Bilateral learning: Week 11

          This week the article by Klein  (2008), From Mao to Memphis, talked about how Chinese fathers engage with their children.  Chinese fathers focus on teaching their children to be successful academically and develop morals to help continue the family legacy, in a way.  The fathers felt that there was a lack of moral development in US schools so they would fill in the gap, also the learning gap when they felt their children weren’t learning enough.  Although they were involved at home they weren’t visible at school events so a disconnect between them and the parents was created.  On a trip to Washington they came in contact with American parents and had a mutual learning experience.  Through that interaction and interaction with their kids in the American educational system they began to understand their coworkers better, because they understood how they were taught and how they grew up.

            People often say the children are our future, but the children also speak volume on the present state of things.  The way the children learn is because of the present people in power influencing how they learn and what they learn.  People often complain about the violence and harmful messages on tv, but it’s not the young people that are putting the messages out their it’s the older generation that controls the media.  Although it targets the younger generation and they generate ratings and make it popular and profitable for those that control the media, other generations are watching it too.  True if people didn’t watch it is likely not to be on tv, but if it wasn’t on tv people couldn’t watch it.  While living in a society that promotes individual choice and responsibility, it is harmful to the society at large when people begin to point fingers and not being able to determine the source… Is it the chicken or the egg?  Is it the people watching the shows or the people creating the shows?  Is it purely entertainment, thus not harmful because a person can separate fiction from reality or is it seen as a real life representation of what actually happens in society?  No matter the logic an argument is made to justify why they watch certain programs like the Bad Girls Club, which to the untrained and naïve mind thinks reflects reality, but in actuality doesn’t.  When will five or six people live in a mansion or in one place for that matter, with no job, no outside contact with no friends, boyfriends, and girlfriends as a source of outlet, in an environment that they are new to.  The answer only on tv.