I think that nepotism can be good and bad for the economy. In favor of nepotism, it doesn’t discriminate against race or gender, it’s about the people you know, and how they can connect you to something. Who you know can determine whether or not you have a connection that will get you a job, internship, volunteer opportunity, any circumstance that someone can receive to get ahead in their career. People are able to hear about career opportunities through connections that they may not have been able to find otherwise. This opens up the job market for an employer to more applicants that typical recruitment techniques couldn’t do. It allows the company to hire the best candidate possible, rather than settling for someone not as qualified. Employers can also get more extensive reviews of potential employees from people that know them best, and if they feel the person wouldn’t be a good fit for the company it’s still okay, the company can still benefit from having a wider pool of applicants, and the employee can have more job opportunities.
On the flip side, nepotism can still be somewhat discriminatory. In this case though, it’s more about who you know rather than race or gender. An employer is more likely to give a job to someone that has a connection in the company rather than someone who doesn’t, as long as the qualifications are comparable. And although networking and connections can open up the pool of applicants, they can also reduce that same pool. Although more people would physically apply, the company would feel more obligation to hire those with connections, effectively reducing the amount of applicants they would seriously considering hiring. As Sam mentioned in class, white people are more likely to benefit from nepotism, which is saddening to know. The inadvertent racism and discrimination against people of different races is too bad already, but to add that nepotism doesn’t help them either just seems like all the cards are stacked against them.
There will never be a time that we don’t cash in on the people that we know. I myself did it when applying for internships during college. I am happy to say that for my first job after college I got without the use of nepotism, but most of my friends can’t say the same. The amount of networking that people use to get ahead in their careers is incredible, and I think the rate of people doing it is only going to keep rising.

I think that it’s sad that our nation’s leaders focus so much on things such as raising billions of dollars to be wasted on commercials, stickers, pamphlets, and other nonsense just to try and get re-elected or elected into a political position of power. If even a fraction of that money was spent elsewhere on things such as helping other countries that need our help (such as Haiti, Japan, New Zealand) or even putting that money towards decreasing the national debt. Every year our debt goes higher and higher, and it seems as though no one is trying very hard to turn that around. The money spent on campaigning could be better utilized in other ways. In the grand scheme of things, is an additional $1 million going to significantly affect the results of the upcoming election? Now with social networking and the excessive use of the internet, campaigning can be made much easier and cheaper, and more widespread without having to hire as many staff and spending time distributing campaign items.

I can’t imagine how much it would mean for places such as Haiti to have just a portion of that money to spend on growing the economy there. Just a small amount of that money that could be used to purchase supplies for the entrepreneurs to expand their businesses, hire more people, to allow them to have the ability to spend more and put money back into the economy. This can help it grow, giving more people the opportunity to have jobs, and to start rebuilding the country. For places like Japan and New Zealand, they need money to rebuild, but both have somewhat solid economies. Haiti is in desperate need of assistance because not only was their country destroyed, but they have not had a real economy in a long time, so they need help to rebuild not only their land, but their economy as well. This is something that we can help with. It doesn’t cost much money to do small acts that can make a significant difference for Haiti, as was discussed in class on Thursday.

I think a lot of people in the US forget how fortunate we are, and how much we take for granted. Just a small act of help such as donating a dollar, or blood, or buying a shirt, can make a world of difference to someone in Haiti or Japan, or other places that have experience natural disasters.

I would absolutely learn a new language for a job, and I think a lot of people would agree. Over that past few years, the unemployment rates have been rising drastically, and I think people need whatever they can get to have a leg up for a job. But you have to look at the situation from a few different perspectives. In the economy we are in now, I think almost anyone, especially those who are currently without employment, would be willing to do almost anything to get a job, as long as it’s cost-efficient. Recently, my family went and purchased a Rosetta Stone-type computer program to teach us Spanish. While I was on the hunt for a job post-graduation, they thought having an understanding of Spanish would look good on my resume.

Disregarding the state of the economy, I think people would also be willing to learn a new language if they really wanted the job that required it. For example, my uncle wanted to be promoted within his company but the position required a great deal of travel to China. To help him secure the job, we went and learned Mandarin to show the executives of the company he was dedicated to doing the job he wanted.

