White Men Can’t Jump: Where did Stereotypes Come From?
By Adam Cirnigliaro
EDI 600 Psychological Foundation of Education
School of Education
Long Island University, C. W. Post
May 29, 2009
I grew up in a predominantly wealthy, Caucasian town. The lack of diversity in school was noticeable and welcomed among many of the families within the community. Although I do not remember any outward acts of racism, I certainly knew many students who held prejudiced views of other people. Prejudiced comments and jokes were commonplace, as were stereotypes about other races. My parents raised me to be respectful of everyone and to not judge others on physical characteristics. I always believed that I was above stereotyping because of this upbringing, but I soon realized that i had fallen into the trap of making unfair assumptions.
Fortunately, playing basketball provided me the opportunity to play with kids from many different towns and of different ethnic backgrounds. I didn't realize the intimidation factor that existed for me before I ever met a back or Hispanic friend. As the years past, some of my best friends were kids from varying ethnicities and poor communities. Now when my friends in my town made comments, I was much more aware of the fallacies and discrimination they were displaying and I would become defensive of my friends.
One major difference I did notice between my two different groups of friends was their attitude towards education. My basketball friends did not think school was very important and spent a lot of time criticizing school. Most of these children came from families where parents were not very involved. However, one of my friends in this group was a good student. He was constantly made fun of by everyone else though because he did well and did his homework when we went on road trips. He seemed like he was always trying to balance being a good student, but also trying to fit in by talking in slang and doing some things he knew was wrong.
Over the course of high school, it was obvious that this tug of war wore on him and he began to not perform as well in school and got into more trouble. While this might be too much of a generalization, the culture he was surrounded in hindered his learning process because he was trying so hard to fit in. To a much lesser degree I found that it slightly influenced my education as well. I wanted to be like my friends and adopted, if only superficially, their attitude towards school. I think I was lucky that I friends and parents who placed a great deal of emphasis on learning, which helped keep me balanced.
Long Island University, C. W. Post
May 29, 2009
I grew up in a predominantly wealthy, Caucasian town. The lack of diversity in school was noticeable and welcomed among many of the families within the community. Although I do not remember any outward acts of racism, I certainly knew many students who held prejudiced views of other people. Prejudiced comments and jokes were commonplace, as were stereotypes about other races. My parents raised me to be respectful of everyone and to not judge others on physical characteristics. I always believed that I was above stereotyping because of this upbringing, but I soon realized that i had fallen into the trap of making unfair assumptions.
Fortunately, playing basketball provided me the opportunity to play with kids from many different towns and of different ethnic backgrounds. I didn't realize the intimidation factor that existed for me before I ever met a back or Hispanic friend. As the years past, some of my best friends were kids from varying ethnicities and poor communities. Now when my friends in my town made comments, I was much more aware of the fallacies and discrimination they were displaying and I would become defensive of my friends.
One major difference I did notice between my two different groups of friends was their attitude towards education. My basketball friends did not think school was very important and spent a lot of time criticizing school. Most of these children came from families where parents were not very involved. However, one of my friends in this group was a good student. He was constantly made fun of by everyone else though because he did well and did his homework when we went on road trips. He seemed like he was always trying to balance being a good student, but also trying to fit in by talking in slang and doing some things he knew was wrong.
Over the course of high school, it was obvious that this tug of war wore on him and he began to not perform as well in school and got into more trouble. While this might be too much of a generalization, the culture he was surrounded in hindered his learning process because he was trying so hard to fit in. To a much lesser degree I found that it slightly influenced my education as well. I wanted to be like my friends and adopted, if only superficially, their attitude towards school. I think I was lucky that I friends and parents who placed a great deal of emphasis on learning, which helped keep me balanced.
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