Reflection Ten

Prior to reading these articles I felt that I understood the complexities of prejudice. While in grade school this topic was always in part of the curriculum in almost every subject and I had always been one to go do some research of my own in order to learn more about the topic. Though after reading these articles I realized that though I did have an understanding of what prejudice is, I learned that there were many aspects about the subject that I was unaware of. It was not until I read this article did I learn that prejudice roots down to the core mind set of a person. That it is not just a façade that one puts on but it is truly a set of views that are engraved in their frame of thought. After reading the article “Beliefs, Values, and Attitudes” I realized that these characteristics of a person are intertwined in to their view point for it is the foundation for it. This, entail, links to the prejudicial view of others that some possess.

As I read these articles I was able to learn an immense amount of information I did not know before about the characteristics of prejudicial mindsets. Though I learned a lot of valuable information, one particular segment of the article “Understanding Prejudices” continues to stand out above the rest. On the subheading “Some Impacts of Prejudicial Behavior” there was a small section that brought about the research done on the public schools slowing becoming re-segregated and this climb that it has even made to the university. I was astounded to learn that though many school work so hard to deflect and terminate and segregation, it is still occurring. It was heartening to learn that the level of segregation in the public schools now has reached numbers higher than those of three decades. To think that so much of the hard work many put into getting the schools desegregated is now reversing, is ridiculous. Reading this caused me to really think about today’s society and the influence the older generation, including mine, is having on the children in society. To think that the youth of society is growing up n a society where the numbers of segregation in their schools are higher; it all truly makes one think about where things will end up ten years from now; it scares me.

Though these assigned articles allowed me to learn of how prejudice works, it also acted as an eye opener for me. Through the information read in these articles I came to the conclusion that as a pre-professional educational there is a great role that I have to fulfill. I concluded that being an educator it is not only my role to teach the students the subject matter, but it is my role to help shape them into intellectual individuals; so that they may work to create and put into place a society that all are seen as equal and treated as so.