Like Sam said in class, our country is extremely globalized and the most diverse in relation to the amount of people from different cultural backgrounds. We can’t expect every single person on the planet to speak English. And if people refuse to learn a new language for working purposes, they are just being stubborn and/or ignorant. The United States has so many cultures that are all cohabitating; language is just one part of that. We need to adapt and change to what is going on around us, and what is currently happening is that English is not the only commonly spoken language in our country.

I am extremely interested in other cultures and why they do the things they do. I think that learning a different language is just opening the door to that culture to help you learn more and become immersed in something you are unfamiliar with. Because everyone is realizing how globalized our country has become, I believe that many people feel the same way. I don’t want to shun other cultures because they aren’t my own, I want to embrace the differences, and maybe incorporate some of the things they do into my own life.

I think that white guys are more hesitant to date a girl of color because of a couple of reasons. One is that both parties don’t believe that the other is interested in them. Unless the person was raised predominantly with the other race, they are unsure or unaware that they find each other attractive. Unless the guy or girl is bold, neither will step up to show their interest, or make an effort to date, for fear of humiliation or rejection (which in most cases would be both). Usually guys are the aggressors and are the ones who are pursuing the females, but when it comes to a girl in a different race, they tread lightly, not knowing how the girl will react.
The second is that I don’t think a colored woman is more accepting of a white guy as a boyfriend because of the potential harassment that comes with having an interracial relationship. Like Sam said in class, black girls give black guys a lot of crap for being with a white girl, so they feel as though it’s hypocritical to be with a white guy, even if they find him attractive. I am a white female and have never thought ‘I can’t believe that black girl is dating that white guy, can’t she find someone in her own race?’ So why do black girls have to be like that to black guys? And when they do occur, most relationships are not public, and the girl tries to keep it from certain friends or family.
I think that it’s hard to move past the initial hesitation for many white males and colored females, leading to a main reason why there are not as many couples as a dark male and white female. I think the key to changing this is accepting all interracial relationships, no matter who is dark and who is light. But by respecting a much more common thing of dark men and white women, it will show other different couples that it is okay, and although you will face criticism, you will be accepted by someone, and that your relationship is valid. It’s hard to believe that people still struggle with this today when we have come so far from the past, but this is just the next step to ending racism and prejudice completely, in addition to everyone becoming the same skin color.

I think that racial signifiers play a very significant role in either reinforcing stereotypes or creating new stereotypes. When people use unnecessary racial signifiers in conversation, it can positively or negatively affect the way the listeners view a racial group. For the most part, when people use the racial signifiers, it is negatively, which has a forceful effect on the listener. One example that came to mind is I heard a story from my friend about a time when she was almost hit in her car by another driver that wasn’t paying attention. But she didn’t just leave it at that. She went on to say that it was an Asian woman, an unnecessary tidbit to add, and continued to berate the other driver. After being in this class for a few months now, I was able to examine what she was telling me and not only realize that she didn’t need to tell us the race and gender of the other driver, but it negatively put an image in my mind of the woman and all Asian drivers. My friend’s comments only reinforced the stereotype that all Asians are bad drivers.
Most people don’t even think about whether or not racial signifiers are relevant in conversation, they just use them. If people were more aware of the fact that they are using these unnecessary terms, stereotypes has the possibility of reducing significantly. Think about all the times you say (or think) terms such as “rich white girl”, “Hispanic gardener”, etc. If we were to completely eliminate the use of the racial signifiers when they aren’t needed in conversation, people wouldn’t judge an entire group of people for the actions of one person that may (or may not) identify themselves with that group. These terms are the reason why there are stereotypes to this day, when people continue to bring up race in a completely unnecessary situations and conversations.
I hope that this awareness can help people think twice before they speak about another person, and hopefully stop using race when it isn’t needed. Of course, we also need to understand that there are times that a racial signifier is helpful, and sometimes people don’t use them when they probably should. But if people stop misusing race in conversation, it can reduce the extent of stereotypes that has grown and expanded dramatically about all different races. It seems as though the people that are aware that many others overuse race, they try not to use it at all, even when race may be relevant in a conversation. We shouldn’t be afraid to talk about race, we just need to be aware of when race doesn’t need to be in a discussion.

