Culture of Exclusion
Social exclusion has been noted to be a subtle phenomenon, that often goes unnoticed, and when it is noticed, often the individual who is being excluded receives the blame and not the environment or those in it (Howarth, 2006). In educational settings, people of color are made to feel as if they do not belong, either knowingly or unknowingly (Howarth, 2006). Often enough, schools and universities think that discussing racial exclusion is either of no use, outdated, or already taken care of because of the measures that are currently in place by their administration, but they could not be more wrong (Kohli, 2008). Critical Race Theory (CRT) has often been ignored when it comes to analyzing higher education because the
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It goes without stating that those who do not participate in activities within an environment or with their peers feel excluded (Harrison & Narayan, 2003). In fact, when people feel excluded and do not participate in any given activities, they will have higher levels of stress, higher levels of suicide, higher alcohol and drug consumption, and a lower mental health than those who do engage in activities, and do not feel excluded (Harrison & Narayan, 2003). It has already been noted that serious mental illnesses on college campuses are on the rise (Mowbray et. al., 2006), but that statistic is even higher for people of color, mostly due to feelings of exclusion and a lack of positive relations with their white peers. Going back to CRT, the interactions that people of color have with their peers exist on a conscious and unconscious level and has institutional and individual forms (Solorzano, 1997). So, various studies have shown that people of color are actually made to feel excluded, where their peers perform microaggressions among other thing, which causes people of color to have an overall negative perception of the university and its climate. Racial microaggressions exist in mainly three forms which are microassault, microinsult, and microinvalidation (Sue et. al., 2007), and studies were done to see if racial microaggressions have a negative impact on the climate of a college campus, and a negative impact on African-American students (Solorzano et. al., 2000). It was found that microaggressions were in both the academic and social spheres of a college campus (Solorzano et. al., 2000). Microaggressions exist in both the academic and social spheres of a college campus (Solorzano et. al., 2000), affecting people of color outside and inside the classroom, showing that either their peers or
Campus Racism 101 is an article written by Nikki Giovanni that speaks of her struggles teaching at a predominantly white college. Speaking of the hardships she has faced when it comes to being African-American teaching mostly Caucasian students. “People who think I should be at a predominantly Black institution will ask “Why are you at Tech?”’- (Nikki Giovanni) Giovanni soon goes into why she doesn’t feel that just because she is African-American she should be at a predominantly black college. Bringing to topic everyone (Blacks and whites ect.)
One of the most strived for things in life is academic excellence however the path to it is never easy. Author Thompson Ford’s article “How To Understand Acting White” outlines Stuart Bucks arguments about the irony of desegregation in education. A separate essay written by, Alfred Lubrano, “The Shock of Education: How College Corrupts” has similar ironies about the average college student. If Ford was to read Lubrano’s essay, Ford would come to a more complex conclusion by incorporating arguments and concepts from Lubrano’s essay. Ford may utilize Lubrano’s essay to expand on certain concepts such as the proximity effect, socioeconomics, and the level of education in top tier schools to further explain the “acting white” phenomenon from his own article.
Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States founded primarily for the education of African Americans. Prior to the mid-1960s, HBCUs were virtually the only institutions open to African Americans due to the vast majority of predominantly white institutions prohibiting qualified African Americans from acceptance during the time of segregation. As such, they are institutional products of an era of discrimination and socially constructed racism against African Americans (Joseph, 2013). Successfully, millions of students have been educated in spite of limited resources, public contempt, accreditation violations, and legislative issues. The purpose of this research paper is to discuss
As a result of this movement, the term “microaggression” has risen to the forefront of university campuses. These small actions or choice of words, which appear to have no
When we talk about race it generally means the color of a person’s skin, or their physical traits. These traits can lead to them being a different religion, heritage and obviously race or skin color. Race has life-or-death consequences and we prove it to not be deterministic. Ethnocentrism is the judgment of others groups by one’s own standards and values (Conley 326.) Ethnocentrism is what explained why historical efforts were so biased.
In this book, author Tara J. Yosso demonstrates how institutional power and racism affect the Chicano/a educational pipeline by weaving together critical race theory and counterstories. Critical race theory is a framework used to discover the ways race as well as racism implicitly and explicitly shape social structures, practices, and discourses(Yosso, pg.4). Counterstories refer to any narrative that goes against majoritarian stories, in which only the experiences and views of those with racial and social privilege are told. The counterstory methodology humanizes the need to change our educational system and critical race theory provides a structure for Yosso to base her research. This results in a beautiful hybrid of empirical data, theory, and fascinating narratives that works to analyze how forms of subordination shape the Chicana/o pipeline, while also exposing how institutions, structures, and discourses of education maintain discrimination based on gender, race, class and their intersections.
