The issue of illegal immigration is one that has been highly debated for decades. Is it right for others to come into our country unofficially? I used to think that my answer was no; they should not be allowed here without official documentation. After listening to Sam’s lecture on illegal immigration however, my perspective on the issue has changed. I don’t know if they should or should not be allowed in here. It is a very controversial issue that raises many questions. Is there presence in the United States affecting actual citizens by taking jobs for cheaper wages? Yes, this is true. Yet it is unethical for us to ban them from coming to our country when, almost 400 years ago, the pilgrims came here as the first illegal immigrants. This was the turning point in my mind.

We learn in history class that when the pilgrims came to America, it was a great thing. They did so much for us by discovering this new land and giving Europeans new opportunities, yada, yada, yada… While all of this information may be true, our history teachers have seemingly, maybe purposefully left out a somewhat important detail – these settlers were illegal immigrants when they arrived. The only true Americans are the Native Americans who, as their name indicates, were the first people to inhabit the United States. The English quickly took over a great majority of the land, forcing these Indians out of what was rightfully theirs.

Although I think that it is unfair that illegal immigrants come in and take jobs from citizens, I also partially blame this on Americans themselves and their greed. Businesses give these jobs to the immigrants because they are willing to work for less, helping get products produced and distributed while allowing the business to make more money. Unfortunately, these illegal immigrants sometimes take jobs from unemployed people who need them and deserve them. While I am defending the citizens who I feel truly have the rights to these jobs, it is the “lazy” citizens who I am referring to in their greed. They would rather be unemployed than work a job for the same amount of money that an illegal alien is working for.

After this lecture, I am still on the fence as to whether illegal immigrants should be allowed into our country. However, I now have a more opened mind to the situation. I understand why these people choose to come to the states for their freedom, but I do not agree with them taking jobs from so many unemployed Americans. Yet, we, as citizens, have to have a respect for these people trying to come here and make a living for themselves since this is what our ancestors did hundreds of years ago to the real Americans of the land.

In my opinion, nepotism is almost impossible to avoid. I’m assuming that most of us have gotten where we are through nepotism in some way or another. If the opportunity ever arose, I don’t think I would be able to not try to benefit from nepotism. I have benefited from nepotism multiple times in my young life so far and found that if not for nepotism, I would not have been able to take advantage of the opportunities that I have. Despite my advantages from nepotism, after last class, I find it unfair that people are benefiting from nepotism. I never thought to consider that affirmative action and nepotism were one in the same, but now that I have it makes things much clearer. I have also been opposed to affirmative action because I thought it was giving students an unfair advantage that didn’t deserve it. In my skewed mind, it never occurred to me that I have been doing the same thing by using the connections that I have to get ahead.

I have actively used nepotism in obtaining all three of the jobs that I have had and currently have. In each individual case, I have known the person who was hiring either directly or through someone else. The jobs that I have gotten have been because I personally knew the one boss; I played basketball with another one’s daughter, and the one was friends with a lady that I babysat for. Since these were all part-time jobs that I was working during high school and college, I never thought of it as unfair because I didn’t think there were many qualifications that needed to be met. Thinking back now, there were probably people who would’ve been better suited for the job just based on experience alone.

It is tough to avoid nepotism, though. With the way that the economy is nowadays, people are struggling to find jobs. For people that are having this difficulty, it is easier to turn to people that you know for help. It may not seem fair, but it’s like Sam said in class: success is about networking. It is all about who you know in today’s society. In order to rid of nepotism and affirmative action, everyone in the entire world would need to stop benefiting from one another. This will never happen. If I, as an individual, were to make the decision to stop benefiting from nepotism, I would only be hurting myself and my chances of getting ahead in life. I wish that I was able to obtain a good life for myself on merit and achievement alone, but that is not possible. If I were to try to get a job after graduation without having some sort of connection, my chances are dramatically decreased. Therefore, if the situation presented itself, I would not actively try to avoid using nepotism.

When Sam said that the United States’ military was willing to kill 29 civilians in order to kill one “bad guy”, I was in complete and utter shock. This number was put in perspective when he started counting students off in class, saying that they are the innocent civilians that would be killed in order to kill the one terrorist who is the target. I feel that this number of innocent people is completely unacceptable. I understand that the job of the military to protect the people of the United States, as well as our interests. Therefore, I understand the need to go after and kill the “bad guys” – people like Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein – who put our country and other countries in danger. But there is no reason that innocent people who have no connection with terrorists’ threats or the people making these threats. In a way, this statistic is the biggest form of racism that there could be. That is, categorizing people of a certain race into one and assuming their lives are not valued because we, as the United States, feel the need to kill off one member of the race.

