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Stereotype Inequality In High Schools

Decent Essays

Among the greatest examples of stereotype inequality are women’s rights and racism, however, recent history has both made light of the situations and has drastically ameliorated them. Consequently, stereotypes are gradually slipping out of the view of the general public. However, is it safe to assume that stereotypes are no longer a major problem? Furthermore, how is our high school youth affected by stereotyping? While some may say that this matter is no longer a major issue, it seems quite the contrary. In preparation of this essay, research was conducted upon the students of our high school. 184 responses were gathered into a pool of results. Of the 184 responses, 132 of the surveys found that the participant were most likely to noticed stereotype pressure upon themselves in the high school environment. To advance upon that, 105 of those 132 noticed the pressure …show more content…

According to our study, 46% of student’s action of choice was to simply ignore it. While most would applaud this act, rather, I see this gesture as an ineffective method to deal with the situation. I speak this because of a recent account of an article by the author Shankar Vedantam that was based on a phenomenon known as stereotype threats. These threats occur when “ people are threatened by a negative stereotype they think applies to them” and causes them to be “subtly biased to live out that stereotype”. This excerpt is pertaining to the definition and thought of the phenomenon as viewed by the psychologist, Claude Steele. Of 22 students that I personally interviewed, 45% of them noticed a difference of performance, both positive and negative, when under the influence of a stereotype. While some students may be able to channel the stereotype to fuel themselves, as Claude implies, most underperform. Speaking from experience, Ignoring and mentally capsulating stereotypes within our head is actually harmful to us as

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