HEY!

Heyyy, my name is Maria, i’m 19 years old. I was born and raised in Colombia until 2001, when unfortunate circumstances forced my family and I to seek refuge here in Canada. I didn’t speak any English at the time, which made communicating with people quite difficult. Thanks to the school system, i was able to learn the language within about 6 months. I REALLY love to dance anything from salsa, merengue and even hip-hop. I also play a lot of volleyball on my spare time. I attended high school at Princess Margaret Secondary from grade 8 to 10, then finished off the last 2 years at Panorama Ridge Secondary.I am currently a second year student in the AA program in Psychology, hoping to transfer to UBC where i will complete my BA degree in Psychology.  I am looking forward to a great semester of learning how to make a difference in this Social Justice class

Sociology 1125 -Reflective Essay

I had already had a preconceived notion of how amazing and interesting Sociology class would be. My friends were boasting about this amazing professor, Dr. Charles Quist-Adade, whose class i “had to take”. With all of this in mind, and my immense interest in wanting to understand people, society, cultures, race and racism and ultimately myself, i decided that i would take this course. It was most definitely one of the best decisions i have made. I knew that by taking this course i would enhance my knowledge of my surroundings and understand the process by which horrible things such racism come to be. What i was most interested in learning about was racism and what people base their prejudice and discrimination upon. I had never really thought that racism, in this advanced society, excited.

However, i was shocked to learn the many ways the racism was being exhibited in today’s society. I was very intrigued when i learned the difference between prejudice and discrimination. I always believed that they were one in the same, but that is not the case. Prejudice is known to be the thought, or the pre-judgements or preconceived notions of a certain race of physical characteristics of certain individuals. Discrimination, on the other hand, is the action, actually depriving someone of advantages of privileges based on their physical appearance, culture, and even religious beliefs. Another incredibly fascinating concept that i learned while in this course was the variables and combinations of both prejudice and discriminatory individuals.   Not everyone exhibits both discrimination and prejudice toward others, but rather combinations or even just one. Some of these would be, the non-prejudice- discriminator, the prejudice-nondiscriminator, and the one i find to be the absolute worst, the prejudiced -discriminator.

I have always believed that i stood up against racism and inequality, but when i started to understand theses concepts i was saddened to realize that i, too, had or was showing prejudice without even being aware. I am aware that these are prejudices that i was not born with, because no one is born with the want to shun other based on something as beautiful as physical diversities; rather, the subliminal or perhaps blunt  teachings of our closest family and relatives. These people play a key role in our development, they are the primary source of socialization. This was also a sort of wake up call for me, when i saw the prejudice in my parent’s behaviour toward a certain race, and how they tried to steer my in the exact same direction. My rebellion toward their prejudices has been the major cause for tension in my home, but with that in mind, i know that i am not doing it just for the immature want to disobey my parents but rather to become a knowledgeable person who is understanding and indifferent to what, i believe, God had created.

The only critiques i would have about this course, is the lack of time spent on understanding cultures and the links between them. I am fascinated with learning about different cultures, mostly to eliminate any prejudices i many subconsciously have just because of a lack of understanding. Every culture has their reasons for how and why they do certain things, but i strongly believe that just because they have a reason it doesn’t make it right, at least not when they decide to kill a baby girl because they wanted a boy.

Over all , this has been a great learning experience. The class was interactive, informative and at the same time therapeutic. I would love to take more Sociology classes in the future, and hopefully have the opportunity to have Dr. Quist-Adade as my professor. I would advise anyone who wants a deeper understanding of our society, or even about themselves, to take a course and what i call a journey into a greater understanding of how people and the world interact.

 

HEYY!

Heyyy, my name is Maria, i’m 18 years old. I was born and raised in Colombia until 2001, when unfortunate circumstances forced my family and I to seek refuge here in Canada. I didn’t speak any English at the time, which made communicating with people quite difficult. Thanks to the school system, i was able to learn the language within about 6 months. I REALLY love to dance anything from salsa, merengue and even hip-hop. I also play a lot of volleyball on my spare time. I attended high school at Princess Margaret Secondary from grade 8 to 10, then finished off the last 2 years at Panorama Ridge Secondary.I am currently a first year student in the AA program in Political Science, hoping to transfer to UBC where i will complete my BA degree in International Relations. From there, I plan on applying to Law School. I took this course because it’s part of my art credits, and also because I have heard many great comments about it from friends who have taken it. It also helps that I am quite a social person, so learning about how society and different types of relationships work is quite fascinating. From the few classes, I have learned that sociology has a great  look at the small things of our everyday life, our own thoughts about the world, and how one situation can be perceived in so many ways based on different upbringings or cultural thoughts. I am really looking forward to a continuing this experience of getting to know fragments of society and possibly even how and why i think the way i do.