For the past two weeks we have been learning about race through group talks, movies, and even a race panel. I have learned by being a white male I automatically have an advantage over others. In America I realized that white is the norm but anything besides white is considered wrong. Some stereotypes I learned of in the race panel was that not all blacks are athletic and that some people are offended by the term African American. I also learned in "White Like Me" that we can't just ignore the racism problem we have to do something about it because otherwise it will never get fixed. Some people don't realize but they can be unintentionally racist I know that when I'm walking alone in the city and a black person walks next to me I get a little nervous. I know its a bad thing but it's my unconscious rascist.

 The past week and a half we have been learning about deviance and social class. Deviance is actions or behaviors that violate social norms. We learned how people are in different types of social classes and how Stevenson is considered a middle class school. Social class plays a role in my own life by who my friends are, what I wear, and what activities I participate in. I'm affected by social class because I'm used to seeing nice well put together towns when in reality not all towns are as nice as where I live. Someone in poverty may feel that since there not going to live long and there is no point in starting to save money and may spend there extra savings on drugs to feel better for the moment. We also read a story called the Saints and the Roughnecks. Its about how kids who present themselves as nice people who are well educated can get away with wrong doing, these kids were called saints. But as for the roughnecks who were kids who weren't well presented because they didn't dress in nice attire and didn't come off as educated even though they were would get in trouble a lot easier. We see this in school today such as if a kid is walking off campus who is well dressed and is nice to the security guard may not be questioned but someone who is not dressed very appropriately may be questioned every time he were to leave off campus.