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). …show more content…
By acknowledging and understanding the privileges of my White identity, such as my cultural capital, I hope to change how I perceive issues and interactions with students throughout my future in higher …show more content…
From experiences with my parents, and those growing up around me, our parents held a certain type of cultural capital, or societal resources, which garnered them knowledge sets and access to certain resources (Bourdieu, 1986). It is apparent that the educational system values the cultural capital students have gained from “white, middle or upper-class resources,” and considers those without these knowledges “deficient” (Yosso, 2005, p. 81). Within higher education, this may still be the case. In my experience as a Peer Advisor, I had a multitude of different students with varying identities. However, in the classroom I made assumptions about our students, such as believing college was the natural course for all of them after high school, and that is was always a destination, not an option. It was not until later that I realized how my identity as a White, upper-class individual contributed to my epistemologies and
Conservative students may decide to go to a liberal school. One student that has been in that environment and now is an English college professor named Aaron Hanlon at Colby College writes “Advice for My Conservative Students” published on February 16th 2017 in the New York Times and he claims that conservative students should understand what freedom of speech is and should not mistake disagreement with oppression. Hanlon starts off by stating personal experiences that relates him to conservative students that feel oppressed, giving conservative students relatable emotional appeals, and various sources and statistics for the reader to indulge in. He starts off by putting himself out there and saying that he has been a conservative student who
On Tuesday, April 17, Bria Marcelo gave a training to student leaders about bias awareness. Marcelo works in the Chief Diversity Office and serves as the Director of Diversity Resources. I chose to attend as an opportunity to see how students are being taught about bias, to educate myself, and to also examine bias training from a supervisor point of view. This paper examines how the training relates to the Multicultural Change Intervention Matrix, themes of first-order change, and increasing multicultural competence. The Multicultural Change Intervention Matrix (MCIM), was designed to, “assist student affairs practitioners in conceptualizing and planning their multicultural interventions” (Pope et al., 2014, pg. 29).
According to another author from Business NH Magazine, Brenda Lett, she states “We are held back, and hold ourselves back, by deciding not to work collectively to address the lie of superiority and inferiority based on skin color.” (Mowry 61). Students race matters. If people did not notice about their race, is like pretending not to see the consequences for this students. They knew that they are “the other” before they were called “the other”.
Introduction Race and racism are uncomfortable topics, but ones that must be openly and honestly discussed in order to begin the process of change. This paper will review my background, analyze readings, and openly discuss how the readings relate to me. The readings will be Peggy McIntosh’s “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,” Beverly Daniel Tatum’s “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” , Christopher Edmin’s “For White Folks who Teach in the Hood,” and Eduardo Bonilla-Silva’s “Racism without Racists.” Through these readings, I will define race, racism, white privilege, then I will reflect on how I identify with them and they affect education.
Critical Race Theory (CRT) is an interdisciplinary framework that emerged in the United States during the late 1970s and seeks to understand how race and racism intersect with other forms of social identity and power relations within society. Proponents of CRT posit that race is not biologically determined but is a social construct created to maintain power and privilege for dominant groups. One of the central tenets of CRT is the recognition that racism is not only an individual problem, but rather an institutionalized and systemic phenomenon that permeates society at all levels. CRT allows individuals to examine how the legal, social, and political systems perpetuate racial inequalities, leading to systemic racism and oppression. Despite its importance as an academic framework, CRT has recently come under attack from conservative pundits who use it as a talking point to promote their fascist ideology.
