30. April 2009 by Mr. Andoscia.

It was a joy sharing thoughts with you.  Have a great summer!

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30. April 2009 by student.

Teenage pregnancies have become quite common in the past couple years. According to pregnant teen help.org, the United States has the highest rate of teenage pregnancies when compared to other countries. To me, this topic  is simply due to ignorance. It is the lack of education that is provided to teens. Teaching teenagers about safe sex and the problems associated with pregnancy can go a long way in helping teenage birth rates lower. The only true way to avoid sexually-transmitted diseases and pregnancy is abstinence. However not everyone values abstinence so pregnancy prevention programs also promote safe sex practices. can honestly say that when it comes to sex, the topic is not mentioned much or even at all, when it should be. I came from a school that has 1 in 4 girls pregnant by or before the time that they leave high school. And since middle school, I have only had one class that was for sex education. It lasted a week, and we never had any more discussions about it.

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 2 Comments »

30. April 2009 by student.

From personal experience I have witness how little incentive teachers and councilors give to the student to excel and better themselves in school. All of this unattended students that may have potential to become the future leaders of tomorrow are being hurt academically and socially since if they graduate they will have very little motivation to excel or to participate in extracurricular activities in college. This type of behavior from the school staff, parents, and the students should not be taken lightly and a certain measure should be appointed to resolve this issue of under academic struggling students who in their professional careers will struggle. 

I have seen the difference in the quality of the schools from PR to the US. In my experience my teacher always said “ you can do better” , in schools over here in the US most of the teachers where satisfy by the students doing average. What kind of example are they given the students on how much effort should be put into something that will grand you all of the academic satisfaction expected from a professional career? 

The lack of motivation that upcoming high school students show in college is the result of years of under appreciation and learning how to conform with the average and accept that they can’t do better in their academics. The social impact from this lack of motivation has created masses of underachieved, ignorant students that we consider in today’s society the average.

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 1 Comment »

30. April 2009 by student.

A deviant has to go through a lot to be comfortatble in their own skin. They deny the problem. They get angry over the problem. They bargain with the problem. They get depressed over the problem. But all of these stages don’t change one important thing. The loss has happened and it always has. A deviant is different. They are born into a world with rules that don’t fit them. The norms of old dictate how a deviant can socialize with the majority. However, after all of this pain and thought the only thing left to do is to accept that a nerd is a nerd, a homosexual is a homosexeual, and an immigrant is an immagrant. And there is nothing socially wrong with that.

Why is there nothing wrong with that? Why should there be? People are all inheriantly different. Some are just more different than others. What would the world be like if everyone accepted everyone else? People would be like bees. A hive mind would be all there ever was. Deviants are the innovators and entertianment of the world. Think of all the deviats that have walked this earth. From religious groups, to ethnic groups, to scientiests, all of them are eventually grouped under the “norm” through the great passage of time. Deviance can often be just something the world must globally accept.

The nerd eventually comes to understand this truth. They seek out other deviants like themselves. The wonders of the internet can make this as easy as a google search. There are thousands of other deviant nerds all over the globe waiting to share the joys of an old retro game or an awesome anime ending. The nerd no longer tries to seek the acceptance and approval of the majority. Why waste time with something that will eventually happen anyway. Look at the video game industry today. It is one of the fastest growing media out there and it can even be more profatible than Hollywood. The acceptance isn’t there but it is a start. Let’s look at an older media. Comic books are being made all the time and are much more acceptable now than ever before. The quality has even improved. The days of a crappy Batman movie are replaced with the excellence of The Dark Knight. There is care and attention to the essence of the source material that was never there before. Movies like The Watchman and 300 even try to stay as close to the comics as possible.

Once a deviant can get over the loss of social status they can have room to grow. They can have time to change people’s minds and throw their opinions into the public sphere.  Look at the headlines from just a week ago. States approving gay marriage and New York introducing the legislation again. Norms are ever shifting. The deviants are society’s mules.

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30. April 2009 by student.

Eventually, a deviant will realize (if the social sturctures are in place that can allow them too i.e. not getting killed) that bargaining for social status is not working. A nerd has emulated the people around him to no avail. Something does not feel right. I still can’t break into socializing with everybody else. When will it be my turn to get some of that acceptance? Will i ever get any? That question starts the depression. This normally occurs in the high school years when socializing is near its peak.

But social depression is different than the clinical definition. Social depression is a loss of hope of ever fitting in with the general populace. At this point, the deviant has been trying for years with little results or comradarie. I never will fit in. So the deviant withdraws. They become quite and don’t make an effort to socialize or emulate the ones around them. What point is there? My veiws are lightyears away from their down to earth personalities. I can’t be myself. I can’t share any of my joys and experiances with those around me for fear of the dreaded dirty look. So a nerd shuts off from the ones around them and focuses on living happy in their own space. They might read their comic in the corner of the cafeteria or play their gameboy on the bus. Why should I care if they see me being me? That is the spark. That is the question that leads to the final glorious step, acceptance.

