Caught in Between

Happy Spring Semester! This means more blogs and more Michael Jackson songs as titles. :o)

I’ll talk about my spring classes in my next blog, so I will use this one to talk about my Intersession 2010 experience this time around, which trumped last year’s.

Last year, I stayed home longer and came back to take an awesome class. This year, I came for all of Intersession and took 2 classes and assisted another one.

Imagine if you could go to school, but not have any real work to do. You have all the perks of seeing your friends, using your mealplan having emptier/quieter dorms, but no real work, just random 1-2 credit classes about things you like. Kind of amazing. I also got a lot of movie watching time in and lots of time to spend with friends outside of club events. Relaxing…

The first class I took was a sociology class called “White Privilege.” Weird and blunt title, which I liked. We learned about how being white in American came to be a hidden privilege and the benefits that came/come with that privilege. The class was a nice mix of white, black and Asian, so that was pretty cool too. People in the early 20th century in America used to go to court to try to prove their whiteness, because if that was legally proven, then they had access to better homes, jobs, schools, services, healthcare, etc. Japanese and Indian were among some of the races that tried to prove their whiteness based on skin color, but the courts refuted their claims and said whiteness went beyond skin color. Many of the “new immigrants” from southern and eastern Europe were treated poorly by the “old immigrants” from Ireland and whatnot, comparable to the way blacks were being treated. After WWII however, they got new status as being “white.” Very strange how our country has treated race…I could go on but there’s not enough room in this blog.

The other class I took was a public health one, called “The Obesity Epidemic.” This class was taught by one of my public health professors I had last year and he’s great–very enthusiastic and animated when he lectures. Apparently, 70% of Americans are overweight and a third are clinically obese…which are astronomical figures. This epidemic isn’t only in the US, but in other developed countries aqnd even in poorer, developing countries. The course tried to get us to think about WHY this was occuring, besides the fact that people are eating more calories than they are expending. The environment is the main culprit, as our teacher described it, because supersized, easy to get, unhealthy, cheap food is our default. He pointed out that life expectancies in the US shot up at one point in the early 20th century not because of new medicines or vaccines, but because the environment was changed through water sanitation.

Map=obesity…red is the most obese. Actually this map is kinda old…more states are red now

Changing the environment is a good way to make people healthier because people don’t have to do anything…it sounds awful but it’s true! We’re more responsive and benefitted more when things are done for us and we have no choice but to live with it. Some things to change the environment include taxing junk food, advertising healthier foods, and soooo much more. If you couldn’t tell I loved the class, despite the fact that each session was like 3.5 hours (well it was a 4 day class so it’s ok).

The last thing I did was become a course assistant for a B’More! Freshman course, about cancer. Course assistants took care of registration of students. Each class was assigned a neighborhood to explore and assistants had to lead the students in our classes around, which was fun but a bit weird because I had a pack of 20 students following me. We visited local landmarks and took pics…and no one got lost or left behind so I was happy about that. Being a course assistant made me have to trust my leadership skills and be confident in my abilities to engage students and make them feel comfortable (especially important because they were freshmen). Not to mention, I made a cool new contact in the professor who taught the course. It was her first time teaching and she wants to go into it one day, so this was good practice for her. Plus, I met 20 cool freshmen, with whom I still interact when I see them around.

Now THAT’S what a relaxing, but useful, Intersession is supposed to be like…so I am happy I got to partake this time around.

Until next time,

Dominique

Each semester I try to give an exclusive look at one of my classes. This time, I’ll do my “Education and Inequality: Individual, Contextual and Policy Perspectives” class, an upper level writing intensive course in the sociology department. I was going to break my Michael Jackson title streak for this entry until I thought about his song “Keep the Faith.” I say this because in this class, we have examined disheartening statistics about schooling, theories and reasons for them, and possible solutions. At first, I felt like all this class did was reinforce my knowledge of how bad things are for the U.S. in terms of education. Then I got over it and realized that a LOT of people have been and still are researching this problem and working on it–hence the “Keep the Faith” title I’ve given to this blog entry. :)

The professor is Dr. Stefanie DeLuca, who has got to be one of the most laid back professors I’ve ever had. She is young and brilliant, and devoted to studying the sociology of education, and outcomes of education for youth. And she tells us to call her Stefanie, which is kind of weird I won’t lie. But she’s definitely another great professor JHU has to offer–and NOT in a pre med department!

So what is this class about anyway?

