Unseen Winter 2020

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Copyright Š 2020 by Korean Youth Honor Society (KYHS) All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by Photostat, microfilm, xerography, or any other means, or incorporated into any information retrieval system, electronic or mechanical, without the written permission of the copyright owner. Printed in Seoul, Republic of Korea December 21, 2020 Patrick Brookover Research Advisor, KYHS Washington Grace E. Song Director, KYHS Washington Washington DC Office 10560 Main Street, #508 Fairfax, VA 22030 USA 703-277-9515

Yeonsoo Doh Writing Advisor, KYHS Seoul Jeongsu Kim Founder, KYHS and Director, KYHS Seoul Korean Youth Honor Society 129 Bongeunsa-Ro, #708 Gangnam-Gu, Seoul 06121 Republic of Korea 010-7220-7176 www.youthhonor.org

info@eduwashington.com


UNSEEN T H E

J O UR NA L

O F

WINTER 2020

K Y H S


KOREAN YOUTH HONOR SOCIETY (KYHS) MEMBERS Winter 2020

President Vice President Editor in Chief Editors Volunteer Director Community Relations Director

Members

Republic of Korea Eunjae Yu, Fayston Preparatory School, 12th Jun Yeol Choi, Hankook Academy of Foreign Studies, 12th Yunsu Lee, Homeschool, 12th Jiwon Kim, Saint Paul Preparatory Seoul, 12th Minah Son, Korea International School Jeju, 11th Sekyoung Hwang, North London Collegiate School Jeju, 12th Toni Chiyoung Ban, Asia Pacific International School, 10th Haeun Jeong, Seoul International School, 10th Hyeyoon Jung, Branksome Hall Asia, 12th Yujin Kim, Seoul Foreign School, 12th Erica Seo-Yeon Cho, Yongsan International School of Seoul, 12th Eugene Kang, Ivy Collegiate School, 12th Joonsoo Heo, Dulwich College Seoul, 12th Geo Wee, Saint Paul Academy Daechi, 12th Naeun Kim, Saint Paul Preparatory Seoul, 11th Seoyeon Choi, Korean Minjok Leadership Academy, 11th Yoorim Jang, Korean Minjok Leadership Academy, 11th Seonmin Kim, Ewha Girls' High School, 11th Yunji Hwang, North London Collegiate School Jeju, 11th Minjae Kim, Seoul Scholars International School, 11th Ansu Lee, Yongsan International School of Seoul, 10th Justin Park, Yongsan International School of Seoul, 10th Hyowon Gu, Ivy Collegiate Schooal, 10th Sungtack Oh, Haven Christian School, 10th Bryan Kang, Fayston Preparatory School, 10th Seyoung Jang, Branksome Hall Asia, 10th Yuna Jang, St. Johnsbury Academy Jeju, 10th Alex Han, Chadwick International, 10th Seongjoon Yang, North London Collegiate School Jeju, 10th Sungbin Yoon, North London Collegiate School Jeju, 10th Dongjun Koh, Cheongna Dalton School, 10th David Lee, Asia Pacific International School, 10th Seungjun Lee, Valor International Scholars, 10th Erin Ryu, Seoul International School, 10th Hannah Kim, Homeschool, 9th Christina J. Song, Dulwich College Seoul, 9th Jioh Kim, Asia Pacific International School, 9th Michelle Yoo, Asia Pacific International School, 9th Brandon Ian Baek, Apgujeong Middle School, 9th Claire Lee, Yongsan International School of Seoul, 8th Youna Lee, Valor International Scholars, 8th

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KOREAN YOUTH HONOR SOCIETY (KYHS) MEMBERS Winter 2020

The United States of America

President Paul Kim, McLean High School, 11th (Virginia) Vice President Seoyoon Lee, McLean High School, 11th (Virginia) Members Shin Lee, Western Reserve Academy, 11th (Ohio) Jin Lee, Western Reserve Academy, 11th (Ohio) Yemin Lee, North Gwinnett High School, 10th (Georgia) Anastasia Choo, Hunter College High School, 10th (New York) Hae Yoon Kim, Centreville High School, 10th (Virginia) Jisoo Catherine Kim, McLean High School, 10th (Virginia) Yeonsu Ju, McLean High School, 10th (Virginia) Kyungmin Kwon, Virginia Episcopal School, 10th (Virginia) Subin Pyo, Tenafly High School, 9th (New Jersey) Woojin Jung, Cranbrook Schools, 9th (Michigan) Jennifer Y Jeon, Thomas S. Wootton High School, 9th (Maryland) Ines Shee Yoon Hwang, Peddie School, 9th (New Jersey) Arabelle Choo, Hunter College High School, 8th (New York)

Malaysia

Sung Won Yoon, International School of Kuala Lumpur, 11th

Cambodia

Young Eun Lee, International School of Phnom Penn, 10th

Australia

Erin Kim, Geelong Grammar School, 10th

Vietnam

Sung Hyun An, St. Paul American School Hanoi, 11th

Italy

Yeonjae Shim, American School of Milan, 10th


Contents Covid-19 and its Implications on Adolescent Mental Health Fast Fashion and Ethics

Anastasia Choo

12

Discovery of Artificial Organisms: Xenobots

Ansu Lee

Solitary Confinement: A Cruel and Unusual Torture How Disney Altered ‘Star Wars’

19 32

Brandon Ian Baek

Facial Recognition: How Its Power Can Be Abused

The Harm of Direct-to-Consumer Prescription Advertising on Consumers

Erica Seo-Yeon Cho

65

Eugene Kang

81

69

Erin Kim 75

Erin Ryu

Guerrilla Marketing or Meme Marketing: A Step-by-Step Approach 90

Eunjae Yu

How does News Framing Manipulate, Create Bias, and Polarize Public Opinion? The Press: Society’s Telescope of Truth and Shield from Corruption The Power of Art Therapy Education in Poor Countries

Hae Yoon Kim

101

Hannah Kim

104

The Rise of the Artificial Philosopher The Inside Story of Classical Ballet

Ines Shee Yun Hwang

Merges and Acquisitions: Sacrifice for the Better

Haeun Jeong

92 97

113 119

Jennifer Y. Jeon Jin Lee

126

132

Jioh Kim

Body Image through Culture and Time

Geo Wee

107

Hyowon Gu

Violations of Basic Human Rights in America Hijab and Women’s Rights

56

David Lee

61

Erica Seo-Yeon Cho

Inequality in Education

52

Dongjun Koh

Changes in the Job Market after the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Safety, Then Speed

41

47

Christina J. Song

The Unseen Virus: Nationalism-19

36

Bryan Kang

Claire Lee

The Conflict Regarding the Issue of the Rising Sun Flag Juvenile Incarceration

22

Arabelle Choo

The Change of Ecosystems and the Direction of Policies after COVID-19 The Eleventh Hour: Last Chance

6

Alex Han

Jisoo Catherine Kim

Yet Unattainable: Post-Racial and Sexual Society

Jiwon Kim

Finding Approximate Expressions for Period of Botafumeiro Using Integration The Ambivalent Effect of Covid-19 on the Environment

Jun Yeol Choi

136 141 Joonsoo Heo

144

154

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Contents 1997 Asian Financial Crisis in South Korea

How Did the US Government Respond to Covid-19? Health Insurance and Covid-19

157

Justin Park 166

Michelle Yoo

The Dark Sides of K-Pop: The Dilemma of the Trainee Program I Have the Right to Find My Birth Family

176 179

Naeun Kim

Malcolm X Represents the Issues of American Education Hormones

Car Industry Cares for Environment Teens’ Makeup and Its Side Effects

194

Seongjoon Yang

199

Seonmin Kim

Seeing More by Seeing Less: How to Confront Discrimination Future of A.I.

184

Paul Kim

188

Sekyoung Hwang

CAD4TB in Chest X-Rays

211

How Netflix Dominated the Video Streaming Industry The Benefits and Potential Danger of Drones

Seyoung Jang

Shin Lee

221

Coronavirus: Encoding Steganography in the United States

Subin Pyo

What Kind of Changes Were Triggered by Covid-19? Art Therapy Spacecraft

224 230

Sungbin Yoon

241 244

Sungtack Oh

249

Woojin Jung

The Past, the Present, and the Future of Stocks Economic Crises in the EU

214

235

Sung Hyun An

Sung Won Yoon

International Leader

203

Seoyeon Choi

207

Seoyoon Lee

Seungjun Lee

Air Pollution in Vietnam

171

Minah Son

Minjae Kim

Exploring a Field of Motions: Calculus

161

Kyungmin Kwon

257

Yeonjae Shim

Why Do We Die?

Yoorim Jang

Teen’s Depression

Youna Lee

Generation Z and Social Media

253

Yemin Lee

262 266 Young Eun Lee

270

Protecting the Rights of Indigenous People to Prevent Environmental Degradation Disproportional Impacts of Covid-19 The Boundless Potential of Stem Cells

Yuna Jang Yunji Hwang

282 284

Yujin Kim

276


Covid-19 and its Implications on Adolescent Mental Health Alex Han Chadwick International, 10th Introduction In the first half of 2020, the world stopped. The Covid-19 pandemic, which began in China in December 2019, spread rapidly throughout the whole world, reaching almost 10 million cases, and resulting in up to five hundred thousand deaths. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a pandemic for the third time in history. Novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) is “an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus,” which is primarily spread from person to person (WHO, 2020). Covid-19 has a unique characteristic that it has a wide range of symptoms, such as fever, cough, muscle pain and diarrhea, and some people turn out asymptomatic. The symptoms are rather mild and develop gradually, which makes the virus even easier to be transmitted from person to person. The most effective way to react to such a pandemic is to minimize in-person contact between people. Thus, governments have carried out social distancing measures and even lockdown in some places where case numbers are high. This includes shutting 6 | UN SEEN - THE J OU RNAL OF KYHS

down schools and businesses, limiting travel and cancelling social events. Thus, while there are physical impacts on those who are infected, another major issue rising to the surface is the mental health of the whole community. This symptom of loneliness and depression also called “corona blues” is a global issue that affects communities around the whole world. This paper, in particular, will be focusing on the impacts of the pandemic on the mental health of teenagers. Self-quarantine and social isolation due to Covid-19 has led to discussion on

Figure 1


mental health of the general public. A survey done by the mental health fund has found that Covid-19 has increased negative signals in mental health such as feeling isolated from others, feeling depressed or hopeless, having little interest in doing things, and feeling nervous or anxious. Respondents are “experiencing more signs of anxiety and depression,” almost twofold compared to before Covid-19. According to a Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) tracking poll held in the US in midJuly, 53% of respondents reported that their mental health had been negatively impacted after Covid-19 due to worry and stress over the situation (Panchal, 2020). Specific symptoms included difficulty sleeping (36%), difficulty eating (32%), and increase in alcohol/substance use (12%). There are several factors that contribute to these results. The reduced frequency of social and physical contact with people other than one’s family and not being able to do usual daily activities, such as playing a sport or going shopping, lead to boredom, frustration, and a sense of isolation from the rest of the world. Fear of infection also causes increased levels of depression and anxiety, especially in people that experienced any physical symptoms similar to those of Covid-19, such as coughing or muscle pain. Lastly, economic status is also linked to mental health in times of the pandemic. The pandemic has led to economic recession in many countries as factories shut down, business meetings are cancelled, and consumers stay at home. The US has officially entered economic recession

since February 2020. Accordingly, a lot of people have gone through job loss or severe reduction in income. Job loss and income insecurity lead to depression, anxiety, distress, and low self-esteem. In the KFF tracking poll related to Covid-19, a significantly higher share of households that lost income or went through unemployment had reported negative mental health impacts (Panchal, 2020). Adolescents before the pandemic With Covid-19 having such severe impacts on mental health on the general public, teenagers or adolescents are a particularly vulnerable stakeholder. As one of the “most rapid phases of human development,” important emotional and psychological developments happen during adolescence (WHO, 2020). Adolescents go through a period of mental instability and confusion, undergoing transition into adulthood. A lot of adolescents undergo emotional disorders such as depression, anxiety, excessive irritability, frustration, or anger (WHO, 2020). Even before the pandemic, the issue of adolescent mental health has been becoming more and more serious. Globally, depression is a leading cause of adolescent illness and disability. According to data from Pew Research Center, 13% of teenagers in the US between the ages 12 and 17 had experienced at least one major depressive episode in the past year. The total number of teenagers who experienced depression recently increased by 59% from 2007 to 2017 (Geiger, 2019). Impacts of Covid-19 on adolescent UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 7


mental health As shown in figure 2, adolescent mental health has been significantly impacted after the coronavirus breakout. There are several factors in which Covid-19 has specifically impacted adolescent mental health: communityrelated risks, increased screen time and social media use, and challenges within the family. People are not allowed to go outside and socialize. This means that real life inperson interactions and communication are highly limited, thus leading to social isolation. Peer connection is important especially for teenagers, because when they feel distant from their parents, teachers or other adults, their peers are in which they seek mental comfort. Teenage friendships help build the feeling of belonging and acceptance because they can relate with each other as they are in similar situations. Maintaining friendships has become harder during Covid-19 because it is impossible to connect with friends on a daily basis at school or outside of school. The absence of physical proximity or human contact between peers could lead to mental health issues such as depression or anxiety. Leisure time activities such as going out in social groups or joining sports clubs are also limited. A group of investigators, led by Dr. Maria Loades, a psychologist from the University of Bath, found that “young people were as much as 3 times more likely to develop depression in the future due to social isolation, with the impact of loneliness on mental health lasting up to 9 years later” and that “this may increase 8 | UN SEEN - THE J OU RNAL OF KYHS

as enforced isolation continues” (Walter, 2020).

Figure 2

Another factor is increased screen time and use of social media. Social media and online communication could be seen as a positive way of teenagers maintaining social interaction. However, in a long term, increased screen time also has adverse outcomes on mental health. A review by the International Journal of Adolescence and Youth found that time spent and investment in social media correlate with levels of depression, anxiety, psychological distress, and sleep problems (Keles, 2019). For instance, social media use can lead to lower selfesteem by comparing themselves to others on social media, especially related to their bodies or how they look. People create an idealized image of themselves through their online identities, as lives on social media always appear great and happy. It becomes so much easier for teenagers, who are establishing their identity, to contrast their dark sides with what they appear to be on social media and how great everyone else seems on their feed. People are also more inclined to be


crueler and more negative on social media because it is easier to become extreme and say things one would never say in ‘real life.’ This is directly related to issues of cyberbullying or online harassment. Internet addiction and nighttime use also cause sleep disorders. Challenges within the family have also become an issue as everyone is forced to stay at home with only their closest family members. There is an increased pressure on parents from multiple directions; one being the economic pressure of maintaining life expenses for the family. Due to Covid-19, many adults have gone through income insecurity, especially those who are in severely impacted industries such as catering or tourism. Businesses shut down, and many people lost their jobs. A Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) tracking poll discovered that a higher share of households in the US that lost income or employment reported negative health impacts, such as difficulty sleeping or increase in alcohol consumption, due to worry or stress. Parents also have the extra responsibility to supervise the education and activities of their adolescent children with few external supports. Such stressful situations and emotional distress in parents can lead to more punitive attitudes towards their children, and because teenagers already have problems with managing relationships with their parents, the confinement to only family members can lead to more loneliness, a sense of disconnection, and dispute. Impacts on more vulnerable, high-risk groups

There are more vulnerable, high-risk stakeholders who need special attention during the Covid-19 pandemic, as extreme situations increase, and already extreme cases become more severe. One case is domestic violence and child mistreatment. The economic pressure on parents discussed in the previous section factors into such abusive behavior. During economic recessions, there is a significant increase in domestic violence. Women and girls are more exposed to gender-based violence. Quarantine leads to decreased privacy and therefore higher stress. Moreover, as economic inability gives the feeling of helplessness and loss of power, the perpetrators tend to regain sense of control and authority through violence. UN secretary Antonio Guterres has commented that there has been a “horrifying global surge in domestic violence” (Fegert, 2020). This is even more dangerous during Covid-19 because it is impossible for the child to reach out to extended communities for support and to other protective adults who are typically found at school, as schools shut down or transited to distance learning. Thus, it is impossible for teachers to notice signs of domestic violence on students. Children or adolescents with chronic disorders or mental illness are another group of vulnerable people. Increased stress disorder will lead to more severe symptoms, and especially those with mental disorders are less likely to tolerate a lockdown. For those with intellectual disabilities, it would be difficult to understand the situation and why such restrictions on movement UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 9


exist, leading to feelings of anxiety or agitation. 83% of respondents to a survey done on adolescents with a mental health issue history in the United Kingdom agreed that the pandemic had worsened their mental health (Guessoum, 2020). These individuals are not able to reach out to mental health support facilities and institutional care; there was a 60% decrease in youth mental health beds in the Greater Toronto Area, as “nonemergency� services were reduced for quick and effective pandemic response (Courtney, 2020). The deprivation of routine care and the additional stress put these adolescents in a particularly risky situation. Conclusion Extended periods of quarantine and Covid-19 have severe impacts on mental health of the global population, especially adolescents. There is an increased burden on families and adolescents while the access to external professional or casual help is limited. Behaviors that may be signs of mental hardship under normal conditions, such as stepping back from

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social relations and locking oneself up in a room, are encouraged. Specific impacts on post-traumatic stress symptoms, confusion, anger, depression, and anxiety appear on adolescents. Adolescent mental health has always been an issue, but it has been deliberately under-addressed. Covid-19 has exacerbated the issue, bringing it to the surface, speaking to the world that it is time for action. Solutions to adolescent mental health could include maintaining both regular and emergency treatments as far as possible or facilitating special treatment on marginalized and disadvantaged people to prevent aggravating pre-existing issues. The world faced Covid-19 unprepared and off guard, and some negative impacts are inevitable. However, the pandemic could also provide opportunities for mental health services to develop in a new field involving online distance treatment -appropriate research is needed to prove which methods are effective and safe. It is important to address the problem directly and do what is best possible to alleviate the pain of those suffering.


Works Cited Adolescent health and development. (n.d.). Retrieved November 04, 2020, from https://www.who.int/maternal_ child_adolescent/topics/adolescence/ development/en/ Adolescent mental health. (2020, September 28). Retrieved November 04, 2020, from https://www.who.int/ news-room/fact-sheets/detail/adolescentmental-health Coronavirus. (2020). Retrieved November 04, 2020, from https://www. who.int/health-topics/coronavirus/ coronavirus Courtney, D., Watson, P., Battaglia, M., Mulsant, B. H., & Szatmari, P. (2020). COVID-19 Impacts on Child and Youth Anxiety and Depression: Challenges and Opportunities. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 65(10), 688-691. doi:10.1177/0706743720935646 Fegert, J. M., Vitiello, B., Plener, P. L., & Clemens, V. (2020). Challenges and burden of the Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic for child and adolescent mental health: A narrative review to highlight clinical and research needs in the acute phase and the long return to normality. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, 14(1). doi:10.1186/s13034-020-00329-3 Geiger, A., & Davis, L. (2019, July 12). A growing number of American teenagers – particularly girls – are facing depression. Retrieved November 04, 2020, from https://www.pewresearch.org/ fact-tank/2019/07/12/a-growing-numberof-american-teenagers-particularly-girlsare-facing-depression/

Guessoum, S. B., Lachal, J., Radjack, R., Carretier, E., Minassian, S., Benoit, L., & Moro, M. R. (2020). Adolescent psychiatric disorders during the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown. Psychiatry Research, 291, 113264. doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113264 Keles, B., Mccrae, N., & Grealish, A. (2019). A systematic review: The influence of social media on depression, anxiety and psychological distress in adolescents. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 25(1), 79-93. doi :10.1080/02673843.2019.1590851 The Mental Health Fund. (n.d.). Retrieved November 04, 2020, from https://www.thementalhealthfund.org/ Nirmita Panchal, R., & 2020, A. (2020, August 21). The Implications of COVID-19 for Mental Health and Substance Use. Retrieved November 04, 2020, from https://www.kff.org/ coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/theimplications-of-covid-19-for-mentalhealth-and-substance-use/ Stewart, C. (2020, April 01). Young people’s mental health during COVID-19 in the UK 2020. Retrieved November 04, 2020, from https://www.statista. com/statistics/1108583/young-people-smental-health-during-covid-19-in-the-uk/ Walter, K. (2020, June 3). COVID-19 Lockdown Having an Impact on Adolescent Mental Health. Retrieved November 04, 2020, from https://www. hcplive.com/view/covid-19-lockdownadolescent-mental-health

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Fast Fashion and Ethics Anastasia Choo Hunter College High School, Grade 10

Fast fashion is “an approach to the design, creation, and marketing of clothing fashions that emphasizes making fashion trends quickly and cheaply available to consumers” (Merriam-Webster, 2019). With an emphasis on marketability, low production costs, and high availability, the fast fashion industry holds little regard to the economy or ethics. Cheap clothing in high volumes comes at the expense of human rights, as the fast fashion industry exploits cheap labor from third world nations. The unsustainability of fast fashion is intrinsic: not only are these garments made quickly and distributed widely, but they are also easily and quickly discarded as they are cheap to purchase. A cycle of over-consumption and hyper consumerism is facilitated by the fast fashion industry, as new products are constantly being created to keep up with fashion trends. This has a massive impact on clothing waste; “Millions of tones of clothes end up in landfills every year… Clothing waste is one of the fastest growing categories of waste in the world” (The Economist, 2018). Fast fashion also has a large market and a large consumer 12 | UNSEEN - THE J OURNAL OF KYHS

base as cheap and fashionable clothing are highly desirable, particularly to young people. However, these benefits are, as mentioned above, often at the expense of human rights since fast fashion is linked with the unethical exploitation of workers. To distribute clothing so quickly and cheaply and to manufacture clothing at such a high rate, workers often work long hours and are paid less than minimum wage. This also often takes place on a global scale; as fast fashion companies can have factories anywhere from Bangladesh to Los Angeles. Cheap labor is necessary for fast fashion companies to maximize profit. One major issue with fast fashion and their unethical treatment of their laborers is the usage of child labor. Around 260 million children are in employment around the world, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO). Child labor is defined by the UN as “work for which the child is either too young – work done below the required minimum age – or work which, because of its detrimental nature or conditions, is altogether considered unacceptable for children and


is prohibited.” The ILO estimates that 170 million are engaged in child labor, with many making textiles and garments to satisfy the demand of consumers in Europe, the US, and beyond” (Moulds, 2015). Children can be easily roped into the fast fashion industry when tempted with the promise of good wages, or when sent by their parents whom recruiters target, with promises of a better future for their children. A recent report by the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO), and the India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN) revealed that recruiters in southern India convince parents in impoverished rural areas to send their daughters to spinning mills with promises of a well-paid job, comfortable accommodation, three nutritious meals a day and opportunities for training and schooling, as well as a lump sum payment at the end of three years. Their field research shows that “in reality, they are working under appalling conditions that amount to modern day slavery and the worst forms of child labor” (Moulds, 2015). As the fashion industry largely does not require specialized skills (a lot of the work is low skill) children are utilized as workers. Additionally, the exploitation of child labor is sometimes beneficial for the manufacturers as some tasks may be better suited to children. For tasks such as cotton picking, children are preferred as their hands are more adept at picking the cotton without damaging it. Children are perceived as obedient workers who can easily avoid detection and slip under the radar, which is useful in the fast fashion

industry; children are less likely to protest unjust wages or unethical work conditions. Sofie Ovaa, a global campaign coordinator of Stop Child Labor, says, “There is no supervision or social control mechanisms, no unions that can help them to bargain for better working conditions. These are very low-skilled workers without a voice, so they are easy targets” (Moulds, 2015). As the fashion industry is hugely complex, it is very difficult to regulate every step of the manufacturing process – which is how questionable methods such as child labor largely go unpunished, and why consumers are uneducated on this matter. Child labor is “utilized in practically all stages of clothing manufacturing, from the production of cotton seeds in Benin, harvesting in Uzbekistan, yarn spinning in India, right through to the different phases of putting garments together in factories across Bangladesh” (Moulds, 2015). Some tasks that children might be expected to do in factories include dyeing fabrics, sewing buttons, cutting threads, and folding and packing garments. The conditions of labor for these children are abysmal and can be described as modernday slavery. The usage of child labor in the fashion industry is also more wide-spread than one might think: big companies such as “Adidas, H&M and Nike have relied on manufacturers who have subsequently been exposed as using children to work in unsafe conditions” (“Tackling child labor in the fashion industry,” 2017). Children are a cheap source of labor, and in some parts of the world, are readily available for exploitation, which is why fast fashion companies can profit from child labor. UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 1 3


Image1. Child spinning thread in a factory (Source: Getty Image)

Child labor is not the only violation of human rights as a consequence of fast fashion. It is insisted that “Millions of workers around the world face life threatening work environments as they make cheap clothes for the western world” (Kahler, 2019). The work conditions and wellbeing of garment factory workers are overlooked for the sake of cheap production costs and cheap products. In order to mass-produce clothing in a cheaper price, workers are often paid little and treated terribly. There are eight fundamental standards for labor set by the ILO, which are as follows: “Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize Convention, 1948 (No. 87); Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98); Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29); Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105); Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138); Worst Forums of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182); Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100); Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111)” (ILO, 2019). However, these rules are violated 14 | UNSEEN - THE J OURNAL OF KYHS

and often not followed by the fashion and garment industry; “The problem is caused by a number of factors, ranging from loopholes in the national laws, to failures in compliance by the government, retailers and factories, to the overall culture of consumerism and capitalism. But the crux of the problem is the deeply rooted capitalist mindset that prioritizes profit above everything else, including human rights and human dignity… Workers become disposable, just like the clothes they sell at their stores” (The Conscious Club, 2019). Laborers are forced to work overtime with little to no compensation for their time. Often the extra time these workers spend exceed the legal working limits. A report found that 94% of Cambodian factories investigated violated overtime regulations, and that a factory dismissed 40 workers for refusing to do overtime work. In another factory in Bangladesh, workers were beaten by managers for failing to meet unreasonable production targets (The Conscious Club, 2019).

Image 2. Bangladesh garment worker (Source: Solidarity Center, Creative Commons)

Additionally, women under the employment of fast-fashion factories face extreme discrimination and are subjected


to exploitation and abuse. About 80% of the workforce in the clothing industry is women, with the exception of Pakistan. The industry wants to hire women because they are seen as docile and they might not organize very easily (Hucal, 2018). Women are faced with verbal abuse, sexual harassment and assault, and violence while working in garment factories. A non-representative survey found that roughly 14% of women garment workers in Bangalore had been sexually harassed or raped. 60% reported having been intimidated or threatened with violence, while between 40-50% had experienced humiliation and verbal abuse (The Conscious Club, 2019). Women are also fired for going on maternity leave. As many of these factories are located in societies that are very patriarchal, it is easier for women to be the victims of verbal abuse – they are treated differently from men and are shouted at by their bosses. Women are prevented from protesting or forming unions: “If women try to organize themselves in trade unions, they are normally threatened by the management and have to leave the factory… When they come home, for example, they might not be able to go to trade union meetings because they have so much to do” (Hucal, 2018). Another issue with the treatment of workers is the exceedingly low payment. “In order [for companies] to support mass production efficiently while maintaining their low prices, they see sweatshops and fashion factories in third world nations as a viable and profitable option. When the Western retailers lower their prices,

we are forced to comply and lower our prices and this directly affects what our workers make,” a disgruntled garment factory owner in Bangladesh told the Observer. Currently, over 4 million people work within these sweatshops and an average worker in Bangladesh, makes about $67 a month, which comes up to only a little over $2 a day (Sharma, 2016). Furthermore, companies have no intention to pay their workers better, nor do they have any regard for just payment of their laborers. Workers report if they ask for better wages, they are told the work will go to someone else. Self-employed home workers are even further exploited; women and girls doing garment work from home are subcontracted by factories on a per-piece basis that pays even less than factory work, for example in India, they earn between $0.13 and $0.15 per hour while also having to absorb some production costs (Wier, 2019). Low wages do not only occur in Bangladesh and India; in Los Angeles, “workers put in grueling 12 hour days, making garments that will be sold for anywhere from $5 to $75 for around three cents apiece paid out. The lofty goal of making what amounts to $5 an hour is in reality a pipe dream for them” (Meagher, 2020). These wages are too low for the workers to make a living from. Workers are also subjected to extremely unsafe working conditions. When discussing the costs of the fastfashion industry, one of the most wellknown examples is the Rana Plaza building collapse of 2013 that occurred in Dhaka, Bangladesh. At the time, the building was UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 1 5


being occupied by garment factories for western companies such as Children’s Place, Joe Fresh, and Walmart. Workers in the factories told their managers that they had noticed cracks in the building but were told to go back to work. At one point, the managers were even given an evacuation order (which they ignored). Nothing was done. As a result, 1,129 workers died, and even more were injured (Reid, 2018). As cutting corners in terms of factory safety reduces production costs, the safety of factories is overlooked. It is discovered that many work areas have poor lighting, which can be damaging to the workers’ sight, and toxic chemicals, which can be harmful to their respiratory systems (Reid, 2018). The poor treatment and low regard of worker’s rights are a direct consequence of fast fashion’s cheap prices. Although the situations of these workers are horrific, there are steps consumers can take to prevent the influence of fast fashion. The most important step is to be aware of what you buy. Try to purchase ethically sourced clothing when possible, rather than from big fashion chains. Try to re-wear clothes, instead of disposing of them after a couple of uses. Companies can improve their transparency so that consumers know exactly what they are buying. The violation of human rights are intrinsic to fast fashion, and as a consumer, your duty is to be aware of where your money is going.

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Works Cited Bedat, M. (2016). The High Cost of Our Cheap Fashion | Maxine Bédat | TEDxPiscataquaRiver (TEDx Talks, Ed.). Retrieved from https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=5r8V4QWwxf0 Berning, S. (2020, October 5). Fast Fashion & Labor Trafficking. Retrieved from UNBOUND website: https://www. unboundnow.org/blog/fast-fashion-amplabor-trafficking CBS Marketplace. (2018, January 19). How fast fashion adds to the world’s clothing waste problem. Retrieved from www.youtube.com website: https://www. google.com/url?q= https://www.youtube. com/watch ?v%3DelU32XNj8PM&sa= D&ust=1607412714037000&usg= AOvVaw3ilng1UNFfeXQ984xqXUZa Child Labour in Fast Fashion I. (n.d.). Retrieved November 28, 2020, from roadmapforeconomics.org website: h t t p s : / / r o a d m a p f o r e c o n o m i c s . o rg / lesson1-child-labour-in-fast-fashionpart-1/ crumbie, A. (2019, September 5). What is fast fashion and why is it a problem? | Ethical Consumer. Retrieved from Ethical Consumer website: https:// www.ethicalconsumer.org/fashionclothing/what-fast-fashion-why-itproblem Davis, N. (2020, April 7). Fast fashion speeding toward environmental disaster, report warns. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian. com/fashion/2020/apr/07/fast-fashionspeeding-toward-environmental-disasterreport-warns Haltrecht, L. (2017, May 24). Fast Fashion: ‘unsustainable’ for environment, human rights. Retrieved from The Oracle website: https://archeroracle.org/31754/ fashion/fast-fashion-unsustainable-for-


environment-human-rights/ Hucal, S. (2018, July 12). The hidden human cost of fast fashion | DW | 07.12.2018. Retrieved from DW.COM website: https://www.dw.com/ en/the-hidden-human-cost-of-fastfashion/a-46577624 ILO (Ed.). (2019). Conventions and Recommendations. Retrieved from Ilo. org website: https://www.ilo.org/global/ standards/introduction-to-internationallabour-standards/conventions-andrecommendations/lang--en/index.htm Kahler, Jon. (2019, January 10). The Cost of Fast Fashion. Retrieved from www.youtube.com website: https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=bUQGfFK63n4 Kitroeff, N. (2019, December 16). Fashion Nova’s Secret: Underpaid Workers in Los Angeles Factories. The New York Times. Retrieved from https:// www.nytimes.com/2019/12/16/business/ fashion-nova-underpaid-workers. html?curator=FashionREDEF Matteis, S., & Agro, C. (2018, January 19). What really happens to old clothes dropped in those in-store recycling bins. Retrieved from CBC website: https:// www.cbc.ca/news/business/clothesrecycling-marketplace-1.4493490 Meagher, S. (2020, February 5). The Not-So-Hidden Ethical Cost Of Fast Fashion: Sneaky Sweatshops In Our Own Backyard. Retrieved from Forbes website: https://www.forbes. com/sites/syamameagher/2020/02/05/ the-not-so-hidden-ethical-cost-of-fastfashion-sneaky-sweatshops-in-our-ownbackyard/?sh=1e7a6c5a25d1 Merriam-webster. (2019). Definition of Fast Fashion. Retrieved from Merriamwebster.com website: https://www. merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fast Moulds, J. (2015). Child labour in

the fashion supply chain. Retrieved from Theguardian.com website: https://labs. theguardian.com/unicef-child-labour/ Niebank, J.-C. (2018). Bringing Human Rights into Fashion. Retrieved from Deutsches Institute for Human Rights website: https://www.institutfuer-menschenrechte.de/fileadmin/ user_upload/Publikationen/ANALYSE/ Analysis_Bringing_Human_Rights_into_ Fashion.pdf Ozdamar-Ertekin, Z. (2017). The True Cost: The Bitter Truth behind Fast Fashion. Markets, Globalization & Development Review, 2(3). https://doi. org/10.23860/mgdr-2017-02-03-07 Reid, L. (2018, April 26). FastFashion: Unethical and Unsustainable – UAB Institute for Human Rights Blog. Retrieved from sites.uab. edu website: https://sites.uab.edu/ humanrights/2018/04/26/fast-fashionunethical-and-unsustainable/ Schlossberg, T. (2019, September 3). How Fast Fashion Is Destroying the Planet. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes. com/2019/09/03/books/review/how-fastfashion-is-destroying-the-planet.html Sharma, J. (2016, November 25). ‘Made in America’ Versus Fast Fashion. Retrieved from Observer website: https:// observer.com/2016/11/made-in-americaversus-fast-fashion/#:~:text=In%20 2015%2C%20only%203%20percent Tackling child labour in the fashion industry. (2017, June 13). Retrieved from Phys.org website: https://phys.org/ news/2017-06-tackling-child-labourfashion-industry.html The Conscious Club. (2019, June 6). Clothing & Human Rights. Retrieved from The Conscious Challenge website: https://www.theconsciouschallenge. UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 1 7


org/ecologicalfootprintbibleoverview/ clothing-human-rights The Considerate Consumer (Ed.). (n.d.). The Threat of Fast Fashion for Human Rights. Retrieved from The Considerate Consumer website: https:// www.considerate-consumer.com/fastfashion-threat-for-human-rights The Downside of Fast Fashion. (n.d.). Retrieved from The Considerate Consumer website: https://katharinawoermann-drfj.squarespace.com/ challenge-fast-fashion The Economist. (2018). The true cost of fast fashion | The Economist. Retrieved from https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=tLfNUD0-8ts Theuws, M., & Overeem, P. (2014). Flawed Fabrics: The abuse of girls and women workers in the South Indian textile industry. Retrieved from SOMO(Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations), India Committee of the

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Netherlands website: http://www.indianet. nl/pdf/FlawedFabrics.pdf United Nations. (2018, December 31). Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Retrieved from Un.org website: h t t p s : / / w w w. u n . o rg / e n / u n i v e r s a l declaration-human-rights/index.html Wier, M. (2019, September 23). Ethics in Labor: Hidden Human Rights Costs in The Fast Fashion Supply Chain | Sustainably Stylish. Retrieved from sites.stedwards.edu website: http:// sites.stedwards.edu/mwier/2019/09/23/ ethics-in-labor-hidden-humans-rightscosts-in-the-fast-fashion-supply-chain/#. X88TNxNKjh_ Woodyard, P. (2017). Fast Fashion’s Effect on People, The Planet, & You | Patrick Woodyard | TEDx University of Mississippi (TEDx Talks, Ed.). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=mPM9lhackHw


Discovery of Artificial Organisms: Xenobots Ansu Lee Yongsan International School of Seoul, 10th

Choose to save a dog or choose to save a robot. Which will it be? Obviously, the right answer should be to save the dog. However, as technology finds itself to innovate faster and faster everyday, the answer to this question will no longer be black or white. The new discovery of Xenobots has been a massive scientific leap towards the biomedical industry. Invented by Tufts University, this novel innovation subverts the traditional form of robots by replacing the metallic machines with organic cells. For now, these robots function as programmable organisms that cannot reproduce or think for themselves. Being a mere size of 0.04 inches, the robot is composed of 5000 living cells from an African clawed frog or Xenopus laevis (Yeung, 2020). The creation of these robots was first derived from the specific patterns of organic cells. As scientists furthered their research, they realized that a heart cell would contract and expand when alive, while a skin cell would always stay static and ‘hard’. This knowledge of basic cellular movement then became the foundation of utilizing individual cells from an organism to combine them into a

bigger product. Scientists would arrange severed cells from the frogs and arrange them in a specific manner in which the cells would create a synergistic interchange later creating movement throughout the robot (ASAPSCIENCE, 2020). The heart cells would act as the motor on the bottom of the robot and the skin cells would act as the main body frame holding the structure together. Surviving for almost a week, Xenobots can have their chain of cells severed or broken but still heal to its original form. The free nature added with the ability to survive and cooperate lead to many innovative ways in which we can accomplish tasks never done before (Sokol, 2020).

(Construction of Xenobots, Green = Skin Cells, Red = Heart Cells) (UVM, 2020)

With this new discovery, what are the realistic applications of Xenobots within science? Their usage is rapidly expanding UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 1 9


as scientists are looking into new ways in using them. With how much unique ability they boast, their applications seem nearly endless. At the moment, the most prominent use of Xenobots comes from its ability to simulate the process of morphogenesis - an organic process in which your cells and tissues start forming shape. By scientists programming each robot with specific movement, then placing the robots in assigned areas for accurate formation, the robots are given the task to precisely imitate the biological process of morphogenesis. Assisted by their organic nature, Xenobots have been the first ever invention to successfully simulate how a realistic morphogenesis would turn out to be (WIRED, 2020). From their observably accurate movement, the robots additionally show further promise when looking into the future. If our technology improves, we would be able to precisely command Xenobots to perform tasks of what many medicine and surgeries are currently doing. Rather than having metallic tubes or inefficient chemicals inserted into your organs and veins, Xenobots might have the ability to execute multiple tasks traveling freely within your body in order to cure a disease or a virus. Imagine you have a terminal brain tumor growing inside your head. A group of Xenobots can be created and sent to your cells to travel through your bloodstream and dissolve the tumor. The never-ending battle with tumors and cancer finally could be solved through Xenobots. Furthermore, just like how Xenobots can dissolve organic tissues, they can equally dissolve micro-plastic and other objects causing harm to our earth. Due to their robotic precision added with their unlimited 20 | UNSEEN - THE J OURNAL OF KYHS

usage, Xenobots show us a bright future by helping with many ongoing problems (ASAPSCIENCE, 2020).

(Closer Look) (Joshua Sokol, 2020)

Besides, they still have one more method in which scientists are looking forward to further use them - test subjects. Regarding their unique organic factor, the scientific community still realizes Xenobots as ‘robots.’ This categorization implies that they are not protected under any form of animal protection system or right to life. Additionally, because of their specialized ability to be created in labs by scientists at will, our research will no longer be limited by the amount of possible organic experiments we can have, carried out on living things. This infinite supply of living test subjects along with no formal protection for these robots, Xenobots are a step into the future for saving animals and amplifying organic experimentation. In the end, out of all the ways in which we can further apply Xenobots to biomedical technology, the idea of them becoming eternal test subjects with no end to human experimentation would be the most efficient and prominent use of their current property. With the bright future set ahead for the discovery of Xenobots, the ethical implications should also be questioned. Is it moral to compose a living thing for the sake of its experimentation? When will we


draw the line of these robots being robots or living things? What if they develop consciousness? Is it inherently okay to create life? There will be eventual moral dilemmas that tag along as we see ourselves with more advanced Xenobots. Either if they gain consciousness or they gain the ability to sense pain, we have to reflect on how much freedom we have before treating them like a robot. Currently, when scientists are selectively improving their cognitive abilities and their likeliness of being a full organism, they will eventually become closer towards being as complex as a mouse. Once Xenobots become complex as an actual animal, it would become very difficult to draw a line. As Xenobots become a global trend, we need to realize and clarify how much of their component is animate or inanimate. The advancement into this new area of biomedical technology will give authorities to scientists who can create life for the purpose of dangerous missions. The founders of this project have acknowledged the issue as they plan to discuss how to eventually integrate them into usage while being ethically right (ASAPSCIENCE, 2020). This untouched territory of Xenobots is a pandora box waiting to be opened for further contentions about the scientific definition of an organism. Overall, the invention of Xenobots show revolutionary methods in solving many modern world problems. With more time and development, Xenobots can range from being used as replacement for surgeries and nanobots, all the way to breaking down micro plastics and other hindrances in our ocean. However, the consequences of inventing complex Xenobots that can perform intricate tasks

will eventually lead to new discussion on critical ethical dilemmas. Works Cited Sokol, J. (2020, April 6). Meet the Xenobots, Virtual Creatures Brought to Life. Https://Www.Nytimes. Com/#publisher. https://www.nytimes. com/2020/04/03/science/xenobotsrobots-frogs-xenopus.html Yeung, J. C. (2020, January 15). Xenobots: First living robots created from stem cells. CNN. https://edition.cnn. com/2020/01/13/us/living-robot-stemcells-intl-hnk-scli-scn/index.html Simon, M. (2020, January 13). Meet Xenobot, an Eerie New Kind of Programmable Organism. Wired. https:// www.wired.com/story/xenobot/ Brown. (2020, January 13). Living robots built using frog cells: Tiny “xenobots” assembled from cells promise advances from drug delivery to toxic waste clean-up. ScienceDaily. h t t p s : / / w w w. s c i e n c e d a i l y. c o m / releases/2020/01/200113175653.htm Conversation, T. (2020, January 24). Scientists Combine AI With Biology to Create Xenobots, the World’s First “Living Robots.” EcoWatch. https://www.ecowatch. com/xenobot-ai-biology-2644880026. html?rebelltitem=5#rebelltitem5 AsapSCIENCE. (2020, January 22). This is the First LIVING Robot and it’s Unbelievable. YouTube. https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=js6uTRT8KO4 Team Builds the First Living Robots. (2020). UVM Today | The University of Vermont. https://www.uvm. edu/uvmnews/news/team-builds-firstliving-robots

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Solitary Confinement: A Cruel and Unusual Torture Arabelle Choo Hunter College High School, 8th

The United States is the leading country when it comes to the number of prisoners incarcerated per capita. 2019 statistics from the Bureau of Justice claims that more than 1.4 million people are imprisoned in the country, indicating that although it is home to only 5% of the world’s population, the United States contains almost a quarter of its prisoners. To these people, solitary confinement remains a very real threat, and though meant to be a mere form of punishment, it is something akin to torture, resulting in severe consequences that manifest in more ways than one. Many researchers agree that solitary confinement is defined as “the isolated confinement of prisoners for twenty-three hours a day in a barren environment, often under extreme levels of surveillance” (Smith, 2006). The conditions differ from facility to facility but they all serve the same purpose, with the same essential features. The common features are lack of social and psychological human interaction, with limited number of visitors and phone calls, and a complete absence of physical contact. A 2006 Urban Institute report disclosed a 95% agreement of prison wardens that a supermax (solitary confinement) unit 22 | UNSEEN - THE J OURNAL OF KYHS

was “a stand-alone unit or part of another facility [that] is designated for violent or disruptive inmates”, a unit that “typically involves single-cell confinement for up to 23 hours per day for an indefinite period of time”, and a unit in which inmates “have minimal contact with staff and other inmates” (Smith, 2006). These punishments have the potential to span from hours to years. There are some that have even spent decades in isolation, such as Albert Woodfox, who was released in 2016 after spending over forty years in these conditions. A study conducted in 2011-2012 determined that about 10% of all prisoners and 5% of all of the jail inmates had experienced 30 or more days in solitary confinement in the past year or since the start of their sentence (in the case of newer arrivals). Solitary confinement took root in 1829, at Philadelphia’s Eastern State Penitentiary. The idea was taken from the Quakers, who thought that inmates that were given Bibles and isolated in cells would pray, repent, and seek introspection. The experiment involved a system in which inmates were isolated for twenty-three hours each day with work to complete. However, by the


1830s, the inmates were experiencing hallucinations, dementia, and monomania, the new method yielding only the results of insanity, suicide, and the loss of ability to function as a member of society. In 1844, a penitentiary physician determined that the symptoms shown by the isolated individuals could be undone when adding a cellmate, thus ensuring they were no longer alone. New York conducted a similar test, confining individual prisoners with absolutely nothing to do, was forced to release the twenty-six survivors almost immediately, they finally chose to revert to the Auburn system and began allowing inmates to work collaboratively during the day. Slowly, this pattern presented itself everywhere and solitary confinement died out as a practice. Research at the time was focused on sensory and perceptual deprivation in hopes of “brainwashing” prisoners of war. Solitary confinement was once again turned into a regular practice in the 1980s, in which Marion Penitentiary became the United States’ first super-maximum security prison. On an October day in 1983, two prison guards were killed and the prison subsequently locked down. However, they refused to lift the lockdown, imprisoning the inmates in their cells without communal

activities. Solitary confinement became a method of punishment for those that were considered “dangerous”, given the name “supermax”. At least 57 such institutions were established in the United States by the year 2006, home to over 20,000 individuals. Data revealed lower levels of serious psychological distress, or SPD, in prisoners who had been subjected to no isolation. Among prison inmates who had not spent any time in restrictive housing, 13% were identified with SPD. Among jail inmates without any time in restrictive housing, 25% were identified with SPD (Beck, 2015). A 2018 study, for instance, found that prisoners who had spent time in solitary confinement were three times as likely to exhibit symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) than those who had not (Hagan et al., 2017). It is far from uncommon for isolated prisoners to endure a variety of physiological consequences, regardless of the time span. Isolated inmates often report symptoms similar to those of hypertension, such as chronic headaches, trembling, sweaty palms, extreme dizziness and heart palpitations (Smith, 2006; Shalev, 2008; Cocoran, 2015). Solitary confinement

Fig. 1 Prevalence of serious psychological distress in inmates, by time in restrictive housing, 2011-12 UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 2 3


Fig.2 Prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms by solitary confinement history among former prisoners seeking primary care (N = 119)

also results in issues with eating and digestion, which is particularly prominent within the first three months, along with insomnia, thus giving way to reports of chronic lethargy. These extended periods of inactivity often result in additional neck and back muscle pains, as well as abdominal discomfort. Further, many researchers conclude that some adverse consequences of solitary confinement are a direct result of sensory deprivation (Smith, 2006; Shalev, 2008; Cocoran, 2015). Oversensitivity to common stimuli became a prominent symptom, displaying negative reactions to even the sound of doors. These overreactions immensely stunt their ability to function as a part of society, even among other prisoners. Returning has only served to worsen these symptoms, as well as triggering both new and pre-existing psychological ones. Experts have classified three categories of physical symptoms that stem from solitary confinement that are 24 | UNSEEN - THE J OURNAL OF KYHS

correlated with respective conditions. They are listed as symptoms associated with deprivation conditions, symptoms associated with deprivation policies limiting access to healthcare, and chronic musculoskeletal pain exacerbated by the intersection of deprivation conditions and deprivation policies. In each category, they analyze how the institution of solitary confinement shapes both physical health outcomes and perceptions of health for people housed in solitary confinement, revealing both the mechanisms of physical health deterioration and the accentuated comorbidity of physical and mental health in solitary confinement (Strong et al., 2020). Chronic conditions like obesity, hypertension, and asthma are aggravated by incarceration, even those that get released generally remain in disparately unfavorable conditions. One recent study has examined post-release mortality (from all causes, including suicide, murder, and drug overdose) associated with previous


time in solitary confinement. People who had spent time in solitary confinement in North Carolina between 2000 and 2015 were 24% more likely to die in their first year after release than former prisoners who had not spent time in solitary confinement (Ranapurwala et al., 2018). A 2020 study conducted in Denmark also discovered that those who had been subjected to solitary confinement had higher mortality within five years of their release compared to those who had been imprisoned without it. Solitary confinement’s mortality risk goes beyond that of incarceration and release from prison itself. Inmates who have been warehoused in solitary confinement are prone to become damaged and ill-equipped to reenter society. That is a practical concern; it is also an affront to human decency (Editorial Board, 2018). 54% of prisoners and 68% of those held in jails who had been held for at least 30 days in solitary confinement had gotten in fights or been reported to have assaulted those around them. Facilities that utilize solitary confinement often have higher amounts of disorder, whereas maintaining less inmate trust and confidence in the staff. They also tend to be home to larger amounts of violent prisoners, individuals with longer criminal histories, and people with mental health issues. For all its negative consequences, solitary confinement is a standardized practice with weighty fiscal costs. The cost of keeping a federal prisoner isolated is three times that of if kept with the rest of the facility’s population. A significant portion of the high price is due to the additional staffing, with a study estimating that the average cost per cell of a supermax facility is $75,000, as opposed to the

$25,000 it would take to keep the inmate in more normal circumstances. There are not many states that publish data on these costs, but available data has indicated exorbitant costs. According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations, the average length of time spent in the Pelican Bay Security Housing Unit (SHU) is 6.8 years. This means the total cost of holding each inmate in the SHU is on average $480,358. Housing the same inmate in the general population would save $83,733. Taking in the costs of SHU and Administrative Segregation Unit (ASU) combined, solitary confinement costs California taxpayers an additional $175 million a year (Rodriguez, 2011). Supermax facilities also cost more to construct than other types. The cost is two to three times higher than that of a maximum-security prison. Pelican Bay State Prison was built in 1989 at a cost of $230 million to hold 1,056 inmates, or, $217,803 per cell. The Maryland Correctional Adjustment Center was built at a cost of $21 million (in 1989 dollars) to house 288 inmates, or a cost of over $72,000 per bed. 15 Wisconsin’s Boscobel supermax facility was built to house 500 inmates at a cost of $47.5 million (in 1990 dollars), or over $95,000 per bed. The federal supermax, ADX Florence, was completed in 1994 at a cost of $60 million—over $122,000 for each of its 490 beds. Tamms Correctional Center cost $73 million to build in 1998 and was designed to hold 500 inmates. This gives a construction price tag of approximately $146,000 per bed. Ohio State Penitentiary, likewise, constructed to house 500 supermax inmates, cost taxpayers $50 million to build, or $100,000 per bed (Rodriguez, 2011). Mississippi has saved their taxpayers about 8 million dollars a UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 2 5


year by cutting the number of inmates in solitary confinement down from 1,000 to approximately 150, as well as closing the supermax unit. The detrimental effects were recognized in 2015 by the United Nations, passing the “Nelson Mandela rules”, which are the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. Included among them is the limitation of solitary confinement that lasts longer than 15 consecutive days. The American Correctional Association also issued guidelines the following year that inhibited solitary confinement for certain groups. Among these categories were inmates with severe mental illnesses, one many prisoners fit under. Administrators were thus prompted to review standards and shorten the confinement periods, establishing a clear criterion for release. The levels of progress vary from state to state. In 39 states, the number of inmates put in solitary confinement decreased between 2016 to 2018 but increased in the other 11 states. Colorado hardly ever utilizes solitary confinement, as opposed to Louisiana, in which almost a fifth of the male inmates were isolated pretty much all day long. Nearly everywhere, black inmates are overrepresented among those in solitary, and whites are underrepresented. In Texas, more than 2,100 inmates have been locked away for more than three years; of those, more than 1,300 have been in solitary for more than six years. Indiana, New Jersey and Pennsylvania also lock prisoners away for years at a time with jaw-dropping frequency (Editorial Board, 2018). In Minnesota, an investigative series by the Star Tribune newspaper found that in the past decade more than 1,600 inmates in that state had spent half a year or more 26 | UNSEEN - THE J OURNAL OF KYHS

in solitary confinement. More than 400 had been isolated in their cells for more than a year (The Monitor’s Editorial Board, 2016). The Safe Alternatives to Segregation Initiative is a project by the nonprofit Vera Institute of Justice in New York City aiming to minimize solitary confinement in reformatory facilities, started in 2015. Nebraska, North Carolina, Oregon, New York City, Middlesex County, and New Jersey participated from that year, whereas December saw Louisiana, Minnesota, Nevada, Utah, and Virginia join their ranks. The 21-month partnership is funded by a $2.2 million grant from the US Department of Justice, and each state contributes a matching amount of up to $50,000. A Vera Institute of Justice study advised that authorities should make an effort to slowly permit inmates to better “control” their surroundings. This study investigated the effect of the Virginia Department of Corrections’ “Step Down” pilot program, launched in the December of 2016 with the US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs and Bureau of Justice Assistance. It discovered that the number of inmates held in solitary confinement went from 5% (2016) to 3% (2018). Vera concluded that it was necessary to “progressively introduce opportunities for individuals to make decisions, exercise agency, and control aspects of their environment” (Staff, 2018). Juan E. Méndez, a UN Special Rapporteur on torture, called on the United States to completely ban their use of prolonged and indefinite solitary confinement, claiming “Even if solitary confinement is applied for short periods of time, it often causes mental and physical suffering or humiliation, amounting to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or


punishment, and if the resulting pain or sufferings are severe, solitary confinement even amounts to torture.” He firmly holds the stance that juveniles, people with psychosocial or other disabilities or health conditions, pregnant women, women with infants, and breastfeeding mothers as well as those serving a life sentence and prisoners on death row should not be placed in such conditions under any circumstances. Méndez warned that there are insufficient safeguard mechanisms in the region for preventing, detecting, and responding to the use of solitary confinement, such as making sure that the prisoners held in solitary confinement retain access to legal counsel and medical assistance (“UN expert warns against abuse of solitary confinement in the Americas,” 2013). While giving a global report addressed to the UN General Assembly in 2011, Méndez referred to the practice of solitary confinement as a “harsh measure which is contrary to rehabilitation, the aim of the penitentiary system.” Public health agencies are saddled with an ethical obligation to deal with the excessive practice of this form of punishment in facilities when it comes to concerns under their area of expertise. These include, but are not limited to, violence prevention, health equity, surveillance, and minimizing occupational and psychological hazards for correctional staff. Professionals should head the efforts to reform this cruel correctional policy, attempting to shift more with models that focus on rehabilitation and restorative justice. Solitary confinement has been used as a disciplinary measure for quite a long time, and in order to halt its use, we must have other methods and options at hand. The American Public Health Association

orders federal, state, and local correctional authorities to eliminate solitary confinement as a means of punishing prisoners and to develop alternative disciplinary sanctions and processes that accommodate prisoners with serious mental illnesses and chronic illnesses. They also request to eliminate solitary confinement as a means of managing security threats except in the most extreme cases when no less restrictive option is available to mitigate a serious, current, and ongoing threat to safety. In such cases, prisoners should be confined in the least restrictive conditions possible and should be returned to the general population when the threat abates. Prisoners should be closely monitored and removed from solitary confinement if changing health circumstances so dictate. They also ask the authorities to ensure the isolation for clinical or therapeutic purposes occurs only upon the order of a health care professional. Moreover, patients who are separated from the general prison population for their own safety should be housed in the least restrictive conditions possible (“Solitary Confinement as a Public Health Issue,” 2013). Alternatives that could replace solitary confinement include the use of a range of graduated sanctions and the reward for positive behavior. Due to the intense negative mental and social impact inmates experience as a result of segregation, this is not a punishment meant to be doled out lightly. Milder, non-violent infractions can be addressed with temporary, less severe sanctions, such as rescission/delay of parole date, forfeit of good time and good conduct time, monetary restitution, monetary fine, loss of privileges (visiting, phone, etc.), a change of housing, removal from a UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 2 7


program or group activity, job termination, impoundment of the inmate’s personal property, confiscation of contraband, and extra duties. More and more reward systems that provide incentives for good behavior are being implemented, with a huge shift in the use of precious resources. An example presents itself in Kevin Kempf, Director of Idaho’s Department of Corrections, has allowed prisoners who have gone 3 months with no disciplinary offenses to buy pizzas from a local partner (Stahl, 2016). He is also working with local school districts to organize events in which inmates can display and sell their artworks to the community. Ohio has also begun to convert old, segregated housing units to what are now referred to as “limited privilege units.” As the name suggests, these are areas that come with perks such as more out-of-cell time as a reward for good behavior. It is now additionally possible for prisoners to shorten their sentence by partaking in prosocial activities such as anger management and problem-solving programs. Lastly, privileges such as time to work out, access to desirable food, job opportunities, and more desirable housing assignments can be offered to prisoners who have good records (Vanags, 2018). The places that reduced their use of solitary confinement experienced a decline in altercations between inmates and the staff, creating a safer environment for everyone. Inmates are brought to these facilities to reform themselves, and despite what they may have done, they are human. Solitary confinement is a costly, inhumane, and detrimental practice that only serves to break them down further, driving them further and further from that goal. 28 | UNSEEN - THE J OURNAL OF KYHS

Works Cited Barack Obama. (2016, January 26). Barack Obama: Why we must rethink solitary confinement. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www. washingtonpost.com/opinions/barackobama-why-we-must-rethink-solitaryconfinement/2016/01/25/29a361f2-c38411e5-8965-0607e0e265ce_story.html Beck, A. J. (2015, October 23). Use of Restrictive Housing in U.S. Prisons and Jails, 2011-12. Retrieved from www.bjs. gov website: https://www.bjs.gov/index. cfm?iid=5433&ty=pbdetail Blanco-Suarez, E. (2019, February 27). The Effects of Solitary Confinement on the Brain. Retrieved from Psychology Today website: https://www. psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brainchemistry/201902/the-effects-solitaryconfinement-the-brain Carson, Ph. D, E. A. (2020, October 22). Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) Prisoners in 2019. Retrieved from www. bjs.gov website: https://www.bjs.gov/ index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=7106 Cloud, D. H., Ahalt, C., Augustine, D., Sears, D., & Williams, B. (2020). Medical Isolation and Solitary Confinement: Balancing Health and Humanity in US Jails and Prisons During COVID-19. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 35(9)(2738–2742). https://doi. org/10.1007/s11606-020-05968-y Cloud, D. H., Drucker, E., Browne, A., & Parsons, J. (2015). Public Health and Solitary Confinement in the United States. American Journal of Public Health, 105(1), 18–26. https://doi.org/10.2105/ ajph.2014.302205 Cocoran, M. M. (2015). Effects of Solitary Confinement on the Well Being of Prison Inmates. Retrieved from Nyu.edu website: https://wp.nyu.edu/


steinhardt-appsych_opus/effects-ofsolitary-confinement-on-the-well-beingof-prison-inmates/ Cong. Research Serv., (Ed.). (n.d.). U.S. Constitution - Eighth Amendment | Constitution Annotated. Retrieved December 2, 2020, from constitution. congress.gov website: https://constitution. congress.gov/constitution/amendment-8/ Coppola, F. (2019). The brain in solitude: an (other) eighth amendment challenge to solitary confinement. Journal of Law and the Biosciences, 6(1), 184– 225. https://doi.org/10.1093/jlb/lsz014 Dart, T. (2019, April 4). Opinion | My jail stopped using solitary confinement. Here’s why. Retrieved from Washington Post website: https:// www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ my-jail-stopped-using-solitaryconfinement-it-should-be-eliminatedeverywhere/2019/04/04/f06da502-523011e9-88a1-ed346f0ec94f_story.html Editorial Board. (2018, October 13). Solitary confinement is an affront to human decency. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/ opinions/easing-the-torture-of-solitaryconfinement/2018/10/13/68c50238-cd8011e8-920f-dd52e1ae4570_story.html Fettig, A. (2019, December 16). ACLU News & Commentary. Retrieved from American Civil Liberties Union website: https://www.aclu.org/news/ prisoners-rights/2019-was-a-watershedyear-in-the-movement-to-stop-solitaryconfinement/ General Assembly Resolution A/ RES/70/175. (2016, January 8). Retrieved from Undocs.org website: https://undocs. org/A/RES/70/175 United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules).

Goode, E. (2015, August 3). Solitary Confinement: Punished for Life. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www. nytimes.com/2015/08/04/health/solitaryconfinement-mental-illness.html Guenther, L. (2013). Solitary confinement : social death and its afterlives. Minneapolis: University Of Minnesota Press. Hagan, B. O., Wang, E. A., Aminawung, J. A., Albizu-Garcia, C. E., Zaller, N., Nyamu, S., … Fox, A. D. (2017). History of Solitary Confinement Is Associated with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms among Individuals Recently Released from Prison. Journal of Urban Health; Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, 95(2), 141–148. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-0170138-1 Leonard, J. (2020, August 6). Effects of solitary confinement on mental and physical health (M. A. White, PhD, MS, Ed.). Retrieved from www. medicalnewstoday.com website: https:// www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/ solitary-confinement-effects Lobel, J., & Peter Scharff Smith. (2019). Solitary confinement : effects, practices, and pathways toward reform. New York, New York: Oxford University Press. McCarthy, K. (2015, October 23). Solitary Confinement in 201112. Retrieved from Bjs.gov website: https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/press/ urhuspj1112pr.cfm Melzer, N. (2020, February 28). United States: prolonged solitary confinement amounts to psychological torture, says UN expert. Retrieved from OHCHR website: https://www.ohchr.org/ EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews. aspx?NewsID=25633&LangID=E UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 2 9


Miller, S. (2019, March 25). REIMAGINING SOLITARY CONFINEMENT – Confluence. Retrieved December 6, 2020, from NYU GALLATIN website: https://confluence.gallatin.nyu. edu/context/interdisciplinary-seminar/ reimagining-solitary-confinement#easyfootnote-50-14452 Mills, A., & Kendall, K. (2018). Mental Health in Prisons Critical Perspectives on Treatment and Confinement. Cham Springer International Publishing. Raemisch, R. (2018, December 5). Why I Ended the Horror of Long-Term Solitary in Colorado’s Prisons. Retrieved from American Civil Liberties Union website: https://www.aclu.org/blog/ prisoners-rights/solitary-confinement/ why-i-ended-horror-long-term-solitarycolorados-prisons Ranapurwala, S. I., Shanahan, M. E., Alexandridis, A. A., Proescholdbell, S. K., Naumann, R. B., Edwards, D., & Marshall, S. W. (2018). Opioid Overdose Mortality Among Former North Carolina Inmates: 2000–2015. American Journal of Public Health, 108(9), 1207–1213. https:// doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2018.304514 Reiter, K., Ventura, J., Lovell, D., Augustine, D., Barragan, M., Blair, T., … Strong, J. (2020). Psychological Distress in Solitary Confinement: Symptoms, Severity, and Prevalence in the United States, 2017–2018. American Journal of Public Health, 110(S1), S56–S62. https:// doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2019.305375 Resnik, J., VanCleave, A., Bell, K., Boykin, O., Guilmette, C., Hudson, T., … Posick, B. (2016). Aiming to Reduce Time-in-Cell: Reports from Correctional Systems on the Numbers of Prisoners in Restricted Housing and on the Potential of Policy Changes to Bring About Reforms. 30 | UNSEEN - THE J OURNAL OF KYHS

SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi. org/10.2139/ssrn.2874492 Rodriguez, S. (2011). The High Cost of Solitary Confinement. Retrieved from National Institute of Corrections, The United States Department of Justice website: https://nicic.gov/high-costsolitary-confinement Shalve, S. (2008). A Sourcebook on Solitary Confinement. Retrieved from Solitaryconfinement.org website: https:// www.solitaryconfinement.org/sourcebook Smith, P. S. (2006). The Effects of Solitary Confinement on Prison Inmates: A Brief History and Review of the Literature. Crime and Justice, 34(1), 441– 528. https://doi.org/10.1086/500626 Solitary Confinement as a Public Health Issue. (2013, November 5). Retrieved from apha.org website: https://apha.org/policies-and-advocacy/ public-health-policy-statements/policydatabase/2014/07/14/13/30/solitaryconfinement-as-a-public-health-issue Staff, T. C. R. (2018, December 24). Can Prisons Find Alternatives to Solitary? Retrieved from The Crime Report website: https://thecrimereport.org/2018/12/24/ can-prisons-find-alternatives-to-solitary/ Stahl, A. (2016, May 31). “This Is a Public Safety Approach”: Solitary Confinement Reform Begins in Idaho. Retrieved from Solitary Watch website: https://solitarywatch.org/2016/05/31/ this-is-a-public-safety-approach-solitaryconfinement-reform-begins-in-idaho/ Strong, J. D., Reiter, K., Gonzalez, G., Tublitz, R., Augustine, D., Barragan, M., … Blair, T. R. (2020). The body in isolation: The physical health impacts of incarceration in solitary confinement. PLOS ONE, 15(10), e0238510. https:// doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238510 Sullivan, L. (2006, July 25).


Timeline: Solitary Confinement in U.S. Prisons. Retrieved from NPR.org website: https://www.npr.org/templates/story/ story.php?storyId=5579901 The Monitor’s Editorial Board. (2016, December 20). Finding alternatives to solitary confinement. Retrieved from The Christian Science Monitor website: https://www.csmonitor. com/Commentary/the-monitorsview/2016/1220/Finding-alternatives-tosolitary-confinement UN expert warns against abuse of solitary confinement in the Americas. (2013, March 13). Retrieved from UN News website: https://news.un.org/en/ story/2013/03/434242-un-expert-warnsagainst-abuse-solitary-confinementamericas UN independent expert calls on US to ban prolonged, indefinite solitary confinements. (2013, August 23). Retrieved from UN News website: https:// news.un.org/en/story/2013/08/447382 U.S. Government Publishing Office. (2012). SUBCOMMITTEE ON CONSTITUTION, CIVIL RIGHTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION. Retrieved from https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/ C H R G - 11 2 s h rg 8 7 6 3 0 / p d f / C H R G 112shrg87630.pdf U.S.Government Publishing Office. (2014). SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE CONSTITUTION, CIVIL RIGHTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY

UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION. In govinfo. Retrieved from https://www.govinfo.gov/ content/pkg/CHRG-113shrg28394/pdf/ CHRG-113shrg28394.pdf U.S.Office of the Deputy Attorney General. (2016). U.S. Department of Justice Report and Recommendations Concerning the Use of Restrictive Housing FINAL REPORT. Retrieved from https://www.justice.gov/archives/ dag/file/815551/download Vanags, S. (2018, November 20). Alternatives to Solitary Confinement and Segregated Housing. Retrieved from Interfaith Action for Human Rights website: https://www.interfaithactionhr. org/alternatives_to_solitary_confinement Wallace, R. (2013). Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Colorado’s continued warehousing of mentally ill prisoners in solitary confinement. In M. Silverstein (Ed.), ACLU of Colorado. Retrieved from http://aclu-co.org/wp-content/uploads/ files/imce/Solitary%20Report.pdf Wedekind, J. (2011). Fact Sheet: Solitary Confinement and the Law. In Solitarywatch. Retrieved from https://solitarywatch.org/wp-content/ uploads/2011/06/FACT-SHEET-SolitaryConfinement-and-the-Law1.pdf Wildeman, C., & Andersen, L. H. (2020). Solitary confinement placement and post-release mortality risk among formerly incarcerated individuals: a population-based study. The Lancet Public Health, 5(2), e107–e113. https:// doi.org/10.1016/s2468-2667(19)30271-3

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How Disney Altered ‘Star Wars’ Brandon Ian Baek Apgujeoung Middle School, 9th

On October 12th, 2012, Lucasfilm was taken over by Disney at 4 billion dollars. Founded by George Lucas in 1971, it produced many fan-favorite film franchises such as Star Wars and Indiana Jones. It thrived until Lucas decided to retire and sell the company to Disney. At the time, fans were skeptical about whether Disney can handle the future of Star Wars, one of the most beloved film series of all time. The Star Wars franchise started off in 1977 with the release of ‘Star Wars’. ‘Star Wars’ was released in a limited number of theaters; however, it quickly became a blockbuster hit, leading to a much wider release. It became the highest grossing film of all time until the release of ‘E.T’. Many people around the world fell in love with this little film that George Lucas created. ‘Star Wars’ was retitled as ‘Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope’ after a sequel came out. The story was then expanded into a trilogy, also known as the ‘original trilogy’. As the ‘original trilogy’ follows episodes 4, 5, and 6, in the year 1999, episode 1 hit the theaters, starting the ‘prequel trilogy’. 32 | UNSEEN - THE J OURNAL OF KYHS

The original and prequel trilogies together are called ‘The Skywalker Saga’. The Skywalker Saga follows the story of a boy named Anakin Skywalker. Anakin is a typical slave boy living on a planet called Tatooine. Then one day, a republic spaceship carrying the Queen of Naboo and two jedi knights makes an emergency landing on Tatooine. Jedi are a group of individuals composed of various species, who have the ability to manipulate the magical power called the ‘force’. The two jedi eventually discover that Anakin is also a force user and bring him to the jedi temple to train him to become a jedi. During his training, Anakin could not help but notice the hypocrisies of the jedi and got tired of hiding his emotions. While he was struggling, chancellor Palpatine approached him. The chancellor lured Anakin by telling him stories of the ancient Sith, who are dark force users, and how they could achieve everything they wanted. Chancellor Palpatine, who in truth, was a dark Sith lord, finally unveiled his plan to build a galactic empire after Anakin gave in to the dark side, being renamed as ‘Darth Vader’.


After the events of the prequel trilogy, the original trilogy starts with Darth Vader and now emperor Palpatine ruling the galaxy. As the empire continues to thrive, in the far corner of the galaxy, on Tatooine, Luke Skywalker, the son of Anakin Skywalker, lives a peaceful life. That is until the old jedi master ObiWan Kenobi informs Luke about the past when jedi were at their best, and that his father was among the best. Luke and ObiWan get a distress signal from Leia, the princess of Alderaan. Luke, Obi-Wan, together with Han Solo, the best pilot in the galaxy, and Han’s partner Chewbacca, take off to save the princess. In doing so, Obi-Wan gets killed by Darth Vader, but they manage to destroy the empire’s super weapon, the Death Star. After Luke gets defeated badly in his second encounter with Vader, he finds out the truth that the evilest person in the galaxy is his father. Luke trains in the jedi arts with the ghost of Obi-Wan and an ancient jedi grand master. When Luke is ready, he confronts the emperor himself. When Luke defeats Vader, he realizes that Vader is his father, and that the emperor is trying to lure him to the dark side as well. But Luke does not get played by the emperor, which leads to Palpatine attempting to kill Luke. At that moment, as his son is being tortured in front of his eyes, Vader is redeemed and Anakin Skywalker the good Jedi returns and throws the emperor off guard and kills the evil emperor. This is the overall story of the Skywalker Saga what George Lucas created. In times when films were not released, a plethora of games, books,

and comics were produced to be added to the Star Wars universe. All of the Star Wars contents that came out during the late 1990s to the early 2000s is called the Expanded Universe, EU for short. The EU dealt with crazy stories that filled in periods in between the films such as the era thousands of years before the events of the original trilogy, and stories that took place after the 6th film. The thriving EU came to a slight halt when the Clone Wars was released as it regarded some EU material as non-canon, meaning it is unofficial information. But the might of the Expanded Universe fell when Disney purchased Lucasfilm and dubbed the entirety of the EU as “legends”, turning everything non-canon, except for the 6 films and the Clone Wars TV show. This was only the beginning of Disney’s manipulation over Star Wars. After the acquisition of Lucasfilm, Disney really did not take any public action for the next two years (They were likely to develop the sequel trilogy). Then in the beginning of 2014, Disney announced that the Clone Wars was cancelled, and the Expanded Universe is being regarded as non-canon. Following that, they kick started the so-called ‘Disney Star Wars’ with a new animated series called ‘Star Wars: Rebels’. This was a completely new show set a little bit before episode 4, with completely new characters. Because it aimed for a younger target audience, the first two seasons were not welcomed by older fans. The main criticism was that the main character, a teenage boy, was too annoying. In season 3 and season 4, the critique was much reduced but did not live UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 3 3


up to its predecessor, ‘The Clone Wars’. Disney had a rocky start with ‘Star Wars: Rebels’, but there is a controversy over the sequel trilogy. To give an insight on what the sequels are, it is the story that takes place 30 years after episode 6. It revolves around a female force user named Rey, and an ex-stormtrooper, Finn, fighting against the First Order and their leader, Kylo Ren. As you can see, the basic plot is almost identical to the original trilogy. In 2015, when episode 7 ‘The Force Awakens’ was released, fans were somewhat disappointed. They have been waiting for decades for a story set after the original trilogy – they were hyped up by the trailers revealing the return of the fanfavorite characters – but a totally different story came out. However, what they got was a direct copy of episode 4, with the protagonist being an orphan on a desert planet, a galactic wide threat developing planet destroying weapons, and a masked villain with his old and powerful master. Other than the issue with the characters, the criticism of episode 7 pretty much ends here. It was not the best movie, but it was not a bad movie. Unfortunately, episode 8, ‘The Last Jedi’ divided the fandom. Some think it is a great film, while others completely hate it. I watched it several times, and liked it at first, but soon after discovered a problem. The episode does not necessarily connect well with the other episodes. For example, this film brought back Luke Skywalker, the fan-favorite hero who never gave up hope, but this episode made him into an old hopeless hermit. He even tries to kill his nephew just because he 34 | UNSEEN - THE J OURNAL OF KYHS

was being tempted by the dark side, which is something Luke would never do, since he used to be a character who did not give up hope in his father, the evilest person in the galaxy at the time. The actor for Luke Skywalker, Mark Hamill, stated in many interviews that he did not think this was the Luke he played back in the 80’s. He says “I almost had to think of Luke as a different character. Maybe he was Jake Skywalker. He’s not my Luke Skywalker.” Rian Johnson is a great filmmaker, but he just did not do his Star Wars homework well. Finally, episode 9, ‘The Rise of Skywalker’, the movie that was supposed to be the culmination of 40 years, the end to the Skywalker saga, went down as just a cliche film. The whole film felt like it was trying to retcon what happened in episode 8, and just pursuing what J.J. Abrams wanted. It changed the character of Luke, again, changed the backstory of Rey, and the main villain. Watching all three films in the sequel trilogy, it honestly feels like two separate pieces, while the other six films are emulsified into one story. It seemed like they had no plan from the beginning. Daisy Ridley, the actress of Rey, has said in a talk show that she did not know her character’s backstory because it kept changing until they began filming episode 9. To give more evidence, the character of Finn, the ex-stormtrooper, was one of the most interesting characters, if the most interesting, in episode 7. But, as time progressed, his role was reduced heavily. He started off as a very important character who even fought with a lightsaber, but by the time of the last film,


he became nothing more than a comedic extra character. This definitely shows that they did not plan how to use the character, Finn. If they had, he would have stayed in the essential part of the trilogy. This is what Disney has done for about 7 years following the acquisition of Lucasfilm. It might be their attempt to fulfill what the larger audience would want, trying to dodge the backlash that the prequels created. When the prequels first came out, it created such a large resentment among most fans, maybe even greater than that of the sequels, ruining the acting career of several actors. Disney probably tried their best to prevent this from happening again but failed. However, in 2018, the revival of ‘The Clone Wars’ was announced by the series’ supervising director, Dave Filoni, at San Diego Comic-Con. When the final season of the show aired in March 2020, the fans could not have been happier. On top of that, the new live action TV show called ‘The Mandalorian’, currently running its second season, achieved great success all around the world which is not too common for Star Wars content. People are viewing Star Wars in a different way now that it earned back most of its fandom with the new shows. Now a wider range of people are enjoying the 40-year-old bundle of films and shows. It can be assumed that Disney has learned that fans do not want a money maker film, but rather a film crafted by a true fan, with great characters and a greater story. The future of Star Wars looks very bright, and Disney is altering the series in a good way now.

