JHarmon's blog

Hi again,

This is the second video I thought would be great to show everyone. Many of you may have seen it already since it's huge on youtube, however, for those who haven't, it's pretty valuable to watch (as are all the videos from RSA Animate). 

This video talks about reshaping educational paradigms. It discusses why our education system today doesn't work and urges us to rethink what education should look like and how we should be educating children in the 21st century. 

Again, I hope you enjoy! 

-Jillian

Hey guys! 

Since the topic of language and the power of language (what we can, cannot, should  or should not be able to say) has become a larger topic in class, I thought this video was fitting to share. We've been discussing how our language is shaped why white dominance and how our language online and in class is shaped by "politeness" and the fear of offending others. Here's another take on why we say "n-word" instead of "nigger" and veil our language with inuendos even though in the end, we all know that when you say "n-word," we hear "nigger." 

I have an even more fitting video I'll share to you in the next post :)

Hope you enjoy it,

Jillian

For many reasons, I'm compelled to say yes. I have met friends with limited resources and assets, yet through excelling academically, these people were able to find scholarship and aid to college. This is not to say though that purely academic excellence provided them a path to college. Factors like family expectations, values, and stable income were huge influences in these students' paths to college. And, if these factors were not present, I don't believe these students would excel as much as they had.

At some point, the desire to achieve is very limited by income and familial values. This is probably evident in the lives of most of us—even if we were not straight-A students, many of our parents' incomes and expectations were the reasons for our ability to go to college. Sure, academic promise is obviously part of our paths to get into college, but we cannot ignore that, for many of us (not all of us), we could never get where we are without the financial support of our parents and/or a community that valued education.

However, when a student lacks these resources, the fight towards gaining this caliber of education (Bryn Mawr or similar schools) is nearly impossible. Students with the most academic promise and passion to learn find themselves limited by financial constraints or community constraints. When a community looks down on education, I can see how uncomfortable it must be to rise above that.

This week, I chose to focus my writing on something our class hasn't really discussed. Throughout the semester, we've been talking about types of access that are imposed on us. Our income level, the class we're born in to, the community and culture we're a part of....these are generally aspects of access that have been imposed on us, or things we don't have full control over.

My thesis revolves around psychological attitudes and how they precede educational access barriers such as class or income. Essentially, I argued that the first step towards gaining access to education is having the desire and curiosity to learn.Without being psychologically openminded towards learning, the level of access one has is irrelevant.

I'm still wondering to myself about the development of my argument, and for this reason, this week's paper was particularly difficult for me to write and reflect on.  

Here is an excerpt:

Hey Everyone!

Hopefully you'll be able to view my "map"/path!

Enjoy!

-Jillian

Writing my educational autobiography was certainly more difficult than I had imagined. Plagued with the myriad of ways I could interpret education, I decided not to focus on the things I had learned in school because, as many of you will probably agree, education extends far beyond the walls of a classroom.

Much of my personal growth and education involved learning about myself and gaining a sense of independence and adulthood. By living in different cities throughout my life and eventually moving out of my parents house during my senior year, I began to understand the responsibilities associated with growing up, and I learned to appreciate the small community of which I grew up in contrast with the vibrant city I had integrated myself into.

My name is Jillian Harmon and I'm from a few different places I call home. My primary home is in Ithaca, NY, where I live with a friend outside of Cornell's campus. I've come to love Ithaca for its quirky hippies who walk their pigs down the street and beautiful gorges that integrate well with the city and connect me to nature. I also live in Spencer, NY, a rural one-stoplight town 30 minutes from Ithaca. This is my home town, although I feel little connection to it. Lastly, my birth mother is from the Philippines, but today she lives in Chicago. Growing up in three distinct environments (small city, rural town, giant metropolis) gave me a lot to reflect upon as I was growing up. I've always been curious about the way people see themselves within their environment and the cultures and attitudes of each of the places I've lived. Listening to viewpoints ranging from democrat and liberal (Ithaca) to republican and conservative (Spencer) have really led me to challenge what I believe in and why I believe it.