A Look at "Lookism": A Critical Analysis of Teachers' Expectations Based on Students Appearance

Autor/inn/en	DeCastro-Ambrosetti, Debra; Cho, Grace
Titel	A Look at "Lookism": A Critical Analysis of Teachers' Expectations Based on Students Appearance
Quelle	In: Multicultural Education, 18 (2011) 2, S.51-54 (4 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext (1); PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei (2) Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1068-3844
Schlagwörter	Teacher Role; Student Evaluation; Adolescents; Preservice Teacher Education; Secondary School Teachers; Individual Characteristics; Physical Characteristics; Teacher Student Relationship; Teacher Attitudes; Criticism; Racial Differences; Academic Achievement; Social Isolation; Athletes; Dropouts; Early Parenthood; Power Structure; Behavior Problems; Discipline Problems; Stereotypes; Expectation; Labeling (of Persons); Social Bias; Student Attitudes; United States + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Lehrerrolle; Schulnote; Studentische Bewertung; Adolescent; Adolescence; Adoleszenz; Jugend; Jugendalter; Jugendlicher; Lehramtsstudiengang; Lehrerausbildung; Personality characteristic; Personality traits; Persönlichkeitsmerkmal; Körperliche Erscheinung; Teacher student relationships; Lehrer-Schüler-Beziehung; Lehrerverhalten; Kritik; Rassenunterschied; Schulleistung; Soziale Isolation; Athlet; Drop-out; Drop-outs; Dropout; Early leavers; Schulversagen; Klischee; Expectancy; Erwartung; Labeling-Ansatz; Schülerverhalten; USA
Abstract	Educators in the United States have been socialized to believe that their mission in teaching is to play nice and treat all of their students the same, regardless of race, ethnicity, class, or gender. What is often missing in this teaching-all-equally approach is a counter-narrative that questions whether teachers can in fact successfully act as the gate keepers of equal educational opportunities. Historically the teachers' role has been to evaluate their students from the earliest years of schooling, beginning with screening for kindergarten. In performing these responsibilities, do teachers approach their students with ingrained beliefs which influence their perception of students? To illuminate these possibilities the authors aim to examine a specific form of prejudice known as "lookism", which Ayto (1999) defines as "prejudice or discrimination on the grounds of appearance". How do such prejudices impact whether students will be treated equally? The participants for the study were 226 secondary education teacher candidates enrolled in professional education classes in a suburban university in Southern California. An attitudinal survey was used to solicit teacher candidates' perceptions about adolescents based on the adolescents' physical characteristics. The survey consisted of a series of eight photos of adolescents from four major racial groups (Black, White, Asian, and Hispanic) and 10 statements formulated to elicit deep-seated perceptions. The participants' responses were categorized into five major themes: (1) academic success; (2) athletic success; (3) perceived as outsiders; (4) academic adversity; and (5) challenging classroom authority. In this report the authors' findings focus on the two photographs that had the highest frequency of responses. The participants' responses to the photos reflected perceptions of adolescents that were clearly related to race and gender and, as such, revealed their own personal stereotypes and prejudices. The findings demonstrated that the teacher candidates carried preconceived notions about the adolescents they were shown in the photos and that these notions were stratified clearly along gender and racial lines. (ERIC).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10