Stereotyping

I work as a nurse in a public elementary school in the suburbs. This school is in a pretty affluent neighborhood and has a very small number of minority students. All of the staff is white and seem to be pretty well off. This year we got two new students into our special education program that are bussed to our school as their home school does not offer the programming they need. They are black and until this year were going to school in Minneapolis. I have been amazed at the stereotyping that has been going on toward these kids' parents since these girls have arrived at our school. The teachers put on a good front to the other students and toward the kids themselves but when its just the adults around their real thoughts sure show.

On the first day of school these kids showed up with nothing, no backpack, no supplies and had not eaten breakfast. Instantly their parents were not good parents, were lazy, and were "not real bright." The second day still they had nothing and no breakfast was given to them before school. I actually overheard a staff member saying "They obviously spend whatever money they have on looks and not important things for their kids like food." This was aimed at their appearance. The kids have their hair done nicely and braided and someone informed us all that that "costs a lot of money" to do. So most of the staff that are involved with these kids have now stereotyped these people based upon the fact that they are black, came from an inner city school, get free lunches, and didn't come with supplies. They have never met the parents and most have never even talked with them on the phone. In the end it turns out that at their old school all supplies were provided, there was a breakfast program, the mom does hair braiding out of her home for extra money (that's why their hair looks so nice) and they are the parents to 8 children all with special needs. This is a perfect example of how negative stereotyping and ethnocentrism can give a negative light to something that is actually quite good.