I think that a god parent is: someone who will love their child unconditionally, respects their kids, doesn't abuse them, is a good role model, smart, caring, and a little bit strict. I think parents should try to spend as much time with their kids as possible because the kids look up to you and need to learn from someone. That's why it's sad when I see those "Park Avenue-Type" nannies with kids in the playground on the weekend. If you don't want to be with your kids, why did you have them? It is fine to have a nanny during the week when the parents are working or send them to daycare or if both parents are busy one night the nanny can co9me but otherwise, a nanny shouldn't be taking on a 24/7 mother role. The kids will sometimes turn out messed up as they grow older because they never had anyone teaching them right from wrong. It's also important to give kids their space but not too much because that's how trouble starts. Parents should talk to their kids about important things and about what the right/wrong thing to do is and then the kid can use their judgement on what to do in certain situations because there is only so much a parent can do. Kids need to learn from their own mistakes but then the parents should be there to help them afterwards. I think that some of the things that young children should learn first is the most important things to the mother and/or father because those things will stick with them for the rest of their life.
I was parented in a household where I was obviously really loved and cared for by everybody-maybe even too much on my part. It was before my sister was born so basically I was the center of my family's universe. I was kind of a brat when I was younger and it was "my way or the highway". Then when my sister came, I wasn't the center of that anymore and I was so used to be the only kid that when my parents switched focus onto my sister, I got mad like most older siblings do. My parents always want me to be the responsible one and put a lot of pressure on me to do that. As I grew up and still today, my parents are very supportive of most things I do but there number 1 priority for me is my schooling and education. My parents aren't the type of parents to always congratulate me on something or as they say "give praise when there's nothing to praise." I get critiqued a lot by them and I don't get as many compliments from them. I still get them, though. They also keep on a sort of tight leash and don't let me do many things like they still control my TV watching time and are always ask me about my homework. They are great parents when it all comes down to it because they will always love me and taught me many tings. They also tolerate some of my BS. They get me mad a lot but I will never stop loving them. And even though they are kinda strict, I would take that over too lenient of a parent any day.
I read that article about attachment parenting. I think that when the baby is very young, the mother or both parents need to pay attention because babies can't do anything for themselves and need loving and nurturing, but as the baby grows up, the parents should start dettaching themselves from the kid a little bit (example: no more sleeping in the parents bed) because then they will always be attached to the parent and will have a hard time leaving them which is something kids need to do-independence is key in life and how else will they learn? Parents need to balance the time spent with kids.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Sunday, May 16, 2010
HW 56
My topic is: what are the primary reasons people cheat?
Questions:
1. Do you think any part of a cheater feels bad?
2. In your opinion, what are the top 3 reasons people cheat?
3. Would you ever forgive a cheater?
4. Why do you think it is not as big of a deal if a woman cheats?
Dad:
1. Q: Do you think any part of a cheater feels bad?
A: It depends on the person and some people do it knowing it is wrong and just don't care because their desire is too strong but feel bad whereas other people have no sense that a commitment is important and feel like romance is like a buffet table where you can just take and not give back.
2. Q: In your opinion, what are the top 3 reasons people cheat?
A: Desire for sexual variety, the second reason is ego fulfillment, and a little excitement in life and thrill of romance because some people like drama in their lives. In other rare cases, the person just falls out of love with the other person but just doesn't want to tell them.
3. Q: Would you ever forgive a cheater?
A: It's impossible to say in advance and it depends what is going on in the relationship. It depends on nature of deception and how long it was going on. It also depends on how strong each person feels about the relationship. Life isn't that cut and dry. If we were strong, maybe I would but otherwise no.
4. Q: Why do you think it is not as big of a deal if a woman cheats?
A: I don't see a difference in that. It is both equally bad. Maybe people think that when a woman cheats it is because they have a jerk husband. I don't know why people would think one is worse than the other.
Friend 1:
1. Q: Do you think any part of a cheater feels bad?
A: No, because if they did, why would they cheat in the first place? I think that they would be sorry they got caught and nothing more.
2. Q: In your opinion, what are the top 3 reasons people cheat?
A: They cheat because they have a marriage or relationship that's collapsing and feel they need love, become bored of their significant other, and some people just feel entitled to have whoever.
3. Q: Would you ever forgive a cheater?
A: No because they weren't aware of the consequences that they did and they went behind my back.
4. Q: Why don't you think as big of a deal is made if a woman cheats?
A: No, because when a woman cheats, it doesn't happen a lot and when it does happen, people think its because they are lonely at home and not because they just feel like cheating.
Friend 2:
1. Q: Do you think any part of a cheater feels bad?
A: I think the ones who do it because they are unhappy in their marriage or relationship feel more bad than those who just do it for the hell of it.
2. Q: In your opinion, what are the top 3 reasons people cheat?
A: They fall in love with someone else, they want revenge on their partner and cheat, and the person just wants more people to be with and not be monagamous.
3. Q: Would you forgive a cheater?
A: It depends. If I felt the relationship was going nowhere than probably not I might just give up but if I really felt a deep connection with that person, I might try to save it.
4. Q: Do you feel as if it is portrayed that when a woman cheats, it's not made to be a huge deal?
A: I think it is a big deal either way but people think that a woman is the victim and to get out of a bad relationship, the only other option they have is to cheat. I don't think it's fair to do that because some women are like the cheating men and can't keep it in their pants.
I agree with everything that everyone said. I also think that people cheat because they are insecure about themselves and need affirmation in some way that they are still desired so they get that through cheating.
Questions:
1. Do you think any part of a cheater feels bad?
2. In your opinion, what are the top 3 reasons people cheat?
3. Would you ever forgive a cheater?
4. Why do you think it is not as big of a deal if a woman cheats?
Dad:
1. Q: Do you think any part of a cheater feels bad?
A: It depends on the person and some people do it knowing it is wrong and just don't care because their desire is too strong but feel bad whereas other people have no sense that a commitment is important and feel like romance is like a buffet table where you can just take and not give back.
2. Q: In your opinion, what are the top 3 reasons people cheat?
A: Desire for sexual variety, the second reason is ego fulfillment, and a little excitement in life and thrill of romance because some people like drama in their lives. In other rare cases, the person just falls out of love with the other person but just doesn't want to tell them.
3. Q: Would you ever forgive a cheater?
A: It's impossible to say in advance and it depends what is going on in the relationship. It depends on nature of deception and how long it was going on. It also depends on how strong each person feels about the relationship. Life isn't that cut and dry. If we were strong, maybe I would but otherwise no.
4. Q: Why do you think it is not as big of a deal if a woman cheats?
A: I don't see a difference in that. It is both equally bad. Maybe people think that when a woman cheats it is because they have a jerk husband. I don't know why people would think one is worse than the other.
Friend 1:
1. Q: Do you think any part of a cheater feels bad?
A: No, because if they did, why would they cheat in the first place? I think that they would be sorry they got caught and nothing more.
2. Q: In your opinion, what are the top 3 reasons people cheat?
A: They cheat because they have a marriage or relationship that's collapsing and feel they need love, become bored of their significant other, and some people just feel entitled to have whoever.
3. Q: Would you ever forgive a cheater?
A: No because they weren't aware of the consequences that they did and they went behind my back.
4. Q: Why don't you think as big of a deal is made if a woman cheats?
A: No, because when a woman cheats, it doesn't happen a lot and when it does happen, people think its because they are lonely at home and not because they just feel like cheating.
Friend 2:
1. Q: Do you think any part of a cheater feels bad?
A: I think the ones who do it because they are unhappy in their marriage or relationship feel more bad than those who just do it for the hell of it.
2. Q: In your opinion, what are the top 3 reasons people cheat?
A: They fall in love with someone else, they want revenge on their partner and cheat, and the person just wants more people to be with and not be monagamous.
3. Q: Would you forgive a cheater?
A: It depends. If I felt the relationship was going nowhere than probably not I might just give up but if I really felt a deep connection with that person, I might try to save it.
4. Q: Do you feel as if it is portrayed that when a woman cheats, it's not made to be a huge deal?
A: I think it is a big deal either way but people think that a woman is the victim and to get out of a bad relationship, the only other option they have is to cheat. I don't think it's fair to do that because some women are like the cheating men and can't keep it in their pants.
I agree with everything that everyone said. I also think that people cheat because they are insecure about themselves and need affirmation in some way that they are still desired so they get that through cheating.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
HW 55
My research topic is: what are the primary reasons people cheat? First off, it is important to identify that people cheat for these 2 main reasons: 1. the person has fallen in love with someone else but doesn't want to tell the person they are with how they really feel, so they cheat and 2. the most common one: the guy/girl feels they are entitled to have anyone they want and think they can keep it under wraps but they can't. Some people don't want to be tied down and want to try new things more than with just one person. This article is specifically why men cheat and it has some interesting points: http://theadventurouswriter.com/blog/quipstipsachievinggoals/love-relationships/learning-why-men-cheat-from-marriage-counselor-gary-neuman/. One of the points that this marriage counseler says is that men cheat "to get affirmation from 'the other woman." In class, we talked about affirmation and wanting to be well-liked so maybe the men who cheat want more people to like them and lust after them so they cheat to get the acknowledgement that more than one person likes them and it boosts their self-esteem. Another point is that "the men don't get enough attention at home." Again, they want people to notice them for something and even if it's doing something wrong like cheating, they will do it. People want to feel powerful which is another reason whay they do it.
Monday, May 10, 2010
HW 54
I am an ESTP. Which is: Extroverted, Sensing, Thinking, and Perceiving. I think I was mostly surprised by the extroverted because I can be extroverted at times but also introverted so I am in the middle with that one. I had to retake this test over a couple of times because sometimes I could feel that I wasn't being honest with myself or thinking hard enough about the question and I wanted to be as accurate as possible. I also noticed that I was in the middle for quite a few of these questions, which means I have balance in my personality. In addition, I sometimes had to ask my mom in one of the first tries, if she thought I was accurate about some of the statements describing me. I feel it's a bit easier to do that because it's helpful to have someone else's opinion about yourself but for me personally, I don't really "look" into my feelings or self a lot so maybe that's why it was a bit harder to dig deeper. I definitly think ESTP is me.
After I got these results, I clicked to see the Jung description of an ESTP and it said:
"content, emotionally stable, outgoing, social, group oriented, finisher, does not like to be alone, open, decisive, likes external praise, likes to be center of attention, frequently joking, adjusts easily, likes crowds, self confident, neutral moods, good at getting people to have fun, disorganized, messy, talented at presentation, not easily annoyed, does not like to be alone, enjoys crude jokes, likes to lead, likes sports, more likely to come off as masculine, risk taker, tends to dominate conversations, fearless, can handle criticism, hard to discourage."
I agree with most of these things such as can handle criticism and hard to discourage but other things that didn't fit me very well were fearless and risk taker. I am not those two things to a great extent only a little bit. In conclusion, I think that this test was somewhat accurate but at the same time, my results could be thrown off by how I answered one question. Also, there are different answers I have for these questions kind of depending on the day which might make it less accurate.
After I got these results, I clicked to see the Jung description of an ESTP and it said:
"content, emotionally stable, outgoing, social, group oriented, finisher, does not like to be alone, open, decisive, likes external praise, likes to be center of attention, frequently joking, adjusts easily, likes crowds, self confident, neutral moods, good at getting people to have fun, disorganized, messy, talented at presentation, not easily annoyed, does not like to be alone, enjoys crude jokes, likes to lead, likes sports, more likely to come off as masculine, risk taker, tends to dominate conversations, fearless, can handle criticism, hard to discourage."
I agree with most of these things such as can handle criticism and hard to discourage but other things that didn't fit me very well were fearless and risk taker. I am not those two things to a great extent only a little bit. In conclusion, I think that this test was somewhat accurate but at the same time, my results could be thrown off by how I answered one question. Also, there are different answers I have for these questions kind of depending on the day which might make it less accurate.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
HW 53
While taking the survey, I felt like I could be honest because it was anonymous and there was nothing to hide from. Some questions that were easy to answer was the basic ones like is there violence in the house and if my parents use drugs. Some questions that were hard was the ones like the ones about friends such as: I have a friend that I know will stick with me throughout our lifetimes. Also, the questions about self/politics made m think because I had to really think about how I really behaved.
