Debate on liberal education

I'm not sure if this post will count but I will post anyway. I panic in the public eye, especially if I have to give a presentation, therefor I was not effective at making my point on education. Basically, my overall thoughts on this subject are in agreement with a liberal education, which includes your basic curriculum along with the ability to gain insight with hands on solutions to problems that may arise. Creativity may resolve a certain problem better than a book smart individual, or it may be the other way around but at least we would be using our options instead of narrowing down our alternatives. Our society has done a great job of taking care of ourselves but seems to have overlooked our future generations and their children's well being. Instead of taking jobs that encourage or promote overall wellness, our past generations have looked at income facts, figures and comfort over the well being of our neighbors, planet, and  wellness. Society seems to have hit an all time low when it comes to publications and media. The truth no longer matters as we rationalize our actions and impacts. Our political system is pure chaos at this point, societies messages to our youth are immoral or lack value, seniors may literally be worrying themselves to death over their means of survival, doctors make millions while the people stay sick, and children who really need help may not qualify or receive assistance due to lack of communication.
   
A secondary education is going to have lasting effects on our children and the way they use or loose their mind since it takes place throughout this stage. If we challenge our youth to use their minds and be creative, they are more likely to retain the knowledge. If we drill it in, they may get burnt out and become used to the same old thing verses new and exciting knowledge and concepts. Science is based on theories, so whose to say what theory is best overall? If it is a fact, then it is a law, not theory. Wouldn't it be nice to raise our kid's in a place where they are able to become as great as the universe allows them to be?

Intention is another study that is rarely given proper credit! Research proves amazing thing about the use of intention. If we are creating the best future we can, then why are there so many negative intentions and beliefs regarding it? For every chart we measure or rate by, we are setting a guideline that only has negative intentions when not met and very rarely places any focus on the true intentions behind it. Society can judge, degrade, and disrespect others around us while we still expect a good outcome? How is that going to take place if they have already set the mental standards to fail? If everyone is looking for what's wrong, who looks for what's right? The minds capabilities, is a field that all humans should learn to practice, use, and transform to a higher level than the one we remain on at this time!

Hurray! We can breed!

"Man is born with an emotional mechanism, just as he is born with a cognitive mechanism; but, at birth, both are tabula rasa….  An instinct of self-preservation is precisely what man does not possess.  An instinct is an unerring and automatic form of knowledge.  A desire to live does not give you the knowledge required for living.  And even man's desire to live is not automatic… Your fear of death is not a love for life and will not give you the knowledge needed to keep it."  Ayn Rand

Human beings are social creatures by nature - without someone to feed and protect an infant, that infant will die.  Most of us develop with the innate capability to learn (DeCasper & Fifer with their nonnutritive nipples), and the few instincts we do have upon birth (Meltzhoff and facial mimicry) are meant to solidify our place in the social hierarchy.  Infants require years of supervision and guidance (i.e. language, fear, empathy, memory) before we trust them to fend for themselves as young adults.

There is merit in the notion that "good enough" parents are just that - thousands of years of evolution back up the claim that children will turn out just fine as long as you don't beat them, starve them, or emotionally/psychologically torture them.  Placing blame solely on parents for the minor aggravations or misdirection in your life is like blaming Maytag for burning your chili.  Were you stirring it often so it didn't settle?  Did you have the burner on the simmer setting instead of rolling boil?  Even if your parents never taught you to cook, either friends and YouTube have given you pointers by now or you've learned from smoky, rancid experience.

There are several stages of life we travel through (Erickson, Piaget), countless facets of influence, and at the end of the day research into genetics is relatively unexplored compared to the centuries of philosophy we have behind dissecting the human being.  While nature very well may determine intelligence (MZT vs DZT), nurture more often than not determines moral and social standing (Bowlby).  Personally, I've debated this topic with myself for years.  Based on personal experience with my own mother, I've come to a very important conclusion - even if I am working to overcome the lack of nurture in my childhood, my nature is to seek a life outside of the confines of that definition.  I am driven to become more than what I was raised to be - but had I been born to an affluent & affectionate family, would that drive still exist? 

