Stereotypes and Biases

Blondes are dumb, Muslims are terrorists, Asians are good at math and science and Israelis are generally evil.

Those were the words I uttered to my classes over the last few weeks. No, I'm not trying to start a race riot. Nor was I letting out pent out frustration. I was talking about biases and how we as reporters -- whether professional or student journalists -- are always full of opinions that somehow seep out into our articles. Every semester I try to do a lecture in which I force my students to face their biases. After all, knowledge is power right? And if we're aware of them, we can try to overcome them, at least when it comes to our articles.

But this semester I put a different spin on it. I had the students actually tell me  where they think I come from based on my appearance in class, such as the way I carry myself, my speech and my general demeanor. Here are some of the comments: 

1)Wealthy or upper middle class background 

2)private school educated 

3)from a conservative family in which I was the rebel

4)from an educated family

5)maybe a society girl with friends with connections

Now, here's the reality:

1)I'm from East New York, Brooklyn -- one of the poorest ghettoes in Brooklyn

2)My junior high school was in the basement of a parking garage and I went to college on a scholarship

3)My family is pretty moderate and while I may have rebelled in private, I was hardly a menace to my parents

4)This is true: all my family members are extremely educated

5)I despised society girls and the only connection I had growing up was the friend that knew how to steal cars.

When I told my students my background, it really is amazing how their faces changed. Did they think less of me, did the respect me more? I don't know but I know the stereotypical image they had of me was shattered. And I think that's the point of making them confront their own biases. You never really know what you're going to get when looking at a person.  And that became even clearer to me this semester.