Gifted Students and Social Stigma
Philosopher Benedict Spinoza said, "Man is a social animal" (Kaplan 278). The desire for social acceptance, whether recognized or denied, is part of human culture. People yearn for it, obsess over it, and alter themselves to obtain it. Humans can spend their entire lives unsuccessfully attempting to achieve a level of social status they believe will validate them. Acceptance is denied for superficial reasons varying from clothing to cliques. However, it is also denied due to innate elements of personality. Stigmatizing others for a natural characteristic not only seems unwarranted but also unfair. Yet, a stigma is imposed daily on gifted adolescents who neither deserve, nor know how to deal with, the disparagement. One group particularly stinted in terms of social acceptance is gifted students. Intellectually exceptional students are socially stigmatized. Often, their intelligence inversely correlates to their social abilities. The more precocious the gift the less adept the social skills. And the spectrum of the stigma extends from negative peer perceptions to an inability to interact socially with their peers, the extreme of which can result in suicide.
The origin of the social stigma is often educators and parents, those ideally associated with student guidance and support. The advanced ability of most gifted children is identified at a young age. And, in the current educational system of teaching the fundamentals and helping students to just get by, gifted students are not challenged. Director of the Area Service Center for Gifted Education in southern Chicago, Joyce Van Tassel states, "The system itself does not demand much of these students. We're worried about minimum competency and...
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Upon arriving at Cairo, Huck must decide if he should go along with society and turn Jim in as a runaway slave, or keep his promise to his friend, and see him through to freedom. Huck feels guilty not turning Jim in when he hears him talking about hiring an abolitionist to steal his family. He does not think it is right to help take away slaves from people that he doesn 't even know. To turn Jim in for these reasons would be the influence of society on Huck. Huck 's decision on this matter marks another major step in Huck 's moral progression, because he decides not to turn in Jim on his own. This is the first time he makes a decision all on his own based on his own morality. They stop at Grangerford’s Farm, in Tennessee, after the raft is temporality destroyed. With Huck busy with the Grangerford family, Jim was able to rebuild the raft. Huck just met the Grangerfords, but fits right in immediately. He later feels that someone should take the time to write poetry about Emmeline Grangerford, recently deceased, since she always took the time to write about other people who died. He even tries to write the poetry himself, but it doesn 't turn out right. Then he also sees people shooting at each other makes him sick to his stomach. He sees it as an act against humanity and he simply cannot relate or understand how humans can treat each other in such an uncivil
author Alexander Robbins states: “From the age of five children increasingly exclude peers who don’t conform to group norms. Children learn this quickly. A popular Indiana eighth grader told me ‘I have to be the same as everybody else, or people won’t like me anymore’” (150). The human brain is wired such that children will end friendships with kids that they find different. Robbins finds this behavior to be undesirable saying that it is not only unappealing, but it is a cop-out. In agreement with Robbins, parents across the world, organizations, and teen movies tell society that conformity is bad and that children should not conform to the group, rather they should stand alone and be individuals. However, Solomon Asch’s study may have discovered why this is. He concluded that: “The investigations described in this series are concerned with the independence and lack of independence in the face of group pressure” (1). Asch determines that in the face of pressure people are more apt to conform.
Brian Caswell’s book a cage of butterflies develops the idea of fear within society today, the social pressure of it all and the abusive nature of those who rule in it. These points are really driven home through the teenagers of the ‘think tank’ and especially through Greg. Greg is a teenage boy who is hyper intelligent but has a physical disability, having both his legs inactive he is teased and bullied. Although this isn’t directly stated in the book it is inferred many times. The other teenagers were faced with similar issues as being intelligent in the modern society is not cool. This fear and pressure of normal society can develop many issues, a few of which are feeling like you don’t fit in, feeling unloved and feeling like you are being
According to Siegel (2011), there are many reasons why both males/females turn to the life of prostitution. One reason in particular, which has an impact on this lifestyle, is people that are brought up in dysfunctional homes that are found in small urban areas. Also sexual abuse from family members or people that are close to them plays a huge role. Lastly, substance abuse can also be a factor for being a prostitute because they need to find that next fix and selling their services can get them what they need for their addition. Furthermore, Siegel (20...
