The film babies showed 4 different babies from four different countries. The cultures of these four different babies were very different. The circumstances in which these children were raised varied greatly. The baby from namibia was in a very rough situation where it was very unsanitary and there was a lot of poverty. On the other hand the american baby was in a much better conditions. This affected the way the two babies were raised. The baby from namibia was often seen chewing on rocks and bones and things of that nature where the american baby was in classes and constantly watched over. I think most people would agree that they would rather have their child be raised the way the american baby was raised but it odes not make the mother of the african child any worse. The conditions they babies were put in changed the way they were raised. I do think that these babies were raised according to their surroundings and are raised in ways that will turn them into piece of their society and a change in society would be much different for each child but at such a young age it would still be possible.

This film showed me that all the ways these babies are raised are products of their surroundings and environment. Each diffrent culture had ways of raising their babies and the similarities came in the similar cultures and circumstances the children were being raised. Another major point shown was that there is no right or wrong way to raise a baby. Parents must go with their instinct and its almost impossible to play it safe with a baby. No matter what a parent does nothing is for sure and all the different ways these four babies were raised were all the right ways to raise children because in the end the parent of that child has to choose what they believe is best and what they are able to do.

HW 58

From all the perspectives that I have heard over the past week or two it seems that the most popular method when raising children is too guide them and provide structured time for them to develop skills. However, many people, as do I, believe that letting the child come up with things on their own is equally important. Marguerite explained that with the first child she had she was extremely cautious and was always around worrying what she was doing but when she had another child she was much more relaxed and let the child go off and play. She was not as worried about the second child because she was used to raising a child and she let the child go off and have unstructred time with out worrying. She also explained that she let her children become who they wanted to be and her children's personalities are all very different. However, she taught each of her children the same set of values in which she believed. She wanted them to be honest and although she gave them the freedom to be who they wanted to be and allowed them to create their own personalities she gave a bit of structure and gave them a direction to head in. Mr. Marks on the other hand plans to have a lot of structure in his child's life. This means he gives the child planned activities and develops certain skills that he thinks his child should have. He is raising his child to be a certain way but also understands there is no formula to raising children and that you can guide them but you can not shape them.

Parenting has nor formula. Nothing is for sure when you are raising a child. No matter how hard you try to make child a certain way it is never sure that the child will turn out this way. For this reason it is essential to not overwhelm the child but simply guide it. You can guide a child in certain directions and provide them with many opportunities while still allowing them to come into their own as an individual. You can teach children certain values and you can teach them certain skills but it is essential to give the child the space to do what it wants, as long as it is not detrimental to health, future, etc. It is a fine line between enough structure and too much structure. There are certain things you do not want your child to be involved in and too much structure can cause them to want these things more where as too little structure can expose it to them too much. It is important to be honest with your child even at hard times. In the same way a vaccine works, where you are given a bit of a certain virus but not enough to hurt you so that you can then be immune to this virus, a child needs exposure to the world around them however the amount of exposure must be right in the middle. Parenting is not a science, and therefore it can not be broken down in to a step by step guide. It is up to each person to figure out the right amount of guidance, freedom, exposure, etc. to give their children when raising them.

HW 57

It's impossible to tell someone how to raise a child. Its purely opinion there are hardly any facts in how to raise a child. But there are a few general routes that can be taken in terms of how to raise a child. I think that when raising a child it is obviously important to guide the child and help it develop skills in which can be useful in the future. However, having a kid focus on developing skills their entire child hood doesn't broaden the child scope on life. It puts their life in tunnel vision. It is essential to let a kid have the freedom of decision and to grow up by themselves some what. It is truly essential to have a balance between guidance and freedom. The right balance is the tricky part. Having strictly guidance in a childs life has shown to have be seriously dangerous. For example Micheal Jackson or Tiger Woods, were both and tiger woods still is a virtuoso at his craft. However it obvious both of them are severely damaged as people. However achieving virtuosity is impossible with out a full dedication of ones life to the craft they wish to master.

I personally would rather not run the risk potentially destroying a persons life to try to make them great at one particular skill. I think the right way to raise a child is to show the child unconditional love and support them in any of their interests, as long as its not harmful to them(like MMA fighting or something thats just retarded). It's also important to be a bit strict and have order. Lastly a child must be developed academically and socially but also needs to have unstructured time in which the figure things out for themselves. To me it seems raising a child is all about balancing. Every method has its pros and cons and balance of different methods as long as you don't contradict yourself too much seems to be an ideal way to raise a kid. I obviously have no idea what I'm talking about though...I'm only 16.

HW 56

How many friendships do you have that have lasted 10+ years?

Are you accustomed to having short term relationships with many people?

Is it one persons fault to blame when a relationship fails or both people?

Interview 1

1. 1
2. I am accustomed. It so normal and happens so often that you get used to knowing people and then losing connection
3. I think a lot of times the blame is on one persons failure to do something or to hold up their end of the friendship or relationship

1. 2 but one of them I do not speak to much
2. Unfortunately yes. It so common it's unavoidable so you have to learn to live with it.
3. It depends it is both. In my experience both people make mistakes but sometimes one person's mistake can end a friendship or relationship.

1. None. I still know some people from 10 years ago but we aren't close.
2. Yeah but it has always been like that. It so hard to find people you will actually remain close with for a long time.
3. A combination of both. But sometimes connections are lost and it's neither person's fault.

All the answers to these interviews are basically the same. All people hardly have any long term relationships. It is so common to lose friends it's not that big of a deal. It seems that since its so common to lose connections with people that when connections are lost it is just accepted and then people move on. I think if people cared more or made a bigger deal about losing connections it might make a difference in some cases. Obviously that only applies in some cases and the more significant reasons why relationships fail in the first place is still unknown.


In your experience when a relationship fails, is it your own fault?

HW 55

Research Question - What are the most significant factors that cause our relationships to fail?


Comments for others

Brittani
I think your question is a good start but if you made it more specific so that your question allowed you to make and argument where you could prove a point with specific evidence it would be better. Maybe your question can be about specific human needs for relationships with other or a human need to connect and how that affects our relationships.

