Argument Synthesis Paper reflection

    In all honesty, this was one of my favorite essays yet. It was simple. I could relate to it. And I like to prove a point. I thought it all worked out well and I am hoping for the best. Not to much to say about it because I feel confident about it.

Argument Synthesis

Gordon Miller

Dr. Wielgos

College Writing 2

                                              College: The path to success 

Some of the earliest Universities, date all the way back to 1088. This would mean that they were also subject to change, just as we are. Change can be a scary thing for many people, especially for college students.  However, college is a place to discover yourself through experiences, curiosity, mistakes and failures.  No one can predict the future; therefore, college allows you to explore what your interests are and in the end, you will have an idea of what you want to doFriedman, Pope John Paul II, Carter, and Peters will support my argument as I share their expertise on the situation.

There is a major distinction between a job and career.  A job is anything to get a paycheck. Whether it’s a bagger at a grocery store or a waiter at a restaurant.  A career is a pre established total pattern of organized professional activity, with upward movement through recognized preparatory stages, and advancement based  on merit and bearing honor (Kranzberg, 138).” To reiterate, a career gives you the opportunity to move your self up in the hierarchy and becoming successful.  It is a job for life and is earned by going to college. In college, you will take what you’ve learned and apply it to your life skills because that’s how you become successful. College is hard work, but it is not a job.  The counter argument believes that you need to be prepared for changes and work hard because college is too much money to spend on. That argument is focused on getting the proper training for a good job, yet the proper training isn’t just in education. In reality, you aren’t just paying thousands to get just an education. College gives you room for failure, so that when you fail, you can pick yourself back up as well as learn from your mistakes. It will give you the skills you need, so that you won’t get replaced with third-world employees. In other words, globalization.

Globalization is another reason why young people need to go to college. Eventually, the job market will be survival of the fittest. Every young person in America would practically have to compete for a job, unless they go to college. “Globalization will affect low-skilled or unskilled American workers very differently. They will compete for jobs and wages not just with their counterparts across town or in other parts of the US, but also with low-skilled workers around the globe (Friedman, 166).” It will be very difficult for Americans to get a job in such a harsh climate.  Globalization is happening because technology is improving and labor costs are less in third- world countries. It saves the company both time and money.  By receiving a college Diploma, you will open so many more doors instead of constant job hunting. Times are changing like the counter argument says. However, its really only changing for the ones without a career.

According to Alan Blinder, he wants America to prepare a new generation to ‘lead and innovate’ in an economy that will continue exporting jobs that require ‘following and copying’ (Blinder, 174).” Blinder developed a plan to prepare America for a change in society. He believes that young Americans should plan for a “high- end personal services occupation that is not offshorable (Blinder, 174).” This way, they cannot get their job taken from someone in another country.  However, not all Americans can just go to high- end personal services and expect it to be their vocation. The simplest solution to stop third-world countries taking jobs is to earn a college degree and get a career. People in third- world countries can’t take a career from a marketing major. A marketing career is too specialized for someone of little to no skill.

College is not only just only for education, but also for life skills. Anyone can sit at a desk and take phone calls. What most people cannot do is decide what they want to do for the rest of their life.  Vocation is defined as a calling, of some sort. Chris Carter explains that some people have it easier than others do because they already have an idea of what they want to do. In other words, the people that know what they want to do as a career have received their vocation. Unlike the others, that may find it difficult on what to choose. College is a vocation. It is important to go to college because you will truly find out what you love to do, as well as, discovering new things about yourself. “Vocation is the thing that will make your heart sing while at the same time meeting a need for someone else (Carter, 141).” In other words, college is what will get you to where you want to go while discovering, but at the same time, you are making your parents happy. College is a great place to start if you don’t want to sit on a desk and answer phones all day.

