One of the most fast-paced cities in the world, New York City is famous for being the “city that never sleeps.” As NYC residents, we know that this is not a misleading statement. Rushing people, crowded streets and trains, blaring horns – these are all a part of our daily routine. Not to mention the long commute, long work days, and high cost of living [1]. As a result, New York City dwellers experience some of the highest levels of stress in the world. Stress can lead to various health conditions, such as heart disease, asthma, obesity, diabetes, headaches, depression, Alzheimer’s disease and more [2]. In fact, the rate at which people die of heart attacks in New York is 55 percent higher than the national average [3].
Unfortunately, there is not much we can do to change the overall fast-paced nature of the city. The one thing we do have control over, however, is our own individual perception of stress/how we respond to stress. The attached video explains the biological effect that stress has on your body and offers ways to alleviate it. As mentioned in the video, it is important to put aside some time to spend with family and friends, or to engage in a relaxing physical activity such as yoga or meditation. Sometimes we get so caught up with our own work that we unknowingly neglect any rest time. With the impending finals, don’t forget to take a break from your studies every now and then to let your mind relax. (Hopefully I can follow my own advice.)
Another essential problem in public health is the significant health disparities present among New Yorkers of various economic and racial groups. Looking at the trend diagrams on the America’s Health Rankings website, we see that the rates for diabetes and obesity have been increasing steadily for the past two decades [4]. It is estimated that about 25.4% of adults living in New York are obese and that 8.9% suffer from diabetes. However, studies show that stress and health levels are especially bad for minorities living in the city. According to a report conducted by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the poorest New Yorkers are 4 times more likely to report poor overall health than the wealthiest [5]. Processed fast food is both readily available and inexpensive, which often makes it the only choice for those living in poor conditions [6]. Since the poorest city neighborhoods are comprised mainly of minority groups, these individuals are more likely to eat these foods, which plays a key factor in the detriment of their health.
The best way to combat obesity, especially within minority groups, is through preventative measures within the public education system. For many children from poor backgrounds, school breakfast and lunch are the biggest – and sometimes the only – meals that they have all day. Eating healthier as a child significantly reduces his or her chance of heart disease in the future. It is vital that parents band together within the Parent-Teacher Association at their child’s school to demand a healthier school lunch menu for their children. This may be difficult, especially for parents working long hours, so an alternative solution to encourage involvement is to allow online communication about these issues so that everyone can have a say in each matter regardless of whether or not they can attend the meetings.
[5] Karpati A, Kerker B, Mostashari F, Singh T, Hajat A, Thorpe L, Bassett M, Henning K, Frieden T. Health Disparities in New York City. New York: New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, 2004.
Our society still has a long way to go in eradicating gender inequality within, as well as outside, the workplace. The inequity is evident in the presence of the gender wage gap and the significant lack of women in leadership positions. Contrary to these currently existing conditions, the presence of women in the workplace has been proven to positively affect company revenue. The most important way to close not only the gender wage gap, but also societal gender bias, is to encourage young women to pursue those positions that are traditionally male-dominated.
One of the biggest contributors to the lack of women in managerial positions is, of course, the gender bias that continues to exist in our society. The attached Pantene video highlights this bias, giving such examples as the stereotype that a man will be called a “boss” while a women in the same position will be called “bossy” [4]. It stresses the unfortunate reality of gender biases and labels within our society; it is not hard to imagine the negative effect it has on women’s confidence in entering a typically male-dominated field. As a result of this societal bias, women constantly, and usually subconsciously, underestimate their own skills and hard work – they are more likely than men to attribute their success to luck [1]. There is also a lack of strong, successful women (when compared to men) to serve as role models for young women. Fun fact: the highest-paid woman CEO, Martine Rothblatt, was born a man [2].
