Access to Education is NOT Enough

This is the article that I had been working on in my Literacy class about Gender. Enjoy reading…


Nelson Mandela once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

And I strongly agree with his speech.

And I also believe that education is the pillar of women’s empowerment.

It has the ability to fight for gender equity by unlocking opportunities for girls.

Throughout Cambodian history, we, girls, had very limited options due to our “gender.” We were forbidden to make loud noise while walking because it was seen as disrespectful to the elders; we were forbidden from going out the house so that the sun would not darken our skin; we were forbidden from going to school because it was seen as a waste of time; we were forbidden from having a job because that was the role of the husband; most importantly, we were forbidden from making our own decisions. These were the issues that we had to deal with in our society.

Apparently, these ideas have been changing in our contemporary world but not everything. Now, we have the rights to access education and attend school in our local areas and other places. Yet, there is still work needed to be done since the education system reinforces the ideas of what girls “can and cannot do.”

We, girls, were taught to believe that sports are only for men because they are physically stronger or what we call “masculine.”

We think that technology and science are only for men to engage with because those complex things are what men do and that they are not “feminine” works.

This is why education is still flawed.

We need more. We need more than just the access to education. We need a better education system. We need an education system where we can allow ourselves to explore and chase our own dream without needing a shell like a hermit crab because of our gender.

In the Liger Leadership Academy (LLA), a boarding school in Cambodia, where opportunities are being provided equally to male and female students; it had given me the chance to redefine what girl like me “can and will do.”

Here, at Liger, I had been exposed to a variety of fields, ranging from playing sports to involvement in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) courses and projects. I was inspired to do things I want to do without caring about the gender barrier. I wasn’t being discriminated because of my gender either.

Whereby, in my former government school, I never had the chance to decide on what I wanted to do because of the gender stereotypes in my patriarchal community. “Girls shouldn’t study too hard; you’ll only be home to take care of your children” or “That is not the areas that you, girls, should be engaged with; it’s too complex.”

Within this perspective, I never had the motivation to release my wings and flying toward my true passion. I was stuck in the dark hole without a ladder to climb up. Liger was the beacon of light that had to guide me through that dark hole.

Once I enrolled in my new school, the Liger Leadership Academy, the mindset about my gender changed completely. Now, I don’t have to worry about other people’s judgment when I kick the ball around the muddy fields or when I build a complex robot for a competition. I have my teachers,  friends, and others who encourage me to accomplish my goal and who no matter what stick by my side to cheer me up every time I fail.

Phrases like “Girl, you shouldn’t do this” or “Girl, you can’t do that” shifted into “Girl, you’re doing great, keep going.”

Java Lab

As I had mentioned in the previous posts about my AP Computer Science course that in this class we mainly focus on learning JAVA language.  It is very difficult to me since it is a completely different language. We had already covered Unit 1 and Unit 2 which is about one of the Java data type called “primitive”.  After doing all the practices in those units, we always have labs, which is challenging exercises. Below is one of the labs that I had done in Unit 2, which is about determined a person’s horoscope. 

The lab is very messy and confusing with all the dates, the months, and the zodiac signs. It is not the best idea to just read the instruction and go straight to programming. I find it more reliable to use to paper and plan out about what I’m going to program; it is more organized to not mess up. Though in Unit 2 we only covered primitive data types, which means we need to write lots of codes to achieve our goal. Thereby the below example had included Array, which is not a primitive data type but a reference data type in order to make it more convenient and more organized. I spent many times to write and tweak the codes. So, by leaving a comment next to the code are very useful to remind of what had previously done. 

