Essay Example on the Impact of Racism: Discrimination, Prejudice, and Resentment

Introduction

Racism is a particular belief by a given group of people that tend to hold unique characteristics relating to their physical appearances and can also be described as discrimination, prejudice, and resentment focused against other people as they tend to be of different ethnicity or tribe. Racism is often associated with the familiar sight of the biological difference amongst a specific group of people. These perceptions can take certain forms, such as practices or beliefs, whereby individual races are ranked either inferior or superior to others.

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Forms of Racism

Stereotyping: This involves ascribing identical characteristics to all members of a specific group irrespective of their differences. This is often contributed by false generalization, misconception, and incomplete information. For example, a student may tend to dislike certain classmates due to their appearances.

Overt Bias and Prejudice: These are negative feelings or hostility held by a person about a given group or racialized person. This can be seen by treating people unequally, for example, by refusing to sit next to a classmate with a different color completion than yours.

Racial Profiling: This is an act of undertaken for reasons of security, public protection, or safety that relies on a given race or color. For example, a student may lose his or her book or pen in class and tend to assume a classmate of the given race stole the items.

Racism has always been a difficult topic to come to terms with even though social media and the news have ever exposed and given us the evidence that it still occurs, and it dictates how people interact with each other. The vice of racism is so prevalent that it tampers with learning activities and schools' experiences for some students. Racial prejudice affects the learning of students and their discipline; it also influences how students interact with each other in the classrooms and at the school's vicinities.

Negative behaviors and racial attitudes have entrenched in our learning institutions and system; thus, corrupting the minds of the young generation. The consequences of racial bias are so immense that at times is very difficult to comprehend the consequences; hence, how teachers behave and act is a vibrant concern to society. In most parts of the world, discriminatory religious practices, ethnicity, and racism are still prevalent. Therefore, promoting a shared understanding and embracing diversities should extend beyond the classrooms as the society should be able to set a good example, especially to the young ones whose mindsets are still fresh and full of innocence.

Teachers play a significant role in confronting racism in classrooms; after all, there is an integral part of our culture and history, not to mention the real lives of students. Students spend most of their childhood years in schools as compared to the time they spend at their homes; therefore, their behaviors are mostly shaped at school. Thus, a grade two teacher will tend to have more responsibility in bringing up his or her students in the right way, since at that point in life is where their lives and behaviors are being shaped.

Strategies to Cope with Classroom Racism

Cultural Relevant Teaching

Teachers should form learning opportunities that acknowledge ethnicity and race; therefore, prioritizing averting social injustices by embracing and adopting relevant cultural teachings. The adoption of pertinent education stresses cultural competence and academic excellence. This promotes the students to engage in vigorous and fruitful learning experiences amongst their peers and classmates by using resources and texts to explore matters within various communities. (Troyna & Hatcher 2018). This will help bring up a young generation that respects people's diversities at a young age, therefore, resolving racial discrimination among students. They should extend these by opening a welfare club that embraces students from all grades, not only the grade two students to ensure uniformity and respect of racial differences amongst students. The churches should be educated on this strategy to facilitate this knowledge to members of the community, therefore, making the world a better place.

Explicit Lessons on Conflict Resolution and Race

To prevent racism, the teacher should extensively talk to students at a young age (grade two) about racism. By designing proper strategies, active listening, and the acknowledgment of every person's vulnerability as early as grade two, this will enhance a transformative learning practice. (Troyna & Hatcher 2018). By teaching students about cultures and educating them on the problematic aspect of different races, and by teaching them about the misunderstandings that might have occurred in the past. Hence, the myths and misconceptions that might have attributed to future dispute amongst the students. Thus, making a better and brighter next generation. Therefore, schools must partner with community-based organizations that battle issues of equity and racism in the community, such as churches and welfare boards.

Conclusion

Social justice is a vital constituent of preventing racism; consequently, schools should invite community organizations as a means of educating the students' ways of involvement in social justice at an age thus enhancing child growth in understanding the importance of social justice and the evils of racism both at school and in the community at large.

References

Currie, C. L., Wild, T. C., Schopflocher, D. P., Laing, L., & Veugelers, P. (2012). Racial discrimination experienced by Aboriginal university students in Canada. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 57(10), 617-625. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F070674371205701006

Forrest, J., Lean, G., & Dunn, K. (2016). Challenging racism through schools: teacher attitudes to cultural diversity and multicultural education in Sydney, Australia. Race, Ethnicity, and Education, 19(3), 618-638. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2015.1095170

Ishii, D. S. (2014). Dissembling Diversities: On" Middled" Asian Pacific American Activism and the Racialization of Sophistication (Doctoral dissertation). https://doi.org/10.13016/M2RG8B

Troyna, B., & Hatcher, R. (2018). Racism in children's lives: A study of mainly-white primary schools. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429426650