youth
media
"secret education"
"others"
happily ever after
stereotypes

Christensen argues that the "secret education" found in media "instructs young people to accept the world as it is portrayed in these social blueprints".

One way Christensen shows that youth is influenced so strongly by the media is by how she points out questions to pay attention to while watching a certain cartoon. Look at the race, size, role each certain character plays and what you get out of it are all things she had students concerntrate on when watching. It is very shocking and disturbing for me to go back and think about these movies I use to love as a kid ans still love, or loved I should saqy now, and see how it has brainwashed me. I have always wanted the fairytale. The happily ever after. But the older I get and the more I analyze, which I have been told i analyze everything way too much, the more I realize and except it doesn't have to turn out that way. I don't have to be saved by prince charming on his white horse. I don't need a partner to make me feel like a queen. But little kids watching these films and shows or reading their books don't know to think any differently. They let the writers do the thinking and they just soak it all up. Unless they are some of the select few that have someone to sit down with them afterwards and talk about it. Not necessarily why it is bad or wrong, but why it doesn't have to be like that.
"It can be overwhelming and discouraging to find that our self-images have been formed by others," was wrote by one of Christensen's students. That is what the media does to us though. And very unfortunitly we get sucked in. Why does skinny have to mean prettier? Why are name brands so popular? Why can't anyone just be themselves?! It is very frustrating to me that so many people in this world are that shallow or self contious that they need name brand clothes and a size zero waste to fit in or be "cool". And it is so sickening to me that I do, as much as i hate to admit it, get sucked into the media frenzy a bit. They make it so hard not to! I like having nice things. I dont' need them but I enjoy it. But why do I enjoy it? Because media leads me to believe it is a form of happiness?
It is kind of a coincodence that this article came up. My family dinner table is very vocal. You never know what topics are going to come up. But it just so happens that the night I read this, at dinner we talked about racism and how we don't understand why it ever existed. That then led to roles children play in the classroom towards one another. How effective one child can be towards another just by the way they treat eachother is intence. Kids remember those things, just like they remember what they see and hear on tv. It is just very unfortunite that kids can't learn the right lessons from what they observe. Or better yet, why the right lessons aren't showed in these movies and shows and books that are meant for children.

Gayness, Multicultural Education, and Community

Premise:

gay

lesbian

education

teachers

"others"

homophobic



Dennis Carlson argues that school systems need to incorporate gay and lesbian issues into their curriculum. It is not taught in the classrooms and has a lot to do with the fact of why people are homophobic.

If all you learn in the classroom about gays and lesbians is that they spread diseases, would you be homophobic? The only time they are really talked about is when you are learning about HIV and AIDS. That right there is giving homosexuals a bad first impression to someone who doesn't know much about that. And there isn't anyone there to back them up or help people understand there is more to them then a percentage who have a disease. And I find it very strange that when reading the article "Amazing Grace", which had a lot to do about drugs and diseases, such as AIDS and HIV, not once was a gay or lesbian spoke about. "...the first group in the United States diagnosed with AIDS were male homosexuals." So hate them? What if the first group diagnosed was a group of doctors? Would we feel the same way about doctors as we do gays?

In the beginning "

It is ridiculous to me and so hard to believe that people can hate someone because of what they are, not even putting into consideration who they are. They are human beings with feelings just like you and I. The way society catagorizes them and puts them down and shuts them out is so hard for me to understand. Because they are attracted to the same sex makes them bad, and we should hate them for it? Why? I would love to hear an explanation that would make me wonder. I have a best friend who is gay. We talk about it occasionally but it is just the way it is. It's not like he ever askes me why I am straight. It is not like he chose to be gay. Just like he didn't choose to be black. It is just the way it is and people need to realize that.

Looking back on all the little side notes I wrote down while reading "Aria", I asked a lot of questions, all having to do with the same thing though. I don't understand why after they began to speak two languages, it seperated them so much. I understand that. They were obviously not comfortable with the english language but I don't understand why they can't use both. Especially since Rodriguez talks about how comfortable he got with the his english, why not use both. It was clear that the father never found his comfort level with the language. And when Rodriguez tells that part about his dad trying to say grace at dinner, but stumbles over the words and everyone giggles and that was the last time he attempted to say it, really made me feel for this man. I cannot imagine moving somewhere where my language was not the language of choice. I would be lost. Even going into my tutoring program, trying to conversate with a little boy who's first language was clearly not english, was very frustrating. It was hard not to shut down and just end our conversation. And that is exactly what he talks about in his piece. The conversations between the parents and children became silent. They would get frustrated trying to explain themselves or repeat themselves over and over so they would just end it. At that point I couldn't understand why though. The kids were comfortable enough with their new language, why couldn't they now use both? It shouldn't be forgotten about who it is they are. I feel as though he felt a piece of who he is was taken away, but don't understand why. My mom's side of the family is very Italian. Any holiday that we would all be together or we would have sunday morning breakfast a lot with the whole family, the older adults, like my great grandmother and great aunts, would strickly talk Italian. They would use english here and there when talking to us or saying something they wanted everyone to understand though. My sisters and I would always sit around picking up words here and there out of their conversations. My mom always apoligizes to us that we never learned it. It is a big part of who we are and where we came from. But we also used both languages. There is no reason to forget about your's just because you are learning another. His family totally shut their's off. Maybe to help them learn it better is the only reason I can think of. Unless me guessing he is older now and back when he was a kid he was look at much differently for being able to speak a "different" language is right. But how can the parents let that happen. The nuns came in and talked to them and the parents what to do what is best for their children. Well pretending to be someone else is not best. His poor father went from being a happy, "alive" as Rodriguez explained, to "shy". I don't think he was shy though I think he was just uncomfortable. But it is sad that it changed who he was. I think Rodriguez agrues that...

