"To Sir, With Love" - Reaction:

 Today we watched the movie, "To Sir, With Love." This movie was released in 1967 and focuses on an African American engineer named Mark Thackery. Mark becomes a British school teacher and realizes that his job is going to be much harder than he had expected. As a Black student in a predominantly white school, he would have to face adversity of his own whilst educating the youth.

To make it even more challenging, the students are all from other schools and have serious behavioral issues. This being due to rough home life situations and in some cases, abuse. So for a large portion of the movie, the students try the hardest to break down Mr. Thackery and attempt to force him to quit. However, Mark shows extreme perseverance and refuses to give up on his students as he feels it is his mission to turn them into responsible and well-mannered young adults. After an incident with some of the female students, Mark changes his approach from treating his class as kids to treating them like adults. 

This change ultimately helped Mark get through to the majority of his class. However, this also brought another issue. One of his students, Pamela Dare, develops a crush on Mr. Thackery and can't help herself from flirting with him. Many more conflicts arise with specific students, including Denim, who is fought by Mr. Thackery in a boxing match which led to Denim's defeat. This is what made Denim respect Mark and after they fight, Denim is offered a possibly training role for future boxing classes. 

Overall, the movie did a really great job at depicting growth in many different ways. On one side, we see Mark Thackery's development as both a teacher and on the other we see the development of the students. Some very apparent themes that are present in this film are coming of age as well as responsibility.

EOTO #4 Reaction:

The Civil Rights era was a clamorous period of time in America's history. After the trial of Brown V. The Board of Education in Topeka, Kansas, a boom of court cases regarding the 1st and 14th Amendments began. Peaceful protests started to become a staple in the Civil Rights Movement and overtook the previous methods of protesting. 

There were many topics and events that were discussed today regarding the hindrance and advancement of Black progress. One of the most common themes was the assassination of Civil Rights Movement speakers and leaders. 

The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. sparked a surge of protests. MLK was one of the most prominent Civil Rights movement leaders and acted as a voice of both peace and reason. So losing him dealt an extensive amount of damage to the movement. MLK's killer, James Earl Ray, was given a 99 year sentence and died in prison. 

RFK was another Civil Rights movement leader that fell victim to an assassin's hand. The Democratic Presidential candidate was shot hours before winning the Democratic primary in California in 1968. 

Another death that brought pain to the Black community and the Civil Rights Movement was the death of Malcolm X. Malcolm X grew up as a troublemaker who eventually joined the Nation of Islam, which was a Civil Rights group that had a heavy emphasis on violence. Malcolm X criticized MLK for his support and commitment to violent protests. He believed that violence was the only way to solve the problem and that simply speaking out would not do. So as another major player in the movement, his assassination in 1965 caused even more turmoil. 

The Civil Rights era was filled with very high-highs and very low-lows. Despite the pain that all of the assassinations caused, the work that the leaders did when they were alive was not for nothing and ultimately led to major improvements for the Black community. 

Board v. Bakke Trial: Religious Argument

Affirmative action is a "set of policies that was created to eliminate unlawful racial, religious, and gender discrimination among applicants in employment and education." Its aim is to increase opportunities for those that are underrepresented in areas of our society. From the perspective of The Board of Regents, affirmative action is necessary to provide minorities an equal chance at being accepted to their preferred universities. Although the argument may present itself that in order to be equal, every person of any race would have an equal chance at being accepted, there are other factors that need to be considered. 

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness" (Psalms 19:1). Although we might all be equal as people, elements such as our upbringing can affect students' chances at getting into universities. The other perspective is that racial quotas can be seen as unfair to some people, but it is important to remember that although we were all created equally, it does not mean that we will all live a fair life with fair chances. It is no surprise that students brought up in white families would likely have better opportunities than those brought up as a minority. Statistically, white families were wealthier, which would allow for better education, leading to a higher member of accepted students. This leaves under-represented groups subject to racism and other disadvantages that may leave them on the outskirts of applicant lists. If these minorities remained with lesser education due to their disadvantages, then how could they ever break free from the cycle and become financially stable. Affirmative action is not a handout, but rather a "hand up." 

Affirmative action is also a major benefit to the college education system in ensuring diversity on the campus. Prioritizing diversity benefits students of all races as it helps accustom everyone to other races and helps improve any standing racial bias. If we live in a country that is diverse (America) then our schooling systems should reflect that. It is important for all students to learn life skills and understand that diversity is not going anywhere and that they need to learn how to work together and communicate. Of course, all though cliche, nothing states it better than The Bible in The Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" (Luke 6:31 and Matthew 7:12). In other, more common words, treat others the way that you want to be treated. Another quote from The Bible that supports this is: "As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith" (Ephesians 5:16-20 GNT). This backs the entire argument of treating everyone right as we all have the ability to do so.

With universities having racial quotas and using affirmative action, minorities and under-represented groups will have their chance. This doesn't mean that anything will be taken away from anyone else. The school systems should still have a holistic approach to reviewing their applications, but race will just play a more major role than before.