Self Identity
My parents always preached to me that I was equal to everyone else and that no one was better than I was. I truly believed that until the day I started school in America and I realized that no matter how much I thought of myself as being equal, other weren’t going to let me forget just how wrong I was. The African American students did not like me because I was Haitian, African Americans does not believe Haitians were black, only they are the real blacks sad right. The whites did not seem to take to me because of the obvious reasons, I was a black kid, and they did not need to know if I was not African American but as long as the color of my skin was different from theirs that pretty much was it for them. The Hispanics were neutral because they themselves were going through the same thing I was going through. I thought I would seek refuge with my people, but I did not fit in there either, they did not feel like I was Haitian enough because I grew up in the united states, so to them I was a fake Haitian, which means I was lost. I would come home and my parents would see that something was very wrong with me and they could not figure it out and afterwards we sat down and talked and they told me that in this country we as Haitians have to work three times harder than everyone else because we are the black sheep country, which means we are social outcast even amongst other immigrant countries.
I am a male which means we are not to show fear or any feelings that are deemed feminine. I was brought up to be tough a provider and a good father, protector and husband. We are to be the disciplinary in our house. This type of stereotype about men has been passed down from generation to generation and even the women have been brought up to believe that and most of them also have come to except that because of how their fathers were.
Sex was thought to be something that we are only were supposed to engage in sex after marriage, I did not become sexually active until I got married. My wife and I were each other’s first and that was the most fulfilling feeling in the world to know that we shared something so beautiful with one another. Unfortunately in today’s society children are becoming sexually active before they reached their teens which is one of the reasons there are so many teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, these young people were never properly educated in the proper ways of protecting themselves.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Gatekeeper
Gatekeeper
The teacher is the gatekeeper; means that education is the key to a better and more wholesome existence. The teacher is the keeper of knowledge, since the teacher is the one with the knowledge that means they hold the key to open up the most powerful in the world, that door is the human mind. A closed mind is an ignorant mind, a person that does not think for themselves is a person that is without knowledge, and therefore they do not have the capacity to think for themselves. The only way they can gain that ability is through gaining knowledge on how the world and their society work. Some societies restrict education from their citizens, because keeping people ignorant makes it easier to control them. Take for instance the ordeal African Americans faced during the days of slavery and onward to the time of the Arkansas nine. Education was not offered to the slaves at all during slavery days, the government was in such support of this that they made it illegal for any citizens to teach a slaves, it was a felony to teach slaves the whites would be jailed for teaching the slave and as for the slave themselves being educated is a death sentence, they would be killed if they even knew how to read. Even after the days of slavery was over and the blacks were given their freedom education was still being restricted from the African Americans, this was designed to keep their minds locked even though their bodies were not in chains their minds were still locked up. The same practice was being utilized by the ancient Egyptians, Sumerians and the Mesopotamians. Even though there cultures were a more advanced culture as for as education is concerned, there tactics were still as barbaric, the common citizen were not allowed to be educated, only the most influential citizens were given the opportunity to an education. They knew if their citizens minds were unlocked and gained wisdom, the citizens would start to think and make their own decision, therefore keeping their minds locked was the solution they came up with to have complete control over the citizens.
The teacher is the gatekeeper; means that education is the key to a better and more wholesome existence. The teacher is the keeper of knowledge, since the teacher is the one with the knowledge that means they hold the key to open up the most powerful in the world, that door is the human mind. A closed mind is an ignorant mind, a person that does not think for themselves is a person that is without knowledge, and therefore they do not have the capacity to think for themselves. The only way they can gain that ability is through gaining knowledge on how the world and their society work. Some societies restrict education from their citizens, because keeping people ignorant makes it easier to control them. Take for instance the ordeal African Americans faced during the days of slavery and onward to the time of the Arkansas nine. Education was not offered to the slaves at all during slavery days, the government was in such support of this that they made it illegal for any citizens to teach a slaves, it was a felony to teach slaves the whites would be jailed for teaching the slave and as for the slave themselves being educated is a death sentence, they would be killed if they even knew how to read. Even after the days of slavery was over and the blacks were given their freedom education was still being restricted from the African Americans, this was designed to keep their minds locked even though their bodies were not in chains their minds were still locked up. The same practice was being utilized by the ancient Egyptians, Sumerians and the Mesopotamians. Even though there cultures were a more advanced culture as for as education is concerned, there tactics were still as barbaric, the common citizen were not allowed to be educated, only the most influential citizens were given the opportunity to an education. They knew if their citizens minds were unlocked and gained wisdom, the citizens would start to think and make their own decision, therefore keeping their minds locked was the solution they came up with to have complete control over the citizens.
Diverse School System
Diverse school systems
After reading the article about the Sumerian school system, I realized we owe our form of education to them. Their system went above the normal Egyptian school system. The Egyptian school system was a closed system, where only the wealthy and powerful members of the Egyptian society were able to receive an education. The education their son’s were to receive were only basic reading and writing skills, the school offers no further education. The kids are enrolled into the school at age five and by the time they reached the age of eleven, they were to be graduates and ready to take their perspective jobs, some were sent to work directly for the king and members of his kingdom and others worked for generals to document their victories and keep track of the amount of soldiers. The Egyptian system were mainly preparing their student to serve, they were not offered any further educational progress. The system that was the closest to modern day educational system would have to be the Mesopotamians, because their system also thought some of the same things as the Egyptians, but they also went beyond the basic reading and writing. Their system was more advance in the subjects they thought, subjects such as mathematics, science, astrology, medicine and botany. The most advance school system is the Sumerian school system, not only does it teaches the same discipline as the Egyptian and Mesopotamians, the Sumerian’s system was not governed by the king, therefore the school was independent, this made it an open system, where they will enroll anyone as long as they were able to pay the tuition, it was still an all male system. This system is the first time teachers were being paid a salary and this salary they were receiving came from the tuition the student’s families were paying to the school father.
