English 3 · Block · E Band Public Feed

Create a Post

Advanced Essay #3: Identity and Change

Posted by Lily Rivera in English 3 · Block · E Band on

​Introduction
In this essay, I aimed to discuss the connection between friendships and relationships with one's identity and sense of self. I tackled the topic from both a logical perspective as well as my own personal perspective and discussed my experiences with the matter. I am proud of the arguments I presented and the questions I raised. The topic is deep and there is no real answer to it; only more analyzing and hypothesizing to be done. I feel like there could have been a better flow to the paper, but I do feel it portrays my writing and arguing style pretty well. 

Advanced Essay

It has been said by many people that a person does not begin to really shape their identity or become self-aware until late in the toddler stages. The way they start to communicate with others, be it screaming when upset, or giving high fives when they meet someone new, are what people say are the early stages of developing one’s identity. As these toddlers grow up, and interact with other toddlers, they will meet those who will want to continue being with them, who enjoy their company. They call this special relationship between humans friendship. This connection called friendship can deeply affect a person’s identity and sense of self over the course of their entire life.

From a young age, all humans are very impressionable. When their little minds start working and understanding the world around them, it is first up to the parent’s to teach them right from wrong. Parents’ end to mold their kids to think and act like them; like a mini-me of sorts. They can teach them to think like them, and act like them all throughout their life. Parents have a big effect on their child’s identity. This effect, however, can become completely reversed as their child begins to form friendships.

Once kids become teenagers, even tweens, they hold their friends’ opinions on a much higher threshold than they do their parents’.  Teens will often go against the ways they were taught by their parents in order to be more like their friends and peers. Why is this? Everyone, every human being, has the unconscious desire to fit in, to be liked. This desire is present the most when a kid is in school, because of concepts such as peer pressure. Peer pressure can be both harmful and beneficial, at all ages. These friends may change as the child gets older, but the effects they may have on that person’s identity will be just as impactful. A person’s friends, teenagers especially, are closer most of the time than that person’s family to them. Their opinions often matter more, and they can usually have a greater influence and impact on that person’s life and decisions. Why? Well, people, and again, teenagers especially, like to ‘fit in’. Everyone, despite it being a conscious thought or not, longs to feel like they belong somewhere; to be accepted and loved by the people around them.

I know, from personal experience, that people will often change parts of themselves in order to satiate that need for acceptance. These changes can be as simple as using new slang, buying a new lipstick color, to more extreme cases such as drinking alcohol or doing drugs. Now, obviously, all of these cases vary in extremity, but that brings up very important questions related to how friends can affect a person’s sense of self and their identity. Does it make it okay to change who you are if the changes are minor? Does the variety of change outweigh the broken morals? In my opinion, and according to many others, no, it is not okay to let someone, anyone, change your identity.

Upon doing a lot of research on this topic, I found everything from personal experiences to psychology theories. Leslie Becker-Phelps, PhD wrote an article for WebMD titled 4 Ways Your Friends Shape Your Future. In this article, Phelps writes, “Friends influence each other’s personal preferences and lifestyles. When friends share music and see each other’s clothes or decorating, their tastes can rub off on each other. This influence might be relatively trivial, but it might also have a more significant impact. For instance, it can affect how you choose to spend your money, such as buying more things, going on more vacations, or saving for a rainy day. It can also affect how you spend your time, like choosing to do charitable work versus spending more time chilling out with a glass of wine. And friends can influence each other’s lifestyles, such as their eating habits and how they prioritize exercise. These kinds of decisions can directly affect your health and happiness.” I agree with her and can relate to this quote.In my experience, I have changed so much about myself- my hairstyle, the makeup I wore, and the way I spoke-just to fit in with people who, in the end, abandoned me and hurt me. I did so much, lost who I was, just for those five seconds of middle school popularity and fame.  Many people prioritize their friends opinions and will often change themselves if their friends think their current self is lackluster. A lot of people can be sensitive to suggestion. If they see a friend they trust and consider close spend a lot of money on clothes, they will most likely trust their judgement and want to do the same. They will often do this despite maybe not being able to afford it or using their parents’ money without their permission. These decisions and changes may seem small, but can affect a tween for the rest of their life. Those small decisions can change their identity well into their adult lives.
All of the ideas and questions that were discussed all  come back to one simple claim; Friends and relationships in a person’s life can greatly affect their identity in their future both for better and for worse. Speaking for myself, I can easily confirm this idea. I have changed my identity and the way I present myself countless times just to get a small taste of what it’s like to fit in, only to be left in the dust, hurt and lost. Those changes helped me realize my true self; pushed me to become a better version of myself in the future. I let the hurt caused by those lessons remind me to stay true to myself and not change for anyone but myself. I changed for myself because I realized it wasn’t worth it to change for others. My identity is my own to create and express. It is mine, and no one else’s to decide; and neither should yours.



Works Cited
Becker-Phelps, Leslie. “4 Ways Your Friends Shape Your Future « Relationships.” WebMD, WebMD, 28 Sept. 2016, blogs.webmd.com/art-of-relationships/2016/09/4-ways-your-friends-shape-your-future.html.
Ragelienė, Tija. “Links of Adolescents Identity Development and Relationship with Peers: A Systematic Literature Review.” Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 1719-8429, 1 May 2016, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4879949/.
Ulene, Valerie. “A Teen's Friends Are a Powerful Influence.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 11 Apr. 2011, articles.latimes.com/2011/apr/11/health/la-he-the-md-teens-friends-20110411.

Advanced Essay #3: [Changing Masculinity?]

Posted by Boubou Magassa in English 3 · Block · E Band on

​Introduction

I wanted to explore what masculinity was and how we could change it because of how it is affecting the lives of men today. 

