Stereotypes can be a problem in our society, but they are especially a problem for teenagers. At my school stereotypes impact a wide range of students. My class read “How a Self Fulfilling Stereotype Can Drag Down Performance,” by Writer and novelist, Shankar Vedantam. In his article he argues that telling people about their race before an exam will hurt their performance. He supports his claim by providing statistics on the average test scores of blacks compared to whites. He then explains that “stereotype threats” can be done subconsciously, but they still bring down test scores. Vedantam’s purpose is to make people aware that a simple comment about someone’s race can negatively impact ...view middle of the document...
Participants also identified themselves as students, athletes, and teenagers. Our participants most noticed the impact of stereotypes when they were at school, but outside of class. Our participants mostly responded to the stereotypes by ignoring them.
The data says that most African Americans described themselves as athletes and students, said that they encountered stereotypes most often in classes at school, and tend to ignore stereotypes. Most Asian Americans described themselves as teenagers. Some of the main stereotypes that they described were that all Asians are smart(especially in math) and that they are Chinese. Our research says that most Hispanics/Latinos described themselves as students and teenagers. Some of the most common stereotypes about people of this ethnicity are that they are poor, uneducated, gangsters, and that they are all criminals. Most Whites described themselves as students. The most common stereotypes about whites are that they are rich/spoiled, super smart, and always get good grades.
Everyone at PLHS is affected by stereotypes one way or another, whether they think they are or not. However, people of some ethnicities are more affected than others by stereotypes. I think that most ethnic groups are affected equally by stereotypes. Negative stereotypes can bring down students test scores more than they realize. They can also have an affect on how they see themselves and how they act around...