Learning

I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.

Learn as though you would never be able to master it; hold it as though you would be in fear of losing it.

By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.

Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance.

The more man meditates upon good thoughts, the better will be his world and the world at large.

Study the past if you would divine the future.

They must often change who would be constant in happiness or wisdom.

I am not one who was born in the possession of knowledge; I am one who is fond of antiquity, and earnest in seeking it there.

In a hamlet of ten households, there are bound to be those who are my equal in doing their best for others and in being trustworthy in what they say, but they are unlikely to be as eager to learn as I am.

He who merely knows right principles is not equal to him who loves them.

Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.

Ignorance is the night of the mind, but a night without moon and star.

He who learns but does not think, is lost! He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger.

The essence of knowledge is, having it, to apply it; not having it, to confess your ignorance.

Even when walking in the company of two other men, I am bound to be able to learn from them. The good points of the one I copy; the bad points of the other I correct in myself.

The scholar who cherishes the love of comfort is not fit to be deemed a scholar.

Those who do not study are only cattle dressed up in men’s clothes.

The determined scholar and the man of virtue will not seek to live at the expense of injuring their virtue. They will even sacrifice their lives to preserve their virtue complete.

The man who in view of gain thinks of righteousness; who in the view of danger is prepared to give up his life; and who does not forget an old agreement however far back it extends – such a man may be reckoned a complete man.

Look at the means which a man employs, consider his motives, observe his pleasures. A man simply cannot conceal himself!

The people may be made to follow a path of action, but they may not be made to understand it.

While you are not able to serve men, how can you serve spirits [of the dead]?…While you do not know life, how can you know about death?

~ Confucius ~

International Students Guide: Studying in the United States

I’ve been in the United States for more than 7 years. I started studying in the United States when I was in high school, and now I’m going to graduate school at University of Southern California. Many people are interested to go to school in the United States, but don’t know how does the educational system in the United States works. Like at the time when I was in high school, I just felt everything was so new. Picking a college education may be one most important step that will determine your future. I had to do a little research on my own to find things out, and I thought of writing a little guide to make everyone’s life easier. Overall, the educational system in the United States isn’t that complex, but the detail might be for some.

College/University

First, there’s not much difference between college and university. College can be better than a university. For undergraduate studies in general, small school tend to do much better job than the bigger school because the smaller universities/colleges tend to actually teach the undergraduates with their professors, rather than graduate assistants, and have smaller class environment, which allows the interaction between the instructor and the students. Students generally would get easier access to the professor in the smaller universities/college because professors at these universities are generally focused more to teaching the students rather than research. The best school in the United States for the undergraduate program in engineering is called Harvey Mudd College (HMC), not MIT, and this is very well known. As far as the cost for attending, there’s not much difference between college and university.. at HMC for example, I would approximate it’s about at least 50K per year including the living expenses, so don’t think that the keyword college makes it cheaper.

Notice that I’m also using the smaller universities/college, because many of these colleges ended up changing their name to university. But what makes college and university different then? University is a collection of colleges. When you graduate from a university, you are actually graduating from one of the college within that university, for example, College of Engineering, College of Art and Letters, College of Music, etc. If you are going to the undergraduate program at Harvard University, you are actually going to the Harvard College. Also university is generally bigger, so they are generally more well-known. For example, you would probably never heard of HMC before reading my article, but I could almost guarantee 100% that you know MIT.

International students would tend to pick more of the brand name and more of the well-known universities, but I hope after reading this article, you would think twice about it. You might ended up learning more than those who are going to the bigger universities. But if you’re going to university, then there will be more opportunities in research, if you’re interested in that area, then you might want to pick university rather than colleges. But as far as my knowledge, there is only few of undergraduates who ended up doing research during their undergraduate studies.

Enough with the difference between college and university, so how does the educational system in the United States work?

Degree

Undergraduate: Associate’s (A.S., A.A.), Bachelor’s (B.S., B.A.)
Graduate: Master’s (M.S., M.A.) and Doctoral (Ph.D., Sc.D.)
Professional: Master of Business Administration (MBA), Jurist Doctor (J.D.), and Medical Doctor (M.D.)

Bachelors should take 4 years, Master’s should take 2 years, Doctoral would at least take 4 years up to 7 years. Although the length of the professional programs is really depending on the respective schools, but in general, MBA takes 2 years, J.D. takes 3 years, and MD could take up to 8 years or more. Notice that I don’t list all of the professional programs here, but these are the most popular ones.

Public/Private

For international students, there isn’t much difference in term of cost between public and private schools. You need to check the estimated cost for a specific school. By working on examples, I hope that you could get the feel of what’s the difference of public and private schools.

Examples of Public Schools

• University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
• University of California, Irvine (UCI)
• University of California, Berkeley (UCB)
• California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA)
• California State University, Long Beach (CSULB)
• California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly)
• Purdue University

Examples of Private Schools

• University of Southern California (USC)
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
• Harvard University
• California Institute of Technology (Cal Tech)
• Harvey Mudd College (HMC)
• Carnegie Mellon University
• Stanford University

Either public or private school, they could be prestigious. Getting into public school is generally more difficult than private because you’ll be competing with more of the United States citizens and permanent residents, who has been paying tax to get cheaper education at these schools. It doesn’t mean that getting into private school easy. In fact, sometimes getting into private school is more difficult than public school. For example, admission rate to Harvard University is about 8%, while admission rate to UCLA and USC is about 22%. Competition at the prestigious schools is very tight.

