Brainstorming and generating ideas: Essay 2

What is the meaning of moral education?

The principles of rights and wrongs, good and bad in education. Having to go against a particular issue because of your religion is part of your morals. Your behavior dictates your morals, and that goes for something you believe in or not.

Thinking About Education: Free-write Response to Anyon

Do you think schools should teach students differently based upon their social-economic background? Why or why not? 

I do not think schools should teach students differently based on their social-economic background because it isn't fair. Just because a child comes from a lower class family doesn't mean they should be taught any different from a child that comes from the middle or upper class. Giving a child an education is a necessity in their lives, and they should all be treated equally. It is wrong for a teacher to treat a child with no respect or no care just because they come from a lower class, it's degrading to them. Students should be treated as an individual and should be accepted for who she/he is no matter how much their parents make.

What surprised you the most about Anyon’s study? Be specific in your response.

What surprised me most about her study was pretty much everything. How she studied 5 elementary schools, two being working-class schools, third would be the middle-class school, fourth is the affluent professional school, and fifth is the executive elite school. I love how she studied all 5 of these schools and encountered the differences. All schools were treated in a certain way based on their parent's incomes. If they were from a low class they got little respect, middle class students got more respect than the low class, and the upper class got the teachers full attention and got taught a lot 'better' than the teachers in the lower class. I'm surprised by her study because I never noticed how I was taught when I was younger. I went to a catholic school and a public school, and looking back on it, my lectures from both schools were different. 

Strongest and Weakest

I think my introductory paragraph would have to be the weakest one from my essay because I didn't go into depth about the main points so that the reader would understand where I was going with my essay.

           In Doris Lessing's article, Group Minds, she informs people what is wrong with groups changing your opinion, and the idea that we do not use our information. Some of the consequences of group minds is feeling ashamed, being a follower vs. being a leader, feeling vulnerable to pressure, going in with the majority of the group, and just simply not being an individual. What causes this is the lack of awareness, fear of being isolated, and the pressure of giving in. Although I disagree with much that Lessing says, I fully endorse her final conclusion that we do not give in to the obedience mechanism of the group, regardless of what we believed was right or wrong.

My strongest paragraph would be one of how Martin Luther King Jr. changed our society. I think this is my strongest because I hit all the main points with evidence and added in a good quote.

            Martin Luther King Jr. made a huge impact on our society. With out his speech, we would be going through a lot of segregation. A lot of African Americans suffered through cruel judgements and affected where they could be at. For example, having colored skin could have you sitting in the back of the bus and using a different washroom from the rest. They were treated with no sympathy whatsoever, but Martin Luther King Jr. changed it all. For those who couldn't stand up for what they believe and just agreed upon what everyone said about them, "An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity." King was willingly risking everything he was -- a husband, a leader, a preacher, a brother, a black man to free the American soul.

Thesis Draft

Although I disagree with much that Lessing says, I fully endorse her final conclusion that we do give in to the obedience mechanism of the group, regardless of what we believed was right or wrong.

Free-write on “Group Think” and “Group Minds”

The benefits of following the opinions and social norms of a majority group would make you stand out, have power when you never did. It gives you opportunities you could have never got when you were an outcast. But once you start following a trend or start hanging out with certain people, you develop a reputation.

The benefits of following your own heart and mind even if that might be going against groups that govern our lives would be having "I did the right thing" feeling even if that kicked you out of the loop. Just being true to yourself, nothing is better than saying and knowing what is right.

The consequences of maintaining your individual self would cause you to feel left out, second guess yourself if the choice you made was the right thing to do. Your family or friends would look at you a different way. Just being the only dissident person can make you lose respect for most people even if you are right.