Works Cited The Clone Wars: Season Seven. (n.d.). Retrieved October 08, 2020, from https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/The_ Clone_Wars:_Season_Seven Nick Romano August 27, & Romano, N. (n.d.). Exclusive: Daisy Ridley says she wasn’t getting much work right after finishing ‘Star Wars’. Retrieved October 08, 2020, from https://ew.com/ movies/daisy-ridley-star-wars-job-offers/ Nick Romano August 27, & Romano, N. (n.d.). Exclusive: Daisy Ridley says she wasn’t getting much work right after finishing ‘Star Wars’. Retrieved October 08, 2020, from https://ew.com/ movies/daisy-ridley-star-wars-job-offers/

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The Change of Ecosystems and the Direction of Policies after COVID-19 Bryan Kang Fayston Preparatory School, 10th

In the current situation, every country is facing an unprecedented economic crisis. The United Nations predict that the global economy will lose approximately $8.5 trillion in production over the next two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic (UN, 2020). At the outbreak of the COVID-19, it seemed to pose an opportunity for nations to implement new policies that can preserve the environment, as the pandemic situation has caused a 7% reduction of 2020 greenhouse gas emissions until April, compared to the amount in 2019 (Barone, Tweeten, Wilson, & Law, 2020). Historically, human beings had several chances to address the climate crisis. Yet, we have neglected and ignored the aggravating state of our planet. Scientists predict that it is our last chance before the tipping point, which will cause rapid exacerbations to our climate. In this essay, I will examine the meaning of COVID-19 regarding climate crisis and suggest policy directions that countries should implement before it is too late to take any actions. In history, there have been many cases in which human activities were restricted for various reasons. In previous 36 | UNSEEN - THE J OURNAL OF KYHS

lockdown cases, the environment was conserved, causing beneficial effects. For instance, in national parks such as the Yellowstone National Park and the Yosemite National Park, restricting human activity has helped preserve the environment and biodiversity in these regions. Also, the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), a strip of land that separates the two Koreas since the Korean War, is known to contain over 5,000 species that include endangered animals such as the Asiatic black bear, red-crowned crane, and the Siberian musk deer (Harbage, 2019). Although there were only beneficial effects in the previous examples of lockdown, in the current COVID-19 pandemic situation, both positive and negative results to the ecosystems are detected. For instance, ocean plastic waste is becoming a severe problem. As the use of plastic masks and gloves has skyrocketed, the amount of plastic waste that is already being discharged has rapidly increased. This phenomenon practically generates fatalistic consequences to the lives of marine creatures because the masks or gloves are mistaken as jellyfish and are eaten by


sea animals (Ford, 2020). Since plastic is indivisible for years, various species are put at risk of their life sustainment. On the other hand, due to the slowdown of international trading, greenhouse gas emissions created by shipping traffic has significantly reduced. The reduction of greenhouse gas emissions will benefit the ocean: by slowing down the pace of acidification1 as well as by alleviating the warming of the ocean, deoxygenation, and threat to the marine ecosystem. However, if the international community focuses on economic recovery using cheap fossil fuels, these benefits will not resolve as an overall impact. According to the TIME magazine, continuous heat waves have disrupted the recovery of coral reefs and destroyed almost 95% of kelp forests, which are the food and shelter source for numerous marine species (Baker, 2020). Since the ocean provides 70% of the entire oxygen and absorbs 93% of the heat caused by greenhouse gases, specific restrictions that can conserve the ocean and its biodiversity have to be implemented as soon as possible (Baker, 2020). Meanwhile, the ecosystem of rainforests is being threatened by secret lumbering during the lockdown situation. Due to the loosening of restrictions by local governments during lockdown situations, deforestation, illegal poaching, and animal trafficking have secretly increased in the Amazon (Brown, 2020). Moreover, the destruction of animal habitat has driven wildlife out to new locations. This circumstance can lead to unexpected interaction with different 1. Ocean acidification is the phenomenon that the ocean’s pH reduces over an extended period, caused primarily by the increase amount of carbon dioxide (NOAA, 2012).

species that could generate new virus or diseases like coronavirus (Brown, 2020). Since rainforests are also an essential eco-system that can decrease the impact of climate change by absorbing carbon dioxide, nations need to introduce effective policies to preserve the forest such as by adopting forest monitoring system and more programs that support and educate communities about the rainforest. Although we now have an opportunity to recover the economy while considering the environment, history says we will probably repeat our mistakes as in the past. The Great Recession, for instance, was a financial crisis that became the cause of exorbitant decreases in greenhouse gases of developed countries. The recession made emissions decrease by 1.3%, but as the economy bounced back, the emissions increased exponentially (Barone, Tweeten, Wilson, & Law, 2020). Also, when the second oil shock happened from 1979 to 1982, it caused a recession in the US and lowered the emissions by 4% (Barone, Tweeten, Wilson, & Law, 2020). There have been many opportunities like these, and now may be the last chance to address policies that can resolve the climate crisis, but humans are still focusing on the recovery of economy on the basis of fossil fuels. Previously, President Trump supported oil companies when they suffered a recession. If he gets reelected, he plans to recover the economy along with oil companies and roll back environmental regulations such as the regulation of HFCs and methane leaks (Popovich & Plumer, 2020). We need to stop these egoistic actions from individual nations. If human beings do not pursue differences after the pandemic situation, greenhouse emissions will continuously increase the burden for future generations. UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 3 7


The 2020 election of the United States of America has become an event that can leave an everlasting impact on the future. Not only will it decide the direction of the environmental policies of the US but also will shape the destiny of the future generation. Currently, the two candidates have distinct differences regarding climate change and restrictions. President Trump, for example, has and will continue to minimize the restrictions of the development of fossil fuels. He has slowed down the development of solar power by imposing additional taxes on shipped supplies (Welch & Gibbens, 2020). Also, Trump does not take any election pledge to address the climate crisis and has officially withdrawn from the Paris Agreement on November 4th, 2020 (Welch & Gibbens, 2020). In contrast, Democrat candidate Joe Biden plans to rejoin the Paris Agreement with a $2 trillion proposal that will pursue policies that can reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 (Astor, 2020). He will also apply strict regulations on fossil fuels and nuclear energies. Indeed, the US citizens will choose their president from a comprehensive view to increase their national interest. However, in a futureoriented perspective, people around the world who care about environmental crisis desire the hope of change that contrasts with the past four years of the presidency of Donald Trump. The role of governments is now more significant than ever. Many people have tried to protect the environment on a personal level from the past, but in the end, the climate crisis cannot be solved unless countries step forward to lead the movement. One of the trending plans that are being adopted by many governments in the world is the ‘Green New Deal.’ 38 | UNSEEN - THE J OURNAL OF KYHS

It focuses on promoting environmentfriendly economic recovery by active investment in environment-related industries. It first began in 2006 in the US and was embodied into the Democratic Party’s commitment during the 2018 US National Assembly elections. In the status quo, several countries are planning to implement policies that can engage in green recovery. For instance, the European Union is aiming to accomplish net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 (EU, 2020). They are also seeking ways to tackle issues such as reducing the use of pesticides in agriculture, decreasing pollution in transportation, and many others. Among the member nations, Denmark is promoting revolutionary policies regarding the climate crisis. More specifically, the Danish government is concentrating on net-zero emissions by 2050, which means that it will remove all man-made greenhouse emissions until 2050 (Timperley, 2020). Also, to prevent possible withdrawal from the climate law by ruling parties in the future, several parties have negotiated cross-party support. Consequently, the ruling party must earn approval from the majority of the parliamentary of its climate-related policies (Timperley, 2020). Moreover, Denmark will implement systems and councils that can monitor whether the government is fulfilling the request for a green economy. The Danish government has established an assembly for green transformation and a public climate council so that all businesses are following the proposal. While some countries are implementing progressive policies, some other countries still lack the awareness of how urgent the climate crisis is. On July 14th, 2020, South Korea announced


its ambitious environmental plans to seize ‘green recovery’ of economy. The government adjusted its focus on green remodeling, supporting the renewable energy industry and promoting the ecofriendly automobile industry. To be specific, the South Korean government is planning to improve the energy efficiency of old (15 years or more) buildings, promote investments in renewable energy, and proliferate the use of electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles. Although these policies appear to be sincere and effective, it is currently being criticized as a fake ‘green recovery.’ Except for the mention of carbon neutrality2, there are no specific measures for the internationally agreed environmental conservation goals; that is, reducing greenhouse gases and preventing an increase in the global average temperature of 1.5°C. Moreover, the Green New Deal mentions that the government will support the development of Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS), which is a technology that collects and stores carbon dioxide emissions. Although this is a potential technology that human beings can benefit from, CCUS could probably become an excuse for newly built coal power plants. Since CCUS needs extensive development, coal power plant companies could continue operating, calling themselves eco-friendly power plants. While CCUS can indeed be used for proper purposes, it only raises suspicions that the South Korean Government is preparing for a situation when the use of coal cannot be cut in long terms. As there is no mention that relates with the restriction of fossil

fuels, companies will prefer using cheaper fossil fuels to consuming renewable energy that needs future development. Though experts insist that South Korea has to lose favor with fossil fuels starting from 2029, it is predicted that coal power plants will continue to operate as there are no specific restrictions on greenhouse gases in the ‘Green New Deal’. It is very disappointing since the Korean government lacks the sense of urgency in climate crisis. Despite climate change being a serious problem, international cooperation has not been made successfully. As each country has a different attitude towards their policies and sanctions to decrease its environmental problem, it is hard to predict how fatal the situation can be in the future. Even the EU, which is considered as one of the active organizations that carry out environmental policies, is evaluated as lacking enough quantity to terminate the climate crisis. To accomplish the international goal of restraining the global average temperature, human beings need to reduce half of the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions. The COVID-19 pandemic seems to bring clean air and benefits to the environment. However, as we have examined, there are some negative outcomes that we need to be mindful of as well. Therefore, we should carefully investigate both the positive and negative results of the COVID-19 and develop new feasible policies that achieve both the economic recovery and the conservation of the environment by reflecting critically on historical examples.

2. Carbon neutrality means to achieve net-zero carbon dioxide emissions by refraining from the use of fossil fuels or balancing carbon dioxide emissions with removal. UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 3 9


Works Cited 2050 long-term strategy. (2020, February 16). Retrieved November 08, 2020, from https://ec.europa.eu/clima/ policies/strategies/2050_en Astor, M. (2020, October 22). How Trump and Biden Differ on the Environment. Retrieved November 08, 2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/ interactive/2020/10/22/us/elections/ biden-trump-environment-policy.html Baker, A. (2020, July 09). Why We Need to Focus on Saving the Oceans This Year. Retrieved November 08, 2020, from https://time.com/5863821/saving-theoceans/ Barone, E., Tweeten, L., Wilson, C., & Law, T. (2020, July 09). Carbon Emissions Dropped Due to Coronavirus. Can It Last? Retrieved November 08, 2020, from https://time.com/5864374/ coronavirus-carbon-emissions/ Brown, K. (2020, May 19). The hidden toll of lockdown on rainforests. Retrieved November 08, 2020, from https://www.bbc.com/future/ article/20200518-why-lockdown-isharming-the-amazon-rainforest Ford, D. (2020, August 17). COVID-19 Has Worsened the Ocean Plastic Pollution Problem. Retrieved November 08, 2020, from https://www. scientificamerican.com/article/covid19-has-worsened-the-ocean-plasticpollution-problem/

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Harbage, C. (2019, April 20). In Korean DMZ, Wildlife Thrives. Some Conservationists Worry Peace Could Disrupt It. Retrieved November 08, 2020, from https:// www.npr.org/2019/04/20/710054899/ in-korean-dmz-wildlife-thrives-someconservationists-worry-peace-coulddisrupt-i Popovich, N., & Plumer, B. (2020, September 17). What Trump’s Environmental Rollbacks Mean for Global Warming. Retrieved November 08, 2020, from https://www.nytimes. com/interactive/2020/09/17/climate/ emissions-trump-rollbacks-deregulation. html Timperley, J. (2020, July 8). The law that could make climate change illegal. Retrieved November 08, 2020, from https://www.bbc.com/future/ article/20200706-the-law-that-couldmake-climate-change-illegal Welch, C., & Gibbens, S. (2020, October 19). Trump vs Biden on the environment-here’s where they stand. Retrieved November 08, 2020, from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/ science/2020/10/trump-vs-bidenenvironment-heres-where-they-stand/ What is Ocean Acidification? (2012, August 01). Retrieved November 08, 2020, from https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/ facts/acidification.html


Facial Recognition: How Its Power Can Be Abused Claire Lee Yongsan International School of Seoul, 8th

In a world full of security technology, one controversial technology that has been brought up in recent years is facial recognition. China alone has facial recognition technology so advanced that authorities can identify a person in a crowd of 60,000 even at night (Shihab-Eldin, 2018). As facial recognition is becoming more and more developed and further used, we need to clearly understand this technology and think about how it can affect us. Facial recognition is a very powerful type of technology and we need to be aware how its power can be abused. First of all, what is facial recognition technology? A facial recognition system is a kind of technology that allows us to verify someone using a digital image (Authors of EFF, 2020). Facial recognition is a type of biometric technology. Biometrics are physical and behavioral human features that can be used to digitally verify an individual. Facial recognition is used for identification and authentication, for example, when permitting an access to devices (Authors of Thales Group, 2020). Even though we may know what facial recognition is, it is also very important to understand how it works in order to prevent ourselves from being

exposed to its dangers. Facial recognition first identifies, second captures, third analyzes, and lastly compares patterns and physical and behavioral facial features. The first step of this process is also known as facial detection, which is when the computer identifies individuals’ faces in photos and videos. The second step is also known as facial detection, which is when the computer converts the image into digital data. It does this by collecting digital data from the individual’s facial features. With this digital information, the computer can conduct a face match, which is when it finds two photos or data of the faces and connects them to see if they are the same person or not (Authors of Thales Group, 2020). We also need to know how far this technology has developed. One very important feature that facial recognition computers can conduct today is automatic emotion recognition. There are six universal emotions: happy, sad, fear, anger, surprise, and disgust. Using these six emotions, the facial action coding system (FACS) analyzes individuals’ emotions using facial action units. One example that we could give is that when a computer sees narrow lips, an eye glare, UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 4 1


and furrowed eyebrows, it concludes that the person is feeling the emotion of anger. However, even though computers can detect emotion in faces by using this system, facial recognition is still a very weak way of identifying emotions for three reasons. The first reason is limited reliability which means computers cannot understand the different facial expressions to express one emotion. The second reason is lack of specificity which means that there is no specific connection between facial construction and specific emotions. The third and last reason is limited generalizability which means that the computer is not able to understand why the person is feeling that emotion. Therefore, even though identifying emotions has contributed a huge step in the improvement of facial recognition technology, it still has many flaws (Nadi, 2019).

Another important feature that facial recognition computers can conduct today is identifying gender. Facial recognition systems can define gender through physical appearance. However, this is also flawed in the status quo due to the fact that transgenders are 10%-30% more likely to be misgendered than cisgenders. This is because transgenders have no specific “appearance� that can be used for the computer to detect (Nadi, 2019). According to statistics, Thale’s facial recognition software, also known as LFIS, had an acquisition rate of 99.44% in less than five seconds. Vender True Identification Rate had an acquisition rate of 98% in less than five seconds, and they also had an error rate of 1%. Through these statistics, we can see that facial recognition technology can do many remarkable things even though it may have flaws (Authors of Thales Group,

How facial recognition works (Perawongmetha, 2019) 42 | UNSEEN - THE J OURNAL OF KYHS


2020). Last but not least, in order to explain how fully facial recognition is developed, we can also look at the facial recognition market. A study conducted in June 2019 estimated that the international facial recognition market was going to create $7 billion of revenue by 2024. This came off of the pattern that during the period of time of 2019-2024 the compound annual growth rate would be 16%. The two greatest actors that will contribute to this growth in the market are the increase of public surveillance and applications. Nonetheless, we can see that facial recognition takes over a big part of the general market (Authors of Thales Group, 2020). The last factor that we need to know in order to fully understand what facial recognition is, in which it is used for. The first area that facial recognition can be used for is security or law enforcement. Facial recognition is supported by increase in effort to decrease crime and terrorism because it provides crime detection and prevention. In today’s world, facial recognition is used for identity documents along with other verification technologies like fingerprints in order to prevent identity theft and fraud. It is also used for border checks and police checks. In 2019, the “man in the hat” who had played a major part in the Brussels terror attacks was detected by FBI facial recognition technology. It was also used in the 2017 UEFA Champions League Final by the South Wales Police. Facial recognition being used in the area of security can also be used in CCTV to find missing people, abused children, and criminals (Authors of Thales Group, 2020). The second area in which facial recognition can be used for is health.

Facial recognition can be used to record medication use. It can also be used to identify genetic diseases. For example, facial recognition technology can identify DiGeorge syndrome with an accuracy rate of 96.6% (Authors of Thales Group, 2020). DiGeorge syndrome is a syndrome that causes symptoms like heart problems starting from birth, certain facial features, and slow development (Authors of Mayo Clinic, 2017). Since DiGeorge syndrome is a genetic syndrome, it can be detected through facial recognition technology. Facial recognition can also be used to help with procedures that handle pain (Authors of Thales Group, 2020). The third area that facial recognition can be used for is personal technology security. A famous example of this can be iPhone as facial recognition technology is used to unlock the phones. Another example is Facebook as it uses facial recognition for customized service by taking data from user’s profiles (Authors of Thales Group, 2020). The fourth area that facial recognition can be used for is mapping of users. A major example of this is China, as facial recognition is used in banks, airports, and with the police. Video surveillance cameras are all over the country, with the prediction that 626 million cameras are going to be made by the end of 2020. The Chinese government is also testing facial recognition for their social credit system by working with other AI companies. One thing to keep in mind about China’s facial recognition is that China has a lot of biometric data protection to prevent private companies from being able to access the information, but this actually increases the amount of data that the government can access (Authors of Thales Group, 2020). UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 4 3


Even though facial recognition is a very remarkable technology that can be used for many beneficial things, it brings concerns to many as its power can be abused. The first concern about facial recognition technology is about human rights and government oppression (Schippers, 2020). The first point about this is that this technology can lead to automated blanket surveillance. This means that the government can take videos of you and use it for evidence for something that they claim. Since the government will be filming people’s daily lives with this technology, it gives the government and authorities more power to save people’s every move (Schippers, 2020). The second point is that it has no clear regulations. At least to this day, there is not a real clear legislation that regulates the use of this technology, even though some people are trying to change this. It is very easy to abuse the technology’s power without any clear legislation or rules (Schippers, 2020). The third point under this topic is that facial recognition violates rights to privacy. This is because it is a large scale recording that collects information of our identity without us knowing. This brings us to the fact that when people are using facial recognition technology, they are ignoring our consent and our control over how we are going to let people use our pictures (Schippers, 2020). One example of this was that when facial recognition was found to have a higher error rate of 20-35% especially when identifying darker-skinned women, companies and governments tried to fix this problem by taking photos of darker-skinned women from SNS, the internet, from the homeless, and more without their consent (Nadi, 2019). The fourth and last point is that 44 | UNSEEN - THE J OURNAL OF KYHS

this technology is harmful to democracy. Facial recognition allows the government to watch and record all the citizens’ actions 24/7, and it also allows them to interpret those recordings to find out who is doing what at a specific time, which many people consider that it is too much power to the government. This will lead to people fearing doing things like going out to protests and campaigns because their identity is going to be revealed. This harms our freedom of assembly, association, and expression (Schippers, 2020). One example of this is that Hong Kong protestors had to wear masks and use laser point technology to defend themselves from the Chinese security camera facial recognition technology (Nadi, 2019).

One reason why protestors in Hong Kong wore masks was because they wanted to protect themselves from the Chinese security cameras that used facial recognition (Authors of Iowa Department of Transportation, 2014).

The second concern about facial recognition technology is that it can and even is treating minorities unfairly (Schippers, 2020). The first point about this is that facial recognition technology is often inaccurate in identifying people of color and women. This can lead to biased data which leads to unjust arrests, and companies can also use this biased data to discriminate and oppress minorities


(Schippers, 2020). The second point about this is that this technology can lead to automation bias. The information that is produced by the computers is used for the company on how they treat their workers and other people. However, if the computers and systems are making “automation bias”, it can lead to the companies discriminating against the individuals (Schippers, 2020). The third point under this topic is that facial recognition can be used to purposely oppress minorities. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement using this technology has already become a very controversial issue due to how they were treating the immigrants. This is because President Trump was pushing to development of this technology with the intention to deport all the undocumented immigrants back to their country. The police using this for racial profiling has also become a problem. Racial profiling is when the police decides who is guilty or not based on their ethnicity or race or when the ethnicity or race of a person influences this decision (Schippers, 2020). Examples of this can be when the NYPD officers used celebrity photos to the Facial Identification Section to create “leads’’ to identify potential suspects. Another example could be when the Chinese police used facial recognition to track the Uyghur population and minority groups that were being kept in concentration camps (Nadi, 2019). The last example that I am going to provide for this point is an example from a real life man named Aaron Harvey. Aaron, a black man, was stopped by the San Diego police in 2013 while he was going to work. He showed the police his license, registration, and insurance, but the police insisted that they should take his photo. Aaron refused to take the

photo, and the police said that if he did not take the photo they would send him to jail. Therefore, Aaron had to take the photo. The San Diego police said that they never had any history of using facial recognition on Aaron even though Aaron remembered them using the technology on him several times. Through facial recognition technology, Aaron was misidentified as a gang member and was put in jail for seven months, which he also called “terrible warzone”. However, after seven months Aaron was released from jail because of lack of evidence in this jurisdiction. These examples and points all show that facial recognition technology can be used and even has been already used to oppress minorities (Shihab-Eldin, 2018). The third and last concern about facial recognition technology is that it can also be used by criminals as they can collect data from people’s images. For crimes like kidnapping, terrorism, identity theft, and social media hacking, facial recognition can be very helpful to criminals. Also, when the government has databases with millions of people’s personal information in it, if criminals find these databases it can become extremely dangerous. Criminals can also find and create technology and ways to hack through the facial recognition systems. For example, even though they were not criminals, a Vietnamese company created a mask to hack the iPhone X’s facial recognition system in late 2017. Around this time, a German company also printed a face in an infrared image to hack the Windows 10 Hello’s facial recognition system. Facial recognition can be used to help keep citizens secure, but it can also be used on the flip side by criminals to commit crime or to hack through security (Schippers, 2020). UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 4 5


In conclusion, facial recognition is a very remarkable but dangerous technology as its power can be abused in many ways. However, when we become able to truly understand the technology and make ourselves aware about its dangers, we can protect ourselves from the worst. Additionally, even though we can somewhat protect ourselves by being educated, it is also important to promote regulations to be made about this technology as soon as possible to create a national or even international solution that can protect everyone. Therefore, as facial recognition technology and other types of biometric technologies develop, we need to apply the information that we know and help keep ourselves safe. Works Cited Authors of Iowa Department of Transportation. (2014, May 6). [Digital image]. Retrieved October 26, 2020, from https://www.transportationmatters. iowadot.gov/2014/05/securing-youridentity-.html DiGeorge syndrome (22q11.2 deletion syndrome). (2017, July 18). Retrieved September 5, 2020, from https:// www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/ digeorge-syndrome/symptoms-causes/

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syc-20353543 Face Recognition. (2020, August 25). Retrieved September 5, 2020, from https://www.eff.org/pages/facerecognition Facial recognition: Top 7 trends (tech, vendors, markets, use cases and latest news). (2020, September 12). Retrieved September 5, 2020, from https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/markets/ digital-identity-and-security/government/ biometrics/facial-recognition Perawongmetha, A. (2019, October 3). [An anti-government protester wearing a Guy Fawkes mask attends a protest on China’s National Day in Hong Kong, Oct. 1, 2019.]. Retrieved October 26, 2020, from https://www.pri.org/ stories/2019-10-03/photos-masks-hongkong-protests Schippers, B. (2020, February 10). Facial recognition: Ten reasons you should be worried about the technology. Retrieved September 5, 2020, from https:// theconversation.com/facial-recognitionten-reasons-you-should-be-worriedabout-the-technology-122137 Unable to cite https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=0JupZy4LJ50 and https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=nJ9LZMoT5Rc


The Eleventh Hour: Last Chance Christina J. Song Dulwich College Seoul, 9th

Despite the expeditious development of medical technology, the quality of care that the citizens receive is not improving much in the United States, due to the way that the healthcare system is operated. The healthcare system of the US has always been a major problem to be solved for a long period of time. But the issue has been recently brought up to the surface due to COVID-19 pandemic and the pandemic has been showing the seriousness of the healthcare problem the US is facing. Of course, there are other causes to the rising severity in the US; however, the quality of healthcare is definitely one of the major factors to this continual rise of damage. Surprisingly, it costed approximately $3,000 just to get tested for COVID-19 (estimated $1,500 after insurance). This price is clearly a rip-off compared to the cost in other countries. The majority of the citizens is feeling the financial burden and worry, which is making them hesitate or even give up being tested, despite the clear symptoms (Peter G. Peterson Foundation, 2020). Healthcare systems should be the essential source of medical treatment, meaning that it should be able to reach the people’s need for healthcare. The main

value that it should pursue is the patient’s health. However, these very basic actions are not being done within the healthcare system of the US. The healthcare system is chasing after the rise in profit, rather than helping patients in need. Even the fundamental values are underestimated. The healthcare system of the US is very different from that of other countries in matters of the structure and quality of the system. Its main problem is that it leaves the citizens with way too much of the burden of cost. For instance, the average price of MRI in the US is over $1,000, while the average MRI price is in between the range of $200 to $800 in countries like Australia, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The quality of the system is not just dependent on the amount of money invested by the government, it is a matter of whether the majority of the citizens can receive the healthcare in a reasonable amount of money that they could afford. It is proven by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that the US is one of the countries that invested the most money in healthcare worldwide, along with countries like Denmark, France, and Canada. However, UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 4 7


Denmark, France, and Canada have favorable quality healthcare available for all citizens to freely reach out for, unlike the US. One of the countries that meet such expectations of fine quality healthcare is Denmark. Denmark is an ideal country because the quality of care itself is on a high level while it covers most of the medical treatment cost. In Denmark, the citizens can choose between two different types of health insurance: group 1 and group 2. Most people are part of group 1, and there is one doctor for every 294 patients in Denmark. The citizens are assigned to a specific general practitioner (GP) and this allows them to get treatment at no cost. As society practices the give-andtake mechanism, Denmark has one of the highest tax rates in the world in exchange

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for free healthcare, because healthcare is funded through taxes. Nevertheless, according to a Gallup survey from 2014, almost 90% of the Danish people are happy to pay their expensive taxes because they are mostly satisfied with the care they receive. Lastly, healthcare in Denmark is largely provided by the local community of the five regions, and all such systems are controlled and looked after by the central government. There is private care available, but the size is very small compared to the care provided by the government (Tikkanen et al., 2020). As a proof, Denmark’s number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths is significantly low compared to the US. The US has gone through over 11.3 million patients and 247 thousand deaths, when Denmark has had 63,331 patients


and 764 deaths. Besides the case number, Denmark has continually shown an upright reaction to the virus by sustaining the number of cases by preventing a new one from occurring. This resulted in Denmark only having a vital effect during the early times and keeping the numbers low for the rest. Of course, Demark is much smaller in terms of land and population; however, even considering those factors, it is clear that the US had shown horrible control over the virus. Many US citizens were not able to freely go to hospitals to get tested or treated, due to the expensive cost. Also, some patients were not even accepted to get treated in the hospital properly, if they did not have very severe symptoms due to the lack of capacity (World Do Meter, 2020). Shockingly, a very straightforward and rather simple answer can be given, when asked the question of why the healthcare quality that most of the citizens receive in the US is very poor compared to the money invested. There is no single national system or legitimate policies that guide and restrict the healthcare system and rather, the system is all different and divided depending on each state in the US, which makes the healthcare system very vague. Also, the fact that the US government freely permits private sectors and leaves them unregulated leaves no place for doubt why the quality of the system is degraded. This includes ideas like how the US opens the healthcare and medical area to the free market which makes the price of the treatment to be played around with by businessmen. To elaborate more, there are three major problems in the healthcare system of the US. Firstly, the system is failing to achieve the universalization of medical

care for most of its citizens. Despite the Medicare and Medicaid that are provided to a small minority, the people who are not covered have to individually register for the public medical insurance. Especially those who are not protected by the work insurance are the ones who need to register; however, many of these people are suffering to pay for the insurance which leaves them in an uninsured condition where they could feel they are neglected by the government. These forgotten people currently accounts for 9% of the US population, which is approximately 27 million people. On the other hand, those who registered for private insurance are also suffering but in a different way. For these people, the premiums varyingly shift depending on the risk of the disease, which is often more costly compared to the work insurance (Above the Noise, 2020). Secondly, even the Medicare and Medicaid systems are not operating well enough to lift the burden of the vulnerable minority. On the surface, it seems like the system is well guaranteeing the medical price; however, in reality, the minorities are required to pay quite a lot of additional payment in order to receive the proper care. For instance, Medicare Part A covered inpatient services following the out-of-pocket system and the patients had to pay at least 992 dollars to be hospitalized, starting from 2007 (Above the Noise, 2020). Lastly, as mentioned earlier, the quality and efficiency of medical care are very low. As of 2009, the US has invested about 17.4% of the GDP for medical care which is way higher than the OECD average which is 9.6% of the GDP. However, the health indicator of the US is not proportional to the investment done, UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 4 9


rather the health standard is way below the OECD average. For instance, the average lifespan is 1.3% lower, and the infant mortality of the US is 2.1% higher than the OECD average. It is clear that the US has to make a rather revolutionary change that could entirely swift the whole foundation of the current healthcare system in order to solve the round-the-clock quality issue. There were several attempts to solve the issue in the past; however, none of them were effective enough to extirpate the problem entirely (Above the Noise, 2020). Universal healthcare is a system that provides quality medical services to all citizens. The notion of universal healthcare was always something the US managed to bring up, but they never managed to take any real action. This is due to the cultural and economic characteristics of the US. Even though universal healthcare is beneficial in the sense that it provides quality healthcare for all the citizens, it still has its drawbacks that need to be considered (Above the Noise, 2020). Firstly, the taxes will automatically increase a lot when a universal healthcare system is adopted, because the system is predominantly on the shoulders of the government and it means that more money has to be supplied for it to cover all the citizens. Secondly, the general quality of the healthcare will likely deteriorate compared to nowadays. This factor is not so appealing to the high-class Americans who would rather pay more to receive more. Lastly, once the care gets in the hands of the government, the individual’s choice of care would decrease, which might be portrayed as an infringement on freedom of choice for some people. This could especially be taken sensitively in the US where freedom is very significant for 50 | UNSEEN - THE J OURNAL OF KYHS

many individuals. Therefore, in the US, even though universal healthcare is the way to enhance the general care quality of the majority of the citizens, it is still not adopted due to its controversial features (Above the Noise, 2020). During the Obama administration, Obama Care was taken into consideration. This was somewhat similar to universal healthcare in terms of its original goals. Obama Care, also known as the Affordable Care Act, started out to manage every citizen with health insurance, so that their burden of cost can go down. It insisted everyone to buy health insurance, or else, they would have to pay a penalty, and the government will help those who cannot afford to buy one. Even though Obama Care was very controversial, like the universal healthcare system, it seemed like it was going to work. However, Donald Trump who became the next president of the US removed the penalty for not having health insurance, which brought the US back to its starting line (Above the Noise, 2020). Healthcare is evidently one of the crucial things that should be provided in order to keep the dignity of humans and to protect their essential rights. Nevertheless, in the US, where profit and quality are weighed more than a patient’s health, the significance of healthcare is not getting the spotlight that it needs. If the US fails to find a sensible solution soon enough, there would be a bigger impact when another serious disease hits the US after COVID-19. Therefore, both the citizens and politicians should pay more attention to the current medical system, so that they can seek a solution together before it becomes too late for them to rise back up from the current rough ride that they are on.


Works Cited Tikkanen, R., Osborn, R., Mossialos, E., & D, A. (2020, June 05). Denmark. Retrieved November 08, 2020, from https://www.commonwealthfund. org/international-health-policy-center/ countries/denmark Kurani, N. (2020, July 15). COVID-19 Test Prices and Payment Policy. Retrieved November 08, 2020, from https://www.healthsystemtracker. org/brief/covid-19-test-prices-andpayment-policy/ Roser, M. (n.d.). Financing Healthcare. Our World in Data. Retrieved November 08,2020, from https://ourworldindata.org/ financing-healthcare Kimberly, A. (2020, March 13). Universal Healthcare in Different Countries, Pros and Cons of Each. Retrieved November 08, 2020, from h t t p s : / / w w w. t h e b a l a n c e . c o m /

universal-health-care-4156211 WHO (2020) Covid-19 Situations in the Region of Americas. Retrieved November 08, 2020, from https://www.paho.org/en/topics/ coronavirus-infections/coronavirusdisease-covid-19-pandemic World Do Meter (2020, Nov. 8) Denmark Coronavirus. REtrieved November 08, 2020, from https://www.worldometers.info/ coronavirus/country/denmark/ Why Are Americans Paying More for Healthcare? (2020, April 20). Retrieved November 08, 2020, from https://www.pgpf.org/blog/2020/04/ why-are-americans-paying-more-forhealthcare A. (2020, January 22). Would Universal Healthcare Really Work in the U.S.? Retrieved November 08, 2020, from h t t p s : / / w w w. y o u t u b e . c o m / watch?v=VmmirkyZBxY

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The Conflict Regarding the Issue of the Rising Sun Flag Dongjun Koh Cheongna Dalton School, 10th

Intro

World War II ended by the Axis powers surrendering to the Allied powers in 1945. Two of the three Axis powers were Germany and Japan. However, we are able to see very different approaches between the two countries regarding their war crimes committed during the World War. One country still asks forgiveness for their inhumane actions during the war while the other country tries to change their history to pretend as if they were the victims of the war. The latter one is Japan, and there is a conflict on the Rising Sun Flag in the middle of the manipulation of history. A flag represents many things. It can represent the country, hope, strength, and military, but it can also offend groups of people, like Hakenkreuz that offends the Jewish people and the victims of WW2. Also, the Confederate flag that offends the black community can be an example of an offensive or controversial flag. The similarity of these two flags is that one is banned in Germany and the other is gradually being banned in many places across the United States. However, the flag which has been the symbol of colonialism and imperialism and which offends the 52 | UNSEEN - THE J OURNAL OF KYHS

victims of Japanese soldiers’ brutality is still being widely used to this day. This is the Rising Sun Flag of Japan.

History The Rising Sun Flag was used as a flag for the Japanese imperial army in 1870 and before that it is said that the flag was used by warlords and civilians during the Edo period. It was used as a flag when Japanese army invaded and colonized many Asian countries during the early 20th century until the end of WW2 in 1945. During the wartime, many Korean, Chinese, Filipino, and other Asian people were brutally enslaved, killed, and were abused by the Japanese. After the surrender of Japan in 1945, Japan was not allowed to have an army. However, since 1954, the Rising Sun Flag has been


used once again as the flag of Maritime Self-Defense Force and the Ground SelfDefense Force. It is still being widely used in Japan and throughout the world causing many conflicts between Japan and the countries that were victims of Japan’s inhumane actions while also giving painful memories to the victims.

Hakenkreuz and the Rising Sun Flag Hakenkreuz is the war crime flag used by the Nazis during World War II and it carries the same meaning in the modern era as the Rising Sun Flag does. However, Germany and Japan took very different approaches toward their war crime flags. The Hakenkreuz, unlike the Rising Sun Flag, is widely considered in the western

community as a flag that must not be used as it was a symbol of Nazi implicating many inhumane actions, for example, the genocide against the Jewish people and many other victims of the deadly war. However, many people from the western hemisphere do not know that the Rising Sun Flag holds the very same meaning as Hakenkreuz. It is a symbol of Japanese oppression to not just Koreans but all the countries that Japan invaded and colonized during the early 20th century. Although these flags hold the same meaning, the way that the two countries react towards these flags are very contrasting. In Germany, the government upholds a very strict measure, according to article 86 of the criminal code in German. It is stated that “the use of symbols of unconstitutional organizations shall be imprisonment for not more than three years of a fine.� Even though Germany has not put up the specific Nazi sign, it has been primarily used to ban the use of Nazi symbols including the Hakenkreuz by the far-right extremist or people who support the Nazis. As a result, for the strong actions taken by German government, it is hard to imagine someone wearing a shirt that has the Hakenkreuz sign imprinted on it. In contrast, in Japan people are very ignorant about the meaning of the Rising Sun Flag and do not find what is wrong about using

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this flag. Moreover, there are no penalties, and the Japanese government seems to protect the flag rather than banning it. Some might argue that the Japanese flag has been used since the Edo period and it had been a symbol of hope, thus, it is a tradition which cannot be judged as the war crime flag. According to the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it is stated that “the flag was hoisted to signify large catches of fish, flags to celebrate childbirth, and flags for seasonal festivities.” However, before the Nazi used swastika for the Hakenkreuz, swastika originally meant to be a symbol of hope throughout Eurasia. As a result, the statement from the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has no valid point. Conflicts The main reason for the conflict regarding the Japanese Rising Sun Flag is because of the Japanese government’s attitude of advocating the use of this flag disregarding the meaning towards the war victims, especially Korean people. For example, Taro Kono, the previous Minister of Defense in Japan has stated “The Rising Sun Flag is a widely recognized flag and there is nothing wrong with it” (Kono, 2019). This expression from one of the high-ranking officials of Japan demonstrates their attitude towards the conflict. In September 2019, International Olympic Committee has decided to allow the use of Rising Sun Flag in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. This action by the IOC was decided even though the Korean government has requested to ban this flag. However, the response from the 2020 Tokyo Olympic committees was astonishing stating that “sports stadiums should be free of any political demonstration.” The Korean government 54 | UNSEEN - THE J OURNAL OF KYHS

responded that FIFA had already banned the flag in 2017. Also, the reason for conflict is not only because of the Japanese government but also the ignorance of the Rising Sun Flag which leads to a controversial argument offline and online. When more people are ignorant of the issue regarding the Rising Sun Flag, the easier it gets for the Japanese government to beautify the symbol of the war crime flag. For example, recently there has been a controversial debate between Filipinos and Koreans because of the flag. This event happened because a Filipino TikTok star had a Rising Sun Flag tattoo on her arm but did not apologize. Instead, she covered it up by changing the sun to a heart. As a result, many Koreans made racist claims towards the Filipinos. However, one of the main problems in this argument is the ignorance the western people have towards the Rising Sun Flag. Even though Koreans’ reactions were very racist, the amount of hashtags “Cancel Korea” had 309k tweets in just 6 hours whereas the hashtag “Rising Sun Flag” was and is mainly about the Japanese people advocating the use of it.

Conclusion The conflict has been continued over more than 70 years but the crimes that the Japanese army committed while holding


the Rising Sun Flag are immeasurable. As a result, it is unacceptable that the Japanese government is advocating the use of the Rising Sun Flag while also using it for various festivals and the Japanese SelfDefense Forces. To prevent this, I believe it is our duty, the people of the victimized countries, to inform other countries that are ignorant about this situation. Works Cited Illmer, A. (2020, January 03). Tokyo 2020: Why some people want the rising sun flag banned. Retrieved December 04, 2020, from https://www.bbc.com/news/ world-asia-50285383 Ministry of Foreign Affairs, J. (2020). Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. Retrieved December 04, 2020, from https://www.mofa.go.jp/ Seo, Y., & Hollingsworth, J. (2019, September 07). Why South Korea wants Japan to ban the Rising Sun flag from the Tokyo Olympics. Retrieved December 04, 2020, from https://edition.

cnn.com/2019/09/06/asia/japan-koreaolympics-rising-sun-flag-intl-hnk-trnd/ index.html Taylor, A. (2019, May 02). Japan has a flag problem, too. Retrieved December 04, 2020, from https://www. washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/ wp/2015/06/27/japan-has-a-flag-problemtoo/ TikTok star’s tattoo ignites Korea racism debate in Philippines. (2020, September 10). Retrieved December 04, 2020, from https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/ www/nation/2020/09/177_295781.html United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC RELATED LINKS Lesson Plan: Understanding Nazi Symbols (PDF) Origins of NeoNazi and White Supremacist Terms and Symbols: A Glossary Teaching Materials on Propaganda, U. (2017). History of Swastika. Retrieved December 04, 2020, from https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/ content/en/article/history-of-the-swastika

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Changes in the Job Market After the Fourth Industrial Revolution David Lee Asia Pacific International School, 10th

How do you think the fourth industrial revolution would change our lives? The first, second, third, and fourth industrial revolutions have dramatically changed human lives. They have taken our jobs, and sometimes gave us new jobs. The fourth industrial revolution is generally the current and developing environment where new technologies such as the internet of things (IoT), virtual reality (VR), robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) are changing the way we live. By these new technologies, many types of jobs that were done by humans would change to an automatic process – which would lead jobs done by us humans to change into jobs done by AI or other human-made technology. We should prepare for the loss and change of jobs and should be able to know what changes would come. The first industrial revolution started during the mid-18th century in Britain. It happened due to European imperialism, efforts to mine coal, and the effects of the agricultural revolution. Before the agricultural revolution, people only thought about how they would survive. 56 | UNSEEN - THE J OURNAL OF KYHS

However, after the agricultural revolution, people started to think of a better quality of living, and this led to the first industrial revolution. Also, capitalism, an economic and political system where a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit rather than by the country, was a central component of the first industrial revolution: it encouraged production above people’s consumption level for higher return. For these reasons, rapid industrialization happened in Britain with mechanized spinning in the 1780s, and there was a high rate of growth in steam power and iron production after the 1800s which led to this dramatic change. There were key inventions such as the flying shuttle, the spinning jenny, the water frame, and the power loom which made weaving cloth and spinning yarn. Due to the first industrial revolution, the standard living of the general population in the western world was able to become much better as mass production gave them wealth. The second industrial revolution started during the mid-19th century. Different from the first industrial


revolution, it happened in many other countries. It happened primarily in the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States, but also in France, Italy, and Japan. The second industrial revolution could happen because of the increase of natural resources, abundant labor supply, strong government policies, such as the monetary policy, new sources of power, railroads and American inventors and inventions such as the establishment of a machine tool industry, the development of methods for manufacturing interchangeable parts, and the invention of the Bessemer process which is a process of producing steel. It happened by causing a series of innovations for the society. It advanced steel production, because it improved existing methods to produce them, and steel replaced iron. Electricity and petroleum were also developed. By the second industrial revolution, the cost of steel dropped dramatically, which led to an expansion of railroads and a higher purchase rate of machinery. This also led to quick urbanization. The third industrial revolution started during the mid-20th century. The third industrial revolution happened worldwide due to the globalization that occurred. The creation of a renewable energy regime – loaded by buildings, partially stored in the form of hydrogen, distributed by a green electricity internet, and connected to plug-in – and zero emission transportation were all the reasons for the third industrial revolution. The key inventions made at this time were things such as the programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and robots.

This led to the decrease of blue-collar workers though productivity increases due to the machinery that replaces human labor. Also, the transaction costs dropped dramatically, which brought about the rise of electronics, telecommunications, and computers. The fourth industrial revolution, oftentimes referred to Industry 4.0, mainly employs cyber-physical systems (CPS). The two main aspects of cyberphysical systems are the internet of things (IoT) and the internet of systems. Also known as IoT, the internet of things is a network of interconnected smart devices that allow each separate device to interact (i.e. send or receive data) from other devices on the network. For example, there are smart grids, smart farming, and IoT sensors. The internet of systems is business-owned systems that can collect data from IoT networks to make independent decisions about your business’ marketing campaigns, sales, etc. With the aforementioned aspects of CPS, it combines computation, networking, and even physical processes. Due to this new technology, many jobs will be lost. Many jobs from many places and countries are expected to be replaced by human-made technologies such as AI. Us humans should know what jobs would be substituted because we should be well-prepared for this change since the change of jobs would alter our lives directly and indirectly, which would lead us to living a different life. Jobs such as farmers and fishermen, drivers, social media professionals, manufacturers, and sports referees would be gone due to the UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 5 7


fourth industrial revolution. Farmers and fishermen would be the first to vanish. As you know, the number of farmers and fishermen has been decreasing drastically throughout the history of agriculture. A long time ago, most of the people around the world were farmers. However, nowadays, only 2 million of the US population works for agriculture. This working field is now shrinking. New developments in technology have made agriculture easier, which made fewer people produce more goods. Due to the development of technology, indoor farms and lab-grown meats are taking up the proportion of these kinds of goods, and they are growing more and more popular at a quick rate. Also, farm-raised fish are growing more and more popular too, which means that the real fishermen who have risked their lives out in the sea are no longer needed, and easier methods of catching fish are coming up to stop the worldwide overfishing problem and climate change. The fishermen and farmers can be substituted by the biologists and scientists if this trend keeps up, and it could happen in 10-20 years. There are many types of drivers, such as taxi-drivers, bus-drivers, and private-drivers, but they would disappear quickly in about the next 10 years. There are lots of resources being used to change cars to be driven automatically. More than a billion dollars is used to produce these types of cars. This rate is not expected to decrease; it is rather expected to increase. When this technology is fully developed and becomes cheaper, not only our personal vehicles would change, but 58 | UNSEEN - THE J OURNAL OF KYHS

also vehicles such as public buses, longhaul 18-wheelers, and even Uber vehicles would change to self-driven vehicles without the guidance of human. Social media professionals are one of the jobs that would disappear quickly too. Social media professionals are people who use social media as their multimedia resume and complete them with endorsements. To them, social media provides a platform for building their own thought leadership and rolodex. This job is in many parts of our lives. We use platforms such as Instagram and Facebook almost every day. With the advent of social media has come social media experts and managers. This job would not vanish, but it is clear that it would have to change to a different form in the coming years. As the LottoLand report reported, the skills associated with this job right now would have to be more and more commonplace than specialized. Common jobs exist right now would be done by artificial intelligence that has the ability to teach themselves and make themselves become as favorable as most of the common ones right now. Manufacturing workers is one of the most common jobs thought to disappear. Even right now, the manufacturing done by humans is declining at an extremely quick rate. This is one of the key problems that the US has to deal with too. There were multiple manufacturing workers in the US. However, since many are replaced by machines and run without humans interfering, many people are losing their jobs, and some workplaces moved to locations where the labor is much cheaper.


There is no way that these kinds of jobs would come back. They would rather be gone forever, since the machine-learning process would become more and more precise than we used to use them until nowadays. Even now, more than 5 million people who have worked in this field have already lost their jobs, and nearly 1,800 factories have disappeared during the last couple of years. Sports officials and referees are also going to disappear, and their jobs would be taken by AI. Many sports officials and referees make mistakes since they are a human. There have been many arguments throughout the world every time an Olympic end because of the mistakes made by a sports official or referee. But AI referees would not make silly mistakes; they would just follow the manual that they are given and programmed to follow. How would a normal soccer player be able to argue with a robot when they think they are innocent? The sensors and hardware are not influenced by the crowd, opposing players, or other coaches. Thus, AI taking over the jobs or sports officials and referees are better in every way, and almost no one could say that a robot is wrong when they finish developing this technology. Of course, at the beginning, they would be only used to help the human referees. But as people get used to it, they would completely take over the job; this is what other sports officials say about this technology. During the current Covid-19 pandemic, many technologies are taking away human jobs and doing human activities for us. For instance, many new

technologies for medics are coming up. The new technology is helping doctors to know what they should do about it. On the other hand, it positively took away some places for nurses, however this time, the technology from the fourth industrial revolution helps nurses to be used in more effective ways such as helping patients in a serious condition. From the agricultural industrial revolution and throughout the first, second, third, and fourth industrial revolutions, many jobs have vanished or replaced. During the fourth industrial revolution, this would happen the most. The fourth industrial revolution is mainly based on the internet of things and the internet of systems. This means that things that would replace human labor – even to the smallest jobs such as driving – would be replaced. This would be a very dramatic change for our society and daily lives of each individual. Some would benefit, while many others would suffer from their job loss. By this year, more than 5 million people would end up losing their jobs. So, for us humans to prepare for this, we should of course know what changes the fourth industrial revolution would bring. Right now, even the Covid-19 pandemic also has occurred which would result in more losses of jobs. Thus, people should always be aware and be prepared.

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Works Cited Causes of the Industrial Revolution. (n.d.). Retrieved November 19, 2020, from https://www.historycrunch.com/ causes-of-the-industrial-revolution.html Second Industrial Revolution: The Technological Revolution. (n.d.). Retrieved November 19, 2020, from https://richmondvale.org/en/blog/secondindustrial-revolution-the-technologicalrevolution (n.d.). Retrieved November 19, 2020, from https://study.com/academy/ lesson/the-second-industrial-revolutiontimeline-inventions.html Recruitment, C. (n.d.). How Will the Fourth Industrial Revolution Impact the Future of Work? Retrieved November 19, 2020, from https://www. changerecruitmentgroup.com/knowledgecentre/how-will-the-fourth-industrialrevolution-impact-the-future-of-work Inderwildi, O., Zhang, C., Wang, X., & Kraft, M. (2020, February 14). The impact of intelligent cyber-physical systems on the decarbonization of energy. Retrieved November 19, 2020, from https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/ articlelanding/2020/ee/c9ee01919g Lg이노텍. (2019, September 06). 4 차 산업 혁명으로 인해 사라질 직업은? Retrieved November 19, 2020, from http://blog.lginnotek.com/804 How the coronavirus pandemic accelerates the 4th Industrial Revolution.

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(n.d.). Retrieved November 19, 2020, from https://www.newswise. com/coronavirus/how-coronaviruspandemic-accelerates-the-technologyof-the-4th-industrial-revolution-httpseiuperspectives-economist-comfinancialserviceswhy-coronavirus-will-acceleratefourth-industrial-revolution-4ir Written by David Alexander Walcott, A. (n.d.). How the Fourth Industrial Revolution can help us beat COVID-19. Retrieved November 19, 2020, from https://www.weforum. org/agenda/2020/05/how-the-fourthindustrial-revolution-can-help-us-handlethe-threat-of-covid-19/ Written by David Alexander Walcott, A. (n.d.). How the Fourth Industrial Revolution can help us beat COVID-19. Retrieved November 19, 2020, from https://www.weforum. org/agenda/2020/05/how-the-fourthindustrial-revolution-can-help-us-handlethe-threat-of-covid-19/ How the coronavirus pandemic accelerates the 4th Industrial Revolution. (n.d.). Retrieved November 19, 2020, from https://www.newswise. com/coronavirus/how-coronaviruspandemic-accelerates-the-technologyof-the-4th-industrial-revolution-httpseiuperspectives-economist-comfinancialserviceswhy-coronavirus-will-acceleratefourth-industrial-revolution-4ir


Juvenile Incarceration Erica Seo-Yeon Cho Yongsan International School, 12th

Although the Supreme Court “formally [recognizes] youthfulness as a factor in their decisions, millions of children are still sentenced to incarceration under the misconception that juvenile incarceration is more financially efficient than sentences focused on restoration programs” (Feld 10). However, juvenile incarceration costs almost six times the amount of adult incarceration due to the correctional facilities in place, yet have been found to be fairly ineffective, with juveniles reentering incarceration within a few years of their release (Abrams 735). Aside from the financial costs, being involved in delinquency and getting incarcerated at a young age also has negative effects on the juveniles for the rest of their lives, leading to unemployment or rearrest (Lofstrom and Raphael 115; Pyrooz 349). Juvenile incarceration prevents juveniles from receiving a proper education, which prevents them from being able to transit smoothly back to school once they are released. The increased school dropout rates lead to higher future unemployment rates of the juveniles, which brings harm

to the economy of the United States as a whole. Juvenile incarceration causes financial losses, a lack of education, lower rates of unemployment, and the inability to contribute to society. Therefore, restorative methods should be implemented instead, because they can increase the education and employment rates while decreasing the financial costs and the rearrest rates. There are both direct and indirect economic consequences that come about due to juvenile incarceration. First, the costs of juvenile incarceration are high, often higher than the costs of adult incarceration. Mendel, an author and expert on youth development and juvenile justice, stated that “expenditures on juvenile corrections [total] $6 billion annually in the United States,” and “incarcerating a juvenile [costs] $88,000 for a 12 month stay” (cited in Aizer and Doyle 28). Additionally, the President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice, a governmental group established for researching American criminal justice systems, determined that the average daily cost UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 6 1


per case for adults is $0.38, while the cost for juveniles in detention centers is $11.00 (cited in Becker 28). These high costs of juvenile incarcerations are being paid for by taxpayers, but with restorative measures implemented instead, this money could be invested for the rehabilitation of sentenced juveniles, encouraging the continuation of education after the youth’s release. Restorative programs would also prevent juveniles from being rearrested, which would save the state from spending money twice on the incarceration of one juvenile. Aside from the direct costs, the indirect costs of juvenile incarceration such as the increase in high school dropout rates or the increase in unemployment rates end up costing the economy more than the cost of placing sentenced juveniles in proper restorative programs. It was found that juveniles sentenced to incarceration “generally received a substandard education,” which was associated with “consistently significant and negative impacts on educational attainment” for juveniles (Klein 2; Tanner 250). These substandard education systems led to juveniles being unable to accustom to high school once they were released, making them “26% more likely to drop out of high school” (McDaniel 6). This dropout rate was also found to increase the likelihood of rearrest (McDaniel 6). Even if the juvenile was not rearrested, John Hagan, a professor of law sociology and a receiver of the Stockholm Prize in Criminology, reported that a juvenile’s incarceration “related to status attainment in early adulthood” 62 | UNSEEN - THE J OURNAL OF KYHS

because “unemployment at an early age is associated with unemployment at a later age” (cited in Chen and Kaplan 113). With proper restorative measures implemented, incarcerated juveniles would be able to continue their education after release. Their education will help them get employed, resulting in societal gains of $1.4 billion per year for every 10,000 juveniles (Klein fig. 2). Therefore, it is economically more reasonable to reconsider placing juveniles in incarceration systems, because incarceration is strongly associated with the lack of education, high school dropouts, unemployment, and in result the lack of contribution to society. Implementing restorative measures instead will ensure not only the success of individuals in their futures but also the efficiency of the economy. Restorative measures are more beneficial than incarceration for both the sentenced juveniles and the future economy. First, restorative measures encourage the continuation of education after release, while incarceration inhibits education. Studies have displayed a tendency of court referrals to “have the counterproductive consequence of foreclosing educational opportunity” (Hirschfield 384). In what almost seems like a response to this statement, Sara McDaniel, an assistant professor in the department of special education and multiple abilities at the University of Alabama, wrote in an article for Journal of Correctional Education explaining that restorative interventions can provide youth with opportunities to discover the importance of education and goal-


setting (7). McDaniel further elaborated by stating that these “self-determination intervention” programs led to positive effects on “motivation to create and work toward goals, interests in goal planning, and recidivism after release to the community” (14). While incarceration has been found to limit the education that juveniles can receive, restorative intervention has been found to open juveniles up to education, lower rearrest rates, and lead the released youths to contribute to the economy of their community in the future. Additionally, restorative measures are more economically efficient than juvenile incarceration. In a journal published by the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, Judy Tsui provided the audience with two reasons why restorative justice techniques are beneficial for both the juvenile and the economy. First, Tsui recognized that although restorative measures “may not have the desired deterrent effect,” evidence has displayed that “low-level juvenile offenders are less likely to reoffend” if they are provided with community-based programs rather than incarcerations (641). If juveniles are not getting rearrested, they are able to continue their education after release and get employed. The prevention of rearrest also saves the state the costs of incarcerating one juvenile two times. Second, according to a study conducted in Ohio on the “costs between community programs and incarceration,” community programs were found to be much more cost efficient than incarcerations (Tsui

644). This would mean that restorative programs not only “[lower] costs to state and taxpayer,” but also “possibly [reduce] recidivism rates” and “provide a more fitting response to crime, considering the unique ability of juveniles to be rehabilitated” (Tsui 665-666). The economy of the state would benefit from implementing restorative programs, as these programs will cost the taxpayers less than incarceration and rehabilitated juveniles will be able to contribute to society by holding occupations. In summary, after taking into consideration the negative economic consequences of juvenile incarceration, restorative measures are more favorable for both the sentenced juveniles and the economy. Juvenile incarceration and restorative measures have polar opposite effects on the sentenced juveniles as well as the society they are living in. Juvenile incarceration costs the state tremendous amounts of money each year, all the while discouraging the continuation of education and therefore the seizing of an occupation. On the other hand, restorative programs cost much less than juvenile incarceration and are able to lead sentenced juveniles to build goals for education and employment, which in result will cause a lower rate of recidivism. In conclusion, the replacement of juvenile incarceration with restorative programs will help communities provide a brighter future for sentenced juveniles, helping these rehabilitated youths assimilate and contribute to their society.

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Works Cited Abrams, Laura S. “Juvenile Justice at a Crossroads: Science, Evidence, and Twenty-First Century Reform.” Social Service Review, vol. 87, no. 4, 2013, pp. 725–752. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/ stable/10.1086/674074. Aizer, Anna, and Joseph J. Doyle, Jr. “Juvenile Incarceration, Human Capital and Future Crime: Evidence from Randomly-Assigned Judges.” Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2013, pp. 1-29. www.mit.edu/~jjdoyle/ aizer_doyle_judges_06242013. pdf. Becker, Gary S. “Crime and Punishment: An Economic Approach.” Journal of Political Economy, vol. 76, no. 2, 1968, pp. 169–217. JSTOR, www.jstor. org/stable/1830482. Chen, Zeng-yin, and Howard B. Kaplan. “School Failure in Early Adolescence and Status Attainment in Middle Adulthood: A Longitudinal Study.” Sociology of Education, vol. 76, no. 2, 2003, pp. 110–127. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3090272. Feld, Barry C. “The Honest Politician’s Guide to Juvenile Justice in the Twenty-First Century.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 564, 1999, pp. 10–27. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1048775. Hirschfield, Paul. “Another Way Out: The Impact of Juvenile Arrests on High School Dropout.” Sociology of Education, vol. 82, no. 4, 2009, pp. 368–393. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/ stable/40376057. Klein, Rebecca. “The Education Being Provided to this Group of

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Students is Absolutely ‘Inadequate,’ Says Study.” Huffington Post, 6 Dec 2017. HuffPost, www. huffingtonpost. com/2014/04/17/juvenile-justice-systemeducation_n_5162876.html. Lofstrom, Magnus, and Steven Raphael. “Crime, the Criminal Justice System, and Socioeconomic Inequality.” The Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol. 30, no. 2, 2016, pp. 103–126. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/43783709. McDaniel, Sara. “A SelfDetermination Intervention for Youth Placed in a Short-Term Juvenile Detention Facility.” Journal of Correctional Education (1974-), vol. 66, no. 3, 2015, pp. 5–15. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/ stable/26508008. Pyrooz, David C. “‘From Your First Cigarette to Your Last Dyin’ Day’: The Patterning of Gang Membership in the Life-Course.” Journal of Quantitative Criminology, vol. 30, no. 2, 2014, pp. 349–372. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/ stable/43551993. Tanner, Julian, et al. “Whatever Happened to Yesterday’s Rebels? Longitudinal Effects of Youth Delinquency on Education and Employment.” Social Problems, vol. 46, no. 2, 1999, pp. 250–274. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/ stable/3097255. Tsui, Judy C. “Breaking Free of the Prison Paradigm: Integrating Restorative Justice Techniques into Chicago’s Juvenile Justice System.” The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (1973-), vol. 104, no. 3, 2014, pp. 635–666. JSTOR, www. jstor.org/ stable/ 44113403.


The Harm of Direct-to-Consumer Prescription Advertising on Consumers Erica Seo-Yeon Cho Yongsan International School of Seoul, 12th

Although the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States has different regulations for various types of advertisements, “the rules are too relaxed and inadequately enforced”, especially for prescription drug advertisements (Ventola, par. 1). Directto-consumer prescription advertisements (DTCPA) have been controversial in the United States over the past few decades. Although both proponents and opponents of DTCPA have presented evidence for higher awareness of health due to DTCPA, it is often disagreed upon whether this has positive or negative consequences. Proponents of DTCPA advocate that there would be an improvement in the health conditions of the general public of the United States due to these prescription drug advertisements. However, the opponents provide evidence on how the vague and misinforming nature of DTCPA ends up harming the consumers more often than helping them (Amerson 3). DTCPA concerns the health and well-being of the people of the United States, and without proper measures taken, DTCPA could end up greatly harming consumers instead of curing them of present health conditions. The increase in the cost of insurance is

another result of DTCPA, financially damaging consumers without their awareness. Although awareness of health conditions may arise due to DTCPA, these prescription drug advertisements end up being more harmful than helpful for the consumers due to the lack of information in the advertisements. First, the clear benefits of DTCPA for consumers must be recognized. Consumers were reported to have a higher awareness of their health conditions after coming across DTCPA, which encouraged them to visit their physicians. Iizuka, a professor at Tokyo University and an assistant editor of Journal of Health Economics, observed various industrial patterns in DTCPA and arrived at the conclusion that DTCPA “encouraged a projected 21.2 million consumers to talk with their doctors about a medical condition or illness they had not previously talked with their doctor about before seeing an advertisement” (353). DTCPA provided consumers with new information that led to informed discussions between the patients and the physicians. In agreement with the previous statistic, according to a study conducted by Aikin et al., who are part of the division of drug marketing, advertising, and UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 6 5


communications in the FDA, stated that 88% of physicians agreed that patients had the same health conditions mentioned in the advertisements they saw, and this increased awareness which helped these patients successfully treat their conditions (6). In these cases, patients were able to effectively utilize the information provided in DTCPA in order to receive treatment for their personal health concerns. With physicians observing that DTCPA “informs, educates, and empowers patients”, proponents of DTCPA have stated that this form of advertising can lead the United States towards a healthier country with a higher conscience on health concerns (CMI/Compas 2). Despite the positive aspects mentioned above, DTCPA has constantly displayed more risks than benefits toward the consumers’ health, mainly due to the fact that DTCPA fails to provide necessary information on the advertised drugs for the majority of the advertisements. First, in a survey conducted on the physicians’ point of views on DTCPA, it was found that “about 95% [of the physicians] said most advertisements do not provide enough information about alternative treatment options” (Amerson 27). Advertisements often push the advertised drug to be the only treatment option, but this is far from the truth. There are many methods of treating health conditions often advertised in DTCPA, in ways such as but not limited to therapeutic, hormonal, or even medical cannabidiol treatments (“Can CBD” 1; Kairi and Sharma 7; “Prescription Drug Product” 3). Second, “about 55% [of physicians surveyed] said that the advertisements do not provide enough information about adverse effects” (Amerson 27). Without the specific risks of the advertised prescription 66 | UNSEEN - THE J OURNAL OF KYHS

drugs mentioned in the advertisements, patients could end up worsening their health rather than improving it. Third, in an article written by Dr. Lexchin and Dr. Mintzes, professors with research experience on pharmaceutical policies involving DTCPA, it was made clear that “most advertisements [do] not contain the basic elements of information a person might need to judge the usefulness of a treatment, such as how a drug works (missing in 64%) or the likelihood of treatment success (missing in 91%)” (197). Although it is indeed the physicians’ duty to navigate the consumers through these risks and prescribe them with the right drugs, DTCPA nonetheless leads to stubborn patients insisting that they need a certain prescription drug they saw on an advertisement, even if this drug is not the right choice for them. It must be made clear for the sake of consumers’ safety that DTCPA is not a reliable source of information for prescription drugs. Aside from medical concerns, DTCPA has the potential to harm consumers financially due to the increase in insurance costs. According to research conducted on patterns and trends of DTCPA in advertisements, “about 99% of physicians said that most advertisements rarely provide enough information on cost” (Amerson 27). Due to the lack of information on the costs of these prescription drugs, 40% of physicians observed that patients did “not discuss cost with healthcare provider” and simply relied on “prescription drug insurance [plans]” (Aikin et al. 5). However, it was found “78% of physicians agree that DTC advertising ultimately increases the cost of healthcare” (CMI/Compas 2). In other words, the cost of insurance plans has increased due to DTCPA, but


patients overlook this matter and simply pay their insurance without taking into consideration the amount of money they are paying. Although “equally effective, but cheaper, drugs may be available,” alternative options of lower cost are never mentioned in DTCPA (Iizuka 354). Consumers are being financially damaged due to DTCPA, not only due to the rising costs of insurance but also because information on alternative cheaper drugs is not provided. There have been viewpoints that DTCPA, in fact, decreases the cost of drugs due to market competition. These viewpoints assert that if there are two very similar types of drugs on the market, it would be necessary for the pharmaceutical companies to lower the costs of the drugs in order to make their company’s prescription drug more appealing to the consumers. However, this is countered by the fact that the staggering majority of advertisements fail to mention the cost of prescription drugs at all, so consumers are not choosing their drugs based on cost. Therefore, this makes “Many health policy experts believe [that] DTC advertising by pharmaceutical companies misinforms gullible consumers, encourages drug over-consumption, [and] increases health care costs” (Amerson 3). Because the high prices of prescription drugs are not provided on advertisements to consumers in the first place, lowering the costs of

these drugs will not make the drugs any more appealing. Therefore, insurance costs increase to cover the high costs. On top of the increasing insurance costs, “Pricing is driven, in part, by return on investment demands by shareholders” (Kennedy-Tucker 36). DTCPA is business-motivated, and therefore, higher prices mean higher profits. This makes it so that the “prices for prescription drugs are on average much higher in the United States than anywhere else in the world” (Relman and Angell quoted in Limbu and Torres 111). It can be observed that business-motivated pharmaceutical companies combined with insurancereliant consumers lead to economic harm towards consumers with the increases in healthcare costs. In summary, even after taking into consideration of the fact that DTCPA can raise awareness of various health conditions, the risks of DTCPA greatly outweigh the benefits. It is true that the objective of pharmaceutical companies is to make money. However, stricter regulations should be placed by the FDA on DTCPA in order to ensure the public’s safety, even if this ends up harming the pharmaceutical market economically. All in all, when it comes to the advertising of products that greatly affect the health of the people in the United States, the safety and well-being of the consumers must come first before anything else.

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Works Cited Aikin, Kathryn J. et al. “Patient and Physician Attitudes and Behaviors Associated With DTC Promotion of Prescription Drugs - Summary of FDA Survey Research Results.” U.S. Food & Drug Administration, 2004. www.fda.gov/ downloads/AboutFDA/ CentersOffices/ OfficeofMedicalProductsandTobacco/ CDER/UCM600276.pdf. Amerson, Katherine. “Direct-ToConsumer Pharmaceutical Advertising in Men’s and Women’s Magazines.” 2007. ttu-ir.tdl.org/ttu-ir/bitstream/ handle/2346/21019/ Amerson_Katherine_ Thesis.pdf?sequence=1. Bell, Robert A. et al. “Direct-ToConsumer Prescription Drug Advertising: Trends, Impact, and Implications.” Health Affairs. vol. 19, no. 2, 2000, pp. 110-128. Project HOPE - The Peopleto-People Health Foundation, Inc. p d f s . s e m a n t i c s c h o l a r. o r g / 3 4 d e / 53955f9f3732ed7431cd4f6 6d16b 88fedc99.pdf. “Can CBD Be an Alternative to Prescription Drugs? A Study Looks to Find Out.” ECHO Connection, 2017. ECHO Connection, echoconnection. org/cbd-alternative- prescription-drugsstudy/. “CMI/Compas Study on Doctors’ Views of Direct-to-Consumer Drug Advertising.” SlideShare. 2013. Communication Media, Inc. www. slideshare.net/CMI_Compas/ by-doctorpulse-study-dtc-advertising-cmicompasbranded. Iizuka, Toshiaki. “What Explains the Use of Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Prescription Drugs?” The Journal of Industrial Economics, vol. 52, no. 3, 2004, pp. 349–379. JSTOR, www.jstor. org/stable/3569815. Kairi, Jayant Kumar and Ashok 68 | UNSEEN - THE J OURNAL OF KYHS

Kumar Sharma. “Substitutes of Prescription Medicines - A review of Concerns Relevant to Doctors and Patients.” Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research, vol. 11, 2017. National Center for Biotechnology Information, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/ articles/PMC5620794/. Kennedy-Tucker, Patricia Elaine. “Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Drugs and Patients’ Health Care Seeking Behaviors.” Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies Collection. 2014. ScholarWorks. scholarworks. waldenu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi? article=1041&context=dissertations. Lexchin, Joel, and Barbara Mintzes. “Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Prescription Drugs: The Evidence Says No.” Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, vol. 21, no. 2, 2002, pp. 194–201. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/30000726. Limbu, Yam and Ivonne M. Torres. “The Effects of Involvement and Ad Type On Attitudes Toward Direct-ToConsumer Advertising of Prescription Drugs.” Journal of Health and Human Services Administration, vol. 32, no. 1, 2009, pp. 107–138. JSTOR, www.jstor. org/stable/25790753. “Prescription Drug Product Substitution Decision Support.” PubMed. gov US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, 2007. National Center of Biotechnology Information, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ pubmed/17510028. Ventola, C. Lee. “Direct-toConsumer Pharmaceutical Advertising: Therapeutic or Toxic?” P & T: A PeerReviewed Journal for Formulary Management, vol. 36, 2011, pp.669684. National Center for Biotechnology Information, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov / pmc/articles/PMC3278148/.


The Unseen Virus: Nationalism-19 Erin Kim Geelong Grammar School, 10th

Some say that staying at home during the pandemic has reduced productivity significantly. Yet those individuals forget that in parts of the world, men and women are sacrificing their sleep to work on the cure for COVID-19. This disease that has been plaguing the global community since early January of 2020, mercilessly attacking the weak and vulnerable, and taking away many valuable lives, has urged the agenda of finding a vaccine. The World Health Organization (WHO), multinational biotech companies, and even nations on their own are spilling their blood, sweat, and tears in hopes to end the current havoc. It is reported that the United States of America has already allocated over $10 billion on federal spending for research (Tozzi, Stein, & Griffin, 2020). Keeping these current state of affairs in mind, it seems fairly straightforward that the number one priority of the world is putting an end to this catastrophic virus. There is no doubt that the pandemic needs to be ended at full tilt. But sometimes, people are caught off guard by the unexpected when tragedy clouds their judgement. Currently with all attention going to the extermination of COVID-19, people are unaware of the underlying social consequences of the horrific respiratory disease. The 45th United States president

Donald Trump has announced his wishes to reinforce trade restrictions with nations such as China. Asians are suffering from increased systemic racism in regions of Europe. These concerning phenomena may seem relatively uncorrelated, but in reality, they are tied together with one common ideology. That is, in brutal words, nationalism. What exactly is “nationalism”? The definition has been quite vague, differing significantly based on various demographics. To the modern generation of Generation Z, the term is more likely to be associated with themes of patriotism and national pride. Some may even describe the sight of holding up the national flag while singing the Star-Spangled Banner at the Olympics as so-called “nationalism”. However, to the elderly, especially the ones who have directly lived through 20th century conflict, the word can trigger flashbacks of gruesome violence. In reality, the more ancient yet normalized meaning of nationalism, describing extreme patriotism expressed in the belief system that one nation or race is superior to others, is far more accurate to the original definition. It is not simple love for your motherland, but rather justifying the persecution of individuals that do not align with your national identity (Hastings, UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 6 9


2019). This is why the older age groups tend to tremble in fear when they hear the word “nationalism”, because to them it is not cheering for USA in the Olympics, but rather the reminders of Hitler’s Nazi eugenics. The actual roots of the sets of beliefs can be traced back to 17th century England’s Puritan Revolution, where at the time, secularism was heavily popularized by religious sects who believed in ideas of sterility. Later, the voice of English philosopher John Locke solidified nationalism as a concept emphasizing virtues of pride (Resnick, 1992). This spread at rapid speed into many historical revolutions such as the French Revolution and the American Revolution. The political thought made perfect rational sense in the context of the time; it was through national unity and bonding which Americans signed the Declaration of Independence for their liberty, it was the working class of the French who were led by Napoleon to a memorable conquest, and so on (Ciaurriz, 2020). The only problem was that this innocent positivity would slowly morph into something much more dramatic and violent than expected. Nations needed an instrument, or tangible method, to exert dominance over others. This arrived in the form of colonizing or seizing control over other helpless countries. The race of Europe famously depicts these times where major Trojan horses such as France, Great Britain, Italy and Germany would send military troops to control lands in Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa. The terror did not end there, as these superpowers aimed to employ all the capital by stealing valuable oils, jewels, and even human labor. With this continued rivalry, it is no surprise that politics mainly became concerned with a repetitive pattern of attacking and defending. If not involved in 70 | UNSEEN - THE J OURNAL OF KYHS

bloodbaths, leaders were commonly busy with playing mind games and forging meaningless alliances. This cyclical pattern was a bomb ready to be detonated, and eventually caused the ultimate uproar of World War I and II (Von Der Heyden, 2017). Human lives were sacrificed, communities were torn apart, and it seemed like no human virtue remained. Fittingly to the name of “the war to end all wars”, the great wars marked a new low for humanity with the extreme human rights violations. Since then, this has become the notorious connotations of the word “nationalism”, but with mistakes comes reflection, and the human race has gladly appeared to have learned from their mistakes, setting global cooperation as the main goal of 21st century peacekeeping, in hands with organizations such as the United Nations. However, there is always a monster lurking under the midst. Many have foreshadowed the return of nationalism, but this time, returning in a much stronger and more brutal manner, thanks to the unexpected spread of the COVID-19 respiratory disease. The correlation between nationalism and COVID is interesting, because COVID in itself is ironic. After it was announced that the disease had a significantly higher transmission rate than both SARS and MERS, governments have been on their toes to prevent the spread. The solution to this was simple; advocating social distancing laws and campaigns. People within communities were advised to stay away from each other, and nations themselves reduced the amount of interaction with each other, building walls and being completely shut off from neighboring nations. Nonetheless, the common theme was simple; separate to survive. But it is interesting to recognize human nature in times of tragedies.


