| 1: Select a title from the IB list. | 4. Organize your ideas and plan argument. |
| 2. Read the instructions and the marking criteria. | 5. Write the essay. |
| 3. Gather your ideas. | 6. Hand it in. |
HOW SOME OTHER STUDENTS HAVE DONE IT.
It makes me feel uncomfortable to refer to the machine that I use every day in Hong Kong as "lift", because that means I can use it only for going up to but not going down from my home on the thirty-fourth floor. I prefer the Chinese translation -- "up-and-down-machine."
Jacob Sin Chun Man (Hong Kong)
Maori believe that when Tane-mahuta created living organisms, it was man that was born last, and the first man was actually a woman. Because of this we see that all other living organisms (fish, plants, lions, eagles, slugs, etc.) are the older siblings, making man inferior to them all, including woman. So when Maori speak of these, our older brothers and sisters, we speak in very respectful tones, using forms of the words that imply greatness and prestige, thereby showing our elders the respect that they deserve. Through this we also see that it is impossible for a Maori to be insulted by being called an animal, no matter how vile the animal may seem to anyone else. So the Maori who has been called a dog by someone else considers him/herself complimented.
Maika Te Amo (New Zealand)
Another ambiguity regarding "truth" is its duality. There can be two or more contrasting views about the phenomenon, and both of them can make sense in some respects and be inappropriate in some respects, so they appear to be simultaenously true and false. In order to establish the truthful picture of reality we can suggest the solution, which seems to be fairly easy at first sight -- to combine contrasting views -- but it can be difficult as these views might contradict each other. As an example, we can examine two contrasting views about the same phenomenon:
"In 1945 the Soviet troops liberated the territories in Eastern Europe from Fascist Germany" and
"In 1945 the Soviet troops invaded the territories in Eastern Europe."
Both of the views find credible justifications in historical evidence (correspondence) and make sense (coherence). My grandfather, who fought against Fascist Germany on the side of the Soviet Union revealed to me that Soviet soldiers were greeted enthusiastically with handshaking, thankful hugs, tears of happiness and flowers. The monuments erected to commemorate the liberators and documentaries support his convictions. But behind the scenes, on the level of political command, Stalin and Churchill were carving up the map of Europe, dividing it into the spheres of influence, determing the fates of whole nations. So, together with liberating the East European states political goals were pursued.
Mariya Kostytska (Ukraine)
Different languages create somewhat different perceptions of reality. For instance, in the philosophy lessons some time ago it was difficult for me to understand the thought of Mary Daly, a contemporary American feminist philosopher, when she protested against the sexist world perception, saying that the reason for it is the Christian image of God as a male. My difficulty was that in my mother tongue Estonian, there is no difference between "she" or "he". The common third person singular pronoun is simply "tema" or the abreviated version "ta." Neither are nouns divided into feminine, masculine or neutral, as occurs in many Indo-European languages. I, as a native speaker, can say that although it may sound confusing, I have never had troubles with this "gap" and, in fact, am quite proud of this aspect of "sexlessness" in Estonian.
Triin Tammeveski (Estonia)