APUSH P3










1/24/10

Participation Make Up: Don’t Mention That Shark’s Fin

Under pressure from a gracious Chinese host Fuchsia Dunlop had quite the decision to make. She could ignore the Sharkfin on the table or she could disregard her environmental and personal believes and take a bite. With all eyes eventually looming on her the battle a her head was fierce. If she were to take a bite no one would tell and the secret could be kept and the day would be saved. But if she did not take a bite then her mind would be at ease although the host might feel disrespected and conflict could ensue. Eventually she decided to avoid the Sharkfin until the host finally noticed and asked her why she had not been eating the extravagant dish. After some time thinking Dunlop finally decided to tell the truth and explained her motive behind the issue of endangered sharks and her environmental beliefs. After a short silence thankfully arguments did not ensue but a interesting conversation about food and conservation.

The reason I picked this commentary is because it deals with my beliefs personally as well. I was born in China and moved to the United States when I was four years old. Although I am here now almost all of my relatives are in China and I go back to visit them every other year. It seems like China has a practice of using or consuming many endangered animals besides the Sharkfin even though some countries have even outlawed the practice. It’s not that I don’t believe in this kind of issue but I can understand why some Chinese might feel this way. Chinese culture dictates that the human being is more important the animals around them therefore some take no head and eat what they please as long as it is honorable and it tastes delicious.


Participation Make Up #2: Jay Matthews: Class Struggle

The article speaks about how schools aren’t a big issue anymore and how the topic never comes up for discussion when you turn on your TV at six to the world news. I agree with this statement as the policies and issues regarding to school need to be heard by the general public so that they can have an idea about whats going on. In my experience the last time I heard anything on the news about schools nationally was when the No Child Left Behind act was put into place by Bush. Since then I haven’t heard a peep. Although local news stations frequently broadcast information about local schools, the news on the next level up fails to do this in any kind of way.