Society dislikes immigrants because they think only the negative aspects and ignore the positive. Most people do not know about the positive benefits they receive from illegal immigration. I do not know all the benefits and positives but from class on Tuesday I do know a little more than I used to.
I think that when people think illegal immigrants, they think of people who are not paying any taxes but still getting so many benefits of being a US citizen. I think most people would also think of Mexicans when they think of illegal immigrants. I do not think that illegal immigration is all bad or all good, I am neutral with the topic. I know some people who are illegal immigrants and I do not have a problem with them. I understand it takes away from other people’s resources when they are not paying any taxes but I still believe they do well for our economy and contribute to that aspect of things. Some, of course not all, illegal immigrants take jobs that are low paying that no one else wants to do who has citizenship here and that helps us legal citizens get access to things and services much cheaper and that helps our economy.
I think what Sam was saying in class is absolutely right about how selfish people are when it comes to immigration. At least for coming to the United States, people come here and think to themselves I just need to get in. They try their best to either legally or illegally get in or by doing things like marrying a person for citizenship. Once they get here, they close the door because they are selfish and do not let other people get in. They think that if too many people are here then they will lose valuable resources and that there was no point in trying to get in in the first place because there is nothing left. I believe immigration brings in new ideas and that people should be open to being more diverse in their living style. I don’t think most Americans realize how sheltered we all are. I think that going to another country is something that everyone should do at least one time in their life. I think that this would also change someone’s perspective on immigration because it would increase the amount of knowledge about the world that they have now. When Sam told us that whites were going to be a minority, I think most white people felt very threatened like something terrible would happen to the world. I think the opposite would happen. Our lives would be more diverse and cultured and maybe some stereotypes that exist now would not exist.

I think everyone has already known that it is unfair to accept jobs through family members or even through connections, but people continue to take it. I never thought of it as affirmative action, I saw it as a reason for affirmative action to occur. For instance, because my parents are immigrants and own a restaurant, I do not see them as able to provide me with a lot of connections. All my aunts and uncles are also immigrants who are in the same situation. Therefore, they do not have connections and they are forced to go off what they know and not who they know. I have always seen a lot of my friends whose family are not immigrants having a lot of connections. They know people who own companies, and they have friends from high school, college, or work that work in various fields. For example, my friend went into business because his dad owns a successful company that my friend will one day take over when his father retires.
The simple answer to your question is “no,” I would not avoid nepotism. Do I think it is right? No I do not. But this is the way the world works and it’s not necessarily wrong either. I think everyone wants to look out for their own family and friends and they have the right to do so. I think that as someone who does not really benefit a whole lot from nepotism, I do not look down on other people for doing it. It is good for them even though it is bad for me. I may be jealous or think it is unfair that they are doing it, but I would not think it would be right if they passed a law, or something along those lines in order to abolish nepotism.
Having that been said, I think it is important to realize when you are in a position that nepotism will benefit or not benefit you. When choosing a job, I have always kept this in mind. I chose a major that I would like that is also in the medical field and is in demand. I am happy that I chose this major but I do think that if I had a relative with a very successful company, I would choose a major according to that route. I saw that going into a field like communications, or business had a lot to do with networking and coming in with no connections may hold me back from achieving what others with connections are doing. There is always going to be someone who gets lucky in life just because they know people and that is the way the world is, as Sam pointed out today in class.

I could not believe it when I heard that the US declared that it is worth it to kill 29 innocent people if the “target” person is killed. I think this is the US basically saying that the lives of civilians are worthless. That this one “terrible” person that they are after is worth more to them than 29 lives. A human is a human and those 29 people are friends, mothers, fathers, children, and teachers. I know that this is war and war is ugly, but it should not be okay for this number to be so high. I cannot think of a reasonable number because to me, I am not sure if it is okay to kill anyone other than the “target.” I can’t see why anyone would think it is morally okay to murder 29 people who have done nothing wrong.
After hearing this statistic, I am curious as to how they even implement this. Do they just plan out how many people will be around that person before attempting to bomb them? I have a feeling that they often do not stay under the 29 people limit. People may think that it is okay to kill many more people as long as they also kill an important leader. They might believe “after all, we are at war with these people right?”
I do not think that war satisfies anything that couldn’t otherwise be negotiated. In fact, we are always taught in school at a young age that violence does not solve anything but hurts the situation even more. Why, as adults, do we feel like war is the only option. If wars solved things, then countries world wouldn’t constantly be at war with one another century after century. I do not know if I am a pacifist but I do not see why we are so hypocritical. And if you look at previous presidents, some have looked like they were just itching to go to war. I believe that maybe war may have to be used in desperate situations. But society is so accepting of it that Presidents feel like they must do this. That in their time serving as a leader they must make a drastic change.
If 29 people need to die in order to kill one, maybe we are not fighting this war the best we can. Maybe we are doing and not thinking. Perhaps there is a better way to solve the problems in the world today and we are not even trying to find that answer because we are so caught up on getting what we want and winning. So, what do I think about this ratio? That a number like this should even exist. It should not ever be okay to kill innocent people.

