ISS 335 pt. 2

We're back, folks. I know you've been peeing your pants with anticipation, so here we go:

Post break, we begin to discuss disproportionate rates of poverty between African Americans and White people. Did you know that for every $1.00 a White person makes, and African American only makes about $0.85, even though the majority of African Americans are employed in white collared professions? Startling and saddening...

Next we briefly discussed the book we read, Ain't No Makin It by Jay MacLeod which follows a group of males from their high school years all the way up to their early to mid forties. It's a pretty cool book.

Class then get real with an in-class discussion (yay!). The first topic was directed at the racial minorities in the class: Do you feel welcome at Michigan State? The consensus of the black students was "hell no" as they gave several examples of white advisers saying one thing while the black advisers say another, stories of people who had taken Calculus in high school being enrolled in Math 1825 because of assumptions, and the always fun request from the white people of "Can I touch your hair?" 

Class got even more interesting when the professors asked another question: Do the white students feel unsure about or afraid of interacting with minority students for fear of saying the wrong thing? One white student said he would rather hang out with the African American kids because they are "real and down to earth and not materialistic like those blond sorority girls." The black kids snickered; the blond sorority girl sitting two rows in front of him shot him a dirty look. It was awesome.

Instead of letting the conversation continue and letting us rack up more extra credit points, the professors decided to let us channel all of our pent-up feelings and thought into a journal. Yippee. After the journal was finished, everyone left so the next class could take place.

So there you have it folks. I bet this makes you just want to run to your computers right now and enroll for the class...