Learn to Be Kind

This essay was written by Weijing Li (Vikki), a Summer 2020 student in the level 5 ALI Writing course.

No one wants to be subjected to school violence, and no abuser is willing to admit or take responsibility for his or her crimes. Every day people in the world fall into pain and even lose their lives because of campus violence. In addition, with the progress and development of society, intramural violence has gradually developed from real life to virtual network. As an U-News staff stated that some college students’ bullying occurs through fraternity and sorority bullying, but it is increasingly happening online through social media (U-News Staff, P5). The 2019 Chinese movie Better Days definitely points out the harm of school violence because it uncovered the crimes of many abusers, the plot fits in with the current social background,and there is a good meaning to encourage people who are abused in school.

First of all, this film fully exposes the crimes and ugly faces of the abusers in school violence. Some of the abusers’ horrific behavior leads to serious injuries or even death of their victims. As Tigran V Avetisov mentioned in his article, “Recently there was a story published on CNN by Eliott C. McLaughlin talking about how one fifth grade girl attacked Raniya, another fifth-grade student, who later died from her injuries” (Avetisov, P4). In addition, abusers often don’t admit and take responsibility for their mistakes and crimes until the police and witnesses come up with strong and convincing evidence. They mislead and influence younger people and students in the wrong way. Young teenagers and children are unconsciously influenced by the people around them to try to imitate the behavior of people older than themselves. If they are surrounded by such people, they will think it is right and record it in their mind and want to try to imitate it. In a word, the movie accurately reveals the crimes and evil faces of the abusers in school violence.

Second, I recommend this movie because its plot is very close to the background of the current society. Many students in today’s society are suffering from it. An article about school bullying claim that a little more than half the students responded to the survey, and 47 percent said they were the victim of at least one episode of peer mistreatment as students; 62 percent reported either witnessing or enduring mistreatment on a weekly basis (Martellaro, P1). Besides, it comes as a surprise that today’s abusers tend to be students with good grades or wealthy families. This is because children from wealthy families are spoiled by their parents and thus get deformed and spoiled love. While the reason why students with high scores are often because their parents and teachers have too high expectations on them, which leads to excessive pressure, abnormal mood swings and distorted psychology. A report documenting a professor’s view of school violence said that bullying is no lower than it used to be, and the author mentions in his article that Dr. Dan Weddell said in his speech that it was another thing in the classroom, claiming that bullying is as bad as ever (UMKC Today Staff, P2). All in all, its plot is so close to the background of today’s society that people can resonate with it.

Last but not least, the film has a very positive effect on encouraging those who have been bullied and are being bullied. The ending of the film is a happy denouement in which good triumphs over evil. Moreover, in the Film, the protagonist always responds to the abusers with an unyielding and not weak personality and attitude. An article about the experience of girls being bullied tells the story of a girl named Salina who was once subjected to racial discrimination and school violence because she was Asian, but Salina never gave in and she decided to become stronger and smarter in this situation (Glass, P1). The author believes that this kind of bad behavior and words to her instead became her motivation and made her work hard until the day she succeeded. At the end of the film, a propaganda video against bullying was put up. The promotional video played a very good effect because the theme and content of the promotional video not only sublimated the whole film, but also made a summary of the movie. Overall, the film provides encouragement and psychological comfort to those who are being bullied and are being bullied, and has a very positive impact.

In a word, school bullying brings endless harm and pain to students, families and schools.The movie Better Days not only accurately describes the harm of school violence, but also shows the result of the positive energy that good will eventually triumph over evil. The 2019 Chinese Film Better Days accurately reveals the atrocities of school bullying because it depicts the crimes of many abusers, the plot is consistent with the current social context, and has a good starting point and inspiration for those who are abused in school. I believe that in the future, with the passage of time, the development of society, and the progress of mankind, bullying and violence in school will be reduced gradually until the day it disappears.

Works Cited

U-News Staff. College – Cyber Bullying, National Concern. University News, 2013.

John Martellaro. Bullying Occurs at Every Level, Including College. UMKC Today, 2012.

Tigran V Avetisov. Bullying in America. UMKC Project: From Us To Them, 2019.

UMKC Today Staff. UMKC Professor Says Bullying in the Classroom is as Bad as Ever. UMKC Today, 2015.

Kennedi N Glass. Stereotypical. UMKC Project: From Us To Them, 2019.

My Best Vacation

The following passage was written in June 2020 by Sara Alnoufali in Writing II (ENG 102D).

My best vacation is to Calcutta, India because it has three interesting places. The first place is the old market in Calcutta on the main street. It is a huge and interesting market. This old market has a lot of small shops, it has more than 100 shops. You can find anything there, and it is too crowded because it is outdoor, so there are a lot of people and cars. For example, you can find Indian traditional clothing, traditional food, traditional games, and you can find a temple. The second place is an old jail called St Angelo’s. It is a jail inside the fort. The place is like the forest, and it is very big. The door was made of iron, and it is black. They used it for psychological torture for criminals, but now they use it for the tourism. For example, there is graffiti in the wall, and iron handcuffs. Finally, the most interesting place is the zoo. This zoo has a lot of animals. It is a very huge zoo. It has a lot of animals that I have never seen it before. It is remarkable. There are a lot of trees, and it was very crowded. For example, there are many kinds of snakes, monkey, crocodiles, and owls. There is a huge bird, and they put it in a big cage because it is a cannibal. In conclusion, I like Calcutta a lot because of these interesting places the zoo, the market, and the jail.