H- Harris, India's Sacred Cow (461-469)

The sacred cow of India is a big thing for the people that live in India. It is one of the most sacred animals that live amongst the people. A photographer visiting India captured pictures of bony people that were starving nearly to death while they saw cows around them eating fruits and vegetables being sold by people in the market place. This shows how much their religion means to them. They would rather starve to death than to kill a cow and feed themselves. The cows will rummage through the city, eating all of the fresh fruits and vegetables in the market place while the people living on the street have to starve because of lack of money to buy food or clothing. I think this says a lot about how much we as humans take for granted. We take being fed every day and having clothes to wear for granted while other people in different countries do not have clothes, let alone food to feed themselves or their hungry families. This chapter has made me realize how much I take for granted, the things that I have or use in my everyday life. It makes me realize how blessed I am to to have food to eat, clothes to wear, and a loving family.

H- Gracey, Kindergarten As Academic Boot Camp (446-460)

In this article, a question was posed. “How do you react to the idea that the essence of the educational institution is training into conformity?” What can I say about that, well I guess it would be to an extent because it does mirror the real world. In school you have to follow the rules set by the administrator vice versa in real life, you have to follow the rules set by the law of the land (Constitution) and those set by the State you live in. There are consequences for breaking either although I think there are more rewards for good behavior in school than there are in the real world. There is also the uniforms, which are very military like. The school lunches very much to what you can get in the galley on base. There is a set schedule for everything as we go to school and boot camp in the military is the same. You rest when you are told and children have recess when they are told. In school we are expected to do our homework and learn certain subjects without questioning our figure of authority, which is the same as conducting drills without questioning your COC or Sgt. These, are examples of how schools train kids to conform; it’s there to help them get ready for the real world.

KW Exercise 11.4

1.Do you agree with this opinion?

If its the one made by the courts then yes. “The government may not coerce anyone to support or participate in religion or its exercise or otherwise act in a way that establishes a state religion or religious faith or tends to do so.” It is better off to stay on the opposite end or neutral side to show that government will follow the principles laid by the law of the land.

2. To put it plainly, a Symbolic Interactionist would say that the prayers said before each
class and in other school activities is a way that school officials of that particular school promote their religious beliefs on the students. I never saw that saying prayers before a football game as a bad thing but one might observe a team doing so and say, “…..So..does that mean they believe that a higher being is supposed to or is going to help them win this game? I thought this was a sport where individuals with a different set of skills come together as a team to compete and possibly win?”. Throwback to the Crusaders of the past.

3. Conflict Theorists would say that the courts decision was right in the fact that it holds steadfast to their core theory. That the social order is maintained by domination and power, rather than consensus and conformity

KW Exercise 9.6

I decided to go to Toys R Us. The store is massive and there is a clear layout of tons of rows sectioned off into girl and boy toys. Being in there was like being in Santa’s Toy shop. Everything and anything a child can wish for.

The toys for boys had the nerf guns and all the vehicles; fire trucks, monster trucks, hot wheels. They had all the super hero action figures (dolls). There were Call of Duty and Starwars toys. In darker colors with red and blue and neon colors.

The toys for girls were all mostly pink and pastel colors like lavender and yellow, brown and white. There were Barbie dolls, baby dolls, toy kitchens, tea sets and crafting things for jewelry. Makeup sets and hospital things for like playing nurse.

The major description that is used to market to children is primarily the color.

Most of the toys seemed to have an image of the sex it was directed to but the color also influenced on that.

The toy I decided to select was Mega Bloks, they were easy to find because they were in the toddler section where there are usually gender-neutral toys. I guess someone could argue that it is for boys but really there are no picture and in my opinion the colors are neutral.

The toys are a means to teach children to act in a certain manner. Most of the toys for boys teach them to be tough and manly (aggressive) or heroic. Some of them are teaching you to become a fireman or police man. In a subconscious level they are teaching you that violence is okay. The racecar games teach boys that one should be fast. That for males everything is a competition. The action figures or dolls in my opinion have a physique and ruggedness to what a male should look like muscular and strong, not to pretty. For girls the toys teach them to be into physical beauty and appearance. All the toys for girls are emphasizing on care taking skills. Like taking care of children, cooking and cleaning. Toys are a means to gender socialization sticking to norms of stereo typical gender roles. Like we discussed in class how men are doctors and women are nurses (submissive behavior). Women are under the supervision and taking orders from a male.

