February 2nd Assignment

FILM
Urban: Dangerous Minds
In this film the students are represented as “rejects from hell”. There is little hope that any of them will ever leave the ghetto, that is until a retired Marine becomes their teacher. Although at first it seems as though Ms. Johnson, their teacher, might give up on them the film goes on to show how her determination to get through to them prevailed. I feel that this is a classic example of the characterization of urban students as failures, but that it also demonstrates how influential a teacher can be in a student’s life.

Suburban: American Beauty
This film depicts the stereotypical suburban life of everything seeming perfect on the outside, while in reality life isn’t as wonderful as it seems. School life in this film displays the notion that if you don’t fall into the perky cheerleader category you are likely to be viewed as an outcast. Although suburban life is often associated with perfection, the hidden imperfections are always an underlying theme.

Rural: Footloose
This film offers a look at what rural life is in comparison to city life. Rural life is often seen as calm and peaceful. If not for a “rebellious” city kid moving in, you are left to wonder if anybody would have ever really made a big deal about the outlawed rock music and dancing in this small town. This film shows how the problems depicted in rural life are often deemed important through the regulations enforced in that community.


MUSIC
Urban: Gangsta’s Paradise – Coolio featuring L.V.
This song conveys the concept of “gangsta” life being dark, dangerous, and tragic. To many it may seem like an exaggeration of what life on the streets really is, but to others this is a reality. I feel that this song is insightful to the urban life that most people would like to believe only exists in movies.

Suburban: Little Boxes – Malvina Reynolds
The lyric of this song illustrates the uniformity that suburban life is often identified with. The words “all the same” are repeated every other line. This is a clear example of how suburban life is mostly described from the outside and hardly ever revealed from the inside.

Rural: Home on the Range – Dr. Brewster Higley
This song is what I have always considered rural to be. I think that the following verse says it all:
Oh, give me a home where the Buffalo roam
Where the Deer and the Antelope play;
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word,
And the sky is not cloudy all day.
For some reason I have always thought of rural life to be almost as if from another time.


Television
Urban: 21 Jump Street
This show is the best example of urban life that I grew up watching on television. It covered all the social issues that still plague urban schools to this day. Even excluding the police drama that went on, I feel that this show provided a deeper look into the struggles that urban students must face day to day.

Suburban: The Wonder Years
Again, through this show suburban life seems to offer that safe type of lifestyle that many cherish, but that some try to escape. Although this show was set to shine light on the suburban life of the past, the white picket fences and the typical suburban students of the present remain somewhat connected. Somehow to this day many sigh for a taste of that “Wonder Years” simple life.

Rural: Darcy’s Wild Life
This show is about the daughter of an actress who is moved from the spotlight of Malibu to a more normal home in the country. Her days of designer clothes, cell phones and trips to the mall are over, and now she struggles to adjust to her new life on a farm. In searching for examples of rural life I’ve notice that rural life is most frequently shown side by side with city life in an attempt to show the giant gap between the two.


NEWS
Urban: Schools try offering kids 'paychecks' – MSNBC
This article talks about how some city students receive pretend money for good behavior, completing homework assignments, and achieving academic gains. The pretend money can be used to buy school supplies at a designated store. The idea behind paying these students was developed as a motivational technique to boost student achievement. I feel that this article demonstrates that with a little bit of creativity academic goals can be reached.

Suburban: NOT IN SCHOOL: CUPCAKES AND HUGS? – MSNBC
This article discusses the recent cupcake and hug bans that have become significant issues in suburban schools. Once again the problems that suburban communities expose are almost laughable in comparison to the problems urban communities face. What is interesting is that suburban communities also share, to some extent, the same types of issues that urban schools have, yet the problems that make the headlines are often the prettier of the bunch.

Rural: 1 in 10 U.S. high schools is a ‘dropout factory’ – MSNBC
This article highlights the issues surrounding the extreme dropout rates found in large cities and high-poverty rural areas in the South and Southwest. Education in these areas has not been valued to point that obtaining employment was possible without a high school diploma. Now that these jobs are no longer available there are strong efforts being made to turn things around. I think that this article is valuable in that it brings light to the issues that were once overlooked by the culture and/or traditions of a region.