Who am i? part 2

So i just reread my very first blog and I still think it sums up a big part of what makes me me but after studying groups and other aspects of life that form people, I now know why. Groups are a huge part of everyones lives. As we discussed way back in the beginning of the semester, we all belong to countless subgroups we are barely aware of. Some groups have more of an influence on us than others, but nevertheless they all have some pull on shaping us. I could have told you pre sal's class what groups the groups that have most pull on me. Now, I realize my family, friends, and cheer squad are not solely shaping the person I have become. Small things I am apart of voluntarily or involuntarily pull just as much weight. Things from FMP to just being a junior in high school actually shape me.

Theres also the stereotype aspect of the groups I am apart of that have a part of who I am or who I seem to be. I come from a long line of die hard Catholics. From a stereotypical point of view, I should be a very conservative and religious person. However, I'm not the type that is engrossed in religion as my grandparents are. They learned from their parents to first and foremost abide by the bible. I am just not as into it as they are. It's small stereotypes like that we have learned to think that lead to untrue and unnecessicary generalizations.

Through the course of this class I've grown to think less in terms of groups and stereotypes. I see how ridiculous they can be and no longer want to be so closed minded to other people. Volunteering at Amandola School in the city helped to fuel my new way of thinking. Before going to the school, I'll admit I was a little weary of the location we were going into. I had visions of seeing groups of people in ally ways wailing on others like they do in the movies. Of course, I was completely wrong and we pulled up to the school with no signs of a beating taking place in sight. I know there is no way I will be able to let go of everything I have grown to learn, but I hope day by day I can watch myself and be more open to who a person really is not just based on the groups they are associated with.

Crash

We watched one of the most moving movies this week. It showed racism from all different view points. I think the most common character in our society today would be the cop that tried so hard to hide all racist feelings he might have that they blew up. He was not racist like his ex partner, however, he had the racial tendencies that are learned by everyone as kids. I think its true we all have these. Not only has it been displayed in movies we have watched this year in Crash and A Bronyx Tale, but also in the experiment we talked about. I feel right now everyone tries so hard not to be racist that they direct what they've learned into unobvious ways. For example, racist jokes. Racist jokes are very popular with kids and many kids think they're funny, but why? They are all based on the generalizations of specific races. Through these jokes, people can express racism without being called racist. Because of how often and early racist tendancies are exposed to kids, I don't know how racism can ever be totally abolished.

battle of the races

Is race real or just a figure of our social construction? We discussed this question this week in class and I have to admit I had never considered the fact that race is not any different than ethnicity. The fact is, blood is the same no matter what "race" you are. The thing that impacted me the most this week was watching the experiment the high school students conducted with two different skin colored dolls. The majority of the kids (who were all black) chose the white skin colored doll as the "nicer" doll. It was heart breaking to see the little girl look from the white to the black doll and realize she looked more like the not nice doll. I had never known small kids were indirectly taught to think that way.

I think race takes on a whole different meaning at Stevenson. No one really categorizes different races as being nicer. I feel people from different backgrounds really embrace their ethnicity and don't pay attention to racial differences.

Secret Life of Poverty

This week, we read about a woman who tried to live like those in poverty. She set out for a minimum wage job and attempted to live off of the small salary. In her quest, she lived in a poor apartment building and a trailor park. She worked as a waitress at two different restaurants and as a maid in a hotel. The most significant thing about her trip, i think, was how her trip ended. She was working at the restaurant. It was one of the hardest days she endured because of the disrespect she was recieving from the customers and her boss. She simply walked out of the restaurant and decided she was finished with her experiment. I thought this was significant because she had the oppertunity to walk away from the outrageous treatment. Those who really could not live without the job would never have the ability to walk away from money. I also think that people in higher classes expect and demand a certain level of respect. Those in poverty are treated like crap by the people around them on a daily basis but cannot do anything about it because they would be out of a job. I think the higher the class is, the more respect they demand.

Class

Watching the movie on social class in America this week and taking the ACT got me thinking of how class based the ACT can be. From upper middle class people at Stevenson to lower class in the city, the ACT can be totally unfair. Many people, including myself, at Stevenson get tutored. I knew even before I took my first ACT that I would be tutored. I had discussed it with my parents and we decided whatever score I got without tutoring, I could concievably get better with the tutoring. So a couple months and 90$ per hour later, I retook the ACT. Yes, I recieved a much better score, but what about those who can't afford the tutoring, books, and online practices? They get stuck with whatever score they get. Although colleges do accept those with lower ACTs from inner city schools more often than they would accept someone at Stevenson with the same score, does it even the balance out? People in higher classes pay to get better scores so they can get into the better colleges, but people in lower classes are accepted at lower standards. My parents frequently have these conversations and I have gotten into them with my teachers, but i'm still not certain what my take is on it.

behind bars

Prison is a really bad place, obviously. Since I was younger I was always told how bad prison was but I had never known what it actually was like until we watched 30 days in class this week. Basically, I still would never want to be there. I was most surprised with how much the prison could actually affect your emotional well being. Living in small quarters like that can be very traumatizing. I can understand how the prisoners repeatedly say that they are never going to come back to the place again. Its surprising that very many of them do. We discussed in class that its because of the environment they live in outside of prison. The rougher neighborhoods they live in give them nothing to look forward to in the future. The people who are born in these neighborhoods typically live in them for the rest of their lives. I know that by making prisons more like the correctional facilities they are supposed to be it can help save people from repeatedly being filtered into and out of the prison system, but there is also the matter that people have to be willing to make the change work. They may say they are willing to do the program but they also have to stick with it when no one is watching them. I'm for the whole more humane prisons because prisoners with such low offenses don't deserve the torture treatment, but how do we be sure the more hands on prisons produce results outside of the cells?

The Devience in all of us

After discussing devience this week in class, I took what we learned to the most sacred place on Earth: church. For being the place where devience is most discouraged, a lot of things that would be frowned upon go down. Instead sitting and listening to mass or simply being "good christians", I saw countless people texting. Even a few peoples phones went off during the sermon. I shouldn't be one to talk because I too would have been texting if my parents were not next to me ready to snatch my phone away the second they saw my fingers reach for it, but these people who are trying to portray themselves and their families as very religious were totally proving what the article we read in class was explaining. They, like the Saints in the article, were playing the system. They established their reputation with society by attending church, but then did things that society would have frowned upon if they had seen it.

Things like texting in church are no big deal compared to the devient things that many others are most likely doing so secreatively that no one will ever know. I believe society will never change in the sense that we will always have the good and the bad. The good may be forgiven for their devience and the bad may never. It's the way its been working for hundreds of years.