The human race, throughout history, has overcome similar obstacles by sticking together. This is exactly what differentiates homo sapiens from other animal species; the fact that humans have social tendencies. Throughout history, “miracles” have originated from the collaborative effort of people working together. One touching example was the 2007 MT Hebei Spirit oil spill in South Korea, an incident where 260,000 tons of crude oil was leaked into the Yellow Sea (Choe, 2007). It was estimated the cleanup would take at least two months to finalize, but more than one million civilians gathered at the site and assisted the cleaning process, and within less than a month, the ocean returned back to a similar state before the spill. This truly validated Helen Keller’s “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much” to be meaningful. So what do people have to do, separate or stick? This sets humanity at a new crosswalk of dilemma: individualism vs. collectivism. In more complex words, it is truly a comparison between nationalism versus globalization. The effects of the selfish trend visible in recent times can be viewed as economic effects, and how this trickles down to political and social harms. “The coronavirus pandemic is set to have a massive impact on world trade,” stated Adam Slater, lead economist at Oxford Economics. The mechanism to this process is fairly simple; a sharp fall in economic growth creates a butterfly effect onto international trade. But how do these two economic concepts work together? How are they related? It all starts with the common theory that once economic growth stunts, naturally so does trade. One singular economy, and even the global economy, is interconnected. All factors of GDP, trade, and unemployment are closely related, demonstrating a

parallel relationship. If one part of an economy fails, so will the other parts. Similarly, if one part does increasingly well, the other parts will also see an upward. This can be simply described through the macroeconomic model, or circular flow model, replicating the operations of exchange between households, firms, and governments. All stakeholders in the transaction, especially the households and firms are dependent on each other. The firms mainly deal with the factor markets, selling goods and services to the households, receiving consumer expenditure in return. On the opposite side, households provide management in the resource market, manufacturing basic factors of production for firms, getting payment such as wages as compensation. Similar to a give and take relationship, without the full efficacy of one actor, the other cannot function. When the balance is upset, the result is showcased through failure in economic indicators including output, inflation, unemployment, and most essentially, the overall economic growth measured through the metric of GDP per capita. Without the unprecedented spread of COVID-19, the projected growth in the year of 2020 was +25%. However, with the virus stagnating human activity, the estimation is the negative shrinking of -5.2% (The World Bank, 2020). The standard lifestyle pattern of society is usually evenly split between outdoor and indoor spaces, with the example of students spending the daytime mainly at school and the afternoon at home. The same is for adults, spending daytime at their workplace and the afternoon at home. Needless to say, some additional time can be accounted for in public leisure spaces like restaurants and movie theatres. Taking into these trends into account, with people now spending close to 100% of their time indoors to UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 7 1


avoid any unnecessary physical contact, many businesses that operate in the outdoor areas or sell products related to outdoor leisure have faced difficulties. It is not necessarily about demand not being there, but simply a blockage between consumer demand and actually being able to act upon that demand. For example, one notable industry that has nosedived is the travel industry, with numerous hotels and bed-and-breakfasts losing their main source of revenue as consumers are unable to travel overseas and even locally. The OECD has estimated that international travel would decrease around 80% in 2020, and as a result, hotel franchises and airlines such as Virgin Australia have filed for bankruptcy, being unable to maintain the business with no stable source of revenue (Cherney, 2020). Keeping in mind that economic growth is most definitely hindered, this snowballs down to the decrease of global trade. International trade, defined as the transfer of goods and services between nations, includes exports, what you ship out, and imports, what you ship in. For example, the US actively conducts trade with Brazil on a regular basis, importing around $1.0B of unroasted coffee, and exporting around $12.0B mineral fuels (The Office of the United States Trade Representative, 2020). The reason why international trade first occurred in the first place was due to the concept of comparative advantage, the idea that two countries that have lower opportunity costs for specific goods should trade those goods with each other, so each country may benefit. Although the definition of opportunity cost in itself describes a trade-off, or a sacrifice, the sole purpose of trade is to make those sacrifices worth it. For example, oil-producing nations rich in the supply of oil often have a comparative advantage in producing 72 | UNSEEN - THE J OURNAL OF KYHS

chemicals. The locally-acquired oil serves as a good material for processing chemicals, with a lot of raw ingredients being produced in the oil distillery process. These nations, like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, consequently become the low-cost suppliers of chemicals compared to other nations, creating incentive for countries like the US to trade with them. Another example is the US buying telecommunication services from India. Although the workers at the call centers do not speak proficient English, the fact that the services are cheap, gives enough incentive for US companies to use their services. This concept is further applied in complex ways, with the transaction flowing both ways. If the US buys telecommunication services due to India’s cost-advantage, India also buys something, like the technology parts due to America’s cost-advantage. This process has been halted with the disruption in economic growth, because with businesses, governments, and people being able to afford less items, demand decreases significantly. On another layer, demand is also blocked, through the process of people being physically unable to go out, the demand for products related to outside leisure like hotel supplies is reduced. The effect so far has already left a strong mark, with WTO economists having predicted that the recent decline may possibly exceed the slump brought on by the global financial crisis in 20082009, with merchandise trade set to plummet between 13-32%. With reduced trade, countries have been forced to transit their source of materials from international companies to domestic manufacturers. This has brought new light to the concept of protectionism, the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries


through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. Although as demonstrated there are many ways to achieve the system, the most common strategy used is undoubtedly imposing tariffs, placing additional prices for producers when they wish to export a product into a certain country. The main argument for the advocates of this system is that it eradicates unfair competition towards domestic manufactures and thus “protects” them. In theory, or in the short term, protectionism can potentially be effective. In less developed nations, or specific underdeveloped industries in developed nations, the policy may flourish as a perfect opportunity to develop their competitive advantages, the factors or qualities that make a country produce products with a cost-advantage. It also can temporarily create jobs for citizens of a country, with local companies being able to afford hiring them through the increased profit they receive. Donald Trump has been one of the most famous proponents of this idea, framing it in his political campaign alongside the slogan “America First”. After Trump gained power in office, he has since then placed tariffs on many products, particularly Chinese products. Not only has he accused China for faults previously mentioned like stealing jobs, but has additionally blamed for trade deficit, or unfair trade practices. In 2017, the USA reported a massive trade deficit of $419.2B, gathering the support of many Trump followers when it came to implementing the tariff policies onto China and other countries. Trump stated in a tweet, “When a country (USA) is losing many billions of dollars on trade with virtually every country it does business with, trade wars are good, and easy to win”, supporting his acts on starting a

trade war with China. Since 2017, Trump has imposed more than a 10% levy on $200B worth of Chinese products, and placed more than a 25% tariff on steel imports (Curran, 2020). The problem with protectionism is not only that it has detrimental side effects, but also that all the benefits it claims to bring is not even necessarily true. In the long-term, trade protectionism weakens the industry. With no proper competition, companies lose the incentive to innovate their products. Additionally, from a purely economic standpoint, higher import prices of goods that cannot be readily substituted causes higher production costs for domestic companies and reduces an average household’s purchasing power. But the true problems do not end there; there is always an issue of ambiguity. With the glocal community now accustomed to trade, and trade being the foundation for numerous economic activities, a sudden halt in trade may lead to unknown consequences. For example, a theory that has left many Americans quivering in fear is the idea that other countries will also stop trade as a whole, causing lay-offs among the 12 million US workers that owe their jobs to exports. Even many members of the Republican Party, the party Donald Trump is a part of, actively opposes protectionism, calling it the destruction of American commercial success. House speaker Paul Ryan voiced his opinion, stating “I disagree with this action and fear its unintended consequences… economy and our national security are strengthened by fostering free trade and promoting the rule of law”. Historically, the incident of the SmootHawley Tariff of 1930 teaches the lesson of the harms of protectionism. Although it was originally designed to help American farmers from the agricultural imports from Europe after long-lasting suffering UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 7 3


of the Dust Bowl, it was later blamed for the elongated severity of the Great Depression (Irwin, 1988). When these selfish policies come hand-in-hand with other selfish ideologies, the dilemma worsens, spiraling into a butterfly effect, causing diplomatic and social spats across the world. The US-China trade war, and even the report that COVID-19 originated in the Hubei province, China, has worsened issues of xenophobia. Trump actively calling the virus “China Virus” has left Chinese individuals, or Asians as a whole vulnerable, where they are subjected to racism being mocked for spreading coronavirus, or more controversially, “eating bats”, as it was believed the virus originated from the consumption of bats. Another incident was when a diplomatic stand-off occurred between Germany and Switzerland after the German chancellor Angela Merkel stopped a truck filled with medical supplies at the German-Swiss border, leading to a short altercation of tension between the leaders. A further dispute arose when Trump attempted to persuade CureVac, a German firm leading the development of the COVID vaccine, to move from Germany to the US, stimulating the war of “vaccine nationalism” (Vogel, 2020). Although some problems like trade deficit may be present, protectionism as a solution may be too big of a solution to take. Grass always seems greener on the other side of the fence, and people sometimes take the risky leap, until it is too late when people grasp the unintended consequences of the unknown. It is a much better solution to find ways to mend the problems of globalization instead of scrapping it entirely, before nationalism shadows the lives of the peaceful communities. 74 | UNSEEN - THE J OURNAL OF KYHS

Works Cited Amadeo, K. (2020, August 21). Why Protectionism Feels So Good but Is So Wrong. Retrieved November 29, 2020, from https://www.thebalance.com/whatis-trade-protectionism-3305896 European Central Bank. (2018, April 06). The consequences of protectionism. Retrieved November 29, 2020, from https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/key/ date/2018/html/ecb.sp180406.en.html Global trade amid COVID-19: Signs of rebound, but recovery uncertain | | UN News. (n.d.). Retrieved November 29, 2020, from https://news.un.org/en/ story/2020/10/1074842 Global trade continues nosedive, UNCTAD forecasts 20% drop in 2020. (2020, June 11). Retrieved November 29, 2020, from https://unctad.org/news/ global-trade-continues-nosedive-unctadforecasts-20-drop-2020 Robert Z. Lawrence and Robert E. Litan. (2014, August 01). Why Protectionism Doesn't Pay. Retrieved November 29, 2020, from https://hbr. org/1987/05/why-protectionism-doesntpay Trade set to plunge as COVID-19 pandemic upends global economy. (n.d.). Retrieved November 29, 2020, from https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/ pres20_e/pr855_e.htm Trade wars, Trump tariffs and protectionism explained. (2019, May 10). Retrieved November 29, 2020, from https://www.bbc.com/news/ world-43512098 Vogel, P. (2020, March 17). Nationalism: The even greater risk of the COVID crisis: IMD Article. Retrieved November 29, 2020, from https://www. imd.org/research-knowledge/articles/ Nationalism-the-even-greater-risk-of-theCOVID-19-crisis/ Written by César A. Hidalgo, A. (n.d.). How COVID-19 has affected trade, in 8 charts. Retrieved November 29, 2020, from https://www.weforum. org/agenda/2020/11/how-covid-19-hasreshuffled-international-trade/


Safety, Then Speed Erin Ryu Seoul International School, 10th

COVID-19: the disease that frightened the entire world, even to this day. On November 17, 2019, the first case of this disease was reported in Wuhan City, China by the Chinese government. Rapidly spread throughout the nation, then to nearby countries, such as South Korea and Japan, and now to nations all around the world, the disease is now considered a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). As of October 28, 2020, over 44 million people worldwide have been infected and over one million people worldwide have died. With the largest pandemic the world has seen in over centuries, COVID-19 has been the hottest topic among both politicians and scientists. The vaccine is also a subject that is brought up frequently. But first, what exactly is a disease? According to the Oxford Dictionary, a disease is “a disorder of structure or function in a human, animal, or plant, especially one that produces specific signs or symptoms or that affects a specific location and is not simply a direct result of physical injury.” Specifically, infectious diseases are caused by pathogenic microorganisms, such as bacteria, fungi, parasites, and viruses. These

can be spread via many routes, but the majority are spread directly or indirectly from person to person. The spread of a disease is considered to be a pandemic when the disease is spread worldwide, and a pandemic is considered to be an influenza pandemic when the pandemic recently emerged and the majority of the population does not have immunity to it (WHO, 2010). Prior to 2020’s pandemic of COVID-19, there were the H1N1 Pandemic in 2009, H3N2 Pandemic in 1983, and H2N2 Pandemic in 1957-1958 (CDC, 2019). Viruses, the cause of majority of diseases, are small parasites which have the ability to produce more viruses on a susceptible cell. Some of them contain RNA, while others contain DNA; some of them are single-stranded, while others are double-stranded (NCBI, 2000). As there is a great variety in how viruses are structured and function, every time a new virus is discovered, it takes a lot of time before everything about the virus is discovered. In the case of COVID-19, although almost a year has passed by after its first discovery, less than 40% of the population worldwide are considered to have herd UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 7 5


immunity: when a virus comes into contact with an individual in a population, but the individual is unaffected or does not show symptoms (Nature, 2020). In comparison, 80% of the population is immune to the flu, 80% is immune to the Black Death, and 95% is immune to chickenpox (Medical News Today, 2017). In contrast to the low immunity rate, due to the hard work of scientists, a lot is now known about the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that is known to cause corona (WHO, 2020). Unfortunately, not a lot is known about the vaccine to the virus, and this has brought up many controversies among scientists and politicians. Normally, vaccines have to go through very long processes before they can be certified and used by the public. The first stages are performed with laboratory and animal studies. In the explanatory stage, basic laboratory research is conducted for approximately two to four years. Scientists attempt to identify antigens that prevent or treat the disease. Next, in the preclinical stage, the information collected from the previous stage is used on tissue-culture or cellculture systems and animals. Some frequently used animals are mice and monkeys. By assessing the safety of the vaccine and its immunogenicity, or its ability to provoke an immune response, researchers hope to get an idea of how the vaccine might work on humans. With the responses given, researchers note down what they might change in order to make the vaccine more effective. These researches are done in private industries for one to two years. Once the wanted response appears, a sponsor submits a form called the Investigational New Drug (IND) to the 76 | UNSEEN - THE J OURNAL OF KYHS

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the IND application step. In this form, the manufacturing and testing processes, laboratory reports, and proposed study are all included for the institutional review board to approve. In addition, the FDA has 30 days to approve the study and for the three trials to begin. The three trials mark the start of clinical studies on human subjects. The first trial is directed towards a small group of adults, usually 20 to 50 subjects. Its primary goal is to detect the type and extent of the immunity response and to assess the safety of the vaccine. All processes are carefully monitored and controlled to ensure that the vaccine is the only influence to the patient’s health. If the first trial was successful, then the second trial is performed. This time, a larger group of individuals is used, usually several hundreds of people. By using such a large group of people, most scientists hope to see the effect of the vaccine on people with different characteristics and physical properties. In this stage, scientists also study the vaccine’s safety, proposed doses, schedule of immunizations, immunogenicity, and method of delivery. With the success of the second trial, the third trial begins. This time, the largest number of people are used, usually thousands to ten thousands. The purpose of using such a large population is to make sure certain rare side effects do not surface. More specific effects of the vaccine are tested such as the effect of the vaccine on the disease, prevention of infection with the pathogen, and production of immune responses to the pathogen. With the final success of the third trial, the vaccine developer will this time submit a Biologics License Application to the FDA. The FDA will inspect all aspects of the process and


determine if the vaccine can be used or not (The History of Vaccines, 2018). Even after the license of the vaccine, the FDA continues to monitor the vaccine. With all these stages and trials, vaccines are very thoroughly regulated and tested. On average, vaccines take at least 10 years to become approved and over 15 billion dollars are invested (Chemistry World, 2020). As a result, scientists believe time needs to be invested for a proper and safe vaccine to be used and set into the public

Rate of COVID-19 vaccine development v.s. Typical vaccine developments (BBC, 2020)

(NFID, 2020). However, in the case of COVID-19, politicians are urging scientists for a vaccine without considering these investments. Although the international committee is in urgent need of a vaccine and the race for the COVID-19 vaccine is more intense than on average, a vaccine cannot be developed this quickly. In contrast to what the politicians declare, scientists are declaring the need of time and do not want the development of the vaccine to be rushed. With the accelerated speed of the development, vaccines are tested with incomplete data and analysis. Although trials are not finished, the next trials started, and some stages are skipped completely from the process. For example, CanSino Biologic’s experimental vaccine in China has been approved for the military to use before the third phase was even finished and Sputnik V’s experimental vaccine in Russia is planning to target citizens without a third phase at all. Furthermore, with rushed trials and stages, long-term side effects and precautions are not taken into consideration. When a safety and effective vaccine is invented, it is important for the public to be open-minded to the vaccine and willing to inject the vaccine. A survey held in America has shown that Americans are more likely to inject a vaccine when health organizations promote them rather than politicians. If politicians start interfering with vaccines even before a vaccine is built, the public will not willingly accept a vaccine UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 7 7


later on. This was proved true back in the 1970s. Hoping for reelection, President Gerald Ford promoted the vaccination for swine flu at Fort Dix. This mass promotion resulted in a mess; the flu was not under control, the vaccine caused the GuillainBarre syndrome (a rare disease where the body’s immune system attacks the nerves) and the public shut down all vaccines for several years (Brookings, 2020). Holding these concerns, several scientists are beginning to speak up against the politicians. One such figure is the former director in charge of developing a COVID-19 vaccine, Rick Bright. As President Trump tweeted Americans not to fear the pandemic, Bright has criticized him for being “irresponsible and reckless for the President of the United States to drive the evaluation of something as critical as a vaccine to meet an election timeline” (CNN, 2020). In addition, as an expert from the National Institute of Health, he mentioned that vaccines are targeted to healthy people to protect them from a disease and that those people should not be more harmed from side effects. The current leader of the vaccine project in America, Mocef Slaoui, has also stated that he will quit if there was more political interference and the amount of stress he was receiving from the push (The Washington Post, 2020). Scientists

further highlight the importance of the roles of politicians during this time period. For example, many believe that the harsh lockdown in some countries is unnecessary. The lockdown will deteriorate children’s health and cause depression for ill patients. As a result, many of them have signed the Great Barrington Declaration, an anti-lockdown movement that started in Great Britain (BBC, 2020). As adept specialists are emphasizing the need for time and safety, politicians should no longer intermeddle in regards to the vaccine for COVID-19 but focus on other matters. As of November 2020, 36 vaccines are testing for safety and dosage, 14 are in expanded safety trials, 11 are in largescale efficacy tests, and six vaccines are approved for early or limited use. Much more are in the previous states of research, but no vaccines are approved for full use yet. Out of all the countries, China is leading the race with four vaccines already ready for early or limited use. However, countries like the United States, India, Russia, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Germany are also rapidly developing their vaccines for the world to use. Although both China and Russia have vaccines that are ready for use by the public, many of the countries around the world have doubts and are reluctant

(New York Times, 2020) 78 | UNSEEN - THE J OURNAL OF KYHS


to perform trials on their citizens. This connects back to the point where the public becomes critical of vaccines overall. As the race for the vaccine is rapidly unfolding, it is even more essential to remember that safety should always come before speed and enough trials to be executed before vaccines are ready to be used, so that more people are open to vaccines later on in the future.

Works Cited 2009 H1N1 Pandemic. (2019, June 11). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/ flu/pandemic-resources/2009-h1n1pandemic.html BBC News. (2020, October 7). Coronavirus: Health experts join global anti-lockdown movement. https://www. bbc.com/news/health-54442386 Chemistry World. (2020, July 13). What are the risks of fast-tracking a Covid-19 vaccine? https://www. chemistryworld.com/news/what-arethe-risks-of-fast-tracking-a-covid-19vaccine/4012130.article Cole, D. C. (2020, October 8). Rick Bright: Ex-pandemic preparedness chief calls Trump’s tweet urging Americans not to fear Covid-19 “reckless and deadly” -

(CRC, 2020) UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 7 9


CNNPolitics. CNN. https://edition.cnn. com/2020/10/08/politics/rick-brightcnntv/index.html Coronavirus vaccine project chief says he would quit if there was political interference. (2020, September 3). Washington Post. https://www. washingtonpost.com/gdpr-consent/?next_ u r l = h t t p s % 3 a % 2 f % 2 f w w w. washingtonpost.com%2fnation%2f2020 %2f09%2f03%2fcoronavirus-covid-liveupdates-us%2f Corum, J. (2020, November 6). Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker. Https:// Www.Nytimes.Com/#publisher. https:// www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/ science/coronavirus-vaccine-tracker.html Crosta, P. (2017, May 30). What to know about viruses. Medical News Today. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/ articles/158179#sources disease noun - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage notes | Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com. (2020). Oxford Learner’s Dictionary. https://www. oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/ definition/english/disease Fontanet, A. (2020, September 9). COVID-19 herd immunity: where are we? Nature Reviews Immunology. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41577020-00451-5?error=cookies_not_ supported&code=569c3c88-a007-4a1fb4dc-37481e863a2d Gallagher, B. J. (2020, October 27). Coronavirus vaccine: When will we have one? BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/ news/health-51665497 How long does it take to develop a vaccine? (2020, June 2). World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/ agenda/2020/06/vaccine-developmentbarriers-coronavirus/ Kreps, S. (2020, October 30). Will Americans trust a COVID-19 vaccine? 80 | UNSEEN - THE J OURNAL OF KYHS

Not if politicians tell them to. Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/techstream/ will-americans-trust-a-covid-19-vaccinenot-if-politicians-tell-them-to/ Lodish, H. D. B. (2000). Molecular Cell Biology, 4th Edition: Vol. Section 6.3Viruses: Structure, Function, and Uses (Fourth Edition). W H Freeman & Co. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/ NBK21523/ McCarthy, T. (2020, October 5). Trump’s political play: can his Covid vaccine bet bring election success? The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/ us-news/2020/sep/13/trump-politicalplay-vaccine-covid-election Naming the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the virus that causes it. (2020). World Health Organization. https:// www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/ novel-coronavirus-2019/technicalguidance/naming-the-coronavirusdisease-(covid-2019)-and-the-virusthat-causes-it#:%7E:text=ICTV%20 announced%20%E2%80%9Csevere%20 acute,on%2011%20February%202020 Vaccine Development, Testing, and Regulation | History of Vaccines. (2018, January 17). The History Of Vaccines. https://www.historyofvaccines.org/ content/articles/vaccine-developmenttesting-and-regulation Vaccine Science & Safety. (2020, April 9). National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. https://www.nfid.org/ immunization/vaccine-science-safety/ What Is the World Doing to Create a COVID-19 Vaccine? (2020, August 25). Council on Foreign Relations. https:// www.cfr.org/backgrounder/what-worlddoing-create-covid-19-vaccine World Health Organization. (2020, March 12). What is a pandemic? https:// www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/ frequently_asked_questions/pandemic/ en/


Guerrilla Marketing or Meme Marketing: A Step-by-Step Approach Eugene Kang Valor International Scholars, 12th

The invention of the world wide web in 1989 kickstarted a new age in human history. Its initial purpose was solely research-motivated. It was meant to provide more efficient information sharing between scientists all around the world. However, it has evolved in a way that the purpose to be an agent of communication for the masses. The internet allowed people all around the world to communicate at nearinstantaneous speeds. After about two decades of usage and development, the internet has become less of a technological oddity and more of household necessity. With that, the internet has become more and more suited towards the masses, specifically the youth who

(Figure 1)

became increasingly tech-savvy having grown up with the internet. Then, out of nowhere, in the 21st century, the human race was bestowed a wondrous gift. A brilliant invention. Or rather, a peculiar phenomenon that transcended cultural and geographical boundaries. The meme, as defined by MerriamWebster, is “an amusing or interesting item (such as a captioned picture or video) or genre of items that is spread widely online especially through social media.” Most will prefer the definition given in the Urban Dictionary: “The cure of depression.” Memes usually stem from image macros that are either relatable or can be applied to a bunch of different

(Figure 2)

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situations. They are humorous in nature and frequently consist of pop-culture references. Take a look at figures 1, 2, and 3. This is the “Surprised Pikachu” meme, a 2018 meme. It consists of the same image macro, Pikachu, a popular character from the game Pokémon. The first two portray relatable situations which might lead to the subject being surprised. The third is a pop culture reference to the popular HBO series Game of Thrones. But memes are not limited to pictures with relatable situations, although this may be the most recognizable form of a meme. Take for instance “Pepe the Frog” (see figure 4) where a single character evolved into an entire internet subculture. Although with its fame came its fair share of controversy. Memes also include simple emotes. For instance: “pogchamp” (see figure 5). Emotes such as this are widely used all over popular video streaming services such as Twitch. tv and represent particular feelings in a universal context.

(Figure 4)

(Figure 5)

Memes also take the form of videos. Great examples of this include “Rick Rolling”, “Challenger Approaching”, and what can only be described as “HEYYEYAAEYAAAEYAEYAA.” Memes dominate the internet and the lives of an entire generation. Memes should not be dismissed just because they are meant to be comical or because their producers and consumers mainly consist 82 | UNSEEN - THE J OURNAL OF KYHS

of teenagers. No, memes have the ability to make or break businesses, political campaigns, and more. Their effect and reach are global and have led to an entire generation around the globe to be able to relate, empathize, and communicate with each other better. Businesses have even more of an incentive to study memes as well. Traditional forms of marketing are becoming less and less effective as time goes on. The more “corporate” a company seems, the more “out-of-touch” a company seems, fewer people are willing to trust them and buy from them. The image of a “sleazy salesman” comes to mind. Corporations just do not have a good reputation overall. If these same corporations come at consumers with high-budget advertising and celebrity endorsements, they come off as simply trying to take advantage of their consumer base. This is especially true as many TV advertising tricks have been brought to light over the past decade. Even internet advertising in the form of banners or “promoted posts” does little to lend credibility to companies. Especially with the prevalence of internet scams and hacking schemes. Here enters guerrilla marketing or meme marketing. Many companies have found increasing success utilizing memes as an integral part of their marketing strategy. Slim Jim’s social media marketing campaign was failing. Slim Jim’s marketing directors tried to appeal to younger audiences with funny and edgy content. “Our Instagram content was attempting to be funny and gain attention, but it missed the mark,” Spencer Fivelson said, “Consumers felt like they were being marketed to and it was contrived.” Slim


Jim’s Instagram page, in fact, had only 5,000 followers (Bradley, 2019). Yet, Slim Jim staffers discovered something amazing. A fan of Slim Jim was operating a fan page that had over 15,000 followers. The fan was uploading memes about Slim Jim, generating a loyal fan base of teenagers who enjoyed that content. After Slim Jim acquired the fan page and hired that superfan, they have grown a social media presence of over 1.1 million followers and a dedicated fanbase that calls themselves the Long Boi Gang. Take a look at figure 6 and figure 7, examples of posts made by the official Slim Jim account. These memes were made in-season. The first taking advantage of the sudden Among Us fad, where the game Among Us attained sudden popularity.

(Figure 6)

There are many other similar examples: a very popular one being Ruffles, a company that produces very popular chips.

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Figures 8 to 10 display examples of social media posts made by Ruffles. In these specific examples, Ruffles UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 8 3


utilized the “Angry Man Pointing at Hand”, “Arthur Fist”, and the “Distracted Boyfriend” meme while they were trending in order to stay up-to-date. And while the Ruffles chain still has not been able to attain nearly as much popularity as Slim Jim had, it has shown an attempt at utilizing the same tactic. Another example of guerrilla marketing would be to look at a lot of the fast-food chains in the US. Wendy’s twitter account does not look corporate at all. Indeed, at a cursory glance, it might even pass for the twitter account of an edgy teenager looking to pick fights on Twitter. Wendy’s and many other fast-food chains quickly adopted a marketing strategy that revolved around imitation. They picked fights with other chains, dropping in-season pop culture references and slang, and even going as far as to diss tracks.

Meme marketing can also be used for movies and PSA announcements. Snakes on a Plane was a movie released in 2006 and achieved relative success for a movie with mediocre plot and bad critic reviews. But the reason it was successful was that it scored an early hit on the viral marketing target. This is not specifically an example of meme marketing. However, by intentionally creating buzz, and skepticism about a film with an absurd premise, “Snakes on a Plane” achieved cult-like status amongst internet users. Internet users “grabbed hold of the movie’s delightfully laughable title and premise … posting tributes of all kinds in forums, blogs, and viral video sites like YouTube.” People generated buzz for Snakes on a Plane by posting content related to it by their own volition (Kornhaber, 2011). You might recognize the name Dumb Ways to Die (figure 14). It is either the name of a fun, quirky little game about

(Figure 11)

(Figure 13) (Figure 12) 84 | UNSEEN - THE J OURNAL OF KYHS


preventing little cute characters from dying in dumb ways or a catchy song about dying in dumb ways (Allen, 2018).

Apple unveiled their newest product, the iPhone 11, people were astounded by the design of the product. It had 3 front-facing cameras arranged in a triangular shape. It looked ridiculous, compared to the other products out there. Users quickly got to work creating funny edited videos making fun of Apple’s phone design.

(Figure 14)

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But did you know that Dumb Ways to Die actually started out as a PSA? Melbourne Metro made a PSA video ad for railway safety and decided to do it in the form of a cutesy little video and song. Within 24 hours of its release in 2012, “Dumb Ways to Die” had reached the top 10 charts of iTunes. Its YouTube video was viewed 4.7 million times within 72 hours. Utilizing humor, catchy tunes, and clean animations, the campaign became a wide success, leading to a 21% reduction in train station incidents (While there has not been a proven causation, there is a clear correlation). Taking a look at the Google search trends of “Dumb Ways to Die” (seen in figure 15) shows a clear and dramatic spike in searches. One final example of viral marketing is a type of marketing where you provoke your audience to ridicule or make fun of your product by making memes. After

(Figure 17)

This is not limited to design. Apple unveiled a revolutionary product: Apple Pro Stand. Priced at $999, it showcased game-changing features including, but not limited to holding up a monitor. Internet users immediately got to work. Making fun of Apple by making memes showing how their prices did not add up or are insanely overpriced (seen in figure 19) or comparing similarly priced purchases that might be more valuable (seen in figure 18). As with all viral trends, looking at Google Trends we can see a sharp spike in user searches, demonstrating the far reach and effectiveness of these memes in providing Apple with essentially free marketing. UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 8 5


(Figure 18)

brand’s marketing campaign is offensive, then many people might still search it up, but only to ridicule it or fight against it. This is where step 2 comes in. Step 1 is useful in so far as it shows whether your marketing campaign was successful in providing your brand exposure by pushing it into the spotlight. Step 2 is where we determine whether that is positive or negative exposure. We do that by doing two things. First, we look toward product reviews and user responses. How are people actually responding to your ad campaign? Looking back towards Slim Jim, this is done by reading through the follower/like ratio and comments on Slim Jim’s Instagram page’s posts.

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How do we know these are examples of successful marketing campaigns? One way in which we measure the success of a marketing campaign is through search trends. If, after a certain marketing campaign, more people searched up a specific product or brand, we can draw a general correlation. We have already done that to a certain extent. Figures 15 and 20 are examples that show how interest in a specific product peaked after an ad campaign. But we have to make sure that this interest is good. If a 86 | UNSEEN - THE J OURNAL OF KYHS

(Figure 21)

Figure 21 shows the audience response on a recent Instagram post by


Slim Jim. It is important here to look at a few things. First, the content of each comment. “This is very epicâ€?, “This is kniceâ€?, “I need to know who runs this account so badâ€?, and “Enlightenment ✊đ&#x;Ś?â€? generally display a positive attitude by the audience. Additionally, brands might find it useful to look at the likes in two different ways. First, the number of likes itself. 72,185 likes is an incredible number, especially on Instagram. This number in itself displays Slim Jim’s success in its ability to create an inclusive community of like-minded people. However, another number to look at is likes as a percentage of followers. This may be increasingly more useful for smaller brands. Slim Jim has over 1.1 million followers. Thus, with a simple shift of perspective, you may notice that about less than 6.5% of followers actively like Slim Jim’s posts. Smaller brands can use this number to determine how active their community is and if their marketing strategy is effectively targeting that demographic. This next part may interest brands looking to emulate such marketing tactics. What steps should marketers take in order to successfully practice meme marketing? It is imperative to stay up to date. Memes evolve fast. As a general rule of thumb, the lifespan of a meme usually stays around 2-3 weeks before it gets old. But there are many exceptions. Some memes just never die. Take the “Rick Rollâ€? meme. As per figure 22, it started

more than a decade ago and is still going strong. It might be easier to consider memes as living creatures of their own right. They change and evolve, but never under set standards or rules. The only way to truly understand memes and participate is to become a part of it. Another thing to keep in mind is creativity and humor. The more creative or humorous your meme is, the more likely people are to remember it or even share it. But, here lies a fine line. It is okay to be humorous but if your meme treads on the line of the offensive, your company may be liable for backlash. Internet users may criticize your company or call for a boycott. The biggest reason of meme marketing failure is because corporations come off as just that: corporations. Take a look at figure 23 and figure 24.

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(Figure 23)

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Figure 23 is an image of an old man trying to fit in with teenagers at a school. But the point of this meme is to show that it is pretty obvious and in a “cringe-worthy” sort of way. Teenagers do not want to be associated with companies, especially brands that have a lot of money or are in the game just to make money. They especially do not want to be taken advantage of, and they do not want some foreign entity to take control of the culture that they built up. The term here to remember is “meme-jacking” which means to hijack a “meme” for your own purpose. Again, this would be exactly the wrong mindset to enter guerrilla marketing with in order to have a successful marketing campaign. You should not be hijacking the culture of the people you are marketing to. Again, a company will only come off as “sleazy” and “greedy”. People are extremely good at figuring out if a meme you made had little-to-no thought or effort put into it. Figure 24 was a response by many internet users to brands attempting to hijack memes. Memes continue to change and evolve to this day. With these changing times, marketing tactics have to adapt in order to stay afloat and survive. Whichever direction it may go, let’s continue to observe and participate in the joy that is meme-culture. Works Cited Allen, R. (2018, September 28). Campaign of the Week: Dumb ways to die. Smart Insights. https://www. smartinsights.com/digital-marketingstrategy/campaign-of-the-week-dumbways-to-die/ Apple calculating price of a new iPhone [Digital Image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://vic.bg/jokes/apple88 | UNSEEN - THE J OURNAL OF KYHS

calculating-price-of-a-new-iphone Apple Pro Stand $999 Price - 400 copies of Shrek of $1,000 dollar SUPER PRO STAND? [Digital Image]. (2019). Retrieved from https://knowyourmeme. com/photos/1500716-apple-pro-stand999-price Bradley, D. (2019, October 10). How a superfan grew Slim Jim’s Instagram account from 5k to 500k followers. PRWeek. https://www.prweek.com/ article/1662149/superfan-grew-slim-jimsinstagram-account-5k-500k-followers Data source: Google Trends (https:// www.google.com/trends). Funny Science & Tech memes (n.d.). Picture memes. [Digital Image], Pinterest. https://www.pinterest.co.kr/ pin/464293042837461531/ “How Do You Do, Fellow Kids?” [Digital image]. (2015) Retrieved from https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/howdo-you-do-fellow-kids Kornhaber, S. (2011, August 18). ‘Snakes on a Plane,’ 5 Years Later. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/ entertainment/archive/2011/08/snakeson-a-plane-5-years-later/243790/ Pepe the Frog [Digital Image] (2015) Retrieved from https://knowyourmeme. com/memes/pepe-the-frog PogChamp [Digital Image] (2011) Retrieved from https://knowyourmeme. com/memes/pogchamp Silence Brand [Digital image]. (2019) Retrieved from https:// knowyourmeme.com/memes/how-doyou-do-fellow-kids Surprised Pikachu - Baelish [Digital Image] (2018) Retrieved from https:// knowyourmeme.com/photos/1424520surprised-pikachu Surprised Pikachu - Breaks [Digital image]. (2018) Retrieved from https://


knowyourmeme.com/photos/1424505surprised-pikachu Surprised Pikachu [Digital image]. (2018). Retrieved from https:// knowyourmeme.com/photos/1424532surprised-pikachu Sl1M Jim [@slimjim]. (n.d.) Posts [Instagram profile]. Instagram. Retrieved November 8, 2020, from https://www. instagram.com/slimjim/?hl=en Sl1M Jim [@slimjim]. (2020, September 19). “Say it with me: NO JIMPOSTERSđ&#x;‘‡â€? [Digital Image], Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/ CFSMVO0gYy9/ Sl1M Jim [@slimjim]. (2020, July 23). “brrrrâ€? [Digital Image], Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/ CC82YvrJDNX/ Ruffles [@ruffles]. (2019, June 8) “Gimme.â€? [Digital Image], Instagram. h t t p s : / / w w w. i n s t a g r a m . c o m / p / ByaeM74jq-C/ Ruffles [@ruffles]. (2018, February 1) “What can we say, Flamin’ Hot is đ&#x;”Ľâ€? [Digital Image], Instagram. https://www. instagram.com/p/BenxNVHFIuN/

Ruffles [@ruffles]. (2016, July 30) “When your roommate eats all the Ruffles.� [Digital Image], Twitter. https://twitter.com/ruffles/ status/759131125977538560?lang=en Vindiesel [@har4larbs] (2019, September 11). Apart from doing what a phone can do, the iPhone 11 pro can also serve as a hotplate. Wonderful. #AppleEvent. [Digital image]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/har4larbs/ status/1171519173672878082 Wendys [@Wendys] (2017, November 9). Some people use frozen beef in their hamburgers. [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/wendys/ status/928350825004617730?lang=en Wendys [@Wendys] (2017, January 5). Your dignity. [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/wendys/ status/816713888884523008?lang=en Wendys [@Wendys] (2018, March 24). The mixtape drops now. Not pulling punches. We Beefin’. [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/wendys/ status/977198610361221121?lang=en

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Inequality in Education Eunjae Yu Fayston Preparatory School, 12th

The critical element of the fundamental racism in the United States of America is educational inequality. To solve this issue, the unification of blackdominant and white-dominant schools is urgent and necessary. The educational gap between black people and white people affects the black’s employment opportunities negatively; furthermore, it contributes to the continuation of institutional racism in the USA. The USA’s educational inequality originates from a long-term cause: the antiliteracy laws which kept non-Caucasian youths out of educational boundaries. Benefiting from the ignorance of the black slaves and fearing the enlightenment of them, the dominant white US supported the forbiddance of the education on the black slaves, or even emancipation of black people. For instance, the South Carolina Act of 1740 stated that “having slaves taught to write, or suffering them to be employed in writing, may be attended with great inconveniences”. Such evidence of inequality in America, which was prevalent in the entire society, led to weak education for black people in the first place, and that led to unemployment of black men. There were approximately 900,000 black slaves – about 17 percent 90 | UNSEEN - THE J OURNAL OF KYHS

of the total population – in America by the 19th century. Without access to education, black people were socially, economically, and politically incapacitated. There still is educational inequality in the USA. Even though minority students – such as African American students – have the potential to thrive in the aspect of academics, they are not at equal chance to show their potentials. Linda stated that “On the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), the scores of African American students climbed 54 points between 1976 and 1994, while those of white students remained stable.” She also mentioned that the overall resourcefulness of whitedominant schools is much greater than that of the black-dominant schools in the states of Alabama, New Jersey, New York, Louisiana, and Texas. Clare added, “...$23 billion. According to EdBuild, that’s how much more funding predominantly white school districts receive compared with districts that serve mostly students of color.” Besides, more than half of the American students attend segregated schools. As these pieces of evidence show, schools with a majority of black students are underfunded compared to the schools with a majority of white students, and black


students full of potential are deprived of their educational opportunity. This leads to black people’s unemployment. In fact, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, black or African American has a second-highest unemployment rate by 6.5 percent. Additionally, as reported by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the arrest rate of black people is the highest among all races by 7081.9 in the year 2019 per 100,000 in age group. Low social status, relative destitution, and high crime rate are happening in a cycle by one momentous cause: educational inequality. Efforts to abolish the ‘separate but equal’ doctrine have been feeble in its practical effect, and the institutional racism is not over yet. Education is not confined to the academic opportunities at schools. Instead, it also incorporates what youths experience within society. The United States did not completely remove institutional racism through the enfranchisement. According to Britannica, education is “to guide them in learning a culture, molding their behavior in the ways of adulthood, and directing them toward their eventual role in society.” For non-white Americans, it would be a stressful thing to get along with an unwelcoming, white-dominant world. Unification of black and white schools is necessary. The government should keep working on the promotion of equal education opportunities. Though it may be gradual, the United States should endeavor to extend black people’s right to learn and develop as a part of society. More educational opportunities mean more black people involved in the economy and society, which will distribute the black population to a wider range of areas. As Joel Spring stated, “A universal justification for the right to education

must be acceptable to all cultures.” Frederick Douglass once said, “True knowledge unfits a man to be a slave.” Black men have been, are, and will be striving to gain the rights they legitimately deserve, and educational equality is undoubtedly one of them since the United States Constitution guarantees equal rights to be bestowed to every single person in the country. Works Cited Arrests by Offense, Age, and Race, www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/crime/ucr. asp?table_in=2. Darling-Hammond, Linda. “Unequal Opportunity: Race and Education.” Brookings, Brookings, 28 July 2016, www.brookings.edu/articles/ unequal-opportunity-race-and-education/. “Frederick Douglass: ‘Knowledge Unfits a Man to Be a Slave.’” American System Now, 12 Oct. 2020, americansystemnow.com/frederickdouglass-knowledge-unfits-a-man-to-bea-slave/. Jason Gauthier, History Staff. 1800 Fast Facts - History - U.S. Census Bureau, www.census.gov/history/www/through_ the_decades/fast_facts/1800_fast_facts. html. Lombardo, Clare. “Why White School Districts Have So Much More Money.” NPR, NPR, 26 Feb. 2019, www. npr.org/2019/02/26/696794821/whywhite-school-districts-have-so-muchmore-money. O’Neill, Aaron. “United States: Black and Slave Population 1790-1880.” Statista, 12 Feb. 2020, www.statista. com/statistics/1010169/black-and-slavepopulation-us-1790-1880/. “A Right to Literacy as the ‘Pathway from Slavery to Freedom’?” National Constitution Center – Constitutioncenter. org, constitutioncenter.org/blog/a-rightto-literacy-as-the-pathway-from-slaveryto-freedom. Spring, Joel. Google Books, Google, books.google.co.kr/books?hl=en. UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 9 1


How does News Framing Manipulate, Create Bias, and Polarize Public Opinion? Geo Wee Saint Paul Academy Daechi, 12th

Due to the development of technology, more and more people on Earth have access to media that serves as the medium of information and international news. However, despite the fact that people are given more opportunities to acquire more information from various perspectives, it can easily be analyzed that people’s opinions are polarized, and each side tends to experience difficulty in accepting the other side’s opinion (Vox, figure 1). The figure conveys that the advocates of each party tend to favor themselves over time. The researcher of this paper questioned the ongoing situation and had posed a research topic that would possibly explain the phenomenon. This paper seeks to answer the following question: “Does framed news manipulate the public’s opinion by heightening the confirmation bias?” Confirmation bias signifies the tendency to solely favor, search for, and interpret information in a way that affirms one’s prior beliefs or hypotheses. The paper will explain how the public opinion gets manipulated by providing three different possible methods of framing the news, which are the filter bubble algorithm, the 92 | UNSEEN - THE J OURNAL OF KYHS

spin-doctors and news spinning, and lastly, lobbying. Framing could be defined as the certain method news is being provided that serves as the frame for the raw information just like the window frame, which only lets a restricted area of the sky visible. Each method will be thoroughly explained by relatable evidence and experiments to prove that framed news leads to public opinion manipulation due to the heightened confirmation bias. To begin with, the first method to introduce is the “filter bubble algorithm,” which is caused by and results in the “framing” of news. Filter bubble is a term first coined by Eli Pariser, the author of “The Filter Bubble,” and Pariser describes a phenomenon of which the consumer of information being captivated by narrow and biased thoughts, due to only being provided with personalized information based on what the person has been reading and liking, manipulated by the AI. Based on the fact that only being exposed to information from the same perspective strengthens his/her belief towards their own opinion, the filter bubble algorithm makes it difficult for the information consumers to develop opinions that take other perspectives into account or


understand them, and therefore makes it an unhealthy influence to the public. The greater the influence becomes, the more it will eliminate the opportunity to be aware of diverse thoughts and perspectives. Eli Pariser stated that Facebook, Twitter, and Google have adopted the personalized recommendation algorithm. Therefore, they provide personalized service to each user by analyzing personal information including their IP address, location, search history, gender, connected friends, Internet Browser Cookie (Viner, 183-192). Kim elaborated that if a male Texas resident who has visited the Republican Party’s website and a female California resident who has visited the Democratic Party’s website both search “Trump” on Google, two contrary results will be provided. The former will be provided with pro-Trump news, and the latter will be provided with anti-Trump news (Kim, 19-27). As they each click on the news provided for themselves, it will get added to their internet history, which will strengthen their filter bubble, and eventually, they will get captivated by the confirmation bias, which makes them only take into account the evidence that supports their belief and disregard the rest. The two most exemplary cases of the filter bubble phenomenon are the 2016 US Presidential Election and the Brexit. The 2016 US Presidential Election best showcases the social significance of the filter bubble algorithm. Prior to the election, the public was certain that Donald Trump, the social media-infamous candidate, will lose. However, the result of the election was more than mere astonishment; Donald Trump won the election by garnering 304 electoral votes out of 538 electoral votes. Furthermore, the AI has already been predicting Trump’s victory, by analyzing

the big data gathered from every platform of information including search engines, social media, and video channels. The social media, which is highly influenced by the filter bubble recommendation, only provided news that were leaning towards anti-Trump based on the users’ past internet activity, keeping them away from being aware of the opposite side’s presence. The Brexit case well exemplifies the consequence of being exposed to information of a crisis from a single perspective and failing to take the opposite side’s reasoning into account. On June 23, 2016, the UK announced the country’s withdrawal from the EU by 51.9% of the electors’ consent (BBC, 1-2). The consents were due to the exceptionally costly EU levy equivalent to 800 billion pounds, and their anxiety of the employmentpurposed immigration rate increasing, and the employment rate declining at the same time. The conservative people who led the Brexit tended to be exposed to news concerning about the UK’s economic disadvantages of staying in the EU, whereas the liberals who disagreed to the withdrawal were aware of the explanation provided by the UK’s National Statistical Office and finance experts about the situation, believing that the majority of the population disagrees to the withdrawal from the EU. After the case of the 2016 Presidential Election and the Brexit, the term “shy conservatives” was coined. The term explains that the conservatives’ opinion was hidden due to the lack of provision of enough information, rather than the conservatives themselves unrevealing their thoughts. Just like this, having access to framed news, or news written from a certain perspective, will eventually UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 9 3


strengthen the filter bubble algorithm. Then, as it was proved by the two examples, the algorithm will induce people’s opinions to sway to the extreme end, heighten their confirmation bias, and therefore manipulate the public’s opinion. The second method to be introduced is “spin-doctors and new spinning.” The spin-doctors mislead people to have biased opinions and therefore heighten the confirmation bias. To spin news is to utilize words and expressions that convey intentional connotations that distort the news. News spinning evidently twists the public opinion and effaces the original intention of the news and the information. Spin-doctors are people who specialize in news spinning. The 16th and 17th Presidential Elections of South Korea in 2002 and 2007 best exemplify the impact of spindoctors on public opinion. Muhyun Roh, the 16th President of South Korea, was elected president in 2002 by winning 48.9% of the popular vote, which is 34.3% of the electorate. Myungbak Lee, the 17th President, was elected president in 2007 by winning 48.7% of the popular vote, which is 30.5% of the electorate. However, the reports for the results of each election from the same press company differed to a great extent. According to Daily Jungang, which is considered to be one of the conservative press companies, Roh was the “16th President” who was responsible for reconciling the rest half of the population who did not vote for him (Choi, 1). On the other hand, Daily Jungang has stated that Lee, who won 0.2% less of the popular vote in 2007 was the “People’s Man,” who was elected by an overwhelming majority (Cho and Park, 1). Considering that Roh was a civil rights attorney who fought for press reform, 94 | UNSEEN - THE J OURNAL OF KYHS

and Lee was the former CEO of a large enterprise and the candidate from the conservative party, it is indubitable that the different words were chosen to imply and convince the public opinion that Roh was an unpopular “half-worth” president and Lee was a popular “majority’s favorite” president, and therefore the news have been twisted by the spin-doctors. As acknowledged in the examples of the reports from Daily Jungang about the 16th and 17th Presidential Elections of South Korea, the words that convey extreme connotations or one-sided interpretations induce reaction and emotion the spin-doctors sought to find from the public, and create a bias. The last method is lobbying. People are defenseless from their exposure to news and information that were manipulated by lobbying. The transaction between press companies and corporations or government occurs frequently, resulting in the attendant impact on the public opinion. Considering that the profit system of press companies is designed to earn the most from advertisements, the press companies these days tend to rely on advertisements than being a credible source, which leads to the practicing of lobbying. For instance, as the Reuter has revealed in their latest annual study on Digital News, South Korea has marked the last place out of 37 nations by 25% of the news consumers responding that they trust most news most of the time (Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, p.16). The company or the government asks the press company for the promotion of a certain product or a policy. The press company then complies with the request by receiving a considerable amount of cost. The following example about the nuclear plant construction in South Korea


epitomizes the concept of lobbying. After the Nuclear Power Foundation of Korea has planned to construct a nuclear power plant and the reports of Daily Chosun, a representative press company in Korea, have been consistently praising and emphasizing the necessity of the nuclear power plant. News Tapa, a Korean Journalism Center, has revealed that Daily Chosun was sponsored 55 million won for a special report about the benefits of a nuclear plant, 11 million won for carrying an interview of the chief director of the foundation, and 55 million won for letting child journalists report about and promote the construction of the nuclear power plant (Kim, 1-9). The foundation sought ways to propagandize the public that nuclear power plants must be constructed to pursue a promising future due to the fact that nuclear energy is the only clean, futuristic form of energy that is suitable for South Korea. However, the articles that were sponsored did not mention that it was financially sponsored by the foundation to promote the construction (Kim, 37-40). The foundation has spent 20 billion won in promoting and campaigning about the nuclear power plant construction (Kim, 15). Another article from News Tapa also revealed that 123 articles from 35 press companies turned out to be sponsored (Kim, 5-8). The Nuclear Power Foundation was framing the news by lobbying, in order to only provide information that highlights the favorable, desirable aspects of the nuclear power plant, and therefore manipulated the public opinion towards the nuclear power plant even before the appropriateness of the construction of the plant has been discussed nationally. An agenda provided by lobbying has an extremely dangerous and weighty impact on the public opinion, considering

that the lobbied fact does not consist of both sides; the company or the government has intentionally provided only one side and eliminated the opposite side through dealings. It limits people’s thoughts, and eventually manipulates the public opinion through heightening the confirmation bias caused by understanding and favoring what is only being seen. This research paper aimed to prove that news framing heightens the confirmation bias, which manipulates the public opinion, and can possibly contribute to people’s polarization. Via analysis, the paper proved that the 3 major methods of media impacting the public opinion, which are the recommendation algorithm and the filter bubble, spindoctors and news spinning, and lobbying, were correlated with the manipulation of public opinion. In other words, the three methods conveyed intentional messages, and the public’s opinion was manipulated and polarized by being constantly exposed to the intended message of the news. In other words, the polarization of public opinion of modern society tended to be heightened over time despite the fact that the public has more opportunity to have access to diverse information from various perspectives, and each side was experiencing difficulty in understanding the other side’s opinion. Having a narrow outlook, disregarding the opposite side’s opinion, and blindly supporting what they favor becomes an unhealthy impact on the society. Therefore, the creators of news must produce news that takes both sides into account from a fair perspective without being biased and must be aware of the fact that their perspective or intention towards an issue may lead to the manipulation of public opinion. UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 9 5


Works Cited Anonymous. “EU Referendum: Brexit Sends IoM on ‘Unknown Journey’.” BBC, 24 June 2016, https://www.bbc. com/news/politics/eu_referendum/results. Accessed 2 December 2019. Cho, Moongyu and Park, Gyongmin. “민심이 선택한 얼굴 [The People’s Man].” Daily Jungang, 20 December 2007, https://news.joins.com/ article/2985371. Accessed 29 November 2019. Choi, Hun. “노무현 16대 대통령 당선 [Roh Becomes the 16th President].” Daily Jungang, 20 December 2002, https://news.joins.com/article/4398359. Accessed 29 November 2019. Kim, Gyongrae. “기사 1건에 천만원... 핵마피아에 기생하는 신문 [Press being Parasitic on the Nuc Mafias… $10000 for an Article].” News Tapa, 11 October 2014, https://newstapa. org/article/XouOg. Accessed 2 December 2019.

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Kim, Jium. “폭로! 원자력과 언론의 돈 거래 [Transaction Between Nuclear Power Foundation and Press Exposed!].” News Tapa, 4 September 2017, https://newstapa.org/article/ WFJGB. Accessed 2 December 2019. Kim, Sunho. “필터버블, 플랫폼의 예방 노력이 중요 [Filter Bubble, Prevention from the Platform itself is Required].” 신문과 방송 (News and Broadcasting) July 2017: p.8 19-27. Online. Accessed 28 November 2019. Klein, Ezra. “The Single Most Important Fact About American Politics.” Vox, 28 April 2016, https://www.vox. com/2014/6/13/5803768/pew-mostimportant-fact-american-politics. Accessed 30 November 2019. Viner, Katharine. “How Technology Disrupted the Truth.” The Guardian, 12 July 2016, https://www.theguardian. com/media/2016/jul/12/how-technologydisrupted-the-truth. Accessed 1 December 2019.


The Press: Society’s Telescope of Truth and Shield from Corruption Haeun Jeong Seoul International School, 10th

“The press was to serve the governed, not the governors.” This is what the US Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black said in the New York Times (1971). Throughout history, the press has played an imperative role in shaping society. A single photo or a simple sentence has the power to transform politics or spark a revolution. For instance, when a photo of Alan Kurdi, a dead 3-year-old Syrian boy, washed up on the shore of a Turkish resort surfaced in the press, it caught the attention of the entire world and the international community rushed to implement policies that sought to increase the number of refugees they would accept. Regardless of whether its impact was positive or negative, it is undeniable that the press holds magnificent power over society. The first time that the press became relevant to the government was when the freedom of the press was first ratified in the First Amendment on December 15, 1791 by the US government. It stated: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government

for a redress of grievances.” The First Amendment prohibited the government from restricting information that was published by the press. This was the first step that the new American democratic government took towards transparency and the stipulation of those who chose to abuse their power, and this would later become the fundamental basis of which other nations would use to establish their own democracy. The founding fathers’ purpose of enabling outright freedom of the press was to create a mechanism that would serve as a watchdog of the government--it would essentially enable checks and balances. Based upon this historical purpose, the role of the press was to use any means possible to ensure the transparency of the government and to ensure that there is no definite abuse of power. Indeed, there have been a lot of instances where the press was effectively able to do so. For instance, the impeachment of former South Korean president Park Geun-Hye was only possible with the involvement of the press and mass media. With their investigative journalism, the press had been able to discover evidence of corrupted deals between former president Park GeunUNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 9 7


Hye and one of the heirs of Samsung. Moreover, their continuous transparent criticism of the president expedited the process of investigation and enabled police enforcements to act quicker in pressing charges. Although there are such examples of when the press was clearly effective in eliminating corruption within the government, there has been a recent question of to what extent should the press try to intervene in the government. Some argue that the press should fully intervene at all times as that was the role that was given to them by the government based on the First Amendment of the Constitution. Yet, when examining examples of politicians who have had their entire private lives investigated, it is still questionable whether it is justifiable for the press to discover every single aspect of their lives. Major examples of this question can be identified in the recent 2020 election. For instance, during the election of 2020, Donald Trump had made accusations about Joe Biden’s son using drugs and how his relation to Ukraine and China seemed suspicious. The press had gotten so involved to the point where Biden was on the verge of tears talking about how his son had served in the military struggling with substance abuse and had been able to recover strenuously. The press had essentially delved into the depths of the private life of Joe Biden and it was clearly arguable that it had infringed upon their personal problems that they wanted to hide from the public. Similarly, Donald Trump was also accused of various sexual misconduct, which led to the press also digging into his personal life and trying to find evidence from decades ago. Instead of focusing on conceiving the best environment for an organic debate and sophisticated discussion, the press 98 | UNSEEN - THE J OURNAL OF KYHS

had ignited the blame game where both citizens and the presidential candidates were accusing each other of committing wrong in the past. Perhaps this indicates how the press is not fulfilling their duty to foster the best environment possible. It seems as if their priorities have shifted to earning profit instead of maintaining transparency, propelling them to becoming involved in the very corruption that they were supposed to prevent from the beginning. In the past, the press was usually a small family-run business or a modest company that reported on local news and perhaps some bigger issues when there were major events occurring at the time. Thus, they were focused on preserving the tradition of maintaining transparency and reporting the best quality of work they could. For example, the Washington Post had also begun as a family-run newspaper and had become famous after publishing the Pentagon Papers and reporting news based on the Watergate scandal. Their main priority at the time was to sustain their family tradition and continue reporting even at the expense of possibly losing their business when they were faced with the decision to publish confidential papers proving the existence of corruption within the government. Such news sources had a set of moral values and beliefs, which guided them in making crucial decisions. But it is evident that the same cannot be said for the news sources today. As many of the news sources derive their profit from advertisements and the number of people who click on their articles on the internet, many have changed their tactics on reporting information. Instead of reporting true facts, some may alter the headline to make it seem more extreme and eye-catching so


that their readers would be compelled to read the article--a method also commonly referred to as clickbait. Or they could completely fake articles that report on falsified information. More exposure to fake news is perilous to the fundamentals of democracy as the role of the press is to inform the citizens about what is factually going on in the world. It is then the citizens’ responsibility to conceive a belief or an opinion based upon factual information. Especially as the press is usually a highlyrespected, credible source of information, it is inevitable for citizens to believe the information that they report on. Thus, when the press is unable to release accurate information to the public, the very foundation upon which the citizens base their values will be invalid, causing their opinions and ideas to be invalid too. However, this is not the only problem that the press has demonstrated in recent days. The press suggests a hint of bias towards certain political parties or other issues and they are slowly becoming divided over such issues. For instance, during the 2020 US election, it was notable that Fox News heavily backed Donald Trump as he had constantly praised Fox News for being the best news source, while CNN had been an ardent supporter of the Democratic Party and had been publicly disapproved of by Donald Trump for many occasions. The problem with such bias incorporated into these news sources is that people indirectly begin to lean towards whatever stance the news source is supporting instead of devising their own ideas and opinions, especially as people trust the press for reliable information. For instance, if the news media were to frame the Chinese government as a positive influence by specifically choosing to report on the

positive aspects of their governing and by utilizing words with heavy positive connotations to describe it, then it would appear as if they are a positive influence. It is extremely easy for the news media to frame individuals or groups of people, thus strengthening the need for objectivity. The incorporation of bias also leads to a creation of an echo chamber, a system in which beliefs are amplified by a repetitive communication within an insulated discussion platform. There are a few news sources that create such a phenomenon indirectly as a result of trying to generate a group of loyal readers by leaning towards a specific stance that a lot of people agree upon. Through utilizing implicit or explicit bias and cherry-picking information that they think that their readers would want to read about, they create a platform that people will often refer to as they can find the information that they want to find on that source. The creation of echo chambers makes division within the press as people with different beliefs and values tend to refer to the news sources that agree with their opinions. Yet, instead of trying to tear each other down, the press should aim to work as a unified force that creates balance and transparency in the government. As society evolves to prioritize different social values compared to the past, it is inevitable for the press to change over time. Even its significance has greatly developed as it has transited from being a small, powerless entity that reported on minute local news to a grand-scale, global media can upset the entire economic, political, and social spheres. Thus, considering the huge influence they hold over society, the press should focus on ensuring accurate and unbiased information for their readers, UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 9 9


while also staying true to their morals of their predecessors who wanted to devise a platform to convey the truth for the people, not for personal profit. The press should be society’s telescope of truth and shield from corruption. Works Cited “Alan Kurdi Death ‘Touched Millions’ Says Aunt.” BBC News, BBC, www.bbc.com/news/av/worldeurope-34249489. “Digital Media Literacy: What Is an Echo Chamber?” GCFGlobal.org, edu. gcfglobal.org/en/digital-media-literacy/ what-is-an-echo-chamber/1/. “First Amendment.” Legal Information Institute, Legal Information Institute, www.law.cornell.edu/ constitution/first_amendment. “Hunter Biden: What Was He Doing

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in Ukraine and China?” BBC News, BBC, 30 Oct. 2020, www.bbc.com/news/ world-54553132. Martin, Timothy W., and Na-young Kim. “Samsung Heir and South Korea’s Ex-President Could Face More Jail Time.” The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 29 Aug. 2019, www. wsj.com/articles/south-koreas-top-courtto-rule-on-bribery-cases-tying-samsungheir-and-ex-president-11567050543. “New York Times v. United States (1971).” Bill of Rights Institute, 12 Mar. 2015, billofrightsinstitute.org/educate/ e d u c a t o r- r e s o u r c e s / l e s s o n s - p l a n s / landmark-supreme-court-cases-elessons/ new-york-times-v-united-states-1971/. “Watergate Scandal.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 22 Oct. 2020, www.britannica.com/ event/Watergate-Scandal.


The Power of Art Therapy Hae Yoon Kim Centreville High School, 10th

There are many kinds of therapies like physical therapy, mental, social, etc. But, not many people heard of art therapy or think it’s something simple like “go draw a picture.” Art therapy is a combination of art and psychology that treats the patients to help their stress, emotions, and social skills. It’s an interactive way to let the patient express how he/she feels. I feel that there should be more art therapists in our world. Art therapy is a therapeutic way to express yourself by using artwork. There are so many ways to do art therapy. Art therapy uses art skills like painting, sculpting, crafting, etc. to help with your mental health and your mind. There are 3 main components to do art therapy which are the artist/patient, the art therapist, and the artwork. The therapist gives the patient the materials and tools that they need for their artwork. The patient makes the artwork to cope with their emotions. Art therapists could work together as a healthcare team or can be individual. Art therapies can be found in hospitals, schools, community clinics, etc. Art therapy started in the midtwentieth century, but a Britain artist named Adrian Hill in 1942 started using the term called art therapy. Adrian Hill

was diagnosed with tuberculosis which is a lung disease. He was in the hospital bed for a long period of time. He drew landscapes out of the hospital and realized he had his mind off his illness. Adrian Hill thought that drawing can help the mind and creativity. He noticed that art can heal them mentally and help them relax more. In 1945, he wrote a book about his ideas called ‘Art Versus Illness’. Adrian Hill and another artist named Edward Adamson work with patients along the side of their hospital bed. In 1970, there started to be more divisions and professions around art therapy. Art therapists are mainly divided into 2 professions which are art therapy and art psychotherapy. People may wonder what’s exactly the difference between art therapy and art psychotherapy. Psychotherapy is another way to say talk therapy. They use words to help mental illness and anxiety. So, art psychotherapy is when the patient makes the art and the therapist talks about how they made it and asks questions about the process. They focus on socializing and interacting with the patient. Art psychotherapy expresses their emotions by using mostly words, but the artwork helps to talk about a topic. On the other hand, art therapy focuses more on the UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 1 0 1


artwork and expresses their emotions using the artwork. Art therapy can express their emotions without being too social and interactive. There are a lot of reasons people decide to do art therapy. They might have disorders, gender identity issues, trauma, and many more problems that people can have that can let them do art therapy. These issues can be solved or be prevented by using art therapy. Art therapy can be used to express your emotions and have a way to communicate them visually. Therapies usually focus on the mind or the body, but art therapy uses both. Art therapy helps the body by using your hand coordination and interacting with different materials provided to make the artwork. Patients often say that they aren’t great with art and aren’t an artist, but art therapists focus on the process of how the artwork was created. Art therapy usually targets people who have a mental illness and need help to cope with it. People might ask why mental health is so important. They can think therapy is dumb and useless, but that is not true. I feel that mental health is important and people have to keep it healthy. Mental health is the emotional and social well-being. Mental health can affect your emotions and social relationships. If your mental health isn’t treated well, then you can have a mental illness. Mental illness can be caused by tramas, experiences, drugs, etc. Mental illness can go on for long term and can also cause physical problems like diabetes and heart disease. On cdc.gov states that “one in five Americans will experience mental illness in a given year” and also states that “1 in 5 children, either currently or at some point during their life, have had a seriously debilitating mental illness.” 102 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

These mental illnesses can be a problem to and can lead to suicidal thoughts. Even though art therapy can’t get rid of the illness, it does help to deal with the mental illness and over the past of time might gain control of your mental health. When the patient plans the artwork, they get to take their mind off of their stress and anxiety and focus about the painting and the ways that they are gonna show it. I think this is a great way not to concentrate on your consciousness, but focus on your emotions. This experiment of art therapy shows the changes of happiness. On a youtube channel called “SoulPancake,” they did an experiment to see if art therapy can change your levels of happiness. First, they brought a couple of people who never tried art therapy, and the ages varied. Next, they filled out a test to see how happy they are currently and wrote down what they are happy about in life. After they wrote how they feel, the people assigned a color for everything that they are happy for and started drawing an outline of the body and filled it with colors. After they were done, the therapist questioned them about who or what made them happy and how did they made an impact on them. When the interviewing was done, they were tested again and saw if their happiness level went up. People started getting emotional and some even cried. The highest incline of happiness was 36.7%. This experiment shows us that art can express your emotions and can increase them. People in the experiment commented that it was fun to do and feel more appreciative. Art therapists help you go through appointments and try to interpret the artwork just by shape, line, colors, etc. These elements for an art piece can


really define an emotion or symbolize something. Like red can be signs of danger or love while blue can be signs for calm or loyalty. Art therapists need to train and need to have a Master’s degree in the mental health field. After college, graduates have to have a license to be an art therapist for an official career. Art therapists isn’t a simple job. On a youtube channel called “Thirsty for Art,” an art therapist talks about what it is like to be an art therapist and some art therapy activities you could do. In one of her videos, she describes the pros and cons of an art therapist. Her opinions of an art therapist is an exhausting career, but she says that it is worth being one. She states that she loves seeing that process of working with her patients and seeing them grow. Another positive that she states is that she also gets to learn with their patients. She gets to hear the patient’s experience and grow their relationship. One of the negative points that she states is that it requires a lot of time and money to be in this career. But to people who truly care about people, can be suited for this career path. More art therapists should be around to help those who need someone to care for them and listen to their stories. People like their story to be heard around other people to not feel alone and an art therapist talks to you and makes you more comfortable with the situation by using art as a tool. During this time in 2020, people are struggling in this pandemic and are in a panic and stress. Because of Covid-19, everyone is being quarantined. On 10/30/20, there is a current of almost 9 million cases of Covid. Many people are suffering and worried about the virus greatly. In the Los Angeles Times article called “Signs of depression have tripled in

the U.S. since the COVID-19 pandemic got underway,” it states that 27.8% who took the survey has at least one condition of depression, then compared to 2017 and 2018 which only has 8.5%. People have found ways to have activities at home and people can do art therapy exercises at home. Art therapy exercises are activities that people can do in art therapy sessions, but can also do at home. Even though there is no art therapist, people can still enjoy their time spending time on their artwork to help feel relaxed and can help time go by. People can do art exercises like drawing a future portrait of themselves, draw a place where they are safe, turn your sickness into art, and many more. Doing these exercises realizes your inner self and helps people realize who they are and what they wanted to be. Art therapy has come a long way and it will continue to change people’s lives and make people love art. Art is more than a pretty picture on the wall. Art uses emotions, thought, and technique that all people can do. Art therapy helps people with mental illness, change your emotions, and impacts your social relationship. Art therapists help to interpret how you feel by just looking at your artwork. They can advise you on different situations and don’t force people to talk. Even though it might take some time to manage your mental health, art therapy is a process to help out your health. It can help feel confident and know your true selves. And during these difficult times, people can still enjoy and work on their art techniques at home. The experiments listed show that art therapy does impact lots of people with their mind and still lots of people need someone to help them get through these rough times. In the future, I hope that people know and support art therapy. UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 1 0 3


Education in Poor Countries Hannah Kim Homeschool, 9th

All children have the right to get a proper education. However, some do not recognize that countless students all around the world are not able to go to school. Today, approximately 617 million children and adolescents worldwide cannot attain minimum competence standards in reading and mathematics, even though two-thirds of them are attending school (UNICEF, 2020). In developing countries, children from low-income families have a hard time going to school. First, the expensive tuition fee is the most significant barrier. Still, even if the school does not charge tuition fees, low-income families cannot afford the additional costs regarding students’ basic needs at schools, such as uniforms, books, supplies, and exam fees. There are other unexpected situations where the family needs to pay for their child at school. When the family is barely feeding their children with insufficient income, it is hard to take care of their child’s education at school. Low-income families’ students, especially in developing countries, have a limitation in support from the school and cannot afford any kind of extra education out of school. If the student is in a situation where they have to work themselves, there is a high chance of not going to school or dropping out. Child labor is one 104 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

of the most common reasons why children in poverty do not go to school. Some countries’ attendance rate of working students is almost half of the students who do not work. It is hard for these students to combine work and education simultaneously, so they usually have to give up their education either by having bad grades or dropping out of school. It is shown that there are more than 15 million children who are determined as child laborers in Nigeria. A report states that there are 2.78 million work-related deaths, and 374 million injuries and illnesses only due to child labor. Even if the children in poverty can go to school, their achievements are likely to be deeply affected by their living conditions. These students might be distracted at school because of their worries at home, such as their other family members struggling. Some students have low academic achievements since they have to work for money when they go home. Although child labor might help the family sustain the current environment, it is likely to limit their future chances that might boost their employment and moneymaking. It also pressures the child to think that they have a big responsibility at home. The defective quality of health, which is caused by poverty, is also one


serious problem that people in developing countries have. People have difficulties in finding food to eat, and one meal is a big deal to them. Not being able to eat full meal every day deteriorates the health of these students. Hunger can impact students’ brain development, and they are unable to concentrate on their schoolwork when they starved for days. The poverty of individuals in developing countries are mostly linked to the poverty of the country. This means that depending on how much the country is developed, it highly affects people’s lifestyles and the quality of education. One reason why these children are not able to get proper education is because of the distance from their school. Governments that cannot fund the citizens with multiple facilities makes it hard to build schools. Because there are no schools around their houses, children are required to possibly walk for hours to reach their school every morning. The routes are often perilous and unsafe for young students; for instance, children having to climb mountains to get to school. This is a challenge, especially for children who have disabilities or injuries since walking to school is the only way of transportation in their country. In a World Bank-supported study collecting household data from countries including Benin, Burundi, Cote d’Ivoire, Congo, Ethiopia, Guinea, Mali, and Mauritania, only 41 percent of the primary school students in the area were enrolled but as a consequence had access to primary schools more than five kilometers away. However, when the distance from students’ home to the nearest primary school was just one to two kilometers, enrollment grew to 66 percent. Children who work to support their household can also have a hard time since it not only takes away their time to work, but also makes them exhausted by the time they reach their school or house. Comparatively, the quality of teachers shows a massive difference in

developing countries. While teachers are one of the most fundamental parts of education, many schools in developing countries cannot find an adequate number of educated teachers for students. Since schools are not able to find teachers with high-quality education because they cannot afford it and the number of highly educated teachers are relatively low in such countries, not only that they do not have enough teachers but the existing teachers are most of the times not educated properly. A study by the UN informs that the 2030 education goal will fail without 69 million new teachers. Many teachers currently working in these developing countries are mostly untrained and do not have enough experience to effectively teach their students. Although teachers are able to support students, untrained teachers can have a negative impact on students and make the efficiency of school lessons decline. Another problem schools in poor countries face is not being able to make the right environment for education. One example is not having classrooms because schools do not have enough money to build and improve their school facilities. Such problems lead to overcrowded classrooms, unsafe classrooms, or even children having to study outside. This makes it difficult for children to improve their academic studying and make it hard to continue a class efficiently. Insufficient facilities may also mean that they do not have other essential parts of schools such as water fountains or bathrooms. Students are going to experience many obstacles while they are trying to study during school time. It is incredibly strenuous with many children trying to get around the school when there are so many children in a small space. Lack of learning materials is also making education a large barrier for students. Schools do not have enough supplies that are essential in learning. Not having enough textbooks makes it UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 1 0 5


difficult for students to learn new content since there is nothing to learn from. Wars and disasters which are known for being extremely dangerous expose children to danger, and block students from attending school for a long period of time. One in three students in countries affected by war or natural disasters is out of school (UNICEF, 2018). Schools may be destroyed or damaged if the country’s situation becomes worse. There is a chance of students getting hurt after going out to get their education at school, and because students can become the target of attacks, there is a great risk for students to attend school in such severe situations. COVID-19 which is continuously taking away the education of students is especially bad in developing countries. Compared to other countries, the lack of technology results in schools not being able to enforce distance learning at home. Students are not able to afford the cost of technology such as computers that are used in remote learning, and although some may be able to afford it, it gives a huge disadvantage to the rest of the students. Only one in five low-income countries announced that remote learning days count as official school days, considering the low impact of remote learning initiatives (UNICEF, 2020). Pandemics that make it impossible for students to regularly meet at school is another barrier that children in poor countries have to face, also because it is way riskier to go outdoors during a pandemic. Barriers children have to face in developing countries need not only help from the national government but also assistance from others outside the country in order to find the right solution to all of the problems. While the issue of education is often covered up, it has a significant impact on not only individuals but the future development of the whole country. Quality education ensures the resolution of other social problems such as war, gender 106 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

inequality, and general poverty. Moreover, in order to protect the rights of millions of students, the goal of better education has to become everyone’s concern. Works Cited Secretariat, G., Kitala, D., & UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) and GPE Secretariat. (2016, June 12). Child labor hinders children’s education. Retrieved September 21, 2020, from https://www.globalpartnership.org/blog/ child-labor-hinders-childrens-education Gutheil, L. (2019, July 9). Child Labor: Not Gone, but Forgotten - Millions of Children Trapped between Extreme Poverty and the Profits of Others. Retrieved November 21, 2020, from https://www.gfa.org/special-report/childlabor-today/ Schaidle, A. K. (2018, November 26). Where’s the School? Making Sense of Home to School Distance Issues within African Countries. Retrieved November 22, 2020, from https://intpolicydigest. org/2016/09/21/where-s-school-makingsense-home-school-distance-issueswithin-african-countries/ UNESCO Institute for Statistics. (2016). The World needs almost 69 million new teachers to reach the 2030 Education goals. Retrieved November 22, 2020, from https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ ark:/48223/pf0000246124 UNICEF. (2018, September 19). 1 in 3 children and young people is out of school in countries affected by war or natural disasters. Retrieved November 22, 2020, from https://www.unicef.org/pressreleases/1-3-children-and-young-peopleout-school-countries-affected-war-ornatural-disasters UNICEF. (2020, November 20). Children in the poorest countries have lost nearly four months of schooling since start of pandemic – UNESCO, UNICEF and World Bank report finds. Retrieved November 22, 2020, from https://www. unicef.org/press-releases/childrenpoorest-countries-have-lost-nearly-fourmonths-schooling-start-pandemic


The Rise of the Artificial Philosopher Hyowon Gu Ivy Collegiate School, 10th

Introduction In the short yet colorful history of humanity, the textual synthesis of critical dissemination and analysis has been a staple of history, used as a method to differentiate the educated elite from the commoners. Whereas knowledge and word crafting were utilized as a blunt instrument by a small ruling class to control the populace in previous centuries, sweeping changes in society regarding education and collective wealth have helped bridging that gap by raising the literary standards of society considerably. However, as is the case with most improvements in society, another problem with no recorded historical precedent has emerged in place of societal ignorance, possibly to even more profound implications than ever before. The concept of this new threat is nothing new, at least by decade-long standards. Artificial intelligence has been explored in terms of “true sentience”, “rebellion”, and countless other nebulous concepts in popular culture. Whereas a small selection of those works have been of philosophical value, such as the works of Isaac Asimov, the capabilities of these “intelligent agents” in real life

have disappointed many (Ellison, 126) [1]. This has led research on the field to be diminished until recent times, where great increases in processing power and data have allowed for further research to be conducted. Even to this day and age, the applications of artificial intelligence (albeit being very impressive in their range) have been limited to a supplementary role, concluded to be unable of reaching the predictions set by contemporary science fiction (Roger C, 38)[2]. This attitude, however, has brought selective blindness to many experts that now downplay the repercussions of “simple”, or “dumb” tasks that may alter countless aspects of society, leading to profound implications regarding mass unemployment, or at least a great culling of current professions requiring less specialized/repetitive tasks. The Artificial Philosopher A tangible manifestation of this dilemma is the advent of the Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3 (GPT-3), a language model that is capable of producing high-quality text synthesis given minimal prompting. While it may seem rather obtuse to many if presented in this form, it is in essence a superUNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 1 0 7


powered autocomplete that can write complex philosophical essays, imitate other writers through prose, simulate human conversation, generate usable code in multiple programming languages (!), and much more – given a single textual prompt (Sagar)[3]. Unlike its predecessors that were trained on far less (1.5 billion parameters for the case of GPT-2), GPT-3 is trained upon 175 billion machine learning parameters, a next-generation leap in linguistic capabilities. This means that the model can now produce far more complex and highly compelling results given a single text prompt, making it an excellent representation of one-shot learning while lowering the barrier of entry for individuals unfamiliar with code (Sagar) [3]. However, an ever-present demon always accompanying the democratization of knowledge is the increased possibility of abuse perpetuated by individuals or organizations, as well as the use of automated systems for the purpose of fraud or manipulation. Given

the public’s inability to contend with the systematic fact-checking of news sites, the capabilities of GPT-3 are more concerning than assuring. The ability to generate factually incorrect news with the malicious intent to mislead and deceive individuals has been a problem far before the advent of the information age, but the sheer reach that these articles or GPT-3 powered commenter bots can have poses a significant hazard in the age of social media. This is made especially more apparent when we factor in inappropriate biases that are baked in through the datasets, such as racially insensitive language, which cannot be truly controlled unless the model is retrained again from start to finish. Which begs the age-old question: if anyone can let loose an artificial intelligence on the internet, and it succeeds in fooling humans into believing their responses are genuine, how can conventional content moderation approaches contend with the probable onslaught of AI-powered posters? The motivations behind deploying the bots are relatively clear when we examine

Pictured: A visual comparison of GPT-3’s parameters compared to preceding language models. 108 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS


trends relating to massively targeted attacks; usually for political gain and dominance, to deceive and brainwash others into compliance, to intentionally harass and threaten particular individuals. The breadth of reasons behind massively coordinated spam attacks span a near infinite spectrum, and conventional approaches such as keyword filters or manual reviewing may no longer be effective with the advent of unique and complex syntax, prompting moderators

to shut down public discourse, and by extension, free speech. Even in the present, there are several instances that have utilized GPT3 to create posts on various social media sites. On September 26, an unnamed student utilized a GPT-3 powered instance to generate philosophical responses to questions on the subreddit, r/AskReddit (Macaulay)[4]. The bot continued to elude suspicion for over 3 weeks, attracting supportive

A sample of u/thegentlemetre’s posts. UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 1 0 9


responses from other (human) users, and would have maintained its illusive status, if not for the speed of which it posted. Creating lengthy posts at a breakneck one post per minute, it attracted suspicion and was effectively exposed through publicization. The aforementioned fears commonly associated with builtin biases were present throughout the bot’s posts, displaying references to illegal drug consumption, self-harm, and various negative topics, save for racism (Macaulay)[4]. While the content of these messages appear to be semi-random, the ability for users to directly dictate the content or set a general theme through short text prompts makes the synthetization of targeted hate speech a real possibility, further backed up by consistent reports of individuals abusing GPT-3 to secure SEO rankings on boards such as Ycombinator.com. The authors of those campaigns showed little regard for the content generated, defending their actions in the name of

“societal exploration” (Shynkarenka)[5]. A directly applicable example can be seen in the field of medical sciences, where early demos of GPT-3 were shown off by OpenAI, allegedly providing complex answers to questions from medical textbooks, and providing medical advice to patients. The implications were straightforward and practical – an assistant with the ability to generate medical advice within seconds could help alleviate the shortage of medical professionals and specialists, and possibly reduce human error. While that may have appeared to be an airtight plan on paper, in practice the language model deviated and suggested that the hypothetical human patient should kill itself in one of its widely circulated demos (Riera)[6]. This may appear to be a mere failure of probability, but this is a result of how the model inherently operates, as it tries to draw from a dataset (massive, but with the inherent flaws of predictive text generation built in) and generate a

An excerpt from Nabla’s GPT-3 medical chatbot.

