UNCC media

Why it’s not the Watergirl

I chose to return to my team project forum 2 where I stated that in the movie The Waterboy gender roles and gender differences were not just seen in the classroom, but also in college athletics. My claim was that college movies tend to promote the idea that men’s sports is the highlight of college athletics. This helped spark my interest in looking into why men’s sports is so prominent in college’s portrayed in movies. I found that it is not only shown in college movies, but in real colleges around the country. This has actually been an issue for a very long time in American collegiate history. It was not until 1972 when Title ix of the Education rights demanded that women have equality on the playing field. As explained by Deborah J. Anderson title ix “prohibits discrimination by gender in any federally funded educational activities” (2). Now this law seems pretty straightforward, it should not be hard to follow but when it comes to sports it can get murky. “Although the scope of title ix to college athletics has been especially complicated because athletics programs, unlike most academic classes, usually are sex-segregated by sport.” (Anderson 2).  To be honest it was not something that I thought too much about. Going back to my claim, I used specific sports and explained them as supportive roles like cheer leading. Sadly I could not find any research or studies that mentioned anything about supportive roles in sports. To find information like that surveys would have to be carefully questioned, and the study done would be very abstract. However I did shift my focus over to another idea in college sports that still encompassed gender. This first source that I found helped inadvertently support my thesis, it supports it weakly and in a second hand way but it still highlights my main objective of wanting to know why men’s sports are so much more popular to the majority of Americans, however what I did not find was research suggesting that women can become socialized to think that because of this are they in a supportive role. So now going back to the movie, why did we only see men on the playing field? I know that the movie focused on the men’s football team, but why was it the men’s football team? Why is it always the men’s athletics in the spotlight? There are very few times in cinematic history that it highlights a women’s sports. There are many indications of inequity which is a big player in why men’s sports still dominate college. Starting with a definition “equity is a standard by which resources are distributed according to relative contributions” (Hebl, 227). Looking at this idea of inequity, how does this apply to sports and gender? Well institutions are going to be more likely to support a program that is prosperous, so in the sports world people are more willing to go see a men’s basketball game over a women’s basketball team. Even though title ix is enforced it doesn’t change the viewer’s preference. So going back to the first article Hebl suggest that “if ticket offices charge lower fees for entry into women’s games, they may be perpetuating differences in the perceived value associated with each team.” (227). this is a great claim made, wouldn’t you want to see the sport that has a more expensive ticket? That could equivocate to an overall better experience. Or at least that is what people believe, and why shouldn’t people. It makes sense to me that between men’s basketball and women’s basketball if the ticket is higher for the men’s game, overall it will be a better game. Hebl then says that “public’s perception of men’s and women’s sports may depend in part on the ticket price” (228). Applying this to the Waterboy there is a strong reason why it is the Waterboy and the Watergirl. With the idea of equity it explains why it is focusing on a school’s football team. Football brings in a lot of attention from consumers, not to mention the popularity of college football. And that could be what people want to see, they want to see this struggling football team and their evolution into a top tier team that takes on Louisiana University. There are plenty of examples in this movie that support the masculinity of sports. For example like I have pointed out plenty of times it is the men’s football team and that yes there is women’s athletics shown in this movie, but it is the cheerleading squad. Cheerleading is an essential part of football, usually one is not the same without the other. Like I said though, cheerleading is purely a supportive sport. The main spectacle during football is well… the football game! The cheerleaders are just there to pep up the crowd and cheer on the team with intricate and impressive stunts. Do twist my words around though, what cheerleaders do is very important and takes it takes a lot of hard work and practice to accomplish some of the stunts that they do, but in general people are not going to a college football game mainly to the cheer leaders. They are in no way pointless and useless, they help amp up the crowd and maybe even cause ticket prices to go up. They help shape the overall experience of college football and can even sway the outcome of the game. And cinematically, cheerleading has been portrayed in movies like Bring it On and Fired Up, but most of the times they are seen doing competitions that happen outside of football games.

