Monday, March 8, 2010

Cultural Code

Before I went to sleep one night, this was what I thought about:

Initial Thoughts:

Life is a big waste sometimes
I really don't like people
Humans can be so ignorant
We go through so much schooling and some people don't even grow up to enjoy what they have done with their lives.


Ok, a memory:

I just tried to think of the earliest memory that somewhat pertained to school and I immediately had a flash back to my day care center but there really wasn't much schooling going on over there so I moved on to first grade.
There were caterpillars growing in a box at the back of the room next to the sink. There were what seemed like an infinite amount of picture books lining the windows. There were so many interactive posters and drawings and pictures stabled to the walls and closet doors. Boy were there a lot of closets. The room was quite large (larger than the one where we attend our history classes now) with about 20 tables placed into separate groups on the side of the room opposite the windows and next to the row of closets. There was a colorful rug next the the books placed at the base of a rocking chair. There was a large chalkboard covered with letters from the alphabet. And then there was me standing in a corner by the books facing the wall, sneaking glances at my accomplice, Sam, standing at the corner to the right of mine. He too was sneaking peeks at me. Both of us were trying to hold in our high giggles. Our respective corners were the results of our misbehavior during story time. Why weren't we allowed to act out the story together while Mr. Guo (first grade teacher) read us a picture book? Life was fun back then. I enjoyed getting in trouble because at the end of the day it didn't matter when there weren't really any consequences yet. I guess I hadn't changed much except now I'm a little more successful in getting away with my mischievous acts. Man, thinking about my past brought back a large variety of memories but this one just kind of popped out to me at the moment.

Interviews

Interview Questions:

1. How do the colors of a school affect how students apply themselves academically?
2. What colors have what affect? (which do you feel are the most prominent?)
3. Do you think the vibrant colors of my school are used to distract students from the fact that school is an institution such as a prison?
4. Do you think the colors of a school also have an affect on student's personalities and how they act towards their peers? If so, how?
5. Do you think the colors of a school set the mood? If so, how?

Answers:

My own:
1. I feel that when the colors of a school are bright and vibrant, students are more willing to learn because they enter an environment with a more positive feeling. Our society often associates light colors with happiness and peace whereas darker colors are identified with anger, evil and sadness so if the wrong colors were used to color a school, they could have negative affects on the student's quality of work.
2. Yellow is a very positive color. It is the color of the sun which brings life to everything we know. When thought of, yellow usually brings happiness with it directly related to light. Black is a very negative color it brings sadness to many people because it generally accompanies death and with death comes a lot of unhappiness. But in terms of a school appropriate color that I feel gives off a negative feeling is maybe brown or beige or other bland colors such like my history classroom. It is not unusually common when students get bored, sleepy or lazy when surrounded by such plain base colors. If my history classroom were to have tables and less interactive/ interesting discussions, I would almost guarantee that at least three people would be asleep for the duration of the class.
3. No, I do not think the vibrant colors of my school are used to distract us from anything. School may seem like a jail at times because of the way it is structure with a higher authoritative figure that controls everything with two lower branches of commanding officers that control classrooms and patrol hallways and the students' feeling of obligation to attend school to be able to be successful in the future but in the end, it is a safe environment for children's brains to develop and learn new skills in order to succeed. The vibrant colors may be the school's attempt to provoke creativity and productivity within the school, bright colors will always be better than plain or dark colors. It also helps when students can enjoy multiple different environment throughout the day by having the classrooms painted different colors.
4. Yes, I do think the colors of a school can affect ones personality and action towards peers because just like how it can affect our productivity, the sight of colors can also bring color to people's eyes and can directly change how they act.
5. Yes, colors can affect people's moods just like they can affect our work ethics and personalities. When we see colors we immediately associate them with how our society portrayed them to us therefore our brains create that emotion within us.

Danielle (sister in law):
1. Brighter the more awake, more alert. Dark the kids tend to get sleepy.
2. Positive Colors - Light Green, Yellow, Orange. Negative Colors- Black, Brown, Dark Blue
3. NO!!! I don't believe schools are like prisons. School is a great place where children can learn and express themselves, kids can be creative and are able to explore their ideas. I don't think vibrant colors distracts students, colors bring life to schools.
4. No I don't think colors of schools influence students personalities or there relationships with there peers. I feel the colors can affect the mood of a student.
5. Yes, I believe colors of the school affect the mood of students. Dark colors bring a very sad mood. Bright colors bring a very happy, exciting environment for students.

Wei (brother):
1. The color of the school does not matter.
2. The color black is dark. Yellow - life and refreshing. Red reminds me of fire and speed. White is very plain and boring but on the other hand relaxing. Blue - reminds of the coral reef.
3. It might because color will sell a product. Color covers a lot of what people don't want to see. Like the colors of a car.
4. Color can affect the mood of people. Like I described in question two, it can bring out positive or negative personalities depending on the color.
5. Yes it can. Colors have a huge impact on people's mood.

Stranger #1:

Stranger #2: