Racial Discussion

Blog Post 2

It is important to discuss issues that are seen as having racial dimension for a few reasons. The first reason is because racism plays a role in each and every school. Some schools have a more diverse population while others were scarcely diverse. Teachers will have to deal with the issue of racism on a daily basis. When kids are younger, they tend to see past the color of someone’s skin. As they begin to get older, this is when the topic of racism becomes more touchy. When I say touchy, I mean it is a very sensitive subject. Talking about racism can lead to many arguments, and there is a certain way to go about the topic. Some effective strategies for initiating and facilitating conversations about racism are being respectful, using appropriate language, and listening to what others have to say (even if you do not agree). Being respectful means not only listening to what others have to say, but you must also not criticize them for the way they think. You might say, “I understand your point of view, but I disagree because...” Using appropriate language also ties in to the respect aspect. While talking about another race, slang is not appropriate or even negative feedback to someone when you do not agree. Educators need to promote/encourage discussions that are influenced by race or ethnicity. Because society itself is becoming more diverse, people need to learn how to handle it and talk about it in a proper manner. When teachers have discussions, they need to see both sides of what people think and how they feel whether they agree or not. Like I said before, I believe the best way to talk about this topic is with respect and understanding of the other person’s point of view. 

Cultural Norm

Blog One 

When it comes to society, what does it mean to be normal? What may be normal to one person could be unusual to another. For this blog, we were told to break a social norm. My first thought was that it would be simple to think of something to do. When I began to ponder about what I would do, I realized it was harder than I thought. After some thought, I finally settled on the idea of walking through a drive-thru restaurant. I went with a group of three other girls from the class to Dairy Queen. When we got there, we walked through the line. We stood there waiting for them to take our order, but I assume we were not sensed. As we were standing there, a man in a car across the street rolled his window down and said, “Are you driving an invisible car?” Laughing it off, we decided to try to speak in to the speaker, but received no answer. We contemplated what to do, but we decided to walk around to the window. As we approached, a younger lady opened the window in a state of confusion. As we proceeded to ask her if we could place our order, an older woman walked over. She asked us if we could come inside to place our order. So, we did as she asked. When we walked inside, the younger lady came to the register to take our order. We told her what our intentions were with trying to order through the drive-thru. She laughed and told us she was going to go along with it. Thinking back to the whole situation, one of the ways we see a cultural difference is in age. While the older lady was more serious about the matter, the younger lady found it to be humorous. Although she was confused at first at what we were doing, she had a better attitude about the whole situation. I know for a fact workers do not see that happen everyday. This relates to what we discussed in class, because age, or anything else, and how we were raised influences our views of what is normal. The main thing we talked about that this relates to is the question on who decides what is normal.