Current Discussions

[youtube]zG2jLT_8i8o[/youtube] [youtube]JxiqPy-Mj80[/youtube]There are many stereotypes of teens in the media. Many of the stereotypes about teenagers are negative. Television shows, T.V. news, movies, magazines, newspapers, radio, and the Internet often show images of teens that can be misleading to the public. Some of the myths about teenagers are that:
All teens think about is sex
All teens what to or do use drugs and alcohol
Teens should look a certian way (i.e. body image)

Teens are violent
Teens don’t care about politics or the environment
All teens from a certain ethnicity act a certain way (i.e. racial stereotyping)
All male/female teens act a certain way (i.e. gender stereotyping)

This space is provided for you to discuss your opinions and research surrounding the portrayal of teens in the media. How do your personal experiences prove these myths wrong. What evidence is there to show that these are just myths? What evidence supports these myths? Comment on others comments. Have a discussion.

Does everybody have the opportunity to lead a meaningful life? Do celebrities have a greater power to lead meaningful lives because they have the publics attention? Address the discussion from todays class (November 6: Per. 4). If you have ideas that weren’t heard, address them here and let us know the context from which you are referring.

The dictionary definition of resiliency is, “the ability to recover readily from illness, depression, adversity, or the like.”  How do we show resiliency in our everyday lives?  How have we seen people with disabilities show their resiliency?  Why is the ability to be resilient so important to our survival?  As a person?  As a society?

A somnambulist is a sleepwalker. What if I said we were heading toward becoming a Somnambulist Society? What would that mean and how do we prevent it from happening? What happens when we, as a society, stop questioning? Our government? Our principles? Our understandings of the truth? Think of what happened in “Future Fright” and consider how that is more of a possiblity than we might think.

Who decides the criteria for judging whether or not a book is acceptable for people to read? Should we all have the right to make that personal choice of what is acceptable for us to read and what is not? What if a child is not old enough to make that decision for themself? Who should make that choice for them? Why?

In The Day They Came to Arrest the Book, Nora Baines says, “…freedom to publish is useless if people are not allowed to read what is published…”. What does this mean? Do you agree? Why or why not? What are our responsibilities to maintain freedom?

How does the abiltiy to communicate affect/influence/shape an individual’s future? What are the possible consequences of lacking the ability to comunciate academically? What are the benefits? What types of adult communication might require you to use formal language?