This Blog is a resource tool for the students taking the "FACING HISTORY AND OURSELVES" elective at Westborough High School, Westborough, Massachusetts.
Monday, February 3, 2014
PERIOD 2: LITTLE BOXES
Today you read the story "Little Boxes" in class. Please share your thoughts about the article and the class discussion that followed in a reflective post.
24 comments:
Alexandra Romano
said...
After reading this article, I never realized how those little boxes can limit our identity. I agree with Tennan who said generalizing can be offensive and misleading. Everyone is their own person and has their own story that shouldn't be grouped by a box. I think the cartoon at the end of the article accurately represents the story. First impressions can be tough because everyone makes assumptions based on their apperance. Sometimes I feel that they are unavoidable as everyone has some thoughts going through their heads when they first meet someone.
After I read the article, it really put into perspective how much we as humans generalize. Sometimes we do it regardless of how it may make someone feel. No one should ever have to go through being generalized and put into a steriotypical box. But unfortunately, it still happens subconsciously. As a society, people should try to not generalize others because of all of the harm it brings to someone emotionally.
Before reading the piece Little Boxes, I did not fully understand how a simple generalization could possibly mean much. I thought that generalizing was not a big deal because it happens so frequently in our ever day lives. After reading this story, I now realize that these “little boxes” are significant and it is easy to loose our identity when we are asked to categorize ourselves into these boxes. The more we classify ourselves and the more general these characteristics are, the easier it is to not see yourself as an individual anymore. As first impressions go, I think that it is so easy to judge someone based on their appearance because it is the first thing we associate with the person. I do not agree with the way society puts the new person into little boxes but I do think that it just subconsciously happens that it is a hard habit to fix. This piece was great in recognizing how easily society puts people into these “little boxes” and how it affects one’s identity.
The article Little Boxes, really made me see in a new perspective of what the boxes actually are for and how human nature generalizes naturally. When I have had to check off boxes for college applications and other things I have never thought much about them and what I was actually doing and I have never had a problem with identifying myself through them like the author did. While the boxes may be a quick way of obtaining information about someone, the authors story shows how someone can be falsely identified and be generalized. Generalizing may be true in some cases but someones identity should not because there is a chance that the generalizing may not be true.
I think its safe to say that no matter how many generalizations I have made based on appearances, I never thought too much about them afterward, or even realized that people were probably making them about me too. After the article and the bit of prodding during class, I realized that I too wanted to be judged based on the things I wrote and said and did, and not by what I looked like. Generalizations may just seem like a part of our culture now, but they shouldn't be. My friends tell me all the time that I may look innocent but i'm evil inside, but no one will ever know that until they can get passed my looks.
I thought that this article was very interesting. It showed the struggle that people face when it comes to checking off their ethnicity. That the options presented are very limited. By doing this, people feel like they're not being represented but instead are being generalized as Tennan in the article said. People come from many different backgrounds and shouldn't have to pick one ethnicity over another.
Normally when I see those little boxes I never really think about what boxes I am checking off or how much they generalize a person. I agree with the story many times people have preconceived ideas of who people are based on other characteristics. This makes people pass judgments on others without getting to know the person. It is very easy to look at how someone is dresses or looks and pass a judgment but almost always there is a lot more to the person than you first thought.
The article Little Boxes, gave me a new understanding about a persons identity. I never thought of those boxes, everyone has filled out, to be something which actually places us among groups. These boxes are a generalization tool used to gather information on a person however don't accurately show individual true identity. I think generalizing is a natural human reaction to initially gather information on a person, but its beyond the generalization that describes a person. I agree with the author that these boxes try to categorize us and can easily carve away our true identify by placing us in groups. Many who fall in between groups or not at all in one are forced to join and be part of something they aren't.
I agree with many things that have been said in this article. The fact that people judge others by their appearance or how they're dressed is true. We make assumptions on people by what we hear about them or what we see but we may not even know them and we are already thinking things. Being placed into a category is in fact dehumanizing because it strips away the individuals identity and identity is very important. People can be from various backgrounds and consider themselves a certain thing but when it comes time to prove that, there's no way to describe themselves. I think that people should come to know one another before even making an assumption because you never know if that person may be someone important in your life later on.
