White privilege is the concept that white people have the advantage over other ethical races because of the color of their skin. Potapchuk &Leiderman state that “white privilege is about the concrete benefits of access to resources and social rewards and the power to shape the norms and values of society that whites receive, unconsciously or consciously, by virtue of their skin color in a racist society” (pg. 3). There will always be the conflict of race in our society; because children are still being taught that there is a problem with others who are not the same color as they are. Educating children at a young age could help reduce the amount of racism in their future.
Depending on where an individual lives; if they live in a mostly all white community than their children will go to a school that is mostly white, the teachers will be mostly white and the activities that the children are in other children will be mostly white. If one lives in a mostly black community they will go to a school that is mostly black, the teacher might be mostly black and the activities that they are in will have mostly black children involved. When children learn about the history of our country most of the famous explorers were white, children learn about slavery and how white people had black people for slaves. Children can assume from being in an environment as they are with everyone around them being white is that is “the way of the world” (Christman, 2013 pg.3).
In order to reduce the “white privilege” concept, parents, teachers, coaches, etc. Need to talk with their children/students about racism. According to Copenhaver-Johnson (2006) the reason we do not talk to our children about racism is for several different reasons. One reason that...
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... first suggestion is to not be afraid to bring up the subject and talk about it, parents need to look for any teaching moments like if there are different colors of people in books or if your child says something about different skin colors, make sure that you keep the talk at the level of your child-for instance if someone has a three year old they want to keep at their level of talk, and every parent needs to be a role model for their children and do not make racial comments (Olsen, 2013).
Parents need to start teaching their children at a young age about where they came from as well as where other people came from that are of a different race, be a good role model and be ready to talk to their children if and when they have questions. Keeping children educated on other ethnicities will help reduce the enormous amount of racism that we deal with still today.
Minorities, African American and Latinos, in America are faced with challenges daily in white society. There are many obstacles minorities experience such as: being judged based on race, stereotyped, or worst being discriminated against by peers. Sadly, minorities can’t seem to escape to harsh realities society created. Citizens in the white society categorize humans by their race to socially construct the achievements and legitimate political goals. Minorities struggles with these goals due to the challenges they experience. The location of these challenges can occur in various places including on the job and/or at school. You may be under the impression that such challenges occurs within the adult minority groups. However, this applies to minority children as well. When the children are face with
However, this general knowledge is not apparent to White people. Similar to microaggressions, John F. Dovidio discusses the concept of aversion racism, “a subtle, often unintentional form of bias that characterizes many White Americans who possess strong egalitarian values and who believe that they are nonprejudiced” (90). Eduardo Bonilla-Silva and Sue both demonstrate from their research that Whites do not comprehend the impact of their unconscious biases. These biases towards students of colour in a white-based post-secondary school environment can result in stress and weak interracial relationships. This is an issue since the significance of these everyday actions are not fully recognized and acknowledged. I will elaborate on a variety of examples, specifically the influence of the peers, and
I think it is important to be aware of every single student's ethnicity in the classroom. Our ethnicity , our cultural and language background strongly influence the way we learn. We need to give every child the possibility to learn the way it can learn best and most. I don't think that there is a racist issue when we integrate the student's ethnicity and language into the classroom learning as long as we are aware of all the ethnicities of all the students in the classroom. I rather think that there is a racist issue if we do not integrate the children's ethnicity and language into classroom life since we would then ignore an important aspect of the student's being individually different from each other, and without considering their ethnicity we would automatically teach the students from our own ethnicity's point of view which might not be appropriate for any of the students in the classroom.
Racism and ethnicity continue to affect the sector of education in most parts of the world. More often, it influences adults and children’s experiences in education at all levels and in various ways. These include professional employment, academic performance, parental involvement, social interactions, assessment issues, and curriculum development. Certainly, the terms racism and ethnicity identify as problematic and arise socially. Therefore, many people fail to recognize that racism is a perception about the color of the skin and traditions of a particular group of people. Racism and ethnicity exist in quite blatant and subtle forms. As such, racism and ethnicity usually lead to negative consequences for the group that does not belong to the dominant culture. The contemporary racism originated from various avenues, one of it being the society norms and upbringing. Indeed, as children grow, they exclusively rely on their parents or guardians to learn new things. Moreover, part of the upbringing involves teaching the children things about the society and the
Jordan attends an elite private school and an exclusive summer camp. So as much as I want to believe that our upper-middle-class status will protect my son from many of society’s social ills, it could not provide him the white privilege he seeks.” (Canedy 887 )Even though Canedy sent her child to a private school and lived in a big house, she believes that the racism wouldn’t affect him. similar to canedy, Chung worries about racism affecting her children Chung wanted to keep people with racist comments away from her kids. “I consider my children, who probably aren’t tracking this conversation — not just because they don’t watch the television show in question, but because they are still young and, for all our intra-family conversations about racism, they do not yet expect to encounter it in their everyday lives. I generally try to push back when someone says something offensive in their earshot, especially when it’s something I think they might understand.” (Chung) Canedy’s son being afraid of accepting his race is a good example of the problems racism causes the color people to want to be “white” because they have many opportunities that color people don’t if we go back to segregation the whites were able to go to good school and have nice house while “color” wasn’t able to, Many “color
