White And Jamal example essay topic

Since the establishment of the United States of America, there have always been problems with racial discrimination. Through slavery, segregated schools, the Civil Rights Act, and still today, ethnicity has been an issue in American society. One place in particular that race has played a role in is education. From elementary schooling to college, skin color affects their treatment in school and the academic future of the student. In "Models of American Ethnic Relations: A Historical Perspective" by George M. Fredrickson, the issue of race is discussed as well as the role it has played in America. Also, Gus Van Sans's movie, Finding Forrester, sets a scene of a teenage boy trying to make a place for himself in private school where he is coldly accepted by some because of his ethnic background.

Although it is slowly becoming less of an issue, race plays an important part in the education system. These pieces are a response to the atrocity of racial discrimination in education. Especially today having a good education is necessary to proceed in a higher stature in life and often can be the deciding factor of one's salary, neighborhood, and socio-economic status. However, not everyone gets a fair chance in having a good education because too often race becomes an issue and opportunities are not equal for all people. Through Fredrickson's "Models of American Ethnic Relations: A Historical Perspective" and Van Sant's Finding Forrester, it is evident that racial discrimination occurs in the education system and impacts not only students, but also the faculty of the system and the American society as a whole. "Models of American Ethnic Relations: A Historical Perspective", by George M. Fredrickson states how race relations have shaped the society of America into what it is today.

Throughout American history, Caucasians have played the prevailing role and those of any other skin pigment have been looked down upon, or considered to be the minority. In Fredrickson's article, it states that "A dominant group-conceiving of itself as society's charter membership-has claimed rights and privileges not to be fully shared with outsiders or 'others' who have been characterized a unfit or unready for equal rights and full citizenship" (Fredrickson 599). In theory, America is a country of freedom where all men are created equal, but in practice no one is free or equal; color, power, and money are the deciding factors of a person's social status. A popular belief of white Americans is that all others living in America should assimilate into how white Americans think, believe, and act, instead of being culturally diverse. Fredrickson's article also comments that "Policies aimed at the assimilation of ethnic groups have usually assumed that there is a single and stable American culture of European, and especially English, origin to which minorities are expected to conform as the price of admission to full and equal participation in the society and polity of the United States (Gordon 1964, ch. 4) " (Fredrickson, 601).

Cultural diversity among non-white traditions has never been a goal in America and the American Way really is the Anglo-Saxon way. In turn, different ethnic groups have been separated simply because sharing views and customs has been shunned in American society. Unfortunately, this has made race an even bigger issue in every aspect of American life, especially education. Finding Forrester is a best exemplifies a struggle of racial prejudice in schools. Jamal is an adolescent African-American growing up on the wrong side of town and going to a mediocre school (Finding Forrester).

Hidden behind what seems to be an unmotivated facade, Jamal proves to be brilliant and talented (Finding Forrester). This inner being shines through after scoring highly on a placement test, which in turn is given the opportunity to go to a private school on a full scholarship and continue his education, as well as play basketball (Finding Forrester). Not only does he meet with animosity from students at the new school, his friends begin treating him differently and distancing themselves. Also, his English teacher, Mr. Crawford, looks down on Jamal because of his skin color and believes he cannot succeed in the school and even doubts his intelligence and integrity (Finding Forrester). Plus, Jamal is struggling to make his place in the world despite his living conditions, financial problems, and mistreatment of those around him.

During the movie he says, "What's hard is growing up in a place where the cops don't even want to be in after its dark. What's hard is knowing that you " re safe there 'cause the people you need to worry about know you have nothing to give them" (Finding Forrester). This depicts the harsh reality of Jamal's life and makes his determination to succeed in life awe-inspiring trying to get over racial barriers. In both cases, it discusses the problems of racial discrimination in America.

Fredrickson's article discusses race relations throughout American history and the movie tells a story of a student having to prove himself to his teachers and classmates because he is black. Fredrickson's article combined with Van Sant's movie relates how the educational system is infected with racism and this greatly affects students. In the film and the essay, the director or author creates picture of two settings-with or without racial discrimination. In Fredrickson's essay he makes comment on a certain group of people, specifically Native Americans, were viewed during the 1800's as a point that racism existed. Fredrickson uses the instance that "Indians, for example, were viewed by most nineteenth-century missionaries and humanitarians as potentially equal and similar to whites. Their status as non-citizens was not attributed to skin color or physical appearance; it was only their obdurate adherence to "savage ways" that allegedly stood in the way of their possessing equal rights and being fully assimilated" (599).

These Native Americans were looked upon as almost similar to the "white" race. On the other hand, Finding Forrester begins with Jamal's experience at the public school in his hometown, where he is treated with mutual respect and equality like the Native Americans mentioned above. Though he is very bright and reads and writes at a much higher level than his peers, he has a C average (Finding Forrester). Also, he plays basketball to fit in and be accepted by his group, which can be characterized as an entirely African-American (Finding Forrester). Though he has a close group of friends and does fairly well in school, the atmosphere of the school has a negative impact on him (Finding Forrester). He is accepted but he does not belong because he is too smart for his classes.

