Blog Highlights - July 16th

Stereotypes are exaggerated generalizations that others hold towards groups of people. Even though stereotypes are in our daily lives, I feel it is important that we explain to children at a young age that they are not all true. We have to teach them to not be socially institutional and to make them focus on equality like the matrix of domination. So far I have noticed through my field observations that these children are not racist at all. I was reading a book to them about Jackie Robinson, the first African American baseball player, and how he was discriminated against because of the color of the skin. A few moments after I finished the book a seven-year old boy made a comment that stuck to me. He said “who cares if he is black, if he is good as baseball then he deserves to play. People can be mean; we are people and come from the same place.” -IDS 100

Based on what the media had instilled in me I began to stereotype the people of color at the site before I even knew them. After meeting and speaking with more inner-city residents of the black race, it became clear to me that the media’s representation is not necessarily the whole truth. Although, these stereotypes may be true for some black people; it is not true for all. Stereotypes hurt all people involved. It was offensive for me to assume that people, of color are engaged in illegal activities because of their skin tone; however, it was unfair to me that the media instilled a poor representation of the race. -IDS 100

Trenton and Camden have many similarities when being analyzed together. Both had technological advances that helped the company grow. However, in Camden, the new advances cut jobs from workers or docked their wages. In Trenton, the new machinery opened up new positions in the line of work. While these are differences; the growth of the companies is still the same. Another comparison relates to the strikes that took place in each city. Riots broke out when employees were being treated and paid unfairly. In both cities, chaos occurred when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. Lastly, national capitalism overruled civic in both areas. -USA 101

Trenton and Detroit may have many differences but they have a good amount of similariteies as well. Both of these major cities had expeirenced major economic down turns. Both of these economic down turns were due to the deindustrialization happening in these two cities. Trenton lost most of its major industries to steel and pottery to large corporations such as U.S. steel and American standard. Detroit lost many of the great brands such as Mercury, Pontiac, and Oldsmobile that Americans loved. -USA 101

Today, the sixteenth of July, I toured around Trenton.  By seeing all of the different housings and corporate buildings, I was able to identify the poorer areas and its wealthier neighbors.  Stratification is basically layering people based on their economic status.  When I was touring Trenton today, for example, I observed the different areas within the city.  The west side is in a better financial situation than that of the other areas.  The Donnelly homes are very poor.  These homes are location next to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School, in the east side of Trenton.  Although the school is aesthetically pleasing and new, the surrounding areas are dangerous.  Next to a drug and squatter filled ex-middle school, the Donnelly homes are one of the lowest income facilities out of every cluster in Trenton.  There are four sociological classes in stratification: Upper, middle, working, and lower.  The stratas do not change and can be observed when taking a Trenton-wide tour.   The stratas are inequal but they are reality. -SOC 101

Stratification is having many people of different economic standard, come together. This is clearly happening in Trenton. While visiting the State Capital building, I observed that the surrounding building all fit in with the luxurious look of the large Capital building. One street over the feel of the city goes from sparkly to dull. The houses were damaged; there was garbage on the streets and people aimlessly walking. When compared it was like two different worlds. While on the West side, the houses seemed similar to my hometown, Hopewell. It is amazing how driving down one block is like driving into another country. -SOC 101

Blog Highlights - July 15th

Atlanta, being in the deep south of the United States, has severe racial issues.  The city itself used to be known as the exception of this problem but this title all came crashing down in 1962.  Segregationists showed massive amounts of resistance to the idea of being desegregated, the level of resistance shown here was much more than in Trenton.  After studying the “White Flight” that occurred in Trenton, it seems as if there was much less resistance than in Atlanta.  The white population just simply left the city and began their lives in the suburbs. -USA 101

The field site we are at (currently the MLK middle school) with the incoming Trenton Central High School students fits the structural functionalist paradigm. As stated in McIntyre’s book The Practical Skeptic: Core Concepts in Biology, the structural functionalist paradigm is partly defined by a society having a consensus/understanding of which values and norms are important in society. This part of the definition fits with the field site and the students because there is a general agreement about what is right and what is wrong. The students have different norms in their own environment/social class than I have in my own, but these different norms are what make the two environments completely different while at the same time allowing both ways to be socially acceptable. -SOC 101

Each day I spend with the children and adults from the Trenton community, it becomes clearer as to how their society came about. From what I’ve observed, the paradigm of Structural Functionalism explains the structure of Trenton relatively well. The values and norms that I have come to know and accept are much different from those of the residents in Trenton. Not only are these children born into a social structure which is historically surrounded by poverty, but the collective conscience of Trenton's residents feeds the norms that they see every day; such as, drug dealing, misbehavior, and dropping out of school. Of course people such as the parents and teachers don't want negative outcomes flowing from the community; as told by an Officer De Heart today, "These people don't want their kids takin' after them and sellin' drugs. Those aren't  the values they promote, but sometimes to make a livin' they do what they got to do."- SOC 101

