Weekly Reading #9Help on this Pagelink opens in new window
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Evaluation Method
Text and Image Section
p. 106: “In 2010, more than 200,000 teens under age 18 had some kind of cosmetic surgery—including hair removal, nose jobs, and liposuction.”
This quote follows an excerpt about self-objectification and the sexualization of teen girls. I found this statistic to be very sad. We have become a society so consumed with small dress size instead of large IQ that it is frightening. In my Victorian Literature studies, women who were more “plump” were actually more “sexy” and wealthier than those who were thin. I still do not think the haggard, poverty-stricken, starvation image is at all attractive. I think it is so startling, though, that so many young people are looking at these airbrushed and unrealistic photos and trying to conform to them.
p. 112: “As a result, it becomes the job of the parents to choose whether or not (or how) to attempt to restrict access to particular media content.”
The key word here, I believe, is “attempt.” No matter how much we may try to protect our children from certain genres of media, there will always be a curiosity on the part of our own children or there will be that one sneakier chum who is well-versed in elicit lyrics or pornography. I think our youth are becoming more and more sexualized at a younger age. I think there is a loss of childhood innocence, as stated earlier in this text. Children are maturing faster, pubescently-speaking, and the media seems to be focusing on it.
p. 119: “To support the development of critical autonomy, teaching and learning must be student-centered and inquiry-oriented.”
I know there is a time for direct regurgitation of information for things like important dates, places, people, etc., but at the same time students should still be able to connect those things to critical thinking. Just knowing that MLK Jr. was alive in the 1960s does not fully prepare students for understanding how important his role was to the 1960s. Being able to relay information to students and have them make connections based on their own interpretations and questions is of the utmost importance, in my view.
Shannon very well said,
ReplyDeletePictures and adds of what society depicts to be pretty or beautiful is never a healthy outlet. Girls today can't see passed skinny jeans. I agree with your opening. What about knowledge, or sincere commitment or just integrity? We just had the very same discussion with my youth team. The traits that make a beautiful person are deep within the inside not the outside sure it might help, but what is on the inside is the core.
The media as I said in my post to Nissa we as parents have to provide balance for our children a never ending and not so easy to do struggle.
There must be more then just the top layer of media garbage. Teaching to identify the good within the bad is always a challenge.
I like the quotes that you chose. The first quote tells us that girls are not happy with what they are. This could be a result to media as well as other reasons. I feel that media changes the story around a little to make us entertained with what we are seeing. Yes, we all are most likely to have seen a celeberty on a magazine in a nice outfit and all of us have wanted that outfit. But will it look the same on a bigger girl? I feel girls think that they have to have a certain look and be a certain size (smaller) to be wealthy and get attention. We need to helps students see that there is more to being wealthy then just their looks. Their brains, and other things in their life, ( morals, family, friends, knowledge..etc..) make them more wealthy then a girl in a magazine. We meed to help them see that what they see in the media isn't always what it is said to be. Help our students love themselves, and believe in who they are is a big key.
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