en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/1112283 Comments by dancediva2191 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-8-lesson-14-affirmative-action__trashed/#IDComment84615259 Posted: 7/3/10 Due: 7/7/10 I think it is interesting to look at the fact that affirmative action and nepotism are pretty much the same thing, but that they are looked at in such a different light. I am also going to guess that all of us have noticed or benefited from nepotism in some way even though we were not the most qualified person. I really do think it happens in the work force all of the time. A teammate of mine sent her résumé to my dads company and he made sure he put the résumé on top and that his boss looked closely at the résumé. It is all about who you know. Just the other day, someone I know told me to put his name down as a reference because he knew the boss and if the boss saw his name I would have a greater chance of getting hired. It is all about who you know and the connections you make. And most of us do not see a problem with this only when it is benefitting us. I know we do see the problem when we can blatantly see that someone else is benefitting because of who they know. My brother plays lacrosse and was trying out for a travel team and so was his friend. My brother, who is a better player and a year older than his friend, did not make the team and his friend did. The friends dad is the coach. So obviously, we are going to assume that the friend made the team because of his dad, he benefitted from who he knew. The ten commandment responses I found were pretty comical. It is so interesting to see that people think they are so much better than everyone else. I actually think this is pretty ridiculous but it says a lot about people and how they think they are better than everyone else. The honoring your mother and father question, like why wouldn’t you assume that the majority honor their mother and father. Look around you, the relationship with your parents is something that should be cherished and most people do. We think that we are okay, and that other people are wrong but this really is not the case. I think it is interesting how Penn State uses admissions counselors to recruit students to come to Penn State who normally might not have thought to come to the school. I do not see anything wrong with this. In my mostly white, suburban school, we had plenty of admissions counselors come to the school to try to recruit students to come to their schools. Like Dr. Richards said, if the sports team can recruit players and the administrators can recruit faculty, why can’t we recruit students who are smart and would succeed at Penn State? It might just open up these students eyes to a world of possibilities that they did not see before. I couldn’t agree more with what President Obama has said about his girls because they have so many opportunities because of who he is. They shouldn’t benefit from affirmative action. Affirmative action programs should integrate class, race and ancestry. I think this would only help solve some of the problems and more people who need to benefit from these programs will be able to benefit from the programs. We must look at the whole picture. Sat, 3 Jul 2010 21:14:18 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-8-lesson-14-affirmative-action__trashed/#IDComment84615259 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-8-lesson-14-affirmative-action__trashed/#IDComment84615248 Posted: 7/3/10 Due: 7/7/10 I couldn’t agree more that you want to be the victim of nepotism and you want to be able to use your connections to get ahead. The part about nepotism that bothers me is that when people do not work hard and yet they benefit and get opportunities they shouldn’t. Like I have a friend who is walking into dad’s business and has known from the time he was 2 that the business was going to be his, he has always fudged his way through school and got alright grades but he could have done better but he didn’t because he knows it wouldn’t matter because he had a job within a business that would eventually one day be his. That is what bothers me about nepotism. If he worked hard and deserved the job that would be a different story and I’m sure we all know people who have this type of situation. Sat, 3 Jul 2010 21:14:09 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-8-lesson-14-affirmative-action__trashed/#IDComment84615248 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-7-lesson-13-immigration__trashed/#IDComment83942393 Posted: 7/1/10 Due: 7/4/10 I think the beginning of the first lecture was so important how Dr. Richards pointed out the original immigrants did not assimilate to the way of life in America at the time. The Native Americans that were already on the land had to experience these newcomers who expected the native people to change their ways to be like the intruders. Now how is that fair? Wouldn’t it be interesting if the people in America now had to change their ways when new immigrants came in instead of wanting the immigrants to be like us? It is the different backgrounds and the melting pot of cultures that gives America its culture and livelihood, why would we want to change that and make everyone the same? I know that there is a quota and only a certain amount of visas handed out every year, but we all know that we need these immigrants in order for the country as we know it to survive. So why can’t we “give” those who are working here illegally those visas. I really think people just have a problem with the term “illegal” in the phrase