Monday, May 4, 2009

Yell at me please

Malcolm Gladwell's new book "Outliers" mentioned that people from lower income or minority families tend to be less aggressive in a conflict and more submissive in front of authority. It's a lack of entitlement. I've witness that a lot. One time I was in the open computer lab, an Asian looking student was talking loud (without knowing because he had his earphones on), I have to admit it was a bit distracting but he didn't do it continuously. One older white woman seriously told him to shut up. But when I left, she was playing youtube videos on her computer and let the noise out too!

A couple of days ago, a young black mother and her daughter got on my train. The daughter was eating a candy bar, the wrapper fell on the ground. She was making faces to her mother, which showed that she obviously knew it was wrong to litter. A white woman behind them promptly asked the girl to pick the trash up and said sth more about don't litter. While I certainly hate littering, I didn't think I was in the position to educate other people's kids in front of them. Well, it might just be the Chinese in me.

Interesting, the mother didn't say a word the entire time. She seemed to be so indifferent to the situation.

1 comment:

  1. 看上去很有趣!不过青帝老师,为什么要取Yell at me please的名字啊?

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