A Self-Reflective Letter

            This class has been a blast to me. In the beginning, I thought that this class would be very boring and I would not learn much because I did not really like sociology before. It turns out that I have learned a lot of things that I had no interest in before. There have been a lot of great experiences that I gain from this class and in fact, I had so much fun. For me, the most important thing that I learn from this class is how to improve my writing to a higher level.

            When I finished writing my first essay in this class, I though that my essay would turn out very bad. My writing skills were not that great and English has been one of my worst subjects. After receiving the grade for my first essay, I did not really believe about my grade because I did a pretty good job. When I looked back and reflected on my essay, I was a little bit shocked about my writing. I started to slowly understand how to write something great and where my mistakes usually occur. I looked at the grading chart and I figured out which part of the essay did I do poorly on and which part of the essay did I do great.

            As the class slowly progressed through the quarter, I learned how to write an organized, well-written essay. One of the most important terms that I learn was P.I.E, which stands for Point, Information, and Explanation. P.I.E gives me sort of a guideline to what am I supposed to do in my body paragraph of the essay. It helped me a lot in developing my ideas and giving sufficient information and explanation to support my ideas during my writing processes. In addition, I also learned about my essay organization, which consists of essay level, paragraph level and sentence level. In the sentence level, I learn how to improve my sentence structures in order to make my sentences related to the main idea of the essay. In the paragraph level, I learn how to look at each of my paragraphs that I have written whether every sentences in the paragraph are connected to the topic sentences of each paragraph and how each of my paragraphs are related to my thesis statement. As for the essay level, I learn how to see my whole piece of writing being read and graded in general. Last but not least, one of the most essential things that writes should not forget is Quotes I³ (Introduced, incorporated, Interpreted). This, in my opinion, is the part where our points for each paragraph are being supported the most. With the use of quotations, I was able to identify some points that I wanted to put in my essay and make each of my paragraphs strong and solid.

           

            Sitting in the final exam room, I scrolled down to my assignment areas and checked my grades so far and how I have been progressing. I did not expect something great from my grades nor I expect something amazing would happen to happen in this class. Surprisingly, my grades are increasing from one essay to another. I was thinking to myself, “What have I really done that I was able to achieve this much improvement?” From these lessons that I have been taught, I finally understand how my writing style looks like. I get the feeling of how my mind comes out with the ideas that I need to write my essay. This much of accomplishment made me understand the importance of writing in the real world and how different opinions affect our ways of thinking. Influences from an awesome teacher who have taught many valuable lessons and did an amazing job in developing my writing skills is also one of the reasons that I learned a lot. I have never felt so good before that it makes me happier than ever.

            After this whole process of meaningful writing is done, there are still open paths that I can gain using the lessons that I have learned so far. There are still many more things that I can learn after I step out into this world and face many different challenges in life. These challenges may include facing the world on our own two feet. With my writing skills that I have learned, I think that I would be able to change some people’s perspective toward some things. I believe that I can influence them in such a way that there is something more to get out of life and there are still a lot of things that we can achieve.

Racism on College Campuses

Nowadays, societies are expanding more and more rapidly due to the increase of population. With this rapid increase of population, people are being spread out unevenly throughout the world and they have created their own society and culture. This results in a creation of a large number of ethnic groups and there are many diverse racial groups that have emerged all over the countries. With the emergence of many different racial groups and cultures, conflicts also arise between these groups because different opinions arise and there might be misunderstanding between these racial groups. Since racial groups are getting more competitive and they do not want to be left out, members of each group are now differentiating themselves from the others and they consider themselves superior to the other. As a result, discrimination and prejudice has been going on in most parts of the world. This act of discrimination and prejudice, which is commonly known as racism, can create unwanted problems that many people do not want to face.

Racism in fact, has been one of the major social issues, to which it does not seem to have an end. Racism has been a steady problem all through time and it has remained as one of the most complex problems in the world. This troublesome problem has been happening in public places especially in public schools and universities. The reason behind this is because in public schools and universities, students from different racial groups and ethnicities are collectively gathered in a single educational institution where they develop their social skills and increase their knowledge. With different racial groups being gathered in one place, arguments and controversies are inevitable. Racism in schools and universities thus brings negative effects towards the educational system and its members.

