Learning prejudice was something I always thought we do growing up because I am sure we were not born with it. This article is right about the fact that children develop negative attitudes and acquire a set of biases that can be observed in ways such as verbal slurs, ethnic jokes, and acts of discrimination. While taken the test for hidden bias I was shock to see how much I need to learn and grow myself. The results surprised me in discovering that I too have bias. I was confused because I never saw or learned from my mom or dad about discriminating, stereotyping, or prejudices against anyone. My family environment never supported such behavior. Then I remembered that sadly I learned at school. I learned from some of my teachers and classmates. So, it did not necessarily come from home but outside home for me. I remembered how in our class we had a group that was favored over others because of family money, skin color, or “social status”. I remember being part of a shameful “advantage, power group”. Later in middle school I was discriminated based on the color of my skin and the situation my dad left when he divorced my mom. As a result of that I developed a better behavior towards others. I am glad to say that contrary to the article I did not reinforce my bias. The results of some of my test come from the learning at school and the strict father’s side of the family with conservative views about certain subjects. I am glad my mom’s side of the family was always supportive, understanding, accepting, caring, and loving towards others. Do I believe this will affect me as a teacher? Absolutely not, and in taking the test I have learned that there is still room for improvement as a human being and as a teacher. I have learned to care, love, and educate others from the best educator, my mother, and from other great teachers to treat everyone equally. My experience at school as someone in advantage and “power” and someone who later was discriminated have taught me to not be biased toward any student or co-worker.

I started reading the essay not knowing what to expect. Questions pondered: What was the perspective of Cory Collins about McIntosh’s essay “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.” What kind of why privilege does the article talks about? What is the definition of White Privilege? How do people recognize and understand the term itself? As I was reading, I encountered a statement that caught my attention: “…white privilege is both a legacy and a cause of racism.” The article gets more interesting because it makes clear that the recognition of white privilege is not racist, but exists because historic, enduring racism biases. By giving definitions and examples of racism, the article clearly wants to identify roots of how people perceive physical differences like the color of our skin. One of the things about white privilege as explained in the article is that the definition itself has changed overtime especially because not many white people enjoy the privileges with money or food security neither is the assumption that all what they achieve or have is unearned because many worked hard to be where they are. In the article it is mentioned how before the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the term itself was less used and referred to systematic advantages for white people by the United States and how it is unconsciously enjoyed and consciously perpetuated. I have seen so many ugly things lately that I cannot argue how some people carry that “Knapsack “ and that weapon that is privilege. I see the point made by products in store isles and how that in a way it is a form of giving less attention and power to others. I see how the article tries to explain that.

I love how the article ends by encouraging people to use their power to benefit others. When seeing opportunities to educate others about race; use your privilege as a tool to create awareness and build relationships, engage others in conversations even if it causes discomfort, and intervene when seeing a boss or fellow educator mistreating someone based on racial identity. Let people who practice white privilege know that you are educated, informed, and ready to confront such bias and not allow it in the work place. It makes me think of the article I picked about multicultural, anti-racist education, we must come together to create awareness but also to help the ones that feel uncomfortable by the term white privilege. I am married to a white person that does not get uncomfortable by the term white privilege because he has educate himself about the subject. To me it goes beyond skin color, it is what you do for or against someone that physically looks different than you. Some people use their skin color to bring others down while some use it to help lift others and create awareness. It is about perspective, about making the change we want to see.

This article provides a few things to help make your classroom respectful and culturally sensitive. As teachers, we need to be prepared to include students and make each student feel welcomed. It is more than classroom welcome signs. For example, the video shows how as teachers we can stereotype our students and that we ought to consider the respect they deserve. How we identify the challenges students are having makes us more culturally sensitive teachers and that we need to create and develop culturally sensitive methodologies. The article starts with a great example of Asian American students and the challenges they might face.

First, call them by their complete names and if in doubt of pronunciation ask them before you try to shorten their names. Since age 12, I have had many mispronounce my name.

Second, stop generalizing and ask them how do "they" identify themselves instead of assuming that we know their nationality or birthplace based on their looks or name. I can relate because many times since in the U.S., people have assumed my nationality/culture as Pilipino/Asian or Mexican without even asking and yet I am neither.

Third, do not put a label on either their academic or sport preferences. Allow and encourage an all-embracing participation in all aspects of school life.

Fourth, help students to be able to identify and challenge the stereotypes about Asians that can come up in books, movies, literature, or/and television. Most of the movies we watch about Asians portray them as martial arts fighters, great mathematicians and scientist geniuses, or sneaky businessman.

Fifth, when an Asian American student expresses the desire to know more about their Asian culture, research to have the tools to tie literacy from Asian culture into the curriculum.

The article from our textbook "Taking Multicultural Education, Anti-Racism Education" seriously talks about not needing to have a big budge or money to bring multicultural education into the classroom but instead invite grandparents and/or parents to tell stories. Connect old curriculum with creative ways to innovate and connect to student's culture. How do we challenge students? By re-educating ourselves as teachers.