Politics on Campus: How A College Club Talked About Politics

Sorry about the lack of updates, due to school. I'm having a great time, save for all the work. Speaking of work, this post is an ethnography I did for my Cultural Anthropology class which explored a club on campus's efforts to promote their political value and the contexts in which they did so. Without further ado, Enjoy!


Political activism has a special place in the hearts of American college campuses. Campuses often possess a young politically aware population, some of which band together based on common political values and create clubs. These clubs exist to help further the agenda of their designated affiliation. Nina Eliasoph, in her book Avoiding Politics, questions how much politically based conversation actually takes place surrounding groups that form around a set of motives. These motives then reflect themselves into politics. Susquehanna’s student group, the SU Democrats (SU Dems for short), operated in a free market-like system in which they had to remain mindful of the amount of support they could receive from the same body that funded other campus groups. This created a need for a different approach towards discussing politics. Existing in a closed community brought along a number of circumstances Elisaoph, in her otherwise brilliant account, didn’t get a chance to explore.

For this study, I attended five meetings from September to November, each lasting about forty-five minutes. I participated with the ‘Public Relations’ committee of the group that dealt with organizing how the group came into contact with the rest of the student body. I also participated in the various brainstorm sessions that semi-regularly took place.

The notion of a public sphere is important for understanding how the SU Dems came into contact with politics. Eliasoph’s definition of it is as follows:

“The public sphere is, theoretically, defined as the realm of institutions in which private citizens can carry on free and egalitarian conversation, often about issues of common concern, possibly welding themselves into a cohesive body and a potent political force. It is not just a closed, hierarchical workplace and not just family but is a third setting for conversation with three main characteristics: participation is optional, potentially open to all, and potentially egalitarian.”

[Eliasoph 1998:11]
Public spheres are forums in which people can discuss social issues that they feel are important to them and create a dialogue that can engage them in a larger scale of politics. Everyone in the community has access to it at anytime and, ideally, there is no power structure. Without it, Eliasoph argues, “democratic citizenship is impossible: there are no contexts to generate … relations to the wider world that democracy demands” [Eliasoph 1998:11].

Because the SU Dems is a group with a clear political identity, the first circumstance I looked into was how they either helped to foster a public sphere or muffle it. One method they used to create a public sphere was a large display they called the healthcare wall. Healthcare has been a pressing issue in US politics, and so the SU Dems set out to create a large poster that attempted to ‘clarify’ what they felt were myths put out by the political right. In addition to that goal, a significant portion of the poster was left blank with markers beside it to encourage students and faculty to chime in with their views on healthcare. By doing this, they effectively had people enter into a conversation (however anonymous it may have been) with each other over which no one had control. Eventually, the conversation turned into a debate with many sides protecting their own thoughts while pointing out what they felt were follies in others. Even if people didn’t put up their own opinions on the board, the public record of the conversation was still on display for all to read and consider.

However, the board was not without its problems. While people largely took advantage of the situation and used it as it was intended, some comments simply insulted those they disagreed with. I saw this as a potentially chronic complication of public dialogues; not all members of the community will view a conversation or even a debate as a critical thing that must be held. However, they can’t be effectively ostracized, especially in an anonymous environment. The best the SU Dems could do was press on and hope it didn’t happen very often. Though, those comments on the board showed that as a group, they didn’t prevent any measure of the student body from expressing itself – an impression I believe would help prove a measure of worth.

As the SU Dems actively created dialogue, they accidentally ended up stifling it among members, which happens to be the second consequence of the environment the group existed in. It wasn’t in the way they asked their members what they thought about a particular plan or idea; they did plenty of that. It was more in the manner of expectations. After a few meeting or so, I began to see how it was assumed that by being at the meeting, everyone present was already on the same political page. This assumption then meant that there was no need for discussing our own personal politics. No discussion meant no public sphere. No public sphere meant that our individual ideas were not challenged or developed.

Yet, it is comprehensible why things were like this internally. The proper goal of the group was to focus on affecting the political conversation of the campus as a whole, not the conversation between the twenty of us. Time had to be allocated towards accomplishing that goal and moving against the SU Republicans, who have been constructed as the opposition. There was also a need to make efforts clearly visible to the community at large to indicate that the group was being active; improving the political understanding of the members didn’t hold many opportunities for showing off.
The third element I noticed was the way the group had two different patterns when discussing issues publicly and internally. This relates to Eliasoph’s theory of the front and backstage behaviors of groups. For the volunteer groups Eliasoph was studying, they “created ‘front stage’ group contexts that made publicly minded conversation seem out of place and discouraging” (Eliasoph 1998:24). When members were not in a group, in their backstage dialogue they recognized that there was a problem with what they said front stage and spoke with politics un-divorced from the issues they aimed to fix (Eliasoph 1998:24).

The front and back stage concept changes for a group such as the SU Dems. Because they are rooted in politics, they can’t avoid speaking in that vein all together. Instead of the issue being how in the public eye, politics finds its way out of the conversation, it is how to go about publicly speaking about politics. As the group was designing flyers to compliment their work with the healthcare poster, a great deal of care was taken by the Public Relations committee (of which I was a part of) to select their words carefully. One member said that they were aiming to be a little snarky, while still being respectful. They were seeking the perfect balance between clearly stating their message and being aggressive towards dissenting students.

In open conversation within the group though, people were much less cautious about expressing their views. For example, during a discussion about the Republican student group’s kickoff movie night in which they were showcasing the movie “Gran Torino”, jokes went around about how they felt that was the best way to perpetuate the stereotype of the grumpy, old, Republican white male who doesn’t take kindly to minorities. One person even shouted out “Have fun with your racist movie night!” This was something that would have never been said out in the open air, but was more than okay to be said within the context of the group. There were no concerns about offending anyone backstage because everyone belonged to the same party and had the same rival. On a more public front stage, the rules of loyalty are gone and with it the protection it granted. You are much more liable to step on someone’s political toe and so treading lightly was a necessity.

As for the tension between being too forward and making themselves clear on the front stage, Eliasoph noticed a similar conflict in the activist group she studied.
“After about a year of meeting regularly, though, members began asking what was the relation between personal style and political ideas. The group explicitly discussed the conflict between looking respectable and expressing feelings, and tentatively decided that it was more important to ‘play the game’” [Eliasoph 1998:177].

The issue for the activists was how to be thought of as ‘respectable’ while discussing how they felt about their issues. The decision that ‘playing the game’ was of more importance meant that they saw how people had a number of expectations from groups like theirs. And in order to get what they want, they would have to do things to alter expectations. For example, as they went about figuring out a name for their group, they rejected names that would imply too much negativity and radical behavior or names that were ‘sappy’ [Eliasoph 1998: 177]. For the SU Dems, finding the balance between their extremes was playing the game; they had no third alternative to run to. Unlike the activists, if the SU Dems didn’t respect the values of all on campus, a higher authority could very likely stop them.

The SU Dems’ hierarchical structure is a fourth consequence of operating within the campus. Power was in many ways a clear top-down model. They had a president and numerous officers as most if not all the other groups did on campus. The times I had arrived early for the meetings, those in seats of power would already be inside the meeting space, discussing private business while those of us outside began to socialize. I also noticed how people reacted towards seating arrangements. When members came in for the meetings after the doors had been open, there were many who hesitated when they saw empty seats at the far end of the table. It was understood that the end of the table was where the officers and president sat and so no one wanted to cross a line of territory. Interestingly enough, there was never an incident in which any of us were actually told where we could and couldn’t sit; it was just an unspoken way of conduct. Had power been spread around, the hesitation people expressed when looking for a seat would likely not had existed.

