Cradling Creativity (shown to the left) was motivated by the concept of mid-wife teachers as opposed to banker-teachers. According to Belenky (1997), “While the bankers deposit knowledge in the learner’s head, the midwives draw it out. They assist the students in giving birth to their own ideas, in making their own tacit knowledge explicit and elaborating it” (p. 217). The banking system does not promote creativity or critical thinking. It merely teaches students that the most important part of their education relies on the quality of their memory skills as memorization of facts determines their knowledge in this type of education system. Freire (1970) says “Verbalistic lessons, reading requirements, the methods for evaluating ‘knowledge,’ the distance between the teacher and the taught, the criteria for promotion: everything in this ready-to-wear approach serves to obviate thinking” (p. 76). Mid-wife teachers aide students in the dynamic process of thinking for themselves and exploring their academic capabilities through divergent thinking. I was moved by the mid-wife teacher versus the banker-teacher concept. I support the mid-wife teacher and his/her teaching philosophy as he/she nurtures individual thoughts and voices of his/her students. To depict this, I drew a woman cradling a brain instead of a baby. The woman is caring for the brain and ideas from the brain as if she would care for a baby. The woman is surrounded by a variety of collaged articles of clothing. I was motivated to break the “ready-to-wear” banking educational approach as Paulo Freire puts it. When I think of ready to wear, I think of an outfit already put together that requires no thought or effort. I decided to surround the woman cradling the brain in my piece with an array of clothes that are not ready-to-wear due to their variety and sporadic nature. Outfits are not made; thought would need to be put in to come up with an outfit before these clothes are ready to be worn. Creativity and expression are no longer hindered in this process. I drew the woman and the brain using chalk pastel, colored pencil, graphite, and micron pen. I decided to draw the woman and brain as the mid-wife teacher draws knowledge out from the students. I used a reference photo of my mother holding me as a baby to explore the intimacy and maternal nature that I wanted to convey in this piece on a more personal level. I included many different types of clothing worn by all people as a mid-wife teacher can be not only female, but also male. To further this point, I juxtaposed a bowtie in the hair of the woman. The mid-wife teacher cares for the thoughts and opinions of her students and works towards making her students feel confident in themselves intellectually. All students deserve to feel like their ideas are safe within the supportive arms of their teachers.
Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York, New York: The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc.
After I watched this video, it was necessary for me to take a few minutes and process. The formidable topics discussed in just under an hour was a lot to take in. The confessions of the young adolescents right at the beginning of this video told me that I was in for serious and eye-opening information. The major takeaway that I got from this film is how harmful the media is for teenagers, specifically girls, to consume on a societal level. This movie was made in the 90’s and in my opinion, nothing has gotten better since then regarding this issue. If anything, it has just gotten worse, especially with the rise and extreme popularity of social media platforms.
I was shocked to hear some of the stories that Mary Pipher told in the video. Specifically, I was taken back by the story of her patient that got so badly bullied she decided that she needed to buy a pair of designer jeans just, so she could make it through the day. No one should ever feel self-worth based off a label or brand. While bullying is a whole different issue in and of itself, society has coaxed young people into believing that the labels and brands they wear determine their value in life over anything else.
It was very surprisingly for me to learn that within three minutes of looking at a fashion magazine, 70% of women feel guilty, ashamed and depressed. There is an invisible pressure for girls to be beautiful in today’s world. This pressure begins as early as four and five years old with Barbie who is unrealistically proportioned. Daily messages through the media continue to bombard children and teens throughout their development/lifetime with their persistent facets. It would be hard not to take these messages seriously or even ignore them as they are constantly being shoved in our faces whether it be on a billboard on the highway or an advertisement on the internet. Once Barbie is no longer an interest, young girls/teenagers might start paying their attention to magazines. Now, the fashion models that we see in those magazines and on television do not represent the average woman in America. They are perfectly lit, perfectly placed dolls that have been so photoshopped and altered that if you saw a person in real life who looked like that you would think they were a robot designed by possibly an evil chauvinistic scientist. We are programmed to believe at an early age that unless you are beautiful and thin, you have no value as a woman or even as a person. This stems from advertisements that promote sexuality as the most valuable thing that a girl can have to offer. Woman in such media are often treated as objects to be looked upon, a play thing to be used or a prize to be won. There are so many ads, tv shows, and movie scenes that feature and exploit impossibly beautiful women. A standard is then created and expected to be followed, much to the detriment of young girls. We pluck, suck, trim, shape, and tuck our bodies and hair until they are so contorted and different we do not look like ourselves natural selves anymore. Why must we follow these invisible rules of beauty? In the end, when young girls consume more of this harmful media, they run the risk of becoming depressed, possibly developing an eating disorder, and stunting their emotional and mental growth. Young girls need outlets other than looking good to help them grow into mentally strong and emotionally stable women. They need to foster relationships with people who love and support them for who they are as a person; what is in their head and heart rather than the kind of purse they own or their brand of designer jeans. It is noted that teens are growing up in a poisonous culture and it is because of a dysfunctional society in charge of setting these social norms whether how infeasible they are. In order for us to see change. Mary Pipher proposes that small acts of individual courage and kindness need to take place in order to counter this rather toxic culture that is currently the world that we live in.
