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Essay on White Privilege in American Society
Socio-economic exclusion, unequal schooling, and social reproduction are code words describing facets of racism that subsist in education. As a doctoral student in higher education, I have come to realize that the astonishing depth of the achievement gap that exists in many schools across this nation may be for reasons other than academic ability. In fact, many ill-conceived ideological practices of dominant society have become manifested in the educational psyche of minority students in America. This paper examines the psychological phenomenon that exists in both dominant mainstream and oppressed minority groups that is the life force for this type of educational racism to exist in the schools of the United States of America and how literacy instruction is impacted by these two mind states.
Defining Whiteness and White Privilege
Biology alone does not determine racial identity. Our concept of race is equally shaped by social norms and expectations, which are based on historical events and current practices. In North American society, being white is perceived as the norm. Often the fact that whiteness is also a race is not acknowledged.As a result, researchers have begun to examine whiteness and to define it in terms of social impact. Such research concentrates on "white privilege"—the differences in power between whites and non-whites, and the advantages white people automatically take for granted.The advantages of being white include learning the history of one’s own race in school, to seeing members of one’s own ethnic group widely represented in the media, to being confident that job refusals are not based on one’s race.
Historical Origins of White Privilege
In the early 1600’s, 50 wealthy Englishmen bought stock in the Virginia Company of London. Their stock options included large parcels of (Indian) land in the new colony of Virginia, as well as the right to govern the colony.These English gentlemen did not intend to work their lands in Virginia.....
