Stereotypes

                On my way home from school, I drove past a biker coming onto the interstate. He was dressed in leather from head to toe, had a mid-sized beard, and was driving a black Harley motorcycle decked out with saddlebags. From the parts of his body I could see, I saw a tattoo climbing up his neck. As I passed him he pulled out a long, white cigarette from his pocket and put it in his mouth. He then reached down into his saddlebag to pull out his lighter and proceeded to light his cigarette. I couldn't help but take notice of this perfect example of a biker stereotype.

                I found nothing abnormal or strange about him due to that stereotype. But if I were to go to my local physicians office for a check-up and this man walked in as my doctor, I feel like I wouldn't be able to help question his credentials.

                As I continued my drive home, I couldn't help but think about this man and my reaction to him. The way this man dressed had nothing to do with the man he actually was. For all I know he could be superman, or a lawyer, or the top surgeon in the state, and yet I am still not able to see past his biker-façade. Why do we have all of these stereotypes? I remember reading about stereotypes in my AP Psychology class last year. The book conducted a study that tested how well people relied on stereotypes. The study described the stereotype of a professor of literature and asked people whether it was a professor or a truck driver. Most people answered the professor, and it turns out that there was a lot higher percentage of that man being a truck driver.

                Thinking back to that biker, I can't help but feel the influence of the biker-stereotype. I know that under his disguise is a man like any other lawyer or surgeon out there, and for all I know he might be one. I guess my point is that stereotypes affect our judgment of people and cause us to make snap decisions about what they can do and how they act. If you have ever heard the phrase "never judge a book by its cover," it is made for situations like this. I had no right to decide on his characteristics or behavior before I had even seen him for more than ten seconds, and neither should anyone else of anyone else.

Do Something Different!

I feel like every holiday has its traditions; Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, Halloween, etc. Each year may differ a little but it is basically the same thing. Don’t get me wrong, all Holidays need to be traditional and have their own traditions, but some can change right?

                I guess it probably depends on the holiday. Religious holidays are the most traditional I think. Take Christmas for example, every year my family reads The Night before Christmas on Christmas Eve and then attends church and opens presents on Christmas Day.  Other religious holidays like Hanukah and Kwanza are probably even more routine. I think that national holidays like Thanksgiving and Halloween should be a little less routine than they sometimes are. Thanksgiving has one big event that everyone should do, Thanksgiving Dinner. But should everything else going on around Thanksgiving be the same? I don’t know about you but I go through the same thing year after year. Halloween I feel like is the same thing over and over for every age group.

                When you are little, you go trick-or-treating, and when you grow up you still may have the urge to do so but the candy-givers are a little less than pleased when you show up at their door in your teens. If you decide not to be any kind of festive and stay home I guess you can do whatever you please with your time. Others that are older and not with children may go to parties, usually costume required. These may be fun but in my experience they all have pretty much the same schedule.

                You may argue that you can go to haunted houses or other “haunts” but again, there is only so much you can do with a haunted house. I think people should just do their own thing and be a little spontaneous, especially on Halloween. If they cannot think of their own things to do, they could even combine holidays. For instance, instead of trick-or-treating, organize a group of carolers and sing ghostly songs at people’s doorways. Or, host a Thanksgiving dinner with a twist. If they feel really creative decorate a palm tree as a Halloween creature, or give out May baskets and see what happens.

                See what I mean? Holidays could be so much more entertaining if people did not stick to their typical traditions and were a little spontaneous.

Toddler's and Tiaras

               

                 Earlier today I was watching Toddlers & Tiaras, a show on abc family. It is a show about a lot of little girls that dress up, get spray tans, painted or fake nails and wear an extreme amount of make-up.  Most of the girls they showed seemed to be already self-centered and proud of their "assets." I can't imagine what they will grow up to be and how they will behave. The thing I noticed was that the mothers seemed to want their daughters to win more than their daughters themselves.

                I guess I can't really make this assumption without actually meeting the people in person, but I just thought the kids did not really want to be in it. At the beginning of the show, it introduced the names, and lifestyles of each of the girls that were going to be competing. Some seemed like alright girls, and some seemed very snobby. One of the girls, who ironically won the most pageants, refused to practice with her mother. She threw tantrums any time her mother asked her to stop jumping on her trampoline to go and help with some detail on the upcoming pageant. Other girls reluctantly practiced their walks, and smiles, and turns with their mothers.

                I was surprised how many of the girls did not like getting ready and glamorous but were fawning over themselves when it was all done. The snobby girl I mentioned earlier was crying the whole time they were getting her ready for the pageant and yelling at the stylist. She also threw a fit when she needed to get a spray tan and her nails done. Of course this girl had the most doll-like qualities when they were all done.

                Unfortunately I did not continue watching the episode because as soon as the actual pageant came on and the girls started doing their routines and walks across the stage I realized I was kind of tired of watching the screaming girls and obsessive mothers. I think I must comment on how addictive the beginning of the show was. I was in a trance watching it, although it was more of an "Is this really happening?" thought process going on in my head.

Not Enough Time in the Day

There needs to be more time in the day, just saying. A twenty-four hour day is simply not long enough for school, homework, extracurricular activities, and if you have a job you can say goodbye to your social life. The planned hours of my day do not make any sense. I have regularly scheduled classes from 7:00 am to 3:30 pm and if my sports practice goes until 5:00 or 6:00 at night that would be a total of ten hours of my day spent at school. Not including the hours of homework some teachers expect students to finish in their "free time"

Workers during the industrial revolution went on strikes because their work hours were too long and their pay was too little. I have not heard of students working toward fewer hours of school, or less homework. They may have thought about it or even acted upon it but I have not heard about a single instance where students actually succeeded in reducing the amount of hours of school and homework. I think it is because students have no respect. Adults do not care to change what they went through when they were in school because they want the new students to suffer as much as they did.

