VeronicaR

=‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍Native Americans and Social Categories = ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍toc There are very many social categories, typically known as stereo-types, that everybody belongs to. The determination of the stereo type being either positive or negative comes from the personal belief of the individuals. Stereo-types are common and are widely known within our society. What people do not seem to have is the ability to comprehend that it should be stopped by any means necessary. Some people goes as far as to ask some of the questions to other people who are in that social bategory. No matter how hard some people try and change the stereo types they still remain and some are not appropriate at all.

I belong to the social category that falls under the Native American people. It is stereo-typed in different ways by people around the country, even within our own communities. A common stereotype of the Native American population, is the term “savage.” People who are not from the area think that Native American people still live in tepees and wear buckskin clothing. This, by the way, is completely and utterly inaccurate, in more ways than one. Another that is common is we, as people, are drunks and that we are unable make a living without the assistance of our tribe or the government. The reason that some people think this is, is because they are not exposed to natives and are ignorant to the fact that we are a civilized group of people and are up to date with technology like the rest of the country. One that is not negative is that native people have long hair. For the most part most Native Americans have short hair. But some children, young adults and a few older still have long hair which is a symbol of how much knowledge a person has, which is the reason that some people don't cut their hair. How the characterization benefits native people is that it makes us want to work harder and prove that we are capable of making ourselves successful. As Natives, we try to prove the stereo-types wrong by any means necessary. At my former private high school, the students who were selected were those who wanted and had the drive to both attend and succeed in college. There may be public schools around the area, but the students who attended them said they were unsure as to whether or not they wanted to attend college. The way that Native American people are harmed by this characterization and stereotype is that soon they think it is acceptable, or even necessary, to fulfill the stereo-type. Another harmful effect is that it discourages them from attempting to better their lives, both for themselves, as well as for their own people. The reason being that they think they will be alright because another person’s bad influences do not affect their own lives. An example would have to be movies, such as “Smoke Signals.”The movie demonstrates that Native Americans only like to drink and they are somewhat abusive to their children. After watching this movie, it made me think about Native American people and how the world is really viewing us. It is not a very positive image that is being put forth on behalf of the Native American tribes. It also demonstrates how the Natives have long hair as well.

During the summer, my family and I traveled to the east coast for a trip, and a few of the people there did not know what ethnicity we were. People staying in the hotel would come up to my sister and ask if she was the Native girl. The answer to that question was yes, but then they went as far as to ask if we still resided in tepees. It amazed my family that people still thought that, even now, especially with all the technology. People are constantly stereotyping, and it has become a part of the American culture; it is pretty much accepted and is not seen as harmful, except to those who are being stereotyped.

People should not just assume things about other cultures before exploring the truth about them. It may be easy to stereotype people, but individuals should realize that it is hurtful. It can also have an effect on those individuals who are apart of that particular culture. Future generations are going to think that it is still acceptable to live life like that when really it is not.

Punishment in families  Children are raised according to their parents’ beliefs. Some social norms have an effect on the way people act and the decisions they make in their daily lives. Different social norms are presented from characters in the story “Who is Irish?.” Some parents resort to physical punishment such as spanking while others do not care for it. Because some children have a positive reaction to the punishment while others do not. An article explains how children behave, listen and do better then those who are not spanked. After parents punish their children, they should explain to them why they are being punished. Physical punishment is acceptable and helps shape children to fit into social norms.

There are social norms that people follow in order to fit in with everybody else. Some examples are children sitting still, and children should wear clothes in public. In the story “Who’s Irish?” the narrator talks about how Sophie takes her clothes off and is wild. When she finally takes action she is seen as the bad guy. “In America, parents not suppose to spank the child” (Jen 7). Even though the social norm says people are not supposed to physically punish children, parents still do. It is a good thing because parents want their child to fit in and to be “normal”. In the article the “Pro-Spanking Studies May Have Global Effect” the author states that children who were physically punished did better then those who didn’t (Kettle). In order for these children to perform better and to uphold a good reputation their parents spanked them. People should be allowed to physically punish their children to teach them a lesson.

Certain parents believe that punishing their child by spanking them will help them learn how to behave. This may be because they (the parents) were raised like that. Different habits are passed down from the parent to the children and sometimes put into action. Even though rules have changed from the past to present day, this does not mean that children should not be punished for their actions. Kettle talks about how children who have “never been spanked tended to have behavioral problems, and were not more competent than their peers” (par21). In other countries there has been a ban on physically punishing child, one of the countries was Sweden. Even though they banned the physical punishment the parents still punished their child (Kettle par7). Since the punishment was banned parents resorted to abusing their child instead and the researcher found that “Swedish parents were abusing their child more then U.S parents but it was twice as often” (Kettle par7). Instead, parents should punish their children so that the children know not to misbehave again. The story “Who’s Irish” by Gish Jen, there are examples of how the narrator tries to punish her granddaughter.

In the story, the narrator thinks that physical punishment should be enforced and is necessary when raising a child. The reason is because the narrator thinks that if the child is physically punished, then they will stop misbehaving. “You spank her, she’ll stop, I say another day” (Jen 6). Even though the narrator suggests her granddaughter Sophie should be spanked, the mother Natalie does not agree with her. The daughter Natalie thinks that her daughter will learn of listen from being told instead of physically punishing her. As a result of the narrator’s action she no longer sees her granddaughter. The narrator just wants her granddaughter to fit in and behave like other Chinese children do in public. When the parents physically punish the child, the parents are helping their child fit the other social norms that the rest of the public follow. In the story, the narrator spanks Sophie for taking her clothes off. After Sophie gets spanked, she listens and puts her clothes back on (Jen 8). By physically punishing Sophie, the narrator was able to get her to listen and be a good girl. This shows a positive effect of physical punishment.

