New Haven, CT (Fireman controversy)

In New Haven CT there was an opening for a job as a Lieutenant in the Fire Dept. This job was very prestigeous and would be a huge pay raise. 72 people applied for the job and part of the qualification was that they had to pass a test that said they were good enough to lead a Fire Dept. Only 7 of the 72 people passed the test and they were all white. The city of New Haven decided that the test must of been unfair because only white people passed and no minorities did. They decided not to give the job to one of the white men that passed the test. I understand affirmative action but socially, is this a good lesson? Should minoritites be given better oppurtunities only because they aren't white? Shouldnt the best the person for the job get the job, no matter there race? This is the social part of affirmative action that i dont get because we talk about how race shouldnt matter and we shouldnt make judgements about people based off of race, and we shouldnt give advantages to people because of race, but isnt that exactly what affirmative action is? I understand the benefits and the need for affirmatve action, but when is it to far?

Social Class

Have you ever wondered how social classes started? I mean did cavemen just decide one day that they were better than the other hairy half naked man sitting next to them. To me one of the drawbacks to America or any country for that matter is the big gap between social classes. It seems that about 1 percent of the population in the US makes more than half of the money. That doesnt quite seem right when there are millions of people in our country that are in poverty. Think about it, some people have 3 0r 4 different houses, and some people dont even have a house. Why do those people need that much more than everyone else. Not only do they make more money and have more wealth but they honestly think that they are better than everyone else. The rich truly believe that they are better people, better looking, and better acting just because they were born rich. This is pretty ridiculous because most of them were just born into money and never really did anything for themselves. They have been going to pre schools that cost more than most peoples college education. The gap between rich and poor is so to big, but the gap between the social classes are even bigger. It makes no sense to me why people who are wealthy believe that they should be seperated from everyone else and believe they are better than everyone else when they have no clue how the other social classes live.

Crash

Crash was one of the few movies that I have seen that has changed the way I have actually thought about life. Most movies are for entertainment, but this is one of the first movies that I have seen in a while that has actually changed the way I have thought about stuff. I dont think the movie was necesarrily about how we are all racist and that it needs to change. To me it was really about how there are two kinds of people. People who are openly racist and know that they are racist and people who dont want to be racist but because of how they have been brought up in their social surroundings they have racial tendencies. This is called implicitly racist. These are the people who say they arent racist but in certain situations they will do things that are racist because of their fear or the way they have been brought up. I believe the movie was trying to show us that we all have that inside of us. We dont all want to be racist but we have to understnad that we are bias sometimes and have to acknowledge that so we dont make the wrong choices or bad mistakes.

Implicit Racism

The last couple of days of class we have been talking about how we are implicitly racist to many groups of people without a reason and maybe by accident. Everyone does it and it doesnt mean that you are racist it just means you have been brought up in your society as thinking another group of people is worse or bad. Implicit racism is everyone, whether its police officers being more suspicious of a black teenager than a white teenager, or airports checking every person who looks muslim for bombs. In a recent article i read in The Week, there was a story about a muslim girl who is a track star at Cornell University. She told her story about how everyone at the school thinks she's foregin, has a passport, and must be from the middle east or something. However it is quite the opposite. Her family has lived in the U.S. for three generations and they are as big a patriot-americans as anyone in the country. However since she is muslim and practices muslim tradition she is thought as foreign and even many people think she is against americans. This implicit diffierientation has been the hardest for muslims since 9/11. Muslims who have been in the U.S. and maybe have even loss close relatives to the attacks are being prejudiced against and are almost secluded from the rest of our society. This needs to stop because these people are just as much american as anyone in the country.

A world of difference

This past week at school we had a two day event called A World of Difference. This is an event that brings freshmen together with their FMP's(Freshman Mentors), who are juniors and seniors, and have them talk about racisms and prejudice in the world that needs to be changed. For some this two day event is a chance to get away from school and for others its a chance to talk about things that may not always be comfortable but are definitely important to talk about. I really enjoyed hearing the opinions of differently people and then seeing how their views matched up with mine. Even though this country isnt as racist as many other countries, I still think there is work to be done. We still arent in a world where race or religion doesnt matter. Work still needs to be done to get past the racist barriers that are still here. I understand it is impossible to make everyone believe and get past the color of someones skin. However, giving a reminder that prejudice is still here I think really helps make people concious of how they act and how they treat each other. More needs to be done to stop racism, we need to get to a point where color and religion doesnt matter, and I believe that talking about these things and situations that we have seen helps bring awareness and helps make it better. I truly believe that these types of things will make a difference and there needs to be more of them.

Culture

Media has a bigger impact on our culture than anything else. There are like ten different shows just to show people what styles are in, and what is popular to do. It really seems that nobody has any ideas for themselves. We always have to look to the pop culture group to figure out things for us to do and wear. It is kind of annoying to think that we want other people telling us what to wear and what to think. People are always talking about that they want originality, but really they just want something that everyone else likes. Nothing is original anymore and that needs to change. We need to stop being so wrapped up in the media culture and try to think differently. We cant always do whats popular and think of things with an open mind. We need to change our ways before we turn into robots.

Group Socialization

As a high school student it is very easy to see how group socialization can have extreme effects. In high school kids go through stages where they try to be like the people around them. You can see it at Stevenson, all the girls seem to be exactly the same. They all dress the same, they all act the same, and they all try to like the same things. It really doesn't seem like there's much variation between the girls you see in school. Girls wear the same shoes, same shirts, and they all like the same things. It really does get old after a while and really do want something new. High school is definitely a time where people fall into categories. You're either in the jocks, cheerleaders, stoners, or geeks. It is like this everywhere you look and I really dont think there's a way around it, its just how it is. Everybody wants to have a place and wants to be like so they will do whatever it takes to be liked by a group, even if that means dressing just like them.