This class has helped me become a more open-minded person. I am more aware of things that can be considered offensive to other people and different thinking processes that people have. This class has made me want to be a better person and treat everybody else more like I would want to be treated. As I grow and continue my education I am glad that I take classes like this one to help me branch out and work with other people. Attached below is my final essay that sums up some of the things I have learned in this class and my feelings on some different subjects.
Trevor Brown
Social Heal and Diversity
December 2, 2013
Final Paper: Prejudice, Sexism and Reflection
Prejudice is everywhere in the world today. Prejudice is a preconceived opinion of somebody that is not based on real facts. It is often overlooked and can cause damage to races, societies, nations and people themselves. Prejudice can be directed towards many things such as sex, race, ethnicity, weight, physical features, age, etc. Everybody in this world has had prejudice towards somebody else and also towards themselves based on opinions created by differences and misunderstandings. It is a natural thing for humans to look at other people differently and to create judgments about others, whether good or bad.
I felt shocked when watching "A Class Divided" (Peters, 1985). This film was about a teacher that taught her fifth grade class about prejudice by singling a group of them out as inferior for having brown eyes and the other superior for having blue. The next day, she came in and changed the roles so that they knew how both sides felt. I was surprised that such young kids were willing to immediately turn on their best friends and classmates when such a small difference such as eye color was pointed out. The part that was most interesting to me was when one of the boys did not wear his glasses the next day. I took this as meaning he wanted to show everybody that he had blue eyes and was part of the "good" or "superior" crowd. This boy was in for a surprise when he came in to class the next day and his teacher told him that he was going to be part of the group that was being ridiculed for their eye color.
I felt happy after this lesson was over and the kids were able to see a real-life example of the negative impacts of prejudice and discrimination. It was a lesson that stuck with them throughout their childhood and into their adult lives. I was amazed at how well the teacher was able to convey the hidden messages that prejudice is a terrible thing and that people need to be respectful of everybody, regardless of their differences. Kids who are too young might not respond as well to such an exercise. However, I think this would have helped me tremendously as a child in showing me what prejudice is and all of the negative impacts it can have on people.
Growing up in a sheltered community, I did not realize how much prejudice is still happening today. I remember when the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 happened but I did not realize how much prejudice played a role or why somebody would do that. I was in fifth grade and could not quite comprehend the whole situation or the motives of the people behind it. I did not feel scared because I did not feel threatened directly and I still went to school as normal. I remember that I thought that a plane hit The Empire State Building and not the Twin Towers because that was one of the only buildings I knew of in New York City. As I grew older I came to understand more who was behind the attacks and the reasons that they had for doing it. I feel angry when I think about groups or individuals that are prejudiced towards others because they believe in different things or look different than them. I feel that prejudice is such a negative thing but will not change until people want to change their way of thinking for the better. There are some groups and self-help programs out there, but are useless unless a person is willing to look at things in a different way. It makes it extremely hard when there are groups of people that are raised to be hateful towards other people because they may think that is the way they are supposed to live, and they have no desire to change.
Prejudice is a very big problem in the world today. It is something that is going to take a long time and effort from a lot of people to correct and there are so many different forms of it to address. One of the most prevalent forms of prejudice today and throughout history is sexism. Society today is full of sexism that goes without recognition. Sexism can include many actions, one of the most common including treating a person, or people, of another sex differently or in a negative manner. Sexism is not a new problem and has been seen throughout history in different places all over the world. The most common manifestation of sexism is directed towards females, viewed as inferior from males. Sexism can also derive from different things such as differences in masculinity and negative views towards transgender and transsexual people. There are many different types of sexism and all can be just as hurtful as the others.
While studying aviation to be a pilot I have studied in a field where I am in the vast majority. I have noticed very few females in my classes and all of my flight instructors have been males. There was only one woman along with about 16 men and 2 male instructors in my first class that I took in aviation. There are no physical or mental restrictions for females to become certified to be pilots, it just stems from how it has traditionally been done and the lack of interest from females to want to fly. There are women's pilot groups such as Women in Aviation that hold events and give scholarships for women studying fields in aviation. Some people look at these predominantly women groups and see them as being sexist because they do not include men. This notion is incorrect for the aviation industry because these groups are compensating for the lack of diversity. What I mean by this is, the aviation industry as a whole is a group that is focused mainly on men. There are many fewer females and these groups can be seen as creating more of a balance in terms of equality and attracting more women to these professions.
