Friday, July 22, 2011
Week Ten: Race & Ethnicity
Exploring the website about the Japanese internment during World War II really put the whole situation in perspective. It is crazy to read that United States citizens were seperated from their families just because of their heirtage. The Yasutake family was discriminated upon just because of what they looked like. It must have been tough for the family to reenter the general population of the United States; I can't imagine that it was easy for the children to return to school. Reading their story really shows how much of a hardship these people were put through. I did find it interesting when the website made a reference to 9/11; can you imagine if the US government put all Muslim Americans in internment camps?
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Week 9: Social Construction of Gender
I agree with the book in saying that gender is learned through socialization. Once society determines whether you are male or female you are expected to act in a certain way. If you break the norm, then society is shocked. Growing up, boys are typically given trucks and action figures to play with while girls are given dolls and dresses. Boys are just expected to be stronger and more into playing rough and getting dirty than girls. If a girl would rather play in the mud than play dress-up, people call her a "tomboy" or other such terms. Although men and women may have different body-builds, I think it is ridiculous to say that men are smarter than women or vice versa. Different people, regardless of sex and gender, have different skill sets and they shouldn't just be pegged a certain way because they are male or female.
I'm studying to be a mechanical engineer; the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech is only around 20% female. Only around 5% of working mechanical engineers are female. When people find out that I'm an engineering student, they are usually surprised because society seems to think that only men can build and design big machines. It's definitely taken a bit of getting used to being constantly outnumbered in classes. I had a math class my first semester that was 45 students and I was the only female. It didn't take long for my professor to learn my name in that class. Being a female in this field, it seems that I have to prove myself a little more than the guys to show that I do belong which I think goes back to society "assigning" genders.
I'm studying to be a mechanical engineer; the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech is only around 20% female. Only around 5% of working mechanical engineers are female. When people find out that I'm an engineering student, they are usually surprised because society seems to think that only men can build and design big machines. It's definitely taken a bit of getting used to being constantly outnumbered in classes. I had a math class my first semester that was 45 students and I was the only female. It didn't take long for my professor to learn my name in that class. Being a female in this field, it seems that I have to prove myself a little more than the guys to show that I do belong which I think goes back to society "assigning" genders.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Week Eight: Global Inequality
Why should we care about global inequality?
One of the topics that stuck out to me after listening to the podcast was how interwined countries are. As globalization increases, global inequality seems to become more important as it affects price of our products, the size and strength of the economy, the health of the environment, and whether they as a whole, contribute positively or negatively to the world.
Poorer countries have people who are more willing to do hard manual labor and produce products for less than they would be produced in a countries like the United States. This an important to look at and realize that as global inequality lessens, the prices of different products are going to increase to meet the demands of the workers. On the other hand, the fewer people living in poverty means that more and more people are able to buy goods and services which ultimately serves to strengthen the economy. Also as countries become more wealthy, they can look towards improving environmental conditions. We should care about global inequality because we are a more fortunate country than most and we should work to reduce poverty as ultimaltey it will benefit us.
One of the topics that stuck out to me after listening to the podcast was how interwined countries are. As globalization increases, global inequality seems to become more important as it affects price of our products, the size and strength of the economy, the health of the environment, and whether they as a whole, contribute positively or negatively to the world.
Poorer countries have people who are more willing to do hard manual labor and produce products for less than they would be produced in a countries like the United States. This an important to look at and realize that as global inequality lessens, the prices of different products are going to increase to meet the demands of the workers. On the other hand, the fewer people living in poverty means that more and more people are able to buy goods and services which ultimately serves to strengthen the economy. Also as countries become more wealthy, they can look towards improving environmental conditions. We should care about global inequality because we are a more fortunate country than most and we should work to reduce poverty as ultimaltey it will benefit us.
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