I am currently learning a language in order to be better at my job in the future. I am a speech therapy major and some of the population that the profession works with is hearing impaired or have disorders in which make them nonverbal. Many times, with children who have Autism or Down syndrome, they would rather sign than speak because it is easier for them. Therefore, I have completed two semesters of American Sign Language and hope to continue learning more. I have always been fascinated by sign language and always wanted to learn it. Therefore, I feel like I would want to learn it even if I was not going to use it in my future profession. But I will say that most people if not all students in my class that are taking sign language are speech therapy majors. Therefore, we are all in a sense trying to learn this in order to make ourselves better candidates for getting jobs.
As for learning a language such as Arabic, German, Spanish, French, Korean, etc specifically to find a job, I am not sure if I would do it. I am not sure if I feel this way because I am already bilingual in Chinese and English, and feel like it would not help too much to learn another language, or if I am just unwilling. Learning another language takes a lot of time and money and it still does not guarantee that you will like that job or need it in the next job. I think that being able to speak another language is a good thing for yourself and the job market, but it is not the most important thing. There are many jobs in the USA even though the economy is bad. Especially because I already speak English, the international language, I do not feel a strong desire to learn another one. I think learning languages is fun but it can become very hard when you are trying to master it in grammar and pronunciation.
I know this sounds contradictory. But I am stating that yes, I would learn a language if I had a desire to do so and it would be helpful to my overall career and if it is something that is very important in my field. But I would not learn a language simply for a job, but is not important for my occupation. I think that often times you must look at the big picture and not simply what seems to be something you need to do right now. Sometimes people do something drastic because they feel like they have no other options to choose from. This is not usually the case, there is almost always, if not always another opportunity or chance if you look hard enough.

I do not see any problems with interracial relationships. My boyfriend is white and I am Asian, and I never even think about it. I think that as long as two people love each other and respect the other person, there is no reason why people cannot be in interracial relationships. My boyfriend and I both say that we would date or marry anyone of any race and that as long as we are in love, race is not important.
I think some people might claim that they are dating someone of the same race or religion to simplify things for when they get married. For instance, a Jewish person may want to marry someone of the same religion because they understand the other person’s traditions and history. Though I think this is a good thing, I don’t see what the problem is with stepping outside of your comfort zone and learning something new about someone else’s culture. Even though I am 100% Chinese, my parents grew up in Korea and I am culturally Chinese, Korean, and American. I think that being all three of these cultures has opened my mind and made me more aware about what culture can do to shape a lifestyle. I think raising children with more than one culture will help them be less naive and more understanding of people who are different.
As Sam mentioned in class earlier, the world is starting to become more and more mixed. I see this as a good thing because the world will likely be less racist and more appreciative of each other. Possibly, in a hundred years or so no one in the United States will only be one race. Maybe race won’t be an issue anymore once everyone is mixed race. I realize that people will still look different, but race will be less clear cut and maybe by then people will realize not to judge others by the color of their skin or facial features.
Sometimes my boyfriend and I joke that we are in an interracial relationship, but nothing comes of it. We don’t feel like we are doing anything out of the ordinary and neither do our friends. Every once and a while when we are walking my boyfriend may say that he saw people staring at us because we are in an interracial relationship, but it really does not bother either of us. I think that people who have a problem with it are ignorant to the ways of the world and should meet more people of other races to see that people are people and shouldn’t be categorized by race. I know that being an Asian female and a white male couple is fairly common and is considered the “least” interracial of interracial relationships. Meaning, it may not be as much to stare at as say, an Asian female and a black male or an Indian male and white female. Still, no matter what the race combination, interracial relationships are perfectly fine and there shouldn’t be any stigma attached to them.

I do not know if this was a joke, but I sure hope it was. I have also never seen this, but I will look out for it next time I do. I would like to think, that at such a well reputed college, the student or students who wrote it should have been joking. Yet, at the same time I have met some students here that told me how racist their families are and how much they would be shunned if they married or even associated with someone of another race.