I don't know where we should focus our attention on developing humans.  It shouldn't be a question of crunching enough numbers to create near-perfect specimens, and over the course of this semester I've had a hard time equating the human condition with math.  Studying developmental formulas makes it seem like the normative majority is just a bunch of coincidence converging into a lump of reproductive success.  Trying to decode the mystery of humanity through trending statistics is the same as blaming parents for their children turning sour (or commending parents for raising productive citizens) - sure, there's science behind it, but I don't believe that's all there is to it.  

  

Responce to promt 12/9

I believe her argument does have merit.  She has good points on how we are looking at the belief that parents raise the children too much and not at the other aspects of their lives.  Like peer and societal influences.  I believe one of her strong points in here are that if parents have such huge effects on their children, why is it that if there are 2 siblings, after similarities do to genetics are removed, they turn out completely different.  Also children are not just learning from their parents they are learning what is excepted and normal for their society.  Like how they should act whether they are male/ female and kid/ adult.  To grow up and be accepted by your society you must adapt and act like them.  It is more about the child’s environment as a whole and adapting to the society norms expected of you, depending on age and sex, which you live in.

Prompt for 12/9, to be completed by 12/12

You recently read a chapter by Judith Harris on the role of parents, peers, and genes. Consider her argument from all theory and research we have discussed throughout the semester. Does her argument have merit? Explain why you think her explanation is sound or unsound. Based on if she is correct or not, explain where we should focus our attention for developing humans.

Potato responce

I believe the most controllable and changeable factors to juvenile delinquency would have to be the peer factors.  Our peer groups have a great influence on our lives especially when we are in our middle adolescence or teen years.  From the moment we start school of any kind we are constantly with our peers or friends.  Now whether the children like or not parents can have control on whom they have as their peers and whom they hang around.  Starting by choosing a school or daycare, ect. of which they want their children to attend.  They can search until they are content with the people and children who will peers, involved with that facility.  From the beginning this can instill a sense of who may be good peers and who may not be.  I also believe that environmental factors fall into this because you as a parent or who ever from controlling what schools they are going into are controlling into what environment they are going to be included into.

            I believe the factors that should least focused on are the individual factors.  I think that these individual factors can be results from all the other factors in the lists in the Potato.  So instead of being directly main factors in juvenile delinquency they are more of round about effects are caused by the other factors.

Oh, The Potato

Many of the factors shown in the potato model for juvenile delinquency are so tangled up in one another, it would be difficult to tease them apart. Family factors such as inappropriate discipline, poor monitoring, physical abuse, and delinquent siblings could affect both individual and peer factors. The lack of self-control or low intelligence could be allowed/encouraged by poor parenting––parents who are do not monitor their children could be missing (or apathetic about) their child's intelligence issues, and abusive parents could be teaching their children that low-self control (as exemplified by lashing out at others) is normal. Both intelligence and control issues could cause rejected status. The influence of delinquent siblings could lead the child to deviant friend groups, and possibly serve as another path to rejected status. Out of the bunch, though, Environmental factors seem to be all encompassing, as low SES or group norms could strongly influence family factors, individual factors, and peer factors in some cases. Every factor shown in the potato model has influence over one of more of its fellows.

Theoretically, family factors would be the most changeable or controllable. Ideally, one could just pluck individuals from their toxic home lives and place them in a safer, healthier environment. Juvenile delinquency would have lost the round! Hooray! However,  things aren't quite that simple in practice. Kids can't be removed from their homes willy nilly, and the system set in place for the kids who are removed from their families is terribly overloaded. Also, some kids may spend x-amount of time at a facility, being healed, evaluated (intelligence-wise), encouraged, and taught to deal with their emotions, may get themselves off the path of juvenile delinquency– only to be sent back home! The cycle continues. I suppose peer factors could be changed by changing schools––new peer group, new peer status–– however, the individual may fall back into old habits, and old peer status as a result.

Environmental factors should certainly not be ignored, however they appear to be the least changeable when compared to any of the others, as group norms and SES would be near impossible to change, unless Daddy Warbucks is looking for children to adopt.

prompt for week 12/02/13

Juvenile delinquency is a growing problem in our constantly changing society.  Many young people have little if any respect for themselves or their peers.  I think that the parent family factors and individual factors are the most changeable and controllable.  Parenting classes can provide individuals with some guidelines to help with monitoring and discipline and hopefully prevent parents from sending mixed signals to their children.  Positive reinforcement is a great self-esteem builder and teaching parents how to discipline their children without destroying their self-esteem could be an effective way to battle this issue.  Providing the best education possible to all children at every level of learning should be a top priority in the United States.  The young people of this country are its future and should not be pushed through school without the appropriate knowledge and capabilities to succeed.  It sometimes appears that teaching is focused more on meeting a standard than actually teaching the material.  A healthy and happy home environment plays an important part in a child’s development and growth.  If the foundation as not stable and supportive at home it hinders the child’s ability to succeed.  Setting guidelines for study time and play time can be the first step in building the structure in a young person’s life to help them succeed. 

