Unlike the movies that dealt with the savages (teens) of High School (Blackboard Jungle, Dangerous Minds and Freedom Writers), they handled the students by explaining to them why education is key and never really explaining why it was so important to them. In Obama's speech he did the exact opposite by sharing his struggle for a good education in his youthful days. By doing that, he made it worth knowing that we are young adults who may have it easy to get a good education and a tribute to those who don't, all the while to make us feel appreciative that we have an education.
None the less, even though we should feel appreciative to have an education, it is our own responsibility to make sure we are selves learn something. During Obama's speech, he targets all the students by making them feel good to know that we have the ability to become someone important, such as the person who will cure cancer and aids and even becoming the most significant person in the United States, The President! "But it is all up to YOU, and how you YOU will handle your responsibilities. "
It was interesting to read the Liberal Artcs article, because most of the questions it answered relates to me for example; "How will studying Shakespeare or cell biology or modern art help me get a job?" And then being told how to see the corralations between math and business companies, the type of homework we get to improve our problem solving skills and the analysis of a certain subject. All of this is great, but it gets boring. From my own experience, it feels like "Deja Vu." We learn most of the same thing over and over again only to be explained to us that we are deepning our understanding of the topic. But it's not, it's actually unmotivating me because it something I know too well.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Hw 42- Significance
Why is it that having the highest education status is ranked so high in the workforce when social incompetence is a threat to a social interacted workforce?
School has brought us up to realize that education is a #1 priority, and indeed it is. But is challenged by social skills which is separated in school environments. Communication is also a priority which I believe should be ranked #1 because if we lack in the region of social interaction, how will we be able to initiate, maintain and end whole conversations that most of our lives depend on. From my own experience, being social wasn't a problem for me. I got along with other kids in my school, I did not have an issue starting and ending conversations. The only issue I had was getting in trouble with teachers in my early age in school. The teachers would either tell me "Be quiet while other people are working", or "take a time out" etc. All factors for eliminating social skills and making the future generation working drones.
Being able to socialize makes us Human. Our capability to talk, understand and think for ourselves makes it possible for us to adapt to our surrounding. Communication with other people furthers our ability to learn new things and having this given skill, taken from us, we suffer in the future lacking in a region that is most needed in daily life.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Hw- 41 Initial Internet Research on Schooling
Lawson, Candy, "Social Skills and School", http://www.cdl.org/resource-library/articles/social_skills.php Center for Development and Learning. 25 February 2010
Exploring the social scenes and its affect on children at school, this article provided reasons why social interaction is key in a child's movement towards adulthood. The author, Candy Lawson, Ph.D. begins with "While school can be a positive social experience for many children, for others it can be a nightmare." A basic insight but why?
Lawson throughout the article guides her insights through the different area's of social interaction such as Social status and communication skills. The one that caught my eye while reading, was her piece on Social skills. "Social inability can be a lifelong problem...social incompetence can be more debilitating and detrimental to success in life than learning problems." Lawson is right, because a child's inability to solve an issue, initiate, maintain and end conversations would end the child's future in a very social interactive world.
http://www.familyresource.com/parenting/character-development/social-skills-and-school-age-children
This brief article also spoke about how social interaction can affect a child's comfortably within school explaining again that in the future, the child may enter the workforce more prepared and the ability to socialize.
According to this article, a child's inability to appropriately react and socialize in school has a negative affect on their learning ability and therefore struggle with the ability to feel positive about school. That's interesting, but like most teens, even for those who are very social, still seem to find school as a positive stepping stone?
http://www.nasponline.org/resources/factsheets/socialskills_fs.aspx
This article which also talked about social skills in school gave more of a brief summary about why it is good and the consequences of when there are poor social skills. Also provided in the article were helpful tips to encourage those of not so high social interaction to find social skill programs.
After numerous of sites I read, and articles that explained socialization in schools, it became all to repetitive. Each new website I clicked, all said the same thing above but differently, all referring to a child's inability to socialize at an early age. By reading these repeating articles, I started to wonder, what happens when you become to good at socializing? Can being good at socializing affect the way you act in school? Yes, it does. For myself, I find that I can socialize well, and because of that I find myself in school having a lot friends, but the addiction to socialize with everyone gets me in trouble with teachers who have the power to fail or pass me in school. In school, our goals are to pass/succeed. So should being good a socializing be an advantage when most of the teachers are always telling us to "shut up, sit down, leave the classroom?" I couldn't find any articles on things like that though.