The structure that was chosen for the group also helped to ensure things got done. As mentioned before, I was a part of the ‘Public Relations’ committee. During the second meeting I attended, everyone was asked to pick one of three committees to join (the remaining two was ‘Events’ and ‘Fundraising’) and focus their efforts within. Dividing the existing amount of manpower the group had was done in order to become more efficient with their time. Both the power issue and division of labor hint towards how the group was in many ways run like a business. The preference for this type of organization is a ramification of the school’s free-market. In order to stay alive the group has be active, and if the way their organization isn’t conductive to their goal, they’ll sink in the sea of other campus clubs.

After having studied in the SU Dems, I participated in a focus group, questioning a bunch of students and one faculty member to express their thoughts on how the school I did my research in lived up to their mission statement. The group made a clear dissention between the success of the academics and the extra- curricular (which would include the SU Dems). They said the extra-curricular clearly helped to prepare students for lives of achievement and leadership. And so, I asked about the free-market nature of the sea of campus groups and it was explained to me that such a system helped to ensure clubs followed the interests of the students at large. When people have lost the passion needed to keep a club alive, another that better fits the internal current replaces it. Basically the old give way to the new. This is the challenge for all campus clubs: how to remain relevant while at the same time retaining your collective values. The SU Dems merely shaped themselves in a way that does both – they fight for their right to exist (funding, members, etc) and push their political agenda. The resulting positive and negative effects on the discussions of politics in a closed system are never completely considered. Eliasoph was right to explore this matter – how people are able to relate to politics are important to understanding the development and sustainment of democracy, particularly within halls of academia.


Bibliography:

Eliasoph, Nina
1998 Avoiding Politics: How Americans Produce Apathy in Everyday Life. New York: Cambridge University Press.

What Does It Mean To Be Educated? - Allegory Of The Cave

Every year, Susquehanna has an university theme that their summer common reading is centered around. The theme that I've been so lucky to come into school with is "What does it mean to be educated". At Orientation, we were all handed an anthology that promised to explore "how we learn from formal and informal educational experiences".

One chapter of the book is Plato's Allegory of the Cave. It is a dialog between Socrates and Glaucon in which they discuss the duties one who has escaped the cave has to his fellow brothers still in chains. Take this quote in which Socrates tells of what should be the State's goal with those who pursue an education:

Then, I said, the business of us who are the founders of the State will be to compel the best minds to attain that knowledge which we have already shown to be the greatest of all - they must continue to ascend until they arrive at the good;but when they have ascended and seen enough we must not allow them do to as they do now.

What do you mean?

I meant that they remain in the upper world: but this must not be allowed; they must be made to descend again among the prisoners in the den, and partake of their labours and honours, whether they are worth having or not.

In short, Plato through Socrates is saying that yes, our leaders should and must encourage those that are after an education. That is needed. However, once they reach a certain point, they must then be made to serve the greater populous - those that remain in the cave, instead of completely leaving them behind.

There we have our first question: Those that become educated -whatever that may be-, should they be forced to partake in something that benefits everyone? Or should they be left to do as they wish?

I believe that more often than not, those that are clearly educated have a way of flocking to positions that have varying degrees of 'public service'-ness in the job description. Senators, presidents, judges, doctors, cancer researchers, teachers etc - of all of these, the best of the best have been awarded an education and it is their job to do what they can for the embitterment of everyone.

Of course, that is the general aim of such positions and I'm speaking in rather ambiguous terms here, but bear with me. Just looking at the words 'presidents' and 'senators' in that sentence above makes me laugh, but remember its more often than not. Hopefully.

Anyways, back on tract. I can't completely agree with Plato when he says that they have to be forced into such roles, but I believe that especially with a liberal arts education, most people have the Mensch, do gooder attitude instilled into them. I can't force people to give up their own happiness for the happiness of others - I feel like such a thing would cause resentment in some hearts that would then grow and jeopardize their performance.

Does this mean that I would allow for people to put their own happiness above the well being of others? Does that mean that those with the opportunity to gain seats of 'power' should be allowed to exploit that power at the cost of their people, much like we've seen throughout history.

Plato has something to say to this. A page or two later he writes:

Whereas the truth is that the State in which the rulers are most reluctant to govern is always the best and quietly governed , and the State in which they are most eager, the worst.

...

You must contrive for your future rulers another and a better life than that of a ruler, and then you may have a well-ordered State... Whereas if they go to the administration of public affairs, poor and hungering after their own private advantage, thinking that hen they are to snatch the chief good, order there can never be; for they will be fighting about office, and the civil and domestic broils which thus arise will be the ruin of the rulers themselves and the whole State.

He writes that those who have no interest in ruling will be the best suited for the job, and will provide order. Those that have an interest in ruling will only cause disorder because they want to jobs to serve their own goals and ambitions.

If I don't have an interest in something, no matter how much I know it is important, I'm likely to just not put effort into it and only do what is needed. I wouldn't go above and beyond for the people.

However, he does have a point about the others. I simply need to look at our own government to see what happens with officials are fueled by their own self-interests. Take the progressive hell that plagued the Albany the past month or so, take the retarded actions of the republicans during the 2008 election trail up to this very day. Order has gone out the window and progress is the true victim here.

So what would be the best solution? I'd be willing to wager that the answer lies in having a balance between duty and self-interest. You're own wants and needs shouldn't overcome your duty to your people, nor should you become a slave to them. This is also wherein lies the concept of wisdom - of knowing how to deal with both screaming fools at the same time.

And for what it's worth - Plato seems to be implying that only certain people should be taken and nurtured to fill positions of the such; of picking out those who you want to place into a special track of sorts. This goes against what everyone says America is all about - its the land where anyone can work their way up. And while this may be true, there is still the existence of that special track for *certain* people. It is possible for those not on that path to find their way to it, but its only makes things harder. Thank you life chances.

I'll conclude with one last question: Should our elective officials be wise? Keep in mind the hell Ms. Sotomayor has gotten in the past week for calling herself a 'wise latina woman'. I'll give you a minute to answer that question.

Tick, tock.

You done? Good. You should have answered with a resounding 'Hell to the yes!' or something of the sort. If you didn't, well, I'll let you ponder your own silliness. Now go sit in the corner till I'm done.

Of course I want my officials to be wise. I'm trusting them to make deicisons that impact all of our lives and while wisdom is a attribute gained through one's life experiences (unlike what some would want you to believe otherwise) wisdom is still wisdom. Wisdom is knowing where to come to a compromise that actually gets something done. If you can't do that, if you won't be willing to hear other ideas and take them into account, if you will say 'no' as if its your magic wand for getting what you want, then sir/madam I want you off the stage. Just leave. I've lost all my patience with such people. Granted, doesn't that (in someway) make me as narrow minded as they are? Yes, I do believe that argument can be made, but at the same time, I don't care. What I care about (and what others should care about as well) is finding how we can make life better for all.

After all, shouldn't that be an end goal of education? Making life better?

And if I banished you earlier, you may come back now from your timeout in order to discuss this with the rest of us. Just remember to behave yourself. Or else...

Why College? A Discussion

Recently, as my friends and I had our usual water-cooler talk, the topic of what we all planned to do after college came up. Many of us have plans to pursue a Master's degree and some even want to obtain a Ph.D! I'm no less than proud to hear that we all have higher goals.

But it did leave me wondering something: Why is it that we have such aspirations? Other than the obvious expectation upon us to go, what is it that we hope to gain out of college?

