Ethnography.com – Page 12 – ~ a group blog on a variety of topics related to anthropology, sociology, and ordinary people ~

The Fallacy of “Workforce Ready” in Public Education

Posted on October 17, 2015October 19, 2015 by Tony Waters

The United States was set back on its heels in the 1930s by the Great Depression. As a result, the United States charged the high schools with making the children “workforce ready.” The hope was that the schools could train children for the workforce of tomorrow—i.e. the 1940s—when the manufacturing base of the United States would be revitalized, and prosperity would return. I this context, children were kept in school longer (and out of the workforce), with the idea that they would be able to recreate the successful societies that the planners knew—the cities of the pre-Depression 1920s.…

Here is Why You Should Not Listen to Popular Music–But Will Anyway!

Posted on October 15, 2015October 14, 2015 by Tony Waters

One of my favorite sociological essays is Teodor Adorno’s 1941 “On Popular Music.” Adorno didn’t much like the popular music he heard on the radio in Los Angeles, and said so. He found it simplistic, monotonous, limited and manipulative. With an emphasis on manipulative. For besides being a classically trained musician, Adorno was also a leading critic of capitalism, and especially its need for endless consumption so that large corporations could generate profits.…

Comprehensive Firearms Education

Posted on October 11, 2015October 15, 2015 by Marianne Paiva

A few years ago, one of my colleagues called to ask me a favor. She was organizing a “Town Hall Debate” about legalizing marijuana, and was having a difficult time finding someone from the university to sit on the panel who would argue in favor of legalizing marijuana. It took me a few seconds, but I responded “sure, why not?” and a few more seconds before I realized, as a non-smoker, I actually don’t have an opinion of whether we should legalize marijuana or not; how would I ever advocate one way or the other?…

True Believers and Personality Tests

Posted on October 9, 2015January 31, 2016 by Julie Garza-Withers

I used to be a true believer in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). I can’t remember when I first encountered the 93 question test but it was probably during grad school. I was at my height of believing in it though, when I was part of a two-year leadership development program at my old job. I learned a good deal about leadership and made great friends,but there was also an emphasis on personality types that overshadowed much of the programming.…

Cowboy Nation

Posted on October 6, 2015February 24, 2016 by Julie Garza-Withers

A few nights ago, my husband and I saw the new sci-fi film, The Martian. We arrived early, grabbed our pairs of 3D glasses and set off to find seats, towards the back and on the aisle. I’d felt somewhat nervous as we sat there, paranoid with thoughts about Thursday’s mass shooting in Oregon and because back in August, employees at the theater I was sitting in had called the police to report a suspicious person who was later found to be carrying a loaded .45.…

The Problem With “Teaching Like You Do in America” While Abroad

Posted on October 3, 2015October 3, 2015 by Tony Waters

What are the limits to globalization? Does it apply to the university systems of the world, or is one university system just about the same as every other?

My experience is that at least for sociology, it is not “always just the same. I have taught abroad in Tanzania and Germany, and in each place, I ran up against different cultural expectations about what a university education involves. Recently, Palgrave Communications published my article explaining why it is in fact difficult to teach abroad.…

More Drama at Chico State: Bullies, Bullying, Administrative Power, Incivility, Cheese Cubes, and Cookies!

Posted on October 1, 2015October 1, 2015 by Tony Waters

The meeting about shared governance at Chico State that Julie attended and reported on here at Ethnography.com “Shared Governance or Managed Dissent,” in the form of a letter from California State University Chancellor Timothy White has run into a brick wall. The dispute has turned into an argument over the meaning of the word “civility,” and almost incidentally, the nature of bullying.Not a good frame work for addressing problems raised by the Academic Senate!…

What Your Teeth Tell Me About Your Social Class

Posted on September 30, 2015October 1, 2015 by Marianne Paiva

A recent sorority recruitment video from the University of Alabama last month was critically received on the internet for what some claimed were racist overtones. The nearly all-white, bikini and lingerie clad sorority sisters portrayed pranced happily throughout the over-5 minute long video, never opening a book, attending a class, or even appearing to be affiliated with a learning environment. As a college instructor, the mother of a young girl, and self-proclaimed feminist, I mentally ripped the video apart when I saw it.…

It’s Not How Many Times You Fall….

Posted on September 27, 2015September 28, 2015 by Marianne Paiva

I began writing my dissertation in 2003 or so. My first year in graduate school at Kansas State University, I had the good fortune of enrolling in Dr. Robert K. Schaeffer’s graduate Social Change course. When Dr. Schaeffer assigned the requisite term paper due in every graduate level course I have ever taken, he gave me the best advice I could get: every paper you write in your classes should in some way contribute to your dissertation.…

Teach Like You Do in America!

Posted on September 25, 2015December 5, 2015 by Tony Waters

“Teach like you do in America!” is the default instruction I receive when teaching overseas. I have heard it in Germany, Tanzania, and last summer in China. It is the default instruction by my hosts who assume that university classes are “about the same” everywhere in a globalizing world. What can I say? It ain’t completely true, and I wrote 4,000+ words to make this point in Palgrave Communications, a new Open Source journal.…

Binge Watching Ted Talks

Posted on September 23, 2015October 15, 2015 by Marianne Paiva

While writing my dissertation, my routine goes something like this most mornings:

Stop at the local pastry shop and get my favorite morning pastry: slightly warmed spinach crustada.
Drive to my office at the university.
Circle for a few minutes to find parking.
Hope I don’t hit any of the bicyclists who drive the wrong way on one-way streets.
Park.
Walk to my office.
Say hello to my colleagues.
Find my office.

…

Almonds in the Desert

Posted on September 21, 2015September 21, 2015 by Marianne Paiva

August 2nd, 2015

This is the principle reason why California has a water shortage: agriculture where it shouldn’t be. One side of the freeway is the natural, unirrigated terrain; the other side is irrigated almonds. We should never be growing luxury crops in desert climates.

We’re in the San Joaquin Valley. There’s no natural source of water here, like in Chico; these almonds have to be watered about three times the amount of the trees in the northern Sacramento Valley.…