Education Article Critique Essay Example
Amanda Tatarek
9/29/10
Article Review #1
The article begins by the author explaining that men have privilege over women. “Denials which amount to taboos surround the subject of advantages which men gain from women’s disadvantages. These denials protect male privilege from being fully acknowledged, lessened or ended,” (McIntosh, 1998. P. 1). Then the article proceeds to discuss how whites, whether they realize it or not, have a considerable advantage over other races. She lists twenty-six ways that whites have the upper hand. McIntosh explains that as a white person she had been sheltered from the privileges that she had. “I think whites are taught not to recognize white privilege, as males are taught not to recognize male privilege,” (McIntosh, 1998, p. 1). She compiled a list of things that she encounters daily that are a privilege to white people that may not come so easily to a person of a different race. For example one item states that she can turn on the television or open the front page of the paper and see people of her race commonly signified (McIntosh, 1998). She then claims that if all these items are true that we are not living in a free country and that certain opportunities are available to whites. She concludes by stating that she thinks that social systems need to be redesigned.
I am a white female so I was able to place myself in the author’s shoes. I grew up in an upper middle class neighborhood went to a good school and I think my school was taught with a multicultural curriculum. I was culturally aware of everyone around me and of the world outside of school. I also was surrounded by all different ethnic backgrounds. I do not think there is a privilege for being white. When applying for scholarships upon entering college I was repeatedly turned down only to see a fellow student of a different race, with the same grades as me, less academic activities receive the scholarship. I am not saying that it was because their skin was a
9/29/10
Article Review #1
The article begins by the author explaining that men have privilege over women. “Denials which amount to taboos surround the subject of advantages which men gain from women’s disadvantages. These denials protect male privilege from being fully acknowledged, lessened or ended,” (McIntosh, 1998. P. 1). Then the article proceeds to discuss how whites, whether they realize it or not, have a considerable advantage over other races. She lists twenty-six ways that whites have the upper hand. McIntosh explains that as a white person she had been sheltered from the privileges that she had. “I think whites are taught not to recognize white privilege, as males are taught not to recognize male privilege,” (McIntosh, 1998, p. 1). She compiled a list of things that she encounters daily that are a privilege to white people that may not come so easily to a person of a different race. For example one item states that she can turn on the television or open the front page of the paper and see people of her race commonly signified (McIntosh, 1998). She then claims that if all these items are true that we are not living in a free country and that certain opportunities are available to whites. She concludes by stating that she thinks that social systems need to be redesigned.
I am a white female so I was able to place myself in the author’s shoes. I grew up in an upper middle class neighborhood went to a good school and I think my school was taught with a multicultural curriculum. I was culturally aware of everyone around me and of the world outside of school. I also was surrounded by all different ethnic backgrounds. I do not think there is a privilege for being white. When applying for scholarships upon entering college I was repeatedly turned down only to see a fellow student of a different race, with the same grades as me, less academic activities receive the scholarship. I am not saying that it was because their skin was a