Some questions from the survey had interesting results. One example is of the friends question: you do stupid and/or things you don't particularly enjoy to fit in with your peers. The category with the most results was the maybe category. This is a bit shocking because I feel that most people don't like to admit that they do things to fit in because then they feel they will just be labeled followers and not unique so I think that by answering maybe, people knew this survey was anonymous and could be honest with their answer about this. I also think that there are some questions which some people had to have lied at like the one about ever being drunk and a majority of people said no. Most teens drink and get drunk so that is not true. Another possibility is that because not everyone took the survey, the results could be off.
I looked at the 2nd link of the professional survey that was done and I noticed that the questions about violence was much higher than the survey we did in SOF. That makes me believe that the survey was done in a bad area or school that had a lot of poverty. I will also assume that some of the students that took the professional survey might have come from a broken home where violence and weapons were present. Also, 75% of them said they drank alcohol so that's a big difference.
Some questions from the survey had interesting results. One example is of the friends question: you do stupid and/or things you don't particularly enjoy to fit in with your peers. The category with the most results was the maybe category. This is a bit shocking because I feel that most people don't like to admit that they do things to fit in because then they feel they will just be labeled followers and not unique so I think that by answering maybe, people knew this survey was anonymous and could be honest with their answer about this. I also think that there are some questions which some people had to have lied at like the one about ever being drunk and a majority of people said no. Most teens drink and get drunk so that is not true. Another possibility is that because not everyone took the survey, the results could be off.
I looked at the 2nd link of the professional survey that was done and I noticed that the questions about violence was much higher than the survey we did in SOF. That makes me believe that the survey was done in a bad area or school that had a lot of poverty. I will also assume that some of the students that took the professional survey might have come from a broken home where violence and weapons were present. Also, 75% of them said they drank alcohol so that's a big difference.
Monday, May 3, 2010
HW 52
My ideas on human relationships is that we usually have a closer relationship with our family than with our friends. This is because our family will always love us unconditionally and we love them unconditionally back and they know us the best because they helped raise us. We can make mistakes and they'll still have our back. Parents can be good to get advice and such from because they already went through some things and can help you but at the same time, they can still never let you live something down. But at the same time, it's hard to relate to our parents now and they ultimately have control over us until we are 18. I think it's sad when parents and children have a volatile relationship with one another because we are supposed to learn from our parents and hopefully be taught the right example from them and if there's a bad relationship going on, it will be very difficult for the child to learn how to act and in the worst case, live a good life.
I think that relationships with friends are also very important because they are usually the family we get to choose. We choose friends based on what we have in common with each other and our likes and dislikes. Trust is also a big thing because we want to know that our friends won't judge us, be able to keep something private, and won't be mean. Friends are obviously our age and know exactly what we are going through because it is probably happening to them also and parents can punish you for certain things whereas friends will not. If you have a bad friend (someone who is mean and does conniving things), it will be easier to dispose of them and not talk to them again, unless you have been friends with them for many years but in general, it is hard to dispose of friends, for me at least, unless they did something terrible to hurt me. But the main difference between friends and family is that I don't think that friendship guarentees unconditional love. Of course friends are like family and there will no doubt be times when there are fights but like family, you always get out of it and that's the sign of a true friend. But a friend gets to choose you and they aren't "yours" like your family is so if someone does something horrific to a friend like steal a boyfriend or spread lies, you will obviously not be liked by the other person at all. They most likely didn't grow up with you so they can just decide not to be friends with you if they want.
Relationships with a significant other is also very important. Again, just like with friends, a significant other is someone who you want to hang out with and be intimate with and who is generally "another version of you" in some cases. In general, couples teach each other things and balance each other out. For example, if there was a couple and 1 person was shy and the other outgoing, the difference in that is good because they aren't alike and one can relax the other or pump up the other. It is important to have some relationships because (not to be cliched) but love is a good feeling and you can confide more in the person once you get to know them very well. That being said, as important as significant other relationships are, you can't depend on that for happiness because you can't live for another person and base your life around the person.
I think that relationships with friends are also very important because they are usually the family we get to choose. We choose friends based on what we have in common with each other and our likes and dislikes. Trust is also a big thing because we want to know that our friends won't judge us, be able to keep something private, and won't be mean. Friends are obviously our age and know exactly what we are going through because it is probably happening to them also and parents can punish you for certain things whereas friends will not. If you have a bad friend (someone who is mean and does conniving things), it will be easier to dispose of them and not talk to them again, unless you have been friends with them for many years but in general, it is hard to dispose of friends, for me at least, unless they did something terrible to hurt me. But the main difference between friends and family is that I don't think that friendship guarentees unconditional love. Of course friends are like family and there will no doubt be times when there are fights but like family, you always get out of it and that's the sign of a true friend. But a friend gets to choose you and they aren't "yours" like your family is so if someone does something horrific to a friend like steal a boyfriend or spread lies, you will obviously not be liked by the other person at all. They most likely didn't grow up with you so they can just decide not to be friends with you if they want.
Relationships with a significant other is also very important. Again, just like with friends, a significant other is someone who you want to hang out with and be intimate with and who is generally "another version of you" in some cases. In general, couples teach each other things and balance each other out. For example, if there was a couple and 1 person was shy and the other outgoing, the difference in that is good because they aren't alike and one can relax the other or pump up the other. It is important to have some relationships because (not to be cliched) but love is a good feeling and you can confide more in the person once you get to know them very well. That being said, as important as significant other relationships are, you can't depend on that for happiness because you can't live for another person and base your life around the person.
Monday, April 26, 2010
HW 51
A very important topic in schooling, in my opinion, is: how much power do the teachers actually have in school and disciplining students. Many would think that the teachers and faculty of the school would have a say, which they do most of the time, but as you will see in my paper, other people also have a say.
The book I read was Academy X and in there, the parents have the bigger say in what goes on in the students lives because they have money and can tell
the teachers what to do. The teachers don't tell the parents how to do their work so neither should the parents.
While i was doing research on suspensions, I read that some schools suspend students or little things and they suspend students as young as kindergarten for things such as not listening to the teacher. People critiscized this because teachers need to learn how to handle students and only suspend them it is a serious problem like if a student wouldn't stop fighting. Also, students, especially at a young age, should also be suspended if they pose a threat to themselves or others around them. What could a young person possibly do? Some parents who had kids who got suspended said that it is pure laziness that their kids are suspended because the teachers just don't want to deal with the kids and think it is easier to just deal with suspensions.
The book I read was Academy X and in there, the parents have the bigger say in what goes on in the students lives because they have money and can tell
the teachers what to do. The teachers don't tell the parents how to do their work so neither should the parents.
While i was doing research on suspensions, I read that some schools suspend students or little things and they suspend students as young as kindergarten for things such as not listening to the teacher. People critiscized this because teachers need to learn how to handle students and only suspend them it is a serious problem like if a student wouldn't stop fighting. Also, students, especially at a young age, should also be suspended if they pose a threat to themselves or others around them. What could a young person possibly do? Some parents who had kids who got suspended said that it is pure laziness that their kids are suspended because the teachers just don't want to deal with the kids and think it is easier to just deal with suspensions.
HW 50
For the Gatto article, "Six Lessons," I feel like he is the epitome of a bad teacher because it seems like he is in the job as a paycheck and last resort and he wants the students to be like robots. He wants to keep the classroom like a typical class where students sit in rows and read from textbooks. It is a very conservative place. He doesn't let students have even a little bit of say in what they learn. For example, the fourth lesson he teaches is that he has the only say in the curriculum and that he doesn't care about people being curious because all the students should know is what they are being taught. He goes on to say that "Bad kids fight against this, of course, trying openly or covertly to make decisions for themselves about what they will learn. How can we allow that and survive as schoolteachers? Fortunately there are procedures to break the will of those who resist." The last sentence shows how he wants the students to obey him fully. In class, we talked about school being an institution and I think that in this case, Gatto is taking that to the extreme. He rules the place similarly to a prison warden. SOF isn't really like an institution because people have some say in what we learn and we don't sit in rows and are rigid.
In my class, Copeland came in to talk about his idea of saving students and about how that sounds very pretencious and stupid. I somewhat agree with him that it is a very Hollywood storyline of the hero teacher saving kids but I would assume it feels good to help save young people before it gets to be too late. I also like how he said he appreciates it when students are able to grasp the lesson they are learning in class and that he also learns a lot from his students. That is something that Gatto would never dream of doing and that is bad. Students are obviously young but they aren't dumb and they pose good questions to the teacher. The students will learn more if they also think for themselves instead of being spoon-fed information.
In my class, Copeland came in to talk about his idea of saving students and about how that sounds very pretencious and stupid. I somewhat agree with him that it is a very Hollywood storyline of the hero teacher saving kids but I would assume it feels good to help save young people before it gets to be too late. I also like how he said he appreciates it when students are able to grasp the lesson they are learning in class and that he also learns a lot from his students. That is something that Gatto would never dream of doing and that is bad. Students are obviously young but they aren't dumb and they pose good questions to the teacher. The students will learn more if they also think for themselves instead of being spoon-fed information.
Friday, April 23, 2010
HW 49
For my class film, we did a scenario where there was a student being bullied and one of the other students steps in to save the bullied student from the bully and stands up to the bully. Back in the classroom, the teacher is trying to get the students attention unsuccessfully and nobody is listening to him and keeps talking back and throwing things around. Students just keep walking out of the classroom and keep talking back. After a while, the teacher silences the students and starts talking to them about why what we are learning is important and plays a song for us that resonates with what we are learning. The hero student talks back to the teacher saying what he is teaching them is stupid.
I was one of the students in the classroom not listening to the teacher. The teacher gives me a piece of paper and tells me to write my ideas and thoughts on it but i roll my eyes at him and say no.
This story is different than most because there really isn't a hero student in the other films but it's similar to other super-teacher films because the students misbehave and treat the teachers very badly and it takes a while for the students to finally start listening to the teacher. The part where the teacher (Andy) gives us the paper to write things on is similar to "Freedom Writers" where Hilary Swank's character gives her students a notebook to write their problems out. The teacher tries to connect to the students.
I think that "saving" students is something every educator wants to do because I can imagine that it does feel really good to help young people who are in trouble and make their adult lives better. Saving people is a good thing and if a higher authority, which is in this case a teacher, is able to better someone's life, it is a big accomplishment. Teachers who do this are regarded as very good teachers ad have films made about them. I think that teachers who are able to actually able to teach students life skills and not just math, science, etc, that is very important because book smart won't get a person anywhere without life skills. I think it's admirable if a teacher helps students who are in dire need of help more than teachers who just are able to connect with students who are well off but just don't want to focus.
I was one of the students in the classroom not listening to the teacher. The teacher gives me a piece of paper and tells me to write my ideas and thoughts on it but i roll my eyes at him and say no.
This story is different than most because there really isn't a hero student in the other films but it's similar to other super-teacher films because the students misbehave and treat the teachers very badly and it takes a while for the students to finally start listening to the teacher. The part where the teacher (Andy) gives us the paper to write things on is similar to "Freedom Writers" where Hilary Swank's character gives her students a notebook to write their problems out. The teacher tries to connect to the students.
I think that "saving" students is something every educator wants to do because I can imagine that it does feel really good to help young people who are in trouble and make their adult lives better. Saving people is a good thing and if a higher authority, which is in this case a teacher, is able to better someone's life, it is a big accomplishment. Teachers who do this are regarded as very good teachers ad have films made about them. I think that teachers who are able to actually able to teach students life skills and not just math, science, etc, that is very important because book smart won't get a person anywhere without life skills. I think it's admirable if a teacher helps students who are in dire need of help more than teachers who just are able to connect with students who are well off but just don't want to focus.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
HW 47
Ideas for class movie:
-Teacher at first fails at teaching and calming down students but after a while, he does.
-Teacher fails miserably at helping the students and never succeeds.
-Teacher relates to the students in life experiences and the students grow to like the teacher.
-Teacher helps the students fight for their rights over something unfair going on and then the students like him more.