The Sumerians were also responsible for setting the structure of the school and assign responsibilities to each faculty member. They also had a more refined system, each person in that system had a title and responsibilities, starting with the father of the school or in today’s term would be principal; he is the overseer of the entire school, he is in charge of the lesson plans, student enrolments, and paying the salaries, after him was the school’s big brother and in today’s term is the vice principal, his duties would include a more administrative type responsibilities, he passes on the lesson plans prepared by the school father to the teachers and also to sit in and grade the student’s in the reciting and presentation of their lessons, next came the teachers their duties were to present the student’s with the lessons and show them how to write and read and listen to view their work, lastly is the sons of the schools or students their duties were to listen and practice their writing and reading skills and prepare to recite their lessons. Because the Sumerians believe that the key to learning is memorization, students were not only supposed to write their lesson, they were expected to remember everything and be able to recall them at a moment’s notice.
As we can clearly see, each system is evolving from the previous, this is to ensure each generation that comes after has something new to offer, we never suppose to remain in the same system forever, as people become more and more intelligent and curious we have to find new ways to satisfy that curiosity this is when progress takes place.
After reading the article about the Sumerian school system, I realized we owe our form of education to them. Their system went above the normal Egyptian school system. The Egyptian school system was a closed system, where only the wealthy and powerful members of the Egyptian society were able to receive an education. The education their son’s were to receive were only basic reading and writing skills, the school offers no further education. The kids are enrolled into the school at age five and by the time they reached the age of eleven, they were to be graduates and ready to take their perspective jobs, some were sent to work directly for the king and members of his kingdom and others worked for generals to document their victories and keep track of the amount of soldiers. The Egyptian system were mainly preparing their student to serve, they were not offered any further educational progress. The system that was the closest to modern day educational system would have to be the Mesopotamians, because their system also thought some of the same things as the Egyptians, but they also went beyond the basic reading and writing. Their system was more advance in the subjects they thought, subjects such as mathematics, science, astrology, medicine and botany. The most advance school system is the Sumerian school system, not only does it teaches the same discipline as the Egyptian and Mesopotamians, the Sumerian’s system was not governed by the king, therefore the school was independent, this made it an open system, where they will enroll anyone as long as they were able to pay the tuition, it was still an all male system. This system is the first time teachers were being paid a salary and this salary they were receiving came from the tuition the student’s families were paying to the school father.
The Sumerians were also responsible for setting the structure of the school and assign responsibilities to each faculty member. They also had a more refined system, each person in that system had a title and responsibilities, starting with the father of the school or in today’s term would be principal; he is the overseer of the entire school, he is in charge of the lesson plans, student enrolments, and paying the salaries, after him was the school’s big brother and in today’s term is the vice principal, his duties would include a more administrative type responsibilities, he passes on the lesson plans prepared by the school father to the teachers and also to sit in and grade the student’s in the reciting and presentation of their lessons, next came the teachers their duties were to present the student’s with the lessons and show them how to write and read and listen to view their work, lastly is the sons of the schools or students their duties were to listen and practice their writing and reading skills and prepare to recite their lessons. Because the Sumerians believe that the key to learning is memorization, students were not only supposed to write their lesson, they were expected to remember everything and be able to recall them at a moment’s notice.
As we can clearly see, each system is evolving from the previous, this is to ensure each generation that comes after has something new to offer, we never suppose to remain in the same system forever, as people become more and more intelligent and curious we have to find new ways to satisfy that curiosity this is when progress takes place.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
rites of passage and formal education
Rites of passage and formal education
Rites of passage is important for many different reasons, these reasons vary from culture to culture, even subcultures such as tribes. These rites of passages can include physical or emotional depending on the tribe or culture. These are knowledge that are being passed down from one previous generation to current generation, this is done because most non-literate cultures do not have the necessary knowledge or ability to write down their cultures, these people would have to rely on the passing of these historical knowledge, usually the elders are the keepers of these stories and traditions. Once a child has completed their rites of passage they are now welcomed into adulthood and are now able to marry, own properties, get married and have children. Without completing these tasks these young adolescent will remain as a child or be removed from the tribe for failing where they might be seen as weak and unworthy of being in the tribe, their family maybe shamed as well.
Facing Mount Kenya was a story written by Jomo Kenyatta, this story was a very descriptive account on the rite of passage of a tribe in Kenya, where both the boys and girls are circumcised. Although it may sound bad but, it’s a way of life for them, this is their transition from boy or girl in to men or womanhood. The irua practice is a done after a two weeks celebration, where the child has responsibilities and as well as the parents of the child. If the procedure were not performed to the young lady, she would be austrocised by the tribe and looked upon as a whore, in order to prevent this from happening the parents would forced their child to undergo this painful procedure.
