Greeting
Brothers,
My
name is Yandell Hankey II - a rising senior, marketing major with a minor in
sales from Sacramento, CA. During my matriculation at Morehouse I have served
the Bonner program as a class coordinator and graphic designer. Throughout
campus I have served the Morehouse Marketing Association as an 8th Annual
Conclave Co-Chairmen, the Morehouse Sales Team, the California Club’s Executive
Board, and crowned royalty during homecoming festivities. Although I have
served in different capacities in different organizations, Bonner has always
remained my first priority. I would like to congratulate you for your
acceptance into Morehouse but ultimately for becoming a Bonner Scholar. If you
haven’t realized already, Bonner is a serious commitment. I hope you are eager to
begin a new portion of your life. Bonner is not only a great scholarship, but
it is also one of the greatest opportunities to help you grow in more ways than
academically alone, while at Morehouse.
Question:
As
a Bonner you have the opportunity to see your ideas come to life. Given the
opportunity, what is a social issue that you would like to address through a
service project? What would the service be and how would the service be
conducted?
ReplyDeleteA social issue I think I would like to address is negative parenthood in America, but I do not think it can properly addressed through just a service project.
I would like parents to raise their children better by ensuring that their children become internally happy and confident individuals…
Why I would like to address this issue:
- It is overwhelmingly critical for an individual to be internally happy, emotionally strong, and confident
- I believe that many parents are not doing all that they can to raise emotionally strong and confident individuals
- I believe that parents have the ability to raise emotionally strong and confident individuals
- I believe that parents raising emotionally strong and confident individuals is key to creating a peaceful society and increasing social progression within America
How this issue could be addressed:
- Through the organization and development of a community meeting
How the community meeting could be conducted:
1. Providing introductions from critical speakers
2. Presenting the objectives for the meeting
3. Commencing a session where we discuss the importance of the issue, it’s legitimacy, and a general opinion on it (based on the critical speakers’ presentation of it)
4. Commencing a session where the critical speakers explain how they have developed their opinion on this social issue
5. Commencing another session where we discuss the importance of the issue, it’s legitimacy, and a general opinion on it
6. Commencing a session where we discuss what we want to do about this issue
7. Commencing a session where we discuss how we have felt about this meeting, what we want to meet on next, and how we can improve the meetings
The social issue I would like to address is one of the most important social issue in my opinion, education. Education is the key to solving most social issues. The service would be service programs for kids and adults in poverty areas that would give better education to the children and educate the adults on how to better their life through schooling. Their are many programs for kids and their education because education for kids is critical; but I also feel that education for adults is also vital because children need a knowledgeable parents. The service would be conducted by weekly classes on multiple things. For the kids the general subjects like math, english, social studies, and science would be taught. For the adults, classes for managing their money, bettering their community, and many other beneficial things they would need to know.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe Social Issue that I think should be addressed is education as well, but not in the traditional sense. Traditionally, when someone speaks about bettering the education system, they are referring to academics and other related subjects. I feel education in our nations school systems should be restructured to be more applicable to everyday life --- what do I mean? I mean that the American education system, despite whether the institution is public or private, should incorporate classes on "life survival skills".
ReplyDeleteOften when you ask someone who is in some type of trouble, whether it be legal, financial, or even spiritual, they say "I'm not sure how I am supposed to handle this situation with my finances, I was never taught how to manage funds", "I did not know that I had certain rights when dealing with the law", "I didn't know who I should've talked to about what's going on in my life", and the most popular , "How do I prepare to be a parent?". If someone are taught the basic things about living in society it could largely benefit them, and perhaps others.
I like Hudson's and Weaver's idea about educating people!
DeleteBut I believe that Weaver's provides a more effective approach on what we should educate people on for these reasons:
1) His approach is more cohesive with Bonner's cause, to address social issues and initiate change through service. His approach goes against the established norm of traditional education in most of America. I believe that can only be achieved through change, by breaking against norms.
2) His approach is extremely logical, students have lives, and they need to be taught how to live them the best way possible and school doesn't often do that, it mostly seems to prepare students for work, which is wise but not whole-fully effective for a student's well-being and long-term success
3) His approach is relevant! I have regularly have discussions with many of my friends about the ineffectiveness of traditional education in America and nearly all of them agree!
I love the idea of teaching people in general but I know what people need and so does Weaver. Way to go! And I agree of course that education is critical!
There are many social issues that need to be addressed. However there are some Social issues that when addressed can pave the way for addressing more issues. With that being said, if given the opportunity I would address comfortability with in our society.
ReplyDeleteI know addressing comfortability seems like a broad topic to tackle, and it is, however I believe it is a necessary issue to try to resolve. We hear all the time "I just want to be comfortable" and this statement is completely okay in terms of your home lifestyle. However, being comfortable, in a work setting or just in an overall societal realm can prove to be damaging to you.
