October 19th

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I don’t believe in blaming the media for all problems concerning youth and violence they see as they play these video games.  It’s so true that as a society we look for something or someone to blame when shootings occur in schools, movie theaters, post offices and military bases.  I believe that yes, we can be influenced by video games for example when I played Mortal Kombat with my siblings we would act out these moves on one another and sometimes our friends at school. however, I find it very difficult to understand why society doesn’t recognize that their should be restrictions on what games should be sold to children if their parents allow it then they should take responsibility in explaining to them the difference between what is real and what is fantasy. Also education on firearms is important I think to tell your kids guns  that indeed guns are dangerous and that this is just a game.

Week 8 Readings

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Good evening guys! Sorry for posting so late, I’ve been busy studying and reading for midterm stuff.

This week’s readings were really interesting. I really appreciated Sternheimer’s in-depth look as to why research on media violence is not that valuable or truthful. I also found the connections between media violence and real violence interesting. Both Sternheimer and the Levin article mentioned the environmental factors that contribute to violent behavior, such as poverty, community, and neighborhood violence.  Sternheimer also mentioned that racial inequality plays a part in violence. I did appreciate Sternheimer’s emphasis on the fact that violence has gone down and that media does not play a major role in violent acts. I wish the media (news and the like) would stop taking this angle and construing both research and actual crimes as though television and video games are to blame. It sends a bad message to the rest of society and makes everyone extremely paranoid, when in actuality, issues are really related to behavior and environment.

The Levin article was interesting to me as a future teacher. Although I want to teach high school, the section about how children play was fascinating. I never thought about the difference between types of play (imitative and restrictive) and how different types of toys can actually promote types of play.

Did these articles change your thinking about media and its relation to violence? Did you agree or disagree with the authors?

CS Scholars Attending Grace Hopper Conference 2015

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CS majors Kristen Godinez and Winter Smith attended GHC 2015 on full scholarships from Qualcomm  and Intuit. Congratulations to our scholars!

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Inspiring girls to play a role in STEM

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CI Computer Girls participating in “Players of the Light” event in La Reina HS on October 10, 2015
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Scholarship Applications Open for 2016 ACM Richard Tapia Diversity in Computing Conference

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http://www.tapiaconference.org/participate/scholarships/

October 19th

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Marketing Violence: The Special Toll on Young Children of Color

~  Media Messages about race:

Children of color are sometimes judged by other children and adults, could this be because of what children watch on TV?  Many parents try to teach their children  not  to judge others based on the color of their skin. However, many children learn to judge others from television, school, and other adults. As an adult I don’t clearly understand why. Why are people of color automatically judged and not part of many great TV shows? For example,That 70 show Fez is the only teenager of color. Fez isn’t given a last name and never shares his ethnicity. I remember watching this show as a teenager and I would laugh at the jokes about Fez’s character not realizing the stereotype.

Today we see more people of color on TV and media but they usually portray a stereotype. It is rare to find a doctor, teacher, policeman, and other roles on TV played by people of color (there are many professionals of many ethnic backgrounds in real life). Children learn from what they see,  someone of color could potentially be dangerous because of a TV show where someone of color had that role. There are many dangers these stereotypes can lead to. Children may expect only violence form someone based on the color of their skin. Children may also ignore real dangers because the “bad guy/ girl” is usually an outcast not someone who appears the “good guy/girl.”

Oct. 17 INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP FOR LGBTQ

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I’m not completely finished with all three readings yet, but decided to post part of my reflection since I was late in posting from Colorado last week. I finished reading the Hernandez article and Theoharis chapter 6. I felt concerned about a few different points as I read. First, I was already aware of the problems with harassment and bullying for LGBTQ students, and the high incidence of suicide attempts, but seeing the statistics was both alarming and saddening again. Second, I was surprised at some of the findings that administrators would not act on general policies against bullying of LGBTQ students. Bullying is bullying. Third, the shift from sexual identification from the college years to middle school was a reminder of the changing environment of our youth and the issues they face at younger and younger ages.

