What I experience during social change…

The question that would be asked is if social change is moving in the right direction.  In other words the world is changing culturally and socially over time.  I say yes, because we see it every day it happens all the time.  There are very few things that can be changed over time.  It may take years or even centuries to have the change come into effect.  For a brief example, how many students do you see with headphones on walking around our campus here at NIU?  That shows you that IPods were show as newest and greatest thing to have.  I mean they tried with the Zune, but that failed horribly for unknown reasons.  Was it marketing?  Was it because the IPod was already making others enjoy the product?  I believe that IPod dominated that market only because they had advancements on it before any other company had a chance to react towards it.  That’s just an example of a social change.  Technology that I see around my house is that my brother sits at his computer playing video games all day instead of going to sleepovers or playing outdoors.  He is in a scout troop and goes on campouts with them all the time, but when I try to speak with him all he wants to do is look back at his game and not want to do a thing.  These days if you ground kids from their Xbox or Playstation version 300, then they will hate the fact that they have to actually go outside and play with their friends.  When I was growing up the worst thing in the world was getting grounded from being outside.  Am I a different person? Yes, but I would think that all kids should have a need to go out and ride bikes and get into trouble just like the older generation did.  It is easier for me to email my brother then talk to him on the phone.  There’s another social change that I’m still confused on.  Is it just me or do people just not know how to ring a door bell besides the mail man and the UPS guy that brings me car parts?  Whenever I invite a friend over, due to this increase in technology of text messaging, I will receive a “here” or a “I’m in your driveway.” What the hell happened to the old fashioned knock at the door, or even in fact it’s my house and the garage is open step inside for the love of humanity.  The automobile is another social change that kind of irritates me, because if you have a buddy that lives one street over, not only have I seen this happen at numerous occasions, but you will see people drive one street over to stop by a friend’s house.  Really?!?! Just walk you happy ass down the street and show up with a case of beer and have a good time.  Everybody in this world can see that social change has effected everybody in some way, shape or, form.  There are good social changes happening in this world don’t get me wrong, but just a simple knock at the door please people.

Websites:

http://www.sociologyguide.com/science/social_change_and_technology.php

http://bostongal14.wordpress.com/2014/04/30/technology-in-society/

Problems in U.S. Education

People learn things everywhere. Whether they are at a zoo, hospital, beach, on a street, and many other things. People also learn things at their school. They learn things like math, science, social studies, English, grammar, spelling, social skills, and a lot of other things as well. People think education and schooling mean the same thing. Some people know that they are not the same thing, but get them mixed up. Education is the social institutions through which society provides its members with important knowledge, including basic facts, job skills, and cultural norms and values. Schooling is the formal instruction under the direction of specially trained teachers. Education and schooling is very important in the lives of everyone. People are taught many things that they need to know. Education is a great thing for everyone, and everyone needs it. But there are a lot of problems facing education in the United States, whether it is something little or something big.

One problem in U.S. education is standardized testing. Some teachers like the idea, but a lot of teachers hate the idea of standardized testing. Every single student tests different. Some students are generally bad test takers. The U.S. has multiple kinds of standardized testing. One test that everyone, or mostly everyone, is familiar with is the ACT. The ACT is a test that students take usually during their junior year of high school. The ACT is one of the main factors that are looked at for college acceptances. The ACTs cause a lot of stress on high school students because in order to get into a good college, receive scholarships, you also have to do well on the ACTs. Everybody knows having a lot of stress isn’t good for anyone. Testing can also increase anxiety issues. The amount of high stress and anxiety can also cause students to “freak out” and test poorly. Most colleges don't accept people with very low ACT scores, but what if a person is very smart and has a high GPA, but is a bad test taker? Does it matter? Will the college look more at the high GPA, or more at the low ACT score?

 

 

 

Another problem in U.S. education is the dropout rate. Currently, 7.1 percent of people between the ages of sixteen and twenty-four have dropped out. 7.1 percent may not seem high, but it is high considering that 7.1 percent is equivalent to 2.8 million people. One thing I found interesting is that out of the 50 states in the U.S., only 21 states require students to stay in high school until they graduate or turn 18. That isn’t even half of the states. If the dropout rate is high, and we are trying to decrease that rate, why is only 21 states requiring students to go to school until they are 18 or until they graduate? If every single state in the U.S. had this requirement, I believe the dropout rate can be decreased. Another interesting fact is that in 1970, the United States was ranked number one for the rate of high school and college graduation. The U.S. went from having the highest graduation rates, to today where the U.S. is now ranked number 21 in high school graduation rates and number 15 in college graduation rates. Why is the U.S. graduation rate slipping and decreasing so much?

