Inequalities are never going to go away. They are a part of life. I wish that life and opportunities could be equal and fair for everyone, but that is impossible because everyone wants different things. I also think that everyone has been a victim of nepotism. Nepotism benefits you. And the majority of people put themselves (and their family) first.

The first time I used nepotism was when I started babysitting. I have only ever babysat for families my family knows. My parents were the ones who got me the jobs, but that doesn’t mean I was not qualified. I have always loved kids and I am really good with them. And with babysitting you have to learn through experience. Today I am still receiving the benefits of nepotism in regards to babysitting. Last summer I was a nanny for a family with twins. My mom and their mom work together so my mom basically got me the job. I still had to interview for it, but she hired me instead of the other girl because she knew my mom. This summer I am a nanny yet again, but it is for a different family. However, the dad of the girls I watch works with my mom too. And the only reason they hired me instead of the other girl is because the dad knew my mom, but I still like to think that I got it because I deserve it. I am highly qualified to be a nanny, but I know the real reason behind being hired.

I plan on using nepotism to benefit me for a really long time. And I think that is the way most people think. If you have the resources, why not use them to your advantage? I am always looking for ways to volunteer in elementary schools around my house because I want to know as many people as possible who can help me get a job when I graduate.

And because my mom has used nepotism to help me, I know that I will for sure use it to help benefit my children. Everyone wants their children to have an even better life than the one they had. And I feel like one way to really improve their life is to use all of your resources.

I think that my favorite part about this lecture was the Oprah video. I have seen it before and it was really eye opening. It is so amazing how different schools can be when they are only an hour away from each other. I have also seen this in person. I went to a very wealthy suburban school district. My school had everything a student could have ever needed or wanted. And then I took a PSU class where I student taught in an urban school. This school looked run down, had very few computers, and no books in the library. It was one of the most depressing things I had ever seen. And the fact that the school was only 45 minutes from my house made it even worse.

I agree with you that inequalities will ever be solved. And I have also used nepotism to get my summer jobs. In fact all of the jobs I have ever gotten had have been a result of nepotism. The first job I got was at a dry cleaners that my neighbor worked at, so she got me the job. And for the past two summers I have been a nanny for a family whose dad works with my mom. I have really benefited from nepotism and when I have kids I will use all of my resources so they have a beneficial life too.

I also agree that this is an interesting topic because many people have an issue with it. And most of the time they have a strong opinion about it. I also didn’t realize why they were coming to the United States. But after listening to this lecture they are coming here for a better life. They want to have the “American Dream”. Most, if not all, of the immigrants are living a better life in the United States than they were in their native country. And I don’t think that immigrants are lazy. In fact, many of them do the hard and strenuous jobs that other American citizens don’t want to do. And these immigrants will do the job for low wages. So they aren’t lazy. They just want to create a better life for their families.

Before this lecture I never thought about the fact that business controls immigration. But the more I thought about it, the more I agreed with Sam’s statement that business controls it. It is a business issue because most immigrants will work for much less money than other US citizens. And many immigrants are just looking for work so they will take jobs that many people Americans don’t want to do. For example, I work at a dry cleaner. I work in the front of the store and work directly with our customers. However, all of the people in our plant cleaning the clothing are Mexicans. The plant is hot. The hours are long. And the pay is very little for the amount of work that is done. There are not too many people who would do all that hard work for such little money. But the Mexicans that work there are just happy to have a job and earn money for their family. Without these workers at the plant, people would not get their dry cleaning back as quickly and they would also have to pay more for it. This ultimately keeps business going because without customers there would be no need for any workers. And without employees there would be no business. So immigrants defiantly help out businesses.

I also think that the reason that such a high number of Latin American and Caribbean immigrant have a less than a high school education is because it is easier for them to get to the United States because of their proximity. It is most likely easier for them to cross the boarder illegally than say someone from Africa. However, it was interesting for me to hear, yet again, that African immigrants have the highest percentage of immigrants with advanced degrees. Immigrants from African need to have an advanced degree or wealth to come to the United States. I personally think that the United States should hold the same standards for everyone to be allowed into the United States. But then again I do not have a lot of knowledge on this subject matter. It’s not that I don’t care, I am just not really interested in this subject.

I also agree with Sam when he says that the industrious people migrate. They have to be hard working and fearless to pick up their lives and migrate. I could never imagine moving to another city yet alone another country. But they do it because they think that coming here will give them a better life than the one they had. And I truly think that in many cases immigrants in the United States are living a better life than the one they had in their native country.

This was another really interesting lecture. I actually thought that it was the most interesting one all semester, maybe because I am interested in multiculturalism and LGBT issues. One thing that I have repeatedly heard is the importance of learning Chinese in the future. I think that eventually China will be the most powerful country, so learning Chinese will be very important. I also think that currently it is a good language to learn because not many people have an interest in learning it and I think that it is needed in some fields. I would assume that Chinese interpreters are needed and they most likely make a decent amount of money. Multiculturalism is also important to me because I am studying to be a teacher and we have learned a lot about teaching multiculturalism. I think that it is important to teach children age appropriate things from around the world. For example, in a kindergarten class I volunteer in, this is done by teaching students about different holidays in the month of December around the world. I think that by teaching acceptance of different cultures at a young age children will be less “racist” and more accepting of other cultures and races.

I also never thought about the recent LGBT movement as being a second Civil Rights movement, but it most defiantly is. I mean why shouldn’t they have the same rights as heterosexual people and couples? I think that young adults are more acceptable of LGBT people because all of us most likely know someone who is LBGT or have a friend who is. One of my best friends is a lesbian and I don’t think of her any differently just because she is a lesbian. She is a person who wants the same things that heterosexual people want. I personally think that the people who are against LGBT relationships and rights are people my parents age and older because they are less likely to know someone who defines themselves as LGBT. I however have a few friends and acquaintances that are gay or lesbian. I believe that you don’t choose to be LGBT. You are born that way. So you should not be given less rights because of it. Lesbians and gays should be able to get married and raise children.

