social justice event

First of all let me say I do not want affirmative action to be necessary. I think race should not influence a decision on wither on not someone is qualified for a school or job.  Race is a circumstance of birth you have as much control over it as the color of your eyes. I really does not have any impact over wither or not you are qualified to be doing something. Isn't  getting a job or into a good school because you are black or Latino the same as someone getting preference because they are white. In a perfect world it would be irreverent, someone qualified and deserving would get the opportunity and that would be the end of it.That said the world is not perfect. People are treated unfairly because of race everyday. Affirmative action attempts to balance the scales. I do not know if it is the best way, but I know I do not have anything better. Maybe one day it will not be necessary. If and when is up for some statistician to decide. I hated statistics.

empowering education

original from xkcd.com

Everything is subjective, our cumulative life experiences influence everything we have, are, and will do. Everyone sees a different world, Perspective is everything it shapes our world and everyone world is different. When teaching its important to realize that my perspective will effect everyone around me. Specifically children, it is like the allegory of the cave. They have no idea what the world look like and are heavily susceptible to outside influences. I need to stay on the right side of the line between guiding and influencing.

I think one if the most important things we can do as a society is make information accessible. Make as much information and data readily available to anyone and everyone who wants to use it. This can be achieved though the internet, schools, library, and other similar institutions. That being said it is the availability that I think society is responsible for, not the consumption. I think that force feeding  knowledge will not do any good. If people choose to ignore the resources at their disposal then so be it. The fault lies with the individual for not taking advantage of available resources.

The trick becomes finding a passion for acquiring knowledge. It makes me think of my first year in college. I was only there because it was where I was expected to be.I might as well have still been in high school. College was just the next logical step. I did not have the drive to succeed, because honestly I did not want to be there. Granted I did not want to be much of anywhere, but that was because I was dealing with depression at the time. That really is not relevant though so I will stop talking about it. The point being I most likely would have benefit heavily from taking a year between graduating high school and entering college. Entering college with a goal in mind would have made a world of difference What I am trying to get is acquiring knowledge and skills should be something we want to do,

As far as potential racial pressures keeping people from learning. I think is falls on the individual to overcome that. Life is not about who you are it is about who you want to be and seeing who close you can get to the ideal you have in your head.

With such a big number of Spanish speakers looking to live in our country I don't think we can afford to not focus more efforts on English language learners. I suppose that is assuming English remains the dominant language in the US moving forward. I hope so, I can barely manage to articulate myself in English let alone trying to learn a new language. I think communication is one of the most important skills to hone in schools. That goes beyond any language barrier as well, being able to communicate with others effectively is a skill you need to have. It is and area I find myself lacking in, but that is more due to social anxiety then anything else.

"The desire for help suggested Esmé’s desire to succeed in school" I feel like you can not deny a student who wants to succeed to do so would be sacrilege.

The past that stuck out the most to me was the part where the woman on the panel talked about improving conditions for those who have it the worst off. That if we improve things for the least fortunate everyone benefits. Raising the quality of life and education for them will have toe biggest overall impact on the state of our nation.

The gentlemen who made the chip fall where they may point clearly does not play poker. He says that the chip will fall on the least fortunate like that getting the chips is a bad thing. You want the chips the chips are good. If he does not want the chips ill take them. Someone needs to learn poker.

The core of this article for me is emphasizing the need to be involved with the community you live in. It is in our power to make our own communities a better place even if it is only in a small way. The trick is getting everyone to contribute there own small part to make the large changes that need to happen. The video posted to you tube by video game developer Valve. The video show cases their game Portal 2 as an educational tool. This is a company making an impact on the lives of students helping them learn. A company like Valve can make a large impact all by itself, but I feel as individuals any small contribution we can make will add up.

Television, music, and film all heavily influence the children who view them. Children have a bad habit of repeating everything they see and hear. This unsurprisingly enough applies to advertising as well. Kids want to bring there favorite cartoons home and play have them be a part of there lives. Advertisers know this well. Well enough that the goal of these cartoons at times is neither to entertain nor educate but to sell toys and merchandise. The best example of this is the Transformers franchise. Introducing a plethora of new characters every week for the next series of toys to be based on. Ohh look the main character saved the day with a new gadget, there is a new toy coming show casing the Hero with his new device.
"Many student don't want to believe they have been manipulated" This will lead to them falling into the same traps again and again. To avoid a trap you need to be aware the trap exists. A similar practice in my opinion is television programs that only exist for the sake of there own existence. The plot never progresses and there is no end of the story in sight, the show revolves around maintaining a status quo and will continue to recycle the same scenarios until viewership drops enough for the show to be canceled. Personally a story with no hope of ending is rather boring.