Advanced Essay

Why are there many cases where men are seen as villains? The answer to this question is masculinity. I say this because according to a site called Sat Puruha said that masculinity can be defined as “Masculinity varies for each man dependent on personality, family, and culture. The common thread is a set of characteristics that allow men to feel masculine.” Males were raised in the past to be tough, unemotional, and above all else dominant. While the definition of femininity is constantly changing according to Michael Ian Black from The New York Times “The past 50 years have redefined what it means to be female in America. Girls today are told that they can do anything, be anyone. They’ve absorbed the message: They’re outperforming boys in school at every level. But it isn’t just about performance. To be a girl today is to be the beneficiary of decades of conversation about the complexities of womanhood, its many forms, and expressions.” This makes me wonder why masculinity isn’t being changed even though it is making males into rapists, sex offenders, and etc. Why can’t masculinity change along with femininity?

  Masculinity can make men feel like they don’t have someone to prove their dominance too. So they then to take that frustration other out on the people around them. From a source that I found about “Toxic Masculinity” is that "People who conform to masculinity have poor mental health.". Masculinity is breaking down the psyche of the men today. It is said that in order for someone to be a man they must take specific character traits like  “The wince-inducing "male" traits are as follows: winning, emotional control, risk-taking, violence, dominance, playboy, self-reliance, the primacy of work, power over women, and disdain for homosexuals.” These traits are all seen in supposedly in masculine men. Men use these traits to hide moments when they feel weak. So that they don’t attract help. From Dr. Joel Wong’s study proved that “Sexual promiscuity, self-reliance, and power over women were most categorically linked to frail mental health.” With men walking around with weak mental health trying to prove themselves every day only makes matters worse and make them easier to break.   

Masculinity was normal back when men were always seen as dominant and had no ramifications for his actions when it came to abusing woman or children because they were always at the top of the food chain. But now in a society where genders are equal and balanced, these type of actions are no longer acceptable. “They are trapped, and they don’t even have the language to talk about how they feel about being trapped because the language that exists to discuss the full range of human emotion is still viewed as sensitive and feminine.” The thing about masculinity is that it doesn’t allow or give men a way to talk about how he feels without feeling vulnerable or emasculated. Masculinity is stopping men from growing up with compassion and learning how to accept help when it is provided instead of bottling up the pain until it is too much, some men even take their lives because of stress that could have been easily avoided if they just reached out to someone. All of these things could almost be simply solved but, this reality of masculinity makes it almost impossible.    

“A man who feels lost but wishes to preserve his fully masculine self-has only two choices: withdrawal or rage. We’ve seen what withdrawal and rage have the potential to do.” Men take out their rage in other ways like forcibly dominating someone else and a common sight of that today are school shootings.  Men that feel weak or threatened will always strike back. That is why school shooters do these horrible acts of violence to somehow prove to others that they are masculine. Hundreds of years ago people gained respect and honor from the number of people that they have killed but, that was in a “dog eat dog world” we now have more civilized ways of solving things without the need of bloodshed but, how can we move on if we don’t change the barbaric ways of our past.

Masculinity is a system that we don’t need anymore. It was used to justify the horrible acts that occurred in the past like destruction of villages, the raping of women, and the cruel monarchies that once stood. We as humans have evolved and learned so many more things but masculinity hasn’t. Femininity has changed so much for the better and has improved the lives of many women, while men are still suffering from a rule made hundreds of years ago. Why does no make an effort to change it? That is because masculinity is something hard to let go and men are afraid of how life will be for them after the change. With nothing too dominate or oppress, men will feel hopeless but if we don’t allow us the opportunity to change then how will we even know if it was for the better.  



Works Cited:


“Toxic Masculinity May Be Quadrupling the Suicide Rate for Canadian Men | CBC Life.” CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada, www.cbc.ca/life/wellness/toxic-masculinity-may-be-quadrupling-the-suicide-rate-for-canadian-men-1.4158731.

Black, Michael Ian. “The Boys Are Not All Right.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 21 Feb. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/02/21/opinion/boys-violence-shootings-guns.html.

Advanced Essay #3 [Isolation in Humanity]

Posted by Tylier Driscoll in English 3 · Block · E Band on

​Introduction: 
My goals for this paper was to properly identify what isolation does to isolated/lonely people and integrate social media into one of the reasons for it. My intent was not to bash social media to say that it shouldn't be allowed, just so that the audience could see how it can affect others. 

Essay:

Isolation and separation will cause the human race to go extinct. To elaborate, very little social interaction between people can be detrimental to one's health both mentally and physically. One New York Times article states that, “Individuals with less social connection have disrupted sleep patterns, altered immune systems, more inflammation and higher levels of stress hormones.” This isn’t all, one of the reasons that we isolate ourselves is because we live in a modernized era, and social media doesn't do enough to help us when it comes to socializing. It only pushes a divide. With social media, we are only connected with people through their online presence and our perceptions of them.

In the Merriam webster dictionary, isolation is defined as, “the state of being alone or kept apart from others.” The given definition of isolation implies that there are multiple types of isolation and that within these types of isolation, there is one where people are forcefully set or casted away from other people, as well as one where people are set into a condition where they feel the need to be alone. Although these two different types of isolation may have different causes, they often have the same effects on a person. Humans are a social species, we have evolved to be dependant on each other in order to live our everyday lives, if something were to get in the way of human interaction it would be detrimental to our entire social ecosystem. It has been known that people who are isolated are at a greater risk to suffering from multiple illnesses, but it was soon discovered by a psychologist, Steve Cole alongside UCLA students, that in response to isolation, the human body can disrupt the activity of genes that make antibodies to fight infections of all types, as well as increasing the amount of genes that are responsible for inflammation. Humans need physical interaction with other humans in order to survive, without it we begin to deteriorate from the inside out.   

