Runaway Consumerism...It's your own fault.

In last week’s forum, we spent quite a bit of time on the idea of consumerism and its negative impact on people. Many people discussed the marketing schemes that businesses use to entrap the general populace into purchasing products they really don’t need. But, I have to ask, are we really so foolish to think that it is the marketer’s fault? We can think on our own, and choose to buy the products that we buy. The reason new products are created is because there is a demand for them. Granted, many commercials and advertisements can be influencing in younger audiences, especially when they are targeted at children. But then, can’t we teach our own children that they don’t need every new thing? We are capable of resistance. No one put a gun to the head of the man who bought the new 5-bladed razor. He bought it on his own volition.
Now I want to make sure that we don’t get too cynical and think that every new product is absolutely worthless. Some new products present great innovation. Back to the razor, for example. I happen to own a Gillette Fusion (The 5-bladed razor) and I must say that it is the best razor I have ever used. It catches all the hair in one stroke as opposed to taking many strokes over a given area. This saves time and reduces razor-burn. Some products, however, lean to the more ridiculous side. The new “dipping chocolate” from Hershey’s, for example. This amazing new product is in effect, solid chocolate in a small container. You put it in the microwave, and then you can dip food in it. How creative! I never would have thought to melt chocolate chips for the same result.
The problem lies in the laziness and apathy that the general public has grown accustomed to in the area of consumerism. People no longer research products and services to find the one which is the most fitting and economical. People want what’s culturally acceptable. No longer do kids and many adults care which cell phone gets the best service. They desire the slimmest phone with the most features, in the coolest colors. Rather than relying on our own individual tastes and intuitions, we buy magazines and books that tell us everything from what to eat, how to dress, how to decorate, to how to raise children and live a happy life. People sometimes have a hard time coping with their freedom of choice. They would rather not have to choose and research, it would just be easier for a large corporation to tell them exactly what they need. That’s why people have 2,200 terabytes of music storage space on their Mp3 players, even though there aren’t enough songs on earth to fill it. This is why they have 15 passenger Suburban’s for a family of four. When people start thinking for themselves and stop buying useless products, these products will disappear. Until then, look out for the new Blackberry with telepathic thought transfer technology, a 1,342 mega pixel camera, 12 gigabyte mp3 player, GPS tracking, and built in microwave oven. It’ll be sure to blow away the competition.

God, gods, and Cynics

Gods and gods, so much confusion over capitalization of letters.
My first impressions of this book were not amazing. I thought it was going to be another book that cynically tore apart the fabric of American education. Personally, I’m not one for wide-scale cynicism. After some further reading, I think I may give this book a chance, and who knows, I may get something out of it after all! I’m not one who thinks that our school system is flawless either, but I do not think it is right to sit around relentlessly criticizing the means by which we may advance ourselves in society. It’s like the old adage; “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.” Our education, whether through the schooling system, or by other means, has given us so much. It has helped us to advance so far in society, making great leaps of advancement daily. What in turn have we given back? Persistent, ungrateful scorn, directed at the very institution that taught us to be so critically minded. I think that we should think about ways to improve a good system, rather than arguing about whom is right when it comes to the correct way of teaching a course. It seems that at least some thanks should be given where thanks is due.
Starting out in this section, Postman deals with the gods of our society and how they relate to his core ideas about education. The specific god of technology is discussed in some detail. This is a “god” who has been rising in power and influence. This technology god begins to be portrayed as a negative influence, not by Postman, but rather by his opponents. It only makes sense that technology is the provider of endless information and sources. The people begin to lose their autonomy and just learn to use the new software, or to learn the update for the existing software. This is defiantly not a pleasant idea. This is not usually the case, though. Many children attending school are enveloped into the workings of the technology departments. Machines are helping kids learn, and also helping them to stay in school.
The whole issue of capitalization when talking about God, or the gods, I fell was a bit overplayed and overrated. In my opinion, he was comparing these things to God. These are things that people hold most dearly, and would not let go of easily. It also examines through the lower-case, gods, that many of these things are considered wrong under church doctrine. This insinuates a wrong opinion or wrong motive which drives our lives. The capitalization of God and the use of the polytheistic term, “gods,” offered an insightful example into the world of education.

