Perceived

This week in class we saw a video of a man that stayed in prision for a couple of weeks.
Through the video, we were able to see how prisoners were treated and what they did in prison.
I was surprised to find out that they were required to do absolutely nothing-which was the biggest challenge.
The prisoners had to keep themselves entertained to get through the long days, weeks, months, years.
Many prisoners made up their minds to change their lives once they are released.
Sadly, the determined prisoners were unable to reach their goal which leads to another issue.

Should prison be a punishment or a rehabiliation for people? Our country had agreed it should be a rehabiliation but it's obviously not helping most people. People who have been to jail are a lot more likely to go back.

It's sad that our prison system is unhelpful and even unfair. People who are richer are able to avoid going to jail by hiring better lawyers, while the poorer people have no money to get out of jail. Our country should find a better jail system and slowly begin to change.

This week we also watched a movie on social class. We were able to see that social class may not even be about the money. That it's actually every little thing  person does, that shows what social class you're in.
For example, what foods you eat show what class youre in. Or how close you stand while you talk. All these little things show.

With the prison and social class, we learned that deviance is perceived. That how grave an act is perceived, and labeled by the community. How rich or poor someone thinksthey are is also perceived. A person may thnk that they are very poor compared to big buisness leaders, but in actuallity may be part of the higher class.

Since last week was Thanksgiving, I was able to think about this topic further. I live in a upper middle class neighborhood and go to a fairly wealthy school. Where everyone has smartphones, and use designer bags as their schoolbags. That spend twenty dollars each day for their lunch, or buy a five dollar latte every morning. Seeing all these people have made me feel a lot less rich. But I've failed to realize that compared to the rest of the country, and compared to rest of the world, i have so much to be thankful for. Maybe I should cut back on that extra coffee and spread my blessings to others.