Social media is a new platform that was recently introduced into society and in such a short time it has evolved rather quickly. Social media platforms main goals are to allow people from all across the globe to interact with each other and give people who have never met before the ability to communicate with one another. Although this is the initial intent of social media, it is also quite misleading. An article from CNN links a study that states that, “Young adults with high social media usage seem to feel more socially isolated than their counterparts with lower social media usage.” Being on social media doesn’t always mean that people are being more social, sometimes it means that people are hiding behind it. It’s how they appear online that often blocks their real presence, and unaware with how they actually spend their time, their lives become warped into this reality that isn’t tangible, as it is only lived through screens.

There was once a time where I isolated myself from individuals and barricaded myself from the outside world. As a result of doing this, I spent most of my time on social media, even within the presence of other people. For awhile, I felt perfectly fine being this person that didn’t speak to others. I thought it was okay, but I unknowingly barricaded myself within this mental forretress that I made. This barrier that was built up against everyone in my life began to trap me inside. When I realized that I had been isolating myself, it became even harder for me to interact with other individuals. I had no real social skills and I was awkward to talk to. With my phone as my social crutch it was far too hard to try and communicate with other people. I began to ask myself, “Why do I feel so boring?” What I had once thought was working for me as a barricade began to cage me in like an animal, trapping me until I learned through interaction with other people, how to take down those barriers one by one.

Isolation and separation goes against human needs, with the emergence of social media in our society, we will feel as if we are more isolated from the outside world. This is a societal norm that will need to be continuously challenged by humanity. If this is not properly challenged humans will be at risk for major health illnesses, including heart attacks. Real-life interaction is the only way our modern-day society will be able to survive. Our society isn’t fit to cage ourselves in, because that’s not who we are.

 

 

 

 


Advanced Essay #3: My answer of my identity and belongs

Posted by Alex Lee Chan in English 3 · Block · E Band on

My goals for the paper is to not get the mistake I got from the pat two essay. The parts that I am proud of is the ending. The areas that I need to improve is the quoting. 

My answer of my identity and belongs

I have always felt that I have belonged to and was a part of the group, especially in the schools I was in both in Hong Kong and here in Philadelphia. While in Hong Kong there was only a little diversity and sometimes it was hard for me to be a part of the society. For one I have always enjoyed listening to American music while most people in Hong Kong listened to Asian Music. Also they have the different issues between Hong Kong and America as what I watch in youtube. So in that case it was difficult to relate. But in America, I didn’t have these issues because in America they watch and listen the same things as me, so it made it easier to belong to a group in America.

In my school, students accepted you no matter a person’s race, skin color or physical problem, so it was easy to be with others who shared the same interest. For me, I have many friends in the school that always talk to me, do homework and fun things together. This gives me the feeling that school is my other home. But when I was outside the school, the my belonging changed really fast.

The people will always judge your skin color, then they will think all the negative they know to look down at me. The worst things are the people who look down based on skin color, they group all the Asian together without recognizing that they are all from different countries. Where I came from – Hong Kong – it has different systems than China. To a person with enough knowledge, they would know the difference between Hong Kong and China, but to a person who doesn't have this  knowledge, they will think they are all same. In my experience, the people who know the place Hong Kong will think people from Hong Kong know more English than people from China. And also they will use stereotype to talk about you.

“What is your identity?” It took me a long time to find the answer to this question. Some people said that it is easy to find your identity, it’s just based on where you are born. But I don't  think it is that easy for me. I am different than the other students in my class. I came to America two years ago – I should have said I came “back” to America two years ago. After I came back to America, I always said “I am not American, but I was born here.” It just like a quote that I read, “You’re Chinese, but I’m not,” he told me, with certainty. “But I eat Chinese food.” It is saying though my parents are Chinese, but I am not the same as my parents. This quote can be used to reflect what I thought back there. Time passed,  and I learned more about my background. But most importantly, I now know more about myself, and about my identity. So now I can finally answer what my identity is to anyone.

My answer to the question “what is your identity?” is I am an Asian-American. How did I find this answer? It took me 15 years to answer but I finally understand it. When I was only starting to know about my identity I only knew I am an Asian. I was born in Hong Kong and, I knowy mother’s language is Cantonese. Those are what makes up my identity. Also it did not take a long time to change my mindset until my parents told me that I was born in America which is the opposite side of where we live in Hong Kong. After hearing that, my mindset has changed. I always asked myself “Was I Asian? Or was I something else? f I was someone else, should my mother’s language should not be Cantonese, then what is it?”

When I was in grade 8, I finally had the answer of why I was in Hong Kong if I was born in America. It was because my parents did not want me to remember the ugly side of Chinese history. So they went to America before I was born, to not remember the history of China. After that, my mindset has changed again to the question of my race, am I Asian or am I American? This question was asked to me after I came back to America. I did not get the answer immediately. Then I finally got it one year after I came back, the answer is neither Asian nor American it is Asian-American. So if a person asked me “what is your identity?” right now, I would said “I am an Asian-American, I born in America but I moved to Hong Kong to study, and after three months I was born. Then I came back to America in the year 2017.”

But to the society, my identity is just another Asian-American that was born in America to get the benefit from America. Some of them  will just look down at me. They will think since I was not from America, my English is trash and I don’t even know English. They will use all the negative things to say about you, just like your belonging.

At the end, all I can say is, I do not care! I don’t care how you look at me, if you hate me. I will live like you, eat like you, learn like you. I will keep using my answer to identity and belonging to live in America. I will keep being an Asian-American.