Graduation Speech

Neil Postman makes some very good points in his, “My Graduation Speech.” He speaks about the two paths down which everyone must travel in life. He states that there are only two ways. One must choose one of two ways in which to live his life: the way of the barbarian Visigoths or the way of the civilized, intelligent Grecians. The Visigoths, according to Postman are those of us who
appreciate art, culture, learning, and knowledge. These people are always striving to learn more and attain more knowledge. On the other hand, some people decide to go the way of the Visigoths. These people enter a life of mediocrity. They have no appreciation for the arts, learning, knowledge, or culture. On the contrary, many of them are actually out to destroy and deface these institutions of society.
In class discussion we talked about the possibility that there are more than just these two paths in life. There are possibly more paths that contain a mixture of the two types of people. For instance, some people are not necessarily out to destroy the modern institutions of knowledge, but rather, live more apathetically. They would rather not get involved. Some others constantly pursue knowledge, but this is for selfish reasons only. They do not use their vast learning in order to help and advance society.
Another discussion that was brought up was the reasoning behind the use of these particular cultures in the example Post made. Many people thought that limiting the culture to just the Greeks and Visigoths was unfair and took away form the writing itself. They claimed that there were other cultures as good or better than the Greeks, and conversely, there were those cultures who were as bad or worse that the Visigoths. We must realize, though, that Post was making an example of a good culture and a bad culture. He did not intentionally leave out other cultures of the time. He was merely using these two cultures to illustrate a point. When one makes an example, he does not make an exhaustive list of things that exemplify his point, he picks one that fits the situation and uses just that one, or in some cases, several examples. He does not “leave out” all the other cultures; he just picks situations that fit his argument.
Some others challenged that both of these cultures did not completely fill the roles that were used to describe them. This was illustrated though the knowledge that Greeks were also a warring nation. They went out and conquered other people. Another possibility was that the Visigoths were not completely savage, just that they were more imperialistic. It is true that these cultures did a have some inconsistency, but overall, they do fulfill the illustrations of the arguments of Post.

Checks for Degrees and Job Training

After much trial and error, I believe that I might have the blog posting figured out. There were many delays in the formation and posting of this entry ranging form computer malfunction to clerical errors in assignments, but all has been worked through, and I am now able to complete the blogging assignments.
Reacting to the Checks for Degrees discussion was very hard for me. I would like to think that college students are earning their degrees primarily from the skills they demonstrate rather than the size of their bank accounts. I realize that this may not be true in some cases. It is certainly unfortunate that a degree can be obtained by someone who has not earned it. It is also a blow to the credibility of the degree itself. If everyone is paying for degrees, then why would they be a significant form of determining who was best for a particular job? They would not. While we were on this topic, the conversation diverged into another area of school disagreement. Why are students forced to take core curriculum classes, when they may not apply to the student’s specified major? At a surface level, this does not make sense. Why would one have to take art appreciation while pursuing a business major? There is reasoning behind this logic.
Incoming freshman are not statistically going to stick with the major with which they entered college. This is understandable. Not many people know exactly what they want to do at age eighteen. Also, classes such as those offered in the core curriculum classes offer a wider range of thinking. They open the individual up to things outside their normal lives. These classes mold the individual into a better-rounded and more complexly developed person.
My personal opinion follows closely to that of many colleges. I believe that core classes should be implemented in the early stages of the college career, in order to help the incoming students find where they feel they want to be. Later in the college career, during Junior and Senior years, the student should become well versed in the career that he or she is pursuing. Classes during this time should prepare the student for the upcoming job market and also, prepare the student for flexibility in the particular market. They should be a mix between job training and real world learning to prepare for adaptations later in life.
Schools should not be a place for learning to be an assembly line, but rather a place to learn to perform and operate smoothly in society and adapt to changes in the job market.