After these thoughts, I was relieved to read after this that there are some specific strategies to help administrators prepare to be proactive and organized in approaches to create appropriate supporting environments for students. I believe that most people, even those who have conflicting religious views regarding sexual orientation, desire to show kindness to others, and particularly our youth. I appreciated the story of Patrice Jenkins and her desire to do what was good, and was able to use that desire, regardless of her personal belief, to move past her ignorance and use her influence to create and ensure a safe environment for her student(s). I also appreciated the story of Principal Carl Parker and his influence to help bridge that gap between desire and preparedness. One often does not know what one does not know until one knows. (reread that one!)

As for me, I am one who has a desire and lack preparedness as well. Even after reading the distinction between the various terminologies…I’m still unclear. However, I do believe what is said in the conclusion–“School leaders have a tremendous amount of influence over the culture and climate of their districts and schools.” I also believe that one sees rightly with the heart and that the heart, and desire to do what is good, will help bridge the gaps. I try to see rightly.

Video Games and Violence

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I think that this was a good topic to discuss in regards to media. I think that many people complain about the video games children are playing and how that can cause them to be violent. I have never really believed that to be true and I think that chapter 5 in Sternheimer’s book really validated my opinion on it.  The chapter states “Homicide rates are at there lowest levels in nearly five decades. between 1992 ad 2010, the homicide rate fell by almost half… homicide offending rate for teens fourteen to seventeen fell by 71 percent between 1993 and 2000 and has been flat ever since.” I think that this goes to prove that violence is decreasing, especially among teens. Even though there are still cases of teen crime, it is not as prevalent as it use to be.  So like I said I don’t think that video games are the only ones to blame here. Children are going to behave by example and I don’t think that playing a video game would alter these children enough for them to become violent. Rather I believe that children are going to behave like the people they are surrounded with. Such as family and friends.  Also in the article we read online it stated “It is now estimated that by the end of elementary school, the average child will have seen 8,000 murders and 100,000 other acts of violence on the TV screen.” Although this statistic might be true I do think that it has a lot to do with what is on the news. They say that children will see this amount of crime in their time just in elementary school but honestly isn’t that the main thing the news is showing. Like we read in the articles last week the news has a pretty warped view on what is really going on in the world. So maybe children wouldn’t have access to this large number of murders if the media would choose to focus on something else.   So I do not  necessarily think that these acts of crime they see are due to video games. Overall, I think that this article and chapter 5 both did a good job giving examples of how violence is connected within the media.

Santa Rosa Island Research Station

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This last weekend I was able to go out to the Island with Dr. Clare Steele and the Conservation Biology class.  I was able to enjoy the plethora of knowledge and experience it has to offer.  Santa Rosa Island is beautiful but in a period of restoration and recovery from its long history of human inhabitants.

I was able to help Michaela Miller with her capstone of Marine Debris collection along some of the remote beaches of the island including Arlington Canyon, Sandy Point, Cluster Point and Skunk point.  I also visited Bechers Bay and Water canyon to collect sand samples and test for micro plastics. All in all it was an excellent weekend!  Overall every sand sample I collected had microfibers and microplastics in it.

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October 19, 2015

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I have always thought that it was odd to connect video game violence with actual violence. It is just like the gun war going on right now, taking guns away from everyone is not the solution. Why dont we just teach our children that just because there is violence in a game doesn’t mean thats how real life is. Gosh that would be really hard to teach huh>? (sarcasm). October

I was surprised to see a decline in crime rates. Comparing the bodo doll to a video game, just makes no sense. It is a CARTOON, obviously if you watch a literal human being beat up another or shoot another a lot in your lifetime, yes you may do the same. If you watch a cartoon do it, what mode in your brain says it is okay for you to do it?

As far as Lionel, he was subjected to jail way to early in life and I BELIEVE THAT is why the path he took, was the one he chose. It is also interesting that when talking about the media we keep thinking were talking about children and teens but we keep being reminded that the vast majority of consumers for television is an older age than we thought and the average age for video gamers is 37 (122). We don’t know if they will make sense of the content (123). <<Here is another topic I will never understand. The human is watching this or listening to a song and they aren’t really WATCHING IT OT LISTENING TO IT, because they aren’t reading into it or thinking about it.. how in the world does that happen?

Online Article

Children definitely learn ALL stereotypes from television not just ones about race. That is why if we EVER want to change the perception and stereotypes of GENDER and race we have to start with media. It just boils down to good parenting and how much of an impact that has on how your child reads the world.