38. Journal Writing: Marriage

I think marriage is a promise: a promise to your other half that you would be there for him/her. Although it may seem like just another legal document (as so many people divorce nowadays), to me, it had a much deeper meaning in it. Like the vow people take in marriage, people promise to be part of each other’s life. A marriage means a creation of a family. A couple is a couple, even if they act as though they are married; they have made no promise to each other. Their relationship may end any time and there will be no consequences or responsibility.

When people marry, people are seeking for a belongingness and trust. When two people bond together as husband and wife, they legally and mentally belong to one another. I think the phrase “settling down with someone” describe the feeling very well, because you are no longer trying to find your other half. You move on to a new stage of life, which may involve a change in lifestyle. When people get married, they loose part of their independence. In a sense, they are no longer just themselves, because they have “another half”. They give up a part of them for another person. In exchange, they get parts of the other person to keep. 

37. Journal Writing: Too Much Pressure - Wenke

Do you agree with Wenke that most students think cheating is acceptable? In your journal, write down your views of how common cheating is in your school.

I think most people know that cheating is unacceptable. We have all been all been told over and over again, since elementary, that cheating is bad. Why else would teachers separate out chairs during tests? Why else would we even do a test on our own? Yet, people still do it. As Wenke said, there has been a strong emphasis on grades and pressure on students to get good grades. Maybe that is the reason why students cheat nowadays. But I doubt that students in the past don't cheat. There will always be people that seek the easy way out. Those are the people that constantly cheat, only because they don't want to study. I'm not going to lie, I have witnessed cheating in our school... especially during wordly wise classes. Most people there don't want to take wordly wise. They were put there because they have no other classes to take, so they have to memorize vocabulary. Another reason for the excessive cheating in that class is that is it so easy to cheat. The teachers or staffs that supervise the class usually don't do much supervising. They just let you do your own thing. You put reluctant students with lazy teachers in a wordly wise class, this is what you get.

36. Redefine Integrity

Since we are redefining a word, we might as well start with the dictionary meaning. According to the Marriam-Webster dictionary, integrity means "firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values; incorruptibility".
To tell the truth, I had a vague definition of the word until the PAS community started to over use it. It began with some incident over cheating among the eighth graders, which lead to a school-wide lecture over integrity. The school middle and high school department had to watch a movie and write a report about it. After that, the word became sort of a mocking slogan among the students. I guess most students see the word as honesty and no cheating. 
In our class discussion, Christine mentioned that she thinks that having integrity is being true to yourself. It hit me then that that is exactly how I feel towards the words too, I just never had the words to grasp the idea. I think a person's integrity is largely defined by their own values. Just like any other values, it can be influenced by others, but it is usually not easily changed and people hold on to them. I think having integrity is doing things that will not leave a shadow in your heart and you can do them without regret.

35. Being a Chink Journal Writing

So far in life, I have never felt particularly defensive for my parents. The only time I felt the need to help, or protect you might say, about anything was about the english language. My parents have spent huge sums to send my to this American school. They are giving me a chance to learn a language that they are not particularly familiar with. They gave me the chance to exceed them in this language. So, when it comes time that they have to communicate in English (mainly in the written form) I am of some help. When there were translations needed to be done, I am usually the use to be asked. 

Once, my mom asked me to check her e-mail to her friend in the States before she sent it. The e-mail was generally fine, with just a few awkward phrases and grammar. I explained my changes while I did them. After the edit, my mom patted my back and said, "Thank you. That was a great help for me. The money I spent was worth it." Even though she said it half-jokingly, I felt a tiny pang in my heart. They gave so much to me. My 3-minute edit can never compare to the sum and the time they spent for my education. Yet, my mom was still so appreciative over something so small.