Tiger Times Volume 41 Issue 7

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SIS takes part in honor music festival at SFS

Students travel abroad for math competitions

By Mark Kim

By Min Ji Suh

SIS has annually participated in only one math competition, but this year, 10 students went to two countries to compete in two tournaments. Four students traveled to Japan to compete in the Association of International Schools in Asia (AISA) Math Mania Competition from Feb. 2-5.

Senri Osaka International School hosted the AISA competition for the first time this year. Peter Valerio, math teacher, took seniors Eric Ahn, Derek Jung, Sohyun Kang and junior JooHo Yeo to take part in the tournament.

“We did not know what to expect, so we took the strongest team we could bring,” said Dr. Valerio.

“We chose the team members based on their performance at all the competitions we took part in.”

SIS ranked second as a group, with JooHo, Eric, Derek and Sohyun individually placing second, third, fourth and sixth respectively. However, many participants believed the tournament was not well-organized.

“I was disappointed the questions were from previous [American Math Competition] and [American Invitational Mathematics Examination] tests,” said JooHo. “[Still], I had a chance to experience the Japanese culture and make new friends.”

From Feb. 23-26, six middle and high school students participated in the Southeast Asian Mathematics Competition (SEAMC) in Singapore, which SIS took part in for the fifth time. In the previous competitions, SIS finished in the top 10 or 20 teams among 80 to 90 of the best teams in Asia.

“Last year was one of our best years, when Yuree Kim (9) finished second overall, and one team finished in the top 10,” said Michael Castellani, math teacher and trip organizer. “I am generally happy with how we finish in these competitions.”

Although advisers initially faced difficulties organizing the trip due to controverises over the school’s attendance policy, they were able to uphold the arrangements.

“One of the most important steps that I took this year was [to convince] the administration to let us go,” said Mr. Castellani. “It was important to all those involved that this was seen as a sustainable trip which would benefit our students.”

Photo by Jeffrey Chun

Placing first place in the documentary category, juniors Alison Chang, Ashley Chung, Elizabeth Song and Nadya Kim celebrate their victory on National History Day (NHD), Feb. 18, with NHD coordinator Tony Hurt.

Top entries from NHD Korea chosen to compete in Shanghai

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By Joshua Kim

ith the conclusion of Korea’s first National History Day (NHD) held on Feb. 18 at SIS, the 15 top student entries from around the country in categories such as the research papers, group performances, documentaries and websites were chosen to advance to the next round of the competition, which will be held in Shanghai on Mar. 3.

“Obviously we’re going to be competing against schools in Shanghai, who have been doing [NHD] longer,” said Tony Hurt, NHD Korea Executive Committee member.

“But there’s a chance that one of our research papers and documentaries could go up to [the US competition].”

Overall, students from eight schools around Korea traveled to SIS to participate in this year’s NHD. In the individual research paper category, SIS students Jeffrey Chun (11) and Charlie Shin (11) placed first and second, respectively, while all three group documentaries chosen to advance to the next round in Shanghai were produced by SIS students.

“We had [nearly 200] students from eight schools,” said Mr. Hurt.

“For starting a brand-new event,

Gratitude: Students should appreciate counselors postapplication season. Page 3

with no antecedent as well, I thought it was really great. The [supervisors from Shanghai] were really impressed too.”

Although entries in the individual research paper and website categories were judged prior to the day of the event, the group documentaries were screened and graded during NHD. Groups were divided among five classrooms from which six top documentaries proceeded into the final round.

“The judges were surprisingly friendly,” said Andre Lee (10). “We were expecting more penetrating, offensive questions about our documentaries, but most of the questioning involved constructive feedback and reflecting on the work we had completed so far.”

After the initial rounds of judging for documentaries, contestants moved to the cafeteria, where they participated in a quiz bowl organized by Gray Macklin, counselor, after the lunch break.

“I thought the informality of the trivia quiz bowl during lunch alleviated some of the pressure [contestants] had accumulated throughout the day,” said Gary Kim (10). “There was no price or incentive for us to participate, but our group decided to do it simply to give us time to relax.”

Contestants and judges received further historical insight during

Facebook goes public: Initial public offering garners international attention. Page 8

guest speaker Peter Underwood’s keynote speech on the need to recognize that people have differing persepctives of history. Mr. Underwood, whose grandfather Horace Grant Underwood, founded Yonsei University, is a business consultant and senior partner at a Hong Kongbased business company called IRC Limited and is also a fourth generation resident of Korea.

“Although I doze off in most of my world history lectures, I found Mr. Underwood’s speech engaging,” said Matthew Nam (9). “He is unique, being a foreigner who finds the US more alien than South Korea.

In addition, his family has been part of so many revolutionary events in our nation’s history, such as the Gwangju Massacre, Korean War and the coup of Park Chung Hee, so his insights on history were awe inspiring.”

With a meeting between various international schools in Korea scheduled to take place in May, organizers hope to expand NHD next year to include more schools and competitors.

“I felt really good about the number of [SIS] entries,” said Mr. Hurt. “We had nearly a third of the entries, and then we won half of them too. I would like to get some more schools involved, especially the bigger schools we compete against in athletics.”

For the first time, students from SIS participated in the Korea International Music Educators Association (KIMEA)/KAIAC all-country music festival held at Seoul Foreign School (SFS) from Feb. 17-18. The music festival featured students in orchestra, band and choir ensembles from all international schools in KAIAC. Nine SIS students from were selected to sing in the choir, and three were selected to play in the orchestra and band ensembles.

“It’s a good experience [for the students] because they get to participate in ensembles that are at a higher caliber than they would normally be,” said Kris Richardson, band conductor. “It’s like if you took a basketball team and put the best player from every school and made one strong team. So it’s a nice opportunity to work with some high-caliber directors for a couple of days.”

Compared to other music festivals SIS has participated in, the National Honor Festival was selective of the musicians invited to perform.

Students wishing to participate had to submit recordings to a panel of judges, who then selected the musicians to perform at the festival. During the festival, students rehearsed for two days with their ensembles led by special guest conductors. Allan Villiers, Jong Jin Lee and Patrick Ryan were the guest conductors of the band, orchestra and choir ensembles, respectively. In preparation for the festival, Dennis Darling, choral director, set up practice sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays during activity period for all participants of the honor choral ensemble.

“If you want to have a quality experience, it is about work.” said Dr. Darling. “You have to work hard to be a great ensemble or a great soloist. Quality demands effort, time and investment.”

Students were not only able to benefit from learning from guest conductors, but were also able to meet and interact with students from other schools.

“I’ve always enjoyed singing and meeting new people,” said Jean Huh (10). “Unlike other festivals, we were actually so prepared that we had some time to relax and go over [the music] in detail. We usually mess up a lot in our concerts but this was the first time it went really smoothly.”

Tiger Sharks: Record number of students show up at swimming tryouts. Page 11

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February 2012

Letter to the Editor

Editorial

Dear Editors, I was confused by last issue’s editorial. Was your concern about the behavior behind the school’s reputation or the reputation itself? The perception that SIS is a hagwon school or a party school is well earned. Many SIS students attend outside institutions for support in classes and standardized tests. Some institutions use test banks of teachers’ previous tests or test generators from our textbook companies as selling points. When teachers don’t release test or essay questions, it is not unheard of for students to recreate them from memory for future use. Students who have not even finished the first level of a course (precalculus or chemistry in particular) will take the SAT subject test measuring mastery of the course based on a crash course at an institution.

Is the problem that this is what happens at SIS or that people know that this is what happens and call us out on it? The same is true of the party scene. It is no secret that many students frequent clubs that charge a high cover fee for a table complete with food and a bottle of expensive liquor. Is the problem that many students do this or that they post it on Facebook?

You point out at the end of your piece that students should be cautious, but I am going to re-

Self-imposed competitiveness results in meaningless unhealthy obsessions Recent cheating incidents, excessive hagwon dependence and poor school attendance before testing dates have once again brought attention to the issue of SATs. With students cutting class on the Friday before test day for last-minute prep and College Board threatening to close down testing centers in Korea, the unhealthy obsession over SATs clearly seems to be growing worse.

This editorial can easily turn into one of those “an 800 will not guarantee a college acceptance” articles, but here we will discuss this trouble over SATs as part of a broader but more relevant issue at hand—competition.

There is no doubt SIS harbors an extremely competitive academic environment: that miscalculated 0.5 percent on a math test or that 0.1 percent needed to boost a 93.4 to an A matters much more here than it would to students elsewhere.

But what is the source of this competition? Why do we feel the need to retake a 750 on SAT Chemistry, jeopardize our morals by investing money and time into hagwons that indirectly foster cheating or consider traveling to Guam to take an SAT with a “better curve”?

This pressure does not come from colleges, teachers or administrators—in fact, they tell us to do the opposite. We are supposed to enjoy high school while it lasts, engaging in the activities that interest us most and learning to develop a sense of self-identity. Many colleges are now making the SATs optional, and in no way is the SAT the determining factor for an acceptance.

The source of this competition lies in no other than ourselves. It is unfortunate that we sacrifice nights of sleep, hours of free time, money, and at times our sanity due to a fierce sense of competition that we have imposed on ourselves. Many of us want to gain an edge over our classmates that we clamor at any opportunity to stand out. This desperation often drives us to focus on the quickest way to stand out—in numbers. Yet by trying to stand out among a sea of similar students, we ironically lose our unique identities, indirectly filling a mold that characterizes so many other Korean students. There are an endless number of other ways in which to stand out among one’s peers, most of them probably more rewarding and worthwhile than the momentary joy of a set of numbers.

