I watched a Penn & Teller last night that dispelled common mom myths. It mainly focused on "stranger danger", and how unrealistic it is (and detrimental it can be.) It got me thinking about this culture of fear in which we live. For instance, why else would people be opposed to the building of mosques? Fear of the unknown causes hate. This fear has absolutely no excuse other than ignorance. Ignorance causes fear, fear causes hate.
It makes me think of my own fear. On the TV show, they interviewed a psychologist who commented on how the fear of strangers in children can lead to agoraphobia and general anxiety disorder in adults. I know the fears that were instilled in me as a child are still present in my mind. The ignorance is gone, so now there is a process of unlearning. I'm looking forward to learning the correct terminology for this process in my future coursework.
I've been putting the message out there that I'm looking for career counseling resources for my handbook. If you happen on any handouts or resources that you think I could use (anything that pertains to the career search, personal inventories, etc.), please save them for me. I'll find a way to get them from you, even if it means shipping them out to me. Again, I have an adult population in mind, especially those who have lost their jobs or are looking for something different. Also, college students looking for their "path."
I find it interesting and quite appropriate that many universities in the U.S. have begun requiring a World Religions course to graduate. I read an article that said since the 9/11 attacks, they felt that ignorance to beliefs, etc has let to such violent outcomes and this new requirement was a tool to combat that.
ReplyDeleteThat's very interesting. I would imagine a required course like this would be much more effective at the high school level, as those who don't have the opportunity or choose not to go to college would still get the information.
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