-Teacher is just all around a good teacher.
-Students like the teacher at first but then something happens or a rumor starts about the teacher so the students start to lose respect or trust.
-The teacher is just an all-around bad teacher.
-Teacher at first fails at teaching and calming down students but after a while, he does.
-Teacher fails miserably at helping the students and never succeeds.
-Teacher relates to the students in life experiences and the students grow to like the teacher.
-Teacher helps the students fight for their rights over something unfair going on and then the students like him more.
-Teacher is just all around a good teacher.
-Students like the teacher at first but then something happens or a rumor starts about the teacher so the students start to lose respect or trust.
-The teacher is just an all-around bad teacher.
Friday, April 2, 2010
HW 46
The book I read was "Academy X" by Andrew Trees. It is a true story about a private school teacher and all of his mostly horrid experiences there. He talks about his opinions on students and of teachers and just how messed up the school is, generally speaking. He tries to be a fair teacher and I personally got to see actually how hard it is to be a teacher and control a classroom. It really puts into perspective how different private schools are from public ones.
In the book,the parents basically run the school because they are on the board of trustees at the school, which I later learned was Horace Mann and put a lot of pressure on their kids to get into Ivy's and will do anything to insure that of happening-even doing dishonest things. If a kid gets in trouble, nothing happens because the parents just "buy out" the school in some way such as having an auditorium named after them and the dean and principal are on the parents side even saying "the parent is the best customer" meaning the teachers should treat the parents as if they are shopping in a store. This is a very crazy school system and the students do such crazy things and the teachers will try to punish the students but can't because the students know that nothing will happen to them. The kids are extremely undisciplined which I believe will probably hurt them later in life because as one grows older, less things they will be able to get away with. One case that was very huge was when the most popular and affluent student of his class named Caitlen claimed that the teacher raped her because he wouldn't let her get away with plagirizing a paper. She took off her top at the end of class and then took out a torn shirt and the principal came in and she ran over to the principal "crying" and made the torn shirt look like the teacher did it. The teacher believed the girl and wouldn't give the teacher a chance to explain himself. Practically the whole class was on the teachers side and knew he didn't do anything. He did have a minor, minor crush on the girl and thought she was beautiful, which is of course perverted but rape and a crush, especially in a student-teacher case is a very big difference.
This relates to my topic of how a school is run and what the teachers run the school and this book definitley gives a very different side of who actually runs this private school system. It is shocking to see that people can actually get away with these things. In this particular case, the teachers barely have any say in teaching because the parents tell them what to do through bribery. The tables turned and I really hate it because the teachers don't tell the parents how to run their jobs and neither should the parents. The purpose of school is to learn things but the kids who are on the poor side (middle class) learn more because they can't get everything at the drop of a hat by being bought into an Ivy whereas the rich kids know they can slack off and do whatever because their parents will just get them everything. I can relate this to my own public school experience how there aren't any super rich kids and you certainly can't buy your way into and out of situations and how there will mostly be serious problems if parents get too involved. Things are taken more seriously because everyone has an equal education.
In the book,the parents basically run the school because they are on the board of trustees at the school, which I later learned was Horace Mann and put a lot of pressure on their kids to get into Ivy's and will do anything to insure that of happening-even doing dishonest things. If a kid gets in trouble, nothing happens because the parents just "buy out" the school in some way such as having an auditorium named after them and the dean and principal are on the parents side even saying "the parent is the best customer" meaning the teachers should treat the parents as if they are shopping in a store. This is a very crazy school system and the students do such crazy things and the teachers will try to punish the students but can't because the students know that nothing will happen to them. The kids are extremely undisciplined which I believe will probably hurt them later in life because as one grows older, less things they will be able to get away with. One case that was very huge was when the most popular and affluent student of his class named Caitlen claimed that the teacher raped her because he wouldn't let her get away with plagirizing a paper. She took off her top at the end of class and then took out a torn shirt and the principal came in and she ran over to the principal "crying" and made the torn shirt look like the teacher did it. The teacher believed the girl and wouldn't give the teacher a chance to explain himself. Practically the whole class was on the teachers side and knew he didn't do anything. He did have a minor, minor crush on the girl and thought she was beautiful, which is of course perverted but rape and a crush, especially in a student-teacher case is a very big difference.
This relates to my topic of how a school is run and what the teachers run the school and this book definitley gives a very different side of who actually runs this private school system. It is shocking to see that people can actually get away with these things. In this particular case, the teachers barely have any say in teaching because the parents tell them what to do through bribery. The tables turned and I really hate it because the teachers don't tell the parents how to run their jobs and neither should the parents. The purpose of school is to learn things but the kids who are on the poor side (middle class) learn more because they can't get everything at the drop of a hat by being bought into an Ivy whereas the rich kids know they can slack off and do whatever because their parents will just get them everything. I can relate this to my own public school experience how there aren't any super rich kids and you certainly can't buy your way into and out of situations and how there will mostly be serious problems if parents get too involved. Things are taken more seriously because everyone has an equal education.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
HW 45
E.D. Hirsch Jr's opinion on schooling reminds me nothing of SOF's idea of schooling-he believes we should focus on learning and grasping the concepts of subjects rather than just learning every subject in its fullest way. Like the Wikipedia article on him says: "Hirsch proposed that Romanticized, anti-knowledge theories of education prevalent in America are not only the cause of America's lackluster educational performance, but also a cause of widening inequalities in class and race. Hirsch portrays the focus of American educational theory as one which attempts to give students intellectual tools such as "critical thinking skills", but which denigrates teaching any actual content" This goes against SOF's beliefs that we should have fewer subjects but still learn more in the few subjects we have. He believes that there are things that every student should learn depending on what grade they are in and should just keep learning more of the "appropriate" things in the grade they are in. It is more of a "quantity over quality" approach to schooling children. He even wrote a book called The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, which is a dictionary that contains all important facts a person needs to know to be considered smart and literate in his eyes and to me, they seem like basic facts such as who MLK is. I don't believe that much in his opinions at all because even though i do believe that one should know who MLK is or what Roe vs. Wade is just because it was so significant in changing the way a majority of America thought, I don't believe that only facts should be taught in school because that can't get a person very far in life because a person also needs to have basic life skills in addition to knowing facts.
Theodore R. Sizer's arguments on schooling agree more with SOF's type of teaching than with Hirsch's. He believes that it is "quality over quantity" schooling-less subjects are taught but the students should be able to grasp the core classes very well rather than just having many different subjects. This following quote as said in Sizer's obituary in the New York Times really reminds me of SOF: "the student is a valued worker in that community, with the teacher in the role of mentor or coach. Depth of knowledge is emphasized over breadth, with the mastery of a few core subjects preferred over the scattershot spate of electives the modern high school seems to favor." We clearly don't have many electives or subjects but we do have the standard classes: english, math, science, and history that will actually help us in life. We also have to develop "critical thinking skills" and i definitley believe that in SOF, 1 of the mottos is that we should "teach" ourselves and our teachers are just there to egg us along and help us when needed. I believe this idea seems a bit more left wing that Hirsch's because Hirsch's ideas seem much more rigid and follow the authority member type of schooling whereas Sizer's is more free-thinking. I agree more with Sizer's sort of teaching because it is important to learn a few things very well than have various ideas just shoved into a student's head and not have them explained to him/her.
Theodore R. Sizer's arguments on schooling agree more with SOF's type of teaching than with Hirsch's. He believes that it is "quality over quantity" schooling-less subjects are taught but the students should be able to grasp the core classes very well rather than just having many different subjects. This following quote as said in Sizer's obituary in the New York Times really reminds me of SOF: "the student is a valued worker in that community, with the teacher in the role of mentor or coach. Depth of knowledge is emphasized over breadth, with the mastery of a few core subjects preferred over the scattershot spate of electives the modern high school seems to favor." We clearly don't have many electives or subjects but we do have the standard classes: english, math, science, and history that will actually help us in life. We also have to develop "critical thinking skills" and i definitley believe that in SOF, 1 of the mottos is that we should "teach" ourselves and our teachers are just there to egg us along and help us when needed. I believe this idea seems a bit more left wing that Hirsch's because Hirsch's ideas seem much more rigid and follow the authority member type of schooling whereas Sizer's is more free-thinking. I agree more with Sizer's sort of teaching because it is important to learn a few things very well than have various ideas just shoved into a student's head and not have them explained to him/her.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
HW 44
I agree with what Obama says about accomplishing something in life because it is true that in this world, you can't get anywhere or be successful without going to college. I noticed that when some other people speak about getting somewere in life, they make it seem so easy like "go to college and your life will be better" and I feel that they fail to mention that it is not that easy and Obama actually admitted saying it's not easy at all and that you really can get a lot of places with hard work but the sad truth is that sometimes, even the hardest working people don't get very far in life. "But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed. And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself. Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide. And no matter what you want to do with your life – I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You’re going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it." This is what Obama says and i agree with it 100%. I also like the argument he makes that it starts with yourself because the person has to be able to make change happen and other people can't do it for them-it has to come from within, as cliche as it sounds, it is correct. If the person doesn't want to learn but is forced to, they won't do work and will fail out but if they themselves want to get themselves an education, they will do very well in life. I also feel that the argument about becoming a great rapper or NBA star is an impossible dream is kind of true because it is a very hard, fickle thing to get into and unfortunately, part of that business is out there for entertainment purposes whereas an inventor of something helps people do things easier, so i believe it is an easier goal to set for someone. "We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that – if you quit on school – you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country. Now I know it’s not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork. I get it. I know what that’s like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn’t always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn’t fit in. So I wasn’t always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I’m not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse. But I was fortunate. I got a lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams." This is also a very important part of Obama's speech in my opinion, especially the part where he says we will "let down our country" because i think that if you think about giving up on your country by not getting an education, it is really shocking because that is obviously so many people. I also agree with what Obama says that coming from a broken home isn't an excuse for not doing well in school because yes, it will of course be hard to focus on anything but if you get out of the bad situation, you will have a better life and perhaps help your family. I also agree with his statement that one of the keys to getting a good education and succeeding starts from fullfilling your goals one small step at a time starting from finishing your homework one night. I like Obama's speech because i honestly believe that it is very empowering and the fact that Obama can be empathetic is good because he actually experienced the work-your-way-up story or American dream story and knows what people are going through because it would seem different if Obama was saying all this and he was fed with a silver spoon because he couldn't really know what it was like first hand. I think that what Obama is saying is very good.
Monday, March 8, 2010
HW 43
When i think of school memories i think of people teasing me in elementary school not liking elementary school being out of the crowd because i didn't have a PTA mom or a rich family. I think of graduation and going out to lunch and learning easy things in school. My "wild child" days when i stole a lot and getting into small fights with various people. Doing homework and exhibitions and presenting. The feeling and mood in school when it got to be warmer out. Getting report cards. Going to various events in the auditorium for the school play or pep rally or whatever. Taking the midterms or long tests. Seeing all my friends on our first day back to school and the anticipation. The last day of school.
Monday, March 1, 2010
HW 42 Part B
1. For the first link from CBS news, the article was about how school suspensions aren't good, especially for younger elementary school students because they don't really learn anything from it. I definitely agree with this because when there is an out of school suspension, the kids don't do work at home anyway, so it is defeating the purpose and students just get more mad. Younger kids it's even worse for because they need to realize and know why they are getting in trouble instead of just being suspended. The student will give up. I think that if any kind of suspension has t be given, it should be in-school and that an at-home suspension should only happen if the student actually poses a great threat to themselves and fellow students. Things are perceived worse when children are younger.
2. The second article is about whether or not suspensions are effective or not. It specifically talks about little kids like first graders getting suspended which I think makes no sense. First graders are too young to know exactly what right and wrong is. The teachers shouldn't suspend or punish kids in that way, the parents should. Also, getting suspended this early on in life could cause problems later in life for the student because in addition to giving up, they might actually become very troubled people and will maybe drop out of school in a worst-case scenario.