Our competitiveness becomes even more unfortunate when we consider the futility of the situation altogether. Despite the fact that the current trend in college admissions is a lower emphasis on SAT scores, we are becoming increasingly extreme with the way we prepare for tests. How meaningful is an 800 if half of the world has the same score, especially if the questions were leaked before the test? The SAT is no longer a truly standardized test, which is—or more correctly, used to be—its very purpose.

Too often, we see college as the end, and often times, this mentality can come off as overly obsessive. Gaining those extra 10 points and thereby becoming the big fish here would be great if getting accepted to your dream college was “the end.” But, of course, college is not the end; if anything, it’s the beginning. Becoming the big fish in such a small community is, frankly, nothing when you leave it.

Let yourself be heard. If you have any responses to articles published in the Tiger Times or original contributions, please send them to tigertimes@gmail.com.

spectfully disagree. I would rather see students act with courage. Students who reject the temptations of unethical hagwon help or the decadent lifestyle afforded by wealth need to get out there and admit that there are those among us who act in a way that is worthy of criticism, but that is not what our whole school is about. We want junior varsity players to go to a varsity tournament expecting to win and learn that there is no shame in defeat if you give everything you have. We want students to submit imperfect work to contests like National History Day and have the guts to come in second, third or fourth and learn from the process of effort. There may be those who cheat at SIS, but the work that day was authentic, and we are proud of that, regardless of what place it came in. We want to see girls play hard and have fun in sports even though the best that they may be able to manage is last place. We need to be proud of them because they are us. There are those among us who live in a way in which what you see is what you get. We should ask them to step forward and become the standard by which we are measured. The bad will always be there, but it is up to rest of us to overshadow that.

From Gray Macklin, counselor

Clubs worthy of appreciation for innovative fundraiser ideas

By Marcus Lee

Due to a flood in demand, members of the China Care Club (CCC) recently experienced difficulty producing enough red stamps for teachers that will bear their names in Chinese.

Such innovative fundraisers such as the CCC’s stamp project represent the direction clubs have begun to take with the turn of the calendar.

The fundraiser, in its own right, served as a stamp. By selling an item associated with its own goal of helping malnourished children in China, the CCC not only reeled in funds but also left buyers with a permanent reminder of the club’s continuing efforts.

Fortunately, the CCC is not the only club that has become more creative in terms of fundraising. With the much-anticipated Habitat For Humanity (HFH) and National Arts Honors Society (NAHS) fashion show in March along with the Community Service Club’s upcoming participation in the Special Olympics, a renewed wave of innovation is set to further the meaningful efEditors-in-Chief Stella Kim Eunice Lee

Managing Editor Lydia Kim

Production Editor Jasmine Park

Graphics Editor Stephanie Song

Copy Editors

Alison Chang Angela Cho Elizabeth Song

Layout Artists Yong Gun Choe Jason Huh Joanne Lee Milton Yoon Jonathan Yun

Photo by Jessica Song

Updating members on the upcoming Fashion Show collaboration with the National Art Honor Society, Yeeun Chun (12), Habitat for Humanity (HFH) president, delegates tasks to prepare for the upcoming event. forts of clubs.

In fact, widespread recognition of the March fashion show already resonates throughout the student body. The posters on the walls and the persistent sound of club members selling tickets to donators in the halls speak for themselves. By givMarketing Director & Web Designer Jeffrey Chun

Cartoonist Christine Lee

Photographers

Joshua Kim Linda Heeyoung Park Jessica Song

ing a heads up a month in advance, HFH and NAHS have proven that they not only initiate new plans but also work to implement them in an effective manner.

The event itself also caters to a larger platform. Though it is a joint effort headed by HFH and NAHS, it

Reporters Mark Kim Michelle Kim Marcus Lee Helen Song Min Ji Suh Adviser Ms. Carolyn Brown

also involves the work of the Backstage Club and the Cinema Club. In addition, HFH has accepted volunteers to participate as models in the fashion show. By developing a fundraiser more conducive to participation from non-members, Shelby Kim (11), HFH secretary, first pro-

Tiger Times seoul international school Songpa P.O. Box 47 Seoul, South Korea 138-600

posed to host this fashion show with the intent of getting the school community more involved.

With a brighter future in mind, it is important to view the HFH and NAHS’ collaborative fashion show and the CCC’s red stamp as a recent installment in a series of innovative fundraisers that trace back to last year.

The positive response HFH received after the first champagne brunch at the end of last year left a lasting mark on clubs this year. Inspired by its success and determined by an increased representation of the student body with 30 new members, Lyuh Kim (12), CSC president, planned to launch the club’s first Walk-a-thon this school year to pursue larger goals.

What matters most is that clubs are showing an increased willingness to accept and follow through with change in order to distinguish the goals they carry. That boost in effort alone shows how much clubs want to fulfill their goals. As a marker for where clubs headed, this movement, growing in momentum with every fundraiser, deserves a moment of recognition.

The Tiger Times exercises the right to report on and editorialize all topics, events or issues, including those unpopular or controversial, insofar as they affect or interest the school, community, nation and world. We refrain from publishing material that advertises illegal products or services, is obscene, libelous or invades privacy. We refrain from publishing material that creates a clear and present danger or the immediate material and substantial physical disruption of the school.

February 2012

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Student misbehavior requires thoughtful responses

By Min Ji Suh

Many schools have policies that specify consequences for inappropriate student conduct off campus. However, ongoing violations of such rules suggest that SIS needs to find more effective ways to make students think twice about their actions outside of school and discourage them from breaking the school rules.

Although the SIS Handbook stipulates that athletes and other students who participate in trips to off-campus locations are “role models for [their peers],” violations still continue because of students’ disregard for the possible repercussions of their behavior.

It is important that students realize the extent to which their actions may affect their own reputation, the reputation of the teams or groups they belong to, as well as that

Graphic by Christine Lee

of their friends and anyone who has ever attended SIS. A student’s pursuit of short-term, personal enjoyment off-campus affects his or her commitment to the activity, which hurts the overall performance. Apart from this, there is only a four-year window for students to participate in high school sports and other extracurricular activities, and losing

SOPA addresses piracy but censors unreasonably

By Joanne Lee

“Imagine a world without free knowledge.” Internet users encountered this cautionary message on blacked out Wikipedia pages that were, for the first time ever, shut down for 24 hours. Wikipedia, Google, Reddit and an estimated 7,000 other websites participated in a coordinated online protest on Jan. 18 to raise awareness of the anti-piracy legislation Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). Though online piracy is not an issue that should be ignored, SOPA was an unreasonable and even harmful measure that called for the infringement on netizens’ rights and strict censorship.

The bill was designed to target “rogue Web sites,” foreign sites that traffic copyrighted material.

Because these sites do not fall under US jurisdiction, SOPA instead compels search engines, ad network operators and payment processors to cut off access to any sites deemed to be in violation of copyright laws.

What originated as an attempt to curtail Internet piracy developed into a bill that gives the US government the power to regulate the entire World Wide Web. The open Internet is a global platform for innovation and creativity. However, all that could change if the US had the authority to stifle not only the voices of its own citizens but also those of individuals all around the world.

Given the broad powers the government would hold with SOPA, the potential for abuse—even inadvertent abuse—is tremendous. For example, if a business’s Web site included a link to an outside source that featured copyrighted material, it would be seen as endorsing copyright infringement; under SOPA, a business committing such an act, even unintentionally, would immediately have its Web site blocked from public view, an action that could potentially destroy the business. This control over Internet con-

tent, in the end, harms the artists and business owners whom supporters of the bill claim it protects.

Due process would not be necessary to cease the broadcast of allegedly infringing websites under SOPA; the government could pull whichever websites it sees fit without having to present a reason, and an opportunity to take down the offensive material is never even given. This total disregard for due process completely undermines the principle on which American justice was founded: innocent until found guilty. SOPA immediately presumes offending Web sites are guilty until proven otherwise—and by then, the damage could be irreversible.

With the onslaught of SOPA and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA), as well as the highly publicized arrest of MegaUpload founder Kim Dotcom, arises the question: to what extent should censorship be maintained? It is not a black-and-white matter, but one thing is clear—strict and unreasonable censorship is detrimental even to the people it was intended to help. Such censorship, especially if regulated by only one country, is a serious threat to democracy, dangerous enough that millions around the globe have joined hands in the fight. Legislation should be focused on preventative measures, not reactive ones, and give all nations concerned, such as the G20, a direct say.

Perhaps the start onto this road can be through international conferences such as the G20 Summit.

Due to public outcry, Congress’ plans to draft SOPA and PIPA have been postponed. However, it is important to keep in mind that these bills have not been tossed out yet and similar acts such as the AntiCounterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) have appeared. Just like they did in protest to SOPA, people should stay informed and keep a constant eye on these developments, voicing their concerns when their inherent rights are threatened.

any of that privileged time due to wrong choices is a waste and definitely not worth the short moment of enjoyment.

Furthermore, a few students’ violation of school policies can put the student population’s privilege to participate in overseas trips at risk. Students may have a moment of enjoyment, but in the end, on off-

campus schools functions, we are all identified as “SIS students.” These consequences directed at individual students indirectly affect their teammates, who certainly do not deserve to be disadvantaged by the actions of their peers.

