Race

This week in class, we have been talking about race and the privileges that some races have. White people have it good for the most part. They have the most privileges out of all the races. They don't get discriminated against, they are accepted by most, and can do what they want and not get in trouble if something goes wrong. I believe this is because we live in a predominantly white society where being white is what is acceptable and if your not white, you are looked down on.
In class, we started watching the movie, Crash which depicts multiple people of different races and it shows their lives. It was difficult to watch some parts because of the things that occurred to "non-white people." There was one particular scene where an African American couple were pulled over and the female ended up getting sexually harassed by one of the cops. The couple could not do anything about it because the cops threatened the husband with arrest and he could not get arrested. Although this is just a movie, i think things like this do actually happen in real life. I think that some americans are not very accepting of other races and this causes problems.
Although I've never dealt with any issues due to my race, i think people are abused due to their race. Nobody chooses their race so why should people get harassed for it?

Why desire for economic security is not being met - She was diagnosed with cancer and can not afford health insurance or the treatments for her cancer.

More fair situation - Health insurance is affordable for all, including people with cancer and covers cancer treatment.

Relates to social class - This person probably thought that health insurance covered cancer treatment but then realized they were going to have to pay for the treatments out of their pockets. 

Chose this image - It was frustrating knowing that health insurance companies will not cover cancer treatments. People don't choose to get cancer.

Why desire for economic security is not being met - This man is very qualified but can not find any jobs. He has no money and has many medical conditions.

More fair situation - Easy access to jobs for all, health insurance that covers everything and a world where an education/resume means something.

Relates to social class - This person thought that having a good education and a good resume will help you find a job but he is now realizing that it doesn't matter how qualified you are, there are no jobs

Chose this image - I chose this image because I feel bad that the man can't find a job and therefore can't afford his meds. his daughter is also suffering because her dad cant afford her medications.

Why desire for economic security is not being met - This woman's father could not afford health insurance, he had a heart attack and could not receive any treatments and soon died.

More fair situation - People who have prior medical issues should still be able to afford health insurance

Relates to social class - This person expected that their health insurance would cover any major medical bills but once something happens people can no longer afford their insurance.

Chose this image -  I chose this image because of the high cost of health insurance, somebody might have died because they could not afford the proper health insurance that would pay for the treatment needed.

Education

This week in class, we talked about social class and how depending on your specific class, you have certain opportunities that others might have. Social class is primarily based on your income. The more money you make the higher the class you are in. One characteristic of class that i think manifest itself is education.
Depending on your social class, you have a better opportunity to receive a better education. There are certain schools which are located in predominantly higher class areas that in my opinion "give" a better education to their students than say a low income area. The reason i think this is because if you do live in a high/middle class area, your school receives more money than say a low income, inner city school. If your school receives lots of money, they can afford to hire more qualified personal and also provide more resources to their students.
This idea of schools receiving more money depending on where you live is not the same for the idea of financial aid. People who live in low income areas will receive more money in financial aid in order to be able to afford college. Although that is fair, i don't think your income (social class) should be the only way of determining financial aid because although the people in the middle class make more money that those in the lower class, they also probably have more bills and things to pay off. When it comes time for college and they don't get as much financial aid because they make too much money, they end up struggling to pay for it.
Fortunately, i live in a middle/high class neighborhood and my school provides an excellent education. My school has two learning centers fully equipped with teachers who specialize in one subject, computers, and extra books. There are many schools out there that can't even afford books in good condition but mine can afford hundres of Ipads. I don't think people take advantage of the many resources their schools provide and i think it is a shame.

Gender

These past two weeks in class, we have talked about gender and how media portrays each gender. Gender is defined as how you define yourself between your ears. To help us understand this, we watched a video called Killing Us Softly. It is about a lady named Jean who talks about how the media (advertisements) mainly portrays woman as sex objects and not as people where as men are always portrayed as these big, strong, tough men.
In my opinion, i believe Jean is wrong and that she takes things out of line. First off, people need to understand that advertisements main objective is to sell their product and that basically everything in them is digitally enhanced or unattainable. Jean says that ads that contain stick thin women are forcing girls to try and look like the ones they see in the ads. I believe it s the girls responsibility to know that the girls they see in the ads are not really that thin in real life and it really to just get peoples attention. Another thing that i disagree with that Jean said was that the government needs to start enforcing rules and regulations against what can be put in ads. If the government were to enforce certain laws, that would cause in my opinion serious controversy. First off, it violates the companies freedom of speech and expression. Also by regulating ads, it will cause a huge problem because then companies will not be able to sell their products efficently and therefore ruin our economy.

