en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/3553927 Comments by sbt5032 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/12/02/voices-from-the-classroom-89/#IDComment231931372 I don’t think that if we decided as a school to not celebrate State Patty’s day this year it would make a difference. This holiday has been celebrated at Penn State for numerous years and all it is at this point is a tradition. I don’t see any correlation between us getting rid of State Patty’s Day and the events that occurred in the Sandusky scandal. As students, we did nothing wrong; we had no idea about anything until the news revealed information so why would we sacrifice a fun event? Whoever believes that we are being rude by having State Patty’s is plain ignorant in my opinion. It really is just like every other weekend. In class Sam mentioned that if we celebrate the holiday we are going to be viewed so negatively in the media and will have a harder time finding jobs which I find absolutely ridiculous. It is one thing to get rid of State Patty’s Day just because it is a rowdy holiday at school but it is another to link it to the sex abuse scandal. I just don’t see any connection between the two. If we want to be viewed positively then we should have more things like the candle light vigil and going to the victims to talk to them and help them with their issues. If we want to show support for the victims of this scandal then we should do things that deal directly with them and not random things like end State Patty’s Day. What I think makes Penn State so unique is that the students are so united and love celebrating things together and this is also reflected in State Patty’s. People do tend to go a bit over board and out of control on the holiday but that shouldn’t make us look any worse this year just because of the scandal. I think it so not right for the rest of the world to judge Penn State for this one celebration when we are known for being an amazing school in so many ways. Every school parties and it has become a huge part of the college culture, that is just the way it is. If people want to judge me by going to a school that will celebrate State Patty’s after the Sandusky scandal then I don’t want to be associated with them because that is so ignorant. Also, Penn State is too big of a college for every student to get on the same page and have the same view on whether to have State Patty’s Day or not. There is no way that 40,000 students are going to come together and decide that the holiday will just not exist this year! There are way too many different view points of this scandal that it would be impossible for everyone to come to one decision. Sat, 3 Dec 2011 01:58:30 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/12/02/voices-from-the-classroom-89/#IDComment231931372 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/15/voices-from-the-classroom-78/#IDComment226846105 The Sandusky scandal at Penn State has taught me so much over the last few weeks. By reading numerous articles in newspapers and on the Internet and by watching many television news reports I have learned that this scandal has become something bigger than I had imagined when first hearing about it. Every resource that reports on this scandal reveals a different side of the issue and sometimes the facts aren’t even straight. I have learned that the media thrives on drama and will do whatever it can just to grab the attention of the most people it possibly can. I was at the big riot that took place the night it was revealed Joe Paterno had been fired and I was able to learn things from this riot as well. The fact that kids thought it was okay to overturn a news van with no regard to who t belonged to was astonishing. When I witnessed this happen with my own eyes, as it took place about 15 feet in front of me I was in total shock. I couldn’t believe that some students were making Penn State out to be full of monstrous students who have no regard for people or their belongings. The media had a field day with this occurrence as they kept playing the clip of the van turning over time and time again, just to emphasize how insane all Penn State students are. This is in fact completely not true which is one of the big problems I have with this whole scandal. The public seems to be developing a bad view of all students who attend Penn State, which is wrong because the flipping of the van only had to do with about 5 kids. The riot on the other hand was consumed of thousands of students which is a much larger representation of Penn State as a whole, however the riot doesn’t show that Penn State students are bad in any way, rather I believe it was just a way for us as students to show the rest of the world how much we care about and love our school. I have read in a various article that someone thought that through the riot we were supporting Sandusky’s sexual assaults. That claim was absolutely ridiculous because in no way was any student out at the riot to show support for Sandusky. One of the major points I have learned from this whole thing is just how quick so many people in the world are to judge others before even knowing or evaluating all the facts. What happened to innocent until proven guilty? I have a problem with the way the Board of Trustees handled Joe Paterno in this situation. I don’t understand why they fired him right away instead of doing more research and seeing how he was actually involved in the scandal. I think that from this I have learned to not be so quick in coming to a decision about someone or something until I have a great understanding of what legitimately happened. Thu, 24 Nov 2011 21:19:59 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/15/voices-from-the-classroom-78/#IDComment226846105 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/09/voices-from-the-classroom-32/#IDComment220631316 Hell no does money equal happiness. Some of the richest people in the world are miserable and commit suicide as a result. I get so sad when I hear about celebrities going to rehab for depression and doing all these things