Stereotype threat essay
If anyone could do me a favor and proofread this, I'll love you forever~!
Imagine being an African American high school student getting ready to take the SATs. You walk into the room and notice that about 80% of the room is composed of Caucasians, 15% Asians, and the rest of a mix between African Americans and other races. You start to feel a little uneasy knowing that your test scores are going to be compared with the other students when applying for college and choke. Your results come back and you don't do as well as you thought you did. This is an example of stereotype threat. Some psychologists have brought this to their attention and question as to whether it is nature or nurture that causes this. Some also consider that different ethnic students excel in other areas of intelligences not measured on tests. Stereotype threat is a serious thing, and psychologists are trying to find a way to solve it.
First off, psychologists conducted an experiment on this. Initially, they put a group of African American students in a room to take an intelligence test. The results came back that they did rather well. They then put a mixed group of African American and Caucasian students in the room together. As you might expect, the group of African Americans didn't do as well as when they weren't with Caucasians. This experiment showed that stereotype threat hinders a member of an ethnic group to reach their full potential on standardized or intelligence testing.
We all know that the body is composed of DNA which is unique in almost every person (except identical twins) with there being about a .03% difference. Through a bunch of processes which I won't get into, genes code for pretty much everything going on in our bodies by making proteins. It is evident that proteins affect the communication between neurons, so it could affect intelligence. It's possible that different racial groups don't have the genes to produce the types of proteins which can cause them to have genius level IQs and/or the capacity to score a 1500 on the SAT.
The other explanation for this is how the children are raised. Parents who care about the child's studies and push them to do well in school are going to be better. But if the parents don't really care as much and don't have the time to work with their children, it can become a problem. Demographically, African Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans are usually in the lower classes. Therefore, a child's parents must be working a lot and don't have the time to push their children to do well in school. Also, generally African American children don't live in the best neighborhoods to raise children where there are gangs and shootings. Sadly, the media plays scenarios like this over and over again on the news, in movies, and on television shows.
It goes the opposite way with Asians. For example, Asians who are known for doing exceptionally well are pushed by their parents to be the best in the school. In Asia, students are constantly studying to get into the best high school and colleges and it's very competitive over there. This can also reflect on the way Asian American students do in American schools as well.
The capability of excelling in calculus or quantum physics isn't the only intelligence being measured today. There are also Gardner's Eight Intelligences: Linguistic, Logical-Mathematical, Spatial, Musical, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, and Naturalist. A student who doesn't do well in chemistry may excel in the orchestra or in art class. Things outside of Linguistic and Logical-Mathematical aren't measured by standardized testing or regular intelligence tests. It's very well possible that ethnic groups can excel in these areas if they don't indeed have the capacity to excel in those measured by standardized or intelligence testing.
This is a problem for members of ethnic groups in America. Some solutions to this may include seperating everyone into different rooms to take standardized tests, but it doesn't seem right to segregate everyone in that manner. The best thing anyone can do is treat everyone as equal and make sure that everyone is getting the help they need in school to lower the rate of drop outs. Parents can also do the best they can to spend crucial time with their children and work with them to improve their grades. Also, the media can hold back on showing African American people doing drugs, living in 'the hood', and shooting people. This way, African American's won't give themselves the stereotype that all they can do is live in a run-down part of the neighborhood and can excel in their studies to do as well as Caucasians and Asians when it comes to standardized testing.
All in all, stereotype threat holds back different ethnic groups from doing well on tests and reaching their full potential. It's possible that genes are a cause of this, but how the children are brought up is also a very important factor. There are also different intelligences that aren't measured on intelligence tests which everyone can be good at. The most important thing at the moment is getting rid of everyone's perceptions that ethnic groups can't do as well as Caucasians or Asians in school. They can, but they just don't know it. The media itself portrays a lot of stereotypes like Asians being good at martial arts, African Americans dealing drugs and shooting people up, but not everyone in those specific racial groups are like that. They need to realize this and not care if they're going to be compared to Caucasians on tests. All they need a little more confidence and then they can soar to new heights.
