My Last Journal

I really enjoyed my ENC 1102 class having Professor Warren as my teacher was awesome. I learned a lot in your class. More than what I learned in my ENC1101 class. I wish I would have taken you instead of my last teacher. Being in your class has been an eye opener on a lot of things. Watching all those wonderful films like Dive! and waiting on superman change my thoughts and feelings on a lot of things in my life. I really liked the fact that we were able to choose our own topics for our essays and how we could write our reaction towards the videos or guest speaker. I had to get in a routine of having to write essays every week and journals. I never really had to write journals or never do blogs for any of my classes. It was very hard for me to keep up with who essay I commented on. The class was not hard it was pretty easy. I also like when we went to the amazing art gallery on campus to see the wonderful pictures and how we had to choose pictures that we liked. The pictures that I choose I could really relate to them, they really represented my life. I did a great job on my essay I made a 95 I was really happy about that. When I seen my grade I knew I didn’t have any trouble writing any other essay. All in all I loved my class and I learned a lot. I will never forget you Professor Warren.  

Waiting on Superman

 

Waiting for Superman

            In viewing the film Waiting for “Superman”, an age old question has arisen; why are African Americans faring so poorly in the public educational system that are in place throughout the United States? The statistics throughout the history of the public school system are staggering and almost unbelievable in the direct correlation to African American dropout rate and prison rates. Undoubtedly, there are success stories everywhere of Black students achieving scholastic greatness, but that is the problem; when an African American achieves in the classroom, it shouldn’t be a success story, it should be the status quo, it should be normal. When a Caucasian student is going through school, it is expected that they graduate and continue on to a post-secondary form of education. Why is it different within the African American community? There is a discrepancy from the time Blacks enter the public school system to the time that they leave, whether they graduate or not.

            There is a direct correlation between underachieving African Americans in the public school systems and their background. Most troublemaking and underachieving students have backgrounds in impoverished neighborhoods with dysfunctional families. This has been an issue from the abolition of slavery up through the Civil Rights Era, even up to the present day. “The American power structure and the history of oppression that it has created for African Americans have had a devastating effect on the African American family unit. Whether forcibly during slavery or as a voluntary reaction to life pressures, disruption to the immediate family unit is not new to Black families…” (Jenkins). In the African American society, the average child may not have the necessity, which is now looked upon as a luxury, of a two parent household for whatever reason: incarceration, death, drug addiction, etc. “With parents suffering a sense of defeatism, many Black children are then left to navigate the psychological and social oppressions

that began for them at a very early age” (Jenkins).

            These children also confront the brutal reality of poverty face to face each and every day before they walk into school and again when they leave school.

            “‘Children have an enormous capacity to adapt to insanity.’ To look upon Black children who live in poverty, whose families have been shut out of employment and the economic infrastructure of America, who have been socially outcast from society, and who constantly confront death whether it be immediately in their own violent neighborhood or slowly via inadequate healthcare, nutrition, and stress, all caused by society’s power structure, and ask why they are acting out suggests that maybe it is society that does not fully understand the situation” (Jenkins).

            These students from disenfranchised situations at home bring those same burdens with them into the schoolhouse, causing them to create more trouble in the classroom. This inadvertently leads to more suspensions and expulsions from school, causing them to miss valuable instruction. As an effect to their antics, black children are also stigmatized as troublemakers and receive harsher and longer punishments from school authorities.

 “Black female and male students have experienced higher levels of exclusionary discipline since 1991 than any other group of students…Black females and males represent 17 percent of the youth population ages 10 to 17, but are 58 percent of all juveniles sent to adult prison…Black students are more likely to be suspended or expelled for “disrespect, excessive noise, threat, and loitering…At 28.3 percent of suspensions, Black boys have experienced the greatest risk of suspension among middle school students, with the number of suspensions increasing annually from 2002 to 2006. In fact, a number of studies have found Black males experience the highest rates of exclusionary discipline” (Morris).

“Black and Hispanic students represent more than 70 percent of those involved in school-related arrests or referrals to law enforcement. Currently, African Americans make up two-fifths and Hispanics one-fifth of confined youth today” (Kerby).

            With these two factors, coupled with a curriculum that shows no notable figures that Black children can relate to, as well as absorbing years’ worth of subliminal conditioning through various media outlets, Black children began to feel a subconscious sense of inferiority and self-hatred. In this sense, they lash out against superiors and think less of those of their own kind; all the while subconsciously wondering why they can’t be apart of the alleged “superior” race.

“One of the many factors influencing the current social status of Black people, and more particularly Black males, is psychological in nature: the persisting internalization of self-hatred, resulting in low self-concept…as laws forced society to discontinue direct forms of racial prejudice, television became the new medium to disseminate stereotypical perspectives. And it proved even more successful than the first, as it reached an even greater audience and attacked Blacks even in the privacy of their own homes. Detrimental in those years of dual mediums (radio and TV), the effect is now almost devastating in the multimedia world of today. Now more than ever, young Black males are confronted with and unable to escape negative societal imaging…Society and the level at which one interacts within society has a strong influence on one’s psychological development, and more specifically one’s development of self-concept” (Jenkins).

            By the time these Black students reach high school, if they haven’t already dropped out due to extraneous circumstances, or incarcerated, they have already been conditioned into the “permanent outsiders” of society. They have witnessed enough discrimination and prejudice in real-life situations to understand that they are not a part of the group of people who have the fast track to success. They come to either two conclusions: To try and break the trend and make something of themselves regardless of the situation at hand, or to concede defeat to the system on the grounds that there is no way that their situation can change. Undoubtedly, more and more of Blacks turn to the latter of the two. Simply put, Black students give up hope; either they don’t care about overachieving in a system that cares nothing about them, or they do absolutely nothing and perpetuate the very stereotypes that they were stigmatized with from the start as an act of defiance. This is why graduation rates are as low as they are.