White Privilege The belief that white privilege never existed or that it is no longer a problem is skewed by the selective use of facts to support this claim. How do we address this problem? We must define the what is to be privileged, acknowledge the problem and identify a means to fix it. "The idea of privilege- that some people benefit from unearned, and largely unacknowledged, advantages, even when those advantages aren't discriminatory. "
However, much more than that, a change in society is even more indispensable. The only way of possible making a change in the situation is to make a change in the root of the problem: racism and education. A lot of people still have racism implanted on their heads, and that kind of mentality needs to be modified immediately. And combined to that, a reform in the education system is also needed, in a way that would be equal for everyone, no matter race, sex or age. That change needs to be made before those children grow up because even though a strong educational basis is not a guarantee of success, it is for sure the key for it. Trying to transform the situation after those children become grown-ups is even harder since they would have already spent an enormous part of their life failing because of the lack of knowledge and education they got when
Family has the biggest influence on how race is perceived for some. Read stated, “children begin to develop attitudes About race between the ages of two and five, that not talking about race leaves them vulnerable to misinformation and stereotyping, and that children 's acceptance of differences among ethnic and racial groups is essential if we are to create a society with freedom and justice for all” (Readman, 2011, p.50). Educators need to teach an understanding and acceptance of our differences. The exposure of other races and ethnicities
This article gives insight on the race of students. The article talks about how not talking about race is actually not good for them, that children will learn on their own to judge people on the color of their skin. It gives insight that talking to the children about race and about treating everyone equal would be the best move overall. Some studies have shown that students that have been talked about race have better attitudes about race than those who don't have their parents talk about it. Although if they don't talk in enough detail then it wont work a study proved that if the parents talk too broad by using everybody's equal does just as much damage as not saying anything at all. The article shows a study of how students no matter their
Racism, stereotypes, and white privilege are all concepts that affect all of us whether we believe it or not. If an adolescent of a minority can distinguish these concepts in his society then we all should be aware of them. These concepts are all clearly demonstrated in “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian”. Anyone and everyone could clearly understand this novel but the intended audience is middle school to college level students. The novel’s goal is to help white students understand the effects of white privilege in an easier, more understandable way. Concepts are easier to understand when someone feels like they are connecting to someone they have things in common with, which is exactly what this novel does. I, for one, was always
...types about people like themselves, and the message that they are inferior and cannot achieve, and their coming to believe or internalize those stereotypes and messages" (201). This turns into a loss of self-esteem and extreme hatred towards oneself and members of their group. In the school systems, teachers tend to pay less attention to students of color, or else don't encourage them as much as they do the white children. Also, the students themselves can make cruel comments to their peers and all of this can lead to internalized racism. Teachers need to watch their own actions as well as those of their students to make sure this isn't happening. The teachers should accept, learn, and believe the fact that we are all one. There is not two, three, or ten human species, there is one. If this is stressed enough in schools, children can grow up free of racism.
If the system undoubtedly favors one race over another then it should be easy to point out the privileges. Paula S. Rothenberg mentions in her book “White Privilege: Essential Readings on the Other Side of Racism” that we cannot avoid this problem, “As for the concern that looking at whiteness and white privilege will deflect our attention from racism, this could not be further from the truth” (Rothenberg 2). Failure to observe things from the side of the privileges overlooks many of the benefits of the institutional racism. By examining the benefactors of the system two things can be learned: who benefits from the system and how they do it. It is quite easy to shame racism and call it deplorable but it is much harder to realize that white privilege is other side of racism. However, failure to recognize this allows racism in our education systems to exist and flourish. Only when people in privileged positions fight for the equality of others will the institutional racism be defeated. One simple way to the privilege in the school system is when you compare how minorities learned about race and how white people learned about race. Often time minorities learn about race through a painful experience or a realization that they are different. In contrast many white people were probably unaware of their whiteness because it was the norm an everywhere. Robin
My third grade teacher taught us basic events in American history and put a heavy emphasis on the sufferings of black people. Our curriculum required teachers to teach us about races. We were conditioned to become racially conscious, and in the process we became subconsciously more racist. I remember seeing more Asians grouped together starting fourth grade. Kids who were innocently playing in an integrated fashion a year before started separating themselves into racial groups a year later. I remember hearing an Asian girl saying that she couldn’t have a crush on a certain guy because he’s black. I started noticing that very few Asians had black friends after race was introduced. Our school introduced us to race, but they never taught us how to overcome it. White, Asian, and Hispanic children started to mentally think of themselves as superior to blacks as a result of what we have learned in class. We were too young to realize the impact of the way we were
A child is truly nurtured by those more wise than themselves. I like Vygotsky’s theory that they “…learn through a social process that occures in a particular space and time that reflects the beliefs, politics and practices of the adults around them.” (Ramsey, 2004 pg. 30) I believe this becomes apparent when a child is learning a new task, emotions, behavorial conditions, academics etc.. and learns this process with a mentor around. When approaching the topic of multicultural education and anti-bias teaching this is extremely important by finely tuning the specific child’s needs and what parts of their world are important to them and their peers.
Racial and Cultural socialization are proving to be a current discussion topic that minority parents have to prepare their children for. While there is not enough data to analyze every single minority group separately, when analyzed together distinctions can be interpreted among ethnicities with darker skin complexations. Stereotypes can be contributed through an intersection of gender, race and social class but only those finding themselves discriminated against will be able to recognize that we live in a society where light skin ethnic individuals benefit from white privileges where as those who are dark skin individuals suffer the cruelties enforced by others.