In the service of what? the politics of service learning by Joseph Kane and Westheimer

In the Service of what ?

Joseph Cain and Westheimer speak outwardly on the topic of Public Service in America, or rather peoples determination to avoid doing it as an opportunity. 

Ever since freshman year of high school people have been telling me but I need to do a certain amount of community work just to get a good grade. I had to do it for everything from a cheap Civics project, to a church fundraiser, to a piece of paper to get into senior year, and I even had to do a certain amount of hours to be allowed my diploma.

Now in my sophomore year of college if the time has come again where I have to attend a certain amount of hours service work in order to obtain a grade and further my efforts to get a a degree and a good career for the rest of my life.

I am required to attend a certain number of hours in kindergarten classroom in order to pass my FNED class and to be honest it never feels like volunteer work when i then get rewarded for doing it, it defeats the purpose.

I have done plenty of good things that weren't asked of my and gotten Absolutely nothing out of it, not even a free grade. I worked at soup kitchens, baby sat , worked churches, for a dance troupe, in my church's youth organization, and even became the president of my church! And I donated countless hours and even more money and supplies making sure that everyone else was taken care of 

I complete disagree with what this article stating about people and their willingness to help the community, do I understand the fact the we have communities struggling ? Yes, but do understand forcing a bunch of college students to come in a couple days a week against there free will. A group a of set volunteers helping at the school all day for the year would help but a bunch of students that now have a good reason to bail out on these young children once they get there grade, drop the class or the semester ends leaving these kindergartners with nothing.

The article speaks of "promoting an ethic of community service" however it talks about volunteering like it has never been done before Former President Kennedy signed off on the program.

Forcing people to "volunteer" for something is not volunteering it simply working for a grade instead of a wage. It defeats the purpose in its entirety. Volunteers are good , service learning workers paid with a B+ average are not.

As best said all the way back in the year 5BC by the roman statesmen Lucius Annaeus Seneca,

"Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness."

here is the link to the article :In service of what?

11 and gender fluid by Erin Zelle and Safe Spaces by Annemarie Vaccaro

LGBTQ + YOUTH IN AMERICA

"11 and Genderfluid" by Erin Zelle and "Safe Spaces" by Annemarie Vaccaro represent two different approaches to supporting LBGTQ+ youth in american and how to take care of any issues in a large classroom sized environment to a small household basis.

Vaccaro speaks from a rather political point of view and strives to show the reader ways to integrate LBGTQ+ education and support openly into the curriculum. It goes into detail about how to approach homophobic and trans-phobic slurs being used like adjectives in public school classrooms which is most certainly major issue. I talks about teachers duties to the children of their classrooms to create a positive and safe environment to learn in and their job to raise awareness about any hateful issues that should arise. This article takes about including LGBTQ+ articles, historical figures or writers into lesson interchangeably with Cis-Het authors to make it feel commonplace and normal for these people to be openly represented in society.

(A sign free to use in classrooms)

Zelle takes a more personal approach and talks about his more personal experiences with the LBGTQ + community.  He talks about his experiences as the father of a non binary child and how he learned to adapt to what that means. He even states “My 11-year-old daughter Sullivan’s style is defined as gender fluid, which translates as a “fluid” shift between masculine and feminine, depending on how one feels. The first time Sullivan mentioned it, I’m embarrassed to admit, I had to Google it.” Zelle states that while he had to learn to adapt he has learned to embrace his child's gender identity and even took his child shopping to suit themselves better. He uses his experience as an ally parent to set an example or lose guidelines other parents to follow. Now they are even able to bound over his daughter sharing similar tastes in suits.

(The Nonbinary Flags)

Here are the links to the two articles:

11 and Gender Fluid

Safe Spaces

"Unlearning the myths that binds us" by Lisa Christensen

Christensen makes writing easy, she gives us a solid thesis question to be answered in the post I am making and even a few examples of how people have choose to answer it in the past. In "Unlearning the myths that binds us" by Lisa Christensen , she asks "Do you agree with Dorfman's position that children receive"a secret education" in the media."

As a 2000s baby I have always had technology and therefore always had an adult or person older than myself telling me that it has ruined me. Technology has corrupted previous generations past the point of no return and can still ruin my generation if used improperly however this is the first time technology is entirely in the individuals hands both literally and metaphorically.

We have constant access to technology like the phone in my hands that I am using to type this but because we are no longer relying on the family t.v or dad's computer for access to the outside world my generation all had at least an ipod as early as some of us can remember. But because the technology has always been personal to use and often a private space we have the ability to pick and choose which aspects of society we like and don't like , and the ability to know why others do or don't like something.

For instance there is currently a live action Mulan in the works. And lots of controversy has arrived along with the news about the movie. Half the people half the people who care about the topic are boycotting the movie. They are upset that their one of their favorite movies from their childhood is being altered and changed. There will be no talking dragons, Mulan will not fall in love with a general and get married in front of all of China and supposedly she will not even pretend to be a man. And to those people this is entirely unacceptable, they're changing one of the few women of color in the Disney Cinematic Universe and to those people that is entirely unacceptable. On the other hand are people that entirely support these changes, it may be completely different from their childhood however these changes are supposedly being made to more accurately represent the original Chinese Legend, and to accurately portray Chinese culture. So it all depends on your point of view you can choose to boycott a movie in 2019 and not let any events influences impact you, which depending on the movie is very good. But you can also spend years messaging in writing petitions for Disney to properly display Asian culture and choose to support the new version even if it gets something's wrong.

So even that we have to know live with technology being stuck in our face 24/7 we now have the opportunity to speak out and have our voices heard to make sure the media we are being presented with is being presented in a way that is not harmful to us. We have been educated, but it is no longer a secret and we are finally old enough to be some of the educators.

Here is the new poster.

vs the original

and here is the links to both the original and new trailers.

New Mulan and Old Mulan

Which do you prefer.