Prejudice isnʼt pretty

Derogatory public discourse detracts from the Pierce experience

At a college campus, people are expected to carry themselves with a certain level of professionalism, but at Pierce College there seems to be a trend of deteriorating social standards. This is clear in the lack of respect with which students acknowledge themselves and one another. Deviation from mutually respectful social dialogue is giving rise to cases of offensive behavior.

The city of Los Angeles is a very metropolitan forward-thinking community with many cultures influencing the environment and the area’s lifestyle. However, even in a modern and up to date society such as Los Angeles, there are not only overt signs of racism but covert and unintentional instances of racism as well.

Covert racism, which is discriminating against a person without having any harmful intent, usually stems from being ignorant to today’s social norms and can be influenced by a person’s background.

Even if the intent of a statement isn’t discriminatory, an innocent statement like “That’s so ghetto” or “She’s so ratchet” can be hurtful to people.

Society’s members are a product of their upbringing; people mimic those closest to them. Parents, siblings, friends and communities at large influence the way individuals think, act and react to certain situations.

Kate Noah

AskKateAnything@gmail.com

Boring classes: we all have to take them at one time or another.

At this point in the semester, your classes are locked in unless you want to pay for a class you don’t finish. Even if you managed to avoid all undesirable classes this semester, if you want to graduate and/or transfer, you have to face them eventually.

You are not alone in the facing of dreaded classes. Everyone has subjects they don’t enjoy, whether it’s math, English, history, biology, political science, or all of the above. The good news is that in every class, there are students who love and thrive in that subject.

Find them. Buy them lunch. Become their friend.

Often those students are just as good as the teacher at explaining new or difficult material. They will have more time to spend with you than a teacher, and those students usually love to see people they help succeed. Plus you will have a friend in class which automatically makes any class better.

So what if you can’t find those students, or you have a problem making new friends or talking to people you don’t know? What then?

You can always see a tutor. That’s basically the same thing minus the friendship, but you really have to adhere to their tutoring schedule. Still, it’s a good option.

One little trick that works for many things in life is to adjust your attitude about the subject you dislike so much.

Perhaps you wake up on the wrong side of the bed and you set out in the morning in a rotten mood. You can be annoyed and angry all day, or you can choose to cheer up.

Smile. Wave at people. Call someone you love that always makes you happy and have just the smallest conversation. Put on a fun, upbeat song. Dance a little. Before you know it, that bad mood is gone.

The same goes with this rotten subject. Pretend you like it. Act like you like it. Really pay attention, and let the teacher’s enthusiasm for the subject ignite your own. It’s hard to actually listen to someone who is passionate about something and not walk away with at least a little interest in whatever they were talking about.

If the professor doesn’t seem enthusiastic, find someone who is, and let them persuade you to be excited to learn. If excitement is too much to muster, at least try for interested.

No matter what you decide to try, just give that class a fair chance. If you go in with a predetermined mindset of misery, of course you’re not going to like it. But nothing can be all bad. Look for the good and the interesting, and you will find it.

Do you have a question for Kate? Maybe you just need some advice. Well look no further because Kate is here for you. Don’t shy away, Ask Kate Anything by sending your questions to AskKateAnything@gmail.com.

As an example, someone that is brought up using racial slurs as a normal part of conversation would not give it a second thought that they could be perceived as being racist.

Even though people are raised to emulate elders, it doesn’t give license to ignore the obvious evolution of our free-thinking society and stay in the dark ages where being racist wasn’t thought of as an issue.

Pierce College is a microcosm of L.A. with a population of more than 29 thousand students and more than half of the student body identifying as “non-white,” according to Los Angeles Community College scorecard. Students cannot travel the hallways or walkways of the campus without experiencing the diversity that is Los Angeles. Although the campus is situated in a relatively upscale neighborhood, and has a diverse population, there are still occurrences of people being seemingly unaware of how politically incorrect their comments sound.

Just because someone’s parents or elders were raised in a different time and act a certain way is not an excuse to live in a bubble and not evolve with the maturing society around them. It is inappropriate to merely mimic the same low standards picked up from an ignorant environment in a college setting where the bar for acceptable public discourse is higher. With mindfulness, overt racism will become a thing of the past.

-COMIC STRIP-