This lecture was so extremely interesting to me. It was awesome to actually hear the thoughts of an Iraqi man living in Iraq during the time of this war. There were so many things that I was shocked by and couldn’t believe but I really can’t remember all of his statements. I left class that day with an overall feeling of interest and yearning to hear from more people in Iraq about what is going on right now. I was surprised when he was asked how he felt about the attacks of September 11th, because he said that he was terrified. That completely through me off guard. I just didn’t think that terrified would be a word an Iraqi would use to describe how they felt about it. I mean I knew that not nearly everyone in Iraq was happy about it but I didn’t think that anyone would be scared of what was happening. That might be bad of me to think, but in all honesty I guess I was ignorant in thinking that any Iraqis would be frightened by the situation, especially when on the news they showed many Iraqis celebrating in the streets and showed how happy they were that this was happening. I was also surprised to hear that he thought it would be good if the US troops stayed overseas for a few more years. I don’t know why but I always thought that they just wanted us out of their country. If I remember correctly he said that he didn’t think they could sustain their government by themselves right now and that we needed to stay. I find it strange that they would want us to stay in their country, after hearing so many things about how we invaded and really screwed up their lives over there. I don’t know very much about the war, and I probably should, but since I don’t, I try not to say anything much about it because I’m not well enough informed. I was really impressed with this lecture just because it was something so unique and interesting, I never would have gotten the chance to do something like this outside of this class. I think actually hearing the point of view from someone who is immersed in the situation really puts into perspective what is going on. It is hard to genuinely understand the situation when we just read about it in the newspaper or see it from an American’s perspective on the news. This lecture was so much more valuable than a typical lecture in any class when you are just told about the material, and don’t actually get a real view of what it is.

Even the hardest working people could not answer yes to this question honestly, in my opinion. Nepotism exists everywhere in our society and in the world in general, and I don’t believe that it is possible to escape it. In any situation what so ever, someone has to have an advantage over the others or nothing would be decided or accomplished. It’s impossible to eliminate advantages because people will always know someone, or know someone who is friends with someone, etc. Connections are inevitable. I know for a fact that I have been the recipient of nepotism my entire life, and as much as I wish everyone had the same opportunity as me I would not give up the opportunities I have been given because of my connections. Nepotism was in effect when I got my first job and a park down the street as a camp counselor because my sisters worked there before me and the manager loved them, and automatically hired me because of my name. Nepotism helped me get a volunteering position at an elementary school senior year of high school because my best friend’s little sisters were in the class, and their mom asked the teacher if she needed any help from me. It helped me get into Penn State main campus, because I graduated from State High, I almost automatically got accepted, although my grades might have done it for me otherwise. I got to live in the dorm I wanted and move in two weeks before students were supposed to, because my mom works at Penn State is friends with the director of housing. I can’t say I would give up those advantages even though some of them were pretty small. Although some don’t have the same connections or as good of connections, everyone everywhere is part of some sort of nepotism because its just impossible to avoid. I don’t believe that Nepotism is a bad thing either. Nepotism helps people who have never been given the chance to prove themselves have a shot, even though it is just because they knew someone in a position to help them. Some people just need the chance to show someone that they can actually accomplish something. People shouldn’t complain about nepotism because if a company or a person chooses to use nepotism in any situation, and makes the decision based SOLEY off of the fact that they have a connection to a certain person, it may hurt them their business or make things in their life more complicated. So it will be their own fault and hurt them in the end, not the person who does not benefit from the nepotism. I mean, yeah it would suck to not get a position that you were qualified for just because someone else was friends with the boss, but there will be another time in your life that you get the position because you know some one, and everyone else will be disadvantages.