It saddens me that we feel that people’s lives are not precious enough in order to just to take them. Think about the situation as if the roles were reversed. Let’s say, for instance, another country felt the need to kill of an American because they were causing harm to other people. With this need to kill off the “bad guy”, they found it tolerable to kill roughly 30 innocent Americans in the process. How would the American population react if this happened? My guess is that most people would be enraged. I know, personally, I would live in fear wondering when and where this possible killing may occur and if I would fall victim to it. This is what people in the Middle East go through everyday, wondering if today will be the day that they or one of their family members is an unlucky bystander.

It was asked what my number would be and, although unrealistic, my number would be zero. No innocent person should be killed in order to apprehend one person who actually deserves it. I understand that, unfortunately, it is highly unlikely that there would no casualties, but it should not be accepted in people’s mind that it is okay to have casualties. To think that women and children who have no association are living in this hell of a world is, at least to me, unacceptable. If the military’s number were to drop, it would show that human life still has value, more than we are currently giving it.

Around campus, I always hear people talking to one another in different languages. Even at the mall back home or when I travel into the city, this is a common occurrence. Every time this situation happens to me, it makes me feel uncomfortable. There are a few languages that I am able to recognize some words in but then there are others that I have no clue about any part of the language. No matter what the language is that these people are speaking, I tend to feel on edge. As someone who only speaks English fluently, it is tough to be comfortable around people who are not speaking English, especially in a predominately English speaking country. I tend to feel uncomfortable for a couple of different reasons. One is more of a personal reason, while the other is more of a widespread common feeling.

I tend to become nervous and uncomfortable around people who are speaking a different language to one another because I always feel like they are talking about me. As a very self-conscious person, I often wonder what people think or say about me. For people who speak a different language, it is much easier, considering they are able to say it right in front of me without me even knowing that they are talking about me. I had always wished that I was one of those people that you see on TV or in the movies that can secretly speak another language and surprises everyone when they realize that he or she has known all along what they have been saying and talking about. Unfortunately, however, I am not one of those people. Sometimes I wish I had taken the extra initiative to learn another language more in depth. I took four years of German in high school, which has gotten me to a somewhat conversational level of the language, but I am nowhere close to fluent. Other than that, I recognize a few Spanish words, and that is about the extent of my language knowledge. When people around me are talking to one another, I always get this idea in my head that they are secretly talking about me. This is reason number one why different language speakers make me uncomfortable.

The second reason that I tend to become uncomfortable around non-English speaking people is due to the war on terror that the United States is currently battling. I try not to be fearful of the events that have happened over the years, but there is no denying that they did occur. I have been in large public places, such as cities and airports, and have heard people talking to one another in a different language and it makes me uncomfortable because I get afraid that something else may happen while I am there. In no way am I trying to be racist, but I just feel this fearfulness sometimes when this occurs, and I know there are others who can relate.

Unfortunately in our society today, interracial marriages are met with some of the same criticisms as gay and lesbian marriage. Some tend to think that interracial marriages are wrong and that people should not be involved with people of other races, just as others think that people should not be involved with people of the same sex. Fortunately, I think neither of these arrangements are wrong and no different from same race marriages. People should be free to fall in love and marry whomever they so desire, regardless of skin color. We learned in class that people are 99.99% genetically that same, with skin color only account for 0.01%. Based on this, people should be more understanding of interracial marriages since a man of color could be just as equal as a white man with the only exception being the skin color. Though I have never been in a relationship with a colored man, I have been found that I have been attracted to some of them as much as I have been attracted to white men. I have never looked at a member of the opposite sex and saw skin color. I only see the features that I find attractive. I’m sure people that are in interracial marriages see the same thing I do. If more people could look at people the same way, interracial marriages would not be as frowned upon as they currently are.

My parents and other members of my family are some of these people that I am referring to. My father has openly admitted that if I were to ever bring home a boy of another race, I would not be allowed back in the house from that point on. Whether he had truly meant this or not, I am unsure. But anyone who says these types of statements is not open to the interracial marriages. It is upsetting to see people who feel this way, because interracial couples are becoming more and more common in our society. People need to begin opening their eyes to these changes and begin to accept that people of different races are, more than ever, interacting with one another and becoming involved with one another. A friend of mine from high school has a white mother and a black father. They are now divorced, but when they were married when my friend and I were younger, there were very few people in my predominantly white town that approved of the marriage, let alone them having a child together. Unfortunately, my friend was the one who ended up receiving most of the criticism because he was mixed race. Nowadays, it is more socially acceptable for couples to have mixed race children, yet there is still a great majority of people who do not agree with this statement. Like it was said in class, mixed races are growing. Interracial marriages need to start being more socially accepted by people since they are increasing. There is nothing wrong with interracial marriages.