illegal immigrant. No one wants to do anything illegal and get caught, so why can’t we just make these immigrants legal? I think the problem is that people don’t like the term illegal. And some people probably just don’t like immigrants, but when you put the two together it just makes it worse. So make the illegal immigrants legal, we need them anyway. Many of you are probably going to say that can never work because then the US would just be handing out visas to everyone and it would be a mad rush to the US, so it may not be plausible, but I do think something should be done. These people are mostly coming here because they want to better their lives and are willing to work to do so, and after they work hard, they should be granted citizenship. I think the story about the dog is absolutely ridiculous and clearly racism plays a part in this story. That dog attacked someone, it doesn’t matter who the dog attacked, it matters that the dog attacked someone. The dog is obviously dangerous and should be put to sleep. And then the rant on illegal immigration just bothered me because he just does not know his facts. Don’t speak if you don’t know the truth. What was more disturbing were the clueless people commenting on the video. It is interesting to look at immigration leading to transformation because these people are coming here because they are hard workers and want to better their lives. It is the amazing stories like Jorge Munez who worked his way from the bottom, and is not close to the top, but has realized that people along the way helped him, and now he is helping the people who need it the most because they are hard working people. It is interesting to see how history is cyclical because back in the day when our ancestors came to the United States, they all moved to the same areas because being surrounded by people of the same culture was helpful and they helped each other out. This is still going on today. We cannot just throw away our backgrounds and culture, it is what makes each individual unique and what makes the United State unique. Yes, people will always have a problem with illegal immigrants because they think it is not right, and yeah it is illegal, but like so many other things discussed in this class, the solution is unknown but we know there must be a change. Thu, 1 Jul 2010 21:11:08 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-7-lesson-13-immigration__trashed/#IDComment83942393 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-7-lesson-13-immigration__trashed/#IDComment83942363 Posted: 7/1/10 Due: 7/4/10 I think it is so true that when immigrants come to the United States we have very high expectations for them to blend in. I am not so sure that Americans think immigration is a bad thing, as long as it is legal. I think it’s when it is illegal that Americans have an even bigger problem with the immigration. Isn’t it interesting how we are all immigrants in this country except for those that are of Native Americans, and yet we complain when more immigrants come to the country? Our ancestors came to this country for the same reason people are coming here today, so what is the big deal? Why should we limit the opportunities for these people when they are willing to work so hard? We shouldn’t. I couldn’t agree with you more when you say that our country is the way it is today because of the different cultures and backgrounds of all the people, all of the immigrants, that make up this country. Thu, 1 Jul 2010 21:10:54 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-7-lesson-13-immigration__trashed/#IDComment83942363 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-7-lesson-12-multiculturalism-lgbt__trashed/#IDComment82742832 Posted: 6/28/10 Due: 6/30/10 I am so happy, and I want to say proud even though I don’t know you but I am proud, that you were able to state that you do not have a problem with gays, but you also don’t think it is normal, but everyone has to accept it. Dr. Richard’s did prove with his reference to other species that it is “natural” and that other species in nature do have homosexual tendencies but that’s not the point. I couldn’t agree more that the government has bigger issues to deal with than who is sleeping with who and that is why I think they should just let it be and give these couples, who love each other, the rights they deserve. Mon, 28 Jun 2010 13:25:26 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-7-lesson-12-multiculturalism-lgbt__trashed/#IDComment82742832 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-7-lesson-12-multiculturalism-lgbt__trashed/#IDComment82742809 Posted: 6/28/10 Due: 6/30/10 One of the first things we talked about during multiculturalism was that in the near future, white people will one day be the minority in America and that the number of people of color is greatly rising in this country. Dr. Richards asked the white people if they felt some sort of way about this and that if they did, this is most likely just projecting their ethnocentrism and their racism and I agree. We can also tie this into the second lecture about LGBT and being comfortable in our own skin. Many men who classified themselves as homophobes actually leaned away from being straight as the research proved. So what does this say? This says that when we often feel so strongly about something, it brings out something else from within us and that something we may often try to hide. Hiding brings up another good point. Because people of color cannot hide their skin color, so people that are gay shouldn’t have to hide that either. But they so often do