All posts by Giovanny Jorge

The Failings in Just Saying No

Having skills merely to say no does not help young people make tough decisions, but instead simply drains decision-making from them and places them in the hands of more powerful others – the state, the media, advertisements, a partner, abuser, or predator. The echoes of lost skill reverberate for a lifetime in the student…

-Fine and McClelland
Sexual Education and Desire: Still Missing after All These Years

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The Cost of High Expectations and its Inflation

“Everybody is expecting me to be something big… this kid is going to be very successful – it’s a possibility that you will see him in the newspapers one day.”

from Succeeding in the City

Listed as one of the key findings of the Penn study on the success of black and latino students is the universal factor of high expectations among successful minority students. I wonder if that idea may have an unexplored dark side or perhaps its value has become inflated in today’s job market.

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Made in America

The first time I went to Japan was through a study abroad program. Once stripped of the context of being in America, I was able to experience how important that context could be in creating stereotypes. It was not just the native Japanese people that mislabelled me, but fellow study abroad attendants from around the globe. “But where are you from, really?” To this, I always have the same answer: “I am American”.

In fact, research suggests that many Asian American students view white people as the only real or authentic Americans.

Model Minorities and Perpetual Foreigners, pg77

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