The story of Sitting Quietly was about two young Kpelle twins, that were about to take on their rites of passage into manhood. The task was for them to be taken away and live inside of a shack with several other young men and for several nights they would undergo different task by the supposed forest thing, which was a beast they had to kill with the spear they carved themselves. If they survived they week they were called individually to the forest to fight the forest thing. There were no such beast but the children never knew that, and some were so afraid that they died and the ones that survived were welcomed into adulthood and bestowed honor on their families, those that died were considered weak.
The Sambians rites of passage is the most horrific of all, children would have to perform regular follatio in order to become a man, because it was compared to a mother’s milk. This is to me so disturbing I guess it’s because we grew up in a society where something like this would land someone in jail, because this would’ve been seen as child molestation.
The only difference I can see between rites of passage and formal education, is that rites of passage is practiced amongst non literate cultures where theres no schools to teach history, reading and writing.
Rites of passage is important for many different reasons, these reasons vary from culture to culture, even subcultures such as tribes. These rites of passages can include physical or emotional depending on the tribe or culture. These are knowledge that are being passed down from one previous generation to current generation, this is done because most non-literate cultures do not have the necessary knowledge or ability to write down their cultures, these people would have to rely on the passing of these historical knowledge, usually the elders are the keepers of these stories and traditions. Once a child has completed their rites of passage they are now welcomed into adulthood and are now able to marry, own properties, get married and have children. Without completing these tasks these young adolescent will remain as a child or be removed from the tribe for failing where they might be seen as weak and unworthy of being in the tribe, their family maybe shamed as well.
Facing Mount Kenya was a story written by Jomo Kenyatta, this story was a very descriptive account on the rite of passage of a tribe in Kenya, where both the boys and girls are circumcised. Although it may sound bad but, it’s a way of life for them, this is their transition from boy or girl in to men or womanhood. The irua practice is a done after a two weeks celebration, where the child has responsibilities and as well as the parents of the child. If the procedure were not performed to the young lady, she would be austrocised by the tribe and looked upon as a whore, in order to prevent this from happening the parents would forced their child to undergo this painful procedure.
The story of Sitting Quietly was about two young Kpelle twins, that were about to take on their rites of passage into manhood. The task was for them to be taken away and live inside of a shack with several other young men and for several nights they would undergo different task by the supposed forest thing, which was a beast they had to kill with the spear they carved themselves. If they survived they week they were called individually to the forest to fight the forest thing. There were no such beast but the children never knew that, and some were so afraid that they died and the ones that survived were welcomed into adulthood and bestowed honor on their families, those that died were considered weak.
The Sambians rites of passage is the most horrific of all, children would have to perform regular follatio in order to become a man, because it was compared to a mother’s milk. This is to me so disturbing I guess it’s because we grew up in a society where something like this would land someone in jail, because this would’ve been seen as child molestation.
The only difference I can see between rites of passage and formal education, is that rites of passage is practiced amongst non literate cultures where theres no schools to teach history, reading and writing.
Declined of American System
Declined of American education system
Due to the low educational scores on international test and companies from corporate America and the military. Counties and state officials had to take a long look into their school system and curriculums, to see what was wrong. In order to better evaluate these failures, school officials had to evaluate not only the students but the quality of the teachers and their teaching abilities. Corporations were asking for better reading and mathematical scores. Some of the solutions were to increase the length of the school year, increase requirements for promotions to the next grade and even to graduate, the most important solution was to increase teachers’ qualification and raise the qualified teachers pay. All of the new ideas gave birth to the creation of the three wave of reform.
The first wave of this reform system, was to raise the standards, which means more testing and additional courses for the students as well as the teachers, if a teacher is not qualified and is not up to date with the advancement of the technology of their respective field, than you cannot teach these students effectively, advancements in every field changes over time and as an educator you cannot be left behind. The second wave was the restructuring the schools, this was to relinquishing power to the teachers, this gives the teachers control over their school and classrooms, this was a way to hold teachers accountable for the success of their students. For too long teachers were complaining about not having any control over how their students and their ways of teaching, they felt like puppets on a string. The third wave is comprehensive services; this is to ensure the students have everything they need to make the students school experience better, by providing food, medical help, transportation, counseling, security, social and recreational services. All of these services are there to make the school experience more enjoyable one, the upside is the students learn teamwork and compassion.
The reason we continue to use the three wave system is because the system works. No longer are students being sent into the world without having the proper education or under qualified teachers in the in the classrooms anymore. With tests such as the F.C.A.T, standardized testing like this are mendatory before a child can be promoted to the next grade, these test shows the school board exactly how much information a student retained prior to being promoted to the grade and even to graduate from school.
Due to the low educational scores on international test and companies from corporate America and the military. Counties and state officials had to take a long look into their school system and curriculums, to see what was wrong. In order to better evaluate these failures, school officials had to evaluate not only the students but the quality of the teachers and their teaching abilities. Corporations were asking for better reading and mathematical scores. Some of the solutions were to increase the length of the school year, increase requirements for promotions to the next grade and even to graduate, the most important solution was to increase teachers’ qualification and raise the qualified teachers pay. All of the new ideas gave birth to the creation of the three wave of reform.
The first wave of this reform system, was to raise the standards, which means more testing and additional courses for the students as well as the teachers, if a teacher is not qualified and is not up to date with the advancement of the technology of their respective field, than you cannot teach these students effectively, advancements in every field changes over time and as an educator you cannot be left behind. The second wave was the restructuring the schools, this was to relinquishing power to the teachers, this gives the teachers control over their school and classrooms, this was a way to hold teachers accountable for the success of their students. For too long teachers were complaining about not having any control over how their students and their ways of teaching, they felt like puppets on a string. The third wave is comprehensive services; this is to ensure the students have everything they need to make the students school experience better, by providing food, medical help, transportation, counseling, security, social and recreational services. All of these services are there to make the school experience more enjoyable one, the upside is the students learn teamwork and compassion.
