Lauren Peysakhova, Period 8, 3/16/2022

 Lauren Peysakhova, Pd. 8, 1/7/2022

Socio-political Consciousness

What are your thoughts and feelings about issues of inequity, oppression, and/or power?

I believe that inequality is an inherent part of society and will always be difficult to fix. However, it is a necessity to do all that is possible to close the gap of inequality and give everyone fair opportunities. With the celebration of women's history month, I think it is incredible to see all the challenges that women have overcome and everything that has been done to encourage a more equal society. As a woman, I understand the prejudices that come with our position in society and not living up to them. Even something as simple as not being given the check at a restaurant resembles the lack of power that women face in a group setting, not being able to pay for themselves, or having the notion that they are not meant to pay for themselves. Instead, women are meant to be reliant on others and should not need to worry. Another group that has felt oppressed recently that I feel strongly about is immigrant groups. As a first-generation American, I know the difficulties that families face moving to America to have better opportunities. But as of late, Russian immigrants have been faced with a lot of challenges because of the Russian-Ukrainian war. There have been active hate crimes against Russians, people actively being rude to Russians, simply because of where they came from. This is a very heavy problem that will take a lot of time to fix. Living in NYC, however, has opened my eyes to the different stances that people have on these issues and all that is being done to fix them. 

How do you reflect critically on your own beliefs, assumptions, values, and experiences, and how these can influence your perception of self and others?

Reflecting on my beliefs, I encourage equality for all, in terms of race, gender, sexual orientation, disabilities, etc. I believe that everyone deserves an equal chance at succeeding and should not be prejudiced against because of things that are out of their control. Since I am a Russian girl, I have faced both the prejudices that men have against women and the prejudices faced against immigrants. Growing up, I spent a lot of my time with my Russian grandma and in Russian daycares so when I first went to kindergarten, I was surprised to see the other children speaking English. I picked up English very quickly but it was very difficult for me to make friends, all the other children would tease me and we would have very different customs ingrained in us. But coming to a high school with a very diverse culture, I felt a lot more comfortable knowing that a lot of students with immigrant backgrounds had difficulty fitting in, adjusting to American culture, and learning a new language. This experience has influenced me to be a lot more open-minded and understanding of other people because I know that upon meeting someone, I can’t know their full story and struggle until giving them my full attention.