 

As you can see, there are a lot of problems in U.S. education. These two major problems that I explained are just two of the many problems in the United States concerning education and schooling.

 

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/03/10/13-ways-high-stakes-standardized-tests-hurt-students/?tid=pm_local_pop

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/opinion/the-true-cost-of-high-school-dropouts.html?_r=0

Gender Inequaltiy

Over the past years women have been stepping up in the working world. They have been getting an education and degrees to support themselves in their careers. Even though women have gained more rights over the past decade to allow them to work, vote, and have a say in their lives they are still treated unequally to men. These inequalities need to stop. Women on many levels are equal and even superior to men in some aspects of life.

The biggest inequalities with women and men are in the workplace. In the past till now women's roles were supposed to be in the home. They were supposed to have the children and stay at home raising them, doing all of the household chores while the man of the family goes out and works all day. Even though that role has changed slightly for women they still encounter many inequalities. The substantial difference in pay is astonishing. Women get paid 77 cents to the dollar that men get paid (Bloomberg Business week). This is completely wrong. I do not see how it is fair to pay women less doing the same job as men and they have the same education level. Most of the excuses are, that men have to support their household  but in the recent studies they have shown that there are more and more single women supporting families now a days. The divorce rates have sky rocketed in the past years and many women now have to support themselves and their family. On the other hand, what if a tragic event happens to the father or he does not stick around to take care of his family.  How does society expect women to support her family and a household by herself if she does not get the equal pay she deserves? Studies also have shown that women have now surpassed men in the college level and are now earning more degrees than men. With that information women should be getting paid equal and or more than men showing that they are more highly educated and have earned the right to and equal pay. Also, inequalities are not just in pay, they are in the job market. You see very few women holding high power jobs, such as CEO's, owners of professional teams, and in the political world. A man dominating the workplace needs to be justified. Women need to be seen as clever and just as resourceful as men are in the workplace. As I said earlier women are getting the same if not more of a higher education than males, so they should receive an equal chance to achieve those jobs. If we do not let women have equal pay and hold equal level jobs how are we supposed to achieve equality in the workplace and view women as equals?

Women in the workplace are undervalued! They need to be treated and paid equally to men. They show great improvements in education and knowledge and deserve to get treated with the same respect and value as men do.

  
 http://www.summer.harvard.edu/blog-news-events/gender-inequality-women-workplace
    
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-01-30/gender-inequality-in-the-workplace-what-data-analytics-says

Is race and Ethnicity still a problem in today’s world?

Is race and Ethnicity still a problem in today’s world?

Race is a socially constructed category of people who share biologically transmitted traits that members of a society consider important. Although, today in 2014 we no longer have separation of different races from back when slavery was going on, people still take things to a certain degree. Racial diversity occurred when our human ancestors lived in different geographic regions of the world. People classified race and ethnicity all in to different groups all around the world. Although we think race in terms of biological elements, race is a socially constructed concept. I feel that today people don’t look beyond people and get to know also about their ethnicity or their lifestyle after seeing the color of their skin. Everyone can say today that race is still an on going problem in society and still occurs because people just look at the color and not exactly what their race or ethnicity is or even means. A recent event that just occurred for example that shows that racism is still an on going problem is with the LA clippers owner Donald Sterling was speaking on his phone to one of his girl friends and mentioned “Don’t bring black people to my games” yet he has black people who work for him, and his basketball players are black also. He is now banned from the NBA and has to pay 2.5 million dollars. Many generations throughout the Americas have been mixed. Many “black” people have a significant Caucasoid ancestry, just as many “white” people have some Negroid genes. The problem we have today in our world is so many people are willing to define themselves as multiracial. Ethnicity comes into play with this because it is a shared cultural heritage. Like race the concept of ethnicity is socially constructed, becoming important only because society defines it that way. If society never saw race in two different colors and ethnicity in a million different cultures and not defining everyone together our society would be highly different. On an individual level, people play up or play down cultural traits on whether they want to fit in or stand apart from the surrounding society. If people in our society stopped worrying so much about what people thought and how they have to classify one another everything would be so different and not based off of one anothers opinions. Always keep in mind that race is constructed from biological traits and ethnicity is constructed from cultural traits, but the two of them still go hand in hand together.