Another excerpt from Nabla’s GPT-3 medical chatbot. 110 | UNSEEN - THE J OURNAL OF KYHS


statistically “warm” response. This can and will result in edge cases where the situational context is ignored in favor of generating convincing responses (Riera) [6]. One may argue these cases can be isolated with controlled usage, by applying repetition and frequency penalties to generated responses. Yet, this may not be the case with the commercial distribution strategies OpenAI and Microsoft have revealed, the current stewards of the GPT3 API. By paying a low monthly fee, one’s organization would be granted access to the API and thus generate hundreds, if not thousands of similarly incorrect responses. While OpenAI has the ability to shut down access to users in its current closed beta, the issue arises from the omnipotent gatekeeper role that OpenAI wishes to assume, to selectively grant access to certain corporations while creating a larger divide between the general public by restricting access behind opaque standards. In stark comparison with their initial goal to benefit humanity through the creation of benevolent AI, they have pivoted towards an approach that solely benefits privatized companies that will not only continue to shape the content we regularly consume, but incentivize behavior from companies to efficiently control the general public through misinformation and stifle competition from rival companies that lack GPT-3 access (Brockman)[7]. Extrapolating from the current cases that we have seen, it is not unreasonable to assume that medical advice from GPT-3 powered bots would be able to successfully fool human audiences into executing objectively harmful actions that would allow other parties to benefit from the results, or generate news articles that

deviate slightly from the given prompts if publications were to automate a significant portion of their articles. Slight deviations may warp and alter the context of the information presented, creating misinformation that may be further perpetuated by GPT-3 powered bots. These instances may spiral out of control due to the lax policies presented by the stewards of the API that favor profits and commercial viability and refuse to grapple with the countless unresolved issues that plague its impending commercial release. It seems that ironically, OpenAI has become the very thing it was conceived to resolve – to prevent the blind charge into unforeseen consequences by developing benevolent, nonprofit AI for all to study and examine. The silver lining to this predicament is the remembrance of the language model’s current limitations that prevent it from being as reliable to adopt for commercial usage. The major criticisms leveled against OpenAI’s model can be traced back to the head AI researcher at Facebook, Yann LeCun (LeCun)[8]. He states while it may perform well as a simple tool to dispel creative block, it pales in comparison to “other approaches that are explicitly built to represent massive amount(s) of knowledge”, linking to the Nabla medical study that highlights the model’s failures in healthcare-related purposes. He concludes his examination with the excellent analogy: “Trying to build intelligent machines by scaling up language models is like building a highaltitude airplane to go to the moon. You might beat altitude records, but going to the moon will require a completely different approach.” Simply put, for immediate commercial usage, specially trained systems far outpace GPT-3 in its UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 111


effectiveness and accuracy, contrasting with the current “one-size-fits-all” characterization for the language model that OpenAI wishes to market the model to potential investors. With the risk of running a completely unpredictable error rate, companies would be presumably turned off due to its detractors, rather than blindly subscribing to an ethical nightmare that still requires its implications to be addressed by its creators. Conclusion OpenAI’s public statement regarding their exclusive licensing of GPT-3 to Microsoft features a quote that encapsulates the apparent purpose of their work: “We want AGI to work with people to solve currently intractable multi-disciplinary problems, including global challenges such as climate change, affordable and high-quality healthcare, and personalized education. We think its impact should be to give everyone economic freedom to pursue what they find most fulfilling.” It is a statement that is not out of line with their previous attempts to develop benevolent AI, yet it is a naïve point of view that fails to consider the current-day circumstances and motivations for abuse. With the course of history, humanity has grappled with the issue of educating the public yet simultaneously controlling them, yet now we are forced to contend with less heavyhanded tactics and more subtle, gradual manipulation – that threatens to multiply tenfold if we do not answer the questions that our artificial philosopher demands us to answer to.

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Works Cited [1] Weil, Ellen; Wolfe, Gary K. (2002). Harlan Ellison: The Edge of Forever. Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press. p. 126. [2] Schank, Roger C. (1991). “Where’s the AI”. AI magazine. Vol. 12 p. 38. [3] Sagar, Ram (June 3, 2020). “OpenAI Releases GPT-3, The Largest Model So Far”. Analytics India Magazine. [4] Macaulay, Thomas. “Someone Let a GPT-3 Bot Loose on Reddit - It Didn’t End Well.” The Next Web, 7 Oct. 2020, thenextweb.com/neural/2020/10/07/ someone-let-a-gpt-3-bot-loose-on-redditit-didnt-end-well/ [5] Vasili Shynkarenka. How I Used GPT-3 to Hit Hacker News Front Page 5 Times in 3 Weeks. 12 Nov. 2020, vasilishynkarenka.com/gpt-3/ [6] Doctor GPT-3: Hype or Reality? 27 Oct. 2020, www.nabla.com/ blog/gpt-3/?fbclid=IwAR3KqQe6xFhNxt3v0dKp8IJUKeg5a7YZ2osba_ o22U7xBgxHx2LdyqAhB0. [7] Brockman, Greg. “Microsoft Invests In and Partners with OpenAI to Support Us Building Beneficial AGI.” OpenAI, OpenAI, 2 Sept. 2020, openai. com/blog/microsoft/. [8] “Yann LeCun.” Facebook, m.facebook.com/yann.lecun/ posts/10157253205637143?notif_ id=1603803722095314


The Inside Story of Classical Ballet Ines Shee Yun Hwang The Peddie School, 9th

Classical Ballet is a theatrical dance combined with music, costume, and scenery. It began in the Italian renaissance. In the 15th-16th century, ballet techniques were formalized as an entertainment form. However, after it spread to France and Russia, it developed as a concert dance form. In addition, one of the most famous ballet stages was founded at that time such as The Royal Ballet in London, The New York City Ballet, The Australian

Ballet, The National Ballet of Canada, and so on. As time goes by, ballet spread more around Europe: Germany, Spain, Poland, and Portugal. In the 18th century, France developed ‘ballet d’action’ which shows ballet in the form of a story with characters. By this, ballet also became an essential part of opera. Next, in the 19th century, female ballet dancers, ballerinas were more popular as they also took the male roles. The pointe technique came up with the ballerina’s ideal figure with the pointe shoes, and it is used until now. Also, short skirts called tutu were worn as formal costumes. Ballet kept developing and is continued until now. As ballet is composed of beautiful movements and gorgeous costumes, it is not considered that hard. However, according to many ballerinas’ experience, the inside story of ballet seems significantly harsh. Ballet dancers embody grace; however, their seemingly effortless movements require an enormous amount of practice. Like any other athletes, ballet dancers are prone to injury, especially for young, growing dancers. Common injuries for ballet dancers can happen in any part of the body. First, back injuries on Spondylolysis - a stress fracture in UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 11 3


the pars interarticularis of the vertebra is caused by extension of the back that causes back pain. This excruciating pain increases when an individual arches their back, jumps, runs or lies on the back flat. Second, there are hip injuries that cause snapping hip syndrome or labral tears. Snapping hip syndrome causes enormous pain. There will be snap on the front, back, or side of the legs, and there also might be a feeling of tightness or weakness in the hip and leg. It will be challenging to move the hip when sitting or standing. To add on, labral tears happen when the labrum, a piece of fibrocartilage (rubbery tissue), gets torn. It has a similar symptom to Snapping hip syndrome. Next, there are common leg injuries caused by repeated jumping on the stress fractures in the lower leg bones: tibia and fibula. Upcoming, there is patellofemoral pain syndrome which is a knee injury caused by the pressure of bending, jumping, or performance of plie which is an essential movement in ballet. The pain of patellofemoral pain syndrome occurs during exercises and activities that repeatedly use or bend the knee. It results in intense pain on the front part of the knee.

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Moreover, popping or cracking sound on the knee might be one of the symptoms. Lastly, the most essential injuries are on the foot and ankle as dancers use them the most. Repetitive jumping or turning leads to foot fractures. While dancing on pointe, dancers easily get exposed to ankle sprains, especially when they use their feet inwards. The inflammation of the Achilles tendon links calf muscles to the heel and the inflammation of the flexor hallucis tendon flexes the toes. In fact, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia stated that “Approximately 15-20% of the population have an extra bone in the back of their ankle.” (The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, 2020), which exposes some ballet dancers to the impingement in the back of the ankle. Furthermore, as evidence, there was a study on injuries of ballet dancers who are aged 8-16 years old. This study was done by Steinberg and seven other doctors. The conclusion from this study was that “At least 1 previous injury had been sustained by 42.4% of the dancers. The most common injuries involved the knee (40.4%), followed by other injuries (23.4%)” (Steinberg et al., 2013). Also, there was data on the frequency of injuries. The back injuries decreased with age while the knee injuries increased. Despite the persistence of these injuries, there are some prevention methods. The best prevention is to immediately tell a healthcare professional when there is pain. Other preventions suggested by Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia is “Cross-train with other forms of dance to avoid overuse injuries, work with a physical therapist familiar with ballet, a physical therapist will pinpoint and correct poor technique and other problems that could lead to injuries,


eat for peak performance and a nutritionist can work with dancers on proper nutrition” (The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, 2020). Nutrition is a severe factor in ballet as slender bodies are ideal in ballet, especially for females. The idea of being slender is not only for the outer looks but in order to do jumps and quick movements, losing weight definitely helps. Also, the legs stick together and stretch fully up when the body is slender. Regardless of these benefactors of being slender, the problem is severe. As the ballet dancers are always on diet, it leads to a lack of nutrition or calories. That eventually ends up in higher risks of injuries and mental health concerns. Signs of lack of nutrition are irregular menstruation, fatigue, and weight loss. Kathleen J. Maguire, MD says “Nutrition is #1. Even if you’re not injured, that’s important to know for your career” (Ballet’s approach to weight is an ugly tragedy, 2008). David Kinsella, the director of the documentary A Beautiful Tragedy said that “If I wanted to be a ballet dancer in Russia, I should weigh 39kg (6 stone, 1lb). I am 5ft 5in” (Ballet’s approach to weight is an ugly tragedy, 2008). This shows how hard it is to be on the standard. These weight ideals damage the young ballet dancers. It is tragic that girls who are young and in the stage of growth cannot get enough nutrition due to diet. David’s film includes the story of Oksana Skorik. She is a 15-year-old ballet dancer who goes to Perm State Ballet School and is extremely talented in ballet. However, she suffers from anorexia. She had maternal pressure as her mom made her do splits when she was one month old, she was “given” to the ballet school when she was five. Even after her mom’s pressure, in the ballet

school teachers screamed at the students for being lazy, fat, ugly, and useless. Adding on, the dancers tend to compare each other, which adds on exceeding stress. This perfectly explains how she is suffering from anorexia even if she is over it by now. She is 173 cm and 45 kilogram which is way off average weight. She is a dancer of the Kirov Ballet. Obviously, she is not the only one who suffers from these pressures. More than the illness, ballet dancers’ mental health is highly concerning. Ballet is an extraordinary sport where dancers should be slim, muscular, and flexible at the same time. It causes excessive pressure that leads to both physical and mental health concerns. Despite all the hardships, ballet dancers endure the pain and try hard for contentment and enthusiasm on the stage. As a ballet dancer, I know the pain and the hard work behind it. But when I dance on the stage with spotlights, music, and an audience, my heart flutters. Stage works are always exciting but nervous. Before going on a stage, dancers need to be dance-ready for performance. The basics before starting are first, second, third, fourth, and fifth foot and hand position. These should be memorized before going on to movements. To add on, proper hands should be a habit before starting. Ballet dance movements require an enormous amount of effort and strength. First of all, female dancers usually have pointes on stage, which is highly challenging. Simply standing on pointes requires a lot of practice. The instep of the foot should be flexible and the ankle needs good strength. Therefore, ballerinas should be quite advanced in order to go on pointes. In order to improve, there are three steps of practice in ballet. The first step is stretching and exercises. Dancers UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 11 5


usually do all stretches and exercises before the practice starts. This seems not important but it is vital because flexibility and strength are the basics of ballet. Also, there is a high possibility of injury without stretching. Next, they practice with barre. Barre is a horizontal bar for support when practicing. Dancers hold on to it for support but it doesn’t mean they put their whole weight on it. It is more like an accessory where they put their hands lightly on top. This is an essential part of barre because when they put their whole pressure on the barre, they won’t improve. It is a light support tool in order to be stable when dancers are without it. So, the next step is practicing without it! To be specific, there are movements listed and explained.

First, five essential stretches for ballet: splits, hamstring stretch, relevé extension, calf stretch, and quadriceps stretch. Stretching enhances flexibility which is significant in ballet and prevents the dancers from injury. Next, there are exercises such as leg raise for abs and inner thigh, twisted leg raise, upper body raise for abs, upper body raise for back, 116 | UNSEEN - THE J OURNAL OF KYHS

upside-down leg raise for lower back and inner thigh, sideways upper body raise for side abs, bridge for inner thigh and abs and viking for inner thigh and back. After all the warm-ups, barre practice starts. When dancers start barre, they do greetings. It is a movement of saying hello as there is a language for emotions in ballet. Basic barre exercises are plié, tendu, jetés, rond de jambs, fondu, frappé, fouetté, adagio, and battement. Obviously, there are tons of more movements in ballet and these listed movements can be more grand or mixed but these are the most basic that dancers use to practice. Plié is a process of bending knees, typically done in first to fifth foot position. It is basic but essential as it helps enduring strength and bending is associated with various other movements. Tendu is pointing one of the feet in and out on the floor usually in the fifth position. It is also a basic step associated with various movements. Jetés is similar to Tendu but it points the feet in and out up to 45 degrees, it can possibly be greater as an option. Rond de jambes is drawing a half circle with your feet, it is easier on the ground but can go up in the air. When doing on the ground it is like tendu and on-air it is similar to jetés. Also, bending can be associated which is mixing plié. Fondu is slowly bending both of your knees and straightening it at the same time. But one foot should be on your ankle and one on the floor, it possibly can go front, back, and sideways. It should be a sticky movement; it should be slow. Frappé is similar to fondu but the feet on the ground are straight, it doesn’t bend. And while fondu is slow and sticky, frappé is fast and splatter. Fouetté is basically turning with passé. Adagio is holding your legs high, in a slow movement. It is challenging because it really pushes the


strength and flexibility at the same time. Lastly, battement is similar to adagio but it means kicking. It is with a faster tempo and movement than adagio. So, it requires strong quick, and temporary strength while adagio requires enduring and long-lasting strength. When these barre practices end, there are center practices. However, this is not new because center practices usually have the same movements but without the barre. After all these practices, dancers practice the performance. When the performance goes on dancers need to be on the beat as they go in and out of the stage during the music. However, there are mistakes on stage because it is a sudden moment and sometimes there are some outer factors on stage. Therefore, dancers learn how to not show the mistake, for example, just going smooth with the next movement and keeping the same facial expression. There are two types of performances, solo, and team. Usually, team performances are longer and have solos associated with it, but there is a difference when you are on the stage alone or together. When performing solo, there is a lot of pressure as there will be only one dancer and one spotlight. However, the dancer can move freely as she/he feels and even if there is a mistake it will not have a big effect. If the mistake is falling down it might be embarrassing but if it is messing up the order, it will not be a big deal. On the stage, it will be the responsibility of that one dancer. On the other hand, when the whole team is on the stage, messing up the order makes a big deal as the audience will notice the difference between the other members. Also, matching the timing of the movement with team members is challenging as all members are different. It needs to look like all the dancers are the

same. Not only timing but the movements should look identical. Lastly, the spots, like where dancers stand, are hard to keep. As dancers move around with the movement, it is hard to keep all the lines, where you stand, and the gaps between each other. Especially when the structure is circular, it is hard to maintain the gaps and round structure. While dancing, they should keep their eyes on each other, but also not staring at them, there should be emotions of the dance and maintenance of looking at the audience. Additionally, emotional expression is one of the significant factors as ballet is a theatrical dance. This might seem extremely exhausting but the excitement and accomplishment of the stage are probably the reason dancers can endure all these hardships with great effort. Definitely, great effort is dominated for one performance but I, as a dancer, think that it is worth it and would also like to praise all the dancers! To conclude, ballet seems beautiful and easy, but it extraordinarily requires various things such as flexibility, strength, skills, effort, slender body, skills, emotional expressions, and skill of being unified. It exposes the dancers to injuries and mental health issues, not being sick can be one of the skills. Ballet dancers stay strong and work hard, but there are definitely benefits to it. Being on the stage will be the best feeling but furthermore, it tests the dancers their limits and helps them breakthrough. One of my favorite quotes that helps me endure the pain is “Nothing worth comes easy.� I hope all the dancers can break through their own limits and be a great dancer, a strong person.

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Works Cited Ballet slipper. pinterest. com. https://www.pinterest.co.kr/ pin/2392606041418631/. Angelica. pinterest.com. h t t p s : / / w w w. p i n t e r e s t . c o . k r / pin/398639004522436358/. BalletHub. Find, Talk, Share and Learn Ballet & Dance. BalletHub. https:// ballethub.com/. The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. (2020, March 12). Common Ballet Injuries in Adolescents and Teens. Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. https://www.chop.edu/news/commonballet-injuries-adolescents-and-teens. Guardian News and Media. (2008, May 5). Ballet’s approach to weight is an ugly tragedy. The Guardian. https://www. theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2008/ may/05/russianballetweight. Origin and History of Ballet. http:// 496

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www.dancefacts.net/dance-history/ history-of-ballet/. renata.s. Ballet silhouettes. h t t p s : / / w w w. f r e e p i k . c o m / f r e e vector/ballet-silhouettes_1269290. htm#page=1&position=4. Snapping Hip Syndrome: Orthopedics. intermountainhealthcare.org. (2018). https://intermountainhealthcare. org/services/orthopedics/services/hip/ snapping-hip-syndrome/. Snapping Hip Syndrome: Orthopedics. intermountainhealthcare. org. https://intermountainhealthcare. org/services/orthopedics/services/hip/ snapping-hip-syndrome/. Steinberg, N., Siev-Ner, I., Peleg, S., Dar, G., Masharawi, Y., Zeev, A., & Hershkovitz, I. (2013). Injuries in female dancers aged 8 to 16 years. Journal of athletic training. https://www.ncbi.nlm. nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3554026/.


Violations of Basic Human Rights in America Jennifer Y. Jeon Thomas S. Wootton High School, 9th

Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal”. We, as people, don’t like change. We especially despise thinking we’re wrong. So when we see people that aren’t like us, or live in a way we don’t like, we put our defenses up. and most of the time, it comes off as racism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, ableism, diableism, overall discrimination and bigotry. The quote “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal”, was written about a year before the Revolutionary War. The War was a huge milestone in American history because it was the first time any British colony had tried to fight their way into freedom. This is relevant because the colonies were fighting for the right to be equal and free. However, Thomas Jefferson’s definition of “all people” only included cishet (cisgender and heterosexual) white men who happened to be rich and ablebodied. Everyone knows about George Washington’s teeth, and how they were “made from apple trees’’. However, this is just a story that parents tell their kids. In reality, George Washington’s dentures

were made from the pulled teeth of African Americans. Many, if not all of Thomas Jefferson’s mistresses were Aftrican American, and yet, Thomas Jefferson only freed the children he had with these mistresses. Jefferson never freed any of his children’s mothers. These people talked about freedom while being able to go back to their estates, in the country that was built by slaves, on the land they stole from Native Americans. Though this may seem irrelevant because the Revolutionary War was so long ago, the fight for minoritiy’s rights is still an uphill battle. Native Americans are still struggling to recuperate everything they have lost. Racism that has been so normalized towards Asians has been fueled from COVID-19. African Americans are still protesting for their rights in the Black Lives Matter movement. Hispanic/ Latinex/Spanish (H/L/S) people are still called illegal, while their loved ones suffer because of ICE. LGBTQ+ people have been struggling for their rights, as LGBTQ+ people are being murdered in “self defense”, and their marriage rights being in peril. Women are still considered “property” and are given less rights than men, as abortion laws are currently under UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 11 9


scrutiny. Society has normalised ableism (discrimination in favour of non-disabled people) and disablism (discrimination against disabled people), and doesn’t help less abled people effectively. People continuously assume that the homeless/ poor are just “lazy” and don’t deserve to be treated as humans. Minorities in America face discimination because of people who hate when other people’s lives don’t align with what they believe in. One huge problem in our society is the law known formally as the gay/ trans Panic Defense. The Panic Defense is still implemented in 39 states, with only 9 states considering repealing it. The LGBTQ+ Panic Defense laws are usually used to mitigate the murders of people in the LGBTQ+ community. The law essentially says that if you see a gay or transgender person and kill them, you can plead in defense because you had a moment of insanity from seeing a person from the community. When this defense is used, they are claiming that a victim’s sexual orientation was the cause of their panic and is used to excuse a loss of control and assault. Using this excuse implies that LGBTQ+ lives are worth less than cishet lives. Furthermore, although gay marriage was legalized five years ago, those rights are also in danger of being revoked by Amy Coney Barrett which just goes to shows us that even if we make progress, we can lose it just as quickly. Another problem is that President Trump has made it possible for hospitals and homeless shelters to turn away LGBTQ+ people, and US embassies are never allowed to display the Pride Flag at any time, including Pride month. Women’s rights are also in peril because many men want to control what women do with their bodies. Abortion 120 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

rights are currently under fire as the nation is choosing between pro-life and prochoice. Though each life is considered valuable, people should not be able to control other people’s bodies, because in the end, it doesn’t affect them. Abortion and birth control should be free and accessible to women, and be considered healthcare; because women can’t choose to be pregnant. Another example of discrimination against women is called the Pink Tax. Essentially, the Pink Tax is a tax placed on “feminine” products, such as pads, tampons, women’s razors, etc. The prices tend to be much more expensive than men’s products. For example, shaving for men typically costs $108 per year, while a woman typically pays $132 a year. Another example is lotion. Women usually spend about $60 on lotion a year, while men only spend $18. People of color’s (POCs) rights are also in peril. Black people’s rights are especially in danger right now, as the Black Lives Matter movement is slowly abating. The dying down of the movement means that the government and/or politicians can slip things through the cracks with a lesser chance of getting caught. Black people also have to be more cautious around law enforcement and are taught how to be cautious from a very young age; because one wrong movement could get them killed. An even older example of the blatant racism against black people is slavery. Slavery first began in the 4th century, but began in America in 1619, and ended in 1863, just 155 years ago. Unfortunately, if America stayed a British colony, slavery would’ve been abolished much sooner, because England was working towards ending slavery. However, the progress towards abolishing slavery was


delayed when the Revolutionary War began. By the colonies trying to earn their “freedom”, they withheld another group of peoples’ freedom. The hypocrisy the colonies displayed is astonishing, and quite frankly, ignorant. How self involved does one have to be to completely oversee the hypocrisy of their actions? The Ku Klux Klan, or the KKK, was also, and still is a huge example of discrimination. The KKK is an American white supremacist hate group who has been around since 1865. Though their primary targets are African Americans, they also target Jewish people, immigrants, leftists (leaning left/liberal politically), members of the LGBTQ+ community, and Catholics. The KKK has existed in three distinct points in time in the United States. While the number of members in the first Klan are unknown, there were anywhere from 3 million to 6 million members in the second Klan, with the Klan peaking from 1924 to 1925, and the third Klan has anywhere from 5,000-8,000 members. While we associate the KKK with the Civil Rights Movement, which occured from the 1940s to the 1960s which was just 80 years ago, the KKK is still very much active. There are currently seven active Klans in the US. Bayou Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Church of the American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Imperial Klans of America, Knights of the White Camelia, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (self-proclaimed as the largest Klan in America today), Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (currently thought to be the largest KKK chapter), and White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan are all different Klans located in the United States. As you can see, though most of America wants to forget this dark part of our “history”, people still exist who kill

others just because of who they are. Unfortunately, however, this isn’t the end of racism towards black people. The Confederate States of America, or the CSA/Confederacy, was a breakaway state in existence from February 8, 1861 to May 9, 1865. The Confederacy fought against the United States during the American Civil War, because they wanted to keep enslaving black people. The Confederacy was formed by the seven secessionist slave states, Florida, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Lousisiana, and Texas. These states are located in the southeasternmost part of the United States, where the economy was primarily based on farming and agriculture, specifically cotton, and a plantation system that relied solely on enslaved African Americans for labor. The Confederacy believed that the Republican candidate for the US presidency in 1860, Abraham Lincoln, threatened white supremacy and the institution of slavery. And though it is widely thought that Abraham Lincoln is a prominent supporter of African American rights, the extent of his support ended on the ending of slavery. Lincoln believed that black people were still less than white people, but he didn’t believe in the institution of slavery. This shows us that white people try to paint other white people as saints, but in reality, they weren’t as good as they were told to be. Asian people are so used to racism that they barely register it anymore. “Ching-chong” and “ling-ling” are two very common phrases thrown around by children. H/L/S and Asian people are all very used to being stereotyped right away. H/L/S people are stereotyped as thugs, or illegal, and are used to hearing the phrase “go back to your Mexico”. Asian UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 1 2 1


people are so used to hearing “we speak English here” and “aren’t you supposed to be smart” that they hardly recognise it as racism anymore. However, COVID-19 began another wave of racism that Asians weren’t prepared for, violent racism. While Asians were used to being stereotyped, and hearing racist comments, we were nowhere prepared for the violence that this pandemic brought to our race. What began as passive comments like “were you the one who ate the bat” quickly escalated to some people screaming profanities whenever they see an Asian, and others becoming aggressive and violent, leading to harassment and assault. There could even be cases of murder because of racism that just haven’t been reported. Because of the stereotype that Asians are healthy and wealthy, many Asians refuse to get help, in fear of becoming pariahs. Native Americans live in broken reservations because the people who stole their homes weren’t decent enough to help them do better. Native Americans’ suicide and drug rates tend to be higher than any other race in the country. Though indegenous people lived in Northern America before Columbus stumbled upon it, Columbus is given credit for “discovering” America. This just goes to show that though many white people don’t like to admit it, this country was founded on theft and murder. And because of what white people did to them, many Native reservations are wary of allowing anyone who isn’t a native onto the reservation. Even now, the States are trying to “take back” reservation land, which is even more unfair and goes on to speak on how the people who run this country will prey and steal from people who don’t have the resources to fight back. Now, native spiritual and cultural 122 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

items like dreamcatchers, white sage, and different native clothes/headdresses, teepees, drums, totem poles, and spirit animals have been appropriated by pop culture, and are now widely accessible to people who don’t understand Native culture. If people who use native terms and own Native inspired items understood the meaning and value of said culture, they would understand how disrespectful it is to have these cultural items while not being indigenous. The same goes for all other cultures with significant rituals, clothing, items, vocabulary, etc. The Holocaust is also one of the most prominent events founded on bigoted beliefs. Adolf Hitler was the leader of National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP), or the Nazi Party. Their main goal was to kill as many Jewish people as they could. Though the Holocaust began 75 years ago and ended 63 years ago, America has been prominent in the rise of Neo-Nazism. The National Socialist Movement (NSM), with about 400 members in 32 states is the largest Neo-Nazi group in the United States. The National States’ Rights Party was founded in 1958 in the Southern United States and countered racial integration in the Southern United States with Nazi inspired publications. The American Nazi Party was founded in 1959 and achieved high-profile coverage in the press through public demonstrations. The ideology of James H. Madole, the leader of the National Renaissance Party was influenced by the Blavatsky Theosophy. Blavatsky developed a racial theory of evolution, holding that white people were the “fifth rootrace” called the Aryan Race. It was on this foundation that Madole based his claims that the Aryan Race had been worshipped as “White Gods”.


America is not built for less abled people. Disablism and Ableism aren’t talked about in schools, and are rarely talked about in a social setting. Disablism refers to discrimination against disabled people. According to scope.org.uk, examples of disablism in America are not having ramps for people in wheelchairs, making assumptions about what disabled people can or cannot do, and not making reasonable adjustments in public places to help disabled people. Ableism refers to discrimination against disabled people that directly benefits able-bodied people. According to accessliving.org, examples of ableism are lack of compliance with disability right laws like the ADA, segregating students with disabilities into separate schools, the use of restraint or seclusion as a means of controlling students with disabilities, and segregating adults and children with disabilities in institutions. There are however, more subtle examples of ableism. A common phrase that teens are using, “Did I stutter?”, “Did they stutter?”, and “They didn’t stutter!” are all examples of normalized ableism. Stuttering and Tourette’s Syndrome are two of the disabilities affected by these phrases. Though these phrases seem harmless on the surface, on a deeper level, it insinuates that points are less valid when people stutter which blatantly discriminates against people with stutters or tics. A famous example of ableism was Donald Trump, the current president of the United States retweeting a video ridiculing competing candidate Joe Biden for his stutter, and Trump calling for Biden to complete a dementia test, the same one that Trump took, and boasted that he had “aced”. While Trump mocking Biden for his stutter is quite obviously ableism

based on the definition given above, the dementia test may not be as clear. The dementia test is a basic cognitive test that is usually only administered when someone is concerned that they, or a loved one, is experiencing dementia or another type of cognitive decline. According to Ziad Nasreddine, the neurologist who designed the test, “If someone performs well, what it means is they can be ruled out for cognitive impairment that comes with diseases like Alzheimer’s, stroke or multiple sclerosis. That’s it”. Trump brought the conversation of the cognitive test completely unprompted while speaking to Fox News’ Sean Hannity on a phone interview. He claimed that he “aced it”, and when speaking to Chris Wallace, later that week, he claimed he doubted that Biden could answer all of the questions. On the following Wednesday, in another Fox News interview, Trump had stated that the hardest part of the test was repeating five words in order. The Washington Post quotes Trump in the article “Trump keeps boasting about passing a cognitive test - but it doesn’t mean what he thinks it does”, “‘And they say… ‘Go back to that question, and repeat them. Can you do it?’ ” Trump said, mimicking the doctors administering the exam. “And you go, ‘Person, woman, man, camera, TV.’ They say, ‘That’s amazing. How did you do that?’ I do it because I have, like, a good memory, because I’m cognitively there.’” This quote goes to show that Trump is an ableist by insinuating that people with dementia are less than whole, or not people at all. Trump boasting that he passed the cognitive test is him trying to flaunt himself, and make himself seem so much more intelligent, and therefore ‘better’ because he can remember five UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 1 2 3


basic words in order. Homeless/poor people are treated as garbage, and less than human beings. Many people believe that they are just lazy and can do better. But that’s not necessarily the case. America in its truest form runs on capitalism. The poor and homeless are constantly trying to survive in a country that is not built to help them. America was and is only built to help rich, cishet, white men, who don’t need help. America prides itself on the diversity of the country, but anyone living in the country can tell you how that diversity is just a facade. When you look deeper, you see that the country is not a safe haven. It is constantly working against you in the ways I stated above, and more, if you are 85% of people. Women, POC, LGBTQ+, less abled, and the poor have to fight to survive. In a perfect world, we wouldn’t have racism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, ableism or bigotry of any form. But people are flawed, which means the systems they build are fundamentally dysfunctional. In its core, society only cares for the people who control the people who built the society. Society only cares for rich cishet white men, while disregarding everyone else. It was stated earlier in the paper that people don’t like change. We don’t like thinking that we’re wrong. But nobody is “wrong”. We do wrong things, but everyone does because people aren’t built to be perfect. So why do problems in the world exist? Problems exist because of people who hate when other people’s lives don’t align with what they believe in. Why do we have to fix it? Because the people who built the flawed system aren’t here to repair it. So go correct the problem. Go educate yourself. Sign petitions. Make donations 124 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

to non-profit organizations that benefit minorities. And most importantly, vote. If you haven’t registered to vote, go register. Every vote counts into getting people who destroy others’ basic human rights out of office. We can’t make change when nobody moves to make a difference. So, like Mahatma Gandhi said, be the change you want to see in the world. Works Cited Cavendish, Richard. “The Ku Klux Klan Founded.” History Today, Dec. 2015, www.historytoday.com/archive/ ku-klux-klan-founded. Accessed 8 Dec. 2020. Davidson, Heather. “How Racism against Native People Is Normalized, from Mascots to Costumes.” Teen Vouge, 31 Oct. 2018, www.teenvogue.com/story/ how-racism-against-native-people-isnormalized-from-mascots-to-costumes. Accessed 8 Dec. 2020. “Disableism and Ableism.” Scope. org.uk, Scope, www.scope.org.uk/aboutus/disablism/. Accessed 8 Dec. 2020. “Discrimination and Economic Profiling among the Homeless of Washington, DC.” Front Steps, National Coalition for the Homeless, Apr. 2014, www.frontsteps.org/ wp-content/uploads/2014/04/ DiscriminationReport20141.pdf. Accessed 8 Dec. 2020. Edwards, Frank, et al. “Risk of Being Killed by Police Use of Force in the United States by Age, Race-Ethnicity, and Sex.” PNAS, 20 Aug. 2019, www. pnas.org/content/116/34/16793. Accessed 8 Dec. 2020. Eisenmenger, Ashley. “Ableism 101: What It Is, What It Looks Like, and What We Can Do to to Fix It.” Access


Living, 12 Dec. 2019, www.accessliving. o rg / n e w s r o o m / b l o g / a b l e i s m - 1 0 1 / . Accessed 8 Dec. 2020. Etter, William M., Ph.D. “Wooden Teeth Myth.” George Washington’s Mount Vernon, Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, www.mountvernon. o rg / l i b r a r y / d i g i t a l h i s t o r y / d i g i t a l encyclopedia/article/wooden-teeth-myth/. Accessed 8 Dec. 2020. “Family Separation and the Detention of Immigrant Children.” American Oversight, www.americanoversight.org/ investigation/family-separation-andthe-detention-of-immigrant-children. Accessed 8 Dec. 2020. “The Holocaust.” History.com, www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/ the-holocaust. Accessed 8 Dec. 2020. “LGBTQ+ ‘Panic’ Defense.” The LGBT Bar, LGBT Bar Association, 2020, lgbtbar.org/programs/advocacy/gaytrans-panic-defense/. Accessed 8 Dec. 2020. “Roe v Wade: The Constitutional Right to Access Safe, Legal, Abortion.” Planned Parenthood, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, www. plannedparenthoodaction.org/issues/ abortion/roe-v-wade. Accessed 8 Dec. 2020.

Stewart, Taryn. “Racism in America.” PBS, 7 Dec. 2020, www.pbs. org/articles/2020/06/racism-in-america/. Accessed 8 Dec. 2020. “Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings.” Monticello, monticello. org, www.monticello.org/thomasjefferson/jefferson-slavery/thomasjefferson-and-sally-hemings-abrief-account/#:~:text=Thomas%20 Jefferson%20freed%20all%20of,no%20 other%20nuclear%20slave%20 family.&text=Eston%20Hemings%20 changed%20his%20name%20to%20 Eston%20Hemings%20Jefferson%20 in%201852. Accessed 8 Dec. 2020. United States, Congress, Senate. Declaration of Independence. Government Publishing Office, 4 July 1776. Wakeman, Jessica. “Pink Tax: The Real Cost of Gender Based Pricing.” Healthline, 6 Aug. 2020, www.healthline. com/health/the-real-cost-of-pink-tax. Accessed 8 Dec. 2020. Woodyatt, Amy. “Neo-Nazis Encouraging Followers to ‘Deliberately Infect’ Jews and Muslims with CoronaVirus.” CNN, 9 July 2020, www. cnn.com/2020/07/09/uk/extremismdeliberately-covid-19-intl-scli-gbr/index. html. Accessed 8 Dec. 2020.

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Merges and Acquisitions: Sacrifice for the Better Jin Lee Western Reserve Academy, 11th

M&A, or mergers and acquisitions, is simply a trading of companies in both physical and non-physical means. For example, while some pay with cash, some pay with stocks, loans, or even properties according to cases. But did you know mergers and acquisitions are two distinct processes? An acquisition happens when one company takes (buys) over another, becoming the new representative (or owner) of the company. The target company, or the bought, ceases to exist, including the target company’s stock. Because this process is simply a “purchase”, the size or the industry of the target is not relevant (Hargrave, 2020). A merger, as the name implies, is when two companies, similar in size and industry, join together for more benefit altogether. Both companies surrender their stocks as well as brand and create new identity as well as stock available (Hargrave, 2020). Simply saying, acquisition is like buying a chocolate cake for dessert after a barbecue (chocolate cake is the target since it emerged to the “day of barbecue,” and once consumed is no longer available). Mergers, on the other hand, are taking bread and butter each from a different table to form the ideal combination (it is no longer “bread and butter” but “butter on bread” as one identity). 126 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

There are different types of M&A deferring according to the relationship between the companies and the function, or purpose of the M&A. A horizontal merger is, “the merger between two companies that are in direct competition and share the same product lines and markets.” These mergers happen in order to reduce cost and raise efficiency at the same time (Grant, 2020). How? For instance, there is company A and B that sell teddy bears in South Korea. In this case, company A and B are both sharing the competition of their products (teddy bears) in the “same” market. Let’s assume company A lacks manufacturing but has high efficiency in marketing, and company B lacks marketing but has high efficiency in manufacturing. By horizontal merger, company A and B can form C, which has strong manufacturing and marketing which is superior to both A and B. This merger not only reduces cost through higher efficiency, but also increases overall revenue too. Vertical merger is similar, but a little different. Its main purpose is to heighten the synergy and save the cost. Unlike horizontal merger, vertical mergers can have different products, and do not necessarily have to be competitors in the same market (Kenton, 2020). For example, McDonalds would likely


commit vertical mergers with potato farms or bread manufacturers because they provide McDonalds’ main “resource” to produce their goods. By combining, extra costs such as separate tax, paperwork and regulations on exclusive contracts are all avoidable, increasing productivity as well as profit. However, these do not always have benefits. Both horizontal and vertical mergers are essentially combining either two big companies or similar companies in the same market. This could lead to lack of competition, monopoly, or legal conflicts between mergers. Horizontal acquisition is actually called horizontal integration. It is done for three main purposes: expand internationally, expand capacity, and expand market brand equity and product lines. You could notice that all the purposes include expansion. In fact, most M&As are done in order to expand some part of their company (Kenton, 2019). The first two purposes can be done by acquisition of international or different types of companies. The third, however, includes additional process. Certain companies, such as Nike or Apple, have huge brand identities and value. This also means they have strong trust from the customers and record a high repurchase rate. However, brands face a huge problem when trying to expand to new markets because the cost is astronomical. It is basically creating, operating, and managing a new industry in a new field. That is why vertical acquisition is necessary. For example, if Apple buys Samsung and starts to sell Galaxy under Apple, it has an effect of not only attracting Samsung customers to Apple, but also providing a wider range of products to original Apple customers. Apple did not build a new “company” in the Android market, saving trillions of dollars. Vertical integration is done for one

major reason: synergy. The process is divided into two parts: backwards and forwards (Kenton, 2020). For example, in a hypothetical market there is McDonald’s, John’s potato farm, and DoorDash. When McDonald purchases John’s potato farm which provides an essential resource to production of goods, it is backwards since moving away from the customers. When McDonald purchases DoorDash, a delivery company, it is forward because it is moving closer toward the customers. If McDonald is lacking profit because their potato supplier is too busy to manage all other companies, it can buy, for instance, John’s farm to directly receive resources. It is different from a merger because in this case, McDonald is “buying” the farm, not becoming together. The similar case for McDonald and DoorDash acquisition already exists: McDelivery. It is not efficient for McDonalds to spread its assets to managing delivery programs. Therefore, they can acquire other delivery companies such as DoorDash, change the name, and utilize it as Mcdonald’s exclusive delivery service. This kind of process of combining before and after companies altogether to increase synergy is vertical integration (Kenton, 2020). It improves synergy because there is no chance of legal conflicts or separation of responsibility to a happening. At essence, horizontal M&A is combining companies at the same level. For example, manufacturers combining with other manufacturers to create a more efficient manufacturer. Vertical M&A is combining companies at different levels. For example, manufacturers buying delivery company. The general purpose of M&A is for increased efficiency, but specifics include synergy, increased assets, decrease in competition, expansion of market, renovations, reforms, and other social and economic improvements. However, it is important to note that UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 1 2 7


vertical and horizontal M&A structures are the structure of general M&A, and there are several more types of M&A based or inferred from these processes (Kenton, 2020), such as market-extension merger, product-extension merger, conglomerate merger, concentric merger and more (Luenendonk, 2019). Of course, considering the various impacts of M&A on a company, it is important for the companies to nominate the right candidate to make decisions. The “proposition” of M&A toward the target company must be approved by the board of directors (B of D) who represent the stock shareholders (Lawshelf, n.d.). Although it is not mandatory to open a company’s stock, most do; therefore, has a board of directors that vote on the execution of M&A. So, what are the broad qualities directors look at when merging another company? Of course, the company value when merging the company is the top priority, but there are several else that go under consideration. First (but second to importance) quality is the coordination between the leaders and the relating officials (Gregory, 2014). Influential plans of companies such as long-term development, marketing plan and financials are critical for success. However, if these plans do not coordinate, there will be conflicts both inside and outside. In addition, if the directors plan to invest in different fields or stock, the diversion of assets will cause decreased profit and uncoordinated work process, resulting in bankruptcy, if worse. Second quality is confirming the structure and type of M&A the company is seeking (Gregory, 2014). If miscommunication happens, both companies might expect different values from each other. For example, if A expects vertical merge and B expects vertical “acquisition”, there will be “serious” conflict on the sharing portion 128 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

of stocks or company value, returning to the first value which is coordination. Numbers of M&A in fact vary by countries based on their economic size or the companies’ activeness. Based on 2019 data, almost 50,000 M&As were accomplished. Countries in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific marked around 15,000 M&As. Because of Covid-19, the number and value of M & A have been significantly depressed, but before, the graph was steadily rising in the majority of countries (IMAA, n.d.). One of the biggest M&As in history is Disney acquiring 21st Century Fox (21CF). On 12:02 a.m. EST March 19, 2019, the acquisition of Disney became official to the public. The reason it is the “biggest”, is partly by its scale and cost, but also its impact on the media. According to the Walt Disney Company website, the “new Disney” now acquires following: 21CF’s film business, movie studios, copyrights of movies, shows, and characters, National Geographics, stake over Hulu (stock share), and more (2019). However, 21CF is certainly not a small movie/streaming company either, owning numerous tv-cables, streaming services, and copyrights. So what are the results? First is the too fast growth of Disney. In 2009, Disney acquired Marvel, a comic movie studio, and produced numerous movies that have broken the box-office record. For example, according to box office mojo, Disney owns 60% of the top 15 Box-office gross. The movie “Avengers: Endgame”, which owns the highest gross in history, has gained a worldwide gross of $2,790,216,193 and beat “Avatar” (n.d.). Now, with the acquisition of 21CF, Disney owns even more movies than any other movie studio/streaming/producing companies. Second is the “monopoly” in the media market. Nowadays, especially with the Covid-19 pandemic, nobody goes to theaters. According to Statista,


almost 50% of adults in the United States have visited movie theaters once or less in a year. Moreover, 85.74% of teens (18-29 years old) have not attended live theaters over the years (2019). Instead, they use streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, Disney+ or other services. With the massive amount of copyright, studios to produce high-quality content, and service platforms to deliver those products, Disney’s growth rate is higher than ever. This “horizontal” acquisition of Disney does not seem to stop. Rather, it seems to further M&A with other movie or streaming services to expand its market share and availability to their customers. These are the reasons why the acquisition of 21CF by Disney was considered so significant. M&A is sometimes not welcomed by the public, and people do have a lot of misconceptions. One of the most

conventional misconceptions is that M&A takes centuries to be executed. It is true the process of making an agreement between two companies requires a lot of work, and thus a long time (Braun, 2019). However, the duration of M&A essentially depends on the type of companies and their interest. For example, if company A has been looking forward to a merge with company B, they might have already organized possible deals or negotiable points ahead. Or, if A and B are in the same fields or have the same occupation -- for example food manufacturing -- the understanding and similarity might reduce the M&A process exponentially. The second misconception is that foreign M&As are close to impossible, even more accounting the risk and resource required for (Versailles Group, n.d.). As explained earlier, it depends on the type of companies. Simply having a

Fig 1. Frequency of Movie theater visit from: Morning Consult. “National Tracking Poll #190651.” Morning Consult, 20-23 June 2019, https://morningconsult.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/1 90651_crosstabs_MOVIE_THEATERS_Adults_v1_EM.pdf UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 1 2 9


connection overseas does not mean it is weaker than local or the deal being unfair. In fact, M&A outside local potentially benefits more, as it is the easiest way to expand to foreign market. The third misconception is that the company being merged is the worse, or one with the lower value. Any company regardless of size can request a M&A to another company. For example, a local farmers market could request acquisition to Walmart as the local being the parent company. However, it is not common nor public for two reasons: the board of directors would not approve, and it is worthless. On the other hand, Walmart would not try to M&A a local market because it is not beneficial unless it is M&A toward middle-sized companies or companies like Target. But regardless of the “misconceptions”, how do the views of

the public or criticism impact the M&A of these companies? At essence, the M&A and company growth is directly related to stockholders; if they pull their investment out, the company is powerless. However, it is important to note that “anyone” could be a stockholder: a regular businessman, a 12-year-old child, a 67-year-old retired elderly, or even a CEO of a company. In other words, releasing any kind of news about the M&A to the public could impact significantly. For example, Covid-19 has impacted the flow of the trading dramatically. As the graph shows, the deal values as well as volume of M&A dropped exponentially as Covid-19 crisis deepened. On the Internet, there are thousands of news sources anticipating the dropping of M&As and stock values over the course of 2020; not forgetting to

Fig 1. Frequency of Movie theater visit from: Morning Consult. “National Tracking Poll #190651.” Morning Consult, 20-23 June 2019, https://morningconsult.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/1 90651_crosstabs_MOVIE_THEATERS_Adults_v1_EM.pdf 130 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS


cite that they are analytical experts. This “anticipation”, which is an example of criticism to companies who execute M&A during the pandemic, can actually lead stockholders to stop investing. However, criticism is certainly needed to companies, since not all deals are executed perfectly without conflict. The recipient firm of the merger/acquisition proposal has the right to refuse the deal, and the proposer has no right to force the recipient to accept it. Moreover, the merging might not result in the expected profit or synergy they were expecting. It is crucial not to forget “vertical” and “horizontal” are only theoretical, and in the real-world M&A can exist in both types or none. These unexpected results are what lead the press to criticize the firm for their poor decision. As a reader of this article who is not part of the press nor the company, what should one do? One should analyze the market; one should try to at least think why the merge or acquisition between the two companies is happening. Our duty as customers of those company’s services and products is to monitor their behaviors and send feedback, so they can avoid unexpected results. Therefore, they can sacrifice for the better, not sacrifice and “hope” for the better. Works Cited Grant, Mitchell. “Understanding Horizontal Mergers.” Investopedia, Investopedia, 20 Apr. 2020, w w w. i n v e s t o p e d i a . c o m / t e r m s / h / horizontalmerger.asp. Hargrave, Marshall. “Learn How Mergers Happen and Why.” Investopedia, Investopedia, 23 Aug. 2020, www. investopedia.com/terms/m/merger.asp. Kenton, Will. “Vertical Merger Definition.” Investopedia, Investopedia, 6 Mar. 2020, www.investopedia.com/ terms/v/verticalmerger.asp.

Kenton, Will. “Horizontal Integration.” Investopedia, Investopedia, 24 Mar. 2019, www.investopedia.com/ terms/h/horizontalintegration.asp. Luenendonk, Martin. “Different Types of Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A).” Cleverism, 19 Sept. 2019, www.cleverism.com/different-types-ofmergers-and-acquisitions-ma/. Gregory, Holly J. “The Board’s Role in M&A Transactions.” Sidley , May 2014, www.sidley.com/~/media/ files/newsinsights/publications/2014/05/ the-boards-role-in-ma-transactions/files/ view-article/fileattachment/the-boardsrole-in-ma-transactions--may-2014.pdf. Braun , David. “Common Misconceptions About M&A Explained.” Successful Acquisitions, 7 Feb. 2019, w w w. s u c c e s s f u l a c q u i s i t i o n s . n e t / common-misconceptions-about-maexplained/. Versailles group. “5 Myths of International Mergers and Acquisitions.” Versailles group, N.D,https://www. versaillesgroup.com/m-and-a-blog/5myths-of-international-mergers-andacquisitions/ The Walt Disney Company. “Disney and 21st Century Fox Announce per Share Value in Connection with $71 Billion Acquisition.” The Walt Disney Company, 19 March. 2019, https:// thewaltdisneycompany.com/disney-and21st-century-fox-announce-per-sharevalue-in-connection-with-71-billionacquisition/ Lawshelf. “Mergers and Acquisitions.” Lawshelf, N.D, https:// lawshelf.com/coursewarecontentview/ mergers-and-acquisitions/ imaa. “M&A statistics.” imaa, N.D, https://imaa-institute. org/mergers-and-acquisitionsstatistics/#:~:text=Number%20 %26%20Value%20of%20M%26A%20 Worldwide,4%25%20to%203.8%20 trillion%20USD Box Office Mojo. “Top Lifetime Grosses.” Box Office Mojo, N.D, https:// www.boxofficemojo.com/chart/top_ lifetime_gross/?area=XWW UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 1 3 1


Hijab and Women’s Rights Jioh Kim Asian Pacific International School, 9th

You must have heard about the suffering of women. At least once, you must have heard about women getting abused, ignored, and discriminated due to their culture, religion, and values. This could have been about the culture of a country, a stereotype in modern society, or history. Nowadays, various rights are being fought to be protected as society develops to seek through different parts of society in order to fix the parts which people think are unjust, and women’s rights are one big part of those. People are trying to solve the societal problems one by one. For instance, many people feel uncomfortable with “hijab”, and hijab is one of the issues in which a solution is being sought. Hijab is a type of clothing that covers women’s faces in the areas of Central Asia. It became very controversial after people realizing that this is a discrimination that takes away the rights and freedom of women (The Conversation, 2019). The definition of hijab originated from the word “hajaba”, which is a word for “to cover” or “to hide”. It is one of the most important and common outfits in Central Asian countries (The Conversation, 2019). This has been 132 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

existing for long years in Islamic culture, also known as Muslim culture, and most Muslim women still wear hijabs nowadays. In Muslim regions, there are mainly three types of hijab. The most common one is called the hijab – a scarf that covers the head, hair, and neck – and the second most common one is called the “niqab” – a black veil that covers all the body and heads only leaving the eyes uncovered – and lastly, the third one is called “burqa” – a one-piece veil that covers all the body and head including the eyes (BBC, 2017). As it is shown, hijab seems like a very uncomfortable outfit for women to wear in every-day life (The Guardians, 2018). However, the policy of covering bodies using a hijab is required as an enforcement law in Muslim regions such as Iran and several provinces in Indonesia, and also, even though it is not restricted as a law, women are forced to wear hijab in most Muslim areas (The Conversation, 2019). The founder of Islam, Muhamad, had enacted a rule that forces women to cover their body at all times. By this, it is said in the Islamic law, Sharia, that all Muslim women must wear hijab to cover their body excluding only hands and faces


(BBC, 2009). This is because they believe that women’s hair and body are dangerous factors that tempt and lure men. The Islamic culture really focuses much on virginity and purity (The Guardians, 2018). This is due to their history and how women were exposed to all kinds of danger every time. The Islamic regions in the past had a lot of frequent fights and conflicts between nations, causing wars. During these wars, men were forced to join the military, and women always had the risk of being sexually harmed, making the society to naturally care and focus on those women and the safety of those people. Eventually, this made women to wear hijab, in order to keep them safe from the possible dangers (The Guardians, 2018). Since women always have to wear hijab, they cannot take those off in places such as swimming pools and sports games (The Guardians, 2018). Also, since the reason why women have been forced to wear hijab originated from regulating women from their own freedom and rights, this leads to creating the idea of regulation and restriction on women in the society, only for the superficial purpose of safety (BBC, 2017). While women have to wear hijab, why don’t men wear hijab? This brings the topic to gender equality issue and the controversies between feminists and Muslim nations. The biggest reason why women are forced to wear hijab or cover their bodies is because the Muslim society believes that woman showing their hair and body to other people does not represent modesty and purity, as mentioned above (The Conversation, 2019). Due to this idea of “modesty” and “purity”, women are forced to wear hijab and niqab to be protected from men,

even though many women do not think of modesty as an important virtue nowadays (The Guardians, 2018). The Muslim countries consider protecting women very important, and that practically led to those suppressions that tightened women’s freedom and rights. If we look at the laws of Islamic countries, there are a lot of laws that regulate women to do or not to do certain actions or things. They simply regulate everything that women can do in their lives. Throughout history, the discrimination against women can be seen in various countries. As women were not being respected as one individual in the past, their rights and freedom were all taken away, and they had to live only by following men, as their only responsibility was to give birth to babies and take care of them. Since this cognition on women were similar throughout the whole world, the discrimination against women has been common in different places such as Europe, Africa, Asia, and America from thousands of years before to the recent years. Women were discriminated against in a variety of ways. For example, in education, women were often not allowed to attend certain classes or schools to learn and do household chores instead; even though there were a lot of them who had passion in studying. Because women were not welcomed in those educational areas, they automatically could not participate in politics as they did not know much about politics (History, 2019). Women were not allowed to have jobs related to politics as people thought politics and studies were things that only men could do, and also women were not allowed to participate in political processes as a citizen, such as voting. Even in the US, UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 1 3 3


women were first able to vote in 1920 after several movements, while they could not participate at all until then. There was a lot of effort from many people who supported women rights and freedom in order to change the law regarding the election system (History, 2019). Also, one last major area where people were able to see a lot of women discrimination was the area of employment and promotion at work. Women in the past were not welcomed in workplaces due to the stereotype of thinking that women do not have as much ability than men. As a result, this led to women doing chores at work, even though they have a good ability to lead out the company or the career (History, 2019). In the modern days, women discrimination became less common as jobs such as lawyers and police officers became a lot neutral for all gender to participate. However, women discrimination is still observed frequently in the modern society. Still, people do not welcome women as much as men, thinking that they would not be able to work very well due to the conditions of women, such as marriage, pregnancy, and period. In addition, women usually get paid less than men, and it is harder for women to be promoted to upper position (Scholars, 2013). Because of these problems that are still going on in the society, we all have to realize that protecting women rights and freedom is very important and needed. This idea may seem like it is only giving advantage to women. However, men are definitely related to these topics. As men participating in careers related to

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cosmetics or household services were not common in the past, men who wanted to have those jobs were forced to have “jobs for men� such as construction workers or politicians. Due to the change in society, men are now able to choose whatever careers they want. However, this was not possible in the past. Therefore, women discrimination is not only affecting women, but it effects all gender including men. Therefore, thinking and discussing about women discrimination leads to thinking about men discrimination, and this is why everyone has to pay attention to these changes (UNFPA, 2005). As a result, forcing women to wear hijab can be controversial since the meaning of hijab is to show modesty and purity. The idea of forcing women to show purity in the modern society is contrasted to what the society is aiming for: gender equality and women being shown as individuals, rather than being objectified. Thus, it is argued that forcing women to wear hijab is just a small part of women discrimination (BBC, 2017). Therefore, at the end, there are problems that make women suffer not only in the religious sector, but in many other areas. Also, problems are what the whole society has to contribute regardless of gender in order to make a world with no gender discrimination. Lastly, we have to make sure that the problem that we have to come together is not only about women wearing hijab, but also about women being forced to change themselves in order to fit in the society as others want.


Works Cited Killian Professor of Sociology, C. (2020, September 07). Why do Muslim women wear a hijab? Retrieved December 01, 2020, from https://theconversation. com/why-do-muslim-women-wear-ahijab-109717 What’s the difference between a hijab, niqab and burka? - CBBC Newsround. (2018). Retrieved December 01, 2020, from https://www.bbc.co.uk/ newsround/24118241 Sylaj, H. (2020, October 15). Why Do Muslim Women Wear Hijab? Retrieved December 01, 2020, from https://medium. com/interfaith-now/why-do-muslimwomen-wear-hijab-8d0cd811e2b1 Fuchs, S. (2019, July 30). Forced Hijab - A Brief Overview: Ex-Muslims of North America. Retrieved December 01, 2020, from https://exmuslims.org/forcedhijab-a-brief-overview/ Sheen, M., Yekani, H., & Jordan, T. (2018). Investigating the effect of wearing the hijab: Perception of facial attractiveness by Emirati Muslim women living in their native Muslim country. Retrieved December 01, 2020, from https://journals.plos.org/ plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal. pone.0199537 Jazeera, A. (2018, February 02). Iran arrests 29 women for not wearing hijab in protests. Retrieved December 01, 2020, from https:// www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/02/ iran-arrests-29-women-wearing-hijabprotests-180202084416823.html

Gleeson, H. (2018, April 18). Bullied, beaten, trapped: Muslim women denied divorce from abusive men. Retrieved December 01, 2020, from https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-18/ abused-muslim-women-denied-right-todivorce/9632772?nw=0 Hatam, N. (2018, May 18). Iranian women threw off the hijab - what happened next? Retrieved December 01, 2020, from https://www.bbc.com/news/ world-middle-east-44040236 Amrani, I. (2018, February 02). I didn’t want to wear my hijab, and don’t believe very young girls should wear them today | Iman Amrani. Retrieved December 01, 2020, from https://www.theguardian. com/commentisfree/2018/feb/02/hijabgirls-ofsted-headscarves-british-values Tayler, L. (2020, October 28). The silence over Islamic State’s abuse of women. Retrieved December 01, 2020, from https://www.hrw.org/ news/2014/11/25/silence-over-islamicstates-abuse-women Saudi Arabia: Why weren’t women allowed to drive? - CBBC Newsround. (2018). Retrieved December 01, 2020, from https://www.bbc.co.uk/ newsround/41412980 Begum, R. (2020, October 28). The Brave Female Activists Who Fought to Lift Saudi Arabia’s Driving Ban. Retrieved December 01, 2020, from https://www. hrw.org/news/2017/09/29/brave-femaleactivists-who-fought-lift-saudi-arabiasdriving-ban

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Body Image through Culture and Time Jisoo Catherine Kim McLean High School, 10th

From force-feeding to extreme diets, efforts to change ourselves have been a part of our culture for millennia. People from across the globe have been affected by societal standards. One of the largest is one’s body shape or appearance. Body image has been shaped throughout history by stereotypes and beliefs spread through media and humanity. As technology continues to develop, the ideology of a perfect outward appearance is rapidly evolving and various instances of efforts to become similar to the “ideal body” have shown across the world. The way people see the body depends on where you live and the varying body types that are considered ideal in that time and place. Society’s view on body image is easily susceptible to change and affects many aspects of life. Culturally, body image has been integrated into our communities since societies began. From kings and nobles to peasants, the weight of upholding appearances has affected generation after generation. Although we do not exactly know when these pressures began, it is safe to say that they increased when communities of nomads began to settle and the manifestation of patriarchy began. 136 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

Despite the fact that both men and women are subject to body image pressures, patriarchal societies have enforced unfair treatment and demands upon women. Often, parents preferred to have a male rather than a female child. In adulthood, women commonly competed for the position of wife and changed their outward appearance in order to appeal to men. For example, in China women practiced foot binding, where one applied tight wrappings or broke their own feet to make them smaller and unusable. The image that the woman was powerless, by not being able to do tasks and walk freely, appealed to the men of the patriarchal society. In the past, larger women, who were seen as healthy, were desired. However, with changing time periods and stereotypes, a recent survey has shown that most men desire a woman with a thin figure. History has shown that women needed to be molded in order to fit the ideals of society and the male gaze. These misogynistic demands are ingrained in our society, continuing to add emphasis to body image. For women, attaining beauty often requires changing something about oneself.


As civilizations throughout history have risen and fallen, social hierarchies that determined each person’s status, wealth, and education emerged. During the 5th-12th centuries, nobles were quick to flaunt their power and money. Lavish manors, clothes, and parties were givens, but a noble’s day would not be complete without bountiful feasts of expensive meats and wines. These feasts not only served as a symbol of wealth, but they were also protection against famine. As many plagues and famines swept the world, only the prosperous had the wealth and status to afford food and survive. During this time, obesity was an indication of beauty and good health which was desired by all. In China, women who wanted to be considered good marriage partners needed to be obese. This brings back the topic of patriarchy and what effects it has had on body image for women. In Nigeria, pubescent girls were sent to feeding huts for two years where they were fed, pierced, and banded until elders deemed them obese enough. Being obese was an important part of feminity. Of course, men were also subject to beauty standards. However, unlike women, men did not have to mold themselves to become more attractive. Their power was already decided by their gender and status. As times changed, technology developed and the “obese is healthy” mindset soon faded from most communities. Lingering attachments to the concept still remained in certain areas of the world caused by the limited reach of the 17th century media. While art that portrayed the wealthy as corpulent was still at large, sculptures and paintings started to depict voluptuous women which accentuated a thinner waist and larger

breasts. For example, the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite, was often portrayed as a curvy woman with exaggerated features. This was seen in “Venus of Willendorf’’ in Austria and many other sculptures across the world. While large stomachs, thick thighs, and hefty arms were not aborted, copious buttocks and breasts were added to the list of necessities for feminity. Sculptures were not the only examples of the changing body image as newspapers and public figures displayed this change as well, heavily affecting the spread of ideals. With the changing tides, products to accommodate the desires of women were developed. The new societal desires fueled the increase in technology as corsets rose in popularity. By cinching the waist, women were able to achieve increasingly extreme curvaceous bodies. Corsets soon became commodities in women’s fashion and the demand for bosomy bodies constantly affected society. While women struggled with corsets, men became infatuated with showing their masculinity through their muscles. Chivalric codes and strong figures arose which caused thin or fat figures to be a sign of weakness. Men strived for chiseled, buff bodies, fitting images of knights and heroes. Of course, some areas of the world never changed their ideals. The gap in body image from country to country was evident. Countries that lacked cultural diffusion or exposure to the global images kept their “obesity is key” ideals. By the late 19th century, a new body shape for women was portrayed in mainstream magazines. An artist by the name of Charles Dana Gibson created a fresh ideal in which tall women with thin waists and curvy bodies were the new stars of the century. These portrayals of women UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 1 3 7


soon became known as the “Gibson Girl’’ and rose in popularity. Changes in art from famous painters were obvious as Pablo Picasso, one of the most popular painters in history, drew more and more paintings of long, nude women. Men also followed the slim body type as ideals of masculinity diverged from large and macho bodies. Media depictions soon changed the course of body image ideals from a plump figure to a slim one. Nude, voluptuous depictions of women increased causing body image pressures to skyrocket, including the sexualization of women. The constant pattern of sexualizing and using women soon became an integral point of society. The changes in societal images of the ideal body and the effects on women are a never-ending cycle that has failed to change from the ancient past. At the beginning of the 20th century, a cultural shift occurred. While the voluptuous body increasingly became sexualized, a new slim and athletic body type rose to fame. Women and men in magazines and advertisements were all the same, tall, slim, and athletic. Curves were no longer desired. Concerns on the long term effects of corsets, the formation of standardized dress sizes, and the discovery of the calorie may have been key points to the large shift. With the increasing knowledge of health, society began to stray away from large, plump bodies that were previously seen as healthy. As advertisers reflect what sells, the media pushed the acceptance of slender bodies by supporting them as healthy and desirable. Surges in eating disorders caused slim bodies to reach an all-time high. It became clear that in order to become “beautiful” one must change their body. 138 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

New phrases such as “beauty is pain” rose to popularity and society began to prioritize appearances and body images. Connotations of words began to change as “fat” developed a negative view and became an insult. While pressures upon women were evident, men were not excluded from these societal values. Magazines, movies, and advertisements portrayed a masculine and athletic body which caused men to also change their appearances. This ideal of slim beauty has been, and currently is, the leading image of today’s society. As aforementioned, some countries never changed their ideals. Force-feeding children in parts of Africa to cause them to become plump has not changed. However, the consistent idea that bodies need to be modified is seen all over the world. Throughout history, a consistent pattern is the spread of body image. Word of mouth, media, and peer pressures have taken important roles to spread and enforce ideals of body image. From parents of nobles in feudal Europe to friends commenting on each other’s appearances in our current time, body image ideals have been taught one way or another. With the increase in technology, namely electronics, the circulation of information across the world has become as easy as a single tap. While letters would have taken weeks to send from city to city, emails only take two minutes to write and send. Models in pageants, people on social media, and public figures have taken the place of newspapers, paintings, and sculptures that our society previously had. The developments in our technology have fueled increasing amounts of pressure on humanity to fit an image. Pageants and models are all judged by how slim and beautiful they are


based on societal standards. As a result, children who have had exposure to social media and the internet have developed a shrewd sense of beauty. A recent blog post of an Indian pageant has stirred debate as the models were photoshopped to have lighter skin color and less fat. The idea that brighter skin is superior has been shown recently with the ongoing bias against melatonin in skin. Darker skin has been related to labor workers in the caste system from Indian society causing a negative connotation around it. On the other hand, white skin has been related to British colonizers in Western society which was seen as desirable due to their previous shows of strength. Not only skin color, but numerous Western ideals have affected each society. The way we see skin color, eye color, eye shape, nose height, and many more have all been affected by humanity one way or another. History has had a great impact on values and ideals from generation to generation. Pressures to become more beautiful have caused new inventions such as plastic surgery, makeup, diets, and pills. Some cultures press these standards more than others. For example, Korean beauty products and standards have been popular recently. Korean beauty standards are held at an extreme as makeup products and plastic surgery coupons are given as gifts. Small children as young as 5 are judged by their peers and told how they should change themselves to become more beautiful. As a result, self-esteem issues in both men and women increased and depression has become more common. While teens and children, who are easily affected by their hormones, are prime targets to mental illness, adults are not exempt. Aging has a connotation of bad health and is seen as a weakness. Beauty products for anti-

age continue to be produced as people become insecure about their wrinkles. These goods are popular as they fit the demands of society and are widely spread through social media. Often, influential celebrities promote these merchandise which increases the spread of ideals. Body image affects everyone of all ages, ethnicities, and gender. While other issues on social media make up a large part of this problem, societal pressures on the perfect body have caused people to not appreciate their own appearance. Revolt against the pressures and forced standards has been ongoing. Feminism, advocacy on women’s rights for equality, has played a large part in the slow cultural change in our society. The first movement to change body standards was in the late 1800s which aimed to lessen demands on corsets. This was called the Victorian Dress Reform. Slowly, more body-positive movements and acts arose, targeting large issues such as discrimination or bias on skin color, body shape, body size, and height. As activism and self-love have become more popular, more organizations have strived to teach younger children to appreciate themselves. While these efforts have not made a significant impact on societal views, baby steps have been taken toward the ultimate goal of body acceptance and love. With a significant increase in plus-size models and diverse body types, communities have seen a boost in confidence and selfacceptance. As more people recognize issues of body complexes, our views on body image will morph, causing society to change. Just as the “ideal body� changed from curvy and plump to skinny and tall, our views on body image are slowly, but surely evolving once again. Body image has been shaped by UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 1 3 9


the ideas of people for generations. This quintessential body has affected and is affected by the ever-changing media and technology around us. Pressures to match the superficial “ideal body” have caused controversy in communities and the creation of new inventions or trends which influence the exchange of goods and services. As a result of the pressures, complexes relating to one’s appearance have become common causing activism to begin. Body image continues to affect our culture and technology as we adamantly persist on comparing ourselves to society’s standards in a never-ending cycle.

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Works Cited Body Image. (n.d.). Retrieved November 24, 2020, from https://blogs. uoregon.edu/odietch2f14gateway/ Haworth, A. (2018, December 07). Forced to Be Fat. Retrieved November 24, 2020, from https://www.marieclaire. com/politics/news/a3513/forcefeeding-inmauritania/ Howard, J. (2018, March 09). The ever-changing ‘ideal’ of female beauty. Retrieved November 23, 2020, from https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/07/health/ body-image-history-of-beauty-explainerintl/index.html John, T., & Gupta, S. (2019, May 31). Photograph of Miss India finalists stirs debate over country’s obsession with fair skin. Retrieved November 24, 2020, from https://www.cnn.com/style/article/ miss-india-fairness-intl/index.html Korean Students Rewarded For Good Grades With Plastic Surgery. (2010, November 23). Retrieved November 24, 2020, from https://www.eduinreview.com/ blog/2010/11/korean-students-rewardedfor-good-grades-with-plastic-surgery/ Solutions, M. (n.d.). Body Image. Retrieved November 23, 2020, from https://www.cybersmile.org/what-we-do/ advice-help/mental-health/body-image


Yet Unattainable: Post- Racial and Sexual Society Jiwon Kim Saint Paul Preparatory Seoul, 12th

Gender plays a crucial role in shaping one’s self-identity. Adichie’s Americanah provides a perception of different identity in western societies characterized by gender and racial binaries. Americanah’s significance in creating a narrative of race also lies in its unique examination and deconstruction of race through the eyes of a non-American black woman. As a non-American, Adichie could observe and relay to the readers the detailed and unnoticeable displays of racism they might have become desensitized to. Taking this narrative, the presence of inferential sexism and racism is what prevents a society from becoming a postcolonial society where gender and sex no longer matter. Adichie, through Americanah’s narrator Ifemelu, portrays social conformity as a black woman in America, where white society is predominant. That is, Ifemelu is “doing gender” the way society standardized. Adichie “acknowledges the presence, the influence, and the oppression of women” and of the desire to improve the present status as black woman. For example, in an attempt to find a job, Ifemelu changes her hairstyle to seem more professional.

Ifemelu experiences inconveniences posed by her society, by virtue of just being a black woman. The standards of white beauty-- blond hair and blue eyes-are naturally exposed and applied to black people. Black people accept this naturally and desire to belong to that white-centered society. At this point, Ifemelu criticizes how the society is racially skewed when she reads through a magazine. She claims that “not one of them looks like me, so I can’t get clues for makeup from these magazines. And ‘everyone’ means blonds, brunettes, and redheads.” Kimberly, Ifemelu’s first employer, is a wealthy, white woman with a peoplepleasing personality. In deference to embodying qualities of inferential racism, Kimberly adopts a careful colorblind strategy when approaching Ifemelu. When Kimberly’s sister, Laura, calls Ifemelu “sassy,” Kimberly later apologizes for her particular word choice. Kimberly’s apology only heightens the awareness of racial differences between Ifemelu and Laura by specifically pointing out that it is “the kind of word that’s used for certain people and not for others.” Later on, Adichie adds the point of how society refers to black women only as “fat nice UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 1 4 1


mammy or the strong, sassy, sometimes scary sidekick.” Kimberly asking Ifemelu about the pronunciation of her name, “Did I say it right?” when showing her around the house or her habit of referring to black women as “beautiful” are examples of inferential racism as her carefulness in not wanting to seem racist only acknowledges their differences in skin color. Ifemelu tells her employer, “You can just say ‘black.’ Not every black person is beautiful,” signaling to Kimberly to break her colorblind gaze. Ifemelu reaffirms the implications that her skin color plays in everyday interactions. While Curt, Ifemelu’s boyfriend, does not pretend to be colorblind or deny the presence of racism, he prefers to infantilize Ifemelu as someone who needs to be taken care of and happily plays the caretaker role. Adichie intimates to readers that Curt’s childish belief is a product of his privilege, which is “invisible to those who benefit from it.” His nonchalance at his conservative mother’s disapproval and his act of giving Ifemelu a job and a passport through his many connections are all rooted in his many advantages of being a white. In other words, Adichie shows that Curt is allowed to believe a troublefree belief, because his social, political, or economic status as a successful white man does not require him to consider deeply. Ultimately, the character of Curt displays his role in the cycle that keeps racial and social classes in place despite using these advantages for Ifemelu’s benefit. Ifemelu and Curt face a problem of the role of race in their relationship on a physical level. The most prominent division between them is Curt’s full awareness of Ifemelu’s dark skin color. Skin color plays a significant role in their sex life, as Curt’s fascination with 142 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

Ifemelu’s “exoticness” and her dark skin becomes clear during sex when he asks her to participate in various activities that emphasize her skin color: “He wanted to suck her finger, to lick honey from her nipple, to smear ice cream on her belly, as though it was not enough simply to lie bare skin to skin.” Curt’s fetish for dating girls of different races becomes clearer when Ifemelu is introduced to his mother, who tolerates their relationship because she knows Curt will settle down “properly” someday. Adichie portrays the way how Ifemelu is rejected by not having “the body to conform to an historical idea of ‘woman’” in Curt’s family. Ifemelu notices people’s unspoken disbelief at Curt choosing to date a dark-skinned woman who is not light-skinned or biracial. From the silent disapprovals of his mother and other white women, Adichie implies the existence of an ongoing racist view of an interracial relationship. That is, Ifemelu is getting disadvantaged “based on race.” As a white man, Curt signifies his attraction for the exotic-- “looking all jungle like.” As a black woman, Ifemelu is assumed to be with Curt because of his white privilege. In a supposed post-racial society, race is not important when forming relationships, whether platonic or sexual. Americanah realistically portrays whether such post-racial relationships are possible through Ifemelu’s various interracial relationships. Ifemelu is consistently placed into two distinctive categories by American men: the hypersexual and exotic black woman, and the platonic genderless being. Both categories encourage racial stereotyping in the minds of white Americans and prevent black women from being seen as individuals. When considering the latter, the


best example in the book comes from Abe, a young man in Ifemelu’s ethics class. Despite her interest in her white classmate, Abe only thinks of her as “smart and funny,” and ultimately shows no interest in the sense of being engaged in a heterosexual relationship. Moreover, much to Ifemelu’s anger, Abe tries to set her up with another black man. Not only does this imply that Abe sees Ifemelu as no more than a platonic friend with no sexual appeal, but also illustrates Abe’s denial of an interracial relationship. Abe’s inability to even imagine that Ifemelu could have romantic interest in him suggests that our society still holds a certain bias and gendered racism. The definitive standard for a postracial and sexual society places limitation on understanding whether such society proves possible through a novel. By looking at the presence of racism in the United States through humor and witty discernment, Adichie achieves garnering interest and applause from her audience as her honest portrayals invite readers to discuss race, especially Africanness and gender. Combating the conversion of new racism and sexism, Americanah opens the possibilities for conversations on race and gender for modern readers.

Works Cited Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. Book Group Bag: Americanah: a Novel. 1st ed., Anchor Books, a Division of Random House LLC, 2014. Andersen, Margaret L., and Patricia Hill Collins. Race, Class, and Gender: an Anthology. Cengage Learning, 2016. Butler, Judith. Performative Acts and Gender Constitutionn: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory. Theatre Journal, Vol. 40, No. 4, Dec. 1988.