Sandy
I think your question is pretty strong and is provable by evidence. However it seems a little broad for one paper. There are so many factors that can play into to how relationships work. Maybe you could make your question more specific and focus in on the parts of relationships you find most interesting and what are the significant factors that affect these significant parts of relationships.


http://subtlenuances.wordpress.com/2010/04/15/social-media-and-the-effects-on-friendship/

This article examines the effects of social media on human relationships. It talks about the effect of T.V and video games and other electronics and how the hurt human relationships. It talks about how much of the social media isolate us from others and puts us in our own world and this causes our connection to other humans to weaken.

http://kidshealth.org/teen/food_fitness/problems/body_image.html

This article focuses more on the individual and how a persons qualities affect their social life and their friendships. Its main point is that if a person is more confident in themselves then they will excel in forming close friendships.

HW 54

Extroverted (E) 67.65% Introverted (I) 32.35%
Sensing (S) 59.46% Intuitive (N) 40.54%
Thinking (T) 53.33% Feeling (F) 46.67%
Perceiving (P) 66.67% Judging (J) 33.33%

Your type is: ESTP

ESTP - "Promotor". Action! When present, things begin to happen. Fiercely competitive. Entrepreneur. Often uses shock effect to get attention. Negotiator par excellence. 4.3% of total population.

Weird. I'm not sure if this is really true.

I would like to think that in my personal case this survey was not completely accurate. I do believe this to a small extent and hopefully its true but i realize much of this is completely true. This survey is more accurate then I would like to realize. Everyone thinks of themselves in a certain way. The thoughts inside our head are for only us to know. What other people know are those thoughts that we choose to share. I think this results of this survey showed a bit of both. Our external personality and our internal personality. The two are not that different but they are a bit different. This survey does a good job of accurately giving you an idea of the type of person you are whether we like it or not. It kind of scary.

HW 53

I do think the results were pretty accurate although they obviously were a bit flawed. For the most part they gave people and idea of what percentage for each type of person they were. I think that as long as the survey was answered as truthfully as possible that the results were for the most part accurate. Some of the questions were a bit hard to answer truthfully because there are some things you would like to believe about yourself that arent necessarily true. Questions about how you thought about the world or where the answer to a question was something that you wish may have been different.

The most interesting thing to me was the fact that for the most part all the scores were pretty similar and seemed to be accurate. One statistic that stood out to me was the fact that everyone felt that all the people liked them and although this is a good thing I would think differently from the way people act around each other normally. The test seemed to be very true and question such as the one about drinking proved this. Many people said they had never drank alcohol and from the way people speak about things like that in the hall way you would think the results would turn out different but I think this showed people being honest about themselves or what they do.

Although there were a few differences in some of the results none of them were to significant. ON the questions that were similar they differences did not show to be very different and most results were fairly accurate and similar for both. I think the surveys may have needed to be a bit more similar to really be able to compare the two fully and accurately.

Hw #52

Human relationships can not be defined by a specific set of rules or ethics or anything of that sort. The reason why it seems virtually impossible to figure out our relationships is because they are never quite the same. There are no patterns that tell us exactly what comes next. However, we seem to think we know how things work and we expect things of other people and for this reason many times we end up greatly disappointed. There are many similarities between the relationships we have with people and it is possible to categorize the kinds of relationships we have. We do see common threads between many of our relationships but we seem to jump to conclusions very quickly without thinking things through. Many of the ways we function in society are in fact a function of society. This meaning that many of us act similarly in relationships because we are taught to. However, we are not all robots and for this reason our relationships can always take an unexpected turn. The unexpected happens quite a lot and every time we are just as surprised as the last time. We are so used to routine and lack of variation that when something out of the ordinary happens we don't know how to react and this is the point at which some relationships fail.

Hardly ever do we think about the world through a different perspective. It seems pretty impossible since no matter what perspective we try to look at things we are looking at things through our perspective of another perspective. We are the main characters of the world in our eyes and everything that happens around us either has to relate to us or is not really that important. Here is another point in which relationships fail. Our selfishness comes from our society and the selfish nature of society preaches. This destroys many relationships because no matter how hard some people try to make things work selfishness is something we all deal with and it can subconciously control us. We are constantly relating things to our selves rather than to the people important to us. We think about someone else decision in how it would affect us before we even begin to think about why this person made a decision or how it is affecting them. We seem to accept that many of our relationships are very short term and we don't seem to make extra efforts to save any relationships we have. It seems that we don't value our relationships as much as we could. Many times we are to caught up in ourselves to value the ones around us who truly do affect the way we feel, the way we act, and much of what we do.

We deny many of the things that are good for us and chase the things that hurt. Although this is pretty cliche it seems to stand true much of the time. We chase after superficiality that will die out easily and we deny the things that can make us happy in the long run. We many times put our relationships second or we make decisions that value and less meaningful or valuable relationship more than one that is valuable and meaningful. We do this because we want what we think is excitement and variety when in fact it hardly ever lasts. We make so many split second decisions and many times they hurt us. It is extremely easy to go through life without ever thinking about it and just going through the motions and doing whatever you are required to or influenced to. It's rare that people step back and think about their lives and how what they do will affect those around them and for that matter themselves in the future. We are to busy worrying about going through the motions of life to think about life and think that maybe these motions we go through are not the right way or the only way to live life.

I don't think there is one right way to live life however there are a few things people should do to evaluate their life and decide what is truly important and meaningful in their lives. I think it is essential to evaluate and understand your situation. To do so you must think critically about your situation why you are in this situation and what got you to this point in life as well as where will this path in life lead you to. Once you begin to understand this or at least think about it you can start to decide if it is what you really want. If you realize you want something different in life realistically think about what could be done to change it and what you would want to focus your life on. If you concur that you enjoy the situation you are in what if any changes would you make to your life to improve your situation in anyways you can?

I think taking a step back and looking at your own life objectively and subjectively is what will put you on the path to understanding why you do the things you do. In turn, this should help you understand your role and your actions in relationships and once you understand your side of a relationship you can proceed to understand the other person in your relationship. If you are confused about yourself it is impossible to understand other people. In many ways one must put themselves first to truly understand or help others.

