THIS IS WHAT WE CAME HERE FOR - Log 2, 12/2/2018
THIS IS WHAT WE CAME HERE FOR - Log 2, 12/2/2018
I mean, it is. We came here to have fun. And to meet new people. But sometimes people are strange. Very strange.
Yule Ball 2018 is held by the Sacramento Public Library. It is a semi-formal Harry Potter theme dance where teenagers 14 through 19 can come and enjoy a DJ, arts and crafts such as button making, weird drinks, and wands. It's truly a magical night, especially if you're a huge lover of the theme. Now, what did this have to do with media you may ask. Well, let me tell you a story.
The easiest answer I could give you that we posted flyers on our Instagram story. Therefore, a much larger amount of people went because they may not have seen the advertisement otherwise. Not too many teens I know go to their local library on a daily basis, so advertisement through a more open platform definitely helped inform others of this event. And a lot of people came! I know a lot of people who've told me they came or wanted to come after I posted it on my own story.
However, this story is a little different. It is the story of the night I got to bartend. I was making a delicious Pollyjuice Potion containing Coca Cola, Ginger Ale, Sprite, Lemonade, Grenadine, green apple syrup, a maraschino cherry, and a sour straw. And the reason I must describe this drink is because it is the longest one. It has the most amount of liquids in it. So, one would be at the bar for some quite time as I prepared the drink. And after, he asked for my number.
And this is not the point of the story. Sure, I gave him my number. That's what you get for having trouble at saying no to people.
But he texts me, and we talk. And when we ask about what schools we go to, I bring up McClatchy's racist science project, as that is what our school is currently known for. And I had talked to other people as we were helping clean up. That is literally what the person who I was folding tablecloths with knew our school from. I told him what school and he said he had never heard of it. Well, until I said we are the racist science project school. He told me about how it was the talk of Antelope High School out in Roseville. People were sharing news stories and talking about articles posted on the internet. These articles were so powerful that people who have never heard of our school can seemingly create an emotional connection between a person and something they've never heard in their life.
On the flipside of things, the person I was texting had no idea about what had happened. To me, that's interesting. We were written about by many large news stations. To me, this allows me to see the different interactions people have with me. I don't know either of these people. They favorite song, their best friend, their favorite sports team. They could be really similar or totally different. But no matter their lives, they have different experiences with the media. One had school discussions and people were aware of the situation and the other didn't. But there's a lot of factors that can go into whether someone can read stories like this. The person who didn't know about it may not have a TV or a computer to access the news. Maybe the family can't subscribe to a newspaper subscription. Without news coverage in one's life, they simply wouldn't know.
This reminds me of a video I saw where two groups of students had to take a test. The people in the group could work together, but the groups were separated by a curtain. They got scored on who received the correct answer first. At first, they just had to use their common knowledge. But after some questions, one group was given laptops and computers to use and the other were given books. This shows an obvious unfair advantage because typing in a question is faster then looking at an index and flipping through books. The people without the laptops lost every round. I think it's a great exhibition of the lack of resources some people have and how disadvantageous it can be. And at the end of the video, they had one of the teams read out loud statistics that 5 million households with school age children do not have high-speed internet even though 70% of teachers assign homework needing the internet of some sort. And with a school system that relies on grades, when 50% of students say they cannot complete an assignment because of the lack of resource of media
, they either have to cheat/copy answers from a peer or take the bad grade. And if a student has the pressure to do well in school, as most do, many cheat. And this cheating may not be ethical, however we need to take a step back and see how we can give equal resources to all and how we value or students.
I don't have a solution to the problem. I don't know everything about our economy and capitalism and how the American system works. However, I do know that this is unfair. It's a possibility teachers need to assign homework that every student can complete. They can still assign internet-based assignments, but only if everyone can access the internet. If not, print out articles or photo copy it. Our government should put more funding into education so public schools can have more laptops and iPads. Because in my opinion, education is more important than war.
To me, this is important. If we are going to have equal opportunity for all, we need to make the playing field even. It's like a race. People who have technology and access to media easier than other people have a 50 yard head start. And while everyone runs the race, it's almost as if you know who is going to win.
So what did we come here for? People shouldn't have to catch up. Nobody should be 50 meters behind another because of luck of who they were born to. Nobody should have to fight for equal opportunity. We came her to have fun. And to meet new people.
link to video mentioned: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOMpxsiUg2Q&t=5s
I mean, it is. We came here to have fun. And to meet new people. But sometimes people are strange. Very strange.
