College Dean's Prize: Improvements for Sociology

Since the end of the school year is coming to a close, this week’s blog entry will explain how I think the sociology department at the University of Southern California can be improved. I am writing this entry as my response to the USC College Dean’s Prize. The Dean’s Prize offers a monetary award for students who submit proposals on how to further improve the enrichment of student academic life. When considering how to improve the institution it is important to know the central mission of the university; to further the growth of students and society through the nurturing of spirit and mind. The important aspects included in the mission statement are “teaching, research, artistic creation, professional practice, and selected forms of public service.” In addition to the importance of the current mission, it is also relevant to know the university’s vision for the future. Found in USC’s strategic plan the vision for the future is “to become one of the most influential and productive research universities in the world.”

Does the Department of Sociology fulfill USC’s mission statement? Yes it does, however improvements can still be made, especially to fulfill the future visions of USC. The sociology department at USC offers a wide selection of courses from medical sociology to deviant behavior; four of which are required. These required courses fulfill the mission statement because they include teaching, research, artistic creation, professional practice, and public service. The sociology department’s “strength are enhanced through research and teaching partnerships.” Through these partnerships, students observe, tutor, and research children in the local schools. Although these classes fulfill the mission statement of the University, there are some problems.

For any 300 level courses there usually is only one professor who teaches each topic and the classes are around 50 people. It is important to have variety among professors; one professor may be more visual and others more auditory. Different students require different methods of teaching and with only one professor per topic many students’ learning needs are not met. As for the class size, this issue can easily be fixed with smaller discussion sections with the TAs once a week for an hour. Increasing the number of professors teaching the same class can also help with the size because there would be more classes for the same subject. In addition to the classes being large, some students cannot get into the classes they need because there is only one section of it. The first week of classes this semester there were at least ten students who needed to enroll in each of my sociology classes to be able to graduate but could not because the classes were full. If more sections were available there would not be a problem with getting into a specific class. With only completed one semester in the sociology department I have not been exposed to other areas that might need improvement.

My comments on how to improve the undergraduate sociology department and the University of Southern California will help achieve the future visions of USC. Will smaller class sizes and more professors, more research can be conducted to make USC one of the most influential research institutions. As human beings we constantly strive for perfection and whenever we reach one goal we create a new one. Even if these improvements are made to the sociology department, someone else will find other improvements, bringing it that much closer to perfection.

USC Honorary Degree: Barrie Thorne

Since commencement will arrive in just over a month, this week’s post will discuss the University of Southern California's honorary degrees. This week I was challenged to find someone I thought was deserving of the USC honorary degree in my field of interest, sociology. However, there is some controversy over who is deserving of these degrees. James Freedman discusses how honorary degrees have been carelessly given out to those who do not deserve them. However, USC has specific categories and criteria that a nominee must fulfill to receive an honorary degree. USC’s four categories of criteria prevent those who do not deserve the degrees from receiving them. The first is “to honor individuals who have distinguished themselves through extraordinary achievements in scholarship” and other fields. The second is “to honor alumni and other individuals who have made outstanding contributions” to USC. The third is “to recognize exceptional acts of philanthropy”. Finally the fourth category is “to elevate the university in the eyes of the world”. Beyond these four categories there must be a reason why the nominee is specifically appropriate for USC.

The woman I would choose to nominate for a USC Honorary Degree would be Barrie Throne. She fits excellently into the first category of scholarly and academic achievement. Barrie Thorne is a prominent sociologist with a focus on feminism. She is the co-director of the Center for Working Families in Berkeley as well as a professor of Women Studies at UC Berkeley. She has written several books including Feminist Sociology: Life Histories of a Movement, Gender Play: Girls and Boys in School, and many more. Also, Thorne is the recipient of the Jessie Bernard Award. This award “is given in recognition of scholarly work” that have contributed greatly to the field of sociology by the American Sociological Assosiation. In addition, it is given to those whose work “has enlarged the horizons of sociology to encompass fully the role of women in society”.

Thorne embodies these traits as a scholar, researcher, teacher, and mentor. Thorne has also received other numerous awards for teaching and mentoring. She has accomplished great achievements for the feminist movement. But the main reason for this nomination would be her contribution to ethnography. She argues that the way we research children is ineffective. Children need to be studied separate from all other spheres. In addition to her studies on children and women, her work also focuses on sociology of age relations, sociology of gender and ethnographic methods.