3. The third article talks about suspensions in high schools. Unlike the other articles, I am getting the impression that the author sort of agrees with suspending students. The author argues that the student who was suspended probably doesn't want to be in school anyway so they misbehave to get suspended and get out of school, so why suspend students? He also said that the high school students who get suspended doesn't really educate them at all and that they will end up n the street. The article also says that suspension rates have dropped drastically in some high schools from about 27% to about 9%. I think that that is good because suspensions should ONLY be used as a last resort in case no other method of discipline works.
2. The second article is about whether or not suspensions are effective or not. It specifically talks about little kids like first graders getting suspended which I think makes no sense. First graders are too young to know exactly what right and wrong is. The teachers shouldn't suspend or punish kids in that way, the parents should. Also, getting suspended this early on in life could cause problems later in life for the student because in addition to giving up, they might actually become very troubled people and will maybe drop out of school in a worst-case scenario.
3. The third article talks about suspensions in high schools. Unlike the other articles, I am getting the impression that the author sort of agrees with suspending students. The author argues that the student who was suspended probably doesn't want to be in school anyway so they misbehave to get suspended and get out of school, so why suspend students? He also said that the high school students who get suspended doesn't really educate them at all and that they will end up n the street. The article also says that suspension rates have dropped drastically in some high schools from about 27% to about 9%. I think that that is good because suspensions should ONLY be used as a last resort in case no other method of discipline works.
Monday, February 22, 2010
HW 41
1. http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2009/10/26/1020175/omg-teachers-say-texting-can-be.html
This article talks about how texting was always thought about as bad by adults but how now after recent studies, it is shown that texting can actually improve language skills and writing.
2. http://www.brighthub.com/education/k-12/articles/16137.aspx\
This article is about the pros and cons of standardized testing and it lists them all out. Some examples of the pros of standardized testing are that it can show parents how much a student knows but that one of the cons of standardized testing is that it puts a lot of unnecessary stress on teachers, parents,and students.
3. http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1947019,00.html
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standardized_test
This article goes over everything that is standardized testing.
5. http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2004-10-12-tests-usat_x.htm
This article is about a woman and her experiences with standardized testing and the article also talks about why we take them.
HW 42 Part A
6. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/05/06/eveningnews/main616035.shtml
7. http://www.bakersfield.com/news/local/x914961293/School-suspensions-Are-they-effective
8. http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/opinion/editorials/article_94bda9e7-e889-556c-bc43-
ec66dad47faa.html
This article talks about how texting was always thought about as bad by adults but how now after recent studies, it is shown that texting can actually improve language skills and writing.
2. http://www.brighthub.com/education/k-12/articles/16137.aspx\
This article is about the pros and cons of standardized testing and it lists them all out. Some examples of the pros of standardized testing are that it can show parents how much a student knows but that one of the cons of standardized testing is that it puts a lot of unnecessary stress on teachers, parents,and students.
3. http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1947019,00.html
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standardized_test
This article goes over everything that is standardized testing.
5. http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2004-10-12-tests-usat_x.htm
This article is about a woman and her experiences with standardized testing and the article also talks about why we take them.
HW 42 Part A
6. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/05/06/eveningnews/main616035.shtml
7. http://www.bakersfield.com/news/local/x914961293/School-suspensions-Are-they-effective
8. http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/opinion/editorials/article_94bda9e7-e889-556c-bc43-
ec66dad47faa.html
Saturday, February 20, 2010
HW 40
1. Myself:
Q: Do you like the exhibition process?
A: I think the basic principle of it is good because we learn to write an essay/a big paper which is going to help us later on in life such as in college and when we get a job whereas tests, many people aren't good at them and we don't learn any other skills that could help us later in life because when we are adults, we obviously don't take tests and it wastes time but I think the grading process on the committees is bad because it is unfair at times. For instance, a student could fail by 0.5 points or can get miss getting an MD by 0.5 points, which isn't right. In my opinion, that student should just get those 0.5 points because it is such a small number that it is almost insignificant. Effort should be counted as part of a grade, too because exhibitions aren't that easy and effort is greatly important in life because personally, it is better than not doing anything at all because at least you tried.
Q: Are suspensions pointless?
A: Yes, they are definitely pointless because all they do is make the student more mad and could sometimes make them more tempted to rebel against the teachers who got them suspended. I Might understand more if it was a huge thing that could have gotten the suspended or expelled such as bringing in a weapon, god forbid, but that is obvious. If it is a little thing like talking back to a teacher constantly, that is pretty stupid to me. Yes, of course it is disruptive but no one is being severely bothered by this and no one's life or well-being is at stake so why get suspended? If a student gets suspended for a little thing, that sometimes shows to me that a teacher can't really deal with a student that well because it is natural that there will be students who will talk back. But obviously if it is a huge issue, a student should be suspended or expelled.
2. Friend:
Q: Are teachers here for the paycheck or for actually teaching students something?
A: Well, I think that there are some teachers in this school who I won't name who are clearly here for only the paycheck. They always look unhappy and are always angry at students for little things and just don't teach well in general. Those are the classes which I am least looking forward to because even though I don't like school, still want to feel like i have at least learned a little something and i don't wanna be bored. But there are more teachers not like that who are actually interested in their job and teaching students their subject. They are the ones who are mostly in a good mood, good teachers, and make most lessons fun. Students obviously learn more with a teacher who's there for teaching than teachers who are there just to get paid. I focus less in bad classes because I'm bored and it is like i rebelling against the ad teacher but then again, it usually never works because i don't do too well.
Q: Do you believe that life skills should be a class?
A: Hmmmm...that's a kinda hard question. I kinda think that it would somewhat help me for different things to come in life but at the same time, it's better to live through some "life skills" experiences on your own so you know how to work through the as they are going on but it certainly doesn't hurt if you know how to handle a certain situation. But it also doesn't seem like a traditional or "real" class so i don't know.
3. Dad:
Q: Dad, how do you think school has changed since when you were younger? Is it better or worse?
A: Isn't it obvious that no matter what school will be different because times have changed vastly since I was little. When I was little, we never had any homework and we had a lot more tests than essays. Teachers also hardly ever helped us with work and parents weren't as involved as some parents are today. It was much more independent and more like a traditional class with textbooks, each student has a desk to him or herself, and there was hardly any partner or group projects or creative things like you guys have now such as going outside onto the street to learn more. That would be considered horrendous teaching if a teacher did that back then. Now, I don't know how I could answer if the schooling system is better or worse now because as I previously stated, it is very different that you can't really compare. It was more rigid teaching back then and more strict now it is more loose and more talkative and you, Jules, do a lot more work with other students, not alone. There should be a balance between "fun" schooling and strict teaching like when I was younger.
Q: Ok,the next question is: do you think cellphones are "killing" the education system?
A:Umm...I don't know. Regular TV can be addicting. Movies can be addictive. Hanging at the mall can. For some students cell phones are addict6ing and for others not. It is those student who's education is negatively affected by it. But cellphones have brought certain benefits to people. For some kids, cell phones are a way of getting and feeling an idea of connections between people. Some people don't share or talk as much but kids who are isolated are a great thing, like the internet. Make it easier to hear others out and share thouhght. So no, not universally negative but it can be negative. Another thing is that a study was done recently that showed that between email, texting, and Facebook-kids are doing more writing. When I was young, most people only wrote for school and communication conducted in person or by phone. But now ith everything like IM, writing is more frequent. Now, because of electronics we definitly write more. We (my generation) don't write better it's disposable but at the same time, we will also in some point in life will be in the habit of blogging in a way that my generation would be done. Some kids get very distracted and is bad. It is individual habit and temperate. Different modes of expression and emotional connection is expressed in other ways. Education is emotional connection between person and way of thinking. Also, education, obviously. Some kids express selves so much that it's crazy.
4. Another friend:
Q: Do you think SOF is strict?
A: noooooooo not at all. we get away with so much more than most skools. they try and act like there curriculum is harder that it is.
Q: my follow up question is that do you think we should have a curriculum that might be a bit more challenging?
A: i mean its hard to say cause i dont enjoy doin skool work so at some points i like the fact that its is not that hard. but in terms of bettering my future i think if i was pushed harder that it would be more helpful.
5. Stranger on street:
Q:Did you like school?
A: Of course, like any child I didn't like school but I did like the feeling of actually learning a little something. Honestly, i know believe that if I didn't go to school, I dont think that I'd feel accomplished in anything and I'd feel like all my years in school are wasted. You can't go or do anything without school, which is why i now think it is good.
Analysis:
I noticed that most people were honest with their answers. They also gave full answers, which i appreciated. A common thing i noticed with answers was that most people actually appreciated learning and school despite how boring it usually really is. I also liked how some of the people i interviewed didn't just agree with the questions i was asking. They also made some good points such as suspension being pointless because all it does is make the student more mad and how life skills is a good class but still isn't like a real class. I also found the answer that cellphones can actually help a student learn more and write better to be an interesting one because not many people bring that fact up and i agree somewhat with it.
Q: Do you like the exhibition process?
A: I think the basic principle of it is good because we learn to write an essay/a big paper which is going to help us later on in life such as in college and when we get a job whereas tests, many people aren't good at them and we don't learn any other skills that could help us later in life because when we are adults, we obviously don't take tests and it wastes time but I think the grading process on the committees is bad because it is unfair at times. For instance, a student could fail by 0.5 points or can get miss getting an MD by 0.5 points, which isn't right. In my opinion, that student should just get those 0.5 points because it is such a small number that it is almost insignificant. Effort should be counted as part of a grade, too because exhibitions aren't that easy and effort is greatly important in life because personally, it is better than not doing anything at all because at least you tried.
Q: Are suspensions pointless?
A: Yes, they are definitely pointless because all they do is make the student more mad and could sometimes make them more tempted to rebel against the teachers who got them suspended. I Might understand more if it was a huge thing that could have gotten the suspended or expelled such as bringing in a weapon, god forbid, but that is obvious. If it is a little thing like talking back to a teacher constantly, that is pretty stupid to me. Yes, of course it is disruptive but no one is being severely bothered by this and no one's life or well-being is at stake so why get suspended? If a student gets suspended for a little thing, that sometimes shows to me that a teacher can't really deal with a student that well because it is natural that there will be students who will talk back. But obviously if it is a huge issue, a student should be suspended or expelled.
2. Friend:
Q: Are teachers here for the paycheck or for actually teaching students something?
A: Well, I think that there are some teachers in this school who I won't name who are clearly here for only the paycheck. They always look unhappy and are always angry at students for little things and just don't teach well in general. Those are the classes which I am least looking forward to because even though I don't like school, still want to feel like i have at least learned a little something and i don't wanna be bored. But there are more teachers not like that who are actually interested in their job and teaching students their subject. They are the ones who are mostly in a good mood, good teachers, and make most lessons fun. Students obviously learn more with a teacher who's there for teaching than teachers who are there just to get paid. I focus less in bad classes because I'm bored and it is like i rebelling against the ad teacher but then again, it usually never works because i don't do too well.
Q: Do you believe that life skills should be a class?
A: Hmmmm...that's a kinda hard question. I kinda think that it would somewhat help me for different things to come in life but at the same time, it's better to live through some "life skills" experiences on your own so you know how to work through the as they are going on but it certainly doesn't hurt if you know how to handle a certain situation. But it also doesn't seem like a traditional or "real" class so i don't know.
3. Dad:
Q: Dad, how do you think school has changed since when you were younger? Is it better or worse?
A: Isn't it obvious that no matter what school will be different because times have changed vastly since I was little. When I was little, we never had any homework and we had a lot more tests than essays. Teachers also hardly ever helped us with work and parents weren't as involved as some parents are today. It was much more independent and more like a traditional class with textbooks, each student has a desk to him or herself, and there was hardly any partner or group projects or creative things like you guys have now such as going outside onto the street to learn more. That would be considered horrendous teaching if a teacher did that back then. Now, I don't know how I could answer if the schooling system is better or worse now because as I previously stated, it is very different that you can't really compare. It was more rigid teaching back then and more strict now it is more loose and more talkative and you, Jules, do a lot more work with other students, not alone. There should be a balance between "fun" schooling and strict teaching like when I was younger.
Q: Ok,the next question is: do you think cellphones are "killing" the education system?