On another note, I would like to bring up the “reverse racism” that is going on here. Do you think it would be different if it said “black power”? Or any other race but white? Of course it would. Because whites are the majority in this country, they are often seen as the ones who are always racist or oppressive. Therefore, if some other race wrote that, then many people reading that would probably ignore it, or even say that it was just a symbol of pride, not racism. Some people may be offended, but not nearly as many people as are likely offended now by “white power.” But because the white supremacist is such a well established stereotype, it is wrong to write something like white power.
I think this view of white people and racism is something that is not talked about as much.

I am not white, but I am going to stand up for them right now. I think that white people are too often seen as a group of ignorant racists that have to always be politically correct.
But, people of color sometimes fail to realize that they themselves are racist and use their minority status to get away with things. In class, people even admitted that they do this. I think that people from all races are racist and ignorant to an extent but for some reason people of color do not feel the same pressure to be politically correct.
There is a tendency to always pick on the people with power. And as long as white people are the majority in the USA, people will assume that whites all have it easier, and to some extent it is true (white privilege) but it is not always true. There are many more factors in someone’s life than their race. For instance, the video we saw of Tammy who walked to work in the rain for hours and refused government help, she was white but she did not have an easy life. It is arguable that her life is better than it would be if she were black, but I think that many black people in the USA right now are living easier lives than she is.

I do not think that this man is doing anything wrong by creating a scholarship for males. He is trying to support white males who do not have money for school, to be able to go to college. People can do whatever they want with their time and money as long as they are not hurting other people’s freedoms in the process.
Unfortunately, I would argue that the way he presents his argument was immature and rather ignorant. When the reporter mentioned that about thirty years ago there weren’t as many minorities having a chance to attend college, his response was “unfortunately I wasn’t around thirty years ago to see what kinds of people were going to school.” The way that he answered this question is a problem. First, it sounded like he was trying to be fresh or smart with the reporter, claiming that because he is not at least thirty, he was completely oblivious to the past. I think that if he doesn’t know something so simple as why affirmative action exists or why some people may support it, he should not be starting a scholarship for white males.
When the reporter states that white males have had preferential treatment in the past and it might make people nervous about the scholarship, he also said that he does not understand that. He could at least address this issue with his reasons but he fails to, practically denying that white privilege ever existed in the past or exists today. He does not seem to see or even acknowledge that minorities are sometimes disadvantaged in the US today and only focuses on the population of white males who cannot afford college. The reality is that many people of all different races cannot afford college and it is usually the minorities more than the majority that cannot afford college.
I want to address his quote: “If we’re willing to offer scholarships to group one, two, three, or four…but group five isn’t allowed to have scholarships, then that’s a logical fallacy.” Wrong. He makes it sound as though white males cannot get any scholarships. In my life, I have gotten numerous scholarships and none of them have been based on my race or the fact that I am a woman. In fact, in most scholarship applications I didn’t get the chance to even mark down my race or gender. They have been based on academic merit, writing contests, creative idea contests, and financial need.
Also, I have received a renewable scholarship for the past four years, and each year the scholars are all invited to attend a dinner. In the past four scholarship dinners I’ve noticed that the amount of males and females are about equal and that there are many more whites than minorities. There are probably about eighty scholars and I don’t even recall seeing any nonwhite students there. Therefore, many of the scholarship recipients were white males and they were selected based on financial need and academic talent. Therefore, white males are certainly receiving scholarships even if they are not specifically targeted towards white males. Again, what he is doing is not wrong but it does not make any sense. White males are still the most advantaged people in the US right now and having scholarships in support specifically for that group doesn’t make sense.
Bottom line: you can always find people from majority groups that are not as successful as the rest, but there isn’t much logic in implementing something that helps those already in power.

I think that a person’s innate inclination is to see differences where they are instead of similarities. For instance, Sam told us in class that all humans were 99.9% the same and that shocked a lot of people. We are so very similar but we always forget this because of outward appearances. For instance, on the inside we all likely look the same. Almost all of us are born with one heart, a brain, lungs, DNA, blood, cells, a stomach, etc. And all the parts of our body function in identical ways to keep us alive. We all have to breathe, think, move, and communicate to go about our daily routines. I think even physically on the outside, we look at different colored skins and we see only that. We see “I have light skin and they have dark skin” or “I have large eyes and he has narrow eyes.” Instead, we do not realize that we all have two eyes, one nose, one mouth, and skin. The fact that we share so many things in common which make us all the human species is more important than the shape or color of our features.
For instance, when we are at a meal with a group of people from another culture, we only see the different types of dishes, and the different table manners. We do not see that much of the meal is composed of the same types of foods we eat, just cooked in different ways. We don’t see the similar table manners this culture, or even the obvious that everyone eats meals together at certain times. As humans, we could constantly snack on small amounts of food and stay alive but for the most part society dictates that we instead eat a few large meals a day as a group.
In class when the Muslim students formed a panel and talked to us about how it feels to grow up Muslim in America, a student told us that he just wanted everyone to know that they do the same things. He said that they like to go out and hang out with friends, and update their facebook statuses. I think that really hit home for some people because I know I’ve heard people say that they thought Muslims weren’t allowed to go out, or use technology. People often think that just because someone is wearing different clothing that they must live in a virtually different world. I think everyone should take time out and step back to realize how much they have in common with people who may come off as “different” upon meeting them. And of course people have differences and that is what makes the world function the way it does and that’s what makes live interesting. But these are not only physical differences; they are internal like what you are good at or what you like to do. How you think and why you have certain beliefs. They are differences that have nothing to do with how someone looks, as almost all identical twins share differences

