en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/3545336 Comments by ThatCarterKid24 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/12/02/voices-from-the-classroom-87/#IDComment231799450 After taking Soc 119 I feel like I’ve learned a lot about other races and ethnicities. I think the biggest way my views have changed is that I am no longer quick to judge others by the way they talk or dress like I use to. Before this class it sort of freaked me out when I would walk by large groups of people of different races because I thought they were all judging me. But now its just cool they might be, but I understand that hey everyone is different. Blacks, browns, Asians they are all the same: PEOPLE. I’ve always been a believer in everyone being equal and this class just affirmed those beliefs. I feel a lot more comfortable with people of different race now and I’m more curious about other people’s cultures. I often find myself correcting some of my closest friends who judge others based on their appearance. I call them out by saying you do not know that kids life. Try being in their shoes. For all you know that poor kid is still beat by his father when he goes home for breaks because his Dad’s a drunk. Getting back to races though, I definitely feel as though Sam’s Christian invaders class was one of the best all year. I never thought of white people being the “bad guys” before. Our race is just as flawed as any other race. I mean I’m white but why haven’t we realized that we are just as bad any other race. One of the most noticeable changes I think that I have seen in myself since taking this class is probably how I meet new people. Before, I would kind of be quick to judge someone based on his or her looks and personality. But this class has taught me to look deeper. Getting to know some for who they really are and really focusing on what they have to say. Asking them about their culture and where they originally are from are two of my opening questions for people I meet. Just a few days ago I met a great dude who has let me nicknamed him Big O for the sake of remaining anonymous whose parts are from Ghana and Nigeria respectively. I explained to me how they came here and why they left Africa and it was just something I could really relate to what we learned about in class. He lives outside of Pittsburgh now and is really well educated. He’s a hardworking middle class black man trying to live the American dream. At the same time all I could think of is how Sam was explaining that blacks and browns would be at job opportunity disadvantage. It’s just amazing how weird the world works. Hopefully the future brings change in which everyone can benefit from everybody else in a working manner to make life a little easier all around. Fri, 2 Dec 2011 19:45:13 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/12/02/voices-from-the-classroom-87/#IDComment231799450 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/15/voices-from-the-classroom-78/#IDComment223013506 As the events of the past week and a half have unfolded a lot has been on my mind. Lessons learned, friendships revealed, and the Penn State community as a whole are just a few of the many topics that I’ve reflected upon. I must say much like JoePa regretting he did more, I feel like I should have done something more, but I just don’t know what. I regret putting up statuses on Facebook that would result in a public bashing of my school from outsiders who just do not understand what it means to be a Penn Stater. But, I still stand by my school because it’s the belief that this University is great that keeps me coming back each year. You look around the country and Penn State is everywhere. All summer I encountered Penn Staters across the country and could not have been more proud to tell them I too was a Nittany Lion. I can only hope that the spirit such as this continues because people need to realize Penn St. is an amazing place to go to school and by no means do we “affirm” disgraceful acts. Some of the lessons I think I have learned really is not to trust the media. I knew this before as true, but I never realized how powerful the media could be in manipulating a situation beyond the control of the people that it affects. Joe Paterno may have been able to do more, but the media did not even both to look at others because he was our golden boy, just ridiculous. Another lesson learned is that you really do not know who your true friends are until your down and out. My true friends were there for me through all of this and those people who I thought were my friends or who I thought were decent people either hid because they didn’t want to get involved or because taunted my school but publicly disgracing this University with unkind words of allegations about something that does not affect them. I found new friends in some people whom I never realized had a soul or even knew who I was! Here at state I found support from the Lion Scouts as well as many of the faculty. I think though the most important friend I learned is to never loose faith. I thought for sure when this whole story came out a few weekends ago that the school was toast. I thought I was going to have to transfer because bad times were fast approaching and little did I know exactly what was in store, but I kew the worst was still to come. But, I stayed strong and voiced my Penn State pride and though I witnessed the JoePa riot I did not take part in any destruction of such a fantastic school. Time will go on, things will get better, and we will prevail. WE STILL ARE PENN STATE! Thank you. Wed, 16 Nov 2011 19:47:41 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/15/voices-from-the-classroom-78/#IDComment223013506 