What is it that I hope to gain out of college?

The problem with trying to answer this question is that it is way too multi-dimensional. I can of course say 'I hope to become a better person', but in no way does that actually constitute as an answer.

If college is indeed such a life changing experience as everyone describes it to be, then what I get out of it will vastly over-shadow any of the preconceptions and expectations I have now. In addition to that, there would be no way for me to even begin to cover the so said changes - they would only be truly apparent in how I carry myself and my memories. For if I try to single them out one by one, most would be simple and pale on their own.

Yet, maybe hoping is the best place to start. If I use the 'becoming a better person' statement, what are the standards that I want to use? I want to become wiser, witter, a more fluid writer, improve on my language skills/computer skills/ and my knowledge in sociology. I want to increase the variety of things I've experienced by traveling - just being in the middle of PA should provide me with a slew of things I've never encountered here in New York. I want to be well suited for the (now abysmal) job market and make a good living.

I want to change my world. And maybe even the world while I'm at it.

I suppose, I'll just have to wait to see the results. Three month's time isn't a lot when you think about it.

To push that little red button….

Anyone here remembers my post about the 9h and 10th graders in my school and how much I disliked them? For those who do, I applaud you. For those who don’t, shame on you! Go read it right nao!

Anyways, those little terrors are now in 10th and 11th grades, respectfully. I have classes with the 11th grade so I’ve grown use to the few that I come into contact with and have grown to like said few. However, the rest of them and the rest of the school for that matter has become a pool of retardation that needs to be dealt with swiftly.

Now let us go into context. My student body ranges from 6th to 12th grades, with about 100 kids each. I’m currently in 12th and every grade below is acting the fool. Somehow they all seems to think they own the place when, oh I’m sorry, its my peers and I that should be at that throne without contest. Yet still, we’ve been run to the corner of the room while every other ego gets to run around.

It has gotten so bad that my friends and I have been wondering about pushing that little red button and declaring war upon all those little monsters. For too long have we let them get away with their arrogant crap and it has to stop. The funny thing, in many ways, we already have pushed that button, or at least I have.

Twice in the past months I had to tangle with miniature agents of hell. Here is what happened:
The first time I was put in charge of the computer lab and told to take care of the place. So, the teacher left and a few of my fellow seniors were around doing whatever they were doing. What to know why I don’t remember what they were up to? Its cause they were flipping quiet. Much unlike the fleet of 10th grade ‘loud as all ghetto hell’ bastards. So it finally started to piss my people off and I had to step to the plate to quell the situation. I went up to the loudest offender of the peace and asked very nicely for her and her group to stop.

Know her response? The girl – really want to use another word here, but didn’t. I must get points for that - looked dead at me and laughed. So as she turned to walk away, I stuck out my leg, tripped her then said when she hit the floor, “I wasn’t done yet” in the coldest voice I could muster.

I will pause to let that marinate.

Before everyone gets on my case you have to understand that 1. I have a tendency to be a wee bit sadistic. Yes, I admit that. So it is clear from here on out that I will enjoy all of this and am willing to deal with what happens (hence why I’m ok for posting this). And second, I have an ego – points to this blog - and while I do try to keep it in check most of the time, you don’t laugh in its face and expect nothing in return.

So, after that she knew better than to mess with me again. I even got a laugh out of my friends. But still, the other 10th race of people weren’t so easy. One was about ready to fight me.
The second story is more recent. Some midget 6th grader felt he had the right to yell at us ‘big kids’ when their time for gym had come and we were trying to hurry to leave. He directed his crap at me, so I stopped and looked at him. He made motions for me to go at him, but I just left it alone. Later that day, the kid popped up again behind me still slinging his bull at me so I got fed up. I jumped after him, caught him, then dragged him down a half flight of stairs and when we reached the landing, I threatened to throw him down if he ever did it again. Of course, he was pleading for his life the whole time.

Perhaps, the most beautiful part of the story is what happened when I let him go. I was yelling after him “Run! Keep running or else!” when a teacher came down the stairs. She looked at me, I looked at her and she just laughed and moved on.

All of this now brings me to my point. Seeing as how I only have a few months left, I’ve lost all my ‘social niceguy-ness’ to these children who think they get away with it. If they keep on this path, many more incidents of pain will occur, and I haven’t been the only one to be administering these blows. The 12th grade is waking up and will reclaim our spot at the top of the natural food chain. That is the only way peace can be set in place.

Or, my favorite alternative could could happen where everyone could just get wiser and not piss off those older than you, but hey, either way works for me.

Notes to the rant:
Some may wonder why the 12th grade isn’t fighting within ourselves and let this happen in the first place. It is because everyone is so wrapped up in their own affairs, they don’t care to deal with each other, thus relative peace. However, these people are throwing it into our faces and many of us want to be able to walk the halls without having to hear stupidity.

And people wonder why I refuse to teach. EVER.

Guns, Germs, and Steel - An Overview of Part I

Given the nature of the book, the only proper way to begin it would be with a brief run through of history, starting from around 11,000 B.C. Diamond focuses on an event he coined as the ‘Great Leap Forward’ - in which the human race began to set off down the path we all benefit from – and our expansion into the other continents from our cradle in Africa.

The whirlwind history lesson wasn’t at all overwhelming. In fact, I rather quite enjoyed it. There were two anecdotes that just happened to stick out to me: the first would be the events on the Chatham Islands involving the Moriori and Maori, found in the second chapter; and the other being what took place at Cajamarca, found in chapter three.

The Moriori and Maori were two groups of people that could be traced back to the same ancestral group. When they had split apart, they followed two different paths – the Moriori remained a hunter-gather population with low-level technology while the Maori became a culture of farmers with better technology. The Maori eventually came to violently conquer the Moriori.

What had happened at Cajamarca that the book detailed was the capture and murder of Atahuallpa, an Inca emperor by a conquistador named Francisco Pizarro, and the consequent slaughter of Inca troops. Pizarro and his relatively small force of men were able to take out large – I do mean seriously large. I believe that the book has mentioned upwards of 60,000/80,000 men - chunks of Inca warriors.

Both incidents hold similar patterns – patterns that illustrate the author’s point behind why certain groups are able to overcome others. The gap of technology and the exploit of such a divide is an obviously important one. Another which I expect to be explored in later chapters would be the difference in the habitats the different cultures where raised in. This is most likely going to be one of the cornerstones of conquest because it helps to influence many different prolific and individual factors of a civilization.

This, interesting enough, didn't seem to be anything exceptionally new or groundbreaking to me. I, almost naïvely, at some level understood that technology would be a major deal breaker in taking over any people. Though, I did enjoy the stories and background even to show this point. I felt that what the book did instead of introducing something new, was to expand on a shallow understanding that was already there - which at times is more valuable, especially when I'm expecting GGS to start dropping some very wicked ideas at some point.

So there: a run-through of the first part of Guns, Germs, and Steel. This was long over seeing as how I promised to do so quite some time ago, but hey. Better late then never, no?

Thoughts on US Education Standing

Link to article found here: U.S. Standing at Risk: Education Leaders Propose Action Agenda

For months now, I've heard about how America's global standing in terms of education - namely technology, science, and mathematic fields - has been slipping. A few nights ago I ran across the article linked above, and it does seem that people are attempting to bring the issue to ahead.

One of the most interesting things that caught my eye in this article is the quote that it ends with:
"These are demanding recommendations that will require the commitment of everyone — schools, colleges and universities, parents and students, and state and national leaders — but the dividend will be historic... We must create a system that works, a system that propels all students toward success and rejects anything less."