Yule Ball 2018 is held by the Sacramento Public Library. It is a semi-formal Harry Potter theme dance where teenagers 14 through 19 can come and enjoy a DJ, arts and crafts such as button making, weird drinks, and wands. It's truly a magical night, especially if you're a huge lover of the theme. Now, what did this have to do with media you may ask. Well, let me tell you a story.
The easiest answer I could give you that we posted flyers on our Instagram story. Therefore, a much larger amount of people went because they may not have seen the advertisement otherwise. Not too many teens I know go to their local library on a daily basis, so advertisement through a more open platform definitely helped inform others of this event. And a lot of people came! I know a lot of people who've told me they came or wanted to come after I posted it on my own story.
However, this story is a little different. It is the story of the night I got to bartend. I was making a delicious Pollyjuice Potion containing Coca Cola, Ginger Ale, Sprite, Lemonade, Grenadine, green apple syrup, a maraschino cherry, and a sour straw. And the reason I must describe this drink is because it is the longest one. It has the most amount of liquids in it. So, one would be at the bar for some quite time as I prepared the drink. And after, he asked for my number.
And this is not the point of the story. Sure, I gave him my number. That's what you get for having trouble at saying no to people.
On the flipside of things, the person I was texting had no idea about what had happened. To me, that's interesting. We were written about by many large news stations. To me, this allows me to see the different interactions people have with me. I don't know either of these people. They favorite song, their best friend, their favorite sports team. They could be really similar or totally different. But no matter their lives, they have different experiences with the media. One had school discussions and people were aware of the situation and the other didn't. But there's a lot of factors that can go into whether someone can read stories like this. The person who didn't know about it may not have a TV or a computer to access the news. Maybe the family can't subscribe to a newspaper subscription. Without news coverage in one's life, they simply wouldn't know.
This reminds me of a video I saw where two groups of students had to take a test. The people in the group could work together, but the groups were separated by a curtain. They got scored on who received the correct answer first. At first, they just had to use their common knowledge. But after some questions, one group was given laptops and computers to use and the other were given books. This shows an obvious unfair advantage because typing in a question is faster then looking at an index and flipping through books. The people without the laptops lost every round. I think it's a great exhibition of the lack of resources some people have and how disadvantageous it can be. And at the end of the video, they had one of the teams read out loud statistics that 5 million households with school age children do not have high-speed internet even though 70% of teachers assign homework needing the internet of some sort. And with a school system that relies on grades, when 50% of students say they cannot complete an assignment because of the lack of resource of media
, they either have to cheat/copy answers from a peer or take the bad grade. And if a student has the pressure to do well in school, as most do, many cheat. And this cheating may not be ethical, however we need to take a step back and see how we can give equal resources to all and how we value or students.
I don't have a solution to the problem. I don't know everything about our economy and capitalism and how the American system works. However, I do know that this is unfair. It's a possibility teachers need to assign homework that every student can complete. They can still assign internet-based assignments, but only if everyone can access the internet. If not, print out articles or photo copy it. Our government should put more funding into education so public schools can have more laptops and iPads. Because in my opinion, education is more important than war.
To me, this is important. If we are going to have equal opportunity for all, we need to make the playing field even. It's like a race. People who have technology and access to media easier than other people have a 50 yard head start. And while everyone runs the race, it's almost as if you know who is going to win.
So what did we come here for? People shouldn't have to catch up. Nobody should be 50 meters behind another because of luck of who they were born to. Nobody should have to fight for equal opportunity. We came her to have fun. And to meet new people.
link to video mentioned: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOMpxsiUg2Q&t=5s
I agree that the school system is unfair. We should find a way to make it fair by using books for kids to use instead of technology and we should have research done by books too instead of technology.
ReplyDeleteI also think it's interesting how even though we are aware of the problem, so little is being done to make it easier for the students that don't have access to these necessities. I feel that many people don't understand how big of an impact technology has had on education, and if we can't find a way to even the playing field we continue to perpetrate a system that exploits those that don't have money. It really makes me think about how not just the education system, but the entire route to success, in the US is built off of money, and how little our government cares about helping raise up people who lack money.
ReplyDeleteExactly. People who are at the top want to stay at the top. And some of them know if they didn't have their head start, they would've lost by a mile.
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