Tiger Times Volume 47 Issue 9

s e o u l i n t e r nat i o na l s c h o o l

Tiger Times VO l U M E X lV i i

April 2016

ISSUE 9

SPOTLIGHT: Candidates Clash

T T O N l . O rG

2016-2017

Executive Council Executive President David Choe

54.6%

350 Votes 45.4%

Executive Vice President Eric Song

56.2%

349 Votes 43.8%

Executive Secretary Victor Kang

54.3% Addressing the student body, David Choe (11), left, and Nick Yeo (11), right, participate in the Quill and Scroll Presidential debate held on April 13.

“Good morning and welcome to the first debate of the 2016 high school elections, live from Seoul, South Korea...”

Voters in the United States have been hearing a similar announcement for months—and the politics has been imported to SIS, where the election process has stepped up to an entirely new level.

From April 11-13, the Quill and Scroll Journalism Honor Society hosted a formal debate for executive council candidates, a chance for potential leaders to voice their positions on a public platform. According to Quill and Scroll co-presidents Daniel Choi (12) and Nagyon Kim (12), it was the first time in which a formal debate format was utilized in the election process.

“As student journalists, we wanted to further our role in the SIS community by holding a useful journalism-related event,” Daniel said. “What better way is there to emulate the real political process and help students understand our candidates than by holding a debate?”

Also moderating the debates was the current HSSC executive council, which hoped to increase its presence in the high school, according to Ronald Slachta and Sean Syverson, HSSC co-advisors. “[The HSSC] hoped to continue to evolve student government at this school,” Mr. Slachta and Mr. Syverson said. “The

HSSC and its actions are limited in part by the administration’s guidelines, but we wanted to step up and better represent our constituents as well.”

The first day of debates began with cordial talk, but the rhetoric increased in intensity when Andrew Ahn (11), candidate for the executive secretary position, used the phrase “bigoted mind” when commenting on his opponent Victor Kang (10). Although the question of whether Andrew had directed that statement toward Victor’s character or comments was unclear, the tension was palpable and the debates were officially underway.

The debate series served primarily to provide accountability for candidates, who, according to Daniel and Nagyon, have traditionally been able to avoid questions and make unrealistic promises.

According to Daniel, asking candidates to answer posed questions illustrated how earlier election processes were modified this time around.

“In previous years, candidates mostly gave speeches or were asked to respond to questions, but there were no follow-ups of any kind,” Daniel said. “What Quill and Scroll strived for with this new debate format was to allow the student body to compare the candidates’ positions on different school issues and also to hold them accountable to what they were saying.”

Photos By Ryan Jang

Candidates clashed for the first time on their positions on school-specific issues during the debate series. The Student Improvement Committee and the former school council blog were especially controversial among the candidates, who differed on how they would revive and support such aspects of the HSSC. “[The candidates] were able to directly address opposing arguments, something that was not possible last year,” said Nick Yeo (11), candidate for executive president.

“Knowing the specific changes I wanted to make for SIS, I was able to make sure the student body clearly understood what I wanted to implement.”

According to the HSSC co-advisers, the debate series helped increase transparency and accountability for the election process, fulfilling its original objectives of transforming the political process at SIS. “[The debates] definitely would have helped me decide who to vote for,” Mr. Slachta said. “It was interesting to see students in a one-on-one situation, with jumping back and forth on policies and positions. Overall, the debates were effective and we hope that the student body realizes that they have helped voters understand the candidates on another level.”

By Andrew Ham Sophomore, Staff Writer

348 Votes 45.7% 78.7% of eligible 445 students voted.

After uncontested campaigns, Jiwhan Moon (11) and Grace Lee (11) will be the Executive Treasurer and Executive Public Relations Officer, respectively.

First promposal of the season caps off debates To conclude the exciting three days of debate, David Choe (11), executive president elect, paused mid-speech while delivering his final words. To the bewilderment of the audience, he yielded the floor to Paul Namkoong (11), who produced flowers from the seats and called up a surprise. “Katherine Lim, could you please stand up?”

“Katherine, we’ve done many things together,” Paul began. “Would you do just one more thing with me—will you go to prom with me?”

Among cheers and cries of joy, David took the microphone and finished: “This feeling of love and happiness will exist when I am the executive president.”

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Editorial

VIEWPOINT

Wekid: The show stirring feelings in the hearts of all

A Farewell “She worked really hard all year, but I just can’t see her keeping the club running with her in charge.”

We heard this a while back just when club executive positions were opening up. Year after year, veritable troops of students line up to become leaders, and year after year we always hear murmurs of trepidation from their club leaders.

It reminded us that here at SIS, there are those who care about the responsibilities they hold. It’s rather heartwarming.

You see, there are those who say that a lack of passion has killed the student body. In some ways, they have a point. But before we rush to perform an autopsy, let us not confuse a lack of passion with a lack of responsibility. Vivisect, and you might find a second brain in lieu of a heart.

Yet it is folly to think for a second that passion must be a requirement for success. In our future lives, success will be determined by blood, toil, tears and sweat coupled with passion to channel them. Passion not for the sake of passion, but for the advancement of personal motivation.

The fact of the matter is that no matter how pervasive the anti-intellectual spirit, no matter how pathological the lassitude, work is a constant here at SIS. Rain or shine, work is turned in. Day in and day out, events are hosted. Procrastination takes over, but the gears of eventuality turn, and things get done.

On the exterior, kids may succeed in convincing themselves that they don’t really care, and that things get done because of the overriding desire to type a few lines in a college application. This is, after all, a college-preparatory school. But at the end of the high school experience, the vast majority of students will feel the same way. They will care.

So in a way, hearing club executives talk about their vision for the future completely proves that responsibility can exist without passion. And hearing them exchange their doubts about the leaders of tomorrow doesn’t just serve as good gossip material, it’s responsibility at work.

Tiger Times gave us a unique perspective with which to gaze upon our school. As journalists we could see everything with unadulterated clarity. It was the best of times, it was the most miserable of times, it was the season of success, it was the season of retakes, it was the age of abandon, it was the age of responsibility. It’s all very contradictory, but it’s worked so far, and it will work in the future.

So instead of a lack of passion killing us, our fundamental sense of responsibility may be what is reviving us. After all, passion will never manifest itself without the foundation of a strong mentality.

Truth be told, as seniors, we haven’t found our passion yet. But the fact that we haven’t is not a reason for despair; rather, it pushes us to approach everything with an open mind, to always be on the outlook for something that will make our hearts beat.

Now that SIS has armed us with the capability to pull through till the very end, we know what to do next. And we can’t wait.

Jean Cho Co-Editor-in-Chief

Christine Seo Co-Editor-in-Chief

Michael Kim Website Project Editor-in-Chief

Heejin E. Hong Website Editor-in-Chief

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

Even in an immense pond, small pebbles can create massive ripples.

Similarly, young children can send massive waves through society, quite literally and figuratively.

The show “Wekid”, which stands for “WE sing like a KID” is an attempt by Mnet to revive the genre of dongyo, traditional Korean songs for children. It features children of ages five to twelve, who are divided into three teams under three mentors, to perform dongyo, which has declined in popularity with the rise of the K-pop industry.

“Wekid” started out as a TV program intended to give children the opportunity to sing the disappearing genre of dongyo and let adults reminisce about the songs of their childhood, all in a family-friendly encouraging environment. Unlike the survival shows that Mnet is known for, “Wekid” is a “healing show,” according to the Korean Herald, where no contestants are eliminated. However, there lie some unaddressed concerns regarding the show’s seemingly innocent motives.

Mnet is known for its “devil’s edit-

ing,” a term used to describe yellow journalism video editing—cutting, relocating, or changing clips to portray a twisted message and increase drama.

Sadly, even the angelic “Wekid” seems to not have been able to fully escape the devil’s clutches. For example, a clip of one eight-year-old child’s strenuous daily life to support her single mom included waking up early to feed and take her toddler siblings to preschool as well as modeling for Home Shopping, but to Mnet these videos seem to be nothing more than editing real-life prevalent issues into bite-size sob stories for the adult audience to enjoy.