I really enjoyed reading the article "Little Boxes" because it brought a new perspective to mind. Personally, I have never had that much trouble filling out information about my background, ethnicity or religion. Hearing the struggle that some people have to go through to try and specify such an eclectic ancestry by just checking a box shows that we don't always appreciate our origins as much as we should. Our complete background can't be described by one small box with a one or two-word description. Generalizing can be detrimental to our personal identities and doesn't display our uniqueness.
After reading "Little Boxes" it made me think about how generalizing our identities can be so limiting. The little boxes are too vague and it is hard to pick only one to identify yourself as. I have never had trouble identifying myself with the little boxes but after reading the article I can only imagine how hard it would be for someone like Wright to check only one box. I never realized how generalizing can be harmful and misleading like Tennan said. Generalizing happens a lot with first impressions and can sometimes be just as harmful as those little boxes.
After reading "Little Boxes" it made me think about how generalizing our identities can be so limiting. The little boxes are too vague and it is hard to pick only one to identify yourself as. I have never had trouble identifying myself with the little boxes but after reading the article I can only imagine how hard it would be for someone like Wright to check only one box. I never realized how generalizing can be harmful and misleading like Tennan said. Generalizing happens a lot with first impressions and can sometimes be just as harmful as those little boxes.
After reading "Little Boxes" it made me think about how generalizing our identities can be so limiting. The little boxes are too vague and it is hard to pick only one to identify yourself as. I have never had trouble identifying myself with the little boxes but after reading the article I can only imagine how hard it would be for someone like Wright to check only one box. I never realized how generalizing can be harmful and misleading like Tennan said. Generalizing happens a lot with first impressions and can sometimes be just as harmful as those little boxes.
After reading "Little Boxes" it made me think about how generalizing our identities can be so limiting. The little boxes are too vague and it is hard to pick only one to identify yourself as. I have never had trouble identifying myself with the little boxes but after reading the article I can only imagine how hard it would be for someone like Wright to check only one box. I never realized how generalizing can be harmful and misleading like Tennan said. Generalizing happens a lot with first impressions and can sometimes be just as harmful as those little boxes.
I thought that the article little boxes was an extremely interesting. I could relate back to what the author was trying to get across about picking a box to identify yourself. I have had sometimes a hard time trying to identify who am with just a check of a box. But sometimes there hasn't been a box for what i classify myself as. I have had to choose a different box due to the fact that there's sometimes not one for Hispanics since I guess we are consider being in the white group. I feel that by checking A box it doesn't really get to show who you really are.
Up until I read this article, I never knew how much the little boxes on applications could limit our identity. I agree with what Tennan who had described generalizing to be offensive. It has really made me change the way that I am going to think the next time I come across those little boxes on applications. I will see that the boxes are just generalizations and I have to find my identity deeper than those generalizations. This article was really good at recognizing how identity is affected by the generalizations such as the little boxes on applications.
After reading the article, I gained a greater understanding of the difficulty many face when discovering how they identify themselves. Until reading this article, I hadn't thought of the boxes that are commonly filled out as defining factors of your identity. We use these boxes to generalize ourselves into categories that we best fit into, however, they don't always accurately portray our individual identity. Generalization is a completely natural process, but there are other characteristic factors that compose self-identity. I believe that the author is correct in saying that, by categorizing ourselves into broad boxes, we lose a piece of our identity as an individual. Society stresses the unspoken importance of groups and labels and I think that this article is an excellent example of the effect that society's categorical pressures can have on a person.
After reading the article "Little Boxes" it made me realize how many people judge one another. I know that in highschool it is common to make accusations about people but I didn't realize it is pretty much the same through out your day to day life. I wish life didn't have to be this way because im sure that i have been judged before someone has gotten to know me. Sadly, this is how life is. I don't think this will ever really change. People have their set views on people and life and nothing can really change them. There are of course those people who don't judge and are very open to different types of situations and people but there very hard to find. I admit, I definitely judge people before i get to know them. As People get older i go think it gets better and people are more open minded but genuinely speaking I think more people judge than don't.
After reading "Little Boxes" it made me realize how much people generalize. I have never thought about it in this way because I'm mostly white and just check off that box. I can easily see how people struggle with filling out applications and other things in this section. The article and the cartoon show a lot of accuracy that I never thought of before, and sadly there's nothing much we can do about it except stop ourselves. I see how having to choose the boxes (even me) can take away from our individual identity. Generalization is unavoidable in some ways because people can't individually remember everyone and the brain needs patterns to make sense of the world.