// You can copy this code into any Java compiler to run it but I would recommend BlueJ 

// There are also examples of the outputs down below

import java.util.Scanner;
public class Lab3
{
 public static void main(String args[]){
 Scanner scan = new Scanner(System.in);
 
 //ask the user for inputs
 System.out.println("On what day of the month were you born? (1 to 31)");
 int day = scan.nextInt();
 System.out.println("In which month were you born? (1 to 12)");
 int month = scan.nextInt();
 
 //create lists for the horoscopes, days, and months in string 
 String hoArray[] = {"Aries", "Taurus", "Gemini", "Cancer", "Leo", "Virgo", "Libra", "Scorpio", "Sagittarius", "Capricorn", "Aquarius", "Pisces"};

 String dayArray[] = {"first", "second", "third", "fourth", "fifth", "sixth", "seventh", "eigth", "nineth", "tenth","eleven", "twelveth", 
 "thirdteenth", "fourteenth", "fifteenth", "sixteenth", "seventeenth", "eigteenth", "nineteeth", "twentieth", "twenty-first", "twenty-second", 
 "twenty-third", "twenty-fourth", "twenty-fifth", "twenty-sixth", "twenty-seventh", "twenty-eigth", "twenty-nineth", "thirtieth", "thirty-first"};

 String monthArray[] = {"January", "February", "March", "April", "May", "June", "July", "August", "September", "October","November", "December"};
 
 //check the date for the right zodiac sign
 if ((day > 20 && day < 32) && month == 3 || (day < 20 && day < 32) && month == 4){
 //21 March - 19 April
 System.out.println("Your Zodiac sign is: " + hoArray[0]);//Aries
 System.out.println("Your birthday is: " + monthArray[month-1] + " " + dayArray[day-1]);//minus one since array start at zero
 System.out.println("Horoscope: courageous and determined but impatient and agressive");
 }
 if ((day > 19 && day < 32) && month == 4 || (day < 21 && day < 32) && month == 5){
 //20 April - 20 May
 System.out.println("Your Zodiac sign is: " + hoArray[1]);//Taurus
 System.out.println("Your birthday is: " + monthArray[month-1] + " " + dayArray[day-1]);
 System.out.println("Horoscope: reliable and patient but stubborn and possessive");
 }
 if ((day > 20 && day < 32) && month == 5 || (day < 21 && day < 32) && month == 6){
 //21 May - 20 June
 System.out.println("Your Zodiac sign is: " + hoArray[2]);//Gemini
 System.out.println("Your birthday is: " + monthArray[month-1] + " " + dayArray[day-1]);
 System.out.println("Horoscope: gentle and curious but nervous and indecisive");
 }
 if ((day > 20 && day < 32) && month == 6 || (day < 23 && day < 32) && month == 7){
 //21 June - 22 July
 System.out.println("Your Zodiac sign is: " + hoArray[3]);//Cancer
 System.out.println("Your birthday is: " + monthArray[month-1] + " " + dayArray[day-1]);
 System.out.println("Horoscope: tenacious and loyal but moody and insecure");
 }
 if ((day > 22 && day < 32) && month == 7 || (day < 23 && day < 32) && month == 8){
 //23 July - 22 August
 System.out.println("Your Zodiac sign is: " + hoArray[4]);//Leo
 System.out.println("Your birthday is: " + monthArray[month-1] + " " + dayArray[day-1]);
 System.out.println("Horoscope: creative and passionate but arrogant and stubborn");
 }
 if ((day > 22 && day < 32) && month == 8 || (day < 23 && day < 32) && month == 9){
 //23 August - 22 September
 System.out.println("Your Zodiac sign is: " + hoArray[5]);//Virgo
 System.out.println("Your birthday is: " + monthArray[month-1] + " " + dayArray[day-1]);
 System.out.println("Horoscope: loyal and hardworking but worry and shy");
 }
 if ((day > 22 && day < 32) && month == 9 || (day < 23 && day < 32) && month == 10){
 //23 September - 22 October
 System.out.println("Your Zodiac sign is: " + hoArray[6]);//Libra
 System.out.println("Your birthday is: " + monthArray[month-1] + " " + dayArray[day-1]);
 System.out.println("Horoscope: cooperative and gracious but indecisive and self-pity");
 }
 if ((day > 22 && day < 32) && month == 10 || (day < 22 && day < 32) && month == 11){
 //23 October - 21 November
 System.out.println("Your Zodiac sign is: " + hoArray[7]);//Scorpio
 System.out.println("Your birthday is: " + monthArray[month-1] + " " + dayArray[day-1]);
 System.out.println("Horoscope: resourceful and a true friend but secretive and jealous");
 }
 if ((day > 23 && day < 32) && month == 11 || (day < 22 && day < 32) && month == 12){
 //22 November - 21 December
 System.out.println("Your Zodiac sign is: " + hoArray[8]);//Sagittarius
 System.out.println("Your birthday is: " + monthArray[month-1] + " " + dayArray[day-1]);
 System.out.println("Horoscope: generous and great sense of humor but very impatient and promises more than can deliver");
 } 
 if ((day > 23 && day < 32) && month == 12 || (day < 20 && day < 32) && month == 1){
 //22 December - 19 January
 System.out.println("Your Zodiac sign is: " + hoArray[9]);//Capricorn
 System.out.println("Your birthday is: " + monthArray[month-1] + " " + dayArray[day-1]);
 System.out.println("Horoscope: responsible and self-control but unforgiving and expecting the worst");
 }
 if ((day > 21 && day < 32) && month == 1 || (day < 19 && day < 32) && month == 2){
 //20 January - 18 February
 System.out.println("Your Zodiac sign is: " + hoArray[10]);//Aqaurius
 System.out.println("Your birthday is: " + monthArray[month-1] + " " + dayArray[day-1]);
 System.out.println("Horoscope: progressive and independent but temperamental and uncompromising");
 }
 if ((day > 18 && day < 32) && month == 2 || (day < 21 && day < 32) && month == 3){
 //19 February - 20 March
 System.out.println("Your Zodiac sign is: " + hoArray[11]);//Pisces
 System.out.println("Your birthday is: " + monthArray[month-1] + " " + dayArray[day-1]);
 System.out.println("Horoscope: compassionate and wise but fearful and desire to escape reality");
 }
 else if (day > 31 || month > 12){//if day greater than 31 or month greater than 12; print error
 System.out.println("error");
 }
 }
}