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/09/voices-from-the-classroom-32/#IDComment219402199 Money has to do with almost everything in life, as we know it. We use it to buy essential needs such as food and homes. So money is important in the sense of happiness that your are able to afford something that your comfortable living in. But we use money for other amenities such as entertainment and supporting benefits. Those are what make different types of people happy and the amount of money that you make could have a different impact on people on multiple levels. They say money can’t buy happiness, which I believe is both true and false. It’s true in the fact that you could have all the money in the world and buy whatever you wanted, but be unhappy while doing it. You could even marry for money and someone might marry you for YOUR money. Someone from this could yes end up extremely unhappy if certain factors fall into place in which everything in life as you know it turns upside down. Others are perfectly fine with being wealthy because they might use it for causes to benefit others rather themselves and some are truly happy just benefitting themselves! Now the money you earn in life through hard work also feels more rewarding than money handed down to you. The sense of gratification always trumps money given to you. People are also more likely to protect and invest into something that makes them happy and will benefit them in the long run with the money that they earned. I know money they I receive in the form of gifts I usually go and spend on others or for benefits such as school because it’s a necessity and school doesn’t exactly always make me happy however hopefully its leading me down the road to a career that will fill that happiness I’ve always been looking for. But, with the career I have chosen to pursue there is not much money to offer starting out. I am an aspiring education major and teaching is a career that pays off in the long run. I am comfortable with knowing that after a long fulfilling career I will be happy enough to retire and pursue other life long dreams with my family. Money should not control your life, but for most it has to because it is so entrenched into our society is the factor of life. People are judged based on their wealth and people choose to encourage others to do better or put them down to do worse often times for factors only reflecting someone’s wealth. No matter where you are in the world money controls what you do. The money you earn is more rewarding than money handed down. Happiness is based on the individual and not society itself. All in all, only you have the power to find happiness and depending on what type of person you are maybe from outside influences or maybe from genetics you will find your happiness in some plethora of ways. Wed, 9 Nov 2011 18:03:44 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/09/voices-from-the-classroom-32/#IDComment219402199 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/01/voices-from-the-classroom-59/#IDComment215935783 A person talking a different language around me is a tough issue to tackle. I guess it would depend on the person or the language. Sometimes I feel a little subconscious when Asians are speaking really fast around me and starting point in my general direction. I can recall this one time when there was a family of Asian race on this ferryboat I was taking. I was sitting alone on my computer and the family sits down next to me and starts rambling on about something in Japanese or Chinese I’m not sure which and they get into this heated argument. I’m sitting minding my own business when suddenly this argument slowly turns into stares in my direction. Their conversation dulls down to near whispers. Then it turns into chuckles. I realize by now that yes in fact they are staring at me. I ask what is so funny and they respond, but it’s in their native language. I feel as though that was intentional in confusing me, but I truly don’t know if they knew English or not. By this point, I’m really uncomfortable so I just decide to pack up and leave. As I leave they wave goodbye still chuckling. So still to this today I find as though I get a little nervous when a group or a pair of Asians are talking around me, because honestly you just don’t know what they’re talking about! Spanish is completely different. I love Spanish and I took it for four years in grade school. My Spanish is not great but I sure as heck do not mind when people speak it around me because I can pick up on what they’re saying sort of. As for most other languages, I’m indifferent but I think the German language is crazy hard. Someone who can rattle off something in fluent German always impresses me. Most Germans in European known a little English too so it’s never hard to feel comfortable around them. Africans are just cool, and are really humble at least whenever I interact with them. Indians can be rude and their language a little muffled, but all the same mean well. People that appear to be from the Middle East and speak in some sort of native tongue that I don’t recognize sort of freaks me out sometimes subconsciously, probably because of 9/11 but I shouldn’t be so judgmental. I think why a person of Asian decent language bothers me so much was because of that weird experience on the boat, but not only that, languages like Chinese, Vietnamese, and Japanese are so different from English. It honestly makes me feel uncomfortable sometimes listening to them having a fast conversation but in any case they can be some pretty awesome people too. One of my best friends from home is Vietnamese and his family makes some awesome native