Imagine being an African American high school student getting ready to take the SATs. You walk into the room and notice that about 80% of the room is composed of Caucasians, 15% Asians, and the rest of a mix between African Americans and other races. You start to feel a little uneasy knowing that your test scores are going to be compared with the other students when applying for college and choke. Your results come back and you don't do as well as you thought you did. This is an example of stereotype threat. Some psychologists have brought this to their attention and question as to whether it is nature or nurture that causes this. Some also consider that different ethnic students excel in other areas of intelligences not measured on tests. Stereotype threat is a serious thing, and psychologists are trying to find a way to solve it.
First off, psychologists conducted an experiment on this. Initially, they put a group of African American students in a room to take an intelligence test. The results came back that they did rather well. They then put a mixed group of African American and Caucasian students in the room together. As you might expect, the group of African Americans didn't do as well as when they weren't with Caucasians. This experiment showed that stereotype threat hinders a member of an ethnic group to reach their full potential on standardized or intelligence testing.
We all know that the body is composed of DNA which is unique in almost every person (except identical twins) with there being about a .03% difference. Through a bunch of processes which I won't get into, genes code for pretty much everything going on in our bodies by making proteins. It is evident that proteins affect the communication between neurons, so it could affect intelligence. It's possible that different racial groups don't have the genes to produce the types of proteins which can cause them to have genius level IQs and/or the capacity to score a 1500 on the SAT.
The other explanation for this is how the children are raised. Parents who care about the child's studies and push them to do well in school are going to be better. But if the parents don't really care as much and don't have the time to work with their children, it can become a problem. Demographically, African Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans are usually in the lower classes. Therefore, a child's parents must be working a lot and don't have the time to push their children to do well in school. Also, generally African American children don't live in the best neighborhoods to raise children where there are gangs and shootings. Sadly, the media plays scenarios like this over and over again on the news, in movies, and on television shows.
It goes the opposite way with Asians. For example, Asians who are known for doing exceptionally well are pushed by their parents to be the best in the school. In Asia, students are constantly studying to get into the best high school and colleges and it's very competitive over there. This can also reflect on the way Asian American students do in American schools as well.
The capability of excelling in calculus or quantum physics isn't the only intelligence being measured today. There are also Gardner's Eight Intelligences: Linguistic, Logical-Mathematical, Spatial, Musical, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, and Naturalist. A student who doesn't do well in chemistry may excel in the orchestra or in art class. Things outside of Linguistic and Logical-Mathematical aren't measured by standardized testing or regular intelligence tests. It's very well possible that ethnic groups can excel in these areas if they don't indeed have the capacity to excel in those measured by standardized or intelligence testing.
This is a problem for members of ethnic groups in America. Some solutions to this may include seperating everyone into different rooms to take standardized tests, but it doesn't seem right to segregate everyone in that manner. The best thing anyone can do is treat everyone as equal and make sure that everyone is getting the help they need in school to lower the rate of drop outs. Parents can also do the best they can to spend crucial time with their children and work with them to improve their grades. Also, the media can hold back on showing African American people doing drugs, living in 'the hood', and shooting people. This way, African American's won't give themselves the stereotype that all they can do is live in a run-down part of the neighborhood and can excel in their studies to do as well as Caucasians and Asians when it comes to standardized testing.
All in all, stereotype threat holds back different ethnic groups from doing well on tests and reaching their full potential. It's possible that genes are a cause of this, but how the children are brought up is also a very important factor. There are also different intelligences that aren't measured on intelligence tests which everyone can be good at. The most important thing at the moment is getting rid of everyone's perceptions that ethnic groups can't do as well as Caucasians or Asians in school. They can, but they just don't know it. The media itself portrays a lot of stereotypes like Asians being good at martial arts, African Americans dealing drugs and shooting people up, but not everyone in those specific racial groups are like that. They need to realize this and not care if they're going to be compared to Caucasians on tests. All they need a little more confidence and then they can soar to new heights.