Sophia Fang: Being in Kumon

One of my favorite events as a child was Kumon student award ceremonies, receiving medals and recognition. When it came to my final one, I was incredibly excited to receive a gold clock, marking my math program completion. Moreover, I was extremely proud of myself for having completed the entirety of the Kumon program. My family keeps my Kumon awards on display to this day.

My name is Sophia and I am both a Kumon program completer and a grader at Kumon Rockville West. I am currently a senior at Winston Churchill High School and will be attending Princeton University in the fall. I graduated from the Kumon Reading program the summer before 6th grade, and the Math program the summer before 9th grade.

Kumon has been an integral part of my educational journey. My parents enrolled me when I was five and I begrudgingly continued to completion. I can definitely say that as a student, Kumon was not always my favorite, but looking back I can see the tremendous advantages of the program. One great advantage of doing Kumon is that it allows students to be prepared in school. For me, by the time my school classes began teaching certain topics, I had already learned the material in Kumon. This made my schoolwork much easier and allowed me to spend time on extracurricular interests like research and running.

I also cannot stress enough how important and helpful the teaching methods of Kumon are. Mental math and reading comprehension are skills that are crucial to begin learning at a young age. One-on-one attention at Kumon ensures that these skills are developed fully. I distinctly remember being able to multiply and factor much easier than my peers could. Being able to perform math easily in school fostered my love for it. I can confidently say that I enjoy math.

There are many reasons why Kumon was so important and successful for me, one being that  it is home based learning. I became accustomed to not just learning in school, but at home as well. It also promotes independent learning, allowing one to develop other academic interests. Kumon also builds strong foundations, going at the pace of the student, ensuring no gaps as a result of individualized lesson plans and one-on-one learning.

Lastly and most importantly, Kumon instilled in me a love for learning that pushed me throughout my school career. I was an active participant in classrooms and always wanted to learn more, even in topics past math and reading. The rigor of doing Kumon each day in addition to schoolwork also prepared me for advanced classes such as AP courses in high school. Kumon even further prepared me for high school by teaching me other skills such as concentration, routine, and time management. Time management is incredibly important as a high schooler juggling multiple extracurricular activities and schoolwork. 

In the long run, Kumon is incredibly advantageous to one’s learning. Kumon provides an educational experience that school does not, and from my own personal experience, I strongly encourage each child to go through the Kumon program as well.

Though I felt bad doing Kumon worksheets on my birthday or while on vacation, I am incredibly grateful that my parents pushed me to do Kumon every day. The skills and mindset I learned from Kumon have helped me achieve many of my accomplishments and I continue to use them to this day.

Water Crisis Threatening India-Pakistan relations

 Water Crisis Threatening India-Pakistan Relations?

Few seem to know that the driest continent in the world is not Africa but Asia, where availability of freshwater is not even half the global average. Asia has less than one-tenth of the water of South America, Australia and New Zealand, less than one-fourth of the water of North America, almost one-third of the water of Europe, and 25% less water than Africa per inhabitant. Asia has the world’s fastest-growing demand for water and the biggest abuse. The abuse and displacement of water is the ground -level equivalent of greenhouse gas emissions, and likely as great a cause of climate change.[1]Water availability on per capita cubic meter basic is estimated to decline from 1730 to 1240 for India[2]  by 2035. Alarmingly, by 2020 Pakistan’s water capacity will reduce to 800 cubic meters per capita. Pakistan is also estimated to be losing 13 million cusecs of water every year from its rivers into the sea, as it does not have enough reservoirs or dams to store water. The Ganges in India is expected to lose between 15 to 30 percent of water due to glacier depletion by mid of 21 century[3].

            Water has emerged as a critical issue that will determine if Asia is headed toward greater cooperation or competition.The water issues are increasingly gaining resurgence in relations between countries. As per Pacific Institute, water conflicts today arise for numerous reasons like religious accounts, development issues, military tools, political disputes and as tools of terrorism. Even when there is enough water around us, there is scarcity of fresh water. Asia, with the lowest per capita freshwater availability among all continents, is at the center of global water challenges. “Suddenly it is so clear: the world is running out of fresh water” are the opening words of Barlow’s 2002 book, Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop Corporate Theft of the World’s Water. [4]The book warns that a mighty contest over the world’s dwindling fresh water supplies was brewing.

               All those gloomy images show the criticality of water issues, but is the situation really so dire? Is the Earth running short of water or is it our management which is failing?In 2006, the United Nations (UN) reported that many of world’s water problems come not from the physical absence of freshwater, but from poor governance and lack of investment in basic activities like sewage treatment and water efficiency programs. [5] A more rigorous analysis states that water remains a sought after commodity in the growing world, yet it remains a manageable problem. 

India –Pakistan, the 1947 Line of partition cuts across the Indus river system, necessitating an understanding between the countries on the sharing of the waters and the steps to be taken in response to the disruption of well-established systems. The dispute over the waters of River Indus, has been resolved through Indus Water Treaty (IWT) in 1960.IWT is representative of a water dispute settlement mechanism between the countries and has so far survived the political upheavals. However, many other domestic and international water issues, specially the unresolved dispute of Tulbul Navigation Project connected to Jammu and Kashmir, still stare in the face. The intergovernmental talks on Tulbul project have not been successful due to Pakistan’s objections based on domestic compulsions. Nevertheless, with belief in structural constructivism and in light of a peaceful precedent of resolution of IWT, the paper queries whether the water crisis is for real or, “Is the assumed water crisis being used to threaten India - Pakistan relations”?

For full article mail Vohravikas68@gmail.com

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Does the atrocities of taliban on women affect its support?

The women of Afghanistan and the Taliban historically share a very close relationship of oppressed and the oppressor respectively. Even after the routing post-9/11 the support structure of the Al Qaeda may have been affected, but that of Taliban remained strong.  Hitherto fore, no research has so far reflected to the world the affects of the Taliban’s repression on women in Afghanistan. This paper endeavors to fill that void and addresses the question: Does the Taliban’s atrocities on women affect their support in Afghanistan or in the outside world?

Whether Taliban’s repression on women in Afghanistan favors or assists them, the answer is far more complex and ambiguous than the conventional wisdom on the subject. The media publicity the  Taliban receives, cuts both ways. On one hand, they are indeed assured of the notoriety that their actions are designed to achieve, but on the other hand public attitudes and actions are less predictable and malleable then the terrorists believe.

The paper believes that Taliban remains the media cynosure of the entire world. With media responding to ‘consumer demand’, Taliban is assured of the proverbial oxygen of publicity on which they depend. Emboldened by the news of United States and NATO withdrawal, and the anticipated talk of being part of the ruling coalition in Afghanistan, Taliban is not likely to change their idiosyncratic methods irrespective of the international condemnation. While international community paints a grim picture of atrocities on women, the paper proves that it does not reflect any adverse effect in the support for the Taliban.

For the full article mail to vohravikas68@gmail.com.