"Education" Doing virtually nothing to stop racism.

[DeletedUser]

there was a school in the US for people from every nation (or something like that) and during a lunch peroid the white students there keep saying racist things and making "white power" symbols with there fingers towards the mexican, black, and other, non-white( say non-white becuase I don't feel like naming all the ethnic groups) people at the lunch period. unfortunetly only the non-white people got introuble. I don't understand why the APs didn't get fired (all of them were white and only the non-white people got in trouble)
i think that is not right to let people get away with things just becuase of the ethnic group
edit-i am looking for the article to it

 

[DeletedUser]

The most difficult thing to understand, is that if you're not the person on the receiving end of racism, you likely don't even realize it's happening, or that you're participating in it. Racism is rampant, in every country, in every city, in every household. And that's truly where it starts --- at home.

 

[DeletedUser]

Exactly, people dont know what they give out until they recieve it

 

[DeletedUser]

Racism is not an object. It's not an immovable force. It is an attitude. An attitude that you pick up from the people closest to you: your family, your peer group, television and other media. Attitudes can changed. If you're old enough to type in this forum, you're old enough to know that you now have a choice in which attitudes you wish to keep and which you want to change.

So, change the way you view others. Make a conscious decision to not look at the surface of a person.

Take these forums, for example. Very few of the people reading this post have any idea of who I am. You don't know what race I happen to belong to; just as you don't know the cultural background of most of these other posters. Does it make a difference here? Of course not. If you can view forum posters with an unbiased opinion, then make the decision to view people you interact with physically the same way.

Many of you are young. Many of you will become parents. Be the parent that teaches tolerance to his/her child. Racism can be stopped. It just needs to be done in little steps.


...getting off soapbox now...

 

[DeletedUser]

Actually, Betsy, these forums are a horrible example, as we impose judgments on people who post, based on their ability to articulate themselves, on their knowledge, on their research ability, and on their ability to stay between the lines of the community's posting rules. If you are not good at English, if you are not good at articulating your thoughts via writing, if you don't know how to research well, and/or if you cannot follow the forum rules to save your life, you will be treated harshly. That, in and of itself, is a sort of discrimination. Granted, it's a discrimination on performance, but it's still not a full-picture examination of a person and their value as a human being.

 

[DeletedUser]

Actually, Betsy, these forums are a horrible example, as we impose judgments on people who post, based on their ability to articulate themselves, on their knowledge, on their research ability, and on their ability to stay between the lines of the community's posting rules. If you are not good at English, if you are not good at articulating your thoughts via writing, if you don't know how to research well, and/or if you cannot follow the forum rules to save your life, you will be treated harshly. That, in and of itself, is a sort of discrimination. Granted, it's a discrimination on performance, but it's still not a full-picture examination of a person and their value as a human being.

Guilty as charged.

It just breaks my heart to see how children are being taught these days, that's all.

 

[DeletedUser]

Actually, Betsy, these forums are a horrible example, as we impose judgments on people who post, based on their ability to articulate themselves, on their knowledge, on their research ability, and on their ability to stay between the lines of the community's posting rules. If you are not good at English, if you are not good at articulating your thoughts via writing, if you don't know how to research well, and/or if you cannot follow the forum rules to save your life, you will be treated harshly. That, in and of itself, is a sort of discrimination. Granted, it's a discrimination on performance, but it's still not a full-picture examination of a person and their value as a human being.

What's wrong, though, with judging someone based on their ability to articulate themselves? Sure, you have to make allowances for people who may not be writing in their first language - but otherwise? What's wrong with judging someone based on their knowledge?

In my opinion, there's absolutely nothing wrong with making a judgment based on the evidence at hand. Putting that kind of judgment in the same category as racism or any other form of prejudice rather trivialises a serious issue.

If someone came to me for a job with a CV/resume which was littered with spelling mistakes then I wouldn't consider them for a job. That would be a judgment based on someone's ability to do the job. I'm not making a judgment on him as a human being, simply on him as a potential employee. He might be a wonderful human being and a very valuable member of his community - but that doesn't mean that he is automatically a valuable member of my workforce.

If someone came to me for a job and I refused them because I noticed that they were of a certain ethnic background, that would be prejudice. I am making a judgment before I have sufficient evidence. I am discriminating against someone on racial grounds. That's not the same as discriminating against someone based on their inability to do the job.

 

[DeletedUser]

Bev, my post was in response to Betsy's post, who tried to use these forums as an example, and it's not a good example.

 

[DeletedUser]

Yes, I know, Hell - I read the thread.

But she's right - on these forums we might judge people but we do not prejudge them.

 

[DeletedUser]

And I'm sticking to my example. I should have made myself clearer, though, in that I was thinking of The West forums in general; not Debate and Discussion in particular.

Posters are not being pre-judged. There are being judged on their performances and, yes, often harshly. But they're not being judged on their race, or gender, or age, or physical appearance. If I were to join a town and posted a "Hi, I'm Betsy," in the town's forums, I'd have several people warmly welcoming me without a clue who I am.

This thread is about whether or not schools have the responsibility to attempt to prevent the spread of racism. I'm hoping each student here views the real people in his/her life with the same non-pre-judgement that he/she uses on the virtual ones.

An addendum. I do not think it's is the school's responsibility to teach children right from wrong as far as racism goes. (Or many other things, for that matter.) I do think, though, that it is the school's responsibility to respond appropriately to acts of racism occurring on school property.

 

[DeletedUser]

In a perfect world, parents would teach their children that racism is wrong. They'd also teach them acceptance of others who are different in any way, that the world doesn't owe them anything but they have the right to ask for what they want (and that others have the right to say no), that violence isn't the answer to every problem, and thousands of other things that would make life better for the child and the people around him/her.

Unfortunately, this is the real world, not a perfect one. Many parents, if not most, not only fail to teach these things, but often teach the opposite. While it may not be the school's responsibility to teach these things, I believe it is their responsibility to ensure that these things are not seen as acceptable in them.

They don't have to say that this is wrong, and these are the reasons why, but they should say that this is not allowed here.

 

[DeletedUser11019]

i went to an international school, blessed with a multicultural sociaty and upbringing amongs others off all kinds.

but we knew the best racist jokes,,never ment them ,but we knew them.
in our little bubble called school we forgot about skin gender age, and other
one big happy family really...we gladly accepted a new student to the school.
but that was all years ago

now the real world,,and the bubble is burst,,i am no longer amongs others who think or do as i do,,(aint you all glad)
reality is that people are racist,,people are wary of the steriotype.

im now in the country of south africa,,and you wouldnt beleiev whoi is really racist here,and ever more increasingly racisst by the day....it has become a race card.(play if you want your way)

to answer the question,,,yes students can be without racism...but our enviroment forbids it.sociaty has given us rules and tv programs,,written history about the steriotype.