The reason we continue to use the three wave system is because the system works. No longer are students being sent into the world without having the proper education or under qualified teachers in the in the classrooms anymore. With tests such as the F.C.A.T, standardized testing like this are mendatory before a child can be promoted to the next grade, these test shows the school board exactly how much information a student retained prior to being promoted to the grade and even to graduate from school.
Eyptian School Vs. Mesopotamians School
Egyptian School vs. Mesopotamians School
Formal school in Egypt was reserved for the elite members of society, where only the high ranking members of society were given the chance to receive a formal education. The less fortunate and common members of the Egyptian society had to resort to an informal educational methods of educating their children.
The young men of Egypt were learning their trades or jobs by imitating their fathers. As they get older and older they are given more and more responsibilities. Children during those days were not able to choose their own trades or occupations, but rather the trade was chosen for them. Depending on the family they were born into. If for example your father was a farmer, your career in the future would be the same as his, if your father was a craftsman you were a craftsman. This was because his father and his father’s father had the same occupation and the skills and knowledge were handed down from father to son and so forth and so on. Since there was no set form of education you had to gain knowledge by apprenticeship this was a method where you watch your father and he teaches you his job from the time you were able to walk.
Ethics were also thought, these rules were found in one book which was “Book of instructions or wisdom literature”. These books were most likely dictated from the king or by elder noblemen of the royal family, these laws were recognized and abided by all level of society from the upper to the lower class, no one was exempt from following the laws of the land. Justice, wisdom, obedience, humanity and restraint were the content of the book. Teaching the citizens of Egypt these text, were written by the students of the scribal schools, these students were servants and answer only to the king.
The Mesopotamians also had a formal school system, their system were far more advance and sophisticated system from the Egyptian system. Although they shared one common trait, and that is only the high society were worthy of learning, this is where the similarities end. The Mesopotamians education went beyond basic writing and reading, they were being thought mathematics, science, astrology, medicine and criminal justice. The priest of these school believed the key to learning is memorization, the students were giving a set of scrolls to study and memorized and were expected to recite what they have read in front of the priest the next day without any errors. These same lessons the recited later the student would have to write down on a scroll.
Formal school in Egypt was reserved for the elite members of society, where only the high ranking members of society were given the chance to receive a formal education. The less fortunate and common members of the Egyptian society had to resort to an informal educational methods of educating their children.
The young men of Egypt were learning their trades or jobs by imitating their fathers. As they get older and older they are given more and more responsibilities. Children during those days were not able to choose their own trades or occupations, but rather the trade was chosen for them. Depending on the family they were born into. If for example your father was a farmer, your career in the future would be the same as his, if your father was a craftsman you were a craftsman. This was because his father and his father’s father had the same occupation and the skills and knowledge were handed down from father to son and so forth and so on. Since there was no set form of education you had to gain knowledge by apprenticeship this was a method where you watch your father and he teaches you his job from the time you were able to walk.
Ethics were also thought, these rules were found in one book which was “Book of instructions or wisdom literature”. These books were most likely dictated from the king or by elder noblemen of the royal family, these laws were recognized and abided by all level of society from the upper to the lower class, no one was exempt from following the laws of the land. Justice, wisdom, obedience, humanity and restraint were the content of the book. Teaching the citizens of Egypt these text, were written by the students of the scribal schools, these students were servants and answer only to the king.
The Mesopotamians also had a formal school system, their system were far more advance and sophisticated system from the Egyptian system. Although they shared one common trait, and that is only the high society were worthy of learning, this is where the similarities end. The Mesopotamians education went beyond basic writing and reading, they were being thought mathematics, science, astrology, medicine and criminal justice. The priest of these school believed the key to learning is memorization, the students were giving a set of scrolls to study and memorized and were expected to recite what they have read in front of the priest the next day without any errors. These same lessons the recited later the student would have to write down on a scroll.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Little Rock 9
Little Rock 9
The times were different then and I’m sure very hard for blacks in the united states, it must have been hell to be treated like a second class citizen only because of the color of their skin, blacks were denied the most basics of rights, they could not drink from the same water fountain as whites, eat in the same dining establishments as whites, even riding public transportation they were not permitted to sit on the front of the bus and if the front was full and a white person needed to sit the black person would have to get up and give up his or her sit to that individual, very unfair indeed.
African-Americans had the worse schools systems, their classrooms were church basements and run down school houses that the Caucasians stopped using because of the poor conditions they were in, their books were used and torn and often times outdated, it’s clear to me after reading this passage the blacks were setup for failure, because the one way for a person to know their worth is through education, keeping a group of people ignorant would ensure their demise, because they will know nothing much than to servants and to do jobs that does not require any reading or writing, the only thing that African-Americans ever wanted was to be treated and be seen as equals no more, no less.
