Post by Vivian Torres on Sept 27, 2015 21:57:59 GMT
Vivian Torres
Professor Lane
Phil 8
Code: 64247
Film Exam #3
1. I work at an elementary school as a teacher’s aide for a special needs class. It is a combination class of fourth and fifth grade, so the kids range from the ages of 8-10. Now, I have my set of kids that I teach a few subjects to and of course, children being children, they always fool around or the doze off. To get them on track I’ve made up this lie telling them that “I have eyes behind my head,” and that I can see everything that they are doing. Most of the kids in my group believed me, but of course there was one skeptic that wished to test my “abilities.” He told me, “Ms. Torres, it’s impossible that you have eyes behind your head,” and I told him “Nothing is impossible, and yes I do have eyes behind my head. If you wish to test my abilities then go ahead and act up when I have my back turned to you. If I don’t catch you on what you’re doing then you get away with it, but if I do catch you then you must pull a card for being disruptive during the lesson.” Pulling a card is a behavioral correcting strategy that we use at the school. This shows the children that if they pull a card it will be recorded and sent home for a parent to sign. As I went on with my lesson and was writing on the white board I can sense, the child that questions my “abilities,” to move around in a rapid pace. I then say “E***** please plant your bottom on the chair.” He then said, “Ms. Torres, how did you know I was out of my chair?” I then told him, “I have eyes behind my head, remember?” He was so shocked that after that he never fooled around during a lesson and the other kids did not either since they witnessed my “abilities” in person. The logical explanation for this is that I know these children to the “T” that I know all of their tendencies and their behaviors. I use that to be more aware when teaching a lesson, to make sure they are all paying attention. To this day they all believe that I’m this magical being that has the “ability” to see everything when I’m not physically looking at them.
People create ideas that deem “special” to them, but it’s only “special” because that’s how the person preserves it. It may not mean any significance to another person, but to that person it withholds the greatest significance. It may be so significant that it can become powerful in that person’s mind and they discard all logical reasoning behind all of it. For example, my father came from Cuba and the religion that followed him, and practiced, was Santeria. As a child I was exposed to this and believed in all the tales and required things that my dad had to do for the religion. My dad kept a shrine that he prayed to in a closet in my house and he kept figurines or Saints in there. Whenever it was one of those Saints birthday, he would cook a huge feast on that day for their remembrance. So, he’d cook and we would all eat and he always set a plate aside for the Saint. He believed that if you gave the Saint food they would eat it in the other realm. So, one day he put the plate of food in front of the closet, where he kept the figurines, and left it there. Now, we have a dog that absolutely loves food, so of course he strolls by the closet and ate up the plate of food. My dad walked by the closet a few hours later and came running towards my mom and I saying that he wanted to show us something. We walked us over to the closet and explained to us that the Saint had eaten the food because it was gone. My mother and I both knew what really happened and tried to explain to my dad what really went on and that, Peewee, my dog had eaten it. He did not believe us; he believed that the Saint he cooked for had eaten it. He considered it a blessing that the Saint’s were so willing to be open enough to actually consume the food; physically. He is blinded by the beauty of the religion that he is not open to the logical possibilities of the outcomes of the actions that took place, which was my dog who ate the food.
2. As the film said, “The brain is not designed to see the universe as is,” for I agree with this statement because we as human beings often experience situations that we simply do not understand or cannot explain. On the other hand, we do tend to see some events as “magical” when it can simply be an allusion, but we either chose to be closed minded or simply don’t see what logical explanation could be for those events happening. I for one can admit to this happening many times in my life. For example, just last week I went to the dealer to get my car serviced, as I was waiting for my car to be done I became hungry. I then walked over to the vending machine they had in the waiting room. It was one of those new vending machines that take credit cards too. As I walked over to the machine a lady went before me getting a candy bar. I saw that she paid with a credit card. When she finished I then looked and choose what I wanted. I punched in the letters and numbers of which item I wanted and I was getting ready to insert my cash. Then a strange thing happened and I received the chips that I wanted for free. I looked at the machine confused because I did not enter my money, and of course I tried to get more free things so I tried again and I received the candy bar for free. I thought it was my lucky day until I stopped myself and thought why was I getting all these snacks free? Was I lucky or was the machine broken. These things I thought and I decided to look at the machine and I saw the credit card swipe and a little message said, “Do you wish to purchase more with this card?” I then stopped and realized that the women who went before me had her credit card information in there still. She forgot to select an option to end the transaction. I felt so guilty after that and went to look for her to tell her, but she was gone. Overall, it was not luck that I had, but there was a reason to why I got to get all those snacks for free. Or in this case, charged to another person.
Another example, many years ago when I was in high school my friend had one the latest phones out. She was getting familiar with all its cool gadgets and apps. At that time, I had one of the oldest model phones because I was tight on money, so it was a flip phone. I did not have nearly as many features on it. Also, to begin with I was never tech savvy. Anyways, my friend decided to show me a video that she took. Prior to playing it she tells me, “I have powers; I have the ability to make things disappear!” Of course I did not believe her. She then tells me that she has proof and she gestured to the phone. I told her to show me her “proof.” She then played a video of her making a cup disappear. I was slightly shocked because it look real, but I knew it had to be fake. I then asked her to make my pencil disappear in person. She refused to do so because she did not want anyone to know. She acted to concerned about keeping her powers a secret. At that point, seeing that she looked so serious about it, I started to little by little believe her. The moment I told her that I wouldn’t tell anyone about it she started to laugh and told me that she was messing with me. I felt so foolish but she told me that she simply recorded the cup on the table and the paused the recording and removed the cup and continued to record, which gave that effect of it disappearing. It showed me that there is an explanation for anything.