In conclusion, my view has shifted from looking at how college’s sports could possibly socialize girls into a more supportive role, and looked at why it is a men dominated section of education. I covered the idea of how title ix has helped improve equality, but movies like The Waterboy are indicators that college sports is still focused on men’s college sports and not women’s sports. The idea of equity was brought up and that consumers could possibly be basing the value of the sport based off of the price of the ticket.

Anderson, Deborah J., John J. Cheslock, and Ronald G. Ehenburg. Gender Equity in Intercollegiate Athletics: Determinants of Title IX Compliance. Vol. 77. Ohio: Ohio state University Press, 2006. N. pag. Web. 31 Mar. 2015.

Hebl, Michelle R., Traci A. Giuliano, Eden B. King, Jennifer L. Knight, Jeanin L. Skorinko, Anjali Wig, and Jenessa R. Shapiro. "Paying the Way: The Ticket to Gender Equality in Sports." Sex Roles 51.3/4 (2004): 227-35. Web. 27 Mar. 2015. 

What to do after college?

The movie Neighbors is mainly focused on Greek life in college and the social aspect of it. Because of that, the movie hardly touches on academics in college. Most greek chapters require their members to maintain a certain GPA for them to be considered active members in the organization. The system of grade inflation helps many fraternity and sorority members to stay active in Greek life. The movie shows that college students can go to parties all the time and can still pass college courses. Grade inflation makes it easier for sorority and fraternity members to attain high grades while involving in Greek life. They don’t have to put excessive amount of efforts in school to be an active member of a Greek organization. Moreover, sorority and fraternity members can go to parties almost everyday and can still pass many classes. While the greek system strives for high academic achievement, members in Greek life only want higher grades if they don’t have to work hard for those grades. Fraternity members in the movie Neighbors have more time for drinking and partying than for studying. College students in general tend to not challenge themselves with hard work. In Neighbors, there’s a scene particularly related to this. The scene was at a job fair where Teddy was asked for his GPA from a representative from AT&T. Even though Teddy is the president of his fraternity, his GPA is higher than 2.0 but is still below 3.0. Despite the fact that Teddy is able to pass most his classes, a representative from AT&T called him dumb and stupid at the job fair. The representative demanded someone else who is better than Teddy and has a higher intellectual capacity to work for the company. Teddy would be unable to get the job position if he decided to apply for it. This scene clearly demonstrates that Teddy is definitely not prepared for the real world. He would have a hard time finding a job after graduation. He might eventually be unemployed. The movie Neighbors shows that fraternity members don't have to spend time studying or going to classes. Furthermore, fraternity members can still manage to join Greek life and to pass most classes. This is true for students outside of Greek life also. It happens in many campuses across the country. College students don’t spend their time on school work but on their social life instead. 