I was shocked to hear some of the stories that Mary Pipher told in the video. Specifically, I was taken back by the story of her patient that got so badly bullied she decided that she needed to buy a pair of designer jeans just, so she could make it through the day. No one should ever feel self-worth based off a label or brand. While bullying is a whole different issue in and of itself, society has coaxed young people into believing that the labels and brands they wear determine their value in life over anything else.
It was very surprisingly for me to learn that within three minutes of looking at a fashion magazine, 70% of women feel guilty, ashamed and depressed. There is an invisible pressure for girls to be beautiful in today’s world. This pressure begins as early as four and five years old with Barbie who is unrealistically proportioned. Daily messages through the media continue to bombard children and teens throughout their development/lifetime with their persistent facets. It would be hard not to take these messages seriously or even ignore them as they are constantly being shoved in our faces whether it be on a billboard on the highway or an advertisement on the internet. Once Barbie is no longer an interest, young girls/teenagers might start paying their attention to magazines. Now, the fashion models that we see in those magazines and on television do not represent the average woman in America. They are perfectly lit, perfectly placed dolls that have been so photoshopped and altered that if you saw a person in real life who looked like that you would think they were a robot designed by possibly an evil chauvinistic scientist. We are programmed to believe at an early age that unless you are beautiful and thin, you have no value as a woman or even as a person. This stems from advertisements that promote sexuality as the most valuable thing that a girl can have to offer. Woman in such media are often treated as objects to be looked upon, a play thing to be used or a prize to be won. There are so many ads, tv shows, and movie scenes that feature and exploit impossibly beautiful women. A standard is then created and expected to be followed, much to the detriment of young girls. We pluck, suck, trim, shape, and tuck our bodies and hair until they are so contorted and different we do not look like ourselves natural selves anymore. Why must we follow these invisible rules of beauty? In the end, when young girls consume more of this harmful media, they run the risk of becoming depressed, possibly developing an eating disorder, and stunting their emotional and mental growth. Young girls need outlets other than looking good to help them grow into mentally strong and emotionally stable women. They need to foster relationships with people who love and support them for who they are as a person; what is in their head and heart rather than the kind of purse they own or their brand of designer jeans. It is noted that teens are growing up in a poisonous culture and it is because of a dysfunctional society in charge of setting these social norms whether how infeasible they are. In order for us to see change. Mary Pipher proposes that small acts of individual courage and kindness need to take place in order to counter this rather toxic culture that is currently the world that we live in.
Pipher, M. B., & Media Education Foundation. (1998). Reviving Ophelia: Saving the selves of adolescent girls. Northampton, MA: Media Education Foundation.
I have grown up on Disney. Every year starting from when I was a toddler through adolescence I would go on a family vacation to Disney World. I just recently visited Disneyland with my dad. Needless to say, Disney has been a huge part of my childhood and upbringing. After watching Mickey Mouse Monopoly, I was a shaken up quite a bit. Mickey Mouse Monopoly informs its viewers on the power and control that Disney has. The film exposes stereotypes that Disney films perpetuate banking social codes into children. Because of my deep family roots to Disney I was surprised to see a different light shed onto Disney, or darkness so to speak. Appropriation of gender and race can all be seen in some of Disney's most beloved films. Not all of Disney is harmful to its viewers and Disney has made progress in their newer movie releases paying closer attention to the imagery and content that they use. It would be unreasonable to ban Disney altogether and is practically impossibly with the widespread media attention that Disney always has. What we can do is teach students to recognize, question, and critically analyze what they are viewing so that they do not fall to the confines of potentially harmful influences that social structures carry out.
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Sun, C.-F., Picker, M., Fordham, M., Mizell, L., Berkower, R., Inouye, N., & Media Education Foundation. (2002). Mickey Mouse Monopoly. Northampton, MA: Media Education Foundation.