Essay

Learning by Imitation

Learning is a difficult process that not only requires time and dedication, but also the help of others in order for us to understand and actually learn. I remember when I was five years old I wanted to be a priest, so during my play time I used to imitate what the priest used to do during mass and almost say word by word. It was a fun learning experience and by imitation I learned to almost be the same as a priest, but not the same of course. Because, I only wanted to do the fun parts like giving “communion” or singing, if I were to truly imitate a priest I would have to follow everything as he did, but I guess I deviated by not following the correct steps.

In the group activity we did when the teacher asked us yes and no questions. I learned by observation that many of the students in class parent’s were not born in California or the United States.  I did not find this surprising since our school is a very diverse place, but I never imagined that many were not native to San Francisco. Some sound and act like they have always been in San Francisco, but I guess is their process of adaptation that has socialized them to act in a certain way.  Many of the students in class drink coffee and smoke.

Some of the surprises I found during the exercise were the honesty that some people had answering the questions. One of them was when the question about if anyone smoked marijuana, and some students actually said yes. I found their self report interesting since many would consider this a deviant act, but the students that admitted it I guess find it not that deviant. I think in class there were many more that smoked marijuana, but did not want to admit it and therefore self reports at times are not that accurate since not that many people are willing to admit when they do something that society thinks is deviant.  Another question I felt that made many people uncomfortable was when the teacher asked if anyone was gay. With this we saw a far lower number than people admitting they smoke marijuana. I think this question as general is hard one to answer since people do not want to be pointed out as deviants or I do not know. But, one would think that San Francisco of all cities would be more open to the homosexual community and people would feel more comfortable admitting their identity.

Overall I found the group activity very interesting. It was a way to get to know a little bit more about my classmates and their general views about some aspects in life. Even if they were yes and no answers I learned a lot about the general points of view of the class.  Like for example, almost everyone in class has a job and goes to school at the same time that gives us an inside of how they are dealing with work and school and how they are able to balance it.

We learn to adapt by imitating society behaviors and it gets us the breaks we need in order to be successful.  By either learning to be deviant in some parts of our lives or by following the society rules to accommodate our lives around them.