Empowering women to take on leadership positions and break through the glass ceiling will slowly but surely mitigate the gender bias deeply entrenched in our society. This will consequently lead to a shift in the societal gender bias and, consequently, on the gender lens on economic growth. It greatly benefits companies to have women in leadership positions because it is shown to increase organizational effectiveness [3]. A solution that can address these problems is the establishment of an organization dedicated to encourage leadership skills in young women. The process would begin with a student chapter at the City College of New York and involve college students and faculty members acting as mentors for interested high school and college students. CCNY is an ideal place to start such an organization because there are two high schools on its campus. The club would not be geared specifically for women in a certain field of study because possessing leadership skills are essential to advance in any field. We would gauge initial interest by visiting high school classrooms and distributing surveys. Ideally, as the members advance in their studies and later in the professional world, they would provide the existing club members with job and internship opportunities. This would create an continually expanding network of women and encourage young women to pursue that CEO position just as confidently as a man would.
Gender inequality affects not only both genders, but also the economical development of societies. Time and time again, studies show the positive effects of having a mixture of both men and women in the workplace. In this post, I will address three problems that perpetuate the stereotypes that influence women’s participation in employment and society.
One of the most well-known issues of women in the workplace is the wage gap between men and women. Women still earn up to thirty percent less than men for the same work [1]. The average woman makes 77 cents for every dollar that a man makes. Our current president Barack Obama made it one of his goals to tackle this issue, using the slogan “equal pay for equal work” [2]. This mentality, however, is not reflected in his place of work – the White House. Studies show that women in Congress get paid 83 cents compared to a dollar a man in Congress makes. Perhaps the president should focus on fixing the wage gap within Congress before attempting to fix the overall issue – it would certainly send a much better message. A recent Harvard University study illustrated that a male’s resume received better approval and a higher salary offer than a women’s resume that was exactly identical in terms of experience and education [2].
Although women are getting college degrees faster than men, they still only constitute 44% of the workforce [4]. Moreover, the vast majority of leadership roles are possessed by men, and this is due to a number of factors. Studies show that women consistently underestimate their own abilities in comparison to men. They will very often attribute their success to external factors, such as luck and hard work, while men attribute it to themselves. This makes a huge difference because men are more likely to reach for opportunities, such as promotions. Another important factor is that, for some innate reason, success and likability are positively correlated for men, but negatively correlated for women [3]. Having women in managerial positions, however, has positive effects on companies. According to a study conducted by the U.N., businesses with women on their executive boards make four percent more profit and have more stable businesses than those that do not [4]. Women are also less likely to pay or accept bribes, resulting in less corruption.
Gender inequality is not just a women’s issue — it is also a men’s issue. Men very often confuse the term gender equality with women’s equality, and thus do not consider it as their issue. Many would argue that men are the center of this issue and must therefore cease being mere bystanders in the perpetuation of women stereotypes [5]. Victims of sexual harassment or abuse very often blame themselves instead of blaming the person who hurt them. An example is the disappearance of Jill Meagher, who went missing while making the short five minute walk from a bar to her home in Brunswick [6]. When her disappearance was publicized, people began commenting that it was her fault for leaving a bar so late, for drinking, for wearing suggestive clothing, and for a myriad of other reasons that a man wouldn’t be blamed for. We are a society that places the blame on women for getting into dangerous situations instead of blaming the attacker. We need to investigate the roles of the various institutions that shape men’s mentality, including the societal aspects and stereotypes. The attached video features a world in which the gender roles are reversed, and it is truly an eye-opener.
One of the most controversial future of work topics is the efficacy of the traditional office environment with its practice of managers and meetings galore. The Centre for Social Innovation, for example, features an amazingly creative and friendly environment for their workers [1]. It is the complete opposite of the cubicle workspace design with its open areas, kitchen and homey feel. It isn’t hard to imagine how the space encourages productivity and innovation. Workplaces should feature a variety of spaces for individuals and groups to work, such as having open areas while also having private places to think and focus [2]. As James Fried discussed in the TED talk [3], managers should refrain from distracting their employees and implement a more effective system, where they can keep track of the work they are doing without intrusion. An example of such a website is Asana, which is an online platform for collaborating with your team [4]. It allow workers to complete their work on their own time and employers to assign and oversee tasks. Meetings should also be limited and shortened in an effort to save more time for actual work.