College students can easily get away with minimal efforts in school. In the article called “Grade Inflation: The Effects on Educational Quality and Personal Well Being” by Clifford H. Edwards, the author points out that the quality of our college education has been greatly affected by grade inflation. The quality of education should be considered a very important matter in college. The article describes that the standards of education have been lowered in expectations. Because of that, there’s a pressure on professors to lower their standards. Professors are pressured by college students and parents to give higher grades. Student evaluation on faculty members is responsible for grade inflation. Some professors would feel obligated to give higher grades due to this system. “Consequently, when schools through inflated grades promote lowered standards, students realize that what they are doing is not substantial, but they are deceived into thinking that what is expected is all that is needed. Thus students routinely perform far below their capacity…” (Edwards) This phenomenon causes students to give minimal efforts in their work so that they can have more time spending on social events. Therefore, college students don’t have to spend many hours of studying outside of class in order to do well in the class. In the article, the author also states that self-esteem is also affected by grade inflation. Students feel good for constantly getting high grades in their classes. College students are now received more A’s than ever before. As a result, students reward themselves by going out more often. They don’t concentrate much on the quality of college education. Grade inflation boosts up their confidence. It is misleading for students to think they are prepared for the real world. “Grade inflation has the potential for undermining the traditional purposes of the university, altering student-instructor relationships, eliminating the gatekeeping role of the university, and failing to adequately prepare students for the world of work.” (Edwards) The lack of proper training would lead to future employees to not be able to efficiently perform tasks required for their jobs. In my opinion, grade inflation is in fact an issue in our education system. Students should focus less on memorizing facts just to do well on tests. “The emphasis on self-esteem and its companion grade inflation have created conditions in schools where students no longer have to meet challenges, overcome frustration, or demonstrate persistence in order to be successful.” (Edwards) This article also describes many factors contributed to grade inflation. In addition, the article suggests some solutions for this issue. Another article related to this topic is called “Education Programs Are Said to Dole Out Too Many Easy A’s” by National Council on Teacher Quality. According to the article, the coursework of education students is easier than students in other departments. “Are teacher-training programs rigorous enough?” (Chronicle Of Higher Education) This question was asked in the article in order to raise the awareness of the quality of education programs. More education students graduate with honors degree compared to students in different departments. The teacher-training programs are being questioned on their quality. Students might not be prepared for the real job after graduation. The National Council of Teacher Quality argues for a more objective curriculum as a solution. The article describes that improvements need to be made on training programs. In my opinion, grade inflation affects college students in every department. Education department isn’t the only department that is affected by grade inflation. College education is supposed to prepare students for life after graduation. College students are supposed to receive an education that will be beneficial to them. Grade inflation makes it difficult for college students to be successful after graduation. 

Citations:

1. "Education Programs Are Said To Dole Out Too Many Easy A's." Chronicle Of Higher Education 61.12 (2014): A17. Academic Search Premier. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.
2. Edwards, Clifford H. "Grade Inflation: the Effects on Educational Quality and Personal Well Being." Education. 120.3 (2000). Print.

                                                      Do Par-tiers get worst grades?

 The one article I found that pertains to my topic is “Partying and the Mysteries of Student Culture” by William Nichols. College education is effected by so many things including partying and the student culture/social life. Nichols is an English teacher at Denison University. My topic is how does student culture or social life affect their school work/grades? In the article, he was told to go around campus at 2 a.m. in the morning and see all the students who are drunk and walking around. Now, he see’s why his classes are acting slow in the morning and sees what is affecting them in the classroom. Nichols said that he gave an assignment about partying to his students and most of them referred to parties as “Raging.”(Nichols) Also, he says that he has longed to understand the culture of partying because it seems to be in conflict with nearly everything I want to accomplish in the classroom. 

     He also says that partying is tearing the academic community down. Partying is a thing that every college student goes through, kind of like a stage (Nichols). It does tear the academic community down because the partying makes student not want to attend class because of laziness or sickness from partying. They spend all of their time partying and no time studying or doing their assignments. It really affects a student’s grades and gpa from just one semester of partying and not taking college seriously. Partying increases and studying decreases. Also, lack of sleep can hurt the body and when they attend class the next day, they cannot concentrate on the class because of the lack of sleep. If the students want to party then they better be able to maintain their attendance (which is not mandatory for most classes) and also their grades. Making classes mandatory will more than likely increase our graduation rate. It will keep the ones that actually want to be at college and the ones that party (think of college of a way to get away from their parents) will get kicked out.
When I first seen this article I did not think it would really connect with my topic, so I changed my topic to give me a more ideas that I can work with. Since partying is one of the major factors that lead to failing grades and people getting kicked out, I thought I would write on that. The article I choose is based on Partying and the Mysteries of Student Culture and throughout the article he explains a lot about partying and he wants to find the meaning to it. Going to a party can be fun with out drinking but since you’re in college it’s what everyone does. No. College is a place to learn and to grow. It’s to help you in the future and is not suppose to be easy. Most people can handle the struggle of college but others seem to “drink” to not think about it. Since I have firsthand experience (obviously I am in college), I have seen many of the things that Nichols explained at the beginning of his article. I have seen the drunken students walking around on campus, students who are sick and attend class or the ones who never attend, and the party hoppers. Drinking and really mess up your college education. College education is important to be successful in life and some people just do not understand how bad they are messing up their lives.