Advance essay #3 Israt Jahan "Sports doesn't have to be masculine all the time"

Posted by Israt Jahan in English 3 · Block · E Band on

My goals for this paper is for people to realize that sports doesn’t have to be all masculine and for only people that are bulky and strong. I doesn’t have to be someone who is a man and someone who is straight. I think anyone can play sports and it doesn’t matter what they look like they shouldn’t be judge or be harassed. I’m proud of the introduction paragraph because I think I have some good questions to think about in the beginning for people to think about. I think I can improve on the writing part and describing it.

Advanced Essay

In sports, men are usually super masculine and when there’s someone who is gay or have different sexualities or even female it can become a problem and people who are against these things starts to cause problem for others. Because it’s always shown in such a masculine point of view. Sometimes it goes as far as to where they can use a homophobic slur against another person. All of these things made me question “What exactly is masculinity? How would you define masculinity?” ”So are you not masculine if you're gay or other sexuality other than being straight.” “Why are sports so masculine all the time?” “Is there a certain mold that you have to fit in to or to get accepted into what’s so called ‘sports team’?”Why not accept them for who they are? Does it really make a difference or make the team look bad because they don’t look like term “masculine” ` that society put for people.

According to toxic masculinity in sports  I read about what other people feels about sports, and their experience. In this quote Gillian Reese talks about  how her highschool switched up the football team one day with the cheerleaders and it turned out to be fine “With football, guys are the players and girls are the cheerleaders. When I was in high school we had an event called “powderpuff football” where the girls would be the players and the guys would be cheerleaders. Why can’t this be a normal sport?” . I like that they switched up the sexes in football to show that not all the time it has to be the traditional way that society puts it. And if the sports are like this I want people to know that it’s not the end of the world and they don't have to harass other people.

This is story is about a time when I had personal experience with this whole masculinity thing in sports. It was one day when I was 8 years old I had to stay with my cousin because my parents had to get out of town and I had to stay with my cousin and his parents. He was in his teens so he was always moody,always said no to everything and didn’t listen to anyone. I didn’t have anyone to play with me and I had no one to talk with in their house so I chose to go with my cousin and his friends when they were playing cricket which is a sport that southeastern Asians play so I decided that I was going to join their game thinking nothing would go wrong, but boy was that a big mistake. “Can I play with you guys?” I said. They all  looked at me and they looked at my cousin like it was the most weirdest thing that I wanted to play with a group of boys. “What?” my cousin said. “I said can I play with you guys?” I said it louder. “You want to play with us?” one of his friend said “Yeah?” I said like it was the most obvious thing ever. “Get out your not playing with us!” One of the guys said “Yeah you are a girl” “You can’t even throw a ball.” another said “who said I can’t throw a ball?” “I said just get out” said my cousin. Then I walked away towards the garden feeling down because i didn’t understand why I couldn’t play with them just because I’m a girl.

In this quote Reese states her opinion and she also compares sports to dance to show it in a different way for people to understand. “Boys are always said to be more competitive; this is why sports were made for men! But in reality, certain characteristics are not built into you based on your gender. Gender is a social construct as well as gender stereotypes. Some stereotypical adjectives for males are aggressive, heated, and, like I said before, competitive. When you think of a sport such as football, one may want their player to have all of those qualities. When you think of a sport such as dance, one might question someone having those qualities. I think they both can be attributable characteristics to both sports, even though dance is considered “feminine” and football “masculine.”” I really liked how she compared the both to state it in a way that makes you think about both and compare them.

In conclusion I think masculinity is a term that society puts and everyone just goes with it and expects everyone to be that way and it’s more so really focused in sports a lot these days because sports is so big and everyone expects it to be the traditional way for everyone.


Bibliography

Toxic Masculinity In Sports.” The Odyssey Online, 30 Aug. 2017, www.theodysseyonline.com/toxic-masculinity-in-sports



Advanced Essay #3 by Jacobo Pastor: The Light

Posted by Jacobo Pastor in English 3 · Block · E Band on

​

Introduction

The Light is an essay that deals with the many questions that one may encounter while growing up. Who am I? What purpose do I have in this world? Jacobo Pastor describes his personal experience about a time that made a personal experience changed his own identity.

Personally I think that I got to analyze a topic that is very controversial and that no one has really an answer for it, but I would have wished to research a little bit more for others opinions about the topic


Jacobo Pastor

English 3/ Mr. Block

February 27th, 2018

The Light

Flying in a plane wasn’t a new experience for me, but the monstrous sound of the engines didn’t help me feeling at ease. Swallowed by thoughts of fear, the airplane wings did not look safe at all.  The plane that I usually associated with holidays, became an endless tunnel of uncertainty. I did not have a clue of what would come next. I looked over my shoulder and all I could see were my eyes reflected on the window, scared and immature. They were shining as a thousand lamps in a dark room, filled with the anticipation of my journey. As the plane took off, my hands tingled with the idea that a new door was opening. I was leaving my old life and entering the gates to a new world of possibilities. The hope of a new beginning outweighed the pain of leaving my home country. From the airplane, I could see the city lights of Madrid, and felt it was illuminating my new life overseas. I held to that hope like a beacon shining in the dark. Although I wasn’t able to understand the moment, looking back, I know it transformed me and pushed me towards the beginning of my new life. And, together with my new life, it came my new me.

I was conflicted leaving behind the life I knew. My family, my friends, and my culture which created the person I was, were not around anymore. Now I was on my own, without a clear idea where I belonged. It was hard for me to function in a new environment, a country I never visited, and a language I didn’t fully speak. Everyday I looked around on my way to school, and found nothing similar to my home. The diversity of the people, the music I heard on the streets, the slang I didn’t understand. The families I met, the school routines, the food I ate, they all were foreign to me. This was the American culture I grew up seeing on the Tv shows but now, this was my reality. “We know what we are, but not what we may be (Hamlet).” The quote by William Shakespeare crossed my mind repeatedly during those first months. I began to wonder what it meant and if it applied to my life in the US. Who am I, I asked myself. Do I belong here? Is this part of me? Looking back at those moments, I came to the conclusion that everyone knows who they think they are, but they don’t discover their true selves until they experience a life changing event.

