HW 41 - Initial Internet Research on Schooling

Gray, Deborah. "Back to school blues: Symptoms of depression in college students". Health Central. Friday, September 01, 2006.
This provides a list of symptoms suggesting possible depression in a college student, some of these are the known: low self-esteem, lack of interest, difficulty concentrating or making decisions, absences for no apparent reason,etc. It identifies the typical life of a college student, including partying, and how this new life style may affect the life of the student. Although a depressive lifestyle is consider as popular in college in this article, it still encourages students to find help and work on their depression. The site also provides different resources that can help through depression.

While looking through this list I found that these sings are not only seen in college but in High school as well. In my personal experience I have learned that many people prefer college then High school because they had more "fun". That in mind I could not entirely understand how the author of this article described this lifestyle as popular. Perhaps there are many students out there in college with suicidal thoughts because of their lack of interest/motivation in life but, that is also seen in High school. Therefore, I believe that problems originate in High School and continue in college. Experts such as Deborah Gray should focus more on the life of a High School student as opposed to a college student for the simple fact that in high school. students tend to be more sensitive.

Overall this article in helpful for the fact that as a reader you can go through the list and identify some signs in your own life and begin looking for help. Although some students, including myself, think we will be alright without help it is still encouraging to find help to work on the different causes of our depression.


Walker, Joyce. "Adolescent Stress and Depression." Teens in Distress Series . 12/07/2005. university of Minnesota, Web. 23 Feb 2010.
This article discusses what it actually is to be a teenager, specially when attending high school. Often we may hear from parents that being a teenager was the best phase of their lives, therefore it will also be the same for us. This is because in High school there was the cool group of friends,"students energetically involved at a dance or sporting event, and a bright-eyed couple holding hands or sipping sodas at a local restaurant". But the article suggests that this is only part of it. Being a teenager is actually a very difficult phase for everyone. This is because most people around teenagers expect too much from them and this creates a great amount of pressure. Further information of this topic in specific is provided by the article.

As a reader I do recommend reading this because although it is known that teenagers get easily depressed and stressed, people continue to say that those were the greatest years of their lives. Perhaps some people did not experience as much suffering as others and therefore said it, however all of them went to school, and all of them felt the need to fulfill some one's expectations at some point. And it is most likely that they will not feel the same at any other phase of their lives as they did when they were young. This is because as an adult people get used to the type of person you have become and they stop expecting. Perhaps we actually enjoy more being pressured because we feel that someone is taking us into serious account. Therefore being a teenager and a high school student is the best.


Samhsa. "School Failure, Sadness, Depression, Anger, Violence". Helping Your Teen. Not Alone:You are not alone Web. 23 Feb, 2010

This article targets parents to help their teens with the depression, stress, etc. caused in school. It mainly encourages parents to support their children specially when they are experiencing failure in school. It is not recommended to nag them or ground them when this happens because it might lead to feel even more depressed than they already do. Different factors explaining failure in school are provided with the purpose of helping parents understand more about the situation and become more flexible. It also focuses on sadness and depression which are common feelings experienced in high school. To explain the outcomes of these negative feelings the author also uses personal examples so the reader can relate. It highlights how depression leads to suicidal behaviour therefore it is very important to do something about it.

After reading this article it reminded me of how I often think that parents simply forgot what it was like to be a teenager. They communicate to us as if they came from a very different world filled with very different types of emotions. I think this article will effectively help parents remember what it was like to fail and the feelings failing caused themselves and their daily routine. Also must suicides are committed at young age, knowing this by a fact how can the majority of parents still pressure and demand so much from their teens? Are they truly doing it for the sake of helping them have a brighter future or simply have a nice legacy to leave behind?

In conclusion I think it is very unfair and almost disgusting how many parents demand so much from a child. In my opinion our freedom is taken away and then we take other people's freedom, because we consider it as the world we live in. Thinking this way will make me sad, but it is nothing compared to when realizing that I have not done anything I truly wanted to do in my life so far. I have just being following the shepherd.

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Further Research...

Madison, Alexandra. "Depression in School: A Student's Trial"Healthy Place. Jan 08, 2009.
March 1st, 2010.

