Audio Transcript – Pilot Program

Conditions: What if you were born as a different gender or ethnicity or cultural group of what you were actually born (you can choose whether to focus on gender or ethnicity or culture in your post).  Then answer the following questions.

Prompt Question #1: In what ways do you think your life would have been different?

I believe that there are multiple angles in evaluating this question. However, to answer this question thoroughly, we first must consider two key factors. The first factor is the gender of birth, and the second factor is the cultural background in which the person was raised.  Although the question explicitly asks to choose between the two, I believe these two factors are inseparable. In most Asian countries, there is a widespread consensus that male offsprings are vastly more preferred than females. This view has only been exacerbated in China because, in ancient China, societal stability surrounds the idea that males are an additional source of income and additional laborers for the family farms. Therefore, these twisted and foolish ideologies were passed on from generation to generation and eventually to modern-day China. So with that said, to answer this original question. All I could say is that if I was born in China as a female during the 1990s, I probably would not have survived up till now. I would likely have been aborted as a second child since it was at the height of the one-child policy.

Prompt Question #2: Would you have been treated differently by your family? Elaborate.

Since I have declared my premature demise and cease to exist before birth on question one, that’ll be the ending of the China path. Therefore, let’s pursue the alternative hypothesis that I was born and raised natively in the U.S. Now, given that my parents are not Asian, it might have been a story similar to that of the Canadian gold medalist swimmer Maggie MacNeil. Although I cannot shamelessly say that I would be an Olympics gold medalist for the U.S, the growth path and the moral values, however, would likely be similar. If we do not take into account being born with a silver spoon, or other factors that may affect the family’s quality of life or other misfortunes, I probably would have had more friends back in grade school. Perhaps, I wouldn’t be bullied in that parallel universe because, in that timeline, the English language would truly be Native to me. I will likely be more athletic. My parents would most likely help me explore my own passions rather than infusing their own hopes and dreams in me. And most importantly, I wouldn’t have to worry about getting a B because B would actually be considered a brand new PlayStation 5, rather than butt-smacking, ya know. 😂

Prompt Question #3: By your friends and peers? By society? Elaborate.

So, continuing what we’ve built up since chapter two, in chapter three of this parallel universe, let’s talk about relationships. So as I have previously mentioned in question two, I would most likely make a lot more friends. But let me make a quick clarification about the bullying back in my grade school in the current timeline before we start. You might actually find it surprising, but back in grade school, the people that bullied me were actually not Caucasian, Hispanic, or Black students. It was entirely people of my own ethnicity, more specifically, second-generation Chinese immigrants, or ABCs for short. With that said, let’s hop back to the paralleled universe. Since I’m a white guy in this universe, and we’re in California, there would most likely be no issues making friends of different diversity. Although, I would note that it is likely that I would become a party animal with that amount of friends and diversity of a social circle. Therefore, even though I will most likely still be an inclusive person, I might not have the chance to learn some of the good traditional Chinese family and moral values that I get to learn in the current timeline. In addition, since I could very well be a childish and playful person, there are destined to be more bumpy roads for me ahead once I step into society. It would most likely take me a very long time to adapt and learn the society through some very “valuable” life lessons.

Prompt Question #4: Would you have had different interests or personality traits or would they likely remain the same? Elaborate.

As previously stated in question three, I believe that I would have become a totally different person if I was raised in a different cultural environment. This has to do with my belief that the power of nurture is immensely more influential in shaping a person than nature. Because nature could only provide a formula of a person’s appearance or other physical characteristics. While nurture will contribute to a person’s personality, likes and dislikes, the good and the evil, and ultimately, their moral values. For example, if a child grew up in an abusive family by constantly witnessing domestic violence when he/she grew up, they are likely to become a person of violence themselves or to become an advocate to stop domestic violence. All of these shifts are solely based on their childhood memories. Even though the scenario that they might become a person of violence themselves is more likely to happen, does that mean they are a violent person by nature? I don’t believe so. In a similar analogy, if a person starts to smoke at an early age, you can bet that there is a smoking environment that influences their perception that smoking is of no harm to them. Now, let’s use Canadian swimmer Maggie MacNeil as a positive example. She was an abandoned orphan in a Southern Chinese province of Jiangxi. She was eventually adopted by a white Canadian family. If she was raised in China, I could almost guarantee you that she would not have been a professional swimmer, let alone an Olympics medalist. However, because her foster parents noticed her talents in swimming and her family was fairly financially capable of supporting her. She eventually won a gold medal for the Canadian Olympics swimming team. If that does not speak to the power of nurture, I don’t know what does quite frankly. It is genuinely impressive, don’t you think?

