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Who I am has not changed since the start of this course..however, the way I look at things has seemed to change somewhat. In my youth I was one to constantly judge people by the way they look or the way act but since then I have learned that it's what inside that makes a person up. Even if someone makes a ludicrous comment I won't be quick to put them in the "dislike" cluster of my brain but rather give them the benefit of the doubt. It gets hard at that point but I stick with my morals that I have learned growing up and especially throughout high school. There are those people that are simply heartless and don't care about other people besides themselves. It is painful to be around people like that which is why try my best to steer clear and not get entangled in that. The main thing I feel has changed is how much I have learned to appreciate my life. This course was eye opening to the poverty in the world and the extreme wealth in our country. I find that it is easy to relate sociology to anything in everyday conversation. I was even able to use it in a class discussion on a book we read in English. Even though we don't have tests in this course I feel like I have learned the most out of any of my other classes. Sometimes I don't even realize I'm doing it but I bring up sociology and that just goes to show how much I have learned. It makes me feel good too when the rest of my family is having an intelligent conversation and finally I can incorporate my own ideas based on this course and not sound like an idiot because what I have to say is actually intellectual. Throughout each of the units I gained more and more knowledge of not only sociology in America but around the world. I'm glad how we went through each base of sociology and not just one branch. It was extremely interesting to me and has even made me reconsider my major in college, of which I am still undecided. The service project allowed me to get involved in community service for a purpose and unlike NHS not just to get the required hours. As a female I feel stronger about representing my gender and doing what I want to. We all know there are acts of deviance socially unacceptable...but those things are what make people who they are. I will continue to act the way I act in public because that is who I am and no snooty rich lady can stop me. This class has been one of the best experiences at this high school and I'm so glad I had the chance to take it. Thanks Sal! :)
In class this week we discussed race. The activity we did online where we had to place people into different races based on a small picture was eye opening. We hardly placed any of the people into their correct classification. My one friend, who is black (far right), gets mistaken on what race she is often. People will ask her if she's part Asian, Filipino, or even Caucasian. She told me the other black kids at her school don't accept her as one of them because A) she hangs out with more white kids and B) they think she is only half black. One time she was at the gas station and the cashier asked her what race she is. Her response: "I'm black". The cashier was shocked and asks her: "Are you sure?" Of course she's SURE. Her only response to that man was: "What the hell??" She couldn't believe that someone would be so ignorant to not even believe her when she tells them the truth of her race. There are many different degrees of black. There is coffee bean black which is the darkest of all, mostly native Africans, and there is all the way to mocha black which is so light it's more of a milky chocolate. She said that on her dad's side of the family there are people that have even lighter skin tones than she does, and they're still considered black. Her one uncle is actually albino so his skin appears white in pigment even though he is really black. Same goes for Caucasian and Asian. For white people the spectrum can go from olive-like dark skin all the way to pasty ghost white while Asians can be anything from Korean to Chinese to Japanese and still be simply classified as Asian. I can tell how frustrated my friend gets when people question her race, in fact I even get mad for her. To me, since I know her well, I can CLEARLY tell she is 100% black. She even invited me over for Kwanzaa this year so I can get the full African experience with her and her family. For me, even though I am not largely Native American, people tell me all the time, "No you're not". Truthfully, I am Native American but others just have a hard time believing it because physically I don't look the part. Sorry, just because it's in my blood doesn't mean it's in my skin too...
This week in class we played monopoly based on social class with regulated rules. For my groups case, the richer only became richer and the poor became poorer while everyone seemed to remain in their original social class. This just goes to prove how hard it is to move between social classes in society. Typically if you start out with money, if you're born into it, it is easier to become successful and harder to lose big. Those who play smart, take risks, and have some luck are those who tend to move up in social class. Same goes for real life. This game was a perfect example to show the structure of the economic ladder and just how difficult it is to move out of poverty or out of wealth. For some people this may be a huge let down while for others it is more of a safety blanket. But there are those cases in which people move down in social class, but that is mostly due to poor decisions with a bit of bad luck too. Also, those people who started off with more property were able to gain more from rent and also able to afford more land. This just goes to show how big companies survive at a higher rate as opposed to privately owned ones. There are mass branches of target and its great success while it beats out those smaller businesses trying to become a part of the business world. However there are those few cases where these small stores do survive, yet not as often as the chain ones. Basically we should not look down on those in poverty because most likely it is not their fault, we should rather try to help them.