Although occupations that require a college degree are increasing twice as fast as those that do not, it is still difficult to remain optimistic about job options after college [6]. Students have to start thinking about opportunities outside of the traditional office workplace, in order to appease the competitive job market that they must face after graduation. This ties in to the whole idea of self-management – people should no longer expect to be taken care of by their companies. In this day and age, young adults will have to develop a sense of awareness early on and be flexible about moving from assorted types of employment. It is predicted that freelancers will make up 40-50% of the labor force by 2020 [5], and we can already observe self-employment becoming much more popular. Freelancers usually need to possess a larger set of skills and exercise flexibility in their job options. The main thing we can do is caution college students about the decreasing possibility of maintaining the same position at the same company for the rest of their professional life (of which I’m sure many students in this class, including myself, were unaware) and encourage them to participate in the new economy of self-management and entrepreneurial businesses.
There is not much we can do about the oncoming robotic age, or about robots taking over our jobs. However, people have to recognize that this spells an exciting future for us. Rapidly advancing automation and artificial intelligence will surely replace our middle-skilled occupations, but it will allow the human workforce to spend less time on menial tasks and more on meaningful jobs [7]. This will bring about an exciting age in humankind and possibly allow us to unlock our true potential as a species. Education will be crucial in a world of machines and of economies that consist of high-skilled, high-wage jobs and low-skilled, low-wage jobs.
Work takes up such a huge chunk of our lives: the average person spends about a third of their adult life at work. A topic that has been controversial in the past few years is the efficiency of the traditional workplace environment. Most people need long stretches of uninterrupted time to truly focus and get substantial work done. However, company employees often face a great number of distractions in the one place where they are expected be the most productive – the office. Jason Fried proposes that the main problems are the M&Ms, or meetings and managers [1]. While managers are there to ensure that everything is running smoothly, they more often than not disturb their employees’ productivity. Meetings, although important in keeping employees up-to-date, usually do not need to last as long as they do. They are traditionally held in 15-minute intervals and have a set formal structure, when really only several minutes are necessary to convey the desired information. Thus, it is time to rethink the traditional office workspace into a more flexible system where individuals take personal responsibility for their workload. Managers shouldn’t have to provide that sense of constant security and babysitting if workers are trusted to manage themselves [2].
We as college students would like to think that there is a job lined up for us after we graduate. This is simply not the reality, as showcased by the myriad graduates who didn’t have much luck finding work [5]. In a society where competition for internships and jobs only gets fiercer with passing time, many college graduates are having an extremely hard time securing a job after they graduate. The increasing trend is that supply exceeds demand in the labor market. A saddening 20% of graduates eventually give up pursuing a position in their desired career and are forced to settle for a job outside of their chosen field of study in order to pay off their college debt [4]. This is a huge problem. Why go through the process of obtaining a degree if, at the end of it all, you will be stuck at a job that is outside of your major and for which you are overqualified?
It has been predicted that robots, software, and smart machines will replace a third of human workers by the year 2025 [6]. Artificial intelligence and automation are quickly entering a great range of different professions, such as lawyers, doctors, pharmacists, and scientists [9]. Although this is fascinating news, there is evidence that these technologies will have a negative impact on the job market. Machines are capable of doing more work than the average human, for a longer period of time, come at less of a cost, and don’t require care benefits. Although initially not incredibly knowledgable, they learn and recognize patterns quickly and, as a result, become more “intelligent”. Hence, businesses are more inclined to opt for a robot workforce instead of a human one. Middle-skilled jobs – those that only require some training – are in the most danger of being replaced entirely by machines, since they consist of repetitive, organizational tasks [9]. Many labor economists, however, believe the data doesn’t necessarily point to the lack of job growth in the past decade [8]. Nonetheless, it is undoubtable that automation and artificial intelligence will continue having a huge impact on the job market.