After reading "Little Boxes" in class, my thoughts on categorizing people and limiting them to only one race changed. I had never thought about this issue before because it has never been an issue for me when filling out any kind of application that asks about race. I've always just checked off "white" because I am of Irish and English descent. Hearing Anthony's background and the mix of cultures and races that make up his identity was an eye opener. In his situation you can't simply check off one box because it will not do his true identity any justice. Reducing a person's identity to a single little box on a piece of paper is certainly degrading and dehumanizing in my opinion. These little boxes don't tell the whole story of who a person is and what they identify with.
The article represents how peoples identities are very intricate and special. A couple of little boxes to check out does not summarize who someone is. Someone can not be put into such confined limitations. In this article it specifies ethnicity are the main thing that cant be contained by a little box. In a larger sense I learned that we shouldn't contain ourselves into boxes that we put ourselves in and especially not ones others put us into. It's essential to stick to your guns and be who you want to be. Never allow yourself to be contained by life's assumptions and judgement.
After reading "Little Box's" it made me realize how peoples identities are sometimes never really shown. Their identity is kept to themselves and not really shown to others. I have never really given this much thought before reading this article but after reading this piece, I came to realize how some people may lose little parts of their identity just because they are forced to chose which category they fit in with. Our identity is one of the most important things and if you forget about who you truly are and where you came from, you could lose some of yourself with it. I think that people, especially in todays world, need to make sure they aren't just put into these categories and don't just go by the box's, and that they really stay true to who they are.
The "Little Boxes" essay gives me a different perspective in the experience of filling out the boxes on an application form. I have never been in a position of confusion when I have to fill out a document of that kind I'm of White European heritage, but it is interesting to get a sense of what it would be like when asked about my race if I couldn't simply select the "white" box every time. The author makes a good point of showing his audience that these little boxes' choices can be too general, and as they did for him, their use can result in a loss of one's identity.
After reading "Little Boxes" it got me thinking about how those actual little boxes we are asked to fill out really do generalize a person. In the reading it talks about how Anthony Wright is part of many different cultures and it's very tough for him to chose which of those boxes to check off. I never really thought about how this may be difficult for some people to do because it's a pretty easy thing for me to do. Also, the comic strip on the back is a perfect representation of what the reading was about. I feel that some people may do a "mental checklist" not even meaning to. The reading "Little Boxes" has opened my mind a lot and has made me think about how people can automatically generalize a person just based upon the way they may look.
24 comments:
After reading this article, I never realized how those little boxes can limit our identity. I agree with Tennan who said generalizing can be offensive and misleading. Everyone is their own person and has their own story that shouldn't be grouped by a box. I think the cartoon at the end of the article accurately represents the story. First impressions can be tough because everyone makes assumptions based on their apperance. Sometimes I feel that they are unavoidable as everyone has some thoughts going through their heads when they first meet someone.
After I read the article, it really put into perspective how much we as humans generalize. Sometimes we do it regardless of how it may make someone feel. No one should ever have to go through being generalized and put into a steriotypical box. But unfortunately, it still happens subconsciously. As a society, people should try to not generalize others because of all of the harm it brings to someone emotionally.
Before reading the piece Little Boxes, I did not fully understand how a simple generalization could possibly mean much. I thought that generalizing was not a big deal because it happens so frequently in our ever day lives. After reading this story, I now realize that these “little boxes” are significant and it is easy to loose our identity when we are asked to categorize ourselves into these boxes. The more we classify ourselves and the more general these characteristics are, the easier it is to not see yourself as an individual anymore. As first impressions go, I think that it is so easy to judge someone based on their appearance because it is the first thing we associate with the person. I do not agree with the way society puts the new person into little boxes but I do think that it just subconsciously happens that it is a hard habit to fix. This piece was great in recognizing how easily society puts people into these “little boxes” and how it affects one’s identity.
The article Little Boxes, really made me see in a new perspective of what the boxes actually are for and how human nature generalizes naturally. When I have had to check off boxes for college applications and other things I have never thought much about them and what I was actually doing and I have never had a problem with identifying myself through them like the author did. While the boxes may be a quick way of obtaining information about someone, the authors story shows how someone can be falsely identified and be generalized. Generalizing may be true in some cases but someones identity should not because there is a chance that the generalizing may not be true.
