Acting White Essay

Page 1: The meaning of the first chapters title “Born to Belonging” is that quite literally whites won’t be questioned about whether they deserve to be here, living in this condition. They won’t be questioned about how they got such wealth and it is easy for them to get this wealth. For example, his grandfather Jacob with his good work ethics was able to come upon success. His success sees normal. However, there are many people of color who have good or better work ethics than Jacob and still they are not recognized or reach success because they aren’t “Born to Belonging”. Also it is easier for those of the white complexion to eventually become part of the white society and eventually belong.

A socially stratified reality is constructed by the belief that inferiority or superiority is based on an individual’s class, race, and/or gender. In Tim Wise’s film White Like Me, he discusses the widely held preconception that most welfare recipients are undeserving black people. In actuality, most welfare recipients are white, but the media creates this unfair depiction. Far too many black faces are shown in news coverage of poverty that correspond to the actual proportion of poor blacks in the U.S. This kind of interaction and experience strengthen the belief system that black people are inferior to white people, justifying the negativity and prejudice welfare recipients and blacks receive.

Racial formation is a vast sum of signifying actions and social structures that clash in the creation of complex relationships and identities that is a labeled race. Throughout the history of the United States, a large array of strategies was engaged in regarding education that took advantage of nonwhites. Since policies by those who supposedly “protect our rights” attempted to eradicate social, economic and cultural aspirations, dominated groups were more often than not suspicious of the school 's interests. According to John Ogby, “children from dominated cultures often failed school because they considered the school to be representative of the dominant white culture” (Spring, 101). This portrays racial formation having an effect on equality. “Acting white” meant to attempt to do well in school because

How should society handle the perceived differences between races when it comes to education? The goal of both researchers is to narrow the academic gap between white and black students. Both authors attribute the gap between the academic scores of black and white students from opposite sides of racial identity. As Dr. Beverly Daniels Tatum, President of Spelman College and clinical psychologist has written an article entitled “Why are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” Her approach is from the perspective of the student and how they perceive their role and upper limits while maintaining their place in their peer group's expectations of their race. Dr. Diane Ravitch, a research professor of education at New York University, has written an article entitled "The Facts about the Achievement Gap.” Her approach is from the perspective of how schools and society implicitly or explicitly cast students into achievement tracks based on their race. Both approach the same idea about racial identity, but they have different solutions, such as peer groups, the school board, and who is right about the solution.

Ultimately the lack of reliable resources and preparation from underfunded schools leads African American students into being unprepared for college and jobs, once again reinforcing a vicious cycle of poverty within the community. Gillian B. White, a senior associate editor at The Atlantic, wrote a chilling article regarding the systematic racism that is deeply embedded in the American school system. In the article The Data: Race Influences School Funding, White states “At a given poverty level, districts that have a higher proportion of white students get substantially higher funding than districts that have more minority students” (White). In this quote White explains the clear correlation of race and inadequate funding in the American school

Throughout the text, the author includes various facts and pieces of information in order to further convey his argument. By doing this, Younge is able to increase the credibility of his ideas and gain the trust of readers. He writes, “In a 2012 report, UCLA’s Civil Rights Project noted: ‘Nationwide, the typical black student is now in a school where almost two out of every three classmates (64%) are low-income.’” By mentioning this statistic, he is able to back up his claim that schools are resegregating across America. Since the majority of black students attend low-income schools, they are given less resources to succeed; therefore, wealthy suburban families are able to continue creating private schools that many minorities cannot afford. The author also includes, “The discrepancy between black and white unemployment is the same as it was in 1963,” adding,

A school setting provides opportunities where issues of social justice, oppression, and discrimination can be addressed. According to Bemak and Chung (2009), students of color and economically disadvantaged students are likely to have low academic achievement, in comparison to their White middle class counterparts. These disparities in academic

After conducting the interviews and analyzing the data I have to come to the conclusion that it takes every stakeholder, parents, teachers, and administrators, to be involved for African American students to be successful. We can no longer point the blame at one party. Teachers can not blame parents and parents can not blame teachers, we all have to work together. There has to be an open line of communication between home and school. We have to all remember it is about the student, the child, and we have to do whatever is necessary to ensure they are successful.

