First blog entry:
I love sports and anything to do with fitness. I'm all about health from the inside out; acupuncture, healthy food, and all that. I love cars and have grown up going to Porsche races... the sound of those engines is just about my favorite thing. I'm really nervous about applying to college but at the same time it's way exciting. My family and I are really close and they are a really big influence on me. My goal is to be a psychologist, I want to help people! =)

In my old blog I would not change anything about my answers. Although,some of the answers I gave have new meaning to me. I said in my first blog that I wanted to help people, this still remains a dream of mine but in a different way. I intend to be a clinical psychologist focusing on teenagers but with what I learned in this class it is so much more multifaceted. What we learned in class I had never even contemplated before all the influences pulling at people (teenagers, in particular) at all times; the effect of media, gender, & social class. This class has greatly expanded my thinking and I will definitely carry my sociological thinking and perspective forward to help me. Additionally, for me because of both my family and the culture of the social class/area in which we live college wasn't a choice it was just the next step...when Devon (the teacher from an impoverished area) came into our classroom it was a very intresting and stunning insight that many people don't attend college and some don't even finish high school. This class has definitely expanded my perspectives, understanding, and views.

It is a commonly held belief that there is slight validity to all stereotypes, this is false. All stereotypes are incorrect because they are broad sweeping generalizations that can not possibly encompass even a majority of a certain group of people. For example, it seems to be a common stereotype that women are worse drivers than men. Not true! First of all what is a good driver someone who drives fast, someone who drives slow, someone who drives safe? For arguements sake, we'll say a bad driver depends on accidents and how bad the accident is...Men are more than twice as likely to die in a car crash than women, studies have shown as many as 73 percent of all people killed in car accidents are male. Some of the stereotypes in the movie Crash are, asians are bad drivers, black people are criminals, black people are poor and needed a helping hand up if they do have money, cops are pigs, mexicans are in gangs, all middle eastern people are arabs and terrorists, & that being white is generally better. Sandra Bullock's character in the movie held many stereotypes ...she seemed to hold the belief that all black people are criminals & mexicans are in gangs. In the movie Terrence Howard's character is black and even he seems to hold the belief that being white is better and his wife accuses him of trying to hide that he's black or act white...even when Ludacris tries to carjack the navigator he is stunned to find a black man in the driver's seat which supports the stereotype that black people are poor. None of these stereotypes were true because no stereotypes are valid you cannot take a huge group of people and generalize in any manner with any validity at all. I think I most definately stereotype all the time unconsciously or otherwise and I would find it hard to believe that I haven't been stereotyped before. Stevenson students are stereotyped all the time as "rich kids" but in reality there is a significant population at Stevenson that does not have any money at all. The fight against stereotypes and racism will have to be a gradual battle and the best strategy is knowledge...racism is really just deep seeded ignorance!

Automatic Racism

In class we did an activity in which someone did a computer activity to show there automatic reactions and distinctions that are made between "blacks and whites".It was crazy to see that automatically there was an unconscious preference of "whites," to "blacks". As we read further we learned that this preference even consists amongst "blacks." A study at the University of Washington furthered the evidence to this....it is possible to be racist without knowing it! Americans stereotypes and prejudices operate unconsciously! This seems as though it happens because of the culture we grow up in....how can we be completely unprejudiced, assuming we cannot just change American culture and views overnight?

Race

The concept that your race changes as you fly to another country is so strange! In America our veiws of race are so integrated into how we think it is almost incomprehesible to view it from others perspectives. For example the fact that in Brazil there are over a dozen racial categories based upon the shade of skin...although they're more individualized in there categories and it is not as clear cut as black and white it's still not acceptable. So....what is accpetable? Why would we possibley need to categorize race as we do? If there is no need to categorize, how do we stop?

Breaking down stereotypes and class divisions, is it possible?

Though most American's seem to take pride in the equality they feel the United States of America exhibits but, in reality our inequality has just shifted from being racially focused to now financially focused. I think that class stereotypes and prejudices are still acceptable in America today because it is a way in which people can feel more powerful and better than others. Any of the various terms to describe either poverty, climb to wealth, wealth) have negative connotations (ie: ghetto, white trash, social climber, yuppie, etc.). If racial slurs are not acceptable why are social slurs ok? Is it because social class is more gray than black or white- social class is more perception based than race?

Social Class in America

It's interesting how evident social class is...if you ask a student which towns that feed into our school have the most money, they could probably tell you pretty easily. Especially freshman year you will hear many students attempting to guess what Jr. High other students came from. Scarily enough, their guesses are usually accurate. So, what are they judging on? Material things and mannerisms! These things are even similar town to town! Certain towns kids will wear the designer clothes others won't, certain kids will be talking about their extravagant vacations others will not, this is just within our little area what is the effect on a larger scale? Location effects everything!! Mostly your location effects your education which effects where you will go in life. If you go to a well off High School or a poverty stricken one it makes a great difference. On this website America's Top High Schools are ranked....there are not many High Schools in poor areas and the financial status is factored in! The people who go to a good High School are more likely to go to a good college and therefore get the better paying job. The J-Curve in which most of the wealth is held by a very small portion of the population makes complete sense when you look at all the factors that seem like they will glue you to the class you were born into.

Jail Priorities

"A graver offense in Illinois to possess a minute amount of cocaine or heroin than to beat a wife, girlfriend, or a sister,"(Courtroom 302, 15) The priorities of the justice system are completely out of place! When in Illinois 26% of the prison population's most serious crime was a drug offense, there is definitely a problem. Even those who work in the justice system acknowledge that, "it's just jobs for people. We're pushing papers around." (Courtroom 310, 16) Especially with our struggling economy the government funds could be much better used in many places! Although, the only government official seeming yo care about doing anything about this problem is Governor Schwarzenegger...the people need to push changes in this area for anything to happen, but how?