Facing Stereotypes

            Facing Stereotypes: A Case Study of Black Students on a White Campus.
             This study about racial stereotypes allows society to better understand how black students cope with stereotypical judgments by others, preconceived notions of their intelligence and their ability to succeed in college, especially predominately white institutions. Stereotypes are defined as widely held beliefs that people have certain characteristics because of their membership in a particular group (Weiten & Lloyd, 2003). This study "Facing Stereotypes: A Case Study of Black Students on a White Campus" focuses on African Americans and their role as a minority in a predominantly white environment, i.e. the college campus. The study consisted of focus groups and selected individual interviews with academically successful black students. During the interviews, the subjects spoke about stereotypical situations they had faced and how they dealt with them during their academic careers.
             Stereotyping can be either positive or negative. In this study, the African American students were being stereotyped negatively and perceived as intellectually inferior. Due to such assumptions, black students conveyed feelings of abandonment and isolation from campus and college life. As students, they encountered a number of difficulties stemming from such stereotypes. They experienced racism by being asked questions about their right to be on campus, and had to deal with the occasional ignorant perception of some of their white peers who believed that black students were less capable of achieving academically. This impacted the African American student's mindset, self-esteem and the way they viewed themselves. It also negatively impacted their self-esteem, leading to a decline in their overall academic achievement. In extreme cases, dropping out of school became one of the avenues these students took to escape the constant degradation they encountered.