Connecting the Dots: English Education Hot Spots

Last week, I wrote about three hot topics in my field of English Education. This week, I'm considering how these hot spots fit in historical and communications contexts.

Validating Vernaculars

English Education has typically taught "correct" language usage, but studies are showing that students who are allowed to use their native vernaculars in class perform better on standardized tests.

Today's students come with a range of ethnic,
 cultural, and language differences.

• Historical Connection:
  The validation of an individual's vernacular is a very Romantic-era-influenced idea. The Romantic time period emphasized the importance of the individual's original thoughts, ideas, and "genius"—all of which cannot be adequately expressed without the use of that individual's native tongue. It's not fair to limit our students' power of expression and educational success to the words we allow them to use.

• Communication Connection:
  Teaching and speaking "correct" English has long been an established path to gaining ethos in school, work, and society. However, we live in a digital civilization with access to instant translations, definitions, and other helpful tools; it makes very little sense to insist on a standard dialect when we have so many ways to easily understand each other literally at our fingertips. 

Revisiting Hotspots in the Medical Field

 1.     State Regulation of Fast Food Chains

·     Historical Connections

Obesity in the US is a growing epidemic. It has become a serious health problem within the United states and is now considered a chronic disease. A contribution to this problem is the obvious rise of fast food restaurants. There is a need to deal with both the environment and behavior of the society to control this. A system of thought that promotes regulation of fast food chains is Humanism. Just as humanism is thought about within the Renaissance as a cultural and intellectual movement that was needed for humans to attain excellence and think about the well-being of self here it is needed for society to emphasize the welfare in the interest of the people. Limiting fast food chains would be in the interest and well being of the people. 

Revisiting Hot Spots in Psychology

In my previous post, I introduced three current debates in the field of psychology. Here I will connect these current debates to the past, to give them a bit of context.

Psychology and Neuroscience: Allies or Antagonists?

Historical connections
Way back in the time of Descartes (1596-1650), he came up with the theory of mind-body duality. Basically, his theory was that the mind was different than the brain itself. His theory prevailed for hundreds of years. In the Enlightenment era, John Locke wrote about psychology in his Essay on Human Understanding, where he argued that all mankind come to Earth with our minds as a blank slate (tabula rasa), and that it is through our senses alone that we perceive and learn things. It has been argued that this line of thought had a great impact in the development of psychological empiricism today. Another theme of the Enlightenment was an emphasis on evaluating human nature, which is still part of psychology today. Later, in the Romantic Era, feelings and emotions became more important to people, and that still makes up a huge part of modern psychology.

Revisiting Hot Spots in Computer Science and Animation

In my last post, I discussed three major "Hot Spots" in Computer Science and Animation:

1) Artificial Intelligence: The advent of AI has half the world excited for change, and the other half terrified of the coming consequences.

• Historical connection:
  Both AI and computer Science embody what Francis Bacon, one of the enlightenment fathers of the scientific method, meant when he said that "knowledge [of physical nature] is power [over it]." AI is in reality just a bunch of mathematical representations of the laws of nature. However with the advent of "self-teaching" AI, these computer programs have begun to refine programs in ways that scientists don't quite understand. The danger then, is that nature may begin to have power over us again if we fail to keep up with it.

• Communication connection:
  Because AI presents so many benefits and risks for all of humanity, it is surrounded by a thick rhetorical debate. Both sides are currently making appeals to pathos and logos, in an attempt to establish a better sense of character, or ethos, with the general population.

Revisiting Hot spots in Regenerative Medicine

Engineered tissues are used to replace skin and cartilage
photo by European Medical Alliance

My last post was on three of the major places for innovations happening in the field of tissue engineering.

This week lets explore the connections to history and communication.

Revisiting Hot Spots in Statistics

Red skies at sunset

In my previous blog post I looked at three drastically different topics that relate to statistics. One topic was the environment which is a very polarizing topic in the world today. Even the above picture, which depicts a beautiful sky, is a cause for grief because that color would not be as stark if it were not for carbon emissions.

1. Statistics in Sports (A lot of professional athletes are fed up with dialogue about what constitutes a play among people who have never played the game)

• Historical Connections

Sports have a great deal to do with popular culture. Basketball and soccer are globally recognized sports, whereas baseball, rugby, football all have millions of followers in several countries. Also, athletes have more of a public voice to share their opinions through mediums such as twitter and other forums of social media. Given that the happenings in athletic worlds are discussed among a large contingency of followers, it is well known that there are many athletes who objects to a solely statisitically driven approach to sports. 

• Communication Connections

As previously stated, our view into the minds of these athletes is made possible through mediums of communication such as twitter. When athletes want to share more comprehensive and complete view points they often take to The Player's Tribune to do so. Without the current access to social media, we would not be nearly as privy to understanding where athletes stand on certain issues, both related and unrelated to the sport they currently play. 

2. Statistics and the Anti-Vax Movement

• Historical Connections

The Anti-Vax movement is connected to the rational world of the Enlightenment and the feeling and imagination of Romanticism. There is a rational approach that those who stand in opposition to the Anti-Vax movement implement to try to show that because history repeats itself, if you are vaccinated you have a high likelihood of staying safe from certain diseases. The Anti-Vax movement uses feeling and imagination to share individual horror stories and portray them as if they are the rule and not the exception

• Communication Connections

I have seen a lot of interesting debates on social media regarding this topic. In a lot of the conversations that I have seen, those in support of vaccinations talk about herd immunity and try to take emotion out of the conversation, whereas those against vaccinations talk about instances where they had a child get sick, or the friend of a friend had a child who was autistic. Those who support vaccinations try to establish their credibility through ethos using government websites in a lot of instances, whereas those who are against vaccinations use a lot of pathos in their arguments. 