http://www.ensemble-rd.com/en/learn-about-discrimination/the-quebec-charter-of-human-rights-and-freedoms/skin-color-and-race?gclid=CPCF3LC2h74CFeY-MgodVgIAKQ

http://www.diffen.com/difference/Ethnicity_vs_Race

Never Asking For It

Rape—as well as date rape—is one issue that has been prevalent in society for as long as anyone can remember.  So much so, that it is now referred to as a culture in its own.  “Rape culture” is a term used in feminism that links rape, or in other words, sexual violence, to the culture of a society.  It says that certain actions and attitudes in society “normalize, excuse, tolerate, and even condone rape”.  In today’s society, rape is an issue that nearly the entire population is aware of, yet on the other hand is also an issue that is too often ignored and almost thought of as inevitable.  In America, one in five women will survive rape or attempted rape.  97% of attackers won’t receive any jail time for their crimes.  With an issue as big and as frequent, why isn’t society doing attempting anything to make rape and sexual violence less of a “norm”?  In my opinion, society does exactly the opposite.

One thing that has never seemed right in my eyes is the fact that there are strict dress codes—particularly for young girls and women—in public schools even in this day in age.  This may be one of the biggest factors as to why it is a problem in society, because school is where most of a person’s socializing occurs. They start children off so young, making to school every weekday, six hours a day for 12 years straight.  So, of course this will be a place where they learn how to interact with others, about what is right and what is wrong, etc.  Dress codes are essentially teaching boys and girls as young as ten years old that they have to watch what they wear because it can be distracting to the opposite gender, and this is effecting how they think as teenagers and adults. 

One commonly known dress code imposed on young girls is that their shorts or skirts must be as long as their fingertips when their hands are placed at their sides.  Another is that their shirt straps must be as thick as three fingers.  If either of these rules are not followed, they are usually told to change, but even harsher punishment is an option.  These rules do nothing more than oversexualize the body parts of young girls and women; shoulders and legs in particular, two body parts that both genders share, and ones I’m sure boys would not find distracting had they not been taught this at a young age by none other than their public school.  Schools teach women how not to get raped rather than teaching men that is wrong.

In today’s society, many people will blame the victim, or say that they deserved it because of actions that they took.  They will be asked if they had been drinking, or they will be asked what they were wearing at the time of the attack.  This is basically saying that men will have an excuse to rape.  It also gives the notion that boys will be boys, or that all boys are “pigs” and will rape a girl for reasons such as the ones previously stated.  In my opinion, there needs to be a different view on rape in today’s society.  Forcing women to dress for men from a young age and telling them that there are reasons that they could be raped if they aren’t careful is not the right approach.  There needs to be a change.

http://www.marshall.edu/wcenter/sexual-assault/rape-culture/

http://time.com/40110/rape-culture-is-real/

Pregnancy is bad? -by Janet King

Plenty of us know about the show Teen Mom, and like myself, I watch this show quite often and follow the moms on their journey through out motherhood. As seen in the show, being a teen mom is pretty hard and difficult. When you have a baby at 16 there is a chance that your baby's father would not be in your child's life, you would drop out of school, and you might not have the money to support your baby. Some of the teens who are mothers do not plan to have a baby. They got pregnant because they chose to have sex with their boyfriends for the first time, they did not think they would get pregnant the first time, or they were intoxicated when they had sex. Other teens, on the other hand, actually planned to get pregnant with their friends with out their boyfriends knowing and they call it the Pregnancy Pact. Even though pregnancy is a beautiful thing, in young girls it can be very harmful due to various health risk that nay be involved.

http://www.foxnews.com/topics/pregnancy-pact-massachusetts.htm

In this article, it talks about how in 2008, Massachusetts did not believe that these girls can make a pregnancy pact. They thought that the girls all spontaneously got pregnant all at the same time. The girls who got pregnant were 16 years or younger. When I read this, this honestly shock me in a way that I could not explain. The first thing I want to know is what is a girl who is 15 or younger doing with a boyfriend? I feel as if their parents should have been strict on them and made sure they were too busy to have a boyfriend or engage in any sexual activity. If they assumed their child is participating in any sexual activity, they should had a serious talk with their son or daughter and talk about what would happen when they have sex. They should not talk about having a baby because most teenagers might want a baby before they can even get a high school education, what they should talk to their kids about is sexual transmitted diseases, the different changes that their body will go through, and also when they have sex with one person, they are having sex with every person that person had sex with emotionally. Sex is an ongoing chain that never ends.

http://www.healthcommunities.com/teen-pregnancy/children/risks-to-baby-in-teen-pregnancy.shtml

Even though making a pregnancy pact to get pregnant is bad and something anyone would ever think can happen to their daughter or love one, that is not the worst thing that can happen to young girls and even their babies. When a young girl gets pregnant, she opens the door to many risk that can happen to her and her unborn child. In this article, it says that teen mothers are less likely to gain weight which causes their baby to be born with a low birth rate. Another thing that can happen to a baby that is born to a teen mom is that it may be abused and/ or neglected. When the mother finally sees how hard it is to raise a child at a young age and that she would not be able to see her friends or do what she wants, the she will star neglecting the baby and abuse the child because she is upset with herself because she chose not to wait to have a baby.I feel as if teens should have to take a survey before having unprotected sex to see if they are physically, emotionally, and financially stable to have a baby. I honestly feel anyone who is participating in unprotected sex should take this survey to see if they are really ready to have a baby.

