Hw 47: Class film Prep 1

My colorful list includes:

 My first idea would be to address the pattern of underage drinking thats reccently been occurring on school grounds, or rather, why kids can't seem to avoid getting caught. Its abundantly clear thanks to pop culture and main stream media that under aged drinking does occur at social gatherings on weekends, but why all of a sudden has it become so common for students to get drunk in a place where there would be the most consequences?
Perhaps the teacher can be a recovering alcoholic, taunted with the idea that his own students  are abusing the bottle in the same ways he once did. Then have him preech to them.
Try and propose the question: Is school such agony that the only way to get through the day is by being intoxicated?
What must teachers and authority figures say to not make students want to resort to alcohol?
Why do students take the rick rather then just waiting for school to be over?
Is it that they really have a craving the beverage, or is it more of a sumbolic  pose that makes them seem rebellious and therefore cooler?
Why has the trend reached such young conformists? Whose next?

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Hw 46: Research & Writing; READ ME!!!

Reviving Ophelia; Saving the Selves of Adolesent Gils
By Mary Pipher P.H.D.

My angle for this post was to discuss the experienc eof school through a female's perspective. Being a girl myself, I only know of my time at school through the eyes of a white middle class girl. But through reading Reviving Ophelia I've realized that my situation isn't so different from the ones of others girls, in different places at different times.
We all know students don't go to school JUST to learn about American History and Algebra. There are many componenets thats add up to the experience of going to school as a WHOLE.
For instance, networking. At school, you have to interact with all sorts of people in order to get through the day. When entering in the morning, your greeted by secutirty, a symbol for your safety. Walking up to stairs, your passed by your peers; signifying that your not the only soul seeking an education. Entering the classroom your welcomed by the teacher; the authority figure, the source of knowledge you are expected to absorb. And finally, if your unlucky, you'll be graced with the pressance of one of the acceptions. Seeing a principal, guidance conslor or the nurse for and such reason.
All these people have titles and jobs that make up the school as a whole. Although, this list doesn't include the people who you don't see that make a big difference to the school if they were absent. Like the janitors, lunch people or office staff.
None of this actually directly related to Reviving Ohelia, I'm just making the point that in order to function well, communication is crucial. But we don't always communicate to the people who may deserve it the most.

Anyways, back to the book.

hw 45: more BIG thoughts on school

Comparisons between E.D. Hirsch & Ted Sizer.

Hirsch and Sizer had very conflicting perspectives on education. While Hirsch beleived in cultral literacy,

Hirsh argues that in order to do well in the school system, students must know the fudemental historical facts

Hw: 44 Big expectations for school.

 Pertaining to my personal experience in school, I have come to realize that school puts an enormous amount of strain and stress on students lives, where they choose to relieve through digital distractions and social outings. With each passing year, students become more exposed to alternative choices, and it becomes increasingly more hard to please their parents and teachers when they also want to entertain themselves.
 I am of course referring to the weekend lifestyle that at times clashes with the responsibility to do well i school. I don't have statistics to support my argument, but I've come to notice that those individuals with highly enjoyable social lives don't score as high on their report cards as students whose parents keep them inside on Friday and Saturday nights.
 Those same individuals also have a duty to keep up their party going reputations by having nice bodies, trendy wardrobes and attractive demeanor. That means more time shopping or at the gym and less time studying.
 There seems to be some kind of correlation between socializing and academic performance. The more one dedicates to networking and social climbing the less likely that they do well in school. The more one spends studying and getting good grades, the less likely they have a popular social circle and attend exclusive binge drinking fests.

 Looking back on my report cards over the years, I realized I did the best in school when I was in 6th grade. This may be because we didn't yet have to take a language, or because I really had a non existent social life. 6th grade was misery for me, yet I excelled more then I have since because I had more time to dedicate to homework rather then being on the phone for countless hours or hanging around outside. It was just me and my television that year.
But everything changed when I met my best friend in 7th grade. Then I talked more during class, was late from goofing off in the hallways and was on AIM every night for three hours straight, talking about bullshit. All because I had people who wanted to talk to me. I spent more time planning out what I was going to say on my xanga then I did writing an assignment. I left most work to morning advisory and put hardly any thought or effort into it, especially when there was an asian kid I could easily copy from. 

