In the section Identity Development in Adolescence the focal question is “Why are all the Black kids sitting together in the cafeteria?” The beginning of the section gives an overview of early education and the student’s interaction among each other during this stage. The Tatum agrees that during grade school the students interact among each other disregarding race. However, during there is a dramatic shifting once the student enters into puberty, which is during middle school. In adolescence, physical, emotional and social changes occur. This changes lead to questions about owns identity, status, affiliation and other. Erik Erikson states that; adolescents struggle between achieving identity. Additionally, phycologist William Cross has presented
Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? Beverly Daniel Tatum is a very talented writer who wrote a book “Why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria”. She has worked on the racial distinctiveness development and trials with having expressive dialogues on race. The author uses practical examples from her life to engage the reader in book. She talk about discussion she had with her children about racism as well as teaching activities she had used to involve her college students in identifying, accepting and embracing their racial identity.
Both sources agree that in fact, race takes a toll on how it specifically effects the children. In Tatum’s article she highlights a part of when adolescence start to “sit together in the cafeteria” (375), it is when they get offended due to the color of their skin. She had addressed the definition of what being “black” really is and how that shouldn’t effect growing up in a very diverse school. Inevitably, it does. In Chapman and Mullis’s article they express the coping styles of adolescence, which one mechanism they are drawn to is close friends.
A Review of Beverly Daniel Tatum's "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? "Why are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?" by Beverly Daniel Tatum is a seminal work on race and racial identity in America. The book's major thesis is that, despite advancements in civil rights and integration, racial segregation and prejudice still exist in American culture, and this substantially impacts how young people of color establish their sense of racial identity. Tatum contends that the lack of constructive interracial encounters and the prevalence of unfavorable preconceptions and unconscious biases causes the racial hierarchy to become internalized and exacerbate racial segregation in schools and other institutions.
Beverly Tatum is an expert on minority social identity and the experiences of kids growing up searching for their identity. In Tatum’s work titled “Why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria?” she breaks down the barriers and views of black kids growing up in a white dominated society. Tatum claims that black adolescents are labeled, grouped, and stereotyped because of their culture and race in society. She says that these kids grow up differently because of the barriers they face in schools as just young kids.
The book, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? addresses the topics of racial identity, racism, and the phenomenon of self-segregation. This book is written by Beverly Daniel Tatum, a psychologist who has given presentations on “Talking to Children about Race”, “Interrupting the Cycle of Oppression”, and “Understanding Racial Identity Development”. Tatum wrote this book in hope that with the right education and willingness to understand that soon our world could change. Tantum defines racism as “a system of advantage based on race” (Tatum, 1997,pg. 22), after defining racism Tantum discusses how racism by her definition only applies to Whites.
Within every high school in the United States of America, stereotypes affect the everyday life of adolescents. The author John Hughes’ created a classic movie The Breakfast Club to demonstrate and understand the difficulties of puberty and how it affects adolescents today. The characters within the movie are stereotyped by their peers and their teachers and face the challenge of personal identity that affect their personal, parent and teacher relationships. Throughout this essay I will discuss the timing of puberty and maturation of a few different characters. Along with this I will discuss the cognitive advancement or the lack of cognitive advancement of three characters associated within the movie.
Many people, including students, are losing their true selves in society. Instead, human beings are united in their shared experiences, many of which include struggles for survival. Society’s contemporary struggles, however, are for something else, which often include the search for identity. Establishing identity is a universal struggle that all humans experience. For most teenagers, in particular, as they start to search for their adult selves, there is no worse time in their lives than when they don't know who they truly are.
Erickson referred to this period as the psychological conflict that adolescents experience (Berk, 2012, p. 600). During adolescence, teenagers struggle with finding themselves and establishing their own identity. They are in a transition period between childhood and early adulthood. Some teens will go through an identity crisis, while searching for their
Adolescence can be described as a period of awareness and self-definition. According to Erikson (1968), it is an important period in the enduring process of identity formation in the life of an individual. The movie ‘The Breakfast Club’, focuses on a group of five adolescents, and their pursuit to find their prospective identity. This essay will focus on the process of identity development in these five adolescents, with particular reference to the character Andrew Clark. In addition, it seeks to highlight the different identity statuses, as well as, the factors that facilitate or hinder identity formation.
They also compare their competency against their peers as far as feeling like there above them. Some children that are not able to do well in certain areas will feel secondary to others. Identity versus identity confusion is where children progress on moving towards becoming adolescents. They frequently have higher desires on themselves. During this phase, they locate their personality and their identity as people.
Cause-and-Effect Analysis In his essay “The ‘Black Table’ Is Still There,” Lawrence Otis Graham revisits his junior high school several years after his departure and is appalled at the enduring existence of the all-black lunch table, which is comprised of only African-American students. His essay examines the causes of his personal shift regarding the issue and the causes as to why the black table remains. As he is growing up, Graham belongs to the single black family in an all-white neighborhood. He is the solitary black child at his school that participates in predominantly white activities and institutions.
Identity development during adolescence Adolescence is a developmental transition between childhood and adulthood and also a period of prominent change for teenagers when physical changes are happening at an accelerated rate. Adolescence is not just marked by physical changes but also cognitive, social, emotional and interpersonal changes as well. The development of a strong and stable sense of self known as identity development is widely considered to be one of the crucial tasks of adolescence. Identity development of an adolescent is influenced by external factors, such as their environment, culture, religion, school and the media.
They, therefore, face a lot of identity crisis in this period ("Adolescent Identity Development,"
Due to challenges as well as issues confronted by adolescents they may have identity confusion which is comprised of identity foreclosure, negative identity and diffusion. Identity foreclosure alludes to the identity crisis being resolved by making a series of premature decisions about one’s identity, based on other’s expectations of what and who one should be. Negative identity alludes to adolescents who form an identity contrary to the cultural values and expectations and diffusion refers to a kind of apathy in which the youth lacks any kind of passion or commitment (Louw&Louw, 2007). However, this challenge could be overcome by positive role identity or identity achievement which is “the sense of really knowing who one is and in general, where one is headed in life” (Fleming, 2004: 9).Erikson’s theory states that, throughout life, individuals go through various stages during which one will meet ever changing psychosocial challenges.
It is for this reason that Pinney, suggested that, identity build up is the most fundamental objective of a person 's adolescence, and "those who fail to achieve a secure identity are faced with identity confusion, a lack of clarity about who they are and what their role is in life” (Pinney, 1993). This brings out the fact that identity builds up and understanding is an inevitable and unexplainable. An understanding of identity an important aspect of crosses cultural communication, because it will help provide a guideline for communication interaction with others who have different cultural identity (Samorava , Porter, & McDaniel, 2009, p.