Running head: ISSUE INVESTIGATION 1

Issue Investigation

Jenny Chasse

Post University
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Prejudice is a phenomenon that is present in all civilized societies. Some reasons people

are often treated poorly include but are not limited to race, religion, gender, social class,

ethnicity, and cultural background. Discrimination often negatively affects people who

experience it, but some of the worst damage can occur when students encounter such prejudice at

school. A student with a teacher who displays bigotry or uses stereotypes to define the pupil will

most likely encounter difficulties in school that can cripple their present and future educational

achievements. This is an important issue to address because every student in every classroom

deserves to be treated with respect, which will improve the overall quality of their education.

Reducing, or better yet, abolishing, prejudice will also help many students to have a more

positive outlook on school and education. This will likely give them the necessary motivation to

learn and to work hard. This paper will analyze the effect prejudice has in the classroom and how

stereotypes can be overcome through multicultural education.

One of the objectives of this course is to evaluate the nature of race relations and

prejudice. Prejudice can take many different forms, and can even be unintentional or

unconscious. Certain stereotypes can be very damaging, particularly in the classroom.

Stereotypes are usually formed because a person may not be familiar with a certain group, race,

or culture. Some come from personal experiences, and some come from society. This can be

dangerous for an educator, because their bias might lower their expectations or cause them to

treat a student differently. Oftentimes, the student may be aware of this treatment which can

affect their cognition and emotions (Gorski, 2012). Increased awareness of these preconceived

notions is one facet of multicultural education. After all, one cannot overcome their prejudice

without first becoming aware of it (Martin, 2014).

Prejudice and discrimination has always been a delicate and controversial topic. Race
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relations have a long and violent history in the United States. Educators need to think historically

and build new educational foundations that are more progressive (Jupp & Espinosa-Dulanto,

2017). Slavery in America may have been abolished in the 1800’s, and the Civil Rights

Movement of the 1950’s and 1960’s may have made racial discrimination illegal, but that does

not mean these problems have disappeared. There are still incidents in the news every day about

racially motivated shootings, protests, and other atrocities. In fact, nearly six out of ten hate

crimes in 2016 were found to be racially or ethnically motivated. There were more than 61,000

hate crimes reported throughout 2016 (Berman, 2017). However, the news reports do not relay

the insidiousness of the smaller occurrences happening in schools every day.

There are many benefits that come with eradicating prejudice in the classroom including

increased interest in learning and motivation to work harder in school. Recently, a librarian in

Virginia made a concentrated effort to add more culturally diverse books to the library. The

neighborhood was heavily populated with African American residents, so she filled the library

with books geared towards the local demographic. Teachers at nearby schools followed her lead,

and some of the library’s new content was included in the curriculum for students. These

students found a renewed interest in reading because they suddenly had access to texts and

stories they could personally relate to and they were able to bring their lived experiences into the

classroom (Jacobson, 2015).

Another benefit is that educators can learn how understand mutual connections among

people. Even if someone is from a different culture or is a different race, common ground can

usually be found. This concept is called Relational Literacy, which involves not only

understanding that mutual connection, but learning to consider others without bias or prejudice

(Cho, 2017). By doing this, teachers can relate to their students better, thus being able to set
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reasonable expectations based on merit rather than ethnicity or race.

Language is another aspect of multicultural education. In school, students are expected to

speak and write in Standard English, which is considered the proper and formal way of speaking.

However, many students (and their parents) may not use Standard English at home, which can be

very confusing for students. For instance, many immigrants may speak what is known as “home”

English, which is often a mix of English and their native tongue. When students come to school

speaking their home English, teachers might immediately scold them for using improper

grammar or even accuse them of making up nonsense words (Dowdy & Delpit, 2002). Educators

should develop knowledge of and respect for home English and concentrate on teaching their

students when it is appropriate to use it and in what situations they should learn to use Standard

English. It is understandable for a teacher to have a knee-jerk reaction and immediately attack

poor grammar, but there is a difference between incorrect language and an informal dialect used

at home.

Language is a simple yet powerful influence on how people perceive other individuals. In

2013, Marilyn Rosenthal conducted and experiment with young children between three and five

years of age. There were two identical speaker boxes set up with recorded messages offering the

children crayons and drawing paper. The first recording (dubbed Steve,) made the offer using

Standard American English. The second box had a similar recording (Kenneth,) which spoke

using African American English. The vast majority of the children preferred to get their gift from

Steve, because he “seemed nicer.” Some of the children seemed to be hesitant to take the gift

from Kenneth, because he “sounded bad.” (Wolfram, 2013). This study revealed that there are

some inherent biases that are learned at a young age. It is revealing how the simple addition of

African American language made students view Kenneth in a negative light. The author of this
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article also observed that it is common for villains in Disney movies and other animated cartoons

to speak in accented English while the protagonists speak Standard American or British English

(Wolfram, 2013). This just goes to show that many stereotypes are ingrained into children early

in life, and those stereotypes continue to be reinforced by popular media.

Overall, language can have a negative effect both in the classroom and in society.

However, it is possible to use language to positively influence perceptions of a diverse

classroom. Humor has always been a useful tool not only professionally but personally as well.

Humor can be used in almost any setting to diffuse tension, break the ice, or simply promote a

general feeling of goodwill. So how can humor be used in multicultural education? After all,

humor can be a tricky concept to navigate. It is important to try to amuse students while being

careful not to offend or alienate anyone. Used the right way, even racial humor has had a positive

effect.