The education system is notorious for teaching its own agenda, and not necessarily all the facts of a situation. For many years, the education system on all levels has been teaching students what it means to have privilege, and how life would be if they did not. Usually, the white students are the subject of privilege, and the minority student are the subject of life with racism, and without privilege. White privilege has been an underlying lesson to students for generations, and contributes to the power and superiority white people feel over everyone else. When the Michael Brown shooting occurred, it opened up many people’s eyes to the inequalities that are being perpetrated by the very education system meant to teach students how to live

The ability to walk outside with all worries to the wind, feeling protected by the law, and working hard to get the positions one wants in the workplace, is all attributed to the concept of white privilege. In addition to this, white privilege means one never has to immediately fear being stopped by local authorities. As a Caucasian in any part of the world, thoughts such as, “Please don’t beat me. Please don 't shoot me as I move slowly for my wallet”, never enter one’s mind.

Lisa Delpit’s book, Multiplication is for White People, she outlines different reform strategies that will change African American education in the 21st century. The first reform strategy Delpit outlines is to recognize and build on children’s strengths. When teaching in an urban school, teachers should begin by understanding the children and their home lives. Using the knowledge that the children already have, and building on that will help students succeed. Believing that African American students are not worth being taught, plays a major role in the way students react to their educator. I believe that once an educator begins at a specific school, they should survey the student's knowledge to use that to go forward. Then using that to build on everyone’s strengths throughout the year will help in class participation and build a sense of community in the class. Recognizing a student's strengths, will make the student believe that he or she has someone on their side who cares. Once they feel that someone cares, they will want to do

In a life threatened by drugs, theft, and violence, African American Roland G. Fryer was able to conquer many hardships and excel in his education as well as his research. He completed his B.A. at the University of Texas at Arlington and went on to earn his Ph.D. in economics from Penn State University. “Acting White,” a scholarly journal published in 2006, is defined by Fryer as interactions in society where minority adolescents who receive good grades don’t reach a high level of popularity as a white adolescent would. The essay studies a specific trend among high-achieving minority students stating, “these gifted students tend to be less popular the more academically successful they are” (Fryer, 5422). In his essay, Fryer argues that the phenomenon of acting white takes place when minority adolescents who achieve academically tend to be less popular when they are compared to white students who also do well academically. He found that this phenomenon is more noticeable in racially-mixed schools than in one-race dominant schools and is attributable to what he calls “group identity”. Fryer also believes that other studies about this phenomenon are biased and so he tries to establish and employ his own method so that it is the most unbiased in his essay.

Imagine, it is the first day of school, and you are the new student, in a new environment, and no one knows who you are or where you come from. You notice how everyone is in his or her separate cliques, the jocks are in one corner but you do not play any sports, the chess club is in the coroner while everyone else is in their own worlds. You wonder where to go, where you would fit in, with whom you will get along with. You want to fit in but you seem to have nothing in common with anyone so you begin to act out to gain attention. You want attention not only in the social circles, but you want attention in your classrooms as well. How can you achieve your goal of being noticed? After reading the article, “The Burden of Acting White”. The concept of acting white comes from the struggle of blacks being qualified as inferior their white counter parts. From trying to keep up in school but at the same time, letting your true colors be shown was almost contradictory to what was going on in the classroom (Thomas). In the African American community, many issues are causing the epidemic of Acting White. Not saying that acting white is an issue; but who is to say how we are acting is wrong? We all have our own identities and it is up to us to help students mold themselves into who they want to become in the world.

The central argument expressed by Marcus is that white privilege is not a result of a political agenda as was previously stated by Tim Wise, but rather a psychological one. He goes on to say that because the issue is not based on policy, the government cannot legislate it. He explained that, “almost all scientific evidence produced to describe the nature of any individual based on race is bunk” also adding that, “only when everyone views snap judgments about individuals based on race as the absurd equivalent of such judgments based on hair or eye color, will the great moral victory over bigotry be won” (Marcus). I agree with the author that white privilege is spread by individuals and not based on policy. However, I disagree that white privilege

To begin, a white woman named Erin Gruwell decides to take up teaching at Woodrow Wilson High School two years following the 1992 Los Angeles Riots. She arrives on the first day to find out that her class is full of “at-risk” high school students— some of which are just out of juvenile hall and have very poor grades. These are kids who have segregated themselves into racial groups so badly that they can’t even sit near each other in the same classroom or walk by each other without getting into fights.