From personal experience, I can say that college is what changes you, not time. I have the freedom to engage my curiosity, limits and mistakes and apply what I learn and put it into my life skills. I learned that cramming work last minute causes stress; therefore, in the real world, I will not cram work last minute. I learned that in college and because of my mistakes I will not do it again. Because of college, I discovered I am a leader.  I am an International Business major with a minor in marketing. I am also president of the CEO club, which will help me when I am in a managerial position in my future workforce. I also learned that I get focused on other unimportant things and it is causes me to procrastinate. However, I taught myself not to procrastinate by telling myself, “I can’t be successful when I am playing video games.”

In conclusion, college is a place to discover yourself through experiences, curiosity, mistakes and failures.  In college, you have the freedom to make bad choices and learn from them. When you have a unskilled job and make a mistake or bad decision, they have 1,000 other applicants ready to take your job. College will get you where you need to go through guidance and training.

Research Paper- Reflection

        This essay got the best of me. I cannot explain how much of a pain in the ass it was to write such a long essay along with an annotated bibliography. On the bright side, I did a topic that I truly enjoy. Although it was a little bit messy, I feel that you guys will still enjoy it as much as I have. Im not going to lie, this stressed me out the most and I actually had to go to a therapist just to relieve some stress. Its crazy how you let a paper get to you... Well other than that, it was a great paper to discuss and the research was easy to find and my reasoning was logical.

Research Paper- Final

                                                        Stereotyping is The New Black

                                                                    Gordon Miller

                                                                   Lewis University

Stereotyping is what has us ignoring the unique differences between one another, which can lead to misguided generalizations of each other. There are many different stereotypes that are used in the 21^st century. The choice of music that you listen to is classified as a stereotype. Although stereotyping is bad, some people choose to be stereotyped in a certain way so that they can fit a certain look and have people perceive them as a certain type of person. Stereotypical people perceive where you live, who you are, what kind of person you are, as a stereotype because of assumptions and observations that they make. Stereotyping is harmful in today’s society because it is targeted towards race, culture, social groups and much, much more. It is demeaning, hurtful and lowers people self- esteem and self-confidence because of the social class stereotypical people classify them as. With so many stereotypes and stereotypical people, I need to make aware of the damage stereotyping causes in today’s society.

First impressions are the most lasting impressions. Within just three seconds, you have judged that person. The saying, “ Don’t judge a book by a cover” pertains to stereotyping. Most times, it can be confused with discriminating or generalizing, in result, can make someone come off as prejudice or racist. According to simplypsychology.org, “By stereotyping we infer that a person has a whole range of characteristics and abilities that we assume all members of that group have.” In other words, stereotyping is based off assumptions and observations.  Some people like to feel apart of a group by giving themselves a social identity.  They are known as social stereotypes. “ The stereotype captures the role expectations of a person of a specific type (Babin, 82).”  A skinny teenage boy buys Hollister because all his other friends wear it would be an example of a social stereotype. Most of these stereotypes will try to be as similar to the stereotype as possible. Ultimately, the retailer, like Hollister, would also have an impact on stereotyping. Employees at Hollister stereotype all the time. For example, if an over weight consumer were to walk into Hollister, no employee would be likely to approach them. This is because Hollister fits a certain stereotype and does not want the overweight consumer classified as their stereotype. If you are going to be stereotyped, its better to find a social identity and be aware that you are with a certain type of stereotype. There is nothing better than to be with people that enjoy the same things as you do. The best place to discover yourself and people that have the same thing in common as you, are concerts.

Music is a great way to identify yourself. Concerts are great places you can share similar feelings about the music with the people that feel the same way as you. In the scholar article I read, they did an experiment on 80 British male fans, to research stereotypes among the fans for different genres of music. They hypothesized that individuals attribute similar psychological characteristics and social categories to fans of certain styles of music and those distinct associations are generalizable (Reuters, Sage journals).” In other words, people use music as a way to express themselves and identify who they are.  Once they have discovered themselves and a group, they will then have a social identity.. The stereotypes they researched were strongly geographical. In other words, stereotypes were found in different locations.  These are the “good” stereotypes because it is for a good reason, unlike observations and assumptions perceived by stereotypical people that are degrading and hurtful. Music is interpreted as a culture because it has been around so long and is apart of the human culture as well. “Conservatively it is estimated that the broad industry of music contributes over US$ 160 billion to global GDP( Shah, Thought Economics).” This not only shows how important music is in the world but shows how many people rely on music. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow once observed,” music is the universal language of mankind (Shah, Thought Economics).” This is very true because if you think about, music is apart of our everyday life. Researchers claim that music is in the top three things humans need to live.  Music not only brings people together, but gives people that are stereotyped a social identity.