I think its safe to say that no matter how many generalizations I have made based on appearances, I never thought too much about them afterward, or even realized that people were probably making them about me too. After the article and the bit of prodding during class, I realized that I too wanted to be judged based on the things I wrote and said and did, and not by what I looked like. Generalizations may just seem like a part of our culture now, but they shouldn't be. My friends tell me all the time that I may look innocent but i'm evil inside, but no one will ever know that until they can get passed my looks.
I thought that this article was very interesting. It showed the struggle that people face when it comes to checking off their ethnicity. That the options presented are very limited. By doing this, people feel like they're not being represented but instead are being generalized as Tennan in the article said. People come from many different backgrounds and shouldn't have to pick one ethnicity over another.
Normally when I see those little boxes I never really think about what boxes I am checking off or how much they generalize a person. I agree with the story many times people have preconceived ideas of who people are based on other characteristics. This makes people pass judgments on others without getting to know the person. It is very easy to look at how someone is dresses or looks and pass a judgment but almost always there is a lot more to the person than you first thought.
The article Little Boxes, gave me a new understanding about a persons identity. I never thought of those boxes, everyone has filled out, to be something which actually places us among groups. These boxes are a generalization tool used to gather information on a person however don't accurately show individual true identity. I think generalizing is a natural human reaction to initially gather information on a person, but its beyond the generalization that describes a person. I agree with the author that these boxes try to categorize us and can easily carve away our true identify by placing us in groups. Many who fall in between groups or not at all in one are forced to join and be part of something they aren't.
I agree with many things that have been said in this article. The fact that people judge others by their appearance or how they're dressed is true. We make assumptions on people by what we hear about them or what we see but we may not even know them and we are already thinking things. Being placed into a category is in fact dehumanizing because it strips away the individuals identity and identity is very important. People can be from various backgrounds and consider themselves a certain thing but when it comes time to prove that, there's no way to describe themselves. I think that people should come to know one another before even making an assumption because you never know if that person may be someone important in your life later on.
I really enjoyed reading the article "Little Boxes" because it brought a new perspective to mind. Personally, I have never had that much trouble filling out information about my background, ethnicity or religion. Hearing the struggle that some people have to go through to try and specify such an eclectic ancestry by just checking a box shows that we don't always appreciate our origins as much as we should. Our complete background can't be described by one small box with a one or two-word description. Generalizing can be detrimental to our personal identities and doesn't display our uniqueness.
After reading "Little Boxes" it made me think about how generalizing our identities can be so limiting. The little boxes are too vague and it is hard to pick only one to identify yourself as. I have never had trouble identifying myself with the little boxes but after reading the article I can only imagine how hard it would be for someone like Wright to check only one box. I never realized how generalizing can be harmful and misleading like Tennan said. Generalizing happens a lot with first impressions and can sometimes be just as harmful as those little boxes.
After reading "Little Boxes" it made me think about how generalizing our identities can be so limiting. The little boxes are too vague and it is hard to pick only one to identify yourself as. I have never had trouble identifying myself with the little boxes but after reading the article I can only imagine how hard it would be for someone like Wright to check only one box. I never realized how generalizing can be harmful and misleading like Tennan said. Generalizing happens a lot with first impressions and can sometimes be just as harmful as those little boxes.
After reading "Little Boxes" it made me think about how generalizing our identities can be so limiting. The little boxes are too vague and it is hard to pick only one to identify yourself as. I have never had trouble identifying myself with the little boxes but after reading the article I can only imagine how hard it would be for someone like Wright to check only one box. I never realized how generalizing can be harmful and misleading like Tennan said. Generalizing happens a lot with first impressions and can sometimes be just as harmful as those little boxes.
After reading "Little Boxes" it made me think about how generalizing our identities can be so limiting. The little boxes are too vague and it is hard to pick only one to identify yourself as. I have never had trouble identifying myself with the little boxes but after reading the article I can only imagine how hard it would be for someone like Wright to check only one box. I never realized how generalizing can be harmful and misleading like Tennan said. Generalizing happens a lot with first impressions and can sometimes be just as harmful as those little boxes.
I thought that the article little boxes was an extremely interesting. I could relate back to what the author was trying to get across about picking a box to identify yourself. I have had sometimes a hard time trying to identify who am with just a check of a box. But sometimes there hasn't been a box for what i classify myself as. I have had to choose a different box due to the fact that there's sometimes not one for Hispanics since I guess we are consider being in the white group. I feel that by checking A box it doesn't really get to show who you really are.
