Money and the College Process

After the lecture on the college process, I started to think about all of the corruption of the process I witnessed first hand while in high school. I come from a neighborhood that is seen to be affluent, with many successful students and families in my community. With this high regard, the high school I attended, Scarsdale High School, creates a very competitive environment. Students constantly want to perform better than their fellow students, and teachers make it very clear that academics come first, assigning difficult homework and in-depth exams.

The entire obsession with achieving academic success became very apparent junior year, or the year of SAT's. The tutoring process exemplifies the true effect that money has on furthering one's benefits. Some of my friends studied from a textbook they bought on e-bay, some of my friends attended group tutoring sessions, and some of my friends attended a local tutoring business, Advantage, for one-one-one tutoring for $500 an hour. The difference of the tools accessible to one to study all depended on money. Pretty much, the more money one had, the more extensive help one received for the SAT's. I regard this as a major disadvantage for those not able to spend $2,000 a month on tutoring. One can argue that it is unfair that "advantages" are given to students who are able to afford the best tutoring.

This imbalance of opportunities became apparent when people began to get their scores back. Through hearing about people's results, it became apparent that my friends who attended Advantage did significantly better on the SAT's than my friends who had less extensive help. It makes me wonder if changes should be made to the studying process, for affluence should not be the factor depicting who does best on the SAT's.

I believe that changes should and can be made. Non-profit tutoring sessions should be provided to all students who are unable to afford help. There is no reason that just because someone cannot afford private tutoring, that their chances of getting into college should be hindered. If tutoring is provided to everyone, hopefully their will be more incentive for people to access help and raise their chances of doing better on the SAT's, which will then help open their opportunities to apply and attend college.

Legal System Discrimination

In today’s day and age, crime is persistent and its effects can be disastrous and telling. After reading, “No Equal Justice: The Color of Punishment” by David Cole it is evident there are huge racial disparities in the US justice system that no one wants to confront. Looking at the crime statistics divvied up by race, Whites and Blacks commit the vast majority of crimes. For the most part, Whites commit a higher percentage in all crimes, except for in the categories Murder & non-negligent manslaughter and robbery. Yet, even with higher percentages in relatively all criminal categories, the sentencing tells another story, especially related to the war on drugs.

When people are convicted for cocaine charges, there are two different sentences. The one for powdered cocaine is less strict on prison sentencing and 45.2% convicted are White, while 20.7% convicted are Black. On the other hand, the prison sentencing for crack cocaine is much stricter, where the sentence is usually from 5 to 10 years. With 92.6 of convictions are Black and only 4.7% are White. The ironic part is 65% of crack users are White and 90% of violation defendants are black. In other words, the statistics do no match the sentencing and that there is a huge racial disparity. According to the Georgia Surpreme Court, these disparities are not meant to harm the blacks, but in reality they do. To judicial system’s defense, crack is suppose to be a far more potent, more accessible drug to low-income people, and associated with more violence. However, even for cocaine users, black people typically receive a longer sentence then white cocaine users. Overall, by sentencing black far more consistently and for longer periods of time, their future is in jeopardy. They are hurt if they want to get a job as their unemployment rates are the highest of any race. The system must be changed. Blacks should not only receive less jail time then they already do, but whites should receive equal punishment for crimes. It is not fair that on average, black offenders receive up to two more years of jail time over whites. No matter what the system says, the disparities are indeed hurting the black community.

At each successive stage of criminal and juvenile processed suggest blacks are singled out most of the time in drug offenses. A lot of researchers point to the fact that blacks commit more serious crimes and use drugs more frequently as to why blacks are disproportionally the victims of the war on drugs. Looking at the juvenile drug offenses pie chart, Blacks commit 53% of the offenses and whites commit 26% of the drug offenses. At this point, not all crimes are sentenced the same way and this hurts minorities, especially blacks, the most. Since minorities get arrested more on drug charges then nonmonorities. What is really ironic is the fact that 74% of all drug users are white. Nevertheless, blacks constitute 74% of all sentences for drug offenses.

Even though the judicial system states there is no racial discrimination in drug sentences, their evidence is not valid. If anything the evidence contradicts their statement. In my opinion, the legal system is utterly discriminatory toward minorities, especially blacks. It is sad because there does not seem much blacks or anyone else can do until there is irreversible information proving there is racial discrimination in the system. The only step I can think of is to create a system where each race, in proportion to their population in the US, must account for a certain percentage of prison sentences. I do not see any critical changes being made to the legal system in the ear future, but our society should reshape the system to aid minorities.

The Power of Knowledge

Ignorance fuels the fire of racism. After 9/11 Muslim Americans were persecuted and racially profiled. Their lives became more difficult in a country that is supposed to represent freedom. The media has ingrained negative images in the heads of Americans leaving them with nothing but hatred and fear of this religion. In class we watched a documentary about a southern white Christian man who goes to live with a Muslim family in Michigan for a month and leaves with a new perspective. I was very surprised to find out how little Dave knew about the Muslim religion considering it is the second largest religion in the world. Once he got to Michigan he didn’t seem to be very open minded and began to criticize some of their practices. As we learned earlier in the semester cultural pluralism is present in America, which I think it great. It gives everyone a chance to learn from their neighbors and become worldlier, however this is only possible if people remain open minded. During the show Morgan Spurlock asked people on the street what word came to their mind when he said Muslim and I was angered by people’s response. Dave did not even know that Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all come from the same roots.