This article focuses on how teachers are unprepared when it comes to dealing with a student suffering from depression. Teachers however, "are trained to handle students who lack discipline, the slow learners, the extremely bright, and even kids faced with ADHD. Therefore because of the lack of preparement this article provides information and tips to help teachers deal with depressed students. Also, giving the adequate attention to those students seems to be the most important characteristic on helping them through their depression.

Although I am not a teacher I consider this article as extremely helpful. This is because often teachers tend to avoid learning about the personal life of students to avoid trouble, specially in high school and college, when we need attention the most...
However, teachers do need to learn the right way to approach a student and help him or her, because the majority of the teachers, or so I would like to believe, are concerned about their students.
In my perspective as a student I feel as if teachers have given up on me at this point of my school life. I am currently feeling sad and pressured, however, in school no one seems to understand that. Perhaps it is because my classmates are experiencing similar feelings and the teachers are too busy to dedicate the attention we look for or to at least pretend they are concerned.




Shipp Jasmine, "I can't go to school today". Poem Hunter.com-March 1st, 2010

As part of researching on School being a source of depression I have found a poem which might represent this main topic. The poem is the following:


I Can't Go to School

I can’t go to school because I am sick
If I walk out my house I’ll get hit by a brick

I can’t go to school because I’m afraid
On my way there I might get run over by a huge parade

I can’t go to school because I have a funereal to attend
School uniforms just aren’t the new trend

I can’t go to school because I woke up late
I broke my thumb while learning how to skate

I can’t go to school because I feel a little blue
My brother stuck my hands together with supper glue

I can’t go to school because school is boring
I wonder what excuses I’ll have tomorrow morning

Jasmine Shipp

Poems are known to be a great educational way of expressing feelings. Reading poems about school written by students can help understand better how students may feel about school. This is one of the many poems provided by PoemHunter.com related to school. I have chosen this one because represents a student's point of view on School, rather than an adult providing his professional opinion on student's depression.

As a reader and as a student myself I am sure that many other students who read this poem will relate to it because at some point in our school life we always looked for excuses to be absent. Although the excuses mentioned in the poem are unrealistic the strong desire of of the speaker of not going to school that day is quite real to me. The voice of the speaker also sounds a bit childish, and this is because excuses are often recognized as a childish act. Regardless, teenagers and adults also use excuses to be absent from something and it does not mean they are being childish. It could mean they simply do NOT want to be there.

Sarafolean, Mary H. "Depression in School-Age Children and Adolescents: Characteristics, Assessment and Prevention ". Healthy Place. Jan 02, 2009. -March 1st, 2010

Another article on student's depression provided by Healthy Place. Unlike previous articles, this one offers statistics and rates. Numbers are also important to consider the significance of Students' depression. It also discusses the characteristics of depression which have been based on adults characteristics, due to the result of recent studies showing that children and adults are actually sharing the same characteristics. This article, similar to the previous one, also mentions suicide risk factors. This list is not as complete as other articles, however it mentions the most basic factors to identify children who may comit suicide.

I recommend this article because it is brief and clear. It would not take more than 10 minutes or less of our time to become aware of different characteristics and factors to consider when it comes to student's depression. Throughout this research, I have repeatedly encounter the same type of information covering the same factors. This being said, I do not know how much depression in school is actually being studied, or even considered.
My experience researching this topic specifically has been somewhat troublesome. This is because it was not easy finding specific pieces of information suggesting that school, specifically, was consider as a source of depression. Perhaps school is not seen in such way by most people. However, It is a fact that thousands of students are in state of depression, even though it could come from different sources, school is always a problem when going through it.

HW 40 - School Interviews x 5 & Synthesis

Interview: Making school better

Do you like school? Why?

Hmm Yeah I guess, because of my friends. That is the only thing that makes school better really.

What can be done to make your school experience better?

Burn it down and kill the teachers. Teachers suck because even though I like school its annoying getting up in the morning.

If you could choose your own classes what would you take? (you can use your imagination)

Uhm..Wizard spells, photography, astrology, potion making, anything that is related to Harry Potter... Thats pretty much it.