Lawson throughout the article guides her insights through the different area's of social interaction such as Social status and communication skills. The one that caught my eye while reading, was her piece on Social skills. "Social inability can be a lifelong problem...social incompetence can be more debilitating and detrimental to success in life than learning problems." Lawson is right, because a child's inability to solve an issue, initiate, maintain and end conversations would end the child's future in a very social interactive world.
http://www.familyresource.com/parenting/character-development/social-skills-and-school-age-children
This brief article also spoke about how social interaction can affect a child's comfortably within school explaining again that in the future, the child may enter the workforce more prepared and the ability to socialize.
According to this article, a child's inability to appropriately react and socialize in school has a negative affect on their learning ability and therefore struggle with the ability to feel positive about school. That's interesting, but like most teens, even for those who are very social, still seem to find school as a positive stepping stone?
http://www.nasponline.org/resources/factsheets/socialskills_fs.aspx
This article which also talked about social skills in school gave more of a brief summary about why it is good and the consequences of when there are poor social skills. Also provided in the article were helpful tips to encourage those of not so high social interaction to find social skill programs.
After numerous of sites I read, and articles that explained socialization in schools, it became all to repetitive. Each new website I clicked, all said the same thing above but differently, all referring to a child's inability to socialize at an early age. By reading these repeating articles, I started to wonder, what happens when you become to good at socializing? Can being good at socializing affect the way you act in school? Yes, it does. For myself, I find that I can socialize well, and because of that I find myself in school having a lot friends, but the addiction to socialize with everyone gets me in trouble with teachers who have the power to fail or pass me in school. In school, our goals are to pass/succeed. So should being good a socializing be an advantage when most of the teachers are always telling us to "shut up, sit down, leave the classroom?" I couldn't find any articles on things like that though.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Hw- 40 School Interviews & Synthesis
1. Myself.
Q:What life skill should be taught in school?
A: I think learning how to interact with people on a more formal level because we need to know how to talk to people during job interviews.
2. Friend
Q: What life skill should be taught in School?
A: "umm...I think social skills should be taught in school, for example having a proper conversation or like at a interview."
3: Teacher/Counselor
Q: What life skill should be taught in School?
A: Networking, definitely networking, because I see kids everyday using a certain slang and not properly transitioning from hanging with their friends to talking to adults/teachers. Which I think should be a very important life skill that should be taught.
4: Friend
Q: What life skill should be taught in School?
A: How to interact with people. I think majority of people don't know how too.
5: Teacher
Q: What life skill should be taught in school?
A: It is really important to know how to collaborate with other people because when you get out into the workforce, you must know how to interact with people at work, even if you don't like them.
After these interesting and insightful interviews about what life skill should be taught in school, everyone said basically the same thing. Knowing how to interact with people should be the #1 life skill taught as opposed to other life skills. Majority of the people interviewed said that people lack in making the transition from talking to your friends and then talking to an adult/teacher. It was interesting to find one of my friends to say that most people just do not know how too and that he is confident in himself that he knows how too. I believe everyone lacks in some sort of way in interacting with people, especially with those who are adults because we are not use to talking that certain way.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Hw- 39 First School Assignment
Questions:
1. When/Who started School in America?
2. What's the difference in curriculum between Private Schools and Public Schools?
3.Why is a 65 a passing grade?
Ideas:
1. School is structured to build and prepare us for the workforce.
2. Like the Cool unit, we use school as a tool to build ourselves into something except it is more directional depending on the time and effort we put into it.
3. School alters our social life.
Experiences:
1. Being in a public school has more of a diversity where I feel my comfortable then compared to Private Schools where more of one race is found.
2. Going to school is a source of where I can find mixed emotions due to the pressure, friends, accomplishment, etc school has to offer.
3. Being graded and tested is a great way to build and brake a person.
School. An institution for the youth. Before, education was a privilege only given to people that came from the wealthy side of life. Now, it is available to anyone; School builds and creates futures for those who take advantage of it. A system that is teaching us how to think and make, but are we really thinking and being guided to think in a specific way. Is school a brainwashing facility to control society easily targeted towards children? Hitler, a once powerful and sadistic man controlled his entire country by manipulating the youths by guiding them in a specific path in school. He easily controlled the minds of the youths learning capabilities and structured it in a way he wanted it to be. In America, we learn a lot about the positive and right-wing history instead of the negative aspects of American history only to be brainwashed and manipulated into believing that our country is valiant and heroic. Occasionally we spend some significant time on learning it of course, but not enough to actually see that we are not so good after all. Weird.
