Emperor's Club reflections

1.  Yes, I do think some of the statements seem correct.  In fact immaturity is eventually out grown, ignorance can be educated, drunkenness can be sobered, but stupid does not last forever.  I believe that Mr. Hundert says this to Bell so that he will see that him acting inappropriately in class will not be tolerated.  I think he also said this to embarrass Bell.

2.  Mr. Hundert is so shaken by Bell because he is not use to the type of behavior Bell exhibits.  Bell is rude and mouthy to Mr. Hundert.  He interrupts Mr. Hundert and acts inappropriately in class.

3.  Bell has a big influence on the other boys.  He has a such a big influence on them since they boys have never been exposed to the behavior like Bell's before.  They follow him, like when they rowed over to the all girls school and also when they played the prank on Mr. Hundert.  They probably think what Bell is doing it cool and fun.

4.  When determing who will be in the contest Mr. Hundert is faced with the ethical decison to either keep the contest as is, where Bell would not be in the contest, or to drop the third contestant that deserves to be in the contest so Bell can be in, even though he should not be.

5.  During the contest Mr. Hundert notices that Bell is cheating.  Mr.  Hundert gives Bell a question that he would not know that answer to, and one that would not be found on the cue cards, so Bell lost.  When Bell was confronted about his cheating he was rude and disrespectful to Mr. Hundert.

6.  I think that in a way Mr. Hundert choose to host the contest again because he felt bad about changing Blyth's grade so that he was not in the contest but Bell was.  He did this so there could be one real winner and maybe that Bell could redeem himself from cheating before.  I think he hopes that meeting with his students again, especially Bell, they will show how they have grown into fine young men.  However, Mr. Hundert's hopes are squashed when he finds out that even in this contest as a grown man Bell is cheating.  Even though he is disappointed the other students give him a plaque showing Mr. Hundert how positively he has affect their lives.

7.  I would say sometime we believe that we would or want to be successful at any cost.  We may want something so bad we don't care what we have to do or sacrifice to get what he want.  When Bell is confronted by Mr. Hundert about his cheating his son over heard the whole conversation while he was in the bathroom stall.  This issue is never resolved in the film.

8.  I think Mr. Hundert returns to teaching because he does see that he can have a large and positvie affect on students life.  After receiving the plaque from his old students he feels very appreciated and acomplished as a teacher.  Also once he starts teaching again Blyth's son is one of his new students.

9.  I think that Mr. Hundert has students think for themselves and to think creatively for themselves.  This would be one way that Mr. Hundert teaches using the probelm posing aspect from the Banking Concept of Educatjion.

10.  Mr. Hundert shows his students how to think for themselves and to respect other people.  The study of the classics showed the students that they could make a difference in the world, much like the people that they study.

The best teacher

            Sometimes the best teachers in life are the untrained ones.  When I was younger, I don't ever remember what grade I was in anymore, every night my mom use to set aside time with me before bed time and I would read out of my chapter book to her.  I recall that this was one of my favorite times of the whole day she let me read to her, making me more comfortable and more confident in my reading skills, as well as an overall better reader.  When I needed help finding resources to write papers my mom would always help me out.  Not only this but when writing papers, when I was younger, and I needed ideas she always seemed to have the best topics and ideas.  She did not only help me with ideas but she also encouraged me to use my freedom and write about whatever was on my mind, or whatever I was passionate about. When I was in middle school I absolutely hated math!  I remember growing up my dad use to always help me with math problems.  Also he would always look after my math homework once I had completed it to help me with any problems that I had gotten wrong.  He would help me solve the problem, not just do it for me like some parents might.  I never really thought about it before today, but my parents have always helped me out with and throughout my education.  Throughout my life they have probably been my best teachers not only with my education but also with life lessons as well. 

Banking Concept of Education

1.    Friere uses that concept of "narration sickness" to say that education is suffering.  He says that there is the subject, which is the teacher, and the listening objects, which would be the student.  Friere is basically saying that teachers get in front of their class and talk "at" the students giving them 'lifeless' facts and information which the student must retain and memorize the information.

2.  With the standardized testing in high schools today these tests are simply facts.  The questions are not relatable to life, and many times these tests quite frankly are just a test of students memorizing skills.  They may not get how the question connect to our daily lives, or how they can use the information on a daily basis after learning it.  To me if students don't know how they can use the information or if they can not relate it the their own lives then they will not be as interested in actually learning it, they will just memorize it to pass a test or quiz.

3.  I actually currently have a teacher at USF that, to me, uses the banking concept of education to teach.  When reading the list that Friere had there were many that came to mind when I thought about this teacher.  My teacher makes slides and just simply reads them to us, he does not elaborate or try and explain further.  When someone asks the teacher a question he isn't sure how to answer in a different way so he simply re-reads the slide.  Soon I think students caught on not to ask questions because he would read the slide again then move on.