Before going to other off-campus school functions, SIS currently requires students to sign permission slips that inform them of the behavior they are expected to demonstrate outside of school. During the trips, supervisors set a curfew for unruly students, marking the time they are meant to return to the facilities.

Though these actions are being taken, such behavior still continues.

Thus, SIS should encourage students to take the impact of their actions more seriously. Simply strengthening the punishments is bound to raise more controversies.

Instead, the school should try more preventative measures by warning

school trip participants in a more direct manner. Simply asking the students to sign the permission slips is often not enough to reinforce the gravity of the situation, as students tend to overlook the expectations outlined in the slips. Instead, trip supervisors should be encouraged to have a face-to-face conversation with the students on the possible consequences of violating school policies to highlight their expectations for the students as representatives of the SIS community.

Regardless of the purpose of the trips, traveling to other schools or countries is meant to create a bonding experience for students and above all, is a privilege. In order to solve its current problems concerning student misconduct, SIS should make students think twice about their actions, and become more conscious of the impacts of how they behave.

Cartoon by Christine Lee

Counselors deserve more student recognition

By Elizabeth Song

With the finish line just around the corner, seniors were anxious to get their college applications over with during the first semester. Determined to perfect their resumes, as many as 10 seniors per day this year flocked to either Fredric Schneider, Director of Pupil Personnel Services, or Victor Cho, counselor, to seek college advice.

This “stampede” movement is a good sign—after all, there is nothing wrong with ambition and enthusiasm. However, the problem arises when so many of these same students abruptly turn their backs on their college advisers after submitting their applications.

Mr. Cho and Mr. Schneider dedicate their whole first semester every year to helping seniors complete their common applications and essays. The fact that some students in a few months’ time choose to forget everything that their advisers have done for them points to how unappreciative high school students can be towards the counseling department.

It is even more disappointing that students push their counselors away just when they begin to know each other on a personal level. Before applications were due, seniors and counselors often had deep conversations about matters such as life-long aspirations, career plans and dream schools. However, this rapport ends as abruptly as it started. What came off as sincerity may have just been an act to curry favor with the counselors, on whom all of the seniors’ college acceptances depended.

Once second semester began this year, some seniors altogether abandoned their politeness—a few refused to even say “hello” to a counselor passing by. Mr. Schneider considers the significant decrease in senior visits to his office a given.

However, being rude and unappreciative is not. Even though the application process has ended, senior year is still not over and seniors need to keep in mind that without their college advisers, they could not have come this far.

This is not to say that seniors are the only ones who do not give the counseling department enough

credit. According to Mr. Cho, he has almost no interaction with underclassmen, which may be because they consider counselors preachy adults who cannot understand adolescent problems.

Nothing could be further from the truth—a counselor’s job is to talk with students freely about anything students want to discuss, not to dictate what is right or wrong or judge them by their mistakes. Counselors provide the middle ground between teachers and parents and so are open to discussing topics that students may feel uncomfortable broaching in front of other adults.

However, few students are aware of this and most fail to acknowledge that counselors, too, are capable of seeing their problems from a teenager’s point of view.

The important thing to remember is that school advisers are always willing to go to great lengths to help students with their academic or personal problems. Part of growing up as teenagers is the tendency to move on without looking back. But SIS students ought to break this trend and not forget the role counselors play in the school environment.

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FEBRUARY 2012

NEWS BRIEFS Teachers introduce different GIN promotes ‘Education SIS celebrates construction of methods to combat senioritis for All’ at Manila conference new building

By Alison Chang

Photo by Joshua Kim

Hyung-shik Kim, headmaster, speaks at the ceremony for the upcoming elementary building.

SIS held a ceremony on the soccer field on Feb. 1 with the Lotte Construction Company, teachers and students to celebrate the establishment of the new elementary building. According to the administration, the construction underscores an attempt to improve the building and increase the quality of education at the school.

“The elementary is probably the number one priority in terms of replacement facility.” said Peter Corcoran, Director of School. “We believe that education is one of the most powerful factors in society in terms of changing our world for the better. When we build a school, it is like making a promise to the future; it is making an investment in the future and saying that we believe in the power of the education as a way of making life better.”

China Care Club holds stamp fundraiser for orphans The China Care Club sold custom-engraved stamps for teachers that bear their names in Chinese. All the proceeds from the 15,000 won-apiece stamps will be donated to the organization, China Care Club, for birth-disabled children in China. While some teachers bought the stamps as souvenirs, others bought them to support the club’s cause.

“A few years ago, I bought a Chinese stamp in Singapore for my mother,” said Raymond Slapikas, chemistry teacher. “This time, I bought a stamp because it was for a good cause: for orphans in China.

I have the meaning of [my Chinese name] on my desk and I’m pretty sure I’ll stamp some things with it.”

Pearl Buck Student Association participates in annual book drive On Feb. 11, the Pearl Buck Student Association (PBSA), visited the Pearl Buck Center to donate Korean and English books that the club collected over the winter break for multiracial children.

“Last year we visited the center to donate the money we raised for the multiracial children throughout the year,” said Katie Han (11), co-president. “After [our last visit], we developed our relationship with them by scheduling cooperative events such as the Insooni Charity Concert and the Pearl Buck Festival that provided different [forms of] entertainment to the children at the elementary school.”

By Jason Huh

Roughly one third of the students in English teacher Erin Hogshead’s World Literature class are receiving grades that are significantly lower than they were in first semester. With the beginning of a second semester, many seniors are succumbing to a condition that affects their mental state: senioritis.

Teachers like Ms. Hogshead have noticed a significant drop in class attendance at the beginning of the semester and are concerned that this will not only affect individual students’ grades, but also the dynamics of the class.

“Currently, we’re working with technology and web design,” said Ms. Hogshead. “We even started with a group project at the beginning of the semester to make students accountable to each other. I was hoping they would wouldn’t disappoint their peers, and it did work for some, but some students were still unmotivated.”

In other attempts to encourage the students, even Damon Six, AP Psychology teacher, has been experimmenting with new methods to encourage better class performance.

“I told my seniors that anyone who gets an average above 90 won’t have to take a final exam,” said Mr. Six. “It’s a form of motivation and encouragement. Staying on top of your work makes next year easier when you hit the ground running.”

However, Fredric Schneider, Director of Pupil Personnel Services, does not think the teachers should have to monitor the students to enforce better attendance or per-

formance in class.

“By this point, teachers shouldn’t be chasing students around,” said Mr. Schneider. “Just before winter break, students were asking teachers for recommendations, and now they’re blowing off classes and assignments. Some teachers were saying it’s a good thing students asked last year because they don’t feel the same way anymore.”

Nonetheless, not everyone in the senior class is skipping class and neglecting assignments. In fact, individuals such as James Ham (12) have found relief without the additional pressure of SATs and college applications.

“I actually feel like I’m more motivated to do work now that I’m not pressured to do it,” said James. “I even worked on that National History Day paper. I spent the four days of lunar break sitting in front of my laptop from the minute I woke up to the minute I slept. I wouldn’t have been able to do that without a liberated schedule.”

Mr. Schneider, who has watched students grow throughout their four years in high school, believes students should not see second semester as a time to simply forget about school commitments.

“Every acceptance letter congratulates you and says they expect to see final grades consistent with your previous grades,” he said.

“Risking three and a half years of hard work and a ton of money is not worth the gamble because if they notice a D on your second semester transcript when you’ve never had [such a grade] before, nobody is going to do the explaining for you.”

Photo by Christine Lee

Informing their audience, Julia Jeong (10) present the SIS GIN workshop “Reading the Future” on Feb. 19 at the Manila Conference.

Five SIS Global Issues Network (GIN) members traveled to Manila from Feb. 17-19 to participate in an international GIN conference. During their first international conference as a full club, the SIS GIN club members presented a Pecha Kucha, a form of presentation that comprises 20 slides shown for 20 seconds each, and organized a 45-minute workshop during which they showed various statistics to demonstrate how education can affect one’s near future.

“I was really glad that people liked our workshop because initially I was worried that no one would come especially since our room was isolated from the main building,” said Grace Song (10). “We received a lot of compliments from the students who attended our workshop, and they seemed really enlightened to learn about our topic.”

Based on “Compassionate Action,” an umbrella topic assigned by the GIN headquarters this year, each

GIN club focused and researched on one of the 20 most urgent global issues as identified by the headquarters to educate other conference participants on the issue. “[We chose “Education for All”] because it isn’t just about getting children to go to school,” said Yeeun Chun (12). “It’s about using education to help them contract less fatal diseases like HIV/AIDs, teaching them about sanitation and safe sex and even [providing] food and loans to impoverished families. It’s a multi-pronged solution for compassionate action.”

At a more local level, the SIS GIN club has focused and introduced the issue of “Education for All” to the school by visiting middle school and elementary school classes to raise awareness of the issue.

Based on the club, middle school has incorporated a Global Issues enrichment class into their curriculum.

The club also hosted an educationthemed jeopardy during English Week and is currently looking for a keynote speaker.

which we did not think of. After that, the task became much simpler.”

Another activity required students to drop an egg from a fourstory building without breaking it.

Separated into four groups, students were given a limited number of tools. At the end of the event, three groups succeeded. The high success rate was attributed to the students having integrated the ideas of other groups into their own creations. “[The students] worked in reasonable boundaries, so they were looking for good ideas to integrate into their work,” said Mr. Macklin.

