...In my childhood, I really didn’t know what white privilege meant now that I’m older and know the meaning I’ve noticed the little remarks my parent made as I got older. My parents always use to say being white life would be easier because they get better jobs, they were labeled rich, and they were seeing as the more educated race. They can do whatever they want as if they are above the law. I have to be caution of my action, tone, faces expression as I got older. If I were to speak my mind I am labeled as angry, bitter, B. -People don’t make assumptions about your intelligence because of your race If you are other race than white you are looked as not smart. White are automatically are seen as smart. Their education is never questioned. My...
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...In the article by Education as Instrument or as Empowerment? Untangling White Privilege in the Politics of Ethnic Studies: The Case of the Tucson Unified School District by Brian W. Dotts, the author talks about how some people want to see the diminish of programs such as the one in Tucson that focuses on embracing specific ethnic backgrounds. In this case specifically, Mexican-American backgrounds. Throughout the article, Dotts provides us with reasons on why he does not agree with the removal, but rather encourages these types of programs. Dotts states that the reason some of these people want these programs to be removed is because they believe that students should be taught to see themselves as individuals rather than seeing race and ethic backgrounds. Dotts does not agree with this thinking, while he does think it is good for students to have some since of individualism, he thinks it is important to talk about and to recognize different cultural backgrounds. He thinks it is important to challenge this idea and to talk to students more about different cultural backgrounds rather than to ignore it. The author’s purpose of this article was to talk...
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...Free College Education: Right vs Privilege In one of his speeches, Leonard L. Boswell, a former U.S. Representative for Iowa's 3rd congressional district, quotes “The American Dream is one of success, home ownership, college education for one's children, and have a secure job to provide these and other goals” (Ersoy). Over the years, college tuition fees have increased immensely. Statistics show that the average in-state tuition fees at public four-year schools increased from $8,646 in 2012-13 to $8,893 in 2013-2014. In 2013-14, the percentage increase in tuition fee prices for out-of-state students was 3.1% which was slightly higher than that for state residents at public four-year institutions. There was an increase from $12,887 to $13,310. The $110 increase in average tuition and fees for full-time students in a public two-year colleges reflected a 3.5% increase from $3,154 in the years 2012-2013 to $3,264 in 2013-14. The $1,105 increase in average published tuition and fees for full-time students at private nonprofit four-year institutions reflected a 3.8% increase from $28,989 in 2012-13 to $30,094 in 2013-2014 (“Trends in Higher Education”). Furthermore, between the years 2001 to 2011, at least a third of states experienced funding cuts. During the recent recession in 2008, total public funding for higher education has declined by 14.6 percent (O'Shaughnessy). Consequently, the escalating cost of college tuition has threatened educational opportunities for...
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...Privilege is the Greatest Enemy of Equality Educators most often consider multicultural education as teaching their pupils about Blacks, Latinos, Asians, Native Americans, and other descendants of color. However, multicultural education is not complete if it doesn’t challenge the root of structural racism and racial oppression: the matter of white privilege. It’s vital to understand white privilege and the role it plays in affecting society. In essence, white privilege is an unwilling and non-owned racism that has been ingrained into our mindset throughout history, and it affects how we interact with each other and how those who don’t share such advantages are affected. It’s a permeating factor responsible for many inequalities faced among races, widening the social gap between white and nonwhite Americans. Accessibility to education, jobs, and housing are all directly affected by societal inconsistencies of privilege and power. Ultimately, racism isn’t caused by white privilege; white privilege is caused by racism. Yet racism isn't a problem that resides in the minds of individuals; it lies rooted deep in our social institutions. It is necessary we reconstruct the societal ideologies of race and class to expel this self-perpetuating cycle. In this essay I will address these racial struggles for power and privilege, the role it plays in education, and my personal experience towards racism and how it has affected me as a person. Privilege, as defined by Websters Dictionary...
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...Introduction Since history, education has been always considered as the foundation of a country’s long term development. Generally speaking, education includes primary, secondary and higher education. Higher education can develop more talents, but secondary and higher education are foundation stones of higher education and plays very important roles in improving citizens’ comprehensive qualities. It has been said that “education is a right, not a privilege”. Right means nearly all of the children in the countries have the opportunities to accept primary and secondary education; while privilege means a certain part of the children in the countries don’t have the opportunities. However, this statement is unrealistic for all of countries. So, this essay aims to discuss to what extent is primary and secondary education a right, not a privilege. In the main part, it mainly analyzes this issue from three aspects: the extent of a country’s economic strength, the extent of a country’s emphasis on education, and the extent of a country’s emphasis on primary & secondary education and higher education. Discussion Firstly, whether primary and secondary education is a right not a privilege depends on a country’s economic strength. Government’s investment on education plays key roles in the development of education; while whether government can invest enough funds to enable primary and secondary education become a right mainly depends on its economic strength. America is the NO. 1 economic...