out of depression when thousands of people around the world look up to them and would do anything to be as famous as them. So many celebrities who have all the money they need for the rest of their life are some of the saddest people in the world. They can literally afford anything they could ever want in life and still they are so unhappy. It really shows that money means nothing to a person’s overall happiness and health. There are people who have barely enough money to live on, yet they are so happy just to be alive. When I went to Mexico, so many of the workers I saw were working so hard and were so so happy and grateful just to have an opportunity to work and be alive. These people sometimes are much happier in life than those people who have more money than they know what to do with. It’s a real shame that even with as much money as you could possibly want and need you are still an unhappy person. There are so many people that would do anything to be famous and well-known in the world and when they see celebrities ruin their lives with drugs and try to commit since it doesn’t make sense. Take Lindsay Lohan for example. She has more money than she will ever need and still she can’t stop getting in trouble with the law and even ended up in jail. She has no financial problems so why is she such an unhappy person? Clearly, money does not make a person happy. I get so mad sometimes when I hear that celebrities overdosed on drugs, trying to kill themselves. To the rest of the world, this person has everything they could possibly want; meanwhile they can’t even be satisfied with their life. It just doesn’t make sense to me. These celebrities have so much that everyone else is envious of but they can’t manage to be happy with that. What do they have to be so miserable about? I understand that many celebrities suffer from the intense media that tries to make their live hell but it’s still not a reason to want to end your life. It’s so interesting to think that money really doesn’t make a person happy because people are always complaining about how that if they had more money all their problems would be solved. This is just so untrue because happiness comes from within and no matter how much money a person has it does not determine how happy they are in life. Fri, 11 Nov 2011 23:52:08 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/09/voices-from-the-classroom-32/#IDComment220631316 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/01/voices-from-the-classroom-59/#IDComment217089652 If people were talking in different languages around me I would feel a different way depending on the situation I was in. When I go to nail salons, a lot of times the people working in the salon speak a different language in front of all the customers’ faces. This is a very annoying situation because it makes me feel that they are talking about me and don’t want me to know what they are saying. I understand that the workers may not be very good at English but it is rude to be sitting there getting your nails done and have all the workers talking in a different language in your face when you have no idea what they are saying. If I am out in public at a restaurant or shopping in a store and there are people speaking in a different language there would be no reason for me to get offended or feel uncomfortable because it is their private decision to do that. What gives me the right to be uncomfortable around someone speaking in another language when that might be the only language they know? I speak Hebrew in addition to English and sometimes when I’m out I speak in Hebrew with my friends for fun and it would be weird if other people around us were uncomfortable with that. People are free to do whatever they want in this country and if people want to speak in the language that they feel the most comfortable speaking then let them do that. People get annoyed with the littlest and dumbest stuff that really doesn’t matter and this is an example. It wouldn’t really make sense if someone got really uncomfortable if they were out somewhere and people around them were speaking in a different language. Maybe those people are tourists and are just visiting that place for a few days? Then it would be totally acceptable for them to be speaking in a different language. The only place I can think of that I would be really uncomfortable at if people were speaking in different languages would be at the nail salon because that actually happens to me. I am paying the worker to do my nails and if she is going to sit there in front of me, talking a lot in a different language to the other worker then I have some reason to think they are talking about me or other customers. I wish everyone would let everyone else say and do whatever they want because we each have the right to live our lives depending on how we choose to! Live and let live. I would have no problem if I was in public and people around me were speaking a foreign language because that is their decision. Sat, 5 Nov 2011 01:42:46 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/01/voices-from-the-classroom-59/#IDComment217089652 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/27/voices-from-the-classroom-53/#IDComment213662698 If immigration came to a halt I think a large part of America would also come to a halt. Immigrants are responsible for so much of the efficiency in this country and I don’t think many people realize this. There are so many jobs in America that natural born Americans will not take because they simply don’t think they are good enough for them. After citizen of the United States go through formal schooling and get degrees, minimum wage jobs do not appeal to them anymore. Many minimum wage jobs such as workers at McDonalds or a cashier at a grocery store appeal to immigrants because they are just happy to be able to have the opportunity to work, unlike Americans who consider it to be a right. A lot of times when I go to fast food restaurants the workers are Mexican immigrants because Americans will not take those types of jobs. There are some people who look down