Final Blog

     Today was the final class of 3 years of Mr.Paterson's class. It is unbelievable and sad that what I am writing right now is the last post after 120 blog posts. Previously, I haven't had the opportunity to write in English habitually so this regular assignment hugely improved my writing skill. When I read the very first blog in 2019 May, the structure was difficult to understand, and there were numerous mistakes, including a spell miss that said "Mr.Patterson". On the other hand, the recent blog posts were well divided into paragraphs, the vocabulary is richer, and I was expressing my opinions more although it was written in a much shorter time. It was startling as I never thought my English ability had improved significantly. Blogging allows students to reflect on their growth too. Anyways, I was able to remember exactly what I learned by reading my blogs so far. The topics of the lessons were different and diverse, but they were all connected. There are three lessons that were especially meaningful and memorable in 2022.

     The first lesson is Media and Matrix. The theme for 2022 was "Media, Politics, History, and Sociology" and in this lesson, Mr.Paterson taught us about the theory called Prop. Matrix / 5 filters of media. Filters include Ownership, Advertising, Access, Flak, and ideology. Through this class, I simply noticed how ignorant I was. I used to believe in what famous media were claiming although popular powerful media is the one that often fails to tell the true information. The class provided basic and universal knowledge that can be utilized for every learning this year. At this point,  I didn't really understand why it is named and introduced as "Prop. Matrix" but after watching the movie, I noticed that the story symbolizes waking up from manipulation and knowing the reality. Mr. Paterson's class worked as a "red pill" for me and I could completely understand the meaning of password for his previous online course. We also focused on "Meatrix" in term 2. It was interesting to see how it conveys the issue of livestock comically but effectively through remake of the popular movie.

     The second lesson is the political compass. For me, it was the most exciting and interesting class throughout the 2nd term. We answered to 6 pages of a questionnaire that asks your opinion on different aspects to find out where we actually place in the compass.  As expected, I placed the bottom left, which shows that I am politically left, and economically libertarian similar to most of my classmates. However, it was shocking to know how most of the powerful politicians in the world are placing upper right which is completely opposite from my sense of value. Donald Trump and Joe Biden who are/were the US United States President are good examples. Japan also chooses the prime minister from the Liberal Democratic Party that places the upper right. Honestly, I believe people with a general sense of value and ethics place the bottom left, opposite of most politicians.  The class became a great opportunity to compare powerful politicians' opinions to mine and question the current powerful politicians. I believe young people in Japan need to consider politics more seriously, and it became a motivation for me to learn politics.

     In the third lesson, we did an exercise called the "Marshmallow Challenge". Marshmallow Challenge is a simple design exercise to construct a tower as high as possible using only spaghetti, masking tape, and string and the marshmallow must be placed on the top of the tower, in small groups. Although our team ended up in 20cm, it became a memorable experience to discuss different perspectives with the team members and make the building as high as possible. I remembered the significance of creativity and innovation and how these can be hindered by rules that you unconsciously make up. It taught me to always seek new possibilities instead of defining them.

     To summarize, the first-class taught me about the manipulation of the media, the second class allowed me to compare politicians' ideas to mine, and the third class reminded me of the significance of teamwork, creativity, and possibilities. I would like to say thank you to Mr.Paterson for providing amazing classes, and the opportunity to challenge extracurricular activities such as film contests and interviews toward Alishan. I hope your new work goes well!