It spoke to what my own philosophy about all of this is - everyone involved has to want to improve the system before anything substantial can be done. And since I'm sure that this problem will only get worst before it can get any better, I'm left to wonder what tactics will be done to try and scheme students into performing well. One such method I can think of is paying children to do well in school.

Fundamentally, I have a severe issue with this. I don't believe that anyone should be paid some type of monetary stipend for their success. It was recently brought to my attention that a fair amount of a certain grade in my school is either in danger of failing, or plainly failing their classes and now things are trying to be done to fix it. One of the students in that grade then suggested that they get paid to encourage people to pick up their grades. And to me, this just kills the point behind learning and what school should ideally be about. Once you start to pay for success, I believe that it will set up a dangerous precedent leading people to believe that for every 'good' action they do, they'll get some form of material award. This is not a realistic reflection of how life truly is - not to mention it will then shift the focus of school away from whats being taught and absorbed even more than it is now.

So here is my suggestion to the educators at Collegeboard and elsewhere: Emphasize the act of learning itself, not the grades or any type of scale that is measure with a high-risk mentality. If you're able to instill a love or at least genuine interest in topics - especially the ones we're lacking in - our world standing will surely increase. It will create a much wider culture that would value education instead of the crap we have now.

Finally, what does this mean for the world that I will graduate into? I use to think when I was younger that my American citizenship and education would allow me to go anywhere I wanted in the world, but as I get closer and closer to the finish line, I'm not too sure anymore. The pool of competition keeps growing and growing and I'll be one more fish in the sea. Will my education, even if it is from a prestigious institution in America, be a joke on the international stage? All I can say is Americans need to 'step up with our game' as goes the slang. No longer can we lackadaisically blunder along while the rest of the world carries on without us - its this type of ignorance that is leading to our asses being kicked in many more areas; education is not the only grave obstacle we have to overcome.

The Singularity and Duality of God

I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last.


The commonplace and simple religious understanding of God is of a single nature - to think that God is purely based off the basic principle of goodness. Yet, this doesn't manage to sit well with me. How could any being - holy or otherwise - be so perfectly aligned to one side of morality, while we mortals are forever doomed to trudge along the dividing line, slipping back and forth between the darkness and the light? For after all, were we not made in His* image? It is clear from just living that the world around us is a reflection of our own mislaid souls - both are capable of unquestionably fantastic things, while at the same time proficient at destruction.

Indeed with this singular comprehension of God, one could argue that Satan provides the opposing counter-weight. One pure good, the other pure evil - two essences - that lend themselves to the label of sharing a dual existence. But then, it also understood that Satan is and always will be weaker than God, the good one - the better one.

It is here that we also run into another problem. Duality calls for balance between the forces - one can't have more of a pull than the other - So here is another theory: What if instead of God and Lucifer being two separate - but in no way independent - beings, they were two sides of the same individual? Such an individual would be a much more accurate demonstration of our own psyches - it would be easier to perceive our creation from its hands than the hands of a do-gooder, no? For why and how could something of pure light make such muddied creatures. How could it had even known or possess the ability to grasp shadows, unless it did in fact leave some in its wake?

To me, it is this version of god that makes the most sense - that seems the most human.

Or course, perhaps God is truly neutral in our lives, merely being without much sway towards anything?

*Who is to say God is male of female? Doesn't that bring up the question of duality itself, should we give the concept of god a gender? Where is the counter-part?

Angels and Mortality

The abyss that is mortality -

Can one say that this very world - the one we as a race have created, not the natural world we 'tainted' - is an effort to escape it? After all, we are the only beings that have gone so far as to leave our stamp upon time. But, is it worth it? In the end, we all shall succumb to it and its magnitude of a complete and utter end. To what lengths are we willing to go to make sure that the thought of our beings, outshine the actual staple that was 'us'?

And what about Angels? Do they represent the possible Übermensch within all of us, or are they truly monsters simply by virtue of their perceived perfectness? Do they fear that very same abyss as we do, despite their proximity to God? After all, they have been drawn as humanoids throughout the centuries so that we may feel a connection between us and them. And many a times, they still have they're humanity among them - that weakness of heart and dilemma along with the strength and courage deep down within.

Can mortality swallow them up whole, just as easily as it can us?

To be Inspired and Rebuke To The Nature of Inspiration

Here are somethings I wrote awhile ago.

To be Inspired:
Inspiration, to me at least, is realizing just how small you really are, relative to all that surrounds you. But then, within that smallness, that great minuscule sum of being, you start to become cognizant of the fact that you can create a difference.



Rebuke To The Nature of Inspiration:
At that same token, one that important, it must be understood that inspiration has a dark side. Coming to the realization of your own infinite smallness, while being able to spark that great light within, can also diminish whatever was previously there. Being small and surrounded holds the possibility of feeling lost. Of feeling that your will has no impact on the proceedings ahead and behind you. And so, you allow yourself to float away with the ever constant river of time. For it doesn't stop, not even for a second.

The state in which inspiration is created, can also be where all hope is lost.

College Essay: What is my potential? - Fifth Draft

Have I reached my Potential?

This past year as been full of visiting universities and hunting for my potential as if it was a tangible object that could be worn like a pin on my shirt – of seeing all these different possibilities around every corner. All of this wonder, while at first making me feel lost, has allowed me to find an answer to this question.

Simply put, yes I have reached my potential – the potential of my high school self and the potential to stand out and excel on whatever campus I may be going to in a few month’s time. My potential has been deeply correlated within everything I’ve put myself out do.

Take my work with computers and technology, especially with the XO machine used in the One Laptop Per Child Project. I led the development of a student wiki guide since most of the documents on the machines are for developers – an experience that led me to grapple with the severe rift that divides education levels around the world and help dispel it. This work lent itself to my consideration of the graver issues world poverty possesses. I’m still amazed at how it truly holds the potential of solving an issue larger than itself and manage to cross into many different areas of interest. Its own prospects can’t be limited to merely one sphere, much like my own.

Yet, despite all of this and countless more experiences that have made me more than capable of adding charisma and worldliness to any college student body, I’ve learned some thing about the very nature of potential. Potential is not a fixed value that once it’s reached can then be shelved and forgotten. Instead it behaves more like a variable, and it is with that new found knowledge I must answer with an equally resounding ‘no’ – I haven’t reached my potential. As I chased after it, I saw that with the more I did – the more that my accomplishments stacked up – my potential shifted and morphed itself into something grander than what I was originally possible just days before. I see that it was the driving force behind my own development and why it couldn’t have just kept still and how it became a complete and utter hunger to learn. If it did come to a halt, I wouldn’t be ready for what is to come. It is that determination that has gotten me to this point.

And perhaps, this is what it means to attain my potential. Knowing that now that I’ve grown to the best of high school self and it is only through college I’ll discover an older and wiser me; that the bar of accomplishment will also rise and it is my job, not only as a student but as a human being, to always keep up with it. This is my potential, and while its not the pin I first thought I was after, it is something that I am much more proud of – something that will no doubt manifest itself and flourish within the walls of your classrooms and impact your school at large.

Thoughts on the third draft of College essay

This post is a reflection about the essay posted here. Its really so that I have a record of my thoughts behind it, and where I was planning to go with it.

So I've bloated my paper. Seriously, 800+ words is just a ridiculous amount to expect anyone to read.

But why did I do this? Why did I stuff so much into it?