“We would have had much different results if they had been isolated. You don’t think of everything just because you are the leader. It’s not that

kind of thing. You have to identify good ideas and be able to be man enough to accept them.”

In addition to activities, the students completed a leadership-style inventory in which they self-assessed themselves on their leadership ability by scoring themselves in a variety of different categories. Through this inventory and interactive activities, the students grew closer. Some students met old friends, and others made new ones by exchanging contact information.

“Spending two days just travelling together gets people closer,” said David. “It was true for last year too. I made friends last year and reunited with some this year, and we were all glad to see each other.”

By Milton Yoon

Activities bond students at AISA Leadership Conference

By Michelle Kim

In order to understand how to be effective leaders, student council members from Korea International School, Yokohama International School (YIS), Osaka International School and SIS convened in the third annual Association of International Schools in Asia (AISA) Leadership Conference Feb. 2-5 in Yokohama.

From SIS, David Lim (12), high school student council president and Jeffrey Chun (11) participated.

Unlike in previous conferences, this conference had more group activities rather than discussions and lectures because it was designed to test the students’ cooperation.

“In general, it’s a conference de-

signed to have student leaders share experiences from their schools: their difficulties, successes and good ideas,” said Gray Macklin, HSSC adviser. “[The other focus was] developing their own leadership style and knowing how their circumstances can affect their relationships with others.”

One activity involved students standing on a taper. The goal was to flip over the taper without the students touching the ground with their feet. The students were frustrated at first, but they discovered that they could accomplish their mission if they utilized their surroundings.

“We weren’t really thinking outside the box,” said David. “One guy suggested using the environment,

Phone: 031)723-8210

Address: 677-8 Bokjungdong, Soojungku, Seungnam, Kyungkido

February 2012

5

nEWS

English Week channels literary enthusiasm amongst students

By Christine Lee

Michelle Ahn (10) yelled as her team frantically shook their whiteboard in the air, trying to get the emcee’s attention during the Battle of the Books. This was one of the many events that English Week, which was hosted from Feb. 14-17, provided for students. These events allowed them to discover their creative side and enthusiasm for literature.

“Our entire group went crazy because of the competitive attitude that people had and us wanting to show off how much we knew about our ‘fandoms’,” said Michelle Ahn (10). “I went because I wanted to get a stamp but in the end, I had more fun than I expected.”

The activities that took place were Poetry with the Principal and Haiku with the Headmaster, Battle of the Books hosted by the Global Issues Network (GIN), and Drama II plays. Along with those activities, students were able to participate in events that did not require their presence such as the Book Match, Literal Book Titles, Scavenger Hunt, t-shirt designing and a poetry competition.

“English Week is like Christmas, your birthday, Halloween, Pepero Day and a volcano mixed into one week,” said Roger Gribbins, English teacher. “Since English Week is based more on tradition we

Photo by Linda Heeyoung Park

Threatening John Han (11), David Kim (10) demands access to the bank vault. “The Heist”, directed by Ju Hohn Lee (12), was performed by Drama II students as the fourth event for English Week on Feb. 16. In addition to the play, English Week featured Jeopardy and Poetry with the Principal.

[English department] didn’t have a ular books such as the Harry Potter (10), GIN member. “I think that the novels as well as theater produclot of new activities but rather, we and Twilight series, as well as classic audience felt the same burst of ener- tioner “Even though the preparation simplified them so that participa- works read in English classes such as gy and joy that we felt when we were Huckleberry Finn and The Cantercreating the jeopardy for Battle of for events like the Drama II plays tion would be easier. bury Tales. the Books.

I’m glad that it was such were hard, the enthusiasm that we A popular event that many “We worked really hard to make a success. ” received for our work was completestudents attended was Battle of the this activity enjoyable for all the Through these events, students ly worth it, ” said Steve Kim (11). “If Books hosted by GIN. Students grades and the reaction was much were able discover a new passion the events are the same next year, I competed in a jeopardy that tested better than expected, ” said Kelly Cho for literature in the forms of poetry, know I’m definitely participating.” students on their knowledge of pop-

CSC to host school’s first ever Walk-a-thon

By Jonathan Yun

Sweating and panting, students will be running around the soccer field on Mar. 3, not for a PE class or varsity sports but for a more generous cause: the Walk-a-thon, which will be hosted by the Community Service Club (CSC).

Through the Walk-a-thon, CSC aims to not only raise money but also raise awareness of Special Olympics, which will be held in Pyongchang in 2013. This fundraiser is a follow-up to the school assembly that took place on Sept. 28, 2011, during which the CSC introduced the Special Olympics Committee.

“I participated in the Special Olympics World Games in Athens last summer as a global youth leader,” said Jay Koo (11), CSC member.

“Since I was affiliated with the Special Olympics, I thought it would be nice to introduce the organization to CSC because CSC is very flexible in its community service efforts. I took advantage of this opportunity, and I introduced Special Olympics to Lyuh [Kim (12), CSC president], who was willing to help out and organize the walk-a-thon.”

In order to raise money, CSC requires that all participants purchase a custom-made t-shirt in advance for 10,000 won. The t-shirt, which will be distributed in mid-February, is the entrance ticket to the event as anyone, both SISers and non-SISers, are allowed to join as long as he or she has the t-shirt.

“CSC is hoping to get many people to come, especially a diverse range of crowds,” said Lyuh. “Previously, SIS students did not spend

much time engaging in a wholeschool activity, and CSC is hoping to change this. In addition, we want to raise awareness of the Special Olympics and how it is taking place in Korea, as well as [inform people of] the role of CSC and how active we are as a club.”

While the Walk-a-thon is promoting the Special Olympics, the CSC also plans to help a local community of disabled people who need aid. But, its long term goal is to publicize the club further.

“I felt that people needed to be aware of CSC more, because previously, it has been a very subtle club going on out-of-school trips and rarely participating in in-school fundraisers,” said Lyuh. “This really big event will really promote the understanding of the CSC’s role in the community and SIS.”

행복한순간, 소중한추억을 전하세요~ 늘푸른식물원 전국 꽃배달서비스 꽃바구니|꽃다발|화환|관엽 www.ksflower.co.kr Tel: 031) 759-4806 Mobile: 011-310-4806 경기도 성남시 수정구 복정동 55번지 화훼단지내

Zeitgeist South Korea and Japan reinforce claims over Dokdo Ever since 1905, when the Japanese incorporated Dokdo into their empire, Japan and Korea have been in dispute over this territory.

Recent claims from the Japanese government have inflamed the debate and prompted Korea to bolster its sovereignty over the islets.

Japan developed a more active stance on the issue this year, making it clear that it will not back down. Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba announced that Japan will ensure that Dokdo remains in Japanese possession and hundreds of right-wing activists and politicians of Japan’s Shimane Prefecture conducted a rally on Feb. 22 to condemn Korea’s territorial claims.

“Because the [Feb. 22] rally was so big, it will probably shape public opinion and get many more Japanese involved in this issue,” said Katherine Bae (11). “With [increased interest] in this dispute, Japan will be even more unwilling to give up Dokdo.”

The cancellation of Korean actress Tae-hee Kim’s cosmetics commercial in Japan also shed light on Japan’s position on Dokdo.

Anti-Korea groups in Japan have targeted Kim, who has displayed a critical attitude toward Japan regarding the Dokdo issue.

Such toughened measures brought about similar reactions in Korea. Rejecting Japan’s statements

as nonsense, the Prime Minister Office (PMO) launched 28 different construction and research projects on the islands with a budget of 1.1 trillion won. The 12 projects that focused on the construction of residential and surveillance facilities have been completed and development of the remaining 16 is underway.

According to Yun-sik Hong, deputy minister for national issues at the PMO, the projects will improve residential conditions on the island and Korea’s capacity to detect unauthorized landings. At the same time, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is searching for historical records that support Korea’s ownership of Dokdo.

Togo Tamura (9) believes that the failure to settle this disagreement will end up hurting the relationship between the two nations.

“It’s better for [Korea and Japan] to solve [the dispute] peacefully so that they can improve their views of each other,” said Togo.

“Koreans view Japanese as people who took over them in World War II. Some SIS students view Japan [negatively] and my Japanese friends view Korea [negatively] as well and we have to fix that. One way [to do this] is to get unresolved conflicts out of the way in order to build better relationships between the two countries.”

By Elizabeth Song

STOP CENSORSHIP OR STO

WEBSITE

Oct. 26, 2011

Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) introduced with 31 co-sponsors

2011

X

This site has been blocked b

ACCESS DENIED ACCESS Oct. 28, 2011

Singer Justin Bieber says Senator Amy Klobuchar should be “locked up” for supporting felony-streaming provisions in S. 978 and SOPA

Nov. 16, 2011

American Censorship Day is held to commemorate the House Judiciary Committee’s first hearing on SOPA

Big B.Corporations

Individuals render government-initiated online piracy acts ineffective

By Jasmine Park

Big B. Corporations: The passage of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect-IP Act (PIPA) was not merely an issue of controversial legislation. For many, it was nothing but an ineffective effort that would threaten future developments of self-expression and vitality on the net by prohibiting the growth of an online community.

SOPA and PIPA were intended to prevent piracy and attack online sites that illegally post TV show episodes, movies and other copyrighted entertainment. Backed by entertainment businesses, they not only attempted to block access to domains but also gave governments and corporations the right to cut off funds to infringing websites. In essence, corporations would have had rights to shut down businesses and websites if they somehow advocated piracy.