While some children take physical punishment differently then others, it doesn’t mean that people should stop. Once the child sees that they can get away with something, they will continue to try and get away with things. They continue just to see how far they can push things to get what they want not what their parents want. If a parent is going to decide to punish their child they should stick to it. If the parents don’t one time, then the child is going to run all over them, and, at that point, physical punishment won’t have an effect anymore. Kettle presents information about a study done that shows that those who were not physically punished were more likely to be involved in some kind of crime (par 3). The children were not punished so they could get away with whatever they want and nobody’s going to tell them they couldn’t do that, because they didn’t grow up being punished for their actions.

Even though parents should punish their children to teach them a lesson, they should also tell them why. The reason is because if the child does not know what they are doing wrong then the child is going to continue to misbehave. With some explanation, the child should be able to understand why. This also teaches them values about how everything that they (the child) do has a consequence that follows. It helps them to think about what they are doing a head of time rather than just jumping right into it and getting in trouble for it later on.

Punishment habits are passed down from parents to children and the children either choose to use these habits or they don’t. If a parent were to physically punish their child by spanking them they are more likely to listen to the parent and behave. The social norms of society can be enforced when a parent takes action in teaching their child right from wrong. Also that physically punishing a child will help the child fit into the social norms. Physical punishment may either help a child in a positive way or it may have a negative effect depending on the parent and their continuation of the physical punishment. After punishing the child parents should explain why they are being punished. As a result physical punishment should be enforced to a certain extent to promote good behavior.

media type="youtube" key="_SbSYKNzIpQ" width="425" height="350"


 * <range type="comment" id="417369">‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Works Cited ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍**

Jen, Gish. //Who's Irish?//. The New York Times, 1999. 1-14 Web. Kettle, Theodore. "Pro-Spanking Studies May Have Global Effect ." //Newsmax.com//. N.p., 7 Jan. 2010. Web. 21 Nov. 2011. <http://www.newsmax.com/US/spanking-studies-children- spock/2010/01/07/id/345669>. <span style="display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">

<span style="display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Grades and Their Impact <span style="color: #0000ff; display: block; font-family: 'lucida sans unicode','lucida grande',sans-serif; text-align: left;">Grades are part of school systems that tell us our progress and what we need to work on to better ourselves. Though some grades reflect better progress then others, it does not mean that students should give up on those subjects. Students in fact should try and better their learning ability in that particular area. Maybe it is the teacher’s fault that the child is not learning or maybe just having a difficult time understanding the subject and needs just a little more attention to do better. Grades do not reflect talent, it is just a mere obstacle that students have to overcome. <span style="display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">Students begin to be graded for the first time when they reach Jr. High. While some students excel while others it seems that that they fail. Even though one student understands something while another does not, it does not mean that they are not a very good student and cannot achieve good grades. It just means that they should strive to make themselves a better learner in that subject. Of course the change would take a few weeks for them it’s not something that is just going to happen overnight. “. . . Families, schools, communities and the students themselves must find embrace and work tirelessly to develop their talents” (Clack 399). The student needs to adapt learning habits so that they may do better or maybe they just need to be encouraged to do better to achieve that goal.

There are students who are out there who just need some encouragement from someone they know to get a good grade. In the essay after Cisneros was admired for her work she began to see that she wasn’t “stupid” at all and began to participate in class more (Clack). This shows that with just that little amount of attention a student unable to do good before was beginning to change her attitude into a positive one. From personal experience motivation is all some students need to achieve excellence in class. In some cases, it is the instructor’s way of teaching which confuses the students.

The student may just have misunderstood the assignment or was not fully aware of the expectations required of them in the first place. With more detailed instruction the student probably would have gotten a better grade in the project. Some teachers have different teaching styles and have different expectations of their students. In high school teachers expect more from you. From personal experience, my Navajo Culture teacher had high expectations that all students had to meet. What she didn’t know was that some students with good grades, were getting help from those who had already taken her class, which reflected that those student’s grades were better then those who did not get help. While others who actually did their work the work reflected different. This shows that sometimes talent is not always from the student personally, but yet they still receive a good grade for it.

Grades are just a standard put in place by the school systems. Grades are there to help us and tell us where our learning ability is at. They also determine if we pass on to the next grade or if we fail and take the grade or course over again. This is a good way for a student to better themselves and to help them improve the next time around. Students may have done good work but it may not have met the standard set in place and received a bad grade as a result. Also grades can reflect how much a student likes that particular subject or dislikes it. If they put effort into it, then yes they are going to get a good grade. If they dislike a subject then they are going to get an bad or a failing grade.

Grades are not a reflection of talent from a student but more of an obstacle that students have to overcome when in school. With encouragement students can accomplish more and be productive with work that they do. Misunderstandings can affect a person’s work and quality in a assignment. Even though schools have grades sometimes they are not always accurate about the student’s ability. People should not just look at grades; sometimes grades are not always accurate about a person’s ability.