I'd like to say that at the time, I decided to place all of that into it to see what would fit and what just didn't have a place. I believe after reading it over, I know what to take away, but I'm very interested in hearing what you all have to say about it, to see if I was correct in my judgement.

As for where I want to go for the fourth draft, I want to aim for 600 or so words - nothing more than 700 though. I've found that in the applications, there are more than enough places for me to explain and show what else I've done. I believe that I will instead choose to focus on but a few accomplishments - that gives me more room to get deeper into them.

Heres to a healthy and slimmer future draft.

College Essay: What is my potential? - Third Draft

Have I reached my potential?

For the past four years, that has been the question I’ve always asked myself. In everything I did, that question loomed overhead - at times out of sight, but never out of mind. Then, when I’d finally sit down to take a break from school, work, or whatever was going on, it would come out of hiding to taunt me with its inquiries of limitation. And so, now that I’m at the threshold of college - a series of decisions that will not only impact the next four years of my life, but ripple out into the rest of my adult career - I can’t help but be consumed by the nuances the word ‘potential’ carries upon its back.

This past year as been full of visiting universities and hunting for my potential as if it was a tangible object that could be somehow worn like a pin on my shirt; Of seeing all these different possibilities around every corner. All of this wonder, while at first making me feel lost, has allowed me to find an answer to this question.
Simply put, yes I have reached my potential – the potential of my high school self and the potential to stand out and excel on whatever campus I may be going to in a few month’s time. My potential has been deeply correlated within everything I’ve put myself out in the mix to do.
Take my normal school workload - something that has forced me to seriously develop my writing and literature capabilities by dabbling in a little of everything and at the same time ended up creating the bedrock on which I’ve stood -- academically and mentally - and will continue to stand on as I reach out to redefine myself many more times to come.

Take my classes at Hunter College which gave me a more in depth look into the field of sociology and consequently psychology, subjects that I can’t wait to pursue once I walk past my college of choice’s door. Observing not only the structure of human society, but being able to look at the individual units which form the very fabric of the framework is something that can’t and shouldn’t be neglected. After all, this is where the question of potential within us mortals as a whole takes center stage and manifests into exceptional constructions, evil and good alike.

Take my work with computers, especially with the XO machine used in the One Laptop Per Child Project - an experience that led me to understanding the rift that divides levels of education around the world and what is being done to dispel it. This of course lent itself to the graver issues world poverty contains for me to expose myself to. I’m still amazed because of how it truly holds the potential of solving an issue larger than itself and manage to cross into some many different areas of interest. Its own prospects can’t be limited to merely one sphere of importance.

Yet, despite all of that and countless more experiences that have made me more than capable of adding charisma and worldliness to any college student body, I’ve learned some thing about the very nature of potential. Potential is not a fixed value that once it’s reached can then be shelved and forgotten. Instead it behaves more like that of a variable, and it is with that new found knowledge that I must answer with an equally resounding ‘no’ – I haven’t reached my potential. As I chased after my potential, I saw that the more I did - the more that my accomplishments stacked up - my potential shifted and morphed itself into something grander than what I was originally capable of just days before. I see that it was the driving force behind my own development and why it couldn’t have just kept still and why it became a complete and utter hunger to learn. If it did come to a halt, I wouldn’t be ready for what is to come. It is that determination that has gotten me to this point.

It is also here where I see goals that I’ve yet to fully grasp, but am still hard at work towards - my journey to learn French and Japanese deserving of special attention here. I have definitely made strides on the long path that encompasses learning languages; this is still something that I have ways to go before obtaining a mastery of them. This is but another aim for my college years.

And perhaps, this is what it means to attain my potential. Knowing that now that I’ve grown to the best of high school self and it is only through college that I’ll discover an older and wiser me; that the bar of accomplishment will also rise and it is my job, not only as a student but as a human being, to always keep up with it. This is my potential, and while its not the pin I first thought I was after, it is something that I am much more proud of – something that will no doubt manifest itself and flourish within the walls of your classrooms and impact your school at large.

College Essay: What is my potential? - Second Draft

And here we are, the second draft. I tried to keep in mind what I was told from my readers, so hopefully this version hits harder to home. I really do hate the revision process.



What is my potential?

For the past few years, that has been the question I’ve always asked myself. In everything I did, that question loomed over head - at times out of sight, but never out of mind. Then, when I’d finally sit down to take a break from school, work, or whatever was going on, it would come out of hiding to taunt me with its inquiries of limitation. And so, now that I’m at the threshold of college - a series of decisions that will not only impact the next four years of my life, but ripple out into the rest of my adult career - I can’t help but be consumed by the nuances the word ‘potential’ carries upon its back.

Unfortunately, the dilemma of fulfilling personal potential is one that is not easily solved. And setting out to find it has been a journey - much like walking onto a new, never before seen college campus. The surroundings are frankly intimidating, but not because they are scary. Rather it is because they symbolize possibilities around every turn. Every imaginable what-if converges all around me, and I just simply feel lost. And at the same time there is an urge to sort through as much I can. An urge that keeps me moving in order to find that one embodiment of potential as well as that one college that would allow me to reach whatever the peak of my abilities may be.

After this past year of visiting universities and hunting for my potential as if it was a tangible object that could be somehow worn like a pin on my shirt, I believe that I’ve found my answer. My response to this uncertainty is a resounding ‘yes’. Yes, I have grasped the potential of my high school self. And yes, I believe that I am indeed ready for college along with all of its ups and downs. I see this now through everything that I’ve done for my potential has deeply been correlated with my learning:

Take my normal school workload - something that has forced me to seriously develop my writing and literature capabilities by dabbling me in a little of everything and at the same time ended up creating the bedrock on which I’ve stood - academically and mentally - and will continue to stand on as I reach out to redefine myself many more times to come.

Take my classes at Hunter College which gave me a more in depth look into the field of sociology and consequently psychology, subjects that I can’t wait to pursue once I walk past my college of choice’s door. Observing not only the structure of human society, but being able to look at the individual units which form the very fabric of the framework is something that can’t and shouldn’t be neglected. After all, this is where the question of potential within us mortals as a whole takes center stage and manifests into exceptional constructions, evil and good alike.

Take my work with computers, especially with the XO machine used in the One Laptop Per Child Project - an experience that led me to understanding the rift that divides levels of education around the world and what is being done to dispel it. This of course lent itself to the graver issues world poverty contains for me to expose myself to. I’m still amazed because of how it truly holds the potential of solving an issue larger than itself and manages to cross into some many different areas of interest. Its potential can’t be limited to merely one sphere of importance.

Yet, despite all of that and countless more experiences, I’ve learned some thing about the idea of potential. Potential is not a fixed value that once its reached can then be shelved and forgotten. Instead it behaves more like that of a variable, and it is with that new found knowledge that I must answer with an equally resounding ‘no’. As I chased after my potential, I saw that the more I did - the more that my accomplishments stacked up - my potential shifted and morphed itself into something grander than what I was originally capable of just days before. I see that it was the driving force behind my own development and why it couldn’t have just kept still and why it became a complete and utter hunger to learn. If it did come to a halt, I wouldn’t be ready for what is to come. It is that determination that has gotten me to this point.

And perhaps, this is what it means to attain my potential. Knowing that now that I’ve grown to the best of high school self and it is only through college that I’ll discover an older and wiser me. That the bar of accomplishment will also rise and it is my job, not only as a student but as a human being, to always keep up with it. This is my potential, and while its not the pin I first thought I was after, it is something that I am much more proud of.