1. How does the application process work? How do you choose your Venture Fellows?
2. The Pratt Institute Incubator helped launch 25 design driven enterprises focuses in four sectors: clean energy, fashion, design and design consulting. Which design sector are you most involved with and what recent projects have been undertaken has been done within it?
3. Would you consider expanding the Brooklyn Fashion and Design Accelerator to other locations outside of New York?
Site Visit Questions: Center for Social Innovation
1. How does your quirky workspace designs compare with the traditional workspace model (i.e. the use of cubicles)? Do you think this kind of laidback work environment will become more prevalent in the future?
2. You have three locations in Toronto, but only one in the states. What made you choose Chelsea, New York as your first location in the U.S.? Are you thinking of expanding your organization and building workspaces in other states?
Three major policing problems that I addressed in my last post were excessive police brutality in prisons, the inefficiency of the court systems, and the disconnection between the public and the police force.
Prison and jail guards very often mistreat inmates beyond what is necessary and the repercussions for their unprovoked violence are either nonexistent or less punitive than they should be. Policemen should be regarded as normal people before the law and should not receive special treatment because of their badge or status. I propose that we install more cameras in prisons and jails in order to monitor not only the prisoners’ behavior, but also the officers’. The prison officials themselves should not handle this footage, but rather an unbiased, outside government agency should. Jail officials have a tendency to bury evidence, as in the case of Darren Rainey, a mentally ill prisoner who was forced into a shower of scalding water by prison guards. The report stated that his death was a result of a heart attack. We also need to install a fair system of punishment for police officers to avoid granting them immunity for their actions. This will consequently reduce the abuse of power that so many incarcerated people must endure.
The inefficiency of the court systems in providing inmates with speedy and fair trials is another huge issue that is primarily relevant for overcrowded, poor districts. Many people are sentenced to prison unfairly and usually have to serve long sentences. There are many judges, such as Judge Herman C. Dawson, who will very often oft for long periods of incarceration as the only choice to correct these “criminals”. Such frequent, unnecessary lock ups perpetuates the inadequacy of the whole system. We can ease this backlog by hiring more court staff, but I think a more sustainable and just approach would be to put a system in place that would monitor judges’ court decisions, especially those who are known for imposing unreasonably harsh sentences. Another judge or court worker will be assigned to oversee the cases of the exaggeratedly punitive judge and work with them to administer fairer punishments. Even judges need to be judged.
Anyone who watches the news recognizes that tensions between the public and the police force have reached a new high. Police brutality incidents, such as those of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, have instigated protests that have resulted in both civilian and police officer deaths. Disagreements between Mayor de Blasio and the police department have also increased qualms among the general public. The first step to resolving, or at least easing, this issue is for the mayor and the police to develop a better relationship and maintain a united front for the sake of the public. If even the mayor is distrustful of the police, citizens will certainly have concerns about officers. A further way of alleviating the problem is to place full-body cameras on police officers in an effort to decrease police brutality incidents and reassure accountability. This will pacify the sentiment that policemen are “out to get you”, and instead demonstrate that they serve to protect us.
"Karolina,
I like how you contrasted the percentages (11% of business leaders with the 96% of academic officials) of the effectiveness of college in preparing students for success in the workplace - it shows just how large of a disparity there is in college course learning. As we talked about in class, higher education classes involve mainly individual learning whereas the workplace in this day and age is more collaborative and increasingly involves teamwork between members. Although most students dislike group projects, I feel that it should be a necessity in college, no matter the major. You will always have to work with people regardless of your field of work; we see this in the fact that current businesses are heading towards collaboration between employees - such as those startups in the Centre for Social Innovation - rather than individualistic, 'cubicle-like' work.