Up until I read this article, I never knew how much the little boxes on applications could limit our identity. I agree with what Tennan who had described generalizing to be offensive. It has really made me change the way that I am going to think the next time I come across those little boxes on applications. I will see that the boxes are just generalizations and I have to find my identity deeper than those generalizations. This article was really good at recognizing how identity is affected by the generalizations such as the little boxes on applications.
After reading the article, I gained a greater understanding of the difficulty many face when discovering how they identify themselves. Until reading this article, I hadn't thought of the boxes that are commonly filled out as defining factors of your identity. We use these boxes to generalize ourselves into categories that we best fit into, however, they don't always accurately portray our individual identity. Generalization is a completely natural process, but there are other characteristic factors that compose self-identity. I believe that the author is correct in saying that, by categorizing ourselves into broad boxes, we lose a piece of our identity as an individual. Society stresses the unspoken importance of groups and labels and I think that this article is an excellent example of the effect that society's categorical pressures can have on a person.
After reading the article "Little Boxes" it made me realize how many people judge one another. I know that in highschool it is common to make accusations about people but I didn't realize it is pretty much the same through out your day to day life. I wish life didn't have to be this way because im sure that i have been judged before someone has gotten to know me. Sadly, this is how life is. I don't think this will ever really change. People have their set views on people and life and nothing can really change them. There are of course those people who don't judge and are very open to different types of situations and people but there very hard to find. I admit, I definitely judge people before i get to know them. As People get older i go think it gets better and people are more open minded but genuinely speaking I think more people judge than don't.
After reading "Little Boxes" it made me realize how much people generalize. I have never thought about it in this way because I'm mostly white and just check off that box. I can easily see how people struggle with filling out applications and other things in this section. The article and the cartoon show a lot of accuracy that I never thought of before, and sadly there's nothing much we can do about it except stop ourselves. I see how having to choose the boxes (even me) can take away from our individual identity. Generalization is unavoidable in some ways because people can't individually remember everyone and the brain needs patterns to make sense of the world.
After reading "Little Boxes" in class, my thoughts on categorizing people and limiting them to only one race changed. I had never thought about this issue before because it has never been an issue for me when filling out any kind of application that asks about race. I've always just checked off "white" because I am of Irish and English descent. Hearing Anthony's background and the mix of cultures and races that make up his identity was an eye opener. In his situation you can't simply check off one box because it will not do his true identity any justice. Reducing a person's identity to a single little box on a piece of paper is certainly degrading and dehumanizing in my opinion. These little boxes don't tell the whole story of who a person is and what they identify with.
The article represents how peoples identities are very intricate and special. A couple of little boxes to check out does not summarize who someone is. Someone can not be put into such confined limitations. In this article it specifies ethnicity are the main thing that cant be contained by a little box. In a larger sense I learned that we shouldn't contain ourselves into boxes that we put ourselves in and especially not ones others put us into. It's essential to stick to your guns and be who you want to be. Never allow yourself to be contained by life's assumptions and judgement.
After reading "Little Box's" it made me realize how peoples identities are sometimes never really shown. Their identity is kept to themselves and not really shown to others. I have never really given this much thought before reading this article but after reading this piece, I came to realize how some people may lose little parts of their identity just because they are forced to chose which category they fit in with. Our identity is one of the most important things and if you forget about who you truly are and where you came from, you could lose some of yourself with it. I think that people, especially in todays world, need to make sure they aren't just put into these categories and don't just go by the box's, and that they really stay true to who they are.
The "Little Boxes" essay gives me a different perspective in the experience of filling out the boxes on an application form. I have never been in a position of confusion when I have to fill out a document of that kind I'm of White European heritage, but it is interesting to get a sense of what it would be like when asked about my race if I couldn't simply select the "white" box every time. The author makes a good point of showing his audience that these little boxes' choices can be too general, and as they did for him, their use can result in a loss of one's identity.
After reading "Little Boxes" it got me thinking about how those actual little boxes we are asked to fill out really do generalize a person. In the reading it talks about how Anthony Wright is part of many different cultures and it's very tough for him to chose which of those boxes to check off. I never really thought about how this may be difficult for some people to do because it's a pretty easy thing for me to do. Also, the comic strip on the back is a perfect representation of what the reading was about. I feel that some people may do a "mental checklist" not even meaning to. The reading "Little Boxes" has opened my mind a lot and has made me think about how people can automatically generalize a person just based upon the way they may look.
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