WTF Japan? Epic thread of problems

[Exalt]

I don't know, IMHO multiple choice is always easier than a written answer (and yes, this is a subjective opinion) because;

#1) In a multiple choice question the answer is already given to you.

#2) You can do well in a multiple choice exam by using process of elimination to get rid of atleast 1 or 2 choices per question.

#3) You can pass a multiple choice exam by either guessing the answer to each question (you won't pass a written exam by writing page upon page of uncoherent bullshit :turned: )

I disagree, apparently you aren't good at bullshitting then, because written essay answers are the easiest to answer when you have no idea, you can bullshit and bullshit until something sounds right

[genocidal]

And if you check out some of the problems I said you'll find that some multiple choice questions have multiple correct answers but are asking for the best answer. Then some are just plain misleading, where the most attractive answer is wrong.

I mean it all depends on the type of multiple choice. Sure I can completely guess and expect to get some where around 20% (given 5 choices) - but who the fuck cares about the difference between that 20% and the 1-10% you may luck yourself into bullshitting on an essay exam.

For my personal area of study I almost exclusively write papers. But I've had very effective economics, chemistry, and biology courses that mainly used multiple choice.

[Displaced]

I disagree, apparently you aren't good at bullshitting then, because written essay answers are the easiest to answer when you have no idea, you can bullshit and bullshit until something sounds right

riiiight... have all of your teachers been retarded?

Multiple Choice:

Q) What was the single most important factor to the advancement of the Industrial Revolution in Britain.

1) Steam Power.
X) War in Middle East
2) Chinese Depression

A) 1) Correct 1/1

Alternatively with an essay type question.

A) the single most important factor to the advancement of the Industrial Revolution in Britain was the plague epidemic in China which halted their trade with Britain, which meant that the British were essentially forced to advance their own Industry to a higher standard. Also Margaret Thatcher had crabs and my dog died last week cause my name is Exalt and I am the hardest motherfucker on the planet. Incorrect 0pts.

You can bullshit as much as you want to, but unless the answer is correct, it wont get you any points.

[Epinephrine]

Multiple choice can be hard or easy.

The multiple choice I had in undergrad was easy, could always guess at stuff. The multiple choice I had in medical school was ridiculously hard.

For instance, 1/2 the questions are 'which of the following is the first thing you would do for this patient?', when all 5 choices were ALL CORRECT things you'd do eventually, and in real life, people would probably do 3 of them anyway to save time. So you'd really have to know your stuff to know the one correct best answer.

i.e. If you and your friend were caught in a car accident, what is the MOST PRUDENT thing to do first?
1) Get out of the car
2) Turn off the car
3) Turn on the 4-way flashers
4) Call the police
5) Check if your friend is stable before leaving car

Similarly, there would be questions like 'which of the following is not a feature of this disorder?', where there would be 5 answers, 4 of which were correct, 2 of which were the obvious ones, 2 of which were arcane ones, and the last incorrect one would sound like it could be correct unless you just KNEW it wasn't.

i.e. Which of the following lead to the successful election of Barack Obama to the Democratic Party nomination of 2008?
1) Iowa caucus
2) Maryland caucus
3) South Carolina caucus
4) Rhode Island caucus
5) Maine caucus

(We wrote American standardized exams so they are basically used across North America and not specific to our school)

[royCE]

in serbia, you basically get a whole fat book on a certain subject, lets say chemistry, and you have till end of the semester to be able to answer 3 random questions from that book in full detail. that is college.

ofcourse this isnt always the case, but you get the sense of what real college learning is...

[Zerzera]

Where I live it's different, we play outside all day every day and then when it's time for exams my father drives to school with a bag of money and I passed.

[Bioture]

my bigoted response to the original posts

1) Japan has the lowest percentage of Christians in the world at <1%.

http://www.nationmaster.com/country/...n/rel-religion

People there need to find something to LIVE for, and a PURPOSE for living.

2) If you're a parent, and you let your kids lock themselves up for years at a time, you're a BAD parent.

3) Let's go over to japan and have sex with japanese school girls and impregnate them. We can save japan together people!!!

[Noah]

I'm in for anything related to japanese schoolgirls, anything!

[Galleleo]

I never meant to argue which is better. I don't know if it is better to have the American system which I consider simpler, but there is more repetition of the stuff, so maybe that is better because it stays with you easier. Or Dutch where there is only 1 big exam, which I consider harder. Maybe less of the stuff you learned sticks.

Just never mind about my point. These are my experiences having followed and following courses in both countries. For me personally, the Dutch system is better because I find a severe lack of motivation to study for any of my tests over here, not that I have a lot better motivation back home, but I do more because of the size and perceived degree of difficulty for me.

