Tuesday, May 4, 2010
outro
From kindergarten to the Ph. D. level, I see it visibly evident that school systems are failed because of the lack of readiness of the child for the adaptation. I stressed before how pertinent it is to have values and ethics established inside the home from the family members. As we grow up, we learn to have respect for adults and to show honor for the sacrifices that they make for us. Our duty is to help out the family and help out by doing our share in contributing to the collaboration. Well if we open our eyes and look at what the schooling institution is, we see a coherent line between the functions of a school and a family. Unity, values, and relationships help to make the learning environment for both establishments come effortlessly. Without unity, values, and relationships that teachers expect parents to set-up, we see more professors in rage trying to open the eyes of students and gain the attention of the uninterested attendees. Professors expect to just teach a lesson and move forward to the next one, however they have to consume time pretending to be a officer to control the crowd behavior. This is why I say it is very important for the family to be starting grounds for educational developments because if we rely solely on the school system to educate the children, their more likely to settle with passing the child to the next grade to meet a quota all to receive a pay check that isn’t worth the position at hand. The job that educators have to take on I feel that they are definitely underpaid, and for that reason money can’t be the reason why they still come back day after day to teach. In realizing this sacrifice, similar to parents, I develop honor and respect for teachers which help to connect more and add more worth to the learning environment. Sociology is understanding a social structure, or education, and manipulating it for the good of humanity.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Work Ethic of a School Student...
As an individual develops through the stages of infancy to adulthood, a personality is created, shaped, and molded through whom an individual allows themselves to become influenced by Majority of this influence and building of character role is a important role that parents are responsible for. Not all people are going to take an influence from somebody and run with it, whether it is positive or negative. A big area where influence is needed and most times wanted is in the area of work ethic. A person’s work ethic will take them as far as the amount of work they apply, which means to go far you must work hard. This idea that I crystallized works in every area of work that one is involved in be it a job, school, sports team etc… In the classroom, which is where I want to focus on, many students receive the influence to work hard either by their parents, teachers, and friends or possibly all of the above. The students with the most influence about how to do things the right way is more likely to have a good work ethic than students with not as much guidance.
In my sociology class, we viewed a film on American education in comparison to Japanese 
education and the difference between the two in other terms is similar to the upper class status vices the lower class status. One major difference in the overall success in the Japanese education is the work ethic that these students learn to have. Work ethic is basically shoved down their throats so much that it initially became an instinct. The parents play an important role in their child’s education as well as the school. A classroom of students dressed professionally in uniforms at a young age, with majority of their time occupied in school and little or no time for freedom to enjoy the things that a kid would do. "Japanese students spend at least six weeks longer in school each year than their American counterparts, since summer vacations in Japan last only half the time of most summer breaks in the U.S. (Benjamin Japanese Lessons)" Starting this trend early in their lives had them ready to enter in the work field right out of High School with a yearly salary in white collar positions rather than a weekly wage from blue collar hard labor jobs.
education and the difference between the two in other terms is similar to the upper class status vices the lower class status. One major difference in the overall success in the Japanese education is the work ethic that these students learn to have. Work ethic is basically shoved down their throats so much that it initially became an instinct. The parents play an important role in their child’s education as well as the school. A classroom of students dressed professionally in uniforms at a young age, with majority of their time occupied in school and little or no time for freedom to enjoy the things that a kid would do. "Japanese students spend at least six weeks longer in school each year than their American counterparts, since summer vacations in Japan last only half the time of most summer breaks in the U.S. (Benjamin Japanese Lessons)" Starting this trend early in their lives had them ready to enter in the work field right out of High School with a yearly salary in white collar positions rather than a weekly wage from blue collar hard labor jobs.
In America, the focus on school is mostly on getting together with peers and having a social gathering. This however is enhanced by teachers and staff with many social events that take away from the curriculum atmosphere. Friday Night Lights, Homecoming game and dance, Prom Night, basketball games, Frat parties, and even school assemblies is like water to many seeds that grow up with thinking and accepting that school is a place to have fun and that learning is like thorns to their growth. One important factor in Japanese development that lead to success was the help aid of the parents enforcing the importance of an education with their child. Also establishing that this is a time for strictly business and no funny business. Well in America, the economy is so torn that the parents aren’t focused on the child as much as they are trying to find means necessary to provide for the child. It’s an expectation that if I, as a parent, send my child to class that it’s the responsibility of him or her and the teacher to make sure that they receive what they are sent for. Other factors like house-hold duties, after school jobs, peer pressure, and not enough self-esteem to step out on what is really right to achieve what they came for and ultimately to learn something. I as a student challenge myself to make sure that each day I come home from school learning something new to the extent that I can, in my own words, discuss and teach it to someone else. It’s a part of my work ethic that I am taught to have. As far as the country goes, is the mayhem of the society to blame for the outcome of our low-educational successes? Is it the families fault for not installing proper guidance into the matriculating brains of their children? What do you think? Work Cited
Benjamin, Gail. JAPANESE LESSONS: A YEAR IN A JAPANESE SCHOOL THROUGH THE EYES OF AN AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST AND HER CHILDREN. New York: New York University Press, 1998. ED 415 153. http://www.mext.go.jp/english/.
