Reality

The three articles (The Futile Pursuit of Happiness, Why Women Smile, and Against Love) that we discussed in class today all shared the common purpose of exposing things for what they really are. Each of these articles looked at things for their actual value, stripped of all the ideas and images that people/society tend to wrap them with. Marriage, happiness, and society’s expectation for women to always present a smiling face are really not the nice things that we’re taught they are. Happiness never lasts, being stuck with one person till death do you part is not eternally romantic, and expecting women to hide their true emotions behind a submissive smile seems sick and sadistic. These things are what they are because of the ideas, expectations and emotions that we attach to them. The articles we discussed presented these things with the ideas that society attaches to them removed.

Seeing things for what they are can be unsettling because it causes us to question and reexamine our beliefs and ideas about these things. Admittedly these illusions serve to make the world seem like a prettier place and keep people moving the right direction (but whose direction is the “right” direction? Are they perhaps a tool for social control?).

What do you think? Do the ideas we associate with certain things enhance life? Or do they just serve to numb reality?

Peer-reviewing, eh?

First of, my sincerest apologies about the late post. Apparently I did not correctly submit this...

If I have counted correctly, this Tuesday was the third time we did peer-reviews in class. Personally I find that this seems to be helping me a lot. My peers usually point out awkwardly phrased sentences (I swear they look fine to me...) and arguments that I need to explain to a greater extent.
Yesterday, one of my peers asked me to define the word 'crux'. Here's what the dictionary says:

crux (krks, krks)
n. pl. crux·es or cru·ces (krsz)
1. The basic, central, or critical point or feature: the crux of the matter; the crux of an argument.
2. A puzzling or apparently insoluble problem.

Me being from a different country I automatically assume that each and every classmate that grew up in a english speaking country will know more words than me.
This simple example is something that I learned through the peer-reviews: don't just assume your audience knows everything, make sure to explain it thoroughly.

In which way has the peer-reviewing helped you? What did you folks learn?

Beacon Heights round 2

Sorry this post is sort of late I just barely figured out how to do this. Anyway, the other day we returned to Beacon Heights to speak with our kids about the book Three Cups of Tea. I love going to this school for so many reasons but one of this biggest is obviously my buddy, Anthony. Anthony is impressive. I don't know how many people were impressed by their kid but I was seriously taken back by some of the things he was saying for his presentation. After asking what he thought the book's meaning was, and what he thought were the most important ideas, Anthony's responses were fantastic.
Points that I had to dig up in the back of my mind were coming out like crazy! The kid knew exactly what he was talking about. Ideas like realizing what you have in front of you, helping others, etc but also why they are important. I did not even have to explain what the theme meant, he just kept going. Though he was a little anxious to do something else, Anthony wrote down a wonderful presentation and we discussed the book more after that. His main idea in his presentation was knowing that he, his classmates, and basically everyone he knows has more than they need. Others obviously don't have what he and his peers consider basic necessity.
The main thing he and I talked about was education. The children in this book, across the world in third world countries, etc do not have even a little bit of what he has. Anthony fully grasps that he is incredibly fortunate and I found this to be really impressive. Most children would say "School sucks" etc, but he seems to cherish the fact that he is in a great community, with great parents, and will continue to receive great education. I love the fact that he is grateful for what he has at such a young age. So thank you Leslie and Barb, Anthony, and all of the kids. I loved this school, my buddy, and learning with him as well.
-Pete

Selflessness

While I was not able to attend the presentation at BYU, I have have been thinking about Greg Mortenson, the Pennies for Peace program and altruism in general. Some people, like Mortenson, can dedicate there lives to helping others or trying to make a better world. What makes these people different? Is there something different about thier personalities, upbringing, cercumstance, or are most people able to rise to similar (in intent, if not scale) levels of selflessness if given enough motivation, or seeing a great enough plite first hand?