upon immigrants and want them out of America but what these people don’t realize is that so many things would not be offered if these immigrants did not live here. All of our small businesses that employ immigrants would go out of business and we don’t realize how much this actually is. I believe that our country would come close to stop running. Think of all the places that have minimum wage workers that just would not be able to run anymore. Also, many companies Many Americans take for granted the fact that they have many opportunities and resources right in front of them when the immigrants didn’t have a lot of opportunities in their own countries. A major result if immigration stopped would be that America would be so much less diverse. Everyone would look more similar and enjoy the same things and America would not be considered a free and equal opportunity country. America right now is known to accept anyone and everyone of all different races. If we prohibited immigration America would lose a very dignified part of our country’s reputation: diversity. All of the subcultures would die out. We, as a country, take pride in our subculture places like china towns and little Italy’s and if we stopped immigration all these places would eventually die out. All of the food, shops, and family businesses in theses areas would not survive if the generations of these foreign people stopped growing. Things like that are what make our country so unique and not only would we suffer economically but just lose what we are made of. I think we should allow immigration, and stop being selfish, and realize how much we would suffer without the hard workers from other countries. Sat, 29 Oct 2011 00:35:37 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/27/voices-from-the-classroom-53/#IDComment213662698 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/20/voices-from-the-classroom-51/#IDComment210749020 If someone hangs out with a group of people that is not primarily their own then they should not be considered a poser. Anyone should be able to hang out with anyone they want and it is ridiculous for someone to just assume for that one person to be trying to be part of that race. If someone were to think that a white person hanging out with a group of black people means that the white person wishes he were black means that it is not socially acceptable for different races to hang out with each other. This type of behavior is racist and should not occur in today’s society. Sometimes the person has no choice because if they go to a school with mostly all white kids then they are forced to hang out with mostly white kids and will usually be around them. I have a black friend who goes to a private school because his parents wanted him to get a private school education; however the majority of the school is white. This means that the majority of his friends are white but this doesn’t make him a poser because it’s not even his choice to go to this private school. This is an example where someone’s environment forms their relationships with others and they don’t really have any control over who they are hanging out with. There are people who also love hanging out with all different kinds of people because they love diversity and want to experience all the different kinds of people in the world. This has nothing to do with the person being a poser and trying to pretend they are a different race than what they actually are. It has to do with someone being very comfortable in his or her race and wanting to explore into other races. I guess there could be some people who do try really hard to be part of something they are not and this person would be considered a poser. If a white person hanging out with all black people all the time and tried dressing like a stereotypical black person then this person would be considered a poser as in he is trying to be a black person and forget about his white race. Also, if a black person and white person both experienced something, especially something tragic, then the two people of different races may begin to connect through that and hang out a lot because of that. There are many different reasons for why people of different races may begin to hangout with each other that in no way would make them be considered a poser. I think it is annoying for any person to think of another person as a poser just because they see him or her hanging out with a group of people from another race. The world should be embracing this diversity instead of forming a negative connotation toward it Sat, 22 Oct 2011 01:24:08 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/20/voices-from-the-classroom-51/#IDComment210749020 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/13/voices-from-the-classroom-45/#IDComment207659859 Honestly, I think this whole matter of race is an issue that is so unimportant compared to all of the troubles and problems in the world today. Nowadays, race is thought of as being the color of one’s skin. If you’re skin is white then you’re automatically assumed to be of the white race, unless you are Asian looking and then people will perceive your race to be Asian. If someone’s skin is black, people’s immediate reaction is that your race is black. The only reason I associate with the white race is because my skin is white and the skin of my whole family is white. My life plays out differently because I am white and because there are people in this world that are so hung up on this race idea that they feel the need to treat white people different than black people. There is no difference between people with black skin and people with white skin because we are all simply human beings. My race doesn’t really have a big effect of or influence on my life because I am open to be friends with anyone of any race and I would never treat someone differently because they were not the same race as I am. It makes me sad that there are some situations when black people are treated worse than white people as we learned in the example from class when the black person and white person were applying for