Talk about the case studies that were discussed in class, what you learned from it and what your group thought about the article you were given. You may also share what you learned from other group's articles and what you think of the issues presented in those articles.
Blog posts must be 200-400 words, proofread, and void of common grammatical errors.
Your blog posts are due before the start of class next week.
Please email albreaks@ku.edu if you have any questions!
The group that I am a part of had the opportunity to read the article “Olympics Set to Transform Rio – But for Better or Worse?” This Article was a very interesting look at what stresses and concerns Rio had about hosting the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. After reading the article my group and I discussed the positives and negatives that Rio faces with hosting the games. Major pros include; the games bring tourism, give Rio a chance to show off their city, would have a new subway system, and the games would help clean up the pollution in the Rio’s oceans and lakes. Major cons include; crime is raising, the budget is ballooning, culture and history is being lost for new modern “western” way of living, subway system services only a small part of Rio, the pollution cleanup will only last until the games and not fix the real problem, and parts of the buildings is funded by private companies. We then move on to discuss what the real purpose of the Olympics. I personally think that moving the Olympics every time is a major waste of the world’s resources. The structures and stadiums that are built to host the Olympics typically go unused after the games are over. Also cities that host the Olympics sometimes acquire huge debts in order to get their cities ready for the Olympics.
ReplyDeleteThe articles read by other groups also seemed interesting. The article about gay and lesbian rights in Switzerland, I believe, sounded like an awesome idea about teaching kids about it at a young age. I know in America, kids in school can be so mean to persons with sexual and gender differences. I think the main reason that the kids are mean in the first place is because they do not understand or have any education about the subject. It would have been nice if they posted the articles or sent them out so I can read them on my free time.
My group was given the article about halfway houses. This article explained the situation of halfway houses in specifically New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The halfway houses that are under government control are costing these states upwards of 110 million dollars each year, even though housing a person in a halfway house costs on average 2/3 less than housing the same individual in a prison. The main point of the article was that more people who were released from prison and not into a halfway house facility were less likely to reenter the prison system than individuals who had served time in a halfway house before their release.
ReplyDeleteBefore I read this article, I knew little about halfway houses and their procedures of operation. I knew that the system was a way for prisoners to gain more freedom and more responsibility than they were given in prison before entering the outside world. This was a common opinion with my group mates, although a few of them had had friends of friends or distant relatives involved in this system before. The consensus was made that just because these halfway houses aren’t a functional system in the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, that doesn’t mean that the systems aren’t working in other parts of the U.S. or other parts of the world. For the roughly 30% of people who enter into a halfway house and don’t return to prison, it might be a fulfilling and life-changing experience.
Another one of the articles that I thought was particularly interesting was the one about gender equality in a preschool in Sweden. I liked this article because the topic it presented was sort of radical, but could really result in positive change among gender stereotypes in Sweden and hopefully beyond.
My group was given the case study about the preschool in Sweden that chose to fight gender bias. The school referred to the children as "friends" instead of using words like "him" or "her". It also did things like put Lego blocks in the play kitchen in order for children to think of them as equal. I like that the school is trying to get rid of gender bias in the sense that they are teaching the children that they can play with all kinds of toys without putting an unfair bias on one versus another. For example, it's okay for girls to play with cars or Lego blocks and boys to play with the kitchen. They don't associate a certain gender with a certain type of toy, which I thought was a very good thing to teach children. As great as some of the schools efforts are, there are definitely some shortcomings. For one, this type of teaching is solely for pre-school aged children. When they are finished with pre-school, they will have to go to a school that doesn't hold the same standards and does expose them to gender bias. These children will be ill-prepared for this reality. Also, there have been some complaints that the school is brain washing children by only emphasizing homosexuality and homosexual families. The article stated that "nearly all of the children's books deal with homosexual couples, single parents or adopted children." It also said that they didn't read any typical Disney princess books or classic fairy tales that are very stereotypical as far as gender roles are concerned. By not equally exposing the children to all kinds of family settings, a bias is created. If the school exposed the children to all family types as well as all different types of children's books, it will be more effective in sending its message. Reading books such as Snow White and then talking about the gender bias shown in the book and how it doesn't have to be like that provides a teaching moment as well as a broader knowledge for the children. I like the idea of the school and how brave it is for tackling these concepts. As time goes on, there might be more schools like this that are able to provide an even better education of gender equality at higher grade levels.