The grandmother uses many excuses for the family to go to Tennessee instead of Florida on vacation. The first of her many excuses is “The Misfit”, a serial killer that has escaped from prison and is headed toward Florida, claiming that she would never take her children anywhere near a man like that. This didn’t have the desired effect on Bailey so she explains to him and his wife how the children need more variety and they should take the children to see different parts of the world, East Tennessee for example. Once again her plea to Bailey and his wife had no effect. Even after they had left home she continued to try and divert them from their coarse. Finally succeeding when she convinced the children they would like to visit an old plantation home she had visited during her own childhood.
The opposing side of prostitution involves extensive negativity. It may be the oldest profession in the world but numerous people feel that this line of work is wrong and refuse to change their opinion of the subject. In addition, many feel that this job is deemed too dangerous to be legalized. Women will experience more violence by choosing this profession. Also, by engaging in sex with a complete stranger it is considered selling a person’s body making prostitution unethical and inhumane (Wurth, Schleifer, McLemore, Todrys, & Amon, 2013). The rates for sexually transmitted diseases tend to have higher statistics in the prostitution ...
There are many argument that people use to dispute prostitution from religion, to prudence, and even personal experience. However, the most widely used argument against it brings up the idea of trafficking and those forced into the industry by abusive boyfriends and pimps, or simply those who feel that they have no other option; and rightly so! These issues are huge problems and ...
The education system and the peer group within the school system are important socialisation agents in an individual’s life. Children from an early age absorb the values, attitudes and beliefs of the society in which they participate (Ashman & Elkins, 2009).
If you were to walk into a high school lunchroom, what is the first thing you would see? Groups, cliques, friend circles, and separations. Tables split up in detached formations, almost completely unaware of the other surrounding pupils nearby. The most common groups in high school are the populars and the outcasts. The kids who have endless friends, engage in team sports, and meet the ideal teenage standards, against the ones who are quiet, solitary, and unconventional. The ones that are outcasts fall into the second description. They don’t line up with society's norms therefore, they tend to be looked upon as bizarre and atypical. Outsiders are too often misjudged and misunderstood
... the part of the photographer and is characterized by the perception of the spectator. However, it is important not to neglect that the perception of the spectator is not independent of the spectrum (subject). It is not the photograph as a whole, which pierces a person, it is the certain “partial image”. Whether this partial image is created digitally or prepared via analog photography, the spectator’s mind does not make the distinction in respects to punctum. When I see an subject that animates me, such as my grandfather, I do not pick and choose which image of my grandfather moves me (digital or analog), it is the concept of my grandfather which allows me to experience punctum. Therefore, digital photography does not eliminate the possibility of undergoing punctum because the process behind recognizing these concepts is not directly involved with the medium used.
According to Frey, prostitution is defined as “acting against one’s convictions in order to get a reward” (Frey, 2003). Prostitution at one point of time and still may be a controversial issue within society, some may think it’s illegal for a woman to go out on a corner and sell her body and others may it’s an easy way to make a living. Prostitution is seen by many women as easy making money for their family, drug habits, paying off drug debts, etc. but could lead to many complications such as diseases, death, arrest, etc. In one study, 67% of a group of law enforcement officials expressed the opinion that women did not enter prostitution voluntarily (Raymond, 2003). Raymond also mentions that 72% of social service providers did not think that women voluntarily choose to enter the sex industry (Raymond, 2003).
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The issue of prostitution has sparked different reactions from societies around the world, with each culture defining it in their unique way. However, most communities agree on the definition of prostitution as the act of directly engaging in sexual activities for financial gains. The practice has been in existence since time immemorial although the reaction of people in the society differs. Various theoretical approaches have tried to explain the concept of prostitution considering the principal causative agents and the sociological impacts and responses. This essay will describe the theoretical approaches relating to prostitution and the sociological understanding and effect of the practice to the society. Sociologically, prostitution is