the same job. The study that was done showed that a white person with a criminal record had a better shot at getting the job than a black person with no criminal record. This type of reality makes me think the world is screwed up because why would any one person think they can look down upon a black person just because their race is different than the white race. I feel bad that black people have to endure this type of treatment and attitude from white people because first of all it wasn’t their choice to be black. I was born white because that’s the history of my family and I am only treated differently because of this condition that I had no control over. Black people should be able to go through the same experiences that white people can and enjoy the same opportunities as them because we are all just people! I find that people think white people are more privileged than black people and that is just wrong. Why cant people look beyond the fact of someone’s skin color as a way to identify them? I wish the world would treat everyone, no matter what skin color they have in the exact same way because we are supposed to be subjected to the same attitudes. Sat, 15 Oct 2011 01:42:01 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/13/voices-from-the-classroom-45/#IDComment207659859 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/06/voices-from-the-classroom-36/#IDComment204617995 It is expected in today’s society that women want to be noticed and paid attention to. Women are always trying to stand out and make themselves be seen by other women and also by men. A very popular way in which women attempt to do this is by wearing provocative and inappropriate clothing that will make men do a double take of their body. Most of the time that this type of clothing is worn is when women go out at night and want to look their best when they know they will be around a lot of guys and other girls that night. The type of behavior and treatment that women receive from men as a result of wearing such clothing pretty much makes sense though. A lot of girls will complain if they are wearing a dress that barely covers them as well as five-inch heels and a guy whistles at them from across the street or says something inappropriate and immature. Is it fair though for girls to go out in public wearing outfits they already know will cause this kind of reaction from boys? It is so true that girls complain about the way boys treat them when they are the ones in fact inspiring the boys to behave that way towards them. If girls expect to be treated in a respectful and mature way then they should not be so willing to wear out inappropriate clothes that barely fit over their body. By girls wearing a tiny mini skirt and a tank top with huge stilettos is asking to be treated in a way they don’t want to be treated. It is very contradictory though because girls are mostly wearing these type of clothes so that boys will take notice of them and want to talk to them; however, if the boys do say something to them and talk to them it is probably in the “wrong” way. A lot of girls don’t realize that if they want to be treated nicer than how they are usually treated by boys then they need to start wearing more conservative outfits that won’t cause the boys to be aggressive and shallow. This problem is both the responsibility of the boys and the girls to fix. In a girl’s perfect world, they would desire to be treated so nicely and with so much respect from boys; however they need to have respect for their own bodies before gaining the respect from the boys. Girls need to take better consideration of what outfit they are going to wear for a night out if they truly care about how boys will treat them and view them. It is likely that a boy will holler at a girl who looks like she has no regard for how she dresses and seems as though she is asking to be looked at. Sat, 8 Oct 2011 02:46:33 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/06/voices-from-the-classroom-36/#IDComment204617995 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/27/voices-from-the-classroom-21/#IDComment201560436 Culturally, women are seen to be weaker and less powerful than men. This could also mean that women seem more innocent because people don’t really view women as harmful and violent. If something bad happened and the suspects were one woman and one man, the man would most likely be thought of as the true suspect because men are more associated with violence and bad things. Since men are viewed as being powerful and more in control of things, it would make sense for the public to perceive men as the guilty ones and women the innocent ones. People in the world wouldn’t be scared to be walking home alone if a girl was the only other person around, but they would be terrified if the only other person around was a man. This is the way of the world. It makes sense to a certain degree but I think this is the problem with our society. Why is it fair that men seem less innocent than women? Why does it make sense that men would be accused of something bad way more likely than a girl would be accused of the same thing? I’m not trying to complain about this since this type of stereotype works out for the best for me since I am girl; however, it is frustrating that men are viewed stronger and more powerful than women. This same type of concept can be applied to races. There are certain races that come off as more innocent than others and that is the issue in our society. Why would a person of one skin color be perceived guiltier than another person with a different skin color? I took a criminology class last year and through research I discovered that racism still exists within the criminal justice system. There are numerous statistics that show that black people are accused more and put to death more than white people are. For some reason, black people are seen to many as less innocent than white people. In many movies, black people are shown as the criminals and the bad guys while the white guys are the innocent bystanders. The problem is that when people see these movies