College Essay: What is my potential? - First Draft

This is the first draft of what is to be my college essay. I got some very good feedback from a selected few, and now I want to hear what you all think. Leave some constructive criticism and whatnot.


For the past few years, that has been the question I’ve always asked myself. In everything I did, that question loomed over head - at times out of sight, but never out of mind. Then, when I’d finally sit down to take a break from school, work, or whatever was going on, it would come out of hiding to taunt me with its inquiries of limitation. And so, now that I’m at the threshold of college - a series of decisions that will not only impact the next four years of my life, but ripple out into the rest of my adult career - I can’t help but be consumed by the nuances the word ‘potential’ carries upon its back.

Unfortunately, the dilemma of fulfilling personal potential is one that is not easily solved. And setting out to find it has been a journey - much like walking onto a new, never before seen college campus. The surroundings are frankly intimidating, but not because they are scary. Rather it is because they symbolize possibilities around every turn. Every imaginable what-if converges all around me, and I just simply feel lost. And at the same time there is an urge to sort through as much I can. An urge that keeps me moving in order to find that one embodiment of potential as well as that one college that would allow me to reach whatever the peek of my abilities may be.

After this past year of visiting universities and hunting for my potential as if it was a tangible object that could be somehow worn like a pin on my shirt, I believe that I’ve found my answer. My response to this uncertainty is a resounding ‘yes’. Yes, I have grasped the potential of my high school self. And yes, I believe that I am indeed ready for college along with all of its ups and downs. I see this now through everything that I’ve done - from my normal school workload that has forced me to seriously develop my writing and literature capabilities by dabbling me in a little of everything; from my classes at Hunter College which gave me a more in depth look into the field of sociology, a subject that I can’t wait to pursue once I walk past my college of choice’s door; from all my tinkering with computers such as the XO laptop for children that led me to understanding the rift that divides levels of education around the world and what is being done to dispel it.

Yet, despite all of that and countless more experiences, I’ve learned some thing about the idea of potential. Potential is not a fixed value that once its reached can then be shelved and forgotten. Instead it behaves more like that of a variable, and it is with that new found knowledge that I must answer with an equally resounding ‘no’. As I chased after my potential, I saw that the more I did - the more that my accomplishments stacked up - my potential shifted and morphed itself into something grander than what I was originally capable of just days before. I see that it was the driving force behind my own development and why it couldn’t have just kept still. If it did, I wouldn’t be ready for what is to come.

And perhaps, this is what it means to attain my potential. Knowing that now that I’ve grown to the best of high school self and it is only through college that I’ll discover an older and wiser me. That the bar of accomplishment will also rise and it is my job, not only as a student but as a human being, to always keep up with it. This is my potential, and while its not the pin I first thought I was after, it is something that I am much more proud of.

A Happy One Year Anniversary

As of today this blog is a year and a day old. Three hundred and sixty-six days. Many hours, minutes and seconds. I can't believe that I have a year's worth of writing here. Makes me feel awkward though, going back and reading all those previous entries. A whole year of my life gone, leaving little notes and messages from days past. And the voice - one that I know is my own - feels so foreign and distant, yet I can trace the lines of development and attachment from the current me to it.

Just what has happened in this past year? From the world to myself, everything has changed - the external being so much easier to detect than the internal. For example, America is about to close a chapter on what has to be one of the worst presidents in our history and open a new one. One I hope will restore any sense of content I once had with this country. The global economy is in disarray, swinging like a pendulum, from distress to recovery, never allowing any assurance. And what has stayed the same? Proverty, hunger, disease all still ravage us, among a slew of other things.

And personally, I had a year to grow. I went from 16 to 17; I've experienced fear, wonder, and inspiration, all from the whole applying to college escapade. One of which has me on a collision course with my idealist and pragmatic futures.

I've been through relationships. Some of are still going strong - bonds that I'm not so quick to allow to dissolve like I once use to. And others that had no choice but to fade away, back to whence they came.

And this blog, this blog is a record of all of it. Looking back now, I see a more eloquent reason for why I named this place as I did - one that I wasn't aware of at its conception. This blog is trully a collision of thoughts. Not only of my own, but of everyone who reads and comments here. It is these collisions that allow us to leave our mark on time itself. Maybe not one that is completely everlasting, but its still there - etched beneath the surface.

One year past. One year gone. Looking back is something I find myself doing more and more as I grow older. And every time I do, I'm compelled to look forward as well. I look forward with a aspiration and a desire to do more, to leave more seals as proof of my existance. This blog will continue to be one of the venues in which I do so. So many things I want to do with it, that I simply find I don't have the time to do any of it. But, thats just for now. Slowly but surely, I want to see how far I can take this. How many like-minded people can I find in the world, willing to share my experiences and their own. All these questions and more, but when can they all be answered?

And I believe, that the answer is now. Now, not later. Now is such a demanding word in the english language, but it does wonders for my point. It is now that I can start finding my answers. As you, whomever you may be, are reading this, you can make it a point to see where life takes you. To dream about all of its possiblities, as I am right now, simply writing this. It is now that we can start to formulate some form of a reply, and even if it doesn't hold true forever, it is still there, still being.

So, leave a comment if you so choose. If you're willing to actually enjoy the ride of life, instead of just allowing the twists and turns to go back unnoticed then say something. I, for one, look forward to what this next year has in store for the world and myself. Good and bad, right or wrong. For in the end, what else do we have other than the etchs? Won't it be nice to have as much as you can, all of which amount to something?

Midterm for Sociology Class ~ Factors of America's Working Class Dilemma

I was looking through my old papers and I found this one. Figure since I put up my final, I might as well put up the midterm, which I do believe I either got a B+ or A- on. (I'm leaning towards A- being the correct grade...) Anyways, here it is.


Factors of America's Working Class Dilemma

This country has a problem, one that can possibly change America’s economic processes. This problem is what can be done to help those that are thought of as the working poor. In the book Nickel and Dimed: On (not) getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich. Ehrenreich joins the poor working class to gain an insider view of what these people have to go through everyday as apart of her social experiment. From what she experiences one can see just how acute the issue has gotten. Studies such as Ehrenreich's have always prompted people to seek out whom to blame for the existence of this problem, as they search for a solution. However, the blame for all of these people's situations cannot be placed solely on one factor. There are many contributors that helped lead the poor to their current state of limited success, some of which include the sets of conditions they were born into, the corporations they work for, and ultimately their own actions.

Class is one major agent to consider when looking for the root of this problem. In recent years, there has been talk that the American middle class is slowly withering away, leaving America with heavily polarized rich and poor classes. In junior US senator Bernie Sander's article The Collapse of the Middle Class; he discusses some of the problems the middle class is facing and what that could spell for the whole country. "…The United States is rapidly on its way to becoming three separate states. First, there are a small number of incredibly wealthy people who own and control more and more of our country. Second, there is a shrinking middle class in which ordinary people are, in most instances, working longer hours for lower wages and benefits. Third, an increasing number of Americans are living in abject poverty -- going hungry and sleeping out on the streets." In this quote, Sander sums up the state he feels this country is in. He then goes on to explain some of the reasons why this has happened. Obviously, the lack of a middle class would mean that people would fall under the rich or poor label, without much room to move about on an economic scale. As a consequence, it would make it harder for anyone that is considered poor to level the playing field and advance into the rich class, creating even more of a social stratification between the classes.