This documentary reminded me of how fortunate I am to have grown up in such a liberal state as New York. Every freshman in every New York high school has to take global history. One of the largest units of the course is the three main religions and the material goes very in depth. Teachers cannot skip over these lessons because at the end of the sophomore year every student in the state of New York has to take a state test and this material will be on it. Because my class freshman year had members of all three religions our teacher had people do presentations as well so we could learn from first hand experience. Learning that Islam is so similar to my own religion gave me a new perspective. Every religion has extremist. The Muslim extremists are in the public eye more often, but this does not mean that every other Muslim should be persecuted.

In class you asked us if Dave’s experience was beneficial and if everyone should go through an experience like his. Although, it is impossible for everyone to have a similar experience I do believe every state should implement learning about the Islamic religion into their curriculum. The more people know about the religion the more they will be able to understand it and not make snap judgments or criticisms. Knowledge won’t end all persecution of Muslim Americans but hopefully it will loosen some of the tension that has been created post 9/11.

The Elevator

The first few weeks of this semester we talked about race as a social construct and different stereotypes attached to the racial hierarchy. I went to a high school in a very affluent neighborhood where the student population was predominately white. Out of the 800 kids in my high school, we had one black person- who was in fact only half black and it was Bernie Williams Junior, Bernie William’s son. Bernie Williams was the star New York Yankee center fielder. Bernie Williams Jr. was half black and half Puerto Rican. The whole entire faculty was white as well.

I was in history class and we were discussing current day racism and prejudices. To start off the lesson, my teacher asked a question: “If it were 12 am and you were in an elevator alone and 2 black guys walked in would you walk out?” Most of the girls on my class said that they would get out of the elevator, and most boys said they would leave as well except one male student said if they tried to jump him he was stronger and could defend himself. A few minutes later, she asked the same question but said, “If it were 12 am and you were in an elevator alone and 2 white guys walked in would you walk out?” The whole class said they would remain in the elevator. Finally, my 30 year-old white female teacher admitted she agreed with the class majority and would also leave the elevator if two black men walked in oppose to two white men.

These questions, and the attitudes of my classmates emphasize institutional racism and race as a social construct. Most people think blacks are more violent and dangerous than whites. The fact that people admit comfortably that they’d leave the elevator because they were “scared for their safety” or “nervous they’d get hurt,” is an extremely sad state of affairs. The two white men could be just as or more dangerous than the two black men, but just because of pigmentation it automatically makes the darker skinned men more dangerous. These stereotypes that black men are dangerous are learned from different media outlets, or the lack of diversity in my school district. Furthermore, social construction is a major part of these questions as well. It almost seemed “natural” or “obvious” for my classmates to say that they’d feel more threatened by the black men than white men due to skin color.

Lastly, whiteness and white privilege is portrayed in this class situation. Since whites have an invisible privilege that provides them with opportunities other races do not have, they have the upper hand and special advantages. Since the “2 white men” in the elevator have white skin, they automatically are let off the hook and my classmates entering this elevator do not see them as a threat. The two black men are at an extreme disadvantage in this situation.

Overall, that class lesson never really impacted me until taking Sociology 134. I’ve learned that stereotypes are extremely detrimental to different races and that whiteness gives me and my other classmates an unfair advantage and invisible privileges. If I were to go back and answer these questions again, I would leave the elevator if it were two black or two white men because I would feel uncomfortable being a twenty-year old girl in a situation like that. Race and skin color have nothing to do with my comfort level. Race should not be a factor in a simple hypothetical elevator situation, or a real life situation. When safety is compromised it has nothing to do with race but that person as a whole.

Whiteness and Colorism

Two issues of debate we studied in class were the issues of "Whiteness" and "Colorism". Whiteness being, white privilege to the white majority in America, and "Colorism" being the discrimination against darker colored people even within a minority group. These issues have been noted, but even as I learned them, I was not aware of how much these ideas contributed to my daily life.

The other day, a friend of mine told me and some others that he was dating a black girl. Our first initial reaction was shock. The shock was not intended to be hurtful or express dissatisfaction with his choice, but nevertheless the shock was still there. But why would this be? In modern society, discrimination is deemed to be inherently bad, so we did not attribute our shock to be an act of discrimination. But if it wasn't discrimination, than what was it? As i thought more about the issue, I realized it must have been a form of "Whiteness" and white privilege. We automatically assumed that our friend, our white friend, would date someone who was in fact just like that, white. But why? Why did our friend have to explicitly state the fact that she was black? And on top of that, why did we assume his girlfriend would be white? Although all of my friends continually said over and over again how her race was not a problem, and we would all be just as friendly and cordial as we would to anyone else, the fact of the matter is, that point had to be brought up. The point that we would not treat her differently was brought up in conversation, proving that to others this may be a problem and furthermore the idea of discrimination still plays a factor in our everyday lives.