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 1 Comment »

30. April 2009 by student.

Quite frankley im tired of hearing the comments and thoughts on what people think about people who live or come from the projects. you know that they will never be nothing or that they act a certain way or maybe that we do things maybe because were from the ghetto WRONG!!! they fact of the matter is that people do things because that’s what they wanna do coming from the projects i know, i know how to talk to my instrutors in the way that you should and turn it off when i’m talking to my peers, i am enrolled in college and have plans on going very far. not all people that work in the cooprate world is from the suburbs, just look at Shawn Carter (Jay-Z) born and raised in the projects no college degree but is now a muli millionaire he’s ceo of his own record company, he has a clothing line, his own liquor, a number of clubs named the 40/40 club and sports bar, the man has his own color Jay-Z blue. you tell how many people has they own color for crayola. growing up in the projects is tough but, it’s a learning experience it teaches you to be strong, it makes you wanna bet all odds, it pushes you to be what they say you can’t. granted that most don’t ever get out but, some do and show haters we can do the impossible and reach the unreachable

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30. April 2009 by student.

            There is a definite double standard on how society views female sexuality and male sexuality. In today’s society men’s sexuality is more tolerable to certain behavior in comparison to women. A man can have multiple partners and no bad derogatory labels put on him for his actions besides being considered a “ladies’ man.” In the other case women who have multiple partners within a relative short amount of time might be wrongly labeled and looked down on. When in the 21^st century that promotes equality between men and women there is still a strong unstated refusal to accept this equality of behavior. 

During the 1970s and 1980s, in the wake of the sexual revolution, numerous feminist writers started to address the question of female sexuality from their own female perspective, rather than allowing female sexuality to be defined in terms of largely male studies.  

             There is a certain behavior that is expected from women that is not expected of men, it does not matter how much our society has grown we still see how society stipulates norms of behavior to the sexes. Traditional cultural practices such as enforced modesty and chastity have historically tended to place restrictions principally on women, without imposing similar restrictions on men.

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 2 Comments »

30. April 2009 by student.

The Internet a innovation so permeated throughout society its uses and application are often unknown and mystical to us. Yet this network of information is dangerously vulnerable. A privately funded Russian team of hackers managed to attacked and disable the entire country of Estonia for a week, using just the Internet. A team based out of China managed to infect and gather information  from Tibetan computers as well as a myriad of Consulates computers worldwide. Yet we still do know if these attacks should be considered a military or civilian threat. There so far has yet to be a clear line where it is distinguishable to be an act of war or it is just crime. The application for war is immense when it comes to information gathering and hindering the enemy. Yet if we treat any kind of cyber threat as a military matter, justifications for war can be easily gained and civilians could face military trials.

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 2 Comments »

30. April 2009 by student.

A person can deny that they are different for only so long. Then they move onto the next step of their griefing, bargaining. This can also be known in lamence terms as fitting in. Usually this will happen around later middle school and early high school. It is then that the nerd can no longer deny that they are being put off to the side of society. So what can be done? How does one gain acceptance and get to the next level of social status. The answer is to cast off what makes you different and accept the peer norms. If I can do this, surly I will be accepted.

And so a nerd goes underground. There can be no talk of nerdy things. Do not mention how cool the game that comes out next week looks. Don’t talk about the twist in the latest spiderman comic. Don’t talk about the rumored new operating system that can do it all. None of these things can come from a nerds mouth. Don’t wear that Star Wars shirt you got for Christmas or the braclet that you got with the deluxe edition of your comic. You have to stop all that stuff, no one likes it but you. These are all thoughts that a nerd has in some part of their life or another. I have to fit in so I can hang with everone else.

After the deviant suppresses their tastes and norms, it is time to adopt the ones of everyone else. What does everyone else like. Keep your ears open. Listen to what they talk about. Watch what they wear. Walk like they do, talk like they do. They hold the social power. I need some of that power. So that is what a nerd does. They talk about what little they may know about the sports world and they dance to the beats of the popular music of the day. The nerd must try to survive in a world that rejects them as childish and strange.

From the perspective of another social deviant, bargaining manifests itself as being in the closet. A homosexual can’t openly express his/her admiration towards another. They have to fit in. Liking the  same gender is new. It is dangerous. WHATS NEXT, MARRING ANIMAL!?!?! And what happens if a homosexual or some other radical deviant group doesn’t bargain. They can face persecution. They can be shunned. They can even be killed for being different than the established. It is for this reason that many may not or cannot even pass the bargaining step because of sophocatting social presures to fit in. For those that do or can make it past bargaining, there is the worderful step of depression waiting for them.

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30. April 2009 by student.

Today we see more and more people moving in together before they are married and I hear more and more that if you do that the chances of the relationship falling apart is greater than if you did not live together before marriage. which is were I get lost, because I would think that after you have lived with someone for an extended period of time you would know whether or not the relationship is going to work. Most of us want to know what the other is like before you make that ultimate commitment forgoing that fact that marriage is not the same sacred union is used to be; you get married till you don’t want to be married anymore right. I still believe that there is large number of people who think marriage should only be a one time thing, but come on, try before you buy, is the mentality that we should have, don’t get stuck with someone who does not for fill there half of the responsibilities or compensates as a decent lover cause those are the things that count right, why would you want to marry someone and realize they are a terrible lover or that they refuse to help you clean the house or that they person may be a drunk and you never noticed, all things that you would want to know before you say “I Do” or at least I think so my relationship is stronger now after five years and living together for almost two, we are a team we love each other but we except things from each other that make our relationship keep going whether it is we both have to finish school or “OK you take out the trash and I will grocery shop” again I think in the day and age we live in you should try the goods before you get stuck with a large bill for divorce.

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