Essay About Racism, Example

I took a course last semester in which there were two international students from France. I soon realized that they were hard working individuals who would always pay attention in the class and diligently take notes. Despite their best efforts, they would struggle in assignments and tests and would make C grade on the average. It was also apparent to me that their English language skills were at intermediate level and they told me they just started learning English about six months before coming to the U.S. I have always been open-minded and as a result, I can put myself in others’ shoes. Even though their scores in the assignments and tests might not have been impressive, I knew that they struggled in the class not because they didn’t pay attention or were less intelligent but due to language challenges.

At one of the weekend parties, the discussion suddenly turned to politics and the issue of political rivalry between the U.S. and France also came up. One of my friend declared that French are dumb and when I sought clarification, he suggested that the two French students in our class were proof enough. I immediately explained that we and the French students do not have the same circumstances and those who are judging French students on the basis of grades are severely underestimating the role language proficiency plays in academic performance. I reminded them that the French students only started learning English six months before coming to the U.S. and college level courses are often taught at advanced language levels. If they are forced to learn French and attend college where French is the language of instruction, they would also be struggling. In such a scenario, their lower grades would not be an indication of their intelligence but more the outcome of their weak language skills.

I also pointed out to my American friends that even if the French students were skilled English language speakers, it would still not prove that French are dumber than Americans because of extremely sample size. In our course, there were at least thirty Americans and only a minority scored A grades in almost all the assignments but no one has suggested it proves that Americans are dumb. Similarly, with a large sample of French students, we will have a greater probability of having those why may score A grades.

After I left the party, I thought hard over the remark by my friend. I have a habit of reading on a wide range of subject matters, thus, I came up with several possible explanations of why my friend made the remark. One reason might have been ethnocentrism which results in inferior views of other races. It is also possible that the negative coverage of French-U.S. political relationship made my friend biased against French people and motivated him to look for arguments to support the idea that Americans are superior to French. Another probable explanation may be that my friend didn’t take the time and effort to communicate with French students and learn more about them. As a result, his lack of knowledge about French students led to a faulty conclusion.

This experience helped me discover several reasons why racism exists in the society. The first is ethnocentric beliefs which lead to feeling of superiority over other races and cultures. The second is lack of knowledge which results in erroneous assumptions and conclusions. Last but not least, lack of communication also increases the probability of prejudice and racism.