I took a class in the spring semester called Child Adoption (HDFS 497b) with Dr. Crissman-Ishler. We learned that not many states allow gay and lesbian couples to adopt. But that research shows that children raised by same sex couples are just as happy as those raise in heterosexual families. In fact, many times children of same sex parents have more self esteem than children of heterosexual families. And that children of same sex couples are no more likely to grow up to be gay or lesbian than other children.

I also had many teachers in high school telling students to learn Chinese. I think that one day in the near future it will be almost necessary to know how to understand some Chinese. However, I have no desire to learn it. I think that it is an extremely hard language to learn because it is so different from English. But English is also a hard language to learn. What I love about Chinese are all the cool symbols that mean different things. I work at an after school care program and one of the 2nd graders there was learning Chinese because he was adopted from China. I was just amazed at all the little differences between symbols that completely changed the meaning. Chinese is defiantly a language that people will begin to learn more and more.

I also agree that white people do not want to talk about race. I hardly ever talk about race because I am afraid of other people thinking that I am racist. I too only talk about race with my extremely close friends and family. However, I never use the N word, but my brother uses it all the time. He does sensor himself for the most part. But I think that one of these days he is going to slip up and the wrong person will hear it. And I think that when the wrong person hears it they are going to beat him up or get into a huge argument with him. The end will not be pretty. I defiantly think that white people do not like to talk with others about race.

One thing I found interesting to listen to was people’s opinions about Penn State being too white or not white enough. If I were to base my opinion off of my high school diversity I would say that Penn State is white enough because my high school was mostly white with only a few minorities. In my graduating class of about 350, there were about 5 black students, 10 Asians, and 10 Hispanic/Latinos. The rest was white. So when I first came to Penn State I thought that it had a pretty diverse student body. However, my best friend goes to Temple University. The first time I went to visit her I notice how diverse their student body was. She has so many friends who are minorities. They come from all over the country and the world. That is the one thing about Temple that I love and wish Penn State had. She has learned so much about other races and cultures from her diverse groups of friends. So after my visit to Temple and meeting her friends I no longer think that Penn State is diverse. And I think that it is too white and would benefit from a more diverse student body.

I also really liked the video that showed a bunch of little kids choosing which doll they liked better, the black one or the white one. I had heard about his type of research before, but I had never seen a video of the actual interviews with the kids. I was heartbroken when I saw the black children pick the black doll as the “bad” one and the white one as the “good” doll. Children of a minority group learn about “us” vs. “them” at such a young age. Most of the time the black children even chose to play with the white doll. And when the white children are given a choice between playing with a black or white doll, the white one is mainly picked. I can relate to this because as a child I never had a black, or any other race for that matter, doll or Barbie because I was white. So that meant that I played with white dolls and Barbies. What I do remember as a child though was that my minority friends had dolls and Barbies that were minorities and white.

Another thing related to the “Girl Like Me” video was the fact that all of the black girls in the video talked about how people try to make themselves better through cosmetic treatments. Many talked about other girls bleach their skin at a young age to lighten their skin because light skin was more beautiful. They also talked about relaxing their hair because it was prettier. And they thought that their natural hair was not pretty because it was too “African” looking. I personally think that many black women look great with their natural hair styles or relaxed ones. I think that they should do whatever makes them feel more beautiful. But I do think that bleaching their skin is a little excessive.

This was yet another great lecture; it was very informative. I thought that the video about the Red House Furniture store was a little strange. On one hand I thought that it was really funny because people kept referring to themselves as black or white and that they were saying that the store is for all races. On the other hand I thought it was rather sad that someone would make a commercial for a store stating that people of all races could shop there. I mean isn’t that common sense? I guess in different parts of the country it’s not. But I definitely think that where I live people can shop where ever they want regardless of race. I also however do think that certain stores are geared toward people of certain races. For example, there aren’t many white women who get their hair done at a salon designed for black women because their hair types are so different.

I use a washcloth :) And I thought that the comment about white people not using one was really interesting to hear, especially when Sam polled the class about weather or not they use one. I just figured that everyone used one, but clearly that’s not true. And what I found even more interesting to hear was the comment that white people don’t use a wash cloth because they are “clean” and black and brown people use one because they are “dirty”.

I have also tried to describe someone without using their race as part of the description. And it would have been a lot easier to get my point across if I just said their race. I notice that I have never had a problem describing someone as white, but I know that in the past I have avoided saying that black or Asian person, for example. But I have not done this recently because I know that if you are trying to describe someone, race is okay to disclose. I have also had other people try to describe someone to me. Where I work there is an older black woman that is a manager. And customers always come in looking for her, but they don’t know her name. So they try to describe her in every way possible that doesn’t imply that she is a black woman. Yet if they would have just said that they need to speak with the older black lady they would have wasted less time because there is only one person with that description where I work. People always try to tip top around a person’s race when in reality many people don’t care if you say their race when trying to identify them.

June 19, 2010
I also use a washcloth :) And I have also avoided using people’s color to describe someone. I try to describe them in every other way possible besides using their race. I haven’t done that recently though. I have gradually learned that when you are try to describe someone it is okay to say the white person, black person, Asian person, etc. I have always experienced other people do this too when I am at work. One of my managers is an older black woman and she is the only older black woman who works at the store. Customers try to describe her every other way. And eventually I figure out who they are talking about and I always say “oh the light skinned black lady?” and of course they say “yeah that’s her”. They would have wasted less time if they had just said that from the beginning.