Cultural and racial stereotyping practically happens everywhere you go and is still a current issue for most races. Whether it is in your classroom or at your work, it is demeaning to stereotype someone based off his or her race or culture.  People stereotype Hispanics by assuming that they are illegal. It is unethical to think that just because of their color or race, that they are degraded. My family descended from Mexico and for people to think that I am just Caucasian insults me. People always label me as white, and tell me that I am lying about being Hispanic. I am proud to be Hispanic because my family is full of hard workers and I am proud to be apart of it. The typical Asian stereotype is that they are very smart because they are of Asian decent. However, this is where the culture factors play in with race. Asians generally have a reputation of being incredibly smart. This is usually influenced by their culture and how they are raised. Asian Americans that have cultural expectations to be, smart, rich, hard-working, and spiritually enlightened are classified as the model minority stereotype (University of Texas,  CMHC).” Well according to University of Texas’s Division of Student Affairs, “ 33% of Asian American Students dropped out of high school or don’t graduate on time. Also, Asian American students were more likely than White students to report difficulties with stress, sleep, and feelings of hopelessness, yet they were less likely to seek counseling (University of Texas, CMHC).” Asian Americans are just like anyone else. We all have our own problems, differences and characteristics that make us different from one another. Therefore, we should not stereotype, especially not because of what race, color, or what gender we are.

In conclusion, stereotyping is harmful and is used too much in today’s society.  It is degrading, demeaning and is based only off of assumptions and observation. The Ferguson case is the best case to support my research on stereotyping. Cases like this, are harming today’s society because an officer stereotyped an African American because of his race. He had the assumption that he was dangerous because of his color. Fergusons relatives, along with many activists, concur that if Ferguson were white he would still be alive. Now, protesters are protesting everywhere in the nation because of the police brutality and racial injustice.  There are three other recent cases just like this for the same exact reasons.  In my opinion, it’s okay to have social identity, but it is not okay to be stereotyped because of your race, culture, how you look or whom you associate myself with. I always get stereotyped as  “cocky.” Why? Because I’m good looking?  100% of the time I introduce myself to these people, their opinions change almost instantly because they see how nice I am. That is why my band is called First Impression. I believe first impressions are the most important and stereotyping leads to negative impressions. Stereotyping should only be for social identity, otherwise, it is only used to bring people down by lowering their self- esteem and self- confidence.  With so many stereotypes and stereotypical people in today’s society, I made aware of the situation through my research, examples, quotes and experience.

 

      Work Cited

Author, No. "Cultural Stereotypes." Cultural Stereotypes. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2014. < http://culturalstereotypessped318.weebly.com>.

Harris, Eric G., and Barry J. Babin. Consumer Behavior. 6th ed. Stamford: Cengage Learning, 2014. Print.

Implicit social cognition: Attitudes, self-esteem, and stereotypes.

Greenwald, Anthony G.; Banaji, Mahzarin R.

Psychological Review, Vol 102(1), Jan 1995, 4-27. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.102.1.4

Lafontaine, Daniel. "Knowing How to Talk: Generalizations, Stereotypes and How They Differ: Authentic Journeys." Knowing How to Talk: Generalizations, Stereotypes and How They Differ: Authentic Journeys. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2014. <http://blog.authenticjourneys.info/2012/10/knowing-how-to-talk-generalizations.html >.

