Chapter Seven Reflection

I thought this chapter was very interesting, and hit on some very important and serious topics. The first part of the chapter discussed Culture, and how people respond to culture. I thought it was really interesting, and it reminded me of the Sociology class I took last year. In that class we spent a lot of time discussing culture, so it was neat to compare what I was reading for this class, to that class. Something that I ponder, is that we pride people so much when they know a multiple languages. Part of learning a new language is understanding the culture and why they may do something (ex: In Asian cultures, children need to bow to their elders to show respect), yet when a someone who moves into a neighborhood that may celebrate a different culture, some people may react poorly towards that family.

When the topic of mascots came up in this chapter, it really intrigued me. My high school's mascot was originally the Indians, but in 2001, they needed to change their mascot, we are currently the Wolves. This change caused many upset alumni and community members. I personally, thought it was kind of foolish that we needed to change the mascot because we never offended the Indians, in fact we honored it by having a totem pole. It also cost the school thousands of dollars to change the mascot. But after reading about the other side of the argument, I now see how disrespectful it could be having an Indian mascot. I currently, don't know where I stand on the topic, and I can understand both sides of the argument.