Gender Stratification Today

Gender does not simply refer to which sex you are, but it rather refers to the traits and social positions that members of a society attach to being either male or female. Gender roles are placed upon someone since their birth weather you like it or not, baby boys are usually always given blue clothing from friends and family, and the girls are typically given the stereotypical pink clothing. But even in babies, color is not the extent of the way people treat them, people tend to act more gently and nurturing when interacting with baby girls, where on the other hand baby boys are usually being bounced on their parents knee, or raised into the air, or other more physical play. This is only the beginning of the gender roles that the children will face, and throughout schooling and after schooling in the real world they will experience similar distinctions depending on the child's sex.

Although the idea of the man providing for his wife, while she tends to the home and children may be an age old way, it is shown that although these gender roles are changing, they still do exist. I can relate to this personally, my family followed the same age old tradition of my father providing for the family, while my mother tended to my siblings and I. But with things like this raise the question of if both men and women want to have these roles, or if they would prefer to break the old cultural norm. A survey asking both men and women if they would rather have a job outside the home, or care for the house and family showed that 76% of men would like to have a job outside of the home, and only 22% of men would like to care for the house and family. These statistics are not really shocking to me, men have typically always had this role and for the most part the men do not seem to be changing their minds on the issue. But on the female side only 51% of women would prefer to have a job outside the home while 44% would prefer to stay at home. Although that statistic is staggering compared to what it would have been 50 years ago, it still shocks me that 44% of women stick to these old gender role norms. But with time i expect these numbers to change, because women in America have only experienced rights for so little time compared to men.

A great example of women proving themselves would be a slide that we had during our gender lecture, showing how women have advanced in marathon times since the women's movement. During the beginning of the women's movement in 1965 the fastest time for a women in a marathon was just under 3 and a half hours, but only 40 years later after women were giving equal rights in regards to physical activities the best time was 2:15:25 over an hour faster in just 40 years this 2:15:25 time was so fast that it beat mens world records well into the 60s. This just goes to show that if equal opportunities are given, gender becomes much less of a factor.

Sex Education in School: The Issues

In many cultures across the world, premarital sex is frowned upon based on certain religious beliefs. There is cultural variation about sex and sexuality across the board, but only cultures such as Polynesians do not have strict taboos on premarital sex. Between cultures and religions there are differences on what is sexually acceptable. There are restrictions on openness, public displays of affection and different notions of modesty. In the 1960s the introduction of birth control was a catalyst toward more open sex relations. Women have control over their reproductive organs. This slowly worked toward men and women having almost equal amounts of premarital sex.

Unfortunately, this openness towards sex has taken many turns for the worse. In fear of youth partaking in premarital sex, there is increasing levels of uneducated teens. Health class is the perfect place for high school freshman to get educated about sex health—before they find themselves in trouble. Some schools will say that abstinence is the only choice, while in actuality that is not going to prevent teens from premarital sex. Seventy five percent of males have sex before marriage. A school is no place to control the sexual responsibility of teens, but it is a lace to educate teens about the choices and consequences they may and probably will face.

Sex education often stem from family values, religious beliefs, and school. Instead of suppressing the entire topic of sex, teens need to learn about the dangers of STDs, pornography, prostitution, and rape. It is challenging to put into perspective the amount of partners a given person has, and what that is equivalent to in terms of spreading diseases. Instead of hiding sex or scaring student away from sex, health teachers and family members should be honest and truthful about the subject. Some STDs will stick with you for the rest of your life. 

 

Any sexual photograph taken of a minor is considered child pornography and is a crime. Some people do not attach negative views to and sexually explicit material intended to cause sexual arousal, but the facts still stand. Child pornography is a crime. In low income countries prostitution is much more potent. In America, it is illegal. There are too many myths about all these sexual topics, and they need to me addressed so that teens do not make regrettable mistakes. Rape is another topic that should be thoroughly explained to all students. Rape is any violent act that uses sex to hurt, humiliate, or control another person. No matter how suggestive someone dresses, no one is ever “asking” to be raped. As a matter of fact, date rape (forcible sexual violence against the victim from people they know) accounts for Seventy percent of all rape crimes. All areas of sex education need to be addressed and not suppressed.