they automatically associate all black people as scary and violent and that is exactly why and how these certain stereotypes form. Many people form judgments about other races based on illegitimate information and made up stuff that is revealed in mass media outlets. Ultimately, the world is racist. People have thoughts and feelings about certain people just because their skin color is different than theirs and that is the only reason they have a negative view of them. Once one person forms a certain opinion of someone and tells it to their friends then the opinion will just grow into a general feeling shared by many people. Sat, 1 Oct 2011 01:54:39 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/27/voices-from-the-classroom-21/#IDComment201560436 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/20/everyone-respond-to-this/#IDComment197805215 Haiti is a country that has been through so many devastating events from natural disasters to better off countries that aren’t making enough effort to reach out and help whoever is in need. Haiti is filled with thousands of destroyed homes, destroyed families, people without jobs, and people starving on the street. Haiti has a lack of opportunities in education and jobs that would keep their economy going strong. My friend recently joined a group called Project Haiti. With this club she will travel to Haiti in a few months to help poor families with every day tasks. She is really excited about this opportunity because she feels so consumed with college and forgets that millions of people are struggling to make it out in the world. When she is in Haiti she will also work on building houses, working at schools, and cleaning up the destruction in the environment. In the video I watched, the woman in Haiti was very interesting and brought up an idea that I haven’t really thought of before. I am very into fashion and the fact that this woman goes out and collects cheap jean materials to turn into bags is such a good idea! It is amazing that by looking at the bag you would never know that the original product was jeans. I would love to know how to make something completely different than what it was in its original state. I always go shopping and never really think about the people behind the scenes who actually spend hours making one piece of clothing. It is incredible that this woman takes the time to go out and figure out where to get the material to make the goods she will later see for a profit to support her and her family. I really enjoy getting a glimpse into a life that is so different than mine and anyone I have ever been around. At college, I very often forget about all the troubles that are going on in the rest of the world. I feel as though I am in a very little bubble here that encapsulates me and makes me forget about everything that goes on outside of this town. My life here is so different than my life at home and when I’m here I forget that I have an entire other life at home and when I’m home I even forget that my whole college life exists. I have traveled to many countries before that have severe poverty going on and it amazes me that this kind of stuff goes on in the world while the other half of the world has no idea. The world is so big and so many things go on that no will know or understand because it is impossible to comprehend. Sat, 24 Sep 2011 03:28:48 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/20/everyone-respond-to-this/#IDComment197805215 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/15/voices-from-the-classroom-11/#IDComment194306662 I will never know the exact reason of why I got into Penn State. However I do believe that I got into Penn State based on a variety of factors. I was evaluated on my SAT scores, my high school grade point average, my activities resume, my community service experiences, and other various aspects of my life that contribute to being accepted into a major University. To some, race and social status may also be considered major components of the acceptance process that colleges undergo while determining who can be accepted and who can’t be accepted. Until listening to the blog question, I have actually never thought about this idea before. The fact that filling out the race box on Penn State’s application that read ‘white’ could have had something to do with me being accepted to this University is a weird idea to think about. If my entire application stayed the same but I filled out ‘black’ or any other race besides ‘white’ for my race, would I still have been accepted? It is scary that I will never know the answer to this question. A main factor in the evaluation process done by the Penn State admissions committee is the applicant’s SAT score and GPA. I have never been a great test taker because I always run out of time on the tests and never get a chance to finish what I need to say. This happened on the SAT’s and gave me a lot of anxiety because I thought my score would definitely affect my chances of getting into the schools I wanted to apply to. It was frustrating because I worked extremely hard in high school and did all of my homework on time and put my maximum effort into everything, which resulted in a great GPA. I was hoping so much that the schools I applied to would take my GPA into as much consideration as they were taking my SAT score. After receiving my acceptance letter into Penn State University, I discovered that my SAT score for sure did not weight a lot on the committee’s decision to allow me to attend this school. I realized that they took into account my whole profile, such as all the activities and clubs I was involved in, my GPA, my essays, and my resume. This meat a lot to me because it proved that Penn State truly cared about the applicant as a whole and did not just depend on one score on one test. The fact that Penn State looked beyond just my SAT score caused me to be more interested in wanting to attend the school. I believe that there was a mixture of factors that went into me being accepted into Penn State, however I don’t believe my race was a major component. Sat, 