AA Starters 01

Greetings!

For starters on sociology: please click on the link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociology you will encounter hundreds of blue links on that site. My suggestion is you just go ahead reading. After reading the article do write your questions in which we are going to discuss.

One of my favorite definition of sociology is "it is the study of becoming". Since we are social beings (social-animals-homo-sapiens) our interaction shape our being. Look at the social forces around you, family, roles, parents, beliefs, mass-media, schools, peer-group-kada, club, organization, culture (we have a special chapter in culture) ... there are various forces that shape our decisions. Thus, are we free?

We (I) may not be free but we (I) can decide.

When we decide on our own, will that affirm our freedom? Yes and No.

Yes, because we believe that we have decided and that is a manifestation of being free.

No, because some would say that freedom is an illusion.

Well, this may go on and on. But it is nice to experience how we make decisions and really decide on our own or with the help of our significant-others. But in the end it is up to us to decide, that is according to one student of life.

There are many constraints particularly for adolescents like my students in wanting what they want to achieve. Thus, they have to work hard on what they want to do with their life. Some of them are stucked, because they do not know what they want in life or they do not know their life direction is. Thus, we have a problem here. Adolescents usually encounter this dilemma: What do I (the adolescent) really want to do with my (their) life?

Me? When I was young, I was stucked with this problematique. What do I want to do? How can I become relevant? I have a life, what shall I do with it? (Are you identifying with these questions? Can you relate with it?). In a way I was able to resolve it years later.

Thus, schools have instituted structures to engage with such problems, schools have assigned counsellors to guide students. Of course these problems have links with family life since the family is the basic unit of a living community. Visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institution

We are now going to do the timeline, a classroom activity. Bring two-short white paper and join them together length wise with a tape. Bring a ruler and a pencil. You can go to the title AA timeline if you missed the classroom discussion.

We are society. We are part of society and society is part of us.