My Journal "Waiting on Superman"

After watching the film “Waiting  for Superman” it opened my eyes about the public school system. First off I did not know that we were so behind in education in America, but then again I can see how that is true. I really don’t think it’s fair to students who actually want to learn and go to a great school to better their education. I mean it’s fair how they choose their students. But I feel that as long as the student’s grades are good no matter what school they went to should be accepted in any school they desire. While watching the video it was sad to see those kids waiting to hear their names being called when most of the children in the video did not get picked to attend the school they wanted. When I was a child I was enrolled into a public school but I wanted to get in a magnet school called “Lavila  school of arts” but I did not get accepted at all. I was very sad so I know how those kids feel in the film.no I do not have children in public schools, but I do have a younger brother and a lot of younger relatives in public schools. My experience in the public school system was ok. But the schools I attended were pretty laid back I really did have to work hard to get an easy “A” but as I look back I wish I went to a school that challenged my knowledge a lot more. Now that I am enrolled into college it affect me a little now. But education is the key to success and I try to encourage anyone who is school because it gets very difficult at times.   

The Self-Objectification of Women and its Effects:

The Self-Objectification of Women and its Effects:

            The woman in today’s society stare a seemingly insurmountable obstacle in the face almost every waking moment of their adult lives; the objectification and sexual exploitation of their bodies. Women must often endure or resort to one of the two choices in order to accomplish seemingly minor goals. Media and advertising send these signals in barrages through television shows, movies, music, magazines, billboards, computer sites, along with many other subtle outlets. What isn’t widely discussed is the effect that this objectification actually has on the women in our society. Studies have shown that the objectification and sexual exploitation of women have a psychological effect and can lead mental health issues and disorders. This is a growing, yet looked over, issue that must be addressed and reverted in a timely fashion, or we risk further pressuring and scarring our women.

            “Objectify: to treat as an object or cause to have objective reality” (Merriam-Webster). This definition has been used to change the view of the general public that a certain group of people are less than human, as property. Most notably and blatantly is the objectification of African slaves brought over by the Europeans, but on a slightly more subtle scale is the ongoing objectification of women in not only America, but worldwide. From the most flagrant television ad to the slightest sexual comment, women are exploited daily and it has become so degradingly prevalent today that women perpetuate these exploitations themselves.

Sexual Objectification experiences can lead to self-objectification, which could lead to psychological consequences such as: appearance anxiety, reduced flow, diminished internal awareness, body shame, and anxiety about physical safety. These psychological consequences often leads to mental health risks including but not limited to sexual dysfunction, depression, and disordered eating habits. 

“Objectification theory posits that SO of females is likely to contribute to mental health problems that disproportionately affect women (i.e., eating disorders, depression, and sexual dysfunction) via two main paths. The first path is direct and overt and involves SO experiences. The second path is indirect and subtle and involves women’s internalization of SO experiences or self-objectification” (Dawn M. Szymanski).

What is widely understood is women are objectified in any arena that has to do with a predominantly male audience; car magazines, football commercials, tool ads are all examples of a mainly male audience. Many people would be surprised that women are just as objectified in predominantly female audiences as well. “In predominantly male magazines, women were personified as sex objects 75.98 percent of the time, and in predominantly female magazines, women were personified as sex objects about 55.71 percent of the time. The mean is 51.80 of the time.” (Rosselli). These numbers are staggering when you take into the consideration that every American picks up a magazine at least sometime during their lifetime, or that the average American sees at least 37,000 television commercials a year. “We watch an average 31 hours of TV in a week, listen to 17 hours of music, and have 3 hours dedicated to movies, creating an average of 10.45 hours a day of media influence” (Dawn M. Szymanski). With these number rising exponentially with the added influence of the internet and it’s various forms of exploitation, the future remains grim for women across the world.

Some women downplay their intelligence in order to save relationships with men who they may be attracted to, or in a business setting, their superiors. Women have been known to go as far as taking educational degrees off their resumes in order not to look “too smart”. “‘There is a dearth of quality men around and these women know that if they play smart, they will not have as many men as they would like. Hence, they are willing to compromise,’ explains Varkha Chulani, clinical psychologist and counselor. According to her, this symptom is not restricted to just dating, one also finds women cutting themselves short in the corporate world. ‘They'll compromise and allow the man to have an upper hand so as to not lose him, especially if she realizes that he has a fragile ego. This is mainly a relationship-saving tactic,’ Varkha says. According to clinical psychologist and psychotherapist Seema Hingorrany, it's mainly insecure women who fall prey to this syndrome. ‘Though these women know they are intelligent, they are aware of the fact that they are lonely. Also, in an earlier experience, the woman would probably have been told that the man is intimidated by her knowledge, position, behavior, etc.’” (Fernandes)

            The sum of all these components has already negatively affected the society views and treats our women, and due to fact that there is less regulation on what comes through the media, this situation is simply spiraling out of control. Documentaries such as Miss Understood have attempted to open the public eye about these issues, but too many brushes the situation off their shoulders like an unwanted piece of lent. The sad part is that the sexual objectification of women is one of the most lucrative concepts in the world money-wise, so there is little hope that this trend won’t continue to snowball out of control. Starting with women, the public must take a stand and refuse to continue this exploitation any further. Only then will women be seen as human beings and not trophies.