And though these scenes themselves do add ethos for the show, they are often treated as ways to add sympathy points and elevate the child’s overall performance score. For Mnet to truly be a “healing show” to bring back dongyo as it advocates itself, then the children should not be ranked or given scores at all—after all, whether I am the heir to Samsung or the heir to an acre of paddy fields has no effect on my ability to sing dongyo. At the very

least, “Wekid” should use the money they earn from sensationalizing the contestants’ lives to help them in continuing their musical education or supporting their families.

Also, it seems just a bit ironic that a show featuring children of ages five to twelve has an age limit of viewers only twelve and above. Viewers under twelve should definitely be considered an audience since they can not only enjoy music made of, by, and for the children, but can also be motivated to work as hard as the children on the show, who practiced until their throats were sore.

According to The Telegraph, children learn more from their peers than their parents, so just imagine how much children could learn from their peers over the short-lived tears of a parent over a cute child’s performance.

Although the show does have a few tweaks that could be made in trashing its business mindset and instead coming back to its roots of reviving dongyo, “Wekid” undeniably has good intentions of helping kids share their shining talents to purify the ears of Korean citizens of all ages. After all, it certainly is a concern that the Kpop entering the brains of elementary school students these days are full with inappropriate messages like drugs, money, and sex. Coming to fill the musical gap between nursery rhymes and anthems praising cocaine, the contestants of “Wekid” may be small in size but have big hearts, hold big dreams, and splash big waves through our hearts.

By Soomin Chun Sophomore, Staff Writer

New scheduling system attempts to solve old problems Whoever thought high school was a good idea obviously didn’t factor in the well being of adolescent health. But whoever made the current high school schedule, which has constant 80-minute classes and only two extended breaks, certainly hasn’t factored in the effect of teenage hormones. Fear not, though! For the next school year, the leadership team has attempted to come up with some solutions to the problems of our current schedule with three periods before lunch instead of two. Though this is a step in the right direction, changes will probably not pose significant benefits compared to the current system.

What does an ideal high school schedule look like? Needless to say, it would satisfy academic requirements, including enough time for students to digest various topics in-depth. At the same time, it would have to factor in how students study the best, considering human factors (like concentration) that really define the overall quality of education.

The new system does attempt to adjust the schedule to fit the needs of the students. It is no secret that maintaining concentration for long periods of time is hard for a high school student, not only because the crushing daily workload forces us into unnatural sleeping patterns, but also because our minds are simply not geared that way.

We work better with frequent, shorter breaks than with longer breaks after longer hours, which is exactly what the new system provides.

Having only one class after lunch also helps. Anyone who has taken Biology would know that our body directs more blood to digestion and less blood up to brain-work after ingesting food. After eating lunch, it is logical that students (and teachers) are more tired and therefore get less out of their classes.

Yet the system still has imperfections. For one, classes are still at a lengthy 80-minutes. According to The Hechinger Report, the average American high school has 45-minute periods. Granted, the typical American high school does not have the Day A/B system, a system that SIS students would certainly collapse without. But sometimes students tend to lose focus after 45 minutes, which cancels out the advantages of longer classes. Shorter classes would serve both academic and psychological purposes in that students may take a larger variety of courses and have more brainpower per minute within a period.

But wait – won’t extra periods in the place of shorter classes become an extra burden, and thus decrease students’ commitment to each class? In reality, however, this opens up doors to different, non-AP style elective classes

including home economics that are not academically mandatory but practically beneficial, and SIS can concentrate more on learning life skills.

Another huge change is that lunch will now start at 12:40 p.m. Now, while some students concentrate better when they are hungry relative to when they are full, both are not the ideal condition for the hardworking student.

According to an informal survey, 14 out of 30 students – almost half of those who were asked – do not eat lunch regularly. If lunch were to be pushed back, this would mean an extra two hours of no food. Yes, snacks can be bought during breaks, boosting HSSC food sales significantly. But we all know that a sparkling soda is not the same thing as a good meal.

The leadership team does deserve a round of applause for recognizing the need for change and showing its willingness to constantly evolve to better fit student needs. However, the system still has many additional flaws, such as the delayed lunch period, created inadvertently while addressing other concerns. Ultimately, drawbacks of the new system may actually result in a situation where many elements have changed but not much has been improved.

By Ariel Lee Junior, Copy Editor

Tiger Times April 2016 Tiger Times Newspaper

Tiger Times 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.

Editors-In-Chief Jean Cho Christine Seo

Copy Editors Ariel Lee Angela Yoon

Managing Editor Jungho Daniel Choi

Reporters Claire Kim Nicholas Kim Sarah Kim Diana Nakyoung Lee Marie Park Grace Yang

Production Editor Sang Ho Lee Graphics Editor Eunie Jang Photo Editor Kelly Kim

Advertisement Claire Yun (Rep.)

Tiger Times Online Photographers Ryan Jang April Kim Daniel Shin Layout Artists Justin Chang Rachel Kang Grace Lee Joyce Lee Soomin Lee

Editor-In-Chief Heejin E. Hong

Graphics Editor Yeaji Park

Project Editor-In-Chief Michael Kim

Copy Editors Jaeha Kim Eric Song

Managing Editors Hareem Kim Dahyeon Kim

Reporters Soomin Chun Andrew Ham Alice Lee

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Tiger Times Magazine Editors-In-Chief Sarah Y. Kim Nagyon Kim Managing Editor Angela Yoon Production Editor Patricia Song

Graphics Editor Yeena Yoon Copy Editor Cody Kim Photo Editor David Choe

Adviser Mr. David Coleman

Viewpoint Feature: The looming concern that we all have after graduation Congratulations!

You’ve made it out of high school. But are you prepared for the demands of college?

Do you have what it takes to succeed?

Attitude over aptitude: The new look on college preparation As a 13-year student at SIS, I am what you would call a SIS purebred. Every year, when seniors get ready to move onto the next phase of their academic career, I have always asked myself a question: To what extent does SIS prepare us for college?

By Jaeha Kim The answer to the question above, as expected, is rather complex. In fact, it is impossible for me, as a junior in high school, to definitively guarantee an answer.

However, from what I’ve seen at SIS over the past thirteen years, I can say that we definitely have certain shortcomings as a school in the holistic preparation of students for college.

In an academically rigorous institution where students excel in standardized tests from a very young age, perhaps even asking such a question may sound strange.

According to 2015-2016 issue of SIS’s Annual Report, students from third to eighth grade score significantly higher than other international schools on the Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA) in all categories: reading, math and writing, narrative writing, and expository writing.

A school that demonstrates such academic proficiency must have students that are ready for the rigors of college, right?

Well, it turns out that test-taking and academic ability constitutes, at most, only half the skills necessary for success in a college environment. While the general perception of SIS students seems to be that the ability to understand information and apply one’s learning is most important in preparing oneself for college, college

equally places value on one’s character. According to SIS alumni Suhyun Kim, Class of ’12, students at SIS often lack three fundamental experiences necessary for success in college: dealing with failure, academic experimentation, and integrity.

Speaking of failure, let’s talk about retakes. The fact is, the opportunity for retakes in many of the colleges that SIS students attend, don’t exist. The closest thing to a retake, is often a re-take; dropping the class and taking the class over again. While I understand that the purpose of a retake is to encourage students to learn the content again and give them a chance to redeem their scores in a class, this has led to negative consequences in preparing SIS students for college. Why? Because retakes have become a way for students to suspend the inconvenient truth that sometimes we are going to perform poorly and there will be no way to magically turn back time.

As scary as that may sound to SIS students, reality tells us that sometimes we are going to make mistakes in life. The fact of the matter is, high school should be a part of that experience. Having a practice that allows for retakes when a student is clearly proficient creates an imaginary safety net that does not necessarily exist in college.

The general atmosphere at SIS seems to be too afraid of mediocrity, that we have responded by creating what exists as a wholly unique system of second, third, and fourth

chances. In the face of that, no matter how hard you try, sometimes life demands forward movement. Tough love, my friend.

Being scared of failure is one thing, but the fear of being average has led to a creation of a “golden formula” for high school education, similar to the “golden sentence structure” that Ms. Wei, former high school Chinese teacher, taught to us. Just as Chinese language students would never deviate from the “golden sentence structure”, students at SIS, including myself, are often afraid to experiment with academic passions let alone paragraph organization.

