David Foster Wallace "Address to Keynon College"

Wallace centers his speech around his thought of significant education not being "the capacity to think, but rather the choice of what to think about". I completely agree. In the modern day American education system the curriculum is already planned by higher ups before the teacher even has a chance to greet his new round of students. The teacher is limited to teach only what he is expected to teach and therefore the students are limited to think only what they are expected to think. Even though not purposefully intended to occur, many times a closed-mindness sense of thought is created. As Wallace mentioned, people get stuck in the same day to day thoughts and become prisoners to their own egotistical thoughts. I can say that personally I catch myself doing that far too often for my liking. I often forget that there are other people in the world going through more difficult situations than my own. I blindly compare my horrible day to a woman who's day was just shattered by the news of her house going into foreclosure. Wallace made it clear that I am in command of my thoughts. That I can make my negative pesky thoughts into considerate meaningful thoughts. That I can choose to live day by day in a dreadful world or I can choose to spend my time conjuring up sincere and thoughtful awareness of the world.

I enjoyed reading this article and gaining some insight into another form of a "real" education. I thank Wallace for starting a new trend in my thoughts also for showing me that in the end I get to decided what thoughts have meaning and what thoughts do not.

Banking Concept of Education

I understand Freire's concerns with the banking concept. In todays education system many teachers are under the pressure to produce impressive numbers, but are also given difficult situations that may limit their ability to teach effectively. So to meet the expectations they often take short cuts when teaching. Instead of thoroughly going over concepts and methods, to ensure that a student is comprehending the material, they will instead quickly look through the material and teach the very basics of what they need to know. The students often recognize what is expected of them and work minimally to fully comprehend the subject, but instead work to memorize the facts and what is essential to know for the next "big" test. Once that test is done with and the teachers see an outcome they are comfortable with they will move on to the next lecture and the students will move on to the next set of facts to memorize. I can relate completely to the banking concept, because now that I look back at my high school education that is all it was. I would learn the material, study hours on end, ace the test, and then forget about everything is just jammed into my brain. I do not think that was a proper way to learn now that I find myself at a university that everyday challenges my critical thinking. Somewhere in the four years of high school I lost my sense of critical thinking. I was no longer asked to question what was being taught, or to express my opinions and concerns. This is where I agree with Freire. Not being able to think critically or outside of the box does oppress oneself in the sense of education. The banking concept inhibits creative thinking and instead "deposit facts". I believe that my memorization approach to learning has limited me in many ways that I was unaware of before coming to college. I find myself having difficulties writing and appropriately answering professors when they ask me to think critically of different subjects and topics. Something I now have to work towards to be a successful student.

Research Exploratory Blog II: Research Prospectus

Gay parenting is a sensitive topic that has been in the media very often the past few years. As more states are legalizing gay marriage more same sex couples are gaining interest in starting their own family. Unfortunately with all the media attention critics have voiced their opinions as well most often arguing that same sex parents will negatively impact the children.

I chose this controversial issue, because I am the daughter of a lesbian mother. My siblings and I have spent the last 9 years of our lives living with my mother and her partner. I would say that the most delicate years of my childhood same sex parents raised me. It never occurred to me that what my mother was doing was wrong or shameful. Life was relatively the same once she came out to my siblings and I about her sexual orientation. My mother continued to raise us as she always had, strict on keeping the house in order, being respectful young adults, and many other things of that nature. My father is also present in my life and supports my mother’s decision. My siblings and I have never felt that we suffered from negative impact due to my mother’s sexuality. That being said, the concerns surrounding gay parenting always confused me and at times infuriated me. Although it has been of concern that children with same sex parents will grow up gay, have a poor psychological health and difficulty in relationships with peers, research has consistently contrasted these fears, proving that children who come from same sex homes develop normally as children from a heterosexual household.

I do expect there to be counterarguments. Whether they are from the religious sector or politicians with a conservative agenda many have attempted to prove that there are negative effects to same sex parenting. I am sure there are several studies published that state their findings prove that children are most successful when a father and mother are present in a household, but I am unsure if those studies considered the possibility that having two parents in a household was the reason for higher success rates, rather than the sex of the parents being to blame.

I have started on researching my topic and feel that I will have great luck finding numerous articles in support of my thesis. So far I have chosen an article written by Jay A. Schulenburg titled ‘Gay parenting’, another article that was written by Donald J. Cantor titled ‘Same sex marriage: the legal and psychological evolution in America and a DVD documentary titles ‘Caught in the crossfire: children of gay and lesbian parents.

            Through the articles I discover through my research I hope to even further prove my thesis. I would like to also hear other arguments made against my thesis. I know the issue is much larger than my individual family and by writing I ultimately hope to make advancements in societies approval of same sex parenting. 

The achievement of desire

In Richard Rodriguez's The Achievement of Desire I found several points that I could relate to. Mainly being part of a working class family and also the deep separation of his family life and his school life. Similar to Rodriguez I also have been a part of a migrant family. I grew up in northern Michigan in the middle of a cherry orchard, down the street from grape vineyards and an acre away from apple trees. The community I was surrounded by was full of other migrant families who were also accustomed to moving at the end of every season to follow where the work was. Seeing my mother, father, aunts and uncles go through the struggles they did I realized early on that I wanted something different for my future.

In class several other classmates shared their stories about the help they received from their parents throughout their education. One girl even mentioned that her father would help her with physics homework. I found that amazing. I can never imagine asking my father for help with any sort of mathematical problem. His knowledge of math goes as far as multiplication and division. The same goes for my mother. I always took it that my education was my responsibility. Throughout senior year I researched colleges, I applied for schools and scholarships, I made sure I had everything I needed for a smooth transition to a new chapter of my life. Although they were absent with assisting me throughout my education they always applauded me for going as far as I did on my own. There are days now where they still apologize for not being capable of helping me. I never have and never will hold it against them. In the end I still made it this far and they are proud.

Possible topics for a research paper

I'm not too sure on what topic I should choose. I've been debating on a few. I'm not sure if I should research a topic that hits close to home or something that is completely foreign to me.

The topic that would hit close to home would be researching Gay parenting. My mom is lesbian and I grew up with her girlfriend as a part of my life. I know there are controversies over gay parenting and concerns of the impact that can have on children. I'd like to look into that.

As far as a topic that is foreign to me I would like to look into housing conditions in different nations across the world and how that is influenced by politics.

Everything is up in the air. I believe I should be closer to a decision in the upcoming days as we discuss the research paper more in class.

I have a lot to learn

With that being said i'm expecting this course to teach me more about writing than I ever learned in high school. I always avoided taking AP lit or comp in high school, because I hated writing so much. I took those credits at the local community high school. Which lets honest were joke course. I regret that now, because i was never able to grow as a writer. I'm not even sure I can properly write.

This post is a toast for this course. May I constantly grow as a writer & possibly even grow to love it.