EMOTIONAL COURAGE

    There are several forms of courage. The most powerful one is emotional courage. It briefly means to be open to both positive and negative emotional experiences. Courage is not the absence of fear. It is to challenge the fear. The only emotion in life is not fear. There are core emotions such as anger, shame, sadness, happiness, enjoyment. Emotional courage appears when we face these emotions. Showing emotional courage is not always easy. However, there are some ways to practice it.

First of all, we should not suppress negative emotions such as sadness, grief, fear to develop emotional courage. It is not possible to always be happy every moment of our lives. What makes life meaningful is our emotions, both positive and negative. For instance, courage does not mean fearlessness. A brave man is not someone who is afraid of nothing; he is someone who conquers that fear.

Secondly, we should act on our emotions even if we are afraid of the outcomes. For example, let's assume that you will go to a job interview. Even if you know that you may be rejected, you should go to that interview. Developing emotional courage starts with taking risks. This is also valid in interpersonal relationships. We should not always think about negative things. We need to be able to think that we will feel good afterwards.

Lastly, we should be able to be open to vulnerability. We cannot always be strong or resistant against all situations. We can be down, we can be disappointed or we can make mistakes. However, what is important is to be aware of faults and not blame others for failures. We should learn from our mistakes without punishing ourselves or avoiding them. We should be honest with ourselves about what we can do or not do.

In a nutshell, emotional courage is not to escape our emotions. It is to know that all emotions are worth living. Therefore, to improve emotional courage, we should not suppress either negative or positive emotions, we should act without fear no matter what results are and we should be vulnerable, truthful and honest with ourselves.

                                                                                                                                       Seher Çakmar

                                                                                                    

WHY WE NEED ART IN OUR LIFE

There is no doubt that man is a civilized creature. One of the components of  civilization is art. While other components deal with man’s environment and man’s outside world (the outside world of man) , art examines the inner world of human beings, and shows the good and the bad in people. Thus, art creates a second nature and beautifies the inner nature of human. Even though there are several reasons why people need art in their life, increasing of man’s capacity and development and transfer of culture can be claimed to be the most important two.

To begin with, the increase of man’s capacity is known to be the primary reason why people need art in their life. Art provides a problem and then solves this problem. For example, if a curriculum includes arts such as making statues, painting, pottery or dance, these are the kinds of things that lead students to view the world differently. These abilities give young people a chance to really develop a vision of self. Artistic activity matures the kids passions and thanks to it, young people feel that school is about making different things. Another point is that, being able to imagine has a vital role in man’s life. It is a fact that arts distinguish human beings from other species. A man devoid of imagination  is unthinkable , because man’s dreams allow him to find new things, make innovations and improve them. Shortly, art enables people to think outside the box.

Furthermore, development and transfer of culture seem to be the second reason why people need art in their life. People use hundreds of different languages to communicate. Someone has to learn his language to transfer information or an emotion to a stranger. However, artistic activities, just like  science, are universal. To exemplify, music that caresses the spirit of humans in Austria influences all people positively, not just now but forever. Moreover, art engages with society and it engages also with the key issues that affect people all day. Although the works of art seem to belong to a person, in fact they carry the traces of the depth of history. Therefore, feelings similar to each society can be revealed in the works. In brief, art is universal and leads to connections between the past, the future and the present.

All in all, increasing of man’s capacity and its universality are said  to be the most common reasons why people need art in their life. I think, art is a phenomenon where our dreams and our emotions reach their peaks and we must value it very much.

Burak Özçifçi

JOINING THE EUROPEAN UNION

The European Union is a de facto confederation of 28 member countries in Europe, started in 1957 as the European Economic Community. Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands are the founders of the European Union. Turkey is not yet a member of the European Union. The membership to the European Union is leading to many debates. While some of the people support the European Union, some of them are not willing to join the European Union for various reasons.