When looking at colleges during my senior year of high school, picking a school with diversity never seemed to cross my mind. Then when I began looking at Penn State, the school advertised how diverse the student body was. I started thinking to myself, “maybe it would be pretty neat to go to a school with a large amount of diversity.” I saw the amount of diversity as a positive of Penn State. Since I came from a small town and high school that was all white, I saw this as an opportunity to become more knowledgeable about other races, cultures, and religions. However, when I arrived at University Park for my freshman year, I was surprised at what I saw. Despite all the claims that the university made, there was very little diversity on campus.

Penn State is a predominantly white university – 75 percent white to be exact. This is an awfully high number of a particular race for a school that claims to be ‘diverse’. Although 25% of the student population is than made up of minorities, I do not see the university as diverse. This is because most people in a given race are only associating with people of that same race. I would be able to see the university as more diverse if there were more people that associated with other racial groups unlike their own. I feel that the university could help students become more accustomed to being around other racial groups by offering more cultural events that students could get involved in.

Though there are a number of racial, cultural, and religious groups and organizations on campus for students to be a part of, it is hard for students to be involved in extracurricular groups that they are not a part of in real life. For example, most students who are not a part of a certain cultural group will rarely join an organization about a different culture. If more people were to step out and join different groups, some students would become more informed on other groups. Even though this would not change the proportions of students, it would help the university to become more diverse as a whole.

I think that the university could also have an impact if they were to change the way that they accept students into the university. I think that Penn State would benefit if the application no longer asked for the race of a student that was applying. Rather than having to meet a quota of the amount of students from each background that the university accepts, it should be based more on who deserves acceptance more regardless of their skin color or culture. There are a number of ways that the university could become the diverse school that they claim to be.

I think the young man in the video made an excellent point about the lack of scholarships available to white men. When he said that the majority of people in the United States are people who cannot afford college, whereas the minority is those that can afford college without loans, he was right. The majority of college students have to have some sort of loan in order to get to college. After graduation, these students will spend much of their early adult life in debt from college. Yes, education is expensive, which is why scholarships should be offered more often to all people, including white males. Some people don’t realize that white males, like everyone else, are often unable to afford college. It is not just a minority group stereotype that people don’t have the money for higher education. It is unfortunate that most people in the United States who want to go to college cannot afford to and need to find ways to help pay for their education. For someone to want to help the group of young people who tend to get overlooked for scholarships is a noble thing.

However, I feel that he was not seeing this problem in retrospect of the bigger picture. For pretty much all of history in the United States, white males have been at the top of the ladder. Others from minority groups see white males as being the most privileged. As the lady mentioned, for so long it was only white men who were getting into and being able to attend college. This is why things such as affirmative action were created in the first place. Also, for this group to only be trying to help white males is, in its own way, discriminating against others. As a white female, I take offense to the fact that he is specifically only trying to help obtain scholarships for white males. White females sometimes see the same prejudice as white males do, for the simple reason that we’re white. It’s unfortunate that people tend to get discriminated against when it comes to such essential things as a college education. If there were to be a group that was willing to provide scholarships for anyone that cannot afford college, regardless of race, than other groups who provide scholarships may also start to do this. I am not saying that every scholarship out there is stated that only for certain racial groups, but because of affirmative action there are many scholarships that can only be given to people of a certain color or ethnicity. The prerequisites that the young man named, with the exception of being 25% Caucasian and male, apply to many who are looking for a scholarship.

The poor white society is a class that seems to go unnoticed. Most people assume that whites do not live in poverty, so they are shocked when they find poor whites. Realistically, however, the number of white Americans in poverty is just about equal with the number of colored Americans who live in poverty. Unfortunately, since white people are less likely to admit they have financial problems than black and brown people are, they receive less help. Most people assume that the majority of people in poverty are black and brown people. White people hide their problems more for this reason. They think that it is not socially acceptable for white people to be poor. White people are assumed to be the “elite” race, so for white people to admit that they are living in poverty is a tough task. As we saw in class, however, there are white people living in just as bad conditions, if not worse, than black and brown people. The video that Sam showed in class was very eye opening, I’m assuming not just for me but for many others as well. As a white person, I feel ashamed that poor white people in our society are ridiculed. We assume that poor white people are “white trash” and are poor because they made the choices to be that way; whereas black or brown people had no option but to be poor. But these assumptions are wrong, there’s no different between poor people, whether they are white, black, or brown. Would you help the lady in the video because she’s white? Most people wouldn’t since it’s not the socially acceptable for white people to be poor.

