For this assignment, I chose to interview an individual whom I’ve named “Stan Polansky” to protect the anonymity of my interviewee. Stan is a 25 year old Polish man who officially moved to the U.S. roughly 3 years ago after moving back and forth from Poland and the US. Stan was faced with the difficult economic decision of deciding whether or not to pursue a career as a musician or in the jewelry business. Stan chose to attend a trade school and pursued a career as a jewelry repairman/ custom jewelry designer instead, making him now a third generation jeweler. Stan is currently employed at his family’s jewelry business. However, this decision did not come easy. Stan’s Polish culture and family played a large role in his decision. In addition, …show more content…
At one point Stan’s parents were sick of financially supporting him and did not believe a career in music was “realistic”. Stan choosing to become a jeweler was not seen as a choice to his parents, rather it was assumed due to his culture. These factors influencing Stan’s decision are perfectly illustrated by Wilk and Cliggett’s three models of decision making, as discussed in the book “Economies and Cultures”. According to Wilk and Cliggett these three models are the “Self-Interested Model”, the “Moral Model”, and the “Social Model”, all of which combined form the basis of explaining “human behavior and decision making”(42). The pressure of Stan’s family as previously described is an example of both the “Moral” and “Social” Models. Stan saw his musician friends “in bands and doing drugs”, which made him realize that that was not the life he wanted for himself. Stan also came to the realization that it was in his best interest to choose a career that provided a more reliable and steady income, which is an example of acting out of self-interest (Wilk and Cligget’s Self- Interested Model). However, with making this career choice came many initial
In Alex Horton’s essay, “Ides of March,” which he posted on his personal blog, “Army of Dude”, on March 20, 2011, he tells us a little about his platoon, Battle Company, Second Platoon. In this reflective essay he tells us how they have disbanded – and he tells us about the platoon’s losing one of its own, Brian Chevalier, who was a “driver for first squad.” Chevy was blown “out of the Stryker” he was driving, apparently being killed instantly. He talked about how it happened so suddenly, like an announcement when a family member passed away. In this essay Horton remembers Chevy, sharing stories and memories from other men in their platoon. The reason on why Horton wrote this essay because on an emotional state about what he felt about when
The Geeks Shall Inherit The Earth is a book by Alexandra Robbins which summarizes the story of seven different teenagers that have many different problems, which many of todays teenagers also have. I found myself having many similarities to the teenagers in the story, for example, when with her group Whitney, the popular bitch, thinks “You didn't day that when we were alone, but now that you're in front of a group you do” (Robbins 21). I can relate to this because I feel as though many people are pressured to say or do things they normally wouldn't whenever they are with their group or ‘clique’. Robbins has this idea that the freaks and geeks, or “cafeteria fringe” will someday grow up and use what they are criticized for to become more successful than the other peopler people. She calls this the ‘Quirk Theory’ (Robbins page 11). This helped me to learn that right now, in high school, not being ‘popular’ may seem like the end of the world, but the reality of it is that after these four years, it wont even matter, but what will be important is how you learned to grow as a person and the true friendships that were made. This makes me want to focus more on my education and learning to grow as a person instead of focusing on how many friends I have or who I sit with at lunch, because truthfully it wont matter once high school is over.
I enjoyed reading Disciplined Hearts by Theresa O'Nell because i find that many people today do not know a lot about the Native American culture and what they have been through. Their cultures history is not talked about as much the African American or Hispanic's are. Most Americans know about the hardships that the African American and Hispanics had to overcome to assimilate to the level that they are today. I think O'Nell is trying to talk about the history of the Native American culture because, she believes that the reason that their culture is not well-known because of the fact that they have chosen to keep living like their ancestors and not assimilate to the American culture.
In Craig Lesley’s novel The Sky Fisherman, he illustrates the full desire of direction and the constant flow of life. A boy experiences a chain of life changing series of events that cause him to mature faster than a boy should. Death is an obstacle that can break down any man, a crucial role in the circle of life. It’s something that builds up your past and no direction for your future. No matter how hard life got, Culver fought through the pain and came out as a different person. Physical pain gives experience, emotional pain makes men.
The participant requested that he only be referred to as Bob within the confines of this paper. I'd like now to sum up Bob's life in the way you would see in a newspaper testimonial. Bob is a forty one year old supervisor in a well-known factory. He has a wife and three children within the confines of his nuclear family. Bob identifies as agnostic, though he was raised in the Christian faith, and does not have a specific political alliance as he feels the government today is dominated by extremes on both sides and finds the system to be broken. He lives in rural Illinois and his socio-economic status is middle class. I've always felt that those type of summaries do not properly capture who a person truly is. I feel that we have to hear a person's story to understand who they are. A turning point in his life would be when he made the decision to get his degree. Not actually getting the degree, just deciding to do so. He realized his past experience meant nothing and he had to make a change to better provide for his family. It seems a point of pride that he achieved this with no one telling him that he had to do it, but it was his own drive that pushed him toward it. A positive experience from his childhood would be when his third grade teacher, Mrs. Thomas, told him he was a very good writer Bob notes that though he has never written a book he still prides himself on his writing abilities citing being able to write an English paper the night before and still receive an 'A'. A negative childhood memory that still haunts Bob is when a girl, in junior high, that he wanted to ask to be his girlfriend rejected him in a public, and humiliating manor. He looks back now and notes that it was merely "kids being kids", never the less it e...
The Rules is quite possibly one of the greatest marketing ploys to have ever been created and has developed into in its own words "a creature unlike any other." By successfully exploiting the classic notion of "happily ever after," Ellen Fein and Sherrie Schneider have created a mega brand that has sold millions of dollars of nonsensical teachings to unsuspecting women for more than a decade. I call these teachings nonsensical not because they aren't effective, but because of, among other things, Fein and Schneider's lack of authority, a number of glaring contradictions, inappropriate use of cause and effect, and an overall lack of evidence to support their arguments.
