My new GP teacher, Mr Shyam, gave me a very good first impression today. IMO, he is tons better than Mr Cheong. Mr Shyam's lesson today can own all of Mr Cheong's lessons combined. Seriously, why didn't he come to take our class earlier? He shows us that he has intellectual depth and he is very good at expressing them. And he managed to get the attention of out whole class and have a fruitful intellectual discussion. He's almost comparable to Miss Ong, though I still miss her teachings.
Mr Shyam gave us an article about Crime and Punishment today. In the article, the author talked about how a group of black teenage kids kidnapped, beaten, raped, then left a white female to die. He was criticizing ppl who argues that the kids did what they did because they are "victims of circumstances", meaning that the kids did the act because they are living up to their stereotypes. For the first half of the class discussion, I was totally oblivious of what was being said because I was reading the Freedom Writers Diary. So when we talked about social/racial stereotypes, I felt kinda sad because the situation portrayed parallels what I was reading in the Freedom Writers Diary.
Mr Shyam was touching on the subject on racial stereotypes and he pointed out that statistics may not always be true, as it can be served to support stereotypes. Sounds confusing eh? Let me give you an example. White Americans always believed that blacks are always prone to commiting crimes. And their government has statistics to show that this is true. Sounds perfectly fine right? What if I tell you statistics can be inaccurate? Now what do you think? Mr Shyam raises an example where out of ten ppl being chosen to get spotchecked by police in America, 7 out of 10 would be blacks. Let me guide you through the train of thoughts:
7 out of 10 of ppl chosen are blacks --> Increase in chance that crime offenders who are black get caught --> More whites will get away with their crime (e.g. drugs) --> Statistics show that blacks are more prone to commit crimes
See? In this case, the statistics are skewed, since the police only check on blacks most of the time. And this is how racial stereotypes are supported. When I heard about this, I couldn't help shaking my head in sorrow.
I raised a point during the discussion about what I once read in Da Vinci Code:
"We see what we want to see"
Like history, we choose only the points that can help strengthen our beliefs. When this happens, it's hard for ppl to change or question their opinions because we only choose what we want to see. We must open our mind to more possiblities and ideas and always challenge our assumptions. If not, many problems such as racial inequality and stereotyping can never be solved.
So the next time you stereotype something, remember to open your eyes then:
Stop and stare.
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