Though some people may look down on a woman for being a pilot, the same could be said for a man working as a nurse. Many people find that a man working as a nurse can be seen as being more feminine. This is because mostly women occupy nursing occupations and it is not the norm to see many men in the nursing field. This could be argued as the opposite of doctors, depending on the type of doctor. The ironic thing about looking down on male nurses is that many of the people doing all the criticizing are males, themselves. Male nurses are sometimes seen as being less masculine by other males and that is definitely a bad thing according to society. This creates less unity for people of the same sex and causes many people to feel like they do not belong.
Everybody has preconceived notions at some point that certain jobs should have certain people because of the type of work done or the title that the job has. Society has engrained these misconceptions into us without us even knowing any better. One of the worst things to be called when I was growing up was to be called a "girl." Ever since I was a boy I thought that girls were not as good at sports and that boys were supposed to be strong and tough. To be called a girl meant that I was not as good at something or not who I was supposed to be. As a young boy, this gave me the perception that girls were not as good as boys at many things and that made me very happy to be a boy. I still see this very much today. Men are still supposed to be tough and masculine and girls are still thought of by many to not be good at a lot of things, especially endeavors that require strength or are physical. Perceptions like this create a very strong separation between men and women.
Sexism and prejudice as a whole are very big problems in the world today. These things can create separations between people, and groups of people, that are both similar and different. Many people see the need today to classify people in different ways according to the differences that everybody has. A common way that people are divided is by the sex that they are. I believe it is okay to see differences in people, but the key is to not treat them differently or unfairly. All types of prejudice should be recognized and steps should be done to minimize them as much as possible. I believe one strong way to go about doing this is by becoming more aware of other people. The best way for many people to recognize their own prejudice would be to volunteer with a group of people that they see as different or inferior.
I believe the volunteer work from this class was a good way for me to get out and contribute to something. I chose to be in the "age" group because I thought it would be fun to work with either kids or elderly people since I do not get to be around these ages as often as I would like. My group volunteered at The Boys and Girls Club in Murray, Utah. This club provides after school and day programs for young kids and teenagers to have a place to go to play and learn. Most of the time consisted of preparing for Halloween parties and doing things of that nature, while the other time was actually spent with the kids. I had many fun moments while volunteering at the club.
My most memorable moment while volunteering came on the last day. I was putting up new posters out in the hallway when a little five year-old boy named Jax wandered out and asked if he could help me. I was kind of surprised by his willingness to help me instead of playing with the toys in his classroom. I made sure he asked his teacher if it was alright and he came back out and helped hold the things in place that I was hanging up. Jax is probably the exact opposite of my personality when I was his age. I was a very quiet and reserved kid while Jax was willing to tell me anything I asked him and then some. I was even invited to his birthday party in March after only a couple minutes of talking to him. This helped me realize how impressionable kids are at young ages and how worry-free they are.
I definitely enjoyed helping the kids more than doing the preparation work, but I knew that I was there to volunteer and do what they asked of me. I was amazed at how much goes on behind the scenes to keep the kids busy and happy while they were there. This especially came to mind when I helped a woman who was volunteering prepare for the Halloween party and haunted house. This lady was a volunteer and did not have any kids at the club, although her daughter did work there. She spent hours and hours preparing to make the haunted house amazing for the kids. She even spent over 100 dollars of her own money to buy supplies that she set up around the rooms. She was so thankful for everything I did and I really liked being around her. I feel that she had such a good attitude towards everything and she was really good around the kids that were in the room trying to help. It made me want to try to be more selfless and do more service for others. I have had a hard time seeing before how people are prejudiced towards kids but now I see that many people look at them as inferior because of their age.
Prejudice is rampant throughout the world today. People are getting hurt emotionally and physically from things like racism, sexism, bullying, etc. I believe that prejudice is becoming more recognized in the world today but there is still a lot that needs to be done to cut it down. There are people that are prejudice and do not even know it or do not know that the way they are thinking and acting is bad. Creating awareness for the different forms of prejudice is an important step to cutting it down. I have found that one of the best ways is to become more acquainted with various groups of people and understand them. For this reason, I am very glad that I had the opportunity to volunteer at the Boys and Girls Club and to dedicate some of my time to helping those kids and that organization.
References
Peters, W. (1985). A Class Divided. [PBS Home Video]
