Who better to ask and discuss this with than fellow ACJS-ers?
I define this term as being held back, or being looked over in preference of another individual or group due to one's 'lack of diversity'. In the United States, I'm thinking that diversity means those that are not white (and possibly not male?), since Caucasian is the majority race, nationwide.
I was reared in the United States, and I feel especially lucky that my hometown hosts 4 universities that I believe are the reason that allowed me to grow up in an especially diverse community; and today I consider SLU quite a diverse community.
Now, maybe it is only my imagination or "seeing what I believe" and not what is actually there, but I wonder if some of the laws and policies that have been put in place over the years in the United States have not developed an environment that has made reverse discrimination visible. I am white and have always lived in a chiefly white community (barring my time in South America), with a bit of diversity thrown in here or there.
Anyway, this topic has come to my attention only because of conversations I have had, listened in on, and experiences I have been party to. My first year at SLU: Fall 2007, I applied for a scholarship program, and was immediately interviewed by the directors for my candidacy. Upon the conclusion of my interview, I was told that I was not eligible for this program because a) my mom made too much money --I was not impoverished, and b) I was not of a community that is under-represented --I am white.
I might be completely mistaken: maybe I did not have as outstanding an interview as I thought, or clearly my grades were not stellar, and so that disqualified me. Honestly, I have no idea what it is like to be impoverished or under-represented so I cannot identify, but in that particular situation, I felt discrimination for factors uncontrollable. Some programs are installed to give just persons the possibility of equalizing their chances against others, do I necessarily have an equalized chance? Or maybe I'm looking at this completely wrong.
In another instant, I had a conversation with a professor from my previous college discussing his interviewees for a faculty position. He was telling that three people were interviewing for the position, one was Indian, and the other two were white. He was telling me that most likely the Indian was going to be hired "for diversity". He did complain that this person had a very strong accent, and did not exhibit the greatest of teaching skills. He did not mention the potential teaching capacity of the other two candidates. That made me curious about whether that institution would hire just to fill a diversity quota, or because they thought an individual's competence as a faculty member would be beneficial to the college and students.
Are there incentives in place that spur companies to hire for diversity? Do they have to? Do they get benefits from the government? Is it because it looks good to the public? Is competence second to ...idk..."globalization"?
I even hear my cousin who works for a newspaper fear for her job: she has seniority over a few other individuals, and those that have seniority over her are all old, white men, but she fears it is most likely going to be her that gets the boot because the other few she has seniority over--the newer hires at her firm--are non-white females, and she believes that the company will not dismiss them in spite of her longer-standing position with the company, for diversity's sake.
I hope I am making sense to anyone who might see this. And I hope that I can get some commentary so that I might become better informed on this topic, if for no other reason as it is very interesting to me. I want to work and live in a community that is as diverse as possible, given that I love other peoples and cultures practically more than i do my own, but I also want to be assured that persons are hired and accepted based off of competence and not off of need to fill diversity quotas.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Being Persuasive
What do I do when I disagree with someone I care about, but I believe I am right, and I want to convince him/her of that?
I must respect the other's opinions on the topic. That is foremost when I care about someone else. Shooting him or her down right away is not a good start when I am trying to persuade him/her that I am right or 'righter'. That would only put him/her off, and he or she would most likely go on the defense--which then can cause an argument and raised emotions, anger, and as a result he or she would be less likely to listen to my side of the debate.
Is there any evidence that supports my stance in contrast to his or hers? Having ammo stacked up against one is a convincing tool to relent on one's own stance. On top of that, to be convincing, I have to look and sound convincing myself. Being confident in my own opinion and adamant about it can help persuade another person of my conviction--especially if it is someone I care about, I am going to go out on a limb here and assume that that person also cares about me, so when that person sees how passionate and sincere I am on the topic, he or she will be more inclined to be persuaded by me.
As a last resort, there is always the begging route. Plead with your dear one to believe that you are correct and that it is a good thing to relent and side with you.
This reminds me of the continuing elephant in the room at my house that my parents and I kick dirt over: global warming. Let's see if I can make this sensible to my readers: my dad is a country bumpkin. Like any guy, he LOVES his lawn and takes great pride in its care. As a result, he HATES anything that damages his lawn: moles, my car, armadillos. He will sit outside on a lawn chair all day with a shotgun across his lap just daring any old critter to come root on his side of the fence.