                 He talks 'at' us not relating the subject matter to real life.  We only have test and quizzes so we must memorize the bland material then take a test or quiz to show how much we have memorized.  This information is rarely retained after the quiz or the test because I never  understand the way things work or why the work or how I will someday use the information.  To me this is a disadvantage to my education.  It is nothing personal at all, I just dislike this teaching method.

4.   In my college experience I had a Composition teacher who was an excellent teacher.  Yes, I believe that she did practice the concepts of problem posing education.  She had quite the opposite teaching method of that of the banking concept of education.  In the class we wrote a lot of papers as well as read many novels and other pieces of literature.  When she spoke about the literature you could tell she had study it, possibly even read it a million times.  She was interested, she asked us questions and made us think about the answers.  She didn't just talk at us and make us memorize information she had us read the material then we would talk to each other about it.   She wouldn't sit up at the front the whole class period and give us dead facts about the piece.

                We were not only graded by taking test but we were also graded for class projects and our writing pieces.  On our writing assignments she would give us feedback and give us comments to improve on our skills.  When we asked questions she found a way to answer until we understood.  Also she gave us many different resources to find things for our papers, like telling us about online resources etc and she taught us how to site these sources.  She also taught us how to create a resume, which would eventually come in handy for us all.  To me she was an excellent teacher that made me think, not just memorize.

5.  I think that the Athenians, from Neil Postman's "My Graduation Speech", would have embraced the concept of problem-posing education.  The Athenians were very community oriented so dialogue and communication were big parts of their community.  I would say all but one of my classes at USF this semester practice the problem-posing teaching style.  The only course that I have that is strictly banking concept theory would be my Micro Biology course.  I think I would benefit more if it was taught the same way.  It is a tough subject to begin with, then only to be taught to memorize information and everything is so lifeless, it is hard to learn and concentrate. 

Letter From Birmingham Jail

Response to LFBJ:

     "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" said Martin Luther King Jr. in his letter from Birmingham jail.  To me this letter was much needed after the letter that the clergymen sent to King.  In their letter they made it sound like he needed to step back.  They stated they want no violence, that King's attempts were basically useless and the racial issues in Birmingham would work themselves out eventually.  King wants the clergymen to know that he is not an outsider coming in to cause problems, it is quite the opposite.  King was invited to come there as a part of an organization, in which he is the president of, he is not there to cause violence.  The organization and King see the racial inequality in Birmingham and they know they must address it.  King also makes it known that Birmingham has a lot of racial violence, like bombings and injustice in courts against blacks.  He wants the clergymen to see that his work is not violent and that he sees the facts and sees that Birmingham needs help with equality.  Also King points out that he did try talking to leaders of Birmingham and basically got only broken promises.  There was a need to take things a step further if he could not get anywhere with them.  The letter from King shows he is very passionate and feels very strong about equality.  Just from reading the letter I can tell he was a very good leader for this task.  He makes valid points and makes the facts none to others that may overlook them.

Worksheet with Clergymen’s Letter and Civil Rights movement  (due on blog, Friday Oct. 14)

1.)    Passive resistance is challenging a larger power by non-violent methods.  One obvious person that practiced passive resistance would be Martin Luther King Jr. he is this through non-violent protests and sit ins.  Another person who practiced passive resistance would be Rosa Parks, she had a problem with sitting in the back of the bus so she non-violently made her point by not moving to the back of the bus when a white person wanted her spot.

2.)   

 

The first word that came to my mind after viewing this picture was segergation.  It is easy to see that all the white people are sitting in the front of the bus and the blacks are sitting in the back.  There wasn't any information attached with the photo when I found it but I would obviously have to assume that this was around the time in which Martin Luther King Jr. and others were fighting for equality.

This is a picture of three young boys protesting that they do not want to go to school with blacks.  This picture clearly shows discrimination against black.  One of the reactions to this photo was that it is even sadder that the pictures shows young boys.  It is obvious to me that we get our values etc from our family members and friends and to me it is obvious that these children were taught to be racist.  They didn't know any better growing up.  This is something that we have for the most part changed.  However I don't see why parents would teach their children to hate another race, there are way more important things that we should be teaching our children.

3.)    I do believe there is still discrimination today in our community.  One examle took place just recently I believe it was this summer.  There were a couple men that were trying to get into a local bar called the 18th Admendment and they were told they would not be able to enter.  The men stated that they were dressed like other white men they were getting into the bar and they were not allowed in because they were African American.  These men were college graduates from Augustana college and they believed that because of their skin color they were not allowed in, this story was in the Argus Leader months ago and it really caught my eye that indeed people may still be discriminated against.

Pathos, Logos, Ethos

4.)  The topic of my next essay is inequality and discrimation towards same sex couples and marriages.  I can incorporate ethos in my next essay  by showing people my voice through my essay and explaining my points.  I can incorporate logos in by telling people the facts, and show there is a large discrimination against gays in America.