Creativity and Education

Ken Robinson makes us aware of a problem concerning with all of us and our children: how the education system (which has been part of almost all of us) is stopping our capacities to be creative.

He says that all children are born with the capacity to be creative, but society punishes the mistakes we all make, so children will be afraid to do something new or different. In that aspect, children are being educated to not be creative.

Ken Robinson also says that the education institutions are working to produce "university teachers", because they want their student to "think": subjects such as maths or language are taught with a high level of importance, but other subjects like dance, music or art are secondary.. why is that? Because they want to train "heads".

The system is made because for what is considered more useful for the work (in a context of industrialism, so work understood obviously not as art). is also considered according to the academic habilities, and here is the mistake, because this hability is confused with "intelligence".

This is related with why education is made thinking in university: if somebody has bad grades at school, that person will this he/she is not intelligent enough. But he/she doesn't know that can have other habilities, such as dance, singing, painting, etc. Our system doesn't allow to discover that.

My favorite subject: Sociological Theory I

My favorite subject this term is Sociological Theory I, which is the subject where we learn about the different and main theories, authors and movements of Sociology.
This semester we have studied Karl Marx, and now we are going to start with Emile Durkheim and, after that, Max Weber.

This subject is taught by Octavio Avendaño, and I think that is a big plus for the subject. To really learn, I need an organized class, with the ideas not just in the air, and this teacher is very clear, and he is not just speaking thoughts, and is really teaching what sociological theory is about.

I like this subject because I feel I am really learning about a central subject of my career, the ideas are clear, and it kind of makes me feel like I am in the right place, and that I wasn't wrong when I decided to study Sociology.

So far, I have learned about Karl Marx's theories related with the work, the capital, the State, etc, and I am willing to start learning more about Emile Durkheim and Max Weber statements.

My future

I, actually, don't know what I'd like to be in 5 years.
I think I would like to be traveling. What I want to do is to work some years, and then go in a super trip to Latin America and Europe, for all the time I can afford, hopefully two or more years.
After that, I'd dedicate myself to work in my area (which I love).
Personally.. I don't know xD ... I just want to travel, meet people, know new places, taking lot of pictures and enjoy life =)
For that reason, I haven't thought in where I'm going to live, but I guess I'll do it in Las Cruces (my hometown), or maybe in Valparaiso, but I want to work in Santiago... but, for me, Santiago is not a place to live! I'm very used to feel the beach near from me. That's why I plan to travel from Las Cruces to Santiago everyday... is not that far, and I think it worths it.

Best in Sociology

I consider that the best in sociology is Manuel Canales.
He is a sociologist from the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain, and also a Doctor in Sociology, from the same university.
Manuel Canales investigation line is related with Intolerance and Discrimination, Poorness and Social Exclusion, and Investigation Methodologies.
I like him because he has done many interesting papers and works, related with life conditions of people. And, his best characteristic is that he is one of the greatest in Speech Analysis, here in our University.
Last year, he was my teacher of the "Investigation Methodologies I" subject, and one thing I liked about him, was that he always tried that we (the students) got closer with Sociology, and is a teacher you can feel close to.
One funny thing about him was that in his classes he made us read books that he had written, and those books quoted him. Just kidding.

My career: Sociology

The main question I'm asked is: what is Sociology? and my answer is... I'm still not very sure.

When I first decided to study this, it was mainly based in the sociology course I had in the Program of Baccalaureate (for the Bachelor's degree) I was in, in this same University. I just liked the class, and I thought that everything I could learn in Sociology, I could use it as a contribution to make our society better... if we wanna improve it, we have to understand it, and for me, this is the best way.

Sociologists can make many contributions to society, since we can work in public and private places. So, we can contribute by making researches, which results will work for some ministerial or public program, or we can teach at the University, or dedicate just to the academic research, or maybe in private company.

Since we have many chances, the tools we are going to need are diverse. The access to a decent data source is basics for us, or to have the tools to make a research and to get to the people we need. We will need maybe of our sense to apply the theory to our reality, and use it in a way that we can make it better.

My favorite subject is, by now, social stratification. How classes are formed, and how that changes in every society, and how we can work on that, make a change, make things better! Specially in our country, where differences among classes are so hard, and unfair I think.