Author: nichols.802

Text Review Assignment Corbin Nichols

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In Breaking Bad, a series set in New Mexico is a show that is about a high school teacher that teaches chemistry and a past student that was not very popular and received poor grades in the past join together to become wealthy. These two ultimately end up teaming together to become drug dealers. The teacher named Walter and the previous student Jesse both have different reasons as why they wish to obtain money. Walter is looking to set up his family with wealth after he dies after recently learning that he has lung cancer. Jesse wants the riches and the things that come with money, Jesse was picked on in school and was ultimately an outcast with a little number of friends, poor grades along with not having much money. After a crazy amount of setting up and preparing the two start cooking crystal meth in a recreational vehicle in the desert, as an attempt to avoid others. Later on, Jesse gets kicked out of his house for being lazy, making no money, and not contributing around the house little did his parents know he was working the hardest he had ever in his life and was saddened by the neglect his parents put on him. However, Jesse was unable to tell his family as to what he was doing because it was obviously illegal. Day in and day out Jesse and Walter were creating and selling crystal meth successfully, so successfully that they began to launder money where they would get made fun of by people at school for washing cars. After making their drug money legal Jesse was able to make a big purchase. It just so happened that his parents were looking to sell their house and move elsewhere. Jesse took this upon himself to prove to his family for once that he was doing something successfully throughout all of the hardships he faced growing up and people not believing him. Jesse ended up buying the house and when his parents were moving out he went to go into his house, Jesse’s parents quickly stopped and asked what he was doing and that he could not be at the house because the new owners are supposed to be here at any second, however, he was the new owner and presented the house keys to them. This is a prime example of socioeconomic classes where Jesse as an adult grew up to be worthless in his parent’s eyes and how this made him feel below them along with the rest of society. I could see my classmates viewing the analysis of this text as, no matter how you are treated nothing justifies being a drug dealer and ruining the lives of others, however, I feel like upon viewing the series they would find initial sympathy for his as to how he was treated early on in the show.

 

Jesse’s Parents Reaction Video

Diary of Systemic Injustices Showcase: Education Inequality

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A systemic injustice present in the United States is education inequality. Education inequality is the unequal distribution of academic resources, including school funding, experienced teachers, books, and technology. Communities affected by education inequality tend to be historically oppressed and disadvantaged. School systems are often segregated by income, and oftentimes by race. According to a recent New York Times article, “More than half of the nation’s schoolchildren are in racially concentrated districts, where over 75 percent of students are either white or nonwhite.” This racial and economic segregation has created educational gaps between rich and poor, and white students and students of color. The same New York Times article also mentions that “School districts that predominantly serve students of color received $23 billion less in funding than mostly white school districts in the United States in 2016, despite serving the same number of students”. This is a systemic injustice mostly due to school district boundaries, where wealthy communities are often in different school districts than lower-income communities. Most funding for school districts comes from local taxes. In cases where the school districts reside in wealthy communities, schools receive more funding from taxes than those in poorer communities resulting in funding disparities in education. Funding at the state level is meant to fill these “gaps” however, in many states, these obligations are not being followed through on. With less funding, schools in poorer communities do not have the same resources, and opportunities, as those in wealthy communities. The solutions to this problem are far from easy and would take a systemic change within the education system across the board. With that being said in the examples below the stories behind the pictures share significant meaning. In the first picture with a FREE EDUCATION sign the students are protesting the unfair tuition fees. Also, the least privileged students are attacked by the tuition terms and the students are fighting this saying that students should be allowed to have further education regardless of their background and their financial stance. In the second picture, it takes place in 1968 where students did a walk out in Chicago due to the fact that students all around America were struggling to receive education that prepared them for college. The article discusses numerous statistical facts saying that minorities in poor locations were unable to receive the right education that was college ready. Due to these problems this resulted in students dropping out and not finishing school because they were denied a future in the first place because their education did not meet the criteria needed to seek further education.

 

Experience of Asian-American hate (The Leavers) – Context Presentation

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In the first half of Lisa Ko’s The Leavers, the story starts out with a mother named Polly and a son named Deming who later his name changes to Daniel. Daniel’s mother leaves him at a young age where he is faced with a ton of adversity being a minority in the Bronx of New York. Throughout the story Daniel deals with being a minority in instances such as school and the foster care system, Daniel even deals with the stress of migration. He deals with racism, opportunities of feeling like where he doesn’t belong and distance from his mother at times. Which is a problem still in today’s society, Asian-Americans still get discriminated against and deal with racism, one recent instance of this is Asian-Americans and Asians getting racially profiled and blamed due to covid being in those initial countries even though it has nothing to do with their race. Along with the foster care system, there is adversity for people fitting in when being a minority and discrimination of people, ultimately effecting ones mental heath.

 

In conclusion, it is sad to see that The Leavers is so similar to today’s society. With all these issues Asian-Americans and Asians face. As a society there should be a collective goal to help stop Asian hate so nobody has to have a similar life to Daniel who went through so much being a minority.

 

Sources: 

Hahm, Hyeouk Chris, et al. “Perceived COVID-19-Related Anti-Asian Discrimination Predicts Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms among Asian and Asian American Young Adults.” Psychiatry Research, vol. 303, Sept. 2021. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2021.114084.

 

Garland, A. F., et al. “Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Mental Health Service Use among Children in Foster Care.” Children and Youth Services Review, vol. 25, no. 5/6, 2003, pp. 491–507. EBSCOhost, search-ebscohost-com.proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=swh&AN=73291&site=ehost-live.