Stereotype Threat On Campus

Stereotype Threat on College Campus

To most of the Americans, education has a pivotal role in improving social mobility. It allows everyone, regardless of race, ethnicity, background, to access equal ability and opportunity to succeed. However, it is really the case when our campus is full of stereotype threat? According to Whistling Vivaldi by Claude Steele, stereotype threat is the pressure or risk of conforming to negative stereotypes related to one’s identity. Distracted by the threat, we would perform much weaker in class, and choose to live on a much limiting life unconsciously. In fact, from segregated social networks to unproportional faculty, stereotype threat is observed on our campus. To alleviate these problems, multicultural festival,

It is common for white, Latino or Asian kids are sitting separately with their own race of friends in the Cafeteria. Although CSM is already a school with a great racial diversity, approximately 30% of whites, Latinos and Asians, it is implausibly hard for people from different cultures integrate with others harmoniously. Steele also discovered various examples of racialized social network, “the survey revealed that among their six closest friends, neither white nor black students averaged even one friend from the other racial group (23)” and “the 2000 census shows that the average white American lives in a neighborhood that is 80 percent white and 7% percent black, while the average black American lives in a neighborhood that is 33 percent white and 51 percent black

Like a regular ethnic class, the workshop would also study the backgrounds, cultures, languages, and histories of various racial groups in America. The largest difference between an ethic class and its workshop would be all the materials covered in the workshop are just a simplified fundamental foundation to an ethic class, going less in depth with less details. It would be held six to eight times throughout one semester, with fewer assignments. The major purpose of the workshop is to facilitate open and honest discussion, presentation and debate on racial issues. Since the class engages in group activities, it fosters interactions among students from different race and culture. For the final project, students are expected to form group with those from different backgrounds, together they would give a presentation on a given topic. To encourage students sign up for the workshop, two to three transferable units should be assigned to the program. When students are discussing their Student Educational Plan with academic counselors, counselors can also promote and recommend students to sign up for the workshop as well.

Another method to produce a more integrated campus would be organizing multicultural festivals from time to time. Our college can invite cultural organizations and performers to our campus, introducing us with entertaining and educational performances, such as magic show,