Category Archives: Personal Posts

I googled the phrase “business ethics” and this was one of the many images that popped up.

https://lewisassociates.wordpress.com/2013/05/15/does-your-workplace-have-an-ethical-code-of-conduct/

The idea of business ethics is very complex, and I’m not sure how to incorporate all those ideas into a visual presentation. “Responsibility, contributions, citizens,” are just a few of the words that caught my attention. I feel that business ethics is such an abstract concept that will be difficult to pin down.

As I was sketching ideas on what my visual could be like, I starting tracing the border of my credit card. Through this, I thought of Facebook and Amazon’s company logos. I starting drawing pimples on the logos to represent that these companies to represent their fair share of ethical issues. This idea was inspired by my final project for my business ethics class. We had to analyze a scandal within a company in recent years, and it just so happens that I was evaluating Facebook’s latest controversy with the “biased algorithm” in that Facebook was filtering out right-winged news articles.

However, I’m unsure on how to incorporate the element of gender inequality into my visual. I’m thinking of having the silhouettes of men applying bandages to the pimples on the corporate logos and having only one woman in the whole scene to depict the fact that not as many women are involved in business compared to men and that men are usually more receptive to business ethics classes. It seems like this could be a stretch but it’s a start! 

My peer, Taylor Martin, conducted  research about gender inequality on college campuses. In her most recent post, she discusses the results of her survey. The results she shared with me were that she found that men generally did not feel limited within their major because of their gender. She then asked questions about the relationships between gender and major. For instance, one question asked if people associated engineering with a certain gender, and the response was that 64% of people associated engineering with males. To be quite honest, the results aren’t that shocking.

Gender roles and gender norms are a common part of our society’s everyday lives. Not everyone may be able to acknowledge or notice them but they do, in fact, exist. However, what I did find interesting about Taylor’s research was the fact that men view women to have a superior social experience in that they can go to any party they wanted. I found this fact to be shocking and disturbing because it suggested that men just wanted to hook up with women while partying. This also, as Taylor suggested, contributes to the idea that men see each other as possible competition and “by allowing more men into parties, the less likely a hookup would occur.” Women are hypersexualized by media, affecting and contributing to the gender norm that women should be beautiful to the standards of men.

Women are not treated equally to men which effects the way both men and women see themselves, which connects to my own research paper about business ethics and that gender can effect the effectiveness of the class. I hope to possibly use Taylor’s research and incorporate it into my own about gender inequality that affects classroom participation and major views.

The most challenging part of this research will be to clear any assumptions that I make about the reader’s knowledge. I am very passionate about feminism and promoting solidarity, and not everyone is familiar with those terms so I have to be careful that my language is not only neutral, but also clearly defined.

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Here’s the moment you’ve been waiting for… My survey results!

After gathering the results from the surveys, I found some interesting responses. One thing to note is that majority of those surveyed had the same professor and the same class structure of lectures, class discussions, and video documentaries. Also, most of the respondents were male, reflecting the majority male business school at my university. However, all the students that took the survey are from Santa Clara University, which won’t give an accurate representation of business ethics class as a whole but rather a more detailed look at perspectives of SCU students.

I gathered research on the comfort level of both male and female students and how often they talked/thought about the concepts taught in class.

The Table 1 below shows the comfort level.

Table 1: “I am comfortable enough to participate in class.” (1=strongly agree, 4=strongly disagree)

According to Table 1, men are typically more comfortable participating in class compared to women, and women although are comfortable participating, have more varied responses. One possible factor for this could be that since there are more men in the classroom, women may feel intimidated to participate. Similarly for men, they may feel more comfortable being with people of the same gender. However, both men and women tended to agree that they felt comfortable participating in class.

Knowing that males tended to feel more comfortable participating in class, I was not surprised by the results found in both Chart 1 and 2. Chart 1 displays the responses of how often male and females thought about the concepts discussed in class while Chart 2 shows the frequency of male and female students talking to their peers about the concepts taught in class.

Chart 1: “How often did you think about the concepts taught in class outside of class?”

Chart 2: “How often did you discuss with a peer outside the class about the things you learned in class?”

Based on the two charts, the data suggests that women are less likely to think and talk about the concepts taught in class compared to men. This suggestion connects with the level of comfort experienced by women which seems to have an effect on the way women perceive the class.

In Table 2 the average ratings from both male and female students at SCU are displayed below.

