Why The Myth Of Meritocracy Hurt Kids Of Color Summary

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Sianni Hawkins English 101 098 Professor Swauger 1st March 2024. They say “It is a matter of motivation, talent and grit”. In the passage “Why The Myth of Meritocracy Hurts Kids of Color” written by Melinda D. Anderson on July 27, 2017. She speaks of meritocracy, too. For those unfamiliar with the term, meritocracy is a so-called culture or social system in which people earn significance or rewards because of what they achieve, rather than because of their riches or social rank. The prompt to be answered is “Would families of color be better off or worse off if they rejected the belief in meritocracy?”. In my opinion, families would be better off without the belief in meritocracy. As children, we are informed that everyone has equal opportunities, …show more content…

As I said in the introduction, we are taught that things are equal throughout all races and social statuses. That is not true, though. As people, we want things to be fair, we want to believe that everyone has the same opportunities as each other. In this society today, that isn’t the case and people of color are usually the ones shorthanded when it comes to it. In the passage, Melinda speaks of a teacher named Xian Frazinger Barrett. To give a little background, this teacher is very familiar with the students of color as he works closely with them. He recognizes the racial inequalities that his students are experiencing. His stance on the prompt is that it is essential to reject society’s narrative that everything is fair because as children we would start to collapse pretty quickly as self-doubt starts to set in for us. To demonstrate this point there is a study in the “Peer-Reviewed Journal Child Development” which states “Traditionally marginalized youth who grew up believing in the American ideal that hard work and perseverance naturally lead to success show a decline in self-esteem and an increase in risky behaviors during their middle-school years”. This further shows that there is a negative impact on believing in the act of

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