Mcleod, Saul. "Simply Psychology." Stereotypes. Simply Psychology, 2008. Web. 12 Dec. 2014. <http://www.simplypsychology.org/katz-braly.html>.

Reuters, Thompson. "You Are What You Listen To: Young People's Stereotypes about Music Fans." You Are What You Listen To: Young People's Stereotypes about Music Fans. Sage Publications, 2014. Web. 14 Dec. 2014. < http://gpi.sagepub.com/content/12/3/329.short>.

Shah, Vikas. "Thought Economics." Web. Thoughts Economics. Blogspot, 8 Mar. 2013. Web. 14 Dec. 2014. <http://thoughteconomics.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-role-of-music-in-human-culture.html >.

University of Texas. "Model Minority Stereotype for Asian Americans." Model Minority Stereotype. N.p., 2013. Web. 13 Dec. 2014. <http://cmhc.utexas.edu/modelminority.html>.

Annotated Bibliography

Gordon Miller

Dr. Wielgos

College Writing 2

                                                          Annotated Bibliography

Harris, Eric G., and Barry J. Babin. Consumer Behavior. 6th ed. Stamford: Cengage Learning, 2014. Print.

Authors Barry J. Babin and Eric G. Harris, wrote the academic book, Consumer Behavior- 6th Edition. Babin graduated Louisiana Tech University and Harris graduated from Pittsburg State University. College students use these academic books nationally.  Business and Marketing majors primarily use the academic book, Consumer Behavior. It enlightens them about consumer behavior by informing with facts, examples and scenarios.  Compared to the scholar article, Implicit social cognition,  this article mentions social identity and the social stereotype. In contrast, the citation below talks about social schema, self- esteem and attitudes on how people stereotype others.  This source advocated me by explaining social identity and the advantages of it, along with explaining social stereotypes.

Implicit social cognition: Attitudes, self-esteem, and stereotypes.

Greenwald, Anthony G.; Banaji, Mahzarin R.

Psychological Review, Vol 102(1), Jan 1995, 4-27. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.102.1.4

            Greenwald and Banaji are two researchers that study Psychology and social behavior. They created this article to reach out to other researchers and explain social cognition with stereotypes. In comparison to the academic book, Consumer Behavior, this article discusses social cognition and social behavior with stereotypes. On the other hand, Consumer Behavior discusses what a social stereotype is, does, and gives examples of a social stereotype. In contrast, they both helped me with my research and helped me understand social behavior more.

Lafontaine, Daniel. "Knowing How to Talk: Generalizations, Stereotypes and How They Differ: Authentic Journeys." Knowing How to Talk: Generalizations, Stereotypes and How They Differ: Authentic Journeys. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2014. <http://blog.authenticjourneys.info/2012/10/knowing-how-to-talk-generalizations.html >.

            Daniel Lafontaine is a Korean researcher that delivers an article, Knowing How to Talk, and uses primary data that is based on background information, experiments, and personal experience. This study is targeted to people that do not necessarily know the difference between generalizations and stereotypes.  In comparison, the cite Simply Psychology, differs because of the different information it gives.  Simply Psychology explains the pros and cons of stereotypes while Lafontaine explains the harm stereotyping does to people and what the differences are between generalizing and stereotyping.  They are similar because both articles give scenarios about a stereotypical situation. This article really helped support my research by giving me depth of the differences between generalizing and stereotyping.

           

Mcleod, Saul. "Simply Psychology." Stereotypes. Simply Psychology, 2008. Web. 12 Dec. 2014. <http://www.simplypsychology.org/katz-braly.html>.

Researcher, Saul Mcleod, has a degree in Psychology and a masters in Research and is currently going for a PhD. This scholarly journal article is targeted towards Psychology students of all levels in the UK and the US. In comparison to the cite below, they don’t explain the pros and cons of stereotyping, as well as, what racial stereotypes are. In contrast, they both use experiments as support to explain the use of stereotypes. This article helped me the most because the information given was very informative and I felt it was appropriate to use his information.