Table 2: Average Rating on the Effectiveness of Business Ethics Classes on a Scale from 1 to 5

(1 = not effective, 5 = very effective)

Table 2 reveals that men view business ethics classes as more effective to their moral development compared to women. Looking at Chart 1 and 2, since men tended to think and talk more about the topics in class, it could be for those reasons that men tended to agree that business ethics classes are more effective than women thought. However, both men and women at SCU agree that business ethics are neutral in its effectiveness.

Based on the data, I can conclude that gender has an effect on the effectiveness of business ethics. Despite both men and women rating business ethics classes having a neutral effect on their moral development, men tended to be more responsive to business ethics classes and think and talk more about the concepts compared to women. 

I find this information shocking because when writing about this topic, I found two conflicting sources. One claimed that women were more responsive to business ethics courses to men while the other claimed the opposite. I initially thought that women would definitely be more responsive to business ethics class and I was shocked to discover that, according to my own data, men were more responsive. However, based off my data, I can also see the trends as to why men would be more responsive. For one thing, they are more comfortable in class and therefore engage more with the class inside and outside the classroom.

I am curious to see if having an all female class and all male for business ethics would drastically alter my data.

In my previous post, I talked about  my survey, the creation of it, distribution, and selection bias. My research goal was to determine how effective business ethics classes are and to see if there is a correlation between effectiveness and gender. However, I figured out a way to address the issue. Because my survey was specifically targeted towards students that have taken/are taking business ethics classes, I decided to take my survey directly to students that are in the class.

Initially I wanted to ask them to take it online, but I realized that not many would do that and there would be self-selection bias. So to fix the problem with that, I printed my surveys and asked people in my class and the class after if they could take my survey. I was unable to pass out my survey during class, but I used the time before both classes started to gather my random sample. Although I only had a sample size of 25, I believe that I was able to acquire valuable data that could sufficiently represent the target population.

However, after collecting the surveys back, I found it interesting when my business ethics professor blatantly told me that the results were going to show that business ethics classes are ineffective. 

His response made me wonder why he didn’t attempt to better improve the structure of the class. I could possibly research business ethics class professors’ incentive to teach and see if there may be a correlation? Another explanation could be that my professor is simply does not want to change the original structure of his class.

My sample size consisted of 18 males and only 7 females. This is a result of the business school and most business classes having a majority males than females since the business school is predominately. This connects to some of the other research papers about gender inequality on college campuses.

I will disclose the survey results in a later post! I’m excited to uncover the trends that relate with gender and ethics.

Today, my English class finished class presentations of our topics for our final research papers.

One topic that struck me was Graham’s topic of alcohol on college campus. It’s striking to think of having alcohol on campus because to me it makes me think of carrying a knife at school in the sense that it is culturally normal for there to be no alcohol allowed on campus.

He described the different types of alcohol policies within different institutions. Universities have “dry, damp,” or “wet” campuses. “Dry” campuses do not allow any alcohol on campus; “damp” campuses allow for alcohol if students are above the legal drinking age, and “wet” campuses allow on campus drinking and selling of alcohol. However, on damp campuses, if a minor was caught drinking, he/she would be required to take an educational course.

Graham explained that the reason for these policies revolve around the problems of binge drinking and alcohol abuse. These problems are very serious and make it understandable why strict drinking policies exist on college campuses.  The photo below explains why college students drink in the first place:

The largest reason for drinking is “social activity.” I’m not surprised by this fact. On Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday nights, any student can have easy access to alcohol by simply stepping off campus and into a frat house. Frat houses are portrayed negatively in the media as being the hub of binge drinking and rape culture. 

My personal opinion on this issue is mixed and reminds me of the the drug wars debate. I do think that the rules of alcohol on campus should be more lenient so that students do not go off campus and into an unsafe environment to drink. However I don’t think that the rules should be too lenient like in a “wet” campus because it seems like it’d be difficult to monitor. The issue is controversial and doesn’t have a clear solution. But it is undeniable that drinking in college is a huge issue especially because it’s so closely tied with rape culture – another topic for discussion in a future blog post.

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In a previous post, “In Response to ‘Smart,'” I responded to a TED talk given by Will Stephen. In his presentation, he talked about how he would be talking about “nothing” but would make it seem like he was giving an insightful and knowledgeable by using certain techniques. He mentioned one specific technique where he says that he wore glasses to “look smart.” I ended the article with the question:

Do you think one’s intelligence can be linked with one’s physical appearance?