food! All in all, language can be uncomfortable for some, but if you have a background in something it can make it all that more enjoyable in understanding the people around you and how other cultures work. Wed, 2 Nov 2011 19:38:04 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/01/voices-from-the-classroom-59/#IDComment215935783 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/27/voices-from-the-classroom-58/#IDComment213479681 I feel as though whites being the minority in 35 years is not surprising nor should it be. For decades the United States has been one of the top if not the top country immigrated to in the entire world. People come to the United States for opportunity they cannot find in their native land. The country is made up of the world’s largest melting pot. In the same community you can have blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Indians, people from the Middle East, and whites living together. Whites came to America first from Europe to escape religious prosecution and start a new life. After the high influx of whites settled the North American continent, the rest of the world jumped on the bandwagon. Now Hispanics represent the majority of the immigrants today. A plethora of blacks came over during the slave trade. Asians immigrated from the pacific to have better living conditions. I had a friend in high school that was Vietnamese who explained to me how he came to be in America. He told me how his parents escaped from the socialist country by boat and eventually were picked up some other vessel. Without money they reached the United States. Both his parents were engineers looking for better jobs in the U.S. They saved enough to buy a home in a middle class white community and raised my friend and his older brother. Now they have assimilated into the American way of life, but still take pride in their culture. I have been invited over several times for homemade Vietnamese food dinners. Let me tell you it is exquisite. Back to the point of whites being the minority though, I must say not much will change. The national language will remain to be English, even though Spanish will be a close second. American traditions will remain in tact and the typical cheeseburger and fries meal will never die. Foreign restaurants will become very popular and you’ll be able to eat whatever style cuisine whenever you desire. Even now we start more fast food chains such as Chipotle popping up all over the country. Even though whites are going to be the minority though, I still think they will be the leaders of the country for decades to come. Whites are so entrenched in so many leadership roles that’s it’s impossible for minorities now to get into positions that they have held for so long. I think the country will also still see a heavy white population in remote areas such as the Midwest or parts of New England. Immigrants will tend to follow other immigrants because they share the same cultures and they will seek to identify with people of their own race or culture. Finally, I just wanted to mention that even though whites will be the minority it’s only a matter of time before the human race flattens out and genetically people will start to look more and more similar as we evolve and breeding between the races becomes more and more ordinary. Sooner or later the majority will be one super race with combined genetics of a ton of different races with a bunch of other small races making up the rest of the world population. Fri, 28 Oct 2011 16:23:19 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/27/voices-from-the-classroom-58/#IDComment213479681 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/20/voices-from-the-classroom-50/#IDComment210673660 Although I am your typical middle class white Caucasian male with European ancestry raised in the suburbs of Boston, MA I feel as though there were a number of influences that have caused me to be at the race stage I feel that I am in now. Personally I feel very comfortable and accepting of blacks and browns, and I have friends of all different races. I consider myself to a stage six individual because I do not ever get intimidated nor do I feel uncomfortable around people of a difference race or religion other than my own. I can honestly say I have never felt strongly for or against blacks, browns, or Asians just because I don’t see them as being different. I see them as people. We are all people and we’re all apart of the human race. We have an ability no other species on this planet possesses. It’s funny I’m writing about this now because last night I can recall hugging a six foot two black man who was a complete stranger to me just as a sign of thanks for coming out at 8 p.m. on a FREEZING cold night just to referee a silly IM flag football game. When does that ever happen now a day? I can recall last spring break when I went down to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands that my father and I were the only white people on the whole beach and we had a great time hanging out with all the natives singing songs drinking and having a good time. They were just that fun to be around! Not only that one of my best friend’s here even and whom I’m living with next year is 100% Hispanic so as you can I really do not have a problem with any race or culture. I feel as though I’m this accepting because of the influences my parents had on me as a kid. Growing up they always instilled the fact they we everyone was created equal. Now being raised in a predominately white community I was not accustomed to many blacks and browns but the few I did know I was very friendly with, there also was a large Asian population many of whom I was also friendly