We started off talking about theories of education and society. Theories like…legitimation, where some people think that education is not as necessary as people think it is! These people believe that society has been brainwashed into thinking that we’ll die without education, because education is seen as a system of rites that youth pass through in order to fulfill different social roles within society, rather than a tool to make youth more informed and helpful citizens. These theorists don’t necessarily think that higher education=higher skill and competence. Now if you’re reading this blog, you’re probably really interested in Hopkins and therefore are really into higher education, so that theory sounds crazy to you. Me too. But in their defense, if you think about it, a lot of us do hw and schoolwork begrudgingly because we have to, or else we won’t get to the next level. Am I lying? Let that one simmer.

Another theory is the functionalist/socialization theory, which says that schools preserve social order by integrating youth into adult roles, which include training them for demands in the labor market.

And yet another one says that education is influenced based on the needs of society. like Roman education focused on being good warriors; Middle Ages society focused on Christian-izing (yes I made that up) their youth; in the Renaissance, youth were taught more artsy and literature topics; and today, we can see the HUGE emphasis on math and science. So this portion of the course was background.

We then talked about how people attain education and how they end up where they are, educationally and socially. The United States is considered a meritocratic system, meaning that people who start as underdogs but use their wits and intelligence have a high chance of making it to the top, like a “rags to riches” type thing. Other societies, like the U.K. for example, have a more pre-determined system, based on socioeconomic class.

 One of my favorite parts was talking about the test score gap that exists between white and Asian students and Black and Latino students. It’s obvious that the latter group is still lagging behind, despite improvements in overall test scores. WHAT HAS CAUSED THIS GAP? There are parental, teacher, peer pressure, and environmental factors. It is argued that teachers judge students prematurely based on their socioeconomic status, and treat them accordingly. Many minority students complain of being accused of “acting white” if they excel in their studies, and therefore don’t try as hard. And there are a bajillion other factors and theories I don’t have time to get into here.

Another part I liked was gender and education. Overall, women are outdoing men in terms of educational completion and degree attainment, but we’re not seeing that feedback in the labor market! Men still get paid more then women do overall, for the same jobs. Some sociologists feel that from a young age, boys have the advantage over girls in the classroom because teachers supposedly respond to them more, and let them get away with more things. Girls are taught through subliminal messaging that domestic work and secretarial jobs are “meant” for them, and as a result many people feel like girls have the lower hand from a young age and become less confident and wanted in the job market. Or it could just be plain ol gender discrimination. What do you think?

Do any of you all go to high schools where there are different” levels?” As in honors, gifted and talented, college prep, vocational, etc…? That’s called “tracking” and it has many many opponents who argue that students in the lower tracks get the short end of the stick because of this ability grouping. They tend to get worse quality of education as well as vastly fewer higher education opportunities. If you’re looking at this blog, you’re most likely in a high “track” for some or all of your classes in high school–well, statistically speaking, you end up better off than many of your peers. Is this fair? Should schools be “de-tracked” in order to ensure that everyone has an equal chance of academic success?

The last thing we talked about was whether college really is the right choice for our students. If you’re reading this blog (sorry for saying that so many times :)  ) you’re probably one of the people who is into what educational sociologists call the “College for All (CFA)” mentality.

You know it’s true. People push for higher education of our youth all the time, with little to no room to think otherwise about things like vocational/skills training–it’s all college or nothing. There is a huge debate going on about whether this mentality is healthy for America. Statistics show that getting a college degree in no way guarantees a comfortable middle class lifestyle; in fact,many high school grads/college dropouts achieve the same economic level as many college grads. Now of course there are other factors that influence this, but yea…a weird finding. Only a fraction of people who start college will actually finish with a degree, and they’re no better off than regular high school grads. Because so many students are arguably coerced into applying to colleges without looking at other possibilities, those who DON’T make it have no idea what they can do. Our professor is actually writing a book with other authors about why the CFA mentality is dangerous, for lac of a better word, if students are entering the process without being fully informed.

And for the final assignment, we have a lovely 10-15 page research paper on any educational topic of our choice, which I kinda need to start on. But yea, this class is so interesting and gave a lot of insight on the sociology of education in America. She is a great interactive lecturer and if you end up coming here, I’d try to take a class from her!

