Key Concepts SST

We are currently finalising a 'Future Planning' unit for social studies, concluding the topic by researching key concepts, as well as reflecting on our learning. We are preparing for our year eleven options and looking at career possibilities for the future is becoming the focus of our learning in many classes. The following are the key concepts we have been researching: 

CAREER

A career is a professional path or occupation which is undertaken for an extended period of your lifetime and from which one can derive financial benefit. A career can also be defined as a long-term financial profession determined by your goals, ambitions and interests. For example: if Amanda loved to help people and chose to pursue a job in the medical field, and then became a doctor, this would be her career. If Amanda loved helping people but did not derive a profit from her actions, then that could be defined as a hobby. Your career is not your end goal, it is the journey it takes to get there. 

ENTERPRISE 

An enterprise is generally an original idea that has been developed into a small business. It is a project or undertaking which is designed to provide financial benefit and potentially grow into a larger business. Often, enterprise can have a high risk factor, meaning that it is created with the high possibility that it will not succeed, or not provide much profit. For example: Karen buys one bunch of six bananas for $3, and sells each banana for $1.50. She sells all six, subsidising the three dollars she paid for the bananas originally, and making $6 profit. Now she can buy two bunches of six bananas for $6, sell them at a price of $1.50 each, subsidise the six dollars, and make 12 dollars profit. Now she can buy four bunches of six bananas, sell them for $1.50 each, subsidise the twelve dollars used and make a profit of $24. And so on and so forth. The risk factor here would be the idea that people would not be prepared to pay $1.50 per banana. 

ENTREPRENEUR

An entrepreneur is the brains behind the enterprise- they are the ones generating the idea. Generally an entrepreneur develops an original idea into a small business to provide profit, much like the banana selling example above. As mentioned before, these ideas come with a high risk factor- they are built with the knowledge that they could fail. An entrepreneur takes financial risks with their idea in anticipation of a profit. So to summarise, an entrepreneur makes the best of an opportunity or idea, aware of the financial risks, in the hope of making a profit and capitalising the idea. 

WALT DISNEY

As we have previously determined, an entrepreneurial person is someone who develops a high risk idea into a business to create profit. Based on the idea that enterprise is a high risk idea developed into a profit organisation, we can identify the moments in Walt Disney’s career that define him as an entrepreneur. When he was 18 years old he pursued a career in newspaper artistry- he then began experimenting with cameras, creating his very first animations. He then opened his own business and flourished from there. What I haven’t mentioned is that he suffered a substantial amount of hardship in his career, hence showing us the high risk element of starting his own company. He became bankrupt numerous times before he came to be known as the Founder of Disneyland. I chose Walt Disney as an entrepreneur because his career shows us the extremes of entrepreneurialism, and is an example for all people struggling to find their dreams- passion, determination and hard work can help you reach your goals, regardless of the obstacles you might encounter along the way. 

Career, entrepreneur, enterprise- three concepts which correlate into our current future planning unit. These concepts all have something to do with providing financial profit, which is, in essence, a fairly fundamental part of our ‘future.’ How I relate these three concepts to our current topic is the idea that they all revolve around a fairly significant and prominent aspect of our futures- money. Career- the pathway you take in life to make money, enterprise- a high risk idea for a business, and entrepreneur- the people who make these high risk ideas reality. All these concepts tie in with our plans for the future, which is why they relate to ‘Future Planning’ as a topic.  

This topic is working towards planning forward into our futures. This is particularly applicable in our current situations as we are choosing our year eleven options, beginning to direct our learning towards the career path we wish to take. Future planning is a unit devoted to educating students about financial choices and giving us an introduction into the real world ideas of money- it is also allowing us to think in depth about our career paths. To compare the two situations- the topic and choosing our year eleven options- the topic teaches us to look into the future, after schooling, at what our career choice will be, requiring us to choose a definite job to base our research on. Our year eleven options teaches you to, yes, to look into the future at your career, but also to keep your options open, literally and figuratively. The similarities are that both look into your career, and ‘planning’ for the future. 