ReplyDeleteThe article my group read was about the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and the controversy following it. To summarize the article, it brought up points that looked at the oncoming Olympics in both a positive and negative light. One point of view was that it would bring in new infrastructure like transportation and hotels as well as tourism. However, the article said that this would only be provided to the wealthy and that the poor would not reap those benefits. Another problem with the Olympics is that by building as many as 20 new stadiums, space is necessary. This means that many people will be displaced for the stadiums. Once the Olympics are over, however, the stadiums will be unused.
ReplyDeleteWith all of the controversy surrounding the Olympics in Brazil, my group talked a lot about why many countries that can’t afford the Olympics insist on hosting it. One point is that it brings national pride and shows only the wealthy and prosperous side of the country. This seems positive, but often it only masks the real problems that are happening in the country. People will be displaced, workers will be exploited, and a nation will add to its debt just to show off. To me, this seems wrong. However, it would be nearly impossible to change the direction of the Olympics that drastically. It is such a prominent aspect of our globalized world that just thinking of a world with a downsized or reused Olympics would be impossible.
The class last Thursday was interesting because we got to have in-depth discussions with our group members about current events in our society. My group got the article about recidivism rates of prisoners who went to a half-way house in Pennsylvania after being released from the prison. The recidivism rates reached 67% of prisoners who were in the halfway house compared to a rate of 60% of the prisoners who went directly from the prison to being on their own. These numbers were shocking because the purpose of the halfway house is to help former inmates to adjust to the outside world to avoid going back to prison. The accuracy of these percentages is debatable because prisoners are highly monitored at the halfway houses and might have higher numbers because they are caught more.
ReplyDeleteOur group discussed several reasons for why recidivism rates might be so high in halfway houses. One reason is that prisoners are closely watched and, if they do commit a crime, they have more chances to get caught than other former inmates. Another reason for high recidivism rates could be that the half-way houses are not spending their money effectively on therapy and rehabilitation programs. The former prisoners are also constantly referred to as prisoners or inmates instead of as people. Continuing to group half-way house members as prisoners might motivate them to stay criminals instead of trying to rehabilitate.
Halfway houses are a great idea in theory, but the execution of the program must be revised in order for them to be effective in helping to rehabilitate former inmates. This will include spending money more effectively, and improving rehabilitation programs to be more beneficial.
My group’s article topic was about halfway homes. The writer mostly discussed halfway homes in New Jersey I believe. The conclusion was that halfway homes (at least the ones in the study) are not very effective and the former inmates actually have a higher chance of recidivism than inmates who are simply released into normal society. This is disappointing because of the amount of energy, effort, and millions of dollars that go into operating halfway homes. I suspected that this was the case for halfway homes because a friend of my family was in a halfway home for a few months and he is still to this day hooked on drugs and continues to commit offenses with the law (even though of course I shouldn’t generalize like that based off of one person I know). My group discussed how it is probably a lack of structure within the halfway homes. We questioned if the former inmates were receiving a positive learning/ guiding experience at the halfway homes. Lack of positive structure could result in bad morale and boredom. When we switched groups a woman pointed out that maybe the recidivism is higher than other inmates because those at halfway homes are under more surveillance. I think that might be a big contributing factor to the recidivism. It is hard to keep track of someone who is not under the same roof as you and around you always. My conclusion is that I believe halfway homes may be beneficial for some people, but without positive and firm structure, those people are not going to take the program seriously.
ReplyDeleteMy group was given the article on homelessness for this week’s discussion. Prior to reading the article we all brainstormed some of the ideas and stereotypes that each of us associate with homelessness. Many times members of society view those who are homeless as lazy. My group all agreed that most of the time this is not the case. If someone is homeless it can be very difficult for him or her to find employment because many employers require you to have a permanent address in order to receive paychecks. Some employers may even be biased towards those who are homeless because of preconceived negative stereotypes so they will not hire those who are homeless.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that our article talked about was that the goal of ending homelessness all together is too broad of a goal. There are many factors that cause homelessness and just by saying you are going to get rid of it does not get to the core of the problem. My group agreed that although it might not be possible to wipe out homelessness altogether, there are various steps and programs that can be put in place in order to help reduce the amount of homelessness in the United States.
Examples my group came up with in order to ease away homelessness were education programs in order to help people obtain employment. These could include programs on how to write a resume or how to conduct yourself in an interview or even teaching simple computer skills that employees will need for various jobs.
Some programs to help the homeless get employed already exist. For example some dry cleaners will offer their services for free in order to provide people with a clean outfit for an interview. Salons will offer free haircutting services for those who cannot afford it so they can look presentable for an interview.
