en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/3590488 Comments by mitstick26 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/10/voices-from-the-classroom-73/#IDComment220527776 Joe Paterno, as much as he means to Penn State, needed to be fired. He is involved in the worst scandal in collegiate history, and that cannot be overlooked. Hoewver, It definitely should not have been on the phone. I cannot begin to write about how disrespectful I thought that was. After sixty years of hard work and basically putting this school on the map by himself you cannot just fire him without looking the man in the eye and telling him what’s what. I know I am in the minority at this university, but when you are dealing with children being molested, all bets are off. However, I do think he became a scapegoat in all of this. I will never understand how Curley and Mcqueary are still employed by the university and Schultz got to resign. Joe Paterno suffered because he was (still is) the face of Pennsylvania State University, and when something this terrible happens, the public wants to see moves being made. Firing Joe Paterno was a move that could have waited a little longer. Out of everybody involved, he knew the least and legally did the most. Fri, 11 Nov 2011 18:47:08 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/10/voices-from-the-classroom-73/#IDComment220527776 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/10/voices-from-the-classroom-73/#IDComment220527732 Just because you are a football coach does not excuse you from moral responsibilities. However, a lot of the Penn State students and the Penn State community do not see it that way. Joe Paterno has done so much for this school. He has donated him time, money and his life to this school. All of the facts were not collected and a lot of people think Joe Paterno deserved to speak his mind before he was fired. My feeling on the situation is kind of a mix of both. Fri, 11 Nov 2011 18:47:01 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/10/voices-from-the-classroom-73/#IDComment220527732 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/10/voices-from-the-classroom-73/#IDComment220527595 The last few days have been the craziest, most bizarre days I have ever been a part of at Penn State. When the entire student body is talking about something it is usually something positive like THON or a big football win. We were success with honor, and (supposedly) that meant a lot to this university. I never could have imagined this happening here. Other schools sure, but not Penn State. So how do people in the world currently view Penn State? Right now it is not looking good. My mom told me nobody can understand why the student body rioted the streets after Paterno was fired. Her exact words were, "You had one chance to make an impression to the world, and you blew it." The whole world sees this case very simple: Children were violated and molested, and everybody who knew and failed to report it should be gone. Fri, 11 Nov 2011 18:46:40 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/10/voices-from-the-classroom-73/#IDComment220527595 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/01/voices-from-the-classroom-61/#IDComment216572075 Whether it is out of laziness, pride or the job just seems terrible; Americans are not willing to do certain jobs that other people are willing to do. The conditions are so much worse in other countries foreigners do not mind getting their hands dirty and doing these jobs. I am sure the people hiring these illegal immigrants would probably rather want legal citizens working for them so they cannot be get in trouble with the government. It may be a little more expensive but there is no risk. Americans have the advantage, but nobody wants to do them. I feel like I am writing the same thing over and over, but only because I do not understand it. It is so baffling to me. These illegal immigrants do not have basic rights. They are risking their lives to come here and to cut your front lawn, or to clean your toilets, or some other minimum wage job. If I told my mom I was going to walk hundreds of miles in the desert, risk dying trying to cross a border, all to maybe mow a lawn she would kill me. These immigrants are willing to do so much we should just leave them alone. Obviously they should be legal, and that process should be much easier. Fri, 4 Nov 2011 01:30:56 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/01/voices-from-the-classroom-61/#IDComment216572075 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/01/voices-from-the-classroom-61/#IDComment216571939 I feel perfectly okay with it. Look, it is not like these immigrants are stealing jobs we as Americans are working hard to get and keep. If that were the case our country would see a larger outcry over this. I do not think they are “taking advantage,” because we are giving them the advantage. If Americans wanted these jobs, illegal immigrants would not have them. It is that simple. I truly believe it is ridiculous and beyond hypocritical that Americans are crying and complaining about legal and illegal immigrants taking our jobs that we are too lazy to do. It makes no sense. It is one of the reasons a lot of the world hates Americans. I truly do not understand how people can complain that we do not want to do jobs, we find people that are willing to do them for no money, and then we go and complain about it. If you were upset over that fact then take these jobs! It is not