Barrie Thorne is an excellent nominee for a Doctor of Science Honorary Degree. In my encounters with professionals and non-professionals I have found that they do not consider sociology as a science. By honoring Thorne with this degree can prove otherwise. Sociology is based in research just like every other science. There is a stigma that sociology is an easy area because it is simply what a person thinks. This stigma needs to be removed because years of research go into every theory in sociology. This is the reason why it would be specifically appropriate for Thorne to receive a USC Honorary Degree; to dispel the notions, even of some professors, that Sociology is not a science, when certainly it is. If Barrie Thorne were to be chosen to speak at commencement she could talk about the importance of sociology and specifically the importance of finding new methods of research in any field. All fields, from history to science, have some form a research involved. Without new methods, the areas of study would come to a stand still. We need to continuously try and better ourselves and society through new ways of research, in all fields including sociology. A woman like Barrie Thorne would be an incredible asset to the University of Southern California.

Teaching: The Importance of Sociology

This week’s post is inspired by “This I Believe.” This I believe is a project “engaging people in…discussing the core values and beliefs” of their lives. This project helps explain my core beliefs about sociology and education. I entered the field of sociology because I wanted to teach, but I did not start with a sociology major. In high school I realized that I wanted to motivate people to do great things. Through this I discovered that I wanted to teach, specifically high school math. The first two and half years at the University of Southern California were spent studying math. After completing all the concrete math courses, like calculus and linear algebra, the classes that were left were abstract theoretical courses. These classes were not enjoyable to me, so I decided to switch majors. The switch from math to sociology occurred because of my desire to teach, and sociology provides an excellent understanding of people and situations. Through the courses this semester, sociology of childhood, deviance, and theories, I am learning how children think and react in situations. This will provide me with tools to better educate students.

Through observations in elementary and high schools, I have seen the effect of a sociological background. My mentor, Dr. Barbara Gereboff was a sociology major in college and then continued to get her graduate degree in education. She is now a principal of an elementary/middle school. I have seen her work with students and she has a better understanding of social situations and is better equipped to deal with different types of students and families. Compared to the other principals that I have had, she has far surpassed them on the level of understanding her students. If more teachers had this background then classes would run more smoothly and the needs of more students would be met.

To be a good teacher one must first have a mastery of the material one wishes teach. I want to teach math and I have taken all concrete math classes available, I feel that that this is enough knowledge of math to teach all levels of high school. Second, a teacher must be able to control the classroom and all the situations that will arise. This does not come easily for some people, this is why sociology is helpful; one can predict certain situations and fix them quicker and more easily than others, providing more time for actual studies. Classes like childhood sociology are especially helpful. This course teaches how children and childhood are conceptualized and perceived from an adult perspective. Knowing this I will be able to take more of children’s actions into account.

Two important sociologists that have influenced my beliefs are Barrie Thorne and Valerie Ann Moore. In Barrie Thorne’s “Girls Boys Together…But Mostly Apart: Gender Arrangements in Elementary Schools,” Thorne explains through her observations in her ethnography how she saw children created their own ideas about gender. In Valerie Ann Moore’s “The Collaborative Emergence of Race in Children’s Play: A Case of Two Summer Camps” she explores how children construct race at summer camp.

Knowing and understanding these situations help prepare teachers for situations in the classroom. It help prepares them to understand children’s backgrounds and why they act the way they do. Sociology provides tools to overcome many obstacles brought by students in school. The amount of research and information on these subjects reinforce my core belief that sociology and education go hand in hand. I do not feel that educators today are fully prepared for the situations they will encounter. But those will a sociological background will have a much easier time fixing the problems. I know that these skills that I will acquire from my sociology major will benefit me in the future.

Student Vanity: Needed to Survive Competative World

An article posted on CNN.com titled Vanity on the Rise Among College Students, claims that students today are more self centered and narcissistic than before. According to the author, these behaviors are not good for our society. The article starts out saying that children should not always be told they are special. This is where the author believes the narcissistic nature comes from. But positive reinforcement is important in child development. No one likes to constantly be told no, therefore when children exhibit good behaviors they should be rewarded. Studies have shown that children respond much better to positive reinforcement than to negative. Also the article talks about surveys that were conducted. Students were asked what the world would be like if they ruled or if they thought they were special. Many responded that the world would be better if they ruled and that they are special. But who does not think that they would be able to make the world better if they ruled? To get anywhere in today’s world students need to think they are special. They need to think that they can add something. The world is getting more and more competitive and therefore people must get more competitive; part of that requires having more self esteem and confidence. Even if a person does not really think they are the best, they need to create the illusion that they are. Only the best are wanted to be hired, therefore people must exhume as much confidence as possible. But this article argues that too much confidence is not good.

