Issue Of The Week IV Fall 2011-2012: Politics And The Potential Influence Of The Changing Face Of America: What Are The Implications Of America Becoming A Nation Of Minorities By 2050?

As a Christian University, it only seems logical to implement a system that gives everyone equality. It doesn't seem accurate to leave white males as the people in power at this school or anywhere, since that only makes up a percentage, like any other group. Because we are roughly 5,000 students doesn't it make sense for us to actually practice equality while preaching it too? We have enough students for it to make a difference and yet we are small enough to be able to truly give everyone equality.
As a Christian university, isn't that something we should already be doing anyways?

I think the author raises some great points in this article. I have seen many instances where someone of a different race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation has been passed up. As a Caucasian, female, American born citizen, I cannot even fully comprehend all of what certain minority groups must be feeling. I think however, that we need to be careful when talking about equality. I am in no way saying that minorities shouldn't have just as many rights as the majority groups, but I do have a problem with people giving unfair advantage to anyone, no matter what minority group you are in. I would be interested to know if the author when talking about rewarding more scholarships, is talking about just rewarding more to minorities? I think that scholarships for college should be rewarded to people based on their socioeconomic status rather than their race. I think it's unfair and I little biased towards ALL races, to say that just because someone is ,fill in the blank, that they need or don't need money more than others.

As you can see throughout history many changes in race have come to place within our government offices and in fact everywhere in life. Change is something that the United States is constantly dealing with whether good or bad and we will continue to see as time goes on. In Peter Brusoe’s article he states that we need to “ensure that universities are providing resources to ensure the success of all students.” I would completely agree with his point of view. I do not think that there should be a target population who should receive financial or scholarship opportunities. I know myself being a white female applying for scholarships in college has been difficult because most scholarships were targeted towards minorities. I’m not saying this is wrong, but I think that there should be more of an overall balance.
He also states that in order to “ensure the possibility of our future” that we must “increase the number of minorities into our colleges, our law schools, and in our political system.” We have to remember that America was built based off of immigration and incorporating new ways to create what we have now. Thing are continually being incorporated into our country and shaping us to be who we are. Incorporating minority group in all aspects of life will help create a more diverse America and will allow more people more opportunities, instead of just allowing or favoring one race.

I think allowing minorities to have equal access to education will only create a better more knowledgeable minority community. Because socioeconomic status is such a huge factor in whether or not many of the current students do attend higher education institutions, it is imperative that we do all that we can to propel them into those post-high school educational institutions. By far, it is researched that the more post-high school education a person has, the better individual they are for their family, community, state and country. Education is a huge key in allowing the minorities upward mobility. Otherwise, the cycle of poverty prevails. They will drop out or stop going so they can go to work and support their ailing families. Additionally, night schools and extended education programs for the working adults are essential for the current set of folks that want get better at what they do or expand their knowledge, change careers maybe or start a business. It is imperative that education continues from the smallest or poorest of communities to the wealthy. Furthermore, I believe that realities such as America's growing minorities and how to move through our quilt of a culture are essentials that should be taught in classrooms. This will allow for all to grow aware that we are all in the same boat to pursue happiness and the American Dream.

Teachers, if you see a student in need of help, has to come late to class due to work, has to drop a class or is just struggling - call them to your office and let them know that you care. Many times teachers see students struggle and do not say anything but please note that many may be too embarrassed to say anything...so please, ask.

It doesn't surprise me to know that minorities are underrepresented at high, prestigious positions like in government or university professors. Why should we expect them to be represented at those levels when so few individuals receive the education and training required for those positions? If we really ever expect a representation in any field that reflects the actual composition of the population at large, we need to be offering equal opportunities, access, and quality of education and training to minorities from the very beginning. We need to be improving neighborhoods so that children don't feel discouraged from attending school because of the influence of drugs, violence, and poverty. We need to be improving all levels of schools so that children don't fall behind even from the start. We need to be teaching teachers how to be effective in classrooms with a diverse array of children from different ethnicities and socioeconomic background. We need to stop making sports a priority in universities and use the money going to those to fund scholarships to minority students who show potential of being influential in the world if only they had the opportunity to earn their degree in order to reach the positions that they will never have otherwise. So it's not enough to just offer scholarships to universities because many of those individuals are not prepared to succeed at that level yet. Only when we tackle the whole spectrum of minority individuals' lives and educations will they get what they need for us to see more of them in high profile careers.

It is great to see minorities being a part of the political world and being able to become candidates or hold office. What can we do? Well, to start we can make sure we are educating all. You need to ensure that all students are learning and can grasp the lesson. We cannot exclude anyone based on race or the fact that we think minorities just cannot achieve what whites can. We need to instill the value that everyone can achieve greatness and all should strive for what they want. We are all capable of something great. We need to show students that they can make a difference. We need to practice equality too.

I grew up believing that any sort of benefit given to people because of their race was wrong. I firmly believed that affirmative action and minority scholarships were, as I had been taught, an unearned and undeserved benefit. It wasn’t until I started attending UCCS and began taking classes in the Women’s and Ethnic Studies department that I discovered how far off I was.

