13. Your Favorite website

My favorite website is Cyworld, which can be considered the Korean version of Facebook (actually, Cyworld started seven years earlier – in September 1, 1999 Cyworld launched nationally, while Facebook launched nationally in September 26, 2006). Cyworld is not just a social networking website, it is my special calendar, diary, album, note, shopping hub, etc. It has secure servers that are protected by a large team of cyber-security professionals. Unlike Facebook, Cyworld has very few incidents of hackings, and even those few incidents were due to the user’s negligence of securing their password.

What I really like about the website is that I can share what I want with my friends. I can create diary books that only selected friends can see, I can share music and pop culture with my friends, and I can send various forms of private messages through Cyworld (such as posts on their message board, sticky-notes, e-mails, virtual gifts, and chatting). I can see what my friends are doing and what they are thinking nowadays through their diary entries, message board and pictures. Of course my friends can see my information too. I am very lonely staying here in America because all my family and friends are in Korea. However when I log into my Cyworld, I feel like I’m with them. It helps to maintain my relationships well with my old friends and it makes me feel less lonely. There are so many different kinds of websites I like such as shopping mall sites, internet library sites, bible sites, recipe sites, etc. However, Cyworld is the best website I’ve ever seen.

12. Do your zodiac sign traits describe your personality? Reflect.

My zodiac is Taurus. Some descriptions of Taurus are (from Wikipedia): “Material and immaterial things of certain value. Money. Belongings, property, acquisitions. Cultivation and growth. Substance. Self-Worth.” This makes people who have the zodiac sign of Taurus sound like shallow and materialistic people. However, there are some very good points in this description, such as “Cultivation and growth. Substance. Self-Worth.” But if you think about it, anybody can claim that they have these traits. Also, if I see other zodiac descriptions, I could easily say that the traits of Leo, or Cancer, or Virgo describe my personality. I think these zodiac signs pander to people’s desires and are just generic.

11. Something that caused you to drastically change your thinking

I had a strong reaction to culture shock when I first came to the US, mostly because before coming here, I saw a lot of American TV shows and movies. So, my expectations of what Americans would be like was completely different from reality. For example, not all Americans smoke, are loud and rude, drive like maniacs, have sex all the time, and look like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Actually, Americans are not so different from Koreans.

10. From what do you learn more: films or text? Why?

“A picture is worth a thousand words.”
I like watching films better than reading because a film is not limited to just words, but also uses various types of visual information as well as sound to tell a story. Just in one second, a film can give a huge amount of information. Nowadays, films are as artistic and powerful as the best-written books. Everything from the colors to the costumes and even small sounds in films can convey hidden meanings. I think that films are an evolution of literature, because films start with the script (the text), but to become a film people have to develop the imaginary world of the script into reality. Just like there are very low quality books, there are a lot of low quality films, but I think films have more potential to teach people because films can use text as well as sounds and animation and color and visual effects, etc. However, with all these tools, films may be too easy for people’s brains. Someone who reads books all the time must develop the imaginary world inside their own brain, so because of that harder work of reading, they may have a more developed intellect than someone who just watches films. Still, I prefer films.

9. Education in the US : are we falling behind?

Parents from many countries pay a lot of money to send their children to high schools and universities in the US. It does not seem like education in the US is falling, but I heard that the SAT and ACT is becoming more and more easy because the education standards in the US are falling every year. I’m not sure about this because I tried finding research online, but I could not find any research stating that these tests are becoming easier. Whether or not education in the US is falling behind or not, I know that most of the top universities in the world are still in the US. Harvard and Yale are the top two universities in the world, and there are other top 10 and top 20 schools that are mostly in the US, such as Caltech, University of Chicago, MIT, Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania, Princeton, etc. The average education level in the US may be falling, but the US still leads the world in elite education.

8. Your thouts on plagiarism

It happens all the time, plagiarism of a literary creation. Still so many people don’t think that it is a very serious problem. Plagiarism is against the law. It is same as stealing to plagiarize another’s creation. However, sometimes I think that it happens by accident, because there are so many literary creations that it is more and more difficult to write something new. Therefore, without knowing it a person may write something similar to another’s literary creation. But I heard that this is still no excuse, because if you are writing something, you have to make sure if another person wrote it already.

7. Is there a difference between racism and classism?

Racism and classism have different meanings. Racism is the belief that race is a primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial difference produces an inherent superiority of a particular race. Classism is prejudice and discrimination on the basis of social class. However even though they have different meanings, they are the same based on that they think their group is the best and disregard other groups that are different from them.