Racism on college campuses takes place even before the student gets enrolled to the campus. This happens because in every enrollment for every student, there is a set rule that new students need to abide. This set rule can be made as biased and as racist as possible when the people who evaluate students’ applications are not being fair to minority students. To illustrate the scenario above, we can use an example of a white student and a black student who are applying to a university in which their applications are being evaluated using the standards of the set rule. Without thinking further, we may think that the set rule is a policy that every member of the university must obey. However, the set rule can be slightly changed because the university has the power to do so. The university is able to twist and turn words inside the set rule in order to prevent minority students from entering the university. Thus, when racial discrimination takes place, whichever student whom the university prefers would potentially have a higher chance of acceptance to the university. This can be proven by the fact that “in the past five years students of color who were accepted to the UC were choosing to enroll at lower rates as well. Students and community have found that the university has become a hostile environment” (Geyer). For this reason, minority students are in a disadvantaged position particularly in the admission process. To put it more simply, minority students have a lower chance of being admitted in the university.

Racism creates a severe problem within schools’ system especially towards the development of the students’ education level.  When students are being discriminated, they will be treated differently from the other students. They will feel that they are being excluded from all the opportunities and achievements that they could accomplish from schools and it does not bring any good to the students and the school itself. Minority students will have a miserable time in class especially when they are studying and they will not have the freedom to do things with confident. In Kenneth Jost’s articles, he wrote that the “civil rights advocates counter that racial isolation imposes much more serious costs for minority students”. The civil rights stated that the “consequences of segregation of African-American students in public schools — and it is increasingly true for Latino students — have been concentration of poverty, deprivation of resources and a host of other problems that do impact on the quality of education" (Jost). This implies that racism lowers down the standard of education of schools and that there is no benefit of having racism in school. Minority students will feel rejected from class discussions and they cannot participate fully.

In a simpler term, this process of excluding minority students from having an opportunity to be successful in the university is called student marginalization. When minority students are marginalized they are made to feel like they are different and they are being viewed as strangers. Marginalizing minority students can create serious effects especially when it happens to any students at anytime. This can happen because “student marginalization may be manifested in individual actions, institutionalized policies, and social practices” (Cox 13). This is one of the pernicious problems that university students are dealing with especially for minority students who are in need for help. For example, if these minority students who need help, such as dealing with financial problems or any learning disabilities, are being marginalized, they will be put into a more disadvantageous situation as they need to face more and more problems. As a result, minority students would suffer from all the burdens that they need to carry. This may cause students to have peer pressure as well as mental pressure and this may lead to the breakdown of the students’ physical and mental conditions.

In addition, students who are being discriminated would have a lower moral and self-esteem compared to those students who are not being discriminated. Clearly, in our society perspective, schools and universities are places where students go to in order to develop their social skills and knowledge; however, it is not as simple as it seems. When minority students are being discriminated, they are not only being excluded from the class but their feelings are hurt as well. This exclusion of minority students from the classroom can be in any form of actions such as making fun of them or saying unpleasant words to them.  An example that suits this description is the controversies that have been happening between White students and African American Students in the United States. According to an evaluation done by researchers from an institute, they concluded that “African American students who attend predominantly black schools experience less social isolation, less alienation, less personal dissatisfaction and less personal racism than African Americans who attend predominantly white institutions” (Jost). From this research, we can tell that minority students will feel much more comfortable when they are separated from students from different yet superior racial groups. Moreover, it is also likely that students with low self-esteem are more likely to perceive their environment as more discriminatory than students with high levels of self-esteem.

Furthermore, racism would create dissociation within the college system. The breakdown of the students’ relationship with one another would have a huge negative impact and students would only have a close relationship with those students of the same race, ignoring other racial groups. Students from one racial group, thus, would eventually be unfamiliar with another racial group and it creates this mindset that other racial groups do not belong to this society in the university. Each racial groups would feel that they are the better than the others, but as a matter of fact, they are not. Because of that, it creates hatred and anonymity between students. These groups of students feel “compelled, almost driven, to entreat others to hate as they do. Further, individuals otherwise ineffective become empowered when they join groups, which also provide anonymity and diminished accountability” (Schafer). Thus rendering the emergence of hate groups inevitable, which in turn will affect the way the college system works.

Moreover, under these circumstances, one of the worst things that could happen from the formation of hate groups is the limitation of free speech. Minority students would have a very hard time in speaking to one another because they are being pressurized by other hate groups.  Consequently, some students will have a hard time interacting with other people. Hence, minority students can hardly suggest ideas and opinions to other people. On the other hand, non-minority students would not have any difficulties in interacting with other people. As a result, these students can say whatever they want to other students without feeling any guilt. They will have more freedom in expressing themselves and thus, making the university having an imbalance proportion of students’ interaction and communication. If this problem continues, racial inequality would inevitably happen in colleges and universities.

