unit 2 culture blog

1. in my life i would have to say a defining example of "water" is the community of buffalo grove and its attitdue to schooling. living in bg, it is shoved on u at a young age that the key to success and only way to be happy is doing good in high school, going to college next year, getting a good job, and starting a family. i feel that everyone is being told this, so its nothin new or exciting, its just how life is here in bg. i dont think this is necessarily a bad "water", but when peopl ask others where they are going next year and they say, oh im working and not goin to college, we stare at them and think, wow theyre not going anywhere. its not because were mean, its because weve been taught that and have grown up thinkin that.

2. i ride the "water" surrounding me. i am going to be like 98% of the school and go to college. no surprises there. its hard to swim out of the water, and i give kudos to those that succeed by working straght out of high school without a college education. im applying to 5 big 10 schools, and so in this example i fit the "stereotype" of bg, a kid going to a big school with a dream of success and a family down the road. i realize how much im influenced. i really do think its weird that some kids dont go to college after high school. ive just been brought up in a way thtt says college=job=success=money

3. the american values i embrace are physical fitness and individual personality. i'm a workoutaholic and i believe that everyone has teh right to be themselves all the time no matter what anyone says. i think i can adjust self-fulfillment and concern for the environment. i want to fulfill tasks that will make me feel good inside, that dont just benefit me but maybe a group of people or the environment. i want these two ideas to go hand in hand if possible. i "creatively" adjust values by making them my own. i would like to be able to tweak culturally influencing values into ones that arent based on individuals like i feel most values are. i want american values to better everyone, the poverty in the world, global warming, peace, all that good stuff. pretty much i would like to be able to make people less individualistic and instead think as a group and a world community.