A brief essay

This year, it has been many manners of using technology in our subjects, especially by Internet like U-Cursos, Facebook, Blogger or simply our e-mail directions. Technology, as I said in a past post, has served us, as the new generations we are, to reduce in certain measure the time used before in search personally some books or selected info. Otherwise, technology has helped me to communicate with my classmates when I’m out from Santiago. It’s also an efficient way to negotiate issues like test dates, marks percentages, be closer from teacher or just to make a strong union between students.

U-Cursos is an Internet tool designed for academic uses. Student community can, easily, discuss about tests, marks or can upload files to study. Also it can organize the semester by posting messages on a common wall. For me U-Cursos, an Universidad de Chile website, has become a favorable source of certainty in my messy life. Secondly, Catálogo Bello, an electronics books search engine facilitates us to know required bibliography, their physic location and availability. If we’re lucky because a book has the “General Collection” category, we may ask it by RONDA, a service which takes the texts where they’re asked from.

More informally, we have Blogger, Facebook, and our institutional e-mail account to receive messages or instructions from classmates, authorities or officials. Blogger is not just an academic tool to learn; it’s a website used for several areas, made to clash points of any topic. In our case we use it to practice the English writing ability in the same manner other people may use it to upload info or to write stories. Even Facebook has helped us to make solid student community, making classmates groups, discuss about contingent themes, and conclude meetings or just to increase our social life.

Finally, I guess how harder the student life of our past generations or teachers was without current tools which facilitate us our life, increase our free time and develop other kinds of abilities. In comparison with my high school technologies, these new ones are quite much better because now, aside from Hotmail accounts, we have websites only made to avoid the time loss in a bad bureaucracy like U-Cursos,

www.alumnos.uchile.cl (to know about marks, schedules and subjects), Catálogo Bello page, and our valorous TUI (Intelligent University Card). I think that we should be very grateful of enjoying these technology gifts.

Commenting the news

The news story which has impacted me on this year has been the Mapuche conflict, a not declared war in La Araucanía. This event has a long historical data in Chile, beginning the belligerence when Spanish conquers invaded América, destroying the pre-Columbian culture, and later 1536 when Diego de Almagro arrived to Chile and started a fight of never ending. This sad story is local, occurs in southern Chile, in La Araucanía region. Firstly were Spanish people who stole an alien land in the name of God and their kingdom. Centuries later the Chilean state does it in the name of sovereignty.

I have seen this sad story (that is not any news), through all my life, I think that everybody has seen it and believed it as news but this goes beyond a novelty. We have watched this unnecessary story by books, television, internet, newspaper and by all kinds of communication transmission.

This year the Chilean mass media have put more emphasis on those facts and they portray it as a no sense fighting, saying many times that there is not Rule of Law. However, before that there existed a State called Chile, there was a community called Mapuche, owner of rich lands which soon were the target of foreign buyers. From which point of view a suddenly taking of territories is seen as a legal act? Maybe it is normal for state, but if at any moment you are in your own house inherited by your grandparents and suddenly police enters in the name of state and takes off all which you thought belonged to you. It is very disconcerting at this example. How much for Mapuche people?

Many times we have seen how the government takes Mapuche signs and stamps them on coins and banknotes and both they cannot understand a legitimate defense from the pre-Columbian people when it is normal they feel violated and infringed.

For all Chile it must been a topic to talk because some times there is not respect to the only pre- Columbian which has fought against foreigners over centuries and centuries, and that is what we are for them, foreigners.

Challenges in your discipline

I think that the challenges my discipline is facing are several. In the technology area we need to dominate it so much more than we are doing it now because in administrative issues is important to handle things faster and as a cause of that we would be increasing efficiency and effectiveness. Socially, I think that an important defy is avoid a bad bureaucracy and of this way rush the delivery of social benefits, sometimes the documents required for anything take a too long time in be available or they cost raised prices. In education is necessary to encourage probity to get subsidies where it is corresponded, many times directors spend the money given by government in other things without any kind of accountability and, as I have seen, they lie in students attendance to receive more money. Also, I think that there should be a rearrangement in money distribution because is urgent ensure a good and free public education. The state should work for people needs more then they could do for international enterprises. For example, to make water belongs to Chilean people and not to big multinational owners, to make all necessary things to get stopped the Chilean rivers drying. Otherwise, it would very good for our democracy stop charging to register independent candidates.
Finally it is important make free the laws knowledge, it isn’t acceptable have to buy “Diario Oficial” as it is done in Chile. Here it is conceited that everybody knows laws, but it is hard to get it if is not free doing it.

Improving your faculty facilities

The current situation in my faculty is not very well, but in my opinion our small space has helped us to build relationships with the higher grade classmates in the case of beginners, which doesn’t happen at other, bigger faculties like FCFM (Maths and Physics Science Faculty), for example.