Until next time,
Dominique =]

I have decided that I’m one of the most indecisive people that I know. And yes, I consider myself as someone I know. And given that people often underestimate the extent of their own traits, I am going to conclude that I am the most indecisive person that I know. Now, sometimes I don’t think it’s a big deal. For example, when I can’t decide where to go out to dinner, there’s usually someone else that is proactive about it and can make a decision on the spot. I don’t know if I was always this way, but recently I have been able to notice it more and more. Here are three examples of how my indecisiveness has influenced my college experience so far in my junior year:

I. Courses

It took me an abnormally long time to decide on my course schedule this year. It wasn’t because I hadn’t been looking. I had registered for classes with everyone else. I also made a three page single-spaced document of courses that I could possibly want to change into. My major may just be the most interdisciplinary major at Hopkins only encouraging my indecisiveness. I was studying the Sunday before the add deadline and realized at 1 am that I wouldn’t be happy with my current schedule, so what did I do? I logged into ISIS and went from 16.5 credits to 12 and e-mailed my advisor saying, “Help!” Nevertheless, I’m happy with my schedule now:

The title is the name of a Michael Jackson song from his “Thriller” album. Although he was talking about something else, I thought it would fit because I am “starting” a new blog and a new year….ok cheesy again? I guess so.

But anywho… if you didn’t know, my name is Dominique, and I am a sophomore Public Health Studies (natural sciences) major. I don’t really know what I want to do career-wise, so all I can say is we’ll see how things work out. I think some of that will include involvement with the School of Public Health in terms of research or something to narrow my interests.

So, since this is my first official entry of the school year, I guess it is appropriate to reveal what my classes are this semester. I have a lighter load than many of my peers because my academic adviser and I decided that I had a lot of room and flexibility to take it easy this semester, coming off of one that was way too stressful for me. Also, I have a new job this year (more info on that in later blogs), as well as increased leadership in a few of my clubs, so I decided to test the waters and see how things felt this time around.

1.) Spanish Elements I:

The easiest Spanish class here (actually, for a beginner’s class, it’s a little harder and faster than I would have expected but still fine).

Hey, you have to start somewhere right? I was actually going to drop this class for an English one that is required but my adviser convinced me that it was not wrong to postpone the required class in order to take a non required one that I would enjoy. Plus, I think that knowing even some elementary aspects of a foreign language is wonderful and very necessary, especially for a major like Public Health.

2.) Public Health Biostats:

Basically statistics with health related applications. Or at least that’s how I like to think of it. It’s a required Public Health course, and it’s not too bad yet. I don’t really like statistics but knowing how to use it for research and reading/writing papers is crucial, and I think this is a general thing, not just for PH majors.

3.) Organic Chemistry I:

The dreaded ‘orgo,’ as it is so endearingly called. If you’re pre med you will hear about it and how hard it is and whatnot, regardless of the school you attend. Lucky for me, I have an amazing professor, Lawrence Principe, who is extremely funny and does a great job of explaining concepts to you so they’ll be explicit. I kind of like orgo at this point, so we’ll see if that remains as the semester goes on. Also, it’s much less mathy than general chemistry so hopefully that helps me out too.

4.) Education and Inequality:

This is a 300 level Sociology course that I am taking out of interest, and also because my major requires several upper level courses in the social sciences. I really like it because it talks about the history of educational inequality in the U.S., and about the different theories and reforms in place that have been used to effect change in these educational disparities. So far, we have talked about things like whether or not education is ultimately necessary, whether education has become a sector in the market instead of something to make us more informed citizens, and more. I like the class a lot, but it’s taking me a while to learn how to read all of the material effectively. Usually I can just fake my way through readings and discussions (which you shouldn’t do because that’s not the point of school) but I kind of want/need to stop that.

I hope to leave the class with a better understanding of why educational disparities exist and what can be done to help them, and then some. I was also interested in the course because I have a mildly-extensive background in working with the Baltimore City School System from an administrative point of view. So we’ll see how this class goes.

It’s kind of crazy how school has only been in session for about 3 weeks, yet I feel like we’ve been here for a while because it’s getting hard to catch my breath! Such is the life of an involved and engaged Hopkins student.

Hasta luego! (sorry about the elementary Spanish phrases but I need to practice them :P )

P.S. Enjoy the awesome and random dinosaur blog template!

–Dominique

So, it’s the day before my birthday, but I am basically treating the whole weekend like it’s my birthday (well at least trying to)…which means catching up with friends, going out to dinner, and just plain relaxing. So, I thought I would write a quick post about my classes this semester. I had an annoying first week of classes where I must have sat in 9,843 classes (ok, well not that many, but still, I sat in a lot of classes). After meeting with my adviser on that Friday, we finally decided on a schedule.

There are two types of students at Hopkins: those that spend a good week revising their schedule and those that just go with the schedule that they made to begin with. For me, it definitely takes me a while to develop my schedule. For me, it’s especially hard since my major is flexible in terms of requirements and my major, because it is so interdisciplinary, doesn’t have distribution requirements, and I’m ahead in terms of major requirements. In addition, I have to find chunks of time free in my schedule to go to the School of Public Health to work. And lastly, there are some classes that I simply just really want to take–like Modern Japan this semester–which unfortunately I decided wasn’t worth the headaches of trying to fit it into my schedule.

