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This is true but it depends on who you are surrounded by as an adolescent and what type of school you went to. The county I grew up in has a horrible reputation as far as schools are concerned. My program was only one of two science and technology programs in the entire county and I'm sure it still doesn't compare to a private school education. i remember having a book that broke down the rankings of the schools but at that age and with no experience, I wasn't even sure of the process of choosing the best schools and selecting a major. Not every HS student is surrounded by adults who are willing to share information and mentor young people like NYWriterdude stated earlier. I only knew what my parents shared with me and got an idea of other careeroptions from friends' parents and some of my cousins. It wasn't until later that I met people in various career fields and learned of more career options that I could potentially pursue. I'm sure the same thing happened with Chris Gardner and Schwarrtzenegger. I only saw the Gardner movie and I believe he was either in his late twenties or early thirties when he met the stockbroker and decided to pursue that career field. When you are a child or adolescent, your social circle tens to be a lot smaller than when you are an adult.
Unless someone is exposed to a wide variety of cultures, they will make a lot of assumptions. That is why it is good to make your social circle varied so that you can learn from others.
Compton won't be an overnight thing but if population growth in big cities continue, they will eventually start creeping in. According to another thread I am reading, they say that their might be another housing bubble very soon so who knows if the current trend of moving to the major cities will change overnight. It's hard to speculate.p at this point.
As far as everyone's different experiences go, I'm sure it has something to do with the demographics of the schools. I'm not sure why it was like that at my school but I'm sure glad I didn't fall into the trap of not taking HS seriously.
I was surrounded by gang members growing up (late 80s, early 90s). Did I join? No. Other than my elementary school, I went to terrible schools. Everyone I know that put in the effort made something out of their life. They aren't all professionals, but many make more than professionals because they work in the unions with no student loan debt. When I was in high school the rep from USC came and told us all about what we needed to do to go there. There was a black kid that I knew that tried to play high school football, but was terrible. When I was in community college, I saw him working in the cafeteria. Through social networking I found out he is a lawyer that graduated from USC. The dude always said he was going to go there. Like me, he found a way to get it done.
You couldn't be more off about Arnold as he was winning bodybuilding trophies before he turned 18 and was Mr. Europe at 19 years old. His parents were against his career choice from the beginning and he even went AWOL while serving in the Austrian military to compete. Then he came here with no knowledge of English and worked laying bricks while going to Santa Monica community college AND competing as a bodybuilder at the highest level and dominated when he competed.
I highly recommend Chris Gardner's book over the movie as the movie was a VERY sanitized version of his life that only made up a few pages in his book, but yes he did meet the guy in his late 20s.
Here's the thing about Compton that I think you're missing. It used to be the home of middle class blacks before they all moved out to Carson, California. From there it became home to mostly gangs. The last time I went there, it was mostly Mexican. Again, this is what you don't seem to get. The LA population has been growing for years thru immigration alone. Immigrants both legal and illegal have been driving up housing prices long before hipsters started gentrifying LA. Nobody mentions this, but there is a Mongolian population in Koreatown that is steadily growing also driving up housing costs. Until a tech company moves to Rancho Dominguez, you won't see any gentrification in Compton.
I notice no one here is saying that East LA will gentrify. In fact, it seems the consensus is that no Mexican strongholds will. I agree with this because they don't move out, they just add more people to a home to pay rent.
I didn't take HS seriously, but I did college. TBH, I was seriously considering going to the oil refineries thru some connections I had, which required just a high diploma and some certifications but then felt that college was a better route to take. I know one guy that went into real estate after high school and is wealthier than any of my friends from Berkeley that work as consultants. He doesn't even work that much either.
I was surrounded by gang members growing up (late 80s, early 90s). Did I join? No. Other than my elementary school, I went to terrible schools. Everyone I know that put in the effort made something out of their life. They aren't all professionals, but many make more than professionals because they work in the unions with no student loan debt. When I was in high school the rep from USC came and told us all about what we needed to do to go there. There was a black kid that I knew that tried to play high school football, but was terrible. When I was in community college, I saw him working in the cafeteria. Through social networking I found out he is a lawyer that graduated from USC. The dude always said he was going to go there. Like me, he found a way to get it done.
You couldn't be more off about Arnold as he was winning bodybuilding trophies before he turned 18 and was Mr. Europe at 19 years old. His parents were against his career choice from the beginning and he even went AWOL while serving in the Austrian military to compete. Then he came here with no knowledge of English and worked laying bricks while going to Santa Monica community college AND competing as a bodybuilder at the highest level and dominated when he competed.