I would have to agree with some of the other posts that everyone will be conscious of the fact that we have limited resources and need to preserve what we have when it starts to affect all levels of society. Right now, the earth’s limited resources affect the lower levels of society, and don’t yet have any physical impact on higher society. Right now, majority of Americans are able to afford the basic needs such as food, shelter, and clothing. For those who can’t, there are some public assistance programs that help most people get what they need. The scarce resources are found mostly in countries that aren’t as developed as the US such as India, where a large group of the people who live there are dramatically poor and living in horribly impoverished areas. The divide between rich and poor is drastic, and I think a lot of people around the world try to ignore the fact that there are a large number of people living in scare environments. Many don’t want to deal with the problem until it affects them personally.
The video also discussed measures to prevent the increase in population that is being predicted within the next 50 years. Controlling the number of children each family have had could be a possible fix, but if we look at what has happened in China, we can see that it is not as great as it may sound. Back when there was a limit on the amount of children families had, and put emphasis on having boys. That resulted in many female newborns being abandoned. Now that these kids are growing up and getting ready to get married, the number of female to male ratio is dramatically different, and will result in many problems occurring for China.
I think the best way to help save the worlds scarce resources is to increase awareness that we are starting to run out of them. Increasing the knowledge of people, in addition to the push to go green, we can make better use of the resources that we have left, and preserve what we can. By increasing awareness people can make the conscious decision to limit the amount of children they have, or reduce their impact by recycling, composting or using a hybrid car to reduce the amount of impact each person has on the world, in addition to preserving resources. No matter what, there is going to be a greater impact of the scarce resources on some people more than others. But if more people are conscious of the impact they have and the amount of resources they use, maybe they would use them better.

I would have to agree with some of the other posts that everyone will be conscious of the fact that we have limited resources and need to preserve what we have when it starts to affect all levels of society. Right now, the earth’s limited resources affect the lower levels of society, and don’t yet have any physical impact on higher society. Right now, majority of Americans are able to afford the basic needs such as food, shelter, and clothing. For those who can’t, there are some public assistance programs that help most people get what they need. The scarce resources are found mostly in countries that aren’t as developed as the US such as India, where a large group of the people who live there are dramatically poor and living in horribly impoverished areas. The divide between rich and poor is drastic, and I think a lot of people around the world try to ignore the fact that there are a large number of people living in scare environments. Many don’t want to deal with the problem until it affects them personally.
The video also discussed measures to prevent the increase in population that is being predicted within the next 50 years. Controlling the number of children each family have had could be a possible fix, but if we look at what has happened in China, we can see that it is not as great as it may sound. Back when there was a limit on the amount of children families had, and put emphasis on having boys. That resulted in many female newborns being abandoned. Now that these kids are growing up and getting ready to get married, the number of female to male ratio is dramatically different, and will result in many problems occurring for China.
I think the best way to help save the worlds scarce resources is to increase awareness that we are starting to run out of them. Increasing the knowledge of people, in addition to the push to go green, we can make better use of the resources that we have left, and preserve what we can. By increasing awareness people can make the conscious decision to limit the amount of children they have, or reduce their impact by recycling, composting or using a hybrid car to reduce the amount of impact each person has on the world, in addition to preserving resources. No matter what, there is going to be a greater impact of the scarce resources on some people more than others. But if more people are conscious of the impact they have and the amount of resources they use, maybe they would use them better.

I think that white people are less-prone to recognizing discrimination towards themselves or others, because they have never experienced much along the way to realize they are being treated differently. They are more reluctant to say that discrimination exists because they do not necessarily notice it when it happens. For some people, discrimination is in the history books. Look at American slavery, Jim Crowe Laws, and the Civil Rights Movement. All these events lead to laws that required equality for races. Although people are still fighting for the same equality, the discrimination that is occurring is much more subtle than what it used to be. Today, its instances where a company will hire a white guy over a black guy, or your bags being searched at the airport because you are Muslim. In history, we don’t see much discrimination among people with light skin, and because we don’t have that background to make us hyper-aware of what is going on, I think sometimes people forget to look around and notice the signs of discrimination.
I grew up without knowing much about discrimination because I was not surrounded by it. I was raised in a rural town in the suburbs of Maryland, where we had a handful of black students, a handful of Latino students, and the rest were white Christians. Every student was treated the same, and what little racial diversity we did have, we never discriminated against; it was punishable by school rules. Since I’ve never really witnessed race discrimination, I would have a harder time recognizing it today because it is usually subtle and does not draw much attention. That doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t see blatant discrimination when it occurred, there was plenty of that in my high school.
I have seen a good amount of gender discrimination, both against males and females. When I was in high school, a girl student wanted to join the football team. For most of the tryout process she was denied access to practice with the team and to tryout. So she went to the school board and petitioned and had to be forced by school officials to be allowed to play. Gender discrimination among men in school also occurs. When I was in student government, it was mostly made up of a large amount of girls, with a few guys. The few guys that were there had their roles, and some wanted to be more involved. Well when one of them asked for support to run for President of student government, the advisor encouraged him against it. He told the boy to leave the work to the girls, and to get out and play some sports. It was appalling to see both guys and girls being pushed into gender boundaries that are discriminating against each group.