Well, can anyone remember in past years if there has been a presence--a strong presence of armadillos this far north in Missouri? It is only in the past 3 years that I have seen o'possums with helmets scuttling across the road along MO highways. And it is only in the past 3 years that my dad has carried on about armadillos and critters grubbing up his lawn. SO...
...Dad, (respectful part here) how long have there been armadillos this far north of Texas?
-Not for too many years you say?
So then why have armadillos only recently been coming this far north?
-Because we've been having milder winters in the past few years. (evidence part here)
Why are milder winters favorable for increasing the armadillo's range this far north?
-Armadillos like warmer, hotter weather.
So then why have there been milder winters lately?
-(a-ha! part. expressing my beliefs staunchly and confidently because evidence backs me up) Because of--GLOBAL WARMING!
I must respect the other's opinions on the topic. That is foremost when I care about someone else. Shooting him or her down right away is not a good start when I am trying to persuade him/her that I am right or 'righter'. That would only put him/her off, and he or she would most likely go on the defense--which then can cause an argument and raised emotions, anger, and as a result he or she would be less likely to listen to my side of the debate.
Is there any evidence that supports my stance in contrast to his or hers? Having ammo stacked up against one is a convincing tool to relent on one's own stance. On top of that, to be convincing, I have to look and sound convincing myself. Being confident in my own opinion and adamant about it can help persuade another person of my conviction--especially if it is someone I care about, I am going to go out on a limb here and assume that that person also cares about me, so when that person sees how passionate and sincere I am on the topic, he or she will be more inclined to be persuaded by me.
As a last resort, there is always the begging route. Plead with your dear one to believe that you are correct and that it is a good thing to relent and side with you.
This reminds me of the continuing elephant in the room at my house that my parents and I kick dirt over: global warming. Let's see if I can make this sensible to my readers: my dad is a country bumpkin. Like any guy, he LOVES his lawn and takes great pride in its care. As a result, he HATES anything that damages his lawn: moles, my car, armadillos. He will sit outside on a lawn chair all day with a shotgun across his lap just daring any old critter to come root on his side of the fence.
Well, can anyone remember in past years if there has been a presence--a strong presence of armadillos this far north in Missouri? It is only in the past 3 years that I have seen o'possums with helmets scuttling across the road along MO highways. And it is only in the past 3 years that my dad has carried on about armadillos and critters grubbing up his lawn. SO...
...Dad, (respectful part here) how long have there been armadillos this far north of Texas?
-Not for too many years you say?
So then why have armadillos only recently been coming this far north?
-Because we've been having milder winters in the past few years. (evidence part here)
Why are milder winters favorable for increasing the armadillo's range this far north?
-Armadillos like warmer, hotter weather.
So then why have there been milder winters lately?
-(a-ha! part. expressing my beliefs staunchly and confidently because evidence backs me up) Because of--GLOBAL WARMING!
Monday, April 27, 2009
True or False
How do I know if someone is telling the truth or not?
This might prove a bad blog subject for me as I am the most gullible person I know. Tell me anything, and I will outright believe you, I promise. I feel like only in the last year have I been developing critical thinking skills and skepticism. Anyway, to know if someone is telling me the truth, I would counsel with my gut feeling. It has always tingled when something is amiss (that or I'm just hungry). Intuition. Cross-checking someone's testimony is a way to prove the truth. I go about doing that by asking someone else that is involved or that would know. Do the stories match? That is one way to catch a lie. As always, researching or consulting information resources like the internet, or books, or a third party sustain another person's truth or lie.
Hey, there is always knowing the answer before asking the question--you know for sure that way if someone speaks the truth or not.
This might prove a bad blog subject for me as I am the most gullible person I know. Tell me anything, and I will outright believe you, I promise. I feel like only in the last year have I been developing critical thinking skills and skepticism. Anyway, to know if someone is telling me the truth, I would counsel with my gut feeling. It has always tingled when something is amiss (that or I'm just hungry). Intuition. Cross-checking someone's testimony is a way to prove the truth. I go about doing that by asking someone else that is involved or that would know. Do the stories match? That is one way to catch a lie. As always, researching or consulting information resources like the internet, or books, or a third party sustain another person's truth or lie.