The other day, I was discussing with a friend how America is the probably the only country that does not begin teaching children a second language at a very young age. I don’t understand the reasoning behind waiting until students are in seventh or eighth grade to attempt to teach them a foreign language. It is proven that younger children’s brains can retain and process much more information than someone older, and at a younger age are more capable of learning new challenging material. I wish I would have taken Spanish in school, or been taught at an earlier age so it wasn’t so challenging to get it. My niece is two and can speak more Spanish than I can, just from watching Dora the Explorer. Now, the post asked if I would be willing to learn another language for a job, and my answer is, most definitely. More than anything in this world, I want to be an elementary school teacher. More and more children in America’s schools are bilingual and speak English as their second language. My sister is a second grade teacher at a school called Graham Road in Fairfax County, Virginia, and 90% of the students in her school are Spanish speaking. Some kids still have trouble with their English, as they are still very young and have parents who do not know a single word of English. It is so beneficial for her that she took many years of Spanish and is able to help the children cope with their struggles with the two languages. In a job like this, I would do everything I could to learn another language, especially Spanish, with the way our country appears to be going. From a teaching perspective it would bother me more than anything not to be able to help my students in the frustrating situation of not quite grasping something because of a language barrier. I would feel as though I failed to provide to them what they need, and as a teacher, I believe my job is to always put what’s best for my students first and if that means learning their language, I am all for it! Unfortunately if the job wasn’t something I cared for so much, I don’t know if I would be willing to take the time to learn another language. I really know I should learn one no matter what, but without the motivation of my student’s well being I don’t think I would. It would be more difficult to learn another language for me without the push of students needing more support from me in that way. I still really don’t understand why America doesn’t require a second language to be learned right when children start school so that they grow up bilingual and maybe a little more cultured.

This subject really gets me worked up. It hasn’t always though. I used the r-word as frequently than any other person these days just 5 years ago. I won’t deny that my ignorance could have hurt many people in my passing, and I wish I could take my hurtful words back. It took me many months to completely eliminate the r-word from my vocabulary but once I really tried, I was successful. Five years ago I started dating someone, whose brother has downs syndrome. I spent four years with his family and got to know his brother extremely well. After becoming close to my boyfriend’s brother, I realized how disrespectful and misused “retard” was in our society today, and became really bothered by it. In high school I wrote a few essays about getting rid of the use of this word, and encouraged all of my friends to really think about what they were saying when they used it. The word “retard” means to slow down, and in no means does it refer to someone’s mental capacity. I understand that people might not know the significance when using this word until they have encountered someone in their life that proves them to realize it, like happened to me. Unfortunately not everyone has the opportunity to meet someone who can show them the reasons not to use the word “retard” in a derogatory way like it is used today. I do not understand why it is not widely talked about to not use this word though. It isn’t hard to politely ask someone to refrain from using such a disrespectful word in their vocabulary. It definitely has a lot to do with people’s ignorance towards how their words could actually affect the people around them. Humans are also creatures of habit, and it becomes difficult to break habits when you have been practicing them for many years. This would include using certain words, like “retard”. Even though now when I hear someone use this word I cringe, and it sounds weird to me to say the word out loud, it took me a long time to break the habit and I would judge someone for not being able to stop right away. That doesn’t mean that everyone couldn’t make the effort to alter the way that they speak. You really never know who is going to be around you when you say something, anyone could hear you and the things you say could be extremely offensive to someone over hearing your conversation. I don’t think it is too much to ask to begin to be conscious of the words that are coming out of your mouth and to recognize that using the word “retard” in a way to describe things you don’t like or someone when they do something unintelligent is not grammatically correct, and is extremely rude and disrespectful.

I’m not sure that I would use the word selfish to describe people who continue having children when they know they cannot afford to support them and give them a decent life. There are so many different situations with this issue that it is hard to address and form a strong standing opinion, at least that is how I feel. I think it is so wrong to continue to have kids when you know you can’t afford to give them a good life, its unfair to the children who are already depending on you and cruel to the children you are bringing into this world. There is so much information out there about preventing pregnancy, that I don’t understand the people who continually say that they are accidents and can’t help it. This is a subject that really makes me angry when it comes to people who are being irresponsible and bringing children into a world that they will be miserable in. Again, I don’t know every situation, and I’m sure there are people who have many children, and then later lose the financial means of supporting those kids and come into poverty, but there are so many people who know exactly what they are doing when they have that sixth child or however many it may be. The children that are already born to these parents are getting deprived even more every time their parents have another child. I can understand the yearning for wanting more children, because ideally if I could, I would have 12 children, but I know that it would be wrong of me to do that unless I had enough time and money to devote to my children. I don’t understand the point of bringing a baby into a world of poverty and misery. To me, the point of having children is to be able to enjoy them, enjoy taking care of them and raising them, and giving someone a good life to live. It just doesn’t make sense to me why a mother would want to knowingly have a child they couldn’t support. In my life, this situation comes up with my sister, who has a two year old daughter with her husband. They want more than anything to have more children, but are worried that if they hav another kid now, they won’t be able to support themselves and the child in the way that they want to and feel that it is necessary. Because of the struggle they would face supporting two children right now in their lives, they have decided to wait a while until they are capable of providing a good life for their family, with more children. As hard as it might be fighting the want to be a mother to more precious children, it is a sacrifice that is so important to the future of any children someone might already have, and the children that they will have eventually. Again there are so many different circumstances that it would be impossible to create a single opinion or answer, and this question is really a case by case type of thing, but I think there are categories in which this issue can be broken into.