HW 51

The education system in the United States works in a way that constricts and limits people. It seems almost inescapable since the education is a major part of the foundation of our society and is a requirement of our society. We are required to undergo mental domination and murder of any sense of individuality we may have. We are subconsciously turned into puppets and supporters of a system that exploits, uses, and throws us away. We are tricked into believing education is for our own greater good when in fact education is for the greater good of the people in control of our society. Our education system limits us through racial inequality, deprivation of individuality, and societal pressure. Through the the usage of these three methods the education system manages to conform us into robots trained to fill the status quo of our society with out truly questioning the situations we live in.

Racial inequality is a big problem in the education system and for many years debates on how to get rid of the gaps between the academic skills of white students and minority students have taken place. Affirmative action is a favored solution by many liberals but has not proved to significantly change the inequalities of our education system. The root of this issue lies much deeper in our society and there are non-academic factors that play a role one of the most significant being culture. A fix to racial issues can not come from within one institution but rather a collective effort from many institutions causing an overall change in society and mentality. However, a change of this magnitude is extremely unlikely in the current society we live in, due tot he fact that racial inequalities help our society function in the way that it does. Racial inequality whether it be academically or some other form is and essential part of our larger system which is capitalism. Racial inequality allows exploitation and corruption to take place with out much question and in more extreme ways then if we were all truly equal in our society.

It is a very common thought amongst people in our society that education is for our greater good. We accept the idea of education and the education system of our society without much questioning. We assume it helps us and we work hard to succeed by the standards of our schools. We hardly think about what are schools are truly teaching us. We don't stop to think whether our education is helping us individually or someone/something else. We are not taught to think critically in schools and for this reason we don't question the education system itself. In fact, we are taught in schools to conform, to not question, and to simply do what we are told without much struggle or rebellion. In John Taylor Gatto's article "six lessons" he lists six different lessons in which schools teach us. He explains that his job as a teacher is not necessarily to educate students but more so to conform them into efficient members of society. Instead of educating and enlightening students the education system traps and turns them into workers and tools of the larger system. He lists six different ways in which he as a teacher is supposed to do this. Overall much of what a teachers job to do is to strip the students of any individuality they have and keep them from forming any true individual identity. This is one of the most significant things schools do to students. They have teachers control almost every aspect of their education and the "good students" are the ones who can adapt and conform the fastest and the best. Those who don't question and defy the teacher are praised. We are taught to simply listen and follow rather than think and create and formulate ideas of our own. Schools strip us of our individuality so that we can be efficient members of society without causing problems for the people we will work for in the future.

Society is set up in a way where many of the paths we take and decisions we make are set up before hand. Not necessarily that we are forced to choose certain paths but a societal map which we referred to in an earlier unit is set up for us. To stray from this map is extremely hard and we have freedom in our lives with in certain limitations if we want to be socially accepted at all. Our school system is no different from social pressures we have with our friends in our social life in fact the two go hand in hand. We have expectations all around us and we are expected to act certain ways. The lessons the school teach us that I referred to in the last paragraph are socially acceptable ways to act. Not only are they socially acceptable but they are social norms and expectations. Therefore through social pressure school often succeeds in conforming us into the workers they want us to be. This of course means limiting our intellectual progress and striping us of individuality.

The school system is very controversial however the controversy is usually in which ways should schools go about educating the students but hardly do these discussions explore the true implications and objectives of the education system. The main issue of the education lies in its objective. To truly educate someone their best interests have to be the first priority and this is something our school system fails to do. Until intellectual development is the top priority of our education system our education system will remain lackluster.

HW 50

Pedagogy of the oppressed, Paulo Freire

This article deals with the oppression caused by the "banking" model of education. Friere explains the banking model as the form of education in which students are simply fed information and forced to memorize with out truly exploring it or understanding it. The banking system obviously being the system used by almost every school in the United States. He goes onto to conclude that not only does this system of education keep us stupid but it keeps us oppressed and it intentionally keeps us oppressed. It what disrupt the flow of the system if most people did not go through this form of education. He also explains the problem posing style of education which is more like the kind of education we receive in SOF. In this form the teacher and student are more equals and learn from each other rather than the teacher deciding the students education and the students simply following instructions given by the teacher.

Freire in favor of the problem posing method of education and is very critical of the banking model of education. He makes very valid points in showing the ways the banking model of education throws people in to an never ending cycle of oppression. If one is never taught to think critically then it becomes natural for one to accept their oppression as part of life. I agree that the banking model constricts us from being able to think for ourselves and therefore is a tool and essential necessity of the greater system.

Gatto - Six Lessons

Gatto explains what is expected of him as a teacher by authorities. He breaks down the role of a typical teacher into six different things. He explains them as six different lessons that his students are supposed to learn. All the lessons have to do with discipline, sorting, and lack of individuality. He shows how the system of teaching in which the student controls all of the students education and basically speaks to the students while they sit there and listen doesn't educate students it turns them into robots or puppets to fit in to society later on with out causing a problem.

The biggest lessons that schools teach us are not for our benefit but more so for the benefit of the ones who run our society. It is more useful and very easy for an oppressor to have a worker who does not complain and simply goes through the motion rather than have a person who thinks critically about their situation and the ways they are being exploited. We are in school for all of our lives as children and throughout those years we are molded to fit into society and these six lessons that Gatto talks about are the exact lessons that turn us into the robots that follow and do what we are told. Those are the same six lessons that teach us to accept everything around us and not question it. This relates directly to what Freire speaks of, these are the six lessons that help the oppressors keep us oppressed.

Lisa Delpit

She argues that the reason so any minority students fail to receive a proper education is because they are not part of the culture of power. She believes it is necessary to learnt he culture of power to truly become educated in this education system. Although she says that it is not necessary to adopt this culture fully one needs to know it and be a part of it.

I disagree strongly with her opinion. Her solution to racial inequalities of the education system in United States is to essentially have people of other cultures to conform to the culture of power which means the white culture. Although she justifies her statement by saying ones culture does not need to be discarded she is still telling people to conform to white culture to become educated. This kind of solution is simply putting a band-aid on the problem. If we were all to learn one culture and that was the culture that led to success than it would in fact be a cultural genocide or it would be a fake sense of education because students would be learning in ways that are true to a culture that is not theirs and therefore what they are learning would have no significance to them.

