Discussion 1

Topic 1: Recognizing Your Potential 200 words

For this Discussion, you will share an experience of overcoming obstacles and reflect on the power of the individual to act in the face of social, cultural, or political pressures.

Consider a time when you, a loved one, or a friend had been underestimated. Perhaps a manager was surprised when your friend came up with a new solution to a problem at work. Maybe you had been told that you could not succeed in college due to a learning disability.

What was the situation? What were the external forces, social, political or cultural that influenced the situation? How did it feel to have people doubting you, a loved one, or a friend of yours? What helped you or this other person to overcome the obstacle and uncover their personal potential?

Discussion 2

Topic 2: Social, Political, and Cultural Influences 200 words

Many people within a country may recognize how social, political, and cultural influences have an impact upon them. At the same time, social, political, and cultural influences may be such a part of daily life that they seem merely "the way things are."

For example, when reading that America is an individualistic culture, you may not understand how life could be any different. Exposure to ideas from other ways of living can broaden your perspective and open your imagination to different philosophies of life.

Identify one social, political, or cultural influence from the assigned reading that you believe would be difficult to identify if you were a part of that culture. Why do you believe this influence would be difficult to notice? What is its impact upon the people?

Next, introduce one artistic expression that may help one to express individuality, independence, and creativity. What can the act of artistic expression do to open up the experience of the individual? How can it expand the perspective of the artist and possibly the whole country or culture?