Stereotypes vs. Generalizations

After reading Carlos E. Cortes’ article “Helping Students Understand Stereotyping”, I feel like I have a much better understanding and awareness of stereotyping in comparison to generalizations. Previously I had not really seen the difference; I felt that stereotyping and generalizing about individuals was in essence the same thing and very hurtful. However, with Cortes’ article, I now feel like clarification has occurred and I am better able to understand that maybe careful and observant generalizations might not be all that bad. According to Cortes (2001), “group generalizations must be flexible and permeable…and should always be open to change…” (5). In addition he calls generalizations “clues” to who a person or group might be while at the same time recognizing that there are differences among members of groups (Cortes, 2001, 6). When defining generalizations in this way, I find that they are not as dangerous as I had originally thought—although if not properly examined or applied they could lead towards harmful stereotypes. I also feel like creating patterns and finding commonalities is something that we as humans do inherently. We are always looking for ways to define the world around us. Therefore, I feel as if generalizations are a natural part of life and can even be beneficial when we want to examine groups as a whole. However, I feel the only way to really make sure this happens fairly is to understand that no two individuals are the same and even though we might believe them to be from the same social or racial group, each and every one of us is an individual.

Cortes, C. Helping students understand stereotyping. The Educational Digest. Apr 2001, 4-11.

Introductory Post

I am a Senior Elementary Education major focused in Language Arts here at Michigan State. I’ll be graduating in May and will begin my internship this fall 2009 in the Detroit Area. Being a Language Arts major within the College of Education, literacy is therefore a very important aspect of education for me. Not only on an academic level but also on a personal level, I feel that literature is one of the mediums through which we can teach our students about inclusion and tolerance in an ever-growing diverse world. Students are greatly influenced by the world around them, much of which through the media we cannot control. However, we do have the chance to control what kinds of materials we use in our classrooms and I feel in this way we have the option of choosing diverse literature to enhance our classrooms. I also think it is important that we address stereotypes, generalizations, and misrepresentations within our classrooms. I have already begun to do this in my own field placement this past semester. In the literature-based Thanksgiving lesson I gave to my first grade classroom, I made sure to choose a book that discussed the backgrounds of both the Pilgrims and Indians as well as the true story of what occurred, which doesn’t include a “happy ending”. It was not a gruesome story by any means, but it did not sugarcoat the relationship between the Pilgrims and Indians and also did not show stereotypical images of the Indians that are common in most children’s books about Thanksgiving. I feel in this way I have begun to make a small step towards establishing my own personal ideals about creating a diverse and inclusionary literature program for my classroom. In this course, I’d like to learn more about the criteria for choosing appropriate books and would even like some suggestions of exemplary books that can be used in the elementary classroom. I’d also like to learn more about how to address issues of diversity when students have questions; what kinds of resources or strategies should I use for answering any questions?