After yesterday’s class, I feel differently though. I never had put much thought into before this class, but I think that all people are deserving of our help, no matter their skin color. Most people who try to help the poor normally stick with their own race. Black and brown people are more willing to assist other black and brown people; whereas white people are more willing to assist other white people. Unfortunately our society has put up racial barriers limiting one another from seeing past skin color. I don’t see myself being selfish enough not being willing to help anyone who was in need, regardless of their skin color. This is similar to the example that Sam used in class with someone dropping their papers. If a black person were to drop their papers, a white person would help pick them up if the white person were alone, but not in a group of people. So would black individuals be willing to help white people if they were alone? It’s hard to say the answer, but I have a feeling that black people would not help because they see white people as superior and they don’t need help.

I believe that there is no direct answer to this question. I think that the arrests of different races are partly due to racism and partly due to the population of police forces in urban areas. Statistics have shown that the number of African Americans and Hispanics living in urban areas are greater than the number of whites, and the number of police forces in urban areas is greater than in other areas. This is the first part in understanding why more arrests happen to people of color. It seems because there is a preconceived notion that more crime occurs among people of color, and that these people live in urban areas, there is more crime occurring and therefore there need to be more police officers on the job and more arrests need to be made. This, in theory, makes sense. Urban areas, more often than not, seem to be the centers of drug rings, prostitution, and other violence and crime. I feel as though the majority of people do not realize these statistics though. White people not living in urban areas seem to play ignorant and act as though none of this occurs. People living in urban areas, however, assume that the arrests occurring are due to racism. This is especially the thinking of people of colored, often the ones being targeted. And to an extent, I agree with them.

I feel, in part, that police officers have a tendency to be racist. Like we learned in class, people often have an idea that black youths tend to display more violent behaviors than other groups. I feel that this belief continues on as the youth become older. The generally accepted notion is that people of color have more problems with violence and drugs that white people. Therefore, I believe that white police officers have in their mind that they need to target people of color on the streets. I also believe that there is racism in our judicial system as well. It seems that white people, especially as adolescents, get off with probation or community service much easier than colored people for the exact same offenses. Judges and court systems will argue that there is no correlation between these facts, however, it seems like it is much more than just a coincidence. If in fact this is an act of racism, like I believe it is, it is hard to believe that this will be changing anytime soon. The facts don’t lie, and the fact that the numbers of arrests of colored people in urban areas are so high is alarming. So whether it is just a matter of the number of patrolmen in the area or it is an act of racism, I feel that it needs to be changed, especially for the younger generations who should not have to live under the notions that have been determined before their time.

I often feel that determinism plays a large role in how peoples lives turn out. I think that it plays a much bigger role than free will a lot of times. However, in my journey to Penn State, I found that free will and my own motivation was the driving force behind where I am today. That is because I pushed myself all throughout high school in order to be successful. Looking at my family history, I should not have been someone to go to college. My father never went to college after he graduated high school. My mom went on to college but dropped out after a year and a half because she became pregnant with my older brother. Though both of my parents have always worked very hard at their jobs, our family income is not all that high. Though I supposedly have an advantage because I come from a strictly white family, I still had to work for a lot of what I have and have achieved. According to what we learned in class, based on my familys income, my SAT scores should have been much lower than they were. However, I pushed myself to work hard for the scores that I received, obviously overcoming the inequality barrier. Throughout high school, I maintained a 4.0 GPA while juggling extracurricular activities, such as sports and clubs. When it came time to apply for college, my parents encouraged me to attend a small school somewhere very similar to my hometown of only 5,000 people. However, I knew that my grades and my transcript were good enough to get into somewhere else, such as Penn State. Since my parents were convinced that this was not the right choice for me, they refused to pay the application fee. I put forth the money out of my own pocket in order to send in my application again making a choice. Once accepted, I made up my mind to come to Penn State. This was not an easy decision. Again, my parents did not have the money to pay for tuition here. They told me that if this is where I wanted to go to school, I would have to take out as many loans as I needed to in order to cover the tuition. In other words, for many years to come, I would be responsible for paying back all of my loans that would accumulate over the next four years. This was a decision that I knew would be best for me in the end. When I arrived in the fall of 2009, I quickly found out that I would soon be making many more choices that would lead to where I am today. My college career should not have even existed according to the determinist view of inequality. However, because I made my own choice and was self-driven, I am now graduating early from college some place that I never shouldve even been in the first place, or so some may say.