In 1957 Little Rock, Arkansas, the school name was Central High School, which was an all white high school just like every high school in the south. After a long fight the NAACP fought and won the right for African-Americans to attend the school, of course this was met with a lot of anger and hatred, parents were protesting and pulling their kids out of the school because they did not want their white children to be in the same classroom with “Niggers” even some teachers quit their jobs. Having to be escorted to class everyday by armed guards would have left me unable to concentrate on my school work, I would be too afraid someone may get to me and do bodily harm to me and the others, I would question if it was all worth it, but at the same time it would’ve motivate me to outperform the white kids that were attending the school, to show everyone that we are all capable of achieving greatness, given the opportunity. Because of the sacrifices and ridicule these student endured in the past, paved the way to us now having the same opportunities to an education, it really hurts me to see African-Americans taking this right as lightly as they are, if they only knew how many people sacrificed their freedom and their life to give them this opportunity and yet they are taking it for granted.
The times were different then and I’m sure very hard for blacks in the united states, it must have been hell to be treated like a second class citizen only because of the color of their skin, blacks were denied the most basics of rights, they could not drink from the same water fountain as whites, eat in the same dining establishments as whites, even riding public transportation they were not permitted to sit on the front of the bus and if the front was full and a white person needed to sit the black person would have to get up and give up his or her sit to that individual, very unfair indeed.
African-Americans had the worse schools systems, their classrooms were church basements and run down school houses that the Caucasians stopped using because of the poor conditions they were in, their books were used and torn and often times outdated, it’s clear to me after reading this passage the blacks were setup for failure, because the one way for a person to know their worth is through education, keeping a group of people ignorant would ensure their demise, because they will know nothing much than to servants and to do jobs that does not require any reading or writing, the only thing that African-Americans ever wanted was to be treated and be seen as equals no more, no less.
In 1957 Little Rock, Arkansas, the school name was Central High School, which was an all white high school just like every high school in the south. After a long fight the NAACP fought and won the right for African-Americans to attend the school, of course this was met with a lot of anger and hatred, parents were protesting and pulling their kids out of the school because they did not want their white children to be in the same classroom with “Niggers” even some teachers quit their jobs. Having to be escorted to class everyday by armed guards would have left me unable to concentrate on my school work, I would be too afraid someone may get to me and do bodily harm to me and the others, I would question if it was all worth it, but at the same time it would’ve motivate me to outperform the white kids that were attending the school, to show everyone that we are all capable of achieving greatness, given the opportunity. Because of the sacrifices and ridicule these student endured in the past, paved the way to us now having the same opportunities to an education, it really hurts me to see African-Americans taking this right as lightly as they are, if they only knew how many people sacrificed their freedom and their life to give them this opportunity and yet they are taking it for granted.
Understanding Eachother
Understanding each other
This world is full of diverse cultures and each of these cultures also has sub-cultures, each of these sub-cultures has their own customs, history and beliefs. Some of these customs may seem weird and strange to any outsiders never the less we have to learn to respect them; most of all learn to keep our own prejudices aside and keep an open mind. We have to know the same way we view their customs as being weird or different they themselves have the same perception of our own customs. With the diverse ways of traveling we have open trades of not only goods with other countries; we have sometimes adopted some of their ways as well, such as art, music, language and different types of medicines.
Language has always been the main barrier keeping people apart, without understanding linguistics there is no way we can ever learn what we need to know, it takes a lot of patience and open mind to learn each other’s way of life. Respect is the next and as important as language, show the person you will abide by the rules of the land and not disrespect their customs, some of these people would die for their belief because they believe that deeply and we must know that we are there to observe and take notes and not intervene and place our own beliefs into the mix, this could seem in many places as a form of disrespect. Food is a big deterrence because some cultures would eat some things that would turn your stomach, I’ve watched Japanese sell and eat rats in the streets, and nowhere in America would we ever consider eating a rodent. Some of the other soldiers that were with me makes obscene gestures and point and laugh at the sight of someone eating a rat, I can see the look on the peoples’ faces and I saw anger I really felt like I needed to apologize to them for what my fellow soldiers were doing. I am a product of another culture and my culture has prejudices against any other culture that is not theirs which to me is sad because we don’t give other people a chance.
Reading these two passages really open my eyes, not that they were ever closed after coming to America at an early age my parents forced my brother and I to learn the American way of life, because as they put it, the only way to succeed in this country is to learn the culture and language at the same time not to forget our own cultures.
This world is full of diverse cultures and each of these cultures also has sub-cultures, each of these sub-cultures has their own customs, history and beliefs. Some of these customs may seem weird and strange to any outsiders never the less we have to learn to respect them; most of all learn to keep our own prejudices aside and keep an open mind. We have to know the same way we view their customs as being weird or different they themselves have the same perception of our own customs. With the diverse ways of traveling we have open trades of not only goods with other countries; we have sometimes adopted some of their ways as well, such as art, music, language and different types of medicines.
Language has always been the main barrier keeping people apart, without understanding linguistics there is no way we can ever learn what we need to know, it takes a lot of patience and open mind to learn each other’s way of life. Respect is the next and as important as language, show the person you will abide by the rules of the land and not disrespect their customs, some of these people would die for their belief because they believe that deeply and we must know that we are there to observe and take notes and not intervene and place our own beliefs into the mix, this could seem in many places as a form of disrespect. Food is a big deterrence because some cultures would eat some things that would turn your stomach, I’ve watched Japanese sell and eat rats in the streets, and nowhere in America would we ever consider eating a rodent. Some of the other soldiers that were with me makes obscene gestures and point and laugh at the sight of someone eating a rat, I can see the look on the peoples’ faces and I saw anger I really felt like I needed to apologize to them for what my fellow soldiers were doing. I am a product of another culture and my culture has prejudices against any other culture that is not theirs which to me is sad because we don’t give other people a chance.