[Liquid Blue]

1) Japan has the lowest percentage of Christians in the world at <1%.

http://www.nationmaster.com/country/...n/rel-religion

People there need to find something to LIVE for, and a PURPOSE for living.

The tone of your #1 in your post suggests that religion/ Christianity in particular would be a major factor in helping japanese people find something to live for, a purpose- something which I heartily disagree with. Religion might be a great compass for some and give them a sense of purpose, but I don't think it's should be treated as one of the only ways to help them find something to live for.

Although I'm a christian I really have a problem with how selfish alot of christians seem and sound when they're talking about heaven or God. Like the only reason to do good things for other people is to get into heaven or so you won't burn in hell for eternity- You should be willing to do good simply because it's the right thing to do, or help someone because they need help and you can help them, not so you can get in God's good graces or avoid damnation for eternity.

All Christians aren't like that and alot don't act like that but I don't like how often "saving your own ass" is used as a motivator in Christianity.

[Bioture]

The tone of your #1 in your post suggests that religion/ Christianity in particular would be a major factor in helping japanese people find something to live for, a purpose- something which I heartily disagree with. Religion might be a great compass for some and give them a sense of purpose, but I don't think it's should be treated as one of the only ways to help them find something to live for.

Although I'm a christian I really have a problem with how selfish alot of christians seem and sound when they're talking about heaven or God. Like the only reason to do good things for other people is to get into heaven or so you won't burn in hell for eternity- You should be willing to do good simply because it's the right thing to do, or help someone because they need help and you can help them, not so you can get in God's good graces or avoid damnation for eternity.

All Christians aren't like that and alot don't act like that but I don't like how often "saving your own ass" is used as a motivator in Christianity.

This post is meant for LB only. I'm not trying to turn this thread into a theological or spiritual debate.

I have been a missionary in Asia. I think trying to further God's kingdom is the complete opposite of selfishness. You don't think knowing Jesus gives someone something to live for? I don't deal with whatifs because there will be no whatifs or itoldyouso's on the day of God. You, as a Christian, should reconsider what is "religion" and what is "spirituality." Do NOT confuse knowing God with simple religion. In my brief statement in no way did I advocate a performance-based method on getting into heaven. You and I both know the way to heaven is through Christ - that is the only way. However being a Christian, you should know as well that faith without works is dead. So my question to you, young grasshopper, why do you do good - if it isn't prompted by the Holy Spirit within you? You have no power to change the world, no power to change the hearts and intentions of others, and no power to sway opinions on the spiritual. God does. If you do a million good things for the sake of doing good things, where does that get you in the kingdom of heaven if you don't do it for God's glory?

[Epinephrine]

You know there's other religions around the world too. I guess there must be a lot of suicides in India cause there aren't enough Christians...

(A lot of Japanese are Buddhist or Shinto)

[Liquid Blue]

This post is meant for LB only. I'm not trying to turn this thread into a theological or spiritual debate.

I have been a missionary in Asia. I think trying to further God's kingdom is the complete opposite of selfishness. You don't think knowing Jesus gives someone something to live for? I don't deal with whatifs because there will be no whatifs or itoldyouso's on the day of God. You, as a Christian, should reconsider what is "religion" and what is "spirituality." Do NOT confuse knowing God with simple religion. In my brief statement in no way did I advocate a performance-based method on getting into heaven. You and I both know the way to heaven is through Christ - that is the only way. However being a Christian, you should know as well that faith without works is dead. So my question to you, young grasshopper, why do you do good - if it isn't prompted by the Holy Spirit within you? You have no power to change the world, no power to change the hearts and intentions of others, and no power to sway opinions on the spiritual. God does. If you do a million good things for the sake of doing good things, where does that get you in the kingdom of heaven if you don't do it for God's glory?

See that's the exact thing that annoys me- you shouldn't be doing good for God or anyone's glory, or to get into the kingdom of heaven. I personally think that's a bullshit way to look at religion or to even "know God". IMO God doesn't need you to do shit for him- and you shouldn't only do good things because you love God or because you want to prove how much you love him. It's bullshit. The same with Jesus giving you something to live for. If you have faith then you don't need to live for Jesus, and he doesn't need you to live for him. You should be living to help the people around you and doing as much good as you can, simply because it's the right thing to do.

