Earlier, I was proposed a question that made me think: "With you being a non-African-American student at a historically black college and university, do you think your classmates think of you differently compared to the students that they identify with?"
When I was given this question, I was quite taken aback. At the moment, I said what was on my mind. I believe that regardless of color, competition to be the top student will always exist, regardless of color or ethnicity. When it comes down to it, I believe in the saying, "May the best man win."
However, after giving it some thought, I wonder if being an outsider compared to majority of my classmates gives me a certain advantage in the classroom. I am very confident in my academic ability. I believe that I am well versed in the courses that I have taken and I have a certain passion and aptitude for good learning. In addition, I am very social and I believe that I am able to network fairly easy. However, does race play a role in my academic success as well? Does it help that the majority of my professors are from out of country or other ethnicities as well, or is it just coincidence?
Growing up, I believe that I was in denial that racial profiling and racism actually exist. Racial slurs and stereotyping were happening all around me. I did not acknowledge them as real. It was something that I heard over the news or it was something that happened between students at school, but I was not living within the hype. I was focused on school, focused on sports and focused on God. As I continued to learn about my heritage and about how different I am as a minority, I quickly learned that there are many stereotypes that exist in every aspect of our lives.
There is a certain stereotype for different minorities. Some groups are known to be thugs that become incarcerated and never finish high school, whereas other groups are known to be very intellectual and make it known that they will be successful very early in life. However, I believe that your success in school does not depend solely on your intelligence. Growing up, I went to school in a very diverse community. There was a good mixture of every race in my classrooms. The top of the class was based on hard work, participation and the ability to stay on the instructor's good side. I graduated from high school with high marks along with many of my other classmates that were of a varying number of races and backgrounds.
So do I think that racial profiling and stereotypes occur in the classroom? I think that it is possible. However, that is not something that I account for when I work for a grade. It is not an assumption that I use to my advantage when midterms and final exams come around. I believe that when it comes down to it, every student reaps what they sow. In the classroom, it should be level playing ground. However, that might not be how it is in reality.