3. Statistic and the Environment

• Historical Connections

Caring for nature has long been something that people have professed a need for in this world. Even back in the days of the Renaissance people like Leonardo DaVinci would talk about the need for us to live in harmony with our surroundings as opposed to ruining our surroundings for more convenient living situations. During Romanticism there was a push to get back to nature and appreciate the world that you see around you. 

• Communication Connections

This topic has been the center of much heated debate in the world today. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez presented the New Green Deal which promptly got shut down. Scientists throughout the world are proclaiming the destruction that will come through climate change if we do not take drastic actions. President Trump tweeted during the polar vortex that obviously global warming is not real to which many people took objection, even with people such as Chris Evans chiming in about what climate change means. There is not a major media outlet that has not had at least one story on climate change in the world today. 

I think it is really interesting that history truly does repeat itself and that values that were relevant in the world hundreds of years ago find themselves in our day and age. Arguments are still won or lost by appealing to pathos, logos, or ethos. People 500 years ago were talking about the need to care for the world, and the first vaccination was performed in 1796 for smallpox. Statistics is such an interesting realm of study, because it can truly be applied to whatever you are most interested in. 

Revisiting Hot Spots in Mental Health Psychology

In my last post, I talked about three subjects in and around mental health psychology. They were:

• Detecting anxiety and depression in children
• Suicide prevention
• Postnatal depression in men

These topics deserve further discussion on the historical and communication connections that can be made to each.

Danielle Schlosser, via blog.verily.com

Mental Health in Children

Historical Connections

Although I would argue that mental health wasn't really talked about until the Romantic period, being able to look inside a child's brain and see if they are prone to anxiety and depression is something that I'm sure those in the Enlightenment period would have been very interested to learn about - especially within the rationality themes that took place. During the enlightenment, people were beginning to understand things like the scientific method and experimentation. Scientists would even cut open cadavers to see how the human body worked. Our current society, still influenced by the curiosity of the Enlightenment, may have found a way to look in to a living human's brain and predict the future.

Hotspots in Equality Revisited

"Leninade" by Jamison Wieser is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 

On my previous blog post, I discussed economic equality and laissez-faire economics and the successes and failures of those principles. I will discuss these further here.

1. The Failure of Forced Equality (How and why forcing aspects of absolute equality has failed.)

Revisiting Hotspots in Psychology

    In my last post, I made a summary of three topics that are–and have been for some time–a matter of debate in the field of psychology. These are:

• The connection between the mind and body.
• The impact of Nature and Nurture on behavior.
• The value of reducing behavior to smaller parts vs. viewing behavior as a whole.

    How were these ideas viewed during the enlightenment, and the movement of romanticism? What effect do these ideas have in the world today?

Revisiting Hotspots in Journalism

1. Journalism in Politics

(How Politics effects the way that journalists write)

• Historical Connections: During the reformation, reformists like Martin Luther took action on what they thought should change within their society. For Martin Luther, he saw a lot of problems within the Catholic Church and he did something about it. He wrote his famous 95 Theses and nailed them to the door of the Wittenberg Castle. His tone within his 95 Thesis is said to be remarkable in his manner of questioning and not acusing the Church. He wrote about the sale of indulgences and not works to reach salvation. It was through Luther's written word that the Protestant Reformation could take flight. It was because of Luther's bravery and dedication that others joined the ranks to fight for a reformation. The Catholic Church made changes through his great courage. 

• Communication Connections: When it comes to communicating in journalism within a political genre, Journalists uses a lot of persuasive appeals. It is just part of the job. In order to be good at it, you need to persuade. When it comes to logos, journalist need to write things that make sense and appeal to reason because if they write something that doesn't make sense, people will just think that they are crazy. A great persuader also can draw upon pathos to persuade. This part may be hard to do, but knowing your audience can help one understand what emotions to bring up through writing. And lastly, ethos, this has a lot to do in politics. If a journalist working for a candidate on the opposite side of the spectrum can tear down another candidate successfully with good facts, people can be persuaded instead to maybe vote for the other candidate.

Hotspots in Business Revisited

In my previous post, I discussed three hotspots in my field of study, business:

Volunteers through Vivint's CSR program

1. Corporate Social Responsibility (Corporate social responsibility is a means for businesses to use their profits to address social issues, but some argue that this goes beyond the responsibility of business.)

• Historical Connections During the Romantic Era, a theme that emerged was increased empathy. In reaction to the empiricism of the Enlightenment, a shift was made from hard-cut systems and skepticism to an emphasis on feelings, compassion, and identification with the plight of others. Moreover, during the Romantic Era society became more concerned with looking after more vulnerable groups rather than just the elite few. In many ways, the Romantic Era’s push for empathy is mirrored as Millennials and Generation Z-ers demand that their workplace goes beyond their normal business to helps vulnerable groups. Just as in the Romantic Era, individuals are expecting the businesses they work for to consider the plight of others and then use the profits and resources they have to help those individuals in the form of CSR programs.