like the jobs they are taking require a huge background with a long resume that only people that with a certain degree can handle. Most of these jobs anybody could do, and if any American is upset with the fact illegal people are taking them, then you should. However, nobody wants to do them. Fri, 4 Nov 2011 01:30:33 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/01/voices-from-the-classroom-61/#IDComment216571939 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/27/voices-from-the-classroom-55/#IDComment213629397 Being a white male I honestly do not care about immigrants, whether they are legal or illegal. First off, if they are legal nobody should care. They went through the proper legal work and got the right papers and became a citizen in this country just like anybody else. If that bothers anybody then it sucks for you because I do not understand how it possibly could. On the other hand, when it comes to illegal immigrants, I understand why people can be so upset that they are here. People think they are sneaking into this country and reaping the benefits of hard working legal citizens of this fine country. People might think they do not belong, and they might say they are stealing jobs that belong to the people who truly belong in this country…seriously? What jobs are they stealing that you or I would actually want to do? Have you ever seen an illegal immigrant hop the border from Mexico and go on to become a successful businessman worth billions of dollars? Obviously the answer is no. Most of these people come to America because as terrible as these jobs are, they have less of an opportunity in Mexico, or wherever they are coming from, and they want to support their family. They take any job they can, mostly paying minimum wage or even less then that. How are these jobs available? How is it so easy for them to get these jobs? Clearly the answer is because most Americans do not want these jobs. However, these jobs are very necessary for our country to run smooth. Somebody has to do these certain jobs that some people do not want to do. I am not saying I want illegal immigrants. Clearly it is wrong for them to be here, and they do not deserve to be in this great country without the proper paperwork. However, if they are able to get past our border patrol and get here, and they have a job that helps somebody, I am not against them being in the United States of America. They aren’t bothering me or affecting my personal life in any negative way. All they want to do is help their family, and we should not kick them out if that is what they are doing. Legal immigrants should not even be bothered by anybody, and although illegal immigrants should not be here, once they inevitably get here they should be able to stay. Fri, 28 Oct 2011 22:57:22 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/27/voices-from-the-classroom-55/#IDComment213629397 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/20/voices-from-the-classroom-52/#IDComment210687245 But we cannot look at this one way. Lets look at this situation but switch the races. If there was a room of only black people do you think they would bring up their own racial issues or would they bring up white people and how they always talk about black people? It is completely contradicting. Everybody likes to talk about other people whether it is to build themselves up or put other people down. This is not something that can easily be fixed. As far as America has come with overcoming racial issues, I feel as if there are certain types of will not go away anytime soon. Everybody has some type of prejudice or stereotype towards somebody. It is completely inevitable that people judge other people. There are so many places in the United States where racism is so natural in what people believe in. In order for white people to stop being so outwardly racist towards other races and to speak up about their own race issues, there would have to be some major cultural changes. Fri, 21 Oct 2011 22:10:08 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/20/voices-from-the-classroom-52/#IDComment210687245 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/20/voices-from-the-classroom-52/#IDComment210687160 I feel this is so true. Being a white person I feel like our stereotypes are not brought up as much as others. When I first watched and listened to this question I thought of that classic kid middle school bully. He has deep insecurities but instead of talking about them he makes fun of everybody else. That is very sad I see it this way considering I am white. However, because white people deemed themselves the “superior” race, and they acted upon that thought for hundreds of years, white people thought it was okay to be openly racism towards minorities. White people also did not want to bring up their racial problems because they wanted to be superior. I also think there is a much simpler way to look at it. People do not enjoy talking about their own problems. It is awkward and honestly not that much fun. However, people do enjoy talking about other people’s problems. As sad as it is, it makes people feel better about themselves for a little bit. Now, imagine a table of ten white people. Do you think they would rather talk about racism amongst themselves and put themselves down; or would they rather talk about other cultures to make the white race seem better? The racism is not spoken about because white people do not want to talk about it. I feel like it is that simple. Fri, 