“The stereotypical images we hold of certain groups are powerful in influencing what people see and expect of students. Unless educators consciously try to undermine and work against these kinds of stereotypes, they often act on them unconsciously. Our assumptions related to race are so deeply entrenched that it is virtually impossible for us not to hold them unless we take conscious and deliberate action.”

I find this passage extremely important because virtually everyone is guilty of stereotyping, consciously or unconsciously. This passage raises awareness to this fact and calls on us as future teachers to recognize what stereotypes we might possess and take deliberate action to combat them because, among other things, of the detrimental effects they have on students and society as a whole.  While the passage focuses race, there are many stereotypes that we need to be vigilant of.  As the passage suggests, these stereotypes are deeply ingrained in our society and have had devastating effects on minority students and their communities.

As future teachers we are in a unique position to dispel these stereotypes. To begin with we need to be vigilant that we are not stereotyping students. To do that, we must first acknowledge that stereotypes are so deeply-rooted in society that it is impossible for us not to stereotype to some degree. By being vigilant of this we can prevent ourselves from engaging in this while dealing with students. We need to treat students as unique individuals while respecting their culture and discover who they are through meaningful interaction rather than judging them based on preconceived generalized notions that tend to falsely categorize them and hold them back from reaching their potential.

It is also of the utmost importance, as is elsewhere noted in the reading, that teachers take action to invalidate what stereotypes students may have or may be forming. The article gives some excellent suggestions, such as incorporating information related to their culture into the curriculum and by encouraging students to participate in school activities that are not traditionally associated with their racial groups, which help to challenging racial norms and promote interracial relationship building and cooperation. I really like that this article included applicable solutions to the stated problems and hope to put them to practice in the future.