Monthly Archives: August 2012

Desegregation of Little Rock Central High

In the early 2oth century since the slavery was abolished the African Americans were still racially segregated in the United States. African Americans were faced a lot of difficulties in the process of desegregation. During segregation they were not allowed to sit at the same row  with white people on the bus, they were not allowed to drink from the same water fountain, and attend the High School with white kids. The Little Rock Central High School was the first movement towards the desegregation of schools.

In May 1954, the US Supreme Court issued historic Brown v Board of Education of Topeka. The decision stated that racial segregation of schools was not unconstitutional and the Supreme Court ruled to desegregate all schools throughout the country. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has registered nine students at the Little Rock Central High School, Arkansas to attend school with white students.

In September 1957, nine African American students were walking to school and were met by the hundreds of segregational protestors. Those nine students were threatened and disrespected by the protestors. The US President D. Eisenhower had to send troops to accompany students to their classrooms and bathrooms for the safety features. Ernest Green was the first African American to graduate from the Little Rock High School.

In conclusion, the desegregation in US was not an easy process, but is accomplished. It was a gradual movement of change in the US. Now we have an African American President. I believe that we should treat people the way we want to be treated, no matter what skin color, race, ethnicity and age they are. We are all humans.

Imagine this scenario: you are walking on the streets and you see a person in front of you wearing a white lab coat. You will most likely automatically assume he is a doctor. The symbolic meaning of a white lab coat is that physicians are very detail oriented and good at paying attention. The study of associating certain clothing on cognitive process is called enclothed cognition.

Studies have shown that if you wear a lab coat that you believe belongs to a doctor, your attentiveness will be increased. There has been many tests to support this theory. In one experiment, 58 undergraduates were randomly assigned to wear a white lab coat or street clothes and tested to notice errors such as the word “red” appears in green. The results showed that those in white lab coats made half as many errors as those who whore street clothes. Along with two other experiments, they have came to a conclusion that you have to wear the coat, see it on your body and feel it on your skin for it to influence psychological processes.

I agree with this article that what we wear definitely affects the way we behave psychologically. I think this in part comes from society perceives those who are more “professional” in the way they dress, are often associated with maturity, integrity and sometimes intelligence. It also affects the way we think about ourselves. In the article, a teacher assistant who wears formal clothing was said to be more intelligent than one who dressed casually. When Dr. Galinsky decided to dress as a pimp, he sort of played that role by “gliding” into the room. I do strongly believe that we interact with others based on their way they dress. If I was talking to a person dressed in business formal attire, my tone of voice and the way I act will be different as opposed to someone dressed in t-shirt and shorts.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-06-04/millennials-lack-of-jobs/55676024/1

In class, we talked briefly about the student loan debt in the United States. With more and more college graduates coming out saddled with debt and the job market not improving, the student loan debt keeps rising. On May 8th, 2012, the student loan debt clock has passed the $1 trillion dollars mark and continuing to rise at an alarming rate.

Stories of the job marketing being very limited and students struggling to pay off their debt and trying to maintain a living is not something uncommon or unheard of today. In this article, we see the story of Megan Silsby (age 22) who earned a biology degree from Virginia Tech. She considers herself as a full time worker, however she does not have a job. While living with her parents, she gets up at 8 a.m. every morning and actively applies to jobs all day. The only motivation factor that keeps her sitting in front of the computer is telling herself that interview will come. Luckily, she is living with her parents so living expenses would not be a problem. However, there are millions of graduates who wear the same shoes as Megan, and some in a less fortunate position. Some graduates may have to take two or more part time jobs to keep the paychecks coming in. There are graduates who have doubts about their degree they have earned. I think with such a limited job market, it is becoming more important to study the job markets and see which department has the best chance of success.

I agree with the author saying, “Some recent graduates say they have landed jobs by starting early, networking, taking multiple internships and breaking through Internet screens with personal connections.” Getting that first internship, whether its unpaid or for credit, is important and will gain a competitive edge. Starting out early and working hard in college will surely make job searching “easier.”

I also agree with Jim Davis who says college should be a place to “attain experience- job shadows, internships- and building networks.” Again, this all comes down to getting an experience that would give you a competitive edge and makes you stand out among other people competing for the same position. This also breaks the vicious cycle of “I need experience to get a job, but I need a job to get experience.”