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Finding Approximate Expression for Period of Botafumeiro Using Integration Joonsoo Heo Dulwich College Seoul, 12th

Introduction: This investigation aims to find approximate expressions for the time period of Botafumeiro using integration. Botafumeiro is a giant incense censer in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. All travelers to Santiago de Compostela agree that Botafumeiro is the highlight of the course. It is used for liturgical purposes, in the same way, any priest would use a censer at the altar, and you can see it on days of Eucharistic celebration. For instance, on Easter Sunday, All Saints’ Day (1st November), Christmas day, etc. Although it is normally displayed in the library, my parents were very lucky to visualize the swings as they had to walk approximately 800km to arrive in the holy city of Santiago de Compostela. For this investigation, I chose to analyze the motion of Botafumeiro to understand and convert physical motion into numerical values. I am investigating the time period of Botafumeiro by applying physics concepts and calculus. Background Information: The motion of Botafumeiro is like the motion of a pendulum so that I will refer to the motion of a pendulum. A pendulum is a mass at the end of a string that swings back and forth. It sounds like a simple concept as it constantly proceeds the simple motion and frequently appears in school physics books. However, it is not a trivial problem to solve the motion of the mass on a string. The Botafumeiro is one of the popular symbols of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. It is a large censer that hangs by a system of pulleys from the main dome of the Cathedral. It takes eight ‘tiraboleiros’ to move it. It is 1.5 meters long and weighs 53kg. The censer hangs from a height of 20 meters. It operates during the Cathedral’s main solemnities during the entrance procession or at the end of the Eucharist. It swings high up under the ceiling and reaches speeds up to 65 km/h (“Liturgy”). At the bottom of the circular path, it almost touches the ground. The path of the Botafumeiro is unique and different compared to the pendulum. To gradually give the incense burner the necessary energy, the men shorten the rope slightly by pulling through the low point and let it go again at the maximum deflection by the 144 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS


same distance, whereby the actual movement deviates from a circular path. Simple Harmonic Motions: sinθ ≈ θ The common definition of Simple Harmonic Motion is: ‘oscillatory motion under a restoring force proportional to the amount of displacement from an equilibrium position.’

When a pendulum moves, the tension T and the gravity mg are received, and if the angle at the maximum amplitude is θ (theta), the restoring force to send this pendulum to the equilibrium position (center or mid-position where no force acts on the oscillating object) is mgsinθ. Therefore, if you set up an equation of motion using Newton’s Second Law, F=ma F=ma = -mg · sinθ When the amplitude is small, we can approximate sinθ ≃ θ. As the angle becomes 0 or gets smaller, the approximations of sinθ become better and closer to the angle θ.

Suppose s is the arc length from the equilibrium point to the point m. s=rθ Simply, think of l=rθ. Be aware that l from the diagram is different from the l from ‘l=rθ’. Double differentiation of s (displacement) is acceleration: s˝=a=rθ˝ We can apply a=rθ˝ into Newton’s Second Law in the direction perpendicular to the string. F = -mgsinθ = mrθ˝ Since the angle is small in this context. We will get the following equation: UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 1 4 5


this l is from the diagram

to represent the linear simple harmonic motion. This is the formula for angular frequency. We can rearrange the equation to

Therefore, the period of the pendulum is independent of the mass m and amplitude x of the weight W=mg and only the length of the weight and the gravitational acceleration are related. For instance, when the length of the weight is 4 times longer, the cycle is doubled and slowed, and when the length of the weight is 10 times longer, the period is about 3 times longer and becomes slower. If the gravitational acceleration or pull is 4 times faster/ stronger, the cycle is halved and twice quicker, and on the Moon where the gravity is 1/6 of the Earth’s, the cycle is about 2.5 times longer. Integration by Parts: Remember by comparing this from the formula {f(x)g(x)}′=f ′(x)g(x)+f(x)g′(x) of the derivative of the product of the two functions to

compared to the integration by parts of the indefinite integral. When sinθ ≈ θ Cannot be Approximated:

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We need to solve this nonlinear differential equation. Pretty tricky to solve. If we subtract both sides by , we will get an equation for differentiation. We need a little skill to integrate here. Let’s arrange the terms on the left side a little bit more.

/

dθ If we multiply dθ by both sides and substitute dt with u for clarity, we will get… g udu = - l · sinθ · dθ When we integrate the equation above, we will get the following equation. θ0 represents an initial angle

/

Thus, if you arrange the equation, the following equation will appear…

/

θ0 = initial angle Therefore, the cycle of the pendulum can be expressed as the form obtained by integrating the above equation with dθ as follows. One cycle is four times the time it takes from 0 to θ0 because 0 to θ0 is a distance between an initial angle and the equilibrium point, 4T .

Now, the elliptic integral comes out. To be precise, the complete elliptic integral of the first kind. Now we will only look at the integral. We will transform cosθ and cosθ0 as follows, using the formula of the trigonometric function we know.

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Then the expression becomes,

The static integral on the right-hand side is a complete elliptic integral of the first kind. 148 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS


Here comes the binomial coefficient. We can solve it quite easily.

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The equation above represents a time period of large amplitude. I will apply this to Botafumeiro. Time Period and Botafumeiro: It swings high up under the ceiling. In order to gradually give the incense burner the necessary energy, the men shorten the rope by pulling it upward as it passes through the low point and releases it again at the maximum deflection by the same distance, which means that the actual movement deviates slightly from a circular path.

Based on what I read and watch, Botafumeiro should ideally move along the ABCDEA line. Normally, the time period is the time taken to get back to the starting point (“Frequency, Time Period and Angular Frequency - Definition and Formulas” 2019). Therefore, the time period in this scenario must be T=arc(ADE + BC + DE) +2ΔL Which I believe is very hard and tricky to find the exact path of the Botafumeiro and time period in the level of IB IA Therefore, I will simplify the time period into T=arc(ADE + BC + DE) Also, I will use the given basic information from trusted websites to calculate the time 150 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS


period. The given basic information is the gravitational force, combined length of the rope and Botafumeiro, and the maximum angle. As I mentioned in the previous section, I am using some given information from websites with deep understanding and knowledge about Botafumeiro. A simple diagram of Botafumeiro would be identical to a pendulum connected to the pulley system. The total length of Botafumeiro is approximately 30m, it can reach up to 68kmh in motion, and swing up to 21m vertically. Also, the maximum angle of the thurible is 82° in motion. However, the total length of the thurible and rope is longer than the vertical height because it is connected to a giant pulley system in the ceiling. Moreover, there is no information about the vertical length of Botafumeiro, so I assume that the length of the rope will be 10m at the maximum angle and 15m in the equilibrium because I could not find the △L of the rope when it moves up and down so I will assume it to be 5m because I want the two lengths to be equally 15m when it is in the equilibrium. (8 tiraboleiros pull the rope up and down to supply sufficient energy to swing the 53kg censer. However, it is normally 100kg when it is full of coal and incense.) T = arc(ADE + BC + DE)

Based on the variables we have, we can finally substitute values into the time period formula and get the time period of Botafumeiro. l = 10m, ΔL = 5m, W=100kg, Maximum angle = 82°, g = 9.81ms-1 The maximum angle, weight, and acceleration of free fall are from the internet. Additionally, air resistance will be negligible and there will not be energy loss because the motion equation like this cannot be solved by an algebraic method as you have to use differentiation, which will be complicated. We can obtain a general form of the equation if we put the variables into the formula. The general time period is the same as the following equation.

Note that the higher terms can be ignored as they get extremely smaller. I will stop at the fourth term but it can be continued to minimize a margin of error. It is the fourth term UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 1 5 1


because n starts at 0 and ends at 3.

∴T = 7.64785 Conclusion Through this investigation, I was able to complete my aim and show the time period of Botafumeiro numerically. It was a challenge to me as I did not learn integration in IB yet; however, I was able to get the time period of Botafumeiro by watching integration videos from Khan academy and demonstrating my understanding of integral in this investigation. Thus, I reached the conclusion that it takes approximately 7.64 seconds for Botafumeiro to complete one full oscillation. Overall, this investigation allows me to have a deeper understanding and theory of mathematics and physics behind the motion of Botafumeiro. Through my research, I was able to learn what double factorial is and its usefulness in certain mathematical circumstances. Moreover, I was not very familiar with integration before writing math IA. However, it offered me a chance to revisit integration in IGCSE and allowed me to explore and apply integration into a real-life mathematical problem like calculating the time period of Botafumeiro. Furthermore, I enjoyed this investigation as it overlaps frequently with physics in terms of theoretical aspects such as a pendulum, time period, and motion, so I would be very interested to redo the investigation at a university level in the future. Works Cited Images: TaeNyFanTaeNyFan 1, and AetolAetol 1. “Small Angle Approximation for Simple Pendulum.” Physics Stack Exchange, October 1, 1968. https://physics.stackexchange. com/questions/448886/small-angle-approximation-for-simple-pendulum. OpenStax. “Physics.” Lumen, courses.lumenlearning.com/physics/chapter/16-4-thesimple-pendulum/.

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Websites, Digital Files, and Videos: Admin. “Frequency, Time Period And Angular Frequency - Definition and Formulas.” BYJUS, BYJU’S, 15 Apr. 2019, byjus.com/physics/period-angular-frequency/. “Deflection (Physics).” Academic Dictionaries and Encyclopedias, enacademic.com/ dic.nsf/enwiki/9873245. “Double Factorial.” From Wolfram MathWorld, mathworld.wolfram.com/ DoubleFactorial.html. Ibeconsphysics, and Ibeconsphysics. “Simple Harmonic Motion: Part One.” IB Revision, 23 Oct. 2012, ibeconsphysics.wordpress.com/2012/10/23/simple-harmonicmotion-part-one/. “Integration by Parts: ∫x⋅Cos(x)Dx (Video).” Khan Academy, Khan Academy, www. khanacademy.org/math/ap-calculus-bc/bc-integration-new/bc-6-11/v/antiderivative-ofxcosx-using-integration-by-parts. “Integration by Parts Intro (Video).” Khan Academy, Khan Academy, www. khanacademy.org/math/ap-calculus-bc/bc-integration-new/bc-6-11/v/derivingintegration-by-parts-formula. Introduction to Integration. Accessed April 4, 2020. https://www.mathsisfun.com/ calculus/integration-introduction.html. “Kreisbewegung.” LEIFIphysik, n.d. https://www.leifiphysik.de/mechanik/ kreisbewegung/ausblick/botafumeiro-simulation. “Liturgy.” Catedral De Santiago, catedraldesantiago.es/en/liturgy/. “Maclaurin Series.” from Wolfram MathWorld. Accessed April 4, 2020. https:// mathworld.wolfram.com/MaclaurinSeries.html. Rouse, Margaret. “What Is Double Factorial? - Definition from WhatIs.com.” WhatIs. com, TechTarget, 21 Sept. 2005, whatis.techtarget.com/definition/double-factorial. Rudin, Walter. Principles of Mathematical Analysis. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1976. Tulloue, Geneviève. “Le Botafumeiro.” Le Botafumeiro (Animation Flash). Accessed April 4, 2020. http://www.sciences.univ-nantes.fr/sites/genevieve_tulloue/Meca/ Oscillateurs/botafumeiro.html. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Simple Harmonic Motion.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 8 May 2020, www.britannica.com/science/ simple-harmonic-motion. “단진자.” 단진자. Accessed April 4, 2020. https://terms.naver.com/entry.nhn? docId= 982423&mobile&cid= 47338&categoryId=47338. “단진자의 주기 Period of Pendulum - JavaLab.” 자바실험실 JavaLab.org. Accessed April 4, 2020. http://javalab.org/lee/2016/period_of_pendulum/. “진자 운동.” 진자 운동. Accessed April 4, 2020. https://terms.naver.com/entry. nhn?docId=959418 &cid=47312&categoryId=47312.

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The Ambivalent Effect of Covid-19 on the Environment Jun Yeol Choi Hankook Academy of Foreign Studies, 12th

As many people know, there is a tremendous amount of effect that the Covid-19 has brought to the world. Many have been hurt, and some companies created profit out of the changing situation. However, one of the most direct yet exorbitant change was in the Earth’s

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environment. There have been articles about climate change, animals returning to their natural habitat, and more. Yet, it is not clear whether the effect of Covid-19 on the environment is entirely positive. Hence, it is important we consider the three consequences of the virus:


climate change, waste accumulation, and ecosystem change. To start, the Covid-19 has been the driving force behind many shutdowns in manufacturing lines all over the world, and the amount of pollution has decreased naturally. Many factories have had to stop manufacturing, and many resource extractions have been halted due to the danger of virus infection. When Covid-19 struck most of the countries in the world, it has led many people to the life of ‘quarantine’, which means shutting down many of the industrial aspects of their lives. While this compelled form of life has created many discomforts, it also decreased the use of cars, dragging the daily emission of carbon down approximately 17% around the world. Moreover, as reduced productive activities led to lowered consumption, companies have temporarily stopped manufacturing some products. The change to the global as well as regional atmosphere was direct. Due to quarantine and halted economy, NO2 was reduced by 22.8 μg/m3 and 12.9 μg/m3 in Wuhan (where Covid-19 first broke out) and China overall, respectively. PM 2.5 fell by 1.4 μg/m3 in Wuhan but decreased by 18.9 μg/m3 in 367 cities. Though the impact of Covid-19 on the air can be temporary, it has shown that Covid-19 has a distinct positive impact on the environment. As can be seen from the picture the production of NO2 in China, which is one of the most polluting nations around the world, has drastically decreased. Additionally, the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) of the

European Union observed a drop of PM 2.5 last February in relation to the previous three years, while the exposure to PM 2.5 leads to a non-negligible increase in the risk of other non-communicable diseases. Therefore, the total avoided fatalities could have been reduced, particularly in Europe where other non-communicable diseases contribute substantially to the total fatalities linked to PM 2.5 concentrations. All in one, it is out of the debate that Covid-19 has brought us a world with cleaner air and reduced exposure to hazardous pollutants. Second, although the Covid-19 may have benefitted the air quality, it has brought an entirely different influence regarding waste problems. The quarantine regulations, which are demanded in most countries, have led consumers to increase their demand for online shopping, home delivery, and un-tact services which generally create more commercial waste. Consequently, organic waste generated by households has increased. Also, food purchased online is shipped packed, so inorganic waste has also increased. For example, there have been many issues surrounding the ‘Market Kurly’ shipping policy which overpacks products even in small size. Medical waste has been also increasing. Hospitals in Wuhan have been producing an average of 240 metric tons of medical waste per day, which is significantly more than their previous average of fewer than 50 tons. In other countries such as the US, there has been an increase in waste due to daily medical products such as masks and gloves. Even in Korea, masks are lying around UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 1 5 5


the streets, beaches, which can raise the chances of infection even more. Moreover, Covid-19 can also relate to recycling problems. It is without question that waste management is a problem for all countries, as it can lead to a global issue such as the Pacific garbage patch. Recycling is generally thought to be good for the environment, and it is one of the most effective ways that humans can use to deal with their aggravating problem of wastes. However, due to quarantine, many countries have stopped most of their activities that have to do with human interaction, which includes waste recycling in recycling centers. International cases are also present. For example, Italy has had only a single category of waste disposing. Lastly, the Covid-19 has its impact on the general ecosystem of various species. To start, the deceased human activity in general has cleaned the environment. As urbanization and human activity have stopped, some animals have widened their zone of activity. However, the possibility of Covid-19 spread has a devastating effect on some species. For instance, Denmark has decided to mass kill minks due to their chance of infection to humans. All in one, the global pandemic of

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Covid-19 has an ambivalent effect on every living species on Earth. In terms of humans, it has helped to heal the environment while increasing the amount of waste, which is a downside. For animals, it has helped them to return to their natural habitats while receiving harm from humans because of the possibility of infection. However, it is clear that we all should stay cautious and cooperate to stop or at least slow down the spread of Covid-19.

Works Cited Indirect effects of COVID-19 on the environment. (2020, August 1). PubMed Central (PMC). https://www.ncbi.nlm. nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7169883/ Giani, P. (2020, September 27). Short-term and long-term health impacts of air pollution reductions from COVID-19 lockdowns in China and Europe: a modelling study. The Lancet Planetary Health. http://web.archive. org/web/20200927181412/https://www. thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/ PIIS2542-5196(20)30224-2/fulltext Impact of COVID-19 on Nature. (n.d.). Conservation International. https:// www.conservation.org/stories/impact-ofcovid-19-on-nature


1997 Asian Financial Crisis in South Korea Justin Park Yongsan International School of Seoul, 10th

If you look at the past economy of South Korea, there is an exponential increase in GDP (gross domestic product) since the 1960s. Joining OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) in 1996, South Korea enjoyed its heyday of economic growth. “It seemed impossible that in less than 50 years South Korea had rebuilt its physical and human infrastructure and was ready to join the small group of developed countries known by some as the ‘rich man’s club,” said the former secretarygeneral of the OECD Donald Johnston. South Korea enjoyed its prosperity as the World Bank officially listed South Korea as a first world country. Koreans recall this period as the miracle of the Han River (a phrase for the rapid growth of South Korea during 1960-1997). Then, you will witness a giant abyss in 1998, ten years before the 2008 global financial crisis. It was a disaster. To express how dire the situation was, the suicide rate in South Korea skyrocketed by 40% just between 1997 and 1998, and the economy declined at an unprecedented rate. The state built upon the ashes of the civil war seemed to go back to its ashes. The crisis that had put an end to the miracle of the Han River

is the IMF (International Monetary Fund) financial crisis. Created by the government of South Korea and foreign investors, the IMF crisis gave birth to disastrous demographic and economic consequences. Yet, the crisis was foreshadowed. Before the crisis, South Korea experienced a huge economic boom. However, it initially seemed impossible for South Korea to recover from its decimated lands. First of all, South Korea was under Japanese colonization for 35 years. During the colonization, the vast majority of resources were exploited by the Empire of Japan. Second of all, the invasion of North Korea on June 25, 1950, devastated most of the country. Park Chung-hee, the second president of South Korea, spearheaded a project called Saemaul Undong to improve the economy. Although he is considered an infamous dictator who led a series of human rights abuses, the reason South Korea could rose this far was because of the authoritarianism that allowed active and direct allocation of resources. The rapid development entailed hyperinflation, however, which can be observed in the current exchange rate of approximately 1,100 won to 1 dollar. It was in 1997 when UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 1 5 7


the development halted. The chronicle of the crisis can be explained in three steps: the crisis in Asia, the depreciation, and the downfall. During the post 20th century, the Japanese economy was under stagnation, and the currency value began to decline in Southeast Asia, specifically. The value of the Thai Baht (currency in Thailand) decreased by 20%, and the Thailand government asked the IMF for assistance. The Philippines, Singapore, and Indonesia followed a similar trend. This was a foreshadowing. It was in October of 1997 when the South Korean government realized something was wrong; the won (currency in South Korea) began depreciating. Indeed, the economic growth rate was under a slow decline since 1996, one year before the financial crisis. The government immediately responded by encouraging the private sectors to use dollars. The intention was to stop the increasing price of dollars by letting more dollars out on the market; however, the decline was unstoppable. The downfall began. Alan Greenspan, the former Chair of the Federal Reserve of the United States, criticized in his memoir The Age of Turbulence -Adventure in a New World that the IMF financial crisis was created because the South Korean government “had played games with the” foreign exchange “reserves”. The government of South Korea had spent a significant portion of its foreign exchange reserves to promote foreign investors to invest in South Korea. Despite the effort, no investors gave a glimpse into a country where investors were fleeing away. As the dollar was spent but not earned, the foreign exchange reserve hit its bottom. Since the supply of the dollar became 158 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

scarce while the demand being the same, the price of a dollar skyrocketed. The increased price of dollars was very critical for the Korean economy. The two disasters that swept Korea, the Japanese colonization and the Korean War, made it difficult for local investors in Korea to drive its economy. The vast majority of the economy, therefore, heavily relied on foreign investors. The model became problematic as foreign investors simultaneously withdrew their investment. It is not hyperbolic to claim that the pillars of the Korean economy in the 20th century were foreign investments. Once the pillars disappeared, South Korea collapsed. On November 21, 1997, South Korea requested aid from the IMF. The country conceded to its failure. As many nationalists found this request humiliating, President Kim-Young Sam publicly apologized for his failure to protect the economy. The IMF, World Bank, and other dominant global banks compromised with the government of Korea with a fifty-seven-dollar bailout. It seemed like South Korea dodged its worst-case scenario. The deal, of course, was not a package of altruism. It forced the government of South Korea to actively adopt a neoliberalist economic model that no one in Korea was ready to face.

Figure 1. The annual GDP growth of Korea, Republic in 1960-2019 (World Bank)


The consequences impacted the South Korean economy which was thought to be the fastest-growing. Indeed, as Donald Johnston, the former secretary-general of OECD, puts it, “Even economists at the OECD believed that the Miracle on the Han was at an end!� Well-known corporations such as the Sammi group, Jinro group, Kia group, and Hatae group called Figure 2. The Gini coefficient and the unemployment rate of Korea, Republic in 1980-2000 (OECD) non-sufficient funds and still has one of the highest suicide rates closed their business. As foreign investors sold their shares, and the lowest fertility rates in the world. Meanwhile, there were people the stock market crashed, and the GDP who gained wealth through the crisis. declined by approximately $200 billion. Some people, before the dollar value The unemployment rate skyrocketed as skyrocketed, exchanged most of their well as more than 10,000 workers were wons to dollars, and when the crisis was laid off each day. As figure 2 represents, at its worst, changed the dollars back to unemployment burst since 1998. wons. To illustrate, these people bought a Furthermore, when the IMF lent dollar for 800 won and sold it back at 1100 money to South Korea, the government won. The vast majority of them became signed on an unfair deal that allowed billionaires, or, in Korean, chaebols. foreign investors to freely own a business Figure 2 from the World Bank presents in South Korea. In Teheran-Ro (the the radical wealth disparity that rose since South Korean version of the Silicon 1997. Unlike the unemployment rate Valley), the vast majority of skyscrapers that recovered, the presence of chaebol are owned by foreigners. Even in the status quo, the economy of South Korea continues until today. How did the parties react? It was disproportionately relies on foreigners. during the conservative presidency when The IMF crisis permanently impacted the government requested the loan. citizens in two manners: pregnancy rate However, in January 1998, when the and suicide rate. The depreciation of the crisis was at its peak, the liberal president won led to an increased price in many Kim Dae-jung received the crown with products. This led to the skyrocketed the blame. Just like most conservative price of living. Since it became difficult parties do, South Korean conservative to afford to raise children, the pregnancy did label themselves as an expert in rate declined. Moreover, the suicide rate terms of the economy. The conservative increased by 40% just between 1997 and 1998. Unfortunately, South Korea in 2020 party fiercely criticized the strategy of UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 1 5 9


Kim’s government in tackling the crisis. Ten years later, the phrase “Lost Ten Years” was used as a slogan for the 2007 presidential election to refer to the liberal government’s “failure” to recover Korea from its economic decline. Whether it was the fault of Kim’s government or not, the conservative president Lee Myungbak emerged victorious in the 2007 presidential election, and the conservative rhetoric of stressing the economy became much more common since the IMF financial crisis. Fortunately, the recovery of South Korea followed a hopeful path. The government and the citizens played a pivotal role in driving the country out of the country. Kim’s government drove the “Gold Collecting Campaign” to gather gold to pay the debts. They also sold billions worth of bonds to collect money efficiently. Under the encouragement of the government, the citizens actively participated in paying the debts as well. They refrained from spending money on foreign goods. For example, not watching the movie Titanic was deemed a patriotic action. Nevertheless, in the twenty-first century, many people question the validity of the movement. The argument is that the government deflected its responsibility to the citizens. Whether donating gold and not watching the movie Titanic is right or wrong is still a topic of debate. What is true, however, is that South Korea could escape the crisis with the power of the citizens. Finally, in August 2001, South Korea paid back all of its debt to the banks. Unlike the vast majority of countries in

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Southeast Asia that experienced economic crises, South Korea grew to become one of the strongest economic strongholds. It might be its experience with the IMF financial crisis that let South Korea endure the 2008 global financial crisis and stand as a country with the ninth highest GDP in the world. It is difficult to conclude whether the crisis ended with a win or lose since there were many considerable losses; however, it surely was glorious. With the power of the citizens, South Korea continued its miracle marked by the miracle of the Han River. Works Cited 중앙자살예방센터 - 데이터 포털. (2019). Retrieved November 15, 2020, from https://spcSouth Korea-stat. or.kr/South Korea03.do Greenspan, A. The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World. Allen Lane, 2007. Johnston, D. (2016, October). To the Miracle on the Han. Retrieved November 21, 2020, from https://oecdobserver.org/ news/fullstory.php/aid/5657/To_the_ Miracle_on_the_Han.html GDP (current US$) - South Korea, Rep. [Chart]. (2019). In GDP (current US$) - South Korea, Rep. Retrieved 2020, from https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/ NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?locations=KR Kang, Seoghoon. “Globalization and Income Inequality in Korea : An Overview.” Historical Trends of Korea’s Income Distribution - OECD, OECD, Dec. 2001, www.oecd.org/dev/2698445. pdf.


How Did the US Government Respond to Covid-19? Kyungmin Kwon Virginia Episcopal School, 10th

The US has changed dramatically since January 21, 2020 when the first confirmed Covid-19 case was reported (WHO, 2020). The death toll has skyrocketed since then, and as of October 30, there were more than 220,000 deaths (CDC, 2020). The lives of US citizens have been greatly affected in terms of social distancing, wearing a mask, economic regression, political polarization, and virtual school education. Regarding the presidential election on November 3, Covid-19 has changed campaign styles, voting methods, and citizens’ primary values. Many conventions have closed, and virtual campaigning and the use of mail-in ballots substituted for the existing method. The pandemic awakened the nation’s attention on health-issues, economics, and racial inequality on a larger scope, leading citizens to evaluate the new president’s capability of encompassing the values the nation is seeking (Time, 2020). With only less than a week left before the presidential election, the US government’s actions and stance regarding the Covid-19 pandemic is perceived to have a significant impact on the election. This essay will focus on the US government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and briefly look at

how a country’s decisions and actions profoundly impact public health and economy. In medical perspective, even though the Trump administration initiated early travel restrictions and increased in mobilization of private and public sector medical resources, its inactive measures in preventing the virus in the early stage of the pandemic, downplaying the danger of the virus, and the inadvertent socioeconomic reforms regarding the virus led to the rapid disease spread that could have otherwise been minimized. The US government’s downplaying of the seriousness of the virus caused a high toll in the early stage of the pandemic. On February 24, 2020, President Trump asserted that “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA” (Washington Post, 2020). Despite medical experts’ concerns, the US government asserted that the virus could be contained and its spread in the US is preventable. President Trump also compared the Covid-19 to a flu, leading many Americans to forget the seriousness of the pandemic. In the critical early weeks of the outbreak, the US government failed to distribute enough medical gear for the UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 1 6 1


frontline workers and failed to ramp up the Covid-19 testing to the public. Also, during the periods when disease control funding was most crucial, the US government cut the funding on medical care for disease control. In fact, the acting director of the US Office of Management and Budget reduced the White House’s 2021 proposed budget cuts of 1.2 billion dollars to the CDC and 35 million dollars to the Infectious Diseases Rapid Response Reserve Fund, which could have been used for medical care, and have increased Covid-19 testing and better medical supplies for health care workers (Center for American Progress, 2020). The US government also appointed inept Covid-19 advisers, which resulted in frequent proposals to inconsiderate and ineffective reforms. One such example is the appointment of a neuroradiologist, Scott Atlas, a medical field not related to disease control. In fact, Atlas stated that the use of masks is ineffective, and that juveniles cannot spread the virus. Moreover, he argued that the nation can achieve herd immunity if more people can be effective, and death counts will not be so large if the testing and health care focuses on the most vulnerable (CNN, 2020), which turned out to be inaccurate. The public opinion about the response of the US government is statistically proven with reliable polls. According to the CNBC research survey on July 1, 53% of the respondents responded 162 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

that they strongly disagree that President Trump provides accurate information about Covid-19. Also, 58% of respondents said that they agree that Trump’s indoor campaign rallies put lives at risk. According to the Wall Street Journal poll on April 13-15, 58% of respondents also said that the government was loosening restrictions too quickly, leading to the increase in virus spread and more deaths. The voters across political parties are also increasingly becoming negative about the Trump administration’s handling of Covid-19 outbreak according to the KFF health tracking polls. From May to July, the percent of democrats disapproving of the government’s handling of the virus went from 88% to 92%. For republicans, it doubled from 11% to 23%. In economic viewpoint, the United States faced an overwhelming economic downturn compared to other countries. South Korea, with its early aggressive actions to mitigate the spread of the pandemic, recorded an unemployment rate of 3.8% in April, and Germany also faced


only a small increase in its unemployment rate of 5.8%. However, unlike countries like South Korea and Germany, the United States reached its unemployment rate up to 14.7% in April. Based on percent changes in unemployment rates, if the US followed a similar rate of change in unemployment rate to those of countries like South Korea and Germany, the nation could have prevented approximately 18 million Americans from losing their jobs (Center for American Progress, 2020). The chart from OECD data named “Center for American Progress” further demonstrates the hypothetical trajectory of other nations that have far less unemployment rate than US actual unemployment rate. If the US government were able to control the virus in the early stage of the pandemic, social distancing levels could have been alleviated, and economic recovery would have been facilitated. The US is currently showing the “sharpest economic contraction” in the American history after the Great Depression. The sharp drops in the stock market, closures of schools and offices, and disruption of the nation’s major industries have made the people to concern that the Covid-19 would provoke a new financial crisis. According to the Wall Street Journal poll on March 20 and in April 13-15, 22% of respondents on March 20 answered that the US economy was in a poor state, while in April 13-15, more than 45% of the respondents responded that the economy was in poor condition. Also, more than 37.6 million Americans are filing for unemployment insurance since the beginning of March, which shows how so many people are worried about the US economy (American Progress, 2020). The electoral campaign amid the pandemic was another notable issue.

The campaign, which took place in a situation where traditional methods could not be adhered to, proceeded in a way very different from the previous campaigns, and required close attention to the safety of the voters. Nevertheless, a number of safety rules were not followed during the electoral campaign, and only brought about more infected people. For example, during Trump’s rallies, almost no social distancing took place among the supporters, and mask wearing was optional. Trump’s rallies were one of the nation’s biggest events held in opposition to large-crowd restrictions planned to prevent the spread of virus as of October 30. He visited Pennsylvania twice on October 13 and October 20, as Pennsylvania was one of the 3 rust belt states that are significant in determining the election result. In Johnstown, on October 13, about 6,000 people gathered in the Cambria County War Memorial Arena according to the Johnstown police Captain Chad Miller (Tribune Democrat, 2020). Also, despite dozens of Pennsylvania doctors sent concerns to President Trump to cancel his campaign in Erie, PA, he initiated his rally campaign in Erie on October 20, with thousands of people gathering for his speech (Pittsburgh PA News, 2020). Some states have even fined venues that hosted Trump’s rallies for violating the limit on crowd size and yet President Trump declined to change his campaign styles for the election (AP News, 2020). President Trump’s pursuit of large-crowd rallies and the US government’s leniency to his actions have only resulted in more Covid-19 cases. In fact, when a resident at Riverside Regional Medical Center, Zach Nayer, and his colleague compiled the county data on new Covid-19 cases at Trump rally sites, it was found out that UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 1 6 3


new positive cases surged in more than half of the cities where rallies were held, including Phoenix, Oklahoma, and Old Forge, Pennsylvania (AP News, 2020). October 2, the day when President Trump was tested Covid-19 positive and more than 200,000 people died of the virus, was the day when the government announced that “the end of the pandemic is in sight”. The government’s decision to downplay the seriousness of the virus in the early spread of Covid-19 and the tolerance to violation of quarantine rules provoked a rapid increase in confirmed cases. Reduction in disease control budget and pursuing ineffective regulations also led to delay in social distancing level mitigation, nation-wide economic downturn, and significant increase in unemployment rate. Amid the pandemic, the inadequate response by the US government led to rapid spread of the virus, and many people died due to the virus. As the US, one of the wealthiest and strongest global powerhouses, was hit hard by the virus, many other countries also suffered. The US government’s response to the pandemic in the early spread of the virus clearly shows how a national government’s response in urgent times affects the citizens’ health and safety profoundly.

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Works Cited Archived: WHO Timeline COVID-19. (n.d.). Retrieved October 31, 2020, from https://www.who.int/ news/item/27-04-2020-who-timeline--covid-19 CDC COVID Data Tracker. (n.d.). Retrieved October 31, 2020, from https:// covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/ Baker, P., & Haberman, M. (2020, October 02). Trump Tests Positive for the Coronavirus. Retrieved October 31, 2020, from https://www.nytimes. com/2020/10/02/us/politics/trump-covid. html Cohn, N. (2020, June 25). In Poll, Trump Falls Far Behind Biden in Six Key Battleground States. Retrieved October 31, 2020, from https://www.nytimes. com/2020/06/25/upshot/poll-2020-bidenbattlegrounds.html Hendricks, R. (2020, March 30). How the Trump Administration’s Deregulation Agenda Has Worsened the Coronavirus Pandemic. Retrieved October 31, 2020, from https://www. americanprogress.org/issues/economy/ news/2020/03/30/482418/trumpadministrations-deregulation-agendaworsened-coronavirus-pandemic/ Peters, C. (2020, June 08). A detailed timeline of all the ways Trump failed to respond to the coronavirus. Retrieved October 31, 2020, from https://www.vox. com/2020/6/8/21242003/trump-failedcoronavirus-response Zamarripa, R. (2020, June 03). 5 Ways the Trump Administration’s Policy Failures Compounded the CoronavirusInduced Economic Crisis. Retrieved October 31, 2020, from https://www. americanprogress.org/issues/economy/ news/2020/06/03/485806/5-waystrump-administrations-policy-failures-


compounded-coronavirus-inducedeconomic-crisis/ Ball, M. (2020, August 06). How COVID-19 Changed Everything About the 2020 Election. Retrieved October 31, 2020, from https://time.com/5876599/ election-2020-coronavirus/ Blake, A. (2020, April 21). Analysis | 2 months in the dark: The increasingly damning timeline of Trump’s coronavirus response. Retrieved October 31, 2020, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/ politics/2020/04/07/timeline-trumpscoronavirus-response-is-increasinglydamning/ El-Sayed, O. (2020, September 05). Opinion: Trump’s response to Covid-19 is worse than giving up. Retrieved October 31, 2020, from https://www. cnn.com/2020/09/05/opinions/trumpsresponse-to-covid-19-is-worse-thangiving-up-el-sayed/index.html Riechmann, D. (2020, October 29). As virus surges, Trump rallies keep packing in thousands. Retrieved October 31, 2020, from https://apnews.com/ article/donald-trump-rallies-virus-surges50e79fabd46472c51ecc1444184082de O’Reillyroreilly@tribdem. com, R. (2020, October 14). PHOTO GALLERY: Big crowd welcomes Trump back to Johnstown. Retrieved October 31, 2020, from https://www.tribdem. com/news/photo-gallery-big-crowdwelcomes-trump-back-to-johnstown/ article_95437ad0-0d78-11eb-8e6a670d12a39e96.html Citing coronavirus issues, doctors ask Trump to cancel rally in Erie, Pennsylvania. (2020, October 20). Retrieved October 31, 2020, from https://www.wtae.com/ article/doctors-ask-president-donaldtrump-cancel-campaign-rally-eriepennsylvania/34429666

Pramuk, J. (2020, July 01). Swing state voters give Trump dismal marks as coronavirus cases spike, CNBC/Change Research poll finds. Retrieved October 31, 2020, from https://www.cnbc. com/2020/07/01/trump-gets-poor-markson-coronavirus-during-2020-electioncnbcchange-poll.html Holzberg, M., & Kamisar, B. (2020, October 20). Poll: Majority of Americans don’t trust Trump’s statements on his health. Retrieved October 31, 2020, from https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020election/poll-majority-americans-don-ttrust-trump-s-statements-his-n1243916 Voters Are Souring on President Trump’s Handling of Coronavirus, with Implications for November. (2020, August 20). Retrieved October 31, 2020, from https://www.kff.org/policywatch/voters-are-souring-on-presidenttrumps-handling-of-coronavirus-withimplications-for-november/

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Health Insurance and COVID-19 Michelle Yoo Asia Pacific International School, 9th

COVID-19 is challenging the worldwide public health care system. COVID-19 is creating a very large number of patients and it costs a huge amount of money to conduct diagnostic tests and treatment. Most countries are struggling with the rise in the number of infected people and struggling to find solutions. Because COVID-19 is highly contagious, the government cannot ignore any patient. How to treat these patients and how to fund this cost became a serious problem that no individual insurance company can solve. Thus, it became an important challenge against every government and a test to their public healthcare system. The health insurance system is at the core of the public health care system. In order to understand how the health insurance system responds to the current pandemic situation, it is essential to understand the basic structure of the healthcare system and how the health insurance system has evolved. First, the healthcare system consists of four main players - provider, payer, patient, and regulator. In short, providers provide medical services and medicines to patients and payers pay the cost while regulators ensure they work fairly with each other (Linkedin, 2016). Health insurance is a type of payer. It is a system for the financing of medical expenses by 166 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

means of contributions or taxes paid into a common fund to pay for all or part of health services specified in an insurance policy or the law (Britannica, 2019). Another definition is a type of insurance coverage that typically pays for medical or surgical usually (Investopedia, 2020). Health care systems ideally include universal access to comprehensive prepaid medical care along with health promotion and disease prevention (ScienceDirect, 2014). Health insurance systems started in the past 100-200 years in most countries. Each country started it with different backgrounds and evolved in different ways. In the U.S., before the Great Depression in the 1930s, companies provided health insurance to their employees. Each company had their own insurance. However, people who did not have a job did not have insurance coverage. In the l930s, companies further experienced financial difficulties, and they hardly provided insurance to their employees anymore. So, the government saw the need to help those companies and established insurance companies such as Blue Shield and Blue Cross. Companies participated in those insurance companies and maintained insurance service companies. Still, people who did not have jobs did not have health insurance coverage and paid medical bills out of pocket. In the 1960s,


the government founded an insurance system for unemployed people. Medicare is for the seniors and Medicaid is for the poor. Today, there is a huge debate about whether the government should set up a universal health insurance system that covers the whole population. But it has not reached a conclusion. In the U.K., prior to the establishment of the National Health Service, only middle and upper-class people could afford private healthcare. There were some insurance systems, one was for workers in certain industries, another for some communities. However, they were still expensive and did not cover the entire population (Historyextra, 2019). The concept of an integrated, state-funded hospital service had become established in 1948. National Health Service (NHS) was designed to guarantee basic levels of personal and social security. For the first time, the U.K. government assumed responsibility for the provision of a comprehensive preventive and curative service for the whole population. In Korea, the first health care insurance system was introduced in the 1970s by President Park Chunghee. It was a consequence of the labor movement. However, the insurance had much weakness because the government did not support and only applied to large companies. In the late 1980s, improved health care insurance coverage to the whole population by President Roh Tae-woo. However, still, insurance policy varied by companies and regions and generally, it was not effective. Finally, in the year 2000, President Kim Dae-jung integrated all insurance systems into national health insurance. Under the system, everybody has a right and obligation to be enrolled in the same national health insurance system regardless of their income. Since each country had a unique situation, their health insurance evolved

differently and today looks different. The U.S. has a mix of clashing ideas: private insurance through employment; single-payer Medicare mainly for those 65 and older; state-managed Medicaid for many low-income people; private insurance through exchanges set up by the Affordable Care Act; as well as about 28 million people without any insurance at all. Hospitals are private, except for those run by the Veterans Health Administration. South Korea is an example of the concept of “universal coverage� which means all people are forced to participate in a national insurance system. National Health Insurance (NHI) system is compulsory and required by Korean law. Every resident in the country is eligible regardless of nationality or profession. The National Health Insurance Corporation (NHIC) is the only public insurance institution operated by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in Korea. The system is funded by compulsory contributions from all residents and government subsidies. Payment is made by an individual’s employer unless they are self-employed, in which case they pay it themselves. Foreigners living in South Korea who are registered with the NHIC receive the same medical benefits and services as Korean nationals. The amount an individual pays in NHIC contributions depends on their income and economic power. People who are registered as disabled and those over the age of 65 pay less. Switzerland also has a universal health care system, requiring all to buy insurance. The plans resemble those in the U.S. under the Affordable Care Act: offered by private insurance companies, community-rated and guaranteed-issue, with prices varying by things like breadth of network, size of the deductible, and ease of seeing a specialist. Almost 30% of people get subsidies offsetting the cost of premiums, on a sliding scale pegged UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 1 6 7


to income. Although these plans are offered on a nonprofit basis, insurers can also offer coverage on a for-profit basis, providing additional services and more choice in hospitals. For these voluntary plans, insurance companies may vary benefits and premiums; they also can deny coverage to people with chronic conditions. Most doctors work on a national fee-for-service scale, and patients have a considerable choice of doctors unless they have selected a managed-care plan. Britain has truly socialized medicine: the government not only finances care, but also provides it through the NHS. Coverage is broad, and most services are free to citizens, with the system financed by taxes, though there is a private system that runs alongside the public one. About 10% buy private insurance. Government spending accounts for more than 80% of all health care spending. In the U.K., the whole population is covered by the NHS, which is financed through general taxation and run by the Department of Health. However, responsibility for the purchasing of health care services across the U.K. rests at the constituent country level: Primary Care Trusts in England, Health Boards in Scotland, local health groups in Wales, and Primary Care Partnerships in Northern Ireland. Despite this coverage, there is an increasing trend towards private care and coverage, with 12% of the population contracting additional private health insurance. Despite such difference, all health insurance systems, at the core of each nation’s public healthcare system, plays a very important role in the current pandemic situation. In normal situations, health insurance companies treat policyholders based on policy. In other words, insurers pay for tests and treatments that policies only cover. If people do not have insurance coverage, the insurer does not pay for the 168 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

person. However, the COVID-19 situation is different in that people cannot solve the situation by following the existing policy. COVID-19 is very contagious that all people should be tested and treated with proper health insurance to further prevent them from spread to others. For people who do not have health insurance, they cannot be tested and treated, so consequently, virus can be spread further and infect more people. Moreover, COVID-19 has detrimental effects on the economy such as increasing unemployed people. Those who are fired or did not have a job normally will not have any way to get health insurance because the government does not necessarily afford insurance for them. Consequently, many health insurance companies and governments established several exceptions related to health insurance systems. First, health insurance companies waived co-payments, co-insurance, deductibles for all COVID-19 treatments in the U.S. The U.S. government, on the other hand, formed funds and allocated a special budget to support health insurance companies. The U.S. government and health insurance companies further cooperate to extend insurance even after they are unemployed. However, these efforts require a lot of money which is not sustainable in the long term. The estimated cost of coronavirus-related hospitalizations for uninsured patients in the U.S. alone range from $14 billion to $42 billion. According to the survey by Financial Times, 34% of the U.S. population said COVID-19 related cost will be a serious problem to the U.S. economy. It is difficult to say which health insurance system is more effective and efficient than the other because there are many other factors to consider before the end of the situation. However, some statistics can help us understand how


situations are different by country as the table below. It explains why the number of deaths in million people varies by country. For example, the U.S. has more than five times higher number of deaths per million people compared to Germany. People in the U.S. test 1.7 times more than in Germany and also the positive test results in the U.S. tend to be 3 times higher than that of Germany. The two countries have similar fatality rates of 3%. Now, there are a few questions to be answered. First, why there is a significant difference in the test rate? In particular, why is it much higher in the U.S. and Europe than in Asia? Does it have something to do with the cost of taking tests? There is no simple way of answering this simple question because it differs by case. For example, it is free for a person with good private insurance in the U.S. but not free for ones without insurance coverage. Similarly, it is free for a Korean who came back from a trip to a foreign country but can cost $100 for a person who walked in without a reason.

Without understanding detailed practices in these countries, any conclusion can be misleading. Secondly, the high fatality rate in the U.K. draws attention. The U.K.’s complete universal health care system must provide equity quality of services to the whole population without direct cost charging. Does it make the cure of COVID-19 more difficult than other countries? As the U.K. government declared earlier, it is too early to make a conclusion, but this is a situation to monitor and study. To make health insurance systems more sustainable, more support such as funds should be supported by the government’s efficient usage of money. Specifically, all governments should make a universal fund to make vaccines and cure medicines together instead of letting individual companies work on developing the vaccine. However, developing vaccines can cost multibillion dollars. Therefore, it is extremely difficult for individual companies to

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develop it rapidly. Ultimately to overcome COVID-19, countries should lower the price and supported by the national health insurance system. Works Cited @ForteLike302Comment23 ShareLinkedInFacebook Twitter0, Mahesh VellankiFollowCo-Founder @Rally and, et al. Who Are The Key Players In The Healthcare Industry?www. linkedin.com/pulse/who-key-playershealthcare-industry-mahesh-vellanki. “Health Insurance.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., www.britannica.com/topic/healthinsurance Kagan, Julia. “What Is Health Insurance?” Investopedia, Investopedia, 28 Aug. 2020, www.investopedia.com/ terms/h/healthinsurance.asp “Health Care System.” Health Care System - an Overview | ScienceDirect Topics, www.sciencedirect.com/topics/ economics-econometrics-and-finance/ health-care-system Thomasson, Melissa. “Health Insurance in the United States.” EHnet, eh.net/encyclopedia/health-insurance-inthe-united-states/ “The Blue Cross Blue Shield System.” Blue Cross Blue Shield, www. bcbs.com/about-us/the-blue-cross-blueshield-system “Paying for Healthcare: Life in Britain before the ‘Free’ NHS.” HistoryExtra, 24 Apr. 2019, www. historyextra.com/period/20th-century/ nhs-history-pay-healthcare-free/ h t t p s : / / a s s e t s . p u b l i s h i n g . s e r v i c e . g o v. u k / media/57a08d91e5274a31e000192c/ The-history-and-development-of-the-UKNHS.pdf 국민건강보험 EDI, edi.nhis.or.kr/

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homeapp/wep/login/businessLoginPage. xx Lee, Jong-Chan. “Health Care Reform in South Korea: Success or Failure?” American Journal of Public Health, © American Journal of Public Health 2003, Jan. 2003, www.ncbi.nlm. nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1447690/ [{code=lee.hojeong1, jcms_ rep_seq=0. [DEBRIEFING] A Critical Test for Korea’s Social Safety Net. koreajoongangdaily. joins.com/2020/05/03/economy/ debriefing-monday-healthinsurance/20200503191300195.html “Finding Health Insurance.” USAGov, www.usa.gov/finding-healthinsurance “National Health Insurance - SouthKorea.” Angloinfo, www.angloinfo.com/ how-to/south-korea/healthcare/healthsystem/health-insurance. Carroll, Aaron E., and Austin Frakt. “Which Country Has the Best Health Care System? Readers Respond.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 27 Sept. 2017, www.nytimes. com/2017/09/27/upshot/which-countryhas-the-best-health-care-system-readersrespond.html Burn-Murdoch, John, and Chris Giles. “UK Suffers Second-Highest Death Rate from Coronavirus: Free to Read.” Financial Times, Financial Times, 28 May 2020, www.ft.com/content/6b4c784ec259-4ca4-9a82-648ffde71bf0. Our World in Data, www. ourworldindata.org/ Published: Apr 07, 2020. “Analysis Estimates Up To 2 Million Uninsured People Could Require COVID-19 Hospitalization.” KFF, 7 Apr. 2020, www.kff.org/uninsured/press-release/ analysis-estimates-up-to-2-millionuninsured-people-could-require-covid19-hospitalization/


The Dark Sides of K-Pop: The Dilemma of the Trainee Program Minah Son Korea International School Jeju, 11th

It has been two decades since K-pop culture emerged in Korea, but it is visible that it had been particularly accepted as a global phenomenon during the last 10 years. Wonder Girls first established the accomplishment of entering the Billboard Hot 100 Chart with their song “Nobody”, followed by PSY’s “Gangnam Style”, BTS’s “DNA”, and Blackpink’s “DduDu Ddu-Du”. Even more surprisingly, the latest song released by BTS called “Dynamite” attracted 101.1 billion views and broke three Guinness records as the most viewed YouTube video in 24 hours, the most-viewed K-pop music video in 24 hours, and the most viewed YouTube music videos in 24 hours. The unique combination of distinctive melody, alluring choreography, and synchronizing perfection is the beguiling factor of K-pop music. According to a survey about the popularity of K-pop worldwide in 2019, around 37.5 percent of respondents stated that K-pop was “very popular” in their country. Statistica.com proves that the total sales revenue of the K-pop content industry totaled at around 119.6 trillion won in 2018, and the sales value of the online music distribution market amounted to around 1.75 trillion South Korean won.

Korean pop’s phenomenal growth made the Korean economy grow richer over the last two decades, propelling South Korea’s music to an estimated $5 billion industry according to a report published in the Korea Creative Content Agency in 2017. The prominent “dukjil” culture, a fandom supporting the celebrities by streaming their music and buying merchandise, is particularly extreme in South Korea. The artists are idolized by the teenagers and every talented person who is interested in singing and dancing spends years in the studio practicing to become a K-pop artist. Having a role model who flashes an inspiration is necessary, but there are always some negative side effects if that stretches out to an extreme extent. The entire vicious cycle starts with a specialized trainee system in South Korea. It is a long-term program that entertainment agencies manage; they select potential K-pop members and provide individualized lessons to help them overcome their deficiencies until they are ready to be part of a group. According to the Ministry of Culture in South Korea, the survey conducted in 2016 on the current state of pop culture and art industry shows that there are about 1,952 UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 1 7 1


entertainment agencies and the average number of trainees in one agency is 1,440 people. Not every agency is professional enough to handle this number of trainees, but they do that in order to select the “one” to represent them. However, among 1 to 2 million trainees, there are only about 1,000 people (including solo singers) who make their debuts in the year. In other words, trainees need to be lucky enough to break through the 0.1% probability to be a K-pop star. It is hard to assure that they are going to be successful even if they make it to the debut line. The foundation of this celebrity production program seemed to serve the purpose of producing talented stars with perfect dance movements and vocal skills, but it ended up resulting in various side effects such as unfair contracts and excessive privacy regulations. Most of the trainee life begins from a young age, as the consumers of the celebrity market prefer younger and flawless people who are gorgeous as well as skillful. According to the survival audition program called “Produce 101”, which is a famous competition show in South Korea that produced groups like IOI, Wannaone, IZ*ONE, and X1, the average age of the trainees is 20.3 years old and 75 percent of them planned to debut as a K-pop star even before they became a highschooler. The decreasing trend of average age is toxic for young trainees in aspects of education and basic rights as a teenager. Indeed, the big three auditions require “preliminary trainee” stage, “trained trainee” stage, and “potential debut group” stage, and place many adolescent trainees in a fierce competition even before their identities are completely established. Lack of education and the environment exposed to competition is the reality awaiting the trainees. For trainees 172 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

who are planning to become singers and get the attention of the world, study is considered annoying and meaningless. Their agencies encourage this even more by sending the official letter to the school, making them cooperate with the trainees’ absence with the excuse of “field learning outside of school”. Trainees who are not attending school regularly are treated as outsiders in school, “bullied” in a similar context. The problem is that teenagers who are neglected from formal education courses do not get the opportunity to experience being part of a member of the community before they actually step into the actual world. They are likely to develop distorted personalities especially when they are exposed to the environment of continuous comparison and competition. It is ironic how potential “worldwide stars” who will have a huge public presence in the future lack the basic education that everybody else had taken. “I wanted to be a student president at the school, but the agency stopped me,” said Hyun, one of the trainees who are aware of this cycle. He continued: “I want to go to college, but I’m worried that the agency won’t let me go.” The trainee system does not view the trainees as a teenager but as a doll – a product that can be replaced if the worth is depreciated. The deprived education of the trainees is demonstrated by the bullying issues and inappropriate word choices on the television that happened during the past few decades. The program that was broadcasted in 2016 revealed the ignorance of a leader of team AOA, showing a scene of her referring to the fighter for independence with an insulting word. This scene became controversial to the fandom supporting the team because the period of Korean colonization under Japan is a trauma for some of the people


even until now. Several experts claim that these problems are inevitable with the nature of this trainee system as the teenagers have to live together in the hierarchy before they even establish their identity and character. The trainees are also exposed to contract problems since it usually takes place when the trainees are young. Parents and young trainees who are not aware of the blind spot of these contracts usually sign them without noticing a despairing future. According to this “slave contract”, the agencies can force the trainees to get plastic surgery even though he or she does not want to. The severe intervention of privacy, continuous pressure to lose an absurd amount of weight, and unfair distribution of income had become a problem until nowadays. As unstable contract relationships and sexual harassment towards the trainees were exposed, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism recognized the weak sides of the system and tried to protect their rights. Some say that the unfair contract problems are resolved to some extent with the introduction of strict standards proposed in 2009, but it is difficult to abolish the exclusive management disputes entirely. Let’s suppose that a teenager became a K-pop star after going through 3 years of training period, fierce competition, and contract problems without getting any proper education. Now what? Can they just wait for them to become a star like BTS? Unfortunately, the possibility of the trainees becoming successful is extremely low as stated at the beginning of the research paper. There are stressful situations even though they get to be in part of the group. A typical example is dissatisfaction that comes from different income among members. The agencies

select one or two people with superior characteristics (members who are visually outstanding or who have impressive vocal skills) to promote their celebrity groups by appearing on TV. This action may provide a positive impression of the group to the audience, but this is the beginning of the conflict. The distribution of the income among the team members is inevitably different, causing conflicts within the team due to the intensity of labor concentrated on only a few team members. The reliability of the audition program which was popular during 20162019 also became an issue recently. The audition program called Produce 101 which was once hugely prominent basically gathered 100 trainees from various agencies and created a survival system to select the top 11 people. Those who are selected who became the finalist received a chance to debut as a celebrity group. Appearing on this program itself acted as a huge advantage and a shortcut to be successful even though they could not make it to the finals. As the first broadcasted series became a huge hit in 2016, audition programs similar to this increased rapidly. The viewers could contribute in choosing the finalist by voting through messages on the live stream, and that eventually made them feel accomplished by thinking that they are the ones who made the trainees achieve their dreams. However, people started to feel suspicious about the program when the third season of Produce 101 was broadcasted. A trainee who is not popular at all was selected as a finalist at the last moment; as a result, one famous trainee did not have the opportunity to be in a team. It was a shock when people got to find out that this “participation” through messaging was all fake – the court was able to prove that the system was all UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 1 7 3


manipulated before the program began, and the finalists were already decided based on the amount of money how the agencies provided to the program’s producer. People started to boycott these kinds of programs being disappointed by the fact that their effort and time spent on this program were all fake. Trainees who tried their best to get into that top 11 finalists fell in despair as well. The fans who supported the members in that group were full of rage that they were liking a group full of people who were not actually desperate in debut. There were even some fans who tried to kill themselves because they were so devoted to these boys. Like this, the impact that the K-pop stars can give on the fans is humongous. Not that everyone is like this, but according to a study, the majority of the K-pop stans of age more than 20 are someone who are deprived of love and attention from a young age. They tend to idolize the stars and solve the desire for perfect relationships by purchasing related merchandise and goods. Their reliance on celebrities is so high that the corruption of the stars severely affects them. The disappointment and the sense of futility are indescribable if the person that I have devoted had a completely different identity behind the stage. Thinking from this point of view, the trainee system not only ruins the life of celebrities but also impacts the fans who are supporting them. The dilemma behind this successful K-pop business is critical in many aspects. The trainee system which once served a purpose to produce a perfect group soon becomes a threat to the trainees. The characteristic of celebrity trainees that requires them to live with rivals in competition starting from childhood creates an unstable ego, and even adds up 174 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

the stress by the fact that their debut is not guaranteed. Competition becomes fierce as their desperation for debut increases. The K-pop culture observed nowadays is maintained by the minor superiors like BTS and Blackpink; if those rare geniuses disappear, it is a mystery if this culture is going to prosper like this again. For example, even though Kim Yuna, a figure skater who once represented South Korea in multiple Olympics and competitions, had risen the fame of Korean figure skaters on the surface all over the world, the Korean ice skating culture is not being maintained mostly because she retired and there is no prodigy who can replace her skating skills. It is similar to the K-pop industry as well. The agencies will need a specific plan to improve the sustainability of the K-pop Market. The retired experts (including celebrities and professionals) can become a mentor who can guide the trainees into the right route. They would be able to provide helpful and encouraging advice about how to cope with a struggle since they are the ones who already went through all the hardships. Instead of treating the trainees as a “replaceable product”, the view of society and agencies should change in order to create a healthy and sustainable K-pop culture. Works Cited Waldeck, Y. (2020, August 31). Topic: Music industry in South Korea. Retrieved October 19, 2020, from https:// www.statista.com/topics/5098/musicindustry-in-south-korea/ 기자, 김. (2020, June 25). 케이팝은 어째서 시위대의 도구가 됐나? Retrieved October 19, 2020, from http://www.readersnews.com/news/ articleView.html?idxno=99297


김, 윤. (2019, November 12). 기획사가 빚어낸 아이돌의 빛과 그림자. Retrieved October 19, 2020, from http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/economy/ economy_general/916706.html 박, 수. (2014, October 12). ‘ 나인뮤지스’ 이학준 감독, “케이팝 시스템, 잔인할 수밖에 없다”. Retrieved October 19, 2020, from https://tenasia.hankyung.com/topic/ article/2014101388174 신, 지. (2019, May 11). 유튜브가 밀고 팬들이 끌며...케이팝, 주류가 되다. Retrieved October 19, 2020, from http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/ culture/culture_general/893488.html 우, 고. (2020, August 06). “음악 산업 확장하는 아마존의 트위치...’K-pop’ 콘텐츠 이용도 급증”. Retrieved October 19, 2020, from https://biz.chosun.com/site/data/ html_dir/2020/08/06/2020080602579. html?utm_source=naver 윤, 준. (2020, September 20). 아이돌, 화려한 조명이 꺼지고 난 후. Retrieved October 19, 2020, from https://www.ize.co.kr/articleView. html?no=2020082009087261556 이, 미. (2020, July 06). ‘ 지민과 친하니까...” AOA 설현에도 비난 폭주...안중근=긴또깡 논란 재조명. Retrieved October 19, 2020, from https://tenasia.hankyung.com/topic/ article/2020070673834 이, 창. (2020, July 21). 한식, 문화재, 전통문화도 신한류... 케이팝 따라가자. Retrieved October 19, 2020, from http://www.ohmynews.com/ NWS_Web/View/at_pg.aspx?CNTN_ CD=A0002659626 이, 화. (2020, August 13). 이젠 아이돌 서바이벌 그만 하자. Retrieved October 19, 2020, from https://news.imaeil. com/Society/2020081110531873738

이, 화. (2020, August 17). Mnet의 아이돌 서바이벌 프로그램은 왜 무너지나. Retrieved October 19, 2020, from https://news.imaeil.com/ Culture/2020081717442741484 임, 상. (2020, July 03). 케이팝 팬들 왜 이러는 거지? 세계 언론이 바빠졌다. Retrieved October 19, 2020, from http://www.ohmynews.com/NWS_ Web/Event/Premium/at_pg.aspx?CNTN_ CD=A0002655406 임, 희, & 구, 특. (2019, June 16). YG제국, 잇단 마약 스캔들에 휘청... 한류뿌리 케이팝 흔들린다. Retrieved October 19, 2020, from https://www.donga.com/news/article/ all/20190617/96022331/1 정, 덕. (2020, August 22). 반복되는 아이돌 왕따 논란, 무엇이 문제일까. Retrieved October 19, 2020, from http://www.sisajournal.com/news/ articleView.html?idxno=203995 정, 희. (2020, August 11). 방탄소년단 선한 영향력...빅히트, 해외 한국어교육 협업↑. Retrieved October 19, 2020, from https://sports.donga.com/ article/all/20200811/102395890/1 최, 효. (2019, September 17). [인턴열전]데뷔 확률 0.1% 아이돌 연습생 체험...하루 7시간 강행군에 심리치료는 ‘필수’. Retrieved October 19, 2020, from https://www.chosun.com/site/data/html_ dir/2019/09/07/2019090701035.html 하, 재. (2020, August 1). K팝이 글로벌해지자 쏟아지는 비판들. Retrieved October 19, 2020, from https://n.news.naver.com/ article/586/0000015533?cds=news_my

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I Have the Right to Find My Birth Family Minjae Kim Seoul Scholars International School, 11th

“International adoption” is a very important decision that will completely change a person’s life. Regardless of the children’s intention, they migrate to a country abroad other than their birth country. They become children of strangers and become a family member under the justification of providing them protection within the new family. Indeed, the basic conditions for forming an individual’s identity - family, culture, and country - change. As the child is too young, all decisions are made by others without reflecting their opinion. International adoption was one of the methods (trade) that Korea used for the revenue. The Act on Special Cases for Orphan Adoption, established in 1961, was enacted to allow foreigners to adopt Korean orphans through a simple procedure. This legislation led to an enormous number of international adoptees, and this situation reached the peak in 1985. In that year, promotion of international adoption was the most active, resulting in 8,837 children being adopted abroad which was 1.3% of children born that year. Except for Korea, Guatemala was the only country that sent more than 1% of children abroad in a 176 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

year. But Korea’s international adoption is currently ongoing. Then, would the government operate the international adoption process? Until the revision of the Special Adoption Act in 2012, the Korean government had entrusted the overall adoption process to private adoption agencies. Since the private adoption agencies were in charge of the entire process from adoption counseling to manage and oversee, the government that must take custody of international adoption could not even affect the related enactments. Korea was the only country in which the adoption system with proxy and mail order, which allowed adoptive parents to adopt children even without coming to the child’s country of birth. The adoption system maintained until 2013. In addition, as of 2020, Korea has not been able to join the Hague International Child Abduction Convention because it has not met the rules and procedures required by the Convention. From 1958 to 2019, approximately 170,000 children were adopted abroad. Until the Special Adoption Act was revised in 2012, private adoption agencies made false orphan family registries


despite knowing the existence of their birth parents in order to send many children overseas for adoption. This was because they could easily send adoption without the consent of their birth parents. Also, since the government’s supervision was poor, the private adoption agencies did not properly record or manage basic information of adopted children. This is because overseas adoption was considered simply as a means of making money, and because the Korean government or adoption agencies never thought that those who sent abroad would come back to Korea and find their birth families. According to an organization related to adoptees, about 3,000 to 5,000 international adult adoptees visit Korea every year. The reason is to find the answer to the question “Who am I?”. They have the right to find their own roots but their effort for searching for a biological family faces a barrier from the beginning. Even though they have the right to request personal information related to their own adoption, which was stipulated in Special Adoption Act, personal information such as the birth parent’s name, date of birth, address and contact information can be disclosed only with the consent of the birth parents. According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, a total of 1,568 cases of international adoptees requesting information disclosure in 2017 were 279 (17.8%) of which information was disclosed with the consent of birth parents. Among them, there were only 90 cases (5.7%) of reunions. Due to incomplete or falsely recorded data, they were not able to find their own record at all or information itself was not found. These cases account for the largest share with a total of 781

cases (50.1%). “Knowing one’s origin is a fundamental human right. However, In Korea, the right of parents to protect their privacy has replaced the right to know about our birth of origin.” An adoptee’s interview article clearly shows what problems we have in our adoption system. The fundamental reason of making difficult for overseas adoptees to find their birth parents is that the private adoption agencies had all the documents related to adoption until the International Adoption Court Permit System was implemented in 2013. The custom of creating an orphan family register with the head of the private adoption agencies as a guardian without reporting birth registration also played a role in omitting birth related information. It is said that it is difficult to confirm how accurate information was contained in the adoption record because most of the adoption documents were out of control and government’s management. Also, private adoption agencies did not hand over the adoption records all to public institutions such as the Central Adoption Center (Current NCRC=National Center for the Rights of the Child) under the excuse of private property. The record in the private adoption agencies is very important information when looking for a birth family. However, only some information related to adoptees were transferred and notes, scraps, and letters at the time of adoption, which can be said to be the most important factors in finding their birth family, were not transferred yet. For these reasons, overseas adoptees have to rely on private adoption agencies rather than NCRC. However, the private adoption agencies provide relevant information on an arbitrary criterion. UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 1 7 7


As it is difficult to find their birth family due to an inadequate or false record, oversea Korean adoptees are also trying to find their birth parents with biological genetic information rather than adoption records. 325KAMRA, a nonprofit organization created by overseas Korean adoptees, provides a DNA test for free of charge. In conclusion, the difficulty of finding a birth family mentioned above can be solved only with the enactment of relevant legislation and supervision of the government. This is because the Hague International Child Abduction Convention clearly states it, and it is also the reason Korea should join that Convention as soon as possible. In addition, it is necessary to actively find a way to harmonize the right to find the birth family of the adopted child and the personal information protection rights of the birth parents. Once adoption records are systemized and become digitally legal, information can be

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accessed by adoptees more quickly. Digital platforms have no technical difficulties to be implemented if the government manages and supervises the adoption records. Finally, if government and private adoption agencies actively cooperate to find biological birth family for overseas Korean adoptees, it will be of great moment to those who have become modern version of separated families. Works Cited 이, 경은 , 전홍, 기혜 & 트렌카, 제인 정. (2019). 아이들 파는 나라 한국의 국제입양 실태에 관한 보고서. 파주시, 경기도: 오월의 봄. 연도별 출생아 수와 해외입양아 수 [Digital image]. (2009). Retrieved November 28, 2020, from https://www. pressian.com/data/photos/cdn/20170936/ art_1504676615.jpg Yum, H. (2020). Adoption Justice: Issues of Records and Identity (1073085806 816243428 S. Hwang, Ed.). 1st Adoption Truth Day International Conference Preparatory Committee.


