Restart

So today i went into my instructers office before class and told her about my problems whith my draft. I explained to her that i am realy having a hard time maintaining a clear focus and clear thesis. I also told her that i am really not sure what i am trying to accomplish with this paper. Because isn't the point of an acedemic paper to create some sort of new knowledge? I am really glad i went and talked to her because she gave me a ton of ideas and really helped me get a good grasp on my purpose in writing and what i need to focus on in the paper.

Time waster

I am getting really tired of writing these journal entries. This project was assigned to help us keep track of our thoughts throughout the process of writing this paper. But i seems to me that all this is doing it taking time away from actually writing my paper. It just kinda sucks because i really need to do these stupid things to boost my grade in the class. I guess live is full of doing things that you dont want to do. Anyway i am in the process of trying to write my draft, and it isn't going all that great. I really am not sure what my purpose in this writing is, and i really need to spend some time figuring that out.

Critical Thinking

Since it is obivious that critical thinking is so important to teens decision making, then why is it not taught at the highschool level? As teens venture into college they have the oppurtunity to take critical thinking classes. And also it is clear that this Culture of Stupidity decreases in popularity in later college years. Is that because in college these teens learn how to analize these films to better understand that these portrayals they see are just fiction? So my queston is why are these critical thinking skill not better taught at the highschool level, since it is that age groop in which this problem is most prevalent.

Highschool Education

How are teens today educated as compared to the teens of generations past? It seems like today there has been so many advances in technology that its hard to even compare to older generations. But there is once major difference between the two, and that is in the circulum that is being taught. In past generations, most teens were instruced in critical thinking and problem solving. Today it seems like those skills are a lost art. In this certain are of study, critical thinking would allow teens to understand that these movies are just a false reality that should be taken as fiction not fact.

The truth

So why is it that adults can understand that these new teen comidies are not acurate protrayals of teenage life, but teens do? It seems like teens should be insluted that movie producers think of them in such a negative fashion. Because all the comidies i have seen lately have shown teens acting stupid and reckless and all their friends prising them for it. That is not how all teens in real live act so why is it that most teens in movies act like that? But what really bothers me is that teens in our society beleive these lies form the movies about how they should act. Mabye the reason teens beleive these lies and adults dont is because of the way they have been educated.

Culture of Stupidity

I breifly covered this in my last post, but i believe movies today are begining to create new social norms among highschool age teens. I have noticed that many teens today no longer value hard work and good grades, but likewise they praise their peers who slack off and proposely act stupid. This new norm is being supported by many new teenage comidies such as my example SuperBad. I am calling this new norm the Culture of Stupidity, in which teens value acting stupid more than being smart. I realy wonder why teens believe these false portrayal's that are in the movies?

Sources

So i have been finding alot of sources that suport my arguement i am having a hard time finding a good peer reviewed academic article that breaks down the movie i am using as an example to suport my arguement, which is SuperBad. The olnly information i can find regarding this is movie reviews which are no help to me in an academic way. I am also having a hard time finding sources that cover how these influences from movies decrease as the teens grow older. I want this to be a key point in my topic because i have noticed that in college kids are rewarded for doing good, hard work. But when now in many highschools, teens peers often reward them for slacking off and being lazy. So im am trying to find any scholarly research done on that so i can suport my ideas. I guess i am going to have to look harder!