I think that hard work gets you to a point in life, and from there it’s a combination of working hard and the connections you have. When we are in grade school and up into high school, we are taught that if we work hard and get good grades, we will get into college. It’s not usually about who your parents can call to get you in (of course in some cases, it is), but more about your SAT/ACT scores, and your GPA that you’ve worked hard to earn throughout high school. When it is ingrained in your psyche for 12+ years that you have to work hard to get to the next step in life (college), those people who don’t make it to college continue to believe that it is mostly hard work that will get you far in life. For those who go onto college, for the next 4-5 years of their lives, they are convinced of the opposite, it is more about who you know, then how hard you work. I got my first college internship after my freshman year of college with the help of my father, one of his clients was looking to hire an intern, and with his recommendation, I got the internship for the summer. Of course I worked my butt of during that summer to prove that I was a worthy candidate, but it was my dad who helped me find the job.
Finding a job is a similar feat for college students. As a senior getting ready to graduate and go on into the real world, I have experience with interviews with potential employers. Interviewing with companies that you have no relation to, they ask you questions about your GPA and the activities you were involved in during your college career. If you have all the “credentials” they are looking for, you may be offered a second interview. But when you interview with a company that you have a connection, they are looking more for a personality that would be fitting to that particular organizations work culture. For example, I recently interviewed with a company located about an hour from where I grew up, and the interviewer noticed my high school and said he knew a friend’s son that went to the same high school, and went to Penn State on a football scholarship. When I told the interviewer I knew the kid, and he was a friend of mine, the conversation slightly changed. Instead of the typical interview questions, we had a friendly conversation going over the guidelines of the position as well as the interesting things on my resume. I got asked back for a second interview on-site.
I think that hard work gets us only so far in life. After we reach a certain point of work experience and education, it is more focused on the people we have met along the way that can vouch for our hard work. Just because you may know a lot of people, doesn’t mean that you will continue to go far, it just means you have a lot of references that can be testimony to the quality of work you can perform. That’s why I don’t think it’s only one or the other, but a combination of both hard work, and the connections you have.

I would like to start with the revelation I came to my freshman year of college, that I lived a sheltered life. Growing up in a rural/suburban community, I did not experience much diversity. We had a handful of black people, and not a single Jewish person in my school. A lot of my friends and classmates worked on their family farm when they weren’t in school, although I lived in a neighborhood surrounded by playgrounds and cul-de-sacs. That was about the amount of diversity I got.

Regardless, because of the opportunities I have been given, I feel lucky that I have ended up at Penn State. I think that a bit of determinism and free-will has played a role in how I’ve ended up here. When I was younger I was always expected to do my best. In school and in sports, I was to give it my all. For my parents that philosophy continued with college. It was never a question of if I would go to college, but where I would go. My parents enticed me with free reign of what colleges I visited and as many applications as I wanted to turn in. I was born and raised in Maryland, and I did not want to stay there. So I fell in love with PSU and wanted to go here from the moment I stepped onto campus for the first time. Well upon hearing tuition prices, my parents quickly disagreed with my decision to study education. I believe the line they used was something like, “We are NOT paying for a college where annual tuition will be higher than your annual salary!” So I was left with a decision, stay in state and study to become a teacher, or go to Penn State and pick a new major. Well you can see which decision I made, and I haven’t regretted it since. Although I still want to become a teacher at some point in my life, I have chosen a field I know I can excel, and one that I have passion for.

All these factors combined have led me here. The free will to choose which college I wanted, in addition to the restrictions about what I was allowed to study (or not study), and dilemma I faced as determinism and free-will intertwined. I can say that I was dealt a pretty good hand of cards, in addition to making the “right choices”, have brought me here, to a class that challenges what is socially and ethically right in the context of race relations.