Walking along to first period math, I feel a certain calm in the air.  The inviting room provides a shelter from the burning cold of the air outside.  As I enter the room, I am greeted by a teacher who has little emotion in his words.  Other students begin to file into the classroom, and conversation begins.  One particular student enters and acts as a catalyst in the class conversation.  A discussion about football arises following the standard salutations between the students.  However, the student who had begun the conversation is now intrigued by his calculator. While he rapidly pushes buttons on the calculator, the other students discuss the highlights and mistakes in football from the past weekend.  A random comment comes from the student with the calculator, but the other students fail to acknowledge it. 

            A discussion about computers ensues between two of the scholars.  One student participates in both conversations by giving his opinions on each of the topics.  He guarantees victory for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the others are quick to refute his statement.  Each student gives reasons for his beliefs in an orderly manner.  The students do not interrupt each other, and the conversation eventually turns to a website.  They all send praise to a new post on a website.  Referred to as Maddox, the writer on the website is given respect by the students for his writing in controversial topics.  The discussion ends, and the students all go to their desks. 

            Following the bell, I walk in the general direction of my English class.  As I leave the math class, I am refreshed by the suns rays radiating on my exposed skin.  I feel completely content with myself and with my knowledge.  However, with each step the sun seems to dim.  The clouds of controversy are beginning their formation and setting the stage for battles of epic proportions.  As I enter the hallway, I feel cold, as if abandoned in the middle of Alaska wearing only my summer apparel.  Now, slowly entering my English class, I am surrounded by disdain.  The palpable dislike changes my mood, and evokes my natural, animal instincts.  My adrenaline is flowing, and my instincts of self-defense take over.

            A deafening din is accompanied by groups of bodies entering the room.  Several students in the class yell across the room to others in a manner similar to that of Green Bay Packer fans at Lambeau Field.  One student expresses his views to another and they begin to fervently debate the topic.  Across the room, another student argues with several of his classmates about gender equity.  They vehemently refute each other, and neither side appears willing to concede anything.  One student continues to interrupt the others as a shooting star interrupts a clear night.  The student speaks passionately with momentary breaks between sentences that parallel the pauses between waves on a beach.

            I originally intended to present these apparent differences as a means of convincing my readers that there are distinct differences between the conversations in math classes and English classes.  However, upon considering my position, I realized that my reporting was biased.  I saw what I wanted to see while observing my subjects.  It was as if I wanted there to be a difference between the conversations because of my own background.  These observations of my own conduct lead me to instead present my observations as an indication that individual beliefs are as powerful as the truth.  My beliefs clouded the truth until deep contemplation led me to reconsider my findings.  In fact, the entire atmosphere around me changed solely because I wanted it to. 

            While considering the effects of my mindset on the research that I conducted, I was inspired to introduce the idea of the placebo effect.  The placebo effect is summarized as the administration of a medically useless treatment that actually causes improvement in the patients condition.  The placebo effect also exists in therapy due to the mindset that the patients possess.  The patients believe that they will get better, and often times, they actually do.  Studies reveal that the success of placebos is greater than thirty percent.  This is a prime example of the power of the mind forcing people to react differently than they would have otherwise.  The placebo effect is also useful when considering the power that the mind has on everyday life (Rocha do Amaral).

            The feelings that I had entering the ethnography were significantly different for the subjects of mathematics and English.  I had complete faith in the order of math, and my observations reflect that.  For instance, the mathematical method of integration by parts appears to be an orderly process despite the fact that it is a higher-level operation.  However, mathematical methods were abstractly designed by the fathers of mathematics and are only presented in their most simple ways. 

            In English, I was prepared to make the unfair assumption that it is a chaotic subject.  I was still questioning English and failed to realize that it has grammatical and spelling rules that parallel the rules of mathematics.  These faulty thoughts caused me to view the relationship between the two in the wrong manner. 

            There are other factors beyond the control of the different subjects that caused the results of the observations to be significantly different.  The English class had approximately four times as many students as did the mathematics class.  Another important factor to consider is the time of day.  The mathematics class was observed during first period while the English class observations occurred during second period.  Demographically, the math class conversation consisted of only males, whereas the English class had significantly more variance in gender.

            Instead of the subject area dictating the style of conversation present, other factors have greater effect.  My individual thoughts affected the conversation because of my mood.  The variables in the research also created an atmosphere in which conditions were noticeable different.  Individual beliefs and demographics have a greater effect on conversation than does the media in which they are conducted.  

Works Cited

Rocha do Amaral, Julio, and Renato Sabbatini.  Placebo Effect: The Power 

      of the Sugar Pill.  Home page.  25 July 1999