JimmieJ Public Discourse MLS 590

This course taught me to provide a space for my students to discuss what is happening in the world around them and how to do so in a manner productive for all people who wish to contribute to the greater good.  I enjoyed hearing everyone's thoughts, opinions, and seeing the diversity represented makes me more aware of providing the same kind of opportunities in my school.  There are teachable moments in all the books and readings; my sociology students are going love discussions based on them.  The most interesting thing I am taking away from class is conversation surrounding the space of public opinion and what public discourse looks like to a kid in high school today.  I think this will be great for students to ponder and the learning that can come out the conversation will be very informative.  Thank you to everyone in the class, enjoy your summer!!!

In conducting interviews for my research project, I found out how much social media meant to high school students.  I always thought that it was important, but one of my interviewees commented on their social media presence being purely a way for them to fit in and that is wasn't necessarily something they wanted or need personally.  I was blown away by this feeling of having to fit in with their peers in a such a manner that would make them go against their values and beliefs.  I really think there needs to be more education on what social media means in life and how people are more than what a profile says about them or the pictures and comments that are placed online.  Kids need to learn to value who they are more than what others think of their profile.

Changing years of oppression and discrimination for people that have been on the bottom seems next to impossible in our current social, political and economic environments.  However, one answer to helping raise people from Nobody's to Somebody's is to provide them with mentors and opportunities to achieve success.  For those individuals that are born into disadvantaged circumstances, it can be very daunting to work an entire childhood to escape negative circumstances.  With the help of people that have defied the odds or of those that have the means and abilities based on an established position, a true difference can be made in the lives of Nobody's. I think President Obama recognized the need to lift up boys and young men of color when he established My Brother's Keeper.  The initiative is aimed at connecting mentors to those in need so that a network of support and opportunity can become available to they children and young men.  Branches of My Brother's Keepe

Marginalization of minorities came up in conversation often tonight and I could not stop thinking of the following: Charles Barkley is going to have a show air Thursday, May 11th on TNT called American Race . He is a very outspoken personality in the media and the show sounds like it will provide a good discussion about race in the United States.  The first episode looks at Baltimore, linked here . 70 Acres in Chicago: Cabrini Green Here is a trailer that looks at the impact of the demolition of the Cabrini Green high rise public housing.  Unfortunately, the link to the full show deactivated recently, but here is the shows website, America Reframed (PBS) . Finally, a story about the discriminatory practices centered around water distribution in Zanesville, Ohio.   Here is a TIME magazine article discussing the circumstances in greater detail.

This week’s prompt was a difficult one for me because I did not feel that I knew as much about the real lives women as I could.  So I enlisted the aid of an expert, my wife.  Truthfully, I was surprised in the conversation that we had because my wife made me aware of not only her knowledge of the topic, but also that women’s representation was clearly something that she is passionate about. The first piece of knowledge my wife shared with me was the desire for some celebrity couples to build and raise their families in almost total secrecy until the children reached older ages.  For example, Jessica Biel and Justin Timberlake went through lengths to protect their first child from the cameras for almost the first year or so of his life.  Pictures uploaded to social media would not fully capture the baby’s body and face, but rather parts such as hands or feet.  This type of consciousness on the part the celebrities, in my mind, shows a desire to be real.  Justin Timberlake and Jessica

I feel like I agree in many respects with Malcolm Gladwell.  The weak connections of social media make it easy for someone to “scroll” over your “post” for action.  Lacking the in person connection makes it difficult to advance movements and ideas.  As was said in class, so many people show up because word is spread through social media, but they can often be left wondering what is next.  Social media can allow for the absence of leadership because just seeing a post makes you aware of the issue at hand, but that does not mean you will feel the need to act on what you saw. However, social media’s ability to gather large masses of people with a common vision or goal is incredible.  The determining factor in people’s participation comes down to how serious or important is the idea or movement to that individual.  Looking back on the Civil Rights movement and what people were fighting for made it easier for people to actively pursue change.  The stakes were high enough that much cou