Reuters, Thompson. "You Are What You Listen To: Young People's Stereotypes about Music Fans." You Are What You Listen To: Young People's Stereotypes about Music Fans. Sage Publications, 2014. Web. 14 Dec. 2014. < http://gpi.sagepub.com/content/12/3/329.short>.

Scholarly journalist, Thompson Reuters, explains the stereotypes developed by music in this scholarly journal article. He has a robust musical background with over 20 years of experience. Reuters, along with three other researchers, conducted an experiment using 80 young British men at a concert. The primary data concluded that music stereotypes are stronger geographically then anything elseIn comparison to the other scholarly journal article, Thought Economics, this one talks about an expirement they conducted and the results. Unlike Thought Economics, where they talk more on the reasoning of music via secondary data. In contrast, they both support my research by using both primary and secondary data.

Shah, Vikas. "Thought Economics." Web. Thoughts Economics. Blogspot, 8 Mar. 2013. Web. 14 Dec. 2014. <http://thoughteconomics.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-role-of-music-in-human-culture.html >.

Vikas Shah is a well known E- Journal journalist globally. Shah answers questions that are asked by many curious researchers or music lovers.  The discussion that comes across is music and how it plays a role in human culture and the economy. In comparison to the article, You are What you listen to, this article gets more on the economic side of music and the way it impacts human culture and stereotypes. In contrast, they both mention music and the stereotypes with music. It helped with my research to get my audience to understand why I mention music and how music pertains to stereotypes.

University of Texas. "Model Minority Stereotype for Asian Americans." Model Minority Stereotype. N.p., 2013. Web. 13 Dec. 2014. <http://cmhc.utexas.edu/modelminority.html>.

The division of Student Affairs of University of Texas wrote this popular journal to explain cultural stereotypes and the damage it does on Asian Americans.  Secondary data informed me of facts about Asian Americans in today’s society. This journal was targeted toward any Asian American that feels like they are being stereotyped and are becoming stressed because of cultural expectations. Compared to the article, cultural stereotypes, this journal gave me knowledge on Asian Americans and informed me of the stereotype, model minority stereotype. However, the citation above gave me insight on Asian stereotypes, which supported this journal entry and my research. This journal supported my research by informing me of facts and data on Asian Americans in today’s society.

Weebly. "Cultural Stereotypes." Cultural Stereotypes. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2014. < http://culturalstereotypessped318.weebly.com>.

Weebly is a well-known article that is informative and trustworthy. The target audience is toward anyone curious to know what types of stereotypes there are, as well as, preventing stereotyping. In comparison to the article Model Minority Stereotypes for Asian Americans, this explains more than just one kind of cultural and racial stereotype. This gives me information on multiple stereotypes, informs me the disadvantages, and explains how to prevent it. However, they both talk about Asian American stereotypes and how it can harm them emotionally as well as causing stress.

Statement Purpose- Argument Synthesis

Gordon Miller
Dr. Wielgos
College Writing 2

                                                              Statement Purpose
Purpose: I want to argue that college doesn't just teach you study skills, but also a utility for life skills through experiences, curiosity, mistakes and failures. College is a place to discover yourself and apply what you have taken from it, and utilize in in your everyday life, including work.

Audience: My audience will be anyone that uses cynicism as a belief that you have to go to college knowing what you have to study in order to get a good job immediately after college.

Context: I will use this argument to explain my perspective on what college means to me to any skeptics and why I chose the side I did.

Statement of Purpose:
I want to argue to anyone that believes that college only gives education, not life lessons. College is a place to discover yourself through experiences, curiosity, mistakes and failures. I will use this argument to explain my perspective on what college means to me to any skeptics that think you have to predict what the future will be like and base your education around your prediction.

                                                                Purpose Statement

Purpose: My purpose will be to argue that college will better you as times are changing. It will better your education as well as skills and general and critical decision -making. 

Audience: My audience will be Americans with out college education striving success, but have not listened to other views on it.