Although sexuality can be an intimidating topic to address publicly in a room full of peers—for teachers, students, and parents, it needs to be addressed. The facts should be discussed and truthful. The teachers need to be well trained in the subject. Parental involvement should be encouraged. It may be a private matter, but it is a public issue, and therefore it is a topic that all American teens need to face. Reality can be painful, but it is the truth. 

 https://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/3018898.html

 http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Mauritania-to-Nigeria/Polynesians.html

Class inequality in the United States

The U.S. is said to be the land of opportunity, but our society shows this is not always the case. The social classes in the U.S. are unequal and can limit social mobility. In order to understand this issue, social inequality must be considered.

There are many factors that go into social inequality. Income is important because there is an increasing difference between the rich and poor. Wealth is also a major factor, as 20% of the U.S. owns about 90% of its wealth. This shows a huge unbalance in the U.S., and it is even worse around the world. With wealth comes power to shape society. Also, certain occupations have prestige which are not equal to others. Finally, education also factors in to social inequality. While better than a lot of other countries, the U.S. still has huge class inequality.

The U.S. has an idealized “American Dream”, which proposes that hard work and achievement can move a person up the social ladder. However, this ignores inheritance and certain locations where poverty severely limits citizens from receiving the education to prosper. In this case, these people will likely have little or no social mobility. This chart shows that the poorest people only have a 9% chance to reach the top quintile of the U.S income distribution.



Social mobility has not changed very much in the U.S during the last 40 years. Certain factors like gender and race have an additional impact in social position. Since these categories are deeply embedded in everyday societal life, it will be difficult to break these differences and give everyone an equal footing. The gap has been narrowing though, and marriage can also help to increase social mobility.

There are several social classes in the United States. The upper class is divided into the upper-uppers and lower-uppers. The upper-upper class is a small fraction of the population but has tremendous wealth and influence. Its members usually attend private schools and prestigious universities. These people get their status from inheritance and family power, while the lower-uppers are considered the “working rich”.

The middle class makes up a significant portion of the population and is divided into three categories. The upper-middles enjoy college and high-prestige occupations, but still lack the influence that the upper class has. Average-middles tend to have skilled blue-collar positions and usually graduate high school. The Lower-middles (usually called the working class), take the bottom-of-the-barrel jobs and struggle financially as a result. Finally, the lower class citizens have very low incomes and live in undesirable neighborhoods.

With such a broad range of classes, there are many inequalities between them. For example, health is correlated to social class, with the best medical care requiring a high income. Politics have an interesting phenomenon. Generally, higher class citizens are conservative about economics but liberal on social problems, which lower class citizens feel the opposite.

Overall, the class system in the United States is very uneven. People are feeling less confident that the American Dream can be a reality. However, the U.S. does not have a true caste system, and there are still opportunities for social mobility.


http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21595437-america-no-less-socially-mobile-it-was-generation-ago-mobility-measured

https://www.boundless.com/sociology/understanding-stratification-inequality-and-social-class-in-the-u-s/the-class-structure-in-the-u-s/the-class-structure-in-the-u-s/

Human Boomerangs

            Everyone goes through move in day at college, I'm not talking about moving all of your possessions into your brick box of a room, I'm talking about the inevitable tears from your parents seeing you finally leave the nest.  This was the story for me on my freshman move in day.  Deep down I knew my parents were happy about being rid of me for the next nine months but it's still hard to see their son leave the nest.  For many of us college is the kick in the pants we need to move out of our parents home and start a life on our own in the world, but for some the become a human boomerang, also known as a "Boomerang Child".
            Websters defines a boomerang child as: "a young adult who returns to live at his or her family home especially for financial reasons." In my family I have two examples of so called boomerang children.  My cousin who is now 25 years old still lives at home with his family and shows no signs of ever leaving.  When he graduated high school he tried the whole college thing at a local community college and soon lost interest.  He now works for an air conditioning company and makes more than enough to live healthily on his own.  Instead of doing so he is happy living at home having his parents treat him the same way they have since he was a little kid.
            Me on the other hand, I was very happy to get my own place while going to college and begin living on my own.  I pay my own bills, work for a living, and have no plans to go live back home.  Seeing my cousin still live at home put the family beliefs section into real life perspective.  More precise the lecture that was based on families of different races, and religions than mine.  I always thought that people lived at home into their 30's because they were too lazy to cut it on their own, but it was presented to me that other races have this as a belief.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/08/13/real_estate/boomerang-kids/
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/boomerang+child