            My second article is called “The Impact of First Drinking and Differential Association on Collegiate Drinking” and it was written by Celia C. LO. Celia first starts off explaining that drinking has always been a thing that college students do. She says that the college officials see it as the source of misconduct, academic failure, physical injuries, and even death (Celia). Drinking is one way that college students cope with being away from their parents and their parents give them that freedom and they take full advantage (Celia). When college students drink because of their freedom they are also throwing away their parents money or the organization that is funding them. When they get academic failure they could possibly be kicked out and their goes their college education for now. She says that “officials have been alarmed by recent cases of alcohol poisoning and death among college youth.” College education continues to go down as long as these students continue to party and drink. Especially binge drinking. Students drink to relieve their stress and to have a good time. Doing this often, can result in someone becoming an alcoholic. They see the need to drink all the time resulting in grades dropping and potentially getting kicked out of their university. The article is more based off of drinking and studies based off of it but when you think about drinking in the college on thing that is on your mind is their grades. They will think that their grades are showing the effects of alcohol and most of the time they are correct. She is explaining this to show evidence of it actually happening through many surveys and other documents. The audience could be toward Universities and the higher people who work there.


     Throughout my search for different things that have to do with partying and college education, I really could not find anything exactly on point but drinking is pretty close. Drinking is probably what is at every party that goes on at campus. It is something that college is known for. My inquiry is based on college education and partying and how partying can affect the education and the degree of education that the students are receiving. Students seem to do worst when they are tired and sick. Students will party all night and wake up the next morning sick as a dog. More than likely they will miss class but if they decide to go their attention is not focused on the class more or less about being sick and very tired. No one can learn in a situation like that but they will be back at it when they hear about the next party. The article explains how drinking can affect their social life, their health, and their academics. Their health will be greatly hurt if they binge drink and continue to party. They could drink too much and get alcohol poisoning and guess what? They are not in school for a couple of days. Those couple of days could have been a test that they had to pass to pass the class but they decided to get drunk and mess up their semester and gpa. I only considered the beginning of the article because it most fit my topic. The ending of the article is about a survey that was done based on drinking habits and measures of it. Also, it says that the ways people think about someone who drinks alcohol can be seen in various ways based on “how” they are drinking. Anyways, the article provided me with some information and mostly resembles the other article “Partying and the Mysteries of Student Culture.”

                The things I described in this essay is that people should not party all the time. Partying is something that they could do every once and a while but partying all the time will cause students to get bad grades or even getting kicked out. Its important that students realize that drinking is one of the worst things you can do in college. College is a place for learning and having some social activities. Students do not this about the consequences of what can come after “that night.” My film really did not go with what I am explaining here. In Drumline, there was no alcohol consumption in the movie but they rarely showed the boys actually studying. There was one part in the movie that had a party but there was no alcohol. The boys in the movie seemed to be clean.

References

William Nichols, Partying and the Mysteries of Student Culture, The Antioch Review, Vol. 51, No.4, The Glorious Essay (Autumn,1993), pp.537-550, Antioch Review, Inc.

Celia C. Lo, The Impact of First Drinking and Differential Association on Collegiate Drinking, Sociological Focus, Vol. 33, No. 3 (August, 2000), pp. 265-280, Taylor & Francis, Ltd.

Its Who I'm Around That Defines Me?