Students have stuck to writing five paragraphs essays as if writing a three or four paragraph essay is sacrilegious. Obviously, it came as a shock to some of us when Ms. Poulsen told our AP Language and Composition class that it was okay to write a four paragraph essay, as long as we covered all the content. In college, this is an even greater issue students are often encouraged to break out of the formulas developed here.

You must pave your own path, and nurture a personalized style and voice regardless of what you do. In other words, in high school, its best to learn and draw on your own canvas, using tools in creative ways.

Most importantly, from what I have seen, certain students at SIS do not have the integrity that is required to successfully pull through years at college. Yes, I’d hate to admit it, but academic integrity is still a

concern at SIS. It seems like students have somewhat become, as we learn in AP Biology, “habituated” to cheating, that is, losing response to stimuli due to repeated exposure. With some that value high grades over dignity, many students at SIS need to understand that respect in college, and in life, comes not with good grades but with honesty.

While the school has repeatedly implemented and relied on strategies such as the honor code as well as “TIGER values” for the student body, it seems clear that these policies have failed to fully and consistently address this concern. The one and only way to improve upon this, is for SIS to explicitly facilitate education in regards to integrity and character development from an early age.

Looking on the bright side, there are many ways in which SIS has readied its students for not only college but also for their future careers. As a junior, I can testify to the statement that SIS does prepare students for intensive learning in college, and that teachers have made a significant effort in creating opportunities to take initiative in the school environment. However, where’s the good in only complimenting ourselves for our achievements? With continuous critiquing and improvements from students like myself, SIS may already be moving closer to being truly labeled a “college preparatory school.”

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NEWS

ZEITGEIST A woman in Northern Ireland and an abortion case: an equation for disaster.

On Apr. 5, a woman living in Northern Ireland was given a “three month suspended sentence” as a result of being convicted for aborting her 10-12-week fetus. Despite the fact that many of its neighboring counterparts have liberally reformed abortion laws, Northern Ireland still abides by its nearly 150-year-old anti-abortion law. This particular UK case, compounded with controversies over abortion in the US elections, has once again brought to public attention, the issue of whether or not abortion should be legalized. With proponents rallying for reform of Northern Ireland’s abortion law and opponents actively protesting such legislation, it seems to be clear that there is significant room for debate.

“The case of a woman receiving a ‘suspended prison term’ for aborting her fetus is absolutely ridiculous,” said Brian Kong (11), vice president

by Jaeha Kim

Abortion case in Ireland sparks global controversy

of Gender and Sexuality Awareness Club. “Sometimes people make a mistake, but that mistake should not ruin someone’s life because they have a future ahead of them.

Governments must almost always respect the decision of mothers as whether to abort their child, especially because mothers are the prime stakeholders of such a hugely difficult decision.”

Those in support of abortion reinforce the idea that, regardless of the technicalities of the issue (such as whether or not the fetus is technically “alive”), the authority and right to abortion ultimately lies with the mother. Because the situation of each abortion case comes in such variety, some suggest that the only person who best knows what to do is the mother. While making abortion illegal may decrease recorded abortion rates, it may also lead to mothers seeking to remove the fetus through more dangerous and unsanitary ways. Just as prohibition of marijua-

na led to an extensive, unmonitored underground drug-dealing scene, so abortion may actually stimulate the rise of more dangerous solutions in the face of desperation.

Some opponents, meanwhile, argue that prohibiting abortion will not lead to such underground operations as prohibiting drugs have done.

Because proper operations require the presence of a medically-informed individual, performing unmonitored abortion operations may not be as easy as simply distributing drugs.

“Despite what abortion advocates say, the possibility of a back-alley abortion network forming is virtually impossible,” said Yoohyun Kwon (11), Forensics team member.

“Not only is there a lack of medical personnel that would be willing to engage themselves in such underhanded operations, but also, most likely, mothers would also be unwilling to risk their lives by pursuing such radical measures.”

As further evidence that we must

ban abortion in more countries, opponents also cite studies that link abortion to severe depression as well as alcohol and drug abuse. According to LifeNews.com, a new study conducted in New Zealand has found that women who have abortions are not only twice as likely to experience anxiety, but also twice as likely to drink alcohol at dangerous levels and three times as likely to be addicted to illegal drugs. Because most abortions are carried out by younger aged adults, there are serious concerns as to whether minors with relatively little experience in life can make the right decision, one that won’t lead to future repercussions.

At the end of the day, the issue of abortion is not a simple one. As complex as it is, it will require much time and effort to solve. However, one thing that is clear is that we must engage in more debate and policy-making in all countries if we are to even come close to bringing a final conclusion to the issue.

MS and HS students attend drama conference in Jeju

F

or the second year in a row, students taking drama classes at SIS attended the Arts Society of International Students (ASIS) Drama Festival held at Korea International School Jeju from April 21 to 23. This year, two middle school students and four high school students were selected to participate in the drama festival, where students honed both behind-the-scene and on-stage drama skills.

Because many of the students met each other for the first time, on the first day of the festival the newly introduced colleagues became friendly with each other, using a few ice breaking activities. The new acquaintances worked together for the next twenty hours, so the ice breakers helped the drama students get comfortable with one another. Encouraged to collaborate with students from different schools, SIS students created and performed a personalized play in different groups that met mere hours ago. According to Meehee Park (8), middle school drama student, the drama festival compelled students to work in

News Briefs

By Rachel Kang Junior, Staff Writer

conjunction with others in a positive and productive manner.

“We attended the festival in order to improve our drama skills and increase our passion for the art,” said Eugene Jang (8), middle school participant. “Though we were all initially strangers to one another, the walls between [the students] quickly broke down because of our distinctive passion for drama, which acted as a unifying factor. We used this passion in order to create new friends and gain new experiences throughout the entirety of the festival. Because our task was to create a play in a short amount of time, we had to continuously work diligently and in unison to accomplish our goal. In the end, it all resulted in a memory that I will remember in the future.”

During the process of creating and performing a play, students were given the task of implementing certain aspects into their script. In one case, while the students were rehearsing, teachers told them that certain props, such as ironing boards and clay rollers, had to be added to their play. These

challenges forced students to adapt to different situations and taught them skills of flexibility and adaptability. The fruits of the students’ hard work were eventually presented in the form of a ten to fifteen minute play in front of approximately one hundred students and teachers. The drama teachers hope that students can take these skills to their respective schools to help their drama departments grow.

“I feel like the drama department changed a lot throughout the years,” said David Yoo (10), member of the student body. “Even just a few years ago, I don’t remember a school-wide play being performed at SIS. Recently, however, I have attended different school plays and the professionalism was really impressive, considering that they were school plays.

Each play only gets better and better, and I have really seen the steady growth of the drama department in the years that I have been at SIS.” As many acknowledge that SIS is an academically oriented school, much of the spotlight is on other aspects of school

life, rather than on the drama department.

However, upon the arrival of Mr. Williams, current drama teacher, the drama department started to gain prominence in the school community. Past productions such as “The Pink Panther,” “High School Musical,” and “The Sound of Music,” helped garner further student attention. In order to continue this trend, Mr. Arthars, next year’s drama teacher, hopes the ASIS Drama Festival will bolster drama students’ confidence and in turn help the drama department grow as a whole.

“The purpose of this conference was to infuse the SIS community with a greater ability to think creatively and critically and to behave communicatively and collaboratively, since that is what the global community is striving for,” Mr. Arthars said. “The skills that the students learn at the drama festival greatly reflect the TIGERS values, and will hopefully impact our school for the better.”

By Ryan Jang Sophomore, Staff Writer

HSSC hosts Spirit Week Following Spring Break, HSSC hosted its annual Spirit Week, during which students dressed up according to a theme each day. HSSC encouraged student participation by introducing new activities available exclusively for students who dressed up for Spirit Week: participants gained points for their class by taking part in the games held in atrium to win an ice cream party for their entire class, a prize ultimately rewarded to the Senior class for having scored

the most points. In an effort to raise school spirit, HSSC also recommended students to watch a soccer home game against APIS on “Winning Wednesday” wearing orange and black.

“Too often the SIS community is shrouded by academic competition,” said Jiwhan Moon (11), HSSC Treasurer.

“Spirit Week relieves the students of the academic stress by providing them the opportunity to connect with their classmates.”