This topic revolved around identifying a career choice for the future- choosing a definite job profile to do our research on. This topic was challenging for me because it required forward thinking and research, identifying and accounting for different variables before coming to a definite answer. I had trouble deciding on a career to investigate because I didn’t want to feel constrained by that choice, even though it was just for a research project. This topic also allowed us to investigate the realistic financial requirements to exist comfortably in our society today, challenging our perspective on money and the idea that it does not just grow on trees. 

Change is the result of action, action is the result of… well a whole host of different factors. This topic has helped me break a mental barrier I previously had- the idea that determining your career choice now, confines you for the future. This is not true, and it is only through this project that I have come to terms with that fact. Through this research investigation I have learnt that never wanting to give something a go for fear that it will restrict you, means you will never try anything. Pretty impressive discovery. So how does this research project become an action plan for change? Well it gives people a realistic idea of the financial requirements needed to live, it gives people an insight into their career interests, it allows people to devise their own action plan for life. This research project gives students the ability to feel more independent about their career choice, this is the action plan for change. Allowing students to be more independent, and gain an idea of their career paths before making career altering decisions, makes students more prepared for change after they leave school. The action plan for change, is preparation. 

This topic has reviewed a multitude of different concepts regarding our future- finance, career paths, business. This unit has allowed us to address our plans for the future, looking into our career paths and the realistic requirements for living in our current society. As previously discussed this is particularly relevant as we approach year eleven, when the time for choosing our options looms near. This topic resulted in several mental breakthroughs for me personally, and all in all this topic has been thoroughly mind broadening. I would conclude by saying that this unit has educated me in the realistic requirements needed for existing in today’s society. Comfortably. 

Future Planning Research- SST

We are currently in a future planning unit for social studies- as the end of the year draws closer, so does the time for choosing our year eleven options, and this unit allows us to have a closer look at our future careers. We had a list of things to investigate:

- Job Title
- Income Total
- Study Time & Cost
- Cost to own your chosen home - weekly rent or mortgage repayments.
- Furniture etc
- Monthly cost for Power, internet, water rates, -
- Weekly Food Cost
- Mobile Bill
- Car loan and repayments
- Children? No
- Clothing
- Eating Out?
- Life insurance
- House/contents insurance
- Planned Holiday
- Health Bill
- EXTRA- Hobbies
- Retirement Plan

This helped us gain an understanding, realistically, of the cost it takes to live comfortably in the modern world- it's a lot. My job title was graphic designer as it incorporates a large number of the things I am interested in- drawing, rendering, computer graphics, adobe suite, creativity, ect. I am not sure if this is the career I will pursue, but for now it seems like something geared towards my interests. Below is the slideshow containing my research on the topic. I would like to note that many of the figures are estimated, and provide a framework as supposed to being 100% reliable. 

Social Studies: Significant Natural Areas

Significant Natural Areas, otherwise known as SNA, are areas of land that have been identified to have a high ecological value. In other words: there are special plants and animals residing on that land. This is an initiative brought in by the Resource Management Act and implemented by the Far North District Council, with the aim to put a lid on habitat loss and land development. To do this, the FNDC (Far North District Council) is bringing in specific rules and regulations which will have a massive impact on property owners. Land owners will no longer be authorised to clear, develop or subdivide their property, unless they apply for resource consent from the council, plus an additional fee. You are allowed to plant native species within the SNA, but bringing in exotic vegetation is no longer allowed. Finally, land owners are under no obligation to introduce fencing onto their property to actively protect the SNA areas, but you are not compensated for having SNA land on your property.  

Under no obligation... Land owners can no longer develop, subdivide or clear their land without consent from the council, an extra fee, and building management- but landowners are under no obligation to protect the SNA. This new initiative removes a land owner's freedom to dictate what occurs on their land- land that is rightfully theirs, land they have already paid for. It might be argued that the FNDC is simply trying to protect the land, not take it away from people, but the rules and regulations that would be put in place should this action go ahead would restrict landowners in such a way that they essentially no longer own the land. 