In one study, a group of undergraduate students of varying races were shown a video

parody of a popular song. The imitation song was named “Typecast.” In the video, three racially

diverse women were singing about being cast in a play. The singer of Asian descent was being

cast as “the white girl’s nerdy friend.” One African American woman was being cast as her other

friend who was known for being “sassy.” The third woman, also African American, claimed that

the Caucasian girl could not have two black friends, so she would take the part of the domestic

help, or more specifically, the nanny (Fulmer & Makepeace, 2015). Surprisingly, the video was a

hit with the college students, some of whom were laughing out loud. This is just one example of

racial humor used in a beneficial way. However, any teacher should proceed with caution when

using racial humor. There is a fine line between funny and offensive!

Educators must be cognizant of the concept of multicultural education. Many schools

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throughout the country (and the world,) contain very diverse students from many different

countries and ethnic backgrounds. It is projected that by the fall of 2018, 50.3% of students

enrolled in K-12 public schools in the United States will be non-white minorities (Maxwell,

2018). For the first time, racial minorities will become the majority. The best way to combat

potential prejudice and stereotypes in the classroom is to raise teacher awareness. In 2016, results

of a study involving awareness of multicultural education were published. Six teachers were

asked about their perception of multicultural education and to what degree they worked to

incorporate these principles into their lessons. The study concluded that the teachers had

adequate awareness. Next, the teachers were shown several different schools and classrooms

within those schools. Just by looking at the school’s physical appearance, 50% of the teachers

said they believed the school and classrooms were suitable for a multicultural educational

curriculum. The other 50% asserted that they did not think the settings were conducive to

acceptable multicultural education (Tonbuloglu, Aslan, & Aydin, 2016). It is important to

remember that this study is highly subjective.

The topic of prejudice and stereotypes is very important, not only to multicultural

education, but for society in general. A lot of biased behavior can even be inadvertent.

Unfortunately, prejudice and discrimination are prevalent in today’s society, and it is likely that

these issues will always exist. The societal history of prejudice goes back hundreds of years.

Philosopher George Santayana is generally credited for the famous (and often paraphrased,)

quote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” (Flamm, n.d.). If

society does not make an effort to increase awareness of and to eradicate such bigotry, the

situation will never improve. It is a sad fact that in the 21st century, people are still being judged

based on the color of their skin or for their ethnic background. It is particularly important for
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educators to be aware of how they treat their students. Children often notice if they are being

treated unfairly, even if they may not completely understand why. When a child goes to school

and his or her teacher acts in an accusatory manner or seems to have low expectations not based

on academic merit, they will likely develop a negative attitude towards school and education in

general. This does not bode well for success in the future.

In conclusion, there is a lot of information and research about the role prejudice plays in

multicultural education. This author learned a lot about personal bias. Most people think of

racism as something that is overt, a conscious dislike or distrust for anyone of a different skin

color or ethnicity. In some of these cases, racism is born out of ignorance or even sheer malice,

but that is not always true. People may honestly believe that they are not prejudiced at all, yet

they can still (instinctively and involuntarily) act in such a manner. It is a terrifying thought.

Every teacher should make an effort to identify any potentially hurtful behavior concerning their

students, whether it is unfairly low expectations, undue suspiciousness of a student, or turning

innocent students into scapegoats. A lot of the research on this topic is based on anecdotal

evidence, but the author would be interested in data gathered from more studies involving

students’ perceptions of their teachers and how they are treated in the classroom.
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References

Berman, M. (2017, November 13). Hate crimes in the United States increased last year, the FBI

says. Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post

nation/wp/2017/11/13/hate-crimes-in-the-united-states-increased-last-year-the-fbi

says/?utm_term=.649e0fc57fb4.

Cho, H. (2017). Navigating the Meanings of Social Justice, Teaching for Social Justice, and

Multicultural Education. International Journal of Multicultural Education, 19(2), 1-19.

Dowdy, J. K., & Delpit, L. D. (2002). The Skin That We Speak: Thoughts on Language and

Culture in the Classroom. New York: The New Press.

Flamm, M. C. (n.d.). George Santayana. In J. Fieser & B. Dowden (Eds.), Internet Encyclopedia

of Philosophy. Retrieved from https://www.iep.utm.edu/santayan/

Fulmer, E. F., & Makepeace, N. N. (2015). “It’s Okay to Laugh, Right?”: Toward a Pedagogy of

Racial Comedy in Multicultural Education. Penn GSE Perspectives on Urban Education,

12(1), 38-53.

Gorski, P. C. (2012). Perceiving the Problem of Poverty and Schooling: Deconstructing the Class

Stereotypes that Misshape Education Practice and Policy. Equity & Excellence In

Education, 45(2), 302–319. doi:10.1080/10665684.2012.666934.

Jacobson, L. (2015). A Bridge to Literacy. School Library Journal, 61(11), 28.

Jupp, J. J., Espinosa-Dulanto, M. M. (2017). Beyond US-Centered Multicultural Foundations on

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doi:10.14689/ejer.2016.64.1.

Martin, M. (2014). A witness of whiteness: An auto ethnographic examination of a white

teacher’s own inherent prejudice. Education as Change, 18(2), 237-254.

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doi:10.1080/16823206.2014.907192.

Maxwell, L. (2018, February 14). U.S. School Enrollment Hits Majority-Minority Milestone. In

Education Week. Retrieved from

https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2014/08/20/01demographics.h34.html

Tonbuloglu, B. B., Aslan, D. A., & Aydin, H. A. (2016). Teachers’ Awareness of Multicultural

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Wolfram, W. (2013). Sound Effects. Teaching Tolerance, 52(43), 29-31.