Although piracy is an issue that has been repeatedly addressed to the government, the public saw these particular legislations as ineffective. According to Jimmy Park (12), SOPA and PIPA in the end will not accomplish their goals but will encourage Internet users to find their ways around censored websites.

“People can and will find ways around SOPA,” said Jimmy.

“I lived in China when the Golden Shield Project [the Chinese government’s 2003 censorship policy] was introduced. At first, everyone was angered and devastated because they could not access the websites they wanted [to visit]. Later it didn’t become too big of a problem at our school because people found convenient ways around the system. Censorship encouraged me to learn ways to go around censorship.”

Besides the ineffectiveness of the legislations, other concerns of the online community included corruption and its consequences. Corporations would have been given the right to shut down peer businesses. Online users feared that the legislations would ultimately stifle the growth of new upstart search engines and social networking sites.

“What they are doing is creating a system in which intellectual property owners and media companies gain the power to basically censor the Internet,” said Phillip Lee (11). “It causes

a situation in which, under the name of protecting copyrights, media companies could structure the Internet to run [on] profit.

If copyright holders can abuse their power [or] status to take down Megaupload and delete the thousands of unrelated [and copyrighted] files, I fail to see how SOPA would stop them from abusing their even larger strength.”

Even before SOPA, various legislations were passed to attack piracy: the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, which criminalized the production and distribution of copyrighted works; the PRO-IP Act of 2007, which made the punishment for trademark and copyright infringement more severe; and the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement of 2012, which set standards for intellectual property rights enforcement.

“In the Internet age, piracy is a huge issue,” said Tony Hurt, history teacher. “[The multiple legislations] try to deal with something we didn’t have to deal with before. The people behind these legislations aren’t off base. Their intention isn’t wrong but their method is.”

On a more technical note, meddling with the inner workings of the Internet would complicate the domain network system (DNS), which is essential because it translates web addresses into Internet protocol (IP) addresses.

“The problem with SOPA and Congress talking about how it will not mess with the inner workings of the Internet is that Congress has no idea how the Internet works,” said Phillip. “This is, quite literally, a group of people who once claimed that the Internet was a system of tubes and who believed that Al Gore created the Internet.”

In essence, Internet users felt their freedom was at risk by the possibility of a once-limitless online world becoming one restricted by government-set boundaries.

“Wasn’t the whole point of the US’s criticisms against the Chinese Internet censorship policy just that?” said Phillip. “It seems hypocritical that [the US government would] turn around and pursue passing SOPA and PIPA, along with the more recent PCIP which is about pornography but contains the same vague language regarding censorship that SOPA had.”

The photos above are from Wik

OP PIRACY: CHOOSE ONE

X

BLOCKED

Jan. 18, 2012

Web Goes on Strike: Largest online protest in history, led

by Reddit.com, Wikipedia and grassroots groups

by the US Government Firewall

2012 DENIED ACCESS DENIED Nov. 29 - Dec. 18, 2011

100,000s of calls during coalitionwide call-in campaigns to House Judiciary Committee

Jan. 14, 2012

Obama administration publishes blog post opposing SOPA and PIPA

Celebrities I. Spotlight

Celebrities speak out against piracy

By Michelle Kim

Celebrities I. Spotlight: When British R&B singer Taio Cruz’s debut album was almost scrapped because it was leaked on the Internet three months before its release, he and his company were in a tight financial situation. Similarly, artists such as Lily Allen, Elton John and Metallica have also suffered due to online copyright infringement, or piracy, and have decided to step out and put an end to it.

The result was the creation of the Artists Against Piracy (AAP), consisting of at least 70 artists who have suffered from or are against piracy. Founded in 2000 by Noah Stone, AAP aims to educate the public about the value of music and represent artists’ voices in terms of how they want their work marketed.

Over the past decade, piracy has had a toll on the music industry. According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), music sales in the US dropped 53 percent in 2010 from 14.6 billion to 6.9 billion. From 2004 through 2009, approximately 30 billion songs were illegally downloaded from file-sharing networks. In 2009, only 37 percent of music acquired by consumers in the US was paid for.

This is significant because the music industry has a large impact on the economy and culture, but it often does not earn as much money as it contributes to its work. In addition, piracy can have a detrimental effect on artists’ careers because it makes it very difficult to cover the high monetary costs of sponsoring artists and creating new songs.

According to a BBC article, Allen said that “people are stealing music in its millions in the form of illegal file-sharing. It’s easy to do, and has become accepted by many, but we need people to know that it is destroying people’s livelihoods and suffocating new British artists.” Students agreed that this is a probable outcome if piracy continues.

“I don’t think it’s an exaggeration,” said Justin Kim (11). “I buy the CDs of artists that I like, but I know that some people don’t. If piracy continues, I think it is possible for the music industry to fall. It already has, so I don’t expect that to change anytime soon.”

kipedia, which are free for use.

Over the past decade, AAP has held rallies to promote antipiracy legislations and propose solutions to stop piracy. One solution was very similar to the recently shelved Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), introduced by US Representative Lamar S. Smith on Oct. 26, 2011. AAP proposed that Internet users be monitored more closely and that those who pirate copyrighted property have their Internet connections cut off.

In 2009, in response to such proposals, a separate group of artists formed the Featured Artists’ Coalition (FAC), consisting of such artists as Radiohead guitarist Ed O’Brien, Blur drummer Dave Rowntree and Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason. Unlike AAP, the FAC believes that online pirates should not be disconnected from the Internet, but rather be given restrictions on access to copyrighted content. This was because piracy harmed existing artists, but provided free publicity for artists who have not yet appeared on television or radio. Therefore, the FAC is against policies such as SOPA and organizations like AAP that propose that those who commit piracy be punished or blocked from using the Internet.

“Rather than SOPA, a bill that would solve most problems is one that protects the copyrights of products but allows consumers to expand them without actually releasing them to the public,” said Ryan Kim (10). “For example, if we followed the bill I just described, people would be allowed to post game videos on YouTube but they would not be allowed to release the game itself.”

While AAP and the FAC have been voicing their opinions for almost over a decade, the government has only recently put forth anti-piracy bills, some of which are effective to a certain point and others of which are shelved for revision. However, Internet users believe that this is an inevitable outcome because piracy is a global issue.

“I do not think there could be any policies that can actually function properly and subdue piracy,” said Kevin Choi (12). “Of course, piracy should be stopped because it is a huge problem, but it is because it is a huge problem that policies like SOPA will be ineffective.”

lifesTYLE 8

february 2012

facebook

Notifications

By Linda Heeyoung Park

Dirk Woerpel, Class of ’99, works for Ford Motor Company as a Brand Manager for Commercial Vehicles for Asia Pacific and Africa. He was the first to attend Brown University from SIS and is a father of two children.

Facebook IPO goes public

Privacy Issues

Use of personal data will probably increase

$$

Facebook Worth Between 75 and 100 billion dollars

Expected changes More targeted advertising

For Sale

What is an IPO?

A stock sale that allows the public to buy shares of a company

Why Issue IPOs?

Raise money Expand business Required by federal law

By Elizabeth Song and Jeffrey Chun Sources: Guardian, Global Post, Facebook, and Yahoo

Facebook’s IPO attracts interest around the world

By Alison Chang

Currently operated privately, Facebook, worth a total $94 billion on the private market, belongs exclusively to an elite group of executives. However, many are anticipating a massive change in this ownership policy. Facebook filed for an initial public offering (IPO) on Feb. 1, which will allow anyone with the financial capability to buy stocks of this multi-billion dollar corporation.

As it is considered one of the biggest technology IPOs in history, many are interested in the possibility of making money. Experts speculate that Facebook will generate $5 billion in revenue, which many suspect is the reason founder Mark Zuckerberg decided to go public.

“When I was teaching in China, my students knew how to get around the firewall,” said Shanna Hurt, Economics teacher. “Facebook is global.

As long as it can keep up with the newest technology trends, I think [the IPO] is a very smart move.”

Despite the hype, some speculate that buying shares may not be the smartest move. Individual share values of two major social media IPOs Zynga and Groupon, for example, fell after a fast but short pe-

What is the “real world” like?

riod of increase. Realistically, only a minority of the public will be able to buy shares.

“From what I can see, Mark Zuckerberg seems like a controlfreak,” said Mrs. Hurt. “He’s only selling about 40 percent of the company, and even the majority of that will go to blue chip investors, such as major banks like J.P. Morgan, that can invest the most money.”

Starting this spring, users can expect more ads in addition to more applications and games since companies will target specific groups, now that they have access to demographic information about users, such a gender, location and age.

Going public may also force Facebook to reveal its privacy-related rules that otherwise would have remained secret. Users had been uneasy knowing that Facebook owns everything posted on the site and going public will likely bring more attention to policies that may have been overlooked in the past.

“Students should be very careful about what they paste on Facebook,” said Ms. Hurt. “Before, when it was a private company, the whole issue of public disclosure was a grey area. Once it goes public, there’s no grey area anymore.”

1. What do you do as a brand manager?

I [am in charge of] Ford’s portfolio of commercial vehicles and the Transit and Ranger, the company’s two most important vehicles. I manage and develop those brands, and I manage all the way up to the point that they are launched into the markets. I [supervise] all the improvements that come after that. So I develop from an idea to something that comes off from the production line.