Peers and the environment would be hard to change so it is important to instill self-confidence and support in children at a young age.  This can help them to feel confident in their own skin and not fall prey to peer pressure.

Response for 12/2 prompt

I think that all of these are so connect that all of them would be difficult to change. It is hard to change the individual if they have no desire to change. If it also difficult to make families change, most parents are unwilling to change unless pushed by outside influences, such as department of child and family service. Even when DFS in to services they only change their behaviors as long as the are being forced to. Many times parents addictions are so made that the change only last for a few months.

I think something that can change is societal norms. It takes a lot of time but our ideas about cigarettes and drinking and driving are example of how group norms can change.

I would love it if every parent had to take parenting classes, but this is something that will never happen.  

Fix SES, Fix Delinquency

With 2,266,800 adults incarcerated in US prisons, we have to evaluate juvenile delinquency to prevent more adults being processed in US prisons.  With 39.4% of the prison population being black and 20.6% being Hispanic, there has to be an evaluation of these particular communities and why there is a disproportionate amount of minorities in America’s prisons.

Minorities are typically on the lower end of the socioeconomic chain, and therefore the most emphasis for stopping juvenile delinquency must be placed here.  Because you’re less likely to have an education, income, or even food, you’re more likely to turn to criminality to attempt to make a living.  Studies have shown that increased income means you’re more likely to have a higher education, more likely to have more activities, access to health care, and access to food.

The Individual, Peer, and Parental factors are very difficult to correct because they require invasive action.  People prefer their privacy and their “belief” of what they’re doing is justifiable.  We can work on the rejected status that students feel and work on changing their environment to create emotional stability.  But it is difficult to intervene on parental factors and individual factors on a level that can radically change their environment.

Potato

I think the best chance we have of changing the chance of a kid becoming juvenile delinquent is the parents/family section. In fact, their are already tons of programs out there that target this specific area. There are parenting classes that a parent can attend to learn new ways of parenting that may be better. Programs such as AWARE and Youth Dynamics monitor a child's home life, school life, social life, etc. and work on improving that child's goals to help them avoid this juvenile delinquent phase. In extreme cases child services would step in and remove a child from a home that is being abusive.

The least one to worry about is environmental factors. I do not believe it is possible to go around changing the SES of every child that needs help. This would require us to basically just hand out a ton of money, cars, houses, etc. to children in need. Although their are programs that try to help families in need, they are helping with essential needs: food, water, shelter, etc. A child with a poor SES can still easily avoid juvenile delinquency as long as he has the proper parenting and learns proper peer behavior.

Potato Model - Delinquency

I think that a few of the Parent and Family Factors and to some extent, the Environmental factors are the most controllable.

By getting kids out of "bad homes" where they suffer abuse, poor examples by parents with psychological disorders, substance abuse issues, or their own delinquency issues, children would have a better chance at avoiding the negative effects that these factors cause. Also, removing delinquent siblings and placing them in specialized programs to help them, the other child would not be influenced by or dragged into their poor decisions and the other sibling may be better off. As far as the disciplinary issues go, it would be difficult to change those, but implementing "parenting classes" or providing parent-child counseling may be helpful. The Environmental effects by be offset by implementing better, more effective government programs than Welfare or Unemployment. Many people take advantage of these but squander the aid while their children reap non of the benefits. Child-directed aid may be a better solution. These factors, I believe, would be a wise and beneficial use of resources.

As for factors NOT to focus on because they are essentially out of control is Rejected Status. Although attempting to influence the child to be more self-confident, outgoing, or agreeable may reduce that problem, it would be highly difficult to do. Rejection is a self-compounding problem and to some extent, the effects are already permanent. The only hope is possibly switching schools and starting over. Other than that, it is impossible to predict or direct one adolescents treat one another and interact, especially in school environments.

