Final Portfolio 2014

Presently, the systems that make up every government are based solely off of corruption, greed, and social gluttony. Racism no longer exists because of hatred for one another. Instead, it is brewed out of the struggle for a superior social class. People oppress the different groups of the world to gain an advantage in life. Evidence of this stems from the theory that the education  system is purposely weak to send more lower class minorities into the grasp of the judicial system. It turns into a cycle where each new generation has no degree of acceptable education and must turn to a life of crime if they are to survive. Higher levels of education are granted only to those who are born into the superior social class. Our world segregates because of the need for power, not because of the need to hate.

During the second quarter of my World History class I was assigned to write a play that emphasized the meaning of social struggle and change. I decided to base my play off of the idea that our society works in a pyramid structure of class that depends solely on somebody’s race. The play was about the different ethnicities of the world banning together to defeat a greater evil. At one point in the play, a character declares, "The oppression of a race has nothing to do with racism or hatred, it has to do with the struggle for superior social class" (Play, Brek Carlier). Brek hit an understanding here that people have to be taught to hate and are never born with hatred. What they are born with is a struggle to survive in a world where there is no social equality. This is what could drive people to oppress another race even when they know doing this is wrong. Of course, there are people born into ignorance and begin to oppress merely because that is what they know to be true.

At first I found it hard to believe that the entire world could operate in this way. After completing a worksheet called “Scientific Revolution” I realized that an idea, no matter how good or bad, can spread globally because of the amount of success it has. I wrote, “An idea works like a virus. It starts out in the deepest reaches of your mind and spreads like a framework until every last inch is infected by it. When corrupt views move like a ripple through socialism it is not very unlike an epidemic. When these views are accepted globally that is when it turns into a pandemic" (Scientific Revolution Worksheet). By this I mean that ideas are infinite and can control the minds of many if they fit people’s needs. When the world is separated by class it must have seemed appealing to be able to fight for your betterment even if it is out of corruption.

I researched further on how people segregate different social classes without seeming too openly racist. I even took it out of the World History class and into the English 10 class. I found out that our education and judicial systems co-align so that more people fill jails while less people with schools. On a worksheet I stated, "A country's crime rate is solely dictated by that country's education system. It works in a cycle where you can only invest in one. Investment in education leads to a more peaceful country while an investment in the amount of jails drastically drops the quality of education the citizens of such country receive” (Global Education Worksheet). Members of superior social classes want to keep the minorities at the bottom of the food chain so there is no sharing or equality. They do this by providing a poor education system which leads to high crime rates which then eventually leads into the incarceration of many.

As unfortunate as it is, our society works in oppression. In my opinion, the only way to fix this problem is to spread empathy and awareness amongst the public. Then and only then will we have the encouragement to try and make a difference. I wanted to focus solely on the idea above but below is some other quotes that lead me to different general understandings. I will not go into depth on them for the sake of keeping your attention. Instead, I’ll let you make what you want of them.

Additional Thoughts:

"Without the attention of the world the people of revolutions would be left unsupported. Social media can be the most effective and yet the least helpful way of communicating change globally." (History Digital Story Script)

"Religion is not a road to happiness for people. The sole purposes of religion are to lend structure and reassurance to lives." (Journal #10)