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The Coddling of the American Mind written by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt is an essay examining the rise of speech restrictions on college campuses, the demand for trigger warnings, and the policing of microaggressions. This book ties in with the theme of where one comes from and their core values affect their chance of getting certain jobs and learning in the classroom. The text states, By some campus guidelines, it is a microaggression to ask an Asian American or Latino American Where were you born?, because this implies that he or she is not a real American. (Lukianoff and Haidt 263) This quote can be related to how different people with different identities are treated in the classroom. They can be singled out negatively or receive special treatment, for example, the previous quote. The definition of microaggression has become distorted during this time. People believe anything to be a microaggression. Asking someone where they’re from for example is not, whatsoever, aggressive. The oversensitivity of some has created a culture where it is hard to say anything nowadays without being perceived as offensive. This is one perspective of how we can see personal identity playing a role in the college classroom.
An essay written by Coates titled Between the World and Me is based on Coates’s experience growing up as a black youth in Baltimore. He considers the complex connections between the streets, schools, prisons, and religions. The immense effect that race has in life is shown through the following quote, 60 percent of all young black men who drop out of school will go to jail. This should disgrace the country. (Coates 93) This fact should not be. We have to ask the question of why are they dropping out in the first place and why are they ending up in jail. Do they not have enough support around them or from their community? Are they not receiving the same opportunities? Among racial and ethnic groups, African Americans have the highest poverty rate, 27.4 percent, followed by Hispanics at 26.6 percent and whites at 9.9 percent. This creates a cycle that many cant seem to escape. Kids who come from low-income areas are 2.5 times more likely to drop out than middle-income kids. Unlike kids from wealthier families, for whom school is usually the primary focus, poorer students must focus on other responsibilities. School becomes secondary, if its a priority at all. The majority are lower income, not necessarily living in poverty, but come from struggling families. Many are kids of color. A study shows that ‘Young men who grow up in homes without fathers are twice as likely to end up in jail as those who come from traditional two-parent families…those boys whose fathers were absent from the household had double the odds of being incarcerated — even when other factors such as race, income, parent education, and urban residence were held constant.’ (Harper C, McLanahan SS.2004.) This cycle needs to be broken. Another reason the dropout rate is so high is because of the reason, No one cared if I attended or not. As a student in high school, you usually dont see the bigger picture or think about how school actually can benefit you. If one does not have a support system, they don’t have anyone to help them make important decisions. Leading education theories suggest the experience of going to school could be greatly improved if teachers and principals took a more personalized approach. If kids felt like their specific problems were being heard and their interests explored, the school would no longer feel like the boring and irrelevant institution many see it as today. I agree with this, a lot of the time I felt as if my teachers did not care if I succeeded or not. This is another perspective of how personal identity affects life in the classroom.
Ones identity has a major influence on how one perceives others, their self-esteem, and self-confidence. The personal strengths people develop as well as their degree of resilience when facing difficulties, may strongly influence their identity or be the result of their identity. The choices and priorities students embrace are to some extent a reflection of the factors making up their racial/ethnic identity. In my experience, ones identity has an immense effect on educational opportunities. In the past, I have experienced better treatment just because I am a female. For example, I had two teachers in high school who only allowed females to use the bathroom during class. I understand their reasoning behind doing this, but I also think that it is extremely unfair. I also understand that doing this is not as serious compared to most situations, but it is still a form of gender-affecting education. Some more serious events have occurred where a group of students would get in trouble for using tobacco products in the bathroom. There have been multiple instances where the one darker student in the group received a more severe punishment for whatever reason. The school may have had its reasons behind this, but this occurring more than once makes it suspicious. Physical identity can also affect careers. Of around 3,000 people surveyed by Salary, 76% of respondents feel tattoos and piercings hurt an applicant’s chances of being hired during a job interview. And more than one-third-39% of those surveyed believe employees with tattoos and piercings reflect poorly on their employers. Even though tattoos and piercings are quite popular, according to these facts, they are still associated with having low character and being uneducated. Ones personal identity and upbringing can affect how we perceive others’ physical identity and what they represent.
All in all, personal identity plays a huge role in educational and career opportunities. Whether we are aware of it or not, we are constantly judging other people based on how they look, their gender, and so on. Using the information from Coddling of the American Mind and Between the World and Me, we can see the role personal identity plays in and outside of the classroom. Further research needs to be done on why it plays such an immense role in career opportunities and the stigma attached to physical identities.
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