Baldwin's Intent

I believe that the author's intent in “Stranger in a Village” is to illustrate the cultural gap between America and the rest of the “white” world. This is described perhaps most vividly in the 14th paragraph, where he says that there is an abyss that divides the people of the village and the people back at home, and that abyss is “the American experience” (I assume that he is referring the to civil war, and the history of segregation).

“There is a dreadful abyss between the streets of this village and the streets of the city in which I was born, between the children who shout Neger! today and those who shouted Nigger! yesterday—the abyss is experience, the American experience. The syllable hurled behind me today expresses, above all, wonder: I am a stranger here. But I am not a stranger in America and the same syllable riding on the American air expresses the war my presence has occasioned in the American soul.”

The case against religious indoctrination.

My inquiry question for my senior project will probably be something along the lines of: "Why are children the main target of religious indoctrination? Do they suffer from indoctrination? Is it unethical to indoctrinate children?" It is a very broad, quite controversial question, but it is one that I feel must be addressed. I would like to explore why religious education of young children has such a profound impact on the child's psychological development (As the old Jesuit once said: "Give me the boy for seven years, and I'll give you the man"). I would like to find out whether religious education of young children (ages 7 or younger) has a negative or positive impact on the child's mental health. I would also like to learn about the reasons why children are so willing to take in what they hear on faith, and not question it. That seems to be my senior project question in a nutshell. Please ask any questions you may have, I'll be happy to answer them, I feel that this is such a large topic it is difficult to fully describe it, or even to know where to begin, so I'll leave it to the reader to alter the focus of this discussion.

Science Park Revelations

After reading the assigned article about the Hsinchu Science Industrial Park, several things struck me as being particularly shocking. I was shocked to discover the quantity of toxic waste that had been illegally deposited in rivers. I have heard many stories about China's rapid industrialization coupled with weakly-enforced environmental regulations resulting in ecological and environmental damage, but I never considered the possibility that such things could occur somewhere as near as the Science Park.

The more I think about it, the more I realize how similar the rise of Chinese industries is to the construction of the science park many years ago. In both scenarios we see the flaunting of environmental regulations in order to make way for the lucrative benefits of large companies and industries. In a nutshell, what stunned me is how we are told every day about the countless ecological crimes committed by Chinese industries, yet I had never heard about the atrocities (perhaps that is a bit too melodramatic) that occurred in the Science Park. The large-scale use of female workers also struck me as being morally wrong, as well as shocking, for very similar reasons. I had previously considered the use of female and immigrant workers on a large scale to be problems associated with far-off countries, such as shady businesses along the U.S. - Mexican border, I had never thought about it as being so close to home.

To be honest I cannot really provide a detailed analysis at the moment because I am still in the process of coming to terms with these revelations myself. The article really hammers home the fact that the problems of far away countries may not be quite as distant as they seem...

Aled