2. You have worked in many places—South Carolina, Michigan, Australia, Korea and Shanghai. Do you think a mobile job like yours suits your personality?

I personally like it a lot because that’s how I grew up. Since I was young, my parents moved a lot. We lived in Africa, Europe, the Middle East and obviously Korea. So I am used to it. For me, if I am in a place for more than two or three years, I get itchy feet. It is almost like I have to move again, which is silly because we have a nice house and a nice school [for my children]. But it feels like if you don’t move, you are stuck. I like to experience new things, new food and new culture.

3. You are now a father of two children. What does family mean to you?

Family is the most important thing in life. There is nothing more important than your family—your wife, your children, your parents, your siblings. Because if anything happens, the only people you can ever rely on are your family [members]. Everybody else will find a reason either not to help you or cannot help you. But your family will always stick with you—no matter what. It is a relationship without conditions. That is what makes family so important.

4. What is your work philosophy?

It is just a couple of simple principles. Always work as hard as you can. Never say “I do not know how to do this,” or even worse, “I cannot do this.” Fuel an engine that drives you. In every job, you have to be proactive. Do not wait until your boss tells you what to do. You are responsible for your own work. I found that people respond best if you give them as many responsibilities they can handle. Make them responsible for something, and when they come in with an accomplishment, let them celebrate it. There is nothing more addictive than success.

5. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

In 10 years time, I think I still see myself working for the same company, hopefully with more responsibility. And at that point, my kids are going to be pretty much grown up. They will be heading off to universities.

The World at the Tip of My Tongue Midseason Rewind: Sniffing out the flavor under the food

By Marcus Lee

Curry at Ganga, burgers at Look At Me, Turkish cuisine at Pasha, Mexican at Taco Amigo, clams at the Tidal Pearl. Whew! If you haven’t been reading this column for the past year, you sure have a lot of following-up to do because it’s time for some midseason reflection.

Throughout this long and winding journey, I’ve enjoyed my share of ups and downs. The food has been great even if at times the standards set by previous restaurants were too high for others to meet. For the most part though, quality taste became more of the norm. Rather it was the rarity of the food that separated the enjoy-

able and the memorable steadily.

Remember Taco Amigo? Cozy and homey, but with a penchant for the tasty, Taco Amigo wasn’t all about fond memories. Behind that entirely genuine Mexican cuisine, the owner ultimately tried to franchise his food . Obviously multitasking (eating whilst interviewing), my stomach felt content but my mind was left sour. Throw out two decades worth of history for a possible spike in income? At the time, the owner called it a business decision and he’s right—franchising would advance his financial success. But the problem is that no one is willing to prioritize the charm of the well-off restaurant for

the bloated franchise.

Respect for exclusive history and rarity was all but thrown out the door. As a columnist it’s bittersweet to be caught up in this phenomenon. While the tasty food comes in abundant supply it also seems hungry for money. Does it always have to be the dollars of the business venture over the pleasure of serving quality food?

From my experiences, a resounding no sounds like the right answer. As we quickly pick up from where we left off and resume our journey throughout the vast Korean unknown, let’s hope for less money-grubbing and more dedicating on the plates.

English teacher to perform in professional play production

By Yong Gun Choe

During his seven years at SIS, John Rider, English teacher, has never performed a part in any play outside of school. However, on Dec. 17, 2011, he adutioned for a part in the play produced by dramatic company Cut Glass Theatre, “Our Country’s Good,” originally written by Timberlake Wertenbaker that will take place in May. When the company put on a rendition of Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest,” Mr.

Rider was impressed by the production value.

“I’m a shy person but when they announced auditions for this play, I plucked up the courage to try out,” said Mr. Rider. “If I don’t act, I just end up getting really shy and start going inside my shell. The idea of the audition made me very nervous.”

Set in the early 17th century, the play is about the early days of England’s convict colony in Australia.

Mr. Rider will play two characters, John Arscott, an officer, and Jem Campbell, a criminal.

“The objective of the play is to portray how close the criminals and the officers are, which is why each actor is playing two [different] characters,” said Mr. Rider. “I also wanted a small role because I have to balance the need to practice against the demands of working at SIS.” Although his roles are minor, Mr. Rider practices three times a week for three hours each practice.

“We are still in the very early stages of rehearsals but we are spending some time team building and trust building, as well as run-

ning lines and doing some basic blocking,” said Mr. Rider. “Our director is great in that she has a clear vision for the play, and is able to convey her ideas for each character.”

Though Mr. Rider made the final decision to audition, close students and SIS teachers, such as English teacher Katherine Trueman and journalism teacher Carolyn Brown, first encouraged him to try out.

“I first heard about the audition and mentioned it to him,” said Ms. Trueman. “He has not really had the chance to act in Korea, so I encour-

aged him to audition. I think he is a good actor and being around other actors with varying abilities will push him to become even better.”

Though his involvement in the play is relatively unknown amongst the students, Jenny Kang (12) hopes that word will soon spread out.

“I am sure more people will know about Mr. Rider’s role in the play once the production is set to begin,” said Jenny. “I have worked with him in drama before and this is a really good opportunity for him to show his talents for acting.”

9

SAT :

9

9

an unhealthy obsession?

By Lydia Kim

R

umors of SAT cancellations were relieved on Feb. 17 when scores were announced as scheduled. Controversy, however, remained over whether certain students deserved their scores. Students who attended hagwons with questionable teaching methods have been rumored to have access to the January test’s questions beforehand, causing students and parents of students who did not attend such academies to complain about the disadvantage.

When the SAT was first developed in 1933, its purpose was to measure innate ability, not the product of huge investments of

money and preparation time. According to Public Broadcasting Service, Harvard’s president James Conant wanted to start a scholarship program that identified intelligent students from underprivileged backgrounds and give them an opportunity to achieve higher secondary educations.

By 1948, he encouraged College Board to use the SAT as a standardized college admissions device for all students. Today, College Board has admitted that the SAT no longer serves as an accurate “Standardized Aptitude Test” nor a “Scholastic Achievement Test”— two terms that the SAT previously stood for; now, the letters bear no meaning.

Administration’s perspective

T

he school was notified of the cheating scandal when a parent emailed the administrators to take action Peter Corcoran, director of school, responded that the only responsibility the school has with regards to SATs is to maintain a closed test center and to abide by College Board’s test regulations—not help students prepare for the examination. The tests are delivered Saturday morning and the SAT is monitored by one of the Korean representatives of College Board to make sure the school adheres to test-taking rules.

“We provide the faculty and the facilities for only those who take the SAT,” said Mr. Corcoran. “We’re only responsible for testing. There are some fairly strict measures. The tests are delivered the morning by a bonded carrier with a representative of YBM, the organization responsible for testing in Korea. He remains on site to make sure we’re following exam procedures.”

However, he did say that the school would intervene to take measures in the case of students engaging in unethical or illegal behavior related to SAT preparation.

“If you believe that you are getting unfair access, or unfair preparation, that is the result of illegal or unethical behavior, you have the responsibility as a SIS student to choose to do the right thing,” he said. “Our school is a test site for SAT, and we can’t have our students sullying our reputation or affecting the reputation of our school as a test center for all of the other SIS students. What you do as an individual student not only affects you, but it also has some long-term effects, or some wider consequences for some other students at our school.”

According to Fredric Schneider,

Director of Pupil Personnel Services, cheating issues such as these arise because of the overemphasis on SATs. He hypothesizes that the overemphasis stems from the nature of the Korean college entrance exam, suneung, which is administered only once a year.

“You see what happens during Korean college entrance exams?” he said. “Offices open later, [and] the police help transport students to school. That one test determines their college acceptances. For Korea, one point does matter. That’s going to affect their kids.”

However, according to Mr. Schneider, US colleges do not automatically reject students based on their SAT scores. In fact, a student he knew who was rejected by Seoul National University for missing a few points on the Korean entrance exam was accepted to several Ivy League schools and eventually attended Yale University.

“The whole purpose of SATs has been perverted,” he said. “It was designed to be a leveler for students from less privileged backgrounds who didn’t have the opportunity to go to better schools. It’s been like 40 to 50 years since then. Now it’s totally flip-flopped. Now it’s made for the affluent. It’s another opportunity for the rich.”

The current trend at colleges is a decreasing emphasis on SAT scores, not only for those of Korean students, but of students from other nations as well, because they have become inaccurate, non-standardized measures of comparing students. The overemphasis on SAT, however, still continues, prompting such cheating scandals. Though January’s SAT scores were not cancelled, the next few months will be crucial to whether or not Korea may continue to be a test center.

C

Student perspective

ertain hagwons are] famous for having predicted questions,” said a female junior. “So a few days before the test, I went for the questions and for general final preparations. They gave me questions, but they were [from] released tests, so they didn’t overlap with the actual January test. It didn’t help.”

Every year, College Board releases certain tests for students to get a feel for what the test would be like. However, some students who have attended hagwons with questionable teaching tactics have claimed that they received booklets containing questions from unreleased tests; they were only available to students who took the SAT preparation course offered over winter break. These booklets were allegedly revealed during lunar break—less than a week before the actual test— and were guarded by the hagwon teachers so that students would not be able to take them outside their doors. Of the juniors who took the January test, a number of students missed school, arrived late or left early on Jan. 27, the day before the SAT; though not all, many of those students took that extra time to look over the questions.