and they shouldn’t have to. And we now know that the world is changing and at least the corporate world is becoming increasingly more accepting of LGBT relationships. So when someone who considers themselves LGBT goes for a hob interview in the corporate world, they shouldn’t have to fear that they will not get the job because of their orientation but being LGBT will be embraced. No one should ever need to feel that they have to hide who they are and that who they are will make them inferior. Another thing is that we so often only see what we want to see. Most of us would think nothing of it when we see a heterosexual couple holding hands and most of us probably didn’t even notice if they were when they walked by. But most of us definitely would notice a gay couple holding hands and I truly think it is because we only see what we want to see and what is “different” from the norm. If I were gay, I probably wouldn’t think twice about seeing another gay couple holding hands because that is the norm for me. I think Dr. Richards proved quite well that being gay is not a choice, especially when we see children who are gay. This is going to sound so stereotypical, but I am a dancer and grew up going to dance competitions and always saw the young boys dancing and wearing rhinestones. Of course they had a choice to be a dancer and what costumes they were wearing but many of the boys carried themselves differently and had different mannerisms and even when looking at these 8 year old boys, you can tell which are most likely gay. So yes, I do think it happens at a very young age. And another great point, why would anyone want to be part of a hated group, it just wouldn’t make sense. So no, it isn’t a choice, and when I asked a couple of my gay friends if there was a defining moment when they knew they were gay, they all said they knew at a very young age and just tried to hide it until they couldn’t or did not want to hide it anymore. Mon, 28 Jun 2010 13:25:16 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-7-lesson-12-multiculturalism-lgbt__trashed/#IDComment82742809 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-6-lesson-9-stages-of-racial-identity-people-of-color-stages-1-4__trashed/#IDComment81267534 Lesson 10 Posted: 6/21/10 Due: 6/23/10 Like you, I had so many more questions, and no answers as to why munorities get through the pre-awakening stage so fast. It would be interesting to see if when a black person grew up in a predominately white community if they would consider themselves less black, just like when some Asians consider themselves white and not Asian. Or what about a black kid that was adopted into a white family and was treated as white, would he or she see him or herself as less black? I also thought it was interesting to see that people’s minds and our society has not changed from the time of Brown vs. Board of Education to now in relation to the doll test. It is very sad to say the least. We are supposed to be living in a country of equality and this is clearly not the case. Mon, 21 Jun 2010 19:18:25 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-6-lesson-9-stages-of-racial-identity-people-of-color-stages-1-4__trashed/#IDComment81267534 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-6-lesson-9-stages-of-racial-identity-people-of-color-stages-1-4__trashed/#IDComment81267489 Lesson 10 Posted: 6/21/10 Due: 6/23/10 I think it is so interesting to look at the connection between race, grades, and popularity. As white people get better grades, they are perceived as cool or more popular, but it is the reverse for those who are black or Hispanic. Why is that? We all know that you need to study and work hard in order to get good grades and be successful. Isn’t being successful cool? Wouldn’t being successful make you a little bit more popular. I know I wouldn’t want to hang out with the kid that doesn’t do anything with their life; I want to hang out with the person who is successful. That would make that person popular. But why is it that when you are a black or Hispanic youth, the higher the grades you receive, that makes you closer to being a white person and therefore less popular? At this young age, the white smart kids are popular, so wouldn’t you want to be like them? Doesn’t everyone want to be popular? So if you act like the popular kids, that will make you unpopular within your own kind? I guess that is like a nerd trying to be a jock, the nerds will get mad the kid is leaving them for the jocks, so the nerd will be unpopular within the group of nerds. Another thing that amazed me was in the “A Girl Like Me” video when the young girl started to wear her hair naturally and the mother told her to stop wearing her hair like that because she “looked African.” But this girl is African so why should she have to change the way she looks and why was the mother so disapproving of their ancestry? She wasn’t able to embrace who she truly is and I find that very sad. Also, I cannot say that the results of the doll test were shocking that most children picked the white doll because I think it is safe to say that there are more white dolls on the market than minority dolls so consumers are primarily buying white dolls. But what does this mean that the children are choosing to play with the white doll when they have a choice and that they see the white doll as nice and the black doll as bad? What does this say about how they feel about themselves? Do the black children think of themselves as bad because of their skin color? Yeah, maybe. And the fact that they are awakened to the differences between