Title IX

Even though I am a woman, I am very against Title IX. I read an article in a magazine before that Title IX is actually hurting women trying to get into college rather than helping them. The article said that there were more women applying to colleges that were more qualified (higher GPA, harder classes, more well rounded, extra curriculars, etc.) but were being beat by men that were less qualified because of the percentages of men and women needed at schools. I do not think it is fair for someone to be chosen over someone else because of their sex or race. Whoever is more qualified should be chosen because they will do better at school, instead of someone who is less qualified that will struggle more and possibly drop out. In the work world I think it is also stupid to require so many people of a certain sex or race. If I needed a life or death surgery I would pick the doctor based on qualifications, not if they were a boy or girl or black or white. Sex or race makes no difference in someone's ability.

Stereotypes

Yesterday in class we were discussing how it isn't right for someone to be discriminated against because of what they wear, or where they live, or their friends, family, and many other reasons. Then later someone said that when they saw people with Confederate flags, that they thought the person was automatically a racist. That sounded very hypocritical to me, the person may be from the South and still be in favor of separating from the North, they may have a family member that died fighting for the Confederate army, or they may just like the way it looks (like a ying yang symbol- many people just think they look cool and could care less about what ying and yang means). Saying that all people who own something with a Confederate flag are racists is the equivalent of saying that all people with baggie clothes are drug dealers or have been in jail because that style was started in prisons. I personally would not wear something with a Confederate flag, but if someone wants to I think it is their right to wear what they want.

University of California vs. Bakke

I do not think it is right for anyone to get special treatment when it comes to being accepted for college or med school or a job. People should be chosen for things like that based on ability, not the color of their skin. It is just as morally wrong to discriminate against someone because they are white as it is if they are black. It is kind of a double standard to say it's okay for someone to be accepted because they are a minority, but if a minority is rejected it's considered racism. Bakke winning this case is a good step toward equality for all.

Little Rock Nine

I would have been terrified to be one of the Little Rock Nine. Not only did they leave their comfort zone, but the place they were going to did not want them. It must have been very difficult for them because they were faced with so much violence and hatred, and they couldn't fight back. Even if I did get thrown into that situation, I would have quit the instant I saw the mob of angry white people trying to keep me from going to school. I value education very highly, and even that would not have made me want to face that crowd. Those African American students should be put on an extremely high pedestal for doing such a hard task when almost everything was against them.

Brown vs. the Board of Education

Brown vs. the Board of Education was huge stepping stone on the way to equality for African Americans in the United States. Education is very important to any society because educated people can have better jobs and make more money, leading to a better country as a whole. With the ruling in favor of Brown, this case gave black children the same opportunity to a good education as white children had. There were some schools that still found ways around this, and many still did not integrate, but this case broke ground for later generations.

Every time I hear about Brown vs. the Board I think of Remember the Titans, because their school's integrated football team demonstrated to the rest of the student body that seemingly difficult things, like integration, were possible. If there were more TC Williams High Schools (the one in Remember the Titans) then civil rights might have been a little bit easier and quicker along the way, because "children are the future."

Use of DDT to Prevent Malaria, Good News for Ghana

After talking about Rachel Carson and Silent Spring, I did some background reading on DDT. According to All African Global Media:

During World War II, scientists developed an insect repellent known as DDT, but in the 1960s, scientists began saying that DDT caused cancer and should not be used around people. Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) has been recommending the use of DDT, because mosquitoes carrying malaria are so bad in many African countries.

Malaria can cause premature births and spontaneous abortion in pregnant women. Malaria also causes 10 to 15% of the deaths of pregnant women in the whole African continent. Now in many African countries, people have to sleep under mosquito nets so they don’t get infected with malaria. The problem with the mosquito nets though, is that they do not kill the mosquitoes, they just stop them from biting people.

If the African people would start applying DDT to their roofs and walls, they could lower the amount of mosquitoes by 90%. Now scientists are saying that the DDT would not hurt any mammals, so it is safe to use. If Africans start using DDT, they will be able to save many people that could be killed by malaria.