Masculinity and femininity are prominent aspects identified at the field site by both the counselors and the children.  While dealing with the older members of the camp a majority of them are men and they assert their masculine traits through their authority and power. They have no problem being tough with the kids even if that means yelling at them for little things that don’t necessary demand reprimanding; for example sometimes Greg the head counselor will decide that the kids have to eat lunch in silence just because a few kids may be acting out. In this case, he is asserting his authority position of being in charge and having power, which is a very masculine trait of him. Femininity is also practiced, especially when it comes to the children. The girls do simple things like always wearing girly colors like pink but they also present their femininity in the games they play. You never see any of them playing basketball but instead the girls are always jumping rope. -IDS 100

At the field site, there definitely appear to be gender-defined roles that can be observed every day, even at the students’ young ages. For instance, during recess, the boys will play sports like basketball and football, while the girls will talk to each other or jump rope. Based on my observations, it seems that these kids are being brought up to believe that boys are meant to engage in predominantly masculine activities, like playing sports, while girls are meant to do more feminine activities. -IDS 100

Blog Highlights - July 11th

"The service that I have completed over the last week has been an eye opening experience. I have seen areas of Trenton that I would not have otherwise seen if I had not enrolled in the Bonner program. I was able to see Trenton post economic boom into the divide of the city that it is now. I hope to relate my service experience to why Trenton was destroyed from deindustrialization and suburbanization." -USA 101


"I was surprised by almost all of the students were very excited by education. When the teacher announced that the class was going to skip math for a day, the students actually made her teach them math. They would not let her skip the subject and were excited to learn the new information. Also, all of the children hoped to go to college and become things that require a higher level of education." -USA 101

"The students in Trenton schools are all capable of being very intelligent and all-around, smart kids, but the inadequate education has already kept them from being on the intellectual level that kids their age should be." -IDS 100

"The differentiation in quality education based on class continues the class levels of students beyond their education.  Getting a poorer quality of education reduces the ability for students to increase their rank in the future. This idea of income, class and education are prevalent at the field site where students fall behind in school, because they lack the ability to receive a quality education." -IDS 100


"Alea is a 13-14 year old, African-American girl who was born and raised in Trenton who has several siblings. These statuses were not chosen by her, yet they can be used to identify her social status.  Since she lives here in Trenton, not by her choice, and she is of African-American dissent, there are certain assumptions that come with those ascribed statuses that may, or may not be true. The status of gender, race, age, and ethnicity can all be considered master statuses. Students like Alea also have some achieved statuses. Some of those statuses may include being a rising freshman in high school. All of these statuses have different roles. The roles of being a teenage girl in Trenton could include maturing earlier, getting a job, and taking care of younger siblings." -SOC 101

Blog Highlights July 10th

"Most of the parents cannot afford to stay home with their kids or hire a babysitter, so nonprofit organizations such as Greg Grant's is one of the best options for the people in this area. I've never fully appreciated how blessed I was to have a mother who was able to stay home with her children, something some of these kids probably wish for. Because of their lower socioeconomic status, these inner-city families have to make sacrifices in which those of a higher class don’t have to make." - IDS 100


"I was only able to interview two students today, one of which lived in this type of household. Despite his circumstances he still had the drive that came from inside himself; however, he also had motivation from home. All of the family members in his house have graduated high school and he said that, “if I don’t graduate from high school my mom will kill me.” This was obviously not literal but it showed that his family had certain standards that he was expected to uphold." -SOC 101

"In my first reaction and interest in doing domestic violence in the home I had the impression it was happening all over the place and I would have the opportunity to maybe discover how it would affect our future generation. Today I had the chance to interview 3 kids (that happened to be all male) and considering it is a personal topic I got the responses that “nothin’ was going on with my parents” or “they just fight, that all” led me to the conclusion that it may not be at big of a topic as I lead it to believe.  Based on the observations on how the eye contact was broken, or fidgeting occurred during the interview, that may be an underlying issue that they may not want to talk about it, especially with someone they just met." -SOC 101

"In today’s time Trenton gives off a look of a run down, poorly funded city. This is thought of as the complete opposite of Trenton during its “Golden Age”.  During the days of civic capitalism, Trenton was a huge place for industry and companies to exist.  Ever since those factories switched over to national capitalism, tensions grew between workers and owners, the factories felt the need to leave the city of Trenton and settle elsewhere.  This would leave the once booming city of Trenton with less available jobs, leading to unemployment." - USA 101