white and black at such a young age. I don’t think I was awakened to these differences at that age. The views on the mugging videos touched on a topic we talked about early. Dr. Richards told us that if we see discrimination, we have to call it out every time. We must call out discrimination and racism. That was exactly what the white guys response was saying, that if we are going to scream racism, then we have to scream racism every time or we shouldn’t scream it at all. I don’t necessarily agree with the not screaming racism at all, but we should call out racism and discrimination. What is wrong is wrong and racism is definitely wrong. Mon, 21 Jun 2010 19:18:05 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-6-lesson-9-stages-of-racial-identity-people-of-color-stages-1-4__trashed/#IDComment81267489 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-5-lesson-8-stages-of-racial-identity-white-people-stages-3-4__trashed/#IDComment80438919 Posted: 6/16/10 Due: 6/20/10 I, like you, found the conversation about wash cloths comical. My house, and especially in my grandparents house, every bathroom has hand towels that we aren’t supposed to use and next to those hand towels, that are “special” are paper towels to dry our hands. I sometimes just think my family is lazy and do not feel like regularly washing the hand towels and that is why the paper towels are in the bathroom. I too hope that one day the young girl singers grow up and think for themselves. I do think their parents influenced their thoughts and because they are so young, they just do not know any better. It’s actually a shame. It is interesting how you thought that if white supremacy members do not force their beliefs on their children the idea would come extinct. I guess like anything, if you don’t continue doing it, it will eventually go away and be forgotten. I wonder if there is a day where this will actually happen. Wed, 16 Jun 2010 15:51:22 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-5-lesson-8-stages-of-racial-identity-white-people-stages-3-4__trashed/#IDComment80438919 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-5-lesson-8-stages-of-racial-identity-white-people-stages-3-4__trashed/#IDComment80438788 Posted: 6/16/10 Due: 6/20/10 As a white person, I definitely think I was learned to not talk about race but I have no clue at what age I was taught this. I probably learned from my family at a very young age and just picked up on it and it is something that I have lived my life doing, not talking about race, obviously until now. I definitely agree when Dr. Richards talked about if a white person talks about race that means that we see color, and that if we see color that means we might be racists. I can see that train of thought and how this adds to the whole political correctness conversation. So we are taught to treat everyone equally and this means not to see color. It is a very interesting concept because I felt that as Dr. Richards was saying this, I was shaking my head up and down and realizing that this is pretty much how I was taught and something that I followed. What I found absolutely shocking was the video of the two young white nationalist girl singers. Do these girls actually have an experience that has shaped their thoughts and beliefs as to why they think they are better than other people? How can these two young girls have so much hatred? I don’t think these girls have had an experience that has shaped them to being such white supremacists, but I could be wrong. I truly think, like the reported, that the parents shaped their beliefs and the children are just supporting and advocating the beliefs of their parents. I wonder what these two girls would be singing about if their parents believed something else. In the awakening stage, the third option is to seek a deeper understanding about race and race issues to lay the foundation to move forward to the next step. Instead of being afraid of race issues, you dig into the conversation and you may make mistakes and offend someone, but that’s all right with you because you find talking about race and race issues interesting. And sometimes, we use race when there is no need to even talk about race in the first place and where it is unneeded. The video for the furniture store that brought race into the picture I thought was absolutely ridiculous. The commercial almost seemed like a joke or a spoof because of how silly the lines were. Race was not needed at all, they could have easily said something like we have furniture for everyone! We would all get the point, but in the commercial they so blatantly included race that some people probably found it offensive. It is interesting to compare how using curse words in a story make something funny, but when we include race in a story, does it truly enhance the story in any way? Maybe sometimes, but maybe not. But this is the awakening stage, we have to engage in the conversation and make mistakes in order to learn and move forward. Wed, 16 Jun 2010 15:51:04 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-5-lesson-8-stages-of-racial-identity-white-people-stages-3-4__trashed/#IDComment80438788 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-5-lesson-7-race-and-ethnic-inequality__trashed/#IDComment80303088 Posted: 6/15/10 Due: 6/16/10 I had a similar situation as you in high school because my high school was predominately white as well. Being white never affected my daily life. Even the times when I would go to the “downtown” areas, I don’t know if I actually made the realization that I was white. I probably said