Monthly Archives: September 2015

Over the past several weeks, in TOK classes, we have been looking at what factors affect people’s perspectives and perceptions. There are many factors I am involved with, which is why my perspectives and my knowledge are different to others.

I am a 16-year-old boy and I believe that my age affects the way I see things and the things that I know. Over the past 16 years, I have gained plenty of knowledge and experience. Because of this, the way I perceive the world will be significantly different to someone who is 7 years old or 72 years old.

My mother tongue is English but I am able to communicate with people in Cantonese and Mandarin too. Because I am more fluent in English, I use English to interpret things or solve problems. Due to this, some things that non-English speakers may consider not offensive, I might consider very offensive. For instance, since I spent most of my life studying in British schools in Hong Kong, if someone holds up two fingers with the palm inward, I will most likely consider that an insult towards me.

I grew up in Hong Kong, which is a very urban place. This means that I am used to very convenient transportation, tall skyscrapers and a dense environment. Because I lived most of my life in an urban region, my knowledge on what a rural area would look like is not a whole lot. I would imagine that going to and from places would not be as convenient as urban life. I also think that it is more spacious to live in an urban area. However I can only hypothesise the rest, since I’ve never spent a long period of time living in an urban area.

As mentioned above, perspectives can depend on many factors associated with people, such as age, gender and the place the person grew up in.

Everybody has their own perspectives of the world. Everyone grew up in different countries and was raised with different cultures. So, the way you might draw a map of the world might completely differ from someone else. I think that this is totally normal and people should not be ashamed of having a different method of drawing the world map from others.

Each person would most likely have more elaborate drawings for their own country. For instance, if an English person who was raised in England, places the UK and Europe in the centre of map, and has a detailed sketch of the country, it is totally understandable, since that was the way he or she was taught in school. A week ago, we had 5 minutes in class to draw a map of the world. I, myself, placed Europe in the centre, North and South America on the left, and Asia and Australia on the right. I had more intricate drawings of Asia, and included Hong Kong and Taiwan in my map, since I was spent almost all my life in Hong Kong. My depiction of the North and South American continents weren’t very accurate. In fact, I forgot that the two continents were connected together. This was due to my lack of knowledge of the American continents because I don’t get the chance to view the American continents very often. Víctor’s map was different from the rest of the students. He had more detailed outlines of the South American continent, since he is Brazilian and spent most of his life in Brazil. The education he received in Brazil clearly affected the way he perceives the world and the way he drew his map.

Everyone also has a different perception of the world. Depending on where they are from or where they grew up, they will believe that that country is superior to others, and so they would most likely place themselves in the centre of the world map. I think that there is nothing wrong with this. Again, in the map drawing exercise that we did in class, King, who was raised up in China his whole life, placed the Asian continent in the centre of the map with Europe on the left and the Americas on the right. This was due to the fact that the country perceives the world this way and believes that China is the “master of the universe” and should rightfully be in the centre of the world map.

Essentially, there is no correct or incorrect map to be found in this world. Some maps might depict very detailed sketches in a certain continent or country, other maps might have countries placed in odd positions that you yourself would never think of placing. People have their own way of expressing the world on a map, and so there is no correct or incorrect version of a map.