By the way

I'll just put this on my blog as a Christmas special. My favorite West Wing characters... Da-dah!

Toby
C.J.
Josh
Leo
Donna
Sam

Toby is actually the first person I liked when I started watching the West Wing, followed by C.J., who is the coolest Press Secretary ever. Josh is wonderfully clever; Leo is practical and wise; Donna is sweet but capable; and Sam is handsomely naive and funny. Yup, that's my team. Probably the best ensemble cast ever.

For Your Consideration:

Do you think there is something fundamentally wrong with the society you live in?

Do you think there is something fundamentally wrong with your life right now?

Comment and share.

The Great Plagiarism Scandal!

Should I be outraged that my professor from the English Department repeatedly gave students essay topics taken directly from websites without telling us about it? I discovered this today while I was brainstorming for my argumentative essay and I typed in the words "argumentative essay" on Google. Imagine my surprise when I immediately recognized the third hit on the results page as something I've read before--in class. Turns out, this is a website from a Turkish university, and most of the second half of the webpage was included in a handout we were given two weeks ago, word for word, including the badly written sample at the end about Reiki and health. I thought, Why is my professor taking samples from Google's search results page?

I went back through my "Junior Composition" file and took out all the handouts we were given in class. Referring to those papers, I typed in their key words on Google and clicked on any suspicious results. When I typed in "sample literature review," the first hit was the sample we were given on Tuesday. Our handout included the sample and discussion questions at the top.

Next, I thought I'd try finding the four argumentative essay topics we were given this week, and guess what? They're all taken from the Internet! Well, first I was taken to Yahoo! Answers, where someone included three of our essay topics in his answer list(posted 4 weeks ago). The person gave a link at the bottom of his answer, and when I clicked on it, sure enough I found all four essay questions--on a website named Good Essay Topics.

For your reference, these are the four argumentative essay topics we were given, copied and pasted word for word (from my handout or from Good Essay Topics, take your pick):

1. We are becoming overwhelmingly dependent on computers. Is this dependence on computers a good thing or should we be more suspicious of their benefits?

2. Technology makes communication easier in today's world. Many people choose to work at home in front of a computer screen. What danger does the society face depending on computer screens rather than face-to-face contact as the main means of communication? Are we the prisoners of the progress?

3. Advertising: Information or Manipulation?

4. Should restrictions be placed on the use of mobile phones in public areas like restaurants and theaters?

By the way, when the professor handed out the essay topics on Tuesday, a classmate pointed out that in Taiwan, there are already restrictions placed on the use of mobile phones in public areas. The professor said he didn't know. Could it be that if he had in fact created his own topics for his students in Taipei, Taiwan, he would have come up with something more relevant and debatable?

I am seriously concerned about this because, first of all, the fact that our English professors are taking essay questions from these websites reveal something about us. Is 'Good Essay Topics' such a prestigious and credible website that our Department endorses using their data word-for-word in teaching and giving class assignments? Or perhaps it reveals something about the educational standard in our university where samples and questions are copied directly from the Internet?

We've all been told over and over again how plagiarism is illegal and how you should always cite your sources. Why is it then that my professor never told us our essay topics were taken from the Internet? I include the page 'Works Cited' at the end of all my essays and papers because we're supposed to give credits where it's due. Why then, does the professor not need to cite his sources as he hands out guidelines and samples week after week? Also, if all the material is online, what's the need to go to class? Just give me the damn topics and I can go figure myself!

This class, by the way, is the composition class required of all juniors in the English Department. No one graduates without taking this class. In other words, the Department thinks good composition skills are so necessary that it's making everyone take this class without exception! Which adds a lot to my bewilderment.

Maybe this explains why most of the samples we've read are really, quite frankly, in bad taste, and also why most students still don't know how to write a proper essay. I don't know if it is an ethical, acceptable practice among university professors, or just a long hidden secret that professors hope no one will ever discover. I wonder what the Department Chair thinks about this. Or perhaps the Ministry of Education. Is this proof that the quality of our university education has hit a new low? I wonder, I wonder, I wonder...

Elaine would like to work in the West Wing

It is true. Elaine found her idea of a perfect job and workplace in The West Wing. She would really like to work in such an environment, where every day is a challenge and every challenge a new dawn. Fast-paced, exciting, and confrontational--maybe that's the lifestyle she desires. But for now all this exists in a dream. She believes she'd drop dead if she ever has to endure such routines for more than three days.

The Question of Achieving

When the question of what I'm going to do after graduation came up during a chat with a friend, he commented that people probably wouldn't mind if I just stayed at home and did not work.

"That's just the public opinion of this small society," he said, referring to himself. I had told him how hard it was when I tried to find work during my year off from college. Then he asked, "Do your parents expect you to work? Are you pressured to find work?"

"No, I don't think I'm pressured." I said. "I understand why some people would accept me as a stay-at-home girl-with-severe-disability, but when you consider how my family pours in tens of thousands of dollars to hire a full-time caretaker for me, and how much it cost for all the special transportation and whatnot, wouldn't you feel a little guilty if you just stayed at home and not work, and have your parents take care of you for the rest of your life?"

"I didn't realize it cost so much to hire a caretaker." He said. "So yes. But still, I'm sure some people will still find it okay for you not to work."

Being Disabled

I agreed, because in Taiwan I know many people with physical disabilities who make a living making handicrafts from their homes or selling lottery tickets on the streets. Others simply do not work at all. Most live with their parents or siblings and receive meager subsidies each month from the government. In the eyes of the society, that is how disabled people live; there is no need to look surprised.

