Reflect on the discussions and activities we've had in class for this
semester an talk about some of the most meaningful quotes, moments, or
speakers that changed your perspective.
Blog posts must be 200-400 words, proofread, and void of common grammatical errors.
Your blog posts are due at 5:00PM on Thursday, June 12th.
Please email albreaks@ku.edu if you have any questions!
I think the class that had the largest impact on me would be the one with Dr. Blane Harding’s talk. Dr. Harding was such an inspirational and exciting speaker. His talk about letting people identify themselves and respecting others really triggered a lot of thoughts and it has helped make me more conscious of some of the things that I say as well as some of my actions. It is amazing how he went out of his way to make one person feel comfortable with just walking back to her place. This is the type of person that I want to be, someone who always has other people and their well-being on their mind. A really eye opening line that I remember is when he brought up the common phrase, “treat others like you would want to be treated.” He then said something along the lines of, “don’t treat others the way you want to be treated. What if they want to be treated differently than how you would want to be treated?” This is something that I have never thought of and it is important to put other people’s feelings and ideas into perspective whenever you are interacting with people. Really each class I got to learn things, even during the smaller activities. I really did enjoy each of these classes and I feel like I am ready to go on this Alternative Break. I am really excited to help out the community in Indianapolis.
ReplyDeleteThis program is really fantastic. The sites are so creative and well thought-out. The issues we discuss in class just go to show how important it is to fully understand the people we try to help through community service. Not only can these issues apply to community service, but they can also apply to most global and personal issues. This program helped me, personally, build meaningful relationships with others devoid of assumptions or judgments.
ReplyDeleteI really appreciated the Ivan Illich article. Despite its somewhat blunt perspective, it brought up some very pertinent points that people tend to forget when attempting to help others. The American media conveys a predominantly patriotic message, which doesn’t necessarily create a problem until we start to believe that everyone wants what we have, and it is our duty to give it to them. Ivan Illich sort of slaps his readers in the face with the idea that not every culture shares this belief, which is so incredibly important to remember when pursuing a helpful role.
My absolute favorite speaker was Dr. Blane Harding. He introduced several perspectives on multiculturalism I genuinely hadn’t encountered before. I loved his ideas about true social justice and what it really means to relinquish one’s prejudices. The handout I found particularly insightful. It helped open my eyes toward my own insecurities and closed-mindedness. He definitely threw a lot of information at us in a very short period of time, however, and I wished we could have spent some more time on some of the things he discussed. I also thought it would have been clever if he walked in to introduce himself wearing stereotypical clothes and acting in ways that may have made some students a bit uncomfortable to really drive his point home. Overall, he was an awesome speaker and I really hope he comes back next year.
I’m really glad to have this opportunity to do something fulfilling this summer. Alternative Breaks gives me the motivation to be more helpful in my own community. I’m really proud to be a part of this program.
I loved hearing from Blane; I'd missed having a class with him! He's such a great guy and a wonderful speaker. He's really passionate about his work and about the issues he presents on, and you can really tell when you listen to him speak. One of the most memorable points Blane brought up was when he said, “Everyone knows the Golden Rule, but I think we need something better. Here’s the Platinum Rule, or whatever you want to call it: Treat others how THEY want to be treated.” I had never thought of this before, and the Golden Rule is something I live by. It became clear to me when I started college just how many different kinds of people there are in the world, but that no one person is the same. Honestly, it would be difficult to implement this rule with strangers, but I think it should definitely be used with people you know. It’s a wonderful thing to keep in mind that even though you know how you want to be treated, it might not be the same thing that someone else wants. Though we’re all humans, everyone is different, and we expect to be treated accordingly.
ReplyDeleteI think throughout this mini-semester with this class, my views on multiculturalism and diverse really changed when Dr. Blane Harding had his speech. Growing up, I knew I was American and my hometown was so small that we rarely had anyone else different from our culture. Sure I’m German thanks to my great-great-great-great-great grandfather Thomas Beeton when he traveled to the Americas from Germany way back in the day but I’m still an American. It wasn’t until I reached high school when we had one black kid but that was it. By the time I graduated, we had three black kids among a sea of white kids.
ReplyDeleteThe diverse culture didn’t hit me until my freshman year here at KU. My dorm floor was so diverse, I honestly thought I was in a different country or McCollum Hall was known to be the international dormitory hall. I saw so many different cultures here and some of my classes were even bigger than my graduating class of 92 students!
Multiculturalism is a whole other world for me. I didn’t know some people could be bi-cultural at all. I just assumed you either pick one or the other. Dr. Blane Harding’s talk about which culture is the fastest growing culture group caught me off guard. When I think about it, multiculturalism seems like the fastest group because everyone is from somewhere at least. I wonder what the world will look like in a decade from now. How many cultures would there be in the U.S.?
I felt like the most impacting speaker was Dr. Blane Harding. I had never thought about the difference in the terminology between equality and equity. I think he is absolutely correct that our country needs equity more than equality. Every person is different and what might be good and adequate for one is possibly not for another. What is considered fair may not be technically better for all. Going out and experiencing my break site, Homeboy made this realization even more evident. For example at Homeboy many of the men and women there have trouble finding jobs because of their prior back ground and possible prison time. Many of the people have felonies, which prohibit them from being able to work in numerous places. I realize that many of the policies prohibiting them to work in certain areas is in place for the safety of many, but I can’t help to think that employers should look carefully at each situation by a person to person basis. Equality would say, that it is only fair that all people with felonies cannot work certain jobs. Equity would realize that some have made mistakes and have sought help to better themselves and a stable job would be a good option for them. This is just a minor example of how I took to heart Dr. Blane's amazing message.
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