In this short section from his book Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men, published in 2008, Michael Kimmel would like to highlight how masculinity is brought about in a male through fear and not as a natural behavior. He introduces by talking about what women feel about being a woman. He emphasizes that men are more conscious about their behavior because they do not want to be noticed as having feminine characteristics. After researching through a bunch of languages focused on criticizing men as not masculine, Kimmel concludes that all of them aim at men being unemotional and strong. He tries to show how the idea of masculine behavior hasn’t changed much in successive generations of schools and college men. He shows how different people get the idea of masculinity and the different aspects of it from other male members they are related to in some way or another. The motivation behind being masculine is more to get the approval of other men then to impress women. Kimmel heavily emphasizes on how our peers are like our evaluators that keep us from crossing the line of masculinity. Working very close to that idea is homophobia, where men try to be more masculine to prove they are not gay. This is where Kimmel shows that our fear of being non-masculine is more of our fear of other men than anything else. And this idea of manhood is introduced into the mind when a boy is so young that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to overcome that thought. The idea has settled itself so deeply in the society that it has become challenging for men who want to be different. They risk almost every aspect of their life to be different, to be free. 

                 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.