to myself, these people look different from me, but never actually said something like I’m white and they aren’t. I like how you defined who is racists as someone who doesn’t really understand their own race in the world they live in. It is almost like, if you can’t understand yourself, then you certainly can’t understand other people, and therefore they are different. Tue, 15 Jun 2010 20:54:22 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-5-lesson-7-race-and-ethnic-inequality__trashed/#IDComment80303088 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-5-lesson-7-race-and-ethnic-inequality__trashed/#IDComment80303050 Posted: 6/15/10 Due: 6/16/10 I think it was really interesting to see how many different ways we could describe ourselves when asked the question, “Who am I?” It is interesting to see how you would describe your identity and how different everyone’s answers would be and why we characterize ourselves in this way. Everything about us shapes who we are and the way we act. This creates our identity. I think the things that shape us the most are the things that make us different from everyone else. We are each unique in some ways because we do not follow the norm. We are all different and this creates our personal identity that is unique and beautiful. I never actually realized that there are racial identity stages that everyone goes through. We all start out in a similar place, but most people will never reach beyond the second stage of their racial identity development. Why is that? Why aren’t we able to move forward and through these stages? Are we just not aware and are our eyes not open? But then how can we be in more than one stage at the same time? It is our interactions with different people that allow us to grow and move forward, but these interactions can also hinder us and make us move backwards because outside forces shape our ideas. In the pre-awakening state, very little thought is given to race and we identify with our ethnicity or culture, not our race. It is the experiences that we have growing up, our culture, that shapes our being. This culture is important, and something that we identify with during the pre-awakening stage and race does not come into play. There is very little thought given to race and it was interesting that he used the examples of right-handedness and being straight to prove that the majority experience is the normal experience. When you are on the other side of the norm, it is a way in which one probably identifies him or her self. The media portrays white people in the pre-awakening stage, unknowing about race issues. White people are portrayed as ignorant of their whiteness and white culture, that none of their problems come from being white, and that we are “uncool” in relation to people of color. Because in this stage, you don’t carry the burden of race because you have not had an experience, especially a negative experience that has dealt with being white. This is the stereotype of white people, that everything is good and this is how white people are portrayed very often in the media. And honestly, I think most people are in this stage and even if they move to the awakening stage, they still have tendencies of the pre-awakening stage. In the awakening stage, if one sees whiteness and tends to avoid racial issues, it is almost like they are still in the pre-awakening stage because in my opinion, running away from the issue is like pretending not to see it. Maybe they are trying to be politically correct, but really they just don’t know how to handle the issue of race. Tue, 15 Jun 2010 20:54:06 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-5-lesson-7-race-and-ethnic-inequality__trashed/#IDComment80303050 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-4-lesson-6-race-and-ethnic-inequality__trashed/#IDComment79180409 6/8/10 I have always been one to believe that hard work will make someone succeed and that if you chose to work hard, your hard work will eventually play off. But Dr. Richards and you presented this idea that luck really does play a part of it. It really is a matter of who you know, not how well you do. And yes, this really is not fair, and everyone is not getting that equal chance and opportunity. I also think that how lucky we are is shaped by those invisible strings that shape our behaviors and decisions. If we grew up in a different way, we may not have been as lucky to have done the things we have done in our lives and made the decisions that we have made in order to allow ourselves to succeed. It is interesting to look at how luck and success are ultimately tied together and more importantly, where does that luck come from. Tue, 8 Jun 2010 21:14:51 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-4-lesson-6-race-and-ethnic-inequality__trashed/#IDComment79180409 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-4-lesson-6-race-and-ethnic-inequality__trashed/#IDComment79180357 6/8/10 I think it was really important to reemphasize the difference between freedom and determinism at the beginning of the lecture. It is important to know that we have freedom but that forces outside of our control shape our thoughts and decisions. In a way, we are free and we are not free. We all know that we can change the way we act, but these invisible strings are still going to be there because the forces that have shaped us are so deep within us that it is hard to change who you really are. Dr. Richards used a great example of the scratching issue because an itch is an itch, but where that itch is will depend on if you scratch it or