To further the work I have done on my research regarding college education and conforming to a role within the college environment, I would like to dive deeper into my claims and thesis. Focusing on linking my two articles, “Black Stereotyping in a University Population” and “Race Relations on Campus” to the film “Neighbors” starring Seth Rogen and Zac Efron. Revolving around the idea that the role you choose to play in college greatly affects how successful academically a person can be in college. Meaning for instance if a college student chooses to surround him or herself around people that take the social aspect of college and partying seriously then he or her too with adapt and conform to that lifestyle. If that person conforms to that lifestyle, he or she will mostly be spending the majority of their time drunk or under the influence of some drug partying. Causing him or her to spend less time studying with their face in the books and improving their academics. In turn effecting the outcome of his or her grades, in turn effecting that person’s college educational experience. My thesis works the same in the other direction too. Meaning if he or she surrounds themselves with people who are studious and focus most of their time studying and working on their academics, he or she will adapt and conform to that nature. Causing their academics to get better and increase their college educational experience. To support that thesis any members of the audience can watch the film “Neighbors” and identify examples of such across the board. Teddy was your average Frat Star at his University. Teddy surrounded himself with only members of his fraternity and the majority of them were busy following Teddy’s lead and partaking in the social aspects of college and fraternity life. Meaning that the crowd Teddy surrounded himself with were drinking, smoking and partying with Teddy because they all conformed to that lifestyle in college. Most of the characters within the fraternity were not that good at decision making just like Teddy. For instance Teddy was angry and instead of taking the necessary “grown up” steps needed to calm him down Teddy gets into a physical altercation and then starts throwing stuff off of the fraternity’s porch which lead to him accidentally “striking” a professor. These adolescent traits are found all over Teddy’s friend group. Regarding Garf, who clearly understood that he had a meeting with the Dean of the school regarding discipline, ate a marijuana brownie before. The decision making of the fraternity should definitely give you a hint to how most of them are doing academically. Which is absolutely terrible. Teddy’s GPA could not even get him a small internship. Teddy’s GPA was below the marker that students must have if they want to join a Greek organization on the University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s campus. These examples hopefully show how conforming to a group of people/friends can affect your college educational opportunities/experiences. According to the assignment guidelines I must also counter my own claims, thesis, and arguments. So if the audience believes that my writing primarily highlights the idea that joining a fraternity will ruin your college education then that would be completely wrong. Represented in Pete, who was the Vice President of the Fraternity featured in “Neighbors” and he could definitely could be called the nerdy one. Pete spent time with the Fraternity and Pete was present during the Fraternity various shenanigans. But Pete had a wonderful GPA. Pete even minored in psychology. He was shown using a 3-D printer to mold a specific part of his body so that he could quickly get done and continue his day and get to class. While the rest on the Fraternity was left to wait for their molds to cement. He even stated “You guy should really see the type of technology we have at our disposal if you all just go to class.” Later in the film Pete is even question for missing an important Fraternity meeting because he had an interview. And that’s what makes Pete different from the rest of the Fraternity. The fact that he will put his education which is more important before the Fraternity. Pete understood that the social aspect of college, the one everyone conforms to only last for four years. That important factor is want is the flaw in my ideology of “conforming/role play” in college. When the subject realizes that he or she is only going to be able to live their lifestyle choice for the four years that they are in college. At that point the see the ultimate truth and hopefully they become able to sole focus on their personally college education because they realize that the only reason they are at college is to get a college education. Linking “Neighbors” to Let“Black Stereotyping in a University Population” and “Race Relations on Campus” I would like to change the readers focus to African Americans on college campuses dealing with the same problem discussed earlier being conforming and role playing. Being that the reader should recognize that a certain level of conforming to a “role” on a college campus could be a heck of a lot harder and that person doing so might have to deal with more hecklers if the subject is African American. Garf would be a character to focus on in the movie. Garf is an African American male in what is presumed to be an IFC Fraternity and especially due to recent events regarding an IFC fraternity SAE that certainly raise some eyebrows. On campus playing that “role” gives you the label of “that Fraternity’s black guy.” Which in turn might make that African American the butt or punching bag of most of the Fraternity’s jokes regarding race. In my articles I researched peoples views of African Americans on campus was put into a statistic and it was shown that people and most definitely Fraternity men view African Americans negatively. That can effect African Americans ability to be successful if they are constantly dodging verbal threats.