"Japanese education." The Asian Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. Web. 28 Apr 2010.
"Pep rally." 1060 west. Web. 28 Apr 2010. http://1060west.blogspot.com/2007_01_01_archive.html.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Education, the family, and the individual..
Of course every individual comes to school to receive a piece of paper as the stepping stone to get over their obstacle and ultimately retrieve a good managing job. What people don’t understand is that without additional skills that employers look for in a position, you stand equivalent to the millions of others with the same, if not more prestigious, college degree and like a simple speech presentation you have no attention grabber. And as I look into the school classroom the background profile is various around the chart implying that the learning styles of each individual is probably different is some way. When studying sociology, family, education, economy, religion, and government make up the five social institutions that society functions through. Of these five, with the absence of the smallest yet most significant institution, the entire society would break down and that is the family. From past to present, our economic structure has advanced from agricultural, industrial, post-industrial, now to a more technological type of industry which requires more education now than ever before. Parents didn’t need an education for agriculture when they only needed to know how to farm and crop, but those times have past and the present and future industries to come require a degree. As the times change, many children are brought up into this era of technology and the prime distributor of information, the parents; don’t even have a high school degree. Race and ethnicity places a roll in this under education of families since we understand that the occurrence of today is the product of the things that took place in the past. For example, many African Americans didn’t always have access to schooling and was denied a proper education. “The basic assumption of the Sociology of Knowledge is that what a person knows is determined by the society of which he is a part. More specifically, the location of the individual within a certain society will determine his knowledge. Some theorists have argued that the word determined should be replaced by the word influence. (Lander 117)” If you take a look overseas to Japanese families that put importance in family and education, when a Japanese student graduates high school he or she can come to America and possess every skill necessary to start a 6-Figure and up position; skills that make these individuals over qualified for fast food restaurants like McDonalds, Burger King etc… These are two different background approaches to education and outcomes vary. However, every single person in spite the color of their skin possesses something within that the other does not have and this is a unique trait that each person should construct and build upon to identify oneself and at the same time take education seriously. “The differentness of race, moreover, is no evidence of superiority or inferiority. This merely indicates that each race has certain gifts which the others do not possess. It is by the development of these gifts that every race must justify its right to exist. (Woodson 8)” As stated in the book “The Mis-Education of The Negro,” the color of one’s skin does not and should not determine powerful vices the powerlessness. Knowledge, self-education, and development on individual gifts create a superior being. The first hump of getting to where you need to be is the high school diploma and college degree. It’s not enforced in schooling but the option of community service is mentioned. Some schools even make community service mandatory because they know how pertinent it is to a growing intellect to provide a service to the community while making it a learning experience at the same time. Many students who attend school with the vague ideas about what they want in the future can definitely benefit from community service activities. Dr. Woodson quotes that “history shows that it does not matter who is in power… those who have not learned to do for themselves and have to depend solely on others never obtain any more rights or privileges in the end than they did in the beginning.”
Work Cited
Woodson, Cater G. The Mis-Education of The Negro. First Edition. Chicago, Illinois: African AMerican Images, 1993. Print.
Ladner, Joyce A. The Death of White Sociology. First Edition. Baltimore, Maryland: Black Classic Press, 1973. Print.
Work Cited
Woodson, Cater G. The Mis-Education of The Negro. First Edition. Chicago, Illinois: African AMerican Images, 1993. Print.
Ladner, Joyce A. The Death of White Sociology. First Edition. Baltimore, Maryland: Black Classic Press, 1973. Print.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Intro: Education!
Education is a very pertinent aspect of life that is needed in society to pursue the things in life that we desire to do. I'll be using this cite to discuss some issues and bring light to problems that we as Americans let walk unanswered in darkness.
In todays society to attain a suitable career in the work field, it is almost impossible to do so with the absence of a college degree, especially in America. But not all students are able to commit to college.