21 Oct 2011 22:09:52 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/20/voices-from-the-classroom-52/#IDComment210687160 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/02/voices-from-the-classroom-28/#IDComment203911564 The thing about homosexuality is that it does not affect most of the things you do in life. There is just one small part of your daily life that is different. That should not make me want to change roommates or treat somebody differently. I know he would not make a move on me because I am straight and it is a huge misconception that gay people want to hit on straight men. I would care so much more if my roommate was a huge asshole, or a ridiculously messy person. These are the type of things that make living with somebody hard. Their sexual orientation is not. If my roommate came out to me I would have no problems with it whatsoever. As long as he was a nice kid who had good morals I would not care. He would have enough problems as it is, and being his roommate I would not want to make the one place he came back to every night a hard place to live. Thu, 6 Oct 2011 15:41:40 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/02/voices-from-the-classroom-28/#IDComment203911564 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/02/voices-from-the-classroom-28/#IDComment203911552 However I could completely understand if it bothered some people. For instance, if there was somebody who was very religious and their roommate told them they were gay I would understand if that person would want to switch out. It completely violates what they believe in. In my opinion this issue should not be that big of a deal. I would only have a problem with it if certain things happened. If he waited a couple months to tell me I would be pissed off. I would want to know one of the first days of school, and I would feel like he was hiding a huge part of his life. Also, I would not want to see any kissing or displays of affection if he had a boyfriend. Once again, this is not because I find it wrong, but because I just find it disgusting when two men kiss. As long as we found some medium and were able to work it out I am sure it would be fine. Thu, 6 Oct 2011 15:41:36 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/02/voices-from-the-classroom-28/#IDComment203911552 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/02/voices-from-the-classroom-28/#IDComment203911283 If my roommate was gay I would definitely be a little thrown off at first, and at first I would definitely think it was a little weird. Obviously being a homosexual is something nobody on this universe can control. It is the way we are born. I would not be able to blame him for anything. Luckily, my aunt used to be a lesbian and I have been around many gays and lesbians in my life. It would not bother me. I am pretty comfortable with my sexuality and I do not care if the person I was living with likes guys. Thu, 6 Oct 2011 15:41:00 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/02/voices-from-the-classroom-28/#IDComment203911283 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/27/voices-from-the-classroom-23/#IDComment200875465 The seniors and the juniors influenced the sophomores, and all three grades influenced the freshman. However, you also have to figure younger siblings were influenced by older siblings who they looked up to. It’s a vicious cycle that is too hard to stop now. When you go to a party in my town, it is pretty much guaranteed you will people huddled up in a backyard smoking weed. However, if anybody brought cocaine or heroin to a party they would be judged and frowned upon. That is because in our culture nobody does those drugs. Marijuana is smoked so casually people forget it is illegal. Conversely, if somebody from my town who smokes was to go to a different town where everybody does blow and nobody smokes it would be weird for that person. Drug users are influenced by your peers and your culture. Race has very little, or nothing to do with it. Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:46:43 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/27/voices-from-the-classroom-23/#IDComment200875465 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/27/voices-from-the-classroom-23/#IDComment200875448 . It does not matter if that thing is riding horses, eating ice cream, or doing illicit drugs. Your peers and your surroundings are more influential on a person’s personal decision. In my town, most people smoke weed. It is not thought of as an intense drug, but it is thought of something you can do with your friends to make you feel a little better for a few hours. I can imagine once seniors in high school started doing it, however long ago that was, they influenced juniors. Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:46:40 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/27/voices-from-the-classroom-23/#IDComment200875448 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/27/voices-from-the-classroom-23/#IDComment200875293 I do not think race goes into the use of illicit drugs. However, there are many factors that go into who uses these drugs, and what type of drugs they use. For instance, I think the most important factor going into who uses illicit drugs is the cultural surroundings of a person. If somebody grows up in a house where everybody is doing a drug, and it does not matter what drug it is, that person will feel like the drug is a normal thing to do. Take Michael Vick for example. I know dog fighting is not an illicit drug, but it is the same concept. When he was growing up, he was always around dog fighting. It was what he knew, and he did not know any better. When he was financing these fights, he did not see anything wrong with it. Race had nothing to do with Vick’s decisions to finance these fights. If he had been Caucasian, Hispanic, Asian, or anything else, he probably would have done the same thing if he grew up the same way. If you grow up in a neighborhood where everybody is doing something, most likely you will start doing it. Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:46:14 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/27/voices-from-the-classroom-23/#IDComment200875293 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/20/everyone-respond-to-this/#IDComment197625856 Even before watching any of these videos, the Haiti Group project seemed like a great idea. I already know that Haiti is a very poor country. It is even hard for them to get clean water. It was so nice and refreshing to hear people within their own community are trying to do everything they can to help everybody else. The first video I watched was Clorene Blaise. I think this was the perfect one to start with because she was making the most basic thing everybody needs; clothes. It is so great that she is taking the initiative to make clothes in order to help all of those who need it. She also makes affordable bags for people. However, it is not like she buys bags and sells them for a higher price. With the help of her coworkers, she find material to use, cuts it up, and makes them. She puts her own time and effort in order to help her fellow Haitian people. I love the thing she is doing with the tag. She is trying to make the clothes feel a lot more authentic and nicer by finding tags in the marketplace and sewing them on. This is a great project. The next video I watched was Madame Lamour’s. Her video was about floral arrangements for special occasions. I thought this was a good idea because since Haitians have really hard lives I thought it was nice somebody was trying to create flowers for special occasions. At my house at home my mom has a vase of flowers sitting right by the door so when you come in it is the first thing you see and smell. It is one of those small touches to a house that makes it feel very nice. I was very happy to see somebody was making floral arrangements. She also makes vales, which I think is very nice. She is trying to make people’s special day a little more special. The last entrepeneur’s video I watched was Manouchka’s video on hair products and personalized frames. I thought each of these were great ideas. It is very important to have some nice jewelry and picture frames in a household. It adds style to a house that can probably use it. Her hair products are probably very important to ladies who probably cannot afford the very basic essential stuff like shampoo. It is very important to stay clean and these hair products probably help a lot of people do so. I believe this initiative is a great one and everybody should try to do as much as these ladies. Fri, 23 Sep 2011 20:27:22 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/20/everyone-respond-to-this/#IDComment197625856 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/13/voices-from-the-classroom-7/#IDComment193851285 This is something my friends and I have discussed many of times. This one word probably has more controversy behind it then any other word. First off, I am white and I completely understand why black people take offense to it. It is a word that was used by white people when African Americans were enslaved. Today it is used so commonly in every day life. If you were to turn on any rap song you would hear that word. This is why everybody says it. It is so said so often people tend to forget where it came from, and its true meaning. Black people think it is okay to say, because it has to do with them. Since the word is about them, it is okay for them to say. Everybody else in the world thinks it is okay today, because not only is it always on the radio in popular songs, but because black people say it so often. This is not just with the “n” word. This is the same for every racist word. For instance, I am Jewish. If I were to go to one of my Jewish friends and call them a “kyke” it wouldn’t be taken as offensively if a non-Jew else call them a kyke. The only difference is the word kyke isn’t being said all over the radio. This word is used too much for anybody to still take it offensively. I completely understand the history of the word, and at one point it meant something that was very hurtful. About a year and a half ago I went to a Jay-Z concert. He has a song called “Jigga My N*gga.” While performing this song live, he stopped the music and had the crowd sing the chorus. When it came to this point, being a white male, I felt very awkward. However, the entire crowd of tens of thousands of people did not care and everybody was singing it. It was then when I realized it is just a word. It is not like it was in the seventeenth century. The word means “friend”. I also know it seems very contradicting that I am not saying the word, but that is out of respect to people who do get upset when others say it. This word is probably the most complicated word in the English dictionary. It has so much history and has so much attached to it. Two hundred years ago it was a derogatory word used towards slaves. Now, the great great great