not. I thought this was a great, simple, and relatable way to show the difference between freedom and determinism. Also, the King of the Mountain analogy helped explain the domination and power theory because it is so relatable. It is by chance that this one person got to the top of the mountain first, but the reason he stayed there is not by chance, it is because once he is up there, he can control everyone else and make rules to help some people get ahead, while others fall behind. Connecting this to after the Civil War in the US, white people could have given the newly free slaves the chance to be equals and the United States that we know it would have been a very different world. However, we did not give the newly freed slaves this chance and the property and power went back into the hands of the white people. The “starting line” that Dr. Richards talked about could have been equal, but it definitely was not. I wonder what type of United States we would live in if after the Civil War everyone was really at the same starting line. Who would be ahead? Who would fall behind? Would the United States actually really be united? I can honestly say I was not really shocked by the statistics presented about racism in our criminal justice system because mass media predominately shows the criminals being part of a minority. What I was shocked about was how disproportionate the figures actually were because the figures showed the clearly jails are disproportionately black and brown. It was surprising to me to see that whites are the only group where total drug arrests is lower than the total amount of drug users. Dr. Richards proposed the question of why is this so and why do white people not end up in jail? I honestly do not know the answer to the question but it definitely got me thinking. The only answer I could come up with is that there is racism in the justice system, but I know that all of the people in the justice system are not racist. So what causes this disconnect? Is there another explanation besides racism? The most important question I think we need to ask ourselves is, “What are we going to do to stop this discrimination?” Tue, 8 Jun 2010 21:14:21 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-4-lesson-6-race-and-ethnic-inequality__trashed/#IDComment79180357 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/05/week-3-lesson-5-social-inequality__trashed/#IDComment78287666 6/2/10 I do agree with you when you state that it is the socio-structural and biological side that effects who participates and excels in certain sports. Money is definitely a factor. It is one thing for a kid to go to a public high school and play on the schools sports team. You know it is the kids that have money that are first off good, but that secondly are able to play on travel teams and go to tournaments that are super expensive. It is those kids that are able to play more because they are on another team that ultimately get better because they have had the extra practice and then more opportunities, like to play ball in college, will come because they are more likely to be better than the kid that didn’t have the opportunity, because their family didn’t have the money, to play ball all the time. Also, a persons body does greatly affect what sport one plays and if they can have a future in that sport. I am a dancer, and yes dancing is a sport, but I’m 5’1. I may be a phenomenal dancer, but I will never be a Rockette! Socio-structural and biological factors do play a role in the sports one plays. Thu, 3 Jun 2010 00:03:28 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/05/week-3-lesson-5-social-inequality__trashed/#IDComment78287666 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/05/week-3-lesson-5-social-inequality__trashed/#IDComment78287638 6/2/10 How unequal are we? Well, we are obviously unequal if we need to explain why there are such differences, especially in median family income. And yes, median family income does have a huge effect on those in that family. This does greatly effect education. We saw this when we saw the percent of students graduating from High School. The trend in percentage of students graduating from high school parallels the median family incomes. I thought that all of the numbers were actually low. I absolutely believed that more students received a high school diploma. The percentage for whites did seem low to me because I am from a school where it was very rare that a student did not graduate; this is exactly what Dr. Richards said would happen. The gap in graduation rates between urban and suburban school districts is huge. These schools are actually separate and unequal. High poverty schools, many of which are found in the cities, are overwhelmingly the low achieving schools. These are the schools that need the most help and are not getting the funding because most of the funding for the schools come from state and local taxes like property taxes. If your property has more value, more money is going to the schools. In the cities, there is often low property wealth and value. I learned in EDTHP 115 that the people in these poorer communities are willing to tax themselves at a higher rate in order to support the schools and provide the schools with more funds. But this revenue is still not comparable to the wealthier neighborhoods that have higher property value and lower tax rates. So even with the poorer communities raising taxes, the rich kids are still going to receive a better education than the poor kids. Dr. Richards mentioned that if you are from a rich community, you do not