A:Umm...I don't know. Regular TV can be addicting. Movies can be addictive. Hanging at the mall can. For some students cell phones are addict6ing and for others not. It is those student who's education is negatively affected by it. But cellphones have brought certain benefits to people. For some kids, cell phones are a way of getting and feeling an idea of connections between people. Some people don't share or talk as much but kids who are isolated are a great thing, like the internet. Make it easier to hear others out and share thouhght. So no, not universally negative but it can be negative. Another thing is that a study was done recently that showed that between email, texting, and Facebook-kids are doing more writing. When I was young, most people only wrote for school and communication conducted in person or by phone. But now ith everything like IM, writing is more frequent. Now, because of electronics we definitly write more. We (my generation) don't write better it's disposable but at the same time, we will also in some point in life will be in the habit of blogging in a way that my generation would be done. Some kids get very distracted and is bad. It is individual habit and temperate. Different modes of expression and emotional connection is expressed in other ways. Education is emotional connection between person and way of thinking. Also, education, obviously. Some kids express selves so much that it's crazy.
4. Another friend:
Q: Do you think SOF is strict?
A: noooooooo not at all. we get away with so much more than most skools. they try and act like there curriculum is harder that it is.
Q: my follow up question is that do you think we should have a curriculum that might be a bit more challenging?
A: i mean its hard to say cause i dont enjoy doin skool work so at some points i like the fact that its is not that hard. but in terms of bettering my future i think if i was pushed harder that it would be more helpful.
5. Stranger on street:
Q:Did you like school?
A: Of course, like any child I didn't like school but I did like the feeling of actually learning a little something. Honestly, i know believe that if I didn't go to school, I dont think that I'd feel accomplished in anything and I'd feel like all my years in school are wasted. You can't go or do anything without school, which is why i now think it is good.
Analysis:
I noticed that most people were honest with their answers. They also gave full answers, which i appreciated. A common thing i noticed with answers was that most people actually appreciated learning and school despite how boring it usually really is. I also liked how some of the people i interviewed didn't just agree with the questions i was asking. They also made some good points such as suspension being pointless because all it does is make the student more mad and how life skills is a good class but still isn't like a real class. I also found the answer that cellphones can actually help a student learn more and write better to be an interesting one because not many people bring that fact up and i agree somewhat with it.
Monday, February 8, 2010
HW 39
The most interesting question I had about school is that why can't students make up some of the curriculum that we are learning? My opinion is that students would probably be doing so much better if we chose the topic to study because it would be something we are interested in and of course it would be an educational topic but it would be one that we care about learning. If we liked what we were learning about, we would want to do more homework on it and have more fun classes where everyone participated. Also, we are the ones who are here 5 days a week and about 6 hours a day so shouldn't we get some sort of say in what we are doing? For example, I personally would like to have more of this class because it is like philosophy and makes you think and it is not like a regular class with textbooks-there's more conversation and I think a lot of people like that. Some other things we should study in other classes is maybe astronomy for science and have more projects like the casino projects. My other idea about school is that a good part of school is that we have a majority of our friends because of school. The one thing all of us have in common generally speaking is that we both have to be in school whether we like it or not and we are usually always bored so we talk to each other to quell our boredom but then we get to know each other well and have great friends. No matter what, though, I believe that school is very important. It is very boring at times and going to school doesn't always guarentee a very successful future but it does help somewhat and it is also true that we usually don't remember a lot of what we learned from our previous years in school, especially "specialized" subjects such as math and science but for people who get a crareer involving those subjects it helps. I think that learning about english and history helps us more later in life because almost every career involves those two things like writing essays.
One aspect or moment in school is when we get grades. Grades are the only concrete way to show how the student has done so there is unfortunately no other method to measure how a student has done. I think that it is true that it does show what we have learned in school but I also believe that grades are unfair because it only shows how much we have flat-out learned and mastered the subject but I wonder why grades or how teachers grade us usually don't include something about the amount of effort a student shows. For instance, if a student tries very hard to complete a difficult project but fails at it, the teacher most likely won't count the amount of effort the student put in for grades. I think legit effort is a huge part because it is better than just giving up and not trying at all.
In life we all have to try our best effort at work and even if you try do something on the job and can't, the boss will sometimes recognize your efforts. This obviously doesn't always work always in the "real life" but in school, I definetly believe that grades should be counted for. And isn't the teachers message try your best?
One aspect or moment in school is when we get grades. Grades are the only concrete way to show how the student has done so there is unfortunately no other method to measure how a student has done. I think that it is true that it does show what we have learned in school but I also believe that grades are unfair because it only shows how much we have flat-out learned and mastered the subject but I wonder why grades or how teachers grade us usually don't include something about the amount of effort a student shows. For instance, if a student tries very hard to complete a difficult project but fails at it, the teacher most likely won't count the amount of effort the student put in for grades. I think legit effort is a huge part because it is better than just giving up and not trying at all.
In life we all have to try our best effort at work and even if you try do something on the job and can't, the boss will sometimes recognize your efforts. This obviously doesn't always work always in the "real life" but in school, I definetly believe that grades should be counted for. And isn't the teachers message try your best?
Saturday, February 6, 2010
HW 38
For my "cool" video, my group and I made several different classroom scenes depicting a "cool" student played by Chris Roldan and the other characters were Kiana, Elias, and Juliette as other students. In one clip, Chris is seen walking in the hallway and other students are lining up against the wall and they all say hi to Chris but Chris, who is walking in a "cool" way just ignores them. In another clip, Elias, Kiana, Juliette, and Stephanie are in a student council meeting talking about various fundraising methods for Haiti and all of a sudden, Chris walks in talking on his cellphone and behaving in a rude way. Chris acts like he is too good for everybody but then he contributes a good idea to the table and everyone realizes that maybe he actually is smart and isn't that mean or rude. In the next clip, Chris is getting in the elevator and a fellow student, played by Jen has a lot of books in her hand and is running toward the elevator but Chris doesn't care and just closes the elevator door on her. Another clip shows Kiana drinking water from the water fountain and Chris and Elias walk by and start checking her butt out and one of them grabs her butt so she slaps them. In the last clip, Chris is walking down the hallway and knocks books out of the hand of a fellow classmate played by Victor. Elias, Juliette, and Kiana are leaning against the wall gossiping about Chris and as Chris walks by, we all call him a jerk and Chris gets mad about it.
1. The idea of "cool" that is integrated to this art project is that the "cool" guy is considered to be the mean one who clearly thinks he is above everyone else and can treat everyone however he wants. He behaves openly nastily and thinks everyone likes him when they don't.
2. The part that I contributed to the project was that I was one of the actors in the skit and I did some sound effects for the slapping scene.
3. Yes, I think art is cool because it is one way to express yourself and what you are feeling inside. You don't only have to show your beliefs/ideas/feelings in words-you can do it in more creative ways. I think that art stops being cool when it is just obviously meaningless or if if it seems to be done for show not feeling. It is sometimes OK to do things that don't have meaning but my opinion is that art in general should be meaningful but not pretentious.
*VIDEO WILL BE UP SHORTLY*
1. The idea of "cool" that is integrated to this art project is that the "cool" guy is considered to be the mean one who clearly thinks he is above everyone else and can treat everyone however he wants. He behaves openly nastily and thinks everyone likes him when they don't.
2. The part that I contributed to the project was that I was one of the actors in the skit and I did some sound effects for the slapping scene.
3. Yes, I think art is cool because it is one way to express yourself and what you are feeling inside. You don't only have to show your beliefs/ideas/feelings in words-you can do it in more creative ways. I think that art stops being cool when it is just obviously meaningless or if if it seems to be done for show not feeling. It is sometimes OK to do things that don't have meaning but my opinion is that art in general should be meaningful but not pretentious.
*VIDEO WILL BE UP SHORTLY*
Monday, January 18, 2010
HW 35 part 2
INTRO:
Everyone knows that being cool means to be liked by everyone and be “in” with the latest trends and so on. “Cool” is a very big part of our society and influences a lot of people on how they act but I was wondering: How does “cool” help make one’s life meaningful/not meaningful?
PARAGRAPH 1:
I think that “cool” helps people feel like they are popular person, thus making it seem like their life is more lively. This was shown in the short story I wrote about a girl who is very vain and only cares about appearances. Like I described, “she looked at herself in the mirror “ look at how beautiful I am I would be jealous of me if I was everyone else” she thought to herself.” She thought she was the best thing but once she got to school, no one liked her vain, superior attitude and she wasn’t considered cool anymore. My point with this story was to show how being cool is essentially in the eye of the beholder and thinking of one’s self as cool makes a person “un-cool” and also that the idea of cool varies from person to person. This relates back to my thesis because the character in my story thought that being beautiful would make her appear cool and make her have friends, which she thought would help her to lead a more important life.
PARAGRAPH 2:
An important topic we talked about in class is emptiness and how that relates to being cool. People who have a feeling of being empty or living a bland life often turn to “cool” things in order to fit in with everyone else and live a more enriching life. One can deny that they have always tried to go "against cool" but that is not true because no matter what we do, something is considered cool, for instance tattoos or piercings. As I was doing research, I found psychiatrist Anna Freud's mother and child separation theory to be good and I agreed with it. That theory states that if a mother and child are separated at womb, it could really have a great effect on the child and how they will react and behave in life-especially with their mother. Here is a quote: “I therefore decided to present some of her ideas on the importance of the mother during the child's earliest years in the development of a ‘psychological’ object, culminating in the attainment of object constancy by the time the child reaches his second birthday, an achievement which is of great importance in permitting the child to go on to develop human relationships with all the emotional richness and complexity with which we are familiar.” This quote states how mother/child separation really usually begins during the "terrible twos" and if parents don't show attention to their kids, then that will most likely affect how the kids will be with their parents when they are older and when the kids have kids. Some kids will also do "bad" things or things to get that needed attention from other adults in their life. They then start to do "cool" things to get noticed and attention which all relates back to emptiness. But if they want attention and they do "cool" things to achieve that, then they might feel more empty because they aren't being true to themselves and if they aren't showing their true selves, they might be feeling emptier than before. The children or teenagers believe that by behaving or dressing in a “cool” way will fill in that emptiness that they have and they could be masking that possible emptiness with “coolness.” This relates back to my thesis because it shows how people believe that their loneliness can be solved by changing who they are to be more “cool.”
PARAGRAPH 3:
The media shows a lot of times how to be cool through messages in songs, movies, and articles. When I was doing research looking for articles on being cool, I found some very interesting websites:
http://www.mindfields.org.uk/blog/?p=140
(gives tips on how to be cool)
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1088699,00.html (describes how kids/teenagers strive to be cool by being rebellious)
http://www.copyblogger.com/be-the-cool-kid/ (shows mostly about cool kids and the effect on them later in life and what goes on in a "cool" kids head.)
http://www.wikihow.com/Be-Cool (how to be cool in general and there are tips in this article, too.) Also, magazines obviously show how to be cool by buying the latest trends or gadgets. I definitely buy into trends because I love fashion but I don’t follow trends just to be cool: if I like a trend I will wear it-not just because of its “cool” factor. Some movies that show “cool” is: the 2000 movie Loser which is about a “loser” guy who goes to college and has “cool” roommates who bully him and treat him badly and one roommate tells him that in order for him to be cool, he has to start drinking and being more social. The friends the lead character has are the misfits and in the end, the “loser” is the one that ends up happier and with a more full life than the “cool” college frat boys who end up doing nothing with their lives. There are many other movies and songs that are about being “cool.” This relates back to my thesis because it shows how the corporate media shows society about what cool means through various media outlets and they believe it will help us live a more significant life.
PARAGRAPH 4:
The other topic relating to cool is the cool pose. In class, we were learning about the "cool pose" which is what determines how we are considered "cool" in society. It also means if being or acting cool can backfire and contribute to a persons misfortune in leading a good life? I think that yes, it sometimes can because everyone wants to fit in and have friends or people around them who enjoy them and some people would do anything to be considered "cool." Friends pressure friends to act or dress in a "cool" way so that not only the friend will feel cool, but also so that the "friends" could feel like they fit in and don't want to be seen with a "loser". But the first person who contributes to all of this is the corporations/media who tell us what the latest cool thing is to do and if you don't do it, you're not cool.