Potato factors

I think the most controllable or changeable factors would be the individual ones. If one has low self esteem it may take some extra effort but the effort will be worth it in the end. I believe that happiness is with the beholder, only you can truly make yourself happy and feel good. If you don't believe in yourself then who will? Intelligence can also be altered. Learning is never ending and if you put yourself in a learning situation then there is always an opportunity to learn from something. Looking at the world as if there is a lesson to be learned from everything can help alter your future for the better. There is always room to better yourself but you have to want it. Otherwise the situation your in is what you believe you should be in so no change can happen, if you really want it though you can help yourself in so many ways.

As far as spending money time and effort, I believe that parent/family factors should be looked at. Spending a lot of time and attention on family matters I think would work out tremendously. Give kids a healthy home environment and the outside world might not be that scary. A healthy environment to be yourself and express yourself is at home, parents are the people that develop you to be ready for the real world and if given the right resources parents can help develop their kid into a positive part of society. Giving kids a good school with great teachers and learning methods can help in every realm of a kids life. Responsible discipline can go a long way teaching kids how to learn from mistakes they made helps them in the individual factors. Family life goes with growing up as an individual who can make mature decisions, these things go hand in hand to help avoid juvenile delinquency.

Peers and the environment can not really be changed. You cant change other people so peer groups will be peer groups regardless of anything. The environment is beyond all control, no one person can change that yet alone a group of people either. Normative beliefs aren't going to change and these factors can influence juvenile delinquency with hardly anything to do to change that.

Response to prompt of 12/2

Unfortunately most of the factors that contribute to juvenile delinquency are beyond easy control or regulation.  One would hope that educating parents and providing a better model for them to follow would be sufficient but that is clearly not the case.  Many parents provide little to no care or attention to their children and I believe it is beyond our ability to educate those parents.  The neglectful parents are unlikely to change their ways based upon someone else's opinion.  So for the most part parents aren't going to be influenced by education or infomercials.

Peer factors are even more difficult to enhance or control and I'm not even going to offer an idea on how that could be affected.  Peer interactions are quite simply beyond me.

I think there is possibly some hope for the individual factors.  We can certainly offer remedial classes or more education if the student is struggling with low verbal intelligence.  Low attention can be addressed through counseling or, in extreme cases, medication.  Low self control is a little more ticklish to address but, here's the tough part, with a quality home life and support from the parents that's addressable as well.  However see my remarks above about below average parenting.

Low SES falls into the same category as parents in my opinion.  The parents themselves have to bootstrap themselves up into a higher SES.  No government handout program is going to take care of that issue.  In the end I don't have the answers to juvenile delinquency.  There are many many factors that influence delinquency and the approach to each individual must be tailored to their needs.  A massive undertaking for each individual begs the question of whether or not it is worth it...

New Technology

We seem to skip all of the warnings and hazards that are included with new computers and electronics, such as phones! When I bought my computer last year, I received more information regarding the dangers of placing the lap top on my lap or legs than helpful directions on how to use it. Our society seems to avoid any responsibility we may have caused or may be causing to our environment and global status. We use electric in every room, appliances, and drive cars daily while tricking ourselves into believing the damage caused is minimal, or it does not have any immediate effects on our or our children's lives.

Why it is that research indicating a need for change goes unnoticed, or swept under the carpet, while new and exciting equipment takes the lead roll, regardless of the damage it may cause? My daughter is furious with me because I refuse to let her have an I-phone. The reason is because of the electro-magnetic stress they create around them. Even if the phone is turned off and not being used, it can create holes in any person's aura within so many feet of it. These holes are what leads to sickness and or various ailments on multiple levels.

In 1930, synthetic medicines were introduced promising to put an end to all sickness. Obviously that was wrong. Forty years ago, we had terminal illnesses but had never heard of chronic conditions. Now we are constantly told about new ailments that may be mental, physical, or emotional forms of chronic illness.

I could go on and on about this subject but I do not have the time nor patience to explain to everyone that has no clue what I am talking about. If we want a society worth having for our children and our children's children, someone will have to take a stand to educate the people on a moral level versus the ignorance we are accustomed to.