want to “share your wealth” and give your hard earned money to kids that are not your own. Some parents however, as in the Parents Involved in Community Schools vs. Seattle case of 2007, some parents actually wanted to voluntarily desegregate the schools in the district on the basis of race. The court ruled that they could not voluntarily desegregate the schools based on race. Therefore, this cases, and similar cases are actually increasing the percent of schools that are segregated by race and poverty. Some people argue that it is the biological differences that cause inequality, that there is something on the inside that leads you to be the way you are. But in the realm of education it is not. It is the choices we make and the materials that we have. Oprah showed the difference between an inner city school that had nothing and a suburban school that had “everything.” The differences were immediately apparent and the reasons for these differences came back down to location and money. It is not the fact that the students going to the inner city school were predominately minorities; it was the fact that they did not have the tools to help them achieve. Outside factors, the socio-structural factors caused them to be lower achieving students, because they probably didn’t chose to go to that school, that’s just where they live. Proving my point, a man by the name of Geoffrey Canada opened and ran a successful charter school in Harlem. The students, after studying at this school had test scores equal to white, middle class students. So it is not who the person is and what their genetic make up and ancestry is, I truly believe it is the choices a student makes and the opportunities and resources given to the student. Thu, 3 Jun 2010 00:03:11 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/05/week-3-lesson-5-social-inequality__trashed/#IDComment78287638 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/05/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism__trashed/#IDComment77928757 5/31/10 I absolutely agree with the factory farmed meet that it is one of the most disgusting things that we as a human beings do, but yet we still buy it. I know walking around campus we always receive those fliers showing where we get our meet and I look at the pictures and almost want to vomit, but like the slavery issue, most people just throw out those fliers and do not do anything about it. I am certainly a victim of this. I know my family does try to buy the organic meats, but probably not because of the horrors of factory farming but because organic is “healthier for you.” When you refer to cultural relativism, it is hard not to judge others without forcing our own cultural values on others. Is there a way to compromise? Mon, 31 May 2010 17:45:11 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/05/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism__trashed/#IDComment77928757 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/05/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism__trashed/#IDComment77928737 5/31/10 I think that cultural relativism, being able to walk into another person’s shoes in order to understand where they are coming from is probably one of the hardest, but most important things we as humans need to do. If we were truly able to do this, I think some of the stereotypes that we have and racism, and maybe even xenophobia will be able to dissipate and possibly be eliminated. But this may be asking too much of people because we are accustomed to our ways and ethnocentrisms most importantly leads us to see our own culture being better than others. When I watched the second lecture, the video with the general saying something along the lines of “My god is a real god and your god is a false god” clearly proves the point of ethnocentrism. But if this general took the time to step into the other culture, and see the other religion, his statement may have been very different. The part of the lecture that struck me was the part about naming and if I personally would name my child after god, or a prophet, or someone biblical. These names are such common names that I do not see a problem with it at all. My cousins’ name is Rachel and I do not think the first people think of when hearing her name is the old testament. Many of my family members and friends, especially my Jewish friends, share the names of people in the Old Testament. However, I do know that many of these people are not named these biblical names because of their biblical significance, but they are named because their parents like the name. Different cultures absolutely chose different names, and many people even in the Anglo culture will name children after people found in the New Testament like Elizabeth and Mary. Why we don’t name our kids Jesus, I really do not have an answer for. To be blunt, probably because many people thing it would be weird and the kid would be picked on. It is very interesting to see the differences in naming people. It was surprising to me to look at the pictures from before the war in Iraq and now during the war. The pictures we see at home are of destruction, poverty, hunger, chaos and anger. We see people who “want our help.” Before the war, Iraq was a place filled with people who looked like average Penn State students and American children and Baghdad at night looked like it could have been any city in America. It has changed so much since the war. Imagine if the war was fought on our soil. It was very interesting to try to imagine myself as an Arab Muslim as I was watching the lecture. After watching