Talking It Out

When we looked at all those charts of which large companies own which organic foods companies I was extremely surprised. It made me so mad to think that when I thought I was buying Naked juice I was actually buying Coca-Cola. It's so frustrating to me because it really shows that it's only a few major corporations that run the food industry. There are almost no independent labels anymore.

I agree with everything that has been talked about in Food Inc. and My Ishmael. I believe that the lifestyle we are living is not exactly right and I also think that the way the food industry is run is horrible. I can't believe how badly they treat the people that work at these places, or how our government treats them. They arrest the people that come here to do an honest day's work, but they don't arrest the people who are responsible for bringing them there. It's so horrible! Immigrants are treated like something illegally imported instead of people.

In order to make a difference I think it's important to buy local and live a more sustainable lifestyle. However, in regards to Ishmael I have no idea what to do. I know he said that we need to educate people about everything, and I agree with that. But I feel like it shouldn't be as simple as that. With the food industry there are not simple answers to getting rid of everything. But with the problem of saving the world, there is an even simpler answer. It makes me mad.

My family thinks that the people of our civilization need to make a more conscious effort when it comes to food to eat more sustainably. In fact my dad has recently become Vegan and buys all local foods whenever it's financially possible. He feels very strongly that there needs to be a big change in the food industry and I think that since he has a large voice in the community here in San Diego, especially in the restaurant business he could make a difference here.

My Ishmael Dialectic Journal: School Daze

"The schools are there, Julie, to regulate the flow of young competitors into the job market."

-My Ishmael by Daniel Quinn

(Page 60)

When Ishmael said this I was particularly peeved. It makes me so angry as I was reading these chapters because what he was saying, while it seems to be true, completely eradicates the purpose of education in my mind. To me education is the further discovery of information but I feel like his saying this means that it's not. And while his opinion isn't necessarily right, I feel like it is. Our civilization really did make education more about giving us something to do than learning. Instead of filling our heads with things that we actually are genuinely interested in, they fill our heads with useless facts. I mean, why would I ever need to know the exact date the Dutch bombed Bali? I didn't until our government created a test where I may need to in order to succeed in life. I wish learning were more about finding yourself and learning about things that interest you. If it were I feel like I would be so much happier and excited to go to school. I could finally learn about the things that I cared about and do something with the knowledge.

My mind completely wandered throughout this chapter thinking about all the things I wish the education system took into account. I feel like our government gives makes schools like a uni-sex one size fits all tank top. They make everything the same for everyone, even though it will only fit a handful of people. Personally if a public school were like a tank top for me it would look more like an enormous pillow case with arm holes.

The horrible part is that while I understand that our civilization is just using school as a sort of population control in order to preserve enough jobs for everyone, I hate the way they do it. Can't they at least make it more interesting for us? Just because we don't do things in a conventional way doesn't mean we aren't learning? Who decides what information is worth learning or not? Because I don't think the people who do decide that are the right people to be deciding. I mean, how much of the information they learned in school do they actually use in their lives today?