Every day in America, children, teenagers, and even adults are faced with a “title” that
can either make them or break them. Often times, because we have become so accustomed to
living this title, it breaks us. This so called “title” is often referred to as a stereotype.
Stereotyping is an aspect of life that affects people on the basis of their sex, their race, and their
age. No matter who you are, you are bound to be stereotyped for one reason or another whether it
is for your hair color, height, or simply the color of your skin. Stereotyping is a facet of society
that is impossible to escape; however, the right attitudes, it can be made less prominent.
Stereotyping in the workplace is not typically heard of; however, it has jeopardized jobs
and even resulted in court cases. In most cases, employees were stereotyped against by their
bosses due to their sex. In 1989, a case of a woman, Ann Hopkins, who was stereotyped because
of her sex, was presented in front of the Federal District Court. Hopkins, amongst others in her
accounting firm, was applying for a partnership, and in due course she was denied. Her bosses
denied her for the fact that she was seemingly too aggressive for a female. They said she was not
right for the job because she cursed like a trucker and did not walk, talk, or dress feminine
enough. They felt, since she was a female, that she should act, dress, and speak like a proper
lady. “Girls can wear jeans and cut their hair short and wear shirts and boots because it's okay to
be a boy” (Good Reads). Females do not always have to conform to the stereotype that they must
have their hair precise and be in a skirt and heels. Males have the ability to dress and act however
they wish, and females should have the same options too. After Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins
was presented in court, lawmakers devised a new law, Title VII, which forbids employers from
discriminating their employees on the basis of sex. Employers are allowed to require sex
differing dress codes; however, they cannot present unequal burdens on men and women.
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Essentially, employers are allowed to reflect societal stereotypes in their business but are not
able to discriminate against someone because of their sex.
Racial stereotypes can be heard on a daily basis, and ultimately, these are the stereotypes
that create the most trouble for others. On March 10, 2011, a group of Arabs were traveling
from Buffalo, New York, to Toronto, Canada for a seminar. On the return to the United States,
the group of forty Muslim Arabs was detained at the border due to an intelligence tip the
government had received. The government had been warned that these forty Muslims could
have some ties to terrorism, and that they should be forcefully searched, finger prints should be
collected, and photographs should be taken for documentation. The Muslims, not happy that
they were detained on the basis of a tip, later demanded to know why they were put into a
detainment in front of a judge. Thomas Winkowski, assistant commissioner at U.S. Customs and
Border Protection, defended their actions by saying, “We do not just randomly send individuals
into secondary; there have to be other reasons to detain people or put them into secondary”
(Temple-Raston). The government lawyers backed him by saying that the claims were valid and
they had to take whatever measures possible to protect our country. Therefore, when the
government received the intelligence tip, everyone that was of the suspected race traveling from
Toronto to the United States was to be treated like terrorists; proving that since September 11,
2001 people stereotype the majority of Arabic races as being terrorists. That specific group of
Arabs did not have any affiliation with the terrorist regimes; however, they were still treated as
though they were a danger to our society.
“Young people are amazing. I am always so frustrated that the media often depicts
teenagers as lazy, unintelligent and violent. They rarely discuss the millions who work
hard to get through school, hold steady jobs, support their families and stay clear of
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trouble. They overcome all kinds of obstacles, limitations and fears every day, in order to
move forward with their lives” (Dorsey 283).
In today’s society, teenagers are the number one subjects to be stereotyped. They are
stereotyped for being party animals, bad drivers, and bad decision makers. Teenagers are said to
be defiant, oppositional, and self-centered. Adults believe that teenagers look for any opportunity
to turn a simple, pleasant discussion into a full-out argument. To adults, as talked about in the
article “Complaints of Adults about Teenagers”, published by Rodrigo Chapa, the only “good”
teenagers out there are the ones that focus on getting good grades and having a successful future.
“Good” teenagers are the ones that have jobs and work for what they want rather than have
everything handed to them on a silver platter. “Good” teenagers are the ones that do not partake
in criminal offenses nor watch violent movies. “Good” teenagers do not drink alcohol, and would
prefer to spend time with the family than at a party. In the article “Effects of Stereotyping
Teenagers”, Steven Poole discusses how going to parties and hanging out with friends is “what
being a teenager is all about. Trying new things, experimenting with your body, and stuff”
(Poole).