Citations:

"Race Relations on Campus" The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education No. 44 (Summer, 2004), pp. 134-135 Published: The JBHE Foundation

"Black Stereotyping in a University Population" Peter B. Wood and Michele Chesser Sociological Focus Vol. 27, No. 1 (February 1994), pp. 17-34, Published: Taylor and Francis Ltd.

Grade Inflation Strikes the Students Hard

Throughout the more recent times, there has been the issue of grade inflation. Some say that it does not exist, but others are saying, yes to the question. Within these broad standpoints are ones that are more specific such as how it effects student and faculty performance and so on. Many different standpoints could be taken on the issue of grade inflation as it related to higher education. The journals Grade Inflation: Metaphor and Reality by Richard Kamber and Mary Biggs and What is Ethical About Grade Inflation and Coursework Deflation? by Donald Larry Crumbley & Ronald E. Flinn & Kenneth J. Reichelt both claim that grade inflation is a real thing that is sweeping not only the nation, but the world as well. I believe that grade inflation is only in existence to a certain extent. Depending on which classes you take, depends on how much grade inflation has an effect on you.

In the journal written by Richard Kamber and Mary Biggs, Grade Inflation: Metaphor and Reality, it is obvious that they both have strong opinions that grade inflation is a real thing. In the journal, it is written, “…grades were rising for the same levels of student performance.” (Kamber & Biggs 31) What this quote is trying to say in more general terms is that the amount of effort needed to get a ‘B’ in earlier years (late 1900’s), would now get you an ‘A’, the result, grade inflation. In addition, the authors also state, “When B’s, for example, are awarded for what was previously C-level work, then the only way to differentiate what was previously B-level work is to award A’s to that work - which then deprives the system of its capacity to recognize A-level work.” (Kamber & Biggs 32) What this excerpt is stating is that grade inflation  is getting to the point where it is becoming impossible to determine the difference between an outstanding student (A), an above average student (B) and even an average student (C). I personally agree with this claim because now with the physical value of grades decreasing, it is harder to stand out in a crowd of resumes if all of the grades are above average. Although I do agree with this claim, I do disagree with the first claim that the grades are rising, even though students are putting in the same amount of performance. The reason why I disagree with this claim is because of my personal experiences. In my last semester as a college student, I took Calculus II and I knew that going into it, it was going to be extremely difficult to walk out of there with an ‘A’. Because of extremely hard work and effort, I was able to walk out of the class with an ‘A’. My point here is that with my hard work and only my hard work was I able to obtain the ‘A’. If I had not worked as hard as I did, then I know that I would have received a lower grade. With the higher level of performance, I was able to obtain a higher grade.

In the other journal that I analyzed, What is Ethical About Grade Inflation and Coursework Deflation? by Donald Larry Crumbley & Ronald E. Flinn & Kenneth J. Reichelt, grade inflation was still the main point, but the authors added a twist. In their journal, they questioned the validity of the student evaluation of teaching (SET). What this is supposed to measure learning and teaching. Unfortunately, the widely used system looks like it has backfired rather dramatically. What is claimed in the article is that, “[These] SET scores are as much an expression of customer satisfaction rather than anything approaching meaningful, valid, and reliable measures of what a student actually learns in a college class.” (Crumbley, Flinn & Reichelt 188) This quote is saying, in the simplest terms, that the SET system is turning into a complete failure and is turning into more of how the teacher was rather than what was learned from the teacher. I agree with this statement because if you just take a quick look around websites like ratemyprofessor.com, then you will understand what this previous statement means. When you look at the bad reviews on the website, almost all of them have one thing in common, they all say something like, “Too much work,” or “The course was too demanding.” Both of these comments are more about what they did not like about the class, not what they learned. In addition, the journal goes on further to state that students are, “…consumers purchasing education and grades as a commodity,” believe that, “Hard work outside the classroom should not be a requirement,” and that, “Teachers should be entertainers.” (Crumbley, Flinn & Reichelt 188) In other words, students know that they need to get a higher-level education, but the problem is that they do not want to work for it but rather buy it. I disagree with his statement because in my own experiences, when I go to my classes, I make sure that I am paying attention to what the professor is saying because I know that I am paying a good deal of money for my education and I do not want it to go to waste.