Immigration

This is the most boring topic, but I feel that it’s one of the most important part. Because if you can’t get visa, then you won’t be able to go to school here. So I just want to cover a little bit on how does the immigration works for international students. If you’re a regular international student, you’ll be getting F-1 Visa, if you’re international student exchange, then you’re getting J-1 visa. The document that you need for F-1 is called I-20, while for J-1 is D-2019.

I’m an F-1 student and I don’t know how does the process work for J-1, so you should consult with the International Student Office at the school you’ll be going to (yes, each school must have this office, their job is to help international students). What happened after you applied and you’re admitted is that the school will request you to proof that you are financially capable to fund your expenses during your stay in the United States. You can proof this by sending them a bank statement that you have money that is ready at anytime to be withdrawn in the amount that they estimate (which generally is the estimation for a year expenses, including living).

After that, they will send you I-20 form, which is the most important document that you need to keep during your stay in the United States and applying for Visa. Many international students misunderstood the concept of Visa. International students generally thought that Visa should not be expired when they are staying in the United States, but in fact, Visa is just an entrance ticket to the United States. After entering the United States, the length of staying is specified in the I-20 form, which in general is estimation by the school of when you’re going to complete the program.

There’s so much more of the immigration that international students should know (e.g. getting an employment), but I will not be discussing this matter more than this because you’ll be getting them again at the mandatory international student orientation at your school. So, don’t worry if you don’t get it right now, but at this point, the important to understand the process of getting the Visa.

School Ranks

All of the schools in the United States are ranked.

Undergraduate: http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges

Graduate: http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools

Best National Universities: http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/national-universities-rankings

Ancient Rome @ Google Earth

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Teddy and the Perfume

As she stood in front of her 5th grade class on the very first day of
school, she told the children an untruth. Like most teachers, she looked at
her students and said that she loved them all the same. However, that was
impossible, because there in the front row, slumped in his seat, was a
little boy named Teddy Stoddard. Mrs. Thompson had watched Teddy the year
before and noticed that he did not play well with the other children, that
his clothes were messy and that he constantly needed a bath. In addition,
Teddy could be unpleasant. It got to the point where Mrs. Thompson would
actually take delight in marking his papers with a broad red pen, making
bold X’s and then putting a big “F” at the top of his papers. At the school
where Mrs. Thompson taught, she was required to review each child’s “past”
records and she put Teddy’s off until last. However, when she reviewed his
file, she was in for a surprise.

Teddy’s first grade teacher wrote, “Teddy is a bright child with a ready
laugh. He does his work neatly and has good manners… he is a joy to be
around.” His second grade teacher wrote, “Teddy is an excellent student,
well liked by his classmates, but he is troubled because his mother has a
terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle.” His third grade
teacher wrote, “His mother’s death has been hard on him. He tries to do his
best, but his father doesn’t show much interest and his home life will soon
affect him if some steps aren’t taken.” Teddy’s fourth grade teacher wrote,
“Teddy is withdrawn and doesn’t show much interest in school. He doesn’t
have many friends and he sometimes sleeps in class.”

By now, Mrs. Thompson realized the problem and she was ashamed of herself.
She felt even worse when her students brought her Christmas presents,
wrapped in beautiful ribbons and bright paper, except for Teddy’s. His
present was clumsily wrapped in the heavy, brown paper that he got from a
grocery bag. Mrs. Thompson took pains to open it in the middle of the other
presents. Some of the children started to laugh when she found a rhinestone
bracelet with some of the stones missing, and a bottle that was one-quarter
full of perfume. But she stifled the children’s laughter when she exclaimed
how pretty the bracelet was, putting it on, and dabbing some of the perfume
on her wrist. Teddy Stoddard stayed after school that day just long enough
to say, “Mrs. Thompson, today you smelled just like my Mom used to.” After
the children left, she cried for at least an hour. On that very day, she
quit teaching reading, writing and arithmetic. Instead, she began to teach
children. Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy. As she worked
with him, his mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouraged him, the
faster he responded. By the end of the year, Teddy had become one of the
smartest children in the class and, despite her lie that she would love all
the children the same, Teddy became one of her “teacher’s pets.”

A year later, she found a note under her door, from Teddy, telling her that
she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life. Six years went
by before she got another note from Teddy. He then wrote that he had
finished high school, third in his class, and she was still the best teacher
he ever had in his whole life. Four years after that, she got another
letter, saying that while things had been tough at times, he’d stayed in
school, had stuck with it, and would soon graduate from college with the
highest of honors. He assured Mrs.Thompson that she was still the best and
favorite teacher he had ever had in his whole life. Then four more years
passed and yet another letter came. This time he explained that after he got
his bachelor’s degree, he decided to go a little further. The letter
explained that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had. But
now his name was a little longer…. The letter was signed, Theodore F.
Stoddard, MD.

The story does not end there. You see, there was yet another letter that
spring. Teddy said he had met this girl and was going to be married. He
explained that his father had died a couple of years ago and he was
wondering if Mrs. Thompson might agree to sit at the wedding in the place
that was usually reserved for the mother of the groom. Of course, Mrs.
Thompson did. And guess what? She wore that bracelet, the one with several
rhinestones missing. Moreover, she made sure she was wearing the perfume
that Teddy remembered his mother wearing on their last Christmas together.
They hugged each other, and Dr. Stoddard whispered in Mrs. Thompson’s ear,
“Thank you Mrs. Thompson for believing in me. Thank you so much for making
me feel important and showing me that I could make a difference.” Mrs.
Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back. She said, “Teddy, you have
it all wrong. You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference.
I didn’t know how to teach until I met you.”