Racist prejudice

课程是理论学习的基本组成部分。课程不仅塑造了教学方法，同时也决定教学过程的结构和节奏。但是，至关重要的是，课程不延续在我们的社会种族主义永远存在的力量。

Curriculum is a fundamental component for academic learning. Curriculum not only shapes teaching method, but also decides the structure and pace of teaching process. It is essential that curriculum do not perpetuate the ever present force of racism in our society. In a lot of cultures, schools use standard textbooks as required by government or relevant organizations. Some of these textbooks can be indifferent to crucial racial issues, others, might revolve around Eurocentric standards. Under this circumstance, students are more likely to adopt a white supremacy value since they don’t really have a chance to get a deeper understanding of other cultures. They can hardly develop interests at the very beginning when the curriculum is silent about race. In American textbooks, words like African American, Native American are usually mentioned. But no special words refer to majority white people. Though considerable amount of U.S. population consists of African American and Native American, they are still regarded as the minority groups. The frequency occurring of words like African American can create a psychological hint among students of color that they have fundamental difference with white people. And the sense of being segregated might be further reinforced by the environment later in their lives. Cheryl A. Renninger in his paper ‘Black-White Color Connotations and Racial Awareness in Preschool Children’ points out that the Negro child may also be acquiring the black is bad, white is good concept in early childhood under the circumstance that words like African American frequently occurs. (Renninger, Cheryl A., and John E. Williams, 784)

Schools whose student populations are majority white have been proven to have richer resources than schools with more non-white students. Many poor and minority students are attending under-resourced schools that are not only separate and isolated, but that are also just as unequal as they were in the mid-20th century. Graduate students from those majority white schools are more likely to enjoy better facilities and opportunities. Thus, the obvious difference can create internalized racism among students of color who fail to enter a better school. Federico Echenique notes that school segregation in the light of the skin color causes much pain to the black and has bad effect on the social values in the paper ‘Is School Segregation Good or Bad’. (Echenique, Federico, Roland G. Fryer, and Alex Kaufman, 265-267)

Usually academic performance is hard to evaluate because loads of factors contribute to it. However, it is important to explore how internalized racism can play a role in the low achievement rates of students of color. Students of color who struggle at their schoolwork are likely to be labeled intellectually or culturally deficient. And accordingly, this stereotype would do no help but crack down the learning interests of students of color. Internalized racism in schools consistently transmits the message that students who are non-white are intellectually inferior to those who are white. Thus, students of color may accept or even welcome the idea that they are not as competent as their white-skin peers and set up a relatively low standard for themselves. Once they admit unconsciously that they are less intellectual due to their race background, they are even more passive towards their study and it gets harder to build up faith again. Robin Nicole Johnson in her paper ‘The Psychology of Racism: How Internalized Racism, Academic Self-concept, and Campus Racial Climate Impact the Academic Experiences and Achievement of African American Undergraduates’, she uses Critical Race Theory and Race Identity Theory as frameworks, investigates how internalized racism, academic self-concept, and campus racial climate impact the grade performance of African American undergraduates. The results of the study reveal that internalized racism negatively impacts academic self-concept, and disrupts grade performance as well. Additionally, the study reveals that a hostile campus racial climate contributes to internalized racism and can create conditions that make African Americans vulnerable to stereotype threat.( Johnson, Robin Nicole, 67-100)

Cited works
Echenique, Federico, Roland G. Fryer, and Alex Kaufman. "Is school segregation good or bad?." The American economic review (2006): 265-269.
Renninger, Cheryl A., and John E. Williams. "Black-white color connotations and racial awareness in preschool children." Perceptual and Motor Skills 22.3 (1966): 771-785.
Johnson, Robin Nicole. The Psychology of Racism: How Internalized Racism, Academic Self-concept, and Campus Racial Climate Impact the Academic Experiences and Achievement of African American Undergraduates. ProQuest, 2008.


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