Tiger Times April 2016

Korean parliamentary election campaigns cause controversy over gender roles

The National Election Commission’s Korean parliamentary election campaign, starring singer Seolhyun, was accused of being discriminatory against female voters. While the National Election Commission rejected such criticism, the Korean Women’s United Association strongly demanded the advertisement’s immediate withdrawal on March 28.

“It honestly depends on the individual and how he or she accepts the advertisement itself, since the message was pretty much implied within the campaign, and not directly stated by Seolhyun herself,” Alice Kang (11) said. “Although some may not have caught the roundabout implication, if there were certain groups of women who were offended, I think [the National Election Commission] should still apologize because it means that [the National Election Commission] directly targeted a specific group of the population.”

The National Election Commission released three separate versions of the advertisement, appealing to the entire range of age groups that are eligible to vote and both genders. According to the Korea Herald, the commercial aroused controversy due to Seolhyun’s stereotypical question implying that females are too vain and unworldly to care only about cosmetics rather than politics. Although not as reprimanded, another version of the campaign targets male voters, with Seolhyun pretending to scold her virtual boyfriend for spending more time picking out smartphones than voting for parliamentary candidates.

“Of course, the depiction of Seolhyun’s statement in the commercial can be considered to be sexist in terms of grouping all types of women as people who spend a lot of time taking care of their physical appearance and not having any interest in politics,” Chloe Chung (10) said. “But at

GIN hosts conference at SIS Global Issues Network (GIN) hosted the first annual Global Network Conference (GNC) on April 6. Over seventy participants from six different international schools gathered to discuss potential solutions to global issues of their interest and vote for one joint project to work on during next school year. By creating an active network of students dedicated to one common goal, GIN aspires to maximize fundraising capacity.

“The level of passion and creativity

that each participant displayed was truly inspiring,” said Garam Lee (12), GIN external communications director. “At the end of the day, we agreed to focus on one joint plan for next year - to increase education levels in developing countries.

With many members passionately projecting their ideas, we received creative proposals such as ‘Books for Cookies.’

This year’s GNC shows promising aspects of student-driven collaborative efforts.”

the same time, feminists demanding immediate withdrawal of the advertisement may have put too much emphasis only on Seolhyun’s claim and not on the true purpose of [the whole campaign], which probably tried to make the message more relatable to an average Korean citizen.

Besides, the other version of the campaign stereotyping men as unsophisticated phone addicts did not receive as much criticism compared to the advertisement targeting women.”

While the National Election Commission has not formally apologized, it has officially withdrawn the commercial due to spreading controversy. Despite the ongoing conflict, Seolhyun will continue to serve as the primary model for the parliamentary election that is scheduled to take place on April 13.

By Alice Lee Sophomore, Staff Writer

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New bell schedule to be implemented for next school year

In order to provide a less chaotic lunchtime for high school students, the leadership team organized a new schedule system. It will have three classes instead of two before students eat, and a fifteen-minute break between second and third period in place of a five-minute shorter Office Hours.

According to James Gerhard, high school principal, the leadership team realized a need for change when they noticed crowded lunch rooms and lack of time for students to comfortably enjoy a meal. Next year, lunch will be offered even during Activity Period, giving students the option to have an extra half hour for lunch. “[The cafeteria] was always a big concern for students, teachers, parents, and even JJ’s” Dr. Gerhard said. “It was difficult for JJ’s to prepare for the entire middle school, and then the whole high school within half an hour. Washing the trays and silverware for both lunches also needed more time.”

After a few high school parents brought up the issue, difficulties with organizing a system suitable to both middle and the high school teachers arose. Because several teachers teach both middle and high school students, it was difficult to match periods without overlaps between the two grade levels’ classes and still provide a less packed schedule.

“I think that extending lunchtime to include activity period and giving a fifteen-minute break will allow students to be more laid back,” Andrew Lee (10) said. “It’s difficult to find time to breathe if we have tight schedules. Often, I find myself being rushed at lunch because either I have a lot of things to do during activity period or the lines in the cafeteria are too long.”

Both the administration and the parents hope that the new schedule will be a means for students to find a balance between comfort and rigorous studying. The true results will only be clear after its implementation, but a few students note drawbacks of this change.

“At my previous school in Canada, school started at 8:40 a.m., and each period was 75 minutes,” said Shelley Jeon (9), a new student at SIS this year. “We had a break after first period and lunch would come after second period. Personally, I think going through three classes before eating lunch sounds exhausting, as lunchtime in the middle of the day is a mental break for students. I prefer my previous schedule, if only because it’s much more convenient.”

By April Kim Sophomore, Staff Writer

History classes visit art exhibit On March 18, students of AP Art History class and AP World History class travelled to Seoul Art Center’s Hangaram Art Museum to see the British Museum’s collection on the transformation of human image through time. Unlike many conventional art exhibitions that are organized in chronological order, the exhibition was curated under the subthemes of ideal beauty, self-expression, divinity, politics, transformation, and love. Students gained insight into the continuity and change of

each topic as expressed through ancient artworks as well as understand the historical implications of such artistic endeavors.

“At school, we often encounter artworks as simple images on textbooks to prepare for the AP exam,” said Yoonyoung Kim (12), AP Art History student. “Seeing the physical artworks organized according to their historical significance helped me connect separate artworks together and understand the global importance of human image.”

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EQUALITY

The Truth Behind Gender Ga ps In Sports

BY SOOMIN LEE

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n March 20, the BNP Paribas Open Tournament Director and CEO Raymond Moore shook the sports world when he announced that female tennis players should thank men tennis players for the success of the sport. Serena Williams, a 21-time Grand Slam champion, rebutted, arguing that women “shouldn’t have to drop to [their] knees.” As Williams said, women have undeniably come a long way, but to what extent has the sports industry followed the women’s lead in minimizing the gender gap?

With the rise in popularity of sports, TV channels have also increased sports coverage -- but only for male athletes. A USC study by Professor Michael Messner reported that in 1989, only five percent of airtime on channels in the Los Angeles region was devoted to women’s sports. Rather than increasing over the years, the five percent dropped twice after 1989, once in 2009 to 1.6 percent and again just two years ago to 3.2 percent. According to Messner, the low numbers are puzzling because the increased interest and participation in women’s sports have not been reflected in news and highlight shows.

“These days, I can definitely see that more people are interested in watching women’s sports on television,” Eric Kim (10) said. “Despite the rising popularity, however, there is an apparent lack of airtime for women’s sports, especially for soccer. I look forward to watching women’s soccer after school, but I can rarely watch it live because the games are never aired during prime time.”

Aside from airtime coverage, women have also experienced discrimination in

other occasions, most specifically regarding financial support. The most obvious circumstance generally involves airplane travel.

Japanese women’s soccer team members, who were the World Cup champions and contenders for a gold medal, traveled to the 2012 London Olympic Games on economy class while the men’s team rode business.

According to ThinkProgress, the discrepancy between the two teams is because male sports are usually regarded as more renowned than female sports, and thus, more actively funded by national sports organizations.

However, an increasing number of sports events are including the same rules and equal prize money for both genders. For example, the Tour of Britain established in 2014 became the first-ever women’s cycling event, mirroring the men’s Tour series in terms of rules and prize money. According to the Guardian, the Tour of Britain proved successful; there is now a Tour every year devoted to female cyclists.

“As a student volleyball player, I can see that there have been changes in sports over the years, especially at school,” Shelley Jeon (9) said. “Before, at my old school, only a few female students participated in after school sports, and there was usually more playing time for boys than for girls. Nowadays, I have seen more and more girls engaging in at least one sport during the year.

I think the increase in professional female athletes over the years has helped girls realize that boys aren’t the only ones capable of doing push-ups, lifting weights, or running miles.”

In addition, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has achieved two

milestones for female athletes during the 2012 and 2014 Olympic Games. The IOC dubbed 2012 as the “Year of the Woman” because it was the first year all but two nations sent at least one female representative to the Games. The first female athletes participated in boxing in 2012, as well, while 2014 saw the first female ski jumpers. Such feats in two major athletic events can be traced back to the work of the IOC, as it has worked to create the Olympic Games to be a platform for female athletes to defy gender inequality, according to the IOC’s FOCUS Women and Sport report.

