The True Worth of the SAT

I was standing in line for what seemed hours, and yet I dreaded my turn. I was about to take my second SAT test. Around me, other students, subject to the same fate as I, nervously shifted from one foot to the other, looking anywhere but up ahead, relishing their last precious moments before the test. Everyone was perfectly miserable—everyone, that is, except the guy directly in front of me.

“You know, I'm not nervous about this test at all,” he boasted, grinning foolishly. “When I took the ACT, I was in the...” he pauses for effect, “...55th percentile.” He then flashed some dorky moves to finish off his speech. Behind him, I smirked bemusedly. He was bragging about being in the 55th percentile, as if it were something to boast about; and yet, just behind him stood someone, me, who had scored in the 95th percentile on the SAT. I gloated in my supposed superiority.

In reality, being in the 55th percentile isn't bad. In fact, it's pretty good. He was of average or even above-average intelligence, so he faced no disadvantages when trying to apply for college. Unlike many people, he was well rounded, being equally good at both math and English. My mother, for example, was in the 93rd percentile in English but was in the lower third in math. My father was just as uneven the other way. The 55th percentile is excellent; however, the 95th percentile is a lot better, a whole lot better.

And yet, what was I doing, thinking this about him? I laughed at him for boasting about his scores when I had scored much higher than he. But by laughing at him, I was doing the very thing I had mocked him for. What if there were someone standing there who was in the 96th percentile, or the 97th, or the 99th? Would they not think I was as foolish as I thought he was? Am I not, in my pride, committing the very sin I mocked the guy in front of me for?

When I was thinking about these things, I obviously placed great worth on the SAT; I judged someone I had never met based solely on his SAT score. Since that time, however, I have drastically changed my opinion. Up to that day, I had expended all my energy in studying for the test. I reviewed online hints and suggestions. I read and re-read the College Board's official SAT study guide. I lived and breathed SAT questions (ok, I actually didn't do that much). And yet, what is the return for my efforts? A 2180 SAT score, obviously. But what have I gained in the long term?

The SAT is practically worthless; the entire purpose of taking the test (at least, from my perspective) is to give students a chance to enter college. However, getting a super-high score didn't open any doors for me. Even though I am in the highest financial-aid brackets at most colleges—some paying $14,000 or more—the original tuition price is so high that the scholarships don't even come close to lowering it enough. When you have to pay $160,000, what difference does a $10,000 discount make? The SAT didn't even give me high priority at the community and state colleges I applied at—at one I was placed at the lowest priority and unable to take the classes I needed, and at the other I could not even enroll because they placed high priority on other students. To compound the irony, I am planning on transferring to Thomas Edison State College, which doesn't even require its students to take the SAT!

Not only did the SAT not help me enter college, but after college, the SAT will have no value whatsoever. The SAT is useless when applying for a job. Companies don't care if their employees did well on the SAT. Potential employers don't examine applicants' SAT scores. Employees aren't given instant raises or important management positions for their scholastic aptitude. Employers only care about their employees' ability to perform their jobs, not how well they can do at college. The SAT has virtually no worth outside the college scene.

Worthless at getting in colleges, worthless at getting classes, worthless at getting a job—the SAT was the greatest waste of time and anxiety I have ever done. What folly, what stupidity, what absurdity! That I had never bothered take the test! I may have scored higher than the guy standing in front of me that day, but in reality, we were both in the same position. We both had the same advantages in the workplace; neither of us really had an edge over the other. We both faced a similar problem of funding our college educations. In a sense, there is no real difference between scoring in the 95th percentile and scoring 40 percentages lower. Both scores are completely meaningless.

Tattoos

The Birth of a Fairy

Beyond man's reach, hidden beneath an ocean of ferns and fungi, there came shinning out of a mushroom a solitary glow, forming a ring of light in front of itself. And yet the brilliance of the light was slowly dwindling, falling, fading; it seemed as if the mushroom was dieing and, out of desperation, crying out for help. Swarms of small insects who were captivated by the sudden, brilliant light surrounded the unearthly radiance, looking intently into its blinding glare. Suddenly there was heard a creaking, a moaning, a groaning: out of the light a fairy came tumbling forth, spilling cool, clear liquid on the ground. The surrounding insects, as if out of fear of this stranger, all began pulling away from this stranger. Extending one shaking limb forth, and then another, the fairy emerged from her slumber, unaware of the fright she had just caused those around her. The fairy then calmly shook the remaining liquid from off her face and hair and, after drying her wings, took off into the sky, never to be seen again.

