Femininity

In contrast to masculinity discussed last week, femininity was the topic of discussion this week.  Femininity, like masculinity, is a complex persona that has many different facets that can define it.  Men and women have different brains and patterns that make masculinity and femininity quite different.  One of the articles that we read was about how women analyze other women and try to point out the strengths and weaknesses in their physical and mental personas.  This is quite different from men who tend to not notice those small types of characteristics and judge them.  This results from the complex and multi faceted personalities that separate men and women.  Femininity and masculinity have different meanings and characteristics but are not ultimately the deciding factor in how men and women act nor should it be an excuse for how they act.  These are very complex matters and should be treated as such because of the inability to properly define and notice it.

Masculinity

Masculinity is a very complex mental stigma that exists in every man.  Masculinity can be defined as many different things but there is no denying the emotional toll that it has the power to take on someone.  The documentary "The mask you live in" displayed perfectly the effect of the pressure of masculinity.  From a young age, boys are constantly told to "be a man" which carries a traumatic emotional experience for many boys.  The documentary perfectly describes the unreasonable expectations that most boys fail to live up to.  In fact, when a boy does achieve one of the goals set for them, something else often impedes them from fully becoming a man.  One instance that caught my attention was a professional football player saying what he went through and still carried some baggage from the pressure he faced growing up.  Masculinity is very complex in how it is defined from person to person.  Many may say it means acting tough as in to not cry.  Others may say it means to be good at sports or to be athletic.  Some may also say it means to be kind and emotional.  I think all of these are right depending on your personality.  Being a man is just being yourself and doesn't matter how strong or smart you are.

Ways to Improve the Education System

The American education system has been both praised and criticized.  While many have their own opinions, there is a general consensus that we, as a country, can do better for our young people learning fundamental information for their lives.  An easy first step would be to get completely rid of standardized tests such as the SAT and ACT.  These tests do nothing for the student except give them stress about their futures and having them question how smart they are.  They do nothing to prepare students for college or careers.  Corporate officials often complain that students are not getting the correct skills that they need for the modern workplace.  The tests also do not accurately measure what students have learned.  The limited time frame and stress of a test taking environment often lead students to a poor score even though they have mastered the material.  The students are then told to go to classes which help them with standardized test taking skills which, in turn, takes away any sort of assessment and just helps the students in taking that test.  In fact, the main reason these tests still exist is because the companies making them are generating millions upon millions in making students struggle to function at a college or career level and further damage a crippling workplace.  Really all we need to do is eliminate standardized tests to provide an environment where students can actually think critically and properly understand material that will properly prepare them for life in the real world.

Education

Throughout the week we have been discussing different types of education around the world and within the country.  Different types of education can make drastic differences on the children and the entire workforce regarding the quality of the education.  For example, Finland has been regarded as having the best education system in the world because of the funding and quality of education they provide.  This makes for a productive teacher and student body as well as a more capable and educated workforce.  However, one piece of media that we studied really caught my attention and it was called, "I just sued the school system".  I thought this piece was very powerful because it brought to light the generalizations that are made about each student and how they learn.  These generalizations make for an unproductive student body with only a fraction of students actually getting quality education that suits their needs and productivity.  It also mentioned standardized testing which is a collective test that is supposed to assess how well the student has learned the material that was supposed to be taught in class.  Not only will most of the material on the test not be relevant in most students everyday lives, but is not even an accurate method for most students.  Overall, this study has really opened my eyes to the problems of the American education system and standardized testing and how it impacts the students.

Propaganda

Language manipulation is a very powerful tool for many people.  It can be used for persuasion, media, propaganda, or even for daily life.  We saw one piece of propaganda that really caught my eye.  It was a poster of what seemed like an average town that was being shadowed by a large hand wearing a sleeve with a communist logo and a statement that read, "Is this tomorrow".  I thought this was very powerful because it brought a real world example to a real issue.  It was probably made when the cold war was still going on which brought a fear of nuclear war and soviet invasion.  The hand symbolizes the soviet union taking over the United States and world.  This use of appeal to fear creates a piece that catches people's eye because it affects something they love or them directly.  Fear is a good tool to use because it creates something that catches people's attention and makes them think about life and their choices in life.  Overall, this piece was very effective in getting the point across that the Soviet Union and communism are a direct threat to American life.

Language Nuances

In the article, "Words don't Mean what they Mean", by Steven Pinker, it analyzes the subtle nuances that are used in our daily lives to try to influence or manipulate our peers.  It analyzes the differences between certain words or phrases in different situations.  For example, when sitting at a dinner table people don't just say, "gimme the salt", rather they say, "Do you think you could pass the salt", as per the article.  This is especially prevalent in the political arena when speaking about a conflict in a serious situation.  Being clear but not giving much information provides the general public and audience enough information not to question it, and not enough information to raise any alarms.  When speaking about opposition, people and news media sources tend to pinpoint specific examples to make certain people or things look bad.  This is very popular in totalitarian regimes attempting to paint an enemy as evil.  They will only show certain stories and block others as well as use specific language to allow the audience to make their own judgments with only biased material to base it off of.  This is a very useful strategy to promote a viewpoint without many finding the rooting cause of the violence and bias.  This use of propaganda was very prevalent in the Nazi and Japanese empires during World War 2 targeting the Jews and other minority groups.  It is also happening in North Korea and other government controlled media sources such as Iran.  These language nuances provide people with easy ways to communicate effectively on a position with their peers.

Critique of "How to Tame a Wild Tongue"

Gloria Anzadula wrote "How to Tame a Wild Tongue" to provide an insight into what she felt growing up as a minority in an English speaking community.  She provides an interesting argument that states that non English speakers create their own language in order to express themselves.  While this is an interesting argument, it provides very little logical and reasonable evidence.  She uses a very emotional tone in her attempt to persuade the reader on her argument.  She was trying to create a very raw recollection of her story and how she grew up but sometimes her tone came off as harsh and unprofessional.  She consistently belittles the English speaking people for not understanding her and fails to look at their side of the perspective when recounting her stories of her childhood.  She also fails to provide any logical reasoning to make the reader understand what she went through.  When she says, "the white laws and commerce and customs will rot in the deserts they've created", it makes her seem very unreasonable and her argument too far gone.  Her evidence that she provides is very limited and not relevant to what she is arguing.  She provides a background on how the different dialects of Spanish came as a result of colonization from other powers.  While this is interesting, it provides nothing to her argument in terms of persuasion.  Her emotional approach is interesting for developing an argument, but emotions aren't very important in getting people to understand the argument and what the writer is attempting to prove.  This is where Gloria Anzadula fails in creating something worthwhile to read.