“The physiques of men and women are inevitably different, and in some ways, women will never be able to surpass the physical abilities of men,” said Tamara Atanaskovic, gym teacher. “Regardless, there have been attempts to close the gender gap, such as the various tennis events organized for both genders. I don’t believe that viewing the genders differently is necessary bad because we have different body structures, but I do think that more people should value the accomplishments of women just as much as those of men.

We have come a long way since the beginning of female sports, but I believe there is more to be done to successfully accomplish gender equality.”

THE REASON WHY PEOPLE SAY SPORTS IS NOT E QUAL FOR ALL GENDERS

BY JUSTIN CHANG

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here are species of athletes more rare than the most endangered animals: female rugby players, male figure skaters, female boxers, and ballerinos. At first sight, these athletes are radically different from one another as they participate in completely different events and compete against completely different athletes. But one commonality ties them together: the sports they play do not fit the normally accepted stereotype for their gender.

Rugby, as well as boxing, is often regarded as a sport for males, while ballet and figure skating are for females, These stereotypes are not set in stone but have somehow been imbued into our minds. We often find ourselves unconsciously dividing many sports based on our perception of masculinity and femininity. We find more “masculine” sports to encourage strength and brawn, while “feminine” sports encourage beauty and gracefulness. But what happens if a male crosses into the domain of the female, or vice versa?

The human form of the phrase “be a man” is manifested in a rugby player. Buff and burly, he towers over others with his enormous physique like the 5’ 10’’ and 200 lbs. beast, Dan Carter, who plays for the All Blacks.

He isn’t a she.

A figure skater is graceful and beautiful, slender and lean. She like Yuna Kim dances on the ice as if it were land, twirls in the air, and lands fluidly. She isn’t a he.

Unbeknownst to most, however, is the female rugby player and the male figure skater. There is a

Women’s Rugby Union, a Women’s Rugby World Cup, and a Women’s Sevens World Series. Star players like Emily Scarratt, who scored 70 times during the 2014 World Cup for England, shine on the pitch.

And there are male figure skaters as well, among the most prominent being Aleksei Yagudin who bagged a gold in the 2002 Olympics, and is a four time World Champion and three time European Champion, among other achievements.

Both the female rugby player and the male figure skater are accomplished athletes that are praised by experts but frowned upon by the layman because they do not fit the stereotypes of a manly man and a womanly woman. According to Newsweek, they are regarded as either women with a high testosterone count or homosexual males. Many consider these very stereotypes to serve as proof that sports, despite the gradual advances towards gender equality, still perpetrate the same inequality it aims to destroy.

“Of course any boy and girl should be able to play any sport they want to play,” Justin Lee (11) said. “But sometimes when I watch male figure skaters performing in the Olympics or catch sight of women playing American football om television, I feel just a bit awkward because the sports those athletes play just feels out of place as if they shouldn’t be playing them, even though I believe there shouldn’t be gender stereotypes.”

But in the bigger scope of gender inequality, steps have and will continue to be made by athletic organizations, like the International Olympic Committee (IOC), so that sports could be equal for all sexes.

Among the many changes proposed, the IOC has decided to segregate genders in

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certain sporting events to accommodate the physical differences between males and females that may give an advantage to one gender over another in some events.

This ensured an increasing number of female Olympic participants, starting from 22 women in the 1900 Summer Olympic Games to 2,194 in 1988, and 4,676 in 2012.

Others, however, believe that while gender segregation ensures a more level playing field, it may inadvertently promote gender discrimination as well.

Sports like curling are prime examples, where both men and women send the same stones down the same sheets of ice to the same house. And yet, the Winter Olympics feature events specifically for men and others specifically for women. Many consider this segregation to be absurd since the sport, nicknamed “chess on ice,” often prioritizes strategy over brute strength and is played equally well by men and women.

Even with many calling for gender equality in sports, the inherent differences between males and females make true equality improbable- maybe even impossible as Gulf News believes. Still, many find it necessary for sports to remedy the hypocrisy of concurrently promoting gender equality and inequality in order to tread closer to equality, or at least something similar to it.

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8 LIFESTYLE

An Illustration of Artists:

April Kim // Sophomore, Staff Writer April Kim // Photographer

The AP Art Exhibition

Distorted and Abstract Realities Yoon Young Kim, ’16

The thematic concept of Yoonyoung Kim’s art encompasses the common emotions that people feel like stress, sadness, and nervousness. Instead of a collection of paintings and 2D art, she tried to experiment as much as possible this year, expressing artistic diversity with a more digital portfolio.

“I focused on the abstraction of reality, taking something from real life and then obstructing it in a way that makes it look distorted, almost something unreal,” Yoonyoung said. “I did this to evoke emotions of anxiety, stress, and other emotions that most high school students experience at some point in their lives. I was really interested in reconstructing portraits and still life, being able to change the mood or tone of something.”

Everything is Temporary Yu Jin Choi, ’16

Using a creative mix of strings and lines, Yu Jin Choi constructed abstract pieces that capture the ephemeral nature of life. She says the fear that people feel regarding how nothing lasts forever inspired her to construct her pieces in a way that would illustrate the fragility of certain occurrences in life, as well as vulnerability, and inevitable endings.

“Most of my artwork contains human figures, but they were created out of thin string or delicate lines, almost as if they are unraveling,” Yujin said. “I wanted to touch on this subject that we all fear, giving myself the chance to confront and address our futures. Although the artworks aren’t necessarily images of me, they act as self portraits in that they reflect a learning process.”

Landscaping Dentistry William Suh, ’17

William Suh’s artwork focuses on depicting dentistry as a whole—the tools and the mood of a dentist’s office. Portraying these ideas through the use of charcoal, he says that his curiosity about dentistry prompted him to create art based on this theme.

“In one of my pieces, I attempted to put a dental chair lying in a vacant room in front of a coiling road because it would be seen as the spotlight,” William said. “Other tools in my piece show a dentist’s purpose in performing his role of caring for a cavity or taking out a tooth. All of them are specific in helping a person complete his or her act as a dental surgeon. In order to explore emotional associations such as fear and physical pain during treatment while visiting the dentist, I tried to create a surreal landscape of the feelings that people feel at the dentist by representing specific objects or places.”

The More You Know Does spaghetti grow on trees?

One morning, respected broadcaster Richard Dimbleby of the BBC solemnly informed viewers that the feared “spaghetti weevil” was dead and promptly began to explain how to grow spaghetti, which obviously grows on trees. The date was April 1, 1957, and the joke fell flat. Nearly half of Britain’s population, who had rarely seen pasta before, flooded the broadcast with calls and questions, prompting CNN to call it “the biggest hoax that any reputable news establishment ever pulled” decades later.

Like many other things in life, April Fool’s Day did not originate from the BBC. In fact, one of the earliest records of the day’s existence is in Geoffrey Chauster’s “Canterbury Tales,” where a copying error—or an early prank?—led to it being “celebrated” every April 1 rather than the original date, May 2.

Funny, then, how April Fool’s Day

has grown into a global phenomenon without any real organizing force. The supposed “holiday” is not publicly recognized anywhere in the world, yet people seem to know exactly when to abandon pretenses of social sophistication and give in to the primal art of pranking.

Different cultures have taken to the practice in different ways. In Britain, anybody who pulls a prank after midday is considered the fool himself.

Canadians in April attach paper fish to victims’ backs unnoticed, the jesters presumably unaware of the existence of more sophisticated hoaxes. And (obviously) if there were a country around the world that actively worked to not have fun, it would be China, which jails those who “celebrate” (no joke).

Light fun aside, peel behind the layers of April Fool’s Day and its deeper, perhaps secondary, purpose

By Andrew Ham may be something akin to relieving singlehandedly the worldly tensions of today (a tough task, I know).

In the United States, clowns who bring snowballs to disprove the existence of global warming have finally taken over government. In Europe, fear of terrorism sweeps through the streets.

Even in the 21st century, backward groups behead people in the deserts of the Middle East, and it seems as if the most powerful nations of the world cannot do anything about it.