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...After Richard’s death, colored people in America assembled and protested for equal rights. Richard was living in France so he never knew the end result of the Civil Rights movement in America, but would his view differ if he was living as a black boy in the 21st century? Many things are happening today, and people argue that equal rights are non-existent to this day. If living today, Richard Wright would be able to attain a proper education and would explore the truth behind myths about equality. In his autobiography, Richard would write about his experiences to tell his shifting views on Black Lives Matter, impact of education has on living condition, and that white privilege is false. Black Lives Matter was created in July 13,2013 with...
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...White American Privileges and Social Class Aieleen Lanot University of Hawaii – West Oahu White American Privileges and Social Class Privilege is a concept of sociology used to implicate that there are certain groups of individuals that have an advantage over others. “Social liberties use the term to mean benefits according to white people under economic, political, and social circumstance. (Anyon 17)” I agree with his stance because there is no extension of such privileges to individuals of other races such as Blacks, Hispanics or Asians. The use of this term is mainly in the social inequality context primarily in relation to social class, sexual orientation, race, age, and gender. Several recorded privileged elements show the advantageous that White America has in getting access to better housing, jobs, and education. This paper will explore the issue of White American privileges and how social class status is based on color of your skin and the financial means of your family. In the article by Peggy McIntosh, she defines, “White privileges as a package of unearth assets, invisible in nature and are obvious” (McIntosh 10). There is a comparison of white privilege to an undetectable light knapsack of assurance, maps, tools, guidance, visa, codebooks, clothes, passbooks, emergency gear, blank checks, etc. I concur with Peggy McIntosh analysis since there are several functions brought about by white privileges. These functions include provisions of “perks”...
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...1. Why is privilege often invisible? What categories of people are more and less likely to be aware of privilege? Privilege is often invisible because it’s so rooted in society that privileged people don’t realize it until they are the ones who are affected by it. Privileged people don’t realize that they are privileged. They think that it’s the regular way of life for them and others as well. The unprivileged people are highly aware of what privilege is because the privileged life is widely shown in the media and in their everyday lives. The categories of people that are more likely to be aware of privilege are working class and Black and Latino people. They often don’t get the same privileges as white people do. For example, a black person...
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...hanging out with them in school. My parents were not always the first to step up and claim “ain’t racist” but they would when pressed. They enjoyed a good joke or two or twenty and stereotypes a-plenty. It was when I went to college straight out of high school, and let a racist slang term slip amongst a group of my multicultural friends that I realized how much my parents tainted my worldview. That was my first realization and my first step towards being anti-racist. The purpose of this reflective paper is to examine what confrontations are experienced in recognizing institutionalized racism and white privilege. In order to understand today’s institutional racism, we must define. That is a difficult task and we were unable to fully define it amongst a group of my peers and that I turn to an authority such as Enid Lee. According to Enid Lee in the article titled Anti-Racist Education: Pulling Together to Close the Gaps, racism is defined as “the use of institutional power to deny or grant people and groups of people rights, respect, representation, and resources based on their skin color” (Enid, Deborah, and Margo, p27). Let’s take a moment to dissect this powerful definition. “The use...
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...Is education a right or a privilege? In my own perspective, Education should be treated as a right of every person. Every person has the right to know everything he needs to know. But as seen in today’s context, it seems that Education is becoming a privilege of certain students especially those that have the resources to be able to stay at school. It is no doubt that Education plays a very important role in every person’s life. That is why every parent or must I say almost all parents strive to give their sons and daughters the education that will partake in every child’s future. But as I see my society nowadays, there are really times that even though certain parents break their bones just to be able to send their children to school, the money they gain is just not enough to sustain the needs a student/pupil must meet in school. Moreover, some of them don’t even have the capability to provide the basic necessities of their own family. Logically, how can they send their children to school if they can’t even give healthy foods, safe shelter, acceptable clothing, and basic needs to their family? But, of course there are still families who are able to send their children to school be it on private or in public schools. In this case, the inability of the student to attend school is a major problem. It is caused by several factors we can’t even enumerate. Hence, the right of every student to Education is widely being the privilege of those students who are financially capable...