all of the videos, we as an Arab Muslim had the choice to see the American soldiers in two opposite lights, as kind soldiers who are trying to help, or oppressive soldiers taking our resources and our oil. Its no wonder that so many Arab Muslims are angry with the Americans after watching those videos and seeing predominantly one side of the story. It was interesting to see that most of the people sitting in the class raised their hand when asked if they would join the insurgency and fight American soldiers. We should be able to respect their opinion and their decision because of cultural relativism. Mon, 31 May 2010 17:44:54 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/05/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism__trashed/#IDComment77928737 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/05/week-two-lesson-2-intro-to-race__trashed/#IDComment76979628 The first thing that I definitely want to touch upon is difference between race and ethnicity. We so often associate race with culture, not ones physical or biological characteristics. But race is not about culture; ethnicity is about culture. I think it is huge to note the difference before we continue in this class and with the lecture because the next thing the lecture talked about how the European “created” race and how race was categorized. The way Carolus Linneaus categorized race in a way is somewhat comical because he, being a white man, put himself on the top but I think that this is something any of us would do if we were categorizing race – we would put ourselves on top. So if Linneaus happened to have a different skin color, he most likely would have made that skin color, or that race, on the top. Something that is also a little bit funny is that he categorized black and lazy, but it was the black people that the white men enslaved and put to work. Why would inventive and acute people put to work lazy people? Does that even seem logical? Probably not. We now know that there are an unlimited number of race groups in the world and that it is impossible to divide the world up by physical characteristics in a way that makes sense, but we still categorize people. This definitely refers back to the first lesson about stereotyping and how it is so misleading. The race groups are human constructions, just like stereotypes are human constructions. I think it is important to note how closely we may relate stereotypes and race groups. The entire part of the lecture about skin colors truly interested me. We have different skin coloring because of our interactions with our environment but we have this perception and assumption that lighter skin is more beautiful only because this is what we are told. We are socialized to believe that white is beautiful and perfect and even pure. I never would have guessed that skin whitening cream is the leading cosmetic product in the world but I would have to assume it is so because we are socialized to believe that white, specifically white skin, is “better.” But like Dr. Richards asked, what is the point? What is the difference between good and bad or beautiful and ugly? Now I want to ask, is there really a difference or does the difference lie in what we are told to believe and how we are socialized? The differences in who believes in the different types of evolution in America are quite interesting. I would have suspected that the more schooling one receives the more likely one is to believe in evolution because of the separation of church and state. They teach evolution in schools, they don’t teach creation so it almost makes sense that those who did not receive a high school diploma believe in the creationist theory more than college graduates. I also think the difference in everyone and the scientists is interesting, but makes sense. One would suspect a scientist to believe that humans naturally evolved and God had nothing to do with it because there is factual data proving that we evolved from a monkey species (chimpanzees). And it amazes me to note that 99.9% of the human genome in everyone is the same and that only .01% of our genes reflect our external appearance. We are all basically the same. Why then, do we stereotype and racially divide based on our appearances when we are all predominantly the same? Tue, 25 May 2010 01:27:10 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/05/week-two-lesson-2-intro-to-race__trashed/#IDComment76979628 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/05/week-two-lesson-2-intro-to-race__trashed/#IDComment76979609 I, like you also saw the irony in the white man using the Africans, the people viewed by Linneaus as being lazy, to become slaves. The fact that more slaves exist in the world today than any other time in history is truly shocking and something I definitely don’t think about. The worst part is that nothing is being done about it, but I think to solve the problem it is a matter of where to start because it is so widespread and would effect the economy of the world so greatly. Also, the hands on student grouping was also interesting because I, like you, found it very interesting to see the actual races of the students and based on their appearance, I probably would have grouped the students similarly and this goes back to us stereotyping. We do have to take a step back and think about the people passing by us on the street everyday. Physical appearance is deceiving and can often lead to stereotyping. Tue, 25 May 2010 01:26:57 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/05/week-two-lesson-2-intro-to-race__trashed/#IDComment76979609