Over medicating children

Watching the video from PBS about “medicated child” in class gave me weird emotional feeling. I am a parent and the fact the way those children in such early age were diagnosed with bipolar disorder touch my heart. At the beginning, I could not quite understand if I was agreeing with doctors, but as much we went on watching video, I told myself how terrible it was to get those children on these strong medications.

I am sure we all have seen children who throw a tantrum and act little disturbing sometimes. However, children at age 3 or 4 don’t quite realize their behavior and have not much reasoning, so, that’s why they are children. Parents should have some sort of control to restrain them. This type of behavior does not necessarily mean that they have serious problems as bipolar disorder or ADHD. . At least this is how I see it. I also read some comments from parents whose children were diagnosed with similar conditions, but they refused to give their children medications and what was the outcome? Everything is ok after certain time and those children overcame these behaviors.

On this above video child obviously behaves ”not normal”, he looks like he is on drug, or drunk, but why? Because he is on some sort of strong medication. Do we think it is better for that child? I certainly don’t think so. He is probably on some kind of antidepressant. I don’t believe in such early age any child needs to be on antidepressant.

Realizing this issue made me feel really awful; because I felt like entire health system is corrupted. I knew it. The fact that children have to suffer from it is the horrible outcome. It seems like drug industry is so powerful and manipulative that doctors prescribe any medication to any age patient.

Overall, as I looked at this issue it does not seem right. I think children in young age can act strange and different from other children, but time and patience maybe the better help. In most cases it is useful.

Divorce rate rises as economy improves

I was planning to write about the divorce rate and why people get divorced, but could not find any decent video.  Then I stumbled over the above video.  I find it very interesting how economic and financial challenges could influence a couple who decided not to be together any more, to continue living together.  They got divorced but had to stay in the same house because of the housing crash. After spending some time in the same house they got back together and plan to remarry again. This is an exceptional divorce situation in my opinion. But there are many different cases of divorce.

There are many different reasons why people get divorced; it could be financial problems, unfaithfulness to each other, and could be love, which has disappeared in time, lack of sexual relations and many more.

As our text book says, today, 51% of American women are divorced. I think it is very sad but life becomes more complicated every day. I believe if there is an unhealthy relationship then divorce is a better cure of the problem. Better to avoid violence over financial problems or other misunderstandings than keep the relationship together. Divorce is a huge process, where couples have to go through a lot of steps together; separation of wealth and  assets, child custody and many little details related to their relationship.

Financial problems lately have become much of the reason for divorce. People get married for the wrong reasons and that is what causes divorce in many cases. I read another article where someone wanted to get divorced in six months. When the attorney asked why he got married in the first place, he said it was because he wanted to save on car insurance. This to me sounds absurd; it is a most bizarre reason to get married. I don’t think people understand the real meaning of marriage anymore. Marriage is when two people are sure they want to share their lives together, based on love, understanding and respect. If one of these three aspects is missed in the relationship, it will be very hard to keep it together.

In conclusion, it is unfortunate that families have to go thru divorce but better than being in “bad” relationship. Also it becomes not as much problem lately to be divorced then in earlier times when people only whispered or did not even mentioned the situation. But I believe again this is the life we live now, that we are not prevented from future consequences.

The Struggling Middle Class

In class we have been focusing a great deal on the differences in social classes as well as the emerging issues that are becoming more aware within each class. Issues such as the current poverty line America has calculated based on the minimal amount of food is need to survive, as well as the problematic concern over America’s 1%, whom interestingly enough owns the majority of America. Nonetheless, one controversy that largely stood out to me was the disappearance of the middle class. Initially, I didn’t quite think about it as much as I should have however as Professor McKinney continued with his lecture I found the topic to be more and more profound.  There’s no question that America has a lower class, some less fortunate than others, and also has an upper class, some who are also more fortunate than others, oddly enough. However, what about everyone else who falls in between? As oppose to the upper class and the lower class, where we can easily distinguish between the two social classed, the middle class as we know are slowly beginning to acknowledge themselves as an “upper-lower class.”

When we think of someone who is considered to be of the middle class, assuming we’re only judging based on their income and style of life, we imagine a family that isn’t struggling financially, yet aren’t living a lavish lifestyle either. In other words, for the past few decades the middle class has always been the class who lived “comfortably.”  They owned a home and didn’t struggle to pay for their over head, may have owned a car or two that wasn’t a struggle to maintain either, and were sending their children away for college.