Hw 49

A. My role in the movie was to play a "goon" or follower of the main trouble maker of the class. My part did not require me to say much and I think the reason my part was included was to somewhat mock the "bad" kids and also a tough kid looks much tougher when he has followers. I spend most of the film on my ipod and not paying attention to whats going on in the class. The only other thing I do is say "yeah" after what Evan, who played the main bad kid, says. This was simply a mockery of the films we watched in which the bad kids were portrayed as these very serious characters instead we were more realistic and basically detached from the rest of the class and any interaction was an argument or a way to get attention.

B. The message of our film is that the teacher cant always save the students and sometimes the teachers cant even save themselves. This goes deeper into the question of who we leave to educate our students. It is not common that there is teacher who can truly get through to a student and interest them in the topic. Although it is also uncommon for a teacher to spiral out of control in the way our film showed all the other super teacher films were extreme cases. Our film showed the other extreme. It shows the stress and the affect that the system both teachers and students work and live under has on people.

C. As i said in the previous paragraphs all the super teacher films we watched showed cases of extreme "success" in getting through to students. Our film was the complete opposite and it shows that the reality is that not all teachers are good. One could argue most are shitty. However the reality is that teachers are not exempt from the stress of the education system and the stress that students feel can just as easily break a teacher.

D.Many people become teachers to make a difference to feel as though they are doing something good with their lives. A teacher has the power to truly change the view points of a student however whether or not a teacher is changing the students perspective on life for the worse or the better is a different question. When you step back and take a look at it, ti seems pretty absurd that there are a few people that we give the power to educate our "future" a teacher can just as easily ruin a students mindset as they can change it for the better.

Extra Credit

The movie "the class" deals with the conflict created between the needs of the students and the system set in place. The movie shows a kid who is not taking school seriously and ends causing distractions in class. When the teachers are deciding whether or not expell souleymane the question of whether or not to take his personal life into account. The question of whether or not the fault is the moral or systematic comes into play here. The consequences of the teachers decision will affect the students life in very severe ways outside of school. However it is not the fault of teachers that they made the decision they made. Although I didn't agree with their decision to expell souleymane the strict system of punishment set in place gave them little choice.

The education system as well as the greater societal systems put teachers in situations in which they have little room to bend rules for students while still maintaining an enviornment in which students can learn in. The education system does not effectively support the different levels that students are at academically. The greater system puts kids at disadvantages therefore the two systems make it harder for kids with lower skills and less rescoursew to succeed.

The education system obviously has it's flaws but changing one single institution will not solve the greater problem that a student like souleymane faces. The quickest fix you be for the teachers to bend the rules for each students case but that would anger other students and more problems would arise. A systematic change is in need to both the education system and the greater system. I am not sure what kind of change that would entail but the goal in mind ideally would be to help every student succeed and give them the guidance that applies to them personally. As well as closing the gap in academic levels of students at the same time.

HW 48

The super teacher John(since i could come up with a cool name yet) is seen walking to his new school on the first day of class. He is excited about the first day of class at his new school. He walks into the school and goes to the elevator. As he waits for the elevator numerous teachers pass by as they make small remarks about his supposedly bad class. He is a bit nervous but decides to ignore the teachers comments. He gets in to the elevator.

He walks down the hall goes in to his room and starts to set up his room for the first day of class. The bell rings and the teacher is excited to meet his new class. As the students walk in he greets them one by one. They gave him a look as if he was crazy and walk in to class. They all find seats and are busy talking to each other about their summers. He calls for all the students attention and they all look up annoyed. He introduces himself to the whole class and begins to talk about the curriculum for the year. Slowly the students start talking again until the whole class is talking and no one is paying attention to him. He starts to get frustrated but keeps himself under control. He goes through the rest of the class trying to go through the curriculum but the students show no interest. The class ends. He is now shown leaving the school after work walking home. He has a disappointed look on his face.

As he walks a flash back cuts to a problem in his life (relationship problems, alcoholism? something bad) and we learn about the struggles he has go through in his life. He spends the rest of the night at home thinking about what to do with his class.

He is shown the next day in class and has decided that the best way to get the students interest is to show them he is similar to them. They all struggle through problems. All though he is a teacher he similar to them. blah blah blah and stuff like that...

HW 47

1. The teacher has been teaching for many years but was fired from his last job and now is in a new school.

2. The teacher is given a normal class where the students are not exceptionally "bad" however the don't care much about what he has to teach.

3. The teacher has personal problems which affect him in class.

4. The students see his problems and start to relate to him more. They view him less as a teacher and more as an equal.

5. The teacher uses this new relationship with students to get them more interested in is lessons and changes around his curriculum alot.

HW 46

"The night is dark and I am far from home" is a book by Jonathan Kozol discussing the inequalities of the education system in the United States. He focuses in on the racial inequalities and the reasons that they exist. He argues that system in itself is racist and meant to serve the state and produce efficient workers. He shows that the education system is not meant to help the poor but simply turn them in to workers. He argues that the kind of education we have now will not truly educate most of the minority students and he calls for an immanent form of education rather than the traditional transendence method.

This book connects directly to my topic. I am exploring the reasons that racial inequalities exist in our school, and what it would take to get rid of them. The entire book is on this topic.

I think that Kozol makes many valid points throughout the book yet his solution is not one that could realistically succeed in removing the racial inequalities of the education system. One of his major points which is that the system is not meant to help educate minority students but simply turn them in to workers is very true. To eliminate the racial inequalities changes would have to happen in many different institutions and in the system as a whole.