But April Fool’s reminds us that the world has always been like this. From the Black Death to Stalin’s gulags (and most importantly of all, the Twinkies ban in the US), the world has seemed bleak and unforgiving for a very long time. This is why many turn to religion, to find solace in a world where paper money is valued over the very forests it comes from. Humans have always hoped

for something better than what they have—yet, as the American television show The Office put it, “no matter how you get there or how you end up, human beings have the miraculous gift to make that place home.” We like to think of our planet as the Garden of Eden, but the serpent will always be there; the trick, for us, is to find something better than the apple it is offering.

Yes, I realize while saying this that most April Fool’s pranks are immature and generally frowned upon. But as the BBC said in its hoax about growing some pasta, “place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best.” Hope can come from the most unexpected of places, even a seemingly innocuous (let alone immature) day as April Fool’s. Let the world learn to laugh a little, even if it is only for a special, extraordinary 24 hours. Or twelve, should you live in Britain.

Tiger Times April 2016

“Batman vs. Superman” film is met with mixed responses Third century BC China posed to the world a question, what we now know as the irresistible force paradox. What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?

The recently released superhero movie “Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice” provided a glimpse into this very question. Contrary to public anticipation, however, the film was met with mixed responses from both viewers and critics during the first few weeks of its screening, and box office analysts are still debating whether the movie was a box office success. The movie was first released on March 20 in the United States, followed by other countries worldwide such as China and South Korea. This film, directed by Zack Snyder, was a sequel to “Man of Steel,” which was released in 2013, and was the first film ever to capture the encounter between Batman and Superman.

Although an estimated $165 million was invested in advertising the film, it was criticized by many viewers and professional critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, a well-known movie rating site, the rating for “Batman vs. Superman” rests at about 29%. This is a rating similar to, if not lower than, previously-criticized superhero movies such as “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer” or “Spider-Man 3”. Moreover, according to Comicbook.com, the film has been dubbed one of the worst films ever in China immediately after its release in the first week of April due to its lack of comical elements.

“I think one of the reasons the movie is consistently receiving extremely low ratings is that it is missing the touch of lightheartedness that draws audiences toward superhero films,” Victoria Hahm (11) said. “As a person who watched this film, I can say that the movie focuses too much on development of the main plot that it fails to capture audiences in the secondary elements of the movie like humor. These are, ironically, the aspects that make films more enjoyable to watch, but ‘Batman vs. Superman’ fails to fulfill those.”

On March 31, Apple launched the iPhone SE, garnering significant attention—and criticism— due to the product’s stylistic similarities to iPhone 4. While some have pleaded with Apple to return to the four-inch design of the iPhone 4, statistics show that the vast majority did not favor this decision.

According to Forbes, first week sales in the US have been disappointing relative to that of other Apple iPhones when first introduced, marking this as the lowest rate of early adoption at 0.1 percent unlike the expected sales in other countries.

“Despite the fact that the iPhone SE has the lowest rate of early adoption, I believe that this new model is a great option, since it delineates the need for

Thinking at 0m/s Tempus Fugit Tempus Fugit.

All good things end.

This is not to say, however, that the movie was a complete failure. Despite its harsh reviews, “Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice” has maintained a top position in box office records since its release. According to 411Mania, a news website centered on media and sports, by April 3 the movie’s profit was up to $261.5 million domestically and $682.9 million worldwide, and experts are anticipating an even greater increase in the numbers. The film is expected to earn up to $375 million domestically, and when combined with worldwide profit, the numbers may reach the billion-dollar mark.

“For a long time, superhero movies have been extremely popular amongst both comic mania and the regular public,” Angela Kim (9) said. “Especially because Batman and Superman are two of the most loved superheroes from DC comics, many people have been waiting for their encounter for a long time. I think most people, including those from the older generation, would watch the film regardless of its negative reviews simply out of their desires to be reminded of the superheroes they were once obsessed with.”

The harsh reviews of “Batman vs. Superman” have also affected the produc-

tion schemes of other films currently in the process of making. Director David Ayer of “Suicide Squad,” a superhero movie set for release in August, ordered a reshooting a few days after its trailer was released. According to The Metro, the trailer contained “every joke in the movie,” and although it was praised by many viewers, its lightheartedness was not very representative of the final movie. The the production team will be working to incorporate more humor and wit into the story, hoping to avoid the criticism that “Batman vs. Superman” received.

“The high number of negative reviews of the film may just be a result of high expectations not met,” Dongin Kim (12) said. “The movie was the center of attention amongst cinephiles even before its release, so a film of average quality would not have satisfied audiences. As a fan of superheroes myself, I hope that over time, ‘Batman vs. Superman’ will receive more positive reviews so that production teams of other superhero movies will not be discouraged by the criticism this one received.”

By Sarah Kim Junior, Staff Writer

Apple turns back the clock, introducing iPhone SE “Some people asked us and some people even pleaded with us to please keep four inch products in our line up. Today, we are going to do just that, and we are going to make it a whole lot better. And as you may have heard, we are calling it the iPhone SE.” —Greg Joswiak, Apple executive

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a device that would serve the initially intended function of an iPhone and accurately defines the lines separating an iPhone from an iPad mini,” said Ronald Slachta, iPhone user. “Specifically, iPhones should serve the functionality of an average phone such as calling or checking mail, not reading or doing things that are available on other devices such as the iPad.” In accordance with its discouraging sales results, reviews of the iPhone SE were also unsatisfactory, critiquing the iPhone SE on various fronts. Forbes commented that, although the iPhone SE has avoided the criticisms the iPhone 5C received, it has traded away Apple’s unique visionary status and made the company seem a “little more than any other hardware manufacturer.” Likewise, the Washington Post claimed that it would not recommend the iPhone SE because that it feels like a “child’s toy” compared to the previous, larger iPhones.

“Such reviews of the iPhone SE are inevitable because Apple just provided one type of iPhone that is currently

not only considered to be outdated in terms of Apple’s trend in the growing size of iPhones, but also restricted in terms of creativity and options Apple could have provided,” said Cinji Lee (10), iPhone user. “The results would have been significantly better if [Apple] released various versions of the iPhone.

In other words, Apple could have taken a more innovative route by offering a larger version of the iPhone 6S and a smaller version, the iPhone SE, at the same time, to provide consumers with a variety of options and display [Apple’s] characteristic creativity.”

Despite the low sale rates in the US, the iPhone SE is scheduled to get released in other countries such as China along with emerging markets such as Brazil. In contrast to the rather disappointing results in the US, the Consumer News and Business Channel (CNBC) reported that the iPhone SE is likely to be a huge hit in China as the pre-orders already surpassed 3.4 million.

By Alice Lee Sophomore, Staff Writer

Stephen Hawking, Mark Zuckerberg, and Yuri Milner got together earlier this year to discuss a project that would send small nanobots flying into space over a distance of 25 trillion miles. So much for staying put on this flying rock. They would be propelled by lasers shot from Earth, accelerating them to a whopping 20 percent of the speed of light. The journey would take 20 years from our frame of reference, but the nanobots would only experience nine years of travel due to the laws of relativity. So it goes.

Gravitational waves were detected earlier this year using the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, giving scientists the tools they need to map the skies without having to point telescopes at stars. Shooting lasers into mirrors over long distances facilitated the discovery and recording the time it took to return. The first observation recorded two black holes merging.

Scientists say these black holes will never be the same again. So it goes.

Elon Musk’s flagship company SpaceX was created in 2002 with the goal of building a rocket that could be reused after reentry. After several setbacks, Musk achieved his goal this year when the Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage landed by reversing its thrusters and gently setting down a barge at sea. It took him 14 years. According to government officials, Musk killed the conventional space race by playing around with rockets. Gone are the days of expensive space travel. So it goes.

The Hubble Space Telescope reminded people down below that we have large telescopes pointed toward the stars taking photos at all times. It took images of the Bubble Nebula, which is seven light years wide and nearly twice the distance that the nearest star is from our sun. It was launched in 1990. The 26-year-old machine is one of the most carefully maintained pieces of hardware off the surface of the Earth. Ironically, the stellar body responsible for the nebula is a star that ages extremely rapidly compared to the sun. Old meets old. So it goes.

We started column started in August, with the intention of bringing science to everyone (even political science majors). Often, it starts with physics and ends up with literally anything else. Everything we published was something we thought was simply too interesting to pass up.

