Reducing Prejudice In The Classroom Essay

Prejudice is when we have a preconceived opinion about someone or a group of people that is formed without knowledge, or even a real understanding about them.

In this modern world, prejudice is still a universal problem we still have yet to overcome. Although it is true that our society is much less prejudiced than it was 40-50 years ago, we are still struggling to create racial harmony in a world that is so diverse in terms of racial group, sexual orientations, ethnicity, nationality, religions, and so on. I think the core of prejudice comes from stereotyping, which is the generalization of motives, characteristics, or behavior to an entire group of people. In the world where media propaganda is ubiquitous, often times most stereotypes are not formed on valid experiences, instead they are based on images publicized by the mass media, or even created within our heads after seeing and hearing examples from many different sources, like movies, or even hearsay. Stereotyping is more powerful than we think, because it allows those false pictures to control our thinking that leads us to assign uniform characteristics to any person in a group, without consideration of the actual difference between members of that particular group.

They blame it on me somebody had stole something from one of the houses and without any prove they

Prejudice influences the historical record because those opinions and beliefs are handed down through the generations and believed by others due to the influence those that express those views have on others. In the context of the Understanding Prejudice quiz about slaves and their treatment, the textbook states that “contemporary institutional and individual racism, which is central to today’s conflicts, has its origins in the institution of slavery” (Schaefer, 2015, p 168) which was embraced by many of our past presidents and which allowed long-standing prejudice and discrimination to occur against black people. The prejudicial theories of authoritarian personality, exploitation, and normative come into play as well as the theoretical perspectives of functionalist and labeling.

Fat people are funny. If you wear Crocs means that you are a complete dork. If you are pretty, you are smart, and if you are ugly you are stupid. Little old ladies that have a lot of cats are nice. These are examples of prejudice. It is in schools, on the radio, and on TV. Prejudice is what we think of people or things just because other people look like or act like that. Prejudice is a preconceived idea that is in no way based on a reason or actual experience or evidence. Prejudice is a major problem for many people in the United States and many other places in the world, but the more you know about prejudice, the easier it is to identify and stop it.

In the United States, there is a long history of unequal treatment among ethnic minority groups, particularly for African Americans. Unfortunately, this injustice also appears in education. Sociologists have affirmed the importance of education in shaping the economic and social prospects of individuals. As all communities in the United States have been diversified, it becomes crucial to recognize and properly deal with diversity within the classroom. All students should be guaranteed to have equal opportunities for quality education at school. However, racism is still prevalent in many schools today (Beswick, 4, 1990, Pennino, 2007). Racism now has different forms, like the individual instructions student can get from their teachers, and the acceptance of students among their classmates. These can have negative and lasting effects on students even when they leave school. Students must not experience any type of stereotyping, ethnic prejudice or racial violence in schools. Asante (2003) said: "Racism in education can not be overcome by the expression of goodwill, it must be constantly confronted in all conscious ways" (p.223).

Before taking this class I had always thought that I wasn’t racist, and that I didn’t have any biases. Shortly into this course I realized that I had a lot more to work on than I thought. I had learned that I didn’t need to be personally racist to support racist institutions that favored my race only. I have learned that we are all the same species, and that this thing we call race is something that we have created. Upon reflecting from the beginning of this semester, I believed and still do believe that culturally competent educators acknowledge their students differences, and learn to value and respect these differences in the classroom. Educators must model positive behavior by respecting and valuing where their students come from. When educators value differences in the classroom, it creates a culture in which everyone can be himself or herself. In order to create this culture in my future classroom I need to acknowledge all of my student’s differences, and I must learn to value and respect these differences.

In the United States, there is a long history of unequal treatment among ethnic minority groups, particularly for African Americans. Unfortunately, this injustice also appears in education. Sociologists have affirmed the importance of education in shaping the economic and social prospects of individuals. As all communities in the United States have been diversified, it becomes crucial to recognize and properly deal with diversity within the classroom. All studnets should be guaranteed to have equal opportunities for quality education at school. However, racism is still prevalent in many schools today (Beswick, 4, 1990, Pennino, 2007). Racism now has different forms, like the individual instructions student can get from their teachers, and the acceptance of students among their classmates. These can have negative and lasting effects on students even when they leave school. Students must not experience any type of stereotyping, ethnic prejudice or racial violence in schools. Asante (2003) said: "Racism in education can not be overcome by the expression of goodwill, it must be constantly confronted in all conscious ways" (p.223).

Stereotypes are something that we are all affected by in our everyday lives in one way or another. You may have made a stereotype about someone, and not even realize that you are stereotyping them. For that reason I believe that there are many different stereotypes embedded into our minds. Everyone has made a stereotype about someone, and may have been wrong or right about that stereotype. Either way if you were wrong or right about what you thought about, or labeled on a person, it is still a stereotype. I have noticed that people do not take the time to get to know someone, but rather stereotype them off appearances or gender, or religion, and many other different categories of people.

In our society, we are able to witness how our prejudices can affect the way people live. At times, there are people who come forward and confront the injustice in our lives and try helping the victims. However, there are numerous occasions were we fail to confront the prejudice, and take no notice of the consequences that may result; this is evident in the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird where the numerous prejudices and injustices heaped upon various characters brings the society itself to moral conflict. We witness first hand how failing to confront various types of prejudices may result large repercussions.

Creating an environment which promotes equality, growth, and safety is important in the teaching profession. Teachers need to ensure students have opportunities to learn and use their individual abilities in the classroom. Students should be given the chance to make connections with the real-world through the given instruction and be able to see their growth as the class progresses. Two classes in which the teacher was able to implement and sustain practices of anti-bias instruction was in an upper level Spanish class and in an English class called World Literature.

Classrooms have a certain lesson to help students become someone in society, to do whatever they require from themselves. With that given opportunity to expose that term of reality , then it would be acceptable to given them the chance to abolish any concerning developments in a learning environment; such as racism.Although there is conflict over beliefs with parents Schools should enact anti-racism measures such as actively integrating classrooms because it allows students to realize how they should treat others and makes a student feel free to be who they are.

The social and moral aspects of prejudice are explored within the studied texts through the intolerance for other opinions. Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird and Jeremy Stanford’s article Booing Adam Goodes: are we even aware we’re racists? magnify the different aspects of prejudice through different perspectives. The composers use the concepts of innocence, injustice and relationships to explore the different aspects of prejudice. The discrimination brought to surface within the texts reveals that prejudice is destructive to humanity.

Since I started this class, I have a learned a great deal about cultural diversity in the classroom and abroad. My perspective has changed slightly but my knowledge of this subject has improved. In my family, my father taught me about the civil rights movement and the evils of segregation in the U.S. My parents taught me to be tolerant of all humans, no matter what they look like, how they dress, or their sexual orientation. My family has always been liberal thinkers who taught me the dark history of racism and bigotry in this country. As an educator I would be accepting to all race, creeds, and religious peoples.

Once students and teachers are aware of cultural differences, they become aware of racism and can fight to eradiate it. Through their unbiased understanding of the differences between cultures and races, they are able to come to a point of acceptance of themselves and others. If you noticed in my previous paragraph, I mentioned the different types of diversity. Diversity emphasizes how different students and teachers are, but when explored in a classroom, can be used to reveal our similarities. Once students and teachers grasp the concept of diversity, displayed through everyday interactions with diverse groups of students and teachers, racism begins to disappear. In addition, positive sense of self can be developed once students and teachers have an understanding of their own uniqueness through experiences and understanding of diversity. Once teachers and students