It is great that school is a given opportunity to all to teach us how to think, but also made to teach us in one directional path? What other contradictions can we find in School?
1. When/Who started School in America?
2. What's the difference in curriculum between Private Schools and Public Schools?
3.Why is a 65 a passing grade?
Ideas:
1. School is structured to build and prepare us for the workforce.
2. Like the Cool unit, we use school as a tool to build ourselves into something except it is more directional depending on the time and effort we put into it.
3. School alters our social life.
Experiences:
1. Being in a public school has more of a diversity where I feel my comfortable then compared to Private Schools where more of one race is found.
2. Going to school is a source of where I can find mixed emotions due to the pressure, friends, accomplishment, etc school has to offer.
3. Being graded and tested is a great way to build and brake a person.
School. An institution for the youth. Before, education was a privilege only given to people that came from the wealthy side of life. Now, it is available to anyone; School builds and creates futures for those who take advantage of it. A system that is teaching us how to think and make, but are we really thinking and being guided to think in a specific way. Is school a brainwashing facility to control society easily targeted towards children? Hitler, a once powerful and sadistic man controlled his entire country by manipulating the youths by guiding them in a specific path in school. He easily controlled the minds of the youths learning capabilities and structured it in a way he wanted it to be. In America, we learn a lot about the positive and right-wing history instead of the negative aspects of American history only to be brainwashed and manipulated into believing that our country is valiant and heroic. Occasionally we spend some significant time on learning it of course, but not enough to actually see that we are not so good after all. Weird.
It is great that school is a given opportunity to all to teach us how to think, but also made to teach us in one directional path? What other contradictions can we find in School?
Monday, February 8, 2010
Hw-38 Art Project
The Coolest Video from Jin Omae on Vimeo.
For my Art project for the Cool unit, I worked in a group acting out the very possible and a bit humorous situations that happen in a school environment. Our video we put together was made to show the many "cool" poses in the school "cool" environment such as the specific "cool" handshake and teasing another to build a stronger social status. I hope people realize from watching our mini-movie that school seen through a social lens, is about building and following a specific and ever changing scene, and if one does not follow correctly, they fade back in the high social status of "cool."
The process of the project was fairly easy to make because most of what we do in this video is actually what we do even OFF camera. Acting it out was not a problem, because we perform these scenes 5 days a week. Coming up with a certain insight made by possible topics we're a bit confusing because we wanted to make sure it was funny, but also had a deeper meaning. In the group, I felt that I contributed to finding the funnier aspects of school "cool" poses and incorporating them into one scene.
Making an art project to display the "cool" poses made in our lives I feel is cool because of the many absurdities and "whys" we do perform these daily routines of building and getting to the top of this "cool" social status.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Hw 37- Cool Paper
Introduction:
What is the point of being born, if later on we find emptiness? I guess being an evolved human being is the worst thing to become. Life is a difficult topic to fully understand and planning it is even harder. In life, nothing always goes the way we ourselves want it to go. Why? Well because nothing is perfect, nothing in life is perfect even if we subconsciously believe it is. Our own personal lives hinder our own interpretation of what "Life" is because no two people are the same, so not everyone has the same motive. Now it is possible for people to have similar motives but how we get to it, is completely on our own. Is that how we fill emptiness then? Do we fill emptiness with our own individual quest or goal? I believe it is, and there are many ways of doing so. Our basic human social needs are Conformity, Desire and Popularity . We fill these needs by directing our attention to popular demand of "coolness" to help our selves fill a void of emptiness.
Argument #1:
The first way many of us seek to fill emptiness, is finding an answer to it. In many ways finding the answer to our emptiness could be on a superficial level of the popular "Coolness." We fill this void of emptiness with what being cool is, such as; being the rebel, the wealthiest, most popular, lots of friends, etc. With all these different criteria of cool, then that void of emptiness should be filled. Its many of the roles in society we try to be to fit in with every ones needs. This is where I believe being the conformist is one ultimate way of filling the empty and finding a meaning. Viktor Frankl, a theorists said that "If meaning is what we desire, then meaninglessness is a hole, an emptiness, in our lives."(Dr. C. George Boeree) People's seek out a desire to answer this meaninglessness hole that we attempt to fill in our empty lives and by the popular demand of "coolness" in our society we do this accordingly. One of Frankl's favorite metaphors to describe our consumption of finding "stuff" to fill our emptiness accurately describes conformity. "The Existential Vacuum." He explains this metaphor as "whenever you have a vacuum, of course things rush in to fill it... People go into a tailspin when they retire; students get drunk every weekend; we submerge ourselves in passive entertainment..."(Dr. C. George Boeree) We become bored with the old and so we find ourselves finding a new by focusing on something else that we find satisfaction in. Now there are downsides to becoming a full-on conformist, people will believe you are fake. People will categorize you as fake for being a conformist because you, yourself does not have a self of your own. In the "cool" societies this looked down upon because you do not bring fourth a unique and individual trait, which in the cool societies everyone wants to duplicate. So if you would like to conform, do it in a moderate fashion because almost everyone is.