I highly recommend Chris Gardner's book over the movie as the movie was a VERY sanitized version of his life that only made up a few pages in his book, but yes he did meet the guy in his late 20s.
Here's the thing about Compton that I think you're missing. It used to be the home of middle class blacks before they all moved out to Carson, California. From there it became home to mostly gangs. The last time I went there, it was mostly Mexican. Again, this is what you don't seem to get. The LA population has been growing for years thru immigration alone. Immigrants both legal and illegal have been driving up housing prices long before hipsters started gentrifying LA. Nobody mentions this, but there is a Mongolian population in Koreatown that is steadily growing also driving up housing costs. Until a tech company moves to Rancho Dominguez, you won't see any gentrification in Compton.
I notice no one here is saying that East LA will gentrify. In fact, it seems the consensus is that no Mexican strongholds will. I agree with this because they don't move out, they just add more people to a home to pay rent.
I didn't take HS seriously, but I did college. TBH, I was seriously considering going to the oil refineries thru some connections I had, which required just a high diploma and some certifications but then felt that college was a better route to take. I know one guy that went into real estate after high school and is wealthier than any of my friends from Berkeley that work as consultants. He doesn't even work that much either.
highland park, boyle heights, & echo park residents would disagree.
You would probably get along very well with Nigerians and (some) West Indians. They are very serious about their academics. You may have experienced issues with social awkwardness because you hadn't found your group yet. I don't feel comfortable with everyone but once I find some common ground, it is easy to have great conversations and get to know people. I'm not a huge fan of small talk but I have found that it helps to break the ice and once you get to know someone, you can get into the deeper stuff later.
Weirdly enough, I seem to get along well with Whites from Europe the best and some Whites from the west coast. One of my best friends is from Germany. I guess we got along so well because she was genuinely interested in learning about AA culture when she moved to the US and I didn't get a sense of fakeness or perceived racial superiority from her. As long as you treat me like an equal, I'm cool with you. I can tolerate genuine questions about my race/culture but I will not have anything to do with someone who think is they are better than me because they are White or any other race. Mutual respect is key to a good friendship.
Yes,met is upsetting that the architecture field is not in demand because I am a fanatic about architecture. Apparently, the decline stemmed from the housing market crash. Construction suffered as well. It is picking back up but not to the levels seen before the crash just yet.
I find that the students who pick on others definitely are the ones with no future plans. It is sad because it most likely stems from parents who don't care about them.
I used to recruit tech workers (which is why I decided to get into tech after seeing the salaries). Update your resume with your current job and job duties. Make sure to list everything and look for the most popular buzzwords in your field. Then, tailor your resume accordingly. Also, be sure to put your resume on every major job site (e.g. Indeed, Monster, etc.) I'm not sure which ones are the most popular these days but I'm sure you can find them with a quick Google search. I don't know if you've ever been recruited but the recruiters will call you non-stop as long as your resume has those buzzwords. I still get a lot of calls for my previous position but I am moving into a different area of tech now. Also, check to see what the most popular software/apps are for your field. For example, a requirement for architecture would be knowledge of AutoCAD and/or Revit. Graphic designers need Adobe CC suite skills. If you don't know those programs, take a Coursera/Udemy course and then be sure to put it in your resume. Also, I volunteered somewhere to quickly pick up the skills i needed to get an entry-level position in tech and put it in my resume which landed me an actual job in the field pretty quickly. I'm sure you could do something similar in your job. A lot of non-profits will let you volunteer and pick up new skills (if you can fit it into your current work schedule). Hope that helps!
In college, I got along very well with the Africans and West Indians. One of my roommates was born in Ghana, raised in the USA. We got along well with him. Many of the African students had stories about their parents being very hard on them in terms of their studies. There were alot of Whites, Hispanics, and Asians I got along with as well. In particular, there were female athletes I got along with very well, and hung out with them. For some of crap I went through, I made friends of different ethnicities, Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, etc.
I never really found "my group" to hang with. I was a bit of a drifting type. I never had one set group of people I hung out with. The nature of my own life kind of made it so. I did different things. I would meet different kinds of people. I never had one set thing I did. Also, there are people that I haven't seen, that if I were to see them now, I would still want to hang out with them. My freshman year I made alot of friends with alot of females. Now, they are either 30 or older(I just turned 30 last week) and are either married, or married with kids. Alot of the females athletes I liked hanging out with when I was younger, most of them are married with children. International students I made friends with, many of them are back in their home countries or have moved to other parts of the USA doing different things with their lives. People have been coming and going.
I will say this. Nearly every person I've met who was from the Midwest, especially the MN/WI/IA area, I've gotten along with very well. Michigan too.
