One of
the most exciting scientific accomplishments of this century is Human Genome
Project which is the cataloging of human genes. This will lead to
great understanding of the human body and advance medical science.
One of the most important findings is that while human beings differ in
outward appearance, the genetic structure of all human beings is 99.9%
identical. These researchers agree that there is only one race, the
human race.
However we continue to struggle with the concept of appreciating diversity and discrimination and prejudice still exist in many forms. For example, you may have been descrimated against because of you ethnic group, religion, height, weight, gender, disability, or even academic skills. For this discussion, give an example of a circumstance where you have experienced or witnessed discrimination. Any ideas on how to reduce discrimination?
I will share an example of discrimination that I experienced. I started my doctoral program at USC when I was 8 months pregnant. After the first class the professor took me aside and suggested that I drop out of the program because of my family situation. I was really angry and decided to show him that I would finish. I am happy to report that I was one of the first three students to finish the program.
At Cuyamaca College, we have many Chaldean students who are Christians who have emigrated from Iraq to avoid religious persecution. Since the attacks of 9-11, this group has faced discrimination at our college. Whenever there is anything about terrorism in the news, many students who are from the Middle East suffer discrimination even though they have nothing to do with terrorism. Any comments on this?
This week you can make one post of 200 words (instead of 2 of 100 words each) if you want since the topic of appreciating diversity or describing incidents of discrimination might need more words.
However we continue to struggle with the concept of appreciating diversity and discrimination and prejudice still exist in many forms. For example, you may have been descrimated against because of you ethnic group, religion, height, weight, gender, disability, or even academic skills. For this discussion, give an example of a circumstance where you have experienced or witnessed discrimination. Any ideas on how to reduce discrimination?
I will share an example of discrimination that I experienced. I started my doctoral program at USC when I was 8 months pregnant. After the first class the professor took me aside and suggested that I drop out of the program because of my family situation. I was really angry and decided to show him that I would finish. I am happy to report that I was one of the first three students to finish the program.
At Cuyamaca College, we have many Chaldean students who are Christians who have emigrated from Iraq to avoid religious persecution. Since the attacks of 9-11, this group has faced discrimination at our college. Whenever there is anything about terrorism in the news, many students who are from the Middle East suffer discrimination even though they have nothing to do with terrorism. Any comments on this?
This week you can make one post of 200 words (instead of 2 of 100 words each) if you want since the topic of appreciating diversity or describing incidents of discrimination might need more words.
Our society allows us to work in groups while in school, social settings, self-help groups, and so much more. Diversity allows others to have a wider range of perspectives. It has been shown in many studies that groups work better together because each individual member plays a particular role based upon their personality, expertise, cultural background, or even their age. High quality work stems out from groups because diversity is the key aspect that helps members produce good outcomes. America is known to be a diverse country and will always be a diverse country. Diversity is what makes up the world. Morals, perspectives, decisions and much more are dependent upon different people who have different experiences in life. For example, there are self -help groups like Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A). The members of this self-help group may share the same struggle, but have different experiences that brought them to where they are today. Others may have a different perspective of where they want to be in life which resulted to enrolling themselves into the A.A self-help group. Each person in the group can relate to each other, but they can also benefit from the differences that they share by listening to the struggles and stories and finding ways to fight against that struggle to work toward where they want to be in life. Diversity is not a replaceable trait that we can do without. Having appreciation for diversity is the key to our success as a nation and as individuals.
ReplyDeleteDiscrimination has been a plague to the human race since the beginning of written history, one group detests another due to their skin color, religious beliefs, or cultural affiliation. Petty discrepancies like these have caused fighting and killing of fellow humans, even now in our so called civilized society people are still discriminated against. This is obvious when you simply watch the news and see hate crimes being performed in schools or watching countries attack each other because their priorities don’t coincide. All of this hate and discontent is spread due to a lack knowledge a lack of understanding for the opposing party. I believe this hate can be cured by only one means and that is through education. Not education in the typical means, but by teaching people about other cultures, peoples, and ways of life by educating people who hate about the people which they hate you may be able to show that such hate is unwarranted and maybe, just maybe allow the two groups to see eye to eye and acknowledge there differences and stop hating. Though there will always be ignorant people those who are unwilling to change unwilling to learn or see things from another perspective, and those people we will never be able to change but I believe that if we could educate the willing then hopefully we could make a dent in this discrimination problem.
