Academic Service Learning 3

Today I completed my last two hours of service. I went back to the St. John's Baptist school for the last official day of tutoring. Me and two other tutors got to work with two of the 8th grade girls. We helped them study for an upcoming social studies test on Reconstruction in the South. After doing a little bit of studying we most talked about other things like what they were going to do for Christmas and their favorite types of music.What I found interesting and kind of funny was that they believe that they are old. They think of themselves as already being old even though they're only in the 8th grade which I thought was crazy since I consider myself to be old. In a way I can understand their thinking because I think kids today talk about more things that adults would talk about. The things they talk about would be things that college students would talk about so I guess they can say they're mature for their age. Tutoring/Mentoring was a good way to spend my six hours of service because it was easy to talk and listen to the kids while aiding them in school work if they needed it.

Academic Service Learning 2

I did my next 2 hours of service on November 17th. It was a Tuesday which has to be the most crowded day if you want to tutor. We had about 12 or 13 tutors that day. We were going to St. John's Baptist school but instead of 2nd graders we were going to tutor 8th graders. My brother is a 8th grader so I thought that this shouldn't be too difficult. Another girl and I worked with 2 boys. They were working on their thanksgiving prayers. They didn't have any other homework to do so they were mostly drawing and coloring for their prayer. It was interesting that one of boys had just got 100 on his science test that they just took while the other just failed it. He said that it didn't matter. We didn't really do much since they said that they didn't have any homework.

Academic Service Learning

I did my first 2 hours of service learning on the first wednesday in november. I decided that I wanted to tutor because working with younger kids is always interesting. It was my first time tutoring anyone so I was alittle nervous but when I found out that we were going to tutor 2nd graders I knew I really had nothing to worry about. Three other tutors and I went to St. John's Baptist school in Brooklyn to tutor. The school building may have looked a little old from the outside but the school inside was clean and had a cozy feeling. We had a class of about 15 kids and we gave them a packet of worksheets on compound words to do. Most of them knew what they were doing and didn't need much help. I worked with one girl the most. Her name was Tatiana. She knew what she was doing but she would get stuck every once and awhile. I would try to give her hints until she would get the answer. i tried to let them figure out the answer first instead of just telling them it. It was an easy 2 hours because they were all pretty well behaved. It was nice to see that they were focused on getting all the sheets done instead of doing nothing.

Overmaterialistic Obsession

Materialistic Obsession

Material things are given way too much importance in our country today. The United States as a whole is a consumer country which means that buying things is good but that doesn't mean that you need to buy everything. The country's obsession with buying material things has lead to thousands of people getting into debt. I feel like materialism has also altered our moral and family values. Some people tend to judge others based on material things instead of on their character.

In our society, material things tend to matter more than they should which is a contrast to smaller countries. Even though we are one of the richest countries in the world we don't have as strong family and moral values as some third world countries do. We tend to not value and appreciate the things we have because we are always looking for the new next best thing to get.

Our fixation on material items has been caused by many things such as our economy and the media. Our country is a consumer society. The government wants us to spend our money and buy more things to boost the economy. Advertisements and commercials from corporations are a major reason for our materialistic ways. They push us to buy things that we don't necessarily need. They also encourage children to ask their parents to buy them the latest toy and push young adults to get the latest cool thing.

Our desire for material things means that it has become impossible for people to go without them. Asking a teenager to not use their iPod, cellphone or computer for a week would be like torture. Even for an adult, not being able to use their cell phone or computer for a week would be unbearable because as a society we are so use to using technology. It is impossible to not be judged by your pears and others by what you wear, what type of car you drive, what type of shoes you wear and so on. Our society is so materialistic nowadays that people care and judge you ,whether they admit or not, on material things.

If asked, I believe that the majority of Americans would say or at least have to admit that we are a materialistic society. Americans would probably be split on whether thats a bad or good thing. There are decent arguments for both. Some may say that there's nothing wrong with our society being materialistic while others could say that it is given more importance than it should have. My research question: What effects does materialism have on values and society in the United States?

Telling truths and lies about America's materialism

The truth is that America has become too materialistic and that materialism is way too important to the society. We are seen as the richest and most powerful country in the world but it is usually projected through how materialistic we are. For smaller countries family values, beliefs and morals are the most important things but I feel like America is losing that a little bit because of our obession with material things.
America is a consumer country and we should buy goods but that doesn't mean we should go overboard with how much we buy. There's a difference in what we want and what we need. There nothing wrong with buying things you want but you should know where to stop. Buying things when you can't afford to pay for them leads to debt which thousands of Americans are dealing with right now.

List of Topics for Arguement

1. Overreaction to swine flu
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/SwineFlu/story?id=7477216&page=1&page=1
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/05/06/health/main4995966.shtml
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-250415


2. Too many minimum wage jobs
http://townhall.com/columnists/JohnStossel/2009/07/29/a_minimum_wage_equals_minimum_jobs
http://www.balancedpolitics.org/minimum_wage.htm


3. American society too materialistic
http://the-american-catholic.com/2008/11/18/lead-us-into-temptation-american-materialism/
http://www.papermasters.com/materialism-america.html
http://www.britannica.com/bps/additionalcontent/18/25057142/Consuming-Kids-The-Hostile-Takeover-of-Childhood

A Racial Encounter

It was the first day of 8th grade. Everything from the school, the hallways and the people were unfamiliar to me. I remember walking down the endless hallways until I found the main office where one of the advisors introduced me to another new student. The advisor told us that we would be in alot of the same classes so we could help each other since it was our first days in a new school. I introduced myself to her and she told me her name was Marra. She was the first white kid that I'd met since I had started middle school. For the past two years at my old middle school I had never known or even seen any white kids in the hallways. My new middle school was completely different since the majority of students were white and jewish.
Marra was from Pennsylvania and I don't really remember if she was Jewish or not. She was tall, skinny, well dressed and overall a pretty girl. As we walking down the hallway to our first classes she told me alittle bit about herself and about how nervous she felt. I felt the same exact way. When she told me where she lived I quickly realized that her family must be wealthy. I was afraid that she might turn out to be a snuck up snobby rich girl but the more I talked to her the more I realized that that she wasn't.
She turned out to be a down to earth sweet girl who wasn't that complicated to figure out. She was a genuinely nice person and even though we looked completely different when it came to skin color it didn't seem to matter when we talked. We both agreed that starting a new school just seemed strange and that we were glad to have each other around so atleast we wouldn't have to go through this alone. She became my first friend and we stayed friends all that year. Meeting her helped me clear some of my misconceptions and also was another example for me that I should judge people for who they are and not what they look like.