Exploring a Field of Motions: Calculus Naeun Kim Saint Paul Preparatory Seoul, 11th

Isaac Newton, an English physicist and mathematician, is the true genius, perhaps the most influential scientist. Newton discovered the light spectrum in optics, created the three laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation in mechanics, and invented the calculus in mathematics (Westfall, 2020). Many people would praise his achievements like this, but the previous sentence is partially wrong. Most people think that Newton’s calculus has altered human history to a great extent. However, calculus has developed over a long time by countless mathematicians. calculus is the study of the rate of change. Math had been static before the invention of calculus; it only helped calculate still objects’ movements, which significantly limited the effects of mathematics in a world full of movements and changes (Russell, 2020). However, the discovery of calculus altered not only mathematics but the entire universe. Calculus is used in multiple fields even in which people do not expect to be related to: physics, engineering, chemistry, economics, statistics, and medicine, geography, computer vision, photography, artificial intelligence, robotics, video games, and movies. Calculus can calculate

the rates of radioactive decay in chemistry, gravity and planetary motion, fluid flow, ship design, and bridge engineering. Even in economics, calculus is an essential part of predicting supply, demand, and maximum potential profits. Economists utilize calculus to determine the price elasticity of demand because calculus helps to solve specific points on curves. In physics, one of the most correlated subjects, calculus takes a big part in the definition, explanation, and calculation of motion, electricity, heat, light, harmonics, acoustics, astronomy, and dynamics. For example, the relativity theory by Einstein heavily relies on calculus (Russell, 2020). Most equations derived from this theory involve calculus, which shows that the basics of relativity are calculus (Elert, n.d.). Then what is so special about calculus that most fields heavily depend on? There are two big branches in calculus: differentiation and integration. Differentiation is used to find the formula of the derivative function, the rate of change of a function f(x). Differential calculus deals with limits, continuity, local maximum and minimum, related rates, and many others, but the most UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 1 7 9


important part is that it provides a precise instantaneous value for the rate of change. This leads to more precise modeling of real-life quantity. Derivatives are often interpreted as slopes of tangent lines or velocities of moving particles, and there are many notations: prime notation, operator notation, and Leibnitz notation. A prime notation uses prime to indicate derivatives—f’(x) and f’—representing the number of derivatives as the number of primes. For example, the second derivative of y with respect to x would be written as (y’)’ = y’’(x). Normally, beyond the second or third derivative, the order of the derivative is written as a roman superscript in parenthesis: f(9)(x) or f(ix)(x). The second type of notation is operator notation: Dxy or Dxf. Higher order derivatives are written by adding a superscript to Dx; for example, the third derivative of y would be Dx3y. The last one is the Leibnitz notation: dydx or ddxy. The higher order derivatives would be (ddx)ny(x) = dnydxn (5). Derivation lowers the degree of the function that is differentiated. Therefore, a function f(x) = xn would become f’(x) = nxn-1. For instance, derivative of a function f(x) = 2x2+x would be f’(x) = 4x+1. These are some basics of derivatives. Integral is the reverse method of differentiation. In geometry, integration is interpreted as the area under the curve. Integral determines the precise area under the curve, instead of the infinite amounts of rectangles (Nave, n.d.). Calculus developed over a long period and by countless mathematicians. (Since there are so many contributors, the article will cover major mathematicians.) The ancient period already knew some ideas of integral calculus. In about 1800 B.C.E., the Egyptian Moscow papyrus 180 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

calculated the volume of a pyramidal frustum (“History of calculus”, n.d.). Another invention was the method of exhaustion by the classical Greek Eudoxus of Cnidus; Leucippus, Democritus, and Antiphon also contributed to it. It was used to prove the hypotheses of the areas and volumes of geometric figures. Although it did integrate calculating areas like integrals, it did not use any infinitesimals or limits. Instead, it used the axiom that a given quantity can be made smaller than another given quantity by halving it for a finite number of times (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2016). Around 225 B.C.E., Archimedes made a significant contribution to mathematics. He constructed an infinite sequence of triangles starting with one of area A to calculate the area of the segment of the parabola and continuously added further triangles: A, A+A4, A+A4+A16, .... Therefore, the first known summation of an infinite series, A(1+14+142+...) = (43)A, was invented. He also used the method of exhaustion to find an approximation of the area of the circle, the volume and surface area of a sphere, the volume and area of a cone, the surface area of an ellipse, the volume of any segment of a paraboloid of revolution and a hyperboloid of revolution (O’Conner, 1996). Another stepping stone of calculus is infinity, whose start also goes back all the way to Ancient Greece. In the fifth century B.C.E., Zeno of Elea, a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher of Magna Graecia, showed that the concept of infinity is problematic for the first time. His paradoxes contradicted common sense, turning on the notion that space and time are infinitely divisible (Dowden, n.d.). In the twelfth century, the Indian mathematician BhÄskara II developed the


principles of differential calculus, which represents infinitesimal change, and applied those to astronomical problems and computations (TheFamousPeople., n.d.). After about three centuries, Johannes Kepler, a German astronomer and mathematician, determined the volumes of wine-casks in his book Nova stereometria doliorum vinariorum (1615). He also used the methods of Archimedes and replaced the proofs of Archimedes with intuitive infinitesimal reasoning. Besides, Bonaventura Cavalieri from Italy published, in Geometria indivisibilibus continuorum nova quadam ratione promota (1635), the principle that says that indivisible mean elements of a given dimension generate the next higher dimension. His discoveries also contain some of the Archimedes’ Method. Rene Descartes demonstrated a great influence on calculus through his Geometrie (1637) (Rosenthal, 1951). He invented a method to find the tangents to algebraic curves. He found a normal to a curve at a point P by taking a nearby point Q on the curve and by finding the equation of a circle with a center on the coordinate axis. Then, he set the value that determines the intersections of the circle with the curve to zero. This gave him the tangent and normal at a point P by just finding the center of the circle where Q coincides with P (Allen, 1997). Fermat’s achievements were even more important. Pierre de Fermat, a French mathematician, discovered the fundamental principle of analytic geometry. He found equations of tangents to curves and to locate maximum, minimum, and inflection points of polynomial curves. Due to this achievement, he is regarded as the inventor of differential calculus. He applied his analysis of infinitesimal quantities to other problems such as

the calculation of centers of gravity and finding the lengths of curves (Boyer, 2020). He also contributed much with integration by proving the power formula of integration: 0axndx = an+1n+1. He Determined areas under curves as “general parabolas” and “general hyperbolas”. Other mathematicians like Gilles de Roberval and Cavalieri also found and proved this formula. Another contributor to integration was Blaise Pascal. He obtained a relation between two different integrals, which is similar to integration by parts, using a geometric form. So many other mathematicians continued to study this field. Even though there had been an extensive study on calculus, one important point was missing in the field: the discovery that differentiation and integration are inverse processes. This is the fundamental theorem of calculus. The one who discovered the theorem was Isaac Barrow, Isaac Newton’s teacher at Cambridge University, and it was the first time to ever state and prove the inverse character of them. Inspired by Isaac Barrow, Newton started his method of fluxions in the years of 1665-1666. In his Methodus fluxionum et serierum infinitarum (1670-1671), Newton explains a varying quantity as a fluent and its instantaneous rate of change as a fluxion, the original term for derivative (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, 1998). In Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica (1687), he formulated the three laws of motion and the law of gravitation as well as the great discoveries in the classical geometric form, using the notion of limits instead of fluxions (Tavora, 2020a). There are two known reasons that Newton invented calculus. There was no mathematics available UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 1 8 1


that could describe the fall of an object, whose speed increased every split second. Secondly, he needed new mathematics to calculate the orbits of the planets to prove they are ellipses. In short, he saw the need for whole new math for conceptual understanding of physics (Futurism, 2013). Many people know that Isaac Newton invented calculus. However, there was another mathematician who independently discovered calculus around the same time. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, a German thinker who contributed to philosophy, mathematics, linguistics, theology, engineering, jurisprudence, law, computer science, and geology, discussed integrations using Cavalieri’s omnes lineae. In 1684, Leibniz first published his differential calculus, Nova methodus pro maximis et minimis, itemque tangentibus, quae nec fractas nec irrationales quantitates moratur, et singulare pro illis calculi genus, introducing dx and dy. For derivative symbol, he originally wrote the differential sign d into the denominator of the variable, but about two weeks later, he altered it to dx, dy, dxdy (Rosenthal, 1951). Then, in 1686, he published an article about integral, called De geometria recondite et analysi indivisibilium atque infinitorum. Leibniz’s integral notation——is derived from the first letter of the word summa and is used like ydy. Those notations are the most commonly used in calculus. Leibniz also created the Transmutation Theorem, which finds areas between curves, that provides the formula for integration by parts (Tavora, 2020b). Both Newton and Leibniz contributed a tremendous amount to the invention of calculus. The controversy of priority disputes surrounding the true inventor of calculus started in 1699 by the accusation 182 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

from Newton’s followers of Leibniz. The followers argued that Leibniz plagiarized Newton’s ideas. Newton did invent the basic ideas of calculus between the year of 1664 and 1666. He wrote papers in 1669, 1671, and 1676 on calculus. However, he refused to publish these papers. They were eventually published later—De Analysi per Aequationes Numero Terminorum Infinitas (1669) in 1711 and the one he wrote in 1671 in 1736 (Starbird, 2016). In fact, around 1665-66, when Newton invented calculus, Leibniz still knew nothing of mathematics. But this doesn’t mean that Leibniz did not contribute anything. Leibniz independently arrived at the calculus during 1673-1676, using a different approach from Newton’s. He even published his founding before Newton did (around 1684). Strangely, Newton and Leibniz were not directly involved with the controversy; instead, they exchanged polite and friendly letters. Their followers and friends were the ones who fought in the front line. This issue even got brought up to the Royal Society, in full Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, the oldest national scientific society in the world and the leading national scientific organization in Britain (Hunter, 2017). The conclusion from the Royal Society was that Newton was the first. However, Newton was the president of the Royal Society, which makes this conclusion biased. Although Leibniz was victimized for stealing Newton’s ideas, his notations and approaches were largely recognized (Bultheel, 2018). Now, people regard both of them as co-inventor of calculus. However, calculus is not a simple subject that can be created over a few years. Calculus was invented with the cumulative information


that was collected over thousands of years. It has ceaselessly intertwined with the world and its factors to be part of every individual’s life. Calculus, secretly, is embedded in life. This complicated subject continuously provides positive impacts on our society. Works Cited Allen, D. (1997, April 2). Early Calculus -- I. Retrieved October 25, 2020, from https://www.math.tamu.edu/~don. allen/history/precalc/precalc.html Boyer, C. B. (2020, August 13). Pierre de Fermat. Retrieved October 31, 2020, from https://www.britannica.com/ biography/Pierre-de-Fermat Bultheel, A. (2018, May 29). The History of the Priority Dispute between Newton and Leibniz. Retrieved November 04, 2020, from http://www.euro-mathsoc.eu/review/history-priority-disputebetween-newton-and-leibniz.html Dowden, B. (n.d.). Zeno’s Paradoxes. Retrieved November 03, 2020, from https://iep.utm.edu/zeno-par/ The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. (1998, July 20). Fluxion. Retrieved November 05, 2020, from https://www.britannica.com/science/ fluxion Elert, G. (n.d.). General Relativity. Retrieved November 07, 2020, from https://physics.info/general-relativity/ Futurism. (2013, December 27). How and Why did Newton Develop Such Complicated Mathematics? Retrieved November 04, 2020, from https://futurism. com/how-and-why-did-newton-developsuch-a-complicated-math History of calculus. (n.d.). Retrieved November 07, 2020, from http://www. andrewsaladino.com/calculus/history. html Hunter, M. (2017, January 17). Royal Society. Retrieved October 18, 2020, from https://www.britannica.com/ topic/Royal-Society Nave, R. (n.d.). Derivatives and

Integrals. Retrieved November 01, 2020, from http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu. edu/hbase/Math/derint.html The Notation of Differentiation. (1998, August 24). Retrieved October 22, 2020, from http://web.mit.edu/wwmath/ calculus/differentiation/notation.html O’Conner, J. J., & Robertson, E. F. (1996, February). Calculus history. Retrieved September 29, 2020, from https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/ HistTopics/The_rise_of_calculus/ Rosenthal, A. (1951, February). The History of Calculus. Retrieved October 13, 2020, from http://people. math.harvard.edu/~knill/teaching/ summer2014/exhibits/lagrange/history_ calculus_rosenthal.pdf Russell, D. (2020, January 21). What Is Calculus? Retrieved November 07, 2020, from https://www.thoughtco. com/definition-of-calculus-2311607 Starbird, M. (2016, December 15). Who Invented Calculus - Newton or Leibniz? Learn the History of Calculus. Retrieved November 06, 2020, from https://www.thegreatcoursesdaily.com/ invented-calculus-newton-leibniz/ The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. (2016, October 05). Method of exhaustion. Retrieved October 29, 2020, from https://www.britannica.com/science/ method-of-exhaustion Tavora, M. (2020, February 25). The Unique Genius of Isaac Newton. Retrieved November 01, 2020, from https:// towardsdatascience.com/the-uniquegenius-of-isaac-newton-c7f7a8ad73a1 Tavora, M. (2020, May 10). The Calculus According to Leibniz. Retrieved November 01, 2020, from https:// towardsdatascience.com/the-calculusaccording-to-leibniz-5ee1e485a5a2 TheFamousPeople. (n.d.). Who was Bhāskara II? Everything You Need to Know. Retrieved October 17, 2020, from https://www.thefamouspeople.com/ profiles/bhskara-ii-6835.php Westfall, R. S. (2020, March 27). Isaac Newton. Retrieved November 04, 2020, from https://www.britannica.com/ biography/Isaac-Newton UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 1 8 3


Malcolm X Represents the Issues of American Education Paul Kim McLean High School, 11th

Out of curiosity, I created a poll on Instagram to gauge my peers’ knowledge of one Malcolm X, the famous leader of the Civil Rights Movement. Despite his importance in American history and civil rights history internationally, not merely nationally, 112 of my peers responded that they had not learned Malcolm X in an adequate manner in their schools. These 112 students, out of the 122 who responded, were from North Carolina, Northern Virginia, and many other areas from across the US that I met during summer camps and other activities. They, like many across the nation, likely remember listening Dr. King’s rousing speeches about peaceful civil disobedience and learning about Rosa Parks’ famous Montgomery bus protests from a young age. I, like many, had never heard about Malcolm X in schools or classrooms because many American schools decided to not include him in their discussions of the Civil Rights Movement. Because of the misconceptions surrounding the movement, children who learn about the hate that Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks received and their fight against for human rights do not learn about Malcolm X and his legacy fighting that very same 184 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

racial hatred. Even while he was alive, Malcolm’s voice was too controversial and angerfilled for most, so it is not particularly surprising that his legacy and history are not taught in their full nuance and context. However, this anger can be interpreted within the context of his life, rather than using it to dismiss his viewpoints outright. Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little to Louise Norton Little and Earl Little. The latter was an ardent supporter of an outspoken black nationalist and was found dead when Malcolm was young. Officially, Earl’s death ruled accidental, but many believed he had been killed by white vigilante groups. Malcolm’s dream of being a lawyer was crushed by a cruel white teacher who told him to be “more realistic” (“Malcolm X,” 2017). He formed an extreme hatred for whites and their position in society, calling them a “devil race” and believing them all to be pure evil. This belief led to his advocacy for black separatism, a belief that originated from the teachings of Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam (Keyes, 2018). He called for separation of whites and blacks in society and stout self-defense within and among black communities


against racial violence and discrimination. After his pilgrimage to Mecca, however, he gained new perspectives on the global struggle for civil rights and race relations. He began to criticize the beliefs of societal separatism that he had previously adhered to, recognizing that race did not make someone inherently evil (Fisher, n.d.). After his death and the publication of his autobiography, this shift was recognized within black and white communities and the world mourned the loss of a truly passionate and unique voice (“Malcolm X,” 2017). His overall message of civil rights for all, no matter the cost, and pride and unity among black communities always remained at the forefront of his ideology, despite the shift in specific stances throughout his life or the vast criticisms from black and white communities alike. Clearly, his extreme viewpoints were formed out of his hatred for the situation that blacks in America were suffering in, and ultimately, he wanted to fix those issues for his community. He truly contributed an influential and significant viewpoint to the Civil Rights Movement and inspired many throughout the world. One main reason why X is not taught in classes is because he contradicts many of the commonly held beliefs about the movement. The Civil Rights Movement is portrayed as a one-dimensional and nonviolent movement, but the truth is more ambivalent than it may initially appear. Malcolm’s legacy adds ambiguity to the commonly taught narrative of the Civil Rights Movement because he advocated of using whatever means necessary to secure humans rights for African Americans, a stark contrast to the current understanding of the movement. He represents the diversity of the voices that belonged to

the same cause, rather than supporting the idea of a single, united movement. He acted as an alternative to the other ideas of the movement, which was what made him historically significant but also rationalized why he should be overlooked when teaching about this movement as a part of American and global history. In order to uphold this commonly held belief, Malcolm’s ideas are either glossed over in their importance or ignored. When they are taught, Malcolm’s viewpoints are represented as a small byproduct of the Civil Rights Movement, rather than as a critical and integral part of said movement (Fisher, n.d.). His novel beliefs empowered African Americans to fight for themselves and to become self-sufficient. His ideas can be seen in the Black Power movement of the 1960’s and many young activists to this day. Another misconception is that these ideas were intended as a direct alternative to the ideas of nonviolence and integration of Martin Luther King Jr. (Fisher, n.d.). What many fail to realize is that King’s ideas of integration and peace were not opposed to Malcolm’s ideas (Suleiman, 2020; Keyes, 2018). It is easy for people to create a dichotomy between these two great leaders, but their ideas were different means to a different end; King wanted integration and acceptance in a rigidly segregated South while X fought to reveal the underlying systemic and inherent racism present in Northern societies (Suleiman, 2020). Malcolm himself recognized the necessity of violence in bringing national mainstream attention to the movements, and was viewed extremely unfavorably until after his death (Sebastian, 2019). The truth of the matter is that there were many ideas about how to approach critical issues, and Malcolm X and King’s ideas were UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 1 8 5


both important to the movement. Both men were viewed unpopularly at the time, and both men fought to secure civil rights for African Americans in their own unique ways. The narrative that blocks out Malcolm’s ideas while painting Martin Luther King Jr. favorably is problematic in its concealment of the reality of the situation during the Civil Rights Movement. Painting the movement in such an inauthentic and deceptive manner reflects an issue in the way that history and other subjects are taught in the American education system. This misrepresentation and absence of his ideas, in addition to the movement as a whole stop, students from fully learning about the nuances and complexity of a vastly important moment in American history and reflects American education’s compromise of depth and accuracy for comfort and ease. If you ask a lot of students, they will probably tell you that history is one of the least engaging classes in the curriculum, to put it mildly. Despite this, history remains a critical part of curriculums worldwide because of its critical importance in the formation of thinking and understanding individuals. The reason we teach history, as the famous quote goes, is to make sure society and humanity remember what happened in the past and to learn from it. For too long, however, history classes in the United States have taught a simplified narrative of how people and circumstances interacted to create scenarios. History classes are supposed to be about teaching the different causes that all interconnect to create certain events and periods of time, and how those periods of time can go on to create differing yet interconnected effects. These effects may still be unknown and unchallenged, which is why the subject remains a critical part of our introspection 186 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

as a collective. In the real world, historians analyze certain events and synthesize new ideas to create explanations for things that have gone previously unchallenged. I particularly enjoy watching YouTube videos detailing how President Woodrow Wilson laid the foundation for many issues that still America faces today or videos explaining why the causes of the American Revolution were not as noble as it is taught in schools. Such contents can be engaging while still managing to challenge commonly held beliefs in an educational manner. They fostered thoughtful discussion and my own research to uncover new ideas that I had not previously considered. Then why do we continue to teach future generations history through narratives that do not reflect the true complexity and intricacy of history and life itself? Our own lives are not simple narratives with simple causes and effects, yet students across America are taught in this way. Teaching kids dates and making people to memorize do not provide them the opportunity to form their own conclusions about what is significant and what is not. History as an academic field was supposed to be about creating new interpretations and ideas by learning from what the past can teach us, not memorization or easy simple answers to complex questions of historical issues that still impact us today. Why is it that millions of students never hear about Malcolm X in an effort to ignore the true ideas and diversity of the Civil Rights Movement? There is an opportunity in one of the most fundamental subjects in schooling to teach children to think critically about the origins and solutions to the issues that have persisted in the world and to forgo the continued misrepresentation of marginalized voices


and communities. These are the ideas and skills that are critically important to future generations, not the ability to memorize dates and listen to the easy narratives of our flawed curriculums. These thoughts and voices of Malcolm X, and black nationalism and power as a whole, have too long been ignored in history classes in favor of easy and mindless answers. The diversity of viewpoints even within marginalized communities, like African American ones, have been ignored or misrepresented for far too long. These are issues reflected in the American education system as a whole, but these issues are still fixable. By introducing ideas of critical thinking and nuance from a younger age, it is possible to teach our children and future generations how to recognize what is truly important and to think for themselves, instead of perpetuating stories and narratives in classrooms that are not fulfilling or purposeful. Rather than continuing the misconceptions about the history of the United States because we are too scared to confront it, we could recognize that not everything has an easy answer, and teach our children to question those easy answers. Life does not give us easy answers, and it does not make sense for us to give our students that impression. One way we could start to end that misconception is by examining the full complexity of Malcolm X and his thoughts in American classrooms.

Works Cited Fisher, J. E. (n.d.). Teaching Malcolm X. Retrieved November 28, 2020, from http://www.thecrimson.com/ article/1992/11/18/teaching-malcolm-xpbfbor-most-students/. Keyes, A. (2018, February 23). Is It Time for a Reassessment of Malcolm X? Retrieved November 28, 2020, from http://www.smithsonianmag. com/smithsonian-institution/it-timereassessment-malcolm-x-180968247/ Malcolm X. (2017, November 21). Retrieved November 28, 2020, from go.gale.com/ps/retrieve. d o ? r e s u l t L i s t Ty p e = R E L AT E D _ D O C U M E N T & s e a r c h Ty p e = t s & userGroupName=mcle14741 _ e & i n P S =t r u e & c o n t e n t S e g m e n t = &prodId=BIC&docId=GALE% 7CK1607000173&it=r. Sebastian, S. (2019, March 01). Don’t criticize Black Lives Matter for provoking violence. The civil rights movement did, too. Retrieved November 28, 2020, from https://www. washingtonpost.com/posteverything/ wp/2015/10/01/dont-criticize-black-livesmatter-for-provoking- violence-the-civilrights-movement-did-too/ Suleiman, O. (2020, February 21). Malcolm X is still misunderstood – and misused. Retrieved November 28, 2020, from http://www.aljazeera.com/ opinions/2020/2/21/malcolm-x-is-stillmisunderstood-and-misused/

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Hormones Sekyoung Hwang North London Collegiate School Jeju, 12th

Hormones are chemical messengers secreted by endocrine glands directly into the bloodstream. Blood carries the hormones to target cells to send a message to another part of the body. Hormones can only affect the target tissue that has receptors for them. A wide range of chemical substances work as hormones in humans, and hormones can be divided into two types depending on their uses for communication; the first is for communication between two endocrine glands and the second is for communication between an endocrine gland and a target organ. 50 different hormones are secreted and circulating in the human body. These hormones are again divided into three big categories: protein and peptide hormone, steroid and thyroid hormone, and amine hormones. Their subunits are the main difference between the three major types of hormones. Protein and peptide hormones are made of chains of amino acids while amine hormones are derived from single amino acids. The subunits of steroid hormones and thyroid hormones are lipids. Pituitary hormone and hypothalamic hormone are the examples of protein hormone while adrenocortical hormone and sex hormones such as estrogen and testosterone are the examples of steroid hormone. Examples of amine hormones include glucocorticoids and epinephrine which are secreted by adrenal glands. 188 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

Fig1. Human endocrine system

The major endocrine glands in the human body include the pituitary gland, thyroid gland, parathyroid gland, adrenal gland, pancreas, testis, and ovary. Each endocrine gland secretes different hormones. These secreted hormones act on human behavior in multitudinous ways including many physiological activities such as growth, metabolism, appetite, puberty, and fertility. As soon as the chemical messages are sent via hormones, they signal each part of the body what to do, when to do it, and for how long. In other words, cellular processes occurring


in the human body such as controlling stress or sleep cycle are turned on and off by chemical messages carried by hormones. Thus, hormones are vital to a human’s health and well-being. The idea that hormones can affect behavior is already familiar to most of the people who experienced puberty. Generally, sex hormone concentration

in the blood rapidly increases during puberty and causes many changes in the body. Examples of hormones that influence human behavior include protein hormones such as oxytocin, vasopressin, and thyroxine. Steroid hormones such as testosterone, progesterone, and estrogen can also affect human behavior. Then, how might hormones affect behavior? UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 1 8 9


The most common misconception people have is that hormones cause behavioral changes. However, in fact, hormones do not cause such a direct effect on human behavior rather, hormones control the probability that a particular behavior will be evoked. This is available because 190 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

hormones influence the nervous system and promote a certain response or behavior in an appropriate situation. Hormones that affect human behavior are most likely to be included in topics like love, sexual motivation, and the reasons for genderbased behavior. Thus, hormones such


as testosterone, estrogen, oxytocin, and vasopressin can be discussed frequently under the topic of the relationship between hormones and behavior. Generally speaking, hormone levels affect human behavior by affecting humans’ sensory systems, central integrators, and peripheral effectors. However, the hormone and human behavior do not work in one direction which means that hormone levels affect behavior, but behavior can also affect hormone levels.

A typical example of behavior affecting hormone level is the relationship between testosterone and competitive behavior. As mentioned before, testosterone is related to a desire for social dominance and power. An increase in testosterone level makes people more competitive and causes more aggressive behavior. Raising testosterone levels seems to make animals more competitive and leads to an increase in battling behavior. However, it is also true that being in competition has

Table 1. Hormones that affect human behavior (Raloff, 2017)

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the effect of changing testosterone levels. Moreover, even in a proxy competition such as watching sports competition or battle scenes, the circulating testosterone level in blood increases (Nelson, 2020). Therefore, endocrinologists and psychologists researching the interaction between human behavior and hormone concluded that the direction of this interaction goes in both ways. Sometimes when hormones get out of balance, this can lead to a disease called hormonal imbalance. This results in problems like diabetes, weight gain or loss, infertility, weak bones, and other problems. Depending on the glands and hormones that are affected, the symptoms of the hormonal imbalance can vary. The most common symptoms of hormonal imbalance include unexplained sudden weight change, fatigue, anxiety, sleep deprivation, muscle weakness, and more. Hormonal imbalance can also have different impacts on men and women. For men, as testosterone plays a critical role in male development, when not enough testosterone is produced it can cause various symptoms of hormonal imbalance. The symptoms include loss of muscle mass, loss of bone mass, and infertility. In women, the most common hormonal imbalance is polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Women with PCOS produce a greater amount of male hormones than normal which causes causes skip of menstrual periods and makes them harder to get pregnant. There are many possible causes for a hormonal imbalance such as diabetes, stress, eating disorders, adrenal insufficiency, medications, and more. Treatment for a hormonal imbalance will differ depend on the cause of hormonal imbalance. There is no single test that can diagnose a hormonal imbalance thus, most doctors will provide patients multiple tests for diagnosis. The typical treatment for hormonal imbalance is estrogen therapy and testosterone therapy. Estrogen therapy supplies estrogen supplements that can reduce the symptoms of low estrogen in women. Testosterone therapy 192 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

also has the same process but it mainly targets men. Furthermore, there are some other treatments such as hormonal birth control, anti-androgen medications, and thyroid hormone therapy (Huizen, 2020). These treatment options definitely need a detailed conversation with and diagnosis from the doctor. Endocrine disorders are typically grouped into two categories: endocrine disease caused when a gland produces too much or too little of an endocrine hormone, and endocrine disease caused by the development of lesions in the endocrine system. There are many different types of endocrine disorders and diabetes is the most common endocrine disorder diagnosed in the United States. Other endocrine disorders include adrenal insufficiency, Cushing’s disease, hyperthyroidism/hypothyroidism, and precocious puberty. Adrenal insufficiency occurs when there are less hormones such as cortisol and aldosterone released from adrenal glands. Symptoms include fatigue, stomach upset, dehydration, and skin changes. Addison’s disease is a type of adrenal insufficiency. Cushing’s disease occurs when there is an overactive adrenal gland due to overproduction of pituitary gland hormone. Hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism deal with concentration of thyroid hormone. When the thyroid gland produces too much thyroid hormone, it leads to weight loss, fast heart rate, sweating, nervousness, and eventually to hyperthyroidism. On the other hand, when the thyroid gland does not produce enough thyroid hormone, it leads to fatigue, constipation, dry skin, depression, and eventually to hypothyroidism. These hormonal disorders affect people’s life and their overall well-being. The survey on 2,000 American women, aged 30 to 60, found that nearly half (47%) have experienced the symptoms of a hormonal imbalance. 56% of them experienced mood swings, 54% of them experienced weight gain, 53% of them experienced sleep disturbances, and others experienced anxiety or hot flashes. Additionally,


commonly experienced symptoms affected by a hormonal imbalance included lack of energy, troubled sex life, lack of selfconfidence, and feeling alienated (SWNS, 2019). Hormones are the basis of the human body and play a significant role in controlling our body balance. The treatment of hormonal diseases that exist these days varies depending on the type, but it usually uses various hormones to control the lack or excess of hormones in the body. In some cases, it is assisted when endocrine function is impaired and treated by applying the pharmacological properties of hormones. Hormone therapy is divided into two groups, therapy that blocks the production of hormones and therapy that interfere with behavior of hormones in the body. “If we balance our hormones and follow my diet and lifestyle program - which I’m calling the KetoGreen way - we will feel better, get rid of that brain fog to succeed in all areas of our life, and even age gracefully with the mental clarity we need to care for ourselves,” said Dr. Anna.

Works Cited Raloff, J. (2020, April 22). Explainer: What is a hormone? Retrieved October 18, 2020, from https://www. sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/ explainer-what-hormone (n.d.). Retrieved October 18, 2020, from https://www.yourhormones.info/ hormones Nelson, R. J. (2020). Hormones & behavior. In R. Biswas-Diener & E. Diener (Eds), Noba textbook series: Psychology. Champaign, IL: DEF publishers. Retrieved from http://noba.to/ c6gvwu9m Konkel, L. (n.d.). Hormones and Health: What to Know About Cortisol, Serotonin, Dopamine, Estrogen, Progesterone, and Testosterone: Everyday Health. Retrieved October 18, 2020, from https://www.everydayhealth.com/ hormones/guide/ Hormonal imbalance: Symptoms, causes, and treatment. (n.d.). Retrieved October 18, 2020, from https://www. medicalnewstoday.com/articles/321486 Endocrine glands and their hormones. (2020, September 23). Retrieved October 18, 2020, from https:// www.healthdirect.gov.au/endocrineglands-and-their-hormones Science Olympiad Student Center. (n.d.). Retrieved October 18, 2020, from https://scioly.org/wiki/index.php/ Anatomy/Hormone_List Swns. (2019, February 22). Nearly half of women have been affected by a hormonal imbalance. Retrieved October 18, 2020, from https://nypost. com/2019/02/22/nearly-half-of-womenhave-been-affected-by-a-hormonalimbalance/

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Car Industry Cares for Environment Seongjoon Yang North London Collegiate School Jeju, 10th

Fossil fuel is the essential source for energy in modern days. It supplies eightyfour percent of the world’s energy (Rapier, 2020). According to Forbes, fossil fuel includes oil, natural gas, and coal. Nuclear energy consists of only four percent of the world’s energy usage. Hydroelectric accounts for six percent and renewables accounts for five percent. Oil consumption grew to a new record due to the increasing demand from China. However, global oil production fell for the first time in the last decade. This phenomenon could be the result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Natural gas consumption increased by two percent than the previous year. The share of natural gas in primary energy consumption has significantly increased to a record high of 24.2 percent. Global coal production also increased due to the increases in demand in China and India. However, global coal consumption decreased by 0.6 percent, and the share in primary energy continued to fall to the lowest level for sixteen years. Coal demand in OECD countries fell to the lowest in history since 1965 (Rapier, 2020). Fossil fuel made our lives easier by providing the essential energy needed 194 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

for our lives. They provide fuel for transportation where we could travel to places faster and easier than before. Also, it provides power to our basic lives, thus it should not disappear. People would not feel how dangerous fossil fuel could be in a long-term view. Fossil fuel emissions have a serious effect as they contribute to global warming and pollution. When fossil fuels are burned, they produce a large amount of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas into the air. Greenhouse gases trap heat in the air, so the temperature of the earth will continue to rise, and the problem of global warming will get worse. The increase of the average temperature of Earth by 1.5 degrees Celsius risks further sea-level rise, extreme weather, biodiversity loss, extinction of species, food scarcity, and worsening health. This tells us that fossil fuel emission brings numerous negative effects to our planet. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has found that emissions from fossil fuels are the dominant cause of global warming (ClientEarth, 2019). This means that fossil fuel is the main reason for global warming and that the source which fulfills the basic needs of living


was a major pollutant to our planet. Fossil fuels have made our lives easier but have been slowly creating serious problems. The concern for pollution and the environment started since the Roman times. The Black Death epidemic during the fourteenth century and numerous plagues during the sixteenth century also contributed. Also, soil conservation, which is the act of preventing soil erosion from chemical contamination, was practiced in China, India, and Peru as early as two thousand years ago. However, these concerns did not link to public activity. Environmental movements started from public began in the late nineteenth century due to the concerns about health consequences coming from increasing pollution in Europe and the United States (Elliott, n.d.). The majority of vehicles moving around today are run by gasoline or diesel, which are types of fossil fuels. A typical passenger vehicle emits about 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide every year (EPA, n.d.). There are a huge number of vehicles that will emit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to the air which we need to breathe in. Greenhouse gases were emitted for decades and the number of cars is significantly increasing every year. A celestial amount of greenhouse gases will be trapped inside the atmosphere. Therefore, automobile companies should make cars being aware of environment and stop producing cars that emit greenhouse gases. Electric cars are the most common eco-friendly cars being developed and produced by automobile makers. However, hybrid cars, which run with both fossil fuel and electricity, were the stage to go through before the huge development of electric cars. The first

hybrid vehicle was built by Ferdinand Porsche in 1899 (Santos, 2020). The first mass-produced hybrid car was the Toyota Prius that was released in 1997 in the Japanese market (Smith & Moss, 2013). The Toyota Prius then released in the US in 2000 and became the most popular eco-friendly vehicle in the world in the last two decades due to the term “hybrid�. This made other automobile makers use the hybrid technology to make their own hybrid vehicles. The hybrid technology developed and made the plugin hybrid system work in cars (carsdirect, 2020). The plug-in hybrid technology is a technology that went closer from a hybrid car to an electric car. It is a hybrid system, but the battery could also be chargeable through a charging cable for electric cars. Plug-in hybrid cars have an advantage of being able to run only by electricity for a certain amount of distance. However, it could only run with a lower maximum speed when it is only using electricity for its power source. Still, it is very efficient in the city because there is no need to emit greenhouse gases into the air in high traffic areas. Also, it could save fuel and the money to buy fuel too. The trend of eco-friendly cars is turning from hybrid cars to electric cars. Electric cars work by the electric motor like its name. In the last decade, hybrid cars were the main type of eco-friendly cars because electric cars were not developed as much as now and also could not travel a good amount of distance after one charge. Also, the infrastructure for electric cars was rare. Therefore, charging was the main reason the car buyers did not prefer electric cars to cars operated by fossil fuels. Electric cars have developed at a rapid pace as now it can travel much further than the electric cars made before. Also, UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 1 9 5


the number of infrastructures of electric charging has significantly increased that there are more charging stations ready. Thus, more people are considering buying electric vehicles as their next car. The leading automobile maker of electric cars is Tesla. Tesla is now influencing and leading the other automobile makers with their new technology and features in their cars. Tesla’s powerful battery makes their cars go a long range and makes Tesla as the front-runner of electric vehicles market. They took sixty percent of the electric vehicles market of the US in the first nine months of 2019. Also, the price of Tesla’s stock is increasing like a rocket in the last few months. This made them to divide their stock into five due to the seriously expensive prices over $1,000 per stock. This shows that Tesla is leading the market of electric vehicles, which is the trend of current automobiles. The car industry of the world is racing for electric vehicles. Numerous automobile makers are competing to make the best electric vehicle possible since the world should be reducing the number of

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vehicles run by fossil fuel and increase the number of eco-friendly vehicles. Automobile makers are making more and more electric vehicles to keep up with the trend of developing and mass-producing electric vehicles. The infrastructure for electric charging should increase so that people can consider buying electric vehicles and to help reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. Hydrogen fuel cell cars are also a popular type of eco-friendly car, but not the most common. As said by its name, hydrogen fuel cell cars are operated by hydrogen (H2) and only emit clean water and heat (ucsusa, 2015). This is because hydrogen reacting with oxygen in the air produces water (H2O) while converting hydrogen into electricity. Also, hydrogen fuel cell cars absorb the air and filters it so that it produces clean air while it also reacts with oxygen. The advantages of hydrogen fuel cell cars are longer range than electric vehicles and short charging time. Electric charging could take hours, depending on the charger, but hydrogen charging only takes five minutes.


The leading automobile maker of hydrogen fuel cell cars is Hyundai, followed by Toyota and Honda. These three automobile makers are the only makers of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in the world. The Hyundai Nexo, Toyota Mirai, and Honda Clarity are their fuel cell vehicles. Hyundai pursued hydrogen fuel cell vehicles more than electric vehicles because they are more suitable for cars with long-range and electric vehicles are suitable for cars with short range. Also, it is more suitable for large commercial vehicles such as trucks and buses because large vehicles need a large amount of battery which can bear a huge volume and heavy weight. However, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are not affected in engineering except for the volume of the tank for giving enough energy to move the heavy vehicles (Berman, 2018). Therefore, Hyundai recently exported fuel cell trucks to Europe by their leading technology. Hyundai starting their development of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles earlier than other automobile makers has made them the leading automobile maker in the fuel cell vehicle industry. The greatest advantage of hydrogen is that it is renewable compared to fossil fuel and radioactive substances. Also, electricity is usually produced in nuclear power plants or coal factories, which has a risk of either the leakage of radioactive substances or large emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. However, hydrogen is created naturally without any pollution or risk factors. Therefore, we could say that hydrogen is a safe energy that is formed naturally and there is an excess amount of it, contrasting with electricity. However, since everything has advantages and disadvantages, hydrogen

fuel cell cars have disadvantages too. There is not much infrastructure for charging, meaning there are not many hydrogen charging stations around the world yet. Also, electric vehicles can be charged in existing electric infrastructures, but fuel cell cars could only charge at hydrogen charging stations. The cost of building hydrogen charging stations is significantly more expensive than the cost of building electric charging stations. Since electric vehicles are far more popular than hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, national governments would not want to spend money on building a charging station for vehicles that are not common. Since the industrial revolution started and spread across the world, pollution has become a serious problem and people across the world need to cooperate and try to solve the problem. In the late 20th century, automobile makers launched their eco-friendly vehicles, and a race began between automobile makers of which maker would make a better vehicle that is friendly to the environment. This race is important to us even in the present time and will be more vital in the future. The Earth will be different after a few decades if the emissions of greenhouse gases continue. We will not be able to inhale fresh air. The automobile industry in the future should be proposing solutions about making even more eco-friendly cars to prevent further environmental pollution. Toyota launching the Prius, their first mass-produced hybrid vehicle, in 1997 was a symbol in the automobile industry which showed that the future vehicles should stop emitting greenhouse gases. This led to Tesla making pure-electric vehicles that have a long range which could compete with vehicles that use fossil UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 1 9 7


fuel. Then Hyundai Motors launched their fuel cell vehicles that symbolized the second energy for eco-friendly vehicles. The launching of different eco-friendly vehicles from different automobile makers is a symbol of the alternative vehicle that could replace fossil fuel vehicles completely in the future. Works Cited Rapier, R. (2020, June 25). Fossil Fuels Still Supply 84 Percent Of World Energy - And Other Eye Openers From BP’s Annual Review. Retrieved July 31, 2020, from https://www.forbes.com/ sites/rrapier/2020/06/20/bp-review-newhighs-in-global-energy-consumption-andcarbon-emissions-in-2019/ Fossil fuels and climate change: The facts. (2019, December 19). Retrieved July 31, 2020, from https://www.clientearth. org/fossil-fuels-and-climate-change-thefacts/ Greenhouse Gas Emissions from a Typical Passenger Vehicle. (2018, May 10). Retrieved July 31, 2020, from https:// www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/greenhousegas-emissions-typical-passenger-vehicle

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Berman, B. (2019, April 24). Why Hyundai Pursues Hydrogen Fuel Cell Cars. Retrieved September 27, 2020, from https://insideevs.com/news/340381/whyhyundai-pursues-hydrogen-fuel-cell-cars/ Siddiqui, F. (2020, January 10). Teslas still go much farther on a single charge than their competitors. But the strategy carries risks. Retrieved August 30, 2020, from https://www.washingtonpost. com/technology/2020/01/10/teslabattery-range/ How Do Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles Work? (n.d.). Retrieved September 27, 2020, from https://www. ucsusa.org/resources/how-do-hydrogenfuel-cell-vehicles-work Elliott, L. (2020, September 09). History of the environmental movement. Retrieved October 03, 2020, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/ environmentalism/History-of-theenvironmental-movement Here’s How Electric Cars Will Cause the Next Oil Crisis. (n.d.). Retrieved October 18, 2020, from https://www.iene. eu/heres-how-electric-cars-will-causethe-next-oil-crisis-p3240.html


Teens’ Makeup and Its Side Effects Seonmin Kim Ewha Girls’ High School, 11th

The first human-made cosmetic appeared about 6 thousand years ago. Ancient Egypt tells us that the royal family and high class enjoyed several cosmetic products such as face creams, perfumed oils, eyeliners, hair paints, castor oil, lipsticks, and lip gloss. They used 7 types of oils, which were used as Egyptian ritual magic and medicinal remedies for various illnesses. There was a poisonous ingredient in cosmetics, but they did not care about it. Then the cosmetics spread to Rome and Greece. In the first millennia BC, women used red lipsticks and red oils to make themselves look younger, and people wore wigs and white face powder. In Rome at that time, women were not respected without cosmetics. Various cosmetics were widely used in the period of 100 BC and beyond. Christian women started using cosmetics to celebrate their religion.

But when Europe entered the dark ages, it became hard to survive and the cosmetics were not affordable. Also, the Christian church prevented the use of cosmetics. When the dark ages were almost finished, the warriors brought exotic cosmetics from the Middle East. Since the war ended, the new fashion spread much more quickly than before. Such cosmetics that were used to dye hair and remove wrinkles were only kept within the upper class. The most popular period of cosmetics within the upper class was after the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, as she had a perfect white face and brightly colored lips. Soon after the cosmetics became also common to low-class women. In the 19th century, cosmetics were more developed with the chemical ingredient, and eyeshadow and eye sparkles were invented. Today, the cosmetic industry has stretched to the entire world and always leads a new trend and fashion. These days, girls begin doing makeup at a very young age. The girls are not using their mom’s, but they have their own cosmetics. According to Marie Claire, 39 percent of women think that young girls use cosmetics because they want to feel more grown up. And when UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 1 9 9


they wear makeup, they could look older or different. Most girls start makeup at 1214. For that reason, parents are concerned about their skin or appearance. As time goes on, the average age of starting makeup is decreasing every year. Women use cosmetics because it makes them feel more confident. For a different reason, they love experimenting with looks and colors as a way of expressing them. Also, in the theater, the makeup could show the audience the actors’ character and personalities. Makeup could make women feel more powerful and ready for any situation. Using cosmetics can hide our real face, can attract a partner, or can used as a religious or cultural ritual. But most women including girls wear makeup to look more beautiful. Cosmetics are divided in several distinct types. First of all, powder is most common form of cosmetics and easy to use. Powder started being used at the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia. It makes people look pretty and helps with various skin diseases. The most important cosmetic is concealer. Concealer is the product that covers up the dark circles, acne, freckles, or more. Also, foundation is very similar to the concealer. Foundation can make skin look healthier and brighter. And the basic cosmetic is primer. Primer is the product that makes the pore small and makes the skin look more sleekly. Then there are many lip cosmetics, such as lipstick, lip gloss, lip liner, lip plumper, lip balm, lip conditioner, lip primer, and lip booster. Lipstick makes lips look livelier, and lip balm protects lips. Also lip liner makes lips look bigger. Eye cosmetics are various too, and there are mascara, mascara primer, eye shadow, eye primer, eyelash glue, and eyelash curler. 200 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

The most important ones are mascara, eye shadow, and eyeliner. Mascara curls your eyelashes up and it makes your eyes look bigger, eye shadows make your eyes look deeper, and eyeliner makes your eyes look longer, bigger, and more beautiful. Eyebrow obviously makes your eyebrows more distinctive.

Besides the cosmetics mentioned above, there are contouring, blusher, curler, highlighter, etc. Contouring makes nose and chin look sharper and clearer. Curler is not a cosmetic, but it is a tool to curl eyelashes upward. In addition, highlighter lights up cheekbone and forehead, and it gives a three-dimensional effect. Furthermore, there are more cosmetics for hair and nail. The side effects of cosmetics are various. First side effect is that we could get addicted to cosmetics. Some people think that they have to look perfect to other people, and that obsession could lead us to addiction. Another possible side effect is that the dark circle will be permanent. When the dark circle lasts permanent, we will look more tired. Also, the eye cosmetics have chemical subjects, so we should be careful about it. Moreover, when we put on cosmetics for a long time, we could have a headache, which will lead to dizziness, tiredness, and nausea. Waxing damages our skin, and


causes ingrown hair, red bumps and for sometimes, bleeding too. When we use a concealer or foundation it makes our skin dry or oily. Some powder makes the skin dry so it causes cracks and fine wrinkles. Lipstick dries your lip moisture, and some lip cosmetics could even damage your lips. Lipstick is made of very harmful ingredients such as lead and mineral oil. Some people could have an allergy to cosmetics; thus, we should buy the right cosmetics that match with our skin unless the skin will be damaged. The chemicals that are used in cosmetics could come into our lungs as well. For example, as powder consists of small particles, it is easier to go into lungs. It could cause fatal damages. The low quality or unregulated cosmetics can cause skin discoloration. We rely on cosmetics like foundation to cover discolored skin, but it could worsen discoloration. And the most harmful side effect is that cosmetics could lead to cancer. The most known skin cancer is caused by sun, but it could start with the cosmetic use. The reason why cancer occurs is because of the chemicals in cosmetics. Not a single cosmetic has a chemical ingredient. The ingredient will weaken your skin cells and the chemistry will permeate into your skin. Then the skin cells will lose the ability. When cancer occurs, we could never use cosmetics again. We could prevent the side effects in many ways. The most common way is to just cleanse your skin very carefully. Do not use hard soap and scrub your face too hard. Use the smoother one. When you use the cleanser, it must be your type. If you use a different type to your skin that will cause another problem. When you cleanse, use a soft flannel to wash the makeup more cleanly. Also, when you

have to wash up the eye makeup, massage the eyes softly. Put eye cool drops or rosewater to get the relaxation and prevent the eyes from chemicals. When you finish cleansing, pat your face with a soft dry towel. Do not rub madly, because our skin is so sensitive. If it is done you have to use a toner to close your pores. Make sure there is no makeup leftover unless it will make germs and cause skin disease. So wash it perfectly and dry it. Works Cited History of Cosmetics. (n.d.). Retrieved December 01, 2020, from http:// www.historyofcosmetics.net/cosmetichistory/history-of-cosmetics/ How young is too young to wear makeup? (2019, August 07). Retrieved December 01, 2020, from https://www. theguardian.com/fashion/shortcuts/2019/ aug/07/makeup-children-john-lewis-macbeauty-cosmetics-masterclass-cancelledlipstick Ali Gray March 27, & Gray, A. (2014, March 27). The Age When British Girls Start Wearing Makeup Will Surprise You. Retrieved December 01, 2020, from https://www.marieclaire.co.uk/news/ beauty-news/the-age-when-british-girlsstart-wearing-makeup-will-surpriseyou-1-86138 Why do girls wear makeup? You asked Google – here’s the answer. (2015, October 21). Retrieved December 01, 2020, from https://www.theguardian.com/ commentisfree/2015/oct/21/why-do-girlswear-makeup-google-answer Khazan, O. (2018, June 12). Women Wear Too Much Makeup Because They Mistakenly Think Men Like It. Retrieved December 01, 2020, from https://www. theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/04/ women-wear-too-much-makeup-becauseUNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 2 0 1


they-mistakenly-think-men-want-themto/361264/ Types of MakeUp Products. (n.d.). Retrieved December 01, 2020, from http:// www.historyofcosmetics.net/cosmeticsfacts/types-of-cosmetics/ Zeb, A., Zeb, A., & Posts, V. (2016, February 19). Top 15 Harmful Side Effects of Using Cosmetics. Retrieved December 01, 2020, from https://listovative.com/ top-15-harmful-side-effects-of-usingcosmetics/ Harmful Effects of Makeup on Your Skin. (n.d.). Retrieved December 01, 2020, from https://lovefromyours.com/ blogs/news/effects-of-makeup-on-theskin-and-tips-to-make-up-for-it Desai, S. (2014, January 18). Prevent your skin from after makeup effects - Times of India. Retrieved December 01, 2020, from https://m. timesofindia.com/life-style/beauty/ Prevent-your-skin-from-after-make-upeffects/articleshow/27686507.cms

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Seeing More by Seeing Less: How to Confront Discrimination Seoyeon Choi Korean Minjok Leadership Academy, 11th

Scientists and people marvel at the possibility that some foreign species might exist in outer space. What would happen if these “aliens” come to the earth? Many science fiction movies show us that the encounter between the two species would not be so peaceful. While we may need all the intelligence and power that we have, those movies often feature humans failing to stand as one. Because our minds focus on numerous differences between ourselves, we fail to recognize that all of us are, after all, humans. In this essay, we will be looking into the definition, roots, harms, and a possible solution of discrimination. The focus on differences leads to discrimination against other groups. Here, “discrimination” is defined as “behavior directed towards category members that are consequential for their outcomes, and that is directed towards them not because of any particular deservingness or reciprocity, but simply because they happen to be members of that category” (Correll et al., 2010). There are several types, including those based on race, gender, religion, and sexual orientation. Many kinds of discrimination exist as different social problems, but they all

come down to one matter: the “superficial differences” among people. “Superficial” is defined as the group characteristics detached from the inherent, individual qualities – e.g., good or evil, personality, capability – of the person, including skin color, physical disabilities, sexual orientation, etc. Some might contend that religion is related to these “inherent qualities”. Of course, having extreme beliefs that go against universal moral values can be problematic. However, beliefs in Christianity, Islamic, Buddhism, etc., within the bounds of universal moral values, do not deserve any sort of discrimination. As Dalia Mogahed said in her speech for TED, “… I think we need to do everything we can to stop a group like ISIS. But we would be giving in to their narrative if we cast them as representatives of a faith of 1.6 billion people” (Mogahed, 2016). Why is discrimination harmful? According to the American Psychological Association, discrimination can cause stress to individuals. It says that smaller, less obvious examples of day-to-day discrimination may be more common than major discrimination. These “microaggressions,” such as misguided UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 2 0 3


comments, can be just as harmful to health and well-being as overt episodes of major bias. Another research states that this could influence even those who are close to the discriminated individual (Wofford, Chopik, & Defever, 2017). Apart from the psychological damage, physical harm may occur through systematic discrimination. For instance, the discriminated individual may experience barriers in recruitment, lack of care from educational institutions, deprivation of the ability to communicate due to strict policies that order people to speak in one language and etc. The individual may also be pre-judged based on their characteristics, even from the most representative organizations, such as the police force. This type of aggression was overtly displayed in the case of George Floyd. What elicits this psychology inside people? Humans are known to have an innate tendency to form groups and nurture ingroup love as well as outgroup hate. This originated from close cooperation within the group – which existed since we were hunter-gatherers. This strong bond between ingroup members naturally led to the advent of the less privileged outgroup. Moreover, according to Steven Neuberg of Arizona State University Tempe, attitudes towards outgroup members is related to the threat-detection system, which means that outgroup bias oftentimes correlates with the sense of uneasiness and fear, which may be amplified by environmental factors (Culotta, 2012). My proposal in this essay ultimately circles down to laying out the possible solutions for this psychology. Before going further, however, for the sake of clarification, we must examine two already existing types of approaches – 204 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

color-blindedness and multiculturalism – of alleviating the tension between races. Color-blindedness suggests that racial categories should be neglected and not be considered when making decisions such as hiring and school admissions. Multiculturalism, in contrast, suggests that group differences should be acknowledged and celebrated (Richeson & Nussbaum, 2004). These two approaches can be generalized to other categories of discrimination as neglecting the differences versus recognizing them. The approach proposed here is closer to color-blindedness; in other words that we should try to be blind to the various “superficial” characteristics. The solution consists of two levels: first, bringing people out of ignorance and second, actively making an effort to make oneself blind. Let us first look into the matter of ignorance. Though there are many studies stating that ignorance cannot be used as a defense for discrimination, we cannot deny that it does play a part. If you had been raised from a young age in an environment that encourages racial discrimination, you are bound to know only biased stories about people of color. An attorney general Loretta Lynch stated regarding the discrimination against LGBTQ, “So much of what we see in terms of hate crimes or bullying or bias stems from ignorance. It stems from fear” (Sopelsa, 2016). It can be inferred here that ignorance easily gives rise to fear, which is one of the core causes of discrimination. One way to deal with this problem of ignorance is telling many different stories about people. In a TED speech, the African novelist Chimamanda Adichie, after talking about her experience of being discriminated against based on nationality, says that “Of course, Africa is a continent


full of catastrophes. … But there are other stories that are not about catastrophe, and it is very important, it is just as important, to talk about them.” Then how should we tell these “stories” to people? There are two approaches to this: firstly, to give a voice to the powerless to tell the stories, and secondly, to continuously expose those stories to society. Adichie talks in her speech about the power structure that exists in the present world. She says that “Power is the ability not just to tell the story of another person, but to make it the definitive story of that person.” In the past, the powerless could not enforce their story upon the people. The solution is to tackle the fundamental drawbacks – providing more opportunities of education so that those people will acquire voices, and a platform to speak out with that voice. This platform could include SNS, books, magazines and etc. Our role, then, is to listen to and accept the wholesome identities of those people. The key to the second mechanism – trying to make oneself blind – is slowing down one’s perception. There was an experiment that tested whether priming with black or white faces affects the reaction time or accuracy of identifying a weapon (Payne, 2001). The results strongly support the hypothesis that the race of faces paired with objects does influence the perceptual identification of weapons: black primes facilitated the identification of guns and race-specific errors. There were two conditions in this experiment, however, and one of them was that the opportunity to consider and control one’s response must be limited. Slowing down your perception is basically putting the time into properly processing your thoughts. For example, when Nextdoor tried to solve the problem

of racial profiling, they decided to “add friction” to people’s thoughts (Eberhardt, 2020). They asked the users to answer three questions – “What was this person doing that made him suspicious?” “Describe the person’s physical features, not simply their race and gender.” and lastly, realizing that many individuals did not appear to realize what racial profiling was, nor that they were participating in it, Nextdoor furnished them with a definition and revealed to them that it was carefully restricted. Using this strategy, Nextdoor was able to curb racial profiling by 75 percent. There are many other factors – such as economic well-being and sense of security – that affect discriminatory behavior, and in that sense, the mechanism introduced is definitely incomplete. However, especially in an era where postmaterialism is slowly taking place, the ultimate matter that we run into is the psychology of the people. It is time that we slowly expand our range of “ingroup”, as we very well possess the ability to do so. A world completely devoid of discrimination would be impossible; but a world with more love than hate, more inclusion than exclusion, and more harmony than segregation is something that we can move towards. Then, someday, even when those aliens come, voices of unity will be louder than those of fragmentation.

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Works Cited Gneezy, U., List, J., & Price, M. K. (2012). Toward an Understanding of Why People Discriminate: Evidence from a Series of Natural Field Experiments (Doctoral dissertation, Cambridge). Massachusetts: National Bureau of Economic Research. Inglehart, Ronald. Modernization, Cultural Change, and Democracy. Cambridge University Press. Kindle Edition. Harker, J. (2015, April 30). Why are people racist? You asked Google – here’s the answer | Joseph Harker. Retrieved September 06, 2020, from https://www. theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/ apr/30/why-people-racist-you-askedgoogle Discrimination: What it is, and how to cope. (2019). Retrieved September 06, 2020, from https://www.apa.org/topics/ discrimination Richeson, J. A., & Nussbaum, R. J. (2004). The impact of multiculturalism versus color-blindness on racial bias. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 40(3), 417-423. doi:10.1016/j. jesp.2003.09.002 Payne, B. K. (2001). Prejudice and perception: The role of automatic and controlled processes in misperceiving a weapon. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81(2), 181-192. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.81.2.181 Eberhardt, J. (2020). Transcript of “How racial bias works -- and how to disrupt it”. Retrieved September 20, 2020, from https://www.ted.com/talks/ jennifer_l_eberhardt_how_racial_bias_

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works_and_how_to_disrupt_it/transcript Adichie, C. (2009). The danger of a single story. Retrieved September 20, 2020, from https://www.ted.com/talks/ chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_ of_a_single_story Wofford, N., Defever, A. M., & Chopik, W. J. (2017). The vicarious effects of discrimination: How partner experiences of discrimination affect individual health. doi:10.31234/osf.io/ mr54z Wout, D. A., Shih, M. J., Jackson, J. S., & Sellers, R. M. (2009). Targets as perceivers: How people determine when they will be negatively stereotyped. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96(2), 349-362. doi:10.1037/ a0012880 What it’s like to be Muslim in America. (2016, February). [Video]. TED Talks. https://www.ted.com/talks/dalia_ mogahed_what_it_s_like_to_be_muslim_ in_america/transcript#t-574785 Correll, J., Judd, C. M., Park, B., & Wittenbrink, B. (n.d.). Measuring Prejudice, Stereotypes and Discrimination. The SAGE Handbook of Prejudice, Stereotyping and Discrimination, 45-62. doi:10.4135/9781446200919.n3 Sopelsa, B. (2016). Attorney General to LGBTQ Students: ‘Bias Stems From Ignorance’. NBC News. Retrieved from https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/ nbc-out/attorney-general-lgbtq-studentsbias-stems-ignorance-n695551 Culotta, E. (2012, May 18). Roots of Racism. Retrieved November 21, 2020, from https://science.sciencemag.org/ content/336/6083/825


CAD4TB in Chest X-Rays Seoyoon Lee McLean High School, 11th

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the globe. According to WHO, the number of infected cases is continuously increasing everyday. The biggest reason why the number of infected cases is rapidly increasing is due to the slow testing results. Then what might be the ways to get the quick testing results? Many computer scientists have considered finding ways to get the testing results quickly. One way they brought up was the use of CAD4TB chest X-rays. What is CAD4TB chest X-rays and how can it help in getting quicker testing results? CAD4TB, which stands for Computer-Aided Detection for Tuberculosis, is a software that detects tuberculosis by CXR image. It gives an output in a score between 0 and 100, indicating the subject on the X-ray image has active tuberculosis (TB). This software is configured to automatically transfer the digital X-ray image. Once digital X-rays show the chest radiographs of the patients, this software analyzes the shape of the lung, clavicle detection and texture analysis. Then, it gives the result if the patient is positive or negative to tuberculosis. This process is very simple that the doctors can get the analyzed result

within 30 seconds. It was first invented in January 2010 by two sister companies in the Netherlands: Delft Care and Thirona. Why did the sister companies decide to develop this software? Tuberculosis has been the disease that brought the high mortality globally (Zaidi, 2018). In 2017, the World Health Organization announced that 6.4 million new TB cases were officially notified to them; and even though they recently reported that the number of TB cases are falling at about 2% per year, the truth that many people are still dying of TB cases is inevitable (WHO, 2017) (WHO, 2020). This led the companies to find a way to test the patients effectively: get the testing result quickly but accurately at the same time. Delft Care and Thirona revealed that CAD4TB embedded chest X-rays are widely used in poor countries, such as African countries, based on the GDP of each nation. However, since they had a large number of TB confirmed cases, it is important for those people to have technology that is cheap but effective. That was the main reason why the sister companies developed this software at low cost (Delft Care, n.d.). CAD4TB v6, which was released in 2018 and can UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 2 0 7


process 132 subjects per day, has the average cost of $5.95 per subject; and CAD4TB v3, which can process only 85 subjects per day, has the average cost of $8.38 per subject (Murphy, 2020). The low cost of screening allows countries including Jakarta, Mozambique, Eswatini, Sierra Leone, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Malawi, Pakistan, and Ghana to test the large number of patients (Delft Care, n.d.). Indonesia is the nation who has the third highest burden of tuberculosis. CAD4TB software was provided for several prisons in Jakarta. They were first tested with CAD4TB and when the symptom was found, they took chest X-rays. In Sierra Leone, which is among the nations with the highest tuberculosis burden, 12 CAD4TB programs were provided in 10 district hospitals (Delft Care, n.d.).

Source: Delft Care

So, is the CAD4TB software reliable? The study from Marianne Breuninger, the member of Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, reveals that the result of testing through CAD4TB program is accurate. To find the accuracy, she did research with her colleagues. With the support from the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP), they gathered information about tuberculosis patients in Bagamoyo, Tanzania, which is another country with a high burden of tuberculosis. By classifying the tuberculosis patients with seven different 208 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

categories, each classified by their clinical and microbiological data, they found out that CAD4TB accurately distinguishes between culture-positive TB cases and control, and was also able to accurately analyze the differences between positive cases against non-tuberculosis patients (Breuninger, 2014). Another research held by Zhi Zhen Qin revealed the accuracy of CAD4TB, along with two other chest radiographs Lunit INSIGHT, developed in South Korea, and qXR, developed in India. Qin and his colleagues collected CXR images of TB patients in different ranges of ages from Nepal and Cameroon. They classified the CXR images through abnormal images, which has pulmonary abnormality, and normal images. Then they calculated not only accuracy but also sensitivity and specificity of four groups of radiologists and three DL systems: CAD4TB, qXR, and Lunit INSIGHT. As a result of the study, they analyzed that all CAD4TB, qXR, and Lunit INSIGHT analyze the accurate results, while CAD4TB detects greater accuracy than human readers when matched by sensitivities (Qin, 2019). Even though the cost per subject of screening is cheap and the process of executing the software looks simple, it does not mean that every person can access this software easily. The 2012 WHO report of Computer-aided detection for Tuberculosis introduced that only physicians and technicians, who are wellknown about this software, can run the program. About 3 hours of online training is also required. To execute the program, laptop or computer with MS windows, a graphical operating system developed by Microsoft (Computer Hope, 2019), Intel Pentium, a microprocessor that operates as a CPU of microcomputers (Britannica,


2009) (Clark Science Center), 8GB RAM 120GB HDD are required. The analysis time will depend on the size of RAM and HDD (WHO, 2012). The accurate and quick development of CAD4TB has a long history. There have been four different versions of CAD4TB: v3, v4, v5, and v6. The first version of CAD4TB was developed for further studies on this software. Between October 2013 and September 2015, the researchers, approved by the Institutional Review Board of Interactive Research and Development, Pakistan, recruited clinic centers to find out the effectiveness of this software. In this project, the participants – patients who came to the clinic centers with the presence and duration of cough and fever, hemoptysis, coughing of blood, or night sweats – were tested by CAD4TB. In this project, XPert was also used for testing patients. Xpert testing is the sputum testing that can differentiate the patients’ testing result even more accurately and therefore, conforms well with CAD4TB. Since CAD4TB and XPert both gave results quickly, all patients were able to get tested for their results in a single day although they underwent two tests (Murphy, 2019). Starting from CAD4TB v3, the scientists and technicians continuously analyzed and developed the program and released the most recent version of CAD4TB v6, which was developed in 2018. Unlike earlier models of the program, where the lower age limit was 16 years old, it now allows children below 4 years of age to test with CAD4TB (Geerts, 2018). Its intended purpose was to test tuberculosis patients. However, the development of CAD4TB affected the current status of the world, struggling with COVID-19. It helped in developing

a new software, CAD4COVID, which is widely used for COVID testing. During the pandemic, the computer scientists and engineers in Delft care, Thirona and many other supporters had developed this software to help many countries who are greatly impacted by the crisis. As a result of their studies and research, doctors were able to use CAD4COVID-XRay globally. It is the first chest X-ray that is used for COVID testing. As it is shown in its name, CAD4COVID-XRay is created by developing more algorithms on the basis of CAD4TB software. Therefore, just like CAD4TB, it generates a range of scores between 0 and 100 that indicates the extent of COVID-19 related abnormalities. The most important and great function is that this software has the ability to test the patients in early stages. Unlike general chest X-rays, CAD4COVID embedded chest X-ray make the doctors able to find out the patients who are in early stages. Doctors had gone through many hardships of testing during the pandemic because they could not test the COVID-19 patients in early stages. However, the use of CAD4COVID helped doctors in getting quicker results because it automatically analyzes and immediately gives the result after the digital X-ray is taken (Delft Care, n.d.). Before the development of CAD4COVID, pooled sample testing was the most widely used testing. However, this testing is ineffective; it is only effective when there are many non-infected people and small infected people, and it takes a long time to get the test results. Pooled sample testing is a method that finds the positive patients by collecting data from many patients, meaning that doctors should be able to find a small number of different data compared UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 2 0 9


to large numbers of normal people’s data. Therefore, for highly contagious diseases like COVID-19, it is very important to cure the patients in early stages so that the number of infected cases will no longer increase (FDA, 2020). Below are the images comparing the data between normal chest X-rays and CAD4COVID embedded chest X-ray.

Source: Delft Care

CAD4TB was not only beneficial for tuberculosis, but also can be utilized for other diseases such as COVID-19 if scientists and technicians develop the basic program of CAD4TB. It has not only quick testing results, but also high accuracy of the testing results, which could affect the number of infected cases of diseases such as tuberculosis or COVID-19 throughout the world. Works Cited Breuninger, Marianne, et al. Diagnostic Accuracy of Computer-Aided Detection of Pulmonary Tuberculosis in Chest Radiographs: A Validation Study from Sub-Saharan Africa. National Center of Biotechnology Information. CAD4COVID-CT. Delft Care, www. delft.care/how-to-access/. “CAD4TB.” Delft Care, www.delft. care/cad4tb/. “CAD4COVID MAP.” Delft Care, www.delft.care/cad4covid-projects/. Map. “Computer-aided detection forTuberculosis.” World Health Organization. eHealth, www.who. int/ehealth/resources/compendium_ ehealth2012_4.pdf. computer aided detection of 210 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

tuberculosis on chest radiographs: An evaluation of the CAD4TB v6 system. Scientific Reports, arxiv.org/ pdf/1903.03349.pdf. “Delft Around the Globe.” Delft Care, www.delft.care/projects/. How many TB cases and deaths are there? World Health Organization, www. who.int/gho/tb/epidemic/cases_deaths/en/. Murphy, Keelin, et al. Computer aided detection of tuberculosis on chest radiographs: An evaluation of the CAD4TB v6 system. Nature Briefing, www.nature. com/articles/s41598-020-62148-y. “Our improved CAD4TB software is now reliable for children.” Delft Care, www.delft.care/cad4tb6/. OVERVIEW OF MICROPROCESSORS. Pdf ed. “Pentium.” Technology > Computers. Britannica, www.britannica. com/technology/Pentium. “Pooled SampleTesting and Screening Testing for COVID-19.” Coronavirus (COVID-19) and Medical Devices. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, www.fda. gov/medical-devices/coronavirus-covid19-and-medical-devices/pooled-sampletesting-and-screening-testing-covid-19. Qin, Zhi Zhen, et al. Using artificial intelligence to read chest radiographs for tuberculosis detection: A multi-site evaluation of the diagnostic accuracy of three deep learning systems. National Center of Biotechnology Information, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/ PMC6802077/. “Triage for COVID-19 Using Artificial Intelligence on Chest X-rays.” Delft Care, www.delft.care/cad4covid/. Tuberculosis. 14 Oct. 2020. World Health Organization. “Windows.” W - Definitions. Computer Hope, www.computerhope. com/jargon/w/windows.htm. Zaidi, Syed Mohammad Asad, et al. Evaluation of the diagnostic accuracy of Computer-Aided Detection of tuberculosis on Chest radiography among private sector patients in Pakistan. National Center for Biotechnology Information, www.ncbi. nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6098114/.


Future of A.I. Seungjun Lee Valor International Scholars, 10th

John McCarthy explained that artificial intelligence (AI) is a “thinking machine” and there are several definitions of it. According to the English Oxford Living Dictionary, AI is “the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages.” Also, Merriam-Webster defines AI as “a branch of computer science dealing with the simulation of intelligent behavior in computers.” The Encyclopedia Britannica defines that it is “the ability of a digital computer or computer-controlled robot to perform tasks commonly associated with intelligent beings.” These days, AI technology has been developed a lot. Due to AI’s rapid innovation, some people worry about the replacement of humans. According to a research, 47 percent of jobs in the US will be in trouble by 2030. However, in fact, AI is currently giving so many conveniences to human life and it keeps making many areas of work-field automatic (Quanta Magazine, 2015). AI makes human life easier, and experts say there is some particular area

that AI works more effectively. AI is currently making our life much safer. With the healthcare section, AI is helping a lot. Also, they are making our life much more convenient. One great example is Siri of Apple. Currently, we are using so many AIs in our life even though we are not aware of it. In healthcare areas, AI leads innovations with its new technologies. AI can be specialized in selecting certain information from enormous data. Also, it can help doctors assess patients’ conditions with X-rays and other scans. AIs are very intelligent. They are able to predict climate changes. This is helpful to prevent climate disasters. The world can solve ozone problems and climate problems more easily. AIs can also help more companies who need more people. Mostly, AI works better than people in certain area. This leads to high quality work outcomes. Also, they are

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very accurate and can help in business. It will make work much faster (Rohde et al., 2018). Experts of A.I. Gary Marcus - Geometric Intelligence/Uber AI Labs: He is a leader of Geometric Intelligence which was recently combined with Uber. Also, because of his books, he seemed to do everything in big scales. Jana Eggers - Nara Logics, Inc.: Jana Eggers works for an AI company dealing with big data. As the CEO, she leads Nara Logics, Inc. and manages her company to personalize useful options to its clients. With her flexibility, she has led small and big companies. Tessa Lau - Savioke: She is also known as Chief Robot Whisperer. She is a founder of Savike and worked here as a CTO. She developed a lot of very useful software. Nathan Benaich - London.AI/Point Nine Capital: Nathan takes enormous parts in AI companies in London. He is also known as founder of The Research and Applied AI Summit which helps a lot of businesses. He is working for SAAS which helps customers to success. Adam Coates - Khosla Venture: He is a leader of deep learning and he is constantly working to make AI better. He was a Silicon Valley AI lab worker at Baidu and now he is working for Khosla Ventures. He was CxO of the week and he have strict standard at his works. Ganesh Padmanabhan CognitiveScale: He is a Vice President of Global Business Development & Marketing over at CognitiveScale and his dream is to make new technologies that may help the markets. He helped to make AI radically simple for businesses and people which helped his career. 212 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

Demis Hassabis - DeepMind: He is one of the famous AI workers with AI named Alphago, theme park named Republic: The Revolution. He is the CEO of Deepmind located in London. Deepmind is a powerful algorithm that can learn. Fei-Fei Li - Stanford/Google Cloud: She was a Professor at Stanford University, also known as Chief Scientist of AI/ML at Google Cloud, and cofounded AI4ALL. She is also famous for her works in computer and neuroscience section. Cynthia Breazeal - JIBO, Inc.: She is more robotic, but she is well known for human robot interaction. She was named in the MIT Technology Review TR100 which is very honorable. She was also launching a lot of campaigns. It is about crowdfunding (Thomas, n.d.). Future of A.I. The development of AI continues to forward without hesitation. We can observe the rapidly developing new technologies, new applications, and more significant investment in the host of AI, machine learning, and cognitive technologies every day. The future world of AI will have a far greater impact in a much different way from what we are assuming today. As technology advances, the nature of labor and labor changes rapidly. The technology aims to get rid of burdensome tasks and improve our daily lives. Technology improves our productivity and our lives qualitatively, allowing us to live to old age. We have always seen workforce adjustments, especially in the field of automation and enhancement, when new technologies become available. So, it is no surprise that all types of industries are looking


for AI to change the way they run their businesses. As such, the introduction of AI inevitably changes the nature of work. This is certainly the case with blue-collar labor, which has already made extensive changes with the effects of robotics and automation. Automation has already replaced many parts in the manufacturing sector, but the greater change is not on the factory floor but inside the office partition. AI is removing much of the hard and repetitive work given to service workers or otherwise taking away more time from high-income workers. One positive aspect of this area of AI-enabled organizations is the perception that AI is making customers much better respond to their needs and desires. The impact can also be felt in the healthcare industry, where AI is being used to provide customized medicines and healthcare that better suit individual patient needs. Pervasive knowledge means pervasive surveillance. We do not want the system to know where we are and what we are doing, but we provide this information freely with GPS-enabled phones connected to social media with cameras. While we may accuse the government or the company of tracking us without our consent, we are already free to provide this information in exchange for all the modern conveniences offered by such pervasive connections. The future where AI is available will be a world with more access to all kinds of information, and we will require people with access to AI to use it wisely and for our benefit.

Works Cited Rohde, K., Vukovic, R., Zeldich, M., Ramesh, S., Hershkowitz, J., & Farkas, G. (2018, June 13). Benefits & Risks of Artificial Intelligence. Retrieved September 21, 2020, from https:// futureoflife.org/background/benefitsrisks-of-artificial-intelligence/?cnreloaded=1 Wolchover, N., & Quanta Magazine moderates comments to facilitate an informed, S. (n.d.). Artificial Intelligence Aligned With Human Values: Q&A With Stuart Russell. Retrieved November 21, 2020, from https://www.quantamagazine. org/artificial-intelligence-alignedwith-human-values-qa-with-stuartrussell-20150421 Thomas, M. (n.d.). The Future of Artificial Intelligence. Retrieved November 21, 2020, from https://builtin. com/artificial-intelligence/artificialintelligence-future

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How Netflix Dominated the Video Streaming Industry Seyoung Jang Branksome Hall Asia, 10th

Netflix, Inc. was founded in 1997 by American entrepreneurs named Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph. When Netflix first opened in April of 1998, it was the world’s first online DVD rental business. Online subscribers would browse and order the films as Netflix would post them to their home; once they were finished, the users would simply post them back. [8](Iqbal, 2020) Netflix developed its business by offering easy access to its friendly-priced products, which enabled attracting customers. To improve the limited streaming service, Netflix partnered with electronic product companies to enable their services on various platforms. By 2007, Netflix introduced its internet streaming service called “Watch Now,” where subscribers were able to watch movies directly from their personal computers. Year after year, Netflix gained tremendous popularity around the world and dominated the video streaming industry; today, approximately 37% of the world’s internet users use Netflix. [19](Watson, 2020) In just ten years, Netflix’s annual revenue multiplied 15 times from 1.36 billion to 15.8 billion dollars, and today they have more than 151 million subscribers from over 190 214 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

countries. [19](Watson, 2020)

Adding on to their successful marketing performance, Netflix stocks soared since the outbreak of COVID-19 as people became self-isolated and relied on their TVs for comfort. As a result, Netflix added more than 15 million new subscribers in 2020 and today, Netflix’s market share attains 86.7% of over-thetop media viewers. [8](Iqbal, 2020) When Netflix first launched in 1997, Blockbuster was the champion of the video rental industry. Found in 1985, in Dallas, Texas, Blockbuster had 2,800 stores spread across the globe in just two years. [16](Sloan, 2020) When Netflix first showed up in the marketing field with a “video rental-by-mail service,” it


seemed almost impossible for Netflix to take down Blockbuster. In 2000, Reed Hastings, the co-founder, and CEO of Netflix approached Blockbuster’s CEO, John Antioco, and made a proposal to merge the two companies for $50 million under the condition of changing Blockbuster to an online brand. [16] (Sloan, 2020) However, Blockbuster laughed at Netflix by underestimating its services and failed to recognize the potential of online platforms. From 2004, Netflix started to gain massive followers and crushed Blockbuster’s market dominance. [16](Sloan, 2020) Although Blockbuster launched its online rental service, they were far behind Netflix’s online marketing. As online platforms became more into use, Blockbuster was completely defeated by Netflix and filed for bankruptcy in 2010. [16](Sloan, 2020)

[9] Jones, R. (2018, June 3). We need a netflix of recovery [Illustration]. RecoveryCartel. https:// recoverycartel.com/we-need-a-netflix-of-recovery/

For success, Netflix used innovative methods and technologies. When Netflix first launched its concept of DVD delivery service, the subscription cost was relatively low and the priority of the company was providing the best services to customers which was a different perspective of how Blockbuster viewed the marketing field. Netflix focused on ways to utilize the best resources for achieving customer

satisfaction as the company rapidly adapted to online platforms after catching the changing trend. [4](Dadzie et al., 2017) The reason behind the dominating success of Netflix is the drastic implementation of unique business strategies. [6](Dadzie et al., 2017) Behind the years of Netflix’s superlative growth lies its enthralling history of how the company evolved into a dominant movie streaming company. The milestones in Netflix’s marketing history provide a glimpse of its outstanding strategies that enabled the company to thrive over the past few years. Netflix’s marketing strategies can be divided mainly into three stages of business growth: emergence, expansion, and maturity. In its emergence stage, Netflix targeted local markets starting from Scotts Valley, California, in 1997. [3](Brennan, 2018) In the small marketing field, the company focused on raising brand awareness by building a strong customer base. [18](“3 Stages of,” n.d.) Netflix targeted a wide-ranged audience by offering its service online; people who didn’t have DVD rent shops near their home could easily rent and return the DVDs, making the product both customerfriendly. The first stage also became the basis for further business developments by proving that their business concept was successful. [18](“3 Stages of,” n.d.) In its second expansion stage, Netflix enlarged its service network into the global marketing field. The marketing countries were chosen by shared similarities with the U.S.: the percentage of affluent consumers, and the availability of broadband internet. [3](Brennan, 2018) Based on the criteria, Netflix’s first expansion started in Canada, in 2010, which was physically close to the U.S. and UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 2 1 5


shared the same language. [14](McFadden, 2020) The expansion was a huge success and the streaming service soon gained over 20 million subscribers. Adding on, the second phase involved analyzing and seizing the different preferences by region through big data and analytics. In 2010, the number of streaming shows customers outpaced those who were renting DVDs. [14](McFadden, 2020) As a result, in 2011, based on their analysis of user preferences, Netflix decided to divide the streaming and DVD rental service into two different businesses, which led to the rapid expansion of streaming services.

[10] Kalogeropoulos, Demitrios. “The Netflix Turning Point You’ve Been Waiting For.” The Motley Fool. Accessed November 16, 2016. http:// www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/01/28/thenetflix-turning-point-youve-been-waiting-for.aspx.

The final development stage was centered on sustaining success by shifting strategies and maximizing performances. By 2018, Netflix’s streaming service was established in 190 countries around the world with 139.3 million subscribers among those, 80.8 million were non-U.S. international subscribers. [8](Iqbal, 2020) In response to the fast globalization, the streaming content became diverse in culture and language. For instance, after establishing its service in Poland in 2016, Netflix added Poland’s local language 216 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

including user interface, subtitles, and dubbing within six months. [3](Brennan, 2018) The fast service adaptation to local areas enhanced its customer experience and resulted in its rapid globalization in many other regions. Through the successful three-step growth of the business, Netflix gained significant expertise in marketing strategies. [3](Brennan, 2018) Technology also played a major role in enhancing the Netflix streaming service. One of the major examples of technological advancements was its personalization algorithm: a technology that combines machine learning with analytics to predict what the users would likely watch next. [2](Blattmann, 2018) By using machine learning, Netflix learned from its own users; every time the user watched a TV show, data was collected to predict the user’s taste of movies. [2] (Blattmann, 2018) As the number of subscribers increased, the performance of its predictive algorithms continued to improve. [3](Brennan, 2018) Netflix showed an excellent example of utilizing new big data technology to enhance the customer’s service experience. Netflix also expanded its service to a wide range of devices and payment partnerships. Netflix’s key strategies involved cooperation to fend off its rivals. In 2020, Netflix announced its official partnership with Samsung; Netflix offers bonus content to Samsung device owners that are filmed by the Samsung Galaxy S20’s new camera, along with the function to launch Netflix through its voice assistant Bixby. [15] (Perez, 2020) The partnership became a critical marketing strategy for Netflix regarding its fast-growing new streaming competitors - such as Disney+ and Apple TV+ - that had already integrated with


mobile devices to spread their service. [15](Perez, 2020) In response, Netflix developed a “competitive distribution strategy” by partnering with Samsung which had an 18.8% global market share in 2019, compared to Apple with 20%. [15](Perez, 2020) Samsung was a perfect fit to thrive Netflix’s service as they had a solid distribution in similar international markets with Netflix. [15](Perez, 2020) In order to survive the competitive, fastgrowing media industry, Netflix has constantly developed trend-catching strategies to utilize their competitors as their marketing tool. The Marketing Mix of Netflix could be largely divided into the 4Ps product, price, place, and promotion. The 4Ps is a widely used framework that helps companies to achieve their business objective and develop marketing strategies. [13](MBA Skool Team, 2020) I. Product The major product strategy in Netflix is its unlimited content of TV shows, movies, documents, etc. that are constantly updated with new shows. Users are not interrupted by any commercials while playing the content and it also offers a one-month free trial. Not only is the price user-friendly as it does not require any contracts nor cancellation fees, but the users can cancel their subscription at any time. The membership options are divided into 3 categories: the basic plan, standard plan, and the premium plan. The membership price differs on the video quality, resolution, and the number of devices you can register. [17](“Netflix,” n.d.) Not only do they offer media access, but they also produce films and TV shows of their own. In 2013, Netflix started its own produced shows, which also gained tremendous popularity. Since then, the so-

called “Netflix Original Series” became a term to label the famous films made by Netflix.