ReplyDeleteI've experienced discrimination in the work place. My boss hired me knowing I could only understand Spanish and not really speak it. He also knew that I'm on the quiet side. I'm can still communicate effectively with customers. I just have a different style. He would give me significantly fewer hours because of this. To reduce discrimination, start being open-minded. Try and put yourself in someone else’s shoes. Imagine what cultural differences there are and how they may affect the way someone acts, dresses, etc. And even once you’ve done that, don’t assume you’ve come to the correct conclusions. Before casting judgments, ask or do some of your own research. It’s unfortunate that innocent students are feeling discriminated against purely because of their heritage. Unfortunately, it’s hard to stop young people from making hasty generalizations. It’s going to take time and exposure for prejudice people to get over their fears of the unknown.
ReplyDeleteIn society today it seems that discrimination and judging has increased and little solution has been done. I have witness people making fun of someone because of their parents background. I met a girl who was really sweet and smart she told me a story of how she had a rough childhood. Both her parents were into drugs and it seemed that she felt embarrassed . While she was telling the story some people were quick to judge. She then told us that both her parents were able to kick their drug use and earn their degree and become successful.I have learned that it is important to hear a persons story and know how they grow up instead of judging. Its a must to allow yourself to be open minded and get along with people and stop the hate. Stopping discrimination and judging is a way to solve the problem and allow yourself and the other person to be themselves.
ReplyDeleteI think as time goes on, discrimination will be weeded out by the measures that have already been put in place. The problem is, people dont want to wait. They want all forms of discrimination to be eradicated immediately, and that is just not feasible. You cant change the way people think overnight. Older people grew up in a different time, back when discrimination was socially acceptable. These beliefs were indoctrinated into our culture for the majority of our country's history. Only recently has any real change and progress been made. Once these people that hold on to antiquated beliefs no longer exist and the more tolerant, younger people take their places, discrimination will generally taper off. Will there always be extremist groups that believe in racial superiority? sure. Will life ever be fair for everyone? Of course not. Fair is a place where they judge pigs. But as time passes and our culture becomes more and more PC, discrimination will fade. Think about it like this, with how overly PC our country has become, people these days are more often afraid to say anything for fear it will be construed as racist or inflammatory than to actually say something that is racist or inflammatory. With people being offended by every little comment, we as people have no choice but to evolve the way we speak.
ReplyDeleteAt Cuyamaca College, we have many Chaldean students who are Christians who have emigrated from Iraq to avoid religious persecution. Since the attacks of 9-11, this group has faced discrimination at our college. Whenever there is anything about terrorism in the news, many students who are from the Middle East suffer discrimination even though they have nothing to do with terrorism. Any comments on this?
ReplyDeleteThe idea of racism and discrimination is socially constructed by today's society. No matter where you go, they will be exposed. The Chaldean students who are victimized as a terrorist after the incident of 9/11 is uncalled for and will definitely impact their lives on a daily basis. We can not eliminate this foul act however it can be reduced by voice. American who discriminate needs to be more open minded and put there self in one's shoes. As time proceeds, not much will change when it comes to prejudgment and discriminatory acts/thoughts. My best friend Tyrell has been a victim in many cases of racism. People would assume he would commit a crime just because of the color of his skin. I remember seeing him come home one day crying because his girlfriend's parents did not accept him due to his skin color. He quoted "they said I'm better off working with my rap or basketball career rather than waste their daughter's time." This hit me, and hit me hard. How can a person be so ignorant? But in reality, that's how life is and there's nothing to it but move on. We can in fact reduce discrimination however, there is no way it will be obliterated.
I can honestly say I can hardly think of anytime where I feel that I have been discriminated against. It is my prayer that my children, who are biracial, will not feel the sting and hurt of discrimination in their lives as well, or I may have to release the Mama Bear, lol! One example I can give is that my dad's parents live deep in Alabama. I am from Indiana, and as a kid, we would occasionally drive down and visit. Let me tell you, many of the long-time residents there have it in their head that "Yankees" are just no good, and only the South has good people living in it. I felt that some of my dad's extended family didn't much care for my mom, because she was a Yankee. I just got done reading Jane Eyre for a literature class, and in the book, Jane said that prejudice has very deep roots especially with those who are not educated. This is soooo true! Those who were the most prejudiced and hateful against Yankees, black people, etc, were people who lacked education. I do not know if hate and discrimination can be entirely done away with, but I think that education as well as an exposure to others who are different than we are can definitely help us and future generations to appreciate diversity.