Argument #2:
Another way I look at how we fill emptiness is to be desirable. To be everywhere, with everyone, doing everything. The answer to that is creating something everyone can relate too. Heroes are great examples of these characteristics because everyone idolizes them. Heroes are the type of people that are perfect and nothing could be wrong with them because everyone likes him/her. For example in the 1960's when blacks were segregated from whites, Martin Luther King Jr., a famous black activist stood up for what he and millions of other black males and females believed was right. In the black culture, they looked to Martin Luther King as a hero for ending segregation. Not all would agree, but majority would believe and even for Hitler, his near-accomplishment of taking over the world in the 1940's might of been heroic in the eyes of most Germans. Both these two individuals created a movement that captured the eyes of many, which would categorize them under heroic(depending on your belief). So I feel that they had filled most of their emptiness being the desirable ones.
Argument #3:
Popularity relates to the demand of "coolness" in our society because it is another focus we put our bodies and minds in to, to fill this entity of meaninglessness; another way to fill a void of emptiness. Popularity has always been about how an individual represents him/herself in a fashion that everyone gets some sort of pleasure or likability out of it. The many roles and characters we perform to please everyone has many identities that everyone is pleased by which gives the performer a meaning because he/she is finding popularity in it. Goffman, a great theorist said that "Everyone of us is consciously always playing a role on a daily basis. We are always presenting a personal front which is either behavioral and material...As performers we want to create the most positive impression possible to the point of being ideal."(Goffman'sPresentationofSelfinEverydayLife) This idea of being ideal is great way to fill a emptiness and by being the most popular, in every one's eyes you have accomplished being ideal.
Opposing Viewpoint:
Finding an emptiness is a question that happens early in our lives when we find our trends, desires and anything else that we can relate to "cool." So is cool the answer to why we have emptiness? The void of emptiness that we passionately fill with "stuff" as said by Viktor Frankl is the reason to why we are drawn to making these quest(s) or goal(s) so often. Do we want to abandon the thought of "cool" then because it certainly has taken over our society like a plague? No. And that is a good thing because "cool" has become a drive to create success, pleasure and happiness. "The word Emptiness or Void should not scare us. To be empty does not mean non-existent. Emptiness is the ground of everything, thanks to it, everything is possible."(TheVoidorEmptiness) We should embrace the void of emptiness that we've acquired because we use it as a map or "vacuum" to help us understand our lives. Which in the end is shaped by our interpretation of what is "cool."
Conclusion:
In conclusion, filling a void of emptiness is endless and frustrating, but there are many methods use to surface or fill it because it is something we need. Being the most desirable, the absolute conformist and the popular ideal person has all led ways to fill a void of emptiness through the social need of being "Cool." So. How are you cool?
Sites used:
http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/frankl.html
Read more at Suite101: Goffman's Presentation of Self in Everyday Life: Our Understanding of the Idea of Self http://languagebooks.suite101.com/article.cfm/goffmans_presentation_of_self_in_everyday_life#ixzz0dCsgSPjF
http://www.plotinus.com/void_copy.htm
What is the point of being born, if later on we find emptiness? I guess being an evolved human being is the worst thing to become. Life is a difficult topic to fully understand and planning it is even harder. In life, nothing always goes the way we ourselves want it to go. Why? Well because nothing is perfect, nothing in life is perfect even if we subconsciously believe it is. Our own personal lives hinder our own interpretation of what "Life" is because no two people are the same, so not everyone has the same motive. Now it is possible for people to have similar motives but how we get to it, is completely on our own. Is that how we fill emptiness then? Do we fill emptiness with our own individual quest or goal? I believe it is, and there are many ways of doing so. Our basic human social needs are Conformity, Desire and Popularity . We fill these needs by directing our attention to popular demand of "coolness" to help our selves fill a void of emptiness.