A couple months after arriving in the United States, I realized I was changing. As a result of my own process to adapt myself to the reality, my personality was transforming and developing. I grew more confidence and as a result, I took on more leadership roles at school, did more public speaking, and performed some theatre in the classroom. I wasn’t that scared immature young kid anymore. I liked the person I was becoming. It struck me that my old personality was fading, one bit at a time. Those changes took place in a very short time and, they were for good. As Shannon L. Alder, a famous author, stated, “life always begins with one step outside of your comfort zone; change begins at the end of that.” Those changes marked the commencement of my new personality and identity.

Many spend their entire lives searching for their true selves, and many die without finding it. I believe I have been fortunate to find who I am by adapting to my new life. I have discovered the capacity that is in me to learn, enjoy and engage with people and events I would never have experienced back in my country. Although my identity is not complete, I feel my world has become richer and wider, and I have become more open and ready to make the most of what life brings. I now can say that Spain is part of my life and will always be,  but Spain did not shape me but predefined myself. By moving to the United States, and opening myself to growing and changing, my identity has blossomed. Only those who challenge their beliefs and conditions, find out who they truly are. I believe I have.


Bibliography:

“A quote by Shannon L. Alder.” Quote by Shannon L. Alder: "Life always begins with one step outside of you...", www.goodreads.com/quotes/736100-life-always-begins-with-one-step-outside-of-your-comfort.

Shakespeare, William, et al. Hamlet. Oxford University Press, 2008.




Advanced Essay #3: What's The Best For You?

Posted by Vivian Pham in English 3 · Block · E Band on

Vivian Pham

Mr. Block

English 3

March 9th, 2018


Introduction:


My goals for my paper was to help the audience understand two sides of what goes into self realization and self reflection in the terms of deciding what career or job is best suited for oneself. A person’s future is way too important to not think about or not realize what goes into crafting a life in this toxic society. And I wanted to capture what many people don’t realize about their own thoughts, there are a lot of subconscious thoughts that goes into how our minds work. Some areas of improvement would probably be to decrease the word count of my essay as a whole and work on making sure that all brainstormed ideas are fully incorporated.


Advanced Essay:



Many are completely dumbfounded by how society subconsciously controls their career goals and decisions that they had for themselves. We need to come a realization that there are a lot more at stake when finding a career/job than how much the job pays. Although many fail to realize, everyone has control over their decisions but are continuously classifying whether it’s “acceptable” by society. All attention should be geared towards their mental, physical, and emotional capabilities when deciding what jobs are best suitable to take on.

Once we start to think for ourselves about what’s best for us, we start to comprehend certain factors that makes us happy. We must disregard all judgement provided from others. This doesn’t make us selfish, this makes us mindful, capable, and secure enough to guide ourselves through all career related obstacles.  Observations are being made wherever we go, Ryan Etis had a lesson to be taught to an audience of 400 high school students at an event to teach about careers and manufacturing.

“I watched closely as they settled in, full of potential and possibility. I had been thinking about this 30 minutes for a while. I had a goal. Maybe it was more of a hope or desire. I wanted to be that defining moment for one young person today. To pay it forward. To ignite something inside someone else that becomes the catalyst for change.”

Ryan wanted to make a difference, although he didn’t know any of the students personally, he knew that he wanted everyone to take away from his lesson that they can become a “catalyst for change.” He viewed inspiration as a defining factor in society, given that he found his own inspiration from Jim Rohn, who “...saved me. I had never been exposed to that kind of thinking. I went for the free happy hour, but didn’t anticipate a night that would become a defining moment in my life. I walked out fully committed to begin my life transformation. The learning has never stopped.” In college, Ryan felt uninspired, he found himself realizing things about himself that he seemed to not have control over. He had to take many steps to find his true potential, and to pass on that process onto the younger generation.

Being genuinely happy with a career that not only challenges you to do better is much more satisfying rather than the opposite. As individuals we owe it to ourselves to have our own direction in what we decide for ourselves, and how we associate our happiness and success.

The most common job in this industry belongs in the setting of a restaurant. In many cases, our mental and emotional abilities are challenged the most. Although it might not seem like the most hardest job in the world, it takes certain people to adapt to this type of work. Christina Druen wrote an article discussing the process of her first job and the influences that came from that.

“Working as a waitress has helped me develop life skills that years of schooling never did. In school, presentations scared me, and they still do to this day. However, give me 3 or 4 groups of people to talk to and teach them something, I will eat it up. By working as a waitress, I have learned so much about myself, and about relationships. I have learned that I am amazed by what customers have to say.”  Not only did she learn the physical skills when it came to the specificity of the job like managing money and engaging with leadership skills, she learned how to personally break out of her shell of uncomfortability that she never thought she would overcome.

However, the restaurant job hasn’t given everyone a positive experience, Lucy Murrey writes about her experience, “The restaurant had pretty distinct cliques and a tangible hierarchy associated with them. Most notably were those who had been working at the restaurant for years who resided at the top of the pyramid, crowning themselves above a sea of nomads: the college kids who would pop back in every so often, the high schoolers who were harmlessly picked on, and then the miscellaneous, ever-changing group of people who, from the moment they were hired, had everyone placing bets on how long they’d last.”