17 Sep 2011 01:35:33 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/15/voices-from-the-classroom-11/#IDComment194306662 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/08/30/why-your-religion/#IDComment191615230 Religion is a very complex idea. Basically I am Jewish because that is the religion I was born into. I didn’t exactly choose to be Jewish, however I wouldn’t want to be any other religion. I can’t really say anything about other religions because Judaism is all I have really experienced in my life. I went to a Jewish Day School from kindergarten to twelfth grade where I took classes in Hebrew, Rabbinics, and Bible. In these classes, my religion was taught in many different aspects and I was able to understand all the various Judaism ideals. I was never forced to practice Judaism to its full extent; rather my mind was opened to all the possibilities Judaism had to offer me. Just because I was born Jewish didn’t mean I had to practice Judaism and observe the holidays and go to synagogue, but as I grew up surrounded by Jewish friends, parents, and education, I naturally gravitated toward believing in the religion and becoming somewhat observant. I don’t follow any other religions because I don’t know from them. Judaism is rooted so deeply in my family that I could never imagine going against it and exploring into another religion. It’s so interesting that this idea has never even crossed my mind. I have never once thought about resisting Judaism to start researching and practicing another religion. I don’t think that Judaism is superior to any other religion. I believe every person has the right to practice and believe in whatever they choose. Why would there even need to be a superior religion? Who is to say that one is better than another and what would the reasoning be? To many, religion is considered a made up thing but to others religion is a vital component to life and guides them through everything. I think the main idea is that you follow your family’s traditions, customs and ways of practicing the religion. My parents are Jewish because their parents were Jewish and so on. If my parents were born Christian then I would be Christian. There are certain exceptions though when kids start rebelling against their born religion and start up with another religion. I think that once children experience their religion for a few years and see what it is like they should then be able to decide what religion they want to practice. The point of religion is to believe in something and if your parents are forcing you to believe in something you don’t believe then there is no point and then there is a negative view of the religion by the child. The bottom line is that I think religion is great for people who want it as part of their lives but it is not a requirement for someone to practice a religion if they just don’t want to. Fri, 9 Sep 2011 20:22:07 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/08/30/why-your-religion/#IDComment191615230 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/08/26/what-do-you-want-to-know-before-its-all-over/#IDComment188745169 An issue that I hope to learn more about in a class of race and ethnic relations is stereotyping. Why do people have such stereotypes of those they don’t know and have never talked to? Why are we born with a predetermined opinion and view of a person of a different skin color than us? Maybe we aren’t necessarily born with this opinion, rather it develops as a result of growing up in a society surrounded by everyone sharing what is on their mind which leads others to adapt preconceived notions of people. I know I have had thoughts of certain people I didn’t know and I also know that I have probably been someone who others had a certain view of before getting to know me, especially because I am Jewish. I know a lot about what it means to be stereotyped because there are a lot of people in the world who don’t like Jews and aren’t afraid to admit it. They have a certain view of what Jews are like before even talking to one. It’s honestly hard to say why people label other people before getting to know them but it’s just a way of the world that is all too common. I hope to learn in this class some of the deeper reasoning behind the preconceived opinions people place on others and why our brain allows us to have such opinions when there is no legitimate reason for them. I spent my whole schooling at a Jewish Day School and therefore almost all of my friends growing up were Jewish. Coming to a college like Penn State, where there are around 40,000 students of all different skin colors and ethnicities was a major culture shock to me. I did look forward to the diversity I knew I would encounter when stepping foot on such a large campus due to the fact that I was surrounded by Jews my whole life. I was excited for a new environment; an environment that would challenge my comfort zone and open my eyes to a whole new world. The stereotyping I experienced before getting to college was basically in the format of books, teaching me about how Jews were perceived in other parts of the world, especially during the Holocaust. Although I am Jewish on a campus surrounded by thousands of non-Jews and by people who I’m sure don’t have a particularly positive view of Jews, I don’t face evident stereotyping on a daily basis which I am very thankful for as I know there are many parts of the country that express their opinions about Jews more openly. Even though I don’t really experience the stereotypes first hand and in my face, I still know it exists in some people’s minds which makes me upset because who knows why they have the opinions they do. Have they ever gotten to really know a Jew before or are they basing their perception off of random and illegitimate sources. This topic means a lot to me because my ethnicity defines me and I want to truly understand where people’s misguided opinions of others stem from. Thu, 1 Sep 2011 16:22:02 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/08/26/what-do-you-want-to-know-before-its-all-over/#IDComment188745169