I realize now that when I was sad or lonely I'd turn to work. but otherwise, if it didn't make me look cooler, I wouldn't be caught focusing on school work, even when my mother would beg me to do better.
Unless I got something out of it, I didn't bother trying hard when it came to middle school.
This trend followed me though my first two years of high school. Until I had a wake up call that colleges weren't looking for students who just got by, I was a bonafied slacker.

I know this post is more of a rant then a analysis of the institution of school, but there are so many contradictions that its hard to think straight or make a formal opinion.
At time I think we're not mature enough to really value education. In the book I'm reading entitled Reviving Ophelia, the author repeatedly states how difficult it is for adolescence to be their "true selves" when their so busy tweaking their "false selves" in order to please their peers.

 At the same time its odd to me that so many authority figures keep drilling into our heads that in order to lead successful fulfilling lives, we must do as best we can in school. But as I see it, school brings kids great unhappiness.

 Like George Vidal said in his article Drugs: case for Legalizing Marijuana; "Nevertheless, forbidding people things they like or think they might enjoy only makes them want those things all the more."
Of course, he was referring to the governments need to prohibit people from using drugs rather then legalizing them and allowing people to choose for themselves whether its worth experimenting.
But I believe that enforcing an form of institution on people who don't enjoy it many also make them resist it more. That's why college so many high school students look forward to college, because its a school experience where they get to choose what they want to learn rather then being forced to sit through a class they hate.
 Like the author from the op- ed Liberal Arts Education: why it still matters,

"Studying the arts nurtures an appreciation for the richness and endless diversity of human imagination.

"The point is that it is not so much the specific content of our courses that is at the core of the liberal arts experience, rather the value is in a way of learning" 
This reminds me a lot of what Andy was getting at in Friday's (19th, so yes this post is OD late) class about how is we put more effort into the work we're assigned in class, many them we would make more enriched decisions later in life. But I think this works better in an enviornment were the student is given a choice to be there or not. 
We all want an education so that we can go farther in life, but it matter what you do with that education in order to truly turn it into success. If a kid doesn't put their all into their work, then it may be like the lesson was for nothing. I concur that some students may take the education they feel they are "entitled to" and that what other kids would kill for in less fortunate countries. But why waste time in classes we can't stand? 


 I love English and History class, and greatly look forward to them, especially when I'm sitting in math class drooling with frustration and boredom. I take an English college class at Baruch where I feel excited to learn and its not such a big hassle doing the homework because  I actually like what I'm writing about. If I had that same attitude for every class I took in High School, I may be taking straight A's. But I'm not.

 What I have realize, though, and this applies to what Andy has been emphasizing in the many movies we're watched, was that when a teacher gets excited about the subject their teaching, he students do as well. I know this thanks to Mr. Z, who not only loves what he does but also shows much respect and admiration when his students get his lessons. He is patient when a formula is hard to understand, yet assertive in tolerating those who give up too easily, encouraging them to try again.
Although he doesn't take all the credit, its clear he cares about us kids and that makes us want to make him all the more proud.
 I also have to give Andy and Mr. Manley a little credit for their teaching tactics. I like that they hardly stand behind their desks in, or give lectures to the class. They set up wide open circles and usually teach lessons through a group conversation where they encourage comments and questions rather them demanding obedience. It makes me feel like more of their equal rather then someone who MUST listen to them. Although it may make it harder to quiet down a class, it also makes it easier to open up and answer questions honestly and without hesitation.


I enjoyed the article from Pennlive.com because it  rephrases many of the reasons why I want to attend a liberal arts college, on aspect in particular because they encourage studying abroad 

"Many Gettysburg students spend a semester or more abroad in a cultural context different from their own. These kinds of experiences cultivate the humility, open mindedness, dedication to dialogue and respect for multiple perspectives that support meaningful engagement with the world and enhance our graduates' ability to have an impact on their professions and on their communities."