Many college-worth students are either accepted or denied access to college enrollment for particular reasons pertaining to individual, societal, and parental evidence. Individual factors that are studied range from race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, culture, family, community, and other categorizes. “At the individual level, researchers study race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, culture, family, community, student status, peers and geography. Organizational factors are those that cause schools to produce environments supporting college attendance. Studies in this category examine high school policies and procedures, curricula, the influence of high school counselors and teachers, and availability and quality of outreach programs. Finally, field level studies explore the sociopolitical climate and include such items as federal and state level policies around financial aid, affirmative action, and accountability. These studies also look at how the media, professional organizations and public and private institutions influence one another and in turn, student behavior(Vance)." Socioeconomic status covers the income and education that a student’s parent receives, which sociologically affects the student credibility to attend the college of their choosing or college at all. A parent who has been to college probably has a good providing job which better assists a child in enrolling in college besides a family whose education and pay grade isn’t as high. A parent also affects the ability to be influenced with wanting to learn, discussing college options, or even career goals. The more discreet and specific a student’s ambitions, priorities, and career goals are the more productive he will be when entering into his field of work. Where as a student who goes to college for the experience or to be social have a hard time coping with the academic aspect of the college life. There are even circumstances where a senior at high school who probably knows little or no information at all on college life, is influenced majorly by his or her high school counselor either to further education at either a 4-year college or a junior college depending on his or her grades and work ethic as well as the work ethic the student would need to succeed at a prestigious level of academic standards. In saying this, American education still is blown out of the water when compared to the abroad educational institutions such as Japan. In a way, I understand that guiding these students based on prior grade averages is a good assumption as to how he would cope in a university, private, or community college, however I feel that every student should at least be directed in the path they would like to go down or further encouraging them to improve their standards because everyone wants to get a job and I’m sure by now as our economy is being tossed into a recycling bin, “the new normal,” each student is aware that to attain a American job or position, a degree must be attained. So that should be the foundation and we grow from their encouraging and rather building programs that change and better the mind-set of thinking of an individual to make them more productive in college, and while killing two birds with one stone, creating more job opportunities which is a chief priority. Education is the sole cheif priority in this society and i want to go further into details and discover why the American education system is taken so lightly when it is drastically needed to be hired at that 6-figure job that allows a person to provide for themselves without struggling. Without college, how will you survive in America? McDonald’s?
Vance, Noelle. "Inequality & Access to Higher Education." Inequality & Access to Higher Education -- Research Starters
Sociology (2009): 1. Research Starters - Sociology. EBSCO. Web. 18 Mar. 2010.
In todays society to attain a suitable career in the work field, it is almost impossible to do so with the absence of a college degree, especially in America. But not all students are able to commit to college.
Many college-worth students are either accepted or denied access to college enrollment for particular reasons pertaining to individual, societal, and parental evidence. Individual factors that are studied range from race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, culture, family, community, and other categorizes. “At the individual level, researchers study race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, culture, family, community, student status, peers and geography. Organizational factors are those that cause schools to produce environments supporting college attendance. Studies in this category examine high school policies and procedures, curricula, the influence of high school counselors and teachers, and availability and quality of outreach programs. Finally, field level studies explore the sociopolitical climate and include such items as federal and state level policies around financial aid, affirmative action, and accountability. These studies also look at how the media, professional organizations and public and private institutions influence one another and in turn, student behavior(Vance)." Socioeconomic status covers the income and education that a student’s parent receives, which sociologically affects the student credibility to attend the college of their choosing or college at all. A parent who has been to college probably has a good providing job which better assists a child in enrolling in college besides a family whose education and pay grade isn’t as high. A parent also affects the ability to be influenced with wanting to learn, discussing college options, or even career goals. The more discreet and specific a student’s ambitions, priorities, and career goals are the more productive he will be when entering into his field of work. Where as a student who goes to college for the experience or to be social have a hard time coping with the academic aspect of the college life. There are even circumstances where a senior at high school who probably knows little or no information at all on college life, is influenced majorly by his or her high school counselor either to further education at either a 4-year college or a junior college depending on his or her grades and work ethic as well as the work ethic the student would need to succeed at a prestigious level of academic standards. In saying this, American education still is blown out of the water when compared to the abroad educational institutions such as Japan. In a way, I understand that guiding these students based on prior grade averages is a good assumption as to how he would cope in a university, private, or community college, however I feel that every student should at least be directed in the path they would like to go down or further encouraging them to improve their standards because everyone wants to get a job and I’m sure by now as our economy is being tossed into a recycling bin, “the new normal,” each student is aware that to attain a American job or position, a degree must be attained. So that should be the foundation and we grow from their encouraging and rather building programs that change and better the mind-set of thinking of an individual to make them more productive in college, and while killing two birds with one stone, creating more job opportunities which is a chief priority. Education is the sole cheif priority in this society and i want to go further into details and discover why the American education system is taken so lightly when it is drastically needed to be hired at that 6-figure job that allows a person to provide for themselves without struggling. Without college, how will you survive in America? McDonald’s?
Vance, Noelle. "Inequality & Access to Higher Education." Inequality & Access to Higher Education -- Research Starters
Sociology (2009): 1. Research Starters - Sociology. EBSCO. Web. 18 Mar. 2010.
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