Hey, there is always knowing the answer before asking the question--you know for sure that way if someone speaks the truth or not.
How do I solve a problem I've never had to solve before?
For example, I did not know until just now how to make a new post on my blog. I read on Katilyn's blog that the first step she would take is to admit that there is a problem. I liked that. Before I saw that, my first step would have been to: ask for help. See what someone else might know about the problem. That would usually mean for me calling my mom. Asking someone else that I consider knowledgeable. Nowadays there is this handy dandy little tool called the internet. The world at my fingertips. Doing research to see if there is any literature or documentation out there on the problem is a route to take when solving a never-before-solved problem. That is how I would get started on solving such a problem.
For me, I _was_ going to wait until class tomorrow and ask a classmate how to go about posting a new topic on my blog. I looked through other peoples' blogs to see how they might be loading their posts and comments. Then I just sat and stared at my computer screen until I saw the top menu bar, and then the button "new post". Problem solved.
Another such problem I solved with this method was babysitting a little boy with gum stuck in his hair. I had never faced such a problem before. So before I went to phone my mom, I first had to soothe the little boy, and get him to sit still and stop crying. By that time I had thought better about phoning other people, and decided to do research on the internet for home remedies to get gum out of hair. I found that dousing the besieged hair in olive oil, and leaving it in for several minutes was a successful solution--luckily his hair was very short, so I picked out the now slippery, sticky-less gum with a comb with very little fuss. Voila. Problem solved.
In conclusion, I support researching a problem on the internet to find a solution.
For me, I _was_ going to wait until class tomorrow and ask a classmate how to go about posting a new topic on my blog. I looked through other peoples' blogs to see how they might be loading their posts and comments. Then I just sat and stared at my computer screen until I saw the top menu bar, and then the button "new post". Problem solved.
Another such problem I solved with this method was babysitting a little boy with gum stuck in his hair. I had never faced such a problem before. So before I went to phone my mom, I first had to soothe the little boy, and get him to sit still and stop crying. By that time I had thought better about phoning other people, and decided to do research on the internet for home remedies to get gum out of hair. I found that dousing the besieged hair in olive oil, and leaving it in for several minutes was a successful solution--luckily his hair was very short, so I picked out the now slippery, sticky-less gum with a comb with very little fuss. Voila. Problem solved.
In conclusion, I support researching a problem on the internet to find a solution.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
qualitative is goodenough
...and in case I don't see you, good morning, good evening and good night!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
I decided that I want to do a research project about foreign students at SLU: a visual ethnography through photographs.
Just last semester I was a foreign student studying abroad, although when we get down to it, SLU Madrid is an 'American' university where 400 of the 600 students are visiting, 'study-abroad' students from all over the U.S. And about half of the permanent students are U.S. citizens that are enrolled in SLU Madrid but 'live in' and are from the United States. So, studying abroad in Madrid is not a true and total culture shock and as 'foreign exchange' as it can get.
I also lived for a year in Ecuador as an exchange student (in 2004) so I for one consider that type of immersion, where I am clearly out of my 'American' element and fellowship much more 'foreign exchange' than attending SLU Madrid. I have in my mind an idea of what it should/could be like to be a foreign student at Madrid, and who might qualify as a foreign student: a semester-only or year-only visiting student that is permanently enrolled in another university in another country, and who speaks English as a second language.
I really like all things international--people, language, and culture, so I should have found this project exciting and expected it to be an immediate huge success. Boy was my assumption inaccurate. It has been a slow start. All over campus I see so many east Asian students walking around with one another and speaking in their native language. Seeing so many foreigners would have made for easy access to subjects for this project.
So far, I have completed an interview and photograph collection from one foreign student studying here at SLU, and she was initially a student at the Madrid campus now completing her degree here. She is originally from the Philippines, and she at first served as my interview pilot tester. She has also proven a good connection as she knows a couple other foreign students on this campus.
I have recently learned that on Tuesday evenings there is an "intercambio" session in the BSC where foreign students can sit with native speaker volunteers for an hour just to practice their English skills. To gain access to this group, as an intercambio volunteer is a possible way to gain access to some more research subjects.