with throughout school. I am very proud to go to Penn State now because it offers a lot more diversity than my hometown did. It gives students like me the opportunity to really open up to other peoples cultures. I think one other major factor of why I am so accepting of people different from me is because the group of friends that I had growing up accepted everybody. We supported one another at social functions and involved ourselves in a variety of diverse activities. As far as my friends and family go I think most if not all of them are very close to stage 6 if not stage 5. I know my family is stage six and never feels uncomfortable or critical towards other different from us. My friends may be stage 5 because they do not experience the same comfort with people of diversity that I encounter. Fri, 21 Oct 2011 21:22:42 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/20/voices-from-the-classroom-50/#IDComment210673660 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/11/blog-about-happiness-for-soc-119-and-learn-something-useful/#IDComment206682700 The article concerning the five truths you didn’t know about happiness was really eye opening. Its curious to think that yes in the Declaration of Independence they added the pursuit of happiness clause and made it an obligation for any human person to have. But, the bigger question is what should we define as happiness. I feel as though happiness is a larger than life idea. To define it is difficult and for any one person it can vary drastically. My simplified definition of happiness is something that makes you feel content with life. You can reach happiness in a multitude of ways, but its not in human nature to always remain happy once you reach a happiness point. At this current point in my life I am very happy. I’m content with school and I was just notified I have been accepted as a Lionscout. So overall, life is good. But it’s true getting to this point was stressful. Through an application, and a three-part interview the happiness was not there. Granted having goals is a healthy lifestyle but the stress you encounter in trying to achieve those goals has to be carefully managed. So I agree with the article that treating a goal as though you need it to be happy is not a healthy thing. But rather you should treat it as something that would be cool, but should remain content if the best outcome does not come your way. This one truth that was surprising to me was that freedom of choice does not always make you happier. I never though of freedom of choice being harmful, however the possibility of making the wrong choice in pursing something that makes you happy could be devastating. I mean realistically, drinking with your friends could be something that makes you happy, but the consequences and possibilities that could go wrong with freedom of choice there are incomprehensible. Decisions of eating what makes you happy too can be just as bad. The article also raises the point that your physically can’t feel happy for very long and again I would have to agree. In regards to sexual activity, there is only really happiness at climax and or in comforting. But, looking at relationships on the whole they can be hectic to say the least. Problems must be overcome. In regards to exercise running does in fact release endorphins that make you feel alive and excited. Working out in general gives you that feel good mentality, but to what extent does that happiness last? Who knows maybe it will only last until the next morning when you wake up moaning and groaning in pain because you forgot to stretch. I also just want to mention money really cannot buy happiness and forget the sort of part too. Money is a material thing that should be earned by doing something your content with and does not bother you or phase you. Money should be spent on others and yourself in order to meet physiological needs. Money should not be thrown around to entertain yourself except for in treating both yourself and others. It’s all about the sharing aspect and being genuine to others. Wed, 12 Oct 2011 22:57:32 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/11/blog-about-happiness-for-soc-119-and-learn-something-useful/#IDComment206682700 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/06/voices-from-the-classroom-40/#IDComment204105904 I feel like this is tough because women just dress to impress and they feel obligated to look scandalous to get attention from men. Guys get away with wearing whatever they want because at the end of the day girls are looking for a boy toy so to speak and guys are looking for the sexiest piece of you know what they can find. It’s not to say some women prefer guys that show some class and dress with dignity. But, when you’re in college women are not concerned with relationships or even friendships for that matter, but rather the physical attractions fill their want. Women in college especially have to quench their hunger for sexual activity and for one reason or another they feel as though this is accomplished by strutting their stuff in the most revealing clothes they can find and in the highest shoes in their closet. For goodness sake they don’t even care if the shoes match half the time. Most importantly a majority of college men are terrified of steady relationships because they’re thinking with the head down their instead of the one on their shoulders. They figure talking a good game and getting away with wearing pants and sweatshirt on a cold winter night is acceptable. I feel like men try to hide the goods to so that the women are forced to check them out or quote feel them up on the dance floor or something along those lines. Women also choose to sacrifice