Jews in Japan?!?!

Where did the Japanese (the Asians, not the Ainus) come from? Korea? China? Israel? Arimasa Kubo, a Japanese Bible lecturer, has found many "similarities" between the Jews and the Japanese. According to Arimasa, after the collapse of Northern Israel in 722 B.C. and their exilement, a few of the Jews made their way eastward. (In fact, China, Afghanistan, India, and other such nations have ancient records of people that behaved similar to the Jews (following Jewish customs and such).) Why not Japan?

He gives many reasons why the Jews were in Japan: a Japanese festival similar to the story of Isaac (I say similar in the "hardly, vaguely, not-at-all" sense), the omikoshi ark things (same kind of similar), and the "similarity" between the Jewish Tabernacle and Shinto shrines (just oozing similarity, neh?). Full article is here.

What do we gather from this? Perhaps there were Jews in Japan. In Isaiah 43:5-7 and 11:10-12 the remnant of Israel is described as being scattered across the earth. But, in these same passages, God is talking of how He is going to draw back the Israelites from these far away places. If there were Jews in Japan, they probably went back to Israel.

Unfortunately, this is not the end of this "Jews in Japan" thing. Apparently Jesus didn't die on the Roman cross, as so many of us have been naively been lead to believe. It was Jesus' brother who was crucified, leaving Jesus himself to flee for Japan, where he married and lived to the age of 104-118 (full article at tofugu.com). But, this is completely wrong. But why so?

According to the Bible, there is one God who has created all things. Yet all people have rebelled against God, and have done things very grievous to God by breaking his laws. These bad things are called sin. The Bible says that all people have sinned, and all deserve eternal punishment in Hell. How can you know if you have sinned? Have you ever sworn? The Bible says, "You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name." (Exodus 20:7) Have you ever stolen? The Bible says, "You shall not steal." (15) Have you ever coveted? The Bible says, "You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor." (17)

What can a person do to escape this eternal fate of Hell? Be good enough? No one is righteous. No one can save themself. But we still have hope! God sent his son, Jesus Christ, to the earth, so that all people could be saved from Hell. In order for God's justice to be satisfied, someone had to take the punishment for our sins. When Jesus died, he took all of the guilt of our sins and, afterwards, rose again that we may too have new life.

What can someone do to get this salvation? Repent of your sins and have faith in him to save you. God wants all people to believe in Jesus for their salvation, and will draw near to those that come to him. Please think on these things I have said, and consider if they are true.

日本の正月 (Japanese New Year)

(For clarity purposes, whenever I have Justin, he'll have a black stripe on his tail, and Keiji will be the only one with lots of hair :P)

In Japan, New Year's is a bigger (by far) holiday than Christmas. In fact, to the Japanese, it is the most important holiday, and therefore deserves extra paganitry, eh? :( But what exactally do they do during this important time? The Japanese have a great many different New Year's ceremonies, and I'll discuss just a few (I'm lame and I know no one cares).

First is the shimenawa, used for ritual purification (sounds really fancy but everyone knows it isn't...) in Shintoism, and for warding away evil spirits (unfortunately, it may do just the opposite...). The space bound by this is supposedly "sacred" or "pure," so I guess evil guys get scared of all that good (?)( no clue if that's the logic here)...

Another is the kadamatsu, which is used to supposedly bring long life (ya know, having a lot of long tube thingies right by your door just naturally lengthens your life). Pretty much just a fancy decoration.

When talking of holidays, you can't forget the food, and when talking of food, you can't forget the gods, right? This is where the kagamimochi comes into play. The name comes from two words, mirror (kagami) and mochi (mochi), [the meaning actually doesn't help in the understanding of the word since the origional meaning is lost]. Kagamimochi is placed on your family home for the gods. Symbolises the coming and going of years, ying and yang, the sun and moon, blah blah blah, other paganey crud. All that good stuff.