Greg Mortenson

According to my calendar It's my turn to do the post for the blog. I want to begin by saying that I didn't go to the Greg Mortenson event at BYU mainly because I was late and the bus had left by then. I went back home and at about 11:45 It accurred to me that maybe I could watch him on TV and there he was on channel 11. From what I saw I believe he is a very inspiring person, I only got to see the part were he tells students that faculty are always there to help you and that education is good. then the lady got up and started praying and all that. He was wearing a suit and a red tie if you don't believe me a saw him on TV. I read the book so I suppose he talked about the schools in pakistan and he showed you guys some pictures. So, since I missed most of the show all I can do is ask the people who went there, what was your favorite part? did you learn anything? Did he inspire you to help out people in need a little bit more? As for me when I read the book I realized that there are always people who are willing to lend a hand when you need help and that people will try to help you anyway they can no matter how hard it is, like in Greg's case, he needed help to build the school and he got it and the people of korphe asked him for help to build a new school and he helped them out.

Beacon Heights Book club

When I saw Chloe, my first impression was that she was prepared and ready to go with her copy of the book and notebook in hand. Initially, she was not willing to talk and when I asked her a question she would reply with a 'mmm' or 'umm'. Eventually. I coaxed and encouraged her to talk and get more involved in the discussion. This took some time but she started to open up and talk . I assumed that she was perhaps too shy to talk.
I asked her what part of the story was her favorite and she said that her favorite part was when Greg Mortenson married Tara Bishop just after ten days of knowing her. This was her favorite because she thought that it is strange to marry someone after ten days of meeting the person. To me, that is an interesting perspective from a nine year old girl. We both learnt about generosity, perseverance and sacrifice. I helped her write her statement based on our discussion and views gathered. The book helped her realize how privileged she was to have an education and also understand the needs of other less privileged people. The book club was beneficial because I got to share ideas with my buddy and see her point of view on the book.
I guess others had similar or different experiences with their buddies. What was your experience and did you learn something new?

Pop Press

Pop press articles seem to have become a mockery in our class. We can easily bash Newsweek and Parade for a few extra brownie points with Barb and Leslie, and nod our heads whenever a peer reviewed journal is mentioned. But before this class, I loved pop press. I still do, actually. I’m easily sold on the glossy covers and artistic layouts of the articles, and I automatically flip to pieces with sensationalized titles like “The Boy Crisis” or “Working Out Can Make You Fat” (both of which were Newsweek covers). So when we seemed to discover the “un-truth” of pop press, I wondered not if, but how much, I had been told faulty information in all of those articles I’d read before. This leads me to an uncomfortable situation. I want to be accurately informed on issues in our society, but reading pop press is the only outlet I am comfortable with to find information. Because to be honest, going onto GriffinSearch or Google Scholar to see what’s going on in the world would be ridiculous. Instead, I think the only healthy way for me to continue being informed is to keep reading TIME and Newsweek. Double checking the facts pop press articles present by researching the actual studies they cite is a good safety net to make sure they aren’t horribly skewing the facts, but it doesn’t always seem plausible (mostly because I want to have a life). So my question is, how do you guys stay informed? Do you read pop press like me? Or do you browse through peer reviewed journals in your spare time? Have you found an in-between?

Education Articles

Today in class we talked about we talked about two articles, “The Boy Crisis” and “The Truth About Boys and Girls”. These articles took very different stances on the topic of boys’ education in schools. One article, “The Boy Crisis”, stated that boys were falling drastically behind girls in education while the other article went against this argument by stating that boys are actually progressing in education, just at a slower rate than girls.
I read “The Boy Crisis” article first and was quick to agree with everything that was said. This is a popular topic and I agreed with everything the article discussed. I thought, “Yes. We really do need to change the school systems to benefit boys and stop this decline in their education.” Upon reading the other article “The Truth About Boys and Girls”, however, I realized that I had never stopped to question the facts that Newsweek provided. Where was any concrete evidence that this decline in boy’s education was actually happening? I was convinced after reading the second article that this new “crisis” is not actually a crisis at all. There are many underlying issues such as race and economic status that far outweigh gender difference in importance. Many people, boys included, would benefit far more from closing racial and economic gaps rather than gender gaps.
It was interesting to me to see these two different articles that were so directly opposed to each other. Each one was very convincing in its argument, but I was surprised to find out how much data the Newsweek article chose not to report. I guess from now on I will learn to question these articles instead of blindly believing.