KW Exercise 8.8

As I was growing up my parents never discussed racial issues. We actually began discussing about racial issues when I became aware about them. Probably when I was about 12 years old or so. We would make racial jokes like my brothers and I. My parents would not tolerate that type of behavior. When we did speak about racial issues it had to do a lot with immigration laws and mistreatment of those who were colored. My parents did not raise us to bad talk on those who are different than us. They definitely did not talk about color blindness, well they did and didn’t. Like when we were younger and oblivious to the world they did, they told us we were all the same and equal. We were unaware of the differences of how people were treated. Then came a point where we grew up and saw the world for what it really is, (never knew exactly when I saw the world through a different lens, not the lens of a child’s colorful world).
I remember there was a time where field workers were getting treated like animals if not worst and my parents went to some protest down in Southern California, I also remember that they would talk about how police officers would do racial profiling. Being a Latina, I have experienced a few racial comments within the last couple years. I remember that one time we were at the grocery store and my mom was paying. The cashier told her aloud the amount that was due and she was all confused, I just stood there telling her in Spanish. There was a white couple behind us talking about how we were taking to long and how dumb my people were, and how we should shop at our markets not there's. I was so enraged I wanted to turn around and cuss her out or something maybe punch her in the throat. I didn't. But once we paid I kindly turned around and told her to have a nice day in English and she was baffled, I smiled greatly and walked away, but that was painful.
I've heard people call my dad a wet back because he was working on our yard, right outside of our own home. People are so harsh, and I hate that race and ethnicity are just socially constructed I can't believe or begin to understand why? I do understand I just wish that things were different that we were united. But lets face it racism will forever stain our soil. although we are no better than each other, some were simply more privileged than others.
I appreciate from one point of view that my parents sheltered us from racisim when we were younger because we weren't forced to grow up in that way sooner. I also appreciate that they didn't infuse us with hatred or anger towards a group of people. And that they raised us to be proud of who we are and where we came from.

KW Exercise 7.2

The video on mashable.com talks about how unaware members of society think wealth is distributed. What we think the nations distribution looks like is in a a way, ideal. We don’t realize that our nations poverty line and distribution between classes is actually much, much worse than what we think it is. We essentially believe that our nation is equal, but some people just have it better than us. The Elite or top 1% of  the population own 40% of the nations revenue/wealth. While the other 60% the wealth is distributed amongst the other social classes.
The video enraged me because of how the elite make more money because of the power they have and how the hard working class are paid crap salaries. The elite make this insane amount of money, 380 times more an hour to be exact compared to the average middle class person.

 

 

H- If Hitler Asked You...(pg 269-276)

In this section Milgram's theory was that Americans were less obedient than the Germans. The theme that was running through this section was that we follow orders from an authoritative figure regardless of weather we want to do it or not. When I read that I couldn't help but laugh because it is true, I find myself doing this assignment even though I am extremely tired. I would very much prefer to sleep and watch some Netflix (helps me knock out faster). Anyways Milgram even asked a group of 100 to make a prediction as to when the subjects would "break". To his surprise he got extremely different results 65% went all the way through with the highest voltage, the conclusion to this was that as long as you're being told to keep going by an authoritative figure that seemed legit you would continue. The other alarming thing that he came across was that the location of the experiment matter the subjects at 65% conducted the experiment at Yale University they had a much higher obedience percentage than the experiment done at Bridgeport coming in at 45% for obedience.

This chapter made me realize that although I would like to believe that I wouldn’t shock the individual on the other side of the room, I would most likely go through with it. What really hit me was when I read, “The man in the electric chair is helpless, strapped in. But the naïve subject is free to go.” Shows to me that we become and are incapable of making our own decisions, probably why we have norms. Formal and informal norms.