ReplyDeleteAs far as Middle Eastern students being the victim of discrimination, the term "outgroup homogeneity effect" comes to mind. That is, we perceive "all of them" as being the same while "all of us" are different and unique.
After 2003, discrimination has grown dramatically in my country (Iraq). We, as Christians were afraid to go to church because really we did not know what would happen to us. A lot of people suffered from discrimination against their religion, race, language, or even the way they dress. There have been a lot of offenses against Christians just because we have a different belief than they do. When I came to America, I was really happy that no one cares if we go to church or not. Here in America there are a lot of racist people. Their words hurt but some people do not get hurt but some people do. I do not think it is easy for us to hear those words. For me and my family, we are thankful that we are out of Iraq. To be honest, I miss my country, but there is nothing I can do to make my country safe and without any discrimination. I feel blessed whenever I think of the people in Iraq or in the middle east, because all they hear are bombs and people dying in front of their eyes. I thank God that I am here in a safe country without any wars.
ReplyDeleteAt Cuyamaca College, we have many Chaldean students who are Christians who have emigrated from Iraq to avoid religious persecution. Since the attacks of 9-11, this group has faced discrimination at our college. Whenever there is anything about terrorism in the news, many students who are from the Middle East suffer discrimination even though they have nothing to do with terrorism. Any comments on this?
ReplyDelete“Whenever there is anything about terrorism in the news, many students who are from the Middle East suffer discrimination even though they have nothing to do with terrorism” many people don’t realize this exact sentence, all they know is that whoever is from the Middle East they think he/she are terrorists, I believe the lack of knowledge and parenting keeps people from learning different types of religion or culture in this generation and the next we will see people from different kinds of countries working side by side and there is nothing that could stop it discrimination will be around it will never fade away and to avoid discrimination I believe that parents should take responsibility and teach their kids about respecting different kinds of people once they grow up it will be hard to teach because they are unwilling to learn.
In middle school, I remember I had an English teacher that was not very fond of a few Hispanic students in the class. The particular student I am thinking of were good students, but they were pretty disruptive at times. There was this one time when one of the Hispanic students that the teacher disliked raised his hand to answer a question, and she looked right at him and said, "There is no way that YOU know the answer to this question." She said this in front of the entire class. He said to her something along the lines of, "Why would I not know the answer?" To which she replied, "None of you guys have shown me otherwise," talking about the rest of his Hispanic friends that always sat together. The class just stayed completely silent. The words she said combined with the look of anger and disgust on her face conveyed her true feelings. I heard from other student she exhibited that same discrimination against Hispanic students in some of her other classes as well. It was shocking to see someone in a teaching position have a hateful attitude like this. It is always something I remember when I think of the discrimination I have seen in my life. What made it even sadder was that a few of the students in my class that she had directed those comments towards that day stopped coming to class because of the incident. They hated her now, and said that they refused to be taught by a woman like that. They were embarrassed too. In the end, they failed the class, and it all stemmed from her mean attitude towards them. They didn't deserve any of that, and they deserved to pass that class.
ReplyDeleteAt Cuyamaca College, we have many Chaldean students who are Christians who have emigrated from Iraq to avoid religious persecution. Since the attacks of 9-11, this group has faced discrimination at our college. Whenever there is anything about terrorism in the news, many students who are from the Middle East suffer discrimination even though they have nothing to do with terrorism. Any comments on this?
ReplyDeleteThose children who have nothing to do with terrorism but still suffer from discrimination will i feel will feel as if, they arn't good enough, feel like they don't belong, feel as if everyone is looking at them, everyone is judging them, everyone is saying something behind their backs, and that is not acceptable. Those people have the right to be treated equally. Judging is one of the worst things one can do to another, these people, because of our generations lack of knowledge, and parents not teaching their children that "it's okay." they will always be judged by others. It's now our job to teach our children to have an open mind, to let others in, not to judge others from what you hear on tv, or from other people.
Where you have experienced or witnessed discrimination. Any ideas on how to reduce discrimination?
