Activity #3 Tolerance

Some of the article I can agree with, such as we don’t always know we have prejudices based on how we were raised. But at the same time, I do not believe the IATs were at all accurate. When I took the tests, I noticed the pattern they gave and the order in which they were training your fingers to react. When taking the family/career-gender test they trained you first to relate women and home and men with career. Then after your body and brain said when I see this I use this hand and when I see that I use that hand, it switched and your brain didn’t always pick up on the change. They said you weren’t allowed to go too slow with the test. Which gave no time to realize which hand you were supposed to use, so your brain said to do it they way it had been doing it for the past couple minutes.

I do understand what they are trying to achieve by telling about hidden biases. No one knows how they are reacting at all times. We do have a tendency as human beings to falter and not realize how we act to every situation.

Part of the reading spoke of how an African-American male can dine at a fancy, high-class restraint and then not be able to get a taxi or how a female student may not excel in math because most people don’t think of women as being good at math and science. Ideas like these bother me. I can’t say I disagree with them, because I know there still is a state of prejudice in our country. I would like to say since our parent’s generation started the idea and once that generation has passed, the prejudice they brought will also pass.

Basically I think that as long as my generation has a positive outlook on life and other people, then we can change the course that we are on now. We can push the prejudice aside. Maybe that’s too far from possible, maybe it’s not. I have faith that society and people can change. We just have to start teaching our children at an early age and then they will live that way and pass it on to their children. I don’t think world peace will ever be established, but I think we’ll be able to live happier lives.