For this lesson we were given three videos to watch and questions to follow. Next, we had six activites that consisted of race, sorting people according to their appearance, the race timeline, a human diversity quiz, four slideshows examining different perspectives on race, and a video comparing two different types of families coming from two different classes and are two different races.
EDUC 2120 – Lesson 8 – Race – The Power of an Illusion
Answer these questions concerning the videos:
How would you define race? What does “race” mean to you?
Race is the way we categorize others into a group. It's usually based on the outer appearance of someone. Race is based off of the color of the skin, the shape of eyes, and also the shape of the nose. Race is just a color of skin to me and the way someone looks. I treat everyone the same as I would want to be treated. Yes, I categorize people by race, but who doesn't? I just don't care if you are black, white, red, yellow, etc. it's just a color.
How many races do you think there are? What are they? How do you decide which race someone belongs to?
There are really a lot of races just because people are marrying interracial now. But the main ones that I can think of off the top of my head would have to be Black, White, Mexican, and Asian. The way you decide which race someone belongs to is usually by the color of their skin and the shape of their eyes and nose.
Would you trade your skin color? How do you think your life would be different if you looked like someone of a different race?
I wouldn't trade my skin color because I don't see a problem with it now. If I were a different race, I think life would be different, honestly. I feel like everyone of different races get treated differently by different people. Also, I think the events and the things that we would do as a family would be different. I think each race has a different way of doing things than another race does.
What stereotypes have you heard or seen about different racial groups?
With White people, I've heard (and seen) that they don't have rhythm. This is not entirely true. I know tons of White people that know how to dance. Another one is "White people are all racist". NO. This isn't true. There are people from all races that are racist, not just white people.
Something I've heard (and seen) about African Americans is that they can sing well. But like White people, this isn't entirely true either. Some African Americans can't sing a lick, when some people can belt it out to no end.
Also, I've heard African Americans can play basketball really good.
I've heard all Asians are geniuses. All the Asians I've met are all super smart, so I honestly think that for the most part this is true, except some Asians may have to have help just like the other students in some subjects. Another thing I've heard about Asians is that they all know Kung Fu or karate, which happens to not be true, but we all believe it because in movies where they are using karate, they always use an Asian person.
Do you think people today should be held accountable for past discrimination? Why or why not?
This is a tricky question. I think it depends on how long ago the situation was. I think if it was over five years ago, then no because it didn't matter then and there's nothing you can really do about it now. A person shouldn't be getting punished for doing something years ago, but if they do the same actions again, now, then they should be punished for it.
Forty years ago, the Civil Rights Act declared that forced racial segregation was illegal. In light of this, why do you think some neighborhoods, schools and workplaces are still segregated?
Honestly, I think that it all depends on the way you were raised. Some people grew up being taught that other races were worse than yours. Maybe that's why some neighborhoods, schools and workplaces are still segregated. I think that if they didn't want to be in segregated schools, neighborhoods and workplaces, then they could change places.
Activity 1 – Is Race for Real? – This activity requires you to explore 10 different factoids associated with race. And, you have the option of “going deeper” as well.
Describe what you learned by completing this activity.
I learned that race is just a modern idea and has no genetic bases like everyone was thinking it did. Slavery predates race. Race and freedom were born together. This being said, freedom was given and some races took their freedom for granted. Skin color is only skin deep. What color you are on the outside doesn't define who you are and what you will be like on the inside. Most variation is within, not within "races". This means that two different people from the same race can be just as different as two people from a different race. Racism is not biological, but racism is still real. If one race has more advantages than another, than this affects everyone whether we see it or not. Pretending race doesn't exist isn't the same as creating equality.
Activity 2 – Sorting People – How easy is it to group people into “races” based on appearance? What about using individual traits? There are two parts to this activity.
Describe your results when you tried to sort people based on their appearance.
From trying to sort people based just on their appearance, it was really hard. I never thought it was that hard before. I got over 50% of them wrong. The people who looked like one race ended up being another race than I thought. It's not as easy as people think it is when sorting people based on their outer appearance.
Describe your results when you tried to sort people based on physical traits.
From trying to sort people based just on their appearance, it was really hard. I never thought it was that hard before. I got over 50% of them wrong. The people who looked like one race ended up being another race than I thought. It's not as easy as people think it is when sorting people based on their outer appearance.
Activity 3 – The Race Timeline – Learn more about the history and evolution of the race concept.
Describe what you learned by exploring this timeline.
I learned that America used to not be like this way back when. The "race" definition has changed over time. From reading the timeline, I feel like racial issues started in the early 1700's. It looks like Whites were dominant over everyone in America, and if you were White, you got better treatment.
Activity 4 – Human Diversity – Take the diversity quiz or explore the ways we’re similar to one another. Learn about ancestry, the geographic distribution of traits, and the history of human migration.