their comfort too because they don’t feel the cold one they start drinking on a Friday or Saturday night. They just ignore it and go from place to place. Some guys do the same, but I have not witnessed as much of the same practice in men. Chivalry is not completely dead though. Often you’ll see a guy sacrifice the jacket or sweatshirt for the cold women. Another reason why women might want to be dressed to the nines, it offers up for a man to be a gentleman. Besides women love attention, the more attention they get from men offering to keep them warm the happier they are. Women are smart too, they know how to suck men in and use them for their warm clothes. They just have to put on thee I’m cold act and the puppy dogface and any guy in their right mind is going to help them out. But some girls really have to give it they want something in return. Any relatively women is going to catch the eye of some lucky man, but the women who are not quite their show off more than they should probably to get what they want. Trust me they get what they want. After much observation on those Cata buses last year college women definitely get the comfort they sacrifice in close in return for man’s attention at all parts of the night. Thu, 6 Oct 2011 23:07:24 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/06/voices-from-the-classroom-40/#IDComment204105904 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/27/voices-from-the-classroom-21/#IDComment201115303 From the beginning of time women have always seemed to be more innocent than men. There is biblical reference in Genesis from the book of Torah when God states “and for your man shall be your longing and he shall rule over you” that shows established differences between the genders. Men just never consider women as dangerous people, especially if they are a good looking and charming. People assume since women are the child bearers and have supposedly sweet innocent hears that they can do no wrong. I blame this on multimedia. Everywhere you go people talk about how men are getting arrested for petty crimes such as possession or misdemeanors for late payments. You never hear about women involved with arrests unless it’s an arrest for homicide or something more serious. Just look at the Casey Anthony case that made national headlines do you really think this case would be a big deal if it were a man that was in question for killing his own child? Of course not women are suppose to protect their children. Men are typically the ones who beat or do hurtful things to the kids in a family anyway, and society accepts this! Ever stop for a second and think that a mother is just as capable of this abuse as a father is? In other multimedia in the forms of TV and movies women are the damsels in distress. Why doesn’t someone make a movie about a woman helping a man find himself and finally end up falling in love? I bet that might actually be a hit because it’s realistic. People are brainwashed with this idea that women are just beneath men and society accepts that, when really man and woman are equals and in a family should take on mutual responsibilities. Now when it comes to races being more innocent than others it’s a whole different ballgame. When it comes to whites and blacks or browns for some reason whites just feel uneasy around them. As we saw in Sam’s bike video the white people were automatically concerned with the black man stealing the bike, but really didn’t think twice about a white man. Nor did they even hesitate when they saw a woman trying to steal it. I feel like the most innocent race though truly are Asians. You never see them on TV being arrested and you hardly ever hear about an Asian being causing trouble. But, surely there are exceptions we don’t hear about them because it’s not a big deal in our society. Most people think Asians are quiet and keep to themselves, not some crazy psycho killers. Their innocence reigns supreme because of the good reputation they have for carrying themselves in the real world. Where as blacks and browns tend to struggle socially in society, gaining bad reputations for academics and economic standards. The prejudices will always exist and I think the only way to end this is by having a radical leader, someone that calls for change in the name of peace and equality. The bigger question though is will humankind accept this change? Fri, 30 Sep 2011 01:30:53 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/27/voices-from-the-classroom-21/#IDComment201115303 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/20/everyone-respond-to-this/#IDComment196977093 The Haiti project is something I think we as college students can make a heavy impact on. I’m expecting that my group can handle the task of making a difference with tons of great ideas in order to raise money for the fund that Penn State is already sponsoring. I know I already have an idea for marketing the brand of clothing designer Euclid has created of the Parrot in order to help her gain some revenue over seas to advertise her creative talent. I mean why not sponsor a 30 second commercial with her artwork or send out literature in Penn State mailboxes showing off her awesome clothes. After watching a lot of the videos I learned about some of the major problems in Haiti. I know that most of the entrepreneurs are in need of either cars or laptops to manage their businesses. It’s extremely possible to get the some alumni who work for various computer companies to get their companies to donate to our cause. We could send out something similar to thonvelopes with information about our purpose and literature on about entrepreneurs in need. As for other relevant problems we should come up with