I think this cool pose is also influenced by the people or location a person was brought up in and obviously, parents influence this. But this also causes a dilemma for some people: do the "cool" thing with friends or be less cool and follow a good path in life and make something of yourself. For example, a person can cut school 24/7 and do absolutely no work but still appear cool and the "badass" or a person can stay in school, get good grades, go to college, and then get a good, well-playing job. An even more drastic example is someone who is pressured into doing coke and all sorts of other lethal drugs even though they know how harmful it can be or he can go to school and get a better life ahead of him or her. If he/she thinks to him or herself "I want to be liked by the "cool" popular kids in school I'll do the drugs", they can become a huge drug addict or die instead of evidently living a full life. The person just died and sacrificed their life on the sake of wanting to be accepted by other people. A good example is the movie, The Blind Side which is a true story about a boy, Michael Oher, who is great at sports but does awfully at school but he came from the projects and had a very bad home life. A white family adopts him and they want to help him become great at football, which is the character's passion but get even better at school so that he can graduate. They want him to lead a better life because he is a good kid. All the other white people in the neighborhood disagree with what they are doing but they don't care and keep helping him. In the end, he graduates after doing countless hours of tutoring, goes to his dream college to play football, and then he got drafted this year in real life to the Baltimore Ravens. This shows how going against the grain on being "cool" pays off when you have the oppurtunity to live a good, safe life instead of in danger or even worse, dead. Another huge example is the corporate culture who show us through magazine, TV shows, movies, etc. what is cool and what everyone should do to seem cool. Obviously, cool changes very frequently in this fast-paced world and the idea of what cool means changes daily, especially with clothing and trends. The corporate media essentially says: you won't be cool if you don't act or dress this way. People fall for it, including me at times, and try to become "cooler." Also, in the "Learning to Labour" article, the "lads" want to do what they want and instead of being a doctor or lawyer or a proffession like that, they end up working in a factory like their dad which isn't terrible, but it isn't very satisfying work, in my opinion not to mention it being very hard work. All these examples show how the cool pose influence everyone. This relates back to my thesis because it shows how dangerous wanting to be cool can be and it shows the argument that wanting to be coolcan make a person's life more meaningless.
PARAGRAPH 5:
I interviewed regular people on the street and people I knew about what they
think cool means.
Liz (friend out of school, age 16 from NYC):
Q: Do you think of yourself as being cool?
A: Well, i think cool is different for everybody and your surroundings also play into whether you're cool or not. Like i might be cool in my school but if i was in another school, i might not be cool. But personally, i think of myself as being cool because I'm laid-back, nice, and i think i dress cute.
Q: Do you think being considered cool is important?
A: No, i don't think it's important. A person could be having the coolest clothes but be the biggest douche in the world and cool will only get you so far. A person should just be themselves, as cliche as that sounds. That's what matters and being cool is not being afraid to be yourself.
Ellie (friend from out of school, age 16 from London):
Q: What do you think some aspects of "cool" are?
A: Being a nice person-not fake nice, smart, not caring about others opinions of you, questioning authority (she means being a bit of a rebel), and maybe having cool clothes and cool "exterior" but that doesn't matter a lot but it does help.
Q: Have you ever changed yourself to appear "cooler"?
A: Yes, i did for a little but then i realized shortly thereafter that they obviously weren't true friends and I actually felt less "cool" about myself trying to prove myself to someone else for no reason.
As you can see, the answers are pretty similar. I then asked my aunt on her opinion of cool and she said:
that being cool means being able to express who you are and staying true to yourself. She also said that being cool is a person who can interact well with others and not hold a grudge. She also believes that superficial cool will only get a person so far and relationships cannot be based on shallow things like that-they also need to have a good personality. I then asked her what being uncool meant to her and she said that being uncool means being a nasty person who doesn't work well with others, someone who thinks they are above everyone and someone who always judges books by their cover. The next question i asked was if she was cool in high school and she said that she was somewhat cool because she was a cheerleader but that unlike all the other cheerleaders, her family didn't have much money so she couldn't buy clothes that were as expensive as the other girls, so that was the part that made her slightly "uncool" to her peers. She said it was ok because she had other friends to that liked her for her-not for her style or superficial things like that.
I definetly agreed with everything my aunt said.
person one:
Me: I see you are holding a magazine with michelle obama on it. Do you think her style looks cool?
Person: Um..maybe because most of the first ladies don't dress that way and don't show their arms but she does and it looks comfortable and polished and nice.
Me: Would you dress like her?
Person: Personally it's not my style but considering she's a first lady, she looks good. She's more chic than the rest.
Me: So how would you describe your style?
Person: I'm not sure i guess i would call it kind of girly kind of homeless (laughs). I think it looks nice.
Me: We like it. Did you dress similarly to this in high school? if so, did it look cool in your peers opinion?
Person: This is sort of funny: I was a goth type person in high school and people made fun of me for that but i don't care what they say. I don't have to always be cool. I believe that cool is different because everyone has different perceptions about it.
Person 2:
Me: You are dressed in a fancy sort of way. We were wondering if you had a car?
Person 2: Yes i do. I have a Mercedes.
Me: Do you feel that because you have a Mercedes your car "speaks louder" than your personality to some people?
Person 2: Well, I'm sure my car plays a role in how people perceive me.
This was from the random people on the street I interviewed and as one can see, the answers were all pretty generic and the same. This relates back to my thesis because it shows how everyone basically has the same meaning of what "cool" means to them.
PARAGRAPH 6:
My own opinion on cool has definitely changed since before we started this unit. At first, I thought that cool means being yourself but now I think that it is harder to be cool and since everyone wants to be cool and unique or their own person, that can't really happen because if everyone is trying to do that, that kind of defeats the purpose of them trying to be cool. I still believe that being cool is in the eye of the beholder but I also think that there are people who are just naturally cool and legitamitely don't have to try at being cool. As you can see, trying to be cool can help some people achieve a more important life but it can also destroy a person's individuality and actually harm their chances of living a meaningful life, all for appearing good.
Everyone knows that being cool means to be liked by everyone and be “in” with the latest trends and so on. “Cool” is a very big part of our society and influences a lot of people on how they act but I was wondering: How does “cool” help make one’s life meaningful/not meaningful?
PARAGRAPH 1:
I think that “cool” helps people feel like they are popular person, thus making it seem like their life is more lively. This was shown in the short story I wrote about a girl who is very vain and only cares about appearances. Like I described, “she looked at herself in the mirror “ look at how beautiful I am I would be jealous of me if I was everyone else” she thought to herself.” She thought she was the best thing but once she got to school, no one liked her vain, superior attitude and she wasn’t considered cool anymore. My point with this story was to show how being cool is essentially in the eye of the beholder and thinking of one’s self as cool makes a person “un-cool” and also that the idea of cool varies from person to person. This relates back to my thesis because the character in my story thought that being beautiful would make her appear cool and make her have friends, which she thought would help her to lead a more important life.
PARAGRAPH 2:
An important topic we talked about in class is emptiness and how that relates to being cool. People who have a feeling of being empty or living a bland life often turn to “cool” things in order to fit in with everyone else and live a more enriching life. One can deny that they have always tried to go "against cool" but that is not true because no matter what we do, something is considered cool, for instance tattoos or piercings. As I was doing research, I found psychiatrist Anna Freud's mother and child separation theory to be good and I agreed with it. That theory states that if a mother and child are separated at womb, it could really have a great effect on the child and how they will react and behave in life-especially with their mother. Here is a quote: “I therefore decided to present some of her ideas on the importance of the mother during the child's earliest years in the development of a ‘psychological’ object, culminating in the attainment of object constancy by the time the child reaches his second birthday, an achievement which is of great importance in permitting the child to go on to develop human relationships with all the emotional richness and complexity with which we are familiar.” This quote states how mother/child separation really usually begins during the "terrible twos" and if parents don't show attention to their kids, then that will most likely affect how the kids will be with their parents when they are older and when the kids have kids. Some kids will also do "bad" things or things to get that needed attention from other adults in their life. They then start to do "cool" things to get noticed and attention which all relates back to emptiness. But if they want attention and they do "cool" things to achieve that, then they might feel more empty because they aren't being true to themselves and if they aren't showing their true selves, they might be feeling emptier than before. The children or teenagers believe that by behaving or dressing in a “cool” way will fill in that emptiness that they have and they could be masking that possible emptiness with “coolness.” This relates back to my thesis because it shows how people believe that their loneliness can be solved by changing who they are to be more “cool.”
PARAGRAPH 3:
The media shows a lot of times how to be cool through messages in songs, movies, and articles. When I was doing research looking for articles on being cool, I found some very interesting websites:
http://www.mindfields.org.uk/blog/?p=140
(gives tips on how to be cool)
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1088699,00.html (describes how kids/teenagers strive to be cool by being rebellious)
http://www.copyblogger.com/be-the-cool-kid/ (shows mostly about cool kids and the effect on them later in life and what goes on in a "cool" kids head.)
http://www.wikihow.com/Be-Cool (how to be cool in general and there are tips in this article, too.) Also, magazines obviously show how to be cool by buying the latest trends or gadgets. I definitely buy into trends because I love fashion but I don’t follow trends just to be cool: if I like a trend I will wear it-not just because of its “cool” factor. Some movies that show “cool” is: the 2000 movie Loser which is about a “loser” guy who goes to college and has “cool” roommates who bully him and treat him badly and one roommate tells him that in order for him to be cool, he has to start drinking and being more social. The friends the lead character has are the misfits and in the end, the “loser” is the one that ends up happier and with a more full life than the “cool” college frat boys who end up doing nothing with their lives. There are many other movies and songs that are about being “cool.” This relates back to my thesis because it shows how the corporate media shows society about what cool means through various media outlets and they believe it will help us live a more significant life.
PARAGRAPH 4:
The other topic relating to cool is the cool pose. In class, we were learning about the "cool pose" which is what determines how we are considered "cool" in society. It also means if being or acting cool can backfire and contribute to a persons misfortune in leading a good life? I think that yes, it sometimes can because everyone wants to fit in and have friends or people around them who enjoy them and some people would do anything to be considered "cool." Friends pressure friends to act or dress in a "cool" way so that not only the friend will feel cool, but also so that the "friends" could feel like they fit in and don't want to be seen with a "loser". But the first person who contributes to all of this is the corporations/media who tell us what the latest cool thing is to do and if you don't do it, you're not cool.
I think this cool pose is also influenced by the people or location a person was brought up in and obviously, parents influence this. But this also causes a dilemma for some people: do the "cool" thing with friends or be less cool and follow a good path in life and make something of yourself. For example, a person can cut school 24/7 and do absolutely no work but still appear cool and the "badass" or a person can stay in school, get good grades, go to college, and then get a good, well-playing job. An even more drastic example is someone who is pressured into doing coke and all sorts of other lethal drugs even though they know how harmful it can be or he can go to school and get a better life ahead of him or her. If he/she thinks to him or herself "I want to be liked by the "cool" popular kids in school I'll do the drugs", they can become a huge drug addict or die instead of evidently living a full life. The person just died and sacrificed their life on the sake of wanting to be accepted by other people. A good example is the movie, The Blind Side which is a true story about a boy, Michael Oher, who is great at sports but does awfully at school but he came from the projects and had a very bad home life. A white family adopts him and they want to help him become great at football, which is the character's passion but get even better at school so that he can graduate. They want him to lead a better life because he is a good kid. All the other white people in the neighborhood disagree with what they are doing but they don't care and keep helping him. In the end, he graduates after doing countless hours of tutoring, goes to his dream college to play football, and then he got drafted this year in real life to the Baltimore Ravens. This shows how going against the grain on being "cool" pays off when you have the oppurtunity to live a good, safe life instead of in danger or even worse, dead. Another huge example is the corporate culture who show us through magazine, TV shows, movies, etc. what is cool and what everyone should do to seem cool. Obviously, cool changes very frequently in this fast-paced world and the idea of what cool means changes daily, especially with clothing and trends. The corporate media essentially says: you won't be cool if you don't act or dress this way. People fall for it, including me at times, and try to become "cooler." Also, in the "Learning to Labour" article, the "lads" want to do what they want and instead of being a doctor or lawyer or a proffession like that, they end up working in a factory like their dad which isn't terrible, but it isn't very satisfying work, in my opinion not to mention it being very hard work. All these examples show how the cool pose influence everyone. This relates back to my thesis because it shows how dangerous wanting to be cool can be and it shows the argument that wanting to be coolcan make a person's life more meaningless.
