Chapter 8 Reflection

While reading chapter 9, it was the very first section that got most of my attention. I was not happy on how the author used the quote "The bottom line, whatever the casualties, is that immigrants are goign to continue to join because they have to, They want to life better" (quoted in Davey, 2004). It was used to show how the government forces lower class/minorities to join the military. No one is forced to do sign up for the military. The military is an excellent way to get out of a lower class system, pay for college and gain experience that can help in later life. Being from an uppor middleclass town, i know alot of individuals who have gone into the military, ones that did not have to for economic reasons. Just because there are more minorities in the military that does not make it a bad thing.

Observation Journal #4

Over this past weekend i spent most of my time in Castleton, and while i was down there i realized how different it actually was from burlington. When i walk through downtown burlington all i see are different posters protesting things with extremely liberal statements, and lots of hippies. Then when down in castleton...none of those things...infact it was almost the exact opposite. Most people held more conservative views, with few protests about the governemnt and the way it is being run.
I knew that rural vermont was more conservative than burlington, but i never really knew how much untill i actually met multiple people from those areas.

Chapter 5 reading reflection

Chapter 5 discusses stereostypes and how they can affect individuals. Everyone at some point in their life has either applied a stero type to someome or has been viewed as stereotypical for their race, gender, or ethnicity.

I know that for myself growing up in a primarly white upper middleclass town, most people that viewed us believed that everyone was exactly the same, stuckup and rich. How ever this is not true, the majority of the families were normal people who went to work everyday and worked hard to provide for their family.

Although i foudn it very annoying to be grouped in witht he typic opper class white male, i am also guilty of applying stereotypes. The best example i can give is the stereotype of of an African american who enjoys eating fried chicken, watermelon, drinking coolaid, and is extremely loud when at the movies. My first year of college was spent at SUNY Canton, where a large portion of the student population is made up of african americans, and sure enough a good chunk of the population fit that stereotype, almost exactly. It was very interesting (and a little annoying at times), but i was also aware of the fact that they were not all like that, and that some were very quite and reserved.