Both my interviewee and I identify as working class, biracial, and first-generation women. Subsequently, seeing our families struggle through dire financial situations, motivated us to get an education. We understand how difficult it must have been for our them to venture to a new land and face language barriers that prevented them from working in a well-paying career. My interviewee and I understand that we hold systemic privilege by being citizens of the United States and fluent English speakers, a feature our families did not have. Thus, we both believe that pursuing higher education will provide us with stability and the best future for ourselves and our
Christopher Wills has written a fascinating chronicle of human evolution in a style that will keep the reader glued to the book to find out what happened next. The Runaway Brain is organized into four sections. First Wills addresses The Dilemmas, the many problems that students of evolution encounter mainly from public perception of the subject and from the many prejudices of those involved with the work. The question of where our species first appeared is a particularly contentious one, although it is now widely accepted that the species originated out of Africa. There are, regardless, those who still disagree and especially at first, many dismissed an African origin out of hand. Wills' second main issue is that of the transition to actual "humanity" and if it occurred once or twice. As he discusses in the chapter entitled "An Obsession with Race", those who deride those of African descent often use the multiple origin theory as one that justifies racism. Wills decries this abuse of the science and firmly argues against those that would use evolution to further racist propaganda. He also takes issue with those who insist on believing that all of humanity came from one Eve and one Adam, instead putting forth the theory of the "mitochondrial Eve"; that we all descend from the mitochondrial DNA, but that we do not in fact descent from two individuals.
Application of career theories to my own life allows for analyzing past and future career decisions. Holland’s Theory of Careers states that one’s vocation is an expression of self, personality, and way of life. There is an indisputable and fundamental difference in the quality of life one experiences if they choose a career one truly enjoys, versus choosing a career one detests. A true testament to the validity of Holland’s theory, my job/career choices reflect my interests, as well as the evolution of my personality (internal self). My first job as a fine jewelry specialist and second job as a make-up artist echo my love of the fashion world. As I matured and became less fascinated by presumed “glamour” careers, I became captivated by physical fitness, nutrition, and medicine; I received my national fitness trainer certificate so that I may become a personal trainer. Nevertheless, my career decisions do not fit uniformly into merely one career theory.
As I ponder whom I could possibly interview, my wife suggests, what do you think of interviewing my dad? This immediately appeals to me but there are challenges. He is living in a VA nursing home with early onset dementia. He also has a hard time hearing due to his injuries roughly forty years ago. This would make a phone interview extremely difficult. Instead, I start to formulate a similar idea, what if I interviewed my wife on her experiences as the child of a disabled veteran? I move forward with this idea with a dose of apprehension. I don’t want my wife to relive any pain. During the interview I find just the opposite to happen.
Dave Armstrong is about to graduate from Harvard Business School and is facing three career options. The decision problem that Armstrong should be considering is not which of these three jobs should he take, but rather what job will satiate his career goals. By asking this, Armstrong can gain a complete perspective of his options instead of being confined to three career options that may not be in his best interests. His objectives are not clearly outlined in the case; however, we can infer from the manner in which he is describing the jobs that he would like to have ownership in a company, enjoys thrilling non-office jobs, and wants to grow his network. Also, he has to take into consideration his wife’s objectives for him of having a job
With fewer than fifty published poems Elizabeth Bishop is not one of the most prominent poets of our time. She is however well known for her use of imagery and her ability to convey the narrator?s emotions to the reader. In her vividly visual poem 'The Fish', the reader is exposed to a story wherein the use of language not only draws the reader into the story but causes the images to transcend the written work. In the poem, Bishop makes use of numerous literary devices such as similes, adjectives, and descriptive language. All of these devices culminate in the reader experiencing a precise and detailed mental image of the poem's setting and happenings.
The writer is a 21-year old single woman who had just shortly completed a Bachelors Degree in Business Marketing when she was approved to participate in an internship program for a year in Japan. The organization had recently opened a new pilot program for new graduate interns interested in assisting with marketing campaigns outside of the U.S. The CEO of the company felt there were real growth opportunities for the organization in that particular region so the program was launched fairly quickly. Before leaving to Japan she and various other coworkers made their mark in the organization proving that they could handle the job.
Some people, such as psychology professor Barry Schwartz of Swarthmore College, may argue that the narrowed list of choices is like “freedom within constraints” that may make it easier for people to be satisfied with their decision, thus increases their happiness (842). In his work titled “The Tyranny of Choice”, he suggests that the availability of too many choices will cause people to doubt themselves and have troubles deciding and feeling satisfied with their final decision since they can’t possibly examine all the possibilities and they tend to have higher expectations. Nevertheless, the constraints in the case of stereotypes are paralyzing, as they don’t allow the person to live up to their full potential while simultaneously take away the choices that may lead them to happiness. The set image forces a person to behave in a certain way, eliminating anything that goes against the image. Yuan may be interested in becoming a business manager, but is discouraged by the fact that it is difficult for him to get that job in the professional world with the stereotype in place. Fearing that he may not be able to find a job and apply what he has learned in college, Yuan may end up choosing to major in computer science to become an IT technician. He may feel unhappy with his choice later in his life
These decisions may also include the career they plan to take in the near future. As stated by Bettina Lankard (as cited in Vargas – Benitez, 2013), teens living happily with and seeing their family thriving due to a good career path are more likely to imitate the same path taken by their parents. However, it is not the same for those teens in the opposite situation – a teen who is lonely and sees that their family is financially struggling. These teens have a high chance to choose a completely different path from their parent’s career because of their desire to change their