Canticle Place Experience Essay

The intersection of dominant ideologies of race, class, and gender are important in shaping my social location and experiences. By exercising my sociological imagination (Mills, 1959), I will argue how my social location as an Asian American woman with a working class background has worked separately and together to influence how I behave, how others treat and view me, and how I understand the world. The sociological imagination has allowed me to understand my own “biography”, or life experiences by understanding the “history”, or larger social structures in which I grew up in (Mills, 1959). First, I will describe my family’s demographic characteristics in relation to California and the United States to put my analysis into context. I

there is a difference in values and beliefs and that this is ok. They may

A Service Learning project is one of the project requirements to complete the Bachelors of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree through Ferris State University (FSU). My Service Learning experience was completed at the VA Medical Center (VAMC) in November, 2014. This paper includes details of the facility along with the contact information for the coordinator of the project. A description of my role as a volunteer, critical reflection of my experience, and a synthesis of the Service Learning are also included.

Social location, or the status in life that people have because of their place in a society, have a huge impact on everyone. The impact that social location created could be neutral, but most of the time it will have a positive or negative impact on people. For example, an African American could be discriminated because of his ethnicity, or a patient will choose an older doctor when he needs a treatment. Different social location that we have will affect our decisions in everyday life, and most of the time it happened subconsciously, which means we don’t realize that the decisions we make are based on our social location. Like everyone else, I was affected by my own social location, both positively and negatively.

When people think of their environment people think of their immediate surroundings; however, one's environment goes beyond and further into the psychological connection to one's personal environment. To further explain, Gallagher discusses three different aspects of The Power of Place: Outside In, Inside Out, and Synchrony. The book opens doors previously unnoticed about psychological ecology. From reading the book one learns that settings influence behavior more than the personalities of most people.

The American Indian is a very unique and integral part of Amreican history,with a very rich and beautiful cultural background.There are over 558 federally recognized tribes in America right now,and another 126 who have applied for federal recognition.At the time of first contact with Europeans, the United states was fully occupied by Indian Nations and some 300 Indian languages existed,approximately 106 of which are still spoken.The diversity and hetrogeneity of the American Indian community cannot be overstated.

The Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) was formed in 2006. This government agency, previously known as the Office of Indian Education Programs, controls the direction and curriculum for all Indian schools as well as managing the funding. Three legislative acts developed the roles of the BIE. The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975 and The Education Amendments Act of 1978. The only more recent legislation was The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. It is the mission of the BIE to provide quality education to all Native Americans by focusing on the spiritual, mental, physical, and cultural aspects of the individual within his or her family and tribal or village context (U.S. Dept.

After these three migrations, the Western Hemisphere is secluded from the Eastern half for about 7500 years. During this time the people in the Americas spread (mostly to the south)

A trending issue throughout Native American tribes is low high school graduation rates and high retention rates. There are many reasons why these rates are so low and the national and local governments are working hard to solve these problems. Some reasons why these schools have such high retention rates are the fact there is very little recognition for schools, the lack of a more modern learning environment,and situations such as teen pregnancies, substance abuse, and household situations. These all have a direct correlation to why Native American youth have such high retention rates.

Growing up Native American, I champion the issues of our society. Irene Vernon, a professor at Colorado State University who specializes in Native American health put it simply, “We are the sickest racial, ethnic population in the United States. “ Poverty, unemployment, lack of formal education, domestic violence, incarceration, alcoholism, substance abuse, poor health, and even suicide rates all significantly exceed national rates for any ethnic population.

Through the years minority groups have long endured repression, poverty, and discrimination. A prime example of such a group is the Native Americans. They had their own land and fundamental way of life stripped from them almost unceasingly for decades. Although they were the real “natives” of the land, they were driven off by the government and coerced to assimilate to the white man’s way. Unfortunately, the persecution of the Natives was primarily based on the prevalent greed for money and power. This past impeded the Native American’s preservation of their culture as many were obviated of the right to speak the native language and dress in traditional clothing. Because of this cultural expulsion, among other

American’s oldest minority race is the American Indian, also known as “First People”, “People of the Fourth World”, indigenous people or Native Americans (Avitabile, Kleiner, (2001, pg. 1). They were here when Columbus landed on the continent (and many centuries before then) and have been intertwined in the history of America ever since. This is clearly indicated, as the American Indians were the only minority group mentioned in the United States Constitution (Huyser, Sakamoto, Takei, 2007, pg. 542). After such a long and connected history, it is sad to note that the American Indians and their reservations are home to some of the highest known poverty and unemployment rates. According to the Economic Policy

Why are Native Americans underrepresented in the various healthcare fields in the United States? Is it because they lack access to educational opportunities in that field? What are the challenges that face Native Americans when it comes to the education and curricula they need to forge ahead and become representative in the healthcare industry? These questions and other issues will be addressed in this paper.

I have learned many things throughout this course. I knew about most of the topics discussed throughout the class, but I only knew about them to a certain extent. Privilege and oppression were words I knew of but everyone who talked about it had different definitions of the terms. Now, I do know that majority of those peoples definitions were wrong.

Many times during class I have taken notes and realized that the concepts we are learning can be applied to the relationships within the job I am in right now. When I learned about culture, I was learning how to best communicate and understand others as an individual or group. In learning about a conflict I was having problems with a few coworkers and not understanding why they don’t connect with the various cultures we serve. At times throughout the conference, I saw this class as my work relationship survival guide for this upcoming school year. It was great to be able to take what I already knew about interpersonal relationships and communication and assign vocabulary with actual theories to my previous knowledge. Throughout this course and conference, I have found many connections in the two most important relationships in my life.