HW 45

The two different ideas that Hirsch and Sizer have do contradict each other in many ways but due to the fact they have the same goal in mind they both are similar in ways and/or can be mixed to possibly create a more successful teaching method. Intellectually they are different because Sizer's ideal education would be one in which a student learns to think deeply about many ideas and everything they encounter in life. Hirsch wants a more traditional education where students learn hard facts and memorize things rather than truly analyze. Emotionally they are different as well. Emotion is a very big flaw in Hirsch's teaching style, because it has none. There is no way of relating what the student is learning to their own lives in that teaching style. Although much of the information could be very useful a lack of emotion has proven to cause a lack of interest and therefore a lack of knowledge. A teaching method that would incorporate aspects of both teaching styles would be ideal. With out facts and cultural literacy your a put at a disadvantage to students who have this knowledge. However if someone was able to learn facts while being somewhat interested in them one would be able to have knowledge that does not only cover a wide variety of things but goes deep in to them.

I do think that SOF has taught me to think more critically and go in to depth more on the things that I am learning. The education given is very personal and therefore a bit more interesting and since true understanding is emphasized I truly understand most of the things I learn. However, many times i feel as if I'm at a bit of a disadvantage in terms of facts in comparison to kids at other schools. Over all I do think the way SOF teaches is better. Some teachers do teach in more traditional ways especially in math and science because it is pretty hard to turn those classes in to something that the students can relate to.

HW 44

In the speech that Obama gives he pushes the idea that school is the foundation of our society and we need to do well in school to properly fit in to our society and have it function properly. At one point Obama says "if you quit on school – you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country." He clearly believes in the idea that school is primarily to have people fit into our society and efficiently contribute to our society. The benefits of their contribution may not necessarily help them or those in similar position to the one they are in. However, Obama believe this is what "the people" should do with their lives. His main point throughout the speech is that although he and others in power are working hard to fix schools it is up to the individual to make what they can out of school and that if they fail it is their fault. I believe this is the same ideology that keeps many poor, minority student from seeing the true position that they are in and keeps them from understanding their lives. Which I believe is one of the essential reasons that students of color do much worse than white students in general.

In the article about having two different public school systems the author argues just that. He believes that a seperate school system should be created to train entrepreneurs. His idea is basically to have a schools for bosses and a school for workers. This is an idea that would not change the school system at all. It would still keep white students at the top and the rest at the bottom. The problem with the school system is the systematic structure of our society and the idea of having these two schools would simply reinforce that. Therefore limiting students who were in the school for workers in the same way poor minority students are limited at the zone schools they attend.

HW 42

PART A:

http://www.springerlink.com/content/pt7788535p450213/

This is the link to an essay which focuses on the racial inequalities of schools and why these racial inequalities have remained in our society. This essay focuses in on what the author believes are the real causes of these long lasting racial inequalities and why they are so significant still today.

I think this essay does a good job on focusing in on the fact that racial inequalities are still very strong and the racism as a whole is something that still plays a very significant factor in our society. He also shows that this is not something that is going to go away easily. However, he fails to notice the real solutions to the raical inequalities of our education system.

http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/pubsres/academe/2003/JF/Feat/Renn.htm

This article focuses on the failure of affirmative action and the does a very good job on showing the gap between minorities and whites in the education system. He proposes many small solutions to try to level the amount of college educated whites and the amount of college educated blacks/Latinos etc.

Much like all the other articles I have read he notices the problem yet fail to come to any real solution. This article is racist in itself in the same way the movie "freedom writers" was racist. His main idea is that white people have to help poor little minority students and save them. He fails to provide any true solutions.

PART B: What is the cause of the major racial inequalities in our education system? How do we fix it?

This is a question that plays a role in almost everyones life regardless of race. If someone is in the public schooling system then most likely this is a topic that affects them in one way or another. For Latinos and blacks they are shown to perform worse on standardized tests, get lower grades, have a lower graduation rate, and a much lower college acceptance rate. This is a question that affects the future of myself and millions of other students in the country. More so this topic questions our society as a whole and it's true functions and the reasons for the major inequalities that exist.

This question matters functionally. People believe that school is the most important institution and if you can fix school everything will be better. Although school plays a major role in our society school depends on other institutions just as much as they depend upon it. The idea of fixing the school is much more complicated then people seem to think. To truly "fix" schools you have to fix everything else around them which is the case with almost every institution.

Hw 41

http://www.inmotionmagazine.com/pnpd1.html
This artical is about affirmative action in california and how it was ruled illegal a while back. This is articles about 10 years old and it was also written by naima's(in our school) dad which is pretty cool. The article is extremely long its more like an essay and it deals with the inequalities that exist in the high school system which naturally connects to inequalities in college, this article specifically deals with the California school system.

Affirmative action within it self has many issues. These are race issues and others may argue that they hold back students with higher skills. However this article highlights the very significant inequalities between people of color and white people. It shows the significant decrease in the amount of minorities in college. Although I do not agree that affirmative action is a solution to racial inequalities this article is very interesting and does a very good job and exposing the racism of the educational system and provides hard facts.


http://cte.rockhurst.edu/s/945/images/editor_documents/content/PROJECT%20INEQUALITY%20STUDENT%20PAPERS(Listed%20Alphabetically%20by%20P/rest.pdf
This is an essay on the racial inequalities in the United States. They have a section that deals with the education system and the racial inequalities int he education system. The emphasis of this section is that our education system has flaws at its base and that the problems are not the tests or the students but the problems all stem from the education system.

This essay focuses on the unjust education system however it fails to notice the effect of the bigger society on individuals. It puts the blame on the education system but fails to recognize the most significant problem which come from capitalism. This article does provide good statistics and effectively shows the major flaws of our education system.

http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2341/Public-Education-Criticism.html

This article focuses in on the failure of reform and the lack of equality when it comes to opportunity for students. The article focuses on racial differences as well as failures of the public education system as a whole.

This article does a very good job at showing that the inequality in the education system comes from the situation kids are born in to. It shows that students do not have the same opportunities and therefore the fall behind in skills and their education.

Works cited
"Criticism of Public Education - Inequality of Opportunity, Highly Bureaucratic Systems, Achievement-Based Outcomes, School Choice, Reform after Reform", Paul Kohler, Education.stateuniversity.com

"Challenging Racial Inequality in Education:One School's Response to the End of Affirmative Action", Pedro Noguera, March 14, 2000

"Education and racial inequality", Nicolas Miller Restituto, 2005

Hw 40

Interview with Dad(teacher):

Do you think schools have changed much in the last 10 to 20 years?
There is definitely more of an emphasis on testing and the tests are now more 'high stakes'. In terms of the reason for school and the mission of a school, not much has changed. The schools we have and had 20 years ago were made to form people in to good workers. Schools continue to perpetuate capitalism.