Some people would question whether Turkey’s economy will improve with the introduction of Turkey into the European Union and whether exports will increase. This idea is a misconception in its simplest definition. The best example of this is the Greek economy. Greece, which joined the EU in 1981, has one of the worst economies in recent years. With the wrong practices in the Greek economy, the country has reached the point of sinking. In short, being an EU member country does not mean that the country will be an economically successful country.

Some people strongly oppose Turkey's EU membership. When Turkey becomes a member of the EU, they claim that some industrial companies, such as car factories, that are unable to compete with EU products, will suffer or even shut down. It is perfectly natural to have such concerns. The market for EU countries is very attractive and remarkable. If Turkey is a member of the EU, Turkish citizens will demand the goods of EU countries rather than the goods of their own country. As a result, our domestic and national products will not be produced because of the lack of demand. This will adversely affect the Turkish economy. So it's normal for people who think like that to worry.

Another reason why you don’t want to be a member of the EU is the possibility of unwanted impacts on economic relations with non-EU neighbors. For example, if Turkey joins the EU, it will ally with countries like Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. As is known, these three countries are hostile to Russia. If Turkey is allied with these countries, relations between Turkey and Russia, especially the S400 missiles agreement with Russia and natural gas projects will be reduced and perhaps the two countries will become enemies. This landscape is very frightening.

As a result, although Turkey’s accession to the European Union seems to be in favor of Turkey, it is clear that this is not a good idea in the long run. The European Union has already proved its unity and togetherness with Brexit events in recent years. If Turkey wants to make an alliance with a group, it should not be with the European Union.

                         Gülis Beyza Yıllar

                                                                                                                                                    

YouTubers

In the modern and global world, YouTube is one of the most important social platforms  of our society. Teenagers, called Generation Z, are raised in the era of smartphones and don't know anything about the time before social media. Today, most of the young people are YouTube addicts. They spend a lot of time watching videos on YouTube. YouTube has attained a global watch time of over five hundred million hours daily. Before YouTube became a very popular platform, people used to see celebrities as role models. However, YouTubers' influences on young people surpassed celebrities on traditional media. In fact, celebrities are increasingly shifting their focus to YouTube in order to compete with YouTubers. Moreover, many parents don't even know about the existence of YouTubers and how they affect their kids. In order to raise our children in the best way, we should consider the effects of YouTubers on young people.

            Firstly, we should consider the effects of YouTubers on young girls. Millions of videos which are related to beauty were featured via YouTube. The importance of fashion and beauty have increased in young girls' lives this way. For example, some YouTubers feature Haul videos in which a YouTuber introduces and describes the products that they have purchased after each shopping trip. These YouTubers can earn thousands of dollars via shopping and filming what they  buy. Furthermore, besides fashion videos, a lot of videos which have beauty and makeup content are  featured. These YouTubers teach how to apply makeup and share their beauty routine. Young girls see these YouTubers as role models. They think they must dress  like YouTubers and apply makeup like them in order to look beautiful.

 Secondly, YouTubers affect young people's decision making process. These pseudo experts give information about the products based on their personal experience in order to support their viewer's purchasing decisions. YouTubers share intimate stories about their lives; it makes them seem trustworthy. They feel closer  to YouTubers than their Hollywood variety. They perceive them as equal because they are average people who might be a person living next door. Therefore, YouTubers are more popular and admired than celebrities and they can easily affect people's decision making process.

Finally, YouTubers affect young people's identification process. They affect their behaviors, values, beliefs and attitudes. Some teenagers identify with YouTubers and adopt their ideas. Identification is not the same as imitation. It is permanent. For instance, some popular YouTubers talk about sensitive issues including transgender issues, suicidal ideation, anxiety and depression. Hearing about such topics can be empowering for children who may have experienced rejection or isolation. Messages from YouTubers can be very confusing for them. Children might adopt these kinds of ideas which are not actually true. Also, some children adopt the bad language which is used by YouTubers. If they watch YouTubers who don't pay attention to the language that they use, they can start swearing and cursing  people in their lives. In addition, they might eat too much unhealthy food because they see YouTubers consuming them on their vlogs every day. Moreover, some YouTube videos such as Try not to laugh have risks that might result in children getting hurt or into trouble. YouTubers prank one of their friends or a stranger in videos of this kind . They perceive other people as accessories to their  own enjoyment. If viewers imitate this behavior in their lives, they can get hurt because they might ignore the anger of people  who are pranked.