We’ve seen our fair share of responses, ranging from amazement to pure unadulterated disinterest. All of these moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.

Time to go.

By Michael Kim and Sang Ho Lee Seniors, Project EIC and Production Editor

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SPORTS

Varsity swim teams dive into AISA Tournament

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his year, both SIS boys and girls varsity swim teams hosted the annual AISA tournament from April 14 - 17. Two other schools, Korea International School and Senri Osaka International School, competed against SIS. Despite the great number of talented swimmers that gathered from both South Korea and Japan to compete, SIS swimmers yielded successful results, with both the girls and the boys team placing first overall.

“Our big goal as a team has always been to perform well at the KAIAC championships, and we saw AISA as a preparation for that,” said Cindy Presse, varsity swim coach. “But it is still an important meet for students, so each swimmer tried their best to work on their respective areas of weakness. We often hold yoga practices so that students can stretch to prevent injuries, because this year we had a few players who could not compete at AISA because of their injuries. This is definitely something we have to work on for the rest of the season— practicing rigorously, but not to the extent where players get injured.”

Although teamwork is definitely important in swimming, what ultimately brings a team to victory is the performance of each individual swimmer. This year at the AISA tournament, many SIS swimmers made remarkable achievements that led the team to first place. Of the various noted players was Alan Huh (12), who earned the male Most Valuable Player (MVP) award after breaking a total of five records.

“I put a lot of time and effort both in and out of school to practicing swimming, and I think that is what allowed me to achieve great results at the AISA tournament,” Alan said. “Generally, all the swimmers did very well during the tournament, and I think this reflected our hard work throughout the entire season. Although there is still a lot of room for improvement regarding teamwork and cheering each other on at all times, I am proud of all the swimmers for achieving their full potential. I hope we can continue to perform just as well at the upcoming KAIAC tournament.”

This year, many new members joined the varsity swim team, and many of them impressed other swimmers by performing just as well as the experienced swimmers.

According to Brian Kim (11), varsity boys swim team captain, Ian Lee (9) was one of the most talented swimmers on the team this year, and had the same number of individual points as Alan during the AISA tournament. Similarly, Jaywon Yi (9) was praised by her teammates and coaches for her performance throughout the season.

“As a freshman on the team, I think I still have many things to learn about swimming, ranging from teamwork to polishing my individual skills,” Jaywon said. “I do think I did pretty well this year, but I don’t think my performance was a result of just my individual effort. All of my team members were upperclassmen, but they did not hesitate to support me. I wasn’t used to this idea of being in a unified and spirited team, so the support allowed me to achieve more than I would have if I were alone.”

By Sarah Kim Junior, Staff Writer

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Student athletes lead second season

articipating in a total of three tournaments this year, the official badminton team of SIS, concluded their second season as an official team, among the six other international schools. In the SFS tournament held on Mar. 13, in particular, two SIS singles players, Jason Kim (11) and Jungyup Kim (12), placed third and fourth respectively. According to Jungyup, badminton team captain, there was not much enthusiasm and dedication put toward badminton amongst players last year.

However, many players are beginning to realize that badminton is, indeed, a rigorous sport. In particular, top seed players Jungyup, badminton team captain, and Sean Oh, badminton team first singles, have managed to use their community sports center to improving their badminton skills. According to Jungyup, the badminton team will improve their skills until the sport is officially recognized by KAIAC. “When I first heard that there would be an official badminton team at SIS, I knew I was going to do anything and everything to get into the team,” Sean said. “This year, I realized badminton isn’t just a simple life sport where people jump around the court and swing their arms to ‘smash’ the shuttle. What I love about this sport is that even though badminton looks easy, both the basic and complex skills you have to use during games are very difficult to acquire.”

Jungyup and Sean have been going to badminton practice held at their community sports center every Saturday from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. since the beginning of winter break when they were inspired by the level of enthusiasm they saw in the middle-aged players.

“On our first day at the community sports center, Jungyup and I lost 2-16 to

Rallying against fellow badminton member, Peter Kim (12) returns a shot during practice.

two players who were our grandfathers’ age,” Sean said. “We were completely shocked by the defeat and motivated to start taking badminton much more seriously. We practiced tirelessly for the rest of winter break and even after school started. The overall level of dedication and enthusaism is something that we have tried to bring to and cultivate in the badminton team. Just like any other sport, badminton should be seen as a competitive sport, and I have certainly been treating it as such during team practices and meets. Based on the results of the tournaments, our efforts have definitely been paying off.”

Despite these improvements and increased diligence, however, the SIS badminton team still faces challenges.

This year, the team only had one coach, James Hardcastle. Therefore, team

Soccer teams improve at AISA

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he AISA soccer tournaments for the varsity girls and boys took place on April 14-17 in Osaka and Yokohama respectively, where the athletes were able to apply the skills and formations practiced throughout the season. According to varsity boys soccer coach Gray Macklin, the actual results of AISA do not reflect the team’s fullest capabilities because the tournament served first and foremost as a learning experience rather than a competition.

“I feel like the team did better this season [than last season] because we had better team chemistry and composition,” said Jason Kim (12), captain of the varsity boys soccer team. “This year most of the players were experienced returning players so we all quickly adapted to each other’s playing styles. All the players know that the team plays as a whole, so you cannot stop running because you are tired. You are running for the team, for each other, and this keeps our team morale up.”

The boys beat Senri Osaka International School (SOIS) and Saint Maur International School on the first day, placing

them into the semi-finals where they lost against Korea International School and Yokohama International School (YIS) to place fourth out of six teams. The girls unfortunately lost all four games, placing last out of four teams, but still showed determination and pushed until the end, according to Diane Lee (10), who was proud of the way her team members stayed mentally stable throughout AISA. “I have to admit, it was a shock that our team placed last at AISA for two consecutive years,” Diane said. “However I feel like as a team, we improved a lot during the tournament because when we played teams that all of us knew were strong and powerful these games not only boosted our team chemistry, but also showed the team’s capacity. Although the game results may not represent our passion and vigor, I feel like our team exceeded our playing capacity before AISA.” Within the long two-day tournament, certain games stood out as ones the team members would remember. The varsity boys’ first win against SOIS thanks to a great save by Sabin Macklin (11) was not only the most intense game but also

Photo by Daniel Shin

captains Jungyup and Jason had to take over responsibility of most organizational tasks, ranging from leading all practices and holding in-school tournaments to deciding seedings and ordering uniforms.

“Even though it was difficult to hold the responsibility of being both coach and captain, I tried my best to unite our team and give all of our players enough opportunities to achieve their full potential,” Jungyup said. “I hope that next year, players will continue on with their passion for badminton and not give up until badminton is officially recognized as a KAIAC sport. Though the road to recognition is rough, with a racquet and shuttlecock, I have faith in the SIS badminton team to carry on this new legacy.”

By Grace Lee Junior, Staff Writer

served as a confidence-booster for the boys, who had lost badly to SOIS last year and ended up being the only team that beat SOIS in this year’s AISA tournament.

The girls faced a tough tournament overall with no games won, but their third game against YIS was an extremely close match with the girls’ strong defense line keeping the score tied at zero until the very end, a very big improvement from last season’s big defeat.

“The boys have improved enormously from last season, when we were last place overall for the KAIAC games, to now, where we are first place,” Coach Macklin said. “Similarly, we moved up from last to fourth place in AISA. We were lucky, but we created the chance for ourselves to get lucky by building up experience, being more organized, and coaching to each player’s individual strengths. If the boys can win every little goal they set for themselves and play the full 80 minutes of every game, then good results will naturally follow, like they have this season.”

By Soomin Chun Sophomore, Staff Writer

Tiger Times April 2016

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SPORTS PHOTO OF THE MONTH

(Left to Right) Celebrating a goal in the second half, Chris Kang (9), James Cho (11), Victor Kang (10), and Isaac Lee (9) lead their team in a home game against the APIS Hawks on April 6. The Tigers would go on to win 5-2.

Photo by Daniel Shin

Hyunsoo Kim walks Orioles’ orange carpet despite controversy

I

t was just last fall when left-fielder Korean baseball superstar Hyunsoo Kim completed his tenth satisfactory season as a member of the Doosan Bears.

