Hello students at Hillside New Tech High School in Durham, North Carolina, USA and Kendriya Vidyalaya at Air Force Station Sulur, Tamil Nadu, India. You students are coming through schooling at a time when the world is opening up–opening up through communication (email, telephone, video), resources (anything can be shipped anywhere now), and competition (the best jobs go to the best people at the best price, no matter where you live).
But rather than simply letting you two groups of students from the other side of the globe meet each other through global competition, I thought we could create a place where we can share ideas, discuss global problems and solutions, and learn about what the other group is thinking, and what we ourselves think.
And we’re going to do this using this global communication tool, the net. Occasionally I am going to post an idea, a problem, a solution, a topic to this blog and I hope that you will take the time to read what other people have written, to respond, to give your thoughts, and then see what people think about your ideas.
You can write in whatever style you want. But I would really like to see you use sources to back up what you say. For example, “According to The Economist magazine of October 2008, “Climate Change” is now impacting every place on our planet. Larry Murphy wrote that, ‘If we continue at this pace….’” This is an example of good referencing, where you’re telling us where you got your information while making your own point.
Please take the time to create an account with wordpress.com and use your own picture so that we can see each other while reading each others’ thoughts.
I’m looking forward to watching this blog take shape. Thank you for all of your hard work!
~Mr. Matthew M. Sears
Mathematics Teacher, Hillside New Tech High School and visiting Fulbright Exchange Teacher at Kendriya Vidyalaya Air Force Station Sulur October 27, 2008
Going Global with Hillside NT and KV Sulur 
20 comments
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October 28, 2008 at 11:20 pm
Vincent Abiona
The question “why are we here?” all depends on the way you look at it. (and by “why are we here?” do you mean on this web site, or on earth?) If on this site, then i believe it is to join to separate groups from separate worlds in a motivational conversation. if on the earth, then i think it all depends on your religion, motives, and life values.
October 29, 2008 at 10:12 am
msears1
Vincent, nice work, you are the first responder. Now let’s see if you can create an account with WordPress and add a picture of yourself. I’ll be giving this site to KV students tomorrow. Keep up the good work!
October 30, 2008 at 1:48 am
victorabiona
this all sounds interesting cant wait to start
November 2, 2008 at 7:35 pm
jbunn
“why are we here is a very opened question that depends on who you ask and what they have been though. If you ask someone that has a strong religon or faith they will say to so “god’s” will and if you ask some other people they will say to live then die. That is my answer, there is no true anwser.
November 3, 2008 at 1:38 am
msears1
Thank you, jbunn. I appreciate you writing. You’re a student at New Tech, right? Please try to add a picture to your account. I will be putting up another post soon! ~Mr. Sears
November 4, 2008 at 2:21 pm
gomathi
hello sir,
This is gomathi from kv sulur .According to me ,”we r here “mainly because our parents wanted us to b here(a valid reason i think!!!),then cums the reasons.. like;; bcoz of our previous birth’s deeds n all that!!
November 4, 2008 at 7:23 pm
sidhartha1894
Why are we here is a broad question with an infinite amount of answers. I am Sidhartha Jandhyala from Hillside New tech High School. We are here on this blog because we should be the example of youth communication to the world. We are from two different countries, but our ideas might be the same. We are on this blog because we, the youth, should have global unity. Without unity nothing is possible in the future. We are here on earth to serve a purpose. What ever we do, we do it for a reason and purpose. There is a good out of everything.
November 5, 2008 at 11:02 am
Jaye Pratt
I believe that we are here to share.When I say share I mean ideas, cultures, and personalities. This website will allow us students at New Tech to communicate and collaborate with students at kv sulur. I think we are here to diversify our opinions and look at the world from another point of view.
November 5, 2008 at 5:32 pm
Adyasha Dash
In my opinion, we are here to share and care, to love and be loved, to know others and grow with them.As Tielhard de Chardin has put it, “The day will come when, after harnessing space, the winds, the tides and gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of love. And on that day, for the second time in the history of the world, we shall have discovered fire.”
Even the whole purpose of this blog is to share different ideas, customs, cultures etc. (i guess so:-)). We are here to serve a purpose–and that purpose may be different for different people. But the basic idea remains the same.
November 5, 2008 at 10:57 pm
Francisco Martinez
this idea sound like a good idea and coming from you Mr.Sears must have taken a whole ten minutes. 🙂 and i kinda think its cool that more then five people wanna do this.
November 6, 2008 at 9:27 am
gomathi
ooooooooops!
if it is for this blog(then i was wrong!!) ..then its perfectly sharing and knowing different things from one another,knowing the customs ans cultures of the western countriea,sharing our views on various global problems ,,and obviously ,,making frienship with the hill side new tech school’s people!!!
November 6, 2008 at 9:44 am
Kaustubh Karkare
Like it was previously pointed out, the question “Why are we here?” can be interpreted in more than one way. With reference to this website, I think it is to share ideas and opinions … to make new friends … to work together … to interact with people with completely different values and culture – to experience it on our own that human beings all over the world are in essence, one and the same! With reference to life itself, my opinion is considerably different from the others (here) …
I do not believe that we have been sent to this world for a specific reason … actually, I do not even believe that there is any specific pre-determined purpose or point of our existence … I believe that life is just of those improbable things that happen somewhere in the universe – only because they can! However, it can be argued that we can give our lives a purpose … and that is where and why the opinion varies.
Upon considerable thought, I have arrived at the following conclusion: “The Essence of Life is the Desire for Superiority,” a generalized expression that can (with minor manipulation) be used to explain all human behavior. Inevitably, life is a continuous process of learning and evolution … which began with the Big Bang and will end in God!
November 6, 2008 at 10:14 am
msears1
Mr. Bunn…nice work on the picture! KK, thanks for your thoughtful post. Welcome to the site!
November 6, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Dante Moore
I think we are here from the doing of god.
November 7, 2008 at 1:09 am
jbunn
thanks
November 11, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Vincent
Clearly, i messed up in my first response, I a am writing a new one. i believe we are here to discus common issues And interact with other students that are with or without us.
November 13, 2008 at 6:46 am
Kaustubh Karkare
I think it is about time we actually started doing something instead of just discussing why we are here! So, does anybody have any suggestions as to what our first combined project or topic of discussion can be?
November 13, 2008 at 11:14 am
Jamara Hodges
My insight on why we are here is simply because God created us! God created man and woman in his image on the 6th day of creation. As a reference you can use the Bible. Look in Genesis chapter 1 verse 27. To elaborate on why we are here-God commands us to love one another as he has loved us and loves us. We are to do the same. To love one another as he has loved us is the greatest commandment with promise. I strongly believe that we should obey and follow God in what he has set for us to do. Some other things that we are to do is give, love and pray.
November 19, 2008 at 9:07 pm
tyvna1
I think we are here on this website to interact with others at our school and also a school that is overseas.I personally think that is a great idea it gives some people a chance to interact with people from abroad that wont ever get a chance to(does that make since).I think our next topic should discuss like what we could do to help the earth and what eachof our nations are doing to help the earth we live on.
I think we are here because of God point blank. I think that we would not even exist if God himself did not put on this earth!
November 19, 2008 at 9:07 pm
tyvna1
I agree with Jamara.