Blog Highlights - July 9th

July 9th

"In class, we discussed how after national capitalism took over, the decline started and jobs started to move out of Trenton. We also discussed how it was very difficult for people stuck in the cycle of poverty to get out of it. I saw this from the way the children talked about their lives at home and all the responsibilities they had to take at an early age. Even in the early stages of my volunteering, I can see that my actual experiences in Trenton mirror that which I learned in class. " - USA 101

"Our classroom discussions also draw parallels to my experiences in Trenton. Despite the children’s low socioeconomic status, the children have dreams for the future. As civil capitalism was swept out by national capitalism, the city of Trenton suffered. This suffering has affected families in Trenton for years. Like we discussed in class, people have a natural inclination to rise in society. The kids at our volunteer site have this desire. Even if they are not aware of their disposition, they want to break out of poverty and go to college or be a professional athlete." - USA 101

"The Learning Lab students and their families are most likely caught in the current. They cannot afford a higher education but are doing the best they can to make sure that their children learn as much as they can. Despite the odds that are against them, the students are able to remain positive and dream about their futures." - USA 101

"One of the children told me that he did not have cable at home, and another told one of my friends that she only goes into swimming pools once or twice in a year. These kinds of stories shocked me. I watch cable television almost every day for hours, and my neighbor has a pool, so it was almost impossible for me to imagine the life that these children live. Moreover, these conversations with the kids made me see how white privilege actually exists. After last night’s reading I did not feel as confident about my understanding of white privilege as I did after today’s day of service." - IDS 100

"I came to this program knowing that the lifestyles and situations of the residents in the area would be different from my own, but I was not expecting to be hit so hard on how strong these differences and privileges are. After my first day of class I began to understand the concepts and reasoning behind the differences. Enlightened by the theories of social stratification, matrix of domination and oppression, I developed a different perspective of Academic Sports Academy." - IDS 100

Blog Highlights - July 8th

As the students begin classes, they will be asked to blog each night reflecting on the service they have done, something they read in class, or another topic the professors or staff think would be beneficial to have each student think about in more depth.

We will read through the blogs and share some excerpts through the weeks. I am going to leave out the names of the authors so the students continue to feel free to write their true thoughts! They have already contributed some great insight and we look forward to hearing more from them soon!

Enjoy!


July 8th 

"Race plays a huge part in our every day interactions with others and you can definitely see the de facto segregation that is still present in today’s society."- SOC 101

"I gave one student a high five and the rest of the tense kids stretched their arms out with smiles and laughter.  Apparently, once someone approached them with a positive attitude, the Trenton Central High School students responded eagerly to not only meet me, but to engage in a friendly conversation." - SOC 101

"Today we ventured to the Habitat for Humanity Learning Lab. I was assigned to help with kindergarten and 1st grade with Ms. Laura. At first I was a little nervous because I had never really worked with such young kids. As I got more into the day though, I became increasingly comfortable with the kids and the environment. Ms. Laura introduced us to the class and we sat down in a circle. We went over the vocabulary for the day, and practiced the alphabet. It was kind of amazing at some points to see how the kids interacted with their classmates and teacher, and how immediately welcoming they were of my presence." - USA 101

"Seeing how happy they are despite their struggles is very bittersweet. It's heartbreaking for me because it makes me wonder how such good people can be forced to endure such difficult lives." - USA 101

"All at once, I became aware that this was a completely different environment than the one that I had grown up in--one with more hardships and economic problems." - USA 101

"By the time I left, though, I already felt connected to some that had shared their stories with me and had faced fears such as reading a chapter book." - IDS 100

"As we cruised down busy, unfamiliar roads I overlooked broken down cars, abandoned houses, and pure poverty. Coming from a predominantly white town, with no visible poverty I was beginning to feel slightly nervous. My thoughts wandered to what the 2^nd and 3^rd grade students would be like. I have always babysat and known how to interact well with kids, but I wondered whether or not I knew how to interact with kids that came from places that I was seeing, places completely foreign to me. Almost out of the blue, the van pulled over in front of a massive stone building. It had beautiful, new black gates in front and seemed like it was in a completely different city from the one I had just driven through. When we went inside I saw that not many students looked like me and I became even more nervous. Next, we followed the group of students into the gymnasium where I participated in a tag game. At this point I began to talk to different students about themselves as well as the activities they were participating in. Following play time, the students had snack at which point, they all wanted me to sit next to them. Once they had finished eating, the students spent the next hour reading to the Bonner volunteers. At this point I realized that although these kids came from a different background than my own, they were still children that enjoyed the same childhood activities as I once did. Never before did I feel so connected to people that seemed so different from myself." - IDS 101

Team Building Pictures!