Anyway, to make this blog on the shorter side. Let me tell you what classes I finally decided to take. I know this is a stereotypical blog to have. But honestly, I think it’s interesting to find out what classes people take and what people are learning about. Plus, I think it says a lot about Hopkins to find out what classes people are taking. Someone who reads the blogs on Hopkins Interactive can find out the variety of courses offered by Hopkins.

–Medical Sociology: I start my week with this class, which is actually nut until 1:30 (meaning I can work on Monday mornings). When I walked into the class on the first day, I knew I was going to stay enrolled in it. The course introduces students to medical sociology, basically the application of the sociological perspective to health and medical care. Major topics include stress, social epidemiology and organization. I was happy to see so many pre-meds in this class. This seems like a weird opinion to have, but often people, especially medical professionals, see illness and death simply as a result of biology. Next week, I will present with two other peers in my section on how Something’s Gotta Give relates to medical sociology.

–Sociology of Disability: I didn’t know if I would fall in love with this class or not. I originally thought I would be dropping this course–it’s a writing intensive course and not necessarily something I thought I would find relevant to my interests. However, on the first day of class, the teacher said “This is going to by your second favorite course. And I say second favorite, because everyone already has their first.” How could I turn that down?! Plus, the first week of class presented disability in an international context, something that I had not expected. Lastly, I quickly realized how confusing disability actually is. Is obesity a disability? What about pregnancy? And should disability be defined as a problem resulting from a poor environment? These are just some of the questions we have already faced and I’m excited to find out what next year’s classes will have us discussing!

–Population/Community Ecology: This class is actually cross-listed with public health. Surprised? I quickly realized that understanding how animals interact with the environment is extremely important. Understanding why animals are distributed the way that they are can tell us a lot about our environment and the influence that the humans have on it. The best part of this class may be the two full-day Saturday fieldtrips. One of which involves hiking and canoeing! Sure, I was a little disappointed that they happen to land on TWO home lacrosse games, but still, learning outside of the classroom is going to be a lot of fun.

–Epidemiology: This class is one of core public health classes that both natural sciences and social sciences public health majors have to take. However, it is meant for just juniors and seniors. Since, I have taken all the other core classes and am planning to study abroad and graduate a semester early, this was the ideal time for me to take this class, especially since it is only offered in the spring. I am super excited to take this class. I don’t necessarily think the material is going to come easy, but I know that it’s going to be rewarding. Epidemiology is the science behind pubic health–ever wonder who is behind tracking down the peanut butter scandal? Epidemiologists!

–Oral Presentation: My last course I am taking not for my major, but for myself. This is actually the first graded course I am taking that will not count for my major. And it actually may be my hardest class, even though it’s my 100-level course. Presentation skills are something that I have lost when coming to college. I have become more nervous before and during presentations. Although not relevant to my major, this will probably will be the most relevant to life. Everyone needs presentation skills. For this class I will have a different type of presentation every week (from interviews to technical presentations). The class is filled with people who are actually less nervous when it comes to presenting, but I decided to stay in the class because I know in the long wrong everything I learn in the course is going to be valuable.

So, that’s my schedule! Once again, it’s another well-rounded schedule which took me a week to craft. But, I’m excited for it…and that definitely means it’s a good schedule!

Hey guys!

So I’m stuck in the library for the day (actually that’s not true, I just volunteered at the Open House for 3 hours), but nonetheless I’m in the middle of my third semester here…meaning I’m REALLY caught in between.  The middle of the semester can possibly be the hardest part of the semester–the energy built up from the summer dies down and December seems far away.  Also, I don’t have a “hell week” this year, but I have three hard weeks in a row beginning this week filled with presentations, essays, and exams.  As you can tell, I really have my head caught up in academics (where it arguably should be all the time). Don’t worry, I have had some fun too!  Just last weekend I went apple picking and pumpkin picking!  Although that is definitely not as exciting as Roxi’s Fall Break.  But because my mind is stuck in academics world, I decided for this blog to talk about my classes this semester.

My classes this semester are all over the place.  They actually are all cross-listed with “Public Health Studies,” but to me they still feel mixed and because public health isn’t technically a department, they are all coming from different angles.

I begin my week with Environment and Society Towards Sustainability: “An introduction to understanding sustainability, with a focus on identifying and implementing solutions for a world of increasing needs and limited resources.”  This is a 10 person course offered through the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering and taught by an environmental economist, Professor Norman.  She gets us to part from our hippy ways and to try to understand why it may be important to put a monetary value on resources and to question if economic growth is really needed and if the world can really support us.  The readings all have very different opinions.