How do we know that the technologies we are now using are safe and effective forms for making life easier?

responce prompt 24

There seems to be a definite connection between the increasing development of technology and the raising rates of people believing they are important.  As for my opinion I believe the new technology advantages, that young people have access to, have affected these results greatly.  I do believe that it is a good thing that people believe in some little way that they are an important person, especially in the teen years of there life. The ego boost that one receives from someone commenting on a blog you post about a little non-significant event they have done can play a major role in how self-worthy that person feels.  Yet when the harsh reality comes around that they are no different from everyone else and there everyday situations are not that big of a deal they are going to have a very big let down.  But with the technology now days you can keep these feelings of significance to your everyday life going. 

Prompt for 12/2

 The above is a "potato" view of the studied factors that developmental psychologists and criminologists believe influence an individual's risk of juvenile delinquency.  For this post, talk about which of the above you think are the most changeable/controllable: the factors that you think we should focus our attention, time and resources.  Lastly, identify one or more factors that you think we should not focus on, not because they are unimportant, but because we may not be able to change them. 

Special Snowflake Syndrome

The increase of teen narcissism seems to be more of a societal issue than a technological one. While your social media site of choice certainly encourages users to post every fleeting thought or opinion, and feeds the drive to gain more "friends," more followers, whatever, these websites only serve to make narcissism more visible. Putting the blame of narcissism on social media websites ignores the fact that these websites are a product of an individualistic society. Social media is relatively new, and the article Dr. Risser linked us focused on an increase of self-absorbed teens from the 1980s (as compared to the 1950s) that bled into the early zeros, and most likely continues today. The thirty years between the fifties and the eighties showed a significant increase in the number teenagers who agreed that they were important. That's thirty years of time before technology as we know it today was even really A Thing.
So what's the deal?

I'm going to put the blame on an indulgent society that produces spoiled children and teens. The increase in narcissistic young adults has been a long time coming. Every child is special by virtue of being upright and breathing. Everyone is good at something. Everyone is an individual, unlike any other. We all get special stars, participation ribbons/trophies, we get passed from grade to grade whether we earn it or not,  etc. My graduating class had around eight (plus or minus two) valedictorians. Besides making the commencement speeches excessive, the prestige of the award has been dampened as it no longer recognizes the best of the best. Everyone's the best. We are all of us superstars, and when we log into our social media accounts, we put our "greatness" on display.

Teens 11/29/13

Last week I noticed my phone repeatedly showing messages on my 13 year old daughters face book account. When I opened it up, I was more shocked than anything. Normally she has alot of interaction with my family back home but she had reset it to hide her posts from the family. There was alot of foul language, vulgar comments, and jealousy from her friends posts. Most of it was nonsence girl stuff but the thing I noticed was their focus on people they were jealous of, why they were jealous, and people they envied the most. Call me old fashioned but I do not see how these subjects are going to help my daughter be a better person in any way.

After thinking about the situation, I sat my daughter down and told her that I was dissapointed in her responses and asked if she would like me to post them all so that my family could see them. She was very upset at the idea of her aunt being able to read them. I was not sure what the right thing to do was, so I explained to her that jealousy is a form of meaness that can overpower you if you choose to let it. I also told her that she had been blessed with positive influences and awesome people to care for her and she needs to use that as a tool instead of forgeting who she is in order to fit in a circle of friends that would be gone ten years from now, while her people would always be there. One of the biggest inflences on her is a girl that has had a rough life with few people to lean on or support her. I explained that this is her chance to be a good influence and show support to her friends in a positive light versus falling in with the crowd. Some people do not have a strong support system while others have more than they need.

I am not sure if I did the right thing, but, I am sure that my daughter deserves to have better thoughts about people than than the ones posted by her friends. If facebook is such a positive thing for our teens, then why is it so full of negative comments? Who review's posts or keeps a watch over them? I do not think I should have to go on my childs facebook account, invading their privacy, but on the other hand as a parent I feel it is my right to check up on my children from time to time. Previously I thought facebook was a good thing, but at this point I am not sure what I think.

Hail, Caesar!!

Considering the article states that the jump in self-importance was first noted in the 1980s, I’m going to go ahead and say that social media is definitely not to blame.  The participants would have been children of the hippie generation - love children whose parents fought for personal freedom against the Man and his constrictive mold of what a productive citizen should be.  In this case, a cooperative enterprise of repression begot individual rebellion.  Most of my friends that have children have said to me at some point, “I am not going to raise my kids the way my parents raised me.”  To me, this is also indicative of a cultivation of a desperate need to set one’s offspring apart from the apparent negativism of past collectivist culture.

