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NOTES: 

• subject=broad area of knowledge and topic=specific interest within that area
• Topics are too broad if stated in 4-5 words 
  • Important to add words and phrases like conflict, description, contribution, and developing to your topic 
• Best way to begin working on your topic= formulate questions that direct you to information 
• Answering “so what?” vexes all researchers 

3.2 ON PAGE 39: 

• “Creativity in the Marketplace” 
• “The description of how to use creativity and marketing techniques to stand out in a competitive marketplace”
• “The contribution creativity and innovation have in creating competitive advantages and creative industry performance in the marketplace” 

QUESTIONS: 

• What if marketing had not evolved and become more technical? Where would businesses stand today? 
• How do businesses brainstorm and come to figure out a way to lure a customer in?
• How does the success of a smaller business contribute and influence the economy as a whole?
• What are the different methods of marketing? What methods have been proven most successful for certain businesses?

I had my conversations with my cousin, my mom, and my dad. After all of these beneficial conversations, I have decided to “try on” a topic involving marketing of businesses and consumer behavior within these businesses. I was not aware of this before I brought it up to my mom, but she was interested in going into industrial organizational psychology. I had no clue she would be able to give me this much insight on this topic, but she helped me understand what it is better. Mr. Posey is my advisor, so we have a pretty tight bond, so I trust his opinion and know he will give me an unfiltered opinion. He said he loved the ideas behind the topic, but I should focus on the marker of innovation and marketing of department stores. Another cool idea he said could correlate is psychological marketing involving scents, smells, and other factors that lure a customer into the store. Finally, my dad helped me realize that I have always had an interest in businesses and the marketing factor, so I should stick with it and grow in this area.

I decided to merge a couple of topics due to the correlation and overlapping they had. The three topics that I thought could merge were industrial organizational psychology, creativity, and consumer behavior. I think that I could find a certain aspect that all of these have and grow from there. I think it would be interesting to look into how creativity has played a role in businesses and in the marketplace. I could compare how a well-functioning business decades ago compared to a well-functioning business today.

The education gap in today’s system has become a problem much larger than we can solve. How are schools letting kids down in their success and growth academically? This question is attempted to be answered in the article, The Opportunity Myth.

People strive to know what the students’ aspirations for themselves are, what kind of lives they want to lead, and how school prepares them to go about their lives. This is far from simple, but there are approaches students, teachers, parents, facilitators, and education system workers can take to make the system a little better. All of these figures are well aware of the educational gap in schools, especially in public schools. These gaps can range from racial gaps, learning disabilities, low-incomes, and language barriers. Being aware of these gaps, why have we not prioritized these problems and attempted and worked to fix them? Obviously some solutions have not worked, but I do think that if more time and money was put towards the education system, a change would be inevitable.

I was utterly shocked to learn that teachers with stronger credentials tend to teach more advantaged students. Although this is understandable to an extent, I believe that all students, no matter the circumstance, should have the opportunity to have a teacher with strong credentials. This brings into question, what can the country do to prepare its teachers to educate students equally and without bias? The people in charge need to step up their game and implement a change before decades go by and the education system slowly diminishes and becomes even more segregated and biased.

After reading the article and taking the quiz, I have gained a new understanding on people’s home situations. I could not relate to the questions on the ACE quiz because I would say I have had a pretty good childhood growing up and have a stable, loving family. Although I cannot relate, I am very aware of home situations that are not ideal due to friends who have gone through divorces, meeting people who have had traumatic childhoods, and taking part in camps where I get to know people with not ideal home situations. This article which brings up the topics of abuse, neglect, and household dysfunctions correlates with behavior and physical and mental health. These factors relate to education also. When we were discussing education, home situations came up which can affect one’s ability to learn. I do believe that how one is brought up in the world affects their life later on and their mindset in situations, in this case education. The background of an individual, in some cases, determines their work ethic, moral thoughts, and ideals about what is the right way to go about matters. If someone’s parents are both high school dropouts who do not urge their kid(s) to try in school, most likely they will not. After piecing together all of this information, I think that there should be a change made in schools to influence and encourage all individuals to take part and work their hardest. This is hard to just make happen, but I really do believe if everyone tried a little bit to make a difference, the world of education would be a better place.

After viewing the documentary, Waiting for Superman, and reading the articles about controversy with education, my mind is spinning with new facts and questions that they provoked. I know that in our hometown, there are stereotypes with education, but I was genuinely shocked at the hard facts with education worldwide. In the article, Still Separate, Still Unequal: Teaching about School Segregation and Educational Inequality, a statement that caught my attention and stuck with me was, “the nexus of racial and economic segregation has intensified educational gaps between rich and poor students, and between white students and students of color” (1). Segregation is prominent in schooling and should be made aware, but people turn their heads the other way. I question why do people not take a stand and try to change this given the fact that this form of segregation has been going on for years? I wonder what we, as individuals, can do to make a change. I want to know more statistics on Baton Rouge and its’ standing in comparison to other cities throughout the United States. Also, what repercussions do segregated schools have for the students and society? As I think on this topic more and more, I feel like now is the time to make a change because this dysfunctional system has gone on for decades.