I was not surprised at all last week when my group go the article about the homeless and the issues associated with homelessness last week. My group—going to the homeless shelter in Cincinnati, Ohio—had a lot to say about the article. Going off the prompts, we voiced our concerns that the homeless are often seen as lazy, deservingly poor, and are often criminal, mentally-ill or even drug addicts. While we acknowledged these stereotypes surrounding the homeless, we all agreed that very few of them were actually true. One of the things that we discussed, and hope to do ourselves, is to connect the homeless with their communities, and give them a sense of community to help uplift them. Too many of them are marginalized and ignored by the communities that they live in, and these communities are in the best position to help them and offer them assistance. If there was a vehicle to connect the homeless to members of the community, more would be done to help them.
ReplyDeleteOne of the larger disagreements in our group was the role of the government in battling homelessness. Some members of the group felt that the government’s role in finding them housing, paying for their housing, and providing them with a multitude of assistance programs was absolutely essential and could not be overstated. Other members felt that the government’s role was not entirely necessary, and that states and communities could be doing a lot more on their own to combat poverty. While the group as a whole eventually agreed that the government was an important source of aid to the homeless, it was fascinating to see such drastically differing views come together and reconcile themselves with each other in a non-argumentative, conversational format.
I really enjoyed the case studies activity we did during last week’s class. I found it very interesting and beneficial to hear from those that read different articles from my group as well as those that read the same one we did. Hearing what the articles were about along with hearing the affect it had on those that read them, and how they interpreted the issues presented, really represented the diverse group of volunteers that we have and how our own personally experiences shape how we view issues around us. In that way I think that the group discussions, along with the class presentations, were a very important activity for our alt breaks class to do because we will encounter these same kinds of differences and similarities in how these issues are affecting different people on our spring break sites. The other lessons I took away from this particular activity were from the specific article that my group was given to focus on. We read a very eye-opening article about the preparations for the upcoming 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil. Not being a huge sports fan I have never given the Olympics a lot of thought and certainly even less to the areas that are hosting them. But in reading this article I became more aware as well as concerned with the havoc that is being created in the city of Rio in Brazil and the great deal of debt and displacement the Olympic preparations are creating within this historic city. It is my hope that in the future there is given a lot more thought and consideration towards those that will be affected the most by these extravagant games and better planning into creating a less harmful and more sustainable system.
ReplyDeleteCaitlin Ireland
ReplyDeleteThe case study my group was assigned had to do with the preschool in Sweden that is working to combat gender bias. I had read the article (or a similar one) previously, but it was interesting reading it after learning some of the things we have covered in this course. My first reaction to the article was that it is a great concept, but they have taken it too far. This was a common theme in my group, but after further conversation we came to the conclusion that maybe it needed to take things too far. By pushing the envelope as far as it can possibly go, smaller and more realistic changes that previously may have seemed extreme now seem reasonable.Overall, we thought that the concept was a good one and that it was much needed. In a way, the preschool does shield the children from the unfortunate real world reality that gender bias is but they are not at the school 24/7 365 days a year. After thinking about this I came to the conclusion that I would send my children to this preschool. I would use some of the approaches the school used at home, such as giving my children the option of playing with all types of toys regardless of the gender they are stereotypically made for. I would also do some things differently, such as watching Disney fairy tales and discussing them. I think talking about their school and the things that they see outside of school would be a great opportunity for a preschooler; it would take advantage of the open mindedness and curiosity of that age group.
Eradicating homelessness is a necessarily complex issue. I believe, and it appears as though the author of the article holds a similar perspective, that the first step towards lessening the issue of homelessness is that of awareness.
ReplyDeleteThe article states that, thankfully, homelessness is no longer generally regarded as the desire of the afflicted. Oftentimes, those who lived without the means to secure shelter were thought to have chosen their situation. Surely, purchasing some semblance of appropriate living quarters is a task that can be completed successfully by all members of the population, regardless of income. Those who were not fortunate enough to be considered mentally sound, the substance abusers and mentally or psychotically challenged, indirectly chose their homelessness, but chose it nonetheless.
To believe that individuals would choose not to secure shelter, thereby eschewing any somewhat permanent source of security, autonomy, or pride, is an absurd proposition. Though the author implied that this callous perspective is no longer the norm, it still exists in the minds of the empathetically challenged. Homelessness, as with any other social issue, is exacerbated by those who refuse to view it as such.