            My Spanish teacher shared her opinion the other day of how school should be handled. She thought that the school day should go from around nine to five. This way there would be more class time and kids would get more sleep. There would also be no homework assigned, rather teachers would use the extra class time to do more work. She thought it would also be beneficial to change all sports so that they are strictly club. That way school funds could be used for academic programs. I agree completely with her ideas. Even though more hours at school may take a little while to get used to, if there was no homework, kids would be able to get a lot more sleep and spend time doing extracurricular activities.


            To summarize my argument; either extend the hours in a day or the hours of a school day.

Job Interviews

                Job interviews are brutal. Whether it’s the hour of asking questions you don't know how to answer, or the fact that you will spend days after it wondering if you got the job, interviews are simply brutal. I just finished with the second job interview I have had in my life and even after my little experience, I can assure you that they are not fun.

                As if going into a new place, and meeting with a person that will decide your employment future isn't enough, they go and ask you questions as well! Questions I might add that are completely self and experience-based. I know that some people can talk about themselves for hours, and bring up their positive attributes on cue but I definitely cannot. Second of all, they ask the same questions over and over expecting a different answer every time! I think that is the worst method in the world because if someone can't answer it right the first time, what makes them think that the interviewee can answer it again?

                Let me provide some examples of the questions asked at an interview. Question number one: "Why should I hire you?" Really, could you get any worse than that? Obviously, that is a question for you to answer, not me. I feel like that is just asking for selfish/vain answers. Which brings me to question number two; "What are your best qualities?" Well, I am a great ear-wiggler, and I can sleep through a fire alarm. Hmm, maybe they should be a little more specific. Number two here clearly shows that they are looking for selfish people. Interviewers also ask questions like number 3: "What did you do when you got into an argument with one of your coworkers?" This would be what I like to call an open-ended question with a pre-generated response. What if I haven't gotten in an argument with a coworker before? Even if I have, it's not like I would say I punched them in the face or something (which I wouldn't) because that would almost guarantee unemployment. Which is why I am sure the majority of applicants would say "I would work it out in a calm and productive manner." Yeah right, because that’s what people always do in a fury. "Calmly talk the problem out."

                I understand the reasoning behind the questions; to find suitable people to fill the job. But will the questions really rule out people with anger issues or bad qualities that they don't want to say because it would make them look bad? I would assume that any one stupid enough to comment on their extremely bad qualities aren't really expecting to get that job. I am just saying that the interviewers need to reconstruct their interviews.

Procrastination

                Why is procrastination so prominent? I am someone who procrastinates and I can say from experience that it sucks. I think it is because I can think of so many better, or more fun, ways to spend my time. Take homework for example; that is about the least entertaining thing in the world. I guess I should bite my tongue before I figure out something worse. I guess the phrase "watching paint dry" would apply. Although, I personally think it can be interesting sometimes depending on the color, and which parts dry first.

                Back to my original topic; teachers know their students will procrastinate. The other day, my AP Biology teacher assigned us a journal article review to write. He kept saying, "Don't put it off until Sunday night because you will be up late if you do." As much as he said it, there were a whole lot of people, including myself, who were sitting at their computers Sunday night, typing up their article reviews. If teachers know our behavioral habits, why do they assign the homework in the first place? I will save that topic for another post.

                I think the main cause of my procrastination is due to the fact that I can think of so many other things I would rather be doing. The only difference between a procrastinator, and a non-procrastinator is that the person procrastinating goes and does that other thing. Whether it is playing outside, watching t.v., reading, or going on the computer, the person that ends up procrastinating goes and does it. Unfortunately, the smarter of the two people figures if they finish their homework first, they can go and do fun things later. I just don't think it has the same effect.

Seussical the Musical

I know this is a little bit late but I realized I never wrote a review about the Kennedy Play.

                This year the chosen fall theater production was Seussical the Musical. The musical was a mixture of different Dr. Seuss books with its own little twist. The play was about an elephant named Horton that finds a little world the size of a speck of dust. Since Horton has big ears, he can hear the people talk to him when no one else can. To the rest of the jungle, this makes Horton look crazy. During Horton's mission to keep this little world safe, he encounters love, hate, and challenges to overcome.

                I thought the play was very well cast, but the costuming and makeup wasn’t as great as previous years. Other than a few pitch problems, everyone sang very well. I thought they adjusted to each other's voices rather well and the songs were lovely. I saw a snippet of the play in the school's play preview and came back to watch the show the following night. Everyone I was with thought that is was great and I know the parents and babysitters appreciated that it was kid-friendly.

                During the play, a chair malfunctioned and the "bird" that fell through handled it rather well when it happened. She did try to fix it and I thought that it would have been fine if she hadn’t. I heard afterwards that she was extremely angry with the tech person that set it up. I don’t understand why though, I guess it could have been the heat of the moment but I thought she reacted a little harshly.

                Even though there were a few problems during the play, I thought it was really great overall. I could tell that the actors added their own little touches here and there which really added to the quality of the play. The boy that played the narrator - the Cat in the Hat in this case, was very funny and the perfect choice. The singers all had very beautiful voices as well. I thoroughly enjoyed going to the play and look forward to going to the next play production.