a plan to make Haiti an overall safer place to live. Crime is one of the biggest problems that these people face on a daily basis. We have to hypothesize on possible ways to prevent this in order to prevent people such as Figaro from being stripped of all her money and books. Months of hard work gone in seconds is just too depressing for me to handle and I can only imagine being in her shoes. In other cases we have people like Sophia who make awesome products, but lack the proper tools to make a mass quantity of products. I think we can easily send her a state of the art sewing machine and donate proper supplies for her to stay in business for years. I really want to help Suze’s roasted peanut company and send her better equipment so that she can make peanuts faster and get more profit. I realize most of the things I’m trying to fix are small, but start small and things will grow, both economically and socially. There are thousands of ways we can raise the money for all of these initiatives and I’m really curious to see what my group thinks we should do in going about actually raising the money. I think what motivates me to really give back to Haiti is that I see some of my best friends around the country volunteering and going to Haiti for weeks at a time buildings schools and churches. These are kids just like me making a huge difference and I go to a school with 5x the possibilities and opportunities to help! This is my chance to do what they do and then some. You look at the videos and how bad Haitians have and it just really makes me appreciate my life that much more. Why should they settle for anything less than I have? We need to create opportunity and see through that we actually be that push to get Haiti on the track to success. Thu, 22 Sep 2011 20:40:18 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/20/everyone-respond-to-this/#IDComment196977093 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/13/voices-from-the-classroom-9/#IDComment193419966 I’m leaning towards disagreeing on the fact that income has a main contribution to SAT scores. Although it sounds logical and reasonable to say that people with more money can afford to educate their kids effectively the truth is it really depends on how well the student tests. A great example of this is a student such as myself. I come from a middle class white suburban family. I received a public school education, played three sports, got involved with tons of clubs and activities, all while maintaining high honor roll status throughout the majority of high school. Now you would think the SAT would be a piece of cake for a kid that’s able to balance so many responsibilities, well I did too. After taking the PSATS I was a little uneasy about the test, but thought I did okay. Come to find out I scored below average in almost every category. After taking the SAT for the first time I scored a little better, but still below average. As you can imagine my parents were none to pleased with my effort and thought I was doing poorly because I was not doing anything to prepare. I assured them that there really was no way to prepare for a test like this because it was a reasoning exam something I knew I was just not good at. They disagreed and insisted I take a twelve-week tutoring/training class on how to take the SAT with some friends of mine. I agreed and put a lot of effort into the $800 class. After all was said and done my total score only went up about 200 pts and actually went down in one category. It just goes to show you money can’t buy you success on the SAT. I had friends that were C students and who came from lower income families than I did that performed better on the SAT than I did. Other factors that I believe contribute to SAT scores are genetics. Depending on the genetics in your family you might just simply be a great SAT taker or a poor one. I figure since my father was horrible at test such as the SAT that I inherited his test taking skills chromosomes. The same thing explains why some people can just listen to someone or something and retain practically everything they have just read or heard. People just like my brothers who hardly ever have to study for anything and perform flawlessly. Another factor that might influence SAT scores are the conditions under which you take the exam. For example someone who is under a lot of stress because they are overwhelmed with extracurriculars or maybe they are worried about a loved one passing away, or perhaps what goes on in their home life can all be contributions to poor performance on the exam. In reverse if everything in life is just really awesome maybe because you found a hundred dollars or because you have a new girlfriend could be explanations for positive energy for taking the SAT. Overall it’s difficult for anyone to say that family income has a strong impact on SAT scores because there are 1000s of possibilities that can contribute or explain why someone may or may not perform well! Wed, 14 Sep 2011 21:01:34 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/13/voices-from-the-classroom-9/#IDComment193419966 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/06/voices-from-the-classroom-2/#IDComment190875636 I believe this is a really tough question but a great one to say the least. Let us first dive into the question of gender. The term gender in my mind strictly refers to the physical characteristics of either a male or a female. At birth you are born with said characteristics that categorize you as either one or the other. Males usually have the proper genital parts and females the proper vaginal parts. In very rare cases you have a baby born with mixed up chromosomes in which it will have