Workplace BehaviorEssay Preview: Workplace BehaviorReport this essayUnderstanding workplace behaviour: we are all individuals and at work we act in different ways. Luckily there are some indentifiable trends which managers can use to promote workplace harmony and productivity
I believe that when it comes to racism and discrimination and judgment, it all too often comes from people who are simply uneducated about other groups and parts of the world. How many times in class has Sam said something that made you take a step back and look at yourself in the mirror? I know there has been more than one time for me that I realized that I dont even really know why it is that I think the way I do. In fact, there have been multiple occasions in which I was proven wrong in my thinking or judgments of others.
None of this was as clear to me as it was when the Muslim students spoke in lecture on Tuesday. For all that the class knew, the girl named Sally was probably an exchange student from the Middle East, as she donned a hijab. However, when given a chance to speak, Sally told a stunned class of 750 that she was born and raised in Pittsburgh. From this moment on, I am now able to realize that religion is not race. I think that the main reason as to why I assumed Sally was from the Middle East is because I am, admittedly, extremely ill-informed in ways of other cultures and religions. For me, it has always been easier to assume that it has been to attempt to open a conversation with people different than myself.
The professor of history who made the Muslim class’s point did not even think about whether we must deal with the problems that the student with the “unbelievers” had in her group. She simply argued that, instead, Muslim students in this particular group were being denied a place at Yale because of their religious beliefs and their “perversion” of other ethnic groups. How could one believe that this student without any knowledge of any of the issues raised in her group would be able to bring himself/herself to speak in any way that does not support her beliefs and her desire to attend? How could such a person be so clearly wrong that she does not want to attend a lecture at Yale? The professor made it clear that while she believed in a free society, she was also not prepared to address the issue. And that isn’t even taking into account the fact of other students who chose to have their identities revealed to her.
I am still very upset if Yale and many other universities do not take seriously what a student is being taught about that she might be the “unbeliever.” The problem for many students and their families has been the selective admissions process that is being set up by the Department of Human Resources. As such, it is not only an unfair admissions method that is unjust and unfair on the basis of race or gender but also that it is not being applied consistently to a large section of the American community for an acceptable level of education. It is an admission mechanism that is set aside for religious and other non-religious students.
Why do many students in the United States are not receiving a full scholarship to Yale? Why is the American Council on Education (AUED) promoting student diversity in the way it has previously done in Canada and other countries? Why is the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) supporting a student for the US Senate and Senate Leader with less than $17,000 from the Federal Government and less than $1,000 from other sources? Why are all students at Yale choosing to go to college in the hopes that they will be accepted by the university and not fall from grace at the bottom of American universities? Why continue to give this type of scholarship to an individual with all of the potential to be a terrible person that is clearly not a Christian? I am not saying that the American society should be treated equally. It should be treated so that no minority is given priority over all others. In fact, I am very angry that the ADI has been so silent. When President Obama was elected the ADI is trying to silence students who have not attended school to ensure that there is not fear, fraud or even deception to emerge as a force in society that they will not get to pursue in their personal lives. I am shocked and disgusted by the actions
I also believe that the environment I grew up in did not quite allow for the understanding of people too much unlike me. In a town where most are Christian, there was very little racial or cultural diversity. Because of this, I was never really taught nor did I see people interacting with Jewish people, Muslim people, etc. Ashamed to admit it, I just always assumed that since they did not live near me, and I never saw the ways in which they worship, that they must be vastly different from me or my family. Coming to Penn State, I met more Jewish people within the first week here than I knew in my entire life back home. I also quickly learned that they were really no different than me. Was I expecting them to preach about their beliefs and their Kosher food? Im not sure what I was expecting, but I soon realized that upon meeting someone new, the first thing out of my mouth is never “I was baptized Catholic”. So why should I accept anything like that from someone else?
I believe that people are subconsciously afraid and uncomfortable with what they do not know. Therefore, it is easy to assume that the unknown must be so much different that our known, because why else dont we know about it? The arguments are not strong, but it is easy to fall into a norm and difficult to venture out of your comfort zone or latent beliefs and reach out to someone, maybe unlike yourself, though probably vastly similar.
I have to say I completely agree that when we see a person that is from another country we view them as a completely different in a variety of aspects. I think part of the problem is too often we assume things. We assume that because people may come from a different country