How do you think the purpose of the first schools in the modern era have affected the schools we currently have?

They are the same. They teach kids to be good workers. They teach people to be obedient, not question authority, be punctual, etc. The only change has been in school for the truly privileged.

Interview with friend(high school student):

What do you think schools are for? Are they useful to you?

Schools are made to prepare you for the future and educate you on the things you need to know for certain jobs. Personally schools are not useful for me because alot of the things we learn are not relevant to my life. Its more like a motion like robotic then something I actually do and think about.

If you had a choice would you go to school?

No I think I could spend my time more productively learning things that could actually benefit me.

Interview with friend friend(high school student):

If you could change one thing about schools what would it be?

I would let students focus more on one topic. The way we run school now people have to go to classes they are not interested in. If people could focus in more on the things the liked people would ave true knowledge about certain topic and become experts in those topics. People would probably more interested in school. I know I would

Is highschool worth the four years you spend there?

No. In terms of the things we learn we could probably learn that in less time. I think the biggest change in high school is not academic it social. So I think those four years could be spent in way better ways.

Interview with college student:

Is school something that truly benefits you or something that is done because it is required?

I think schools benefits you in many ways however it has so many flaws because they give people no room to choose what kind of education they want until the reach college and this causes so many people to lose interest in school. It does help, the ways schools are run in particular high school need to be changed.

What do you think of the idea that school is made to sort people into groups economically?

I've never thought of school that way but it is true. Levels of education separate people and the people with higher levels of education usually make more money.

Interview with Mother(teacher):

Why do you think our education system is so weak even though a lot of our society relies on school?

Because school does not rely mainly on the academics but more on the idea that you can make it if you try although that is not true. It keeps people believing in the American dream and helps keep the heirarchy in society.

What is the biggest affect school has on students?

It teaches many students to believe their failure is their fault. So for example if kids fail regents it is their fault although many students who do fail the regents have much harder circumstances and are many times were not taught the necessary skills to be successful on such tests.


I think school is a tool of society and is one of the most important ones. Many people view school as their way to the top and for few it is but in reality most people do not make it to the top. Many hard working people remain poor. School provides an illusion in the same way I would argue religon does, it gives people hope and makes them want to fit in to specific molds that help the heirarchy of society remain in place.

HW 38

1. This art project focus on the effect of cool has on us. Cool many times holds us back in lives and keeps us thinking on a superficial level. My art project shows a person who thinks of himself as cool and different and basically the picture i showing he is lost in his own world and is not facing reality.

2. I basically did the project after I started drawing a character that had the cool look. I then built on the idea that cool is something that negatively affects us. The box represents that idea of cool holding us back from reality.

3.I do think making art is cool. It is to me a more enjoyable way of expressing or getting a certain point across.

Hw 37 essay

Cool is inevitably a part of everyone’s life whether we like it or not. It's a major piece of the foundation for our society. We are helplessly slaves of cool. We depend on it, yearn for it, and praise it. In today’s society peoples lives revolve around cool. It is a determining factor for whom and what we will be in the future, yet many people ignore the fact that they constantly seek coolness. People will go to extreme lengths to be cool and conform to certain ideas of cool. People have learned to listen to the ones considered cool and have learned to play their roles. It is quite obvious that so many people rely on cool that need cool to have meaning in their lives. Where does this constant need for cool come from? Why have we become so reliant on ideas of what someone should be? Why is it that we try so hard to fit in to certain molds? Cool is an addiction that society seems incapable of stopping. Our addiction from cool comes from many different places and the source does not lie in one place. However there are a few key reasons we are always in a desperate search for cool. The human need for cool derives from personal needs for connection with other human beings, options society presents to us, our surroundings, and a need for sense of importance and meaning.

Connection is an essential part of life. From birth we are in need of connection. We seek connection from our families, friends, co-workers, and everyone else around us. A large majority of our daily actions are done for the approval of others. The things we wear, the way we act, the things we like are all different ways we try to connect to other people. When a child is young there usually a connection with the parent and the child is loved and is given attention for simply being alive. However, as this kid begins to grow up and more people enter their life they try to find new ways to get attention and connect with people. To do so they try to impress them and seem important to them. We go to great lengths and put ourselves through extreme circumstances to connect with others. We are willing to pierce our skin and have tattoos drawn on our skin. We are willing to dye our hair, burn our hair, wear fake hair just to impress and connect with others. We even have surgery to change our appearance so that we can feel more accepted and connected to others. Although this is something that many people would deny it is quite obvious that no matter how original you try to be you are conforming to certain group and a certain image and we try our best to fit in to these images.

A need for connection is not a negative thing and should not be looked at negatively. However, the things people have resorted to doing to fulfill their need of connection is something that we should be ashamed of. We are savages when it comes to seeking cool. We contradict all the things we say we believe in. Dignity, pride and many other "American" values are thrown out the window in the quest for cool, yet somehow we still convince ourselves of our coolness. We practice our cool so much we actually believe we are what we are pretend to be, except in the end we are still pretending to fit a certain character. The choice of cool as one of the primary coping mechanism for connection is not necessarily the fault of the individual. We have grown up in a society which values competition, individualism, and the idea of cool. We grow up wanting to be the best and wanting to stand out yet still wanting to fit in and connect with everyone around us or our specific preference of people we choose to connect to.

Although our need for connection drives us to find ways we are presented with a way by society, we are presented with cool. We are taught cool will attract people to us, and that cool will make us important. We are taught that cool is a sense of confidence and that once we obtain cool the rest of our social needs will fall in to place and be fulfilled. We idolize cool and the people who portray cool; we turn our society in to a social hierarchy in which cool rules everything else. We have become slaves of cool. Cool is an idea that has helped society thrive socially and economically. However this comes at a price, the cost of cool is that many of the people who are poor will find cool as an outlet to their issues and remain poor. The people that are rich will remain rich and the two sides will hardly ever interact and mix. Cool not only has us trapped but is also pinning us down, yet it seems almost impossible to escape cool.