Jamal is confused and unsure of what to do about his life (Finding Forrester). He knows his school does not offer him what he wants and needs to succeed in life and his friends give him acceptance, but spending time with them does not push him to try to reach his dreams (Finding Forrester). Also, he knows he will not go anywhere or do anything extraordinary if he continues with the way his life with his current stature (Finding Forrester). This situation can be characterized and compared to by a statement Fredrickson wrote in his essay, "As I have argued extensively elsewhere, ethnicity is 'racialized' whenever distinctive group characteristics, however defined or explained, are used as the basis for a status hierarchy of groups who are though to differ in ancestry or decent" (599). In other words, in this setting Jamal is dissatisfied and uneasy, but fits in the puzzle of his African-American friends. Jamal desperately wants to make something of him, but he can not find a path to go down that will meet his goals in life (Finding Forrester).

He knows his friends and current grades will not help him to achieve something and this is distressing (Finding Forrester). On top of that, Jamal realizes that the private school is the better option for him, but it will mean leaving his friends behind (Finding Forrester). Though it is hard, Jamal chooses education over acceptance and decides to follow his dreams. The eventual leaving his public school to open up new doors with the private schools is where the film depicts the settings with racism.

In his article Fredrickson comments, "But the legacy of four centuries of white supremacy survives in the disadvantaged social and economic position of blacks and other people of color in the United States" (601). Unfortunately, with the exception of a few students, Jamal is ostracized. In a book by Barry Troyna entitled Racism and Education, it states that "It legitimates the liberal concern with ensuring that equality of opportunity derives from a set of conditions under which 'the proportion of people from different social, economic or ethnic categories at all levels and types of education is more or less the same as the proportion of these people in the population at large" (Troyna, 39). Moreover, he has to prove himself worthy to his teachers. The private school, Mailor, is very different than what Jamal has been used to.

The school itself is predominantly white and Jamal immediately feels out of place. "Of course, racial separation, even in those states where it has not been required, has been a fact of life in private education... Even today, the "white" private school that has accepted large numbers of Negro students does not exist" (Miller 22). Aside from this issue, Jamal joins the basketball team at Mailor but needs to play competitively, especially since one other student sees him as a threat and tries to outdo him (Finding Forrester). This student in particular gives an example of racism in the school.

Jamal and this young man are both very talented players and Jamal hopes to make a friend out of the connection but he is brushed off by the other student. One of the biggest challenges for Jamal was proving himself to one teacher, Mr. Crawford (Finding Forrester). Due to the fact that Jamal is black, Mr. Crawford has low expectations of him, and when Jamal writes a great paper the teacher is doubtful that Jamal did his own work (Finding Forrester). Mr. Crawford only doubted Jamal because of racial prejudices and he never gave Jamal a fair chance (Finding Forrester). "Hierarchy was now based exclusively on color. Paradoxically, it might be argued, the removal of the burden of "otherness" from virtually all whites made more striking and salient than ever the otherness of people of color, especially African Americans" (Fredrickson, 601).

For far too long white people have been thought to be better than blacks and this is why Jamal met with the racial injustices his classmates and teachers showed him. Furthermore, these racial issues and prejudices expand beyond one or two experiences, such as Jamal's incidents, into all of American society and every aspect of education. "Radical white abolitionists and even some black antislavery activists argued that prejudice against African Americans was purely and simply a result of their peculiarly degraded and disadvantaged circumstances and that emancipation from slavery would make skin color irrelevant and open the way to their full equality and social acceptability" (Fredrickson 602). Unfortunately the hopes of these people have never come true because American society is anything but a color blind society. One's race is an issue when going to school, getting a job, buying a house, or driving a car. Though slavery is abolished today and all American citizens are said to be given the same rights, the old ideas and feelings of racial inequality are still very present in society today.

"Until recently the United States dominated the study of trends in ethnic attitudes. Researchers claimed that the US ethnic-majority's attitude towards ethnic minorities has changed over the past decades (see Campbell, 1971; Schuman, Steel &Bobo, 1985). Empirical research has shown a continuous decrease in blatant negative attitudes, indicated by a decline in the percentage of majority people who rejected the general principles of ethnic equality" (Hagendoorn 163). However, there is still much animosity between whites and blacks due to prejudice. Especially in education, race is still an issue that creates problems for everyone involved.

"Conventionally, values are conceived as organized and enduring predispositions to respond positively or negatively to general classes of objects" (Hagendoorn 151). Near the end of "Finding Forrester" Jamal finally proves himself to Mr. Crawford and the rest of his classmates. He wins an award for writing and it is here in the movie that he has accomplished something and shown himself worthy of the school he is in (Finding Forrester). His teachers and classmates finally realize what he is capable of and though bitterness still exists, Jamal walks away a satisfied person (Finding Forrester).

The racial prejudice is finally overcome. Through Fredrickson's "Models of American Ethnic Relations: A Historical Perspective" and Van Sant's Finding Forrester, it is evident that ethnic inequity effects students, faculty and the American society as a whole when it occurs in the education system. It is through the description of Jamal's first school, which was public, Jamal's second school, which was private, and the effects on American society that Finding Forrester and Fredrickson's piece correlate from a simple definition in Fredrickson's piece to what comes to be the overall picture in Van Sant's creative depiction of racial discrimination in America. According to Barry Troyna's Racism and Education, it states that "racism is often used as a synonym for institutional racism" (40).

In turn, from these works, racism came in the institutional racism, which came in the form of education. "To people familiar with urban education, the argument that race and education are intertwined seems self-evident" (Meier 40). Equal educational opportunity is not a reality in America, rather the education available to black student is not the same as the education available to white students.