Why Do Stereotypes Exist In School?

Whenever we don’t have a good understanding of a subject, say, of people or countries, we then tend to make assumptions about them. This is called a stereotype. It is related to your own beliefs, opinions, and ideas. Do you believe stereotypes exist at your school? Stereotyping leads to treating groups as a single entity. Many stereotypes are based on racism, gender, and sexuality.

Stereotypes that involve racism can bring down self-image and academic performance. When reminding students of their race, it tends to hurt their capability. In the article, “How a Self-Fulfilling Stereotype Can Drag Down Performance,” states “Dozens of field experiments have found that reminding African-American and Latinos about their race before administering academic tests, or telling them that the …show more content…
Both men and women have a tendency to make assumptions that women belong in specific types of jobs. In the text,”Fairy Tales and Gender Stereotypes”, claims that “they had a mixed group of girls and boys and asked them to write “female or “male” to a list of job occupations and personality traits. Most of secretary, assistant, or housework was categorized under “female” while lawyers, CEOs, and higher up positions were designated to “males”. This shows that there is an issue on what people think a female and a male should have as a job. Based on their gender they are listed as a certain category. There is a similar truth when working with personality traits. In paragraph two of the text, it states that there is “a cultural belief that women are “soft” or “need support” or in some other way inferior beings may be far less apparent than in earlier time periods.” Women are unable to follow their dreams and they are limited on what they are capable of. We tend to overlook the innate abilities of a woman. These gender roles are still ingrained in