To sum up, YouTubers can easily affect young girls, young people's decision making process and young people’s behaviors since they are one of us. Parents should take precautions against YouTube videos which might have harmful content in order to raise their children in the best way.

https://www.mamamia.com.au/how-bloggers-influence-teenagers/

https://essay.utwente.nl/71094/1/Westenberg_MA_BMS.pdf

https://www.internetmatters.org/hub/expert-opinion/YouTubers-influencing-children/

Gökhan DEMİRÇİN

CAN MEN AND WOMEN BE FRIENDS? 60

Throughout history, men and women have lived together in society. While some people think the purpose of the existence of the opposite sex is just providing continuation of the species so that when they are together they can just think about sex, other people claim that they can be just friends. In my opinion, even though it may be more difficult, I disagree with the fact that men and women cannot be friends.

Firstly, people who believe men and women cannot be friends claim that their interests and concerns are different, which means they have nothing to share. For me, this belief belongs to the Middle Ages and should have stayed there. In today’s world, contrary to the Middle Ages, women and men are equal. They not only have similar social roles and responsibilities, but also have common interests and concerns. For instance, clearly they can both like the cinema and talk about that, or contrary to what we are used to, they can talk about make-up or soccer. Therefore,  this idea is sexist and men and women can share a lot.

Lastly, because their brains work differently, they can have different approaches and perceptions which may complement each other in friendship.They can learn about the opposite sex's way of thinking and feeling and it helps them to improve their framework and the way they perceive situations. When something happens they can see the situations from both men's and women's points of view.

In a nutshell, contrary to the society's  pressure on the impossibility of friendship between men and women, they can share a lot and teach many things to each other. In short, men and women can be friends.

Dilara Şengül

HORMONES AND THE BRAIN

         There are countless differences between women and men which range from our anatomy to how we behave.But these differences start to occur in our brain and then shape our perceptions, behaviours and bodily movements.In terms of the structure of the human brain, the main criterium is the amount of testosterone. When we’re in the eighth week as a fetus, there is no distinction between the sexes; but after the eighth week, some of us are exposed to testosterone in the left hemisphere and as a result of it, this person becomes a male.It means, before the eighth week of our fetal development, we are all female.

       One of the effects of testosterone in our brains is  related to our central nervous system.Testosterone has a significant role in certain behaviors including aggression and dominance.With that, it also increases competitiveness and boosts self-esteem.According to a study which was conducted by Utrecht University,the level of testosterone is directly related with understanding human expressions and cognitive empathetic abilities.The scientists administered the experiment with a test whose name is ‘Reading The Mind in the Eyes’ to see the changes in the subjects’ ability to read emotions.In the experiments, scientists gave  some photographs to the participants and asked them what they felt about the people’s emotions in the photographs.Almost every woman predicted the emotions precisely. Then, the experimenters injected testosterone and showed other photographs to the participants to see the change.The new results were totally different from the former.The participants predicted the emotions of the individuals in the photograph inappropriately.This experiment demonstrated that the amount of testosterone is clearly linked with the ability to empathise and due to that,women are distinctly better than men.

