Large Group Discussions

9/23/05 Class Discussion #1

Topic: Wisdom

The class was briefly discussing what we believed, as a whole, wisdom was. I came prepared, as I did my homework the previous night that involved actually thinking about it beforehand. Some major ideas that were offered by the class concerning wisdom were: progression, experience, knowledge of self, knowledge of others, obsessions, intelligence and insightfulness. After seeing how small our concept map was of these ideas, after the discussion I wished I had added common sense, as it seems like a very prominent part of our lives.  We connected the knowledge of self idea to the know yourself unit and then created another bubble chart which had the following ideas on it: weaknesses, faults, interests, acceptance, understanding others, philosophies for life, understanding your feelings, reaction to negativity, your motives, being happy, conscience, knowing your limits and knowing your desires. I contributed the last idea. Looking back on it, I also wish I had related knowing your desires would accurately summarize what makes you happy and drives your motives. I felt the discussion went well, especially for an introduction.

10/19/05 Class Discussion #2

Topic: Life

The class was discussing facts of life and what we wanted to get out of this unit. One topic that came up is if we truly live life as zombies. Ross agreed with this idea, saying that we all “go through life as zombies” he later added this was because it “was easier.” He had little competition here. Alexa mentioned the topic of death, which was discussed during the Tuesday’s with Morrie unit frequently. The discussion shifted dramatically when Andy brought us back to the subject of what we want out of this unit and if it was worth exploring aspects of ourselves we may not like. Shev made the “red pill, blue pill” analogy that’s so famous from the Matrix and Andy ate it up, using it as part of his speech. He took a poll, asking the class “which pill they wanted to take.” The class voted overwhelmingly for the exploration of self.

10-27-05 Class Discussion #3

Topic: How to live

A lot of controversial ideas came up during this discussion. I felt that the most widely discussed aspect of it was Andy asking the class as a whole “how do you learn to live?” Many philosophies were discussed, including Buddhism and capitalist America ways of living. At one point however, Mauricia summarized her own personal argument with “look to yourself for the answers to your questions relating to life.” At that point, the discussion began to die out as more people appeared to accept this reality as the most effective method of determining how to live. I feel that after reflecting upon the discussion, that Mauricia’s comment may have actually pigeonholed most people’s perspectives on life.

11-14-05 Class Discussion #4

Topic: Proposed early date for assignments

This discussion held a lot of tension, due to the subject matter. Mergim proposed that Andy set dates for minimal requirement “check ups.” His reasoning was that “people cannot discipline themselves.” He elaborated on this by seeing exactly how many people were up to date. The number was somewhat worrying, as only ten members of the class actually would’ve met the requirements he wanted to put forth for a due date. Jordan countered Mergim’s argument by saying “one of the basic ideas for this class was self control.” I completed agreed with him. Unfortunately, it seemed that the motion passed, as when a poll was taken concerning how many felt they needed a deadline, 14 people voted for establishing the deadline. Later, 20 people voted to keep the requirements in place.

11-28-05 Class Discussion #5

Topic: Opener on sex

On Nov 28, we had two discussions relating to sex. This is the first, as it was an opener to the mini-unit. Andy asked what our general feelings were about sex. I said that I felt “Society silently encourages talking about it, but loudly discourages discussing it,” due to the nature of ads versus how it’s viewed in school and at work. This shifted the discussion toward how sex is played out in society. However the discussion abruptly ended as we moved onto another portion of class.

11-28-05 Class Discussion #6

Topic: More on Sex

Building earlier on the idea of sex in society, the class began by discussing what’s accepted by society and what isn’t. Kamara mentioned a three year old girl at her job showing off her panties, calling them pretty to their class mates and how that was “wrong.” Vilmarys questioned this idea, saying why is it unacceptable? The class firmly agreed upon society building the idea of what is or isn’t acceptable and this facet of the conversation quickly died out, sadly. Later on, Andy polled the class, seeing if sexual bias was firmly rooted in our class. According to the poll, which asked if people had distinct sexual preferences, 16/24 felt they wanted only to engage in sexuality activity with people of a specific sex and color. He also asked how long everyone in the room spent thinking about sex. The majority thought about it for at least three hours a day. Looking back on this discussion, it makes me wonder how alternative sex ideas such as oral sex and anal came from.

11-29-05 Class Discussion #7

Topic: Puberty

This discussion followed a video about women’s breasts. Andy posed a question to the class relating to how puberty affected us all. The women in the class seemed to agree without fail that it definitely got them more attention, but was also very uncomfortable. Daniella mentioned that her breasts were fairly annoying to grow in and continue to be a nuisance today. I mentioned that puberty for men was troubling as well, since we started to become overwhelmingly odorous without realizing it and that pubic hair was also a problem. This conversation was a bit gross, but informative. I wouldn’t have guessed it worked that way. Looking back though, some things discussed I probably wouldn’t have wanted to know.

12-7-05 Discussion #8

Topic – First Gender Memories

The conversation started with a brief analysis of our first gender memories. Most of the class shared and we essentially all had memories that related to clothing or colors when we were between the ages of two to seven. It then shifted to what we do in our daily lives that’s gender oriented. A few things mentioned were clothing related, make-up related, biologically related and even sexually. Andy wrapped the small discussion up by asking how many people consider their selves to be part of a specific sex or gender. Most of the class again said they thought they belonged to a specific sex. I thought about this discussion briefly after it took place and it lead me to question a lot of the things that separate us in society based on sex. Does differently colored clothing really make the difference?

Omitted date Discussion # 9

Topic – Amy Tan

This discussion mainly revolved around the piece by Amy Tan we read called “mother tongue” and how we could relate it to our own lives. It shifted toward a critique of the English language and how it compared to other languages. Daniella mentioned that “other languages may still be just as vivid without all of the extra words.” Alexa mentioned that dialects are somewhat confusing by boldly establishing that the Chinese kids in our class don’t make much sense when they speak English.  Kamara shared some of her own intimate memories with us when she spoke of how Ms.DeLaura, our principal based her ability to speak English on her Jamaican background. Amy confessed that her ability to speak English was somewhat poor and as a result, people judged her falsely. Kathy almost ended the conversation by saying simply “English isn’t the one and only.” Andy himself stepped up toward the end of the conversation and stated the human tragedy, that people perpetuate their problems with their insecurities. As I ponder on that conversation now, I sort of wish I had told everyone to shut up and stop bitching about their inability to speak English.

1-20-06 Discussion #10

Topic – The Road not Taken

Andy began the discussion by taking a poll of what people thought the slogan of this poem was. “Not afraid to make mistakes” got zero votes. “Challenge makes a person” got three votes. “Live differently from everybody else” got eight votes. Work hard got zero votes and “don’t take the easy way out” got eight votes.  Andy then continued the conversation by saying “only 8 got it wrong, the rest didn’t even come close. It’s really about a guy who thinks he will dramatize himself.  He supported this idea by rereading the poem and having people raise their hands when they saw the points that might’ve supported his view of it. Hands were raised at lines 6-10 and 16-17. By this point however, he was sadly being ignored by the majority of the class and the bell rang.

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