Recently, we began a sustainability project where we each picked a product and are now beginning to research if the product is really sustainable.  My product is a pencil case made by TerraCycle through reusing Caprisun packages.  Our products may eventually be sold at a sustainability kiosk at the med campus.  I have a midterm on Monday for this class, so I need to buckle down.

My second course of the week is Global Public Health Since WWII: “Globalization has dramatically reshaped the world economy, providing great advantages to some but leaving poor nations to struggle with hunger, disease and death on a daily basis.  This course explores the impact of globalization on public health in the developed and the developing nations since 1945.”  This may be my favorite course of the semester–although not my easiest.  It’s all offered through the History Department…somewhere I never thought I would be exploring.  I have learned information that I don’t think I would have been able to in other courses (information about the history of institutions such as the World Bank).  We also get the chance to read books like Jeffery Sachs The End of Poverty and now I’m currently reading The White Man’s Burden by William Easterly.  This course has me think about why exactly we haven’t been able to solve poverty, where we’ve gone wrong, and what the best approach we should take.

My third course is Population Health & Development: “This course will cover the major world population changes in the past century as well as the contemporary situation and projections for this century. Topics include rapid population growth, the historical and continuing decline of death and birth rates, the mortality transition, increases in contraceptive use, population aging, urbanization, population and the environment and the demographic effects of HIV/AIDS.”  I actually really enjoy this class and it has made me rethink what my interests are in public health.  I have always thought my interests were in the environment, but now I’m thinking I may also be very interested in Population, Family, and Reproductive Health.  Of course, everything is connected in the grand schemes of things, nevertheless I have really enjoyed this course.  It begins to raise questions for me–what should we do about population?  Is population really a problem?  What are the differences between the developed and the developing?

My fourth course of the week is The City in Time and Space: Historical Sociology of the Urban World: “This course will cover the past and current developments of urbanization from a comparative historical perspective examining how cities operate in the increasingly connected and complex world of today.”  This course is probably my most unique one.  It’s a 15 person class and is considered a “Dean Fellowship Course” through the Sociology Department (an emphasis that I’ve selected to have within my major) because it is not taught by someone that is officially a professor, but instead is taught by a graduate student that is super interested in the topic–and was able to receive the “fellowship.”  This course is super broad because we cover from the beginning of time to modern times.  But it makes me think, what really defines a city?  Why do we have them?  Should the West be our focus when looking back at cities?  And how do cities of today compare to those of the past.

>Lastly, I’m taking Environment & Your Health: “This course surveys the basic environmental health sciences (toxicology, risk assessment), current public health issues (hazardous waste, radon, water-borne diseases) and emerging global health threats (global warming, ozone depletion, sustainability).”  This course is a large lecture–even larger than it has been in past years–and is technically offered through the Earth & Planetary Sciences Department.  At first the information was very science-y–talking about biotransformation, bioactivation, and toxicodynamics.  But I’m glad that I now know about these processes.  However, we’ve moved on more “exciting” topics like nuclear energy and the World Trade Center’s impact on human health.  And yes, we learned that peanut butter can be thought of as a carcinogen–as we’ve discussed in the message boards.

One thing is for sure, by the end of the day, the information I learn in my courses doesn’t make me feel optimistic.  I learn about how many people are poor, how many people are dying through malaria, that every day things that I do increase my risk of cancer, that population is a problem on just about everything, and that the way I live isn’t environmentally friendly.  This is just something that has to be accepted as a public health major.  I know that my future will be directly or indirectly related to helping the third world.  But so many people have been trying to help, and we haven’t succeeded, and sometimes we’ve actually made it worse.  Other majors don’t experience this pessimism. Public health learning is different–so different than learning a language, learning organic chemistry, learning about film–I’m beginning to accept the implications the developed world has, the scars we’ve put on our environment, and the constant deaths that I cannot yet help save.  Public health, although thought of as a slower way of saving people than clinical health, is also a population approach.  This means that maybe we can be optimistic about it, since public health strategies in the past have saved thousands.

Well that’s all for now…expect another post in two weeks!  In the mean time, how are you Roxi?  Have you finished your study abroad application(s)?  And I’m sorry for changing your Facebook to pirate language, right now mine is set to English UK–I’m slowly learning 24-hour time…although isn’t your computer’s clock already set in 24 hours?  So maybe you’d like it!

P.S. If my fan from Connecticut (who talked to Admissions Daniel this week) is reading this, please comment!