       As a second difference between women and men, we can exemplify our ability to ‘hear’.First of all, we are using our hemispheres in different preponderances.For instance, the prepotency of the left hemisphere,which is responsible for hearing and speaking, is more than the right-hemisphere in women.Men use the right-hemisphere more predominantly.As a result of this biological fact,women are better at hearing than men.In order to pinpoint this truth about our brains, some physiologists conducted an experiment.In the experiment, male and female participants were asked to listen and state what they heard through an earmuff.The tricky side of this experiment was the participants were listening to two words from each side of the earmuff without their knowledge.The females realized the trick and stated  both words correctly; furthermore, they also mentioned which word came from which side of the earmuff.On the other hand, the males were unsuccessful even in understanding the words.Therewithal, they also mixed up the words: if the words were ‘sheep’ and ‘bottle’,they told the experimenters that the word was ‘shuttle’.

     The reason for this discernible difference in hearing between women and men might be about our obligations in nature.The woman who has sentimental communication with her baby, has to be good at hearing in order to understand the needs of the baby by the hums or meaningless words with which she tries to express her wishes for a short time.That is why a mother can differentiate the cry of a baby which can mean that she/he is hungry or needs to sleep.However, the sophisticated abilities of women in hearing and empathizing didn’t always affect their life in a good way.Especially in the Middle Ages, women were considered as witches and enchanters because of their powerful understanding and were punished by the Catholic Inquisition.

      Another difference between women and men is related to  our cognition.There is a common belief that men are better in the fields which require calculations and analytical thinking.Actually, there is some truth in this belief.According to an experiment which was done between males and females to understand their abilities

in three dimensional thinking and mental rotation, men are significantly better than women.In the experiment, participants were being asked to choose the image which was formed by seven squares among the other ones.The other images ,that were similar to the asked one, were turned to different positions and the answer which was tilted to the right was among the other options. At this point, our brain needs to use three dimensional thinking, which is related to the right-hemisphere. As it was mentioned before, men use the right-hemisphere predominantly.At the end of the experiment, both sides chose the right answer but it took 6-9  seconds to find the answer for women while it was 1-3 seconds for the males.This study and other related studies have shown that men are plainly faster than women in tasks which require three dimensional thinking.

        Our first difference emerges in our brain due to the level of testosterone and then starts to shape our anatomies, behaviours,abilities and perceptions.The amount of testosterone that we are exposed to during the fetal development also affects the level of our behaviors’ masculinity.It means, if you are exposed to less testosterone than the normal level as a man, your perception and cognition tend to be like female’s. Knowing all these differences between males and females, we should accept ourselves with our truths and shouldn’t regard these characteristics as something which makes us weak and less capable.

                                                                                                                                                  Sueda   Dinç                          

GRADING ESSAYS

The grading of essays on any English proficiency exam is a cognitively challenging task. The aim being the utmost fairness and accuracy in the assigning of a grade, the task should not be taken lightly. This being the case, it might be useful to underscore the major criteria taken into consideration while doing so. These criteria can be gathered under three headings the most important being command of the language, the second being the structure of the essay and the third being the thought process and ideas expressed in the essay.

The students demonstrate competence in the use of the written language firstly by exhibiting their flawless use of grammar. The scorer’s first priority, therefore, is to study the essay carefully to pinpoint inaccuracies in the use of grammar. Inaccuracies that impede comprehension requiring the scorer to return to the sentence multiple times are considered really damaging. Almost equally problematic are a plethora of minor grammar mistakes peppering the text. One note of caution however, a distinction needs to be made between obvious holes in the student’s knowledge and what may be attributed to carelessness: one slip-up could be attributed to oversight should the student have used the structure correctly in another part of the essay. Consistent misuse of a structure obviously points to gaps in knowledge. A competent scorer is trained to make note of all the above.