And, of course, we can't forget our forget-the-year parties, or bonenkai. These are not necessarily held on New Years, but they usually happen sometime in December. The Japanese are, suprizingly, a culture that looks kindly upon the drunk. Because of this, to escape the intense social pressures, many Japanese will drink regularly. New Years is just an excuse to do so, it seems.

And finally, there's Hatumode, or the first shrine visit of the new year. For the Japanese, "religion" (I use parenthesis to enclose this sloopy word) is a very small part of their lives, if a part at all. But why these visits to shrines? For most Japanese, visits are just little social dwitties. 'Well, I'm Japanese, and all good Japanese are going to the temples and shrines, and everyone I know is too, so I'll go.' They have no real spritual commitment to any belief, either eastern or western. They just go with the flow of everyone else.

In Japan, while people are much more "modern," more liberally and atheisticy, there is a definate want to keep the "old ways" around. Although it is a very shallow sort of thing, the Japanese don't want to let go of their old culture, and yet don't want to really be obedient to the religions themselves. They are a strange mixture of atheism and superstition. Rather sad, actually. But, because they are so lost, they may be much more open to hearing some sort of truth for their lives. Perhaps now, more than ever, Japan is ready for the gospel.

Tall, blond Japanese?

(Boo-hoo my comic's ugly even when Timmy helps me...)

Another long quotation from an article (sorries, sorries...):

"Yoshoku [European-ish food in Japan] was born during Japan’s Meiji Restoration, the period that followed this isolationist country’s forced opening by America’s so-called Black Ships in 1854 [Commander Perry, Commander Perry!] . Japanese were dispatched to Europe and America to learn about Western laws, weapons and industry. They also brought back the cuisine. Shocked to discover how much shorter they were than Westerners [Bwahahahaha!!!], Japanese determined that they would catch up not only economically and militarily but also physically, by eating their food.

"That desire survived at least until the 1970’s, when a businessman named Den Fujita established McDonald’s in Japan and claimed that its menu would make Japanese as tall and attractive as Americans.

“'Japanese are poorly built because they eat rice,' he said at the time. 'We’ll change that with hamburgers. After eating hamburgers for a thousand years, Japanese will even have blond hair.'"

Has it worked? Are the Japanese tall and blonde yet? Sort of. The Japanese are becoming taller on average, especially children, and are nearly as tall as Americans (in comparison to pre-WWII, where the average Japanese soldier was 5'3"...). But the Japanese are still shorter than Americans, and I think it's a while yet before they turn blond, but ya never know... :P I hope not, or we may be seeing more of this and this, and it ain't perty. (If you were made with black hair, don't make it yeller!!) With the Japanese trying to become Americans, and the Americans trying to become Japanese, you only wonder what is going to result...

Japan's daddy?

(Justin and Keiji are discussing America's role in Japan. A difference of opinion, I suppose...)

Really long expert from this article (sorry it's long...):

"Anno [interviewed dude] understands the Japanese national attraction to characters like Rei [his lame-o character] as the product of a stunted imaginative landscape born of Japan’s defeat in the Second World War. 'Japan lost the war to the Americans,' he explains, seeming interested in his own words for the first time during our interview. 'Since that time, the education we received is not one that creates adults. Even for us, people in their 40s, and for the generation older than me, in their 50s and 60s, there’s no reasonable model of what an adult should be like.' The theory that Japan’s defeat stripped the country of its independence and led to the creation of a nation of permanent children, weaklings forced to live under the protection of the American Big Daddy, is widely shared by artists and intellectuals in Japan. It is also a staple of popular cartoons, many of which feature a well-meaning government that turns out to be a facade concealing sinister and more powerful forces."

Sorry that was long, but yeah, that's pretty much the situation. Japan even LOOKS like a part of the U.S., what with all their western weddings and McDonalds (even if it doesn't always work) and skyscrapers (with NOT ENGLISH on them) and bikes and stuff... Japan really is like a little part of America. :P

Americans just think Japan is just another smooshed nation beneath America's big butt. The end.