On the worst case scenario, hate speech inside the college campuses would be directed from one racial group to another. Hate speech is a form of communication in which it “creates a hostile learning environment that ultimately thwarts the academic process” (Clemmitt). As an example, when a student from one racial group directs his/her hate speech towards another student from a different racial group, this student is damaging the other student’s race. The student who receives the hate speech will ultimately be hurt emotionally. As a result, since some students are very sensitive to hearing words that are unpleasant to their ears, they will not hold back and they will try to throw back an insulting hate speech. If this situation goes on, after some time, hate speech can sometimes lead to crimes and violent actions on college campuses because speech can sometimes incite violence. This may result in fights, tension and possibly, death, because hate speech makes a clear line between what one feels is right, and what one feels is not. Thus, that person who is being discriminated can become involved in a violent fight or confrontation. Incidentally, if someone is racist or hateful enough to say something aloud, there would be nothing getting in their way from engaging in violent activities.

Overall, racism on campuses does not bring any integration and unification of students from different racial groups with one another. It deters the development of the educational system by the segregation of students inside the college campuses.  The doctrine of prejudicing and discriminating minorities is also the most essential thing that needs to be considered when one wants to promote equality on college campuses. Without changing these beliefs and mindset of stereotyping, the growth of bringing more diverse people would be stagnant and in the long run, the university would be a hopeless place to meet with new people from different racial groups. Furthermore, there would be less interaction between students which is not a good way for students to gain connection and be in a relationship with others.

Works Cited

Clemmitt, Marcia. “Academic Freedom.” Cqpress. CQ Press, 7 Oct. 2005. Web. 24 June 2012.

Cox, Elizabeth M., ed. Jesse S. Watson: Marginalized Students. San Francisco Wiley, John & Sons,
Incorporated, 2011. Print.

Jost, Kenneth. “Black Colleges.” Cqpress. CQ Press, 12 Dec. 2003. Web. 20 June 2012.

Jost, Kenneth. “Racial Diversity in Public Schools.” Cqpress. CQ Press, 14 Sep. 2007. Web. 20 June 2012

Paget-Clarke, Nic, and Graciela Elizabeth Geyer. “Affirmative Action in College Admissions Ensures Equality.” Students' Rights. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. 2005. Web. 22 June 2012.

Schafer, John R., and Joe Navarro. "The Seven-Stage Hate Model: The Psychopathology Of Hate Groups." Cultic Studies Review 5.1 (2006): 1. EDS Foundation Index. Web. 24 June 2012.

Rehabilitation or Punishment

               Nowadays, children are getting more exposed to the outside world. Some of them are influenced negatively as the numbers of juvenile crimes are increasing from time to time. As this trend grows, many juveniles are now being tried in the adult courts, instead of the juvenile halls, and they are prosecuted with the same punishment that adult criminals receive. This kind of treatment may not be the most effective way to punish those children as they are in the stage of growing up becoming adults. The book “True Notebooks”, written by Mark Salzman, shows some interesting facts about why juveniles are better served in a juvenile hall rather than in an adult court. Therefore, juvenile criminals are supposed to be treated with more consideration and they need to be rehabilitated in a proper manner.

               Treating juveniles as adults is not one way to help them realize that what they did was wrong. If juveniles are treated the same adult criminals are treated, they will have a very low chance in changing their mindset from a criminal’s to a normal person’s. One of the reasons is that, adult criminals have their solid perspective towards what is right and what is wrong. They understand better than children about the consequences that they have to face if they do something illegal. Moreover, the only one that can change their own opinion is themselves. On the other hand, children are still learning new things in life and they are experiencing their first few stages of socialization. Often times, they are unaware that what they are doing is considered to be illegal and that their actions are being influenced by the adults. This may lead to inaccurate judgments from the court towards the juveniles which gives them lack of sympathy and understanding. Statistically, according to Barry Krisberg’s research, it is also specified that “a majority of 9 to 1 (91%) believes that rehabilitation services and treatment for incarcerated youth can help prevent future crimes. This is why trying juveniles as adults is a completely wrong way in guiding them because they can still be productive in the future if we give them enough space and time for rehabilitation.

               Putting juveniles in adult prisons is not an effective way to help the juveniles in their rehabilitation because incarcerated adults who have a criminal mindset will affect the children and guide them in the wrong direction. According to Barry Krisberg’s research, statistically, it is also specified that “of those polled, more than two-thirds (68%) disagree that incarcerating youth in adult facilities teaches them a lesson and deters them from committing future crimes. In adult prisons, all that they can do is try to survive the ugly things that they can imagine. They can be beaten up because adult criminals are bored, they can be bullied by the adults for them to have fun or even worse, they can be tortured until they are severely hurt. Mr. Granillo, a Latino guard in the juvenile hall, admits, “when you get to the pen…You’re gonna be boys surrounded by men … who'd just as soon shank you as say hello. If you wanna survive…you’re gonna have to toughen up!” (Salzman 57). This explains the reality that juveniles will face if they are incarcerated in adult prisons. Instead of learning important life skills and rehabilitating, they will learn how to survive by being tough and cruel to other people.