One of the main reasons that teens can be defiant and oppositional is because they are
told that they are doomed to be failures. T.J. Ware was not the typical student in the classroom;
he did his homework and participated as minimally as possible, but he still showed up every day
to class. Throughout the school year he became involved in a homeless project, and eventually
became the leader of the project. Teachers, because they did not see the good side of him,
opposed his leadership in the community activity and even went to the principal to see that T.J.
did not get the position. With time, T.J. Ware was able to prove to the teachers that he was not
going to live by their stereotype of being a “failure” and rather he turned his life around and
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became involved in multiple community leadership groups. A teenager like T.J. Ware is an ideal
example of how stereotypes affect teens, and he is an example of how to defy all teenage
stereotypes. Other teens, such as Charlie from Bristol, stepped out and defended the current
stereotypes of teenagers by saying, "Watch out! - I am from the evil and hated generation.
Believe it or not, not every single teenager around my age goes around beating up people and
smashing up cars. Can you seriously claim that today's youth are that much worse than the mods
and rockers of the former generation” (Verkaid, and Akbar)? As Charlie said, not all teenagers
are bad nor do they fall into the stereotypes that are put on them, and in truth it only takes one
“bad” teenager to ruin it for everyone.
When you combine all of the stereotypes together that are placed on teenagers, you get a
mess of negative words. Steven Poole said in his article “Effects of Stereotyping Teenagers”, that
stereotypes, the attachment of oversimplified and standardized images to a group of people, are
responsible for difficulties in teenage years. Stereotyping has led to some of the most prevalent
consequences: depression, stress, drugs, violence, and death. Adults view teenagers as active
individuals who partake in many undertakings. In reality, teenagers are involved in fewer
activities for the fear of revenge, along with the fear of being physically attacked or verbally
abused. Statistics shows that teenagers are more likely to be the victim of an attack rather than be
the perpetrator. In Britain, according to National Association for the Care and Resettlement of
Offenders (NACRO), teen involvement in crimes from 1993 to 2001 has drastically fallen.
Adults see children as failures not striving hard enough to get a good education; however,
compared to ten years ago, there are more high school graduates now. Adults feel as though
teenagers value only the material things in life such as their phone, iPod, and computer.
According to a FrameWorks Institute nationwide survey, "Only about one in six adults said
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young people today share their ethical values, such as honesty and hard work. The reality is that,
when youth are polled, large majorities of them rate highly the very traits adults value” (Poole).
More times than not, adults are fearful of teenagers because of the bad reputation that the
specific age group has. Their fear has recently grown because there are fewer activities for both
adults and teenagers to do together leaving the adults to assume that teenagers hate the older
generations. Teenagers are not what they seem, and as the years progress more stereotypes are
placed on them, which in due course will only result in a worse reputation and a higher fear from
the elders.
The Pregnancy Project, by Gaby Rodriquez, tells a true story of a young girl that defied
all stereotypes put on her. Everyone in her family had become pregnant at a young age, and that
was what was expected out of her. For all of us, whatever our parents, grandparents, and siblings
did is expected out of us also. For Gaby, the odds were higher than average for her to become a
teen mom because of her family history. During the book, Gaby even said at one point, “We are
all individuals with our own morals and abilities, and we should have the freedom to make our
own paths without people prejudging us based on who our families are, the color of our skin,
where we live, or any other outside factors” (Rodriguez 214). By her senior year of high school,
she had a steady boyfriend, and yet she was not pregnant. Gaby decided that for her senior
project she was going to fake a pregnancy and collect everything that was said positively and
negatively about her, and present that, along with what she had learned throughout the process,
to the entire school.
When Gaby Rodriquez announced that she was pregnant, most people expected it and
were just watching and waiting for her to fail in some way; however, there were a few of her
friends that were happy for her, allowing her to realize that not everyone expected her to follow
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in her family’s footsteps. Friends, family members, and even teachers were saying negative
things about her: she’s stupid, she’ll never graduate. Throughout the school year not only did
Gaby have to deal with peers being negative about her pregnancy, the teachers didn’t help her
situation either. Her teachers noticed that other students, along with fellow coworkers, were
making comments about her and even leaving her out of situations, although no one ever took
the initiative to defend her. One of her closest teachers even said, “Doesn’t she know she just
ruined her life?” Being surrounded by all of the negativity, took a toll on her emotionally. Some
days she dreaded attending school, but she kept reminding herself that what she was doing would
make an impact on the student body.