The issue of race can be thought of as a subset of class, or can even be looked at as an element all on its own. As Barbara Ehrenreich writes in her book, “Unlike many low-wage workers, I have the further advantages of being white and a native English speaker. I don't think this affected my chances of getting a job, given the willingness of employers to hire almost anyone in the tight labor market of 1998 to 2000, but it almost certainly affected the kinds of jobs I was offered.” (Pg.6–7) One can see how the race card plays out in this example. The significance within the fact that it was not getting a job that was changed, yet it was the kind of job that was altered is that it shows just how race can hurt or help the opportunities given to someone in their life time. These opportunities of any kind become increasingly more important when one is living in any situation of this kind.

Education also takes a toll on these people's lives and the chances that they are given. In the textbook, Sociology: The Essentials, authors Andersen and Taylor explain schools as “...sites where social interaction between groups influences chances for individual and group success” and education's place in society is that it “fulfills certain societal needs for socialization and training; 'sorts' people in society according to their abilities.”(Pg. 355) These two statements reflect the symbolic interaction and functionalist viewpoints respectively. The majority of the poor have access to educationally weak schools, and by using the logic of the two previous statements, it is clear to see that the result of attending such schools is that you would not be fully taught how to perform in the world around you. And because of that, you would have a handicap of sorts while living life – one would be in the position of which no real life chances would manifest themselves in.

The businesses that employ them have a role in all of this as well. More and more companies are paying their workers less than what is truly needed to live on, as well as cutting back on extras like health care. They have created a sort of cycle that keeps people trapped within and makes them unable to move to any other job that may just allow them a way out of their despair. “Wal-Mart, when you're in it, is total – a closed system, a world unto itself. I get a chill when I'm watching TV in the break room one afternoon and see... a commercial for Wal-Mart. When a Wal-Mart shows up within a television within a Wal-Mart, you have to question the existence of an outer world.” (Pg. 178-179 Nickel and Dimed) Ehrenreich could feel this way because she was only being a visitor to this life style. If she were to stay out of necessary, she would not feel that level of shock. She would become use to it and start to overlook all of the other quarks like those around her. They would continue on with their lives, not paying attention to the subtle conditioning taking place.

Along with being trapped in the on going bubble that is the larger corporate beings, comes the element of poor treatment of workers. When Ehrenreich was in Maine working as maid, she experienced what probably is the most physically demanding job out of all that she attempted during her experiment. After describing the role that a connection to others that one works with (which for her is physical one) she then wonders about just how clueless to their pain the homeowners and bosses are. “Do the owners have any idea of the misery that goes into rendering their homes motel-perfect? Would they be bothered if they did know, or would they take a sadistic pride in what they have purchased – boasting to dinner guests, for example, that their floors are cleaned only with the purest of fresh human tears?” (Pg. 89 Ibid) Many of these businesses take advantage of their workers in many different ways, so its understandable to ask if they really know what is going on or if they do and they somehow do not care, so long as profits are to their liking. All of the massive workloads break the workers down to the point where they cannot complain, all the while keeping them under sociality's label of ‘poor’.
However, even though the conditions of the job can be horrible, people sometimes has no choice but to stick with the bad jobs they have. “Why does anyone put up with this when there are so many other jobs available? ... But there are some practical reasons for sticking with The Maids: changing jobs means a week and possibly more without a paycheck...” (Pg. 115-116) This is simply a matter of logic. Many people live paycheck to paycheck and to not be able to depend on it would be a disaster in those households. The 'security' of staying where one is located is preferred over the uncertainty laced with going into the process of changing jobs, unless it was absolutely necessary.

The actions of the poor themselves need to be analyzed. Everyone has a responsibility to take ownership over his or her own lives. Many who consider the poor has a factor of their own problems focus on the thought that “poverty is the result of early childbearing, drug and alcohol abuse, refusal to enter the labor market, and crime.”(Pg. 203 Andersen & Taylor) This theory does hold some truth. It does not make sense to add on to your plight with children or abuse of substances. While these were just examples, they point out the need for the realization of responsibility. There is also the culture of poverty theory, which calls for the main causes of poverty are “the absence of work values and the irresponsibility of the poor.”(Pg. 204 Ibid) The interesting thing about this idea is that people think, when using it, that poverty is passed on from one person to their children and so on.

Lastly, along with the need for added awareness within the circle of the poor, the social conscience has to be stirred. Ehrenreich one night sat around watching television, getting a peak at the world outside of her self-inflected predicament. After contemplating about this world she concludes with this statement: “...the poor have disappeared from the culture at large, from its political rhetoric and intellectual endeavors as well as from its daily entertainment. Even religion seems to have little to say about the plight of the poor...”(Pg. 117-118, Nickel and Dimed) Another way to think of what she wrote is that the poor are the ‘pink elephants’ in the room. And while almost everyone has an opinion on them, no one really voices their thoughts out loud, leading to nothing real or concrete ever being done.

The social view of the poor cannot be over looked as well. Many of those who only see one window of the poor feel that they are just in the way or they are a waste. Ehrenreich once ventured to ask some of co-workers why the people whose homes they clean treat them with such hostility and cruelty. One of the replies was: “They think we’re stupid… They think we have nothing better to do with our time.’”(Pg. 100 Ibid) Another was “”we’re nothing to these people… We’re just maids”. Both responses indefinitely reveal why they are handled as sub-humans. Being looked down upon can be thought of as another cause of the situation because it adds to the mental segment of the issue.

Ehrenreich then carries on to explain what happened to by people she did not even know. “Then there's the supermarket. I used to stop on my way home from work, but I couldn't take the stares, which are easily translatable into: What are you doing here? And, No wonder she's poor, she's got a beer in her shopping cart! True, I don't look so good by the end of the day and probably smell like eau de toilet and sweat, but it's the brilliant green-and-yellow uniform that gives me away, like prison clothes on a fugitive.”(Pg.100 Ibid) From simply having the maid uniform on, people around her passed judgment on her. This type of behavior is one of the first things that need to be curbed, if people are to help the poor.

In the end, the existence of the poor is still, very much so, a reality. A reality that seems to have no real end in sight. And due to the impossibility of locating a single subject to fully place the blame upon. This issue has to be looked at has a whole and not segmented. Once the whole is understood, we will stand a better chance at helping to eliminate poverty all together. Such a goal is going to be a difficult one to reach maybe even not possible, but it is still better than just sitting around not doing anything. The ‘pink elephants’ will not be silent much longer so it is indeed better to start creating a plan before time runs out.


Works Cited

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich. 2001

Sociology: The Essentials (fourth edition)– Margaret L. Andersen and Howard F. Taylor, 2007

The Collapse of the Middle Class by Rep. Bernie Sanders, 2003
http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/03/09/04_sanders.html

Final for Sociology Class ~ Tracking in Schools: A Discussion

Out of randomness I've decided to post this up here. I guessing that I'm going to post some of my other papers up here as well. So as background info, this paper was my final for the sociology course I took at Hunter College here in New York. I must say that I had a great time in the class and it did help expose to something I can later pursue when I actually get to college.

Tracking in Schools: A Discussion

Methods used in educational systems across the nation have always been a popular topic of discussion. Most apparent are the reforms that have been taking place, attempting to fix problems that arise from the usage of an outdated idea. One such reform is replacing the use of tracking student’s academic careers with organizing children into age groups. Tracking is a fundamentally flawed system that leaves room for sociological issues to occur, some of which include large, widening gaps between the students’ test scores and perceived social class. In addition to this, it also limits the potential educational success every child has the possibility of reaching, which is something no educational structure nor authority should have the power to do.