               Another concern is that those juveniles who are given a short period amount of time of incarceration in adult prisons might commit more crimes in the future. That being said, they think that it is better to put them in prison for a longer period of time if they are to be put in prison at all. They might think that this will reduce recidivism in their society. However, this is not the how it will work most of the time. Incarceration does not deter people, be it juvenile or adults, from committing future crimes. Incarceration only makes them lose hope of their life and it also gives them desperation. What makes them do the opposite is the rehabilitation part especially in gaining their confidence back. Once juveniles receive their sentences in the adult criminal system, they will have a hard time coping with those tough and vicious adults. Barry Krisberg also provided us with a statistics that “approximately 7 in 10 feel that putting youth under age 18 in adult correctional facilities makes them more likely to commit future crime.” This implies that preventing recidivism by putting them in the adult prisons is not very effective.

               It is a shame that these juveniles are incarcerated because they still have a chance and a lot of opportunities to success in life. As Mark Salzman was teaching juveniles in the prison, from the essays that the boys wrote, he found out that they still have their will to survive in this world. These children were able to realize what they did in the past was horrible. Jimmy Wu, Salzman’s student who got sentenced in an adult prison for about fifteen years as a transfer from a juvenile hall, proofed to Salzman that he acknowledged his crime and showed remorse. In one of his essays, he wrote his feelings to a judge saying, “Why couldn’t you give me a chance? Why are you taking away fifteen years of my life for one mistake? I know that I have to pay the penalty for what I did two years ago, but why can’t you look at me and see how I have changed?” (Salzman 208). This section of his essay shows us his true feelings that he is aware that what he did was a mistake of his life.

               Obviously, one speaks about juvenile crimes, the juveniles justice system has to be brought up as it also has its flaws. Referring back to Jimmy’s case, just imagine how cruel and unfair it was for a little boy who did not understand the big picture about the law in California. Not to mention, he was sentenced for fifteen years just because of a single robbery; which is a punishment equivalent to that of a second degree murder, according to California Law. This implies that there is something not right about the juvenile justice system. According to the "New Report Finds Growing Trend of Prosecuting Youth in Adult Court Casting Too Wide a Net; Many Youth Charged with Non-Violent Offenses" article, there is an unfair treatment towards racial minority juveniles. This report explains that “youth of color in California were significantly more likely than white youth charged with similar crimes to be sentenced by adult court to incarceration.” This report implies that the judges may be prejudicing these minor juveniles, thinking that these minor juveniles are far more abusive towards their State. This unfolds one of the unfairness in the juvenile justice system. It seems that racial discrimination is one of the reasons why minority juveniles are treated harsher and this situation also seems to be Jimmy’s situation.  As a result, this so-called juvenile “justice” system is not as honest as it seems.

               Furthermore, Sister Janet, a nun who is working in the same juvenile hall where Salzman teaches, delivered a remarkable influential statement. She says that “true justice cannot exist without compassion; compassion cannot exist without understanding” (Salzman 155). However, from Jimmy Wu’s case, we can see that there is no justice served for him. Without understanding what juveniles are thinking inside their mind, the judge, or even us, will not be able to figure out the reasons behind the actions that these juveniles make. This, in turn, can lead to unfair prosecution towards the juveniles. According to a report, “prosecuting juveniles in adult criminal court through direct filing by prosecutors and statutory exclusion laws casts too wide a net, sending many young people into adult courts and jails for non-violent charges”. As we can see from that report, many juveniles are being sent into adults courts for non-violent charges. Moreover, Kevin Jackson, another Salzman’s students, also shared his feelings to Salzman about being locked up in a prison. He says “Bein’ locked up can make a person feel like they’re no longer a person. It makes you feel lower than people on the outside, and that can destroy your will to succeed” (Salzman 99). From these two pieces of information, the lack of understanding and compassion that the court gives can negatively impact the juveniles significantly. Consequently, juveniles will not get any encouragement and support because of this misunderstanding. Thus, they will be isolated from other people and their chance of recovery might not even be possible.

               Overall, this “juvenile justice system” is not as good as what many people think and biased, at best. At the very least, it should be changed as to give alternatives for the trials of these juveniles. The court should change how the trials and prosecution of the juveniles work. Without changing these elements in the juvenile justice system, children would literally be abused and they would be incarcerated for an unreasonable amount of time. Things that juveniles really need are rehabilitation, education and guidance. These opportunities are for them to discover what they are capable of and apply them in their future. Without a doubt, the juvenile justice system needs more sympathy and understanding than these harsh punishments.