My response: I disagree completely.

The notion that one’s physical appearance can be linked to one’s intelligence is an absurd thought because there isn’t a direct relationship between the two. One could argue that “smart people” all dress a certain way or have a certain style, and therefore, it is fair to assume someone is smart because of the way they look. However, this is just stereotyping “smart people” and expecting them to look a certain way. This indirectly causes people to label those who do not follow this stereotype to be labeled as “not smart.” Stereotyping in general is not accurate and does not apply to all individuals, which does not make sense to link physical appearance and intelligence.

It is upsetting when I type in the word “smart person” into Google Images, only images of older white men in glasses, kids in glasses, and Albert Einstein appear. There are many people that are excluded from the search. The fact that society is emphasizing and publicizing this imagery of a “smart person” excludes other from this category and makes it difficult for society to accept others as “smart.”

For example, if you saw a black woman wearing a stylish outfit on the street, you most likely would not think she is a smart individual because of the negative stereotype associated with them. Same goes for a skinny, white male wearing faded jeans and thick lens glasses. You would think he was a genius because of the stereotype associated with “smart people.” 

I think our society needs to stray away from the notion that physical appearances justify internal characteristics. 

I personally believe that everyone is smart in their own way and that society should be not the determinant of one’s intelligence or lack of it.

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Are business ethics classes effective in teaching ethics? You would think they are. But are they really? I’m going to find out and answer this question for my research paper (which I am very nervous for!).

You’re probably wondering why I even care about this topic. Well, I specifically want to look into business ethics classes because of my own personal experience in a business ethics class at Santa Clara. My experience has not been the most pleasant. To be honest, I feel uncomfortable in that the class because it is structured in a way that makes me feel distant from the material and unsafe to voice my opinion. Theories are taught in class and lectures are given through the textbook, constructing the idea that ethics is a concept students have to memorize. I also feel unsafe in the class because it seems that the professor was enforcing his opinions upon other students, who had a contradicting opinions. This event has changed my perception of business ethics classes and has sparked an interest in me about the effectiveness of these types of classes. Can ethics be taught in a classroom environment?

There are so many questions I have that are related to this topic. Some sub questions are: 1) What teaching methods are beneficial to a student’s growth and what teaching styles are ineffective and counterproductive? 2) What type of environment should be created in order to have safe discussions? 3) Is it ethical for a professor to enforce his/her own ideas of ethics upon a student? 4)Are there right or wrong answers in ethics classes? 5) How have ethics classes evolved over time? How do professors define ethics? 6) Do these classes take an intersectionality approach? 7) If they are proven ineffective, why do universities still enforce them? 8) Where do the values of these ethics come from? 9) What values and beliefs are not included int he discussion? 10) Who gets to define what is ethical?

With so many questions, I hope I will be able to have a focused research paper!

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Morgan’s article on women athletes at Santa Clara provides an interesting take on feminism and double standards. In summary, this article highlights Santa Clara’s women athletes in the 21st century vs women athletes from 1960s. In a current photo of SCU’s athletic program pictured below, there are more women represented than males, a huge step forward, according to Morgan.

When I read the section “Double Standards,” I was shocked that the girls tennis team, let alone other women teams, were not allowed to practice in skirts, shorts, and tank tops. I think it’s ridiculous that women were not allowed to practice in clothing that they would be competing in. Practicing in the heat in long pants and long sleeve shirts seems impractical. To think that women had a dress code while their male counterparts did not is puzzling. In short, as Morgan writes,

“Men do not have a double standard like women.”

I don’t understand why women need a dress code. Athletes are athletes, and athletes will sweat when exercising. So shouldn’t they be allowed to wear what makes them feel most comfortable and what will make them perform best? Based off Morgan’s article and the concept of having a dress code, it can be inferred that women are being sexualized inappropriately.

Society needs to respect a woman’s body and not look at it as if it were an object.

I believe that dress codes are unnecessary and are only reaffirming that women the notion that a woman’s body is an object because women need to cover up since their bodies are so sexualized by society.

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It’s a known fact that the internet can lie. However, some sites can be extremely deceitful and appear to be credible.

In class, we did an interesting exercise called “Internet Bullsh*t Detector.” We had to compare two different websites that contained information about the same topic and try to figure out which one was more credible and which was inaccurate and provided false information. An article is considered unreliable when there are extremely biased authors. However, that does not mean their argument cannot be included in the a research paper; the writer would just need to mention that the author has a certain bias.

