Bias, skewed information, and more bias

I would first like to start off my blog by saying how outraged I am at the media for spreading such bias and for skewing the information and statistics just to benefit them. However, I am not surprised. There were quite a few things in the two chapters that I found to be very interesting and equally disturbing. The first thing that I found quite confusing was a quote on page 126 which stated that “experts have identified a 1990’s demographic scapegoat for America’s pandemic violent crime: our own kids. A mushrooming media scare campaign about the coming ‘storm’ of ‘teenage violence’ waged by liberal and conservative politicians and experts alike is in full roar”.
I found this very interesting. Why is it that the liberal and conservative politicians seem to only be able to come together and work towards the same goal when it is something so sinister? My second question to this quote is why is it that our society feels that it always needs a scapegoat? Why can’t we just see what the root of the problems are and work together to fix them rather than merely blaming one group for the problems? Another quote that I found on page 127 is one that I really liked and agreed with. It stated that “there is no such thing as ‘youth violence,’ any more than there is ‘black violence’ or ‘Italian violence’. The recent rise in violent crime arrests among youths is so clearly founded in social conditions, not age-group demographics, that experts and officials have had to strain mightily to ignore or downplay them.”
Although I found many more interesting points within the two chapters I am only going to mention one more thing that I found to be extremely disturbing. When I read the comparison on page 134 of the murder of JonBenet Ramsey vs. the murder of the nine year old African-American child labeled as Girl X, I immediately felt a feeling of disgust wash over my entire being. How is it that the media put one child’s demise at the center of our focus nationally for long periods of time, but they don’t even report the other child’s demise. How can the media and the news in this country continue to be so biased and just pick and choose the stories that they feel will get the highest ratings. Girl X’s life was just as valuable as JonBenet’s and both lives ended prematurely and tragically. Why is it not seen that way within the media. Where are their ethics, and how can we as the American people do something to make sure that this type of neglect of one group over another group will not be continued. I do realize that there is only so much time in the day for the news to be reported but these types of biased reports go on everyday in various different ways. People with wealth in this country are treated better than people without wealth. But I personally think that basing the news on something like someone’s socioeconomic status or racial background is a misleading and irresponsible way to report the news.

Adolescence as a social construct and understanding Puberty

I found a lot of interesting points within the reading assigned. First, I found one quote on page 17 of the text to be extremely insightful. The quote states that "to say that adolescence is a social and cultural construction is to recognize, first of all, that adolescence meant something very different in the past and that it may mean something very different in the future". As a future history, geography, sociology or psychology teacher, this point was very significant to me. I had actually never thought of adolescence as a social construct until I read this portion of the text. However, it makes a lot of sense. Another quote that goes along with the afore-mentioned one is on page 16 and states that "the meaning of adolescence is different in different cultures and at different historical moments". This ties into all of the social studies fields that I am wanting to teach. Different cultures (sociology) in different areas of the world (geography) at different points of history (history) think of adolescence in different ways (psychology). I never would have thought that the concept of adolescence could encompass this many different fields of study but it definitely does and I definitely found it to be a social construct after reading this portion of the text.
What I found most interesting in chapter 2 was that parents seem to be very hesitant to talk to their kids about puberty. Puberty is a natural part of life that everyone has to go through at some point so it causes me to wonder why it makes parents and other adults so uncomfortable. I came to the conclusion that maybe the parents that feel the most uncomfortable talking about puberty with their kids, didn't have a parent talk to them when they were going through puberty. They may not know how to go about it. This conclusion is shown from page 40 where it states that "the fact that many adults were unprepared for puberty and did not discuss it with their parents may add to their discomfort". (This was in the context of an explanation as to why parents may find it hard to talk to their kids about puberty) This means that in today's society it is really important and necessary for parents to make an effort to talk to their kids about it, and hopefully their kids will feel comfortable talking to their kids about it someday. I also found it interesting that on page 29 the author stated that "even educational materials reflect society's ambivalence toward puberty. Much more explicit information is given to teenagers in many Western European countries than in the United States." This makes me wonder why it is that we are sheltering our kids in this country more than kids are in other countries. Does this hurt our kids in their understanding and coping of puberty or does it not have any impact at all. I don't know the answer to this but it would be interesting to do a study and see what the results say.

Kumashiro Article

I found there to be many great points within Kumashiro’s article, but also some weaknesses. My point of view comes from the fact that I was one of these students that Kumashiro refers to as “other”. I am Honduran (Latina) and Native American, and I constantly felt isolated throughout all my primary and secondary education. I remember when Thanksgiving would come around and the teacher would make us dress up as pilgrims and natives. The story did not include, however, that there was a genocide of Native peoples following Columbus’ voyage and landing in the western hemisphere which made the population today so small. This lack of education made it very hard for me to relate to any of my classmates, and it made me feel like the teacher did not have a good grasp for how her minority students felt. Now, granted, I was one of the only minorities in the schools I attended but in my opinion it is as important to make 95% of the student body feel at ease at school as it is for the other 5%.

I found that the avoidance or sugar coating of topics in my history classes about Native peoples, slavery, etc. made it a biased form of history and therefore not reliable. I therefore agree with Kumashiro when he was quoted as saying that “sometimes, however, the harm results from inactions by educators, administrators, and politicians”. (Page 26-27) This is also something I will address when teaching my own classroom. I am going to make it a point to educate all my students on various aspects of history about various groups of people. This will allow all students to feel included, but will also allow a lot more knowledge to be learned. This will prepare the students on working and living with and around people of different backgrounds than themselves in a healthy way.

One of the things I found troublesome in the article however was the fact that all these good ideas were brought up, but it seemed as though as quickly as they were brought up they were shot down. I found that a lot of the ideas would be able to be incorporated into the classroom without there being so many negative things coming from it. It is just important to use the time, which isn’t much, wisely and efficiently and to make sure that no individual is feeling like they are being ignored or left out. This could easily be assessed by asking the students at the beginning of the semester to look through the syllabus and then the text and pick one theme or topic that they would most like to learn about. This way, each child feels as though they have gotten individual attention, that they have been included, and that their opinion is important. It is then important as the teacher to make sure that their choice of topic is not left out or given more or less time than the topics given by other students. This would help promote anti-oppressive education.