Shift Happens

              This video was eye opening in the sense that America lags the world in technology and educations.  It was also sad to find out that a video game company spends more money on research and development then the Department of Education.  This speaks volumes to why America lags in standards of education throughout the world.  Our educational system needs understand and admit that these poor standards are a grave problem facing America's future.  One way to combat this problem is to completely retool the educational system by making student go year round, hire and fire teaches based on performance and give the Department of Education the latitude and money to make these changes.
              One positive thing that I have taken away from this information was the advancement in technology.  I believe that it's called Moores Law.  This law explain that advancements in technology is not liner but expotiental.  It states that technology doubles every 6 months while getting cheaper.  These advancements continue to have vast improvements sin out life.  For example.  A short twenty years ago, people had to wait for the evening news or daily newspapers to get their information.  Now the creation of the Internet has allowed people to get information instantly.

Nature vs. Nurture

The nature vs. nurture debate will continue long after this blog is no longer published however, I drew some very interesting conclusions from the podcast and text.  In the text it outlined two young children that were raised with little to no human contact during the first five to seven years of their lives.  Based on this isolation, both demonstrated certain animalistic behaviors not prevalent in our society.  I think in both of these situations, these children had little to no social interaction to calibrate their behavior.  For example, the boy was not self aware and refused to wear clothing or to use that toilet.  Genie was similar in the fact that she would not use the toilet at first and constantly masturbated in public.  This type of behavior also shows the lack of self awareness and the inability for either of them to recognize that they were a part of a collective society.  Based on these two examples, it would seem that both nature and nurture are important.  Nature in that it provides a level of behavior probably based on some sort of primordial instinct, and nurture in that it provides a frame work of socialization or at least a level of acceptable behavior.

Interpretation of the Clip "America"

I would like to begin this blog entry by acknowledging that I am a huge fan of Hugh Laurie and his work.  However, it seems as if Hugh Laurie was attempting to portray himself has the singer/song writer Bruce Springsteen.  I made this assumption from the very worn blue jeans and flannel shirt that is common with Bruce's concerts.  In addition, Hugh Laurie was also wearing a bandana tied around his head which is Bruce's signature trademark per se.  I would assume that this skit was purposely arranged to represent the heart of American culture
Hugh Laurie also plays a familiar melody but keeps repeating America over and over which seems to make the audience laugh.  Although I have never been someone that greatly understood British humor, I assume that Hugh Laurie is again poking fun at the lack of content that many American songs have.  I assume that Hugh Laurie is representing that Americans are either happy / vain enough to just hear the word America over and over again.  However, Hugh Laurie could be demonstrating a satirical reference that we expect our culture to be everything American.  As the clip ends, a man come over and knocks out the American singer being portrayed by Hugh Laurie.  I think the man was knocked out to represent that, depending on the situation; American culture needs to be toned down or tuned off.  I think this clip cleverly points out how American culture is interpreted.

Week 2: Stanford's Prison Experiment

I found that Dr. Zimbardo's prison experiment was dangerous but ethical.  Dr Zimbardo mitigated the danger by screening each student for mental defect and remaining present for most of the experiment.  I think that most people were surprised of the finding or result which triggered outrage in regards to his method.  Any type of experiment involving human interaction should be very closely vetted and tested before it is implemented on human subjects.  Although I am sure that none of these student ever went to prison, their behavior reflects what society defined as the prisoner / guard role at the time.  I'm sure that most of this behavior was learned from TV and situations transpiring in society at the time.  I'm sure it was common to turn on the TV and find police night sticking protesters or watch the movie Cool Hand Luke to help define their behavior.
     I also found it interesting that Dr. Zimbardo drew the conclusion that the escalation of violence was predicated on the verbal exchange of insults between prisoners and guards magnified by long periods on inactivity.  I also found it interesting that this also led to the violence experienced at Abu Ghraib.  I would think that we would be able to apply some of what we learned to our own civilian and military prisons.

Week 1 Introductions

Hello class and welcome to my first blog.  This will be my second semester at NVCC so I am relatively a new student.  Although this is not my first class with NVCC it is my first semester enrolled in distant education classes.  I have already found it challenging because most of the material seems to be lost in translation when I read it.  I'm confident that this will get easier as we all acclimate to the process.
     My current degree plan is general studies but I'm confident that may change as I get more involved in different classes.  I have found that general studies provides a well rounded perspective for student to explore different majors.  I'm currently employed in the maintenance career field with a local printer.  However, I do have plans to change my career field within the next year.  I moved to this area just over four years ago for the position I have now.  It have been tasking learning how to drive in an area so congested but it has a lot to offer those who take the time and explore it.  I look forward learning more about this class and each one of you.