II. Price Although Netflix’s one-month free trial service may seem like a loss to the company, it actually works to convert prospective customers into actual buyers. According to Merriman Capital’s stock analyst Eric Wold, 8.7% of Netflix’s members are free subscribers and for the past eight years, Netflix has been operating at an outstanding 93% conversion rate. [4](Carr, 2012) After the one-month trial, members can decide their form of subscription which is the Basic Plan, Standard Plan, and Premium Plan, which range from $7 to $12 a month. [13](MBA Skool Team, 2020) Through psychological pricing, Netflix offers additional benefits for those who pay more. Netflix also has a pocket-friendly price with no advertisements whatsoever, which fulfills their company’s motto to subsidize the rental cost for consumers. [13](MBA Skool Team, 2020) UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 2 1 7


III. Place Netflix is an online business, and therefore, it is available anytime, everywhere. The company caught the changing trend of internet markets, which did not set a physical limitation for their service. IV. Promotion The last portion of Netflix’s four Ps is “Promotion.” As previously discussed, the one-month free trial policy is considered as a promotion activity to build brand awareness and retain future subscribers. [13](MBA Skool Team, 2020) By using the word “free,” it enticed people’s attention with a cost-efficient service. Promo codes are another type of marketing strategy that provides customers the incentive to buy; as customers are offered the service at a lower price, they are more likely to buy the subscription. [20](“What are Promotional Codes?,” n.d.) Promo codes are also effective for returning customers as Paul J. Zak, the director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies at Claremont Graduate University stated: “getting a coupon is physically shown to be more enjoyable than getting a gift.” [20](“What are Promotional Codes?,” n.d.) Other promotion methods include commercial

billboards and print ads to show the latest movies released on Netflix. Hence, Netflix built up a strong promotion strategy by approaching streamers in different fields - through film promotion or special sales - by utilizing business opportunities to expand its service. [13](MBA Skool Team, 2020) The “long tail” theory is another business model that can be found on the basis of Netflix’s marketing strategy. The long tail theory was first introduced in 2004 by Chris Anderson, an editor at Wired Magazine, who argued that “products with lower market demand may surpass the best selling products in the competitive marketing field.” [7] (Hayes, 2019) It specifically reflects how the company’s production list could be expanded through niche marketing on the internet to attract new customers. [7](Hayes, 2019) Below is the long tail theory graph. The front part of the graph shows the portion of the bestseller lists that the majority of people enjoy. Despite its small product quantity, they make the most sales due to their popularity and the great number of people who are willing to buy the product. On the other side, the tail of the graph goes on forever into

[12] Long tail theory [Illustration]. (n.d.). I Am Robotics. https://www.iamrobotics.com/ammrs-andthe-long-tail-business-strategy/ 218 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS


an ever-decreasing number of smaller niches. [11](Kilkelly, 2014) Although the sales have decreased significantly, the competition inside the niche market is fairly low, which targets specialized uses inside its corresponding marketing field. Eventually, the infinite stretch of the niche products makes up a fair amount of sales and builds up to the overall growing profit. [11](Kilkelly, 2014) When the long tail theory is applied to Netflix, the “product” becomes unknown or unique movies and TV shows. In the past years, Netflix offered differentiated movie genres such as a documentary on a football club called “Juventus” or anime movies to target the smaller markets. [1] (Berjani, 2018) By expanding the product portfolio, new subscribers from smaller markets came together to form a bigger marketplace. Netflix was able to entice subscribers who could not find their interests from any other video streaming platforms. [1](Bergani, 2018) One of the major features that enabled Netflix to use the “long tail theory” was its internet platform. By launching their “unlimited streaming service” from the internet, customers from any region were able to enjoy the service without geometrical limitations. Adding on, no investments for rent or storage were needed, which formed an unlimited storage area. Therefore, the company was able to launch as many niche products as well as making more investments in a variety of film and show productions. [7] (Hayes, 2019) Despite of Netflix’s everlasting success over the past years, the company is currently undergoing an increase in debt for producing its original film series. According to Tim Hanlon from a media consulting company named Vertere

Group, Reed Hastings stated that he “expects the growth in subscribers to be relatively short-lived and will eventually tamp down as the virus starts to play out and people start to go out again.” [6] (Garsd, 2020) Many people would have been surprised to notice that Netflix has announced that it will raise $1 billion debt to produce new content. Budgets for film production have been a constant challenge for Netflix and as the economic crisis deepens due to the pandemic, the future of Netflix has become uncertain. [6](Garsd, 2020) But Netflix is not the only streaming service undergoing a time of difficulty. An analyst with eMarketer named Eric Hassstrom mentions how Netflix’s competitor Disney has its parks and live sports shut down, which affected the ESPN. [6](Garsd, 2020) The economic crisis has opened a new era for streaming services to overcome as they are exploring and implying business models that would help them cope with this global pandemic. Works Cited [1] Berjani, D. (2018, January 9). How netflix is making use of the “long tail” theory to attract new subscribers. Medium. https://www.businessofapps. com/data/netflix-statistics/#1 [2] Blattmann, J. (2018, August 2). Netflix: Binging on the algorithm. UX Planet. Retrieved November 8, 2020, from https://uxplanet.org/netflix-bingingon-the-algorithm-a3a74a6c1f59 [3] Brennan, L. (2018, October 12). How netflix expanded to 190 countries in 7years. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved November 8, 2020, from https:// hbr.org/2018/10/how-netflix-expandedto-190-countries-in-7-years [4] Carr, A. (2011, July 7). Hulu courts buyers, while Netflix streaming surges. Fast Company. Retrieved UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 2 1 9


November 8, 2020, from https://www. fastcompany.com/1765434/hulu-courtsbuyers-while-netflix-streaming-surges [5] Dadzie, K.Q., Amponsah, D.K., Dadzie, C.A. and Winston, E.M., (2017). How firms implement marketing strategies in emerging markets: An empirical assessment of the 4a marketing mix framework. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 25(3), pp.234-256. [6] Garsd, J. (2020, April 22). Netflix raises more debt. is it sustainable? Marketplace. Retrieved November 8, 2020, from https://www.marketplace. org/2020/04/22/netflix-raises-more-debtis-it-sustainable/ [7] Hayes, A. (2019, August 19). Long tail. Investopedia. Retrieved November 8, 2020, from https://www. investopedia.com/terms/l/long-tail.asp [8] Iqbal, M. (2020, June 23). Netflix revenue and usage statistics. Business of Apps. https://www.businessofapps.com/ data/netflix-statistics/#1 [9] Jones, R. (2018, June 3). We need a netflix of recovery [Illustration]. RecoveryCartel. https://recoverycartel. com/we-need-a-netflix-of-recovery/ [10] Kalogeropoulos, Demitrios. “The Netflix Turning Point You’ve Been Waiting For.” The Motley Fool. Accessed November 16, 2016 http://www.fool.com/ investing/general/2013/01/28/the-netflixturning-point-youve-been-waiting-for. aspx. [11] Kilkelly, D. (2014, April 25). Long Tail Marketing [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=sNzPlcmgTpk [12] Long tail theory [Illustration]. (n.d.). I Am Robotics. https://www. iamrobotics.com/ammrs-and-the-longtail-business-strategy/ [13] MBA Skool Team. (2020, April 19). Netflix marketing mix (4Ps) strategy. MbaSkool.com. Retrieved November 8, 2020, from https://www.mbaskool.com/ marketing-mix/services/17729-netflix. 220 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

html

[14] McFadden, C. (2020, July 4). The fascinating history of netflix. Interesting Engineering. Retrieved November 8, 2020, from https://interestingengineering. com/the-fascinating-history-of-netflix [15] Perez, S. (2020, February 19). Netflix fights new streaming rivals with samsung partnership. Techcrunch. Retrieved November 8, 2020, from https://techcrunch. com/2020/02/13/netflix-fends-off-newstreaming-rivals-by-way-of-samsungpartnership/?guccounter=1&guce_ r e f e r r e r = a H R 0 c H M 6 Ly 9 3 d 3 c u Z 29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_ sig=AQAAAABcd4V0c9Ax6FRz_ rRGUABdU8vsLMiT2nYHI 135U93wjRUHgTuBdKh0As_ 4xQvmQt8W63Bm9BOxKdyUMs LKR03e9Rkaqq48XJs62PZymWR 8gPI0xxB6hOpxUIrEcbU-8rHs8owWPqZjHT3W_zGfx mcQLPpYKkYsi0rdVcnIj7 [16] Sloan, M. (n.d.). Netflix vs blockbuster – 3 key takeaways. Drift. Retrieved November 8, 2020, from https://www.drift.com/blog/netflix-vsblockbuster/ [17] The story of netflix. (n.d.). Netflix. Retrieved November 8, 2020, from https://about.netflix.com/en [18] 3 stages of business growth and how to navigate them. (n.d.). Buxton. Retrieved November 8, 2020, from https://www.buxtonco.com/blog/3-stagesof-business-growth-and-how-to-navigatethem [19] Watson, A. (2020, October 26). Netflix – statistics and facts. Statista. Retrieved November 8, 2020, from https:// www.statista.com/topics/842/netflix/ [20] What are promotional codes and how do they work? (n.d.). Bigcommerce. Retrieved November 8, 2020, from https:// www.bigcommerce.com/ecommerceanswers/what-are-promotional-codesand-how-do-they-work/


The Benefits and Potential Danger of Drones Shin Lee Western Reserve Academy, 11th

Drones, a common way to call unmanned aerial vehicles, are growing more and more significant in our lives, and are performing greatly in various areas for our convenience. Most commonly known usages of drones include aerial filming and photography, which allow artists to utilize angles that were not available before, as well as in transportation, in which drones ship products in environments where aviation is best applicable. Not only that, but as drone technology advances, more and more possible usages of drones start to emerge: delivery services, emergency infrastructure construction, border control surveillance, and much more. Despite their possible misusage, such as in terrorism and espionage, drones will provide more convenience and offer more opportunities to people. One special usage where drones are involved in recently is in cases of emergencies and natural disasters. In those situations, drones can support broken infrastructures, by serving as a supplement for ground transportation. At the same time, it can aid in resolving natural disasters such as an earthquake or wildfires by providing a vision quicker and safer than manned vehicles, as well

as in its aftermath where it can identify survivors to help and deliver necessary supplies. This is also asserted by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) website: drones “are used across our nation to support firefighting and search and rescue operations, to monitor and assess critical infrastructure, to provide disaster relief by transporting emergency medical supplies to remote locations, and to aid efforts to secure our borders� (CISA, n.d.). In addition, it can be used in rather inaccessible areas for delivery and transportation. The UNICEF Office of Innovation describes the usage of drones in remote areas and complex regions. In those areas, it is hard to provide health care to those who need them without proper transportation required. Even worse, some essential medicines require temperatureregulated transportation in order to stay in effect. However, by introducing drone technology into the field, many benefits follow. Not only transportation efficiency will increase, resolving transportation challenges such as shipping small medical test kits where drones can perform more efficiently than ground vehicles, but also more meticulous management of UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 2 2 1


resources will be offered through digital management of temperature or such essential conditions during transportation, as well as offering automatic inventory management (UNICEF, n.d.). By introducing drone usage for medical purposes, they also introduce several instances in which they utilize drones to improve health conditions. In the Republic of Vanuatu, they have succeeded in developing a dronebased infrastructure to deliver vaccines to areas around the country. As Vanuatu has unstable on-ground infrastructure and many areas around the country being only accessible through boats, this feature has been pivotal to Vanuatu’s medical infrastructure. The first drone delivery of the vaccine was on December 18, 2018. Through its success, it can be expected that to many areas around the world which lack the necessary infrastructure and transportation to supply medical resources and vaccines, drone technology can bring more options and life-saving medicines to those without access. Not only are drones helpful in transportation and in emergencies, but they also aid in the area of security and law enforcement. In security, instead of hiring people to watch over areas of importance and using security cameras to watch over the area, drones can be utilized to cover the area with more efficiency. In terms of law enforcement, drones can overlook areas of importance to identify whether the law issued is enforced or not. There are many instances of this being utilized. According to the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) website, they state, “Drones provide border patrol agents with air support no matter where they are. Instead of having to launch a much larger platform, such as an air and 222 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

marine operations helicopter and crew, the smaller drones fit in the back of a patrol vehicle and can be put in the sky in a matter of minutes” (CBP, n.d.). They stress that these unmanned vehicles can be utilized to perform more efficiently and quickly than other larger platforms. However, there definitely exist problems. While it is true that performing these tasks with drones are cheaper and faster, it has to be recognized that corresponding drone operators must be employed in order to enforce it. According to the Brookings Institution and their report, it is criticized that “most law enforcement agencies can afford are currently far less capable [of drones] than their manned counterparts” (Brookings, n.d.). Moreover, they insist that “the surveillance equipment that can be placed on these drones is also far less intrusive than that which can be mounted to manned aircraft” (Brookings, n.d.). In short, more development in drone technology must take precedence before they fully replace their human counterparts; however, at the same time, the fact that human mortality will be much lower when using unmanned vehicles is a huge advantage that cannot be given up. But there exists another problem: privacy. With aerial surveillance drones roaming around the border, it can infringe others’ privacy by capturing their life without consent. Moreover, in cases where it is used for law enforcement, and roams around one’s house or its directory, it definitely can violate privacy. This is an on-going debate on whether drones should be actively involved in law enforcement. While it provides convenience, efficiency and safety, it can also infringe privacy as well as make additional costs. It is debatable whether drones should be


employed. On the other hand, drones are also projected to be helpful in the field of agriculture. Utilizing its ability to monitor large amounts of objects with its wide view, it is employed to monitor weeds, check the quality of crops, and detect any issues within the farm. According to the European Commission’s Digital Transformation Monitor, there exist additional advantages such as aerial planting, health assessment and irrigation. Despite its advantages, there exist impediments that must be improved on, presented by the European Commission. First, there might be difficulties in farmers procuring the ability to control drones, and additional investments might be necessary for wider drone usage (European Commission, n.d.). According to a survey conducted in 2017 by the United States Department of Agriculture, only 47% of the farms are using computers for business purposes. Additional fields that need improvements include data quality, since in some instances data acquired by drones do not match up with the actual data, and the fact that some farms do not possess enough capital in order to adopt newer technology (European Commission, n.d.). Although the adoption of drones offers many possibilities for improvement in various fields, it should be recognized that there must be certain limits to be put on their capabilities and purposes. As more and more drones are purchased and used by individuals and organizations, there must be stricter legislatures in order to prevent the abuse of advanced technology. For instance, if drones are to be utilized to deliver medicine and vaccines to inaccessible areas otherwise, it must be made sure that the drones do not perform other activities such as recording

the recipient and the recipient’s location to use for research purposes. If those requirements cannot be enforced by law, the technology may be very dangerous and harmful for humanity. As one can predict, unmanned aerial vehicles are going to be more and more prominent and essential to human life; and will also offer convenience never experienced before. Therefore, we must wisely construct the necessary system and regulations, so this technology can bring its benefits, but its risk behind. Works Cited “Child given World’s First DroneDelivered Vaccine in Vanuatu.” UNICEF, 4 Dec. 2020, www.unicef.org/pressreleases/child-given-worlds-first-dronedelivered-vaccine-vanuatu-unicef. Davis, John. “CBP Small Drones Program.” U.S. Customs and Border Protection, www.cbp.gov/frontline/cbpsmall-drones-program. “Drones in Agriculture.” Digital Transformation Monitor, 12 June 2020, ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/ dem/monitor/content/drones-agriculture. “Drones.” UNICEF Office of Innovation , www.unicef.org/innovation/ drones. McNeal, Gregory. “Drones and Aerial Surveillance: Considerations for Legislatures.” Brookings, Brookings, 23 Aug. 2016, www.brookings.edu/ research/drones-and-aerial-surveillanceconsiderations-for-legislatures/. “Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) - Critical Infrastructure.” Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA, www.cisa.gov/uas-critical-infrastructure.

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Coronavirus: Encoding Steganography in the United States Subin Pyo Tenafly High School, 9th

Seven million forty thousand seven hundred ninety-two coronavirus cases have been reported in the United States of America, yet additional cases are streaming throughout the country. Approximately 204,390 deaths resulted due to the pandemic in America. New cases and deaths accumulate each day due to the lack of a suitable response from the nation. The aggregation in the numbers are marred by four different aspects of the country: government, citizens, the medical community, and the media.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2020)

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lethargic response to the COVID-19. During their response, the government’s most significant oversight dates back to the early stages of coronavirus in the nation. During March and April, the US government made public announcements to wear masks and maintain proper social distancing in reaction to the epidemic. However, the Trump administration was quick to contradict their actions as they issued that America will reopen its economy the next month - May. President Trump seemingly expressed his confidence in the possibility of “safe reopening,” as he stated, “All of American society is engaged and mobilized in the war against the invisible enemy. while we must remain vigilant, it is clear that our aggressive strategy is working” (2020). This quote was listed in the article issued on April 16 by the White House. The government pushed reopening strongly when many public health officials voiced their concerns about reopening without sufficient preparation or guidelines for the states. The premise behind the “quickreopening” announced from the Trump Administration was a halt in economic


transactions within the country. President Trump has shown his strong wills to reopen the economy as he publicly stated, “The faster we go back, the better it’s going to be” (Wan, 2020). The public health officials voiced their deep concerns on the states’ readiness regarding the reopening through the media. For instance, Tom Inglesby, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, has told the Washington Post, “To be a week into these restrictions and already be talking about abandoning them is irresponsible and dangerous. Removing restrictions now would allow the virus to spread widely, rapidly, terribly, and could kill potentially millions in the year ahead with huge social and economic impact” (Wan, 2020). Despite the health officials’ apprehensions, states in the US reopened, and the number started to accelerate each day rapidly. The primary cause of acceleration was the quick reopening and the government’s inability to set comprehensive guidelines. For instance, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez expressed how these guidelines were missing from them in the New York Times. He has stated, “It was all predicated on reduction, open, reduction, open more, reduction, open. There was never what happens if there is an increase after you reopen?” (Michael, 2020). The statistics and reports itself reveal how lack of proper leadership - solely focusing on rerunning the economy - was performed by the US government, and rather their hasty reactions caused more significant damage to the nation. In addition to the government, the citizens have displayed their insubordination with the government and health officials’ guidelines. To reduce the amount of COVID-19 contractors, the government has ordered the citizens to

wear proper masks and social distance. However, many people have continued to resist these guidelines by protesting and even purposely disobeying the guidelines. For instance, groups of people reported wearing a mask for a paintball battle, which does not prevent the spread of the disease and visit public sites (Segall, 2020). Some others have shown their strong disapproval through protesting. In Utah, it was reported that a group of people protested against the Washington County School District in resistance to school mandating masks (Bote, 2020). Another significant population confronting the COVID-19 guidelines are young adults or students in the country. Due to social distancing, the states have prevented citizens from gathering altogether in a closed space. However, this is ignored among certain groups. College students are part of the group that breaks the rules by having a party or a large gathering. Even worse, mask-wearing has become partisan in the US. According to a Pew Research Center survey in June, it was found that 49% of conservative Republicans, while 83% among liberal Democrats wore masks the majority of the time.

Trump supporters at the Orlando Sanford International Airport on Monday, Oct. 12 most without masks (Raoux, 2020) UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 2 2 5


President Trump has also contributed by retweeting a photo of Joe Biden wearing a mask hurting the Democrat suggested by a Fox News commentator, Brit Hume.

Retweeted post of Brit Hume mocking Biden for wearing face mask (Douliery, 2020)

An action taken by prominent figures such as the president causes a ripple effect. As a result, it creates certain people who oppose such ideas of wearing a mask or prospering taking cautions of medical issues. Wearing a mask is one of the very few ways that can be implemented to prevent further cases within the country and is not an issue that should become sectarian (Zercher, 2020). Many citizens have been continually showing their negative attitudes toward the new lifestyle changes due to the COVID-19 and political differences have heightened this division. Even having a nation’s president taking part in the division has caused even more people to resist changes in the country. The majority have demonstrated that the pandemic is not considered seriously, and thus, is prompting the cases to increase. In terms of making adequate choices and optimum decisions, medical communities within the United States were not an exception. Just as the president 226 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

and the citizens were unsuccessfully protecting the nation from the pandemic, medical organizations could not fulfill their responsibilities. Especially during the first few months when medical officials noticed the pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) neglected to inform the nation to stop gathering in groups until March 15 (2020). During this time, weeks have passed after a top CDC official announced the spread of COVID-19. In terms of confronting the pandemic, the medical communities’ very first actions are crucial as their decisions are more valued in the nation during that particular time. The direct source that all media and the White House comes from the medical communities highlights how dire it is for them to make the correct decisions. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, CDC showed the nation and the world that it could not make an efficient decision for the country. As a center which studies diseases, it is their responsibility to be able to act fast. The main cause of the delay was due to the sole fact that many officials did not expect the pandemic to spread as quickly and cause fatal symptoms to the population. Regardless of the pandemics’ infection rate, it does not validate any of the delayed actions taken by officials. Many lives are at stake within their hands, yet this idea is ignored by many as the pandemic spread has disclosed their capabilities. Moreover, the medical community’s testing delays within the US contributed to the increased number of cases over the long-term. With the medical community’s testing delays, it caused people who were infected to visit public sites and attend gatherings. The testing was delayed, and what was worse, the testing equipment


provided to a tiny portion of the nation had low accuracy. As the NBC news illustrates, all of these testing devices were made in an extreme rush that many failed their purposes. Some of the testing devices were missing up to 20% of the positive cases showing its high inaccuracy (Dunn, 2020). Furthermore, the delays hindered many people from taking the tests. As this accumulated over a few months, when the medical community released competent testing devices, the numbers were skyrocketing. With the numbers escalating at the rate that many officials did not expect, it deferred assisting those in critical conditions. In the nation, the lack of rooms, medical officials, and hospital equipment was among the most leading problems.

Lines of coronavirus patients at Brooklyn on March 31 (Blue, 2020)

In the end, it led the medical officials to prohibit hospice from accepting more COVID patients. Many people were left without assistance from the doctors, being advised to stay home and take Tylenol. Even those who could communicate with their doctors were merely instructed to take Advils and Tylenol, often staying at home with their affected family members. One instance shown in the New York Times shows what happened to many: a family member with the virus and making them

take Advils and Tylenol with the constant worry of looking for out of stock products of such medications (Lustig, 2020). In all, the testing delays and defective equipment caused a snowball effect in the nation, and thus, several critical consequences amassed. Although many aspects fall under informing, media sources were the essential facet in appraising information. The responsibilities and roles of the media became extremely critical to the worldwide spread of a virus. With the emergence of COVID-19, the press had the responsibility to brief the entire nation about the new reports, cases, and discoveries regarding the virus. Even though they had such a pivotal, influential, and burden, many media organizations floundered. One of the common false trends that many journalists and reporters followed was an exaggeration. Due to the unique circumstances, it requires reports and facts delivered by official experts to be even more crucial than ever. However, many of the media organizations used such factual information and have amplified it. This leads to several consequences, most notably being false news being informed. The New York Times managing editor acknowledging this vital mistake has said, “You never have a degree of complete certainty about the medical analysis and the epidemiology� (Kafka, 2020). The information released from the medical communities and the health experts was numbers and data that are heavily dependent on individuals’ analysis. Nonetheless, the reporters do not have the skill to identify and release information regarding the data they received correctly. Especially during the early phases of the pandemic, many reporters have released UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 2 2 7


several false news supporting wrong ideas, which were mainly their own opinions resulting from aggressive reporting of specific data. The false or rather excessive reporting of many data and discoveries regarding the COVID-19 hindered the public from making rational decisions. One example of this was a research discovery that droplets containing the virus can theoretically travel far in the air (Oster, 2020). Due to this, hiking trailers, including open-air facilities, were closed. Although the research may suggest this idea, it is solely based on a theory and lacks actual instances that support the theory. It is an unwarranted finding, and yet it caused all the trails and other public sites to be closed, merely adding to the economic crisis and overall causing it to be an ineffectual decision. This furthermore proves how much control the media has over the public and many individuals’ decisions. Especially during the COVID-19, with limited ways to get authorized information, many turned to the press to access updated news. This was why the assertive reports made had an eminent impact and repercussions on the public. COVID-19 pandemic arrived in all nations unexpectedly and has proved to be a tool in measuring the nation’s efficiency and its capability to make responses in such dire situations. In the United States, it revealed many deficiencies that were concealed within the country. The virus is continuing, and none of the experts can estimate its duration. However, the pandemic is continually forcing the nation to change and accept the new situation. The virus has split the country as well as families and friends apart from each other, but it is up to the leader of the nation to let 228 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

this unexpected situation be an opportunity for all to become interconnected. Works Cited Al-Arshani, S. (2020, October 13). Photos from Trump’s Florida rally show supporters close together and not wearing masks even after Trump experienced COVID-19 first hand. Retrieved November 02, 2020, from https://www. businessinsider.com/photos-from-trumpsflorida-rally-show-supporters-notwearing-masks-2020-10 Baker, M., & Fink, S. (2020, March 31). At the Top of the Covid-19 Curve, How Do Hospitals Decide Who Gets Treatment? Retrieved November 02, 2020, from https://www.nytimes. com/2020/03/31/us/coronavirus-covidtriage-rationing-ventilators.html Dunn, L. (2020, May 27). Questions about COVID-19 test accuracy raised across the testing spectrum. Retrieved November 02, 2020, from https://www. nbcnews.com/health/health-news/ questions-about-covid-19-test-accuracyraised-across-testing-spectrum-n1214981 Joshua Bote and K. Sophie Will. (2020, September 15). Anti-mask protest in Utah mocked on social media as ‘straight parody’. Retrieved November 02, 2020, from https://www.dispatch.com/story/ news/politics/2020/09/15/anti-maskprotest-in-utah-mocked-on-social-mediaas-lsquostraight-parodyrsquo/42626633/ Kafka, P. (2020, April 13). What went wrong with the media’s coronavirus coverage? Retrieved November 02, 2020, from https://www.vox.com/ recode/2020/4/13/21214114/mediacoronavirus-pandemic-coverage-cdcshould-you-wear-masks Lustig, J. (2020, March 24). What I Learned When My Husband Got Sick


With Coronavirus. Retrieved November 02, 2020, from https://www.nytimes. com/2020/03/24/magazine/coronavirusfamily.html McCarthy, N., & Richter, F. (2020, March 30). Infographic: COVID-19 Cases Rising Rapidly In The U.S. Retrieved November 02, 2020, from https://www. statista.com/chart/21237/cumulativenumber-of-covid-19-cases-in-the-unitedstates/ Michael. (2020, July 18). Inside Trump’s Failure: The Rush to Abandon Leadership Role on the Virus. Retrieved November 02, 2020, from https://www. nytimes.com/2020/07/18/us/politics/ trump-coronavirus-response-failureleadership.html Oster, E. (2020, August 25). Opinion | How the media has us thinking all wrong about the coronavirus. Retrieved November 02, 2020, from h t t p s : / / w w w. w a s h i n g t o n p o s t . c o m / opinions/2020/08/25/how-media-has-usthinking-all-wrong-about-coronavirus/ Porter, T. (2020, May 26). Trump shared a tweet mocking Biden for wearing a face mask in public - in line with the CDC advice that the president routinely ignores. Retrieved November 02, 2020, from https://www.businessinsider.com/ trump-shares-tweet-mocking-biden-facemask-coronavirus-2020-5 President Donald J. Trump Is Beginning the Next Phase In Our Fight Against Coronavirus: Guidelines for Opening Up America Again. (n.d.). Retrieved November 02, 2020, from

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefingsstatements/president-donald-j-trumpbeginning-next-phase-fight-coronavirusguidelines-opening-america/ Segall, A. (2020, July 16). Antimask protesters’ new weapon: Wearing masks that offer no COVID-19 protection. Retrieved November 02, 2020, from https://www.wthr.com/article/news/ investigations/13-investigates/13investigates-anti-mask-protestors-turnto-mesh-yarn-crochet-masks-covidcoronavirus/531-5350260c-d6b1-4bd8857e-860fe84e0f52 What’s gone wrong with America’s coronavirus response? (n.d.). Retrieved November 02, 2020, from https://www. advisory.com/daily-briefing/2020/07/21/ coronavirus-response William Wan, R. (2020, March 25). Trump wants ‘the country opened,’ but easing coronavirus restrictions now would be disastrous, experts say. Retrieved November 02, 2020, from https://www. washingtonpost.com/health/2020/03/24/ coronavirus-strategy-economy-debate/ William Wan, R. (2020, March 25). Trump wants ‘the country opened,’ but easing coronavirus restrictions now would be disastrous, experts say. Retrieved November 02, 2020, from https://www. washingtonpost.com/health/2020/03/24/ coronavirus-strategy-economy-debate/ Zurcher, A. (2020, July 08). Coronavirus: Things US has got wrong and right. Retrieved November 02, 2020, from https://www.bbc.com/news/worldus-canada-53337483

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What Kind of Changes Were Triggered by Covid-19? Sungbin Yoon North London Collegiate School, 10th

The day has come when it is unimaginable to go outside without a mask. Yet, wearing a mask is a relatively small change Covid-19 brought about compared to the profound impact it had on how humans understand social interaction. From online learning to huge influx of media consumption, Covid-19 has breached all levels of society, catering to a level of individuality like none before. Overall, Covid-19 functioned as a catalyst as well as a trigger that accelerated changes and changed the society that we live in today. Online is now one of the most friendly term for us, as our life is centered around social media and social networking. People start their day by surfing through the internet, looking at recent news, and go to sleep after watching some compelling YouTube videos. Likewise, the internet became an individual’s tool, which enables any act simply and efficiently. As the amount of space that the internet takes in our lives expanded, the amount of time we spend increased as well. It is discovered that individuals on average spend 2 hours and 24 minutes on social media (SNS) a day (Deyan, 2020). Considering that this statistic was less than one hour just a few years ago, it 230 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

truly proves that the internet, particularly social media, has become inseparable from our lives. Behind this gradual increase in impact are such changes and developments. As online services have merged with various industries, such as banking system and gaming industry, jobs and tasks that could be solely performed through direct contact, are now able to be done with phones, making the influence of online services greater than ever before. Despite the great impact of online in numerous industries, education remained as one of the areas remained offline. The sole reason for this was simply that the traditional way was more effective. Considering the product of online merging with education is an online lesson, there are critical features for this new education system. Well known example is the absence of supervision and restriction over directly interacting with others. These are vital to education system since these salient factors function as a key for efficient study. As a result, the transfer into online education has not been pushed forward, remaining as the old way. However, an event that no one expected had encouraged the transition, even acknowledging the clear limitation of it. December 31st was the day when


the whole surroundings began to change. An unknown disease first identified by the Chinese government became ubiquitous, and online learning was inevitable in societies in order to minimize the damage directed to students. In Korea, initially, the spring vacation was lengthened, but since the vacation was not able to be prolonged forever, online learning was accepted by the authorities even noticing the flaw within it. As lots of people were concerned about the system beforehand, online lessons substantiated to be a fragile method. To illustrate, there were numerous problems such as the server problem where students were not able to access the learning. Also, since there was no supervision provided, students naturally became overly relaxed and lacked responsibility for the work they were given. As a result, work efficiency decreased in case of a lot of students, making them rest and play rather than studying and embedding with academic resources. As time passed and the fear or Covid-19 decreased, some of the schools in Korea opened their doors. But students had to have hard time adapting to offline school environment again, and had to catch up on the test schedule, which made numerous students exhausted. To an extent, the impact on education has also led to an impact on some of the companies and industries. It is obvious that companies lose profits due to the decreased consumption of the public. But there were some exceptions to this theory, as some companies faced huge growth during the Covid-19 pandemic. One well-known example is the companies that provided online calls. As education was only possible to happen with the use of online calls, the reliance on these applications and industry dramatically increased as well. For instance, there are

‘Zoom’ and ‘Skype’ as familiar examples. Since these two companies were the only one which could handle the online learning sessions, there was a massive influx of users. As a result, due to the heavy reliance on specific companies, the stock price of ‘Zoom’ had increased from 60USD to 600USD just about in a year, which suggests the gradual impact of Covid-19.

The impact of Covid-19 was not solely performed in the area of education, but it also affected the overall media. Even before Covid-19, the media was showing a positively increasing rate. Since it is even harder to find a person without a phone or a laptop these days, media became closer and more easily accessible. Also, as the media transferred and spread diverse information all around the world to the people, the importance increased significantly as well. Overall, these kinds of reasons merged and led to modern society where media is inevitable in an individual’s life. Supporting this, there was a research about media use which showed that consumers around the world spent about 7.5 hours a day with media (Watson, 2020). Even considering that this data includes TV and radios, it truly highlights the importance of media in our UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 2 3 1


daily lives as we are using approximately one-third of our day in watching and listening to the media. However, even though it was at an increasing rate before Covid-19, this became much faster as the world faced this gigantic hardship. The first vital change was the act of de-socializing. As socializing was one of the most significant actions that people could do, almost all countries recommended and even forced people to stay in their houses. In the case of Australia, all of the non-important services such as pubs were closed, and the government strongly recommended people to stay in their houses. As people could not go out freely, they got bored and lost enthusiasm. For these people, the media was their only friend. Since the outside activity was strictly banned, catching up with past movies and dramas became their new hobbies, and watching TV was the way of seeing other people and receiving the news. In fact, there were 15.8 million new Netflix subscribers in last quarter of the year, and this was the new record since the service ever started. It suggests that people are spending more time on media services and watching more movies or dramas in their free time. In other aspects, the sudden uprising in reliance on the media might support this outcome as well. Before the outbreak of Covid-19, people interacted with others directly and had lots of ways to receive information around the world. However, we are ‘locked’ in our house due to the concern of widespread disease, it is more than obvious that people rely on the media more than ever. If we think about the biggest change in our daily lives during the Covid-19 era, it would obviously be about masks. As our daily lifestyle proves, mask is one of the products which experienced sudden uprise 232 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

in demand and supply. Prior to Covid-19, masks were hardly used around the world. In western nations, masks were not used among general people, having a strong stereotype that it is only for ones who are sick. In Asia, specifically Korea, masks were quite familiar, as masks were used as a fashion item among younger generation. Also, as Korea struggled with micro dust, the government recommended citizens to wear masks. However, nowadays, masks simply seem to be an extent of clothes. It is unimaginable going out without a mask, as everyone has it on their faces. Also, as we get nudged when we do not have one, mask became an item that is not optional, but mandatory. During this time, the supply of masks has enough reasons to skyrocket. As masks function like a defense mechanism against the widespread of Covid-19, people are encouraged to have it on. In addition, since more than 50 nations, including the United Arab Emirates and Cuba, force citizens to wear masks, people have no other choices to make, but to buy and wear masks (ALJAZEERA, 2020). Also, considering that masks can only be used once, individuals need enough masks to sustain themselves, resulting in a humongous demand in the market. Due to this high demand in product, the price of a mask almost tripled up within a short period of time. While everyone was struggling with this price issue of mask, there were people who wanted to take advantage of it. Easily known as resellers, there were people buying the mask at a cheaper price, and reselling to others at a higher price in order to gain financial benefits. The public seriously criticized these people, but it was their freedom that could not be controlled. But, as companies entered the mask production industry, this kind of act


naturally stopped. As the mask industry seemed like a golden opportunity, a lot of factories began producing masks. A recent research also states that the global face masks market is expected to reach $2,455.4 million by 2027 (Allied Market Research, n.d.). These kinds of interventions naturally increased the supply of masks in the market, which dropped the price, and cooled down the demand and supply. Overall, the mask industry is getting stabilized due to more and more production, but it still remains as a fact that this specific industry has been under a gigantic increase that nothing has ever experienced. Racism, which is a problem associated with human behavior and prejudice was also affected by Covid-19. Deterrence of interaction and absence of tourism did not resolve the issue of racism, but rather made it firm. In order to find the reason for this irrational correlation between the two factors, we have to go back in time when the Covid-19 started. As clarified in the first half of the essay, Covid-19 was proven to be formed in Wuhan, China. In detail, the fish market was the initial point where the coronavirus formed. Originally, people were indifferent to this virus as they did not have any idea how Covid-19 was going to affect their daily lives. However, as the harsh reality arose over the surface, affecting their daily lives and even killing a myriad number of people, they needed someone to blame. Blaming a specific individual or a group had continued for years and centuries, easily revealed in every country’s history. Profound examples might be the persecution of the Jews and women at the time when witchcraft had fame in the puritanism society. This kind of immoral action, which had to be

stopped earlier, is still in action in the 21st century. Simply because China was the place where Covid-19 formed, the coronavirus was named as Wuhan virus or Chinese virus in the beginning. Due to this specific terminology used for defining the virus, the Chinese communities were forcibly associated with the virus, directly leading to the rise of racism. In addition, people who blamed China and had bias, took a step further, degrading these people’s culture such as their appetites and meals. For example, people around the world pointed out unique foods of China and framed it in a way that the food is unhealthy and dirty. This kind of ideology not only affected China, but also Korea and Japan. People generalized this inaccurate concept for all of the Asian countries, which supported the spread of racist ideas around the globe. This affected the Korean community hard since they witnessed black people criticizing and discriminating Asian people as well. Since Korean people knew the harsh situation that black people endured, and had supported movements associated with it, such as the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement, it might have been seen as a betrayal for some of the communities in a way. Nowadays, since there is a strict restriction against people gathering, some people are spreading out articles regarding these issues in order to spread awareness. In my personal opinion, I believe racism is similar to epidemic disease, and wish it to get diminished in the near future with Covid-19. Environment and pollution have been one of the biggest issues debated in the modern world. As we entered the 21st century having lots of factories working, a large number of cars roaming on the world, and the amount of carbon dioxide emitted reaching its peak, the environment and UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 2 3 3


pollution issues remain at the apex. At this point, a remedy that no one ever expected has appeared, succeeding to partially and temporarily solving the problem. Even though we could only think about many negative aspects of Covid-19, the impact regarding the environment remains as the sole one with positive attributes. Since Covid-19 became a pandemic, the first change that it brought was the reduced number of flights. Since the WHO was seriously concerned about the spread of the virus, the airport had to stop its services. This was obviously a negative point for lots of people since no airport services means no travelling around the world. This might separate a family or a couple. However, in an environmental aspect, this was a positive change since airplanes also cause air pollution as cars do. But since flying airplanes was banned, a big amount of carbon dioxide emission was deterred, which might have decreased the severity of air pollution. Lockdown also performed in a similar way since people had to be locked in their houses, solving the pollution issue. As a result, the biggest factors that contributed to air pollution were barely seen, making the air quality better in a significant way. As an evidence, in India, people were able to see the Himalayas for the first time in the decades since the Covid-19 eased air pollution (CNN, 2020). As people are noticing some positive impact caused by Covid-19, there are some people speaking out that Covid-19 is the remedy to Earth, while humans are the real virus that damaged Earth. Overall, Covid-19 is an unexpected incident that resulted in various changes in the world. It is unfortunate that the social interaction between people is affected in a way where direct contact has become difficult. However, it is also a 234 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

valuable opportunity for all the people to acknowledge the harm that humans have been directing to Earth. It is obviously a hard time for everyone, but I believe that this will also pass as we overcome every hardship. Works Cited Picheta, R. (2020, April 09). People in India can see the Himalayas for the first time in ‘decades,’ as the lockdown eases air pollution. Retrieved December 01, 2020, from https://edition.cnn.com/travel/ article/himalayas-visible-lockdown-indiascli-intl/index.html Face Mask Market Expected to Reach $2,455.4 Million by 2027 | AMR Face Mask Market Expected to Reach $2,455.4 Million by 2027 | AMR (2020). Available at: https://www. alliedmarketresearch.com/press-release/ face-mask-market.html (Accessed: 21 November 2020). Al Jazeera. (2020, August 17). Which countries have made wearing face masks compulsory? Retrieved December 01, 2020, from https://www.aljazeera. com/news/2020/8/17/which-countrieshave-made-wearing-face-maskscompulsory) Watson, A. (n.d.). Topic: Media Use. Retrieved December 01, 2020, from https://www.statista.com/topics/1536/ media-use/ How Much Time Do People Spend on Social Media in 2020? (2020, June 18). Retrieved December 01, 2020, from https://techjury.net/blog/time-spent-onsocial-media/ Face Mask Market Expected to Reach $2,455.4 Million by 2027. (n.d.). Retrieved December 01, 2020, from https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/ press-release/face-mask-market.html)


Air Pollution in Vietnam Sung Hyun An St. Paul American School Hanoi, 11th

Extreme air pollution in Vietnam killed approximately 50,232 people in 2017 by causing serious respiratory diseases (Quy, 2019). According to Central Lung Hospital, 95 percent of their patients have suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Dr. Nguyen Kim Cuong from Hanoi University of Medicine claimed that the recent increase in chronic obstructive pulmonary lung conditions and asthma cases is connected to the worsening conditions in the living environment, primarily air pollution (Vietnamnet, 2017). As reported by the Ministry of Health (MoH), Ho Chi Minh City had the highest percentage of patients suffered from tuberculosis in Vietnam at 18 percent, followed by the provinces of Bac Giang and Quang Ninh (nearly 0.15 percent each), Ninh Thuan (0.14 percent), Dong Nai (0.13 percent), and Haiphong (over 0.12 percent). The MoH also indicates, “[...] of every 100,000 people, 4,100 or 4.1 percent have lung diseases, 3,800 contract inflammation of the throat and tonsils, and 3,100 have bronchitis.” As a result of the increase in respiratory diseases, Vietnam is spending a huge amount of money on the

treatments. A recent study from the World Economic Forum informed, “Hanoi has 3.5 million people living in the inner city. On average, each person spends a daily cost of more than 1,500VND ($0.07) on treating respiratory diseases caused by air pollution. In total, they spend nearly 2 trillion VND ($90.9 million) on the treatments” (Vietnam Investment Review, 2018). In addition, air pollution contributes to slowing Vietnam’s economic growth. Economic expert Le Viet Phu argues, “total economic losses due to early deaths caused by air pollution were 5-7 percent of Vietnam’s GDP or $11.4-15.9 billion last year when at least 40,000 people died of diseases related to air pollution.” In other words, it is crucial to deal with the air quality problem not only for the environment and public health but also for Vietnam’s economic growth. Air pollution in Vietnam is getting worse every year, attributing Hanoi—the capital city of Vietnam—to be the second most polluted city in Southeast Asia (Yun, 2019). The main pollutant that causes air pollution is called “fine particulate matter” (PM2.5), which includes dirt, dust, smoke, etc. Surprisingly, Hanoi had UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 2 3 5


only eight days with PM2.5 lower than the national standard of 50 micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m3) in 2019. This means that for most of the days, over ten million Vietnamese were exposed to extremely polluted air. Ho Chi Minh City followed after Hanoi for being considered as a city with second-most polluted air in Vietnam, having only 36 days with PM2.5 below the national standard (Do, 2020). For the past few years, polluted air has been a silent killer of people in Vietnam, largely increasing the mortality rate. If so, what mainly contributes to this problem? Vietnam is one of the fastestgrowing countries in the world. Between 2002 and 2019, GDP per capita increased by 2.7 times, reaching $2,700 in 2019. Moreover, the poverty rate significantly declined from 70 percent to below 6 percent. In 2019, Vietnam’s economy continued to grow, supported by large domestic demand and export-oriented manufacturing. However, these rapid industrialization and modernization also brought several environmental challenges to the country, including air pollution. Electricity consumption has tripled over the past decade, elevating the reliance on fossil fuels, which account for two-thirds of

Vietnam’s greenhouse gas emissions (The World Bank, 2020). These greenhouse gas emissions emitted from coal and fossil fuel combustion are the major cause of worsening air quality. Huge emissions of dust from power plants, such as SO2, CO, CO2, and NOx, are notorious for polluting the air and the atmosphere (Noi, 2010). As shown in the graph, the power plant for coal dramatically increased from 2010 to 2020, and it is expected to increase up to 56 percent in 2030. Furthermore, the demand for energy in Vietnam is forecasted to rise at a rate of between 6.5 and 7.5 percent annually until 2030, which has resulted in an increased dependence on coal power plants. Vietnam already has more than 20 coal-fired power plants all over the country (Ha Tinh, Quang Ninh, Hai Phong, etc.), and their plan is to expand the number of coal power plants up to 51 by 2050. Here is an example of one of the largest coal power plants in Vietnam, Uong Bi Thermal Power Plant: this power station has a capacity of 630 megawatts, and it burns 7,500 tons of coal every day, producing over 1000 tons of waste (Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, 2019). Various studies revealed that these rapid increases in coal power plants would

(source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2015) 236 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS


result in causing 25,000 premature deaths per year due to respiratory diseases (The Asean Post, 2020). In addition, there are over 5.8 million motorcycles and automobiles in Hanoi, as well as 7.5 million vehicles in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC); those huge numbers of vehicles are emitting an enormous amount of pollutants to the air, that they are responsible for 70 percent of air pollution in Vietnam. Meanwhile, COVID-19 has made an interesting change to the situation, proving how largely these emissions from motorcycles and automobiles have affected Vietnam’s air quality. In the early days of COVID-19, “the PM2.5 fine dust concentration measured in Hanoi suddenly soared to 104.3 µg / m3, 10 times exceeding the WHO’s recommendation and 5 times higher than the permitted level of Vietnam’s government”; it is assumed that the long New Year Lunar breaks in February had worsened the air quality due to an increase in traffic. On the last day of March, however, “the figure has reduced by 10 folds, returning to 11.5, which means it’s approaching the WHO permissible standard” (Le, 2020). This

shows that a reduced amount of harmful emissions from vehicles due to a decrease in transportation substantially improved the air quality, which re-verify that emission from vehicles was the primary cause of serious air pollution. Yet, the Vietnamese government seems to care more about the country’s economic growth, rather than solving this urgent health-related problem for its citizens. Surprisingly, there is still no practical law that regulates the air quality in Vietnam, and the regulation for harmful industrial emission is too weak to alleviate the actual problem (Asian Pacific Society of Respirology, 2019). Thus, there must be a clearer and more effective law to reduce air pollution and to prevent the premature deaths of their valuable citizens. Recently, the Vietnamese government is looking for solutions to regulate air pollution. Prior to examining how the Vietnamese government has reacted to air pollution, it would be helpful to see how other countries have responded to this same problem. In New Zealand, the government implemented a specific rule called “Land Transport Rule: Vehicle Exhaust Emissions 2007”, in order to

(Source: The Asean Post) UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 2 3 7


regulate the release of harmful emissions from vehicles. This rule established more strict emission standards for vehicles manufactured after the rule has been implemented. For instance, “light diesel vehicles that were imported new and manufactured on or after January 2010 are required to have a particulate matter emissions level of 0.005 g/km, compared to the particulate matter requirement of 0.05 g/km for vehicles manufactured before 2008.” Consequently, the rule wellaccomplished a goal of regulating harmful emissions from vehicles: The Ministry for the Environment’s Environment Aotearoa 2015 report stated that between 2001 and 2013, estimated emissions for five key pollutants from road vehicles fell between 26 and 52 percent. Moreover, carbon monoxide emissions from vehicles have decreased by 46 percent since 2001 (Ministry of Transport, 2018). Here is another fascinating example from Germany: the German government has claimed that it will close down all 84 of its coal-fired power plants over the next 19 years and will invest more than 25 billion euros in renewable energy. As an outcome of this policy, scientists assumed that Germany would be able to reduce 55 percent of CO2 by 2030, and 80 percent by 2050, compared to 1990 (Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, 2019). Now, it is time to examine some of the responses from the Vietnamese government toward the issue of air pollution. Before the beginning of 2020, Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung of Vietnam has asked each ministry to bring possible solutions to the problem. The Ministry of Industry and Trade was asked to enhance the management of industrial emission. In order to raise awareness of the problem, local 238 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

administrations encouraged the citizens to genuinely care about the harmfulness and seriousness of air pollution (Vietnam Net Global, 2019). The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) has enacted a National Action plan on Air Quality Management, which will be effective until 2025. This plan is aimed to reduce 20 percent of harmful emissions including NOx, SOx, and particulate matter from various industrial facilities (MONRE, 2019). Besides, MONRE has drafted a law revising the 2014 Law on Environmental Protection, in order to add more strict and effective provisions on environmental protection including air quality. New revisions will establish guidelines to provide AQI (Air Quality Index) and guide local air quality management. For instance, local governments will be required to regularly monitor and publicize data about air quality and provide possible solutions to the problem. Any organizations that violate these laws will be informed to have severe punishment (Vietnam Law and Legal Forum, 2020). Since the Ministry of Natural resources and Environment has asserted that vehicles are the major pollutants, regulating and establishing the standards for vehicle emissions seem indispensable to pull out the root of this problem. In contrast, Vietnam is attempting to produce additional motorcycles in recent years. If so, why is Vietnam wanting to produce additional motorcycles since there is already an excessive number of vehicles on the road? The reason is that motorcycles are vital to Vietnam’s culture and economy. During rush hour—a time when traffic is the heaviest—thousands of motorcycles fill the roads, making the asphalt of the roads barely visible.


People use motorcycles to go to work, go to school, and to go shopping. In other words, motorcycles are taking a large part of the Vietnamese people. Thus, reducing the number of motorcycles would be very difficult, or impossible, and it is expected to induce huge protests against the following restrictions. For this reason, electric motorcycles have been selected as a rising alternative to gasoline-based motorcycles. VinFast is an automobile manufacturing company which belongs to Vingroup, the largest Vietnamese company with regard to revenue. Recently, VinFast has drafted a plan to fill the road with ecofriendly electric motorcycles. VinFast has a new $3.5 billion factory in Hai Phong, and its main task is to produce e-scooters, electric buses, and electric cars. Pham Nhat Vuong, the owner of VinFast, says that he is aiming to sell 112,000 e-scooters by 2020, and he predicts that a maximum of 80 percent of scooter sales will become electric by 2040 (Bourdreau & Giang, 2020). This effort of replacing the main cause of air pollutants with ecofriendly electric vehicles will certainly help Vietnam to restore fresh air into its atmosphere. In summary, strong restrictions on the number of power plants and vehicles are necessary, as well as effective alternatives that constantly meet the needs of both the economy and transportation. Reducing air pollution would be a difficult task for Vietnam since it is a rapidly growing country and the regulation on industry and transportation may slow down its economic growth. Nevertheless, this problem must be addressed as soon as possible because nothing is more important than the lives of people.

Works Cited Air pollution, cause of chronic diseases in big cities in Vietnam. IQAir Air purifiers in Vietnam - The world’s most advanced air purifiers in Vietnam. (2017). http://www.air-purifier-vietnam. com/air-pollution-causechronic-diseases-big-cities-vietnam. Boudreau, J., & Giang, N. K. (2020, September 25). Vietnam’s VinFast Wants to Fill Hanoi With Electric Motorbikes. Bloomberg.com. https://www.bloomberg. com/news/articles/2020-09-25/vietnam-svinfast-wants-to-fill-hanoi-with-electricmotorbikes. Coal-based power plants: Viet Nam’s unsolved problem. Home Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Office for Regional Cooperation in Asia. (2019). https://www.fes-asia.org/news/coalbased-power-plants-viet-nams-unsolvedproblem/. Do, T. (2020, March 30). Vietnam’s Big Air Pollution Challenge. – The Diplomat. https://thediplomat. com/2020/03/vietnams-big-air-pollutionchallenge/. Johnson, S. (2015). U.S. Energy Information Administration - EIA Independent Statistics and Analysis. Coal, nuclear, and renewables expected to boost Vietnam’s electricity capacity - Today in Energy - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). https://www.eia. gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=22332. Law on Environmental Protection to be revised for sustainable development. Vietnam Law & Legal Forum Magazine is your gateway to the law of Vietnam. (2020). https://vietnamlawmagazine.vn/law-onenvironmental-protection-to-be-revisedfor-sustainable-development-16996.html. Le, J. (2020, April 8). Vietnam air quality improves thanks to COVID-19. UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 2 3 9


Vietnam Times. https://vietnamtimes.org. vn/vietnam-air-quality-improves-thankstocovid-19-19268.html. News, V. N. N. (2019). Vietnam looks for solutions for air pollution. VietNamNet. https://vietnamnet.vn/en/ sci-tech-environment/vietnam-looks-forsolutions-for-air-pollution-601982.html. Noi, N. (2010). Sources and Effects of Air Pollution in Vietnam. Vietnam. http://butane.chem.uiuc.edu/pshapley/ Environmental/L19/3.html. Quy, N. (2019, December 24). Pollution kills over 71,300 in Vietnam in a year - VnExpress International. https://e. vnexpress.net/news/news/pollutionkills-over-71-300-in-vietnam-in-ayear-4030833.html. Team, T.A.S.E.A.N. (2020). Vietnam’s growing demand for energy. The ASEAN Post. https://theaseanpost. com/article/vietnams-growing-demandenergy. Van, G. (2019). Impact of Air Pollution on Population Health in Vietnam. The Asian Pacific Society of Respirology.

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https://www.apsresp.org/archive/2018ers-world-village-air-pollution/vnrs.pdf. Vehicle Emissions. Vehicle Emissions | Ministry of Transport. (2018). https://www.transport.govt.nz/multimodal/vehicleemissions/. Vietnam - Environmental and Pollution Control Equipment and Services. International Trade Administration | Trade.gov. (2019). https://www.trade. gov/knowledge-product/vietnamenvironmental-and-pollution-controlequipment-and-services. VIR, V. I. R.-. (2018, February 26). Air pollution is Vietnam’s silent killer. VIR. https://www.vir.com.vn/airpollution-is-vietnams-silent-killer-56542. html. The Word Bank in Vietnam. World Bank. (2020). https://www.worldbank. org/en/country/vietnam/overview. Yun, B. (2019). The ways to avoid air pollution in Vietnam. KOTRA. https://news.kotra.or.kr/user/globalBbs/ k o t r a n e w s / 7 / g l o b a l B b s D a t a Vi e w. do?setIdx=245.


Art Therapy Sung Won Yoon International School of Kuala Lumpur, 11th

What is Art Therapy? Art therapy is a distinct discipline using artistic methods in order to treat psychological disorders by incorporating creative methods of expression through creative artmaking. Art therapy is a technique embedded in the idea that creative expression can foster healing, self-esteem and mental well-being. Art therapy is also an integrative mental health and human services profession as it improves people and human experience within a psychotherapeutic relationship. With art’s help, it will be easier for people to explore emotions, enhance social skills, develop self-awareness, boost selfesteem, and cope with stress. When was Art Therapy Formed/ Established? Art has been used to communicate, self-express, group interact, diagnose, and resolve conflict throughout history. For thousands of years, cultures and religions around the world have incorporated the use of carved idols and charms as well as sacred paintings and symbols in the healing process. The establishment of art therapy as a unique and publicly accepted therapeutic

approach only took place recently, in the mid-20th century. The emergence of art therapy as a profession arose independently and simultaneously in the United States and Europe in 1942. The term “art therapy” was coined by a British artist Adrian Hill, who discovered the health benefits of painting and drawing while recovering from tuberculosis. In the 1940s, several writers in the mental health field began to describe their work with people in treatment as “art therapy.” As there were no formal art therapy courses or training programs available at that time, these care providers were often educated in other disciplines and supervised by psychiatrists, psychologists, or other mental health care professionals. Here are some schools and institutions that provide art therapy courses. In the United Kingdom, Art Therapy Northern Program is known for their MA in Psychotherapy Practice, MA in Art Psychotherapy Research. Roehampton University in London provides MA in Art Therapy. Goldsmiths University of London has Introduction to Art Therapy Workshop, Art Therapy Summer School, Foundation Course UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 2 4 1


in Art Psychotherapy, Art & Therapy Workshop, MRes in Art Psychotherapy, Mphil & PhD in Art Psychotherapy/ Dance Movement Therapy. And MA in Art Therapy. In Europe, Instituto Superior De Estudios Psicológicos ISEP is famous for their Masters Degree in Art Therapy. In the United States, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville provides MA in Art Therapy Counseling, as well as NYU Steinhardt. What do Art Therapists Do? Art therapists are trained in both therapy and art and have studied and mastered both psychology and human development. There are various requirements of becoming an art therapist as well as receiving certifications, which means that art therapists are professionals when it comes to using art to judge a person’s state to treat for serious illness. Art therapists can work with people of all ages, sex, etc. They can help an individual, a couple, a family, or groups of people, depending on the situation. Numerous therapists work together as a clinical team. Art therapists are trained to pick up on nonverbal symbols and metaphors that are often expressed through art and creative process, and to understand concepts that are usually difficult to be expressed with words. Art therapists use art in order to help patients cope with emotional and mental health problems and to allow them to express their personal emotions and feelings through art. Art therapists work with a wide range of patients who are affected by a variety of problems, such as bipolar depression, phobias, anxiety, and behavioral disorders. Therapy aims to channel patients’ energies into painting, collaging, and other forms of expression 242 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

in order to help them understand and address their inner conflicts. Who can Benefit from Art Therapy: Art Therapy is great for people with learning difficulties who may find it hard to verbalize their feelings. To be more specific, those with dementia can benefit; when you are using the creative part of your brain, it helps to deal with the stress. Those on the autistic spectrum; creative art can help to distract and calm people down to build communication skills. Art therapy also helps patients with chronic illness; it can help with expressing feelings as well as helping patients regain their sense of control and freedom. People who find this hard can use art therapy to show their emotions without too much verbal communication. Overall, art therapy can be used to benefit a wide range of mental disorders and psychological distress. Health Problems that Can be Treated by Art Therapy: Research indicates art therapy can improve communication and concentration and can help reduce feelings of isolation. This type of therapy has also been shown to lead to increases in selfesteem, confidence, and self-awareness. Positive results in art therapy may often be achieved by those facing issues such as anxiety, depression, stress, ageing geriatric issues, substance dependency, cancer, compassion fatigue, heart disease, anorexia, bulimia nervosa, eating disorders, family issues, relationships issues, and cognitive impairments.


Works Cited Www.rtor.org, G. (2020, July 29). Creativity and Recovery: The Mental Health Benefits of Art Therapy. Retrieved November 29, 2020, from https://www. rtor.org/2018/07/10/benefits-of-arttherapy/ Team, G. (n.d.). Art Therapy. Retrieved November 29, 2020, from https://www.goodtherapy.org/learnabout-therapy/types/art-therapy Art Therapy Certification: Art Therapy Certificate Programs.(2013, December 25). Retrieved November 29, 2020, from http://www.arttherapyblog.

com/education/art-therapy-certificationfor-us-and-abroad/ What is Art Therapy?: What Does an Art Therapist Do? (n.d.). Retrieved November 29, 2020, from http://www. arttherapyblog.com/what-is-art-therapy/ 61 institutions offering Art Therapy courses abroad. (n.d.). Retrieved November 29, 2020, from https://www. hotcoursesabroad.com/study/trainingdegrees/international/art-therapy-courses/ cgory/pj.13-4/sin/ct/programs.html Art therapy. (2020, November 25). Retrieved November 29, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_therapy

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Spacecraft Sungtack Oh Haven Christian School, 10th

Space has always been a mystery not only in the past but to the current 2020s. Most of it has not been discovered or found because of the extreme environments that the human body cannot sustain. Also, it is extremely hard to visit because gravity does not let us visit space easily. Gravity keeps the earth to maintain its ecosystem but not that good for voyages. I believe that this phenomenon is not to stop us from researching but to keep organism from harm. But the harder it is to travel space, the more attractive it is to humans. Therefore, humans made spacecraft to visit and research outer space. By that, they made enormous discoveries that became the starting point of space research. These days, awareness of space research is getting bigger due to global warming, environmental problems, shortage of natural resources, etc. The problems that become bigger and more fatal to humanity have solutions hard to be achieved due to lacking technology, laws, no alternative, or lateness. The rising problems are becoming more severe and one of the many paths that could help solve this global tragedy is going to another planet. To attain the goal, study on other planets and space is essential, and 244 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

humanity started to speed up the process and research on outer space. So what is space? From earth’s perspective, space is a place that is 100 kilometers above earth. Space has no air and it is vacuum. The famous English scientist Stephen Hawking claimed that the universe was made by the big bang. The big bang theory says that the universe was made by a singularity that caused 13.8 billion years ago (Howell, 2017). However, there is no way to really find it out, so there are only theories about how the universe was made. Because the space industry does not have a vast history of research and due to lack of technology, detailed examination of space was not possible. Therefore, insufficient amount of strong evidence was inevitable. How did the space industry start and develop? The time when technology was not advanced enough, people looked at the sky and predicted and made theories about how the space looked like and how it formed. The Egyptians thought that the gods made the world. They did not have a firm term of space. Mostly the ancient people put their belief on myths and gods, and they did not have any scientific evidence that supported their


beliefs. While the human civilization amended, the theories about the unknown world became reinforced by logical and scientific research. Then, the big event happens. World War 1 and World War 2 led to remarkable development of science. Countries used their money to invest in the science field in order to make deadly weapons. Because of these events, chemistry, biology, and aerospace engineering developed dramatically. The missiles became the scaffold of rockets. The starting of space rockets happened in 1930s and 1940s. The Nazi Germans made a missile named V-2 which was able to attack 200-mile range with the speed of more than 5632 kilometers per hour (V-2 Missile, n.d.). This weapon changed the history of aircraft and with the start of this missile, the Soviets launched the first human made satellite on October 4, 1957. The satellite was named Sputnik 1. A month passed and in November 1975, a dog named Laika became the first living creature that traveled space. Laika flied in a spacecraft named Sputnik 2. This phenomenal event gave scientist the knowledge that creatures could live outer space. After 4 years on April 12, Yuri Gagarin orbited the earth in Vostok 1. He flied 108 minutes at the altitude of 202 miles (To the Moon and Beyond: A Brief History Of Space Exploration, 2019). The space race has begun. Not to be outdone, the US fired a satellite, the Explorer 1, on January 31, 1958. In 1961, Alan Shepard, an American, flied in space on February 20, 1962. He was the first American to orbit space (To the Moon and Beyond: A Brief History Of Space Exploration, 2019). In 1961, the US president John F.

Kennedy claimed a plan of “landing a man on the moon and him returning with no harm within 10 years”. On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong, an astronaut of America, stepped onto the moon’s surface and returned safely. He made the first step on the moon. There are conspiracy theories about the moon landing. However, officially it is a historical event, and it is known to be true (To the Moon and Beyond: A Brief History Of Space Exploration, 2019) In the 1970s, the use of satellites became a daily life and they almost were used common. By the end of 1970s, the spacecraft was able to collect delicate and specified information about the planets far from earth such as Jupiter and Saturn (To the Moon and Beyond: A Brief History Of Space Exploration, 2019). However, the spotlight of 1970s returned to America’s first space station, Skylab. Also, there was a crewed space mission with Russian and American astronauts. In April 1981, the launch of the first space shuttle was accomplished by the United States, Colombia. This was an innovative launch because NASA was able to reuse the space shuttle which cut the costs. However, big innovation would lead big disasters. On January 28, 1986, the Challenger disaster transpired. The Challenger shuttle exploded after its 10th launch after 73 seconds it ejected. NASA intended the Challenger to be a prototype or a test vehicle. The shuttle went on testing for 11 months of vibration by using sophisticated machines, thus they were able to test the conditions the shuttle might pass through. The launch of the Challenger was delayed multiple days. Even on the launching day, it was delayed until 11:38 am. After some twist and turns, the Challenger shuttle was UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 2 4 5


ready to be launched. When it reached 14,000 meters height, the Challenger was on flames and the remains fell into the Atlantic Ocean and 7 crews on the shuttle died. Unfortunately, this was not the only accident (The Crew of the Challenger Shuttle Mission in 1986). On February 1, 2003, there was another accident. This time, it happened when they approached the earth’s atmosphere. The accident happened a few minutes before it was planned to land at Kennedy space center. The research team claims that the apocalypse occurred because a piece of foam demolished the tank and edge of the shuttle’s left wing. This killed 7 crews in the shuttle (Howell, 2019). After this, there was a big event at the ISS which is the International Space Station. This is a gigantic research laboratory in the space, orbiting the earth. It is also a home for astronauts and people outer space. The ISS travels in an enormous speed of 7.66kmps which means it orbits the earth every 90 minutes. The ISS has a gigantic size of 357 feet which is around the size of the American football field. Instead of carrying one big station, the countries that decided to build the ISS suggested to take the parts of it into space instead of carrying the whole model. It is not only hard to get the ISS into space but operating it was also a big problem. To solve the problem, the ISS gets its resources from the shuttle that voyages to the ISS from earth. Also, to get oxygen, they use the electrolysis of water. The water is split into oxygen and hydrogen. They vent the oxygen into the ISS and the dangerous hydrogen is vented externally. According to the Space answers the ISS makes between 2.3 and 9kg of oxygen daily. To cause electrolysis 246 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

and to fuel other electronic devices, the ISS uses solar panels to receive energy from the sun (History and Timeline of the ISS, n.d.; Dunbar, 2015; Watson, 2020). The space project usually was a government issue, and it was a national business. However, time has passed, and a civilian company started to make rockets and satellites in order to fire them to space: SpaceX, a civilian company founded by Elon Musk. In 2014, Musk mentioned a project about the spacecraft that would be crewed. They revealed the design. In its design, it could carry up to 7 astronauts, has a life maintaining device, some touch displays, windows, etc. The Crew Dragon capsule consists of a nose cone, pressurized crew section, engines, solar panels, and a trunk. It is 8.1m tall and has a diameter of 4m. 16 Draco thrusters are attached, and each thruster could produce 41kg of force in space. The spacecraft was designed safe. It could return safely even if 2 systems are down (Rincon, 2020). Before humans going to space with the Dragon spacecraft, Dragon was launched on March 2, 2019 and docked with the ISS on March 3. After 5 days, it landed on earth. However, instead of real living humans, there was a humanoid dummy named Ripley. After this, the humans were in the spacecraft and they went to space (Wall, 2019). After the Dragon returned, by using this spacecraft, on May 30, 2020, NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley went to space and returned to earth. The astronauts reached space with the Crew Dragon spacecraft. The two astronauts blasted off at 3:22 pm on the Falcon 9 rocket at NADA Kennedy Space Center. The Crew Dragon was planned to dock to the ISS at 10:29 am. The spacecraft approached close to the 8:27


am. It was manufactured to be docked auto and the crews would monitor the process of docking. After the docking, the crew were welcomed. In space, they did lots of scientific investigation such as forming droplets, measuring electrolysis, and observing the earth. After 62 days in the space station, it was time they headed back to earth. They ejected out from the ISS. Then, they dismantled the trunk to let it incinerate in the atmosphere. Then the spacecraft went through the temperature of 1,600 Celsius as it emerges to the atmosphere. After that, the capsule deployed the parachute and it fell to the ocean. On August 2, 2020, Behnken and Hurley fell into water in the Gulf of Mexico. The astronauts mentioned that it was a comfortable and perfect mission. They examined that even when they were going through the atmosphere, it was smooth and good (Rincon, 2020; Potter, 2020; Moran, 2020; Davenport, 2020). Space is enormous and there are still lots of things that are under the veil. The space research is becoming bigger and bigger. First, it started by a few ancient philosophers who examined the sky. However, as time passed by, humans placed their feet in outer space and the first footsteps on the moon was made. The research about space is becoming faster and bigger in scale. The future innovation and development of humanity lies in space due to its huge potential that it possesses. Space is the clue to solving the problems that we face and due to SpaceX’s bold footsteps, the space industry would flourish and that would lead to sensational expansion of humans.

Works Cited A Brief History of Space Exploration. (2018, June 01). Retrieved November 26, 2020, from https://aerospace.org/article/ brief-history-space-exploration V-2 Missile. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://airandspace.si.edu/collectionobjects/v-2-missile/nasm_A19600342000 To the Moon and Beyond: A Brief History Of Space Exploration. (2019, November 13). Retrieved November 26, 2020, from https://www.techwillsaveus. com/blog/history-of-space-exploration/ Howell, E. (2019, May 01). Challenger: The Shuttle Disaster That Changed NASA. Retrieved November 26, 2020, from https://www.space. com/18084-space-shuttle-challenger.html The Crew of the Challenger Shuttle Mission in 1986. (n.d.). Retrieved November 26, 2020, from https://history. nasa.gov/Biographies/challenger.html History and Timeline of the ISS. (n.d.). Retrieved November 26, 2020, from https://www.issnationallab.org/ about/iss-timeline/ Dunbar, B. (2015, June 02). What Is the International Space Station? Retrieved November 26, 2020, from https://www. nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/5-8/ features/nasa-knows/what-is-the-iss-58. html Garcia, M. (2016, April 28). International Space Station Facts and Figures. Retrieved November 26, 2020, from https://www.nasa.gov/feature/factsand-figures Watson, S. (2020, January 27). How Space Food Works. Retrieved November 26, 2020, from https://science. howstuffworks.com/space-food3.htm

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Is it true the Russians built a space shuttle to rival NASA’s?: Space Facts – Astronomy, the Solar System & Outer Space: All About Space Magazine. (n.d.). Retrieved November 26, 2020, from https://www.spaceanswers.com/spaceexploration/is-it-true-the-russians-built-aspace-shuttle-to-rival-nasa/ Wall, M. (2019, February 27). SpaceX Is Launching a Spacesuit-Clad Dummy on 1st Crew Dragon. Retrieved November 26, 2020, from https://www. space.com/spacex-crew-dragon-dummytest-flight.html Rincon, P. (2020, November 14). What is the SpaceX Crew Dragon? https://www.bbc.com/news/scienceenvironment-52840482. Potter, S. (2020, May 30). NASA Astronauts Launch from America in

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Test of SpaceX Crew Dragon. NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/ nasa-astronauts-launch-from-americain-historic-test-flight-of-spacex-crewdragon. Davenport, C. (2020, August 5). Elon Musk’s spacecraft roared like ‘an animal.’ But astronauts say the SpaceX Dragon flew flawlessly. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost. com/technology/2020/08/04/spacexastronauts-splashdown-newsconference/. Moran, N. (2020, August 28). Ep 159: Welcome Home, Bob and Doug! NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/johnson/ HWHAP/welcome-home-bob-and-doug. Howell, E. (2017, November 7). What Is the Big Bang Theory? https:// www.space.com/25126-big-bang-theory. html.


International Leader Woojin Jung Cranbrook Schools, 9th

Although the political academia was inundated with recent studies accentuating the significance of global political leadership, the topic is still shockingly trivialized and understudied. Countless countries have taken the role of an international leader over many centuries, yet the discussion over this particular concept is ever so rare. Thus, it is only right for us as a member of the global community, to ponder upon what qualities a nation must possess to act as a leader. Though the world had endured a myriad of nations that once ruled the world, it is generally agreed upon that America had taken upon that role for the last few decades or so. Through a series of discussions, the paper will discuss the performance of the United States as a global political leader and the ideals of such nations. What Does It Mean to be an International Leader A defining role of an “international leader”, the essence in its undertaking would be to interpret worldwide dilemmas and constraints. This figure of a global kingpin, often taking the form of a powerful nation, must shoulder the burden to untangle struggles between conflicting

powers, and further, to understand and quarrel the crux of global issues — even at the possibility of their own peril. This burden, the marrow of the ideal form of a global leader, will be discussed in due course. Be that as it may, an elaborate definition of a leader in general and their challenges must be established before discussing the ideal leader. A trend in current leaders display a divergence into two categories of leaders, based on their characteristics: structural leaders and entrepreneurial leaders. Structural leaders are subject to standard, methodical procedures; they display rational, analytical thinking and follow logical methods for quick decision making (Tracy, 2017). The downside is that structural leaders lack the flexibility to swiftly read trends and see the bigger picture. Structural leaders are often stuck with small details and fail to make innovations. They run the risk of halting the nation when a competition passes by. On the other hand, entrepreneurial leaders are the type of people often called “visionaries”. Their approach is based on innovations, taking risks and flexible decisions in order to achieve long term goals. They are very responsive to the UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 2 4 9


trend and can lead to big breakthroughs beyond the norm. The downside of entrepreneurial leadership is that these leaders can lose sight of important details while they paint the bigger picture. Their vagueness in short term plans lead to confused crowds and policies that may seem too unreal and cloudy. Although both structural and entrepreneurial leaders have their ups and downs, a typical norm is that entrepreneurial leaders are more potent and suitable for the nations of the current world. Presidents often deemed as honorable, such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, or George Washington, were the “visionaries” — an entrepreneurial leader with long term plans and prophetic policies like the Securities Act of 1933. Though structural leaders can effectively maintain a country in its place, but to propel a country out of stagnation, an entrepreneurial leader will come into action. America vs China A leader would often be perceived as an exclusive power in control. In international politics however, a single dominant leader hardly exists; instead it takes the form of a diffused leadership, where a tense composition of a multitude of powerful nations forms and the chief position would incessantly topple and advance from one country to another. The epitome of this brawl during the current world is the US-China power struggle. This perennial quarrel between the US and China is the Gordian knot of international politics in the 21st century. Forbes once quoted “Our failure to properly deal with Germany and Japan early cost the world dearly later on. We dare not make the same mistake with China”. 250 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

The conflict is not limited to one area, but rather to all imaginable aspects of a nation — from economic, cultural, martial, and social aspects. The trade war of 2018, Hong Kong conflict of 2019, and the novel coronavirus of 2020 are the epitome of the ongoing dispute, along with minor but multiple issues that add strain to the already-tense tug-of-war. Since the Second World War, America has taken the hegemony of the global leadership as the USSR broke down, the Plaza Accord propagated Japan’s lost decade, and the growth of the EU came to a halt. At the same time however, China, after the establishment of the democrats and inauguration of Mao Zedong, rapidly grew their economy. As the 21st century began, the US was also restrained by the Afghanistan war, Iraq war, and the Subprime mortgage crisis. When the US took the position of an “international leader”, they also held the responsibility to patrol the world. For this reason, America had to spend effort and money into anti-terrorism and drugs while the economic crisis continued. As China grew as powerful as the US, Donald Trump has finally declared a power struggle against China. Ideal Form of a Leader and its Significance Now, the essence to a competent leader comes down to their willingness to sacrifice to better the general world. The leader nation must be potent enough to not just stop conflicts, but also to sustainably provide the weaker nation with help. This example of foreign aid recurred throughout history, like when Prussia subsidized its military allies during the 19th century. This foreign aid however, must be exercised with caution and goodwill as to not create foreign dependency — a system where


wealthy nations exert abnormally steep control over the dependee, suppressing their development and creating a toxic dependency relationship. A famous example of toxic codependency between nations is the economic colony of India by the Britons during the 17th century. A wealthy nation capitalizing on developing countries certainly does not make them a righteous international leader. Another aspect to consider is Machiavelli’s famous pairing of virtú with fortuna — his point being that one must possess both power and good luck to become a successful leader (Machiavelli, Skinner, & Price, 2019). In the context of “The Prince”, this statement is written for a mortal, human leader. This statement however, does apply to a nation the same; for a nation to claim itself a “leader”, they must possess certain martial and intellectual power, as well as the opportunity to execute these forces. At long last, it is time to tie up this lengthy discourse on leaders into a denouement — a judgement of America as an international leader based on this culmination of abstract ideas and empirical evidence. At this point, it is established that a nation must sacrifice itself for the good of others to claim itself a worthy leader. The American history sure displays these selfless qualities. When the Second World War devastated Europe, president Truman stepped up to provide $15 billion to rebuild the European economy (History. com Editors, 2009). When Hong Kong was in need of help to protect democracy, the United States passed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act to impose sanctions against officials considered responsible for human rights abuses in Hong Kong. It should also be noted that America contributes to scientific

research and development and education of foreign-born scientists, like in 2007 when America provided $353 billion in R&D funding, out of a world total of $1.1 trillion. The States was a fusing of many different nationalities in a single society; it was also the origin of feminist movement, as well as free public schools and the concept of federalism (Schlesinger, 1959). There is no question that America was the most influential nation in terms of politics, economics, and societies during the past few centuries. Throughout most of contemporary history, America had certainly built their place as an international leader upon sustained humanitarian policies including foreign aids and fighting for rights — that was, until president Donald Trump came into power in 2016. Donald Trump was a typical example of a structural leader; he was capable of assessing the trending situation and making decisions, but were certainly not the visionary kind, like George Washington or Franklin D. Roosevelt. President Trump’s policies were near-sighted, and he was never able to propel the US beyond what it already was. More importantly, what made Trump’s America unqualified for an international leader was the lack of sacrifice. Donald Trump implemented multiple policies that were contrary to the past altruistic policies of America; he retreated from the Paris Agreement of climate change, as well as harshly rejecting immigrants and slashing off foreign aid from the budget (Mason, 2020). These egotistical policies might benefit the US economically for a short period of time, but certainly does not demonstrate the characteristics of a virtuous leader. Therefore, it is safe to say that America, for most of contemporary UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 2 5 1


history, was both materially and economically potent enough to sustain aid to weaker nations, with a foreign aid on humanitarian foundation. As Donald Trump took power, this leadership has derailed for a while, but with Joe Biden for the president after the 2020 election, a weather eye must be kept on to see America return to the virtuous leader of the world. Works Cited Arthur M. Schlesinger, S. (1959, March 01). Our Ten Contributions to Civilization. Retrieved November 15, 2020, from https://www.theatlantic. com/magazine/archive/1959/03/our-tencontributions-to-civilization/305144/ Chronology of U.S.-China Relations, 1784-2000. (n.d.). Retrieved November 15, 2020, from https://history. state.gov/countries/issues/china-usrelations History.com Editors. (2009, December 16). Marshall Plan. Retrieved

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November 15, 2020, from https://www. history.com/topics/world-war-ii/marshallplan-1 Machiavelli, N., Skinner, Q., & Price, R. (2019). Machiavelli: The prince. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Mason, J. (2020, February 09). Exclusive: Trump proposes 21% cut in U.S. foreign aid in budget proposal officials. Retrieved November 15, 2020, from https://www.reuters.com/article/ us-usa-trump-budget-foreign-exclusive/ exclusive-trump-proposes-21-cut-in-u-sforeign-aid-in-budget-proposal-officialsidUSKBN2030Q5 Structural vs. Entrepreneurial Leadership. (2020, April 08). Retrieved November 15, 2020, from https:// goproductivity.ca/blog/350/structural-vsentrepreneurial-leadership/ Tracy, B. (2017, April 07). 5 Leadership Styles To Inspire Peak Performance. Retrieved November 15, 2020, from https://medium.com/@ thebriantracy/5-leadership-styles-toinspire-peak-performance-d47f703afb7b


The Past, the Present, and the Future of Stocks Yemin Lee North Gwinnett High School, 10th

From primitive bartering to the modern system of credit cards, the manmade concept of economy has grown alongside human civilization and has rooted in every aspect of the human life. The economy has numerous sub-parts: it is the production, and it is the consumption; it is wealth, and it is the maintenance of any such assets. Each of them being crucial to the daily lives of its members, it is generally understood that an individual must retain at least some knowledge on the subject in order to sustain his or her finances. In recent years, however, there is one particular aspect of the economy that has stood out to the public’s interests more than the others. That is the concept of stocks, and it will prove to be the single most important idea of the modern world. Ever since the dawn of civilization and the formation of communities, humans have relied on trade with each other to alleviate each of their needs and wants. However, this process was extremely difficult when the only method of working an economy was bartering. As bartering is based on trading goods and services with other goods and services, markets would fluctuate in extremities alongside the product values and trades would often be one sided. Here follows a question: what changed this, and turned such primitive

relationships into what it is like today? The answer is simple: money. Large groups of individuals decided that they would set standards with specific values on irreplaceable and valuable objectsusually precious metals- including, but not limited to, pieces of gold, silver, or copper. Though these early forms of currency were initially created for the purpose of “...compensation in some form for crimes of violence… imposed taxes… religious obligations” (Origins of Money and Of Banking), people soon realized “Objects originally accepted for one purpose were often found to be useful for other noneconomic purposes” (Origins of Money and Of Banking). Initially, a precedent for the fundamentals of the economy today was set through these widespread international standards. Later on, however, problems arose with using coins made of precious metal as currency. Not only were they apt to fluctuate in their values, but they were also prone to copies and fraud by unauthorized people with malicious intent. In order to stop this irony, of a supposed solution causing more problems, and to establish better stabilization of the economy, a more advanced form of money was established. This new form of currency was in the form of paper notes, and it is the form that the UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 2 5 3


members of the modern economy are most familiar with today. Made with special fibers and symbols to prohibit imitations, each of these notes held onto a value not of their own but were assigned guaranteed values from the assets that their publishers held. For example, paper currency in the United States of America- also known as Federal Reserve Notes- are documents with values that are printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) and are issued by the United States treasury. “Currency paper is specifically made for the BEP by Crane Paper Company (Crane & Co.), and is composed of 75 percent cotton and 25 percent linen...” (How Things Work: How Money is Printed). One can trust the worth of these notes as they are directly backed up by assets in the federal reserve bank. Initially, this means that these bank notes act like handy little contracts that say a certain amount of the assets in the federal reserve bank belong to the holder of the note. This revolution of the currency system eliminated many of the errors in the market, thus allowing an explosive development of the economy. Nowadays, in the 21st century, the concept of money has surpassed its original identity as a medium of trade and has evolved into something more oriented on the values themselves. Instead of using paper money, more and more people are moving on to digital devices. A popular example of this is the credit card, which allows its users to make purchases directly from their bank accounts or with loans from the bank. Some other methods of digital payment that are gaining popularity are applications such as PayPal or Samsung Pay. These methods are completely virtual, and thus does away with any kinds of physical interactions in between transactions. In other words, one may say that the dangers of physically losing money or receiving counterfeit currency 254 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

have been essentially exterminated. Thanks to all of the prior developments in the field of economics and finance, the market of human society has reached the peak of its size at this point in time. The opposing ends of the Earth have been connected together into a single market system, and the pie of profits is larger than ever as well as more accessible than ever. Now, here rises the question that would inevitably formulate inside any interested individuals: how can the members of this vast economy access and secure a piece of this sweet, sweet pie? Really, this question has been asked all over the world even before paper money has been properly put into use. To piece together a plan to venture into the world of money-making is one thing, but to have the sufficient funds for the job is another. Despite the astronomical costs necessary to participate in an equally colossal economy, there is a clear limit of how much money an individual will be able to round up. Even if the venture group turns to banks for a loan, they won’t be able to procure enough assets since they have no way of proving their worth. This is only natural; as the bank must always maintain enough wealth to fulfil their customer’s needs, they cannot take risks for a company that has a chance of failure. This exact situation first occurred in the fifteenth century, as the age of exploration led ambitious European merchants and shipowners to find ways of profiting from voyages into the new world. It was clear as day to the Europeans that sailing to the East Indies and the Americas, or virtually any colony of the new world, meant high profits. However, the issue of an extreme risk in the voyage lingered on. Threats of pirates, bad weather, and errors in routing or navigating could all lead to the demise of the cargo and the bankruptcy


of the ship owners, and so it was difficult for individuals to make the decision to take on the voyage. It was at that moment the idea of investments arose- individuals or groups paying money and thus taking a part of the venturers’ risks in return for a share of their profits upon a successful return. The Dutch East Company is perhaps the most well known company to do this, and it certainly lives up to its namesake. The Dutch East India company was not only the first group to actually put into use the theory of stocks, but they were probably one of the companies that have benefited the most from it as well. They have prospered for almost two centuries thanks to their government-issued charters and assets gained from stockseling, successfully sending nearly five thousand ships into the east. “Integral to the prosperity of the VOC was its unique charter and the malleable administrative structure it outlined both domestically and in the East” (Administrative Adaptability: The Dutch East India Company and Its Rise to Power). With the Dutch East India company issuing their first-ever stocks, and quite literally raking in tons of money, the market of stock exchange exploded. Many other companies issued stocks after the proven success of the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC), but it was when the South Sea Company (SSC) issued stocks when the bubble truly grew out of control. By then everyone had acknowledged how stocks could earn investors immense profits, and thus the demand for the shares of voyaging companies had peaked. Adding on to that craze was the fact that the SSC “exchanged equity shares for government debt; in effect converting the national debt of their respective countries into corporate stock” (“New Evidence on the First Financial Bubble”). The

call for stocks was so great, the sales of their stocks alone earned the South Sea Company a fortune despite the fact that this company had not completed any voyages at the time. Later known as the South Sea Bubble, this abnormal craze over shares abruptly ended with a sickening pop when a fraud was discovered in the SSC and they ended up being unable to pay investors their well-deserved dividends. This not only caused a financial crisis for the direct investors, but also affected thousands of people both directly and indirectly through immobilizing the bank. Nevertheless the danger it possesses, the product of stocks is simply too sweet a profit for mankind to resist. This is evident in the simple fact that the stock market- a place dedicated solely to the buying and selling of stocks- exist all over the world to this day. However, this is not to say that stocks are cancerous entities that are sweet to the mouth but poison to the body. Much like medicine, stocks will prove to have positive effects on its users as long as it is not overused and is handled in the correct way. Though the idea of stocks themselves have first blossomed in Europe, the current leader of stock markets that is most commonly used worldwide is the American market. This is because “U.S. financial markets are very sophisticated and make it easier to take a company public than in other countries. Information on companies is also easy to obtain. That raises the trust of investors from around the world.” (How the Stock Market Affects the US Economy). More specifically, it is the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) where the most stockrelated actions occur. Listing in these markets an initial public offering (IPO) has become the measure for a company’s success, and experts often look into the stock market in order to determine the UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 2 5 5


future of the economy. That being said, it is without doubt that the stock market does indeed have a massive effect on the economy. For the members of the modern economy, this is fantastic news. First of all, the stock market allows individuals to take part in investments towards companies for a possible profit. Originally, larger groups and companies could use stocks to invest in registered companies but individuals were unable to do that. Since the inability of an individual to procure a large amount of assets was the reason why the stock market was established in the first place, such limits were only natural. However, the stock market allowed for the trade of smaller shares and opened up new horizons for personal investors. Not only that, the influence of the stock market on the economy allows people to maintain their wealth against the inevitable reach of inflation. “The rule of thumb is that stock prices increase 7% a year on average after taking inflation into account. That’s enough to compensate most investors for the additional risk of owning stocks rather than bonds (or keeping the money in a savings account).” (How the Stock Market Affects the US Economy). As such, stocks affect the economy in a multitude of ways. While it has the potential for problems, as its crashing may prove to be devastating, it has more benefits for its members and for the economy compared to the dangers. The stock market opens a gateway for profit to everyone, it shows the trend of the economy, and it allows assets to be protected from inflation. It allows businessmen to gain funds, and it energizes the economy in many different directions. Overall, one may even say that it is the most effective- or perhaps the only- way to partake in the economy we have today. 256 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

Works Cited Addis, Cameron. “8 Stock Market Crash & Great Depression.” History Hub, sites.austincc.edu/caddis/stockmarket-crash-great-depression/. The Basics of the Stock Market. www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/sgabriel/ securities1/stock/stockbasi cs.htm. Kitimbo, Simon Peter. UNDERSTANDING THE HISTORY OF STOCK MARKETS. www.academia. edu/37027254/UNDERSTANDING_ T H E _ H I S TO RY _ O F _ S TO C K _ MARKETS. Mohtadi, Hamid, and Sumit Agarwal. “Stock Market Development and Economic Growth: Evidence from Developing Countries .” University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. “Origins of Money and of Banking.” University of Exeter, projects.exeter. ac.uk/RDavies/arian/origins.html. Pritchett, Frances. “Dutch East India Company.” Dutch, Columbia University, 2005, www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/ pritchett/00routesdata/1700_1799/trade/ dutch/dutch.html. David Jimenez, et al. Stock Market Crash of October 1929. 21 Apr. 2020, socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/eras/ great-depression/beginning-of-greatdepression-stock-market-crash-ofoctober-1929/. Shaojie Bai  |  Feb 16, 2015. How Things Work: How Money Is Printed. 16 Feb. 2015, thetartan. club.cc.cmu.edu/2015/2/16/scitech/ howthingswork. South Sea Bubble. 22 Oct. 2019, www.rmg.co.uk/discover/explore/southsea-bubble. Amadeo, Kimberly. How Stock Investing Affects the US Economy. www.thebalance.com/how-do-stocksand-stock-investing-affect-the-u-seconomy-3306179.


