5/7 Reading Thoughts
1. The demand for service. The first reading this week began with a really interesting concept to me; this idea that service can now be effectively demanded from a person. While we think of service as something separate from work (as the piece points out), it's still something that we put on our resumes, and scholarship and school applications just like work experience. It feels as though there are some areas where service history is really required in order to be competitive, and it certainly gives you an edge in many different fields. For example, I was reading something about predictive, statistics based models earlier this week and the author used the exact example that when scouting baseball players to draft into the major leagues, community service is not something that can't accurately be quantified, but still something thought to show something about a persons character and is therefore useful to talent scouts looking for players who will be 'morally responsible' as well as athletically gifted.
I could go on more, but I guess the point is: At what point does service become an informal requirement for a specific field? And does it becoming a requirement detract from it's 'character building' nature? Does that aspect even really matter as long as service is being done?
2. In the second piece, the distinction between the three types of citizen was really interesting to me. I think this might describe a lot of the differences between how people on the left and the right of the political spectrum view responsible citizenship. I would love to see some surveys done correlating self-described political association with a choice of which kind of citizen they see as being the best example of a 'model' citizen. Actually I'd love to see a lot of different statistics paired with what kind of citizen people most identify with.
3. The third piece had a good analogy that I'll definitely be using in discussions in the future: The idea that life could not have been improved for persons with disabilities without specific attention to their needs. This seems like as good an argument as any against the idea that difference-blind policy is the best policy, and provides an actual example of successful policy where it was necessary to research and act upon the needs of a specific minority.
CERP Resources:
Of the reading we've done so far, I feel like the one that has impacted how I look at the Germany trip and my CERP project the most is definitely the Illich speech, 'To Hell With Good Intention'. Although not directly a resource which I'll be likely to be citing in my work, it's certainly something that I'll read again and consider when I'm closer to picking my topic. Although the CERP is a Research Project (RP), it is also Community Engaged (CE), something I'll want to keep in mind as I begin.
The second reading that has most influenced me would probably be the chapters of Age of Migration we've read. They have been a great mix of an overview of the topic as well as a nice amount of statistics and numbers to get my brain going in considering research topics. I will I had enough time to read the whole thing, as it seems like it would be worthwhile even outside of the context of the CERP. I don't know that I'll end up directly using it in my research but, as with the Illich speech, it has been instrumental in shaping the beginnings of my knowledge in this topic.
Odds are I'm going to end up trying to do something econ related, but who knows. I'm glad we've had a variety of readings so far which have given me the opportunity to consider some different facets of the issue.
I could go on more, but I guess the point is: At what point does service become an informal requirement for a specific field? And does it becoming a requirement detract from it's 'character building' nature? Does that aspect even really matter as long as service is being done?
2. In the second piece, the distinction between the three types of citizen was really interesting to me. I think this might describe a lot of the differences between how people on the left and the right of the political spectrum view responsible citizenship. I would love to see some surveys done correlating self-described political association with a choice of which kind of citizen they see as being the best example of a 'model' citizen. Actually I'd love to see a lot of different statistics paired with what kind of citizen people most identify with.
3. The third piece had a good analogy that I'll definitely be using in discussions in the future: The idea that life could not have been improved for persons with disabilities without specific attention to their needs. This seems like as good an argument as any against the idea that difference-blind policy is the best policy, and provides an actual example of successful policy where it was necessary to research and act upon the needs of a specific minority.
CERP Resources:
Of the reading we've done so far, I feel like the one that has impacted how I look at the Germany trip and my CERP project the most is definitely the Illich speech, 'To Hell With Good Intention'. Although not directly a resource which I'll be likely to be citing in my work, it's certainly something that I'll read again and consider when I'm closer to picking my topic. Although the CERP is a Research Project (RP), it is also Community Engaged (CE), something I'll want to keep in mind as I begin.
The second reading that has most influenced me would probably be the chapters of Age of Migration we've read. They have been a great mix of an overview of the topic as well as a nice amount of statistics and numbers to get my brain going in considering research topics. I will I had enough time to read the whole thing, as it seems like it would be worthwhile even outside of the context of the CERP. I don't know that I'll end up directly using it in my research but, as with the Illich speech, it has been instrumental in shaping the beginnings of my knowledge in this topic.
Odds are I'm going to end up trying to do something econ related, but who knows. I'm glad we've had a variety of readings so far which have given me the opportunity to consider some different facets of the issue.
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