As defined in Sociology: The Essentials by Andersen and Taylor, tracking is “the separation of students according to some measure of cognitive ability.” Historically tracking has been around for many years and is thankfully declining in use. Students are placed into different levels and the curriculum is shaped towards each level’s ability of comprehension. The ideal concept behind tracking is that everyone should be able to learn at a greater degree due to having the planed course of subjects edited to their benefit. Yet, in practice, the actual result prevalent in observations made is quite the opposite. It is explained that “students in the lower tracks learn less because they are, quite simply, taught less. They are asked to read less and do less homework. High-track students are taught more; furthermore, they are consistently rewarded by teachers and administrators for their academic abilities. “(Pg.361 Ibid) By placing children into certain tracks we are harming their education instead of enhancing it.

Stratification is a significant result found in the implementation of tracking. In the article, The Stratification of Socialization Processes, author James E. Rosenbaum explores the severe use of tracking in a town called Grayton school’s system. At one point he states, “Thus, the Grayton track system produces a highly rigid stratification system in many ways resembling a caste system.” (Pg.3) Caste systems are sociologically renowned for their brimming levels of stratification. By Rosenbaum drawing such a connection between the two, one can see just how extreme the difference between each existing track can be. He has alluded to the clear-cut grade contrast of each track and the popular problem of tracking, favoritism. Furthermore, keeping in continuation of the caste system archetype, those higher up in the rankings are happier with the arrangements while the others are more inclined to be disheartened. “Observers in Britain and the United States have argued that secondary school stratification polarizes the student body into pro-school and anti-school factions. College-bound students conform to the school’s demands, while others resist.” (Pg. 4, The Variable Effects of High School Tracking) This illustrates how the lower ranking members can grow to become angry at the conditions and try to oppose them, only strengthening the polarization.

Adam Gamoran’s Measuring Curriculum Differentiation also looks at the issue of stratification between the children. He notes “…student’s positions in the curricular hierarchy are linked to stratification in the wider society…” (Pg. 1) In other words, there are cases where tracking can be seen as a mirror of the board differences between groups in society. Where a person is located on a societal scale is allowed to affect the expected rate of academic performance others hold for them. This logic is dangerous for kids coming from lower and middle classes seeing as how class is in no way a portrayal of intelligence.

Being placed in a so-called ‘low’ track has its mental effects on kids. Michael D. Wiatrowski, in his work Curriculum Tracking and Delinquency, expresses what some of those impacts are for those who are not considered great candidate for college. “Students in noncollege curricula are believe to suffer loses in social status in school, decreased commitment to educational goals, lower self-esteem and poorer self-concept, and are thus more likely to become delinquent than college-bound students.” (Pg.2) These conflicts within their own personal judgments of themselves can hurt these children in and out of matters relating to school. One could say that tracking systems punish these kids twice. First by making it hard for them to compete on an academic platform with others, and twice by creating emotional strife. These kinds of issues can also manifest themselves in the children’s intimate lives for some period of time even after they’ve graduated and moved on past the need for any schooling. It does not make sense that while we are trying to educate students, we are also corrupting them so that they can’t lead seemly normal lives.

Tracking has repercussions on the chances students are exposed to as well. In Jeannie Oakes’ article entitled Can Tracking Research Inform Practice? Technical, Normative, and Political Considerations, she looks into what can be learned from tracking’s past data. “Finally, tracking influences students’ attainment and life chances, over and about their achievement. Track placements are quite stable, partly because early assignments shape students’ later school experiences. By high school, track location has a far-reaching influence – with college-track students enjoying better prospects for high school completion… than their otherwise comparable non-college-track peers.” (Pg.3) Her statement mentions the notion of life-chances. As seen in her example, the tracks have an eminent amount of power in dictating where one ends up later on after high school. The higher up in the tracking system you are, the most chances you have in succeeding in school, and sequentially the rest of one’s life.

Along with the more internal complications tracking brings in schools, it not without its share of social backlash. It has the prospect of becoming more political in nature. “Tracking is accompanied by public labels, status differences, expectations, and consequences for academic and occupational attainment. Thus, tracking becomes part and parcel of the struggle among individuals and groups for comparative advantage in the distribution of school resources, opportunities, and credentials that have exchange value in the larger society. This political dimension often encompasses highly charged issues of race and social-class stratification.” (Pg. 3 Ibid) This comment represents a conflict theorist perspective on the situation. It views tracking as something that provides grounds for members of different tracks to quarrel over the assets that the school has to offer. The sheer fact that they are at odds with each other means that in the end, the overall education received will be at a lesser quality than if they were all in mixed classes. Then everyone would be more likely to receive the treatment they are entitled to.

While succeeding in school is of great relevance, life outside in the real world is a lot more demanding. When children are being partitioned there is rarely, if ever, any consideration of more personal skills. As it was put in the collection of sociological readings known as Sociological Footprints, “we also don’t know the extent of the social-class gaps in noncognitive skills – such character traits as perseverance, self-confidence, self-discipline, punctuality, the ability to communicate, social responsibility, and the ability to work with others and resolve conflicts. These are important goals of public education. In some respects, they may be more important than academic outcomes.” (P.330) The theory of symbolic interaction is most pronounced here, with functionalist undertones. Tracking does not truly take into account social interaction has it is being implemented. The traits needed for interaction between individuals can be taught in school, if everyone is only exposed to those that are really the same as them then the traits listed above cannot be properly assimilated. Thus one of the societal purposes of schools, which is socialization, is not fulfilled, leading to a likely gap in non-cognitive abilities. This outcome completely derails the functionalist conviction of schools being vessels that instills values needed by society.

The integration of students from all academic standings is the self-evident alternative to tracking. Andersen and Taylor refer to this as the detracking movement. They describe it as “based on the belief that combining students of varying cognitive ability benefits the students more than tracking… Students of high and low ability can thus learn from each other; the high-ability students are not seen to be ‘held back’ by students with less ability but are enriched by their presence.” (Pg. 361, Sociology: The Essentials) When classes are mixed, schools can correctly do their societal duty as detailed in the previous paragraph. This is in stark contrast to how “observers and survey researchers have found … students tend to form friendships with others in the same track.”(Pg. 4, The Variable Effects of High School Tracking) There is not much of an enrichment of school if it is a group of similar students. As explicated, a large part of learning is done, not from the teachers, but from the peers’ communication with each other. Limiting the number of peers that they may come into contact with, in turn limits their capacity to learn.

In the end, recent years have shown that the use of tracking, as a whole, has been on the downswing. Educators have been gaining awareness to the negative effects discussed here and turning to the method of mixing students together, so that each class has a good variety of students. They have utilized that tactic in hopes of providing a richer education of all of the students. Needless to say, systems of education are all still inherently plagued with difficulties due to each individual participant’s distinct learning or teaching style. And probably always will be. Yet, one can see that they are now in a more desirable state than they were years ago. Students are no longer afflicted with the stigmas fabricated by the concept of tracking.

Appendix
From my own point of view, I do see how tracking is a negative idea. However I understand why tracking seems to be a good idea, especially when schools are given inadequate funding. There are simply no funds to provide students that in need with the proper individual attention. After speaking with two of my own teachers about this topic, it is now truly apparent that they struggle to find the right balance of teaching to help all the children in the classroom. They also brought up how the No child Left Behind law is, in their eyes, nothing more than an upgraded form of tracking. They also informed me of how when some of their colleagues had moved past the planned curriculum in order to help students, they got mad and reported that teacher on it. So after writing this paper, and listening to actually first-person accounts, I must say that there really does not seem to be any real action that can fix the issue. It looks as if it people will continue to go around in circles with it while no substantial improvements are made.