Our society is all about change. We are very inconsistent In terms of technology and other aspects of society. This realization can prove to be beneficial if handled correctly.
To address this issue of comfortability I would hold different service projects or sessions breaking up the participants in different age groups. Most likely 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34, etc. Realizing that breaking the participants into groups will allow for the instructors to personalize the instructions to that specific age group.
Then we would proceed to teach the participants about how to deal with and embrace change. Whether that be with education, technology or societal norms. We will allow for them to ask questions about how to handle change and any other questions they have.
Realizing that comfortability is a difficult issue, we would teach them how to change ,yet also keeping their integrity and moral values. Ultimately this idea needs more planning and to be thought through thoroughly, however I believe teaching generations to be comfortable with being uncomfortable is key.
The social issue I would address would be racism. In my opinion racism isn't just the most important social issue nationally but internationally as well and that has to change and change always has to start somewhere. To address this through a service project here's what I would do. I would conduct my service at places where I can make the most impact on the future, places like schools, boys and girls clubs, local recreation centers. The service itself would be to split everyone up into random groups and have them work together to reach a common goal so that they can see that even though people are different they still can collaborate.
ReplyDeleteGiven the opportunity, a social issue that I would like to address through a service project is poverty. They few times that I have visited Atlanta, Georgia, I have seen poverty stricken and homeless individuals constantly roaming the streets begging for spare change and food. It is even worse when children are born into these circumstances with a lack of opportunities presented to them. The service would be to acquire donations of food, money, and clothes which would then be distributed to the homeless and less fortunate in homeless shelters or roaming the streets.
ReplyDeleteA social issue that I would like to address is black hatred towards Africa. It honestly seems that African Americans don't understand where they're from. Well, it's in the first part of our classification/ethnicity--- AFRICAN! The idea that Africans and African Americans are two different subjects is completely ignorant. WE ARE ALL ONE. Whether you live in America, Jamaica, England, China, we all came from the Motherland. The only service project that I believe can truly resolve this social issue is to organize yearly trips to different parts of Africa. It could be a pilgrimage of some sort to help connect with our African roots. When one returns home, he can begin to remember who he is. We all need a reminder of who we are-- AFRICAN KINGS.
ReplyDeleteA social issue that I would love to confront would be the level of gang involvement in America. In today's society many feel as if belonging to a gang will bring forward the lifestyle and success they want. They think that it is easy. But of course anything that comes easy you lose quicker. The way that celebrities promote gangs makes it look good to younger views. I feel as though if I can expose the negative effects and outcomes on gangs that others will soon see that the only thing that gang life will guarantee you is a cell and a grave.
ReplyDeleteA social issue that I would address is the investment in black youth. I would address this issue through participating in mentoring programs that focus on inner-city black youth. This social issue is especially important to me because I fee that the black youth are often misinterpreted as dangerous, uneducated, and uncivilized and they are none of the above. They are a group of people who deserve to be invested in, they deserve to be nurtured, and they deserve to be listened to.
ReplyDeleteA social issue that I would like to address is the poverty in Atlanta. Although I am not form the city of Atlanta I am going to call it home for the next four years and it really gets to me when I see the amount of homeless people that I do especially around the AUC. The project would be to acquire donations of food, money, and clothes which would then be distributed to the homeless and less fortunate in homeless shelters. If this plan is not as effective as I want it to be I would suggest building shelters for families that are homeless because clearly there is not enough bed for them so they roam the streets.
ReplyDeleteGreat Question!
ReplyDeleteThere are many social issues that our society faces in today's 21st century, but there's one that always gets swept away on the cutting room floor. Statistically, African Americans, especially males have the lowest literacy rates in our nation. We all know someone of color that has had a challenge of reading. Being able to read, comprehend, and understand the words that are placed on pages is the key to everyday success in America. We can take the first step by putting more books in our underprivileged schools and identify the kids who are struggling the most. And when you do that, you can start by giving them more academic attention. You see, if we can repair the seed, the seed will grow, but if you neglect the seed, it won't grow, and the race will not thrivc.
While in Bonner Program, if given the opportunity to create a service project that address a social issue, I would like to create a service group that does work in disenfranchised, impoverished white neighborhoods and communities in an effort to minimize and suppress the interaction gap between black and whites. While I do believe working in our fellow communities is of dire importance, which it is, we should also do service in these white communities, not to appease them and gain their favor, but to come together and advance our fellow man. We are all humans, so we should unify as such. In helping and aiding these white communities, we can create an opportunity for collaboration, an opportunity to merge our communities into a stronger, much larger one. I believe that by working in these neighborhoods, we can dispel the myth that all blacks are criminals and gangbangers, that we only care about members of our race, or dispel the myth that we are trying to rule America and impose laws and regulations that diminishes whites to having limited rights and privileges as citizens as retribution for slavery. I believe that its crucial that we aid ALL communities as we stride towards excellence as human beings.
ReplyDeleteAnd start to rid the US of racism at its roots.
Delete