I think that the reason that the issue of slavery in today’s society is not a more prominent topic because most people don’t want to believe it or they really don’t know its going on. When someone says slavery, people instantly think back to African Americans who were forced into slavery. Slavery now a days is not discussed enough, and many people are unaware of how severe of an issue it really is. Personally I was completely naïve to this issue up until a year or so ago when I talked about it in a class in high school. The first time I heard about it I was blown away by the facts, and it still amazes me today. I cannot believe that there is more slavery going on right now in our country than there ever has been in the past. Why is it any different than it was before? Why aren’t people noticing and doing more about it? It doesn’t make sense to me that it isn’t a huge issue in our country. I mean I could be ignorant to the things that are going on to stop it, but I feel like even if there are things going on to stop it, there should be more. I don’t think it is talked about enough because in a way it is like we never got anywhere and didn’t further our country towards a better way of things. No one wants to admit that they haven’t been successful and an issue as sad as this might be easier for some people to deny or not believe. More people need to be out advocating for all of the poor people who are being treated wrongly and enslaved by other human beings. There is no reason that a simple conversation can’t be shared between people every day just to raise awareness. It is not that hard to raise awareness of a subject, especially on a college campus as big as ours. I mean, in one class Sam is able to tell over 700 people about this issue and many others. This gives the power for every one of us to go out and tell another 20 people, and then those people can tell more people. With just a little effort this issue would be made aware to everyone who does not know, or is in denial and needs to be pushed to do something about it. One person can make such a huge difference and with an issue like this just raising awareness can do so much. Once more people know of the issue, groups and programs can be started to help solve the issue in our country. We just need more people to take a break from their daily schedules and really think about what other people are going through at this very moment.

Absolutely! If it isn’t our responsibility, than whose is it? The inequalities that everyone experiences whether it be with race, or gender are still occurring because no one is doing anything about it. If we just sit back and say, “oh that’s awful I hope it changes someday” when is it going to change? It won’t happen overnight, or without effort. It is so sad that we have been programmed to a society to just let some of the inequalities slide and become a normal part of our lives. I think people forget how much just one person’s effort to change something means in the big picture. If just one of us from this class does something to try and change how our society is run, others would follow. Change in the world, will always start with change in each in every one of us. How could we not have responsibility to change the inequalities? If we didn’t treat people differently because of certain aspects of the person, inequalities would not exist. Although I am sitting here saying we need to take responsibility for the inequalities we instill in society, it is more difficult than just that. It’s going to take a lot of work, and a lot of will power to keep trying to change how things are. Just like any issue in our society, there will always be people who don’t want things to change, or don’t believe certain issues even exist. Until people can let go of their stubbornness and grow out of generational beliefs, inequalities will still exist. I think that some day we will be able to get rid of this issue, but it will take a large amount of effort on our part. Future generations will only know of inequalities if we allow them to see it. If we work now to change this issue, they won’t even understand what inequality is. Our generation needs to lead by example and show the rest of society that it can be possible to live in a world without race issues or gender issues or any other problem we have that makes people unequal.