The issue of workplace discrimination is also one of great contention, and is definitely not a thing of the past. I'm glad that you mentioned the problems that obese persons have in job employment. When most people think of office discrimination, they tend to immediately about judgment due to race, gender, or sexual orientation. No one really realizes the inherent prejudice that overweight people face in the job market." --( posted on Mar 27, 2015, commenting on the post Work Problems )
"Your solution of providing rehabilitation programs as the alternative to actual incarceration for the possession of drugs is the way to go. Law enforcement officials should focus on bettering these persons through drug rehabilitation programs rather than locking them up in cells as punishment. These individuals are much more likely to fall into the same habit after their release from prison if they don't receive any kind of treatment. American society is built on the prison system, which is demonstrated by our high number of imprisonment. We need to shift our ideology from throwing people into jail for non-violent crimes as the first resort and instead focus on bettering these individuals for contributing to our society. We would have a much lower number of people incarcerated, be able to shut down these expensive prisons, and have more working people in our economy. This is similar to the aim of the Milk Not Jails organization: the money saved in closing these prisons can be used to fuel another part of our economy. Sure, we won't be known as the nation of many prisons, but is that really a good thing in the first place?" --( posted on Mar 3, 2015, commenting on the post Policing Solutions )
"The issue of reintegrating formerly incarcerated people into society is one that is very often overlooked by law enforcement officials. These persons have been in a secluded place, out of touch from civilization and current events, and understandably find it difficult fitting in once they are released. Just as you mentioned the WorkNet program, Milk Not Jails is another example of an organization that harbors no bias or judgment in hiring ex-felons and believes that they can and should be rehabilitated after imprisonment. There are many other organizations with a similar aim, but, in my opinion, the government should also be involved in fixing this problem. These organizations are trying to fill the void that the government should fulfill in terms of caring for these individuals after their incarceration. The government should care about how these people can contribute to society, especially since most of those who are released end up going back to jail in later years. If they would encourage their rehabilitation, we could break this seemingly endless cycle and we would imprison less people as a result." --( posted on Mar 3, 2015, commenting on the post Solutions 1 )
"I like that you focused on the necessity of reforming the prison system. In my post, I also wrote about the frequency of police violence in jails and how the guards should be more regulated. Rainer was a mentally ill prisoner who died as a result of being locked in a scalding hot shower by his guards. His death was then covered up and passed off as a heart attack. There should be more cameras in the prisons, to monitor their behavior. The overuse of solitary confinement is another huge issue that leads to psychologically ill prisoners that will eventually have trouble in society once they are released. More importantly, the police have to be held accountable for their actions. The abuse of power of policemen must stop, and the only way to do it is to treat them in the same manner as any other person, and having them receive the same retribution. This way, society can view the police force as protecters and upholders of the law rather than mighty tyrants. This is what fuels the antipolice sentiment that has become so prevalent in our society." --( posted on Feb 19, 2015, commenting on the post Problem I – Policing )
"The Stop-and-Frisk issue definitely affects many New Yorkers, and seems to primarily target minorities. I agree that the activity only succeeds in increasing tensions between the police and the public, especially with the recent events of police brutality. There is already a distrust of the police, and no one likes to have their personal items rifled through by strangers. However, it seems that the police department is attempting to lessen the number of Stop-and-Frisk stations. I recently came across a New York Times article (listed below) claiming that it is becoming much less prevalent in New York. Commuting to school in Harlem by train and with the context of this article, I now realize that there really has been a decrease of these stations in underground train stations in the past year. According to the article, there were 337,410 stops in the first half of 2012 compared to 33,699 stops in the last half of 2013. Many people believe that without this practice, violent crime will go up, but I don't believe that is necessarily true. Someone who is carrying a gun or drugs on their person will have it on them whether or not they are worried about being stopped and forced to empty their pockets.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/09/19/nyregion/stop-and-frisk-is-all-but-gone-from-new-york.html?_r=0" --( posted on Feb 19, 2015, commenting on the post Policing Problems )
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