Reading these two passages really open my eyes, not that they were ever closed after coming to America at an early age my parents forced my brother and I to learn the American way of life, because as they put it, the only way to succeed in this country is to learn the culture and language at the same time not to forget our own cultures.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Importance of Writing
Importance of writing
Initially writing was invented for early men to keep track of cattle, grains and other properties; eventually they found many other uses for writing. Writing was also used to mark territory in order to warn others of dangers. The most important use of writing has to be documenting events in order to share with others and these stories would be told to other generations, which are the first glimpse into recorded history. The writing and reciting of these event or history to the new generations is a way of establishing traditions and culture, through these writings we gain knowledge and understanding of the past, can we make improvements on the future. By keeping records we can see just how far we have evolved from the past to the future.
Writing styles however have made tremendous changes over the years, early writing can actually be dated in about forty-thousand years ago, starting with the cave drawings, these drawings were pictures, this early style of writing is called pictograph, the use of pictures to tell a story, and sometimes these writings are just writings. The ancient Egyptians also used and still used a more refined version of this style of writing; we can see evidence of this in art effects such as vases and tombs. Different symbols had specific meanings; some were to show the wealth, status and role in society. Early Egyptians also started a new more modern style of writing, which was called acrophony, this was the beginning of what we now used today this style which is the alphabet. The early version of the alphabet had a lot of characteristics of pictographs, letters were still being represented by symbols now instead of these pictures meaning a whole story, now with this new style each of these symbols represent a letters. There are countries that are still using hieroglyphics as their writing style; such cultures are Iraq, china, Japan and most Middle Eastern and Asian countries. The only countries that use the alphabetic system are mostly Europeans and countries that have European influences.
Without the invention of writing we would have never known our history and cultures, in order to establish a civilized culture. History played a major role in preserving ways of life of their ancestors.
Initially writing was invented for early men to keep track of cattle, grains and other properties; eventually they found many other uses for writing. Writing was also used to mark territory in order to warn others of dangers. The most important use of writing has to be documenting events in order to share with others and these stories would be told to other generations, which are the first glimpse into recorded history. The writing and reciting of these event or history to the new generations is a way of establishing traditions and culture, through these writings we gain knowledge and understanding of the past, can we make improvements on the future. By keeping records we can see just how far we have evolved from the past to the future.
Writing styles however have made tremendous changes over the years, early writing can actually be dated in about forty-thousand years ago, starting with the cave drawings, these drawings were pictures, this early style of writing is called pictograph, the use of pictures to tell a story, and sometimes these writings are just writings. The ancient Egyptians also used and still used a more refined version of this style of writing; we can see evidence of this in art effects such as vases and tombs. Different symbols had specific meanings; some were to show the wealth, status and role in society. Early Egyptians also started a new more modern style of writing, which was called acrophony, this was the beginning of what we now used today this style which is the alphabet. The early version of the alphabet had a lot of characteristics of pictographs, letters were still being represented by symbols now instead of these pictures meaning a whole story, now with this new style each of these symbols represent a letters. There are countries that are still using hieroglyphics as their writing style; such cultures are Iraq, china, Japan and most Middle Eastern and Asian countries. The only countries that use the alphabetic system are mostly Europeans and countries that have European influences.
Without the invention of writing we would have never known our history and cultures, in order to establish a civilized culture. History played a major role in preserving ways of life of their ancestors.
Rites of passage
Rites of passage
Rites of passage and teaching are similar, because both serves the same purpose and that is to prepare the individual for the next stage in their life. Rites of passage are a way of passing along cultural, ideologies and traditions along to the upcoming generations. Most non-literate cultures often pass on their knowledge and traditions along to their offspring by allowing that child to follow and imitate their parents and elders, this process is called shaping, that child is being molded into their parents without having to read and learn about their culture. Mostly the elder in the tribe would tell stories and these stories would explain traditions to the youngster, these stories are stories that are passed down from generation to generation.
The main difference between the methods is rites of passage only teaches the person about his or her own culture and nothing else, where as learning teaches about diverse cultures and academics, such as language, culture and mathematics. Through teaching and learning cultures are able to aid in the survival of all cultures, with knowledge we are able to document and learn and experiment with different ideologies and improve on each objects, therefore ensuring the preservations and spreading of their culture. Both types of learning are very critical to societal and cultural understanding.
Rites of passage are mainly a transitioning from adolescents into adulthood. These rituals exist to teach young males and females their place in society and teach them the necessary requirements to becoming an adult. Some of these rituals are may seem barbaric to outsiders because some may include male and female circumcision other cultures may also have males fight or beat the young man to see if he is worthy and strong enough to withstand the physical pain without showing fear or pain, if this individual passes he will bring pride and status to his family but if he was to fail he will bring shame and maybe driven out of the tribe. The one aspect of these traditions is that only the strong are welcome into the society, all of these rites of passage are there to weed out the weak and frail. There was an episode of such a ritual on Discovery Channel, where a young man was being tested; his task was to run on the backs of ten cows, five times without falling down. The day of the initiation the women are also preparing as well, their preparation was the harshest; they were placed in the middle of a circle while the males of the tribe had switches or tree branch in their hands, they women danced after being served traditional beer to help them deal with the pain. The drummer started beating the drums and the women started dancing and the men started beating them until their skin were bleeding, this is to show their devotion and loyalty to their relative. If the young man would have failed it’s all would have been for nothing, fortunately the young man even after falling once, the elders allowed him to continue, once he was allowed to start over he then completed his task and was now a man, he is now able to marry and have cattle and a farm of his own.