Critical race theory (or CRT) should not be taught to anyone from the grades of K-12. Many would have the citizens of America believing that the US is “systemically racist” and that we are, as a people, irredeemable in our ways, but that just isn’t true. The other side of this argument would like to tell every non-minority student that they are a part of the problem, but hardly seem to back up their claims with any factual evidence. Critical race theory, once called “critical theory”, was the Marxist doctrine that formed the basis of communism that would have even me, a white person, believe I’m a victim. Critical race theory is not the path towards a better and more equitable future, but really a means to a divided and hostile country that
White Privilege: Essay 1 White privilege is a systemic issue that has roots in our history as far back as the creators of our country. Searching back, we see our norms and values created into habits that have been woven into how we view and act around specific groups such as African Americans. This essay is going to explain how the average Caucasian individual experiences white privilege on a day to day basis and the solutions to insure that white privilege will stop and true equality can be handed out. This paper views the latter issues through symbolic interactionism, with supporting sub theories such as; labeling theory, looking glass self, and selective perception.
The sentencing disparity for drug use by race is disproportionate for African Americans because of The War on Drugs. Matthew Lassiter (2015) explains, “In 1951, Harry Anslinger, the commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, collaborated with senate of criminal investigations to target black ‘dope peddlers’ who were luring pretty white blondes into drug addiction”(2015:128). According to Lassiter (2015), Anslinger believed that peddlers, who destroyed teenagers’ lives, required the most sever punishment (2015:129). Using this rhetoric, presidents like Nixon and Reagan would shape the way drug laws are enforced.
One of the most heated issues concerning American education today is the impact of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) to K to 12 students. A common challenge is often intertwined in the concept of racial inequality, just in time when the modern time may be calling for multicultural education. In the article by Gloria Ladson-Billings entitled “New Directions in in Multicultural Education”, she discusses first the different definitions of multiculturalism as well as the tensions these descriptions create, and then proceeds to using critical race theory to explain how it can be incorporated fairly and positively in education. Wittily compares multiculturalism education to jazz, Ladson-Billings (2004) firstly argues that the former is just as beautifully
Growing up as a first-generation Mexican American was a huge advantage for me in that it allowed me to grow up in a culturally diverse community. I learned how to work well with people of all backgrounds and empathize with people from all walks of life. However, while being the first in my family to go to college was a momentous accomplishment, the lack of instruction and guidance lead me to commit many mistakes that could have been easily avoided during my first years at college. My timidity and downright arrogance lead me to believe that I did not need anyone’s assistance and thus I found myself denial that there was a problem in terms of my grades during my first semesters. I have since addressed this issue and have worked diligently to
Then Dr. Jendian continued by calling some categories such as age, studies, socioeconomic background, skin color, disabilities, and religion. Students who identified with a category took one step forward (an advantage in society) or one step back (a disadvantage in society). At the end of this activity, the “privileged” ethnicity was on the front, and the people of color were on the back. From this activity, we learned to recognize how privileges can affect our lives, even though many of us don’t notice it. However, Dr. Jendian explained that these questions were not personal.
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.
The researchers from the study concluded that based on what they survey participants voted that, ‘when we analyzed this perception with beliefs about Latino inequality, the same relationship found for beliefs about African American inequality appeared also: These respondents tend to agree that Latinos do not work hard enough to improve their life circumstances”.15 What many white students attending those universities do not understand that it is not the fault of the minority student’s effort in college, but rather it is the environment the student grew up in. In dominantly Latino and Black communities there are not many resources for
Campus Racial Climate research focuses on how the racial environment of a university could foster positive academic outcomes and increased graduation rates for students of color (Solórzano, Villalpando, & Oseguera, 2005). For instance, Perrakis and Hagedorn (2010) contend that prejudice based on language, immigration status, culture and identity are ubiquitous in the American educational system. With regard to the experiences of Latina/o students, research indicates that when Latina/o students experience a high level of support and security while attending a university (a positive campus climate) this can improve their psychological well-being and academic achievement while in college (Gloria, Castellanos, & Orozco, 2005). Campus Racial Climate
Everyday I walk into my English class is the moment I experience an identity crisis. As I approach the entrance to the class, I already detected the dichotomy in the room. On the right side lies the Caucasian students, and on the left, resides the International Chinese students. As the only Asian American in the class, I struggle to select the correct side. Being an Asian American can be conflicting sometimes; especially when you 're born in a predominately Caucasian town, but raised in a stereotypical Asian family.