This written piece, taken from the 1999 publication of Jean Kilbourne’s book Can’t Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel” is a deep analytical piece on the effects of modern advertisements. The author would like to show us that although we might realize that advertisements are put up just with the intention of attracting customers, it affects us much deeper than we think. The first point that Kilbourne emphasizes on is how pornographic advertisements objectifies living beings, especially woman. With various examples of different posters and advertisements, she tries to prove how advertisements have shaped the way people think about females in a society. It also falsifies the image of a man by showing him as someone that is strong, arrogant and dominant over women. The ads of some alcoholic beverages results in people causing harm to others and to themselves. She proves this by showing how one-third to three-quarters of sexual assault cases results from alcohol consumption by either the suspect or the victim. She takes it further by mentioning that in a sexual assault, it is women who are hurt more than men and they are the ones who are blamed at the end too. She tries to engage readers by asking them to imagine a picture in these advertisements, where the genders were interchanged. She then moves on to how ads now a day is moving towards targeting men’s body. But she believes that this is different because there are no consequences for men. They are not to be afraid of being raped, harassed or beaten. Later, she shows how some companies moved onto child pornography ads with the intent of being publicized to gain attention of people through legal issues. Children are often exploited for their innocence and girls feel powerless in front of men. She concludes by mentioning that advertisement in this form is a method of violence which is oppressive and racist. Having analyzed its deep effects on culture, she wants us to realize the importance of how it affects people, especially females.

                I felt that this written piece was a good analytical piece that makes me think about the various aspects that Kilbourne covers. For the first time I see how advertisements may affect a society deeply. Further, I feel that today’s beliefs on what is “normal” may be the result of what the ads portray in people’s minds. The author does give credible citations for her thesis and makes it clear that she hasn’t arrived at this conclusion without research. The best part about this piece is the various examples that she explains in detail. Each one gave a different angle to the situation that the author was trying to show to the reader. Overall, it was an article that would be well appreciated for the information it gave.

 
                Written around the 1850s and published in 1862, Henry David Thoreau’s “Walking” is a strong written piece that focuses on the importance of nature to mankind. He wants to regard man as a member of nature rather than a part of society. He believes that walking through nature, the fields and mountains, helps him revive himself and keep him healthy. It the time he spends when he is not involved in the regular “worldly engagements”. He emphasizes that walking for exercise is not the point, but to reflect on one’s self while walking is the important part. A man’s everyday life in a society has disoriented the order of nature and is moving him farther away from where he should be.  According to Thoreau, all good things are ones that belong directly to nature. Proceeding further, he mentions that society thinks of itself as a place to spread knowledge, regarding knowledge as powerful. But Thoreau feels that man’s ignorance maybe much more important and “beautiful”. He concludes by saying that nature is beautiful and important in our lives and we should head on path that narrows the gap between man and nature.

                After reading this particular written piece, I felt that ideas expressed were a little too extreme to be of any use to mankind. The fact that this piece was written in the 1850s makes it hard for me to relate to the situation then. But looking at the situation now, it is definitely an idea that is hard to consider. Being hard to relate to his situation makes it hard for me to reflect on his ideas. 
 
Education vs. Schooling

                In his brief article in the Harper’s magazine published in 2003, John Taylor Gatto seeks the attention of young adults to make them aware of the faulty school system that the present generation is going through. He starts off by showing how the school is a place where both, students and teacher, are bored and they blame each other for this situation. While the students feel their work made no sense, the teachers were uninterested in teaching people who were rude and just wanted grades. Explaining the ambiguity on who to be blamed for this situation, he firmly says that “We all are”.  If a person is bored, it is his fault and no one else. He strongly feels that if we wanted to, we could change the system to make sure kids “take an education” rather than “receive schooling”.  But we don’t do that, and that maybe because the system does not allow children to grow up and think. Raising the question if we really need 12 year forced schooling, he gives various examples of famous and respected people who never had formal schooling emphasizing that they were unschooled but were definitely educated. The idea of mass schooling started in the United States between 1905 and 1915 and had three basic aims: to make good people, good citizens and help people reach their personal best. Although people believe it, Gatto feels it’s far from truth. Explaining that our education system actually belongs to the method of the military state of Prussia, he gives examples of people who have proved that. Calling our system as mass production market, he refers to Dr. Inglis’ six basic functions of modern schooling. The school system has resulted in people not thinking at all, turned “children into children”. He finally concludes by saying that this is a wakeup call for this present generation. It is our responsibility to become leaders, adventurers and make the best use of our school system while not falling in its traps. That is the only way a child can have a meaningful life.

                I felt that his was an excellent article by a well renowned person in the field of education, to talk about the education system in the United States. Although I might not agree with all of his ideas, I feel that his initial argument, that overcoming boredom is one’s own responsibility, is a true fact. He makes this education system feel like it’s the worst, but I feel it has a lot of positive side to it. Having many students at one place provides a ground for competition and motivation to strive harder. Also, I feel that it’s the teacher’s responsibility to create, in the students, an interest in education and learning at least in the initial stages of schooling. Having created that, and taking advantage of every opportunity that is available in this system, I truly feel that one can reach his highest potential or beyond. 

 
A.      Contents

   1.       Pieces that interest me and the reason are as follows :

     a.       “What we really miss about the 1950s” because it makes me curious to know more about what happened during that time

     b.      “Against School” because it talks about the school system and gives some critical conclusion that the author came to by looking at it

     c.       “Learning to read” because the author mentions how his education helped him realize the difficulties of a minority people living in America

     d.      “The lesson” because it talks about equal economic opportunity

     e.      “Stephen Cruz” explains about his thinking that power and fear govern the American dream

   2.       Learning Power: The Myth of Education and Empowerment seemed to be most intriguing topic. I felt curious about this topic because it closely relates to a student in High school or in the starting years of college. I feel like I would be interested in knowing the opinions  of different people in the field of education

  B.      Thinking critically

     1.       Done

     2.       I was aware of the reading text techniques and marking text. Although probably not good in marking English related articles, I was taught in high school on how to read my books. But most of the things that I read in this section were new to me. I was able to see how cultural myths played a major role in shaping human behavior. Also I learnt how peoples past could affect what they understand from a piece of information. The texts gives more insight into marking techniques and how you can it make it more distinct and clear.

    3.       I am looking forward to putting what I learnt in the first two classes into the articles I am going to read in this book. I want to see how marking and “writing between lines” helps me understand things better and also have a mature understanding of the authors aim.

   4.       The thing that concerns me the most is the lack of my knowledge in vocabulary and my speed in reading. I am willing to put in my best efforts in improving both of these through assignments that I will be doing in this book.

C.      Section Introductions

1.       Done marking

2.       Yes it is. I am most interested in the sections that talk about education and money in the book. That maybe because those are things I can directly relate to at the moment. They talk extensively about the topics that I am really eager to learn. Other topics in the book may not directly relate to me, but to society which I have to face in the future. They are interesting but I may not be able to understand them as much as the sections mentioned above.

3.       I do have background knowledge in the education system and economic trends in India. But learning about how things work in USA would be a good learning experience for me.

4.       The Melting Pot and Ah Wilderness! Which talk about racial matters and people attitude towards nature are topics that are new to me. In general I have never read articles or written pieces that relate to the above topics which sometimes makes me curious on what might be in there.

5.       The introductions were interesting and engaging. I got a thorough knowledge about the section. It gave facts to begin with, supported with many examples. Later it did claim as many of the thoughts being myths and later explains the content in different articles. Overall I felt it was a good introduction for the reader to get a good picture of what he was going to read in the later subsections of that section.