a combination of the characteristics. For example there have been people born that have penis’s but develop breasts too. In this case you’re never really sure what gender you are until you know what feels right. However, if you are born with the dominant male characteristics or female characteristics then you do not have a choice you are male or female and you cannot change that unless of course you get a sex change when you become of age to make that decision. But to answer the question of choosing gender I believe that at birth no you do not choose gender. The human species is unique in that however the sperm and egg decide to fertilize is uncontrollable. You as a living organism do not have the power to choose what gender you turn out to be. However by the time your old enough to rationalize and have the power to make your own life decisions you have the choice to change gender if you desire. Ultimately you choose to be a different gender because your unhappy with your current role in the gender you are presently. The question of sexual orientation is a whole different ballgame. Sexual orientation in my eyes refers to what gender you like or are attracted to. You can be categorized by society as asexual, homosexual, bisexual, or heterosexual. However, I believe you choose which gender you’re attracted to. By considering what is highly accepted in society and by looking at science it is obvious that the purpose of our species is to mate male and female to populate the earth and continue our race. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR TWO PEOPLE OF THE SAME GENDER TO PROCREATE IN OUR SPECIES. But, as a human being you have the choice to be an orientation other than heterosexual. For some people they just do not feel attracted to someone of the opposite gender. If someone does have these feelings then they can choose to pursue a relationship with someone of the same gender if they want. They can just as easily choose not to be attracted to a sex at all or they can choose to be attracted to both. It is all the person’s personal preference really because any person has the power to choose what they do with their life. There is no such thing as a predetermined lifelong destiny that people have to follow that instills to someone that they are homosexual. Being a human gives us free will to choose whoever we want to be. But, by no means is our sexual orientation born into us but rather learned and chosen from experience. Based on experience a person is then able to decide what makes them the most comfortable and what they do not about others. All in all, I believe gender is something uncontrollable at birth, but with age and experience can become a choice with age. As for sexual orientation you can choose what you like sexually/physically about people based on life experiences too. Thu, 8 Sep 2011 00:48:24 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/06/voices-from-the-classroom-2/#IDComment190875636 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/08/26/what-do-you-want-to-know-before-its-all-over/#IDComment188293654 You know to be honest I took this class solely because of all the positive feedback that I had received from students and faculty here at Penn State. I had always heard the same old “SOC 119 opened up my world, you really learn a lot” and “Sam Richards is crazy, but awesome”. I never really took the time to consider why I wanted to take this class until now. At this point the class has definitely lived up to the hype and I think it’s going to be a great semester! Some things that have always puzzled me about race and ethnic relations concern Native Americans. Why doesn’t anyone ever talk about them? They did play a huge role in American History. Why do we insist on keeping them restricted to reservations? Why are relations so tense between most Native American tribes and the U.S. government? Why can’t we just honor them considering the fact that they were oppressed as long if not longer than blacks. I just feel like issues such as the ones dealing with Native Americans go under the radar a lot. As an aspiring educator I feel as though its important to make my future students realize that it was not just blacks who were oppressed for so long but that Native Americans, Asians, and Hispanics were all in the same boat for a long time. Some people may say views of holding these ethnic groups to a lower standard still exist today. Other issues I hope we bring up in this class concern the fact of why do so many people from all around the world choose to come to the United States for college when supposedly our education system is declining? Is it because people from all around the world still think this is the land of opportunity and hope to learn about our melting pot of worldly cultures? Or is it because it’s cheaper to go to school in the States for some? Or is it because people from all around the world feel its more effective to show up the Americans by dominating their schools? I don’t know and I really don’t get it. Whatever the reason you can begin to see the foreign competitiveness growing in the job market everywhere. Some are skeptical that at this rate the whole United States job market will start to be dominated by foreigners. Why hasn’t the government made more of an effort to keep on pace in the world of education? They start initiatives that look great but nobody ever follows through! One last life lesson I really hope we get into this semester is why some races think they’re better than others? How did racism originally develop? Wed, 31 Aug 2011 02:23:57 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/08/26/what-do-you-want-to-know-before-its-all-over/#IDComment188293654