You won't know until you try it!
Even if you fail you can always try again!
08/12/2014
Today I will be talking about stereotype threat. You might not know what it is right off the bat, but you will soon understand.
I have a friend that always says: "No matter how good you are at something, there will always be an asian kid doing it better!". That's an example of stereotype threat. Once I was taking an university entrance exam (the math part), I felt threatened when I saw a lot of asians in the classroom. I was thinking: "Ok, might as well go home now, I don't stand a chance."
For some reason I decided to stay, and even though I was feeling like I would never be able to beat them in a math test, it paid off, I managed to get into the university I applied for. When I saw the test results I was feeling great because I passed, but also a little worried because I missed some easy questions (mostly long ones) because I barely tried to answer those, I felt it would be a waste of time to try and answer those questions because I would never get it right.
I have a very diversified group of friends and we all know how certain comments can affect performance and/or mood so we try to avoid those. Sometimes we joke about stereotypes in a fun way. I have a gay friend who is constantly teasing other guys saying he is gonna hit on them the next time they see each other. I have a black friend that whenever something goes wrong (like hitting his knee on the table at work or dropping food on the floor) he says it's just because he is black.
At the end of the day I think it comes down to how each person reacts to this types of comments. If I see someone is offended or upset about something I usually reach out to them and do make them feel comfortable.
We all have strengths and weaknesses, we have to work to gain more and more strengths and work on our weaknesses. You never should feel like you are not good enough for something or let someone say it, it's one of the worst feelings to have. You won't know until you try it and even if you fail you can always try again! You should also keep in mind that you have absolutely nothing to gain from believing in stereotypes, you may feel like you are not good enough, feel like you are too good for something or feel entitled to something. Whatever the outcome, it's because of who you are, not because of stereotypes!