Rites of passage and teaching are similar, because both serves the same purpose and that is to prepare the individual for the next stage in their life. Rites of passage are a way of passing along cultural, ideologies and traditions along to the upcoming generations. Most non-literate cultures often pass on their knowledge and traditions along to their offspring by allowing that child to follow and imitate their parents and elders, this process is called shaping, that child is being molded into their parents without having to read and learn about their culture. Mostly the elder in the tribe would tell stories and these stories would explain traditions to the youngster, these stories are stories that are passed down from generation to generation.
The main difference between the methods is rites of passage only teaches the person about his or her own culture and nothing else, where as learning teaches about diverse cultures and academics, such as language, culture and mathematics. Through teaching and learning cultures are able to aid in the survival of all cultures, with knowledge we are able to document and learn and experiment with different ideologies and improve on each objects, therefore ensuring the preservations and spreading of their culture. Both types of learning are very critical to societal and cultural understanding.
Rites of passage are mainly a transitioning from adolescents into adulthood. These rituals exist to teach young males and females their place in society and teach them the necessary requirements to becoming an adult. Some of these rituals are may seem barbaric to outsiders because some may include male and female circumcision other cultures may also have males fight or beat the young man to see if he is worthy and strong enough to withstand the physical pain without showing fear or pain, if this individual passes he will bring pride and status to his family but if he was to fail he will bring shame and maybe driven out of the tribe. The one aspect of these traditions is that only the strong are welcome into the society, all of these rites of passage are there to weed out the weak and frail. There was an episode of such a ritual on Discovery Channel, where a young man was being tested; his task was to run on the backs of ten cows, five times without falling down. The day of the initiation the women are also preparing as well, their preparation was the harshest; they were placed in the middle of a circle while the males of the tribe had switches or tree branch in their hands, they women danced after being served traditional beer to help them deal with the pain. The drummer started beating the drums and the women started dancing and the men started beating them until their skin were bleeding, this is to show their devotion and loyalty to their relative. If the young man would have failed it’s all would have been for nothing, fortunately the young man even after falling once, the elders allowed him to continue, once he was allowed to start over he then completed his task and was now a man, he is now able to marry and have cattle and a farm of his own.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
paradigm
Paradigisms
Paradigm can be describe as point of view, a way a person or group of people view and interpret reality. These interpretations are mostly learned from generation to generation. One of the most well known sorts of paradigms in any culture is religion. Religion is the one common thread that most of us have in common. No matter what denomination you are, you share a common belief with other members of that faith. Take for instance the story of Adam and Eve, all religions with the exception of Buddhism and Islamic faith has that story in their books (bible). Most Christian faiths, such religions with the same beliefs are Catholics, Jewish, Baptist, just to name a few. These followers never question anything from the bible; they whole-heartedly believe every word to be truth even without facts. The story of Mary and her immaculate conception, to us we most like would look at this with some type of Sinicism.
Paradigm shift is an individual or group of people who refuses to believe anything without questioning their validity. By questioning everything is one way humans can discover new objects, new inventions, all of the new inventions such as cell phones, microwave ovens, television and the most important tool today the PC or (personal computer). If it weren’t for men’s curiosities we would still be in the Stone Age, cars and space travelling would never have been realized. Every generation has evolved more from the previous generation, which is due to paradigm shift.
It is important for teachers to practice paradigm change, is because classrooms are become more and more diverse in more ways than one. Classrooms have children of many different learning styles and capabilities, which mean teachers, would have to get rid of their old world teaching methods. Now some classrooms have special education students mixed in with mainstream children, the special education students may require more attention than mainstream students. No longer is education general because of the diversity of the students.
Paradigm can be describe as point of view, a way a person or group of people view and interpret reality. These interpretations are mostly learned from generation to generation. One of the most well known sorts of paradigms in any culture is religion. Religion is the one common thread that most of us have in common. No matter what denomination you are, you share a common belief with other members of that faith. Take for instance the story of Adam and Eve, all religions with the exception of Buddhism and Islamic faith has that story in their books (bible). Most Christian faiths, such religions with the same beliefs are Catholics, Jewish, Baptist, just to name a few. These followers never question anything from the bible; they whole-heartedly believe every word to be truth even without facts. The story of Mary and her immaculate conception, to us we most like would look at this with some type of Sinicism.
Paradigm shift is an individual or group of people who refuses to believe anything without questioning their validity. By questioning everything is one way humans can discover new objects, new inventions, all of the new inventions such as cell phones, microwave ovens, television and the most important tool today the PC or (personal computer). If it weren’t for men’s curiosities we would still be in the Stone Age, cars and space travelling would never have been realized. Every generation has evolved more from the previous generation, which is due to paradigm shift.
