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.