Week 5 - Cultural Stereotypes

I believe that this article was very interesting. Kumaravadivelu did a good job addressing the different sides to the argument. I do not agree at all with the stereotypes that it mentions. Unfortunately, we live in a world where people label others in various categories due to the differences in language, race, religion, gender, socio-economic class, nationality, etc. As stated in the article, there are many different theories out there that try to answer the question of why we all stereotype.  

In a previous class, I learned about ethnocentrism. It kind of reminded me of the theory of social identity. Ethnocentrism is the idea that ones own cultures is superior to any other culture, a sense of  “my culture is better than your culture.” In this case, stereotyping is also prevalent because people are distinguishing and categorizing people. They only consider people that look, act, and speak like them as part of their culture.  Whereas social identity can lead to stereotyping because, “the need to maintain a positive distinction between our own group and others can lead to behavior and attitudes that are biased in favor of our own group and against other groups” (Kumar 716). Furthermore, aversive racism  “holds the view that stereotypes are ingrained by a racist system and perpetuated by aspects of contemporary culture” (Kumar 716).  A good point that is made within the article is the fact that we are stereotyping people based on culture; however, the word culture is so complex that it is so hard to define and many people have different ideas as to what it actually entails.

As a future teacher I plan on having a very welcoming and respectful classroom environment. As aforementioned, it is hard to stay clear of stereotypes, however it is important that we do our best to avoid saying generalities because they become stereotypes. For example, we should not say that all Mexicans like a certain type of food, or all African Americans are good at sports, and so on. By teaching our students generalities, we give them more of an excuse to start stereotyping. It is crucial that we inform them of the negativities that could come from it. They should understand that if they were to stereotype someone, that person could feel very offended and could possibly cause them to have emotional problems later in life. My plan is to teach my students that just because they are a certain color, race, ethnicity, nationality, or that they believe in a certain religion or way of living, does not mean that they are just like everyone that is the same race as them. Everyone is there own individual and lives there own way of life. Yes, family traditions and customs are very prevalent in peoples lives, however, I believe that people possess the power to be who they want to be. Just because you’re a certain race does not mean you are smart, or dumb. If teachers notice that a child is lacking in certain subject, they should not blame it on the fact that they belong to a certain nationality, instead they should see what other factors are causing the problem. For example, “low English proficiency, lack of confidence, and fear of making mistakes and being laughed at,” are reasons for which students do not participate in class (Kumar 711). In regards to the article, I want to say that it proved a point. Just because students are Asian does not mean that they are all obedient to authority, nor do they all lack critical thinking skills, and does not mean that they all do not participate in class due to their cultural beliefs. I know of Asian students that are the complete opposite of that. Yes, some do meet those stereotypes, but that does not mean that all Asians are like that.