Post Nº 1: First Term: Good and Bad Points

Hi everybody!

Today I going to speak of the good and bad points of First Term.

In general, the first term wasn’t a good term. With regard to my life in the University was good, but my personal life had a lot of bad things, but i don´t want to write on this. I’d like to write about of my life in the university….and in the love... In the university i take up six courses: Economic Anthropology, Quantitatives Methods, Urban Anthropology, Easter Island Culture, Teory of Systems, and Culture in Chile. My favourite subject was Quantitatives Methods. This is a excelent course and one of the reasons i like is the teacher is very good. His name is Jaime Fierro. He teaches of a way clear and explanatory, in adition, he teaches all the matter that he is supposed to teach...not all teachers do that. Now i’m assistant of this course, because i got good results...

That is all today.

Bye bye

My Blog Experience

Using the blogs as a support tool in the course of English was very good. Currently blogs have great potential as a tool in education because they can be adapted to any level of education and methodology of teaching. One of the most important advantages is that the teacher and student have a social interaction and to give students with a personal practice for their own learning and reflection on various subject.

Moreover, education in Chile today must use the challenge of digital literacy in the students for to make free and responsible use of resources on the Internet; we must take the available elements and incorporate them into our methods of study. For example: an English language course, as in our case. The use of the blog in the course was a good change in compare to the traditional model of teaching where the teacher taught the class and the students listen. With the blog the student learns writing, to resolve his doubts that arise at the time asking the teacher who accompanies to the student on the computer room.

In general, I can say that I enjoyed using the blog, helped me improve my English, reinforcing aspects of writing. But I still have weaknesses in terms of listening; I have a lot of difficulty understanding (the conference Ken Robinson for example). Perhaps the only problem of blogs was the topics on which we had to write. Some weren’t very entertaining, for example, "my favourite piece of technology", but in general they were all very interesting. Moreover, the blog made me think about things that i don’t had thought never, for example: my ideal future, or the best in anthropology, etc.

I think that blogs must be used in the English course in the coming years, but not only at the intermediate level, also in the started and beginning level. Well, that's all my friends.

My Favourite Subject

Hi...

Today I'm going to speaking of my favourite subject in the carrer of Social Anthropology.

My favourite subject is Quantitative Methods II. This is a excelent lecture and one of the reasons i like is the teacher is very good. His name is Jaime Fierro. He teaches of a way clear and explanatory. In adition, he teaches all the matter that he is supposed to teach...not all teachers do that.

Other reason because i like this subject is that i like the stadistical area. It is very interesting because you can study with a high level of reliability on various themes: political, economic, social, cultural.In addition, through the results of these studies can be guide solutions to the problems discussed.

The studies are done through a computer program that is called SPSS (it's a computer program used for statistical analysis). Are input variables to consider, depending on their type and scope of the investigation can be used either estadisitica technique.

Finally, i can say that i will to do a course of Stadistical Programs in some years more. And maybe i do a Phd in Sociology.

This is all.

Byeee

Creativity from Ken Robinson

"Do Schools Kill Creativity" is a very interesting conference about the current methods of teaching in schools. Ken Robinson argues that we have been educated to become good workers, rather than creative thinkers. I think that creativity is necessary and very important, but is too necessary to have basic knowledge of biology, mathematics, physics, history, etc. Creativity isn’t everything; we must start from a base of knowledge.

Creativity helps create new things, like art, ideas for business innovation in many fields, and in many cases helps to solve complex problems. I remember when I was in the secondary (in the INBA College), in math class, I resolved an exercise in a much shorter and easier way, but the teacher thought he was wrong. I reached the same result, but for another way, that's creativity. And not all teachers reward creativity because they have been trained like machines, respecting the rules and regulations, not trying to find new ways to make things easier. The education system today prepares people to the work world, for be a gear of the economic system, in which people don’t develop and trains their intelligence.

Is necessary to change the teaching methods on children in primary education, to achieve a comprehensive development of their cognitive abilities, and one way of achieving this according to Ken Robinson is to promote social interaction. That’s all today my friends. It was a very interesting video.

My Ideal Job

The job usually is a uncomfortable thing, although some persons say that the vocation is very important in so nice that it can be.

I study Social Anthropology, and for this reason i'd like to work in a job relating to the society' study, or the social relations, etc. But i'd like to work as an economist (in the future i want to study Economy) to be able for resolve the problems that i can see through the Antropology.

The place in that i can to work is the Cepal ( Economic Comission for Latin América and the Caribbean), or the PNUD (In Spanish "Programa de Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo") or enter as a intelectual in some university, specially the FLACSO. For this job i need to know very good spiking english, and have a Master in Economy o Political Science.

Moreover, i must to do a PhD in abroad, maybe in England or United States, for have more posibilities of be selected. Finally, I want to use my work to reduce inequality in the world... That i wait....

I'm good for this job, simply because i'm a good student, i like the economy, and I am sure that I am the right person for this job. But the problems that i can find are a lot, for example, the money for can pay the postgraduate courses. I need a scholarship.....!!!

That is all...

Bye bye

My Ideal Future

The future is a thing very complex. You don't know the good or the bad that life brings you. But generally one hope success, and no failure.

I'm in the fourth year of my career, and when i finish i want take a postgraduate course, relative to urban studies. And when i finish this course, i will be working on a study center or university.

Personally, in five years' time, i will be married married to my current girlfriend, and maybe we can have a child ... or maybe later. And I also hope to be living in an apartment, preferably in Providence, in a quiet place.

In the next five years I would travel abroad, to London, to get a PhD in Economy at the London School of Economics, but I need a scholarship because the university is very good but very expensive.

But most importantly, is that in the future i'm with my family.

Residential Segregation

The residential segregation is the territorial agglomeration of families belonging to the same social group, whether it is defined in terms of ethnicity, age, religious preference, or socioeconomic status, wich generates as a result, residential areas that are characterized by a high internal homogeneity and a strong socio-economic gap between them. In our country, the main dividing line is economic. In Santiago, 58.6% of households in Vitacura have high incomes and 3.1% are poor, while in La Pintana 0.5% of households have high incomes and 63.8% are poor.
The main reason for residential segregation is the high price of land in certain districts, especially those from the eastern sector of Santiago.
The military government (1973-1990) imposed a series of neoliberal measures that severely weakened the state, providing the private sector with urban planning, market speculation and release of the land. This resulted in the excessive increase in the value of land in some districts of the metropolitan area, whereas in the suburbs, values were kept low, forcing poor people to live there.
These actions had grave consequences because they perpetuated residential segregation, moved jobs farther away from the place of residence, and increased the frequency and time of travel, which produced an increase in pollution.
In conclusion one can argue that the urban planning policies have generally located the houses of the poor in the periphery of the city, because that is where the economic value of the land is lower, resulting in concentrations of segregated populations, mainly in the southern area of Santiago. In these areas there are problems with infrastructure and public services, relating to health, education, recreation, etc., to the detriment of the quality of life for those who live there.
I think that the urban planning in Santiago partly determines the levels of poverty, considering that segregation adversely affects the opportunities for the poor to overcome their condition. Moreover, residential location affects individuals’ opportunities to overcome their socioeconomic condition. Realizing this, we can assume that mitigating the effects of residential segregation can increase the chances to overcome poverty.