Privilege is an unearned benefit and it is something that I, as a white person, receive every day. I’m more likely to get hired as a white person, less likely to be pulled over for no reason, and more likely to receive the kind of education that will help me get into college. I know it goes against what many of us learn, but we don’t just get where we are based on how hard we work. There are institutional influences to consider.

Part of increasing the number of minorities in colleges may very well involve considerations in regards to applications and scholarships. This is only necessary because of the system of privilege and oppression that positions people because on their social status. I can’t, in all good conscience, oppose programs that give someone an opportunity when I am on the receiving end of unearned benefits on a regular basis.

Access to education can only further the possibilities for minorities. Socioeconomic status does have a lot to do with the resources that are available to minority students. However, I think those resources should be supplemented because every child should have an equal education whether or not they are rich or poor. If schools in a poor district received the proper resources, maybe more children would be motivated to succeed because they are receiving keys to success. This is crucial, as it shapes the attitudes and careers students might want to take. An active and well planned education can only influence minority students to desire higher level positions.

It is clear that minorities in the United States are unable to have the same privileges that a wealthy American possesses. Private schools as well as well-funded schools aim to graduate Ivy League applicants while other public schools are attempting to help the majority of their student graduate from high school. This is due to the lack and poor allocation of funds and integration of minority groups in the curriculum. There is not a great emphasize on education after high school. High school teachers should motivate students of minority groups to strive and achieve an education higher than just a high school degree. By allowing them to see that government positions or jobs as CEOs not only pertain to wealthy Americans but a person from a minority group can have the same status. Colleges should be more cultural diverse and grant more financial aid to people that are discourage to attend college simply because they can’t meet their financial obligations. I believe that high schools, colleges and scholarships should focus on the person that is applying for an education and put aside issues such as immigration, race, sexual orientation and religion. This would level the plain field for minorities to finally have the change for equality in a classroom.

It is a tragedy that in this country African Americans have not been treated as equal citizens until recent history. I believe that our brothers and sisters are still suffering the consequences of our actions of oppression and injustice. This can be seen in the unequal representation of minorities in every public office, in the workplace, and in education. I wonder what the effect of decades of oppression has done to the African American psyche. To be told for so long that because of the color or your skin, you are dumber, slower, and less valuable than someone of white skin must play a role in identity and perception of self worth. I propose that along with the fact that minorities have less opportunities to attend college because of poor primary education, poor financial resources, and a lack of mentors, the fact that Africans Americans have been traditionally taught that they are not as good as whites is psychologically still playing a role in their lives. If past generations of African Americans were denied their rights to an education, then an education may not be stressed as important in the family. Other values may take precedence. However, if a white family has always had the opportunity to attend college, the parents will ensure to press upon their children the importance of it as well. Perhaps it will take several more generations until African Americans are released of the psychological bondage of the past. For this reason, it may be more important to encourage scholarship among minorities at a young age. One can only hope that the move towards equal representation continues and strengthens.

Equality. Sounds so....comforting. But what does it mean realistically? Skin color doesn't matter at all? Socioeconomic status doesn't matter? A schooled education is for everyone? Equality in the way we think of it is not practical. We are born into poor families or rich families without any choice of our own, we are raised a certain way without any choice of our own, and we are presented with different opportunities in various points of our lives that are sometimes completely out of the blue. To place the job of 'making things equal' on a government is asking it to do the impossible, how can it make things equal when like I said, we're on different playing fields from the get go, by no choice of our own!

For something to be just and fair does not mean it has to be equal. For example, a full meal for a child is much less than a full meal for an adult, if we try to make things equal by giving both of them a small portion of food, sure the child is well fed, but the adult isn't, so it's not fair/just. But if we give them both an equally large portion of food we've served the adult and overfed the child. We have to acknowledge differences, but not as one being superior than the other, but as both being legitimate options to fit varying needs.

Color matters. We're all different shades! But should that in itself have inherent value leading to other privileges or restrictions? No. Education is important, but is a textbook education the only way a person can be knowledgeable? No. So to say that we need to have equality in education, politics, race relations, etc. is saying that we have to get everyone at a competitive level in those arbitrarily important settings. That's not a practical solution as one of my professors likes to say: "There are too many students in college. If everyone ends up with a Bachelors degree no one is going to want to collect the trash on Fridays." It's not about what you do for a living, whose vote you can win, or what your race is...its about the effort you put in to building your character and how you use the opportunities (WHATEVER they may be, big or small) you come by in life to live honorably.

I love the idea of there being more minorities and LGBT Americans as political candidates because America would be more accurately represented. If we had more minorities as leaders, it would show the kids in schools and out on the streets that they could do it too. Just because there are more white Americans as role models in the media does not mean that is all our country is made up of. I'm tired of society pretending that people aren't made up of different genes which dictate our skin color. I'm tired of pretending that this is "White America". This is the 21st century and we are all diverse members of this amazing country. What ever happened to the "Land of the free and the home of the brave". These days nobody is free to express themselves the way they want without being punished in some way and the brave just get laughed at. We need to implement change and realize what this country was founded on...diversity.

