A Social Psychological Approach to Reducing Prejudice in the Classroom

In today’s society, we face prejudice every day in many forms. Most people in today’s society have either been victims of prejudice or are guilty of exhibiting prejudice towards others.

Initially, the author supports his ideas using the arguments that we need to handle innumerous types of prejudice daily. He cites himself as example of one who had experienced prejudice for being homosexual and Jew. He knows how prejudice works and how it is present in the society in many different ways. However, there are several other reflections the author uses to sustain his points of view other than his own experiences. For instance, one of the reasons for his explanation about the exacerbate prejudice in the United States is the fact that one is free to

In his essay “ In Defense of Prejudice”, Jonathan Rauch explores a much talked about topic in the United States today, prejudice. As his title implies, he is in defense of prejudice, he makes it clear that he is not a supporter of hate or racism, rather a supporter of “intellectual pluralism” “which permits the expression of various forms of bigotry and always will.” (pg 1). Rauch defends the right to express all forms of bigotry. By utilizing specific examples where prejudice is at center stage, Rauch tries to convince his readers that the solution to prevent prejudice is not attempting to eradicate it, rather he believes if we, as a society channel prejudice more effectively we can make it “socially productive.” Ranch defends his

It has been thoroughly thought over what current topic or issue that people experience in most environments today, at both a micro and macro level that would be able to be examined and have come to the decision of looking at the most widely discussed subject, prejudice. All people are affected by prejudice in one way or another and it can impact on people's lives depending on what form it has taken. Also to be able to acknowledge that all people can be prejudices and see this is the first step to overcoming it.. The question that has been decided upon is that of “What types of prejudice do we see commonly today and how do they affect an individual at a micro and macro level?”

Obtaining a good education allows a person to gain the basic skills he or she would need to thrive in the world as an adult. In order for a child to acquire the benefits of a good education, a stable environment must be provided without the influence of any negative outside forces. One negative force that can directly impact a minority child’s education is racism. Interestingly enough, there are several other aspects that are involved in the making of the standard quality education, which include student life and disciplinary actions. A troubled student life and the impact of bias disciplinary actions can result in a lack of standard educational opportunities for children in a minority group situation. Racism can negatively affect the quality of a minority child’s education by causing difficulties in a student’s life inside the classroom, unfair disciplinary actions, and academic failure.

Racism isn’t hating someone because of their race. Prejudice is not a misconception of who a person is. Racism is being prejudiced because a person believes their race is superior; and, prejudice is a preconceived opinion not based on any prior experience. In other words, racism is when a person has a preconceived opinion about another person because they feel their race is superior. Racism and prejudice are probably two of the most talked about and controversial words 60 years ago and still today. When Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat and Martin L. King marched on Selma they didn’t think we would still be in such a place today; we are in a place where people are not allowed to be themselves without facing judgment. This is the same prejudice and racism members of society face in schools, by students and educators which limits their ability to progress in a world full of competition and rise above what demographics say they are destined to become. As the great Charles Albert Tindley once said, “We Shall Overcome!”

Prejudice is an opinion in which is not based on any reasoning, and may cause harm. Prejudice can be seen just about anywhere, and it affects our daily lives. There are many different ways a person can show prejudice beliefs, but why do they believe things they have never experience? Some may say it’s something personal with one’s self that causes prejudice thoughts, or some may think it their surroundings contribute as a motive.

Many students answered that they have experienced or witnessed some form of racism in a school setting. According to Richard Morgan (2015), collaborative learning groups not only motivate academic growth, they can also be used as a tool to successfully eliminate racism in classrooms. Furthermore, by using multisensory teaching methods such bringing items that represent the students’ race and implementing lessons on racism students can be made aware of racism. They can also be taught of how to overcome it (Provini, 2012). Interaction with students of various ethnicities and race will expose students to the different cultures and also alleviate stereotypes and racist

Prejudices are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilized by education: they grow there, firm as weeds among stones.

everyday acts of violence and racism that members of oppressed races experience regularly. From the systematic literature review, Landson-Billings explains that adopting the critical race theory helps teachers realize that students from historically segregated ethnicities such as Hispanics and African-Americans generally expect to be treated differently compared to White students and have developed their attitudes based on these expectations. Landson-Billings argues that this false expectations maybe the root cause of lack of motivation on students to learn and underachievement in test scores and proficiency tests.

Like race, gender can be used by a sexist society to throw up a barrier to women's development and negatively affect their learning experiences. In a culture where the default human is seen as a White male, the model for individual human development has been structured around White, male life experiences. As a result, when compared to these androcentric models of development, women are often seen as lacking. Race, gender, and class, in addition to other characteristics such as geographical location, ability/disability status, and religious backgrounds affect everyone not only in our development, but also in how we experience educational environments and our learning process. Because of racism and sexism, certain learners may feel that they

Throughout everyone’s life, there will always be a point in time where they will experience some form of racial bias. After the Civil War in America, there was racial bias towards many African Americans. Many African Americans are being judged too quickly and facing terrible outcomes just because of the color of their skin. Some good examples of African Americans being considered dangerous is in the article by Brent Staples’ “Black Men and Public Space.” One of the traits that described African Americans were that African Americas are huge, threatening people, “…perceived as dangerous…” (1). As mentioned earlier in this paragraph, racial bias still exists, even in me. Just like Staples, I will explain my racial bias towards my classmates, here at CSM, and explain how that racial bias affected me.

In this paper I will discuss what happens when we allow biases and prejudice to affect our actions toward others. I will then conclude my paper with what we can do to prevent or eliminate discrimination.

Devine (1989) argues that stereotypes are inevitable on the basis that stereotypes and prejudice coexist and that stereotyping occurs automatically. Devine attempts to prove this hypothesis in three experiments. Devine reasons that “as long as stereotypes exist, prejudice will follow.” This hypothesis is rooted in a correlation. Prejudice and stereotypes are related, however there is no clear evidence of causality; Knowledge of a stereotype does not mean an individual agrees with it.

In psychology, prejudice is different from discrimination. Prejudice is an unjustifiable and often negative stereotyped attitude that a person holds against the members of a particular social group. Whereas, discrimination is when prejudicial attitudes cause members of a particular group to be treated differently than others in situations that call for equal treatment. Thus, prejudice leads to discrimination. There are several factors that contribute to prejudice and discrimination, and there are many techniques for reducing the development of prejudice and discrimination.