She realized immediately that working in a restaurant had its own set of societal distinctions. Expectations were contrived before new workers would come in, she described the environment as a “tangible hierarchy.” Depending on the workers’ age or social background, the whole purpose of this business was that their positions weren’t permanent. She talked about how people would place bets on each other to see how long they’ll “last,” already assuming that they can’t handle it. But yet, others still continue to work in such manners, not taking into account that this is harmful to their emotional being.

A vast majority of adolescent teens starts off their years diving into the world of business. They are oblivious to how the world works, it’s common for them to automatically gravitate towards pursuing a career that they notice family members take on. That shouldn’t be the only purpose to decide a career, Cheri McBride discusses her experience with her family business,

“Cheri McBride, now 65, was just a kid in 1951 when her parents opened up a jewelry store called Nowlin Jewelry in Lake Jackson, Texas, a Dow Chemical factory town that sprung up in the 1940s. As she grew up, she saw how hard her parents worked—staying up late or spending weekends doing paperwork—to make it a success. That was why, when it came time to go to college, McBride, who goes by the nickname "Duckie," couldn't wait to get out of town. "I wanted to be the world's greatest artist," she says. "And I honestly think my parents hoped I would find a job with nice benefits."

Success in her eyes rose from how she saw her parents work at a young age. She observed how hard they would work and the amount of time they would spend throughout time. After college, she had a goal based off of her parents’ work ethic, her desire to be “the world’s greatest artist.” She soon found herself not reaching that goal and began to take over her family’s business, but “the third generation of the Nowlin family told their parents they didn't have any interest in taking over the business. That's why four years ago, McBride and her brother decided to sell off their entire inventory and close the business down after 50 years of operations.” It seemed easier said than done when it came to taking over her family business, but she knew that this business couldn’t continue simply because she wasn’t passionate about it.

Once again, Christina speaks about her influences growing up in regards to important people in her life, “I was 15 when I started. I had just started high school. I didn’t know who I was yet. Although I’ve always had a good head on my shoulders, I was still influenced by others that were older than me. I wanted nothing more than to be friends with all of them. Because I was the baby of the crew, they all took care of me. They were there with me through all my successes in high school and even now in college.”

She felt that she had this obligation to stick to this job because of the people that supported her every step of the way. This shows that certain working environments provides teenagers of this generation an invitation to following in the footsteps of others, simply because of their age and their experiences. Living off of someone else’s lifestyle is something that people tend to do, without realizing, it can definitely cause major restrictions on their lives.

There are so many constraints on life itself when it comes to expectations that we have to live up to. From family members, close inspirations, and societal impacts we have control over anything involving our self decisions and self discoveries.  It takes courage to admit to themselves that a huge part of their lives are under the control factors aside from their own. We all need to dig beneath the surface instead of scratching it. This establishment of happiness is something we all need to take into account. Everything is a learning experience whether it be a positive or negative one, taking away something from a job experience into the course of life. Success should be something that others work towards and aim for for themselves, and taking all steps necessary to help them achieve their full potential.


Bibliography:


Dahl, Darren. “Succession Stories: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.” Inc.com, Inc., www.inc.com/articles/201103/succession-stories-keeping-the-business-in-the-family.html

“How My First Job Changed Me.” The Odyssey Online, 28 Aug. 2017, www.theodysseyonline.com/how-my-first-job-changed-me

“3 Defining Moments That Shaped My Life.” Ryan Estis, 2 Nov. 2015, www.ryanestis.com/leadership/3-defining-moments-that-shaped-my-life

Lupu, Ioana. “Your Feelings About Work-Life Balance Are Shaped by What You Saw Your Parents Do.” Harvard Business Review, 30 Oct. 2017, www.hbr.org/2017/10/your-feelings-about-work-life-balance-are-shaped-by-what-you-saw-your-parents-do

Advanced Essay #3: Christina Santana

Posted by Christina Santana in English 3 · Block · E Band on

​Introduction: 
My goal for this paper was to  focus on the topic of names and their importance in our society. I wanted to capture what effect they can have on people as well as the impact that they can have on a larger scale. I could have improved my paper by adding a scene of memory, but I am pleased with my overall product. I think that I did a wonder job at integrating outside sources into my work, and I feel that I provided strong, supporting analysis for them. 

Essay: 

Christina Santana

Mr. Block

English - E band

09 March 2018

What’s In A Name?

People mold their identity around the name they were given. They go through their lives unknowingly trying to sever themselves from the preconceived image that their name holds. This is due to the fact that society has an unconscious bias on names that causes them to develop an immediate opinion of people solely based off on that aspect. Different names are held to different standards. They’re viewed in various ways, most of which are based off of an individual's personal preferences and surroundings. For example, people with a subdued and introverted personality may prefer traditional names. Whereas, people who have an exuberant and extroverted personality may prefer out of the box names. Names can also be viewed as a way of personifying some else's mannerisms. An example being how someone could say “you’re acting like a Brittany”, a name that is typically used to reference a stereotypical privileged girl. In this situation, the person in questions knows that by using the name Brittany, they are automatically implying that the person they’re speaking to is replicating the personality traits associated with the name. This is case for all names in our society. A primary example of the blatant categorization that our minds are accustomed to configuring.  

Names in our society change as the social climate changes. The popularity of a name is dependent on prominent figures in our society, and the perception of certain names fluctuate as time goes on. A notable example of this is celebrities. Celebrities in the media today have a big affect on what names people find appealing. From names like North West to Stormi Webster, the diverse list of unique celebrity baby names is longer than a New York skyscraper. With that being said, our society immediately develops an opinion on the names. Primarily because they were created by people who have an immense influence on large audiences. While the notoriety of these names may seem like a huge asset to celebrites, it leaves their children out to open for unwanted judgement from others. It leaves the as vulnerable as lambs placed in a lion’s den.