How did you do on the quiz? Describe the results.
I did better than I thought I would do on the quiz. Some of the questions tripped me up, but overall I did pretty good considering I didn't know anything about it before. To some of the answers I got wrong, I read the correct answer and it really surprised me. The fruit flies question really got me because I wasn't expecting the fruit flies to have the most genetic variation.
Regarding the “exploring diversity” activity, describe what you learned.
The part of the timeline that stood out to me the most is the physical appearance. It showed how the physical traits of each of us don't really define where we come from. If we look at the world, we will see that there are more likes in different countries than we would have ever thought. The skin color of our "race" doesn't really define us, either. Skin color is just determined by the amount of sun we have. Of course if we're White, we will be born white, or born African American because our parents are African American, but if a White person is out in the sun a lot, they will become darker. Like myself, I'm Caucasian and I've met people who thought I was Mexican because of how dark I get during the summer. I didn't take it offensive, just funny because people always thought I was. Overall, we can't really tell what race someone is just by the way they look physically. To be able to know what race someone really is, you have to go into depth.
Activity 5 – Me, My Race, and I – View four slideshows examining different perspectives on race.
Describe what you learned after viewing the four slideshows.
Apparently people who aren't White think that White people get more of an advantage than other races. This may be true in some cases, but in some it's not. There are some places that are racist against White people, also. I also never really thought about how others seen White people. I guess I just never looked that far into race to actually see the things that I did in these slideshows. I just see people walking around that are different colors. The color of our skin shouldn't be judged by who we are on the inside. Not all White people are stuck up and think they're better than everyone. The stereotypes that are said about all the different races are most likely not true, and I wish that everyone would start getting to know someone before making up their mind about them. Don't judge a book by it's cover because if you do, you're more than likely going to be wrong.
Activity 6 – Where Race Lives – No measure of racial inequality in the U.S. is more striking than a comparison of housing and wealth. See how this happened, compare the story of two families, and understand why inequality persists 40 years after the civil rights movement. View the “Tail of Two Families”.
Explain what happened to Max and Byron.
Max and Byron were totally different people. Both came from two different families. Byron was an African American whose family struggled financially, and Max was apart of a white family who was comfortable financially. The big difference I kept thinking about the two was that Byron's family actually had to work to get their money. Max's family was wealthy because of family (aunts, uncles, grandparents). In the end, Byron ended up getting a house but struggled financially, and still had to help his parents financially. Max bought a house with the help of his parents, and they all were very comfortable financially.
This story about Byron and Max, really aggravated me just because Byron and his family worked so hard to get everything they had, and they still struggled financially. Max's family and he never struggled financially and even if they were "about to" they could borrow money from other family members to help them out. Coming from someone who has been in a family that struggled (still struggling, somewhat) financially, and working hard to get what you need for the entire family, it's really hard and aggravating to see people get everything they want and need when they aren't even working for it.
After completing all of these activities, do you believe the information on this website is factual? Explain.
Yes, I believe it to be very true. All of these activities all have truth in them. You can't prove someone to be a certain race just from their outer appearance.
Summary
This activity was very interesting to me. I never really thought of "race" the way that they described it in all of these activities. I believe that everyone should be given the chance to review this lesson just to see how different and hard it is to actually determine what race someone is or not. I never really thought about it that race was just a modern idea, before. One quote that I liked from lesson five was written by James Baldwin. He said "Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced."
Research Question
How can a teacher reduce stereotyping in their classroom?
Reference(s): http://extension.missouri.edu/hes/childcare/reducestereotype.htm
Research Analysis
Young children are in their preoperational stage, so they tend to focus on the physical appearance of their peers and decide what they like and what they dislike. Early childhood education teachers needs to be aware that stereotyping doesn’t only happen in the middle and high school areas, but it all starts in the early childhood ages, like three to six years. Studies have shown that helping children see that their stereotyping behavior will not be supported and encouraging students to feel good about themselves will lead to less tension and discrimination in the classroom.
Self-observation and awareness can cause a decrease in stereotyping. This is because young children admire people older than them. If a teacher can talk openly about diversity and the damaging effects of prejudice, children are provided with a model of openness and awareness to imitate. If a child happens to ask a question about race, gender, disability, etc., their teacher needs to answer. If a teacher weren’t to answer, the student may think that their question may be inappropriate or unimportant. If student’s questions don’t get answered, they could come up with their own conclusions that may be wrong or even harmful. Teachers need to be honest and open about their students’ questions.
Research Summary
Even though my research analysis is about early childhood, it could also be for middle and high school students, also. Answering questions, and being honest and open about the topics they are asking is the key to reducing stereotypes in the classroom. I honestly just didn’t think that stereotyping started as early as pre-k, but according to this article, it does and it surprised me.