Humans of the United States

While I was scrolling through my news feed on Facebook, I saw that a lot of my friends were liking pictures from the "Humans of New York" Facebook page. I checked out the page and was presently surprised with what I came across. "Humans of New York" is a catalogue of pictures of people who live in NYC. Not only are there pictures in the catalogue, but there are short stories or quotes beside the photo from the people in the scene. Some of the things said by the inhabitants are not what you would expect after looking at the photo, making the blog so interesting to read. The honesty of the quotes and the expressions of the everyday people remind the audience that their story is real life. 

I recommend liking the "Humans of New York" page on Facebook by clicking on this link, following their blog by clicking here, or picking up the catalogue, created by Brandon Stanton.

After looking through the HONY blog, I realized that each post was unique. The quotes under each picture share a piece of the story of the person in that photo. I felt a sense of unity with the people in the blog. Although I have never met the people in the blog and are our stories aren't the same, I realized that we all live through different hardships. There is definitely unity in the U.S. when we need each other. We mourn together when we see suffering or loss in one part of the country and commend others when we see nobility or progress in another. The events that happen in our lives make us who we are today, and I believe that each person in the United States, with their stories, make up our nation's story. 

So my question is: What is America's story? If there was a picture of the U.S., what would be the snippet under the photo? Looking back at the past, what do you think made up America's history, and how do the lives of the American people affect the history that is being made right now?

In Your Element

A picture of IU Bloomington's gates.

My family and I started planning for Spring Break, and this year, there's one thing that they're focused on: College visits. When narrowing down what college a person wants to attend, there are many factors that help the student make a final choice:  I believe that the environment of the school is a key factor in the process. 

I would argue that the environment and area of a college is an important factor because people have a certain comfort level that they want to maintain. When deciding on colleges, students are encouraged to branch out and look at colleges into other parts of the country or even in the world. I think that this contradicts with the tendency that a lot of students choose to go to college near their home. 

Fox Business agrees with the fact that a college's surroundings majorly influence a student's decision. One of their articles says that a pro for staying in state is that "students have the option to go home more often since it doesn’t involve a plane or train ticket, or a long drive." This goes back to the comfort level I was talking about before. Even if a student did go to a college on the other side of the country, the type of people and lifestyle can be similar. I'm not saying we should all take crazy risks and go places totally out of our element. I'm just wondering why we put such boundaries on ourselves when we make decisions.

Did you consider a school's environment when picking a college/place to live? Are you considering it right now? How would you define America's comfort level? How have Americans been influenced by American society when making decisions? 

Man and Wife, Black and White

My uncle, Peter, got married over the weekend to his new wife, Anna, and although Peter and Anna are both Asian, their wedding led me to think about interracial marriage. Some questions that posed in my mind were: What if Anna was Caucasian? Is interracial marriage more common than marriage between people of the same race? 

I did a little research and found that the Pew Research Center did a study of interracial marriages in 2010. Of the 2,096,000 marriages in 2010, about 275,500 were interracial, and 192,850 of those interracial marriages had a Caucasian partner. I found it interesting when The New Observer stated "White Americans are statistically the least likely to marry outside of their race, although because of their numbers, are involved in...interracial marriages more than any other group." Why are White Americans "least likely" to marry outside of their race? 

Most people would agree that interracial marriage has increased tremendously throughout history. A 2013 GALLUP poll says that 87% of the 4,373 Americans surveyed approve of interracial marriage. This is a huge jump from the 4% that approved in 1958. 

A sociology professor at Cornell University says that "The rise in interracial marriage indicates that race relations have improved over the past quarter century."

What are your thoughts on this quote? Do you think that relations between different races in the U.S. have really improved? Why or why not? What do you think about interracial marriage in general? Approve or disapprove? 

Links to all the articles can be found here:
The New Observer, GALLUP, NY Daily News

Standard System of Testing

As I was thinking about what I should blog about this week, I decided to talk about a major topic in my life: Standardized Testing. I feel like as a junior it's an obligation to be preparing for the ACT. Many students study for the ACTs in order to better their chances of getting into different colleges, but I think there's always an undeniable sense of worry that students have while taking the test. 

Students put all their hope in a number that, some people believe, proves our intelligence to schools. Apart from the stress students put on themselves, there is always pressure to study for SAT, ACT, and other standardized tests. They are generally emphasized by schools, parents, and the peers around us because of the requirements that colleges have regarding the tests. Although standardized tests are a common part of American culture, many have gone against and questioned the fairness of it. 

There are many different articles about the pros and cons of standardized testing, but I chose this one to look at. I picked this article, written by procon.org, because of the #2 pro and con of the article. Both completely contradict each other; one says that "Standardized tests are reliable and objective measures of student achievement", while the other says that "Standardized tests are an unreliable measure of student performance." 

So what's your opinions on standardized testing? What does this system (standardized testing) say about America?