Professor Lane
Phil 8
Code: 64247
Film Exam #3
1. I work at an elementary school as a teacher’s aide for a special needs class. It is a combination class of fourth and fifth grade, so the kids range from the ages of 8-10. Now, I have my set of kids that I teach a few subjects to and of course, children being children, they always fool around or the doze off. To get them on track I’ve made up this lie telling them that “I have eyes behind my head,” and that I can see everything that they are doing. Most of the kids in my group believed me, but of course there was one skeptic that wished to test my “abilities.” He told me, “Ms. Torres, it’s impossible that you have eyes behind your head,” and I told him “Nothing is impossible, and yes I do have eyes behind my head. If you wish to test my abilities then go ahead and act up when I have my back turned to you. If I don’t catch you on what you’re doing then you get away with it, but if I do catch you then you must pull a card for being disruptive during the lesson.” Pulling a card is a behavioral correcting strategy that we use at the school. This shows the children that if they pull a card it will be recorded and sent home for a parent to sign. As I went on with my lesson and was writing on the white board I can sense, the child that questions my “abilities,” to move around in a rapid pace. I then say “E***** please plant your bottom on the chair.” He then said, “Ms. Torres, how did you know I was out of my chair?” I then told him, “I have eyes behind my head, remember?” He was so shocked that after that he never fooled around during a lesson and the other kids did not either since they witnessed my “abilities” in person. The logical explanation for this is that I know these children to the “T” that I know all of their tendencies and their behaviors. I use that to be more aware when teaching a lesson, to make sure they are all paying attention. To this day they all believe that I’m this magical being that has the “ability” to see everything when I’m not physically looking at them.
People create ideas that deem “special” to them, but it’s only “special” because that’s how the person preserves it. It may not mean any significance to another person, but to that person it withholds the greatest significance. It may be so significant that it can become powerful in that person’s mind and they discard all logical reasoning behind all of it. For example, my father came from Cuba and the religion that followed him, and practiced, was Santeria. As a child I was exposed to this and believed in all the tales and required things that my dad had to do for the religion. My dad kept a shrine that he prayed to in a closet in my house and he kept figurines or Saints in there. Whenever it was one of those Saints birthday, he would cook a huge feast on that day for their remembrance. So, he’d cook and we would all eat and he always set a plate aside for the Saint. He believed that if you gave the Saint food they would eat it in the other realm. So, one day he put the plate of food in front of the closet, where he kept the figurines, and left it there. Now, we have a dog that absolutely loves food, so of course he strolls by the closet and ate up the plate of food. My dad walked by the closet a few hours later and came running towards my mom and I saying that he wanted to show us something. We walked us over to the closet and explained to us that the Saint had eaten the food because it was gone. My mother and I both knew what really happened and tried to explain to my dad what really went on and that, Peewee, my dog had eaten it. He did not believe us; he believed that the Saint he cooked for had eaten it. He considered it a blessing that the Saint’s were so willing to be open enough to actually consume the food; physically. He is blinded by the beauty of the religion that he is not open to the logical possibilities of the outcomes of the actions that took place, which was my dog who ate the food.
2. As the film said, “The brain is not designed to see the universe as is,” for I agree with this statement because we as human beings often experience situations that we simply do not understand or cannot explain. On the other hand, we do tend to see some events as “magical” when it can simply be an allusion, but we either chose to be closed minded or simply don’t see what logical explanation could be for those events happening. I for one can admit to this happening many times in my life. For example, just last week I went to the dealer to get my car serviced, as I was waiting for my car to be done I became hungry. I then walked over to the vending machine they had in the waiting room. It was one of those new vending machines that take credit cards too. As I walked over to the machine a lady went before me getting a candy bar. I saw that she paid with a credit card. When she finished I then looked and choose what I wanted. I punched in the letters and numbers of which item I wanted and I was getting ready to insert my cash. Then a strange thing happened and I received the chips that I wanted for free. I looked at the machine confused because I did not enter my money, and of course I tried to get more free things so I tried again and I received the candy bar for free. I thought it was my lucky day until I stopped myself and thought why was I getting all these snacks free? Was I lucky or was the machine broken. These things I thought and I decided to look at the machine and I saw the credit card swipe and a little message said, “Do you wish to purchase more with this card?” I then stopped and realized that the women who went before me had her credit card information in there still. She forgot to select an option to end the transaction. I felt so guilty after that and went to look for her to tell her, but she was gone. Overall, it was not luck that I had, but there was a reason to why I got to get all those snacks for free. Or in this case, charged to another person.
Another example, many years ago when I was in high school my friend had one the latest phones out. She was getting familiar with all its cool gadgets and apps. At that time, I had one of the oldest model phones because I was tight on money, so it was a flip phone. I did not have nearly as many features on it. Also, to begin with I was never tech savvy. Anyways, my friend decided to show me a video that she took. Prior to playing it she tells me, “I have powers; I have the ability to make things disappear!” Of course I did not believe her. She then tells me that she has proof and she gestured to the phone. I told her to show me her “proof.” She then played a video of her making a cup disappear. I was slightly shocked because it look real, but I knew it had to be fake. I then asked her to make my pencil disappear in person. She refused to do so because she did not want anyone to know. She acted to concerned about keeping her powers a secret. At that point, seeing that she looked so serious about it, I started to little by little believe her. The moment I told her that I wouldn’t tell anyone about it she started to laugh and told me that she was messing with me. I felt so foolish but she told me that she simply recorded the cup on the table and the paused the recording and removed the cup and continued to record, which gave that effect of it disappearing. It showed me that there is an explanation for anything.