Three African-American Students

Before our class left to enjoy our spring break, we were given an assignment to complete after arriving back on campus. We were asked to interview 12 people in total, three Caucasian students, three Asian students, three Hispanic students and three African-American students, preferably six males and six females. We were all given the same seven questions to ask our interviewees. In addition, we were also asked to make up our own question that we felt would be suitable to inquire about. I decided to ask the question, “Do you like to read and if so, what’s your favorite book?”. After analyzing the answers to the questions I asked my interviewees, I noticed some differences that may go against the common stereotypes of certain races and gender.

The three students, once again, valued their friends and love, with goals of finishing college and graduating from Ramapo. Out of these people, only one was the first in their family to attend college. In addition to these similarities, they are all influenced by people close to them such as friends and teachers. Each person chose to vacation outside the United States if all expenses were paid and ironically, two out of the three Asian students chose to go to the Philippines while the other chose Europe. Their favorite movies included those related to Asian cultures such as Mononoke, a Japanese animated television series, Big Hero 6, a Disney film based largely on Japanese and West Coast American culture and Star Wars. On the other hand, when it came to their favorite songs, my findings were that their choices were not as inspirational, but rather pertained more to the subject of love. Finally, similar to the white students, each person enjoyed reading and their favorite books included the Pendragon series and To Kill a

Comparably, these students value family and love most in life; however, there was one student who valued money the most. Each student’s life objective was either to be happy, to be successful or finish school and get a job, similar to the students of the other races. Astoundingly, each person was not the first in their family to attend college. Most would think that there would be at least one Hispanic student who was the first within their family to get into college. In addition, these students were most influenced by people close to them such as a best friend or professor, similar to the White and Asian students. When they were asked where they would like to go on vacation, their answers varied with countries from around the world. For instance, countries such as Australia, Switzerland and India were the chosen destinations. The best movies in their opinion included The Breakfast Club, a movie about interacting students who each represents a common high school stereotype, The Best of Me, a love story and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, a movie about social classes and resilience. Two of the three movies involve subjects that our Social Issues class is oriented around. All of the Hispanic students said their favorite song was a love song such as She Will Be Loved by Maroon 5, Drops of Jupiter by Train or One Love by Bob Marley. When they were asked if they liked to read, most