“The hagwon encouraged it,” said a female junior who attended a hagwon that took part in dubious activities. “Winter break was just normal reading and writing. Then, they all of a sudden gave us materials to cram. People felt pressured.”

Though this student understood why some of her peers skipped school that day, she did not do so herself because she believed that memorizing possible questions could be a waste of time.

“My intent wasn’t to memorize everything,” she said. “That’s not my goal. However, I do have to admit that people who didn’t go to school had the advantage. But in my opinion, the people who didn’t come to school weren’t so good anyway. If you’re so desperate that you have to skip school so that you can prepare for just a few more hours, that’s probably a sign that you’re not prepared anyway.”

Even those who did attend hagwons that employ questionable teaching methods hoped that the past questions would not repeat.

“People who are good at [the reading section] or constantly get good scores are at a disadvantage because students who get 500 every time will also [score] in the 700s like we do,” said a female junior who attended such a hagwon. “It’s unfair for students who made the consistent effort [to raise] their scores.

After I noticed that the test was [re-

peated], I thought, ‘oh, no’.”

Though students who did not attend hagwons that had access to what are rumored to be unreleased questions were at a disadvantage, they said that their learning experience was valuable enough to make up for it. A male junior whose mother encouraged him to attend a hagwon that provided unfair benefits refused to do so and chose to attend a different hagwon.

“I think what is important is what you learn from the process [of preparing],” he said. “Even if people who benefitted from [certain hagwons] in getting the exact test paper got higher scores, I believe that I gained something much more valuable, which are my skills in reading, writing and math. It is human nature for students to continuously take shortcuts once they begin to take shortcuts. They [won’t] learn from this experience unless they get punished.”

On the other hand, some students discovered the benefits of studying independently and discouraged thier peers from going to hagwons at all, mentioning the limits to hagwons’ score-raising methods.

“You have to study independently to retain the information,” said a female junior. “Studying by myself [helped] me memorize the information. It’s hard to study by yourself because you don’t have authority watching over you.

It’s harder to concentrate, but once you get the hang of it, it will prepare you for college and be independent.

Hagwon isn’t everything.”

However, a female junior who attended a different SAT hagwon said that hagwons could be helpful if they serve as a conduit for learning.

“Especially because our school provides no help sessions or tutoring sessions for SAT prep, it’s inevitable that students seek help outside of school,” she said. “Even if students go to hagwons, they still spend tons of hours studying vocabulary and solving reading passages on their own. The illusion that people who go to hagwon don’t push themselves enough to study by themselves is actually wrong—especially on the matter of SAT.” Students who attend questionable hagwons, however, said that they too learned the necessary reading, writing and math skills—the questions only served as an addi-

tional resource.

“We all studied really hard,” said a male junior who attended a hagwon that participated in dubious activities. “We didn’t completely rely on the predicted questions. Teachers gave us so much homework to read and solve questions, and we also had to memorize so many vocabulary words.”

The same student admitted that still, his ultimate goal was to simply receive a high score, regardless of the means. He said that any disadvantage that other students had was a result of their own misjudgment— these students should have attended hagwons that provided predicted questions if they wanted the same benefits. He also said that College Board was at fault for encouraging cheating by recycling questions.

Still, others blamed hagwons for creating the unfair advantage while some said that students should receive the ultimate blame.

“That’s so irresponsible of the students,” said the student who self-studied. “They should have known better.

Everyone always has a choice. I can blame them, I can curse them, I can say whatever I want, but it w o n’t matter anyway because what’s done is done. They have forced people who study honestly to be at a disadvantage.”

sPORTS 10

february 2012

Athletic Service Hours CLASSIFIEDS SOCCER

BASKETBALL

SWIMMING

Middle school basketball

High school varsity soccer

Girls season starts Mar. 16 - April 17. Boys season starts from April 19 - May 12. Assistant coaches and photographers welcome from 3:15-5 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. See Mr. Munro for details.

Varsity soccer players automatically fulfill ASH. Assistants welcome to help out with home games after school.

Check the daily bulletin for the home game schedule and see Mr. Atanaskovic for details.

Elementary school basketball

Middle school house soccer

Assistant coaches needed. Tournament is on Mar. 17 at GSIS. See Mr. Faulkner for details.

Season starts after spring break. Volunteers needed during activity period to help out with house games. See Mr. Munro for details.

High school varsity swimming

Varsity swimmers automatically fulfill ASH. Volunteers needed to help out with swim meets and ASIA swimming tournament to be held at SIS from April 13-14.

Season ends Apr. 27. See Ms. Hubley for details.

Elementary school swimming

Season starts in May. Assistant coaches needed after school. See Mr. Faulkner for details.

Graphic by Angela Cho and Linda Heeyoung Park

Mandatory semester Athletic Service Hours cut in half

By Mark Kim

Since the beginning of the second semester, Tiger Gym 1 (TG1) has been reduced to rubble, and with it, half of the required athletic service hours (ASH) all Life Sports students must complete. This semester, Life Sports students will be required to serve only five ASH, as opposed to last semester’s 10.

“It wouldn’t be [fair] to ask students to try to accomplish the same number of hours with so many

[activities] being taken away,” said Tamara Atanaskovic, Life Sports teacher. “The best interest for us and our students is just to cut down the number of hours.”

Although the loss of TG1 has limited the school from hosting sporting and extracurricular events, students will still have opportunities to help out at elementary and middle school events. The Association of International Schools in Asia high school swimming competition at SIS and the start of the soccer and

swimming seasons will also present students with opportunities to serve.

Athletes playing in varsity or junior varsity sports already earn five hours for playing on the team, and will not have to do any extra work to meet the requirements. Hence, students not involved in sports will have more serving opportunities with less students needing ASH. According to Jisoo Kim (10), the reduction of ASH comes as a relief, especially at this stressful point of the year.

“I feel relieved that ASH have

been reduced to five because it reduces the stress of having to worry about how to receive 10 ASH,” said Jisoo Kim (10). “Because I did two sports this year I don’t have enough time to receive 10 ASH.” Since the construction of the new gym will not be completed until the beginning of the first semester of next school year, the minimum requirement of ASH will likely remain the same until the second semester of next year. Nevertheless, Mrs. Atanaskovic stressed the importance

of ASH for Life Sports students.

“I personally think that [ASH] is a perfect opportunity,” said Mrs. Atanaskovic. “Some [students] might not be athletic, but any kind of contribution, engagement or involvement in athletics events is good because they get to see a different perspective of the sport and they get to learn a little more about the sport. Let’s just hope that we get our gym [back] as soon as possible. Not only for ASH but for the sake of our classes as well.”

Winter season ends on strong note for Pyeongchang encounters basketball and cheerleading teams problems in preparation

By Helen Song

The end of the basketball and cheerleading season marked a close to a challenging three months for both the basketball players and cheerleaders. With injuries, conflicts with other schools and away games for half of the season, there were several difficulties that made this season trying. However, these teams finished the season strongly at both the Association of International Schools in Asia (AISA) and KAIAC tournaments.

On Feb. 2, the varsity girls basketball team traveled to Osaka for the AISA tournament, and placed fourth out of six teams. According to Paloma Julian, coach, the girls worked hard despite the exhausting schedule that had them playing many games consecutively with only short breaks.

“They did a good job as they played very close games and we were never beat badly,” said Coach Julian. “The team also improved a lot [during the trip] as [the girls] really learned how to play together as a team and gained the mentality of never giving up. Although we could have gotten third place, I know that the girls worked their hardest and I am very satisfied.”

The varsity girls also became a close-knit group throughout the season. Although the team was made up of seven seniors and only three sophomores, they became close friends, with the sophomores even making a goodbye video for the seniors. The girls were also enthusiastic when it came to cheering for other teams, helping them win the KAIAC Sportsmanship Award.

By Jonathan Yun

Photo by Linda Heeyoung Park

During the KAIAC tournament at YISS, the JV girls cheerleading team performs its routine on Feb. 11. The team placed second overall.

“The Japan trip played the biggest role in making us grow closer, and I think our friendship was our greatest strength as a team this year,” said Amy Choi (12), team captain.

“I’m really thankful to the sophomores because they tried so hard to make our last season special and meaningful.”

The junior varsity (JV) girls basketball team also excelled, as they placed third in KAIAC AllConference, ranking higher than many schools SIS had lost to in last year’s tournament.

“Coming into the season, if someone had told me that after fifteen games, we were going to have won eleven, I don’t think I would have believed them,” said Jonathan Mueller, JV girls basketball coach.

“But the girls really came in and worked harder than I could have asked them to work. They deserved everything good that happened

this season, and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

The JV and varsity cheerleaders were also able to receive high rankings at the KAIAC tournament on Feb. 11. With the JV team ranking second and the varsity team ranking third, the coaches and players were all satisfied with their results. Scarlett Kim (10) was also given the AllStars award, meaning that she was ranked as one of the top ten cheerleaders in KAIAC after performing a jump, a cheer and a dance in front of panel of judges.

“When you come together as a team, it’s always a challenge because you have to learn to work with each other and everyone has to be a part of the process,” said Katherine Trueman, varsity cheerleading coach.

“The varsity [girls team] shows real potential and they’re definitely going to be even stronger next year because they’re capable of more. ”

Preparing for the Olympics requires not only finance but also great responsibility. Though there are six more years until the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics begins, the Pyeongchang Organizing Committee for the 2018 Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games (POCOG) has started to address the problems that are delaying progress.