The next issue of "Colorism" and assimilating to "white culture" also played a very large part. My friend than went onto explain, that although she was black, she was "just like us". This again perpetuates the idea of Whiteness, but also brings up the question of, what does "just like us" mean? As he showed us pictures, I realized that her skin was a lighter tone, her hair was done so that it was straight, and she wore clothes resembled that of her white peers in the pictures. As my friends and I saw more and more pictures, comments were made about how she looked "normal". Friends noticed and mentioned her straight her as well as her clothing. Another comment was made about her skin tone not being overly dark. The issue of colorism than came clear to me. My friends were inherently more accepting of her because of the way she was able to blend into American culture.

Before this semester, I probably would have been more inclined to jump into conversation with similar comments and judgements. However, as I have learned more about "colorblindness" and the ongoing discrimination problem in America, I now find this to be a huge topic of interest. This is definitely an issue that is still prevalent today, and one that needs to be worked on to enhance equalities. Maybe if more people become aware and realize that problems are still existing, they will be more inclined to stop the problem. It is instilled in us that discrimination is cruel, so by pointing this out and making people open their ideas to the fact that is still in fact going on, like it did for me, maybe the problem can be helped.

Anti-Semitism

The other day in a chapter meeting for my sorority, two guest speakers came to talk about an appalling issue. Bradley Smith had written an article to the Badger Herald in which he speaks about denial of the Holocaust. He argues that the killing of 6 million Jews NEVER even happened. He posts a link to his denial website, in which he is only provoking anti-semitism.

Jason Smathers then writes an article explaining why he will not take the article down from the Badger Herald. He claims that although the piece promotes anti-semitism, it does not rise to the level of threats and so it cannot be rejected. Smathers claims that to remove to article would only suggest that the individuals reading the piece lack intellectual integrity to see the piece as untruthful.

This issue really caught my attention because I think changes need to be made to the Badger Herald. This article has NO right being posted for others to view. The article can potentially gain support and followers, promoting a horrible misconception. I believe that articles must be filtered even stronger before being posted online. This article disgusts me, and it ties back to many lectures and readings from class. This article raises the issue that division of minorities is prevelent and difficult to monitor. Every group of people have their opinions about other groups, due to feelings of inferiority or superiority. Some people find that they have the right to distinguish between different group, whether by minorities, race, or religion. The fact that Brown felt comfortable enough to post his article means he truly believes in what he has written. His misguiding opinion should not be publicly known nor provoked, and this article must be taken down.

The only benefit that I can see about this article is that it has brought the Jewish community together at the University of Wisconsin. The girls who came to my sorority meeting have planned a rally. This week, a rally will be help to stand up for the Jewish community and commemorate the difficult times Jews went through during the holocaust.

Stereotypes

Earlier in the semester we learned that race is not biological, but in reality race is socially constructed. In other words, as the United States population goes through a socialization process; the migrant groups that come to our country have to assimilate to the dominant groups by learning the language, values, and customs. Throughout history, US society has been ruled by racialized social systems, in which racial hierarchy plays a crucial part in the different aspects of society such as economic, political, social, and ideological levels. Ever since African Americans came to the states, they have been subordinated because they were seen as inferior and undomesticated. Thus, leading to slavery and discrimination against a whole race. Still to this day, black are discriminated against in various circumstances; for instance, in the workplace they either never get the chance for high-standing position or they are hired for jobs white Americans do no want to take. In my opinion, the reason people are prejudice and discriminatory toward races in general is because of stereotypes.

By definition, a stereotype is a exaggerated and prejudicial view on a group based on ignorance. One simple example of a racial stereotype is saying all Asians are good at math. The problem is that stereotypes are formed through socialization, with many perspectives coming for the mass media. Therefore, the media has the power to influence social relationships and create an illusion of actual reality. After repeated viewings of references of stereotypes, individuals will begin to exert what they learn from the media into reality with preconceptions. In most cases, individuals will perceive a stereotype in a negative point of view and mass mediums are to blame. One key aspect about stereotyping is that advertisers emphasize easily recognizable features toward consumers to instill perceptions in their memory. In terms of race, minorities are always looked down upon compared to white Americans in the United States media. The frequency and presence of racial stereotypes and ethnic misrepresentations in modern media leads to negative impacts on the images of people, place, religions, and actions of the world. For instance, Native Americans are always portrayed as ignorant savages wearing similar long cloaks. So whenever Native American or Indian comes to mind, personally I think of the conventional view of them portrayed in the media. It is not a good perception whatsoever, but it is was has been instilled in my mind by means of the media.

The media is a powerful engine. It shapes attitudes, behaviors, and communication patterns of its audience through various mediums. The fact is people have to recognize all the different stereotypes portrayed in society, but not jump to assumptions and conclude that all stereotypes are accurate. It is hard though because society is socialized to a certain ideal, the only way to really fight racism and stereotypes is though oppositional culture. But even then, that will only a small portion of society that concurs, so really the key is to infuse in schools that racism is wrong and a detriment to society.