Being raised in a military household taught me many lessons in life that I feel have made me the man I am today.  During my mid-twenties, with spare time on my hands, I decided to become a mentor through Big Brothers Big Sisters.  This decision would be life changing in more ways than I ever imagined. Mentoring youth in need is more than a noble cause, but rather an opportunity to provide a young boy or girl with insights and knowledge as they grow up and navigate the world.   My mentoring experience partnered me with a 6 year old boy, Chris, with no father figure in his life.  Male relatives were present for Chris, but his mother was seeking something different in his life.  When I met both of them for the first time, I do not believe any of us were ready for the experience.  I was thinking too linearly, the requirements of the program called for certain things and that was my expectation.  Chris’s mother seemed to feel the same way as we would negotiate monthly activities f

My focus is youth mentoring and the need for more adult participation.  Being a mentor and working in a high school has shown me there are skills, abilities, and experiences children could learn from a wide variety of people.

I do believe that the current formats aid in polarization.  These formats are loud and fast, contain elements of disrespect and tones of a lack of concern for fellow human beings.  This is carried over to the everyday interactions of people.  These actions that harm conversations appear to be the norm in many settings today.  I think the content of these programs is important, but I wish the conversation could happen in a much more respectful manner.  I do think the popularity of these shows is important because conversations need to take place and these programs serve as the start of the conversations.

When considering what disciplines are most visible in media today, I think it is key to recognize where you turn for media.  Not only do different networks present different messages, but different forms of media reach their audience in different ways.  Television can be harder hitting, louder and more engaging because you can visually connect with the subject.  In comparison, radio programs cannot always present themselves in the same manner simply because that could alienate their listeners.  Radio leaves much to the imagination of the listener that in today’s fast paced and engaging society is a hurdle to be cleared.  However, television and radio stations often have the same parent organization that try reach similar audiences through multiple methods which could lead to a manipulation of the messages to target intended audiences. With all that said, I believe that today’s media focuses so much on politics and economics that other disciplines can get overshadowed very easily.

To think of leading public intellectuals today was a difficult task.  I say this because I spend so much of my time trying to determine how I will convey information to an audience that quite often needs to be entertained more than they want to learn.  For me, educators carry a certain amount of the intellectual weight simply because they have an unknown audience that looks to them for information and wisdom. My parents used to was a program called the Tavis Smiley Show when I was younger.  Listening to them have conversation about the topics and issues Tavis Smiley presented as well as the people he would have on his show is something that I think helped me to grow.  It is not that he was a leading intellectual, but he would raise issues and questions that could be answered by intellectuals which I then saw discussed by my parents and others.  I feel that there need to be more of these discussions today so children learn to speak up for themselves and issues they feel strongly conn

Public life and the public sphere are alive!  When thinking about class lecture and society as a whole, the public sphere is provided for in many ways today.  Platforms to speak are not only widely available, but they are also filtering into parts of society, like high school, that they may not have originally reached. Project Soapbox  is a program that high school educators can set up for their students to participate in two minute speeches of the student's choice to address issues of society.  This is an attempt to allow young students to have the opportunity to shape their communities and voice issues important to them. The part of Project Soapbox that I find important is the need for students to deliver a speech to an audience.  I find this critical to the development of young people today because as a high school teacher I have seen firsthand the impact of social media on students over the past few years.  I feel the personal delivery gives the students more influence tha

Hello and welcome to my blog for MLS 590 Public Discourse at North Central College!  My name is Jimmie Jacobs and I am a second year graduate student in the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies program with a focus on culture and society.  Graduating in 2005 from Illinois State University with a degree in Social Science Education, I have taught high school social studies at Normal Community High School (1 year), Urbana High School (1 year), and currently Waubonsie Valley High School (in my 10 th year).  Over the course of my career I have taught American History, World History, World Geography, AP Human Geography, Government, Sociology, and Credit Recovery. This particular master’s program interested me because it was not a typical degree program for teachers.  I was never a fan of the cohort programs that sped you through classes so you could advance on the pay scale because people seemed to not utilize the information in their actual classrooms.  Administrative programs did n