Well Informed: Learning and Thinking

The topic for this discussion is something that I have put a lot of thought into this week. I already have thought in the past throughout my grade school years, that our education system was not ideal. This week’s posts and videos have just reinforced my thoughts on this more so. However, I'm not ready to just kick anyone involved with our education system to the curb. Yes, I agree that everyone learns differently, that testing is not an accurate measure of intelligence or how well someone will be able to do their future job, and that often times a high school diploma or even a bachelor’s degree is overrated by employers, and not a true measure of a person's potential and ability. I agree with all of that. My question is, what’s the solution?

This question made me really enjoy the video we watched in class today, because I was able to see different technology that allows for students to learn in a way that is more unique and personalized to them and their own learning styles. It will be really interesting to see what comes of all these new ideas, and I just hope that it is all effective and we don’t get too caught up in throwing out the current education system. I don’t think it’s all bad, and I honestly don’t have a better idea of how to run it than it is already being ran. I don’t know different methods that work for different people. I don’t know of a way other than SAT and ACT scores for colleges to filter through millions of applicants each year, or something other than degrees for employers to use to filter through hundreds of applicants for a job. I do know that with colleges and jobs the way that they are right now, testing scores and certifications/degrees are a quick way to filter out a lot of people that may not know how to work hard, or just don’t care. I am not saying that everyone that has low testing scores, no certifications or degrees doesn’t know how to work hard or isn’t smart. I know that’s not true because I personally know of a lot of extremely successful, mind-blowingly intelligent, and hardworking people that fall into that category. I’m just saying that if I was a college or an employer, I wouldn’t know how else to filter through people without having a one on one interview with each person for an hour. No college or employer has the time for that. 

Race Baiting - Well Informed 2.0

As I watched the video, “Race Baiting 101” it really made me wonder why we ever started dividing ourselves into these categories, or any categories at all. There are so many different categories and groups that we put ourselves into. Why we don’t think more often that we can fit into more groups than one? Does it really have to be blue lives versus black lives? Republican versus democrat? Pro-life versus pro-choice? Us versus them? Each person is unique and it’s okay for them to have their own opinions and beliefs. That’s what our country was built on, wasn’t it? People don’t have to fit into a group that all has the exact same beliefs and hates. I really dislike titles and groups for this reason. If we didn't get so caught up in our own group and throwing our beliefs and feelings into each other’s faces, I think we’d be a lot more successful in our relationships. We so easily get caught up in the title of whatever group we belong to, that we aren’t even listening to each other, or considering all sides of every issue.

I feel that race baiting is just this. It's a way for people caught up in their own titles and groups, to provoke disagreements and anger in individuals. Race baiting usually uses race as bait. A simple physical characteristic of people, to bait individuals into certain feelings and ideas. The thing is though, each side is doing a great job at making the other look terrible. If you went into this race baiting war with no previous biases, and tried to determine who was right, you probably couldn't!

I can watch “pro-black lives matter” videos all day long about the mistreatment of black people by white people, and it’s going to pull my heart strings and make me feel terrible about the bad things that white people have done to black people. And the thing is, who wouldn’t?! Almost any sincere person with a heart is going to look at that and feel bad for bad treatment of black people in our history. Most anyone would agree that yes, black people deserve equal treatment and rights, and shouldn’t be treated differently. Well we can go right to the other side of that and watch a “pro-police” video about how a white cop’s story wasn’t rightfully portrayed by media, he actually did nothing wrong, but still was a victim of violence from a “black lives matter group”. Anyone will feel bad for him and view that as wrong. We’re just pointing out the negative in each group and just throwing fuel on this fire so that these groups just keep hating each other. It’s possible to think that the lives of black people matter, and also that the lives of police officers matter. Blue lives matter and black lives matter are not the opposite. One belief or opinion doesn’t make us the opposite. This is applicable in every group argument. People with republican beliefs don’t have to be anti-democrats. Pro-choice is not anti-life, and pro-life is not anti-choice.

What we really need to do is get out of our groups and not assume that one situation explains all. All white cops are not the same as one white cop that stepped out of line. All black lives matter group members aren’t the same as one that violently hurt a white cop's family member. And not all arrested black people are innocent like the one wrongfully handcuffed or shot on the news. And for heaven’s sake, we are human and we make mistakes! And we are going to keep making them as long as we exist. If we stepped back and thought about these things before we acted, and really considered why everyone is feeling the way they are feeling, we might not have so many problems in the world like race baiting.

OTM #1 -

OTM #1:

This week’s On the Media discussion was especially an interesting and thought provoking discussion. It talked in large part about trigger warnings, coddling, and “safe spaces” on college campuses. This discussion starts out in talking about a welcome letter that the University of Chicago sent out to new students stating that they do not support . It’s interesting to hear that they did not support trigger warnings, and they do not condone safe spaces, just because I feel like so much of the rest of the world is trying so hard to not offend anyone. It’s kind of refreshing, really.

Sometimes I really feel like a lot of people have just set out on each day to try and be offended. It’s something that comes so easily to us. Whether someone has a certain opinion, belief, or looks at us a certain way, we choose to be offended. My question is, why should we ever take offense just because someone’s beliefs or opinions don’t align with our own? Are we all supposed to have the same beliefs and opinions? That would make for a pretty boring world.

It’s sad to see that so many in our generation rarely take the blame for anything. We are constantly seeking to blame something or someone else for our problems and our feelings. But the funny thing is, we’re in charge of ourselves and our own emotions. Only we can choose the way we are going to feel and if we are going to let other people’s actions and thoughts affect the way we feel and carry ourselves. Toughen up and shake it off, people!

I understand that our great grandparents were not as catered to, and were probably expected to suck up their feelings a lot more than we are today. But on that note, our world has changed a lot since their time too. Sensitive topics like drugs, sex, race, and abortion were mostly avoided in conversation, and spoken about rarely in more private conversations if talked about at all. So with that, I can understand that there is definitely more potentially offensive conversation nowadays, and why coddling and trigger warnings have become so common.

The explanation further into the discussion of what the University of Chicago’s letter was supposed to mean, seemed like they were completely going back on what they had said. It just goes to show that even when we make statements, it’s almost like there is an unwritten rule in our society that you need to take it back if you have offended someone and they’ve made a big fuss. The professor later in the discussion simply said, “Well the letter was basically meant to suggest…” and then he goes on to say something entirely different than what the letter said… I guess that guilt maybe played a part in this and the dean of students felt bad for what he had said, but even then, I don’t think that response makes much sense.  I don’t have a problem with the letter itself, but I don’t feel that the University’s response to the outrage was done very well. I think they would have done better to simply stand by their word and further explain the reasoning, instead of going back on what they said to say something different. If they had meant to say something else, I think they would have said something else in the first place.