Beacon Heights

I want to start this post by saying that I am sorry it is a late post. I couldn't remember if it was my week, and then I didn't know exactly what to write about since we didn't have a normal class discussion on Tuesday.

As I talked with different people there were a variety of emotions from nervous to excitement. I think we were all unsure of what to expect. I can say that any idea of what I was expecting Beacon to be like, was not accurate. Driving up I didn't even think that it was an elementary school; it was more like a beautiful mansion of learning. The contemporary style was really appealing to me, I think the creativity helps children learn. It wasn't until we were waiting outside of the classroom with one shoe on that I started to get nervous.
My buddy was a girl and one of the first things she said to me was that she was from South Korea, which to me was very intriguing. I love kids and I love traveling, so I was ready to brainstorm. It never even crossed my mind that there might be a bit of a language barrier, or that she might not have had any idea of what I was saying. She was very polite and would smile and say "yeah" or "no" to most everything I said. It wasn't until we were about to leave that I realized maybe she didn't understand everything I was saying, but I think that's ok. I later found out that she has only been in the States for about a year, and that was very surprising to me. Her English was great, reminding me of our Development chapter in Psychology and how young children have a language device that, I think, is still used when you are a growing child to learn new languages quicker than an adult might. It was a learning experience for me, I was excited to get a kid genius and see what they were thinking, now I'm excited to see how my very own language genius is going to interoperate the book and I might even get to help her read it some, which I think in its self is a privilege.

On Tuesday 8th, we talked about our new assignment. The assignment was to write an essay based on a specific personal event, memory, or experience that could deliver a substantial amount of introspection on us.

Back in my dorm room, I though: "What exactly is introspection to me and how can it help me portray an event in my life?" With this question, I started thinking what introspection really meant to me.

During that Tuesday, I heard some of my fellow classmates state that introspection was "a way to see your true self", or a "way to analyze how you feel". However, all these answers to me did not make sense. Even though I understood them, I would have counter-argued that introspection cannot mean that because one could equally state how one feels without even describing either emotions or actions in the event itself.

So, when I got to my dorm, I looked the word up in the dictionary. The meaning was “the examination or observation of one’s own mental and emotional process (Macintosh dictionary)”. However, I still felt that, even though it was accurate, it could expand even more. I dwelled on this image of the real meaning (to me of course, not necessarily to others) of the word introspection and how I could come to comprehend it in order to write my personal essay. I remembered how Barbara stated "introspection was not necessarily an old memory that one reflected in the present", as long as it was in the past (i.e. an hour ago) it could be introspective. When I remembered this, I agreed with it until I questioned; "what if I want to reflect about how I feel in the future, even if it’s unknown?" I believed that if introspection were something of the past, then the word would only identify with events that have already occurred. But, are not the mistakes or experiences of the past a way to foreshadow or prepare for the future? Is not introspection part of the future and present as well?

With this said, I came to a moderate conclusion (moderate because I still haven’t figured out how to integrate the fact that the future counts too) about the word by my own knowledge and the dictionaries:

·

• My definition…or at least what I added to the dictionaries definition: It is the collection of self-knowledge over time that lets us compare and contrast our present state with our past state.

It is very probable that a lot of you will disagree, but that is why I decided to post this up, to understand the concept the best I can.

Community

Today in class we talked a lot about community and neighborhoods. Which made me think. What does community mean to me? When I used to think of community I didn't really relate it to myself. Maybe because of the generic definition of community, but that isn't what I think community is. Community is made up of experiences. I'm still trying to understand what community means to me, but here's what I've got ... Community is saying hi to everyone of my neighbors, community is my responsibility to the kids that live across the street, and right next door, it is recognizing what needs to be done in the area you live and not just allowing someone else to do or just ignoring it. when the neighbor walks over to grab a beer with my parents or when the whole neighborhood is out helping with a project to build a ramp or box. When I walk out to play basketball and know I'm not going to be shooting alone. When people want to catch up on what's new cause I haven't been out in a while. When I hear about some younger neighbors spray painting the bench cause they think it's cool. A community to me is a group of people who care about each other and are willing to help one another out. I think community isn't just the neighborhood, I think it goes a lot deeper than that. I hope that one day I will be able to expand mine a lot further. I hope that my community will expand so it does't just include my house or street, or even my town or city but maybe one day the world. I don't know if I have done my share in the community I sure want to give it a try.