Argument #1:
The first way many of us seek to fill emptiness, is finding an answer to it. In many ways finding the answer to our emptiness could be on a superficial level of the popular "Coolness." We fill this void of emptiness with what being cool is, such as; being the rebel, the wealthiest, most popular, lots of friends, etc. With all these different criteria of cool, then that void of emptiness should be filled. Its many of the roles in society we try to be to fit in with every ones needs. This is where I believe being the conformist is one ultimate way of filling the empty and finding a meaning. Viktor Frankl, a theorists said that "If meaning is what we desire, then meaninglessness is a hole, an emptiness, in our lives."(Dr. C. George Boeree) People's seek out a desire to answer this meaninglessness hole that we attempt to fill in our empty lives and by the popular demand of "coolness" in our society we do this accordingly. One of Frankl's favorite metaphors to describe our consumption of finding "stuff" to fill our emptiness accurately describes conformity. "The Existential Vacuum." He explains this metaphor as "whenever you have a vacuum, of course things rush in to fill it... People go into a tailspin when they retire; students get drunk every weekend; we submerge ourselves in passive entertainment..."(Dr. C. George Boeree) We become bored with the old and so we find ourselves finding a new by focusing on something else that we find satisfaction in. Now there are downsides to becoming a full-on conformist, people will believe you are fake. People will categorize you as fake for being a conformist because you, yourself does not have a self of your own. In the "cool" societies this looked down upon because you do not bring fourth a unique and individual trait, which in the cool societies everyone wants to duplicate. So if you would like to conform, do it in a moderate fashion because almost everyone is.
Argument #2:
Another way I look at how we fill emptiness is to be desirable. To be everywhere, with everyone, doing everything. The answer to that is creating something everyone can relate too. Heroes are great examples of these characteristics because everyone idolizes them. Heroes are the type of people that are perfect and nothing could be wrong with them because everyone likes him/her. For example in the 1960's when blacks were segregated from whites, Martin Luther King Jr., a famous black activist stood up for what he and millions of other black males and females believed was right. In the black culture, they looked to Martin Luther King as a hero for ending segregation. Not all would agree, but majority would believe and even for Hitler, his near-accomplishment of taking over the world in the 1940's might of been heroic in the eyes of most Germans. Both these two individuals created a movement that captured the eyes of many, which would categorize them under heroic(depending on your belief). So I feel that they had filled most of their emptiness being the desirable ones.
Argument #3:
Popularity relates to the demand of "coolness" in our society because it is another focus we put our bodies and minds in to, to fill this entity of meaninglessness; another way to fill a void of emptiness. Popularity has always been about how an individual represents him/herself in a fashion that everyone gets some sort of pleasure or likability out of it. The many roles and characters we perform to please everyone has many identities that everyone is pleased by which gives the performer a meaning because he/she is finding popularity in it. Goffman, a great theorist said that "Everyone of us is consciously always playing a role on a daily basis. We are always presenting a personal front which is either behavioral and material...As performers we want to create the most positive impression possible to the point of being ideal."(Goffman'sPresentationofSelfinEverydayLife) This idea of being ideal is great way to fill a emptiness and by being the most popular, in every one's eyes you have accomplished being ideal.
Opposing Viewpoint:
Finding an emptiness is a question that happens early in our lives when we find our trends, desires and anything else that we can relate to "cool." So is cool the answer to why we have emptiness? The void of emptiness that we passionately fill with "stuff" as said by Viktor Frankl is the reason to why we are drawn to making these quest(s) or goal(s) so often. Do we want to abandon the thought of "cool" then because it certainly has taken over our society like a plague? No. And that is a good thing because "cool" has become a drive to create success, pleasure and happiness. "The word Emptiness or Void should not scare us. To be empty does not mean non-existent. Emptiness is the ground of everything, thanks to it, everything is possible."(TheVoidorEmptiness) We should embrace the void of emptiness that we've acquired because we use it as a map or "vacuum" to help us understand our lives. Which in the end is shaped by our interpretation of what is "cool."
Conclusion:
In conclusion, filling a void of emptiness is endless and frustrating, but there are many methods use to surface or fill it because it is something we need. Being the most desirable, the absolute conformist and the popular ideal person has all led ways to fill a void of emptiness through the social need of being "Cool." So. How are you cool?
Sites used:
http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/frankl.html
Read more at Suite101: Goffman's Presentation of Self in Everyday Life: Our Understanding of the Idea of Self http://languagebooks.suite101.com/article.cfm/goffmans_presentation_of_self_in_everyday_life#ixzz0dCsgSPjF
http://www.plotinus.com/void_copy.htm
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