High School Stereotypes Essay

Growing up a girl, you tend to notice a couple things. I am associated with the color pink, being chatty, emotional, and soft. These words are commonly used to describe my gender. Strong isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. Assumptions like these can lead to messes called stereotypes. Along with stereotypes, stereotype threats often follow. It is these stereotypes that negatively affect performance, and at high schools stereotypes are found. This is critical in a place where performance matters most of all. Stereotype threats or self fulfilling stereotypes are a big issue and are important to address at campuses like ours with a high number of Latinos in our community. In the article, “How a Self-Fulfilling Stereotype Can Drag Down Performance” Sociologist Min-Suing Huang finds in his research that African Americans and Latinos about their race or telling them that the tests are measures of innate intelligence, can hurt their performance. When
certain groups are made aware of what is expected of them, they tend to unconsciously conform to those standards. Gender, unsurprisingly, is also threatened by stereotypes. Many students at our school recognise this issue but few are doing anything about it. According to a survey taken at Dinuba High School, a stereotype commonly found on campus is that girls ability in sports is far less than guys. This discouragement can affect female athlete’s mentality as well as depress performance, and hurt self image. In order to eliminate harmful stereotypes, it can be helpful to find the source of such assumptions and judgement. It has been known for years that young girls have needed stronger and more independent role models.
The issue of role models, or lack thereof, is leading children to assume gender roles and gender-biased jobs instead of equality. According to the article, “Fairytales and Gender Stereotypes” by Samara Green, a common theme observed in fairytales and movies is the “damsel in distress”. Women are not seen as independent. Though there are some stories such as Mulan which give power to women, it is not as easily recognised. If not changed, the prospect of these cultural beliefs do not look good for women and their self esteem. Times are changing and the stories we grow up hearing need to catch up. Strong female roles need to be given a chance so children can be inspired and have good role models to look up to. Through this, we will help get rid of stereotypes and their threats because we all want to be able to reach our full potential. These judgements, however, are not often seen as problems that can lead to
stereotypes. According to the survey of Dinuba High School, 60% felt that stereotypes are always negative. Strangely enough, eleven out of twenty admitted to assuming the traits and characteristics of someone based on their looks. They may not know it, but assumptions just like these contribute to stereotypes and threats. Giving a preconceived idea towards a person or specific group can add to the problem while getting to know a person can make all the difference. The writer of “What’s in a (Muslim) Name?” learned this. What she thought was just a harmless game turned out to be quite offensive in the idea that judging someone through something as simple as their name can lead to consequences. She later states in the article, “This labeling game is nonsense and only serves to create divisions where none exist.” I believe this statement is important because it solidifies that labeling is never okay. The division she speaks of recognises that those who are stereotyped often feel separated or standing alone in a crowd. In conclusion, stereotypes of all kinds limit our potential to do great things. If I want to become president I can because there is no such thing as “man’s job”! Minorities of different backgrounds are not inferior and no one should be labeled because of prejudgement. Threatening stereotypes exist at our school and nobody's doing anything about it. Overall, as a society and as a high school we need to come together to get rid of stereotypes once and for all by staying informed and aware of our thoughts and actions directed at people