Japanese War Crimes

(Be warned some of the images are very graphic)

For my topic I am focusing on the war crimes Japan committed during WWII; which are probably some of the most heinous atrocities in human history. Basically the Japanese army tortured any civilian or POW they captured while invading countries like China and Korea. These acts were so terrible the whole incident is sometimes referred to as the Asian Holocaust because of the nearly 10,000,000 who were killed. Japanese soldiers performed human experiments, held mass killings, buried people alive, looted, and kept woman as sex slaves to list a few. For those who survived, their lives would never be the same and the emotional scars would never heal. What makes this matter upsetting is that now, 60 years later, victims can't even get a proper apology as stated in this particular article. Even Japan has attempted to make apologies, some sources feel that they are more for political gain than actual remorse.

Critical Thinking for Engineers

As an engineer you mostly engage in learning how to manipulate variables and functions for math and physics. However, there is a fair bit of critical thinking involved because even once you understand that way to solve certain formulas, it still takes some intuitive thought to put them into a form that correctly solves problems. This is more true when it comes to projects as opposed to tests because you aren't given a homework problem, just the an assignment that can be completed in your own creative way. In this way engineering does require a lot of critical thought, but it's typically when actually doing hands on work. USC could improve it's program by incorporating more projects into the curriculum so that we gain more practical knowledge and a chance to think more critically.

Critical Thinking

Hands down the most important skills you have to have are ability to analyze and process information accurately, so that you are aware of the subject you're working on. Second is the ability to break down the information to observe all the details; this will help to find multiple sides of the topic as a may to better manipulate the information as well as understand it's purpose. In addition to this the ability to synthesize the info and compare it with other topics can open up new insights as well which is very important for critical thinking. Using these skills it then becomes possible to reshape the information you started  with into a new form that really demonstrates the ability to think critically.