A statement issued on Jan. 3 by the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs stated that there were never plans to construct highspeed railroads that directly connect Incheon Airport to Pyeongchang despite expectations from the public. Instead, a railway connecting Wonju to Gangneung, of which Pyeongchang will be a station, will be built. The new 113 km high-speed railway is expected to guarantee the safe transport of participants and viewers.

Traffic congestion, however, could cause the estimated 68-minute travel from Incheon Airport to Pyeongchang to take more than 93 minutes in reality.

“Once when I went to a ski resort in Yongpyong during the holiday season, it took almost six hours to get there,” said Seung Yun (11).

“The car ride [was] suffocating because the highway [was] really congested, and my family had to make frequent stops at rest areas to use the bathroom every hour or two. I am quite concerned that conditions on the highway will be even worse during the Winter Olympics.”

In addition, local environment activist groups raised objections to a proposed venue for alpine skiing in

Jungbong, Gangwon Province, part of which is protected by the Korea Forest Service as a natural reserve.

Despite these oppositions, the POCOG stated that its original plans will be carried out while working with the Ministry of Environment, the Korea Forest Service and Gangwon Province to minimize damage to the forested area.

“While [environment activists] have a justifiable reason to protest against some venues, they should realize that [the POCOG] may not have any other choices and some parts of the environment must be sacrificed,” said Connie Yoon (11), Green Club vice president. “Nevertheless, [the POCOG] should be more aware of the environmental damage that might occur as a result.”

Although the POCOG has faced problems in its early stages of preparation, the committee has also met some success, including the completion of a world-class ski resort InterContinental Alpensia Pyeongchang Resort. Compared to Pyeongchang, Sochi, Russia, the host city of the 2014 Winter Olympics, has faced even greater obstacles, including a shortage of funds, mismanagement of overall planning and widespread public discontent.

“There are still six years left until [the Winter Olympics] begins,” said Sean Kim (12). “I don’t think Koreans should be worried because negotiations will take place to resolve all these problems. Many people expected the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2010 South African World Cup to be failures because of internal problems in those countries, but in the end, they were both successful.”

february 2012

JV boys basketball team places first at KAIAC championship tournament

By Angela Cho

Just six seconds before the end of overtime in the finals with the Tigers winning by two points, junior varsity (JV) guard Mark Kim (10) charged in and scored a basket that secured a three-point lead. With it the JV boys basketball team won the championship at the KAIAC tournament held at Osan American High School (OAHS) on Feb. 11.

The team won three games against OAHS, Seoul Foreign School and Seoul American High School (SAHS).

Before the tournament, the JV team stood in second place in KAIAC, having lost one out of 13 games to SAHS. The initial loss motivated the members to play harder against SAHS in the KAIAC tournament finals.

“Despite the initial loss, we had confidence and trust in the team, which led to the victory,” said Isaac Kim (10), JV forward. “A lot of the teammates don’t like to lose and are competitive, so it definitely made them play harder in the last few minutes of the finals. I was happy that we didn’t lose and some of the guys even started crying.”

In the wake of curfew viola-

“

tions and other incidents at an overnight trip to Daegu American High School (DAHS) on Jan. 27, which resulted in the removal of a bulk of the varsity boys basketball team, the boys also had the opportunity to travel abroad to Yokohama, Japan from Feb. 2-5 to participate in an Association of International Schools in Asia (AISA) basketball tournament.

Of the six games played against Korea International School (KIS), Yokohama International School, Senri and Osaka International Schools of Kwansei Gakuin and International Secondary School of Tokyo, the 10-member team consisting of eight JV sophomores and two varsity seniors won a total of four times and lost twice to KIS, placing second overall in the AISA tournament.

“The trip made me look forward to playing in varsity more,” said Alex Son (10), JV center. “Varsity games are so tight that you don’t know who’s going to win, whereas in JV we sometimes blow the opponents out by some 20 points that we get lazy. We don’t play the game because we know we’re going to win; we play because we want to win.”

In the end I was shaking and that’s how badly I wanted the team to win,” said Coach Munro.

11

sPORTS

Sports Photo of the Month

Having accompanied the JV team on the Yokohama trip, varsity guard Shuto Tamura (12) attributed these successes to the team’s mentality.

“The JV team’s approach to basketball is different from [that of] the varsity team,” said Shuto. “To seniors it’s more about having fun and [prioritizing] scoring before anything else. But the sophomores really try to dedicate themselves to playing basketball by coming to practices early and playing as a team.”

Since they were in middle school, the majority of sophomore JV players have been playing basketball together at a local sports club and took basketball lessons from the Samsung Thunders, a professional basketball team. Participation in the league helped the boys build teamwork and become acquainted with each other’s strengths and weaknesses. “[The play at the KAIAC tournament] was the best execution of what we’ve learned all year,” said Tim Munro, varsity boys basketball coach. “Ultimately it was confidence, offense, defensive strategy and trust in the teammates that allowed them to be extremely successful. In the end I was shaking and that’s how badly I wanted the team to win. I was so happy they were able to overcome and beat a team that historically had been untouchable for SIS.”

Photo by Jessica Song

At a cheerleading performance for the student body, Jisoo Kim (10) and Grace Song (10) clap and chant the SIS cheer in the auditorium on Feb. 10.

Students show more interest in swimming tryouts

By Jessica Song

During tryouts held from Jan. 25-27, swimming coaches Melissa Hubley and Ji-min Kim evaluated students’ skills through various drills. In one of the routines, Ms. Hubley counted the number of laps each swimmer completed within the allotted 10 minutes. Even though this year’s tryouts were more physically taxing than last year’s, the turnout doubled from 20 to 40 this season.

“When I swam in middle school, it was fun and we played games,” said Jeeseob Jung (9). “But in high school, [the tryout] requires hard work and endurance. I didn’t

expect to make it through so I think I’m lucky to even be in the team.”

Of the 14 freshmen who tried out, 11 of them made the team, in addition to seven sophomores, three juniors and four seniors.

“It’s exciting for us to see new faces and it’s always refreshing to have new swimmers in the team,” said Joanne Kim (11), varsity girls swim team captain. “After a few days of training, everyone gets to know each other pretty well, so I don’t think there was much awkwardness.

Most of the time, new members are pretty dedicated to swimming so it’s easy to get along.”

Due to the large turnout at this year’s tryouts, the two coaches in-

Photo by Jessica Song

Practicing with kickboards, Julia Jeong (10) and Nadya Kim (11) warmup after school in preparation for the upcoming YISS competition. troduced a third coach, Tim Gardes, elementary librarian.

“Since we need to be able to give each swimmer individual attention

to focus on his or her weaknesses, it is helpful to have Mr. Gardes,” said Coach Hubley. “He either works with a small group of swimmers or runs a practice with a larger group.”

In preparation for the competition on Feb. 22 at Yongsan International School of Seoul, each member must swim five 100-meter laps of one of the four strokes in two minutes every practice.

“It’s basically a building year for the program,” said Coach Hubley.

“Since we have lots of freshmen and first-year swimmers, we’re working hard on building a good foundation.

I’m looking forward to the results since we have a good group of hard workers.”

브라운 스튜디오는 ‘편안함’을 드립니다. 브라운 스튜디오는 ‘즐거움’을 드립니다. 브라운 스튜디오는 고객의 ‘친구’가 되어드립니다.

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Small Talk

12

February 2012

Students dismayed by on-campus overnight snow day

Photo of the Month

By Angela Cho

As the weather forecast called for a one percent chance of a snow blizzard, Pingüino High School students began a petition on Feb. 13 for an official snow day in the cold, -20 degree Celsius weather, adamantly refusing to attend classes and organizing sit-ins on school playgrounds.

“I don’t understand why high school students, as mature as they are, keep demanding that the administration grant a snow day,” said Crispulus Pertinacia, vice principal. “Even schools in Alaska don’t have snow days—what are we, schools in Antarctica?”

Yet the administration was quick to change its mind as snow indeed began to pile in heaps against all odds on Feb. 14. Because snow began to fall as soon as the class bell rang at 8 a.m., the Board of Education decided to call for an on-campus overnight snow day, during which students were still obligated to attend classes while staying overnight at school until snow ceased and thawed.

The initial excitement at the announcement of the school’s first-ever snow day quickly died out and turned into resent-

ment as students found out they had to sleep over at school.

“They say the first person you see after the first snow of a season will be your lover,” said Aemulus Depereo (11). “It’s Valentine’s Day, and I’m afraid that the first person I see today will be an [administrator], whom I’ll fall in love with. I don’t want my lover to be an admin—I’d rather prefer to have an off-campus snow day.”

Other high school students protested once again, exposing themselves to the freezing weather and running the risk of getting a cold. Some even ditched classes to transform the school gym into a nightclub, arranging for the “hottest DJ,” installing mirror disco balls and distributing whistles and glow-in-the dark bracelets to all participants.

“Technically they’re hosting this party after school, so they aren’t really subject to in-school policies,” said Mr. Pertinacia.

“Now I understand why other schools decided to call off classes. I thought we administrators were doing students a favor, but here they are, vandalizing school property in protest!”

Cartoon by Angela Cho

Photo by Linda Heeyoung Park

Seeing John Kim (10) with a Val-O-Gram, Chan Park (10) asks about the sender. The HSSC packed a total of 700 Val-O-Grams to both middle and high school students and distributed them on Valentine’s Day.