Grade school sociology

On one hand, we see violence, selfishness, condescension, class hatred, racial profiling, beatings, gang hostility, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse; on the other hand, friendship, love, kindness, sharing, and most significantly, sincerity. Such is the grade school social scene. Children are extremely prone to bluntly exhibiting their primitively innate tendency to defend familiarity and shun the unknown. They also obey their bodily wants and needs with little to no inhibition, due to their underdeveloped frontal cortices. Sincerity arises, along with bluntness. Adding to this, traits learned from their individual domestic environments are exhibited as social separation mechanisms because of their need for familiarity.

Hostility thus arises when groups of kids familiar with one another go through the groupthink process, creating group pride, and thus the need to be better, or stronger than other familiarity groups. Perhaps this is the root of all our current problems with racism: the lack of early exposure to what becomes alien in a child's mind.

My summer job

Ahh, how I love my job: I don't get many hours, and the hours I do get give me eight dollars each, but the work itself nearly persuaded me to skip out on a party with my college friends this past week, just so I could make it to an optional, unpaid work day.

I work at a youth conference at Snow College where we have on-belay events, water fights, and much more. My job is to make sure the kids stay safe, learn lots, and have tons of fun! The people I work with are turning into some of my best friends.

In lieu of my regular intellectually deep post this week, I'll end here with the promise of an analysis of occupational preeminence or grade school sociology next week.