I think that when people come to college they think more realistically about life and the real world. Though growing up, teachers and other adults always say that you can be anything you want to be and that you can do anything you put your mind to. To an extent that is true but very unlikely when what you want to do is something very special or rare. For instance, you could be the best singer/ performer in the world and never get discovered or you could be just an average singer/ performer and become famous because of connections. Some people are guaranteed fame, like those family members of celebrities and if they wanted to start performing themselves, they could do it much easier than someone with a lot of talent but no connections.
Also, when you are in high school you are isolated by people that are somewhat similar to you. I grew up in a standard suburb of Philadelphia and there weren’t many people who were extremely poor or extremely rich. There also weren’t very many people with a celebrity status or connections to anyone. I think that coming from a high school like that, you think that if you work hard at what you want to do, you will achieve it one day because as far as you see, everyone is on the same level playing field.
When I got to college, even though it was only a few hours away from home, my perspective changed regarding what some people were given and what some people never got a chance to do. It wasn’t until then that I saw it is who you know, how you grew up, and who your family knew that would get you the farthest. I saw that regardless of work ethic the rich got richer and the poor stayed poor.
My boyfriend goes to an Ivy League school and every time I visit the school I meet more and more people who seem to have been born with everything handed to them. Usually they are very wealthy and their parents own multiple houses. Also, a lot of their parents and grandparents went to that Ivy League school. I read an article that said you are twenty times more likely to get into an Ivy League school if your parents went there opposed to if they did not. I do not really understand why Ivy League schools are turning down better candidates just so they can have legacy students come in. It does not seem like it helps with anything other than money. Usually students with legacy are rich and do not need scholarships or financial aid that non legacy students do. So, when people tell you work hard and get into a good college, some people out there do not need to work as hard.

I was admitted to Penn State through hard work, but and I am able to afford the tuition for three reasons. The first reason is even harder work, I receive multiple scholarships to be able to attend this university and all are academically based. I am in the Schreyer’s Honors College and truly push myself to the point where not excelling in classes is not an option. The second reason I can afford to go here is that the government allows me to loan money at a low interest rate that does not accumulate until after graduation. The third reason that I can afford tuition is that my parents help me pay for what scholarships and aid do not cover. My family is not wealthy by any means but I am so thankful that my parents are able to contribute to my college expenses. I also use my own money to purchase things like books, money for food, and various living expenses.
I think that I did work hard to get into this school, but in a way I feel like I work even harder to afford it. I know some students who look down on other students for going to community college or maybe a cheaper college that is not as prestigious as the one they attend. These students often think that they were the ones who worked hard to get there, and should deserve all the credit. Yet, they do not realize how fortunate they are to be able to afford such a pricey education. For instance, I think Penn State is an excellent University, but I do think that if I had more money to spend, I could have gone to a “better” one. In the same regard, I was offered a full scholarship to another less prestigious school and turned it down to go to Penn State. I think that I am fortunate that my parents were able to contribute to my college costs and that I could go to a better school.
Working hard in school and academics is the main basis for admission, but actually being able to go to a school that you were admitted into is where things get unfair. College being a money game is not fair but in a way, it’s the first real life event that shows how unfair the world is and how almost anything can be bought. It shows that money is power and in a sense, overcomes all other things that should be more important. Choosing a college often comes down to, am I willing to go into a large amount of debt just for the prestige or the slightly better quality of the program and students? Or would I rather go to a mediocre school, get a degree, and be in a manageable amount of debt.
Therefore, I think that I worked hard to get into college and to afford it, but external forces such as the government allowing me to loan money and my parents helping out has also helped me. I think most things in life are a combination of perspectives of both “conservative” and “liberal” views.