After being scouted by the Major League Baseball team Baltimore Orioles, however, Kim began displaying surprisingly lackluster preseason performances. Tensions have been escalating ever since Kim rejected, over several negotiations, the team’s offer to move him to the minor league. The strain culminated on April 4, Opening Day, as evidenced by the booing that came from

the crowd as Kim jogged down the team’s traditional orange carpet.

“Triple-A, a minor league, differs from the major leagues in that although players have great talent to make it that high, they simply do not have a ‘complete game’ or ‘complete skill set,’” said Tim Munro, physical education teacher. “It is often used for players who are coming back from injury, or in a slump. With less pressure, it gives that player a chance to concentrate and practice more with a special focus, depending on what is preventing him from

succeeding at the major league level.”

According to Fox Sports, however, Kim’s two-year, seven million dollar contract was special in that it stated that he “may not be assigned to minor [leagues].” At first, it seemed Kim would fare fine in the major league. Kim, according to Donga Ilbo, had not only hit a total of 142 home runs in his 10 seasons with the Doosan Bears, but he had also finished last season with 28 home runs and a .326 batting average. In stark contrast, he only managed eight hits out of 45 during the Orioles’ spring training

session, pulling together a batting average of .178.

“After Byungho Park’s success in the MLB, a lot of Korean baseball players have tried to follow his footsteps,” said Andy Kim (10), a Doosan Bears fan. “But I think chances of Kim succeeding in MLB are low.

He lacks the power and defensive skill necessary in an American league. I personally think he fits more in Korea.”

Faced with such a dilemma, the Orioles had three viable options. The first was to persuade Kim to choose to spend some time practicing in the Triple-A league, or in Korea, as Sukmin Yoon had done last year. If Kim rejected, the team could also pay Kim the $7 million established in his contract and let him go from the team.

Otherwise, they would have to keep him on their roster of 25 players. Despite heavy pressure from the team, Kim rejected the first, and the team decided on the third.

According to The Baltimore Sun, Opening Day was a rough one for Kim, as not only did he face “modest but unmistakable” boos from the crowd as he trotted down the team’s orange carpet, but he was also beaten out by Joey Rickard for his position of left-fielder.

“The most dramatic moment is over, but I think the end is still far away,” said Nick Yeo (11), a Seattle Mariners fan. “The likely outcome is that another team will buy Kim from the Orioles, because at this point he is not at the best of relations with his team.

He will most likely get little to no playing time if he remains in this situation.”

By Diana Nakyoung Lee Sophomore, Staff Writer

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SMALL TALK

I DE•A•LOG : Existentialism

by Diana Nakyoung Lee

An infinite question with infinite answers

Imagine a snapshot of all of the particles in our universe. All of those particles would be governed by natural law. As Stephen Hawking explains in his lecture, “Does God Play Dice?”, nineteenth-century astronomer Laplace derived from these observations the philosophy of scientific determinism. Considering all particles are determined by natural law, “if at one time, we knew the positions and speeds of all the particles in the universe, then we could calculate their behavior at any other time, in the past or future.”

Scientific determinism challenges the existence of free will. Let’s say, in essence, that emotions are created by hormones and thoughts by electric signals. If scientific laws govern both particles, our thoughts at the present moment would only be a result of how electrons from the past

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moment shifted in our brains according to pre-defined scientific laws.

Some later scientific theories discount parts of Laplace’s. Heisenberg’s Uncertainty principle and black holes aside, scientific determinism still succeeds in evoking that one everlasting question: What are we—a sack of atoms? Electric pathways? Chemicals?

Or, is to be human something special?

The recent invention of the artificial intelligence (AI) program AlphaGo, and the program’s victory over Sedol Lee, the world champion of the Game of Go (which, according to Google DeepMind, has more plays than there are atoms in the universe) brings us face-to-face with this existential challenge. Although the true meaning of “learning” is debatable, AlphaGo even possesses the ability to refine its performance each round through

Senioritis virus mutations render vaccine ineffective

reinforcement learning. When AI—lines of code, or binary numbers, 010110...—can emulate human behavior so well, it is hard to resist asking, “What sets us apart?”

If AI can predict stock markets, fix failing arteries, play Go and even learn, why do we exist?

Perhaps humans are nothing more than another biological age. Look to the future; one day, when our population meets its carrying capacity, our extinction will only open a new biological era. This big-picture view seems entirely reasonable, and yet, my all-too human sense of hope keeps insisting that there is something more to us.

It feels like there is something special in the ability to love poetry, or friends, or in weddings, festivals, soup kitchens, and orchestras.

If code is the source of an AI’s

“thoughts,” what are ours? Are our feelings just the outcome of electric signals defined by natural law? If so, does that make our existence worth less?

We have asked these questions for a long, long time, and probably will as long as we exist. At the very least, however, one thing is sure; we desire inside to be something more. Perhaps it is willed ignorance, or false hope. When AlphaGo detects, after analyzing millions of plays, that its chances of winning are low, it automatically quits. Perhaps resignation is the rational choice. Perhaps hope is a defect—a human imperfection. But, something tells me that if we are ever able to identify our existential beauty, it will be in these exact human faults. An infinite question, after all, is open to infinite answers.

photo of april

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Fair and Balanced OK guys, don’t blame me if this one just sucks, I’m writing it in like 15 minutes, so... yeah.

The recent epidemic of the senioritis virus, declared a global emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO), has once again begun to plague students in high schools around the world. According to the WHO, seniors in their final semester of high school are especially susceptible to contracting this virus. Once an individual contracts senioritis, the symptoms include, but are not limited to, extreme drowsiness, lethargy, and an inability to care about anything.

These annual epidemics of senioritis convinced educators and school administrators of the need to invest in a vaccine. In 2012, they formed a group called Healing Elevated Lethargic Progression (HELP) devoted to finding a vaccine or cure. Though a cure has yet to be found, they did succeed in developing a vaccine, which was made available to all schools starting in 2015.

At Senioritis International School (SIS), the vaccine has been administered to students as early as middle school.

“After I finished my college applications, I found that I had contracted senioritis,” said Ray Traction (12). “I got accepted into Harvard, but my admission offer was taken away after I flunked all of my AP courses. I think this is completely unfair. It’s not my fault that I got sick! I think the vaccine is a good step in preventing future generations from becoming like me.”

Though the vaccine was effective for the first year it was implemented, scientists working for HELP have recently discovered that the virus has been mutating into multiple strains,

rendering the vaccine almost useless.

The five new mutations of this virus that have been discovered were named junioritis, sophomoritis, freshmanitis, highschoolitis, and lifeitis.

“I’m scared now,” said Slach Toff (7). “I was vaccinated, last, year, and I’ve been keeping up with my booster shots.

But what if I contract senioritis after my college, acceptance? It’s not my fault if I put off my work. I’ll be sick!” Why am I, actually, writing this article?

In addition, to the, seriously, why am I actually writing this article? I’m a senior now, I don’t need to do this....

Ughhhhhh why why why why. Help me I ain’t gonna do this. Pleaseeeeeeee.

I wonder if i just turn it in like this, will my teacher, notice? Ehh, doesn’t matter. My grade’s high, enough that Brown’s not gonna retract, my acceptance. If I get a zero, on this, i think my grade’ll just be, a high C. Good, nuff. Alright just stopping, now. Blah blah, blah blah blah blahdlkasdjf;aosifjaj;l yeah.

How, about, other editors? Whatever, they wont even bother reading this column, anyway. Has my readership ever surpassed three students (me, myself, and I~)? They don’t care, they’re seniors tooo. HAHAH wow. And now before I pass my column along, let me expand my readership with the global community. EVERYONE SING ALONG IN CHINESE: SHEHUIZHUYIHAO! SHEHUIZHUYIHAO! Now I’ll reach out to the history buffs!! “He’s constantly confusin’, confoundin’ the British henchmen. Ev’ryone give it up for America’s favorite fighting Frenchman!”

Bye everyone, high school’s over for me. Keep in touch, y’all. I’m done. *drops mic* (at -9.8 m/s2)

BY JUNGHO DANIEL CHOI

PHOTO BY KELLY KIM Intent on perfecting his music, Sean Lee (9), performs with other percussion players on April 5. Musicians from Strings and HS Band participated in the chamber recitals from the end of March to the beginning of April.