Racism 102: The Classroom

Abstract

Within our educational institutions today, supremism (racial superior attitudes) are a function of how schools enforce discipline, use standardized tests, select curriculum and texts, and of teacher attitudes. To illustrate the expression of supremism in American schools today, in Study 1, the authors instructed European American 4th-year teachers-in-training to estimate the grade point average (GPA) and IQ of four African American or four European American children. The GPAs and IQs of the African American children were estimated to be significantly lower than those of the EuropeanAmerican children. Study 2 showed that the racial attitudes of European American student teachers predicted their evaluation of and the pleasure they derivedfrom reading a short story or a poem supposedly written by an African American author It was concluded that old-fashioned racism remains afundamental problem at all grade levels in American schools today.