How effective do you think school is?

I think it is very effective, because even to work in McDonnals you need to have some knowledge so yeah it is very effective.

What do you think are the biggest flaws of school?

Homework and bad teachers.

Define bad teachers?

Well, teachers that like put students down. And that doesn't help the kids at all.

If the school system were to change do you think children would like to go to school? why?

Yeah, because the school system we have now causes many children to drop out of school.

-Dahina

Interview: The experience of being a student

Tell me what was it like to be a student?

It depends on class, classmates and teachers. That is why because of some bad experiences I quit high school. I really enjoyed going to school until junior high. I found the reason why when I entered high school. I got separated from all my friends because I did not pass the exam to enter the high school I wanted, so I went to another one which was completely different and I didn't like it so I quit.

Do you think teachers make school better? why?

Sure, most students dont know why we have to go to school, but we have to study for the future and we have to build up our common sense and how to think in a public place. And I think we can't build up all these attributes without the good teachers in school.

Do you miss school?why?

Yeah, I mean actually I don't miss school itself but my classmates. Because they became very close friends of mine and we shared our minds together and we grew up together. And then I had the opportunity to reunite with my classmates twice a year and it was great to see them again.

Do you feel like you can build that special relationship with people you meet now?

I think its different, because I already have a solid way of thinking. The friends I made in school are people I grew up with so they had a really strong effect on me because I was growing up with them. People I hang out with now simple meet my expectations of a friend.

Did you ever felt depressed because of school?

I think I didn't until high school. Back then I was really depressed, I didn't like my classmates and my teachers. I felt like everything changed. My previous classmates naturally studied and got good grades, but the ones in high school only wanted to play around and I hated that.

Were you ever negatively affected by grades?

No, because my parents really didn't care about that. So how could I care about them. As a 10 year old boy I couldn't care about my grades because my teacher and my parents were now affected by it. I always has the worst grades specially in junior high. I was kind of a drop out since the beginning.

-Kenny

Interview: Pedagogic techniques - grading, testing, etc.

What are your general thoughts on pedagogic techniques?

I think the grading is stupid, because I don't think it shows your knowledge. It shows your responsibility and dedication but it doesn't show how much you know.

How does knowing that all the work you do in school will be graded feel like?

I think it is obvious that it is going to happen so I don't think anything of it. I think is actually fair because if its not graded then no one would do a good job.

Do you think those grades represent anything?

I already told you, it represents dedication not how much you know. If you get "F's" it doesn't mean you are stupid, just that you do not do your work.

What do you think grades and testing are for?

Grades are to show your work and dedication to school, and testing is to show what you know and what you don't know. I think school should be about learning not doing tests and such.

When taking a test what part of you do you think is being tested?

It could be many things, like how much you understand in class or how much you pay attention and study. They have to do something because it is not like kids can just go to school and do nothing.

How effective do you think grading is?

Well I don't think is effective because nothing comes out of it but it kinda is because it makers people work. It can make a person work and get into a good college, so I guess it teaches responsibility.

So do you think that good grades=good future?

Not necessarily but you do have better chances.

Do you agree that testing, grading, etc. may cause a negative impact to the student? why?

Yes, because students want to be successful. it really depends on what type of person you are, some people do not care if they get good grades or not. But others stress to much over getting good grades.

-My sister

Interview:The motivations of school - for the student, parent, teacher, system

How would you define motivation?

Whatever drives you to do something and keeps you on going.

What do you think motivates students and teachers to cooperate with the school system?

For teachers the paycheck, and for students basically because of the legal system behind it and because, I mean, I don't think school is that necessary, I think its more of a meeting people think. Because it is more like a social warehouse rather than a teaching warehouse.

As a student, what makes you wake up every morning to go to school?

Friends...Its a way for me to learn what is up with them. What are they doing. It is fun to be around them.

Do you think teachers teach because of the joy of it or because of the paycheck?Why do you think some do and why some don't?

Paycheck...Well some teachers actually like human interaction. They like the idea of being able to give something to other people and other teachers think they have no other career path...ha...

What do you think has to be done to motivate all children to go to school?