In our society we are taught to become independent individuals, who can care for themselves, provide for themselves, and handle their own lives. However the way we are raised and the way society function around us does not mix. As children we are loved for simply being alive. We are adored by our parents, family, and even strangers. However, as we grow older this starts to fade away and our need for a sense of connection and importance kicks in. We are then put out on our own to find the same admiration from people we had when we were younger. Yet when someone seeks attention they are frowned upon. We do not receive cool or the effects of cool for simply being alive as we once did. It seems that people do not value human life as much once a certain age is reached. There is a quick change from constant love to being out on your own and this is because that is the way we are taught to be. Our quick change from loved to individual leaves us in a bad position where we have little options and almost every time we turn to cool as our savior.

We have acknowledged a need for human connection and the outlet society gives us. However, there is one remaining major factor that plays into the cool dilemma. Importance, we need to feel important and meaningful or else it will seem as though our life is pointless. We have ambition and drive to accomplish things in our life. We strive to accomplish the societal norm of success and be looked at as an important successful person. We need this sense of something to look forward to feel as though we are occupied in our lives and are of meaning. This is another trap of cool. We do certain things in life to seem cool, not only does cool give us connection but it gives us power in our social hierarchy. The cooler we are the more connection we have and the more important we are to those around us. Cool is a replacement for us when we can’t find meaning in our lives. Many times people think they find meaning but it is simply a false meaning that society has presented to us. We have become inevitably trapped in cool due to the fact that cool is one of the main things our society and system revolves around.

Cool has consumed us due to our needs for human connection, options provided to us by society, and for a sense of importance/meaning. We have come to idolize cool without realizing it is hurting. We have been so wrapped up in following cool we have failed to notice it's true effects on us. Cool many times keeps us from having true connection with people, from doing the things we want to do from life, and from living our lives in the most complete way possible, whatever that may be for each individual person. To truly be free from the pressures of society and the expectations put on people the idea of cool must be abolished. If we fail to do so we will continue or chase of cool which we have noticed is the human parallel of a dog chasing its tail. We simply can't be the individuals we wish we were with cool. We are in need of different ways to go about our lives and cool is one thing that must go.

HW 36

Esther


You have a very good rough draft. Your main point in this essay is that we are all slaves of cool and almost every way we act revolves around cool. Our presentation of self are presentation of our idea of cool. I don't know if that's any better so if it isn't sorry...

I think you do a good job of getting your point across in this essay. However, the more you hammer the point across with a variety of different pieces of evidence or situations the stronger your essay will be and the more effective it will be in influencing people. If you talk about all different types of cool and the way cool affects them personally the more people will understand cool is a universal thing and not something that counts for only specific groups of people.

So overall in your next essay focus on more situation, expanding on some you already have, and going deeper into any vague points you have. Overall very good essay.

Sandy

You have a great start, I can tell it's going to be a great essay. Your main point is that cool is impossible to truly obtain, since we all constantly feign for cool and that's uncool. The more we seek cool the less cool we are if we claim coolness already we again fail. No matter our approach it seems that we fail to become cool.

I think you have a very good essay and you use your evidence very well and you make your point clear. However I think more specific evidence on actual situations and people would help. For example using what you or your friends do or what you see other people do as evidence. The other point you should make is that the cool pose applies to everyone and that eveeryone is trying to be cool no matter what their view of cool is. I think if you make this point that your essay will complete. Great essay.

I think your main focus should be making a few different points like the one I mentioned above, as well as fixing any minor problems you have in existing paragraphs.

rough draft

Cool is inevitably a part of everyones life whether we like it or not. It's the a piece of the foundation for our society. We are helplessly slaves of cool. We depend on it, yearn for it, and praise it. In todays society peoples lives revolve around cool. It is a determining factor for who and what we will be in the future, yet many people ignore the fact that they constantly seek coolness. People will go to extreme lengths to be cool and conform to certain ideas of cool. People have learned to listen to the ones considered cool and have learned to play their roles. It is quite obvious that so many people rely on cool that need cool to have meaning in their lives. Where does this constant need for cool come from. Why have we become so reliant on ideas of what someone should be? Why is it that we try so hard to fit in to certain molds? Cool is an addiction that society seems incapable of stopping. Our addiction from cool comes from many different places and the source does not lie in one place. However there are a few key reason we are always in a desperate search for cool. The human need for cool derives from personal needs for connection with other human beings, options society presents to us, our surroundings, and a need for sense of importance and meaning.

Connection is an essential part of life. From birth we are in need of connection. We seek connection from our families, friends, co-workers, and everyone else around us. A large majority of our daily actions are done for the approval of others. The things we wear, the way we act, the things we like are all different ways we try to connect to other people. When a child is young there usually a connection with the parent and the child is loved and is given attention for simply being alive. However, as this kid begins to grow up and more people enter their life they try to find new ways to get attention and connect with people. To do so they try to impress them and seem important to them. We go to great lengths and put ourselves through extreme circumstances to connect with others. We are willing to pierce our skin and have tattoos drawn on our skin. We are willing to dye our hair, burn our hair, wear fake hair just to impress and connect with others. We even have surgery to change our appearance so that we can feel more accepted and connected to others. Although this is something that many people would deny it is quite obvious that no matter how original you try to be you are conforming to certain group and a certain image and we try our best to fit in to these images.

A need for connection is not a negative thing and should not be looked at negatively. However, the things people have resorted to doing to fulfill their need of connection is something that we should be ashamed of. We are savages when it comes to seeking cool. We contradict all the things we say we believe in. Dignity, pride and many other "American" values are thrown out the window in the quest for cool, yet somehow we still convince ourselves of our coolness. We practice our cool so much we actually believe we are what we are pretend to be, except in the end we are still pretending to fit a certain character. The choice of cool as one of the primary coping mechanism for connection is not necessarily the fault of the individual. We have grown up in a society which values competition, individualism, and the idea of cool. We grow up wanting to be the best and wanting to stand out yet still wanting to fit in and connect with everyone around us or our specific preference of people we choose to connect to.

