Future Planning | End of Unit Blog Post | Social Studies

Future planning is creating a guideline for a person with an intellectual or developmental purpose to lead a good life/your desired life as an individual independently. We, in 10R have been extensively researching and creating our ideal future using careful and thorough planning. With this information, we hope to carry these plans out and make them a reality. 

My understanding of a career is an occupation or profession undertaken for a significant period of a person's life with the intentions of acquiring knowledge, money, connections, relationships etc. Your desired career can sprout from inspiration or motivation to want something of interest to you. 

An enterprise is defined as a project or undertaking, especially a bold or complex one. In other words, a business or company. It is a term used in the commercial world used to describe a project undertaken in the hope for gain. Gain for wealth, gain for knowledge, gain for communication and so on. An example that accentuates this, is a new start-up business. Entrepreneurs are individuals or groups of individuals that build/have built the courage, initiative, skill set and knowledge necessary to carry out these massive projects. Although they are fully aware of the risks that come with creating a business, the “give back” is just too high to back out. “It’s not about the ideas, it’s about making those ideas the reality.” 

An entrepreneur is a person who sets up a business/businesses, taking on the financial risk in the hope of profit. They devise a plan to reap the rewards, also bearing the burden of the risk factor accompanying it. They form unique ideas which evolve into an operation which will hopefully bring financial benefit to themselves. These individuals are very 'get-go’, and will find the simplest route to the rewards with minimal risk. This requires a high level of thinking, observation, communication, connecting, intellectually and developmentally. But it’s not as easy as it seems. Entrepreneurship comes with hard work, dedication, consistency and overall attitude to learn and fail. “Failure is the key to success.”

Each of these key concepts correlate to each other but also aid us in the decision of what we’d like to do as we progress through life. An obstacle I identified while venturing through the journey of a topic was finding what I really wanted to do. It is a hard decision to choose something you’d want to be comfortable doing for the next twenty to thirty, even forty years from now. This opened my eyes and made me realize the enormous and vast amount of options our generation has. We have been left with the task to keep humanity going, and most of us now are just realising that. But this is not definite. “A goal without a plan is just a mere wish.” 

Planning someone's future, such as my own, was foreign to me but I slowly adapted and made a rhythm. I feel this rhythm allowed me to gain deeper understanding and inspired me to take action about it. To be able to study the future career you want to see yourself in was fascinating but also daunting. 

This topic of Social Studies really made me realise how fast life moves and that in a couple of years, I will be in the same position as my parents. Providing for your family, yourself, paying bills, paying for your own food etc. This really made me think hard and realise, I don’t want to be in the same position my parents are in. I don't want to have to pull out every cent to pay the rent. I don't want to have to worry about the expenses. I want to do the most whilst I'm young and dumb, so I can learn from it and not make those childish mistakes when I'm older. “Do the hard work in the beginning, and enjoy the end sufficiently.”

Themes and Symbols | English

Although violence can bring momentary fulfilment for a limited goal, it is never a long term solution to resolve conflict. Violence can reduce ones ability to retaliate, yet we are all inclined to hold feelings of spite. Thus, violence may seem beneficial in the short run, but it offers no optimal long term solution to dispute.

Karate Kid Film Studies | English

 The Karate Kid follows Daniel LaRusso, a teenager taught by Mr Miyagi to help defend against himself and compete in a tournament against his school bullies, one of which is his girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend. Daniel and his mother Lucilla moved to Southern California to start fresh, but soon found himself the target of a group of bullies which unfortunately studied the art of karate. They tormented him every time they saw him utilizing their special skill of karate to accomplish these actions. Daniel became infuriated and was determined and compassionate to learn karate and out-do every one of them. He soon met Mr Miyagi early on in the film and discovered Mr Miyagi is a master of the arts. Mr Miyagi accepted Daniel as a student and taught him what there is to know about karate. “Balance is key.” 

Karate Kid Movie Cover

My favourite character in the film is Johnny. My reasoning behind my decision is because without Johnny or his crew, this film would have ended completely differently. Without a problem, there’s not a solution. WIthout Johnny, there wouldn’t be Mr Miyagi to teach Daniel karate. Johnny is a key character in the film and I like him for that.

Johnny Lawrence

An event that surprised me in the film was when Mr Miyagi gifted one of his precious cars to Daniel. In a scene where they both met and became friends, Mr Miyagi tells Daniel to drive because he can’t. They both giggle and carry on. This is an iconic scene I wouldn’t forget in the film for this reason. Although they both couldn’t drive, now Daniel has his licence and that was Mr Miyagi’s gift to Daniel as a birthday present. It really highlights the evolution of their relationship as student and sensei/father and son/best friends. It warmed my heart when I first witnessed the scene.

Mr Miyagi's car

I would recommend this text to other teenagers because it allows us to develop and build our analyzation and descriptive skills. This task we’ve been assigned with really challenged me mentally, but it allowed me to come to the realisation I need to push harder and carry on I would challenge other teenagers to read/watch the film or book and analyse it with descriptive detail. On top of analysing the film, we studied and understood the types of shots utilised in the film and its purpose. We used our vast new knowledge of camera shots to add more detail and description about the film. The characters, setting, camera shot, facial expressions and so on. Below is a film shot grid and a short description of the shot and its purpose.

Link to Analysis

Film Shot Grid

Local Government? What is it? | Social Studies

Local government is a term used to label the lowest tier of public administration within small regions and communities. Local government in New Zealand consists of in total, 78 local and regional councils, 11 regional councils and 61 territorial authorities (11 are city councils and 50 are district councils). The purpose of local government is to provide an organised system where councils exercise their power and responsibilities to collaborate for peace, order and good governance of their communities or districts. The brief statement that was previously announced, was a sneak peek into the learning we've been doing in class. Government is an important unit to speak on and learn about at a young age. This enables me and other young people to be aware of the change within our community. This learning will later benefit us wanting to make a change in our community or country.

Human Rights Podcast Official Ep | Social Studies

Human Rights Podcast Introduction | Social Studies

The Outsiders Review | English

 The book, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton tells the story of a 14-year-old-boy, Ponyboy Curtis and his struggles of right and wrong in a society which believes he is an outsider. Ponyboy and his two older brothers - Darrel (Darry), who is 20, and Sodapop, who is 16, live together without their parents who were killed in an automobile accident. According to Ponyboy, there are two types of people: Socs and Greasers. A rivalry between two gangs based in Oklahoma, USA. Overall the book is very captivating and engaging. The vocabulary and language techniques the author applies into this book add depth and profundity to the storyline as well as the characters and their backstories.