Research has stated that there has been a constant increase in measures of self-importance, and I do believe social media compounds this remarkable shift of ego.  Instant gratification is a strong pull, and in this way I believe it has supplanted the time it takes to refine a depth of self and has exacerbated a pre-existing condition (or heightened sense of self-importance).  Researchers also posit that schools are the main source of “positive feelings and specialness” – no doubt because of the ridiculous number of graduations children now face, No Child Left Behind, and countless other policies public education has been forced to endorse.  We must remind ourselves that schools are subject to federal ruling, which in turn is subject to public opinion or current relative attitude.

One thing I find quite interesting is with the increase in personal self-worth, there seems to be a sharp decrease in personal accountability (which just screams entitlement).  Scapegoats take the brunt of responsibility when it comes to an individual owning up to his actions that may result in negative consequences for the majority.  If a collective moral compass is a root cause of dissension, why is the next generation not taking greater liability for their individual moral compasses?  I believe that an inflated sense of self-worth is a delusion that many people get lost in so that they don’t get lost in the sea of others.  Large groups of human beings must be constructed around a social hierarchy, as one person’s self-importance alone does not a happy majority make.  Reversing this principle, a single facet of a problem (i.e. technology) should not be to blame for a multi-generational dissent into narcissism. 

Prompt Two

I do think technology aggravates the problem. Social media brings all sorts of issues regarding a teens view of them self. Gossip, rumors, and all sorts of negative conversations happen on Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, etc. Teens can be harassed horribly online which can cause them to feel less of them selves. On the other end of it teens can also think too highly of them selves because of this new technology. They can make blogs  or videos about the things they do thinking they are being above everyone else. One person acting this way may lead to negative comments or fights to happen online.

Prompt One

I think children with certain learning disorders do need special attention in some aspects of learning. I have worked with kids in my job that are really ADHD and I know from speaking with their teachers how difficult it is to get them to do their work sometimes. Not only is it hurting their own learning experience, but often time it is disrupting the entire class. Developmental disabilities that are more serious could cause even a larger disruption of their own learning or the rest of the class. So I do think that some developmental disabilities, if bad enough, do need special attention in school.

The delusion of self importance

I was at a meeting today and one of the speaker, who was in is mid 50's, said "I am thankful for the things I do not deserve" . I don't think this is a statement that would come out of a normal twenty year olds mouth today.  There seems to be a greater sense of entitlement in today's youth.

I don't think this inflated sense of self importance can be blamed on just one thing, there are many factors that could have helped in inflating their egos including but not limited social media (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and online dating sites), participation awards, preventing kids from failing.  We keep telling kids you are important when in reality, they are no more important the anyone else. In all likelihood one person will not change the world on their own.

I can see this difference in self importance between my little sister, she just turned 21, she has grown up with social media and the other things mentioned above, when she does not get her way the world knows. We go to dinner where she wants to go, make what she wants for dinner and  make seating arrangements around where she wants to sit. When these things don't happen she sees it as a personal attack and expects an apology from whoever she feels has wronged her.

Shift from the the '50's

When discussing the shift to a more vainglorious generation, it is hard to ignore the technological advantages and social media. Various electronics and programs allow the user to customize to his/ her liking to express individual styles and personalities. The social media website, Facebook, seems to promote sense of self-worth and importance; the headline for posting a "status" includes phrase such as "What are you thinking about?" and the special emphasis on members' "selfies" emphasize the importance of the user. Tell your friends what you had for lunch or take pictures of your group of friends you saw at you High School reunion. The truth is, your friends don't care what you ate today nor do they care to see your old circle of best buds' smelly feet; but they might press the "like" button anyway just for the laugh of it. Needless to say, recent technologies and media promote the shift to current self-loving generations.

MMPI Question

Has technology made a huge impact on the youth of America? It sure has! Teens are always looking for attention, affection and in general just friends. Friends are a huge part of your high school career and if you really think about it friends are what really help us get through the tough years of being a high school kid. Why are friends so important? Well its quite simple, they provide us open ears so we can complain about our usually petty problems that shouldn't be problems in the first place, also they give us the feeling of being wanted they are always there asking to hang out and be around your presence making it seem like you are important. There is the "important" factor that comes out and is really the base of this question.

