I think that if you are thinking about hard work to get health care, there are a lot of jobs that include health plans in them which would mean that there would be health care provided to them. This would mean that you don’t necessarily only need money to get health care but you should look for a job. It doesn’t even need to be a great job my friend has healthcare with his job at a family fun center which doesn’t need a ton of experience but still gets him the healthcare that he needs. I don’t think that it makes it to unreachable in that case.

I think that health care should be an equal right to everyone who is legally living in this country. Even if they are here on a visa and are not US citizens they should have the right to have health care that is the best that they can afford. Just because they weren’t originally born here doesn’t mean that they should be unable to have health care. I was two years off from being born in Hong Kong but I have lived here forever and I can’t imagine coming back to the states and not having the option of healthcare.

I think that it is ridiculous that there are so many groups who take offense to TV shows especially ones like South Park. This show makes fun of everything you can possibly think of and any scandal that comes up in the media. For Muslims to take so much offense to one episode because it makes fun of their culture and they don’t get riled up when our culture makes comments just seems hypocritical to me. There are so many people that probably do take offense and make comments about what is said on this show and others but it isn’t talked about as much because they aren’t such a smaller group of people.

I feel like this is another example of racism but in an alternative way. If someone who was catholic had mad a big deal about an episode then it would not have been such a public showing in the media and people probably wouldn’t have cared as much. I think it is also in a way showing how people in smaller religions who feel as if they are being attacked make things seem like that all the time even if that wasn’t the original intention. I am not saying that what was said on South Park isn’t wrong and that it isn’t slander but it shouldn’t always be made to be such a huge deal.

I realize that there as been a lot of emphasis and criticism of Muslims especially since 9/11 and the events that have happened since then and they are probably on their guard. I have no idea how it would feel to be lumped in with a group of people for that reason but I do know how it feels to be lumped in with a group of people. There are always stereotypes that come with different cultures and religions and even here on campus there are stereotypes that go with groups. I am in a sorority and there are some very obvious assumptions made about us such that we are sluts and only care about alcohol and are ditsy. Also, even within sororities specifically there are tiers and people are lumped in with their tier and are surprised when someone is prettier than they should be according to their tier.

Overall, I think that it must be very hard for Muslims to take on so many hits just for following a religion that has a lot of radical people in it that are terrorists. However, I don’t think that this means that they should always be so on the offensive about things especially about a show like south park that makes fun of anything that can breath for the most part.

I enjoyed the play that was put on in class but I personally have always felt that when girls get implants because they don’t feel well about themselves that in a way it is cheating. My cousin has a great body but wasn’t happy with her boobs so she got implants. The frustrating thing for me is that if I wanted to have her body I would need about 7 plastic surgeries or a sever diet and a strict work out regimen and she doesn’t need any of these options she is just naturally petite and gorgeous. I don’t know, is plastic surgery cheating in a way?

I totally think that men feel the pressure to conform to what society establishes as the norm in our generation or any generation. Whether it is wearing baggie clothes or leisure suits men have always been dressing with society just as much as women have. Even though men may have an easier time covering up a non perfect body, they still feel the pressure to look good and feel good about themselves. If they didn’t, there wouldn’t be tons of men at the gym all the top checking themselves out in the mirrors and attempting to make themselves bulk up to please other people with their appearance.

I think that learning mandarin would be very beneficial to our generation and those that are going to be preceding us. China is going to be taking over our technology and products even more as time goes on and it will be important for us to have that connection. When I was younger I lived in Hong Kong for 5 years. While I was in my international school one of the classes that they taught us along with art and English was mandarin. When I was learning I became practically fluent at the age of five. If we could possibly start to teach children different languages when they are much younger then they will most likely grasp more. When we moved back to the states I basically lost all of what I had learned because my parents didn’t speak it and no one in my new school in Lancaster PA knew how to speak it which was not all that surprising.
My brother is now continuing his mandarin courses at Penn State and I am jealous of him in that he is able to learn the language that I lost. He is going to shangai this summer to study abroad and he is so excited but mainly he is excited to really get the language down by being immersed in the area and actually grasping the core of speaking it. I think that the only true way to grasp a language well is to go to the country that it originates from and be around it and be forced to speak it at all times. I took French in high school and my teacher always worked very hard to make sure that we were only speaking French the second we set foot in his class room. This became very frustrating to me because I am not very skilled at the language but I think it did help in the long run. The older you get, I think the harder it becomes to learn a new language especially since you have been speaking the same one for so many years. I am lucky in that my major doesn’t require me to speak a language otherwise I would be having some serious issues when it comes to my classes and truthfully I don’t enjoy learning new languages as other people might.
Overall I think it is a great idea to start figuring out languages and learning them at younger ages and I think it is also great to start giving kids more option at a younger age instead of having them choose from three languages such as French German and Spanish, which was all that my high school happened to offer to us.

When I grew up I was aware of slavery, I didn’t understand however the extent of it. I could understand that you don’t want to introduce the harshness and the horror that occurred with slavery but I don’t know exactly you could introduce the topic of the native American issues without scaring children. However, I feel like there has to be a way to prime kids for the topic so that they can get to high school or college and at lease be aware of what is going.

The main topic that I feel could be introduced to children at a younger age is the topic that we have learned about in regards to the native Americans in the U.S. I never realized that they Native American’s had it that terrible during the present. When I was younger I learned about the French revolution and things like that but I never realized that the racism of that nature was still carrying over to the present times. I don’t know exactly how you can introduce to our younger generations without it getting very graphic and harsh but I think it is possible.

When I have talked to a lot of people, they seem to think that there is no way to talk to children about different race issues. I however feel that when children are younger, they are simpler and they take things at face value rather than judging what is going on. Even though kids do ask a lot of questions, they are still more ready to accept different situations than adults problems. When I was younger even though I registered that a lot of my friends were different than me I didn’t question that I should be friends with them. Children have an innocence that although I don’t think you should take advantage of a child’s innocence, it might be a good time to at least introduce them to race topics that they can take at face value.

I grew up with a family that has always been pretty open to race and we have done a ton of traveling. I have become very open to different cultures through my travel experiences and it has made me very comfortable with many races of people. When I was 2 my family moved to Hong Kong and my first real memories were at a school that was an international school. My best friends were from everywhere including Korea and Japan and I didn’t really think twice about it. Dance classes as well were totally mixed and I was just that much more focused on the class itself when I was younger as opposed to the people that were actually in my class.