They use MySpace.com as an example. They argue that youth today want all the attention on them. On myspace.com people can create profiles with pictures and information about themselves. Yes, this website does shout “look at me look at me” but it is also a great networking tool. Similarly, there is facebook.com. The same argument can be said here that people just want to show off and make sure everyone knows how special they are. But there are so many great uses to facebook.com. Similar to myspace.com, facebook.com provides networking. You can see who is in your class if you need notes or want to study and you can find old friends that you otherwise would not be able to find. These profiles are not purely vanity. More and more facebook.com profiles are used for recruitment for jobs. With this shift, it is obvious that people will put their best on facebook.com and show off. They want to show that they are the best and deserving of the job, even if they personally do not feel this way.

The student run newspaper at the University of Southern California, called The Daily Trojan, responded to this article. The article was titled; You Probably Think This is About You. This article responded to the survey conducted. In response to the question of ruling the world, the author argues that students do not really think they could make the world better, they think that with how the world is today they cannot really make it worse. The author ends her article by saying “hey, I am special. And the world would be a depressing place if everyone thought they were average”. The world would be a depressing place and an unproductive place if everyone thought they were average. No one would strive to be the best and change things.

Perhaps youth of today are more self absorbed and narcissistic, but the world requires them to be. Being timid and reserved does not guarantee a job.

Problem Children: Every Generation Has Them

An article from The Canadian Press claims that there are more problem children today than there were fifty years ago. Children are “disruptive, aggressive or delinquent”. This following quote seems like it would fit seamlessly into this argument. “Children today are tyrants. They contradict their parents, gobble their food, and tyrannize their teachers.” But this quote was written by Socrates who lived from 469 BC to 399 BC.

Every generation thinks they were angels as children but their children are little devils. According to the sociology of childhood and Dr. Sternheimer, when adults look back at their childhood they remember through children’s eyes, not adults. How can it be claimed that chidlren are worse today than they were fifty years ago? Well what was going on in the 1950s? Elvis. Music is a big part of generation gaps. Parents, for the most part, considered Elvis Presley as symbol of deviance. The sexual movement of his hips was unacceptable. Parents did not understand why their children liked this rock and roll. A common connection to adolescent music is some sort of deviant behavior. Parents feared that if children listen to this music they will do drugs, commit crimes, become more sexual, and so forth. But to understand why children today seem so much worse than fifty years ago, the definition of child and its connection to innocence must be closely monitored.

When adults think of children they think of innocence. In my sociology class we were asked to write down synonyms to the word child. Words like immature, innocent, hopeful, cute, carefree, and others came up. But when asked to do the same for adults we found that most words were the opposite we put for child. It is in the definition of the term child that causes the problem. Society expects children to act in a certain manner even if children have never acted in that way before.

These claims could easily manifest into a moral panic. A moral panic is when the moral, ethics, and interests of a society are threatened. The fear is much bigger than the actual panic and there is always a group that will benefit. Childhood behavior could easily fall under a moral panic. Adults are scared and threatened of children and adolescents. An actual threat does exist, but the fear is disproportional to that threat. An example would be the school shootings in the 1990s. It would seem, because of new coverage, that there was an outburst of school shootings and violence in the 1990s when in fact there was a decline in number of children killed in schools. Statistically a child is twice more likely to be killed by lightning than killed at school. Media and news coverage add to the panic because they provide constant footage and information. The reason there seemed to be an increase in school violence was because there was more media coverage than there was in the past.

Forensic psychologist Marta Weber states that parents spend less and less time with their children because of work. She believes that lack of parent involvement has helped create these behavioral issues. Over 200 years ago in the colonial period children worked starting at the age of seven. There was even less parent involvement then. During the Industrial Revolution in the 1850s children were sent away to school or work and had very limited parent involvement. Throughout history there have been times where there has been no parental involvement and no behavioral problems. The correlation Weber is trying to make between parental involvement and child behavior is weak.

Children today are no worse than children fifty years ago. Children have changed, this is true, and so have their behaviors. But their behaviors are not worse, just different. Some are even the same. “Children today are tyrants. They contradict their parents, gobble their food, and tyrannize their teachers.” This has been and most likely will always be how adults feel about children in general.