Blog 7

Inequality in Education
This week in class we talked about inequality in institutions, with a touch on educational inequality.  the first thing I thought of was this clip.
http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/us/2013/05/28/tsr-intv-9-year-old-takes-on-chicago-mayor.cnn.html
The kid basically says it all.  The mayor wants to close numerous schools because they are not producing the scores that other schools are.  I see a whole other solution for this problem.  Like Asean says in the clip, we need to invest in our schools.  However when it comes to schools filled with racial and ethnic minorities people seem to give up and say forget it when performance is sub-par.  The test scores are low and graduation numbers are low because there are no resources.  There are no supplies, no good teachers, and no motivation to learn.  If a child is given a new book, new school supplies, a classroom, and a excited, qualified teacher, that student will learn and be eager to do so.  However, these schools like Asean's are filled with minorities, and that limits the funding the school receives.  America is going to have to start funding equally, if not more so,  the schools in which the student body is predominantly minorities, because in fifty years, whites may be the minority.  There needs to be racial and ethnic equality in the education system.  Eventually it would become too big of a problem and few schools would be receiving funding, and our nations educational system would be in the bottom ranks on the worldly scale.

Blog 6

Romanticism of the job
This last week we watched the video about minimum wage and the janitorial employees at several prestigious universities.  I thought the video was great.  It gave insight into the jobs that people "get stuck in".  I thought it was interesting how people think that they are stuck in these positions as janitors when really they are doing something that they love.  Sure no one or very few grow up with aspirations of becoming a janitor but once they become one they love it.  Several of my friends I went to high school with now run their family farms.  Sure its not a glorious job, but its what they love.  It doesn't pay great and comes with no vacations, yet they love it.  One of my good friends graduated with a degree in accounting from UW-Whitewater and he is working at a produce farm.  He loves it.  He could be making  close to six figures a year at some big company but he chooses to do something he loves.  I do think that the video we watched did romanticize the job a little bit, but i do believe they and many more people that are "stuck" at a job may indeed actually enjoy them.

 http://www.nbcnews.com/id/38168029/ns/business-careers/t/lowest-paying-jobs-america/#.Uy-vQ_ldUuc

These jobs may be low paying, but many people find them very rewarding.

Blog 5

So this week in class we talked about racism.  I don't advocate racism, approve of it or agree with it in any way, however if people want to be treated equally then they need to accept the pros and cons.  What I mean by this is I had a buddy in high school and he was a good guy and very good friend of mine, he was also a mexican who liked to get into trouble. Whenever he got caught he liked to pull out his go to move that went something like "Why am I in trouble, is it because I am a mexican?"  He did intend it to be a joke but it did help keep him from being punished more than once.  If people want to be treated equally then they need to trust that they will be and not blame racism for something that they truly screwed up on so they aren't punished like my buddy.

Blog 4

I am lucky in that I have never been oppressed or had to deal with it in any manner.  I can however think of several times that I have been privileged.  Not necessarily privileged because of my personal class or status but because of who I was with, rather who I was working for at the time.  My boss at the time was a very wealthy farmer.  Not the kind of farmer that you think of normally.  He only dealt with cash crops and made a great living doing so. Anyways, he was pretty well off and a lot of people know it.  He was a friendly guy and never really showed off his money.  One instance I can remember specifically was when he took me out to the local bar and we had lunch.  When we were done he asked what we owed the bar owner said nothing it was on the house. He had gotten his lunch for free even though he could have bought lunch for everyone in the place.  Another time I had to take my bosses truck to go get a part for something and I went to Weaver and got the part and I went to the checkout and the cashier said don't worry about it.  It wasn't a very expensive part but still.
 My boss was very well respected in the area and was very privileged.  He had money but seemed to get a lot of things for free.  I have been in that bar many times for lunch or on the weekends and I too personally know the bartender as he is my good buddies dad.  Even that has never gotten me free lunch or even a drink.  I have also been in the Weaver store and have never seen him pick up someone else's tab.  I don't think either of the incidents would have happened if i had not been with my boss.  Not really a big deal, but maybe there is such a thing as a free lunch.