The past week, we took a "field trip" in school to listen to a few panelist who were either gay, lesbian, or tans gender. We listened to each one as they each shared their stories about growing up and realizing their sexuality. While listening, it was very sad to hear about all of the panelists stories and how some of their parents weren't accepting. It also really hit when i found out that 3/5 of the panelists had tried to commit suicide.
I think it it really hard for somebody who is not gay or lesbian to really understand what people who are gay or lesbian go through. I know in my life, i use derogatory terms like gay and fag when talking to friends, but when i say it, i'm using it in a kidding way. After listening to the panelist stories and hearing how much it hurts them when they hear the words, i am going to make a effort to not use the terms at all because they are really hurtful to some people.

Agents of Socialization

This week in class, we discussed socialization and the agents of socialization. Socialization is the process of learning and internalizing the values, beliefs, and norms of our social group, by which we become functioning members of society.  We get "socialized" by agents of socialization. Agents of socialization can be parents, peers, neighborhood, media; really, they can be anything that forms us into the people we become.
In class, we watched an episode of Freaks and Geeks. In the episode, Lindsay and Sam's parents were going out of town. Lindsay's friends had convinced her to have a party in which there would be alcohol at. In this case, her friends were an agent of socialization. They were forming Lindsay into a person that has parties with alcohol. By doing this, she would be seen as cool. Sam on the other hand did not want Lindsay to have alcohol at the party. He pressured his friend to use his Bar Mitzvah money in order to buy a keg of non-alcholic beer. Sam in this case was an agent of socialization for his friend. He told him by doing this, he could come to Lindsay's party.
This week also happened to be Halloween. Halloween is a time for people to dress up and look funny, dumb, sexy, etc. The way people decide to dress up is based on agents of socialization. One agent of socialization that influences peoples costumes is media. Media is a huge agent of socialization on halloween because people usually dress up as whatever is hot in the world or in the media. I remember going to the halloween store with a couple of friends and looking at masks. They had a hole section dedicated to political officials. This was in my opinion because of the upcoming election and the amount of media coverage of it. Another agent of socialization on halloween are peers. Your peers ultimately help you decide what you are going to be for halloween. You can go anywhere in the world for halloween and see a group of people dressed as the same thing. This is because they all agreed to wear the same thing based on their interest and because they are friends. This year i didn't dress up because my friends decided not to dress up. My friends were an agent of socialization for me. They influenced my choice not to dress up.

Parenting

This week in class, we discussed the nature vs nurture debate. This debate is basically on whether we behave based on our genetics or do we behave from what we have learned through social interaction. We also read an article based on parenting and how we basically "baby" our children in todays society.
We were given four questions to ask one of our parent this week for our blog. I interviewed my mom.
Question #1: What did you want/expect for me before I was born?
My mom actually wanted me to be a girl because they had just had my older brother so they wanted a girl. She wanted me to have brown curly hair and grow up to be a doctor.
Question #2: What about me reminds you of yourself?
She said so much reminded me of her. I am a hard worker like her, i'm good at math like she is, I am meticulous and pay attention to detail like her, I'm a neat freak, and i like nice things like she does. I am also kind and helpful to other people.
Question #3: What is unique about me?
She said that I never give up and how I never let hard times interfere with my life. Also that I am the hardest working person that she knows.
Question #4: Did you and dad discuss discipline with each other? Has that part of parenting been difficult?
My parents did not discuss discipline. They did not have really have any issues with me. My pediatrician told them that they should expect good behavior right from when I was young and they never really had to discipline me. This part of parenting is difficult for my parents because they have a difficult time following through with their "threats."

I Need More Time!

This week in class, we really focused on American culture and the things we value as Americans. We read an article by Robert Kohls in which he described 13 American values. After reading them and discussing them, I realized that in my opinion, almost all of the values in one way or another were connected through time. As Americans, we value our time and other peoples time. The major value that has to do with time I think is efficiency. As Americans we want to be as efficient as possible because we like to succeed and be the best person that we can be.
There are some values that may be hard to connect with time. One of those might be that as Americans, we are materialistic. We like to have many things yes, but by having these materials, it shows ourselves and others that we have worked hard for a period of time and our materials show our success.
Time plays a major role in my life. Everyday, I stick to a schedule. I get up, go to school, go home, babysit, eat dinner, watch TV, and then go to sleep. These things seem routine to Americans but there are places in the world where you do what you want when you want. Every American wants to use the their time as effectively as possible. We set deadlines in order for ourselves to stick to the schedule. Something that I realized that I do everyday is set my alarm on my phone. Although this is such a small task, it sets up my entire day. By waking up at the time i need to, it allows me to stay on schedule. If my alarms doesn't go off or I forget to set it, my hole schedule has been thrown off.
According to Kohl, Americans embrace change but I believe with the thought of time in mind that we don't like change. Change can cause in a loss of time. A loss of time is inefficient and since Americans always want to be the most efficient, Americans don't like change.