Where my social awkwardness came in is when I dealt with people I barely knew, whom I might have classes with, but I can't relate to because of one reason or another. I might have trouble finding something to find common ground on. It could be that they are in the group dynamic, with me trying to find a way in. I always did well one on one.
I thought about going into architecture as a kid. I never did. Maybe for me it was for the best. What I wonder is if there is a demand for architects in Atlanta, as I see more condos and skyscrapers being built. Construction is booming, just not in the housing industry.
I know a little bit about Adobe. I used that to making a map. I tried learning AutoCAD on my own. I found out the full license was going to be very expensive, and I don't have the terminals needed for that. I am working now, so the best thing for me at this point is to look at night classes to learn coding. I know how to use HTML. From what I'm told, Pi and SQL are necessary.
I was surrounded by gang members growing up (late 80s, early 90s). Did I join? No. Other than my elementary school, I went to terrible schools. Everyone I know that put in the effort made something out of their life. They aren't all professionals, but many make more than professionals because they work in the unions with no student loan debt. When I was in high school the rep from USC came and told us all about what we needed to do to go there. There was a black kid that I knew that tried to play high school football, but was terrible. When I was in community college, I saw him working in the cafeteria. Through social networking I found out he is a lawyer that graduated from USC. The dude always said he was going to go there. Like me, he found a way to get it done.
You couldn't be more off about Arnold as he was winning bodybuilding trophies before he turned 18 and was Mr. Europe at 19 years old. His parents were against his career choice from the beginning and he even went AWOL while serving in the Austrian military to compete. Then he came here with no knowledge of English and worked laying bricks while going to Santa Monica community college AND competing as a bodybuilder at the highest level and dominated when he competed.
I highly recommend Chris Gardner's book over the movie as the movie was a VERY sanitized version of his life that only made up a few pages in his book, but yes he did meet the guy in his late 20s.
Here's the thing about Compton that I think you're missing. It used to be the home of middle class blacks before they all moved out to Carson, California. From there it became home to mostly gangs. The last time I went there, it was mostly Mexican. Again, this is what you don't seem to get. The LA population has been growing for years thru immigration alone. Immigrants both legal and illegal have been driving up housing prices long before hipsters started gentrifying LA. Nobody mentions this, but there is a Mongolian population in Koreatown that is steadily growing also driving up housing costs. Until a tech company moves to Rancho Dominguez, you won't see any gentrification in Compton.
I notice no one here is saying that East LA will gentrify. In fact, it seems the consensus is that no Mexican strongholds will. I agree with this because they don't move out, they just add more people to a home to pay rent.
I didn't take HS seriously, but I did college. TBH, I was seriously considering going to the oil refineries thru some connections I had, which required just a high diploma and some certifications but then felt that college was a better route to take. I know one guy that went into real estate after high school and is wealthier than any of my friends from Berkeley that work as consultants. He doesn't even work that much either.
I'm sure the key for both Arnold S. and your friend who became a lawyer was exposure to their desired careers. We had a few college reps from southern colleges come to our school who offered full scholarships to students who had certain G.P.A.s but I didn't want to go to those schools. My choice was to either attend college in CA, Miami or Hawaii. I'm glad I chose my school because I met a lot of great people and received an excellent education (imo). I just wish I had more of a game plan in place when I was a teenager. Because my knowledge of various careers was so limited, I chose to initially become a teacher because it was all I knew.
Men often have a variety of choices when it comes to high-paying skilled trades as well. I'm sure if a woman really wanted to go into those fields, she could make it happen but it would be somewhat awkward working in a male-dominated career field. I love the process of home construction but I'd never want to work in a building/office with only men present. IT is still male-dominated but it is a bit more balanced in terms of the male/female ratio than a lot of other traditionally high-paying male-oriented fields are.
I definitely want to check out the Chris Gardner book as well. I love the move and his story is a huge inspiration to me.
Yes, most AA enclaves in CA (and the rest of the US) were initially made up of middle class blacks. Once the riots/drug infestation hit, this all changed. I still say never say never because many neighborhoods that people insisted would never gentrify have rapidly changed in a matter of a decade. Again, I am no forecaster but I have seen it too often. Compton is much closer to the CBDs in LA than the suburbs further inland. Of course, the more desirable parts of LA will be filled to capacity first. But I've read some articles/blogs about hipsters taking an interest in Compton so it's definitely not impossible. People will do the most for affordable housing. I've met many twenty year old White hipsters who will live with twenty people in one house just to make ends meet.
