Blog Post #3 Racism

Leo Abedian
5/8/13

                                                       Blog Post #3

What does it take for someone to move from a position of hate and racism to a position of tolerance and respect?

To start with, for someone to turn into or become a racist person would probably take some persuasion. Some people become racist because their family and friends from a young age teach them that it is right. People don't understand if you love your child you would not let them go out in to the world and have another thing to deal with. Some people become racist because something happened to them by someone of a different race, like a fight or stealing.  Some people listen to the media and take television the attitudes they see on an radio and think that all of a particular race is a certain way, that is stereotyping to its fullest. So for someone to start having a different view on being racist it must take a lot. Like Derek, he accompanied the presence of an African American for about 6 months when he was in prison. That certainly gave him a different view on them. So for someone to change their opinion on a specific race, it must take a lot of getting to know the race showing that they are actually not bad after all. So, it will totally change the persons point of view; it will probably also change the families  point of view on the race that they are against. It basically take a lot for the person to change, because change is a big thing, but sometimes change can be good.

Links:
What is racism?
History of race in the U.S.

Why does racism still exist?

Why are people racist?

When did racism start?

Trailer American History X

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/Leo_Abedian

About.me:
http://about.me/leoabedian

Response to Seattle Boycott

In Seattle a school called  Garfield thought about making their school stop taking the MAP test. They said that it was a waste of time for their students to take the test. Every single teacher supported the idea of actually stop taking the test. "It is important to use test results, but its also important that they do not become our oxygen." What Pat Hunter, Principal of Maple Elementary, meant with this quote is that tests are good for testing the knowledge of the students. But it can not be something that they do every single day. The teachers think that the fact that students take a test at least once a week is allready enough then taking the MAP test wich will take up time for the students to learn other subjects.

My opinion about this boycott is a bit biase due to the fact that i am a student and i hate tests. But i beleive that they should eliminate MAP tests because it is a big waste of time for learning. During MAP tests all you do is basically take a test that does not hhave any affect on the students grade, amd all it does basically ismtest your knowlegde. I beleive that the teachers of Garfield highschool have a good reason for eliminating the MAP tests because of its reasonless purpose of testing students with out having any affect on their grade. I hope that this boycott can work and take away all of the MAP tests from every single highschool.

Leo Abedian Academic Leadership Goal Setting

Leo Aebedian 10/24/12

During this period of time I have met my goals. It was tough but I had succeeded. During this time I had many problems. At first a problem I had was that I couldn't manage my time. So I made a calendar on my iPad. I also made alarms reminding me to study for tests and quizzes. Also for homework. So one problem with that was that I would keep forgetting to update my calendar and once my iPad malfunctioned and it didn't save. I think that I was very successful due to the fact that now I am being able to plan my daily things. This was really tough thing to start but when you get accustomed to it, it gets way better. Something that I learned is that you need to have much patients for this process. When you have patients with this process you are able to control it and then on start to plan your assignments well and tests, projects, essays, homework, etc. I really liked the idea of doing this because for me it was lots of help. Right now I have deleted my calendar to see if i can plan my things on my own without the help of the calendar and alarms telling you to study. It's a bit of a challenge but i need to take this a step higher.

Blog Post #2                                                                                    Leo Abedian

When I am in college I wish to get a MBA in business. In college I really want to go to a school that isn’t highly strict about education, but I want to go to college to study well and have a lot of fun. I also want to be able to have enough time to do extracurricular activities. I don’t really have any fears in college and I don’t have any concerns but I do have a question which is: If the college that I apply to requires the TOEFL test, will I have to take the TOEFL test or the CST, due to the fact that I do have an American and a Brazilian passport and also did use to live in the U.S. approximately two years ago? Being an academic leader actually can affect your advantage to apply to a certain college because if you are an academic leader, then you are some sort of a ¨role model¨. This type of ¨role model¨ shows that you are responsible to enough to be a ¨role model¨, and that you can make good academic choices, and these aspect are ones in which a college recruiter wants and seeks in a person.  

Academic Leadership Assignment

Leo Abedian

1) "In our first two weeks, you have read two articles, seen several videos and been engaged in several discussions related to the concept of academic leadership. At this point, and in your own words, what does the concept mean to you?

Academic Leadership is a class in which shows the purpose of academic success. Throughout this week of attending academic leadership I ensure that the concept of the subject is to demonstrate the new ideas and ways of using 21st century devices for an academic purpose. It is as well a new way of demonstrating students, modern ways of showing their academic development.

2) What subjects or interests do you have a sophisticated, intellectual understanding of that you may want to turn into a major academic project in this class?

I would like to do a major project on how skateboarding began. I think it would seem interesting because i love skateboarding and surfing and it would be cool to know the history of it and how it started. It would also be cool to see how the first skateboard looks like.

3) How do people sometimes abuse academic knowledge to manipulate others?

People use academic knowledge to manipulate others because of the knowledge that the person has is at a level that most people lack of. These knowledgeable people believe in cultural conformity of the group of people that they deal with daily. By having more understanding, the person can conquer and demand people to do what ever he shall ask. It can also make others believe on what they believe. An example of manipulation through knowledge can be through teachers. The professor has so much knowledge that the student will eventually want to believe in what he or she says, do what he or she does, and think what he or she thinks. But the teacher would probably do this in a good way, as if they were the student's role model.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJT7Mr6Vuqk

4) How would you feel if someone used your work to manipulate others (as Jared Diamond claims Mitt Romney has)?

If someone used my work to manipulate others it would depend on the way that the person uses the work to manipulate. If it was used in a good way I would allow the person to do that. But if it was used in a bad way, for example to rule the world or something then no I wouldn't because of the consequences that would occur to the human population.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgnmT-Y_rGQ

5) How can creating academically sophisticated, intellectual leaders help prevent such people from taking advantage of others the way they do?

It would help because they will be knowledgeable leaders because they will know right form wrong and also the major consequences of a leadership in which people don't have freedom of opinion, thought, and lack of knowledge.

6) How can this create a stronger democratic society?" 

This would create a stronger democratic society because the society will have more knowledge to choose their own leader and to go after this leader to fulfill the societies needs and desires.