The importance of names varies in different committees and environments. In some cases, there are different categorizations for names as a whole. In the Transgender community, a dead name is known as the name a transgender has person has prior to their transition. In most cases, trans people choose a new name as a way to embrace the identity of who they always knew they were. This new name then acts as a way to marks the "death" of their old identity. Then dead names are used, they act as a blatant sign of disrespect towards the person in question. There is a specific name for this demeaning tactic, known as dead naming. Dead naming, as Google states is "the practice of uttering or publishing the name that a trans person used prior to transition. ”A perfect example of this comes from an article posted on Popsugar. In this article, they discuss an Amazon Prime show called Transparent, and more specifically how the main characters transition from male to female has affected their life. They say, “In many small ways, her family shows resistance in accepting Maura's true presentation of self. It may be by using her old name or by recounting pretransition memories. Even the term "Moppa" — an amalgamation of "Momma" and "Poppa" that her kids adopt in the wake of her coming out — refuses to acknowledge that Maura wishes to be seen completely as a woman.” This concise excerpt is just one of many examples that show how crucial selecting of new name is during the transition process, and it greatly displays the emphasis of names in our society. Specifically in sense of how people mold their identities around their names and use it as their rock during hard times.

Names are a huge part of people’s identity, and they act as the base of a much larger picture. According to Behindthename.com, “The bestowal of name and identity is a kind of symbolic contract between the society and the individual. By giving a name the society confirms the individual's existence and acknowledges its responsibilities toward that person.” This quote simply corroborates the fact that through names, individuals become part of society. As people begin to flourish and make names for themselves, society's view of said names continue to change. The perception remains to be held in the eye of the beholder.

Words define our reality, and names define our identity. People either live their lives trying to conform to the standard of their name or they make it their mission to break themselves from that mold. Regardless of the path taken, names are a universal sign of recognition. A golden ticket used to represent an idivusal’s integration into society. It’s importance is often overlooked, but the reality is that names set the stand for the rest of our lives. That said, it is our job to make our names our own.





Works Cited


Campbell, Mike. “Names and Personal Identity.” Behind the Name - the etymology and history of first names, www.behindthename.com/articles/3.

Roschke, Ryan. “What It Means to "Dead-Name" a Transgender Person, and Why You Should Stop.” POPSUGAR News, 8 Mar. 2018, www.popsugar.com/news/What-Dead-Naming-Transgender-Person-43923268.

Advanced Essay #3: Perfection Is Too Complicated

Posted by Majo Bostani in English 3 · Block · E Band on

Majo Bostani
Mr. Block
English 3
9 March 2018

Introduction:

Hello, my name is Majo Bostani. Throughout my years at SLA, I have realized that a lot of people, including myself overthink. I always thought that it was such a shame that it  prevents wonderful ideas from coming to fruition. If they do end up coming to fruition, then they seem like they could have been executed better.


My goal for this essay is to show people that sometimes they can be their own hardest obstacle. It is human nature for people to think too much about what they are doing, and that overthought turns to be more counterproductive than just going with the flow. I’m really proud of my idea, as well as my rough scene of memory. I feel like I could have made my ideas a bit clearer, though.


Advanced Essay:


“Today, we’re going to start our Advanced Essays about identity and belonging,” my teacher announced in front of my entire English class. “It must be 750 words, and talk about a real-world problem you face.” Immediately, my mind started racing.


“Write something unique about yourself and your identity,” my brain was instructing me. “Don’t make it about airplanes, because everybody is tired of that. Also, try to make it something unique that no one else will write about. Everybody writes about their culture, so maybe write about something else. Avoid all other cliches as well, Majo.”


At this point, I just want to exclaim “shut up,” and have only my brain hear it. Considering how smart a mind could be, I wish mine would stop giving me so many misleading instructions. I felt like I was already wasting so much time thinking about what to write about. After filtering through tens and hundreds of ideas, I finally had a topic that made sense. It is relatable, debatable, researchable, and thought-provoking. And the even better part about it is that nobody else is probably going to think about it. My topic for this paper is going to be people’s tendencies to overthink tasks.


A seemingly inevitable part of productivity is spending an excessive amount of time just thinking about what you are doing. Society sets exceptionally high expectations for humans, and the work they produce. This expectation of perfection is the reason why people overthink. It makes people believe that if something isn’t perfect, then they need to start over. This attitude snowballs into the person second-guessing and sets the person right back to square one. Frustration caused by this over complication often causes people to give up, and their ideas to never come to fruition.


French composer Claude Debussy has stated, “Extreme complication is contrary to art. Beauty must appeal to the senses, must provide us with immediate enjoyment, must impress us or insinuate itself into us without any effort on our part” (Debussy). This quote sums up the desire for perfection, and how society fuels that desire. Debussy defines perfect in this quote as something that could be effortlessly enjoyed. If people aren’t interested in something they see, then they likely won’t look into it more. People often strive for the unachievable standard of perfection just to garner interest in something.


Fast forward about one hundred years, and you will find a modern art project that confronts the problem of overthinking. Artist Maria Sandoja worked on a project titled, “100 Days of Overthinking.” In the project, she documented every single thought she contemplated for more than fifteen minutes, over a period of one hundred days. Her result is a web page full of drawings, with simple questions as captions. Some questions regarding Sandoja’s productivity are raised. However, other quotes such as “Am I too eager to please?, Am I a pushover?” (Sandoja) are written down. This project shows that overthinking goes beyond the workplace. People overthink their social lives just as much. If an interaction doesn’t go perfectly for an overthinker, then it gets to their head.


