Inappropriate Halloween Costumes

On the news this week, I saw a segment on inappropriate Halloween costumes, showcasing babies dressed in provocative outfits, such as a marijuana leaf and a cigarette. I found the same topic in an article from CBS Los Angeles.

The owner of the website, Jonathan Weeks, battles this backlash by saying that, "Halloween is one day out of the year you can dress up and be anything you're not the other 364 days."

While that is true, I believe that it is still inappropriate to dress up in costumes that cause controversy. For example, what kid wants to say that they were dressed up as a drug for Halloween when they were a child? No one, really. Also this week, my history teacher showed us a picture of a kid dressed in a Ray Rice costume that included a jersey and a female doll to hold. First off, that's sick, because that's pretty much promoting domestic abuse.

Imagine what kind of impression these costumes might leave on kids. Even if the costume is suppose to be "funny" or "a joke" or whatever, it sends the wrong message to kids. Since kids are more impressionable, they can see a small Ray Rice on the streets on Halloween and think to themselves, "Hey, domestic violence looks cool.", or they'll see a baby in a cigarette and think, "Smoking looks cute".

Sure Halloween is suppose to be the one day where you can go all out and dress up as someone you can't be for the other days in the year, but there is a limit to how "crazy" you go. What kind of parent would be proud to say that they dressed their kid up as that infamous football player who beat his wife unconscious in an elevator; or the stick that causes 480,000 deaths per year in America?\

via  cbs los angeles

Racial Disparites in Education

After reading the article for the community post, I really wanted to do some sort of follow up, where I argued my opinion on racial equality in the workplace (as the article brushed on that very briefly). However, I couldn't find the "right" article, which not only frustrated me, but disappointed me as well. So, today, I've decided to talk about racial disparities in education. I was prompted to research this topic because of Malala's speech we read this week in class. She wanted education for all, and I do, too.

I am shifting my focus from the typical topic of Hispanics and African Americans in education to Asian Americans, because I feel like people don't necessarily talk about them much. The stereotypes like "all Asians are good at math", or "all Asians get straight-A's" aren't really considered bad stereotypes. In fact, it's quite flattering that one would assume us Asian Americans as "smart". However, it's not always a good thing, because as research has founded, more colleges are using these stereotypes to base their admissions on.

According to USA Today, Asian Americans often need test scores hundreds of points higher than applicants from other ethnic groups in order to have a fair shot at admission; and they only represent 6% of the U.S. population. Six.

I also want to take in consideration time, because fixing racial equality isn't just going to happen with a snap of a finger. In 1996, they passed a law in California that banned state universities from considering race and admissions, which has definitely changed the admission rate for Asian Americans throughout the years. However, most people aren't really looking to go to a state school, especially the Asian Americans in California. They prefer to go to UC schools such as UCLA or UCSD. Besides that, studies have shown that the law has increased the number of Asian Americans admitted, which is an improvement and good. Hopefully, other ideas or laws will be considered because colleges should look for students based on overall achievements,  not based on race.

via lyfebulb.com