He always picked on little kids but all the teachers loved him. Bloop was good at sucking up to people..
Bloop managed to make all the other teachers love him except Mr. Cheese. Mr. Cheese just thought of him as a normal student. Bloop hated being the same as everyone else. He loved being different. Couple of days later, Bloop heard about the “bond” between Mac and Mr. Cheese. He got very jealous of Mac and wanted to do something about it. He started being cruel to Mac. He also threatened him so that he wouldn’t be able to tell anybody. Mac was in trouble~~~ Bloop made Mac come over to his house to do his chores, homework, and everything else he could think of. When ever Mr. Cheese wanted to go somewhere with him, he refused because he was too tired. Mr. Cheese began to think that there was something wrong.
Mr. Cheese started to investigate. He asked all his students if they knew anything but they all said they didn’t. It was because Bloop threatened all of them too. Mr. Cheese also asked Mac’s parents, neighbors, and his other friends. They all said they didn’t know anything.
Mr. Cheese was beginning to become very worried. He decided to question Mac himself, but he was seeing so little of him these days that he never got the chance. Mr. Cheese decided to corner him after school. He locked the room so that he could not get out unless he talked with him. It was a little drastic but it had to be done.
Mr. Cheese started to question Mac, but Mac didn’t talk at all. He was thinking of what would happen to him if he told the truth. Mac was thinking very hard!! Then Mr. Cheese began to get a little impatient. Since Mac wouldn’t talk to him, he said that he would call in his parents and the pricipal.
Here was the dilemma. Mac didn’t know what to do… If he told them, then Bloop would do something to him and if he didn’t tell, He would get in trouble and Bloop would keep on bullying him. Mac didn’t know what to do~!!

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This is was a situation in some school in the U.S. A girl named Julia, who is in the 6th grade, had two best friends, Erin and Wendy. They were friends since kindergarden. Erin was very popular and most people thought of her as a leader. One day, when Julia went to school, Erin was acting weird. She was ignoring Julia and turned most of her friends against her. She did not know what she did wrong so she went to Wendy. Wendy acted nervous and just said that all she knew was that Erin told everybody not to hang out with her. Everybody picked on her that day. Her parents offered to help that night but she did not want everybody to know that her parents were involved.
The next day was worse. Everybody ignored her so she ate by herself. Later she went to the bathroom when suddenly another girl from her class came it. She told her that she was sent by Erin to take her shoes or nobody would talk to her tomorrow. Julia was scared and hurt so she gave her the shoes. She was also late for class. When she went inside the classroom the teacher asked her why she was late and where are her shoes…
I don’t think she should tell the teacher about Erin yet… She should force Erin to tell her what was wrong, and if the answer wasn’t good enough, then she should tell.
Wendy wasn’t a very good friend either. If she was, then she would have stuck up for Julia and people might have done the same.
I was in a situation like Wendy once, but I didn’t act exactly like her. I still hung out with that person. I’ve never acted like Erin though…
If boys were involved instead of girls then there might be some violence..
I think people hurt others because those people did something to hurt them or because they just annoy them. I don’t think it’s a good idea to hurt people but I think that’s why people pick on others.
If I hear anybody making fun of someone in our class, then of course I’ll help him/her. This is the way I would react because it’s the right thing to do, and because I know what it feels like to be made fun of.
I’ve had friends turn on me before. It made me feel surprised and angry. Also, kind of sad. What happened was, my friend and I were having a good time, but he had other friends that didn’t like me so, that “friend” joined his other friends and he stabbed me in the back…. That’s okay because I have new friends now.

-mintae

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