Prompt Question #5: What do you think contributes to some people’s discomfort in discussing issues of equality (even if you don’t feel uncomfortable, sometimes others do).

You know, this kind of relates to our Maggie MacNeil example. In China, there are all sorts of opinions commenting on her winning the gold medal. But two opinions, in particular, gained traction because they are the extremes and they reflect a totally different group of people. The first opinion is obviously to congratulate her on this achievement while also casting a self-reflection of how and why this happened. How did we lose such a talented person to Canada, is there anything we could do to reform our system, and how can we make sure talents like this are not left behind in the future. The second opinion is the prideful nationalism rhetoric, which is also quite frankly, the opinion that is being pushed by the central government on state media. It goes something along the lines that she’s a natural descendant of Chinese parents, so we should be proud of ourselves. And that Canadian Olympics team just got lucky that she was adopted by its citizens. So I’ll leave that opinion to you as to which rhetoric or opinion you support. But, I will say this, which is at the end of the day, everything comes down to sensible or senseless pride, successes or failures to think critically, and ultimately, having the ability or inability to source the issue from the people themselves.

Prompt Question #6: What is one thing that you can do to help promote equality (whether referring to gender or ethnicity)?

This question reminds me of the immense wisdom that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. portrayed back in the ’50s and ’60s during the civil rights movement. His philosophical idea of “Civil Disobedience” resonates bright even in the modern-day U.S. It had a stark contrast to that of another civil rights leader of that time, Malcolm X. Although he is also a prominent figure that led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, he is not well recognized in comparison to King because he incited violence during his infamous Bullet or the Ballot speech. Therefore, I believe that to promote equality, it ought to come from the people or citizens themselves. If there’s inequality or injustice, you must make your voices heard, in a peaceful manner, the likes of which that is from Dr. King. However, the most important part is for us to think critically and not resort to solidifying the opinions of others. The fact that I am taking the time to write this long discussion forum is one of the ways that I use to promote equality. If you have read this far, it is likely that I’ve stirred some thoughts inside of you and got you thinking about what I’ve just said. Thus, it serves that purpose.

Prompt Question #7: At Mt. SAC we are strongly encouraged to focus on equity. What would be the benefits of this?

I remember last semester, as I was browsing through the jobs list from Mt. SAC’s careers page, I noticed a similar question to this one. It also asked what “equity” means to you and its definition and how your plans to enact it in your classroom. So this is a very open-ended question that is up to the interpretation of each individual person. But my interpretation was that, as a student, I can expect to be graded fairly, and as a faculty, they are expected to uphold academic integrity and treat each student alike without prejudice.

Responses to the professor or other students

Response 1: I have a similar opinion to prompt six. That is, we, as a society, shouldn’t make people feel outcasted regardless of their ethnicity or gender. Instead, we should promote the idea of being more inclusive and accepting. One of the many perspectives is on the topic of whether or not we should accept more immigrants. A healthy and thriving society should have a replaceable number of births in a 1:1 ratio to the current and existing population. This means, that a couple should have at least 2 children in their lifetime in order to replace themselves in the future. However, in a research article that I read a couple of years ago, in the U.S, a woman, on average would roughly have 1.7 births during her lifetime. Although it is not one of the lowest, it is still far below the 2.1 births required for population replacement. Therefore, in order to accommodate that low fertility rate, we would have to accept more immigrants to replenish that declining working population. And in order to achieve that, society as a whole must become more inclusive, diverse, and accepting of people that differ from you. Thus, politics, sociology, and psychology are all intertwined in some way, shape, or form in my opinion.

Response 2: I like how you mentioned in your second prompt response that it depends on the gender and ethnicity of the said family. I do agree with that point, although, I would add that it also depends on the moral values and characters of the parents. There are just too many factors that are in play that could either favorably or adversely influence what the child may eventually become. I believe that parents, regardless of ethnicity, should set a good example for their kids at an early age and infuse them with the correct moral values that will ultimately shape them to become a person with good hearts. Similarly, for your sixth prompt response, I agree that people should be more conscientious of their actions. However, I would also add that our society as a whole, or minority population specifically, should become stronger within themselves so that way they are less prone to offensive actions. As there will always be people of poor character and values where we go. Therefore, the changes are ought to come from ourselves. Since we can’t change or join them, we would then need to position ourselves to better adapt to them. If someone is easily offended by an apparent joke, then, quite frankly, they are also discriminating and looking down on themselves.