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...