Politics is the game played by those in power whereby decisions are made effecting millions. Since the outcome of this “game” is anything but fun and entertainment, it is of great interest to minorities of all kinds that they have members who are playing the game. Yet, as the article states it take experience in lower levels of government, law, business and education to launch an influential political career. It is disheartening to see that in 2010 the amount of women and racial minorities in congress went down for the first time in history while the number of white heterosexual protestant males increased. For a nation of minorities it is crucial that this diversity be displayed in the halls of politics. One of the key ways this can be done is by encouraging more connections to local communities, especially minority majority communities. When members of these communities receive education and the tools for effective leadership it is crucial they return to these communities and run for positions of political influence. From the school board and the county courthouse to the city council, positions of local power and influence are both important to the community, and can serve as springboards to congress, the Federal bench and the White House. If more minorities were involved in these communities positions of power and influence then maybe by 2050 the leadership of America could look a lot more like America: full of diversity.

Personally, I thought we were doing better, we had a woman running for president, another going for vice president, and we ended up with an African American president! Then you see the numbers and you realize, we aren’t doing that great.. How do we change it though? I think having an African American president changes the attitudes of many. It showed kids of any race that they could make it. I agree with many of you who suggested that we need more ethnic role models to hype kids up. I think it also important that we put more money and time into schools that are in poorer neighborhoods.

Even though it has take many years for the united states to make changes in the government, i can also see that our nation is progressing and changing its points of view by giving people with different nationalities more opportunities to work for the government.

I think the progress that we have made as nation is great, but we still have a long way to go. One of things that I think is most important is learning from the past. Racism, sexism - those things still exist and even though they may be lower than 20 years ago, we need to make sure we do not treat things such as slavery or the days before women's suffrage as ahistoric. On the contrary, we need to look at them to see the mistakes we made so we can move forward. With minority groups, we need to make sure the people we elect to office do not support laws that structurally will keep minorities down, but give them opportunities to have a fair chance to better themselves, so that we, in turn, can learn from them. We need to also make sure that we break the cycle of ignorance with stereotypes or judgements of things we do not understand, but instead ask questions. Most importantly, we need to have the kinds of conversations that show everyone that while race is a social reality, it is not a biological one, and we are all more alike than we are different, meaning there should be no reason why we cannot work together for the advancement of this country.

Dr. Peter W. Brusoe asks, “What can we do to bring success to everyone?” I think one of the ways we can bring success to everyone is something Brusoe said earlier in his article: “We need to examine the success of our public schools to ensure that they are producing students who are college ready”. I believe it is of utmost importance to challenge our nation’s teachers to take a look at how they teach and question whether they are teaching their students simply rote memorization or if they are teaching students how to analyze, evaluate, apply, create, and think for themselves. When students learn to think for themselves they begin to realize the magnitude of things they are capable of and have the capacity to do higher-level thinking and problem solving at the college level.
In addition, programs like Upward Bound are essential in all high schools to work with low-income, at risk, and first generation college hopefuls. If you are not familiar with Upward Bound, it is a program that supports high schools in their pre-college performance and in their pursuits of higher education through tutor support, college advising, test preparation, study skills, and more. Upward Bound’s goal is to “increase the rate at which participants complete secondary education and enroll in and graduate from institutions of postsecondary education.” I am proud to say I have worked as a tutor with Upward Bound for two years and have witnessed for myself the success of the students.
These ideas are just two of many ways we can contribute to bringing success to everyone in the form of college readiness and college completion, which in the future, can lead to bringing more diversity to our nation’s political offices.

This weeks issue was somewhat inspiring naturally we know things are changing. People in charge are not longer going to be complete majority, more and more minorites are becoming leaders. This trend will continue to grow while there is still mostly white males in power as time goes on the ration will hopefully become more and more equal between all nationalities as well as between men and womeen. This speicic story is good because it is just taking a deeper look at one specific case. Everyone knows the bigger cases of minorites in powe Obama but little issues are equally important.

To me, the one word that sticks out regarding what we can do to promote the success of each individual is awareness. I like to blame some of the reasons why we have such an intense existence of privilege and oppression on ignorance. I say this because I know that before taking classes in women's and ethnic studies I had no idea about either of these two concepts. How can someone know about something if it isn't taught or discussed on a regular and open basis? I do not feel educated enough to suggest specific ways in which we can promote this awareness, but I do believe knowledge is power and by putting the responsibility of awareness in the right hands, we could be able to promote a more tolerant and successful society.

I had one main reaction after reading this short article. I felt like the solution to achieving more minorities in the political realm was to just throw money at it. He talked about increasing funding for scholarships and providing more resources. While I do agree that these are necessary steps, there is another side to this problem. We need to focus on educating young people about how much good they can do while working for the government. The media portrays so many minorities as criminals, athletes, or the working class. We need to display more images than this. As soon as we irradicate the internalized oppression existing within minorities, they can reach higher goals (like senator, judge, or president). Teaching young students in a new way is also the solution.