Delgado and Stefancic (2011) stated that Critical Race Theory explores how “race, racism, and power intersect to create different circumstances for people of color within society [...] and in postsecondary institutions” (as cited in Quaye, 2013, p. 172). Within the field of higher education, it is important for student affairs professionals to recognize how race permeates all aspects of an individual’s life to fully understand their students’ experiences. Unlike other student development theories, such as Baxter-Magolda’s (2008) self-authorship and Abes, Jones, and McEwen’s (2007) Model of Multiple Identities, CRT places race at the “center of the analysis and assumes that race is omnipresent” in an individual’s life (Quaye, 2013, p. 167).
Throughout the piece “Campus Racism 101” by Nikki Giovanni, the concept of ignorance is evaluated and advice to minority students is given. Giovanni, a professor at Virginia Tech, describes the struggles that might, and most likely will, impact minority students and addresses the stereotypical mindset that those students, and Giovanni herself, will encounter while on campus and in the “real world”. Giovani uses imagery to set the stage of her piece “Campus Racism”, as well as logical and backed by real world experience advice to students to help minority students succeed in predominately white colleges. Giovanni first uses imagery to set the stage for stereotypes and the issue of racism on college campuses. At first this seems irrelevant as she describes a young man who is “Too cool for school.
Wang, Leu and Shoda (2011) hypothesized that while many individuals may believe that racial microaggressions are harmless, in reality, racial microaggressions could have deleterious effects on the emotional well-being of racial minorities. The authors hypothesized that the potential emotional “sting” of seemingly innocuous microaggressions is proportional to the strength of such a belief. In addition, the authors hypothesized that appraisals of these microaggressions would be associated with externalizing emotions. To assess the issue, the authors conducted two studies. In the first study, the authors conducted a focus group with nine self-identified Asian American college students (78% women; ages 20 to 26).
They claim, “...students of color are showing that they feel disconnected from their respective schools, that implicit yet institutionalized racism creates emotional distance between them and their white peers and faculty. Being a black student on a predominantly white campus certainly, doesn’t guarantee that the student will develop mental-health issues. However, various studies suggest that perceived or actual discrimination can make it hard for students of color to engage with their campus in the way that their white peers do.” This explains how students sometimes feel like they don’t get enough support from their universities and this is dangerous because it can lead that student to drop out of school.
Another thing that places students of color at a disadvantage in college admissions is the persisting cultural bias in high-stakes testing. “High-stakes” tests are those that are tied to major consequences, such as admission to college, or even high school graduation. Fair education reform advocates have long been citing an extensive record of standardized testing concerns, many of which relate to racial bias and discrimination. As researcher and author Harold Berlak explains in the journal Rethinking Education: Standardized testing perpetuates institutionalized racism and contributes to the achievement gap between whites and minorities. For instance, the deeply embedded stereotype that African Americans perform poorly on standardized tests
No matter their race, students should not feel socially unaccepted at school. In the essay, "Learning in the shadow of Race and Class" by Bell Hooks, she states “After my parents dropped me at the predominately white’s woman college, I saw the terror in my roommate’s face that she was going to be housed with someone black, and I requested a change.” (288). Bell explains the level of discomfort while being at a “white woman’s college.” Students should never have to feel like they’re not welcomed in schools.
However, with diversity comes inequalities that people of color face throughout their lives. A particular issue in the United States, specifically in education, is unequal opportunities and treatment in regard to race. Research shows that students from single-parent black families had a high chance of dropping out and participating in illicit behavior (Hallinan 54). While the issue of race is a complicated issue to breach for
According to the dominant theory the affirmative action was firstly introduced to deal with two types of social disruption in the 1960s as campus protests and urban riots in the North. However, this article is based on different theory as dominant theory's empirical evidence is limited. It examines the initial reason for advent of race-conscious affirmative action in 17 undergraduate institutions in the United States. And according to the research this article concludes that there were two waves that contributed to affirmative action: 1) first wave in the early 1960s introduced by northern college administrators 2) second wave in the late 1960s introduced as a response to the protests of campus-based students. This article will help me to establish the main reasons for introduction of race-conscious affirmative action in undergraduate
“Racism distorts our sense of danger and safety. We are taught to live in fear of people of color. We are exploited economically by the upper class and unable to fight or even see this exploitation because we are taught to scapegoat people of color (Kivel, P).” This quote from the article, The Cost of Racism to White People, barely digs at one of the reasons why racism still occurs in today’s world. There are many motives out there for why racism still occurs.