Explorations In Leadership

Response Posts: Respond to the posts of at least 2 other students. Each response should be at least 150 words. Statements like "I agree/ don't agree" are not helpful unless they are supported with arguments and reasoning. Remember everyone's right to freedom of speech and the importance of ensuring a safe environment by being respectful: we don't criticize people, we argue thinking.

Post #1

Kelsi Mauro,

The course materials in response to the module information which is discussing the movies and the text to find themes as well as leadership and social change found within the content as I start my ideas with talking about the theme I saw which was poverty which for me is very interesting because I did a lot of work on a paper about poverty therefore my interests as well as knowledge about poverty is a bit more then the average person not to mention my own experiences in poverty, so we will start with theme.

Poverty.

It was very interesting to read and learn about this other country or Africa that the DIME kids came from. I did some research on poor countries and the information I found was much information about the level of crime or corruption and Africa was one of the subjects I read about and according to the information I read they are very corrupt in almost every fashion within their government, and the police do whatever they want as well as other people in the justice system do whatever they want in exchange for money basically sometimes.

I also think how in the world is this black country segregated to where blacks are the minority even though the whole country is black then the white people come in to civilize the cities, yet they somehow get away with segregating the entire population.

This part was very interesting to read about the police being violent and then other people stuck up for the police and said “that’s a lie they would never do something like that” which was very interesting because people called me a liar when I tried to out the danger that my daughter’s dad had committed. I tried to tell people he’s not a good person, yet what most people said to me was something like you’re a liar he would never do something like that, but he was out of his mind violent and now he is passed away. A very personal account of my life, but I am comfortable with the information.

That was information about the movies I watched lets move toward the text as I conclude this assignment.

The text was very interesting indeed to read about the different poverty sentences he talked about like how he fasted and ate only bread for a long time then once in a while he’d get meat and it was very tasty according to him, but I understand the going without food. Going without food is normal for me. I think this holding back or silent suffering of a hungry tummy is a great practice for social change and leadership because a person gets humbled when they go without food in my opinion therefore he or she is able to lead and make changes because they are less self absorbed due to the humbling that fasting brings.

Mandela’s physical fitness was interesting to read about too which also would bring a humble trait which is walking six miles back and forth that I just remember reading that then other humbling things was page 33 how he wore these embarrassing shoes to school and he got made fun of by pretty girls this too is a small example of every day life that would account to some form of humbling in return the humble nature prepares one to lead better and not be a selfish tyrant for example.

These are examples I found within the course material for the week that interested me then I found examples of themes which was poverty also areas of leadership and social change.

Post #2

Natalie Crouch,

Hello all!

       My name is Natalie Crouch and I am graduating this Spring with my B.S. in Applied Developmental Psychology. I am looking forward to having a great quarter with you all!

       I felt quite moved while watching the video interview of Dr. Woodward's personal experiences growing up in South Africa, especially when she shared the the traumatic memory of witnessing police officers physically harming children with whips and other similar weaponry. In my experiences in the American public education system, very little, if any time is spent learning about apartheid, let alone on the history of South Africa. It was not until I took classes at the local community college in my junior year of high school that I even learned about the details of apartheid. I am mentioning this because I am thankful to have this opportunity to learn about this piece of history through the lens of leadership and social change, in addition from getting this perspective from Dr. Woodward, an individual who directly witnessed this part of history in their home nation. I feel confident that I will learn a lot in this course. 

       My main reaction to this video resembles a sense of cautionary optimism- the people of South Africa demanded social change for the sake of equality and these diligent efforts paid off in the end. I find this incredibly inspiring, as it can often feel very discouraging when trying to demand major policy changes from a federal governing body. We can see examples of this attempted change in America, as progressives are currently fighting for policy changes involving Medicare-for-all or criminal justice reform. However, Dr. Woodward mentions in the end of her video that the end of apartheid was not without some adverse outcomes, as funding for criminal justice systems is currently limited, resulting in high rates of crime and an overloaded court system. This is an important point to recognize, as those fighting for social change may expect certain problems to disappear overnight following major policy changes, which is an unrealistic expectation. While I believe that policy that promotes human rights for all should be the highest priority for all nations, we must do our best to identify the potential outcomes of major policy changes and give our best efforts to minimize any harmful outcomes.