Some things that need more than an improvement, but exist, are an access for physically disabled people, the library should open more time, make casino prices decrease and have a nursing room.

My first step to improve our current situation would be to ask everyone which things they would like to improve or to have. Next step, according to the budget available I could set priorities to start working. However, to get this budget, previously it should be appealed according to regular channels. Another solution to the current infrastructure problem is to leave Palacio Matte and then go to a reconstructed building definitely. What I said before just concerns the structural topic, but, for example, making the library schedule longer doesn’t need more than the authorities will, giving more salary to our officials. I think that Public Administration is a very important career which has not had enough and the necessary treatment deserved.

The impacts that these changes could cause to our faculty would be improve the performance of its students (since the union with postgraduate students), but otherwise it could make that the almost familiar environment given here would be lost, weakening our union when it is highly required.

A final recommendation would be to keep a good relationship at the foozeball table belling sound.

Free time

Nowadays, I think that people have more free time becuase there is more technology available. Always it depends on the life style we're having, for example, if we have children it is very difficult to take some free time to ourselves because we would have to be parents. In my own case I only have free time when I end my university obligations and I do them faster with a pendrive, for example, than without it. Technology helps me very much.

My free time in a week depends on the tests I have, if there are not, I just assist to classes and share more moments with my classmates, without stress. By the nights, then I can read and study relaxed. On those weeks I have entire hours for me and for going out to know Santiago. To say them exactly, I have never counted them.

I don’t know if “wisely” is a good word to define how I use my free time, but I can say that now I have learned to invest it and not to waste it. To me, helping social risk kids is a very good way to share and give my free time; it is a way of doing what I am studying for.

In my free time I like to be with my familiy and friends, share great moments as more as I can because they are far away now. In Santiago I use my free time helping to kids from Lo Espejo at their studies. If I am not doing that I sleep or I share my time with university friends trying to relax myself.

If I had more free time, I think I would use it working at something to help my parents and family to get our project as group, mainly. Also I would like to have some volunteer works to take there my sister, so when I already don’t have more free time, she could continue a good work.

Summary from a career-related article from The Guardian

UK to send more troops to Afghanistan, Gordon Brown confirms.

Wednesday 14 October. BST.-

The intentions of the prime minister, Gordon Brown, about fighting against terrorism in Afghanistan, were send there more troops to reinforce the ones which remained. Exactly, he wants to send five hundred troops. He said that he was sure that teamwork with Afghanistan president would give a good result. In Britain, these statements sparked the debate; from every side, the opposite ideas came. The main arguments were that the British population was not sure if it was advisable to send more British forces to a place were political and electoral processes were corrupted. Another argument was that the psychological support for soldiers was weak and poor.

Otherwise, Brown said that he was very moved about the lost men in the fighting place, giving a felt greeting to the families of them. To which it is added that the supporting of population to increase troops and keep war, measured by a Populus poll, has decreased from 36 % to 29 % in September.

Internationally, Brown has been looking for help and holding with Barack Obama and with Hamid Karzai, Afghan president. The first one said, elusively, that he would do his best and would give an answer in the coming weeks. Especially if we consider that recently he has won the Nobel Peace Laurel. The second one said he would also do his best to fight against al-Qaida together with Brown.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/oct/14/gordon-brown-davidcameron

A world of Sport

The sport is very important for individuals and nations. The importance of sports is that we could have less stress and feel better (at personal level) because we have more resistance and, obviously we improve our body state. For a nation, the sport is important because it is a way of having a common identity, for example the Brazilian case because all people use to think that Brazil is the country of football since Brazilian have won several world football cups. That helps to the population cohesion. Currently I don’t practice any sport because I dedicate my free time to other things; my only physical activity is walking from university to house around 20 minutes and dancing when I party. The great benefit I get from it that I feel less stressed, especially dancing.
The status that sport should have in a country is of a daily topic. I mean, having a Minister of Sports and Recreation. With this, it is pretended to give a real budget to promote it and make that every person in Chile has the right of sport and a free access to.
Every time I see people angry or stressed I wish I could invite them to run or dance. I would say them: “Don’t prefer to smoke, don’t prefer to eat, don’t prefer to get angry. Just prefer sports.”
There are some sports which have been stated as cruel and I hold it. For example “rodeo a la chilena” is just the demonstration of the habit of having fun damaging to someone else. It is like when a child makes fun of other one and the rest of friends enjoy that. While more suffers a cow, more points we gain.
Some other activities which should be eradicated is free fighting and All worth (Todo vale) where just one part takes benefits losing stress because of winning and the other one just has to go home bruised at all and with the defeat stress.