Jonathan Kozol Amazing Grace

When I first looked at the readings, I couldn't help but notice how long Amazing Grace was. I was a bit tired and thought I was going to have to stop half way through or when I didn't want to read anymore. That didn't happen to me. I was wide awake through the whole thing, in awe. So then I figured, well I mine as well continue and read the next one and just stop when I can't read that one any longer. Again, didn't happen. As much as the second piece, White Privilege, got thoughts stirring through my mind and confused at why the color of a persons skin dictates who they are so much in our society, I can't help but go back to Amazing Grace. As much of a depressing story it was, it made me really happy that the kids that were talked about in the piece, are turning out the way they are. The little boy in the beginning that is talked about, Cliffie, seems like such a sweet, and surprisingly innocent kid. With what he is growing up with and what he sees every day of his life, I can't believe how good he handles it. His mother must be doing a very good job raising him. I work at a daycare and have these two little girls who live next to each other in a not so great neighborhood, nothing like Cliffie though. One of them is very troublesome and doesn't listen that well and needs that extra attention. While the other one is the complete opposite. She is very well behaved, loves to play the mother roll always asking to help and acts much older than what she actually is. I believe it all comes down to the parenting and how they are raised. The well behaved girl comes from a very loving and affectionate family whereas my little trouble maker doesn't. It breaks my heart because my troublemaker is a doll, when she wants to be or when you can get her to be. But she just doesn't have someone their to explain what she sees until she comes in and opens her mouth to us, which you never know what she is going to say. We then explain in our best ways possible to ease the problems she deals with.I like the way Cliffie's mom lets him have an imagination to a certain point. Kids need that. They need to know truth but they need to able to take that truth and expand on it. I found it so uplifting while reading about all the crimes and infections these people Cliffie lives around that he is still so innocent. The part that got me was with the tape recorder. Asking people their age and then saying okay thanks that's enough. Or when he whispered into it after finishing his cookies, "we're out of cookies. I ate a whole bag of cookies. They're all gone." I can't help but have such a soft spot for him. And it makes me happy Cliffie's mom seems to try to take the good out of the bad. It all rubs off on him. She talked about other people, who don't even live there, dump their garbage and unwanted scraps right her streets. You can get mad about it but it won't change it from happening again. She knows that so instead she takes things she could use out of it.
I also obviously had a soft spot right away for Mrs. Washington. It breaks my heart when bad things happen to good people. And in her case, over and over and over again. Like being sick with cancer (but getting over and it getting infected with AIDS) isn't bad enough, she got taken off of her financial help. She gets taken off, while being so sick and has to go through so much to get put back on while a girl died and is still getting checks that her boyfriend cashes. I started feeling very frustrated while reading through a lot of parts of this piece. For one, how do they not know she died? Sadly I think the answer is because they don't care. Or it is too much of a hassle to go through all of it. There was a part in the second reading that I read that ties in perfectly with that part. I kept searching for it but for some reason I must just kept passing over it but it was something about people with power not caring unless it will be a positive outcome or something? I need to go back and read the whole thing again so I can re pull that out of what I read because skimming isn't helping me. (I will add or fix it!)
So I know why I was getting frustrated trying to find the point I was struggling to make... I was mistaken and it wasn't even in that article. It happened to be in the same article as I was writing about. So, the point I was attempting to make, somebody has to have power in every situation. In Mrs. Washington's, someone had power to help her and possibly save her life and they weren't. Why? Why? Why? just runs through my head over and over again. Why would you not want to help a struggling person when you have the "power" to? Her son considers that evil and I fully agree to that being a definition of evil. "Pretending that they don't so they don't need to use it to help people..." Arrogance could be another good word to add to the list of words describing this piece.

Introduction

Hi to everyone who reads this. My name is Hilary and I am 21 years old from a small town in Connecticut. This is my first year here at RIC. I am majoring in health and physical education and so far love it. When I graduated high school I moved to Lake Tahoe, California and lived there for a couple months. I should have given it more of a chance, but unfortunately got too home sick. But my younger sister Carlymae, who is a senior in high school, is moving out there when she graduates so hopefully I will follow and she can help me make it. (She is much more free spirited than I am and will have no problem being 3,000 miles away from home.) I also have two older sisters, Emily who is 24 and Lyndsay who is 22. We are all best friends and I wouldn't want it any other way, even though I always wanted an older brother. My parents have been happily married for 26 years and live at home with just Carly and our dog Sophie, and me when i get to come home :) I don't have very much free time. When I'm not in class I am either doing homework, on the soccer field, eating or sleeping. Although on Sundays, which is my only day off, I like to go home and hang out with my family and get a nice home cooked meal. And when it is not during the school year, I love the beach and in the winter I love to snowboard. I love to travel and outdoor activities and learn new things. I am excited to see what else this class has to offer.