Until you can honestly do good things without caring who knows or how many brownie points you're getting, or how much God knows you love him if you help X person out of a ditch, you don't really understand the point of doing good. Shit like " spreading God's glory" and "getting into the kingdom of Heaven" shouldn't even enter your mind frame when you're helping people, they need help so you should help them, simple as that. In short, you shouldn't worry about getting into Heaven- period. Do what you think is right and the pieces will fall where they may.

[Izor]

See that's the exact thing that annoys me- you shouldn't be doing good for God or anyone's glory, or to get into the kingdom of heaven. I personally think that's a bullshit way to look at religion or to even "know God". IMO God doesn't need you to do shit for him- and you shouldn't only do good things because you love God or because you want to prove how much you love him. It's bullshit. The same with Jesus giving you something to live for. If you have faith then you don't need to live for Jesus, and he doesn't need you to live for him. You should be living to help the people around you and doing as much good as you can, simply because it's the right thing to do.

Until you can honestly do good things without caring who knows or how many brownie points you're getting, or how much God knows you love him if you help X person out of a ditch, you don't really understand the point of doing good. Shit like " spreading God's glory" and "getting into the kingdom of Heaven" shouldn't even enter your mind frame when you're helping people, they need help so you should help them, simple as that. In short, you shouldn't worry about getting into Heaven- period. Do what you think is right and the pieces will fall where they may.

These conversations right here are why I reject organized religions like Christianity. While they have their upsides such as establishing a set of morals for humans to live by, they also have their downsides such as the ability to be used as propaganda for war. I've always been under the mentality of 'believe what you believe, but dont force it on others.' You can even see that in these forums when I get assaulted by wikipedia using atheists that think they know the answers to everything. I'm not going to go on this rant here, so I'll stop now.

[Bioture]

See that's the exact thing that annoys me- you shouldn't be doing good for God or anyone's glory, or to get into the kingdom of heaven. I personally think that's a bullshit way to look at religion or to even "know God". IMO God doesn't need you to do shit for him- and you shouldn't only do good things because you love God or because you want to prove how much you love him. It's bullshit. The same with Jesus giving you something to live for. If you have faith then you don't need to live for Jesus, and he doesn't need you to live for him. You should be living to help the people around you and doing as much good as you can, simply because it's the right thing to do.

Until you can honestly do good things without caring who knows or how many brownie points you're getting, or how much God knows you love him if you help X person out of a ditch, you don't really understand the point of doing good. Shit like " spreading God's glory" and "getting into the kingdom of Heaven" shouldn't even enter your mind frame when you're helping people, they need help so you should help them, simple as that. In short, you shouldn't worry about getting into Heaven- period. Do what you think is right and the pieces will fall where they may.

Let's clear up a few things before you get all worked up. Firstly, I'm not arguing with you on the following: 1) You're right God doesn't need us to do anything including glory-giving or good deeds. 2) I've said in the previous posting that good deeds does NOT play a part in entering heaven. Believing in Christ does. 3) I've never tried to "prove" how much I love God in ANY of my ramblings on spirituality - EVER. But I've tried to bring out the fact that God loves US.

Now to the discrepancies. Let's say you're a Christian. I'm presuming you know the foundational stuff so I'll skip it. My question to you is this - how do you justify faith if you don't act upon it? God doesn't need us to do anything - you're quite right about that, but it's not for His sake we do good deeds, it's for our sake. As a Christian, when you help someone else in need, you're not doing it for the sake of doing it anymore, you're doing it for God's glory. Now, if something irks you about that, then you need to have a chat with the big guy about where "glory" should go.

You claim that as a Christian you don't need to "live for Jesus," then I ask you, what is it that you live for? Again, how will you justify your faith acording to James 2:20?
http://mikeratliff.wordpress.com/200...works-is-dead/

The problem with your assumption lies here: God does everything, we literally do NOTHING for Him because he doesn't need it. Christ died so that we may live, now our lives are our own. These things are biblically wrong. Granted, doing the right thing is never wrong, but what are your intentions? A hungry person will be hungry the day after you feed him - we need more than bread to stay alive - and I'm assuming you know this.

So the next time someone tells you they've been spreading God around, instead of thinking of it as something they're doing to get on God's good side, maybe you can appreciate the fact that God WANTS us to share our faith, even though he doesn't NEED it. Besides, if you had something that was great, and you got it for free (free pancakes at ihop mmm), would you not tell your friends? Wouldn't that be doing the right thing for the sake of doing the right thing?

Edit: so to tie it back to the thread, do Japanese people NEED God? Absolutely. We all do, regardless of whether or not we choose to acknowledge it. Does God need me in Japan filling up the heads of natives with stories of salvation and Jesus? No. Am I doing something God commands all Christians to do? Yes. And by obeying you give glory to God.