That is a hard one...Uhmm...I think having more interacting work instead of having them write essays all the time and doing homework, etc. I think that would really motivate them.

And how about teachers?

A bigger paycheck...I don't think teacher are truly appreciated for dealing with 34 kids 5 days a week for so many hours. I think that makes them tired. If they had a bigger paycheck they would definitely be more motivated.

Interview: School as machine for conquering and puppeteering a population

Do you consider the school system fair? why?

Yeah why not, I have no problems with it at all. Because it is reasonable that a child has to go to school in that way.

Do you think that school might be manipulating the population in some way? If so In what way?

I really dont know. I mean it could be possible but I do not know if it is true.

How different do you think your life would be if you had not gone to school?

Very different, I mean I would have still learnt many things if I hadn't gone on my own. But school is the place where you meet the people you grow up with and develope.

What do you think is the main idea school teaches to the population?

To be respinsible and organized. Also how important it is to have a social life and take care of it.

Why do you think almost everyone is in favor with the school system? Could this be brainwash?

Maybe it is but I don't feel like I am brainwashed in any way. I know all parents want to send their children to school because it is good for them and that might be brainwash but It feels like the right thing to do.

-father

Since the beginning of each interview I kind of anticipated each of their answers. I think this is because I know what type of people they are, and we all shared the same bad and good experiences of going to school. Until today I have never met anyone who has never gone to school. If most people have bad experiences in school, specially the ones that drop out why would they force their children to go?

The people I interviewed also agree that their children should go to school because it is effective. Although the only reason why they think this way is because they gained some knowledge in school (2+2=4) They still think it is very important to send all children to school.
I believe that the only thing that makes school better as a student's perspective are the friends they make in school. Growing up with other children and sharing their thoughts together (Kenny's interview) is truly positive effect on children. I think that is one of the greatest opportunities school offers.
Also from Bere's interview I got that kids interacting more with friends and classmates could truly motivates them to go to school everyday. Also her perspective on teachers is very similar to most people I have talked to. They see teachers are people who are doing this because they have to and not because they want to. It is their job to teach and our job to learn but things would be beter if both parties actually wanted to be there. At least both sides would feel more appreciated and motivated.
None of the people I interviewed and myself are against the school system. Indeed we do not like it nor enjoy it but we are not against it because somehow we truly believe it is good for us. And although school might make us depressed we still believe it is good for ourselves. This is just another example of one of my theories explaining how suffering is actually a positive sign for us.
We are and were students not because we wanted to but because we had to. Even if we drop out halfway through we still consider school as the place we belong when we are young. Most people do dream of living of living their lives freely out there somewhere but they would never go for it. Perhaps it could be because they are afraid of failing in the end or because they simply recognize it as a dream that will never come true. In other words freedom is just a dream that could never be achieved because we do not simply belong to it. We belong in school.

HW 39 - First School Assignment

Questions

• I am wondering, why are we spending most of our youth sitting down listening to a person talk in school instead "living our youth" out there?

• Since when did I start feeling/believing that I belonged in school now and in the next 10 years?

• How is school shaping me to fit into society's ideas and expectations?

Research: Why was the idea of school originated in Germany so appealing for neighbor countries and then the world? Was it seen as a great method to keep control?

Ideas

• I think that school suppresses our freedom and self expression by teaching us what is right and wrong, what is success and failure.

• Indeed there is a lot of material taught in school that will be not used in our futures, however, it is taught with the purpose of teaching us how to think through or solve situations we may encounter in the future.

• Perhaps school is helping us become someone needed in society (a hero), and people do not fight against the school system because we all want to be needed.

Experiences

• During my school life, I have experienced joy, pride, sadness, disappointment, and stress. The friends I made in school are the ones responsible for the good times I had, and the grades are the ones that bring everything else I have felt.

• In elementary school I had very bad grades, so I was often sad because my parents did not approve it. I had to take private math lessons in 2nd grade but it was not that bad because my favorite teacher was the one that gave the lessons.

• Receiving awards and a great report card feels great. Although I pretend not to care about I am proud I achieved something like that. In middle school, when I brought good grades things were well at home. Now in high school, if I have good grades or not it does not matter.

