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Rachel Franklin

Shaffer

English 2 GATE

08 February 2017

The North Salinas Viking Stereotypes

Think of a stereotype. It could relate to your gender, sexuality, race, life choices, hobbies,
interests, anything as long as it relates to you. Now, imagine a person or group of people putting
you in that category without even really knowing you. That is what it is like to be stereotyped.
Typically, being stereotyped is a negative thing, even if it may seem like it isnt. For example, the
stereotype that Asians are incredibly smart and get good grades may have a negative impact on
people who are not Asian. This could be because they feel unmotivated and not as smart as that
person. Or, in other cases, the Asian could be feeling pressured by everyone to do well in school
and forget to enjoy life. Stereotypes exist at North Salinas High School, Salinas, California, and
they are not always positive and will sometimes have a negative impact or reaction.
Shankar Vedantams article, How a Self-Fulfilling Stereotype Can Drag Down

Performance, uses several pieces of compelling evidence to prove this statement. In paragraphs

3-5, Vedantam writes about how Min-Hsuing Huang, a sociologist, conducted an experiment

where he asked whether or not the race of the interviewee mattered. The interviewer was white,

and when Huang asked this question, on average, the black interviewees answered only 5.49 of

the questions correctly, while the white interviewees answered 6.33 questions correctly.

However, when the same question was asked when the interviewer was black instead of white,

the blacks correctly answered 6.33 of the question, which was the same as the whites. Huang

then began to create a theory that the blacks scored poorly when in the presence of a white

interviewer was because of the stereotype that whites are smarter and therefore superior over

blacks.

Perhaps the new interviewees had a more extensive vocabulary than the previous group
of interviewees. However, the question asked beforehand regarding race could bring the
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interviewees confidence level down, which will most likely make them do poorly on the test.
The theory does make sense, but shouldnt that stereotype motivate and push people to do better
so they could prove the world wrong? Sometimes, when people lose confidence in themselves,
they feel as if it is true and they do not feel motivated. This negativity was mostly likely a
reaction to the stereotype the interviewees were reminded of beforehand.
Vedantam writes about Claude Steele, a university psychologist who came up

with stereotype threat, which means, as he says, When people are threatened by a negative

stereotype they think applies to them, they can be subtly biased to live out that stereotype. (p7).

This means that when a person is reminded of a stereotype that applies to them, such as the

whites supposedly being superior over blacks, the victim of the stereotype will then begin to

believe that the stereotype is true, which will end with them doing what the stereotype says

people like them do. Again, this will most likely cause a negative reaction.

Three students at North Salinas High School, Salinas, California, have been

interviewed about stereotypes. The following questions were asked: What is your grade level and

gender? What stereotypes relate to you? Under what circumstances do you most notice these

stereotypes? How do you respond when you think of those stereotypes? What strategies do you

use for dealing with those stereotypes?

The first student, a 9th grade female, believed that one stereotype that related to

people like her was the stereotype that bisexual people were confused. She noticed these

stereotypes usually when she told a person that she was bisexual, and usually responds angrily

when she thinks of those stereotypes. Despite getting angry, she uses the strategy of not letting it

affect her too much to the point where it influenced her decisions and life choices. In this case,

the negative reaction was her getting angry at the stereotype.

The second student, also a 9th grade female, pointed out the stereotype that

females are not as smart or athletic as males. This student took notice of this stereotype whenever

a woman joined a sport or got hired to a job usually done by men (military, firefighter, police
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force, construction worker, etc.) This student replies to this stereotype by saying, This is a new

era, and a woman can do what a man can. Like the first student, she does not let it affect her.

She tends to ignore this so it would not affect her performance.

The last student, a freshman male, relates to the stereotype that Asians are good at

math. Unsurprisingly, he noticed these stereotypes when he is in his math class. The student does

not respond angrily, but instead goes with it. His strategy is to, like the other 2 interviewed

students, not let the stereotype affect his performance, or in other words, he tends to ignore it.

What do most students have in common? They all say that the stereotypes do not affect

their performance. However, in Vedantams article, paragraph 8, he writes, The threats do not

have to take place at a conscious level: When volunteers in experimental studies that have found

huge stereotype-threat differences in performance are told about the phenomenon afterward, they

invariably tell researchers that the theory is interesting but does not apply to them. This quote

clearly states that even if a person denies being affected by stereotypes, their performance

actually can be affected, whether or not they are aware of it. Unfortunately, there is no real way

of telling whether or not this statement is true, but there is still a possibility that stereotypes are

making people react negatively.

Stereotypes are everywhere, including North Salinas High School. It is possible that

stereotypes can make people react negatively, or maybe it just makes people irritated. Either way,

stereotypes can still make a person feel negatively. Whether the stereotype be about sexuality,

gender, interests, life choices, or race, a stereotype can affect a persons mood in that moment or

possibly drag their performance down. Stereotypes can be influenced by society or prejudice, but

nonetheless they should be taken care of.

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