Firstly, property owners own their respective areas of land- they have already paid for it, meaning that legally, they have the right to use the land as they so wish- within reason. Introducing the SNA initiative would mean that landowners must apply for a resource consent from the council before developing their land- the council then needs to approve the application, leaving the overall decision of what the owner can do with their land to the council. How can land owners be expected to cooperate with the new initiative, if it means that land they own is essentially going to be placed in the possession of the council- maybe not intentionally, but that is what will happen under the rules and regulations the action brings in. 

Secondly, the import and planting of exotic vegetation within land that is SNA is strictly prohibited without consent from the council. To put this in perspective, if a house you own is already on SNA land and you want to put a hedge in place to conceal the house slightly, you are not allowed to do this, or you must pay the council the additional fees. Again, this initiative is dictating what you can and cannot do on your property- yes, they are trying to slow habitat loss to introduced species, but they are doing it at land owners expense, they are doing it at the communities expense. This initiative is simply looking at areas of land that have native bush on them and saying, "yes that is protected," or "no you can't use that any more," etc, etc- instead of isolating the areas of land that can easily be protected, they are looking at every scrap of land in the far north, not taking into consideration: land owners, property and areas that are already covenanted. They are trying to protect all the land, when that is not realistically possible. Then there is also the question of whether they are attempting to protect the land or are doing what has been described as a "modern land grab." I believe that this initiative does not consider land and property owners in the far north, it does not consider the people of Te Tai Tokerau, and as a result is most accurately described as a modern land grab. Oh, by the way, gorse is considered SNA...  

Thirdly, you still have to pay land rates and you are not compensated for having SNA on your property. So despite the fact that you have already paid for the property, are paying land rates for land that you currently can use, you are not going to be compensated for having SNA on your land- meaning that should the action go through, that land containing SNA and will essentially be unusable by owners, who have already paid for that land with the intention of using it in some way. And land owners are still required to pay for that land that they are unable to use. So, you have to pay for land you can't use, and are not compensated for not being able to use that land. Out of the three main regulations listed above, this one strikes me as the one that causes people to describe this SNA initiative as a land grab. The FNDC is responsible for the execution of this action, but they need to take into consideration the members of the Northland community, modifying the initiative to better suit our current environment.  

Taking away people's freedom to decide removes their willingness to cooperate. Taking away people's ability to freely make a decision only makes people more strongly oppose the decision in the first place. The council is trying to protect our precious habitat and land, yes, but the way they are going about it is driving people to attack, disagree and protest the introduction of this initiative. The FNDC needs to see that completely halting the development and usage of land is not going to solve the major issue of habitat loss. I believe that our country is panicking, trying to make up for the land we have already lost to pasture and paddock, factory and farm- shutting down property owners' ability to develop their land will not solve the problem in the long run, I believe it will make it worse. We can neither continue to destroy the sparse natural habitat that remains in Northland- but neither can we completely stop the development of the forty two percent of land that has been identified as SNA. Maori or commercial land, this new SNA policy will affect both, and the people of the Northland community and the FNDC need to come to a constructive solution to help tackle the habitat issue our country is facing. 

Below is a map that shows areas of land that have been identified as SNA. Please comment if your property or areas of land you own fall under an SNA area.  

SST PODCAST

For the past few weeks during our social studies classes, we have been working on producing our first ever podcasts. These encompassed personal facts such as our date of birth, as well as our interests and life stories. We were learning to utilise the platform WeVideo to create podcasts and will use it in the future as ways of presenting our assessments. 

Social Studies: Comparison of Cultures

Over the past few weeks during social studies, we have been working on comparing cultures. We were required to pick a European culture and then compare it to New Zealand's. Here is my finished result.

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