| Monday, September 29, 2008 |
| Community Vs. Society In The Education System |
Our discussion of the school system this week left we with some interesting questions. We came to the conclusion that some communities would benefit more from schools teaching subjects designed for the community than from schools teaching subjects to benefit society. In my opinion, communities are more important than societies, and better communities would lead to a better society.
A lot of communities struggle with real life issues like single parent households, drugs, police brutality, gangs, etc. Instead of addressing these issues and having students think critically about how to approach them, teachers are wasting kids time addressing math problems that will not bring about any change in their lives.
I find the education system sickening because the reason schools don't have practical education is because the people in control of it only want to see their way of life maintained and improved. They want to see their businesses built up and their sense of society improved. The "common" idea of society unfairly takes priority over the more relevant idea of a community, and it holds a lot of people back. |
posted by MaSh @ 12:19 AM  |
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| Friday, September 26, 2008 |
| What's The Point Of Sociology? |
I often wonder what is the point of sociology. The way I see it, society should be studied so that we can improve it. However, from the most of the books we've read and discussions we've had, society seems to be studied only so that we can understand it. It seems to me like there's little action and a lot of apathy in sociology. I don't see how these studies are truly beneficial.
I also feel weird studying society sometimes. It's like we're a bunch of scientists studying lab rats and how they work and why...but we're not. Sociologists are studying real people with real issues. The way they go about it bugs me sometimes too. They focus on one people, learn their story, and then once they've gathered enough information to make their point, leave those people and try to attribute what they've learned about certain individuals to our entire society.
I'm glad that Julie Bettie acknowledged some of this in her first chapter. She writes about how she's such an outsider coming in and studying people different from her, and how uncomfortable that makes her sometimes. She rationalizes this by saying she's trying to learn about these people, "well enough to serve them in a struggle against those relations.", but I'm having trouble seeing how sociology helps people in their struggles. So far, I only see how it makes outsiders (and the question of what types of people are sociologists is a whole nother entry) understand society better. What I really want to know is how can sociologists apply what they've learned to improve society. |
| posted by MaSh @ 1:22 AM |
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| Sunday, September 21, 2008 |
| Stare & Stare |
 In my opinion, the best place to observe society is on a bus or train. It's one of the few times where people from all walks of life come together. People ride the bus for different reasons. Some are coming home after a long day of work, some are going out on the town, some have nothing better to do. I love to ride the bus because it always makes me feel like a part of society.
I love eavesdropping on conversations. It's so much fun to listen in to somebody's personal life knowing you'll never see them again. I often find the temptation to interject overwhelming, but I usually stay quiet. But why don't we talk to each other on the bus? Why can't we be friendly? Is it because we are just too damn tired or is considered taboo to talk and connect with a stranger.
If it is the latter, then why? And wouldn't society function much better if we changed that? I guess all of my entries so far have focused on accepted norms of society and how they should be changed, yet I still haven't figured out how to change these norms. I hate just sitting in my seat and not talking to somebody I think I could have an interesting conversation with, yet I still do it. Maybe if everybody got the courage to be more outgoing and interact with each other, bus rides would reflect a much better society. |
| posted by MaSh @ 7:41 PM |
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| Cowards Loving Authority |
CLA’s go against everything college stands for. Independence, and the responsibility that comes with it, means nothing when there are people looking over your shoulder trying to enforce rules. There is no leniency and no reason when it comes to the enforcement of rules. Hell, my parents learned to be less strict than the CLA’s I’ve encountered. That’s because they knew that I was responsible enough to make my own decisions.
The worst thing about it is that the people trying to enforce these strict rules on the students are students themselves. Some of them are even younger than me. The question always comes up in my head, why would anyone want to be a CLA? I mean sure, the financial benefits are pretty helpful, but are students so quick to sell out their peers just to ease the cost of their living? Are CLA’s a certain type of people? Do they hold animosity towards the people they write up?
What would happen if all the students at Lewis & Clark rejected the idea of CLA’s? Authority only works if it’s respected, and I honestly see no reason to respect the authority of CLA’s. If everyone stood up for themselves then we would be unstoppable. I’m not asking for a bloody revolution, I just want the school to reconsider the CLA idea and how strict they are. At the end of the day, we are all college students going through a time of realization and experimentation. Let us be.
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| posted by MaSh @ 12:40 PM |
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| Sunday, September 14, 2008 |
| Mindless Acceptance |
From the founding of our nation, the decisions that United States politicians have made have been by the citizens accepted without question. The people of the United States have been convinced that every decision made by these men must be followed in order for our country (and its citizens) to achieve the American Dream advertised throughout our lives. We show some acts of rebellion such as turning eyes from the prohibited action of jaywalking (a law created for safety). Nearly everything besides that is met with enforcing punishment ranging from a $10 fine to a $10 last meal.
The question remains, is it truly democratic to allow a few individuals decide on an important issue that is faced by all of society? If democracy truly means that every citizen has a voice, we should give every man, woman, and child, who have paid their debts to society a voice. Hell, have them all write in suggestions for policies and then use the process of elimination to collectively decide on the best decision for society. Instead, we give a small number of individuals who are supposed represent our voices and hope that they are one in the same. The problem is, power creates a hunger for more power, and these individuals forget about the voices they were elected to represent and are left with the voices hungry for power left in their heads.
And we have accepted this process without question. |
| posted by MaSh @ 9:59 PM |
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