When we were watching the video this week in class it was hard to believe that some of those people were being serious. The crude remarks the "high class" ranked ladies and gentlemen made were unreal. By saying because of their lifestyle and money they are automatically smarter, better looking, nicer, and have more friends was the most pompous and ridiculous statement I've ever heard. Personally by watching the video and the "old money" upper class people's lives it seemed boring, stuck up, and there was no room for error. If you were not born into that life style, you don't belong there. Same goes for if a person was born rich but was then kicked out of their house for any reason and forced to live with low income, they wouldn't be able to fit into a poverty stricken class because that's just not their life style. I don't like how it is unrealistic to move between class levels just because of who your family is or what you represent. Class is something that society puts in too high of esteem. It shouldn't matter how much money you have or where you're from, people are people. We should make friends based on the person, not their class. Anyone who is willing to be a friend to another should be able to be friends with that person, and not resist because their "class" told them to or not to be. I don't feel the reality of class is as apparent in our area as if someone from the city were to visit the suburbs around here because it would be harder for them to fit in and feel equal. Overall, I do not approve of social class because it is just a refined version of the ancient caste system, which did not last.
We did an activity in class this week that dealt with drug descriptions and matching the level of legality for each. We did not know the names of each drug and we weren't supposed to try and figure that out. Simply we had to categorize the drugs as legal over the counter, legal prescription, illegal misdemeanor, or illegal felony. It was interesting to see how some of the legal drugs we categorized as illegal and vise versa. Based on the descriptions my group put heroine in the legal prescription category, while we put nicotine in the misdemeanor category. We had several debates about weather certain drugs should be legal or not based on the severity of effects. For the warnings on nearly every single one there was a "possibility of death". This just goes to show that any drug, no matter how common, can be dangerous if you abuse it. If a person were walking around on the streets with a bottle of aspirin then people wouldn't think anything of it, even if their plan was to go pop 10 at a time around the next corner. But if someone were shooting up heroine on the streets, not only would people think something of it, but everyone would know as cops would be on this person. Reason being? This is an act of deviance and not only out of the norm, but illegal. People residing behind prison bars are there because of one reason: they participated in illegal deviance. It is crazy to hear cases of someone selling marijuana being in prison for longer than someone murdering their spouse. That just doesn't seem right, but because of the War on Drugs in America the amount of people in prison caught with possession of drugs has sky rocketed. In my opinion, if you intentionally end another person's life, then you don't deserve to continue living yours after minimal punishment. No, we shouldn't physically end murderers lives by means of death sentence, but we should technically end them by keeping them locked up until their death. Their only option then is to live their lives, yet in the worst conditions possible. We shouldn't sympathize with killers, but rather give them a taste of their own medicine, torture.
This week in class we discussed milestones in our lives. In third grade we had to do a "milestone" project. Back then the most important milestones in my life consisted of being born, taking my first steps, saying my first words, my first day of school, and learning how to ride a bike. Now as we looked at the time-line of life in a much broader view I realize there are so many more milestones that would be important to me now. I have already passed several like getting my license and starting high school, but there are still huge ones to look forward to in my future like going to college, getting married, and having kids. Milestones are something to look back on, to live in the moment of, and to dream of in years to come. One milestone that people find important is the age of 18, the start of one's adulthood. At this age we are able to buy lottery tickets, cigarettes, porn, have no curfew, join the military, and are legally considered an "adult". But in reality these are just benefits of the age that the government has set for us, it doesn't automatically mean we are considered an adult the moment the clock strikes 12:01 on our 18th birthday. My sister started living in her own apartment out in California at age 18, she has a part time job, goes to school, has a dog, all of the things that adults might have too. Yet, my parents still support her financially and pay for her apartment, without them she'd be lucky to be able to share an apartment with 4 other kids. She might think of herself as an adult because she's living independent and not even remotely in the same state as our parents, but really she's not an adult. Now at age 20 she still has the same job, goes to school, and takes care of her dog, but she still has no steady job and is just a year away from graduating college. An adult would know what to do after their senior year, but she will just have to see what the future holds for her much like young adults all over the nation.
Today in class we learned about aikido. Aikido is described as a Japanese martial art that combines martial studies, philosophy, and religious beliefs. People practice it to know how to get out of bad situations without necessary fighting. It is more of a defensive act rather than an attack in order to use the energy of your opponent against themselves. I feel like this is a good skill to have because it will teach people in today's society to be less violent and more focused on the inner goal. It's a more positive way to solve problems rather than fighting. Yes, if someone attacks you you will be forced to twist them into uncomfortable positions, but only for your own benefit. Schools should teach this in opposition to fighting, or at least advertise it. If everyone was aikido knowledgeable then the world would be more peaceful and focused on their own actions. We wouldn't follow instinct but more thought based actions. Aikido seems like a revolution that we should all become involved in, especially in the sense of self defense.