Both of the journals, Grade Inflation: Metaphor and Reality by Richard Kamber and Mary Biggs and What is Ethical About Grade Inflation and Coursework Deflation? by Donald Larry Crumbley & Ronald E. Flinn & Kenneth J. Reichelt, in my opinion, have ideas that I would agree with, but also others that would make me disagree and believe that the idea of grade inflation is fake and phony. This big fault in the higher education system has not been in place for a long time, but in history that is more recent. In addition, the general idea of grade inflation is still on the front lines of debate from local levels all the way up to the federal level. We all know that the issue is well known, but the problem is trying to contain it, and I believe that grade inflation is only true to a certain extent, depending on which classes you take and where.

 

References:

 

Crumbley, Donald Larry, Ronald E. Flinn, and Kenneth J. Reichelt. "What Is Ethical About Grade Inflation And Coursework Deflation?." Journal Of Academic Ethics 8.3 (2010): 187-197. Education Research Complete. Web. 31 Mar. 2015.

 

Kamber, Richard, and Mary Biggs. "Grade Inflation: Metaphor and Reality." The Journal of Education Vol. 184.No. 1 (2003): Pp. 31-37. Web. 31 Mar. 2015.

The Waterboy and Gender Roles in Terms of College Sports

College movies tend to promote the idea that men’s sports, mainly football are what defines the college’s reputation, leaving women with more supportive sports like cheerleading. In the movie The Waterboy starring Adam Sandler I decided to take Deborah Tannen’s “How Male and Female Students use Language Differently” article and use her views of gender inequality in the educational system. Men do communicate more through physical sports and taunting whereas girls tend to sit in groups and like to use words. Tannen makes the argument that females tend to stay in smaller groups and share intimate and personal bonding time which helps strengthen their bond as friends. Being a guy I can only believe what I see and read because I do not have firsthand experience, but I can agree that the majority of females that I am friends with or have seen do prefer to hang out with their own sex. While they are talking they are more passive and far less aggressive than guys are when they are together. Going back to Tannens claim that men tend to keep too far less communication with words and more physical activity is completely highlighted by this movie. The scene that I chose to look at is when Bobby Boucher is at one of his first football practices with his new team The Mud Dawgs at South Central Louisiana University. In this scene the coach is trying to bring out the anger Bobby had when he tackled one of the Mud Dawgs after he was taunted. Bobby is then told that the only way that he will be able to tackle well is to visualize someone that makes him really angry and then use it to tackle. He uses this technique and it works throughout the movie.  While all this is happening the cheerleaders are all sitting in the stands talking and drinking. For most of the movie the cheerleaders don’t even cheer.  On the field though College movies portray football as the most important sport and this defines the overall ranking of the college. And of course in this movie as in most college sports movies the team is the male football team. This could masculinize collegiate sports because it discourages women from wanting to pursue a college sports team, but instead will join a more supportive role. This role was shown in the movie is the cheerleading team even if it was a poor example. Now off course this movie has outliers in it as far as all females fitting in with what Tannen believes how girls communicate. Characters like Vickie Vallencourt and Bobby’s mother are very strong females who aren’t scared to get aggressive and role with the big dogs. However these strong females do differ from the strong males in the movie. When Momma needs to be dominant she is not afraid to say what she needs to say even if sometimes it can wreck others’ lives, what I am trying to get at with this is that the strong woman in this move are more verbal than physical, they used their words first to try to fix a problem then resorted to being physical which Vickie has no problem with. Moving on, while the men are headlining the show the girls are off on the sideline sitting around talking and getting wasted. When viewers at home see this they begin to think and accept the idea that men’s football is the headliner and that cheerleading is the only sport worth it for a girl to pursue in college because movies rarely show any other female sports. Leading to my question which is, when did the norm for girls or at least girls in movies be to become the supportive role while the man is scoring the points and in the spotlight.