Blog #9

I think the best thing that this class has taught me is how to be socially aware. Whether it was the various quizzes we took or the discussions that we had during class taught me to be mindful of things that I am saying or doing. The most important thing that the StrengthsQuest taught me and the discussions that followed were my weaknesses when it comes to leadership. I've never been in too many leadership roles but I believe that when I will be in the future, I'll take the various things that I've learned in this course and be able to connect with people on a deeper level. The class discussions were a great way for me to learn from other people unlike how a normal class would go where the Professor just lectures you for 2 hours and sends you on your way.  I wouldn't normally hear stories and other situations that my classmates have been in, that I will literally never have to experience in my life. Everyone should take this or a class similar to this to be able to open their mind to the fact that not everyone has the same strengths as you. This class teaches useful skills that will be essential for the growth of myself as a person. I've used a few of the things we learned in a separate group project that I had for my Foreign Policy class, being mindful of my strengths and learning the strengths of my group, I believe we were able to be a more successful group compared to if I never took this class. To end, this is a class that teaches real life skills and if applied correctly, these skills can help great amounts for me in the future.

Blog #8: Peck's Theory

When reading about Peck's theory, the first thing that came to mind were the various basketball teams that I played on throughout High School. With team's of any sport there is always a period that the team itself may think they are a lot better than they actually are and have high intentions for the season ahead. This occurred especially in my Junior year. I wasn't exactly the best player so I rode the bench for that year and I saw these stages occur with the starters from the outside looking in. In the preseason, we thought so incredibly high of our team that we thought that we'd walk through competition and make it to our sectional tournament. That dream didn't exactly happen...

Which leads into how for the first five games we didn't record a single win. There was yelling in the locker rooms between teammates and it was simply just not a good environment. Our team continued to butt heads and we fell to a terrible 1-7. As a bench player there wasn't much I could do other than just practice and keep my mouth shut when the Seniors were going on there rants. That leads to the third stage which was us realizing what was working and what wasn't. Our best player was ice cold and obviously needed a reality check. During practice another player called him out, normally this would instantly go south and would end in tempers flaring but for some reason, he took the criticism and changed for the better. That moment is what turned our season around. Eventually we pieced together a record worthy of making the sectional tournament and we were just having fun playing. We ended up losing in our second game but it was clear that we came together as a team and we are all closer friends because of that season.

The biggest key for being on a team is being comfortable enough to give criticism and of course the ability to take it right back. Unless you and your team have played together for years, there is always a feeling out process that takes place. Ours took a little longer than we would've liked but eventually we came together and figured out how to be a team.

Blog #7: Identity

This blog was by far the most difficult for me to write because of exactly what the privilege quiz told me, I am the most privileged but this didn't come as a surprise to me. I am a straight white male, above 6' tall, and I am currently studying out of state at one of the largest universities in the country. Not one of those is a target identity.

I will combine my two most obvious identities, I am a white male. Being a white male, as we went into great detail during class, has far more positives than not. But what this brings to me is an embarrassment of how other people that identify the same as myself treat other groups. Whether it is towards other races or people who are apart of the LGBT community. There is also a lot of unknown for me, with how the lives of people who have it far more difficulty than me day-to-day, I wish that I could understand but I just simply have no idea, which is a shame. The best thing that I can do is show understanding and compassion for those of who struggle on a day-to-day basis with who they are.

My only target identity I can think of is that I am Agnostic. Not that I have any ill-will towards anyone who follows a religion, I just don't really care for it. Being Agnostic has brought multiple jokes with how I'm going to hell and other things to that effect. Not that it's the worst thing it's just a little annoying. My father passed away almost two years ago and that was a test for someone who identifies as me. Many people's first reaction with death is to go to God or their religion for guidance but I didn't have that to fall back on.

Blog #6: LPI

My highest leadership style was challenging the process. Getting this as my top style was very unsurprising. I have always thought of myself as someone who doesn't just sit back and follow the grain, I have been know to swim against the stream and at times to a fault. I believe 'the process' is there for a reason and to a certain extent, be followed. There wouldn't be any change in the world if nobody would challenge the process but it would be mayhem if everyone did. My lowest was encouraging the heart. As was challenging the process, it is not at all surprising that this was my lowest. I have extreme difficulty to hand out complements or reassurance unless I am making a concerted effort to do so. Those who have encourage the heart as their highest are most likely good at doing these things without hesitation, almost second nature. I believe that with practice of all the LPI, I believe that I can raise all of my ratings to a higher, more equal level.

Blog #5: Act of Kindness

For my act of kindness I decided to get my friends some chicken fingers from Cane's to celebrate all of us finishing up our mid-terms. It felt great to surprise them with some food because well, who doesn't like some free food? Although it wasn't the most extravagant thing in the world, it made them happy to chow down on some chicken fingers while we watched TV together. My main takeaway is how good it felt to do something nice for them because of how stressful mid-terms are. Although this was an assignment, I want to make sure that this isn't my last random act of kindness.

Blog #4: Moral Muteness

In about 10th grade came my largest moral indecision. My close friend was thinking about buying and testing out an illegal substance, in school. I knew that this was going to happen, but I didn't hold him back and made no effort to tell any superiors to stop this 'deal'. Of course, they did get caught, and my friend got suspended from school for two weeks. Although he would have been mad at me at the time, there is no doubt in my mind that by telling someone what was happening it would've kept his record clean. I regret it ever since because it was a major stumbling block for him when he was applying to colleges. I've even talked to him about this since and even he has admitted that it would've been far better to be in trouble with his parents than the law.

Blog #3: Implicit Bias

The first quiz I took was the Presidents IAT. It said that I have a moderate preference for JFK over Obama, it wasn't totally shocking but I admittedly don't have a preference for many presidents over another. I believe this result may have came about because I don't really have a love for Obama, so I think it was more of a dislike for Obama than it was a love for JFK. I don't exactly know how this will shape or really matter in my life working with others. I have a view on presidents that they don't necessarily change much in society as a whole so this may not have been the best quiz to take when taking into account who I am and what I care about.

The next IAT I took was the association of weapons with white and black Americans. I was generally surprised by the result of me having a strong association of black Americans with weapons, it is unfortunate but it makes sense. I believe the results are this way because of the portrayal news channels create by pushing stories involving incidents with black americans and especially lately with things like Trayvon Martin and the events in Ferguson, Missouri. In a philosophy class I took last semester when I was at a different school in Upstate New York we covered implicit bias. The professor used a slide show to show the implicit biases people in society hold. There would be similar pictures of white people holding non-lethal objects then showed black people holding the same objects and the class was must quicker assuming that the black person was holding a weapon versus a non-lethal object as they actually were. It is sad and unfortunate that society happens to be like this but I believe eventually we will be able to rid of implicit bias involving race. I am again unsure how to fix this or work on this but I just need to become better with biases to a point where I no longer hold them. I will never become a good leader until that rings true.

Lastly, I took the IAT on old versus young people. The results of this that I moderately favor young  people compared to old people. I am not surprised at all by this because young people are my peers and I tend to like my peers. I do not think it is any different than an older person would do assuming that they'd favor old people, since they are their peers. This will assist by showing that I need to show more compassion with older people even if I may favor younger people. I am positive that if I worked with older people more often this bias would change and go more in the middle of favoring old and young people. With more experience and time leading a more diverse age population, I believe I can get better.