From this information, it sounds like Rachel Carson jumped to conclusions, didn't do enough research, or manipulated her data to fit her hypothesis.

Genocide

I find it disgusting and sad how horribly humans can treat each other. In Europe during WWII, in Rwanda during the 1990s, and now in Darfur people are raping, killing and torturing each other because of religion or tribe/heritage. It amazes me how people can do that to each other, when they don't even know the people, and they've done nothing to them to deserve that. It's barbaric, and it's not even war, it's just because one group thinks they're better than another. I hope someday that genocides will end in this world.

Holocaust Symposium at West Chester

Meeting a Holocaust survivor will probably be on of the highlights of the year for me...few people are able to do that anymore, since most survivors with any recollections are in their late 70s or older.

The survivor I met was Anne Fox, at 12 she was sent from her parents in Germany to "foster" families in England on the KinderTransport. Anne's brother was already living in England on a student visa before the Jews were being descriminated against in Germany. Her father was shot in the elbow during the first World War, and had to be amputated, when he got home he began working in a bank. When the Nazis started to descriminate against the Jews, one of the first things they did was to forbid Jews from having service jobs, like in banks, so her father was out of a job. Their family was not able to move because her father was not wanted in other countries, due to his amputated arm making it hard for him to work. Anne's best friend growing up, Doreen, was a Christian, and before Anne went to England, Doreen joined the Hitler Youth. Doreen said she couldn't be friends with Anne in public anymore, but would secretly visit her sometimes. It was hard for Anne to go to public school after a while since she was Jewish, so she began going to Hebrew school. After The Night of Broken Glass, it was not safe for Anne to travel to Hebrew school, and she had to stay at home. In early December (1938 I think) she took the KinderTrain to Holland, where she got on a ferry to go to England. She bounced from home to home for a while when she was in England then settled at a farm with a nice family. She graduated from high school and got a job at a library where she met her husband, an American soldier. They got married in England and moved back to the US and lived with his mom and sister.

The neatest part about her story was at the end when she said her friend Doreen contacted her, and now they speak on the phone every other week!

Japanese Internment

It is horrible and sad that we ostracized one ethnic group, like we did the Japanese in the Japanese Internment. It is sort of like how people of middle-eastern decent were treated after September 11, only much much harsher. It is also ironic how we were fighting almost the same thing in Europe... yet it was okay because it was Japanese instead of the Jews? This is a definite stain on the history of the United States.

American Indians

The study, Walking a Mile: A First Step Toward Mutual Understanding: A Qualitative Study Exploring How Indians and Non-Indians Think About Each Other, was done very well, and was presented in a non-biased fashion. I liked how both American Indians and non-Indians were interviewed. It was surprising how bitter American Indians are today, and how they think that all non-American Indians believe that they are “wild savages,” like in cartoons. I’m slightly offended by how small-minded American Indians think non-Indians are. I also don’t understand why, if reservations are still horrible today, that they don’t move out. From what I got out of the article and from my prior knowledge, the US government isn’t forcing them to stay there anymore. It is really sad and horrible how American Indians were treated in the past, but I don’t think they are mistreated anymore, they just live in poverty, and I don’t see how that’s non-Indians’ faults today. I do agree with them though that non-Indians are very uninformed about current American Indian culture, and that more should be taught in schools.

Why don't they start their own organization to promote current American Indian culture? In today's society, if people start "spreading the word" other people will listen and "open their eyes."

School's stance on female ref sparks controversy

If that high school backed up their male-role models for guys, female-role models for girls 100%, then all of the coaches for their girls sports should be women. If I were the ref, I would have been so annoyed just at the fact that I drove there and didn't get to do anything because of the school's outdated, macho beliefs.

It is very true at the end of the article where they say how boys sports get more money for equipment and uniforms and even more gym time than girls sports. Our girls soccer team has been good for the past couple years, county champs in 2005 and our football team hasn't made it past the first round in districts for just as long. Yet the football team gets more support and money than our girls soccer team ever will.