Prejudice In Children

Prejudice has always been around and has taken countless forms throughout history. Prejudice isn’t an action against someone, it’s a predisposed negative attitude toward a group and persons perceived to be a part of said group. Dating back to ancient times, one could always find forms of discrimination and prejudice. For example, people born into royalty were viewed to be gods, whereas people of different race and religion were either persecuted or used as slave labor, the whole time being perceived as the lesser being. The reason for the perpetuation of prejudice comes from the beliefs and stereotypes a child is exposed to at a young age, usually parents or whomever is raising the child are responsible for instilling a prejudice mindset. Many factors influence a child’s understanding of prejudices, but most of the major reasons can be traced back to the individuals who raised the child or the people who the child looked up to or admired.
When a child is very young and is first starting to learn what exactly is present in the world, they are very susceptible to the teachings and beliefs of their parents. Many doctors, parents and experts call young children sponges because they are soaking up so much information, making it very easy for prejudice thoughts to be instilled in a child’s brain. Growing up I have always been a
Raising children without prejudice makes it much easier to erase the prejudices they learn as they go on in life. It up to family members, teachers and friends to highlight the wrongs of prejudices. Showing our children, students and friends how some attitudes are wrong can undo prejudice thoughts. Starting in the right environment and continued teaching is the best way to remove prejudice from our minds, schools, families and media. Once prejudice is removed from those places, prejudice will be removed from society all