The Value of Beauty

[Write formally and academically in staunch opposition to normally held views]

In the status quo, people complain about the lookism that is so common in our society. People tend to judge each other with their appearance, and good-looking people are more likely to get employed. To solve the "lookism phenomena," blind auditions, blind interviews, and many other methods that respect a person's aptitude and talent more than the appearance in employment process these days. As a result, more people with high ability ad intelligence are now working in many jobs. I, however, think that the person's appearance should still be the most important factor the judge a person in employment.
Nowadays, except certain disabled people, we live in a society where we should face each other. It is natural for people to look others' face foremost than other parts. And their appearance decides their "first impression." To modify this impression which is formed in an instant, it needs more than 40 hours. That's why first impression is important and YOUR appearance forms it. Feel offended? Look at yourself standing in front of a mirror choosing which perfume to use and which clothes to wear. See, our are already focusing on your appearance. Let's take i more seriously. In this industrialized society, tertiary sector outnumbers other jobs. TO be successful on communicating with one's clients, good first impression contributes a lot.
Let's trace back to past years. The standard of beauty has been altered all the time, but i had been existed. Men competed each other for beauty, of beauties got to choose their spouse and spend rest of their life happily. However, those who weren't it was a bit harsh. Anyway, there are no absolute value as beauty.

Equal Education

“Let us not choose a career in thoughts of personal advance, but choose a career based on talents and aptitude.” This is the part of our school’s motto. I think my school, Korean Minjok Leadership Academy, is doing a good job in terms of the ideal educational system that Malcom Gladwell is dreaming of in his fourth episode, “Carlos Doesn’t Remember.” Our school selects 150 talented and potential ones among the students throughout the whole nation each year, provides them appropriate, high-quality education which suits them in order to open a better future. However, Malcom is also aware of those students who are as talented as the ones who are recognized talented, but are not provided high-quality education due to lacking advocates. He thinks that our educational system has to play a better job selecting gifted students from the very beginning. I totally agree with his idea, but I have another point of view that people should also consider seriously.

If more talented students get selected and receive better education, what happens to all the other students who are “less talented?” Some people might think there is nothing to worry about because “less talented students” do not have any qualification for good quality education and they are the ones who need to learn from the very basics. However, the reality is that as the interest in education is excessively concentrated to smarter students, good teachers are all placed in the “smart students teaching” education. In other words, less smart students would have to study with less prestigious teachers.

I think the irony exists here. If the purpose of separating students based on their talents is to accelerate talented students and help boost less smart ones’ potential, they should both receive high-quality education. Just leaving unselected students ignorantly does not change the quality of education, quality of the whole students in the future, and the quality and level of our society in long term.

In order to achieve the goal of “prestigious education,” we should provide the quality of education equally among students. I do not mean that we should not separate the students based on levels. We have to provide high quality of education to each group of students that best suits each level of talents. Smarter ones would be smarter, and less smart ones will get the opportunity to sow and boost their gifted potential one day.

This is how we can realistically accomplish “equal education” in our society.

Is peer pressure always bad?

Is peer pressure always bad?

When people hear the word “peer pressure,” it is easy for them to think of the negative phenomena of minorities tending to follow majorities’ idea when making a decision. True, there are a lot of negative sides of peer pressure, but there is certainly a need to reconsider about the misunderstanding of peer pressure. I think more positive than negative effects exist.

The first thing that comes to my mind is the peer pressure that I overcame when I first came to KMLA. I have never stayed up all night before the quiz or exams, but all students in KMLA were doing that. I felt quite pressured. I was worried about the possibility of dozing during the exam. However, I was more worried about what would other students think about me if I go to bed early while they stay up late. I decided to stay up just like others, feeling the “peer pressure” within the students at our school. The result was successful. There were many problems related to the content that I studied the night before, and if I hadn’t studied, I would have messed up my exams. Feeling the peer pressure in the group that studies hard encourages us to study harder like others. This applies not only to studying, but also any faction of friends not smoking, no drugs, exercising together, or any other activities that are beneficial to our lives.

Peer pressure really can be good or bad depending on what results will that specific activity will bring up. However, I think that changing people’s attitudes toward peer pressure can also determine whether peer pressure is good or bad. Rather, this can reduce the frequency of bad peer pressure. I believe that peer pressure is fundamentally caused by people’s likelihood of not understanding the diversity of thoughts among others. People tend to think different is wrong. However, this is not true. We should learn how to accept other’s thoughts, even if that specific thoughts are from the minority group. If people do know how to respect minorities’ thoughts, they would not be conscious about others’ attention, and finally would not feel any peer pressure.

Being encouraged by the majorities can act as a good peer pressure in some occasions.

In spite of these good peer pressures, we should acknowledge the existence of diversity in thoughts. We are different, not wrong.