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...Running Head: BLACK AND WHITE PRIVILEGE IN AMERICA 1 Black and White Privilege in America Jacki Barnes Davenport University Diversity in Society – SOSC201 Professor Narketta Sparkman October 21, 2012 Black and White Privilege in America There are many definitions of “white Privilege” in text books, media, and on the internet, but all of those definitions include one common thread: It allows white persons advantages over non-whites and it is a form of social privilege. According to Akbar (Koppelman, 2011, p. 44), white privilege originated with the arrival of the white man in America. He states that, “They began to effectively eliminate any contradiction to the imposed redefinition of reality that they dictated.” White privilege has been referred to as rightness of white, meaning that white is normal and any deviation from that is abnormal (Koppelman & Goodhart, 2011, p. 189). It offers economic benefits as well as cultural benefits. Being white means you will most likely be paid a higher salary, receive promotions, and have loans approved. In classrooms, anything that happened prior to white people arriving in America is referred to as prehistory (2011, p. 191). Because of white privilege, there are many things that white people take for granted that people of color have no access to. For example, whites can choose to purchase a home in an area they can afford and want to live in. Researchers at Dartmouth, the University of Georgia...
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...Bell Hooks argues, “Privilege is not in and of itself bad; what matters is what we do with privilege. . . . Privilege does not have to be negative, but we have to share our resources and take direction about how to use our privilege in ways that empowers those who lack it.” (230). Her words encourage us to acknowledge the social inequalities our race, gender, sexual orientation and social class can engender. This is not to say that some of use are immune to life’s hardships but rather that we are not all subject to the same disadvantages by the nature of our inherit traits. However, it must be understood that privilege or what is considered as such is relative to our surroundings. This is not to say that the magnitude of its effect is lessened depending on where you find yourself but rather that our societies may have different criterion when it comes to what it means to be privileged. For this reason, behind my arrival at UCLA exist a story that is neither told by my gender nor my race. It is fuelled by privilege of other sorts, driven by hard work and only mildly slowed down by, in my perspective, minor disadvantages....
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...White Privilege Racism has been prevalent since the beginning of time. Whites sometimes deny the existence of racial inequity unconsciously, not realizing that there is such a thing as unearned privilege. White males for example usually only think of themselves as males, whereas a Black man usually will always think of themselves as a Black male. Being the minority and part of societies out-group hinders those even if they are not being oppressed knowingly by their white counterparts, who should be educated and made aware of this unseen discrimination. Unearned Privilege Critical Race Theory Critical race theory examines society closely and partly signifies that racism is engrained in American society. Being White and part of the in-group is something critical race theory takes a look at, and is the other side of the coin of being racist, whether it is consciously or unconsciously. Whites in general are born with opportunities Blacks are not inherently given. It is a choice to be racist, but it is not a choice to choose your race, Michael Jackson excluded. The system of white privilege in North America has been long established, going back to when the Europeans came to this strange continent by accident. When the British and French set up colonies, they fought and oppressed the native americans, establishing dominance that carries on to this day, but not only with Native americans, but any other hyphenated group, ie African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Mexican-Americans...
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...how divisive the issue of race can be is white privilege. At first mention, the word can cause a feeling of discomfort. Although, it is not intended to do so. Overtime, the idea has gained awareness, which has led some groups to believe that white Americans are born more privileged than the rest of the population. In turn, this perspective is being met with a fair amount of criticism. Similarly, the article Yes, You Can Measure White Privilege, published on The Root, attempts to address this aspect of the race issue. It argues that white privilege exists, but not in the way that people believe it does. Not only that, the author offers up all the ways that the privilege can be measured. So as to avoid confusion, Harriot makes...
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...racism is a thing of the past. In school we study the notorious figures of Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. The concepts of segregation and inequality are often taught in a historical context. However, if you take a look around racism is very present in today’s society and can be found by looking at the achievement gap, and mass incarceration system. Another representation that racism exists today is the concept of white privilege, which is deeply immersed into society. The achievement gap is a major aspect when we think of racism in the twenty-first century. According to the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), there are large gaps in test scores between African American students and White students (Vanneman, A., Hamilton, L., Baldwin Anderson, J., and Rahman, T. 2009). At the age of nine and thirteen students are given a test in both reading and mathematics to determine the level at which they are performing (Vannerman, et al., 2009). The results are then translated to a scale by the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP). From this scale experts have gathered valuable information that confirms the achievement gap is still present today. Many say that the achievement gap is due to various reasons. One main reason that seems to be associated with achievement gap is the stability of the parents (Vannerman, et al., 2009). Often when dealing with underperforming African American children you will find a correlation to the financial stability...
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