ReplyDeleteAfter 2003 I try to live in my country Iraq but everything has been changed in my country Iraq and became different also we cannot do any activities specially the Christian people who lived there for thousands of years also Iraq is mother country for our ancients became very danger. Moreover we cannot practice our religion and we lost our home, friends, job a lot of great memories in the childhood we lost it. Discrimination in our country leads us to leaf everything in this country although that it was the hardest decision and when arrived here people here very nice but still some people they do not understand what the different of the terrorism and victim of terrorism. These days in our society specially in the El Cajon city we should have some programs to help American native to understand the Chaldean and their culture by make meeting and trips to gather that will help people in the both culture to know each others and make our society great because it has many of ethnic they live to gather in the same healthy environment. The great think in the USA is different ethnic in the same society that made this country stronger.
For this discussion, give an example of a circumstance where you have experienced or witnessed discrimination any ideas on how to reduce discrimination? Discrimination in Iraq had increased especially after 2003.there many of Christian people they lived in Iraq for many years without any problems .but after 2003 every think change and every think became harder also most Christian people lost their job because any person he want to take over place he can writ note that if you do not leaf this job you we will kill you that happened for Christian people who owned homes. Moreover most the church became very danger any person try to go is like going to die. All these Discrimination in Iraq became factors to migrate the people from Iraq to another country even the live in the USA very different and some people in the USA still they do not know that most Chaldean here are victim of terrorist in Iraq and to reduced Discrimination in any place in the world contain different cultures by meeting people and talk to them make clubs and people from different countries and culture meet their that will lead our society to understand the others and make the in the society with different ethnic very great.
ReplyDeleteOne time I experienced discrimination was in high school. It was my freshman year and I was called into my counselor’s offices. She sat me down and told me that I was never going to graduate high school yes I’ll admit I wasn’t going to all my classes but I had good grades in most of them and I knew I could make up all my absents. Then she had me call my mother and explain to her what was happening, as I was talking to my mother she also happened to say my mother was an “unfit parent!” and at that moment I had so many mixed emotions I was sad, hurt, ashamed, disrespected and mad. My mother heard and told me to pass the phone to her and as soon as I did I left her office. After that incident I got my act together, went to all of my classes, I did all my work, got on the honor roll and I graduated from high school. I proved to her and anybody else that didn’t believe in me that I could achieve anything if I put my mind to it. This is my example of a time when I experienced discrimination.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was little, I was at a gas station and there was an African American man in there along with my mother and I. The clerk kept watching the man and barely paid any attention to us. When the man went to go pay, the clerk was very rude to him and accused him of stealing. The man said that was racist and he had not stolen anything. That was the first time I had ever seen something like that and I didn't know why the clerk had accused him of stealing until we walked out of the gas station and my mom explained it to me. I think if everyone got treated more equally and there weren't stereotypes, there would be more peace in the world. The fact that someone can get accused of stealing just because of their skin color is astonishing to me. Nobody knows a strangers story just by looking at them and seeing their skin color. Stereotypes have gotten very out of hand these days. It's a shame that you can't literally take a walk in another person's shoes because if some people did, I think they would have a very different outlook on racism and the way they judge people.
ReplyDeleteBeing Chaldean myself and living in an area where there arent many chaldeans besides my family and cousins; i experinced discrimination after the attacks on 9/11. Friends of mine knew i was Middle Eastern, and right away i was considred a terrorist because my family was from Iraq. Till this day, people jokingle make racial slurs about me being midle eastern, but im strong so i dont take it seriously or to the heart. Whenever i am asked "what are you?" I tell them that i am Chaldean and most people dont know what this is so i tell them im middle eastern and right away they think that i am muslim/terrosrist. I also do not look like i am middle eastern, for i have very light skin and look like i am american, so when i tell them im Middle Eastern, they get so shocked. One time, i was having a nice conversation with someone and i told them that i was Middle Eastern and the person stopped talking to me and simply walked away. i thought that was the rudest thing to ever happen to me but what can i do. There are many uneducated people out there that speak their mind with out realizing the affects it can have on someone.
ReplyDeleteAs a young boy of the age around 12, I was discriminated for being overweight. I was made fun of almost every day. Sure, it was my fault for not eating healthy or exercising on a regular basis. Although, I came from a family with a working class single parent. Thus, I was not able to do sports because of the cost. However, I lost all my "baby fat," and wasn't made fun of being overweight anymore. It's interesting how one or a few things can make someone or some people discriminate and stereotype against an individual. It does not feel good to be made fun at and have people laugh at you for a different skin color, height, weight size, etc. I have learned to maintain a healthy lifestyle, and don't get discriminated for being overweight anymore. Even though discrimination is a negative, I turned it into a positive to change my life around.
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