PARAGRAPH 5:
I interviewed regular people on the street and people I knew about what they
think cool means.
Liz (friend out of school, age 16 from NYC):
Q: Do you think of yourself as being cool?
A: Well, i think cool is different for everybody and your surroundings also play into whether you're cool or not. Like i might be cool in my school but if i was in another school, i might not be cool. But personally, i think of myself as being cool because I'm laid-back, nice, and i think i dress cute.
Q: Do you think being considered cool is important?
A: No, i don't think it's important. A person could be having the coolest clothes but be the biggest douche in the world and cool will only get you so far. A person should just be themselves, as cliche as that sounds. That's what matters and being cool is not being afraid to be yourself.
Ellie (friend from out of school, age 16 from London):
Q: What do you think some aspects of "cool" are?
A: Being a nice person-not fake nice, smart, not caring about others opinions of you, questioning authority (she means being a bit of a rebel), and maybe having cool clothes and cool "exterior" but that doesn't matter a lot but it does help.
Q: Have you ever changed yourself to appear "cooler"?
A: Yes, i did for a little but then i realized shortly thereafter that they obviously weren't true friends and I actually felt less "cool" about myself trying to prove myself to someone else for no reason.
As you can see, the answers are pretty similar. I then asked my aunt on her opinion of cool and she said:
that being cool means being able to express who you are and staying true to yourself. She also said that being cool is a person who can interact well with others and not hold a grudge. She also believes that superficial cool will only get a person so far and relationships cannot be based on shallow things like that-they also need to have a good personality. I then asked her what being uncool meant to her and she said that being uncool means being a nasty person who doesn't work well with others, someone who thinks they are above everyone and someone who always judges books by their cover. The next question i asked was if she was cool in high school and she said that she was somewhat cool because she was a cheerleader but that unlike all the other cheerleaders, her family didn't have much money so she couldn't buy clothes that were as expensive as the other girls, so that was the part that made her slightly "uncool" to her peers. She said it was ok because she had other friends to that liked her for her-not for her style or superficial things like that.
I definetly agreed with everything my aunt said.
person one:
Me: I see you are holding a magazine with michelle obama on it. Do you think her style looks cool?
Person: Um..maybe because most of the first ladies don't dress that way and don't show their arms but she does and it looks comfortable and polished and nice.
Me: Would you dress like her?
Person: Personally it's not my style but considering she's a first lady, she looks good. She's more chic than the rest.
Me: So how would you describe your style?
Person: I'm not sure i guess i would call it kind of girly kind of homeless (laughs). I think it looks nice.
Me: We like it. Did you dress similarly to this in high school? if so, did it look cool in your peers opinion?
Person: This is sort of funny: I was a goth type person in high school and people made fun of me for that but i don't care what they say. I don't have to always be cool. I believe that cool is different because everyone has different perceptions about it.
Person 2:
Me: You are dressed in a fancy sort of way. We were wondering if you had a car?
Person 2: Yes i do. I have a Mercedes.
Me: Do you feel that because you have a Mercedes your car "speaks louder" than your personality to some people?
Person 2: Well, I'm sure my car plays a role in how people perceive me.
This was from the random people on the street I interviewed and as one can see, the answers were all pretty generic and the same. This relates back to my thesis because it shows how everyone basically has the same meaning of what "cool" means to them.
PARAGRAPH 6:
My own opinion on cool has definitely changed since before we started this unit. At first, I thought that cool means being yourself but now I think that it is harder to be cool and since everyone wants to be cool and unique or their own person, that can't really happen because if everyone is trying to do that, that kind of defeats the purpose of them trying to be cool. I still believe that being cool is in the eye of the beholder but I also think that there are people who are just naturally cool and legitamitely don't have to try at being cool. As you can see, trying to be cool can help some people achieve a more important life but it can also destroy a person's individuality and actually harm their chances of living a meaningful life, all for appearing good.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
HW 35
INTRO:
Everyone knows that being cool means to be liked by everyone and be “in” with the latest trends and so on. “Cool” is a very big part of our society and influences a lot of people on how they act but I was wondering: How does “cool” help make one’s life meaningful/not meaningful?
PARAGRAPH 1:
I think that “cool” helps people feel like they are popular person, thus making it seem like their life is more lively. This was shown in the short story I wrote about a girl who is very vain and only cares about appearances. Like I described, “she looked at herself in the mirror “ look at how beautiful I am I would be jealous of me if I was everyone else” she thought to herself.” She thought she was the best thing but once she got to school, no one liked her vain, superior attitude and she wasn’t considered cool anymore. My point with this story was to show how being cool is essentially in the eye of the beholder and thinking of one’s self as cool makes a person “un-cool” and also that the idea of cool varies from person to person. This relates back to my thesis because the character in my story thought that being beautiful would make her appear cool and make her have friends, which she thought would help her to lead a more important life.
PARAGRAPH 2:
An important topic we talked about in class is emptiness and how that relates to being cool. People who have a feeling of being empty or living a bland life often turn to “cool” things in order to fit in with everyone else and live a more enriching life. One can deny that they have always tried to go "against cool" but that is not true because no matter what we do, something is considered cool, for instance tattoos or piercings. As I was doing research, I found psychiatrist Anna Freud's mother and child separation theory to be good and I agreed with it. That theory states that if a mother and child are separated at womb, it could really have a great effect on the child and how they will react and behave in life-especially with their mother. Here is a quote: “I therefore decided to present some of her ideas on the importance of the mother during the child's earliest years in the development of a ‘psychological’ object, culminating in the attainment of object constancy by the time the child reaches his second birthday, an achievement which is of great importance in permitting the child to go on to develop human relationships with all the emotional richness and complexity with which we are familiar.” This quote states how mother/child separation really usually begins during the "terrible twos" and if parents don't show attention to their kids, then that will most likely affect how the kids will be with their parents when they are older and when the kids have kids. Some kids will also do "bad" things or things to get that needed attention from other adults in their life. They then start to do "cool" things to get noticed and attention which all relates back to emptiness. But if they want attention and they do "cool" things to achieve that, then they might feel more empty because they aren't being true to themselves and if they aren't showing their true selves, they might be feeling emptier than before. The children or teenagers believe that by behaving or dressing in a “cool” way will fill in that emptiness that they have and they could be masking that possible emptiness with “coolness.” This relates back to my thesis because it shows how people believe that their loneliness can be solved by changing who they are to be more “cool.”
PARAGRAPH 3:
The media shows a lot of times how to be cool through messages in songs, movies, and articles. When I was doing research looking for articles on being cool, I found some very interesting websites:
http://www.mindfields.org.uk/blog/?p=140
(gives tips on how to be cool)
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1088699,00.html (describes how kids/teenagers strive to be cool by being rebellious)
http://www.copyblogger.com/be-the-cool-kid/ (shows mostly about cool kids and the effect on them later in life and what goes on in a "cool" kids head.)
http://www.wikihow.com/Be-Cool (how to be cool in general and there are tips in this article, too.) Also, magazines obviously show how to be cool by buying the latest trends or gadgets. I definitely buy into trends because I love fashion but I don’t follow trends just to be cool: if I like a trend I will wear it-not just because of its “cool” factor. Some movies that show “cool” is: the 2000 movie Loser which is about a “loser” guy who goes to college and has “cool” roommates who bully him and treat him badly and one roommate tells him that in order for him to be cool, he has to start drinking and being more social. The friends the lead character has are the misfits and in the end, the “loser” is the one that ends up happier and with a more full life than the “cool” college frat boys who end up doing nothing with their lives. There are many other movies and songs that are about being “cool.” This relates back to my thesis because it shows how the corporate media shows society about what cool means through various media outlets and they believe it will help us live a more significant life.
PARAGRAPH 4:
Everyone knows that being cool means to be liked by everyone and be “in” with the latest trends and so on. “Cool” is a very big part of our society and influences a lot of people on how they act but I was wondering: How does “cool” help make one’s life meaningful/not meaningful?
PARAGRAPH 1:
I think that “cool” helps people feel like they are popular person, thus making it seem like their life is more lively. This was shown in the short story I wrote about a girl who is very vain and only cares about appearances. Like I described, “she looked at herself in the mirror “ look at how beautiful I am I would be jealous of me if I was everyone else” she thought to herself.” She thought she was the best thing but once she got to school, no one liked her vain, superior attitude and she wasn’t considered cool anymore. My point with this story was to show how being cool is essentially in the eye of the beholder and thinking of one’s self as cool makes a person “un-cool” and also that the idea of cool varies from person to person. This relates back to my thesis because the character in my story thought that being beautiful would make her appear cool and make her have friends, which she thought would help her to lead a more important life.
PARAGRAPH 2:
An important topic we talked about in class is emptiness and how that relates to being cool. People who have a feeling of being empty or living a bland life often turn to “cool” things in order to fit in with everyone else and live a more enriching life. One can deny that they have always tried to go "against cool" but that is not true because no matter what we do, something is considered cool, for instance tattoos or piercings. As I was doing research, I found psychiatrist Anna Freud's mother and child separation theory to be good and I agreed with it. That theory states that if a mother and child are separated at womb, it could really have a great effect on the child and how they will react and behave in life-especially with their mother. Here is a quote: “I therefore decided to present some of her ideas on the importance of the mother during the child's earliest years in the development of a ‘psychological’ object, culminating in the attainment of object constancy by the time the child reaches his second birthday, an achievement which is of great importance in permitting the child to go on to develop human relationships with all the emotional richness and complexity with which we are familiar.” This quote states how mother/child separation really usually begins during the "terrible twos" and if parents don't show attention to their kids, then that will most likely affect how the kids will be with their parents when they are older and when the kids have kids. Some kids will also do "bad" things or things to get that needed attention from other adults in their life. They then start to do "cool" things to get noticed and attention which all relates back to emptiness. But if they want attention and they do "cool" things to achieve that, then they might feel more empty because they aren't being true to themselves and if they aren't showing their true selves, they might be feeling emptier than before. The children or teenagers believe that by behaving or dressing in a “cool” way will fill in that emptiness that they have and they could be masking that possible emptiness with “coolness.” This relates back to my thesis because it shows how people believe that their loneliness can be solved by changing who they are to be more “cool.”
PARAGRAPH 3:
The media shows a lot of times how to be cool through messages in songs, movies, and articles. When I was doing research looking for articles on being cool, I found some very interesting websites:
http://www.mindfields.org.uk/blog/?p=140
(gives tips on how to be cool)
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1088699,00.html (describes how kids/teenagers strive to be cool by being rebellious)
http://www.copyblogger.com/be-the-cool-kid/ (shows mostly about cool kids and the effect on them later in life and what goes on in a "cool" kids head.)
http://www.wikihow.com/Be-Cool (how to be cool in general and there are tips in this article, too.) Also, magazines obviously show how to be cool by buying the latest trends or gadgets. I definitely buy into trends because I love fashion but I don’t follow trends just to be cool: if I like a trend I will wear it-not just because of its “cool” factor. Some movies that show “cool” is: the 2000 movie Loser which is about a “loser” guy who goes to college and has “cool” roommates who bully him and treat him badly and one roommate tells him that in order for him to be cool, he has to start drinking and being more social. The friends the lead character has are the misfits and in the end, the “loser” is the one that ends up happier and with a more full life than the “cool” college frat boys who end up doing nothing with their lives. There are many other movies and songs that are about being “cool.” This relates back to my thesis because it shows how the corporate media shows society about what cool means through various media outlets and they believe it will help us live a more significant life.