Economic Crises in the EU Yeonjae Shim American School of Milan, 10th

Despite its original aim to keep the political economical peace within Europe, the European Union has faced several economic obstacles since it was founded. Observing the history of the EU, its functions, and its role uncovers the steppingstones to such predicaments. Specifically, issues such as Greece government debt crisis and Brexit can be explained by examining the background of the EU. The purpose of the EU was to lessen the frequent wars between neighboring European countries, especially during World War II, as well as to increase economic and political gains. In 1950, six European countries, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, came together to establish a more stable and peaceful relationship in Europe. The European Coal and Steel Community was utilized in this process, in order to unite the countries economically and politically. One of the policies that the countries adopted was removing the tariff barriers. Prior to World War II, countries had to pay exchange fees due to different currencies, which was inefficient and costly. After World War II, twelve countries signed the Maastricht Treaty

(1993), which removed the tariff barriers in international trade. This was the first step taken towards “Europe without frontiers.� By the 1990s, communism collapsed in central and eastern Europe, which brought Europeans closer together. In 1995, the EU allowed people to travel without passports within the EU by signing the Schengen Agreement. In the 2000s, many additional countries adopted the euro currency, successfully uniting the EU member countries economically. The stability and sustainability of the EU can be credited to the nature of the single market and the democratic institutions. The EU originally was created for an economic union, but over time, it has evolved into the union and collaboration of policies, environmental issues, security, migration, and many more areas that impact the everyday lives of Europeans. Its nature of the single market enables not only money, but also goods, services, and people to move freely across the borders. It would be an understatement to say that this has led to beneficial development and freedom to Europeans. In addition to the single market, the EU’s transparent and democratic governing institutions is another reason UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 2 5 7


for the success of the EU. The institution that can initiate legislation is the European Commission, which proposes such matters to the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers. The members of the European Commission are appointed by the Council of Ministers, and are supervised by the European Parliament. As the supervising institution, the Parliament possesses the power to sack the Commission members. If the Parliament and the Council decide together to pass a legislation, then the European Court of Justice ensures the execution of the laws across the 27 countries. Lastly, the Court of Auditors serves as the judiciary branch, which audits whether the budget is being spent appropriately. Since it was founded, the EU has not only made successful attempts to serve its purpose, which was to work for peace in Europe by establishing economic and political union, but also grown to protect political, social, and economic rights for Europeans. To begin with, Europeans are currently living in the longest period of peace without war. In fact, the EU is considered to be the most successful peace project in history, which was internationally recognized by receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 2012. Second, economically, the single market has given 4 key freedoms to Europeans, which are: to live or work in any EU country, move money, sell goods without restrictions, and provide services on the same basis. Consequently, consumers have both security and benefits when they shop, because a variety of goods are available for them across the continent, with strict quality and safety requirements. Fourth, due to the strict quality and safety requirements, the standards for food and environment are held at the highest 258 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

standards. Close collaboration between the EU countries makes it almost impossible for companies to take the illegal or unethical paths. Fifth, being in the EU provides a greater global power, because countries can speak in unison rather than speaking as 27 separate nations. Last but not least, the EU protects human rights for the minorities and the marginalized with its Fundamental Rights. The EU strives to fight against discrimination based on a person’s nationality, gender, culture, and disability.

(Source: BBC,2010 )

Close observation of the history of economics in the EU reveals how the debt crisis of 2010 arose. The European sovereign debt crisis was a period when several European countries experienced the collapse of financial institutions, high government debt, and rapidly rising bond yield spreads in government securities. One of the initial reasons for the creation of the EU was to overcome the currency barrier for more efficient trades. The exchange fees and tariff fees were great hindrances for international trade within Europe, and establishing the single market within the EU eliminated such issues. This was especially effective after WWII, when Europe was devastated; signing the Maastricht Treaty aided the recovery by initiating the EU. Furthermore, in 1999, they created the euro to stop exchanging


the money and remove the Monetary policies of each country which control the money supply and interest rates and create an ECB (European Central Bank), which means Europe had one monetary policy. However, they still had many different fiscal policies, which is the key reason for the current debt crisis. Fiscal policy controls how much the government collects taxes and how much expenses the government spends. If the government’s expenditure exceeds the collected taxes, they should do deficit spending or borrowing money. For example, before the EU, Greece had bad credit of 18% and the creation of the single currency gave Greece good credit of 3%. This caused countries in the eurozone that had bad credit to have good credit, increasing lending to them (Walker, 2018). These countries borrowed money for political campaigns, promising work, higher wages, services, pensions by using German credit cards. Germany had to help small countries, such as Greece, to avoid the collapse of EU. To cover the borrowed money, they borrowed money again from Germany and they kept adjusting their fiscal policy and increased spending to a previously impossible level. Consequently, cheap credit caused a housing bubble in Ireland, Spain, and the United States. The economy of Europe became tightly intertwined, and they borrowed each other’s money and united the Euro area (Sections of Life, 2015). In 2008, Greece became the center of Europe’s debt crisis after the Wall Street crash. Since countries in Europe were tightly intertwined, after Greece faced the economic crisis, all European countries had a domino effect. It started with Greece’s announcement in 2009 that it had been understating its deficit figures, which alerted the surrounding countries

of Greek finances. Once the news had spread, Greece was no longer able to borrow money from financial markets, causing Greece to go nearly bankrupt. The troika – the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank, and the European Commission – issued two bailouts costing €240 billion in order to prevent a chain of new financial crises. The bailouts were followed by strict conditions: deep budget cuts, steep tax increase, ending tax evasion, and making Greece an easier place to do business (The New York Times, 2016). Most of the countries disagreed with the strict conditions because such measures are counterproductive to make the economy prosper again, setting off a vicious cycle. The deep budget cuts would lead to less expenditure in the public sector, such as hospitals, schools, and transportation. That provokes less industrial commercial growth, which means increase of unemployment. When people no longer have stable income, they would not be able to pay their taxes and they would have low purchasing power. In turn, the stores will see consumption retreat, and that will bring budget decrease and demand, causing decrease in prices. Eventually, it will amount to decrease in supply. As a result, they could not collect enough taxes so austerity measures are inutile. Contrary to the intention of the bailouts, which was to be used for stabilizing the finances in Greece, Greece has not seen significant improvement in its problems. The bailout money has been used to pay back international loans, rather than revitalizing the domestic economy. Even with this effort, the economy has decreased by a quarter in five years, unemployment is at 25 percent, and the government still has so UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 2 5 9


much debt that Greece’s relations with other EU countries are in a delicate state. Nevertheless, Greece still needs to adhere to its conditions for the bailouts. The most recent EU issue, Brexit, is also caused by European economic crisis. The Brexit public opinion was prompted by the European financial crisis triggered in the 2008 global economic crisis. As the EU’s fiscal deterioration intensified, the UK was burdened with

a towering sum of money to pay to the EU. This led to the spread of opposition to the EU’s residual movement with the UK’s conservative party at the center. Also, the number of immigrants coming to the UK for employment purposes has increased significantly, especially as the influx of refugees from Syria and other countries continued until late 2015. Meanwhile, Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron has pledged to hold a

(Source: The New York Times, 2016)

(Source: Joohyeon, 2015) 260 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS


referendum on Brexit (Joohyeon, 2015). As the Conservative Party was elected, Teresa May successfully completed Brexit on 31 January 2020. The UK and the EU will negotiate a trade agreement from 1 January 2021, the date the new UK-EU relationship will start. Any trade agreement will aim to eliminate tariffs and reduce other trade barriers coming into force (BBC, 2020). According to the official website of the European Union, the EU has several economic priorities for 2019-2024. The EU leaders plan on “building a resilient economy by deepening the Economic and Monetary Union, completing the banking and capital markets union, strengthening the international role of the euro, investing in skills and education, supporting Europe’s businesses, embracing the digital transformation, and developing a robust industrial policy” (EU, 2020). Works Cited EU (2020, November 20). The history of the European Union. Retrieved November 29, 2020, from https://europa. eu/european-union/about-eu/history_en How EU institutions work: Overview. (2010, November 09). Retrieved November 29, 2020, from https://www.bbc.com/news/worldeurope-11710564 S. (Director). (2015, February 22). The European Debt Crisis Visualized Bloomberg Business [Video file]. Retrieved November 29, 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=kbcvdKwmCtg

The New York Times. (2016, June 17). Explaining Greece’s Debt Crisis. Retrieved November 29, 2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/ interactive/2016/business/international/ greece-debt-crisis-euro.html Stokes, B. (2020, July 29). Brexit vote highlighted discontent with EU in UK, other countries. Retrieved November 29, 2020, from https://www.pewresearch. org/fact-tank/2016/06/24/brexit-votehighlighted-uks-discontent-with-eu-butother-european-countries-are-grumblingtoo/ Walker, A. (2018, August 19). Eurozone bailout programme is finally over. Retrieved November 29, 2020, from https://www.bbc.com/news/ business-45186511 Boyle, C. (2015, May 27). Just what is the UK’s problem with Europe? Retrieved November 29, 2020, from https://www.cnbc.com/2015/05/27/whywould-the-uk-want-to-leave-the-eu.html Brexit: All you need to know about the UK leaving the EU. (2020, September 23). Retrieved November 29, 2020, from https://www.bbc.com/news/ukpolitics-32810887 Joohyeon. (2015, July 31). [ 유럽경제위기 요약] 유럽재정위기 (European Sovereign Debt Crisis) 란 무엇인가. Retrieved November 29, 2020, from https://joohyeon.com/223 Harvard University. (2014, June 17). The European Financial Crisis (Rep.). Retrieved November 29, 2020, from https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/ markesposito/files/eurocrisis.pdf

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Why Do We Die? Yoorim Jang Korean Minjok Leadership Academy, 11th

“To be or not to be, that is the question.” One of the most famous soliloquies in literature contemplates on the universal dichotomy of life and death. This quote reflects the ultimate riddle of death every human being will carry as a burden until the ultimate encounter. Although every organism can lose its life anytime, it can never evade death. It is a contract signed upon birth. A process of life is mortal, whether it is a minute later, or decades from now. Despite its ubiquity, however, there have been prolonged debate, theories, and myths surrounding death. A factor that may have contributed to these rumors and fear about death may be the lack of knowledge on the process itself. People tend to be ignorant of the biology of death, mainly because medical research usually focuses on the prevention or cure, and death is considered as the ‘enemy’. Yet as a long standing companion of human life, there needs to be profound research on the process of death, both biological and psychological, and discussion on whether it is in the hands of mortals to choose between life and death, or if it is upon divine discretion. 262 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

Biological death can be categorized into two types--local death and general death. Local death, also called apoptosis, is death at its most basic level, cell death. Without its host noticing, millions of cells die every day in an organism. A renowned American physician Lewis Thomas once said, “By the time I was born, more of me had died than survived. It was no wonder I cannot remember; during that time I went through brain after brain for nine months, finally contriving the one model that could be human, equipped for language.” In fact, most organisms’ cells are designed at some point of their “life”, marked by ubiquitin and degraded by proteasomes. The cells must specifically and actively manipulate in order to delay apoptosis. It is different


from necrosis, which is unprogrammed cell death when cells die unexpectedly due to external/internal attacks. Apoptosis occurs every second, from the moment an organism is born, throughout its life, and until its death. Apoptosis can be provoked by its own genes, usually caused by detection of DNA damage--also called the intrinsic pathway. It can also be triggered by external stimuli, from other cells in the organism--extrinsic pathway. Cells usually undergo the extrinsic method when a cell is no longer considered useful and has outlived its lifespan. Apoptosis is especially important in embryonic development. It is what molds the primitive bulk of cells, surrounded by layers of extra cells, into a fully developed organism. It contributes to the physical maturation of an embryo by removing vestigial tissues, such as the tail of tadpole, or by sculpting organs, separating fingers. It also partakes in chemical maturation, by removing various cytotoxic agents* and teratogens*.

Apoptosis is also related to cancer as it prevents cancer by blocking abnormal cell growth. In fact, the hallmarks of every cancer cell include apoptosis evasion. The

prevention of cancer is one of the main functions of apoptosis. It is usually the intrinsic pathway that inhibits cancer-in other words, a self-diagnosis. Other than causing cancer itself, the presence of apoptosis suppresses the proliferation of cancer cells, and without apoptotic control, cancer cells tend to survive longer and give more time for accumulation of mutations. Thus, it can be said that death is essential even in the most basic level of biology, and smartly enough, it is the cell itself that determines whether to die or not. Then let’s talk about real death, the image of death that first comes up in our mind. The more commonly known death is called general death, which is a synonym for biological death. It is usually defined as the point when the respiratory and cardiovascular systems, both of which are essential to human survival, permanently stop working. Let’s say a man died, his name is John. His respiratory system stopped right now. Human organs can survive without oxygen for a while, however. The biological activities, such as cell division, die down slowly. If enough cells have died, none of the human body parts can regenerate. The organ most influenced by this change is the brain, in which the cells die in about 4 minutes. On the other hand, the heart can continue to beat for as long as 30 minutes. At the moment when the heart stops beating, and as a result, blood stops circulating it sinks and forms “death spots”, bluish purple discoloration due to gravitation of blood. Now it has been two hours since John stopped breathing. It is time for postmortem rigidity sets in because the body does not produce ATP, adenosine triphosphate, anymore. This is a vital energy source for the cells which UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 2 6 3


maintains the muscles to be fluid and active. Without it, the muscles become stiff. After a few days, John’s intestinal tract dies out and bacteria, such as E. coli, that digested John’s food digest John in reverse. Pathogenic bacteria such as hepatitis and tuberculosis may even dwell on John’s body for years. It takes a total 30 years for John to decompose. Know your enemy. Now that death introduced itself, people would now have less fear or would less gossip about it. In a biological point of view, death is nothing more than a cascade of chemical reactions. In the perspective of the organism, however, death is something more than science. The series of ATP transfer, signal reception, and all the myriad of steps in death is summarized in a prolonged period of extreme pain and agitation to a point of lethargic, almost levitating moment of calmness, tipping into sleep. And nothing happens afterwards; the organism just ceases to be. Humans especially contemplate on this process of death, which normally arouses fear. Some are even more sensitive about the thought of death, developing a condition called death anxiety, anxiety caused by thoughts of one’s own death. Thus, it is common for not only humans, but every living organism to live towards the ultimate goal of survival, to evade death. However, some people choose to die, whether it is because of physical or mental pain. In fact, an increasing number of people today choose the “safer” and authorized method of dying: euthanasia. Euthanasia, meaning “good death” in Latin, encompasses various dimensions, from active (introducing something to cause death) to passive (withholding treatment or supportive 264 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

measures); voluntary (consent) to involuntary (consent from guardian) and physician assisted (where physicians prescribe the medicine and patient or the third party administers the medication to cause death). By definition, it indicates the deliberate act of ending a person’s life to relieve pain. It is also worth comparing euthanasia with assisted suicide, which is to deliberately assisting people to kill themselves. People, especially those suffering from irrecoverable diseases choose these methods of death either because they are too weak to commit suicide, or because they want death without pain. Euthanasia and assisted suicide both have been a hot topic in the field of bioethics, since technology, specifically technology in the medical field was rarely used to harm humanity. Doctors only learned how to save people, not to kill them. In the West, Hippocrates’ ancient oath pledged to use treatments to help the sick, but not “administer a poison to anybody when asked to do so”. As a result, laws and regulations regarding euthanasia differs greatly between countries. Efforts to change government policies on euthanasia of humans in the 20th and 21st centuries have met limited success in Western countries. Human euthanasia policies have also been developed by a variety of NGOs, most notably medical associations and advocacy organizations. As of March 2018, active human euthanasia is legal in the Netherlands, Belgium, Colombia, Luxembourg, Western Australia, and Canada. Exclusive legalization of physician assisted death even created a new industry of “euthanasia tourism”, in which thousands of people around the world


travel to the countries listed above just to have a “happy” and peaceful ending. Nevertheless, today’s society still sets harsh judgements on those willing to undergo euthanasia. One of the many reasons why many are against euthanasia is religion. The belief that one’s life is not his own, but God’s. Some argue that no life is worth less than others, and even those living the seemingly most unhappy life is worth living. Legalizing euthanasia may seem as a benevolent act, saving those who are in pain, yet they argue that it is a matter of time until its use will be generalized, to the point that people no longer respect the sanctity and dignity of life. But what is dignity if one cannot even breathe or eat by oneself? What is the point of living if there is no hope of getting better? Even a cell knows when it should die, and even a cell has the power to control its time of death. What about humans? Life may not be a gift to all. Some had fewer good days than bad, and some had none, and this is always purely subjective. The anthropologist Charles MacDonald, at the French National Center for Scientific Research, reviewing the motives for suicide concludes that the people want to end a state of psychological physical or physical anxiety simply want to go without changing things. The common denominator of all cases examined here is extreme pain. No one should encourage suicide. But when a person is deemed to be irreversibly injured, mentally or physically, with the diagnosis of an authorized doctor, no one should encourage the person to hang on, live a life he/she does not want. Why do we die? To preserve our lives with the slightest more dignity and

grace. To die in peace without drowning in pain. Works Cited Brown, J(July 2017). We fear death, but what if dying isn’t as bad as we think? Retrieved October 31, 2020. From https://www.theguardian.com/science/ blog/2017/jul/25/we-fear-death-but-whatif-dying-isnt-as-bad-as-we-think Gilbert, S(2000). Developmental Biology 6th edition. Retrieved November 28, 2020. Kerr JF, Wyllie AH, Currie AR(1972). Apoptosis: a basic biological phenomenon with wide-ranging implications in tissue kinetics. Retrieved November 22, 2020. Math, Chaturvedi S(December 2012). Euthanasia: Right to life vs Right to die. Retrieved October 22, 2020. from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/ articles/PMC3612319/ Pereira, J(April 2011). Legalizing euthanasia or assisted suicide: the illusion of safeguards and controls. Retrieved October 22, 2020. from https://www.ncbi. nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3070710/ Prower, T(September 2019). Why We Fear Death. Retrieved October 21, 2020. from https://www.llewellyn.com/ journal/article/2769 Tomansini, F(February 2017). Remembering and Disremembering the Dead: Posthumous Punishment, Harm and Redemption over Time. Retrieved October 22, 2020. from https://www.ncbi. nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK464649/ Urry, Lisa A(2017). Campbell Biology 11th edition. Retrieved November 28, 2020. Wu, J(September 2020). Why We Fear Death and How to Overcome It. Retrieved October 31, 2020. from https://www.psychologytoday.com/ us/blog/the-savvy-psychologist/202009/ why-we-fear-death-and-how-overcome-it UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 2 6 5


Teen’s Depression Youna Lee Valor International Scholar, 8th

According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, depression is ‘a serious medical illness that involves the brain.’ Its symptoms include sadness, loss of interest or pleasure in activities you used to enjoy, a change in weight, difficulty sleeping or oversleeping, energy loss, feelings of worthlessness, thoughts

of death, or suicide (US Department of Health & Human Services, 2017). Also, Healthline Media defines depression as a mood disorder. It may be described as ‘feelings of sadness, loss, or anger that interfere with a person’s everyday activities.’ It is well-known that many countries have people with depression.

Source : Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration 266 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS


There are 643,102 people with depression in the Republic of Korea, 16.2 million in the U.S, about 173 million in China, and 2.8 million in Italy (Harris, 2019). Teen’s depression is another issue. Teenagers of the modern world experience more depression than those of the past. 13.3% of American teenagers aged 12 to 17 had depressive episodes and it means 3.2 million American teens suffered from depression. Among teenagers aged 12 to 17, 20% of females and 6.8% of males experienced a depressive episode in 2017. 2017 Youth Risk Behaviors Survey reported that 7.4 percent of high school students attempted at least one suicide in the past year. What makes teens depressed? There are lots of causes, but professionals found some major causes as following: 1. Teens feel depressed because of their past experiences of abuse (past physical, sexual or emotional). 2. Certain medications including isotretinoin, interferon-alpha, and corticosteroids cause teens’ depression. 3. Conflicts with people (acquaintances, family, friends) are factors of teen depression. 4. Death or loss of people around one contributes to teens’ depression also. 5. Teens’ depressions may be produced by their genetics. It seems the depression by genetics would be psychiatric disorders. 6. Lack of sleep makes teens depressed. It leads teens to a depressed mood and irritability. 7. Bullying (including cyberbullying) is a major factor of depression. It is painful, and traumatic so it produces a negative mood. Also, it may be a trigger for PTSD (University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, 2020).

To reduce teens who go through depression, we can take some actions to prevent, and treat depression. According to Psychiatric Times, providing continual warmth, caring, and support of parents is an important key to prevent teen depression. High parental support had lower depression symptoms. Also having positive relationships with parents can help to reduce teen risk-taking, one of the depression symptoms. Second, teens need to be social and get proper emotional skills to reduce depression. As teens are required to confront lots of emotions, they need to learn how to manage. Christine Carter said parents can also help teens by accepting and giving emotional advice or coaching. Also, parents would be nice assistants who can reduce mental instability or stress, so that teens would be on the right path. Third, the existence of friends might help depressed teens a lot. A study by Annette La Greca and Hannah Harrison said having positive relationships make teens feel that they are involved as society members. Additionally, the feeling of being a part of a social crowd makes teens against developing social anxiety and depression. Fourth, having a purpose in life produces positive effects on teens. A researcher named Bronk

(Source : Journal of Abnormal Psychology) UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 2 6 7


suggests that parents need to engage their teens by finding teens’ purpose in life. Fifth, parents should provide teens with a better workplace. Parents should care for teens’ environments outside of home since those places might affect teens a lot whether in good and bad ways. Parents need to find the best place to fit, not to be uncomfortable with teenagers (Suttie, 2016). To prevent teen’s depression, people need to know that there is a simple guideline. First, a teenager’s life, whether he or she has depression, is affected by parent’s caring including eating, sleeping, exercising, and socializing. Also, screen time has a strong correlation with depression. Thus, managing screen time is nice prevention for teens. Second, it is important to provide teens a safe and stable home base for healthy development in adolescents. Parents should be able to access their teen spending one-on-one time together, having healthy communication including the serious topics that can build trust and enhance the relationship between parents and teens. Third, having lessons about depression might be a great prevention for teens. Parents might prevent and treat their teens with their knowledge of depression. Fourth, teenagers can find help from mental health services in their community. Once they register in their service, treatment plans will be set up. Parents can help their teenagers by gently pushing to go use the services. Then, teenagers can regularly take services. At the same time, teenagers’ social life is important. Meeting friends, playing sports, and committing to other interests will help them overcome their depression. There are lots of depression treatments, but there are 3 major treatments. First, it is CBT (cognitive268 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

behavioral therapy), a therapy that approaches patients with evidence, and it is generally used to treat youth’s mental health concern and depression such as anxiety, ADHD, and several disorders. CBT has specific goals, consistent sessions, and homework just like a normal class. CBT interventions include psychoeducation, mood monitoring, pleasant activities, behavioral activation techniques, and cognitive restructuring. Also, CBT programs consist of social, communication, conflict resolution, and problem-solving skills. Second, interpersonal psychotherapy for adolescents (IPT-A) is a time-limited therapy for the treatment of non-bipolar, nonpsychotic major depression in adults. IPT-A defines the symptoms of depression and their consequences and the maintaining factors through an interpersonal lens, addressing problem areas in the adolescent’s current relationships and immediate social environments to reduce symptoms that contribute to depression. IPT-A identifies 4 interpersonal problem areas that may focus on treatment: grief, role dispute, role transition, and interpersonal deficits (Zack, Saekow, & Radke, 2012). The framework of treatment consists of 3 phases, in which the therapy aims to: 1. Identify a specific interpersonal problem area by examining the patterns in current significant relationships. 2. Develop communication and problem-solving strategies to address the specific interpersonal problem area. 3. Practice the skills in session and then transit them to the social environment, providing the patient with support to maintain his or her sense of social competence and independence. Third, dialectical behavior therapy


(DBT), evidence-based psychotherapy, aims to teach people how to live in the moment, develop healthy ways to cope with stress, regulate their emotions, and improve their relationships with others. DBT can help people who have difficulty with emotional regulation or are exhibiting self-destructive behaviors. Also, DBT is sometimes used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). DBT might be described by these words: acceptance, change, behavioral, cognitive, collaboration, skill sets, and support (Schimelpfening, 2020). Works Cited Zack, S. E., PhD, Saekow, J., MS, & Radke, A., MSW. (2012, November 07). Treating Adolescent Depression With Psychotherapy: The Three Ts. Retrieved September 07, 2020, from https://www. psychiatrictimes.com/view/treatingadolescent-depression-psychotherapythree-ts Geiger, A., & Davis, L. (2020, May 30). A growing number of American teenagers – particularly girls – are facing depression. Retrieved September 07, 2020, from https://www.pewresearch.org/ fact-tank/2019/07/12/a-growing-numberof-american-teenagers-particularly-girlsare-facing-depression/ Why Today’s Teens Are More Depressed Than Ever. (2019, May 08). Retrieved September 07, 2020, from https://discoverymood.com/blog/todays-

teens-depressed-ever/ Harris, N. (2019, April 29). Teen Depression: Statistics, Causes, and Treatment. Retrieved September 07, 2020, from https://www.parents.com/kids/teens/ depression/teen-depression-statisticscauses-and-treatment/ Schimelpfening, N. (2020, March 02). What to Know About Dialectical Behavior Therapy. Retrieved September 07, 2020, from https://www. verywellmind.com/dialectical-behaviortherapy-1067402 U. (2020, January 22). Cyberbullying Linked to Increased Depression and PTSD. Retrieved September 07, 2020, from https://www.sciencedaily.com/ releases/2020/01/200122080526.htm Suttie, J. (2016, June 14). Five Ways Parents Can Help Prevent Teen Depression. Retrieved September 07, 2020, from https://greatergood.berkeley. edu/article/item/five_ways_parents_can_ help_prevent_teen_depression https://www.pewresearch.org/facttank/2019/07/12/a-growing-number-ofamerican-teenagers-particularly-girls-arefacing-depression/ https://discoverymood.com/blog/ todays-teens-depressed-ever/ https://www.parents.com/kids/ teens/depression/teen-depressionstatistics-causes-and-treatment/ https://www.verywellmind.com/ dialectical-behavior-therapy-1067402

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Generation Z and Social Media Young Eun Lee International School of Phnom Penh, 10th

Kasasa defines Generation Z as the newest generation and Generation Z refers to people born between 1995 and 2015. They are currently between 5-25 years old, and the population in the US is nearly 74 million. It takes 25 percent of the world population, which is about 7.7 billion people in the world, and Generation Z has the power of 143 billion dollars in the world. Some of the nicknames are iGeneration, Post-Millennials, and Homeland Generation. Shaping events of the Generation Z are smartphones and social media. Starting with Generation X, people born between 1965-1979, it is followed by Gen Y and Gen Z. However, the term “Millennial” was widely credited to Neil Howe, along with William Strauss. These generation cohort names are important because each generation serves as a short-hand to reference nearly 20 years of attitude, motivation, and historic events. These terms are useful for marketers and common. It makes them easier to understand the marketing tactics and consumers once they know which generation it is in. According to factsandtrends, there are 10 traits and characteristics of Generation Z that people must know. The 270 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

first trait of generation Z is that they are everywhere. Since 24.3 percent of the population in the US is Gen Z, according to US Census estimates for 2016, the Washington Post says, Generation Z will have about $3 trillion in purchasing power. The second trait of generation Z is they have always been wired. Gen Z never knew a world without internet or cell phones, but especially younger Gen Z has never known a world without smartphones and takes Wi-Fi for granted. They spend between six and nine hours in the media, and online. The third trait is they are more accepting of sexual fluidity. Generation Z supports gay marriage and transgender rights. It is a part of everyday life for Generation Z to know the LGBT community. The fourth trait is that they are racially diverse and multiracial. Gen Z has friends that are from different ethnicities. Moreover, when Gen Z is getting married, they are more likely to get married with someone of another ethnic group. The fifth trait is that Gen Z is pretty independent. Since Gen X is their parents and they warn about “helicopter parenting,” Gen X has given their kids plenty of space. Therefore, parenting gives both pros and cons. For the pros, Gen Z is


self-directed and confident. However, for the cons, Gen Z is not necessarily equipped with real-life hopes or boundaries. They are in the age of cyber-bullying, sexting, internet porn, hooking up, hacking, and scams, in which the consequences can be dangerous. The sixth trait is Gen Z is aware of troubled planets. Most of Gen Z has grown up since 9/11 and has known a world where terrorist attacks are the norms. Additionally, they have lived and seen their parents, or many of their friends’ parents struggle through job losses, foreclosures, and more. The seventh trait about Generation Z is that they are all about technology. From when they were born, the internet and cell phones were commonplace. Gen Z knows that if they need information, it is easily accessible. Being connected makes communication virtually limitless, therefore it is common for Gen Z to have friends all over the world. Furthermore, Gen Z does a lot of research online for their companies and rely on user reviews backup from online. The eighth trait of Gen Z is that they enjoy other people. Gen Z likes face to face interaction, but it does not always have to take place physically. Normally by using apps such as Facetime and Skype. Thus, Gen Z knows how to use technology, and they are adapted to all the technology. Some of the main differences between Gen Z and older generations is reduced eye contact. The ninth trait is that Generation Z is competitive. Gen Z is focused and competitive in most areas of life. Regarding wanting to go or get into the best schools and getting the highest paying jobs, they want to win every event that they are participating in. Therefore, competition constantly happens with Generation Z, and patience is a lost part with Gen Z knowing that they

have to behave quickly to get what they want from someone else. The last trait of Gen Z is that change is welcomed to Generation Z. With a variety of different information, Gen Z has a lot of knowledge and exposure to different subjects. They constantly see new ideas and experiences, change direction in less time, leaving the older generations trying to follow them. Different from other generations, they are mostly engaged in political talks, even though they are not able to vote. Moreover, information is quickly accessible to Gen Z, which allows them to think about different sides. According to Wgu, Generation Z will affect and influence the work space. When the Generation Z is in the workplace, they will be new to the workplace and already prepared to demonstrate new levels. As more Generation Z is going to enter the workspace, it is important for the leaders to understand work, and the benefits they will expect. Young employees of new generations offer a fresh perspective and insight as well as valuable skills. Some of the skills are that Gen Z is technology dependent. Therefore, the difference between current employees who are Millennials is, technology dependence versus technology fluency. Gen Z people are more dependent on technology, which is not necessarily considered as an addiction, but viewed as extensions on themselves. Thus, they can feel anxious without technology, and sometimes causing them to lose sleep as well. As a generation that grew up with the internet and sharing their personal information on social media, it is not a surprise that Gen Z is known for being interconnected online with their peers and the whole community. Moreover, they are also well known for using Facetime, UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 2 7 1


unlike the other generations’ use of social media and digital services. That being said, Gen Z is living and breathing in virtually connected life, and it is common to see them becoming social, which social media is an important feature or element to Generation Z as technology is continuing to expand further. Furthermore, Gen Z can also be considered a “side hustle” generation like the Millennials, which nearly one in five Gen Z wants to run their own business and the whole majority of them would want to work into full time careers. Generation Z in the workspace brings the question of how should businesses adapt for Gen Z workers? The answer to this question is success in business is about being able to adapt and adjust effectively to new changes, challenges, and companies with a culture led in firm foundation. Thus, in business, it will be necessary to deal with this generational challenge. The right business education will help the leaders prepare to work with different generations in one workplace, such as problem solving and technology. Getting the right education in specific technology and management strategies of a good leader will be the best road to success. Additionally, Generation Z has some flexibility with their schedule. Generation Z is acceptable to diversity. Despite the influence about political difference and economics, they are much more tolerant of other races, cultures and even genders since they are interconnected. Therefore, many younger generations like Millennials and Gen Z have an understanding of social justice in the workspace. They also embrace technology. Technology is the way to the heart of Generation Z. Most of the Gen Z are somehow connected to an electronic 272 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

device. Consequently, the companies and management want them to work not just in a physical, actual workplace, but also at home or other places as long as they work more than 40 hours a week. According to APA, there are several problems with Generation Z. The biggest problem with Generation Z is their concern with their mental health. Such factors – immigration, sexual assault, mass shootings, current events – all give the Generation Z stress. Specifically, 75 percent of Gen Z said mass shootings are a significant factor of stress in the US according to a survey that was conducted online. Moreover, 57 percent of Generation Z reported the immigrant issue as a significant factor of stress, as well as sexual harassment and assault which was 53 percent. In sum, more than 91% of Generation Z said that they have experienced at least one or more physical or emotional symptoms because of stress. Some other problems with Generation Z are money and work. Money and work continued to top the list of significant factors that lead to stress. Nearly 64 percent of the Generation Z adults reported that the concerns about money and work lead to stress. Moreover, some other related sources of stress for Generation Z were personal debt and housing instability. Not many people know the difference between other generations and Generation Z. According to Medium, there are 5 main differences between the Millennials and Generation Z that the people should know. The first difference between the Millennials and Generation Z is diversity. Generation Z is the most diverse generation in the US being more gender and ethnic acceptable. This is because the Millennials grew up during


the time of a key change in the ethnic makeup, while Generation Z is the first to experience the change as the new normal. Thus, diversity in the traditional sense has become the norm for the Generation Z. Thus, the diversity as something that stands out for young people and marks an overall cultural change. The second main difference between the Millennials and Generation Z is stress. A study that was taken before the tragedy at Parkland shows that compared to other generations, Generation Z endures more extreme stress as overall 58 percent said that they are at least moderately stressed. Most of the Generation Z marked with stress were associated with all the awkwardness and uncertainty of adolescence and searching for their own identity. Not only Gen Z but most people say future is one of their top concerns, but at the same time, Gen Z also worries about the friendship and relationship issues, appearance, and safety more than the other generations. The connection to the internet brings Gen Z in contact with “cool people doing cool things”. Therefore, for Generation Z to fit in the society, it is important to be unique. However, Generation Z is finding diverse ways to relieve stress, such as by going to movies, hanging out and making new friends, in which Generation Z is considered as more active and adventurous. The third difference between the Millennials and Gen Z is gender and sexuality. There has been a huge change in how the country views sexuality. According to Generation Nation, there was a huge difference between how Gen Z and the country are evolving in terms of gender and sexual norms. Moreover, with the legalization of gay marriage, a difference in sexual preference became

more accepted, and as a result many members of Gen Z do not subscribe to specific categories of sexual orientation and are comfortable sharing their identity. The fourth difference is the use of technology and social media. Many people at first thought social media was youth’s territory. But the Millennials are now in their 30s and they are still using Facebook while the younger generations post and tweet. Generation Z not only uses social media less often than the Millennials, but they use it differently. Many members of Gen Z have parents who created Facebook account for them, thus, Generation Z feels that a lot of social media is too public. Generation Z is moving away from Facebook and towards Snapchat that allows more communication. In a similar context, using Instagram can even be too public. Thus, apps that allow group texting and sharing pictures are becoming more popular within Gen Z. The last difference is parenting style. Helicopter parenting might be going out of style. While the Millennials regularly eat meals together with their family, it is the opposite for Generation Z. The Gen Z families are not spending time together that much, as both parents and their kids are busy doing their own work. Moreover, the parents of Millennials are quite a bit more active and care more about the academic and social lives compared to the parents of Gen Z. Thus, the parents of Millennials wanted their kids to do well in school and look ahead to their university and career advancement, while the parents of Gen Z are busier and more comfortable not knowing every detail of their kids’ lives (Graham, 2018). According to Businessinsider, Generation Z likes to use social media. Generation Z is the first full generation UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 2 7 3


that grew up with social media, technology, and iPhones. Where are they spending most of their time? Most of the Generation Z spends time on Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube. In a survey, Gen Z reported that they use the three social media platforms mentioned above the most with Facebook at fourth. Moreover, about 83 percent of Generation Z said that they have an iPhone and added that the iPhone effectively became a requirement instead of a luxury. According to VOA, there is a relationship between Generation Z and technology. Technology has afforded Generation Z different learning styles and tools. Most of the Generation Z prefer using YouTube to paper books. Technology has increased the connectivity with the outside world. However, it also increased depression and suicide, and changed the way of accepting and perceiving themselves, while earlier generations did not have technology that delivered gratification or disappointment as what it does today. In fact, depression and suicide rates have increased in the United States, and one factor is often attributed in both depression and suicide is the connection with technology. Gen Z has the desire to make a difference and to change the world. Community consciousness is one of the characteristics of Generation Z. They are simply dreaming about making a difference someday in the future. They are already doing it by using social media. For example, they used Facebook to raise awareness on ALS. The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge was a social media phenomenon aided by the Generation Z. Many people participated by dumping a bucket full of ice water over their heads and sharing the footage on social media. After, the 274 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

people donated to ALS research and used social media to continue encouraging their friends to join and do the same. By recognizing Generation Z’s desire to get involved and contribute to the society, an online platform such as DoSomething.org provides the opportunity as it is basically designed to give an easy way to change the world. People can visit the website and select a campaign both offline and online then document to prove their involvement. Works Cited Beall, George. “8 Key Differences between Gen Z and Millennials.” HuffPost, HuffPost, 6 Nov. 2017, www. huffpost.com/entry/8-key-differencesbetween_b_12814200. Bright, Emily. Here’s How Gen Z Uses Social Media, in Their Own Words, Adweek, 2 Aug. 2019, www.adweek.com/ brand-marketing/heres-how-gen-z-usessocial-media-in-their-own-words/. Clark, Dave. 10 Defining Characteristics of Generation Z. blog. ttisi.com/10-defining-characteristics-ofgeneration-z. Durfy, Lauren. “Millennials vs Generation Z on Social Media.” PostBeyond, PostBeyond, 11 June 2020, www.postbeyond.com/blog/millennialsgenz-social-media/. Earls, Aaron, et al. 10 Traits of Generation Z. 31 Oct. 2018, factsandtrends.net/2017/09/29/10-traitsof-generation-z/. Fontelera, Kristy. Gen Z Core Values: What You Need to Know. 2 Jan. 2020, www.nonprofitpro.com/post/gen-zcore-values-what-you-need-to-know/. Fromm, Jeff. “How Gen Z Is Using Social Media To Affect Real-Life Social Change.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 14 Feb. 2018, www.forbes.com/sites/


jefffromm/2018/02/21/how-gen-z-isusing-social-media-to-affect-real-lifesocial-change/. Gen Z More Likely to Report Mental Health Concerns. www.apa.org/ monitor/2019/01/gen-z. “Gen Z: Born to Be Digital.” Voice of America, www.voanews.com/studentunion/gen-z-born-be-digital. Generation Z Is Stressed, Depressed and Exam-Obsessed. www.economist. com/graphic-detail/2019/02/27/ generation-z-is-stressed-depressed-andexam-obsessed. Graham, Ben. “Five Big Differences Between Millennials and Gen Z That You Need to Know.” Medium, Writers Guild, 10 Nov. 2018, medium.com/writers-guild/ five-big-differences-between-millennialsand-gen-z-that-you-need-to-knowfdefb607fc41. Green, Dennis. “The Most Popular Social Media Platforms with Gen Z.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 2 July 2019, www.businessinsider.com/gen-zloves-snapchat-instagram-and-youtubesocial-media-2019-6.Jan 22, 2019 North America. Make Way for Generation Z in the Workplace. knowledge.wharton. upenn.edu/article/make-room-generationz-workplace/. Kasasa. Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y,

and Gen Z Explained. www.kasasa.com/ articles/generations/gen-x-gen-y-gen-z. Kolatsis, Annie. “The Future of Social Media Is Changing and It’s All Thanks to Generation Z.” The Drum, The Drum, 12 Dec. 2019, www.thedrum.com/ opinion/2019/12/12/the-future-socialmedia-changing-and-it-s-all-thanksgeneration-z. RED, Cushman & Wakefield, and Cw-Red. Demographic Shifts: The World in 2030. issuu.com/cw-red/docs/cw_ demographic_shifts. “Report: Gen Z, Millennials Unhappy With Social Media’s Impact On Their Lives.” Report: Gen Z, Millennials Unhappy With Social Media’s Impact On Their Lives 07/24/2019, www.mediapost. com/publications/article/338497/reportgen-z-millennials-unhappy-with-socialmed.html. Spitznagel, Eric. Generation Z Is Bigger than Millennials - and They’re out to Change the World. 25 Jan. 2020, nypost.com/2020/01/25/generation-z-isbigger-than-millennials-and-theyre-outto-change-the-world/. Western Governors University. Who Is Gen Z And How Will They Impact The Workplace. 19 Oct. 2020, www.wgu.edu/ blog/who-is-gen-z-how-they-impactworkplace1906.html.

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Protecting the Rights of Indigenous People to Prevent Environmental Degradation Yujin Kim Seoul Foreign School, 12th

On March 1st, 2019, the United Nations General Assembly declared the 2021-2030 decade to be the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) identified the common goal of the decade as ‘preventing, halting, and reversing the degradation of ecosystems worldwide’. This resolution comes at a time of dire need, considering the colossal damage our diverse environmental systems have already experienced and are predicted to experience in the near future unless transformative action is taken. A 2019 report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) noted that about 75% of the planet’s terrestrial environment and 66% of its marine environment has been significantly altered by human activity, with extremely concerning current and predicted consequences. The same report also found that around 1 million animal and plant species currently face extinction within a matter of decades, an unprecedented level in human history. Land degradation has decreased the 276 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

productivity of 23% of land surfaces, while 100-300 people are under increased risk of flood and extreme weather events due to loss of coastal habitats. The maintenance and restoration of ecosystems have a far-reaching impact on both local and global scales. The consequences of environmental degradation will also disproportionately affect certain demographics. A significant portion of the regions that are projected to experience serious detrimental effects from changes in global climate, biodiversity, and ecosystem functions is also areas inhabited largely by indigenous populations and socioeconomically disadvantaged communities. These areas cover a vast range in all corners of the globe, most prominently in countries in Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Combating environmental degradation is also a significant component in combating climate action. Healthy ecosystems are a major carbon sink, storing up to one-third of global CO2 emissions. In addition, protecting ecosystems also means preserving habitats for flora and fauna. We may bring species back from the brink of extinction through environmental conservation and restoration.


So far, we have relied on the custodianship of indigenous people to preserve much of the planet’s natural environment. Although indigenous people only comprise 5% of the world population, they manage over 20% of the earth’s land surface area and 80% of its biodiversity. However, such indigenous communities and their traditional territories are placed under increasing pressure from various threats in many regions across the world. Land rights are at the heart of most indigenous communities’ historical struggles. Indigenous people around the world have a cultural, spiritual, and social connection to their ancestral lands, from which much of their shared knowledge and traditional livelihoods are derived. Since the era of colonization and conquest, many communities have been alienated from their lands and thus stripped of their traditional way of life. Indigenous people also suffer disproportionately from biodiversity loss and ecological degradation due to the fact that the vast majority of their traditional shared knowledge systems are centered around intimate relationships with their natural environment. The prosperity of ecosystems managed entirely by indigenous peoples, such as that of the Amazon rainforest prior to European settlement, provides circumstantial evidence in support of the idea that indigenous stewardship maintains sustainable relationships between human populations and the natural environment. In 2019, IPBES found that areas occupied or managed by indigenous peoples showed much slower rates of degradation than other lands. Furthermore, analysis of indigenous management institutions showed them to be ‘remarkably persistent and resilient’,

emphasizing the need for governments to better understand and maintain such systems in order to conserve and restore ecosystems. Ironically, efforts to reverse environmental degradation have often come at an indigenous cost. Conservation programs in many countries involve separating all humans from protected areas or strictly limiting access to certain government-approved groups for research and patrol purposes. Such methods often result in forced eviction of indigenous communities and their separation from natural resources and ancestral territories, often without adequate options for resettlement and compensation. For instance, the Sengwer and Ogiek peoples in Kenya have been repeatedly evicted from their ancestral forests due to the establishment of national parks since the 1970s, despite the expression of their desire to take part in conservation efforts while remaining on their land. Members of the indigenous community who attempt to return to their land are arrested or even killed by armed guards in some cases. Similarly, a 2016 study by the Rainforest Foundation found that in the 34 protected areas across the five countries in the Congo Basin (Cameroon, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo), indigenous communities had virtually no tenure rights to their lands with reports of partial or complete displacement with little or no reparations. The violation of indigenous land rights is an extremely pressing issue in this respect. The introduction of extractive industries and long-term projects such as tourism, mines, and dams without free and informed consent from indigenous communities often drive UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 2 7 7


such populations from their traditional lands and cause extensive, potentially irrevocable damage to the environment. For example, the Adani Carmichael coal mine in Queensland, Australia, is still being confronted much opposition from the Wangan and Jagalingou people, who would be forcibly removed from their ancestral lands if the construction continues. The Adani mine has also been subjected to much controversy due to significant predicted environmental and climate impacts. Such displacements are also a violation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which states that indigenous peoples may not be relocated or displaced from their lands without their ‘free, prior and informed consent’ and after ‘agreement on just and fair compensation’. Although recent decades have seen an increasing number of states implementing legislations to protect indigenous rights thanks to the UNDRIP, a 2019 UNEP investigation found a lack of political will to sufficiently implement and enforce such laws in many countries. This has given rise to continued marginalization of indigenous peoples in decision making, and conflicts between local communities, governments, and corporations. Human rights experts have pointed out that the lack of specificity and comprehensiveness in laws in numerous countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America are failing to protect indigenous peoples from forced displacement without adequate compensation or the option to return. Threats to indigenous environmental defenders have also increased significantly in recent years, with the international NGO Global Witness recording 164 murders of land and environmental defenders in 278 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

2018 with many more jailed, threatened, or otherwise mistreated, although the organization stated that actual figures are predicted to be higher. Along with the declaration of indigenous rights, efforts have been made to consolidate such rights within public knowledge and to further empower indigenous populations through education, which can lead to increased indigenous representation in environmental governance. Carried out in many different regions in the world, the attempt to include indigenous knowledge and culture within formal education has been met with varying degrees of success. For instance, an initiative aiming to reconnect the Yolngu youth in Australia with their customs and increase school attendance backfired due to the failure of the Northern Territory Department of Education and Training (DET) to consult community elders beforehand. On the other hand, the establishment of indigenous universities, introduction of specific degrees designed to incorporate indigenous knowledge systems, and development of intercultural bilingual education models in Latin American and Caribbean countries have been praised by local indigenous communities. Possible solutions Comprehensive and effective participation of indigenous people are critical in combating environmental degradation. Full manifestation of indigenous rights requires protection by national and regional laws. Even though recent decades have seen gradual progress in recognizing the tenure and access rights of indigenous communities, there is much to be done. Protecting indigenous rights to land and resources


In order to promote positive indigenous contributions to sustainability, governments must protect tenure and resource rights of indigenous communities. Even though indigenous rights to traditional land and resources are firmly embedded in the UNDRIP, many countries still lack laws to protect indigenous rights as outlined in the declaration. Even when such legislation is in place, the existence of contradictory laws or the lack of political will to undertake necessary procedures such as demarcation and resource mapping are preventing the full and effective manifestation of indigenous rights. On a national level, reforming present conservation policies and programs to ensure full consultation and participation of indigenous peoples on all levels is critical. In addition, governments may also clarify present measures and legal standards, as well as modifying mandates to better suit the unique cultural, social, and environmental context of different regions. States could establish national mechanisms for reparation and accountability, ideally with a grounding in institutions with a legal mandate to ensure enforcement. Doing so would provide a space for dialogue to reconcile past and present damages caused by alienation from land and resources, and amplify indigenous voices in shaping future conservation efforts. On an international level, regular global assessments of environmental laws have been identified as a key measure required to track national and global progress in environmental protection. Governments could cooperate with the UNPFII, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the

CBD secretariat to design mechanisms in line with global agreements. Supporting indigenous conservation efforts and integrating indigenous perspectives As mentioned in the ‘Description’ section, the significantly lower rate of degradation in areas of indigenous management or residence serves as proof that traditional and current indigenous practices of land and resource management are sustainable. Supporting grassroots movements and communitybased action should be a major focus of national restoration efforts since it allows governments to save resources and empowers local communities. For example, governments could provide financial and technical assistance for indigenous communities to survey the resources in the region and provide vocational training so that traditional indigenous management practices can expand beyond the locality to benefit the wider society. The failures of previous topdown bureaucratic schemes to promote indigenous inclusion in policy making should serve as a warning for institutions and governments when designing any local participation program. The principles of co-management and balance of power should serve as the basis of conservation and restoration programs. States must make sure such conservation efforts are in line with indigenous peoples’ motivations, as not all communities may wish to engage in environmental maintenance. Therefore, the bottom-up approach including discussion and collaboration between governments and indigenous communities, as well as the sharing of power in order to achieve social justice, is critical. UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 2 7 9


Integration of the interests and values of indigenous peoples in the process of designing policies and formulating actions is best achieved through indigenous representation in all levels of decision making. This is also likely to lead to the prioritization of biodiversity concerns across all sectors of development planning. In addition, equitable sharing of benefits from land use and active co-management with indigenous communities is crucial to make sure the arrangement does not become a form of tokenization. Integration of indigenous knowledge systems in formal education systems Many countries that house indigenous populations exhibit very westernized education systems, which inhibits the meaningful inclusion of indigenous knowledge and culture in collective knowledge. The loss of indigenous knowledge systems and traditions has led to higher rates of illiteracy and poor academic achievement among indigenous students compared to the rest of the population in many communities around the world. Integrating indigenous knowledge into curriculums and modifying pedagogical practices as needed to better suit social and cultural needs would allow the preservation of sustainable management practices. In carrying out this solution, international bodies such as the UNPFII may provide a space for different institutions to share experiences and know-how. However, communication and collaboration between governments, educational institutions, and local indigenous communities on the ground level is vital. Again, mutual respect between the parties involved and a balance of power in the decisionmaking process have been identified as key components crucial for the success of 280 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

the integration of indigenous knowledge systems into formal education. Protecting environmental defenders Environmental defenders play a pivotal role in environmental protection. With increasing pressure on land and resources, physical and social attacks on environmental defenders have also increased. It is of paramount importance, both from a human rights and law enforcement perspective and from an environmental perspective, that governments should take measures to protect environmental defenders and their communities. A range of actions can be taken to ensure the protection of defenders, from making project subsidies and investments contingent on the free, prior and informed consent of local communities to implementing protective measures for inrisk defenders in accordance with personal and cultural needs. Governments could also collaborate with the private sector in publicly acknowledging indigenous land rights and the role of environmental defenders. Implementation of specific laws and policies to protect defenders and address the de facto impunity of harassers and murderers has also been suggested by many NGOs and activists as a means to ensure that indigenous groups can continue their custodianship. Ensuring that those responsible for attacks on environmental activists face judicial consequences would dissuade would-be aggressors from assaulting environmental defenders. Creating a safe space for affected communities to share their experiences and grievances with investors, public officials, and companies is also important.


Works Cited “Adani’s Carmichael Coal Mine and Health.” Doctors for the Environment Australia , 2017. “Enemies of the State?” Global Witness, 30 July 2019, www. globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/ environmental-activists/enemiesstate/#:~:text=More%20than%20 three%20people%20were,our%20 environment%20are%20being%20 silenced. “Environment For Indigenous Peoples.” United Nations, United Nations, www.un.org/development/desa/ indigenouspeoples/mandated-areas1/ environment.html. “Environmental Rule of Law.” UNEP - UN Environment Programme, 24 Jan. 2019, www.unenvironment. org/explore-topics/environmentalrights-and-governance/what-we-do/ promoting-environmental-rulelaw-0#:~:text=Environmental%20 rule%20of%20law%20is,with%20 fundamental%20rights%20and%20 obligations. Garnett, Stephen T., et al. “A Spatial Overview of the Global Importance of Indigenous Lands for Conservation.” Nature Sustainability, vol. 1, no. 7, 2018, pp. 369–374., doi:10.1038/s41893-0180100-6.

Magni, Giorgia. “Indigenous Knowledge and Implications for the Sustainable Development Agenda.” European Journal of Education, vol. 52, no. 4, 2017, pp. 437–447., doi:10.1111/ ejed.12238. Tauli-Corpuz, Victoria, et al. “Brief.” Cornered by Protected Areas, 2018, www.corneredbypas.com/brief. Tauli-Corpuz, Victoria. “Conservation and Indigenous Peoples’ Rights. Report to the General Assembly, 2016.” UNSR Victoria Tauli-Corpuz; Former Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 2014-2020, 29 July 2016, unsr.vtaulicorpuz.org/?p=1806. UN Environment. “Indigenous Peoples and the Nature They Protect.” UN Environment, 8 June 2020, www. unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/ story/indigenous-peoples-and-naturethey-protect. “UN Report: Nature’s Dangerous Decline ‘Unprecedented’; Species Extinction Rates ‘Accelerating’ – United Nations Sustainable Development.” United Nations, United Nations, 6 May 2019, www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/ blog/2019/05/nature-declineunprecedented-report/#:~:text=The%20 Report%20finds%20that%20 around,20%25%2C%20mostly%20 since%201900.

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Disproportional Impacts of COVID-19 Yuna Jang St. Johnsbury Academy, 9th

The whole world has been in shock because of the current Covid-19 pandemic, which is continuing to affect more and more communities across the world. This pandemic has resulted in up to 1.1 million deaths and more than 39 million others infected. The United States is no different than other nations and is, in fact leading to the highest number of cases globally. This pandemic managed to claim over 217,000 US citizens up until 13th October 2020, and around 22,000 more than the last update which was made four weeks earlier succumbed to the illness, making the average deaths per day to be round 800 deaths per day (APM Research Lab, 2020). However, recent studies have revealed disparities based on race,

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more dramatically for Black Americans and Indigenous Americans. There is increasing evidence that points to the fact that some ethnic and racial minority groups are disproportionately suffering from Covid-19. In particular, many members of the black community are increasingly suffering from this pandemic due to inequities in social determinants of individual health life poverty and healthcare access. Recent data from places like Louisiana, Chicago, and New York demonstrate that the Covid-19 related deaths are disproportionately affecting people of color. For instance, while blacks only make up 22% of the population of New York City, by mid-April, they


made up 28% of the total facilities from the disease. In Chicago, blacks made up 30% of the population, yet they made up a surprising 70% of those who succumbed to the illness. Also, in Louisiana, blacks made up 32%, yet 70% of the total population that succumbed to Covid-19 were blacks (Wingfield, 2020). The APM Research Lab independently came up with these death statistics. The results demonstrated are the most robust as well as an up-to-date illustration of Covid-19 mortality by race available, with a key focus on inequitable deaths (APM Research Lab, 2020). The figure below presents a look at the Covid-19 death toll based on race. There are many factors which have been explained as to the reason for the high disproportionality of Covid-19 mortality based on race. One of the reasons put forward is discrimination. Unfortunately, discrimination is still existent in the systems that are meant to protect the health well-being of the people. Discrimination which incorporates racism can result in toxic and chronic stress and tends to shape economic and social factors, which put many individuals from ethnic and racial minority groups at a heightened risk for Covid-19 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020). Another reason is to access healthcare with many people from ethnic and racial minority groups more likely to be uninsured. There are many experiencing various other factors that affect healthcare access, such as communication barriers, lack of transportation, cultural differences between provides and patients, and even the existing historical and persistent healthcare systems discrimination. Another reason is that many people from some ethnic and racial backgrounds are disproportionately represented in

essential working settings like farms, grocery stores, healthcare facilities, and public transportation. As a result, many of these individuals have a higher chance of being exposed to the virus (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020). Poverty is also another major reason, with many individuals from ethnic and racial minorities suffering from high rates of poverty, which continue to cause challenges in their access to proper health care. To conclude, the Covid-19 pandemic has proven itself to the world as a troublesome and serious illness that ought to be treated as such. While the disease has proven to equally affect all despite one’s background, the severity and mortality rates have proven to be quite disproportional. There are many reasons that point to this, with poverty being one of the major reasons. Therefore, if the world ever seeks to reduce the high spread of this illness, it needs to be done by first finding out solutions for why the illness disproportionately affects certain populations. Works Cited APM Research Lab. (2020, October 15). COVID-19 deaths analyzed by race and ethnicity. Retrieved from https:// www.apmresearchlab.org/covid/deathsby-race Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020, July 24). Health Equity Considerations and Racial and Ethnic Minority Groups. Retrieved from https:// www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/ community/health-equity/race-ethnicity. html Wingfield, A. H. (2020, August 17). The Disproportionate Impact of Covid-19 on Black Health Care Workers in the U.S. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2020/05/ the-disproportionate-impact-of-covid-19on-black-health-care-workers-in-the-u-s UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 2 8 3


The Boundless Potential of Stem Cells Yunji Hwang North London Collegiate School Jeju, 12th

Stem cells serve as a repair system with potential to develop into many different types of cells in the body. They are different from other cells as they can divide and renew themselves over a long time. Stem cells are unspecialized, so they do not have specific functions and thus can become specialized cells, such as muscle cells, blood cells, and brain cells. Researchers have discovered several sources of stem cells, mainly categorized in two groups: embryonic stem cells (ESC) and adult stem cells. Embryonic stem cells come from embryos that are three to five days old. At this stage, an embryo is called a blastocyst and has about 150 cells. These are pluripotent stem cells, meaning they can divide into more stem cells or can become any type of cell in the body (Kemler, 1985). This versatility allows embryonic stem cells to be used to regenerate or repair diseased tissue and organs. Adult stem cells are found in small numbers in most adult tissues, such as bone marrow or fat. Compared with embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells’ ability is more limited to give rise to various cells of the body. Until recently, researchers thought adult stem cells could 284 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

create only similar types of cells. For instance, researchers assumed that stem cells residing in the bone marrow could give rise only to blood cells. However, emerging evidence suggests that adult stem cells may be able to create various types of cells. Bone marrow stem cells may be able to create bone or heart muscle cells. This research has led to early-stage clinical trials to test usefulness and safety in people - adult stem cells are currently being tested in people with neurological or heart disease. Recent studies have revealed another source of stem cells as well: adult cells altered to have properties of embryonic stem cells, also known as induced pluripotent stem cells. Scientists have successfully transformed regular adult cells into stem cells using genetic reprogramming. By altering the genes in the adult cells, researchers can reprogram the cells to act similarly to embryonic stem cells. This new technique may allow researchers to use reprogrammed cells instead of embryonic stem cells and prevent immune system rejection of the new stem cells. However, scientists do not know yet whether using altered adult cells will cause adverse effects in humans.


Doctors and scientists are excited about stem cells because they could help in many different areas of health and medical research. They hope stem cell studies can develop and enhance the medical field in several ways. Some examples include increasing the understanding of how diseases occur. By watching stem cells mature into cells in bones, heart muscle, nerves, and other organs and tissue, researchers and doctors may better understand how diseases and conditions develop. Stem cells may also generate healthy cells to replace diseased cells. They can be guided into becoming specific cells that can be used to regenerate and repair diseased or damaged tissues in people. People who might benefit from stem cell therapies include those with spinal cord injuries, type 1 diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, stroke, burns, cancer, and osteoarthritis (Hassan, 2009). Researchers continue to advance the knowledge on stem cells and their applications in transplant and regenerative medicine. They have relatively recently utilized stem cells in constantly testing new drugs for safety and effectiveness. Before using investigational drugs in people, researchers can use some types of stem cells to test the drugs for safety and quality. This type of testing will most likely first have a direct impact on drug development first for cardiac toxicity testing. New areas of study include the effectiveness of using human stem cells that have been programmed into tissuespecific cells to test new drugs. For the testing of new drugs to be accurate, the cells must be programmed to acquire properties of the type of cells targeted by

the drug (Panchision, 2006). Techniques to program cells into specific cells continue to be studied. For instance, nerve cells could be generated to test a new drug for a nerve disease. Tests would show whether the new drug had any effect on the cells and whether the cells were harmed. Scientists have recently grown a beating human heart tissue in a laboratory using stem cells. The engineered tissue could be used as a model of a human atrium, allowing researchers to test out new drugs as part of preclinical screening. This could lead to a faster, more efficient method of developing new treatments for heart conditions like atrial fibrillation, where a person has an irregular heartbeat that can increase the risk of stroke and heart failure. The current market for stem cell therapies is growing at 36% per year and will rapidly expand when a breakthrough treatment for non-communicable disease or a lifestyle factor occurs (Moradi, 2020). Funding is flowing into the sector from venture capitalists and large companies. With greater resources and an increasingly experienced talent pool, scientists and physicians may be able to develop stem cell science to cure the world’s most challenging diseases. They generally agree that a stem cell should be able to self-renew by dividing into another stem cell, which means making an identical copy of itself, and differentiate, change into a variety of other cell types. There are several people who have gone through successful stem cell treatments (Cells4Life, 2019). Reema Sandhu was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. The condition affects the brain and spinal cord, resulting in a wide range of life-altering symptoms such as visual impairments, muscle spasms and memory problems. Despite receiving high dose of UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 2 8 5


drugs for her condition, Reema did not see any improvement and suffered from several side-effects. After years of frustration, she decided to opt for private treatment and following a dose of chemotherapy to destroy her immune system, began to receive stem cell treatments. She then received an autologous stem cell transplant, where her own stem cells were collected from her blood and returned to her body via intravenous infusion. Significant improvements were immediately noticeable, particularly with Reema’s brain function. Two months after the transplant, her vision was restored, and she returned to work. These positive outcomes suggest that Reema’s MS has stopped progressing as a result of her stem cell transplant. After suffering a heart attack in 2016, Dave Randle was left with significant heart failure and a terrifying warning from consultants: he would be dead by Christmas. However, after discovering that stem cells could treat damaged hearts, Dave signed up for treatment. He received injections for five consecutive days that encouraged his bone marrow to release stem cells into his bloodstream. These cells were then isolated and infused back into his heart. Just weeks after the transplant, Dave’s stem cell success story had a happy ending – he began to feel better and doctors noticed substantial improvements. In 2005, George Norton was diagnosed with a form of blood cancer called acute lymphoblastic leukemia. After a relapse in 2014, George received a run of chemotherapy followed by a stem cell transplant from a donor through the Anthony Nolan charity, which works with leukemia and hematopoietic stem cell transplants. The aim of the transplant was 286 | UNS EEN - THE JOURNAL OF KYHS

to create a new, healthy immune system to fight cancer and kill any leukemia cells in the body. Since then, George has led a healthy life free of leukemia. 47-year-old Andrew Robinson had one of the most promising stem cell success stories. He was told that he would need a knee replacement after suffering from years of pain and swelling due to knee arthritis. However, Andrew was then recommended an alternative to knee replacement: a chondro-tissue graft procedure. This procedure involves inserting a ‘scaffold’ into the bone, which fosters the growth of new cartilage by releasing stem cells collected from the bone marrow. Andrew was able to walk again just 10 weeks after treatment and has now returned to his active lifestyle. Having endured aggressive Crohn’s disease throughout his childhood, Deepan Shah was referred for a clinical trial investigating the use of stem cells to reset the immune system and stop its attacks on the gut. Treatment began with chemotherapy followed by injections to encourage stem cell growth, which was then collected and infused into his body. Soon after treatment, Deepan was able to come off his medication. Whilst Deepan still has Crohn’s disease and occasionally experiences symptoms, he is now able to lead a normal life. These stem cell success stories demonstrate the life-changing potential of regenerative medicine in the treatment of a wide array of conditions. The incredible promise of stem cell research to a minimum advanced scientific understanding and perhaps ultimately to treat persons with devastating diseases gives moral force to efforts to conduct this research. However, stem cell research has been riddled with ethical questions, in part because the predominant methods


being used to derive or attempt to derive human embryonic stem cells require the destruction of the embryo. Nevertheless, the ethical debates surrounding human embryonic stem cell research have not been solely related to those associated with the embryo. For instance, the creation of chimaeras in some stem cell research has elicited concerns. Oocyte harvesting, which is essential to the creation of human embryonic stem cells raises concerns related to the safety of the donor. Some people see destroying a blastula for its cells as destroying an unborn child. Others feel that a blastula is not exactly a child just yet, because unless a blastula is embedded in the uterus wall, it will never have the chance to develop into a baby. Every year fertility clinics create many blastulae, but they will be destroyed as they are made in surplus. Supporters of ESC research generally feel that using cells from these surplus blastulae for research and developing medical treatments, which could help improve and save people’s lives, is much better than throwing them away. Other important ethical issues relate to informed consent of both donors of gametes and embryos as well as recipients of stem cells and stem cell products. Further, there has been some concern related to the commercialization of the process, justice, and the responsible conduct of research. In addressing the ethical issues associated with human embryonic stem cell research, it is important to note that they are being deliberated in a setting where scientific excitement is high, there are extraordinarily powerful arguments for access to investigational treatments, and the financial, moral and political stakes are great. In an attempt to minimize the ethical issues associated with human

embryonic stem cell research so important research can proceed, professional groups have issued guidelines for the ethical conduct of this research and its oversight. Systematic data regarding these efforts should be collected in order to enhance the likelihood that they meet their ethical goals. Debates and discussions about the moral and ethical status of ESCs help establish the rules and regulations that govern scientific research and the development of medical treatments using stem cells. It is important to realize that, although people may have very strong opinions on what is “best” for society, groups on both sides of this discussion are interested in helping and protecting human lives. Understanding this can greatly help people to respect each other’s differences in opinions and work to find the middle ground. In recent years, considerable advances have happened in biomedical ethics, particularly in the field of education, research, and legislation, for instance, in Iran. The establishment of the National and Regional Committees for Medical Research Ethics, the development of national codes of ethics in biomedical research in the 1990s, then the first, the second and the third revision of them in 2002, 2005 and 2014 respectively and also the introduction of a comprehensive strategic plan for medical ethics at the national level in 2002 were valuable activities by the Ministry of Health and Medical Education. An overview of the responsibility of ethics committees in research shows research ethics committees in general play an important role in evaluating the ethical aspects of medical research (CDBI, 2010). A ‘Research Ethics Committee (REC)’ is defined as a multidisciplinary, UNSEEN - T H E JO U R N A L O F K Y H S | 2 8 7


independent, body charged with reviewing research involving human participants to guarantee that their dignity, rights and welfare are protected, through reviewing research proposals, monitoring the conduct of research and dealing with problematic issues that may arise from research. They should be familiar with biomedical research principles including status and duties of research ethics committees and consequently strengthen the RECs in the medical community on the national, regional, and local level. Works Cited National Institutes of Health (2019). Stem Cells. [online] Medlineplus.gov. Available at: https://medlineplus.gov/ stemcells.html. Winslow, T. (2016). 4. The Adult Stem Cell | stemcells.nih.gov. [online] Nih.gov. Available at: https://stemcells. nih.gov/info/2001report/chapter4.htm. World Health Organisation (2011). Research ethics committees Basic concepts for capacity-building. [online] Available at: https://www.who.int/ethics/ Ethics_basic_concepts_ENG.pdf. Sugarman, J. Ethical issues in stem cell research and treatment. Cell Res 18, S176 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/ cr.2008.266 Nolan, A. (2016). Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). [online] Anthony Nolan. Available at: https://www.

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anthonynolan.org/patients-and-families/ blood-cancers-and-blood-disorders/ what-blood-cancer/acute-lymphoblastic [Accessed 15 Nov. 2020]. BBC News (2019a). Harri Stickler: Transplant joy for baby with rare cancer. BBC News. [online] 20 May. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/ukwales-48337656 [Accessed 15 Nov. 2020]. Nature Research (2020). Heart stem cells - Latest research and news | Nature. [online] www.nature.com. Available at: https://www.nature.com/subjects/heartstem-cells [Accessed 15 Nov. 2020]. Sommer, P. (2013). Can stem cells really regenerate the human heart? Use your noggin, dickkopf! Lessons from developmental biology. Cardiovascular Journal of Africa, [online] 24(5), pp.189– 193. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm. nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3748454/ [Accessed 15 Nov. 2020]. Bagutti, C., Wobus, A.M., Fassler, R., and Watt, F.M. (1996). Differentiation of embryonal stem cells into keratinocytes: comparison of wild-type and β(1) integrindeficient cells. Dev. Biol. 179, 184–196. Doetschman, T., Eistetter, H., Katz, M., Schmit, W., and Kemler, R. (1985). The in vitro development of blastocystderived embryonic stem cell lines: formation of visceral yolk sac, blood islands and myocardium. J. Embryol. Exp. Morph. 87, 27–45





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