This reading was incredibly hard for me to read and I had to re-read each paragraph at least twice to get a general understanding of what was being discussed. However, I did not mind putting in the work because I was interested in the topic. In order to keep track of important vocabulary and questions I created a mind map in my commonplace book. This ended up being incredibly helpful because it allowed me to revisit topics I found confusing so that I could try and better understand them. At first, I was confused about what self-fashioning was so I watched a video that explained it which helped me throughout the rest of the reading.
The general idea of someone crafting their own personality interested me. It brought me to the question of whether or not someone can change their entire personality. I think that it is possible for individuals to slowly integrate new habits into their lives. However, if someone were to wake up one day and decide to change their entire personality, I do not think that the change would be sustainable. A drastic change such as this would not last because people are accustomed to their set habits. I agree with Augustine’s declaration, “try to build up yourself, and you build a ruin.” It is incredibly toxic to live by a set of ideals that determines what personalities people should have and maintain in order to be considered “elite.” The video I watched that spoke about the topic of self-fashioning discussed how the ideals formed in the sixteenth century led towards gender stereotypes. In the sixteenth century men “fashioned” themselves to fit into the ideals of toxic masculinity while women found their worth in their beauty. As I read on I learned more about how self fashioning gained popularity in the 17th century but existed prior to the time period. I also learned about the connection between self-fashioning and literature. This connection is present because a piece of literature reflects the style and personality of the author. If you analyze literature you can gain insight into the lives of the people who lived during the time period when the writing piece was published. For example, when you read texts from the sixteenth century you will find traces of “profound mobility” because it is what writers embodied during that time period as they discussed the construction of identity. I believe reading this passage will allow me to better understand the literature that I will be reading through my year in AP literature because rather than simply reading the words on the page, I will have the skills to further analyze the writing in order to extract information about the time period in which it was written as well as personality traits of author.
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After reading the first 6 lines of "Why We Stop Questioning" I got incredibly ecstatic because I have researched how the school system causes children to lose their creativity in the past and I was looking forward to learning more about the topic. I first became fascinated with the connection between school and the loss of creativity last year when I was working on my AP Language Ted Talk. I found that I was incredibly excited to work on the project because I was given the freedom to choose the topic so, naturally, I chose something that I was passionate about. I learned that at the age of 4, children “are seeking explanations, not just facts” which made me sad because although I go to a school that promotes genuine learning, my classmates and I are constantly memorizing without asking why. This is not because we don't care. It is just the way we have to function in order to take in all of the information that is thrown our way. As I continued reading I found that children lose their curiosity as they stop asking questions and this happens as they enter preschool. It let me down that our school system pressures children to memorize facts and spit out information at such a young age. There is so much research that the memorizing that takes place in schools is the direct cause of a drop in the amount of curiosity in students. However, our school system has not changed to get rid of memorization and replace it with genuine learning. The writing highlighted the importance of questioning as it has a direct correlation with curiosity. If we lose our curiosity then we stop improving. I was excited to read about all of the schools that are built to inspire children to ask questions. Reading about these schools' core concepts reminded me of galloway’s motto, play the game of learning, not the game of school. However, I believe that there needs to be a much larger change then the creation of expensive private schools that push students to learn rather than memorize. This kind of genuine learning needs to be accessible in every single school because it is your right to learn, you should not have to pay a fortune for it. In addition, the college application process needs to be completely rebuilt. There is so much research that proves a direct correlation between money and act and sat scores. This is an issue that everyone is aware of so why has a change not been made? I feel incredibly passionate about the topic of learning because I believe that a child's curiosity is a magical thing and hope that the school system changes to promote genuine learning. Personally, I believe that reading this passage will be helpful for every one of my classes next year as it has reminded me about the importance of learning, curiosity, creativity and asking questions.
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December 2019
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