It is important for teachers to practice paradigm change, is because classrooms are become more and more diverse in more ways than one. Classrooms have children of many different learning styles and capabilities, which mean teachers, would have to get rid of their old world teaching methods. Now some classrooms have special education students mixed in with mainstream children, the special education students may require more attention than mainstream students. No longer is education general because of the diversity of the students.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Changes in Men
Changes in Men
No one has ever thought us that there were so many different types of prehistoric human beings. Looking at the pictures of the skulls of the early sapiens, I’ve noticed significant changes in their skull features. The earliest such men were the Homo Habilis, which are also known as Neanderthals or “cavemen”, there skull features are more ape than human. Then came the Homo erectus, they are the result of men’s evolving from walking on four limbs into bipedal. Homo erectus as they name clearly shows they were erected meaning they walked on two legs and had a much larger brain then the Habilis; this is the result of the eating of red meat, which produces proteins and helps the brain become more developed.
The passage on the Hominids really just presented more evidence of the evolutions men went through to become as we are today. These two readings really showed me just how far human evolution has come. There are a total of nineteen different types of hominids from the beginning of time. This shows the many different types of evolutions men went through, throughout the centuries. We went through changes mentally as well as physically.
Lucy and the story of African eve both confirmed my belief that life began in Africa. Reading any magazines or archeological journals, you always read that prehistoric human bones were always being discovered in Africa. All of the pieces of literature could not be wrong, this further confirmed my theory where life begun. All of the different types of humans are being discovered in Africa, from Homo habilis to Homo erectus. It is important to recognize where life began because it’s way to know that we are all related and are the same. The human skin body changes with the climate, the African skin remained dark because of the sun in Africa, where the Anglo Saxon skin turned light to deal with the cold weather. The truth is we are all the same inside and out, all brothers and sisters.
No one has ever thought us that there were so many different types of prehistoric human beings. Looking at the pictures of the skulls of the early sapiens, I’ve noticed significant changes in their skull features. The earliest such men were the Homo Habilis, which are also known as Neanderthals or “cavemen”, there skull features are more ape than human. Then came the Homo erectus, they are the result of men’s evolving from walking on four limbs into bipedal. Homo erectus as they name clearly shows they were erected meaning they walked on two legs and had a much larger brain then the Habilis; this is the result of the eating of red meat, which produces proteins and helps the brain become more developed.
The passage on the Hominids really just presented more evidence of the evolutions men went through to become as we are today. These two readings really showed me just how far human evolution has come. There are a total of nineteen different types of hominids from the beginning of time. This shows the many different types of evolutions men went through, throughout the centuries. We went through changes mentally as well as physically.
Lucy and the story of African eve both confirmed my belief that life began in Africa. Reading any magazines or archeological journals, you always read that prehistoric human bones were always being discovered in Africa. All of the pieces of literature could not be wrong, this further confirmed my theory where life begun. All of the different types of humans are being discovered in Africa, from Homo habilis to Homo erectus. It is important to recognize where life began because it’s way to know that we are all related and are the same. The human skin body changes with the climate, the African skin remained dark because of the sun in Africa, where the Anglo Saxon skin turned light to deal with the cold weather. The truth is we are all the same inside and out, all brothers and sisters.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Cultural Diversity
Looking back on my elementary education, I would definitely say it was multicultural. The school I attended was in an area where there were diverse nationalities living there. I attended Allapatah Elemementary school, deep in the heart of Liberty city. Which if anyone that grew up in Miami knows that it is a pretty rough area?
The reason why I felt my education would be classified as being multicultural is because the school had different ethnicities. There were African-Americans, Haitians, Cubans, Puertoricans and Dominicans. The group that dominated the school was the African-Americans; they were ruthless and view all foreigners as bait. Never the less we all had to learn to learn together and coexist within the same community and school.
I would say it was more of the transformation approach, because we had to learn to tolerate the other ethnic groups and learn about their customs to better understand and accept them as friends. Some of us were able to put aside certain prejudices about the other group and talk out our differences. Being Haitian going to school in that area was tough, the students did not like us because they never really gave us a chance, while on the other hand we were strongly trying to learn the custom and culture of this country in order to fit in. Some of the teachers treated foreigners as leapers and did not care if we understood the lesson that was presented in class.
I would really like for my teachers to use the transformation approach. Because if the teachers would’ve thought that approach, it would make it easier for the students to try to put prejudices that were implanted in their minds by people outside of the school grounds. Learning to respect and accept everyone is one way of keeping peace with the school grounds and beyond. We all have had prejudices or misunderstandings about another culture or person, that if we take our time to learn why that person act or do certain things would make life easier.
The reason why I felt my education would be classified as being multicultural is because the school had different ethnicities. There were African-Americans, Haitians, Cubans, Puertoricans and Dominicans. The group that dominated the school was the African-Americans; they were ruthless and view all foreigners as bait. Never the less we all had to learn to learn together and coexist within the same community and school.
I would say it was more of the transformation approach, because we had to learn to tolerate the other ethnic groups and learn about their customs to better understand and accept them as friends. Some of us were able to put aside certain prejudices about the other group and talk out our differences. Being Haitian going to school in that area was tough, the students did not like us because they never really gave us a chance, while on the other hand we were strongly trying to learn the custom and culture of this country in order to fit in. Some of the teachers treated foreigners as leapers and did not care if we understood the lesson that was presented in class.
I would really like for my teachers to use the transformation approach. Because if the teachers would’ve thought that approach, it would make it easier for the students to try to put prejudices that were implanted in their minds by people outside of the school grounds. Learning to respect and accept everyone is one way of keeping peace with the school grounds and beyond. We all have had prejudices or misunderstandings about another culture or person, that if we take our time to learn why that person act or do certain things would make life easier.
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