Nature or Nurture?

The way we act and the way we communicate with others is defined by the way we were raised and by what environment we were raised in. In class we watched the Oprah show. A young girl named Danielle was 8 or 9 years old and barely had the maturity of a 2 year old. The facts behind her actions were how she was raised. She was raised in an environment where she was neglected and barely nurtured. She was taken away from her mother and adopted by a new family. In her case, her nature and nurture was unstable. She didn't have a proper safe home to grow up. Danielle also wasn't cared for as a baby properly. Our nature is what we are born into. The only way it may change is from our caretakers. Our nurture is how we are raised and how we emotionally develop from the way we were raised. Studies have shown that the better balance of nature and nurture in our life as a young child, will affect us the rest of our life. I am just like my family. Emotionally I am very similar to my brother and sister and I have the same mannerisms. My parents noticed my unique personality at a young age. The best way to measure the personality level is by the different social skills. By the time I went to preschool, I was able to socially attribute to the other kids. Nature and Nurture influenced my life entirely.

Water..

My life is full of water. I may not realize it, but it affects my decisions and behaviors. What this means is that people are affected by certain things our society offers. One thing in our society may also very much differ from any other society's "water particles". In my life, I am affected by television shows. Our culture consists of many fast pace things that other cultures may not care for. For Example, every week I watch Gossip Girl and I see what they wear and how they act on the show. Even though it's not exactly realistic, it still is a show that is supposed to manipulate the upper east side of New York. To me, I am influenced by the different clothes and styles that are appeared. I tend to think that in the show their styles are what is "in" and what looks good. I also recognize that a show like that can make an "outsider" of our culture become very unaware. An outsider may get in impression that that's what our culture is all about. But for me, television shows can influence my likes in styles.

I am able to maintain my stability as the "water" around me is going around and around. At school we are encouraged to always try our hardest and to succeed later in life. Although, for other cultures they might just be wondering where they may be sleeping at night. I know that school is really hard and can be a lot of work, So I take the initiative by always trying my hardest so that I can get to go to the college I want to go to. This way later in life I may be set more qualified for a specific degree. I adjust by giving into the culture by still staying intact with my own personality and beliefs.

American values can be unique but can also be very simplistic. For me, I try to do what is good for me by keeping my own Individual personality. I find it very important to do the right thing but doing it the right way. I value in keeping true to myself and not worrying what others think. Although, I think it is important to know your limits. Knowing when to adjust to society is important, because going completely of the ordinary is bad. I also value education because it can bring greater things in the future. In order to start a future, you much create your background to back up where you come from. In our culture it is important to keep going. To me, it is important to achieve my potential. In my future, I value my education.

Our Culture

This week in class we talked about how each culture is different. Each culture has different values that may differ from a larger concept or a smaller one. Not only that but the different cultures can conflict with one another. For example, one normal gesture in our culture may be an obscene one in another. The way people act may be okay in on society but not in another. In our culture at Stevenson we have subcultural values that may conflict in our school's society.

Freedom is a big part of our society. At school we should have the freedom to do whatever we want, but in reality that isn't really true. For instance, if I were to blurt out in class, chance are I would get in trouble and I didn't really have the freedom I though I had. Another important part of our culture is education. The goal of school is to encourage students to work hard, go to college, then get a job. But in reality the goals as a school won't work for every one. People may think that everything is the fair but in reality it may not appear to be so. Our culture has a way of changing a larger concept into different subcultures.

Do nothing Activity

Last week we were given the assignment to do nothing. At first it seemed like it would be a really easy assignment because it was to "do nothing". But as I started, I realized it is very hard to do nothing. No matter what we are doing at anytime, we're either talking, watching something, looking at something, sitting, walking, but we are never actually doing nothing. In our society, if some one isn't doing something it will appear odd. For example, when I went to my family dinner, I just stood in the middle of the room not doing anything. My cousins kept coming up to me asking if something was wrong and why I wasn't doing anything. Afterwards, I thought to myself, Why would doing nothing be out of the norm in our society? People in our society are always active. No matter what we're doing we are staying active as if to achieve something and to succeed. By doing nothing, we are doing something. Because nothing is something and nothing comes along with how we're sitting or even where we're looking at.

A Bronx Tale

Collogero is a young boy just like any other young boy in the suburbs. Except that for the fact that he witnessed a shooting by Sunny, the neighborhood tough guy. What Collogero had witnessed was not only hard for a young boy to handle and see, but is also hard for any one not living in an inner city area to even understand. People do that that we don't always realize. Different groups may have different values that we don't understand. Those different groups may also believe what's right and wrong may be different than what any other person in the suburbs might believe.

Groups are what make up our lives. They are what define our values and how we fit in to the society that we are in. Even if we don't think we are a part of a group within a society, some way we always are. In the movie, Collogero becomes very close with Sunny, together they are a part of a society of fear. Every one is afraid of Sunny, so whoever is associated with him they will also fear.

Just like how they fear Collogero as he is growing up.

Sunny and Collogero are grouped together in a more specific place. They know that all the killings and bad things that Sunny does are bad, but for some reason they can't resist leaving it. They both know that it's better to just keep things the way they are. But as the movie goes on, Collogero changes and he starts forming his own groups and thinking his own way. As his dad always told him to stay away from Sunny, eventually Collogero realizes that everything Sunny does is hurtfully wrong. Especially when he almost went to attack the African Americans with his friends.

Even though groups are what can define ourselves and our status, eventually things can change. Collogero went from a little boy to Sunny's high top master status just from the group of fear.

Lost Ship

Last week we did an activity that gave students in the class an opportunity to take on a role as a character. 16 people were given a character that they would portray on a "lost" ship. In order to do this, some people would have to be kicked off.

I thought it was very interesting to see what every one would do. Because not only did people have to leave, but every one had to decide who was going to leave. Based on the characters descripitions people then decided.

I specifically noticed that some people took more leadership than others and the people that stayed were people that every one thought would be beneficial for the boats survival. In other words, it was a first hand insight into seeing how people would react in a situation like the lost ship..

Freaks and Geeks and more

So last week we watched the TV shows about a spinoff from the 80s, Freaks and Geeks.

For me, watching this was very funny because I felt like everything was a cliche. Like every one in the TV show is the stereotypical high school. Also, What I found extra interesting was how the freaks automatically picked on the geeks, and that the tv show was very specific on who the geeks would be like. Also, I saw how Stevenson was actually a lot different because of the size and 20 years later.

What I also like about the class, is that we are given the opportunity to figure out how we would handle a situation, then find out how other people handle a situation. When I was observing the boat that needed to pick survivors, I realized who teamed up with who and who was left out. It was very funny to see that no matter what we do, people can make decisions that we don't really understand until we analyze them.

After looking back on Friday, I understand that they logistically tried to kick the people off the survival boat that wouldn't be beneficial in the outcome.