What motivates you to learn?

What motivates you to learn?

When asked this question a few months ago, I would have answered back with the popular response that I’m sure most of you can agree with: I’m learning now so I can achieve something better in the future. We are all programmed, beginning in our grade school years, to look ahead and plan accordingly. In elementary school we plan for junior high. In junior high we plan for high school. In high school we plan for college, and in college we plan for the “real world”. Well I must say, I have now reached college, and for the first time in my life something has occurred to me: the “real world” already exists. So what do I plan for now?

Through much of our schooling years, we are simply motivated by the ever-present notion that success in school results in success in life. We are led to believe that good grades in high school means acceptance to a more prestige college; a prestigious college means a better education and more meaningful degree; a more meaningful degree results in a better career; a good career means more money; and more money means more happiness. But my question for you is what ever happened to learning for learning’s sake?

As previously stated, I used to agree completely with learning now as a means to achieve success later in life, however, the readings discussed in class today have caused a drastic change in how I view the motivation behind my learning. Lucky for me, this new motivation is something I can carry out of the classroom into this “real world” which already exists. The key to achieving such sought after success later down the road does not lie in meeting set requirements and passing classes, but in each moment leading up to the completion of these requirements and/or classes. Simply put, our success is happening now, not later in life.

Yes, the knowledge we gain now furthers our success later, but if success is essentially achieving happiness, how can one say that success has not already been achieved or is being achieved each and every day? Our success or overall happiness with life does not lie in our end goal of graduating college and making something of ourselves, but in the journey that leads us there. Our success and happiness is happening now and we need to take a moment to just enjoy the ride.

Enjoying what your learning today regardless of what it may bring you years from now will likely cause a noticeable change in your motivation as it did for me. When you replace the want to succeed later with a realization that you are succeeding already, you will begin to learn for learning’s sake; you will begin to learn for your own sake. When we become able to answer why we will learn, the idea of what we will learn becomes much less important as we come to realize that all the rewards are received throughout the journey and not as one prize as we cross the finish line.

So ask me again what my motivation is for learning?

I learn for current success. I learn for learning’s sake. I learn for happiness. But most of all, I learn for myself. If I do not value learning for my own sake, who ever will?

Banking concept thoughts

In my reading and while discussing in class i thought that the banking concept was the most interesting. When it talks about how the teachers cram information into us and then test us on it, a lot of the blame was put on the teachers instead rather than the system itself. I believe the true cause to be grades and standards. In order for us to meet the standards and get good grades we have put ourselves into the banking concept. Teachers teach whats going to be on the test and students cram in what they have to in order to pass the test and move on. When you are worried about getting an "A" in a class it is hard to think for yourself, to think abstract, or to discover on your own. That is why i believe students do not learn the significance of what they are learning. What if we did not have grades? Is there any other way to judge a students ability?

The Landscape of an Educated Person

Because the title of our Learning Community is Landscapes of the Self, it might be nice to begin this blog by looking at the self through an educational landscape. During the first two classes we will discuss this notion of education from the lens of composition as well as psychology. Also relevant to the conversation is personal story and experience. Because we are gathered as a community of learners, it is often valuable to look back at the shape of our education as we move forward into this college journey.

Entering freshman find themselves in a similar Janus-figure position. Every time we begin a new part of our lives, we quite naturally pause for a moment to look back. And then we look forward, peering into the landscape up ahead, trying to get some sense of the future.

While arriving at college with these opposing perspectives might make you feel slightly off balance, the college acutally tries to bridge this gap, by attempting to understand the past in order to shape the guture. The bridge beween past and future is an ongoing search for knowledge. Kenneth Burke, a modern philosopher, describes the search for knowledge as a conversation.

Welcome to the conversation. When entering the conversation try to understand and explore the various positions and relationships between the self, writing, and pyschology. What does the landscape of your education look like? In what ways do you envision Westminster College will shape it?

Posted by Leslie