However, contrary to popular belief, that style of living doesn’t quite exist any longer. As the video above shows, while the middle class family household income has been fairly consistent over the past few years, the cost of their overall living as sky rocketed. The cost of living has increased 56%, the cost of education has also risen. Thus, the income that allowed middle class families to live comfortable years ago, is now causing them to struggle.

In the United States we are taught that if we go to school and achieve a higher education we will be more likely to succeed. Nowhere in these beliefs has it ever been instilled that it depends on your race, religion, weight, and sex. Maybe if we were told this people wouldn’t be so inclined to achieve a higher education if they do not fit the “right” criterias.

The idea of discrimination in the workplace is becoming more and more prevalent in today’s society. Because we live in a country that is so diverse, the idea of discrimination is often silenced. We are suppose to be a country who loves and accepts all, but do we really? In the video displayed above the idea of discrimination not only racially, but because of one’s weight, religion, and sex is addressed.

In the video various people tell us about their experiences of being discriminated in their workplace, whether it be for their weight, like the lady who gained weight after have a baby, or the muslim lady who was fired because she refused to take off her veil.

There have been laws created in order to prevent theses circumstances but these allegations are usually hard to proove. Most people would more likely move on than go through the hassle of pressing charges. Luckily, situations where employers have been found guilty have suffered severe consequences. Hopefully, more people will start to speak up about their situations and will make this problem more known.  If employers feel like their company would be at stake in the event that they act even slightly in this manner, I think they will be less likely to commit this crime.

http://www.luxist.com/2011/03/08/bill-gates-gives-up-worlds-richest-man-status-for-philanthrop

Today, we talked about the Weber’s theory of Status. Weber thinks “status groups are normally communities […] that are determined by a specific, positive or negative, social estimation of honor. (191) I think the most interesting part is that status is not necessary cause of wealth or income but tradition or prestige. The concept of tradition, we can see the example of Charles becomes a prince once he was born in the British royal family, so does Prince William and don’t need to get any particular. That royal family keeps the honor from George V (1865-1936) till present. British royal family worth more than $1 billion; comparing with this, Bill Gates’ wealth is US$ 61 billion (2012), 61 times more. Bill also owns status by his contribution to the society, such as his Philanthropy activities once he got huge succeed. He created the Microsoft Empire by his talent in PC system and pushed PC operation system quickly expanding all over the world by visualizing Dos to the simple windows operation system, which let anyone without any program background easily uses it. And then, his system dominates at all worlds’ PC market share till now. According to above link, he gives Up “World’s Richest Man” Status for Philanthropy. It made me think how we use our wealth and return to our society like what Bill Gates does if we were not born with a gold key (honor). Usually, status seems be stability because of the general tradition attribute. However, Bill’ story gives us another concept of honor. Which one would be more impressed in public, especially for our business college students?

When we meet new people, we form impressions based on their social groups and from cultural stereotypes about them. It is said that a first impression is formed within seven seconds of meeting a person and it is very hard to remove our first impressions of that person. While interacting with them, we adjust our impressions based on their characteristics such as physical appearance, clothing, verbal and non verbal expressions. Managing our impressions become ever so important when we want to impress someone through networking, meeting someone, or interviewing.

During interviews, we want the interviewer to know we are the best fit for the position and we must try to convince him or her within that 20- 30 minute window given. From the moment you enter the building, you will never know who will be judging you. Whether its the receptionist or one of the employee who came out to greet you, you need to put on your best smile. You want the interviewer(s) to know they are able to work with you.

Another example is networking with professionals or other people within the same field of study as you are. Networking, or speed dating, is essential having small talk for 3-5 minutes and trying to leave a good impression with the other party so he or she can recognize you in the future. They’ll be important people who can aide you in the future. Especially in a business school like Baruch, networking is a vital part of business. Networking sessions are not always formal, but do try to maintain a good level of professionalism as well.

This video shows us what not to do while networking. It is not wrong to boast about your achievements, but be modest and considerate about it. Repeatedly showing off or saying negative remarks doesn’t put on a good impression. Managing your tone of your voice and watching what you say is also a factor of networking. How we say something is just as important, if not more, as what we say.