Assignment 3

When the professor sprung the idea of the class determining their own fate on the curve or any variation of it as well as determining the future format of the exam I was confounded. I literally thought it was a joke, scam, maniacal scheme. Professors in Baruch aren’t that lenient or forgiving on midterms let alone let us determine our outcome. I personally looked at this situation from an withdrawn standpoint because of my disbelief in the outcome and also in some part I was content with the grade I had received. The class on the other hand was engaged in a spitfire of ideas and thoughts. Every few seconds for the initial minutes idea were proclaimed and written on the chalkboard. One student had taken charge and was guiding the attention among my classmates which wished to speak. It gave order to the potential chaos that could have erupted. Once the room was devoid of any further ideas we solicited any “nays” of the idea which would have voided it from our final vote due to the professor’s cardinal rule. Which was that it would have to be a 100 percent consensus if we as a class wanted to have any change on the test. We unfortunately at the end weren’t able to reach a unanimous vote on any single idea in the end in which time we opted to forge three different ideas together for the pure sake of achieving any kind of result. We used the methods of compromise, which is that every single class member was able to voice his/her voice on the public platform, and also the accommodation method in the very end when time was running out. We chose to think of the big picture and get any result that was possible instead of no result.

Now knowing what I know about the reactions and mind frames of my classmates and the truth in the experiment in reference to the legitimate outcome I would have chosen to use the method of collaboration in conjunction with compromise and accommodation. Collaboration can split up the class into separate groups in which they could brainstorm worthwhile ideas and since there are fewer people in the group than the class it would be a safe haven for the individual with the idea and not a pressure cooker. It would be the most efficient way to organize the time and effort of the class. Break the elements down, in this case the class, understand and evualate the problem, and then reunite and discuss the solutions you found out in a group. I believe that most groups would have come to similar solutions and therefore the unity between them would have been easily formed. Consensus can be more easily reached if a majority of the players are in cohesion about their ideas.

The Parisian way of Life

During my sophomore year of college I visited a friend of mine named Alexandra in the Paris, the city of love. She was not a native Parisian but you would never assume she came from New York. Alexandra spoke, understood, and wrote fluently in French. When I got the call from Alex, inviting me to come visit her in Paris, I was a bit skeptical because I've heard that the French aren't that inviting nor friendly towards Americans. I, Dominic Flis, am a native New Yorker with a thriving Polish bloodline. I am a quintessential American even daring enough to say a type of Captain America. But through some forceful encouragement I, reluctantly, agreed to go visit her. As soon as I arrived in Paris I was on the lookout for any disagreement with the French. At the airport everyone that I've asked for help was more than willing to give it. A lady even let me borrow her cell phone to call Alex and find out where she was. I was surprised for the first three days there was absolutely nothing that I could hold against the French. The only real transgression I encountered was when I went into the world renowned sneaker store Colette. As I was browsing around the employees kept looking at me as if I wasn't supposed to be in there. I asked two employees to help me find something in my particular style; sneakers and clothing. I waited 30 minutes for the gentleman to come back to report that he had the sizes I requested and asked if I was going to buy them. I was shocked at first thinking about the disdain of this employee towards a customer. I was a bit livid. I asked for five sneakers and he came back with only one and handed me a pair and then walked to the other part of the store to talk to another employee with no regard to whether they fit or whether I wanted to get any other style.

My experiences apart from this one encounter made this trip the most awe inspiring eye opening in my entire life. I witnessed the French culture not through the eyes of the tourist but rather through the eyes of local, thanks to Alexandra. The French culture, in parallel to American culture, is on a different level. Leisure in France is considered a necessity and not a luxury. For instance during lunch time almost no shop is open except for restaurants and bars. Every day I was forced to stop my travels and eat because there was nothing else I could do. The French people value their leisure in order to experience life and not be begrudged with the daily routine of work. If a business is doing very well financially they do not open up every day of the week. To the French a store that has to be open every day is not doing well and in turn does not have good quality product.

Food and service also differ by the longest yard. Food is served in very small portions but is always presented with an eye to detail. Even the sandwiches you buy on the street corner are never sloppy in presentation. The typical lunch/dinner spans 2 hours or more because the French believe when you eat its not just a dinner/lunch but a social interaction where you share your ideas, thoughts and memories. As a foreigner I was used to waiters consistently hanging on my every word and bringing me my next dish as soon I finished with my first. I was a bit frustrated when I waited 20 minutes just for the menus.

Overall my experience in Paris was a lot different than I imagined and the stereotypes that are thrown about at the French are misinterpreted. They simply live at a different pace then we do and we should be more mindful and embrace their culture when we were there.

About Me

Hello,

My name is Dominic Flis. I am 20 years old and a student at the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College. My majors are Finance and Accounting with a minor in Mathematics. I've chosen my major and my life goal of being a financier at a young age. Since I was 7 I've always had a knack for developing some kind of business strategy whether it was selling lemonade, drawing pictures of cartoon characters or today's business which is reselling of footwear and fashion brands. This entrepreneurial spirit has always been with me and will not leave any time soon. Which is why I had chosen to study Finance because it itself is at the core of every business.

But enough of this personal life long goals part which I can only talk about for so long. For the past 5 years I've run my own business which deals with buying in bulk and reselling or wholesaling footwear from NIKE, Adidas, Vans, Converse, PF Flyers, Puma and many more. I also pride myself at being one of the foremost experts and collectors of a specific style of Nike style called the Dunk. I to date have 243 pairs of shoes and 157 NIKE dunks.

Through this management class I hope to be able to secure some management techniques that will help me interact with people on a more professional level as well as being able to stimulate and motivate the people around me.

Privacy & Confidentiality

New Media has opened the doors for us to post our personal information more frequently which leaves a security concern. For instance on Facebook a identity criminal can use all of that public information to sign up to at least 10-15 credit cards within a matter of minutes.

My new form of New Media would be a central server for all the services that Twitter, Social Networking, and Blogs offer. Our personal information is so spread all over the internet that is somehow hard to remember and/or link. With one central service we could link to each other faster, easier, and more efficient.

Advice to Baruch College

My idea is to let professors use wikis to display their curriculum to students on a wiki rather than through blackboard. It will give students the ability to gauge how professors organize their lessons before they register for that class. Also sometimes teachers are inept at explaining certain concepts so students may look at other lectures and converge all of the knowledge and understand the concept.

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Virtual Worlds are such that they can be anything we want and/or desire. They can be used to emulate our physical surrondings to let us experience our world in another perspective. Another could that we wish to imagine ourselves to be someone else in which this virtual world becomes the background we need for our fictional avatar of the individual. Thirdly it can allow people with disabilities to access a world which they may otherwise not have been a part of.

Virtual World allows us to hide behind a mask and experience digitally without prejudice or restrictions whatever our heart desires. It can build self esteem or other character traits for the individual using the software because he or she interacts with a community of other people online. The negative is the fact that people online are animagus people which we do not have a clue of who they are. The old saying goes through "Never talk to strangers" even online.

Creativity is born from the fact that these worlds are a digital manifestation of what we want our so called world to look like and behave. People start inventing characters and stories which drives creativity up and even more when people immerse themselves further and further into this imaginary world.

The future of virtual worlds in my opinion will be one of exponential growth through out the century. As a human race I think we will perfect virtual reality so well that it will replace reality.