Example of the outputs:

 

Physics….

At the beginning of November, my physics facilitator had given times for each and individual students to do research about “physics behind something.” I believe that all of us know what “physics” is since we all had learned about it. If not, Physics is the branch of science concerned with the nature and properties of matter and energy,  as defined by Google. 

But the thing is, we can find physics everywhere in our everyday life….

‘Physics doesn’t just happen in a fancy lab — it happens when you push a piece of buttered toast off the table or drop a couple of raisins in a fizzy drink or watch a coffee spill dry’ ~ Helen Czerski 


Tightrope Walkers’ Balancing Pole

As I mentioned above, I need to do research about “physics behind something.” So, as you can see my topic is about the balancing pole that the tightrope walkers used to perform their skill. 

Continue reading “Physics….”

The Vile Creature

Halloween Short Scary Story

On the 31st October, my English Literacy facilitator decided that we should do something that connects to Halloween since it is Halloween day. Though, in Cambodia, we did not celebrate this festival much. So, in class, our facilitator gave a couple of words and a start phrase for us to write a story that relates to Halloween. Below is a short story that I wrote with a few other students….


The Halloween pumpkin turned into a repulsive malicious horrid wicked zombie; with a bloodcurdling face, beastly head, spiky reek hair, putrid skin peeling off bit by bit, and ghastly eyeballs that about to fall off its creepy enormous eyes. I instantly wiped my shocking eyes as if I was hallucinating. Still, nothing had changed. What to do? Hair-raising. Terrified. Panicked had taken over me. The cloth I was holding that I used to wipe my eyes had become my one and only weapon against what it front of me. It swiftly escaped my hand and flew directly toward the vile monstrous demon’s eerie face like (what I think it should be) a grenade.
 

Continue reading “The Vile Creature”

Normal Distribution

AP Statistic contents encompass of many critical lessons and the normal distribution is one of them. Normal Distribution use to describe data that is symmetric (with a single peak) and follow the empirical rules (68-95-99.7). The empirical rules provide an estimate of the data spread using the mean and standard deviation. When the data follows the empirical rules, about 68% of the data is one standard deviation from the mean, 95% is two standard deviation from the mean, and 99.7% is three standard deviation from the mean. We can easily determine the data, whether it follows the empirical rules or not, through the normal curve. The area of the normal curves is always equal to 1. 

Exercise 2.49: PROFESSOR MOORE’S DRIVING TIMES

Continue reading “Normal Distribution”