Hw 34

Cool is a very general idea that is specific in different people lives. However for many there are general common ideas of cool. It is very common for the people with similar ideas to be of the same race, economic class, neighborhood, etc. For example a white rich kid who goes to a private school most likely wont be dressing the same as a poor black kid who lives in a project building. These two people who grew up in completely different environments value different things due to the environment they grew up in and currently live in and the expectation that are supposed to meet. Basically these two kids have completely different maps. These maps are constructed what people in their situation did in the past and what they are expected to do by their parents and peers. I don't think any of the types of cools can be considered cooler than others because to that specific group their identity of cool is considered the coolest and anyone who doesn't fit this runs the risk of being ridiculed by others.

I am not sure that coolness compensates for having less in life for all people. However in certain cases specifically with people who are poor cool gives them a meaning and outlet to turn to. For example someone who is poor and lives in the projects but has 500 hundred dollar shoes is giving off the image that they have money to the people around them and are therefore considered cool in their neighborhood or group of friends. In other groups the ones who do the best in school and get in tot he best college and end up making the most money are considered the coolest and most successful.

The idea of cool and the reason for putting on our cool performances and the situation cool puts us in are two contradicting things. We put on cool performances to seem cool yet many times cool restrains from getting the places we want to get or of having a good life(good life meaning in terms of todays idea of good life ie: a lot of money, pretty wife, etc.). People who start out poor play the cool roll which most often includes not caring about school and therefore many times not going to college or even finishing high school. When people are rich and they value money and power and are very greedy they lose a lot in relationships with others and miss out on certain parts of life that people who have different vales experience. No matter the case trying to be cool will hold us back from living ways many of us might like and cool is something that we are virtually stuck in.

Hw #33 (Outline)

Main idea of thesis(will be worded differently and maybe slightly changed): The human need for derives from personal needs for connection with other human beings, options society gives us, our surroundings, and a need for sense of importance and meaningful direction.

Argument 1: People naturally need to connect with others and interact. We constantly find our selves trying to connect with others in conscious and sub-conscious ways. We try extremely hard to seem important to others and gain the respect of others. We are willing to go to extreme lengths to feel as if we are liked and wanted by others.

ARGUMENT 2: Our need to please other really helps us feel as if our life is meaningful and as if we are doing what we are doing for a reason. This plays in to the idea of living for a reason and have a meaning or direction we base our life around.

ARGUMENT 3: We have these needs that connect our selves and others and we need a way to go about fulfilling these needs and society provides different roles and so called maps that show us socially acceptable ways to go about doing so.

ARGUMENT 4: This connects to paragraph 3. Our societal roles and maps are decided by our surroundings including: family situation, the neighborhood you live in, the friends you have, the places you go, etc.

More paragraphs may come from these ideas but these are the main ideas I want to explore. Argument 1 & 2 and 3 & 4 tie together I want to try to find a way to tie these together with out having too many paragraphs and with out having extremely long paragraphs as was one of the issues with my last essay in this class.

HW #32

Tattoos have become embedded in our culture in the same way peircings have. People are willing to permenately mark their bodies with ink as a way of being cool and sometimes for other reasons. What is that has caused people to do such absurd things? What is it that has made such acts socially acceptable? Many people tell them selves they have their own personal reasons to get tattoos and that they get the tattoos for themselves and not for other people. The reality is that a tattoo signifies that you are filling or attempting to fill a certain role; This role being 'badass' or 'punk rocker' etc. Tattoos are a more extreme version of the way you dress yourself or the accessories you choose to wear simply because they are long lasting. Essentially the idea of getting a tattoo for someone who wants to fit into a group where people wear tattoos is the same as some one trying to fit a rap role and wearing a big flashy gold chain or having gold teeth. A tattoo may seem a bit extreme but it is simply just another way for people to say 'I belong to this group of people.'

I don't think it is a particularly good idea to get a tattoo but the idea of resisting this trend or act seems insignificant in the bigger picture. The idea of a getting a tattoo seems absurd and the act can be revolting to some yet the idea of getting a tattoo is an idea that applies to many other things and for this reason it is insignificant to focus on rebelling against tattoos. It is not the act that causes but the idea.

The tattoo simply represents the lengths we are willing to go to fit in to groups and have other people believe our performances. The tattoo shows that we are willing to potentially harm our selves and endure pain to feel important or liked by others. This is simply another addition to our repertoire of tools we use to make others believe our performances. The scariest thing about tattoos is that we have shown a pattern and our willingness to seem cool get more and more outrageous.

E.C 1

How does Ivan's quest for status, advancement, prestige, and generally the approval of others endanger his chance to live a more meaningful life?

As a society we try to find roles and fill them. We find roles that we can connect our lives to and we live up to these roles. We follow a 'cultural map' based on the roles we choose to follow. Ivan is no different. He follows the role of someone who is financially and socially successful according to our society. He works as a lawyer has a family is able to provide for them. He has a good social life with many friends is a friendly person who gets along with others. He plays cards with his fellow coworkers and works hard at playing the role of a successful male in all aspects of the role. However as Ivan suffers from terminal illness he realizes that his life was not what he thought it was. He realizes that in fact his 'success' is meaningless. His desire to live up to a role restricted him from living a truly meaningful life.

Ivan's life was based around a societal map that is a sure road to failure if you look to live a meaningful life. We spend all our lives looking for more and more acceptance and never find ourselves to be satisfied. Ivan realized that his life was miserably meaningless he was angry at his wife for her materialistic ways he felt bad for his son and he started to realize his mistakes.

Ivan's 'quest for status' was a representation of what everyone does in their sometimes with some kind of variation but essentially everyone is doing what Ivan did. Ivan's life was symbolic of our lives. He was blinded by his societal map and was not able to see through the flaws of his lifestyle and was not able to see his mistakes until he started dying. Most people live their whole lives without thinking back on the path they chosen to take and what it has led to. Many people do not realize that the roles and map society presents us with do not lead to meaningful lives. The story of Ivan's life signifies the story of most of our societies life and the same thing that restricts him from having no meaning in his life is the same thing that restricts us. Basically Ivan is us and we are Ivan.