english essay sterotyping

Hope Lee F-01
Mr. Lieber and Mr. Lamb 2/21/15

Stereotyping in Queens High School of Teaching
In his article “The Effects of Stereotyping in Schools,” Matt Duczeminski states “Despite decades of progress in terms of civil rights for all American citizens, a large percentage of our population continues to hold stereotypical thoughts and beliefs” (http://education.seattlepi.com/effects-stereotyping-schools-2035.html). In other words, he is saying that so many people are stereotyping different groups even after various civil right movements. Students need to break out of the habit of stereotyping other students and classmates. Schools need to help students be less stereotypical with lessons and rules enforced within the school. Queens High School of Teaching is a school that addresses the issue of stereotyping to their students. Queens High School of Teaching has classroom lessons and outside speakers that help students understand stereotyping. For example, in English class, we had lessons about stereotypes and what they were. Then we made a list of all the stereotypes we heard in our school. Most of the stereotypes were often a generalization of the group. Our class watched some PSA’s to realize what they were and their effectiveness to the world, we then went ahead and filmed our own PSA’s about different ethnic groups. By watching our classmates PSA’s, we realized that what we may be saying and doing may hurt people and we also make assumptions too quickly without getting to know those people, Also it helped us to stop stereotyping people because of their appearance or nationality. In Queens High School of Teaching, there are often guest speakers that prevent us from stereotyping. For example we had a guest speaker that came from a youth organization on gay and lesbian people. It was really effective because the guest speaker was bisexual. She came and talked to us about terms that may hurt bisexuals, lesbians, or gays. She told us ordinary terms that we can use on a day to day basis. She told us terms like, that’s so gay or you’re gay can hurt people and just because something doesn’t look right or weird doesn’t mean it has to be gay. She also told us there were plenty of different words we could use instead of the word gay. Queens High School of Teaching is a school that helps students becomes aware of the effects of stereotyping. Queens High School of Teaching has advisory classes and agenda pages that help students become aware of the issue on stereotyping. For example, last year in our advisory class we discussed conversations we heard around the school. Some of my classmates in the class said that they heard bullying. Other kids said they hear many students stereotyping different ethnic groups. My advisory teacher then told us the effects of stereotyping and how it can really hurt someone’s feelings. Our advisory class did a whole lesson on the stereotyping around our school. In our agenda that we receive from our school, there are pages in the front of the agenda on stereotyping. There is one page about cyber bullying that gives you the link to stopping cyber bulling website. Also on the page there is a huge catch phrase that says “Don’t be a victim or a cyber bully” and keywords like R-E-S-P-C-T and stop, block, and tell. Pages in agendas or student guide books could prevent stereotyping in schools and local communities. Also, in our agenda there is a “character corner” for each month. There are words like respect, caring, fair. There are examples and tips about that character trait. When a student is writing their homework in their agenda, they could look at this and try to be friendlier to one another in school. Queens High School of Teaching motivates students to be nicer and stop stereotyping. Many people may think the subject of stereotyping is not addressed to students in schools. Parents would think that there is only bullying and stereotyping in schools and that school is a bad influence to their students. In his article “The Effects of Stereotyping in Schools,” Matt Duczeminski states “More seriously, all minority and lower class students face the extra battle of succeeding in school, while trying to break out of the niche in which society has placed them. They not only have to work just as hard as all other students do, but they face the ever-looming idea that they’ll end up slipping through the cracks.” But, there are students that try to prevent stereotyping in Queens High School of Teaching. Whenever my friends hear someone stereotyping a different ethnic group we go up to them and tell them to stop. Also I hear teachers telling students not to stereotype. When I walk in the hallways on the first floor, I see posters and pamphlets addressing bullying auditory learners can be kinesthetic or visual learners too. Overall, Queens High School of teaching addresses the topic of stereotyping to their students. In conclusion, Queens High School of Teaching is a school that addresses the issue of stereotyping to their students. Our school has lessons, guest speakers, advisory classes, and posters to address the topic of stereotyping to students. Queens High School engages students to think about society and help students think about stereotyping.