In todays world its all about social, social everything, social things that make it all about you. You always see the internet filled with bold postings about not being scared to be you or to be different, and really that's what this world needs. People not scared to go against the grain and be different act different and do different things then everybody else. Some falsely show to be different just so they can be broadcasted more, but in reality are the exact definition of trying to "fit in"....false advertisement in my eyes. Before all the social sites and technology that has taken over every single living life it was just up to your personality in the raw. Back then it was just relying on who you truly are with no cover up or social media site to hide behind making it harder to believe that you really important. My eyes everyone is important, everyone comes into your life to show you something at one point or another. Be different don't be scared because the people who come into your life are meant to and the ones that stay are the ones that make you important.

"Mainstreamed" Education

Children with autism or related diagnosis should be given the appropriate education. Sometimes this means that they should be mainstreamed if their diagnosis isn't actually all that bad. It really all matters in the diagnosis itself. If given the correct and accurate diagnosis a child with autism can be put in the same classes as everybody else but only if parents, doctors and sometimes the kids themselves feel they can handle it. Other times for kids with more severe autism need to be placed in appropriate classrooms, there is no question to that. If the child needs these slower paced classroom settings then at least have teachers and providers that can do a great job at giving a great education. From the teachers perspective they might have to make certain accommodations for autistic kids, but don't they have to make certain accommodations for non-autistic kids as well? Teachers will have it rough no matter what so that's why it has to be accurate diagnosing to not make it all that much harder for the teacher to do their job. I think with kids who are mainstreamed and have the education that most receive they could gain insight with having an autistic kid in the classroom. Hopefully giving insight will gain empathy and a better understanding of the disorder. Not everybody is the same and maybe seeing it in the natural light empathy can be gained from the experience of having an autistic kid learning along with you.

Children of the Great Depression vs. Children of Vanilla Ice

I am an important person.  I believe this about myself.  However, I’ve hit rock bottom a couple of times.  Every time I did, I asked myself, “am I really an important person?”  Do I have something the world can use?  After some soul searching and a lot of pizza, I usually come to the answer.  I am an important person.

Now I try to figure out how I can be an important person to people.  I no longer believe the world revolves around me, but that I am an integral part of the world.  But it isn’t fair to compare teenagers today versus teenagers who lived in the greatest time period in American history. Our society was coming off the greatest war in history and the Great Depression.  Both periods in American history that stressed collectivism in society.

Today we value individualism, and dependence on self, but the problem is as stated in the article, we don’t really know ourselves.  How can we make a difference if you don’t have an identity?  I don’t believe that technology has affected this shift, but probably it is related to cultural and political shifts.  We value individuals who are independent, whereas after the 1940s, society valued the societal effort.

So I do believe that further studies are needed before we place the blame on technology.

Prompt week 25th

1.       The shift in MMPI indicates that young people are feeling better about themselves.  This change has occurred in part to the focus on positive reinforcement versus negative.  It can take just one word to cut someone down but it takes one hundred to build self-esteem.    It has taken the country a long time to realize the damage that can be done with a few negative words and how long it takes to repair that damage.  Teenagers are fragile and they are always looking for acceptance so once programs where created to focus on positive self-feelings things improved.  Technology can be a double edged sword where you can easily praise or torment others.  I think young people share too much of their personal lives on social media allowing them to become easy targets for tormentors.  It allows people a way to share daily information but it also provides no escape from harassment.  It is important for young people to find their own self-worth and while acceptance by others is important it is not the end of the world.

Prompt week of 11/18

1.       I believe it is important to provide the best education possible to all students with or without disabilities.  If the government regulations state that they will provide appropriate education for disabled children they need to make sure that appropriate funding and educators are available to meet this commitment.  The regulation should state that every child disabled or otherwise would receive the best appropriate education.

Mainstreaming is beneficial to both the disabled and non-disabled student.  It allows children to learn how to interact with one another regardless of disabilities and teaches children acceptance of others.  Autistic children have the ability to develop better social skills if their disability is discovered early and it is important to keep them socially interactive so they do not close themselves off to the entire world.  They may create some distractions within a classroom but if they have appropriate assistance they are no more disruptive than other students.  It can cause stress on teachers and other students but if the child’s aid is working closely with them it should be a minor inconvenience.    The key to success for all students is appropriate assistance and motivation.  Evan though an autistic child avoids eye contact it does not mean they are not listening and absorbing the information being presented.