grandchildren of the people who took offense to that word rap it in the most popular songs on the radio. So why can white people not say it? Because of what it used to mean. Thu, 15 Sep 2011 22:44:14 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/13/voices-from-the-classroom-7/#IDComment193851285 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/06/voices-from-the-classroom/#IDComment191113425 Personally, I could give good reasoning for each side about whether we should just be Americans. However, I truly believe it could not, and will never happen. Too many people are too attached to who they are and where they come from. Even if we were to change everybody to just American, sooner or later people would begin to classify into smaller groups. That is what we do. We try to make this huge would smaller in order to make ourselves comfortable. Thu, 8 Sep 2011 15:51:26 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/06/voices-from-the-classroom/#IDComment191113425 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/06/voices-from-the-classroom/#IDComment191113408 We could all categorize ourselves as Americans. However, even if we did that, we would still use other information when talking to people. The human race has come too far to even think about confining our background to one word. Everybody is already so different from everybody else; I think there is no point to calling us just Americans. Even within America there are so many different people with different backgrounds who live life different ways. It wouldn’t be fair to all these ethnicities and customs to just call it American. We can all say we are American, but it goes a lot deeper than that. Every single one of us has a connection to some sort of religion, ethnicity, or culture. These connections go back hundreds of years, and nobody just wants to throw all of that away to make everybody categorized under one “American.” Thu, 8 Sep 2011 15:51:22 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/06/voices-from-the-classroom/#IDComment191113408 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/06/voices-from-the-classroom/#IDComment191113223 I believe the reasoning for people not being classified as just “American,” is simple. People enjoy being part of a small group. People like knowing who is similar to them. I come from a small town from Long Island where the majority of the people are upper-middle class and Jewish. When I first came to this huge school it was a little intimidating. There were so many people from all different types of backgrounds. At first, I was becoming friends with people who came from a different lifestyle. They were good people, but we had a lot of differences. The way we dressed, the way we talked, what kind of phones we had, and what we ate, just to name a few. I felt a little distant from them. Then, I met people who had the same background as me. People who dressed the same, and talked the same and I felt much more comfortable. What helped me at Penn State was finding people very similar to me. The reason I did this, and a lot of people do this, is because it is what we are comfortable with. Everybody wants to be comfortable, and most people are comfortable with consistency. That would mean even when people leave their home and go someplace new, they are looking for the same old thing. Thu, 8 Sep 2011 15:50:45 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/06/voices-from-the-classroom/#IDComment191113223 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/01/how-do-you-feel-about-interracial-dating/#IDComment188875522 However, we are now in the twenty first century, and people really need to see past the others race. There is so much more in getting to know people then race. Not only that, but if you go out with somebody from the other race, you may try their customs and enjoy them. You could enjoy the other races customs and traditions. There could be two people who are perfect for each other, but they are different races. It could stop them from getting to know each other. There is only one thing that would stop me from dating somebody outside of my race. That would be if my parents were not okay with it. My really good friend in high school was a white Jewish American. He dated a girl whose family originates from Africa. My school was primarily Jewish it was seen by some of our peers as a very weird situation. He was judged by many, and got made fun of by some. However none of this bothered him. He was able to see past the race factor and he truly loved her. He dated the girl for almost four years. My friend knew he really liked this girl and went for it. He did not care what anybody thought. Eventually, they were even able to convince his dad it was okay. Interracial dating is perfectly okay and should not be frowned upon by anybody. Different races were created by our genes, which were reacting in order to help our bodies adapt. If our bodies did not adapt, we would not be here. This is why, in my opinion, race issues are so stupid. Deep down, everybody is the same. If people could just see past the physical features, it could lead to something amazing. Unfortunately, at this point in our time, some people are strict about dating your own race. Everybody has the same ancestors, and everybody was originally from the same “race.” But that was even before there was race. Fri, 2 Sep 2011 02:26:02 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/01/how-do-you-feel-about-interracial-dating/#IDComment188875522