I'm sure the key for both Arnold S. and your friend who became a lawyer was exposure to their desired careers. We had a few college reps from southern colleges come to our school who offered full scholarships to students who had certain G.P.A.s but I didn't want to go to those schools. My choice was to either attend college in CA, Miami or Hawaii. I'm glad I chose my school because I met a lot of great people and received an excellent education (imo). I just wish I had more of a game plan in place when I was a teenager. Because my knowledge of various careers was so limited, I chose to initially become a teacher because it was all I knew.
Men often have a variety of choices when it comes to high-paying skilled trades as well. I'm sure if a woman really wanted to go into those fields, she could make it happen but it would be somewhat awkward working in a male-dominated career field. I love the process of home construction but I'd never want to work in a building/office with only men present. IT is still male-dominated but it is a bit more balanced in terms of the male/female ratio than a lot of other traditionally high-paying male-oriented fields are.
I definitely want to check out the Chris Gardner book as well. I love the move and his story is a huge inspiration to me.
Yes, most AA enclaves in CA (and the rest of the US) were initially made up of middle class blacks. Once the riots/drug infestation hit, this all changed. I still say never say never because many neighborhoods that people insisted would never gentrify have rapidly changed in a matter of a decade. Again, I am no forecaster but I have seen it too often. Compton is much closer to the CBDs in LA than the suburbs further inland. Of course, the more desirable parts of LA will be filled to capacity first. But I've read some articles/blogs about hipsters taking an interest in Compton so it's definitely not impossible. People will do the most for affordable housing. I've met many twenty year old White hipsters who will live with twenty people in one house just to make ends meet.
Again, Arnold grew up in Austria. The only thing he had to go off of were magazines, maybe a movie and a local gym where the guys were looked at as social outcasts. To be honest, I don't even think he made any money bodybuilding, but it propelled him to other things. He grew up during a time when muscle men were seen as unathletic and in many cases gay, which was completely taboo. Practically everybody outside of the gym culture discouraged him from his dream, especially his father. He literally told him to do something useful with his life. Don't get me wrong, this guy is a once in a lifetime example, but hey, we've sent people to the moon, so the impossible can be done. Hence, I don't buy the reason that we can't succeed because of our upbringing. Again, the prejudice argument is TOTALLY legitimate, especially with the older generations, so I never doubt that. To what degree, I don't know. Everybody has different experiences. Personally, I never had any racist comments thrown my way until I went to UC Berkeley both from students and locals across the Bay Area. Then it happened again down in Menifee, CA. It is very possible I experienced behind the back prejudice elsewhere, but I'll never know it.
I have a friend from Korea (immigrant with a green card) that works in Los Angeles in construction. She has to go on site. I'm not sure what she does, but I know she works for a steel supplier and visits sites (either for project management or sales I suppose). She told me they give her the weird look at first, but after a while, they're cool with it. There are quite a few women in the MFG plants that I visit across the South and the Midwest. It's not as uncommon as you would think.
I also don't buy your argument about male dominated fields in 2016. I work in sales and my manager is in charge of raising profits every year. You either cut costs or increase revenues. If a woman can help out with either of these better than a man can, you better believe we're hiring her. Even if her pay were lower, he'd do it because he cuts costs (one method of increasing profits). That's not prejudice, that's free market economics at work. That's why illegal immigrants get jobs. Women just don't come our way for the outside sales role, so we never hire them. There's one woman at my office now that the VP has pushed to do outside sales work, but she doesn't want to work for salary (she's hourly now) and have to spend days on the road, take out customers, go home late from work, etc. I know a girl in California that's coming back from 3 years in Japan. I told her about the position and thought she would be a good fit. She said she didn't want to do it.
No offense, but you really need to drop this mentality that you have as it will always make you look outside instead of within as to why you did not succeed at a given endeavor. I have an older hispanic friend that thinks the same way and it has truly held him back in life. If it helps for inspiration, my aunt on the black side of my family never married, invested in cell phone companies during the 90s and had a net worth of 6 million dollars while living in the state of Utah before passing at the age of 71 back in 2011. It wasn't easy, but it shows that it can be done. Her parents (my grandparents) were not college educated, blue collar workers, and in my grandmother's case Alabama born during he 1910's.
No. People were going on about their personal loves and about how they overcame various personal and socioeconomic obstacles, including but not limited to race. Instead of attacking them you might learn to LISTEN to others and realize others have very different experiences and perceptions than you, for a multitude of reasons.
No. People were going on about their personal loves and about how they overcame various personal and socioeconomic obstacles, including but not limited to race. Instead of attacking them you might learn to LISTEN to others and realize others have very different experiences and perceptions than you, for a multitude of reasons.
No, yes. I know this is really hard for you to believe, but overcoming personal and socioeconomic obstacles are issues that exist with all persons, including my own immigrant family. All persons face adversity.
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