To some extent, I feel like I can relate to this quote. I moved around three different states over the course of my time in high school, so I definitely know what it means to be a new kid. During the awkward and exciting phase of being new somewhere, life can seem very puzzling. Being misunderstood in your behavior or appearance can set up a bad reputation. For this reason, incoming freshman and transfer students tend to have an ominous fear of being misunderstood and not "fitting in". Being accepted is always comforting. Having friends to spend time with and acquaintances to run into around school are both desires most college students have. Because of this, sometimes we change ourselves to become apart of a social group or organization.
While being new somewhere can be nerve-wrecking at times on its own, I could not imagine being a minority. I have talked with friends in the past who were minorities at other schools they went to and they have all mentioned the same experiences: getting rude stares, seeing people talk with each other about you, and always worrying about racial stereotypes. I feel that at FSU, minorities are very well accepted. However, at other schools, this may not be the case. Being oppressed as a minority is an issue still at many other schools. For that reason, some minorities do feel as though there is a danger of being misunderstood as an individual.
I completely agree with the fear of being misunderstood. Especially being from New York and coming to florida state and not knowing anyone, it was very hard to adjust and feel comfortable. Although I am white, I do understand the racism factor that would play into the fear of being misunderstood. They are constantly feeling like the inferior.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the fact that being new you can be misinterpreted and misunderstood, but I don't think people treat minorities poorly. A lot of the time the minorities all hang out with each other and so they do feel accepted amongst each other. I couldn't imagine moving high schools three separate times. I hope that you had a good time in highschool because high school was fun and you make friends that you will be friends with for the rest of your life.
ReplyDeleteI liked your choice of this quote and how you made the point not only about being misunderstood on a racial level and on a more "social acceptance" level. At my high school i was in a magnet program which was primarily white students and we were in a neighborhood school that was primarily African american students. There was this stereotype that all of the "white" ( quotes because i'm actually biracial) students thought they were better than the regular students and it did cause a lot of misunderstandings within the school as a whole.
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