After viewing this documentary, so many new thoughts and ideas have been provoked. The question which was asked at the end, what is our obligation to other people’s children?, stuck with me and made me wonder and question this question. I believe that education is based on good teachers. Teachers are the basis for good schooling. I was shocked to know that the public school system contracts for teachers is that after 10 years, it is very unlikely a teacher would be fired. However, in private schools, there are 1-year contracts. It was stated that education is a way out.

Education in the world is thriving and promoting kids of all ages to work hard and gain a new form of knowledge. This knowledge can be seen in all forms through textbooks, technology, open-ended debates, seminar style teaching, and hands on learning. Knowledge can be gained in the most nonchalant ways in school. In the United States, there is a great range in different types of schools. There are public, magnet, boarding, private, and gifted schools. All of these are incredible choices, but in some states, it has been proven that some are better than others. For example, in Louisiana, public schools are not the best. There are stereotypes of them that make them unappealing to most. I am sure this is not the case for all and you could receive an amazing education and go great places if you graduate from a public school in Louisiana, but I do believe private schools are the dominant schools in Louisiana. Overall, I think it is all up to a family to deicide where they would like their child to attend, but there most definitely is a hierarchy put into place when thinking about the different types of schooling.

The topic which captured and intrigued me the most was the world hunger scenario. World hunger is an ongoing problem which has yet to have a solution. The main cause of world hunger is said to be because of unequal distribution around the world. Third world countries are desperately trying to find ways to feed their families and themselves, but it is harder than it seems due to not only not being able to afford food but also the lack of food in their country. In the US, we do not have this problem at all so it is genuinely heartbreaking to think that people do not have the resources to food and live in hunger. 

Although local food banks are beneficial, the development of world food banks would be even more helpful. In recent years, people have been attempting the creation of a World Food Bank, which would be an international despitory of food reserves to which nations would be asked to donate resources. Our humanitarian impulses love this idea because it assures people in developing and third world countries resources they need to live their life without the constant question as to where they can get their meals and how to provide for their families. As this is a wonderful and humanitarian idea, the reality for the United States economy is not in favor as much. For example, the US took part in the “Food for Peace Program” which moved millions dollars worth of grain to countries with food shortages. This program was extremely beneficial and greatly appreciated by the countries, it was detrimental to the economy of the United States because the taxpayers spent a total of $7.9 billion on the program in just a decade. The main question regarding this predicament is, should the United States risk their economy and well being by helping food-short, population-long countries? 

This question ties back to our lifeboat activity and the trolley problem because how are we, as humans, supposed to know what is morally right and the beneficial thing to do but also not sacrificing the well-being of ourselves? This topic is quite difficult, but I believe that is up to the common good to take a stand on these topics and follow Aristotle and Value theory because it is best to stick to prior knowledge on what is moral in these situations.

Truthiness is a topic I do not think on often due to the fact that I believe something is the truth or not the truth. Of course there are times when a fact can be partly true and party not true, but in the grand scheme of things, it all comes down to what is truthful and what is not. I always listen to others’ ideas and opinions and all room for In the article, Wikiality, Truthiness, and Gut Thinking, by David Kyle Johnson, truth is defined as a “property of beliefs and propositions” (Johnson 27). This definition states that a “belief or preposition” is true if it corresponds to the way the world is. If I were to say chocolate is made the same everywhere in the world, I am opening myself up for controversy. I might think this statement is 100% true, but my friend might completely disagree with it. The disagreement my friend could possibly bring up is fine because it is one’s right to be able to state their opinion and believe what they think is true. Respect and truth correlate together because you have to respect an individual to hear their truth about a topic they are passionate about. It would be disrespectful to shut down everything they talked about just because it goes against what you believe is “true.” 

Besides the whole idea of respect and truth, gut thinking is a topic brought up in the article that I found intriguing because I am a big believer in “going with your gut.” It is proven that sometimes going with our gut can be more trustworthy than our intellect. If we, as humans, sense danger or a bad choice about to be made, our gut churns and “tells” us that what is about to happen is not about to end well. I always look out for when someone is bringing up an idea and my gut’s reaction. It happens in a split second, and I have learned to notice the bad feeling I sometimes get. I have developed this skill overtime from learning from my mistakes when I knew I had a bad “gut feeling” about something but disregarded it and carried on, and it did not end well. I connected with this article because I found it so fascinating that the “gut feeling” is real and dependable.