Sam’s advice to sacrifice State Patty’s Day to me is the best piece of advice he could have given. Through all that has happen, there is a dark cloud or stigma that still hangs over our heads as Penn State students. In class, there were so many students who did not understand that though we personally did not support or take part in the horrific acts that Sandusky committed, we still are associated with the university that served to hide his acts for so many years. Top that off with the fact that we rioted and destroyed our own property because of anger over the firing of Joe Pa, the rest of the world has condemned us in their minds for the next few months. Though we don’t realize it, we are officially under a microscope for the rest of the world which is just waiting to see what sort of mischief Penn State students will drum up next.
State Patty’s is exactly the sort of mischief that they are waiting for. It is known to everyone that this student created holiday generates plenty of news for the local papers. Arrests, public drunkenness, hospital visits, fights, etc are just a few of the incidences that will make their way into papers across State College. The weekend is devoted to nothing but debauchery and will catch the eye of the media who, in turn, will once again have news to show the craziness of Penn State students. This ultimately will solidify the image around the world that Penn State students are crazy and unfit. However, if we were to give up the holiday for just one year by not looking like a bunch of crazy, drunk, insensitive idiots, it would go a long way to restoring our image as a university.
What students were not understanding in class was that yes, if we do not partake in the holiday we won’t be recognized in the media for sacrificing the holiday. That’s not the point. The point is we simply cannot afford to have more negative attention drawn towards us and State Patty’s will do just that which is exactly why if we do not partake in the holiday for one year, time will heal many wounds, and we can go about our business the following year.
Even though this idea is a smart one, the probability to get Penn State students on board unfortunately will most likely never happen. After seeing the already negative reaction among my peers this past Thursday in a classroom of 700, I can already sense that getting the rest of the 40,000 undergrads to try and accept this idea is close to impossible. All I know is that if people simply tried to understand, and would sacrifice the holiday just this one year it really would go a long way in restoring our image.

What I have learned from this scandal is that people need to speak out if they know something wrong is going on despite the repercussions that may occur. There are a million different accounts and versions of what went on with Sandusky, who knew what he was doing, who reported it, who reported it to whom, etc. The moral of the story is that essentially whether it was Joe Pa, Spanier, or someone else; one of them should have spoken up to the actual police. Because a certain few influential people at Penn State decided to keep this horrific act under wraps, basically, it has now come back to bite everyone “in the ass.”
If Sandusky had been reported back in the beginning when everything came to light, things would have been different for the better in the long run. Yes there would have been a great scandal even then, but I’m fairly positive it would not have been to the magnitude we saw unfold before our eyes two weeks ago. There would not have been a student uproar resulting in a turned over media van, broken streetlights, and other various destructions that took place.
This incident, to me, brings to light a perfect example of the bystander effect. It’s as if everyone who knew about Sandusky saw this horrific “accident” taking place but yet the chose to simply watch with a sort of stunned fascination rather than actually doing something productive. It amazes me that at the time, the thought of remaining quiet was more acceptable, because this is no ordinary accident. It involved the lives of children and should have been dealt with more swiftly and surely.
Now that I’ve touched base on the Sandusky accident, I can now answer the original question much more in a specific manner. This incident not only has taught me to speak up but more importantly to speak in a timely manner. I know rather then shut my eyes and turn away in hopes that whatever wrongdoing I’m witnessing will stop; I need to speak out immediately, not a week, month, or year later. Nothing good can come from waiting particularly in such a sensitive and serious situation. Another thing I have learned is to choose an appropriate time to release any sort of negative news. I will never call up my superior at 10:00 at night and give news that I know will rock the world of so many people (particularly college students). Instead, I would wait for a time when people are busy and not sitting idly in their homes. The last thing this incident has taught me is to always think rationally. Whether we like it or not, we are growing old and cannot simply react to our raw emotions at any given time. Instead of running around and causing destruction, I know the best thing to do is to sit down, think and then decide how to best handle a situation.