 Perhaps if more teenage New Yorkers saw the hardship other communities endured, even in their own city, they would value their education all the more, and for reasons other then in attempts to make big bucks like the hot shot they see on Wall Street. Why is education strictly seen as a source of power rather then being a good person? Do we need to have lush living in order to be happy?
Beatrice and I were agreeing with the point brought up in class that most schools attract a certain demographic of people and breed out clones of their parents. For instance, a kid whose father works on wall street would naturally attend a prestigious private school in order to make a high income to enjoy the luxurious lifestyle he has in is youth in his adulthood as well.
At the same time, a kid whose father works two blue collar jobs may attend a violent public school, where he just gets by in order to get his high school diploma and go to a community college, leading him back to the same neighborhood he grew up with less opportunity to make it in any environment.
There's not much room to try things out.

Hw 42: Book Research and further thinking

In the book Reviving Ophilia, the author Mary Pipher brings up a valid issue that effects the behaviors of teenage girls; puberty.
According to Freud, there is a phase called the Latency period where girls are confronted with the issue of sexuality, but not yet burdened with the hormonal effects the hit after their prepubescent years. In this time, children tend to put all that repressed energy into asexual activities like sports, music and same sex friendships. According to the research David B. Stevenson did on Freud's theory, untitled Freud's Psycho-sexual Stages of Development:
The resolution of the phallic stage leads to the latency period, which is not a psychosexual stage of development, but a period in which the sexual drive lies dormant. Freud saw latency as a period of unparalleled repression of sexual desires and erogenous impulses.

So when those hormones start raging, their confusion and need for a sexual identity dominate their mind body and spirits, turning them into different people. Freud called this the genital stage; "As the child's energy once again focuses on his genitals, interest turns to heterosexual relationships. The less energy the child has left invested in unresolved psychosexual developments, the greater his capacity will be to develop normal relationships with the opposite sex."
Their curiosity is curved from books and nature to the opposite sex (or rather desired sex) and physicality. If they do not meet the definition of what society defines as "desierable" they obsess to meet such social norms. Girls slave away hours at the gym just to be the right pants size, spend hundreds of dollars on products and puts an enormous amount of effort into pleasing people who are just as desperate as they are. They begin to care more about social norms and sexual expectations rather then intellectual ambitions. Their attitudes change towards their parents and siblings as they transform into rude, confused and frustrated teenagers.

This plays into their performance in school, because what they once found intriguing and interesting no longer appeals or is significant to their other priorities; sex. It becomes significantly more difficult from then on to keep motivations in school and extra curricular since they have the burden of trying to keep up a social life on top of that. Of course this doesn't apply to all teenagers, but has been a reoccurring pattern in the age group.

In Full Frontal Feminism, Jessica Valenti  focuses a nice portion of her book to how crucial it is for girls to receive a proper education, especially in countries that refuse schooling for girls.
Another book that has been fervently pushing the importance of education in order to have less oppression and better opportunities was Half the Sky, written by a New York Times columnist.

Valentti also highlights the constant double standard that exists in comparing girls to boys. Boys are naturally destined to go farther, make more money and run all the major corporations that make up American consumerism. Even though women have made tremendous progress in the professional frield, we still only make 77 cents to every dollar a man makes.
A lot of her arguments play into the attitudes people have against girls in school. Girls who have reformed style, square attitudes and a respectable demeanor would naturally have good grades and a bright future, whereas those who are more in touch with their sexuality and freedomn of expression (or rebellion) are seen as disobedient and mischievous, with bad grades. This striked a thought for where personal expression can fit into the structured lessons in school. What if a student doens't agree with the tactics of a project of the facts in a history presentation. Why must we be forced to participate in subjects we don't relate to and topics that don't interest us. Why is sex always associated with our value? If girls aren't ashamed of their sexuality, their trouble makers. If they're prude, their more obedient and therefore better to control. Why aren't guys seperated to these sex classes as well?