My experiences in school have led me to think that grades are the most crucial aspect in school. Personally when I think of school, I think of how well or how bad I am doing. I do not think about friends, or teachers, but the work that must be accomplished in order to have a good grade. I consider this as utterly awful and depressing. This is because grades do not make me happy at all. I am often stressed and worried about getting a good grades, and I feel like these emotions are eating me alive. When I get good grades I feel proud of myself and I can continue my daily routine well, but when I get bad grades I get disappointed and angry at myself causing me to be unable to do anything else well. I am aware that this is my strongest personal issue, and if I do not do something about my ego it will distant me from other people.

I think that this sad attachment to good grades has originated since my last year of elementary school when I transferred to a new school and separated from my friends. In this new school I was not able to make friends as well as before so I gave up on that and only focused on school work. When I saw the extreme positive change at home for bringing good grades, I began to believe that that was the right thing to do. I simply wanted to be well at home because I did not feel well at school. A year later in middle school I was able to make good friends but I did not stop on getting good grades. I thought that I had found a balance between my personal life and school, but what I did not realize back then was that grades were my personal life. Until now all that mentality has been developing through the years I've wasted in school. I do not know who I am trying to make proud anymore, because personally I am starting not to care about school anymore.

(Unless they are going home or on a trip, I do not understand why the children are smiling on this illustrated picture...)

Recently I have been feeling extremely unmotivated and pressured when it comes to school. I cannot remember what motivated me so much before. I used to think that good grades=good future because of college, but now I do not even think college can make a person have a good future. However, I cannot bring myself to feel happy for having bad grades.

I do not consider the school system as an evil phenomenon that wants to suck the life out of all human beings. It is just a designed system to make things work, including ourselves. Indeed people could go against it but I do not think that they would succeed on terminating the school system. We are being taught to learn about the world we live in, so we can fit in and even improve it. This does not suggest that I find the school system as a positive thing. I do think that it should be changed to give the students more freedom on what they want to learn about. And by doing this perhaps there will be student who may actually want to study math or science over anything else, and this is because they were not FORCED to study it, but because they chose it out of interest. This would also help determine one's personality much earlier than what it is common. Although I have not experienced this myself (seems like a dream) I do want future generation to be able to choose what they want to study.

HW 38 Art Project- Cool

Art Porject Cool from B1z， on Vimeo.

1. What insights about cool does the art integrate? What do you hope people will realize or question from their encounter with your art?

What me and Bao lin wanted to communicate through this video was how in school (specifically) people identify other people or themselves as cool. By identifying what's cool, people try to immitate it as seen in the video when the boys were going up the stairs. One of them was immitating the other one with the purpose of being like him. By going up the stairs represented that it is always about going up and up and up. Or so we attempted to demonstrate.

Part of the video also showed the windows in the high flights of our school. Based on out won experience, we feel like we are in jail. Altough we are aware that these are for "protection", these are also to keep us inside of school. We recognize these as uncool, because according to the general definition of cool it is about being out there in every sense. In terms of cool, I hope that people realize that must of us do not really mind about our surroundings even if they do not fit the definition of a "cool place"; we only care about how cool we are compared to other people, regardless of where we are.

2. Describe the process of making the project - how'd you do each step? If it was a group project, what did you contribute?

This was a group project, and I mostly contributed on the video clips that were shown. We began by sharing our ideas and visions on this project and together came up with a scence. I asked two middle school boys to help us contribute with our project, because it was easier for me to simply direct what we wanted and Bao Lin filmed. Then, with the purpose of earning credit, we decided to make up a scene with both of us in it. This was filmed by a classmate. So far there has been a problem editing the video, therefore I have downloaded different programs to see if they are compatible with the video type of file. After editing the only thing left to do is upload.

3. Does making art seem cool to you? Why or why not?

I have never considered art or the action of making art as cool. This is because art itself is like the term "cool". Not everyone will appreciate it, therefore is it art or not? Is it cool or not? Art is simply self expression such as "being cool". No one else will understand your purpose and choices as much as yourself.