I think recent events have made people look at me as one of those “crazy students” who go to Penn State. I, unlike other students, and am not quick to say that the media is solely responsible for making us look crazy. We are also responsible for making ourselves look crazy to the entire world. At the riot Wednesday night, some select Penn State students went with the intention to cause destruction by knocking down lamp posts, overturning cars, and smashing windows. None of that was necessary whatsoever. Yes, I understand students were upset about the firing of Joe Pa. However, that doesn’t mean that you go and cause destruction in the very place that you yourself attend school and where so many of our fellow college students and other State College community members live.
Over the past few days, I have had countless friends from back home and around the country text me asking, “What in the world is going on at your school?” So many people outside of Penn State think we’re absolutely insane for rioting over the firing of Joe Pa. In their eyes, he was just as guilty as Spanier. I agree with these statements no matter how much I love Jo Pa. I love what he means to this university and all that he’s done. However, when presented the facts, if Spanier was fired then rightfully it was necessary for him to be fired as well.
By going to Penn State and living in State College, we live in this bubble in which nothing from the outside world can penetrate. We live in a world where Jo Pa is an iconic figurehead and football reigns supreme. For this fact, I can’t blame the students for being upset over the firing of Joe Pa. Ultimately, he is an enormous part of this school and the loss of him is indeed upsetting.
However, the manner in which they chose to show the degree to which they were upset was utterly terrible. People now look at the news and see a bunch of crazy students who caused nothing but destruction to their own campus and living area. They see people supporting a man who essentially was responsible for the continuation of sexual abuse towards so many innocent children. They see students who care for nothing but themselves and who are forgetting the most important issue above all: the children. On Wednesday, I was not proud to identify myself as a Penn State student. However, after the vigil held Friday night and the calm support shown at the game Saturday despite our loss. I am once again proud to identify myself as a Penn State student, and think the world once again is beginning to see us in a positive light.

When I first read this question, my automatic thought was “Oh of course I don’t feel uncomfortable when people speak another language.” I based this largely based off of the fact that I myself am bilingual. At any point in time, I can switch over to speaking Urdu (native language to Pakistan/India) and can converse fluently with another person. I often find myself doing such a thing particularly when I don’t want someone to understand what I’m saying. It’s nice to have that security blanket, but I’ve never really thought about how others might feel when I do such a thing.
Then I began thinking well how do I really feel when people are speaking another language around? I think it’s a common psychological effect that we as humans have a tendency to think others are always talking about us. It doesn’t help when people are giggling and especially when they sometimes happen to be looking in our general direction. What I’m getting at is, often times when people around me are speaking in another language, my mind automatically jumps to “Oh they’re totally talking about me.” When I’m in a room and I can’t understand what people are saying (like in a manicure salon), I become self-conscious. I don’t know if they’re joking about me, making fun of me, and most importantly, I can’t contribute to the conversation automatically making me feel like an outsider. All of these feelings combined make for an uncomfortable situation. For girls, it’s basically equivalent to when you go to get a manicure done, you know for a fact that the ladies are talking about you, and it makes you feel weird.
Coming to this realization of my feelings, I think it’s fairly safe to say that most people probably unintentionally get uncomfortable when I jump back and forth between languages especially when I randomly go from speaking completely in English to all of a sudden busting out in Urdu. I guess I never realized that its fairly obvious that when I do do that, I clearly don’t want people to know what I am saying and usually it’s because I’m talking about someone or something that’s I don’t want everyone to know about.
Though now as I think about it, it’s funny that people (including myself) feel this way because we live in a “melting pot.” America is comprised of all sorts of different people from different countries all over the world. Technically we don’t even have an official language (though it’s accepted that English is the main language that is spoken here). In principle, because of our melting pot status, it should come as no surprise if you suddenly find yourself in a situation where people are speaking a language that you don’t understand.

Then there are people like my Dad who come here in the hopes of escaping a third world country and making a life for him, his wife and future children. He came here as a grad student, with $25 in his pocket, and worked to support himself as he obtained his master’s degree. He worked his way up in life and now lives very comfortably and is able to provide for and support his family just as he had hoped.
Immigrants will always be a part of America, whether they are illegal or not, and it’s something that this country needs to come to terms with. As time has progressed, I think we have forgotten that this country was intended to allow people to come and practice their own lifestyles. I’ve noticed that a lot of people have begun to shun immigrants because of issues such as fear of over population, negative attitudes developing towards certain groups and races, or loss of job opportunities. These are all valid reasons to be concerned, but we shouldn’t harbor ill will towards immigrants especially if they are legal. If the U. S. has given them permission to come and live here, who are we to get angry? We are the giant melting pot and will always be.

