Kathy Griffin-- Whatcha Think?

Being as though we are in public discourse, I am interested in what everyone thinks. Do you think that Kathy Griffin deserves the blow she is getting for her recent image? Would you call this free speech or hate speech? 

Final Thoughts

I never thought that one class would open me up to the world as this course did. Throughout my life I have always been ignorant to the things that were happening around me in our society. Part of me pretended that I didn’t care, but the other part of me just didn’t want to take the time to listen and realize that the issues like we have spoken about throughout this term are and will always be important. This course taught me how important it is to have public discourse. It taught me how we as citizens have the right and responsibility to engage in that discourse and to share our beliefs. Another thing this class taught me was that the media effect each and every one of us more than we know, and even more than we want. 

I never posted my second op-ed OOPS!

Put the Gap in “Gap Year”

By: Shelbie Martin

When we are in kindergarten we think we have it all figured out. We want to be teachers, doctors, firemen, policeman, astronauts, actors or even fishermen. But, when we are asked that very same question senior year of high school the crickets begin to chirp.

In today’s world, it is becoming the standard to graduate from high school and for students to be prepared to take the next step in their life. They are expected to have their bags packed and to leave their homes to start college the upcoming fall.

High school seniors are being pushed by the staff in their school, their teachers, their activities or athletic directors, their peers, and their families to put in application after application to get that “we are pleased to inform you that your application to blah blah blah university has ben accepted.” These students are then forced to make some of the biggest decisions of their life.

These students are left on their own to decided where to go to school, what to study, and ultimately the rest of their life at the age of 18.

We are asking teenagers and young adults who must raise their hands to ask for permission to go to the bathroom to decide what to do with the rest of their lives when all they care about is the next “promposal” is going to hit.

Why are we encouraging high school seniors to rush off to college when they are not ready? Why are we setting them up for failure?

I believe that in the United States of America we should be encouraging students to take “the gap year” much as they do in Europe.

“Gap year?” “What is a gap year?”

A gap year is a time in which a senior who just graduated from college takes a typical academic year off before attending college. The students are allowed the time that they need to figure out whom they are and what they want to be without the added stress that typically comes along with the education setting.

During the year off from secondary education to post-secondary education students will typically spend time traveling abroad, volunteering with nonprofit groups, picking up a part time job or all three. Ultimately, they are taking a break from the traditional academic track and deciding where to go from there.

I mean come on these students were just in a classroom for 7 hours a day for the past 13+ years.

According to research from the National Association for College Admissions Counseling, taking a gap year ultimately helps a student have success in college. The gap year allows a student to be more focused, mature, and motived for their undergraduate experience.

Taking a gap year has many added benefits for students. In a study conducted by the American Gap Association, there were many benefits student stated that had from taking the gap year.

These benefits were academic benefits such as learning to work in groups, solving issues with academic burn out, re-igniting a sense of curiosity for learning, gaining the mindset to go to college with a purpose, gaining practical field experience and so much more. 

The students who took a gap year also saw many personal benefits. These benefits were things like cross-cultural understanding, creative problem solving, evaluating person values, creating own version of success and so much more.

One of the main benefits of the gap year that was common among most of these student was saving money to pay for their college career as well as taking the time that they needed to deiced what to major in.

Taking a gap year has been on the rise in the United Stated with even iconic students in the media such as Malia Obama ready to take advantage of the gap year.

We should be pushing our high school seniors to take advantage of the gap year. We should be encouraging them early on to take the year off of academic. We should do this so when asked what they want to be when they grow up the crickets wont chirp, but rather passion will fill the room.

School To Prison Pipe Line-Presentation

Hello Everyone! Happy Memorial Day! Unfortunately, I will not be able to join you all for presentations tomorrow tonight in class as I have some work matters that put me out for the state! I have sent this to our professor for you all to have a listen in class, but I figured I would post it here as well. If anyone has interesting additional information regarding the school to prison pipe line, the Senate Bill 100 or institutional racism in general, I'd love for you to share!

School to Prison Pipeline Research

When starting the research for my final project, I spent a lot of time focusing on statistics and facts that were relevant to my topic all about the school to prison pipeline. While looking for research, I came across a very relevant and heartbreaking inforaphic from SuspensionStories.com. This graphic put may ideas into perspective when thinking about the school to prison pipelines. One of the facts that stood out to me the most was that black students were three and a half time more likely to be suspended than whites. After seeing this fact I felt that I have been very ignorant to the real issue that is at hand when it comes to the school to prison pipeline.  It made me want to research more and more on the topic. I have provided the link for you all to look at the infographic as well. 

http://www.suspensionstories.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/STPPgraphic.jpg

From Nobody to Somebody

When looking at all of the questions that where asked in the blog post this week, I think there is nothing more relevant that could answer all of these questions than the very topic of this course, Public Discourse. All of these questions need to be talked about. They need to be brought to the attention of our world, our society, and especially our government and government officials. These questions need to be brought into the public sphere and for more than just the month of news coverage within the media when a horrible tragic death occurs like those in Flint and Ferguson. Because, lets be real these issues are real, and they are happening everyday whether a life is lost, or a person gets pulled over on the side of the rode because of their skin color. When looking at specific cases that hills brings attention to in his book, there seems to be a lack of accountability, and I think this is huge problem. We need to make sure we as citizens are holding police officers accountable. We need to make sure that they are being held accountable to their main duty, to serve and protect. In times like these when they are not being held accountable to their main duty we need to see that they are, because this is their duty no matter the community and no matter then skin color.

The Media, Real Women and Gender Oppression

When sitting here thinking about the media, it sadness me that I have a difficult time trying to think of TV shows or film that truly implicit and show the oppression and gender equality that women face in the real world outside of the TV screen. After thinking about this and reading Douglas's book it was made clear to me that this is a problem/.

While thinking, I had a book come to mind Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty. Now, while I have read this book, I have not had a chance to watch the new TV series based on the book that is shown on HBO. That being said, this blog post will be focusing on the book. 

In this book the author takes us into the lives of three women who are mothers to first graders. This book takes us through a journey with these women and shows us their lives are not as picture perfect as they seem. Now while this book has added in some drama and otherwise not so important information for the point of entertainment, I think this book does a great job at showing us the inequality and oppression that women face. 

One mother in the book is a single mother trying to make it on her own, and trying to do her best to provide for her son. In today's world, this is seen more and more and I do not think that it is shown enough. Another mother is in a domestic violent relationship and is abused by her husband the bread winner who provides for her and her wealthy family. The last women is struggling with a divorce and balancing her new life. Again, while this book does provided a large amount of entertainment and "Hollywood" I do believe looking beyond all that it does a great job showing the gender inequality and oppression that women face.