In an ideal world, race issues never would have come into being. Unfortunately years ago, someone somewhere decided to classify or discuss race in a way that developed biases and criticism towards people of different "races". I honestly don’t understand where these concepts evolved from because when I don’t like someone, it is NEVER because of what they look like, although I will admit I have probably used stereotypes and what not from time to time. Although I think our society has made great strides towards becoming a species without discrimination towards race, I do not think it will ever become possible to completely eliminate this issue. For every person who is willing to attempt and work towards solving this issue, there are probably two people who are stubborn and refuse to think outside of their little box that they live in. I think as generations pass through, the problem will lessen though, but until the generations who strongly believe in racism and other stereotypes are no longer present, this issue will still be present. A lot of the time I think the reason the issue with race exists gets extremely lost, and people act the way they do just because that’s how it has been done their whole lives. I know many people who dislike certain groups of people, but when you ask them why they do, they are dumbfounded and can’t muster up even a guess as to why they feel the way they do. Just like people are stubborn with their ideas of religion or any other sort of argumentative subject, they will be stubborn with the issue of race. It seems so common for people to be stuck in their ways, just because their parents, or their grandparents taught them or told them that that was the way to live. I am always so taken back when I hear someone talk about a certain races in such demeaning ways now a days because I guess I am naïve as to how much racism still exists in our society. Growing up I was always taught to see someone for who they are on the inside, as cheesy as that sounds. Race was never something that was pointed out to me, or discussed in a way that made it a big deal. I really wish that more people in this world had that mind set because I believe we could progress further as a society if we could really truly get past the issue of race and racism.

I believe that the reason we hang around the same race or ethnicity as ourselves has a lot to do with the traditions and cultures we practice. Although we talk about “race” not actually existing, separate cultures most definitely do. It seems to me that certain cultures and ways of living are seen in certain “races”. In our society people strive to be comfortable and stick to an easy path that doesn’t disturb their views and customs very much at all. It is hard for human beings to open themselves to another person’s viewpoints, let alone a completely different culture. I would like to think I don’t shut myself out from befriending people of different ethnicities, but if I step back and look at who I actually hang out with on a day to day basis, I surround myself with people who are white, like me. Although this might be a subconscious choice to do this, I really do like to think that I choose these people to hang out with because they are good people and good friends, not because of what their physical features are. I was lucky enough to have an extremely diverse high school, when it comes to “race” but for the most part everyone’s culture was pretty similar, so I did not get the chance to immerse myself into something different than what I lived. In my high school race never seemed to be that big of an issue, at least I couldn’t see it. Everyone seemed to be fine with each other in that sense, but at the lunch tables and other break times you would see some separation of groups of friends that were predominately one race. Its really unfortunate that in society people group themselves together with others of the same race, because I think that this keeps prejudices and stereotypes present in our world. Even if people aren’t separating themselves because of someone’s ethnicity, it looks like it from an outside perspective, which fuels the fire of those prejudices. I also think it would do everyone a great deal of good to share experiences with people from different cultures, and would ultimately make society better overall. I think it is also fear that drives us to separate ourselves. Fear of being judged, fear of disagreement, fear of saying the wrong thing or doing something that will offend another person. This fear is extremely debilitating to a person’s views on life and outlook on any situation they come across. Having these fears stops you from learning about something that is different than what you live, and it stops you from seeing outside everything you believe and maybe opening your eyes to something bigger than yourself

This activity really interested me and was very surprising to me. It was so cool to see something like this done, because I feel that in any other setting people might have gotten offended and angry about the results of the categorizing of races. I know that I would have felt bad being the people who had to tell each person where to stand, and decide primarily on looks what race they "belonged" to. This activity really enhanced the entire point of the lecture, and showed me that it’s nearly impossible to separate people based on their physical characteristics because really, except for slight changes in skin tone, our features aren't all that different. I learned a lot that I had no idea about before in this lecture, and although I always have tried not to judge someone or categorize by race, this activity opened my eyes even more. I give props to all the people who were involved with the activity, for not getting upset or angry with what was going on, even though they were blatantly being judged by what they looked like to two complete strangers, and very often being wrongly judged. I forget what the program was called that is set up in the hub that shows you what you would look like with a different skin tone, but I think this was another thing that added to my interest of this activity. It was so crazy to learn that with that program you could see that the differences between “races” are so subtle, but people have been trained to acknowledge differences and treat people differently. Sam was discussing what it would be like to walk across a country or continent looking at people’s features and physical appearances as a whole, and in the end, not realizing anyone looked different at all. This seems like such a simple concept but not many people would ever think about it that way. I feel like it’s the same with a lot of things though, for example, my niece is two years old, and I see her almost every other day, so it really doesn’t seem as though her physical appearance has changed at all, but my other sister, who only sees her once every few months, notices a HUGE change in her appearance every time she sees her. It would be the same walking across straight across a continent; changes in features would be so subtle that one wouldn’t notice them at all, but traveling from one country to the next on a plane or something like that, the differences in appearance would be extremely evident to you. I really loved this lecture, and I am very interested in where we will go in today’s lecture.