Leaving Class

Today in class, I gave you all the assignment to write down all the "unique" or "interesting" things you saw around the classroom, about me, or your fellow students.  After compiling the list, I instructed the class to discuss what they found to be unique and why they felt it was interesting. I then left the room for five minutes expecting the class to discuss as a whole what and why they felt it was unique/interesting but knowing the class would probably just talk with their friends.  The purpose of the activity was to show you that we, as a society,  have a set idea of how certain groups should act and behave.  Our expectations are that teachers are supposed to lead discussions, not students, so when I was expecting you to do work without me leading you it brought you a level of discomfort.  That is what we will be doing in this class as sociologists. We will be analyzing people and people in groups and look for patterns of behavior and analyze how those patterns affect people.

The second part of class we actually discussed the things that you felt were unique in the classroom.  Someone mentioned the Beastie Boys posters.  I asked the class why they thought I had the posters hanging up.  A few people said, "Because you like them".  I challenged the class to answer "Why do I like them?"  Yes, I like them but "Why?".  After a few guesses someone stated, "because they were prevalent when you in High School".  Yes! What else do we have in common?  "You are all males" Yes!    If I was born in 1925, I probably would not be a Beastie Boy fan.  If I was a born in and lived in Sudan, I probably would not be a Beastie Boy fan.  I'm not a 12 year old girl so I'm not a Spice Girls fan.  There are plenty of outside influences that we tend not to reflect upon that help create who we are.  Understanding, analyzing and reflecting on these influence is also what sociologists do.  It is also what we will do in this class.  We will reflect on this influence and try to explain and understand their power in our lives.  The outside influences of gender, race, who we associate with, social class, time and many other factors create what sociologists call the SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION.  This term is a main driving force of this course.