A second way students demonstrate competence in the use of the written language is through sentence structure. An educated native speaker will comfortably play around with sentences using present and perfect participles, reduced relative clauses and the like the way a master puppeteer does. Such a writer will use a selection of complex and compound sentences providing an easy flow of ideas. The resulting fluency gained by the essay is immediately recognizable to the scorer who is drawn to the fact that the arguments made are easy to follow and the points made are easy to pinpoint. A less competent writer will not be comfortable with the complexities of the language and may resort to more straightforward sentence structure – a combination of compound and simple sentences. However, he too will get a passing grade provided he makes no major mistakes while writing. Where the scorer will draw the line is the essay where the writer has used only simple sentences and has made a smattering of minor errors. Such an essay would just fail to meet the necessary criteria for passing. However, should the same writer not make the smattering of errors referred to and write simply and correctly, he would scrape through.  A good scorer will quickly distinguish the wheat from the chaff and assign the paper the grade it deserves.

A third way students demonstrate competence in their use of the written language is through their use of vocabulary and collocations. English grammar is relatively simple compared to some European languages; not so the vocabulary as there is a word to describe minute shades of meaning. What makes competence in the use of vocabulary all the more difficult is the fact that each vocabulary item is used in combination with certain other words and not with others. This pairing up words with their significant other, i.e. collocations, is the bain of every language learner’s life. Most mistakes with vocabulary items are made through a disregard for the correct collocation or a failure to grasp the shades of meaning in words that may be placed in roughly the same ballpark. For instance, we speak of an issue having serious consequences; we don’t use the word result instead. A good scorer will pay careful attention to the correct use of these word combinations and penalize accordingly.

One word of warning however, there is the danger of excessive zeal and cognitive bias in the assessment of the use of vocabulary. The source of the cognitive bias is linked to the deep seated opinion that students can be expected to know and use certain collocations but not others. They can for instance be expected to be able to use phrases like very disappointed but not bitterly disappointed; they can be expected to use the phrase freezing cold but not bitterly cold. Though correct, the latter may clash with the scorer’s expectation of the student and may lead him to be unfairly penalized under the misapprehension that the student has memorized this. The scorer is absolutely right; the student has memorized it and there is nothing wrong with this. Learning vocabulary items along with their correct collocations is to be encouraged not frowned on. Completely illogical as this all sounds, it does happen and the source of the misapprehension is modern writing books. The problem is that most modern writing books are overflowing with phrases and structures to be used in certain essays which the students are expected to learn and use in essays of certain types. Despite teaching these structures, seeing an essay liberally embellished with these structures often raises the hackles of scorers. Yet this latter problem has nothing to do with the correct use of collocations. An essay where the structures stick out like sore thumbs in an otherwise very feeble effort will be assigned a failing grade. An essay where these structures are correctly blended into an obviously competently written essay will get a passing grade. The key, therefore, is the rest of the essay. If there are too many clichés and too little else to judge the essay by, the scorer will have no choice but to fail the student.  All this proves that correctly evaluating an essay is no simple task.

On an English proficiency exam command of the language is by far the most important criteria yet correct organization is also vital. American high school writing books have laid down the law in this area too by trumpeting a formulaic approach to writing. Though perfectly logical, these so called formulas are not the only way to write essays provided the writer doesn’t lose sight of the main purpose of writing that particular essay. What is more, there may be students sitting a proficiency exam who are oblivious of American college writing and may just use their common sense. After all, so long as he supports his own opinion and refutes the counter arguments, does the student really need to support his own views in the first two developmental paragraphs and refute the counter arguments in the third? A competent scorer needs to be flexible when evaluating the organization of an essay and not take a blinkered approach.

The last aspect of the essay to be taken into account is the content; however, a word of caution here: to what extent the actual content and ideas matter depends on the purpose of the exam. On the proficiency exam at our university, the ideas to be discussed are provided in the form of bullet points the purpose being to test students’ competence in the use of the language rather than their ideas. As far as our university goes, therefore, ideas take a back seat compared to the other criteria mentioned thus far. This being said, students are expected to put forward a rational argument which is appropriately supported, and original thinking will inevitably color the scorer’s view of the essay.

What has been provided is a brief overview of the general principles taken into consideration by scorers at our university. The purpose has been to inform students of the complexities of correcting essays and to remind teachers once again of the criteria scorers follow.