How do I feel about immigrants living in America? Well considering my parents emigrated here from Pakistan (making me first generation American), I think it’s a wonderful that immigrants come from all over the world hoping to make something of themselves and live the American dream.
America in itself was founded as a land that people emigrated to whether they were escaping from religious persecution or hoped to make a fortune for themselves. Every single family living in America (aside from Native Americans) had family members that arrived from some other country. America is the land of immigrants and always will be associated as such. People come here from all over the world to this day to better their lives.
I realize that not everyone comes and finds the success they are looking for. Many people arrive “fresh off the boat” or in modern times “off the plane” in hopes that they can provide a better life for their family. They come with the thought that maybe one day they can own a large house, nice car, etc. but often are faced with the harsh reality that without a proper education, it is very difficult to maneuver ahead in this country. They find themselves living a life that may not be as grand as they had envisioned for themselves back in their native country but still they are content to live here. For these people, whose life is still harsh according to the normal definition of American comfort, it’s still their own version of the American Dream.

When I came to college, race became something that I was even more aware of. Being a premed major, the competition between students and even friends is fierce. For the first time in my life, I began hearing people say things such as “Oh she’s Black” or “She’s Hispanic, so they’ll obviously get into medical school without even having to try.” I even heard things such as “Because we’re Asian, we have to basically have a 4.0 for medical schools to even glance at our application.” I can honestly say I’d never heard such things before and was shocked when I actually heard people say this stuff out loud because I would never say such things even if I thought them myself.
So to wrap up I’ll reiterate by saying that race does not shape my every day functioning in the world. I do not consciously think about how my being South Asian may make me advantaged or disadvantaged. However, I am well aware of the differences in treatment and misconceptions, and I hope one day that this problem can be fixed.

It wasn’t until I got to the end of high school that I began to notice subtle differences in treatment of different races. This particularly was because I went to an almost all White/Asian high school until towards the end of my junior year we began to have inner city kids brought in to attend our school. As you might already suspect, the majority of these kids were Black. Now to give some context, I grew up in the upper class, quaint town named Farragut located in Knoxville, Tennessee. From this, I think you can kind of grasp the fact that there were very few Blacks or Hispanics in my area of town. So when these new inner city kids were brought in, you can only begin to imagine the uproar in my high school. Parents that I had known all of my life (who had no problem with me) were livid over the fact that these Black kids were coming in because they could potentially corrupt their obviously “innocent minded” children. I began to notice subtle things such as teachers often called on the “noisy black kid” rather than the White (or Asian) girl who wouldn’t shut up even though she was sitting in the front of the room.

For me, race is something that does not shape my everyday life. I don’t walk around thinking “Well someone said something to me or treated me a certain way because I’m Asian (specifically South Asian).” I talk to everyone and am open to everyone. However, this doesn’t mean that I’m unaware of the differences in the world when you view the treatment of Whites, Asians, Blacks, and Hispanics. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve been able to see the ways these groups can be treated so differently.
When I was younger, race was definitely something I was unaware of. I never really thought about the fact that I’m brown skinned and a lot of my friends were white. I never discriminated and was always open to meeting new people. Race was not anything I needed to worry about and throughout elementary and middle school there was never even a hint of racial issues in my mind.

Why do we use racial labels? That is a very good question. When I started thinking about it, I really don’t have any reason for using racial labels. But, I still use them all the time. I never hesitate to say, “Oh did you see the Asian kid driving like crazy?” or “That black girl is so loud.” I really don’t need to specify the race of the people in these scenarios, but I make it a point to anyways. And this is not to say that I’m the only on who does this. I know plenty of people who do the exact same thing. But the question is why? I think we tend to use racial labels because we ultimately are a product of what we are raised as.
What I mean by this is we are often raised to be a certain way. For example, I identify as Pakistani and Muslim because that’s what I was always taught growing up. So, when I meet someone who doesn’t fit those criteria, I need to specify what race they are because they are so radically different from me because they don’t fit into what I consider as “normal.” When I hang out with other kids who are just Muslim or Pakistani and Muslim both, I never feel the need to say “Oh well my Arab friend did something” because I don’t see their race since basically they match the definition of a person who fits into my everyday scheme of things. However, when I see an Asian kid or a white kid who does something worth noting in my day, without even consciously thinking about it, I always make a point to specify their race because they don’t fit into my everyday norm. So yes, this does in fact mean if I saw a Pakistani kid doing something I felt was worth mentioning to someone in conversation, I wouldn’t even think to specify his race since (as mentioned above) to me he/she falls under the “norm.”
Are racial labels necessary? Of course not. But the simple answer is that until race is a part of our world, they will always be used. We as human beings often need to identify ourselves with a certain race, culture, religion, etc. We need to belong to a bigger group and by doing this we automatically seclude ourselves into a bubble with people who are similar to us. By doing this, we then feel the need to use racial labels to describe the people who don’t fit into our bubble. It isn’t right, but unfortunately its something that will probably continue to happen as long as race is an issue we take into consideration when making decisions in our lives.