PARAGRAPH 4:
HW 34
In class, we were learning about the "cool pose" which is what determines how we are considered "cool" in society. It also means if being or acting cool can backfire and contribute to a persons misfortune in leading a good life? I think that yes, it sometimes can because everyone wants to fit in and have friends or people around them who enjoy them and some people would do anything to be considered "cool." Friends pressure friends to act or dress in a "cool" way so that not only the friend will feel cool, but also so that the "friends" could feel like they fit in and don't want to be seen with a "loser". But the first person who contributes to all of this is the corporations/media who tell us what the latest cool thing is to do and if you don't do it, you're not cool.
I think this cool pose is also influenced by the people or location a person was brought up in and obviously, parents influence this. But this also causes a dilemma for some people: do the "cool" thing with friends or be less cool and follow a good path in life and make something of yourself. For example, a person can cut school 24/7 and do absolutely no work but still appear cool and the "badass" or a person can stay in school, get good grades, go to college, and then get a good, well-playing job. An even more drastic example is someone who is pressured into doing coke and all sorts of other lethal drugs even though they know how harmful it can be or he can go to school and get a better life ahead of him or her. If he/she thinks to him or herself "I want to be liked by the "cool" popular kids in school I'll do the drugs", they can become a huge drug addict or die instead of evidently living a full life. The person just died and sacrificed their life on the sake of wanting to be accepted by other people. A good example is the movie, The Blind Side which is a true story about a boy, Michael Oher, who is great at sports but does awfully at school but he came from the projects and had a very bad home life. A white family adopts him and they want to help him become great at football, which is the character's passion but get even better at school so that he can graduate. They want him to lead a better life because he is a good kid. All the other white people in the neighborhood disagree with what they are doing but they don't care and keep helping him. In the end, he graduates after doing countless hours of tutoring, goes to his dream college to play football, and then he got drafted this year in real life to the Baltimore Ravens. This shows how going against the grain on being "cool" pays off when you have the oppurtunity to live a good, safe life instead of in danger or even worse, dead.
Another huge example is the corporate culture who show us through magazine, TV shows, movies, etc. what is cool and what everyone should do to seem cool. Obviously, cool changes very frequently in this fast-paced world and the idea of what cool means changes daily, especially with clothing and trends. The corporate media essentially says: you won't be cool if you don't act or dress this way. People fall for it, including me at times, and try to become "cooler." Also, in the "Learning to Labour" article, the "lads" want to do what they want and instead of being a doctor or lawyer or a proffession like that, they end up working in a factory like their dad which isn't terrible, but it isn't very satisfying work, in my opinion not to mention it being very hard work. All these examples show how the cool pose influence everyone.
I think this cool pose is also influenced by the people or location a person was brought up in and obviously, parents influence this. But this also causes a dilemma for some people: do the "cool" thing with friends or be less cool and follow a good path in life and make something of yourself. For example, a person can cut school 24/7 and do absolutely no work but still appear cool and the "badass" or a person can stay in school, get good grades, go to college, and then get a good, well-playing job. An even more drastic example is someone who is pressured into doing coke and all sorts of other lethal drugs even though they know how harmful it can be or he can go to school and get a better life ahead of him or her. If he/she thinks to him or herself "I want to be liked by the "cool" popular kids in school I'll do the drugs", they can become a huge drug addict or die instead of evidently living a full life. The person just died and sacrificed their life on the sake of wanting to be accepted by other people. A good example is the movie, The Blind Side which is a true story about a boy, Michael Oher, who is great at sports but does awfully at school but he came from the projects and had a very bad home life. A white family adopts him and they want to help him become great at football, which is the character's passion but get even better at school so that he can graduate. They want him to lead a better life because he is a good kid. All the other white people in the neighborhood disagree with what they are doing but they don't care and keep helping him. In the end, he graduates after doing countless hours of tutoring, goes to his dream college to play football, and then he got drafted this year in real life to the Baltimore Ravens. This shows how going against the grain on being "cool" pays off when you have the oppurtunity to live a good, safe life instead of in danger or even worse, dead.
Another huge example is the corporate culture who show us through magazine, TV shows, movies, etc. what is cool and what everyone should do to seem cool. Obviously, cool changes very frequently in this fast-paced world and the idea of what cool means changes daily, especially with clothing and trends. The corporate media essentially says: you won't be cool if you don't act or dress this way. People fall for it, including me at times, and try to become "cooler." Also, in the "Learning to Labour" article, the "lads" want to do what they want and instead of being a doctor or lawyer or a proffession like that, they end up working in a factory like their dad which isn't terrible, but it isn't very satisfying work, in my opinion not to mention it being very hard work. All these examples show how the cool pose influence everyone.
Monday, January 11, 2010
HW 33
INTRO:
what does cool mean (definition.) Preview to what my opinions are on the subject of cool is. State ideas that will become my main paragraphs. Thesis.
1st paragraph:
Short story on being cool. How that connects to what we are learning. Analyze story. Relate back to thesis.
2nd paragraph:
Emptiness and how that relates to being cool. Relate back to thesis.
3rd paragraph:
Examples from songs and movies and media on being cool. Cite sources from internet. Relate back to thesis.
4th paragraph:
Philosophy and how it relates to cool. Religion, Freud, etc. Relate back to thesis.
5th paragraph:
Informal interviews with people and pictures about cool. Analyze answers and relate back to thesis.
6th paragraph:
State my own opinion on cool. Relate back to thesis and restate thesis in a new way.
what does cool mean (definition.) Preview to what my opinions are on the subject of cool is. State ideas that will become my main paragraphs. Thesis.
1st paragraph:
Short story on being cool. How that connects to what we are learning. Analyze story. Relate back to thesis.
2nd paragraph:
Emptiness and how that relates to being cool. Relate back to thesis.
3rd paragraph:
Examples from songs and movies and media on being cool. Cite sources from internet. Relate back to thesis.
4th paragraph:
Philosophy and how it relates to cool. Religion, Freud, etc. Relate back to thesis.
5th paragraph:
Informal interviews with people and pictures about cool. Analyze answers and relate back to thesis.
6th paragraph:
State my own opinion on cool. Relate back to thesis and restate thesis in a new way.
Monday, January 4, 2010
HW 32
I think that high heels are a classic article of clothing that will never go out of style. I believe that while it is true that some women wear heels to impress men or for fancy events, a majority of women just wear it for themselves because as a high heel advocate and wearer, they make a woman feel powerful, pretty, and it makes ones legs look nice. I personally, just wear it for myself and i could care less if someone else likes it or not. I think it is pointless to wear heels to impress others or to seem "cool" because you're not being yourself while doing this, which almost makes a person seem uncool. High heels don't really make a person cool, but to me, i will definitly notice a "cool" looking person more if they are in heels. I also believe that a majority of women like heels regardless if they are in fashion or not because heels are classic and can never go out of style. people don't always have to follow trends anyway, so high heels aren't that big of a deal.
I also believe that high heels are a form of self-expression just like any other type of clothing is because it is one way to show your personality. For example, if a person wears crazy high heels, they most likely have a bold personality and don't care what others say about them.
I would also like to bring up the fact that the high heel trend that regular, everyday women wear is also influenced by the fashion and tabloid magazines they read and TV shows they see. But it is only natural to want to look somewhat pretty like the models or famous people. They see how the heels look and want to look like that so they buy it-which i have no personal problem with.
I also believe that high heels are a form of self-expression just like any other type of clothing is because it is one way to show your personality. For example, if a person wears crazy high heels, they most likely have a bold personality and don't care what others say about them.
I would also like to bring up the fact that the high heel trend that regular, everyday women wear is also influenced by the fashion and tabloid magazines they read and TV shows they see. But it is only natural to want to look somewhat pretty like the models or famous people. They see how the heels look and want to look like that so they buy it-which i have no personal problem with.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
HW 26
Liz (friend out of school, age 16 from NYC):
Q: Do you think of yourself as being cool?
A: Well, i think cool is different for everybody and your surroundings also play into whether you're cool or not. Like i might be cool in my school but if i was in another school, i might not be cool. But personally, i think of myself as being cool because i'm laid-back, nice, and i think i dress cute.
Q: Do you think being considered cool is important?
A: No, i don't think it's important. A person could be having the coolest clothes but be the biggest douche in the world and cool will only get you so far. A person should just be themselves, as cliche as that sounds. That's what matters and being cool is not being afraid to be yourself.
Ellie (friend from out of school, age 16 from London):
Q: What do you think some aspects of "cool" are?
A: Being a nice person-not fake nice, smart, not caring about others opinions of you, questioning authority (she means being a bit of a rebel), and maybe having cool clothes and cool "exterior" but that doesn't matter a lot but it does help.
Q: Have you ever changed yourself to appear "cooler"?
A: Yes, i did for a little but then i realized shortly thereafter that they obviously weren't true friends and I actually felt less "cool" about myself trying to prove myself to someone else for no reason.
Q: Do you think of yourself as being cool?
A: Well, i think cool is different for everybody and your surroundings also play into whether you're cool or not. Like i might be cool in my school but if i was in another school, i might not be cool. But personally, i think of myself as being cool because i'm laid-back, nice, and i think i dress cute.
Q: Do you think being considered cool is important?
A: No, i don't think it's important. A person could be having the coolest clothes but be the biggest douche in the world and cool will only get you so far. A person should just be themselves, as cliche as that sounds. That's what matters and being cool is not being afraid to be yourself.
Ellie (friend from out of school, age 16 from London):
Q: What do you think some aspects of "cool" are?
A: Being a nice person-not fake nice, smart, not caring about others opinions of you, questioning authority (she means being a bit of a rebel), and maybe having cool clothes and cool "exterior" but that doesn't matter a lot but it does help.
Q: Have you ever changed yourself to appear "cooler"?
A: Yes, i did for a little but then i realized shortly thereafter that they obviously weren't true friends and I actually felt less "cool" about myself trying to prove myself to someone else for no reason.
EXTRA CREDIT TOLSTOY
I am answering the first question: How does Ivan's quest for status, advancement, prestige, and generally the approval of others endanger his chance to live a more meaningful life? I said that Ivan's quest for all these things endangers his chance at a more meaningful life because he is not living for himself-he is living and doing things for others-and nobody wants nor likes to do things that they don't want to do for themselves. For example, he had an awful wife, Praskovya Fedorovna, who practically used him for his money and when he died, she pretended to be sad but wanted his money (page 102). His wife made him do most things and on page 110, it said that every time Ivan didn't obey his wife's demands, she'd abuse him and it continues to say on page 113 that as this continued going on, Ivan began to try and free himself more from his family life and start going out more and be home less.
Another idea is that Ivan Ilych's need for approval also endangered his chances for a meaningful life because he never thought he was good enough for anyone and he became depressed by having low self-esteem. He did a job as a court justice that he didn't really enjoy that much but his dad did that and his dad subconciously pressured him to do that or he would be considered a failure unlike his brother, who was the favored son. Ivan also wasn't that "true" to himself, which could prevent him from living a meaningful life. On page 104-105, Tolstoy is describing how Ivan's life was very boring and repetitive; and how he also changed all his ideas and how he dresses to please other people.
I also thought about how Ivan Ilych, in order to please others and his desire for status, caused him to ditch his morals and did things that he knew weren't right but he didn't care and didn't. He wanted to be perceived as "cool". On page 105 it said that Ivan did things that were horrid but once he saw his superiors do the same things, he felt his actions were OK. On page 133 it also said that Ivan would hide behind various screens to prevent showing people how he was really feeling.
Another idea is that Ivan Ilych's need for approval also endangered his chances for a meaningful life because he never thought he was good enough for anyone and he became depressed by having low self-esteem. He did a job as a court justice that he didn't really enjoy that much but his dad did that and his dad subconciously pressured him to do that or he would be considered a failure unlike his brother, who was the favored son. Ivan also wasn't that "true" to himself, which could prevent him from living a meaningful life. On page 104-105, Tolstoy is describing how Ivan's life was very boring and repetitive; and how he also changed all his ideas and how he dresses to please other people.
I also thought about how Ivan Ilych, in order to please others and his desire for status, caused him to ditch his morals and did things that he knew weren't right but he didn't care and didn't. He wanted to be perceived as "cool". On page 105 it said that Ivan did things that were horrid but once he saw his superiors do the same things, he felt his actions were OK. On page 133 it also said that Ivan would hide behind various screens to prevent showing people how he was really feeling.
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