Later that night, I told my friend that, growing up, I have always had the urge to prove people wrong--to show them that I can do more and achieve more than just making the minimum wage and owning a bank account with the government's money in it. In a way, I truly believed I could. After all, I am a globetrotter who has lived in Singapore and America and who has communicated successfully with the French, Italians, Germans, Swiss, and the Spanish on at least one occasion. If and when I graduate, I will hold a degree from a well-known university in Taiwan, and my report card will confirm my status as cream of the crop. I should have many more doors opened to me than most people with disabilities, or even those without... But I have doubts--serious doubts--because I cannot imagine it; I cannot imagine what it's like to be successful because, quite frankly, I don't know if I want to be.

Achieving

Now, you have to understand: I have long struggled between achieving what I want and thanking people for helping me achieve. This is no small task, considering how dependent I am on other people and how much love I've received from my family and friends. I would describe myself as rather sensitive, and so when I have so many people loving me and helping me, I can easily feel overwhelmed. It's the emotions, you see. The only thing is, well, usually I get overwhelmed with guilt.

Some may not see the connection between guilt and a mediocre career, but I do. In an age like ours when marketing yourself is the first step to garnering a good spot in the workplace, a person with serious self-doubts simply do not sit well with the heads. Who wants a girl anyway who is always preoccupied with trying not to disturb her colleague in the next cubicle while all the while devising ways to pick up the sticky note with her toes? She hasn't learnt to draw the line between her needs and the needs of others, and that is the problem; I believe her overcompensation is the reason she does not achieve.

Fear

After all the analysis, I have to say that I still don't quite have the answer to whether I should be expected to work or not. There is of course the obvious question of whether a certain job or office would be able to accommodate my needs. But then the other question remains: Do I want and believe and choose to be competitive and responsible for my success? As Franklin D. Roosevelt famously said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

Am I hindered by my circumstances? Or am I just afraid to succeed? It is up to my choice, I guess, but it is a tough choice. I'll have to think more about it tonight. Good night.

Politics and Language

Perhaps because of my Intro to Linguistics class this year, I found myself beginning to pay close attention to the usage of language around me, and nothing has puzzled me more than the speech pattern of Republican vice president candidate, Alaskan governor Sarah Palin. Her body language has been analyzed by a body language expert on ABC, and of course her infamous interview with Katie Couric on CBS parodied into an opening skit on SNL. My greatest concern, though, is the fact that I have difficultly understanding her sentences.

I honestly think that Palin needs to brush up on her grammar and syntax, because her sentences are at best awkwardly structured. Look at this:

And as Ronald Reagan used to talk about, America being the beacon of light and hope for those who are seeking democratic values and tolerance and freedom. I see our country being able to represent those things that can be looked to... as that leadership, that light needed across the world. (with Katie Couric)

If I were to express those ideas, I would say it this way:

And as Ronald Reagan used to say, America is the beacon of light and hope for those who are seeking democratic values, tolerance, and freedom. I see our country as being able to represent those things that people can look to. We can be that leadership--that light that is needed around the world.

Another example comes from the often-quoted segment on CBS about Alaska's proximity to Russia:

That Alaska has a very narrow maritime border between a foreign country, Russia, and, on our other side, the land--boundary that we have with Canada...

That--as your English Compo teacher might have told you--is just poor sentence structure. Recall your lessons on "Clauses," "Avoiding Fragments," and "Fused Sentences," and you'll quickly realize that this very example would have gotten a very poor grade if it had been graded.

First of all, try to avoid starting a sentence (or a paragraph) with "that"--it will just mess up your structure later. I obviously broke this rule in the paragraph above ("That is just poor sentence structure"), but it's okay because the sentence makes perfect sense! To understand it better, consider the fact that "that" can be used as a demonstrative pronoun, or, as Palin used it, to introduce a restrictive clause. Palin's example is definitely not used as a pronoun. So what she did basically, was giving Couric the answer in a clause, rather than a sentence! 

As she should have known, linguistically, you don't have to start your answers with "that" simply because the question ended with the word, "that" (Couric: "What did you mean by that?"). Palin could have phrased it this way: "Well, because Alaska has a very narrow maritime border between Russia, a foreign country, and of course, on the other side, we have Canada." Again, the answer is lame, but at least it will score higher on the sentence structure.

My last example, and perhaps the most overt, is a sentence that ends with a preposition:

Our next-door neighbors are foreign countries, there in the state that I am the executive of.

Of course, everyday speech can be very different from, say, an essay. But still... "There in the state that I am the executive of"? Not only is that an awkward sentence, it's outright wrong! Those foreign countries are not in the state of which she is the executive commander! They are its neighboring countries!. She probably meant to say "beside the state"--not "in the state." 

Oh well, so this is about as much as I'm going to write on this topic. I understand perfectly that Palin's nervousness may have contributed to her messy sentences, but if she messes up this easily and this much, I think she is in a lot of trouble. People will have a hard time getting the gist of what she's saying, with all those long, compound sentences, and she will come off as foolish and incomprehensible. 

I'd like to see how she does in the debate on Friday, because I really want to hear her discourse. Maybe I'll find more gaffs, or maybe I won't. All I know is that if Palin has gotten a second-language speaker like me picking on her English, she better make improvements. Or it'll just go to show how America has fallen behind the rest of the world. English is your language, so please, speak English properly.