For example, this website (pictured below) seems very credible and reliable. Firstly, the website is a “.org” and has an aesthetically pleasing layout.

At a first glance, the site gives the reader a sense that the site publishers are dedicated to research about Dr. King based off the subheadings. However, if you take a closer look at the quote on the left side of the page, you’ll see that it is not related to Dr. King’s mission. Also more shockingly, the website has a link at the bottom that says “Hosted by Stormfront.” When I clicked on this link, it shows that the website is actually hosted by the KKK (photo below).

The fact that the website looked very trustworthy is problematic because most students do not completely evaluate the credibility of websites and would cite this source thinking that it is fact.

I strongly agree with my colleague, Lindsey, that doing this exercise and looking at this website was a wake up call. I know that my former self from high school, I most likely would have extracted a quote from this website and cited a quote for my high school essay. However, I’ve learned from this experience to evaluate each source carefully.

I like the website Lindsey refers to in her blog post reflection. The website provides information on how one can investigate the credibility of certain sites. They provide tactics such as “evaluating the credibility of the author, investigating the reliability of the content, and noting the timeliness and relevance of the information.” This exercise definitely has impacted the way I will look at sources in that I will look beyond website aesthetics. 

Although blogging is fun, it is not as easy as it seems.

I am actually writing this blog for my college English class, and for our first assignment, the class was instructed to rewrite one of our academic essays for a more general audience.

My previous post, “Down with the Patriarchy,” was originally a lengthy essay about the discussions that revolve around the definitions of “success” and if college is necessary for one to be deemed “successful.” I presented different perspectives from various credible sources while also including my own thoughts on the matter. Success can mean going to college or not going to college and learning valuable life skills. However, my opinion on the matter is that success means having life skills, but one should still attend college to learn those important life skills in a short amount of time.

Although I liked the content of my essay, I admit that it’s a boring read, unless you actually enjoy reading analysis of various education and gender inequality essays. So for this assignment specifically, I had to cut down my lengthy nine page essay into a short blog post that only contained 600-1200 words — approximately three pages long.

Yes, challenge accepted.

For me, getting started was a simple task. In my original essay, I focused on many different definitions of success. However, I felt that my paragraph about what success meant for a woman was the most expressive and passionate, and I wanted to dive deeper into the topic by emphasizing the idea of  feminism. I was off to a good start, but after this first step, things became a little more challenging.

What should I cut down? What should I keep? How can I make this essay have a more casual tone while maintaining an academic tone? How can I make this essay speak to a larger audience? Am I making my point clear? Will people care about what I have to say? These questions constantly popped into my head as I wrote my first blog post.

The first thing I did was rewrite my entire thesis to focus solely on the ideas of success for women in order to introduce the topic of feminism. My initial argument and current argument are completely different, and you never would have guessed that my blog post originated from that essay. Additionally, to make myself seem more personable and the content of my post more relatable, I also asked a lot of rhetorical questions to engage with my audience and to catch their attention.

I didn’t want my blog post to bore the reader, you, so I attempted to make my post visually appealing. For instance, I added pictures and videos, broke up long paragraphs into short ones, blocked quotes, italicized and bolded important points, and used hyperlinks to make my post more interesting and appealing to the eye. I loved how these visual aspects enhanced my main point of the post while also making my blog post look aesthetically pleasing. This is definitely my favorite part of blogging because it gives my post a more personable and artistic element that my academic essay could not offer to the reader.

Nonetheless, I do like the idea that a blog is my own personal space where I am free to express my own thoughts and opinions. But I also had to keep in mind that this blog is public and that someone could misinterpret my thoughts and criticize me for it.  As I was writing my first post,  I had to be aware of my own writing and constantly check if I was making any assumptions that my reader may not have known about. To fix this problem, I asked my peers and professor for feedback as well as asking myself, “Is this topic clearly defined?” And if not, I would either insert a hyperlink or define the concepts myself. This part of the blogging process was the most difficult for me because, similarly to writing an academic paper, I had to step back and critically reflect on my own work by questioning the assumptions I’ve made.

In conclusion, my first experience with blogging was fun yet difficult. Coming up with a topic was fun, but thinking about what to keep and what to cut from a lengthy research paper in order to turn it into a succinct blog post proved to be a bit challenging. I am hoping that my first attempt at blogging was not too bad and that I was able to help you understand feminism from a new perspective.