When Gaby presented her project in front of the entire school, most students were
speechless at how cruel their classmates had been. Everyone had simply looked at the bump in
front of Gaby’s stomach and automatically said she had followed her family stereotype. Gaby
had to fight through the negativity and prove that she was greater than a stereotype and that she
would not live in her family’s footsteps. At the end of her presentation, she left her peers with
these final words: “You can’t live your life under a stereotype. You can’t live your life in the
shadow of your brothers or sisters or parents; you have to live your life, and make it a good life,
because you only have one” (Rodriguez 158). Gaby’s final words have such strength to them that
if listened to correctly, they could have an impact on all of us, and result in us changing the way
that we view others and ultimately making high school, and life, a much more pleasant
experience.
Throughout The Pregnancy Project, the stereotypes placed on Rodriguez originated
because people would rather read the labels on the box rather than look at what’s inside. In her
novel she mentioned Eric Clapton, Oprah Winfrey, Justin Bieber, and Selena Gomez because
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they were all raised by single moms but still managed to become successful individuals. People
that are raised by single moms are typically seen as less than average because they did not have
two parents bringing them up; however, those four individuals have become extremely
successful at what they do. Rodriguez also mentioned Helen Keller, Rosa Parks, Stevie Wonder,
Ray Charles, Andrea Bocelli, and Babe Ruth. Helen Keller was never expected to do anything
great with her life because she was disabled. Rosa Parks was stereotyped because she was a
“second-class citizen” and her skin color did not match the preferred type. Stevie Wonder,
Andrea Bocelli, and Ray Charles were all blind but looked past their difficulties and became
successful musicians. Babe Ruth became parentless at the age of seven when his parents gave
him to Catholic Missionaries; however, he still became successful in Major League Baseball. All
of the people mentioned above became successful because they had one person that believed in
them and looked past the stereotypes. All it takes is one person to believe in you, and you are
able to exceed everyone’s expectations and to live beyond the stereotypes placed on you.
Every day in the hallways, and in the classrooms, I hear students stereotyping others. Not
a day goes by that I do not hear something negative being said about another. Typical stereotypes
that I hear are: all blonds are dumb; if you go parties on the weekend, you are ruining your life;
and freshmen are immature. More times than not, teachers hear the things being said and do not
do anything about it. School life would be so much easier for everyone if one person stood up
against the stereotypes. One of the main points that I hope to get across throughout the year with
my project is that stereotyping is not okay. All it takes is one person to stand up and defend
themselves against the “bully” who is placing stereotypes on others. We are a small school, and
with a small school comes more interaction through the students. We all know everything about
our peers, which makes it easier to place stereotypes on each other. In our school, stereotyping
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may not be the most prominent problem, but it is still here and deserves to be brought to
attention.
With my project I hope to bring the necessary attention to the stereotypes being put on
the students in our school. I plan to randomly pick out at least ten students from each grade,
along with several teachers, and interview them to see what stereotypes they believe are put on
them. I plan to then put together a video of stereotypes placed on those individuals and show
how they are greater than said stereotypes. To go along with that, I plan to discuss how we can
make the school a better place by eliminating the amount of stereotyping. The four years that we
spend at Swan Valley High School should be the best years of our lives, and when we have
students dreading coming to school because they are stereotyped, that is not okay. At the end of
my project I hope to have raised enough awareness that those being stereotyped against, along
with their peers and teachers, have enough courage to stand up to the “bully” and ultimately
make our hallways and classrooms a more pleasant environment to be in.
When it comes down to it, stereotypes affect all people. It doesn’t matter what your sex,
race, age, or even family history is, you are going to be stereotyped. It is up to you to live beyond
the stereotypes and to prove that you are greater than others expect. Teen moms should not be
told that they are all failures, teenagers should not all be called lazy, and the Arabic race should
not be accused as terrorists. Each individual is their own person and to put one title on an entire
group is absurd. Stereotyping occurs because people refuse to look past face value and rather
decide to judge by what they see. If at least one person everyday stood up for someone else that
was being stereotyped, our world would be a much happier place.