With the rise of social media and text messaging, people now devote more time than ever thinking about their social lives. As Brittany Hoffman from Medium puts it, “There is a lot of analysis to paralysis happening on social media” (Hoffman). Social media users think a lot about their social interactions online, as well as the quality of their content. If an overthinking social media user loses a follower, they need to know exactly why. If an overthinker receives an awkward period placement in a text, they start worrying that a friendship might be over. After all, it’s tedious when one misused word can affect a friendship permanently. The pursuit of social media and social life perfection makes people overthink their lives.


Overthinking is not a fun thing to go through, and is extremely frustrating at times. My advice as a fellow overthinker is to stop trying to make everything perfect. Perfection is not only subjective, but it is also unachievable. If you need to, you can step away from the task at hand for a couple of minutes. With the time, allow your brain to sidetrack. Think of something that makes you happy for a while, and then get back to your task. If you stop thinking about perfection and start thinking about the process, then you will start to stop overthinking.


Works Cited:

"Claude Debussy Quotes." BrainyQuote.com. Xplore Inc, 2018. 9 March 2018. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/claude_debussy_204277

Sandoja, Maria. “100 Days of Overthinking.” 100 Days of Overthinking, www.100daysofoverthinking.com/.

Hoffman, Brittany. “Stop Overthinking Your Social Media Content – The Mission – Medium.” Medium, The Mission, 11 Nov. 2016, medium.com/the-mission/stop-overthinking-your-social-media-content-6773965f4d39.


Advanced Essay #3: School Acceptance

Posted by Kamil Kielar in English 3 · Block · E Band on

Introduction


My goals for this essay had been to use sources and analyze sources well. I really wanted to try and make sure that my sources made sense and had been chosen well in order to fit the theme of the essay. I know that which sources you choose can make your essay amazing or simply not work so I had spent a lot of time searching for the right sources and the right quotes. Something that I am proud of is my thesis along with my theme. I think it is an interesting topic and had been unique as well. There are not many people which would have gone down the route I had and i think my originality is what I am proud of. An area for improvement is my analysis. I think could have done a bit more analysis and that would have strengthened my argument.


White Acceptance


Growing up I was told we were all unique, there is something special about all of us. Something that we can all identify from and call our own. This is a lie. Some people are unique, others are generic and basic. I’m part of that basic category. I'm white, I don’t have any disabilities, no allergies, and worst of all, I'm from Europe. So the whitest of the white.

When applying to college we all as students seek to stand out from the thousands of other applicants that apply to the school you absolutely want. Pristine colleges such as Harvard University say that they value “Growth and potential” but this idea is completely dependent on the person reviewing your application. One man could see you as the perfect applicant but another simply doesn’t think your the right fit. It is absolutely true that an amazing transcript and an amazing SAT score will raise your chances of getting into the college of your dreams but that many of the won’t even help with the cruel and unjust societal system which plagues our school admission system. Due to the mandatory requirement of racial diversity, the admission offices in colleges deny qualified students and accepts less qualified applicants, lowering standards and expectations for some while unjustly raising standards and expectations for others simply because of their race.

Schools base their opinion not off of your transcript but on how many of you there already are. We can all be grouped. Colleges group their students based off of their race and it is in no way a system which produces the most academically capable students and instead creates a damaging culture for minorities.

A study done by Princeton University had showed that white students had to score 340 points more on their SAT to have the same chances of admission. When compared to hispanics, whites would have to score 130 points higher to have the same chances of admission. This is unacceptable and simply not right for discrimination like this to occur. In that same study, it had shown that Asians have an even larger disadvantage. An SAT score of a 1500 by an Asian student, would have the same chance of admission as a black student who had an SAT score of 1020. By enforcing such policies we decrease the quality of work and lead to a lack of caring among students because they don’t have to commit as much effort as others. Hard Work, discipline, and achievement in academics should be rewarded. A reward should not be given to a student simply because they are a certain race and someone should not be punished for not being a certain race.

During the civil rights movement, a new law had been put into place called Affirmative Action. According to the NCSL, “Affirmative action policies are those in which an institution or organization actively engages in efforts to improve opportunities for historically excluded groups in American society.” The purpose of this program and the effects of it, do not align a single bit. In an interview conducted by BBC, a student had stated that “During law school I had a male classmate talk to me about how he believed that I that was admitted to the law school simply because of affirmative action...there was a number of white applicants, particularly white male applicants, who were qualified and denied admission to our law school simply because the school had a commitment to diversity on campus.” With this wrongful prioritization of diversity on the Campus and enaction of such a program, students are discriminated all while having every one of their achievements demeaned. We should believe in students and their ability to get into a school if they put in the effort but when we hand them this acceptance letter simply because of their skin color, we insult them by disbelief of their ability to achieve it on their own.

The longer such actions continue, the worst the problem will get. The lack of caring, the normalization of privilege, and the loss of incentive will continue to grow in the minority society. College acceptance is not a right, it is an accomplishment of the highest level for those who have truly earned it.

I’ve worked hard to get to where I am right now. Others have even harder and I give them credit for that. For every hour I spent studying, someone spent two. Those are the students who should be accepted and enrolled in the most pristine colleges. I am white. I admit it's a part of me. But it's not what defines me. I can just pray when the time comes, white isn’t all they’ll see.


Bibliography


“Affirmative Action: Do White American Students Really Get a Bad Deal?” BBC News, BBC, 3 Aug. 2017, www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40804848.


Hultin, Brenda Bautsch Suzanne. Affirmative Action | Overview, www.ncsl.org/research/education/affirmative-action-overview.aspx.


“The Power of Race.” Inside Higher Ed, www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/11/03/elite.


“What We Look For.” Harvard College, college.harvard.edu/admissions/application-process/what-we-look.


ENG3-025

Term
2017-18

Other Websites

Launch Canvas

Blog Tags

Teacher