Article Written by: Pepper Schwartz
Date written: January 20, 2014
So... I decided to take a break from all the health issues and did some searching among the countless articles I continuously found boring (well, in my opinion at least...). Anyway, in the midst of Justin Beiber stuff, why not talk about school? Lol. not really school, but has it ever occurred to you that because your attractive, your teacher favors you?For me, not really. I don't really see that kind of bias at our school, but I know it does exist, I just don't seem to realize it. Moreover, study finds edge given attractive people can start in school with teachers. It's not news that looks matter. Depending on how attractive people think we are, we may at times have found ourselves dateless or overwhelmed with attention. Studies have been shown that people attribute more intelligence and competence to taller, well turned out or otherwise good looking people. However, a new briefing paper by the Council of Contemporary Families tells us life's uneven distribution counts in an even more poignant place than we have considered: in school evaluation of our children by the teachers and their peers. Students that maintain good looks tend to get better grades JUST by their looks, have a higher GPA, most likely to go to college, and so forth. In contrast, people with goods tend to want to be complimented on their personality and skill rather than their looks all the time.
I found this to be extremely interesting, being that it never really hit me that much but it makes since if you think about it; its simply a psychological thing. People with good looks often can maneuver their way through life because after all society is run in a way that we immediately desire people who look good; it is pleasing to the senses. However, in high school, this isn't always the best thing in the world being that it is competitive and we are growing up. So, a teen's self-esteem being lowered can follow them for the rest of their lives and of course throughout college. So, I will conclude that teachers should watch out for their unconscious biasing and maybe we as teen's can be a little bit nicer, not as jealous and so forth. It's a cruel world out there...don't really want to start now....but oh well...it's life.....There will always be someone who looks better than another, is smarter, more talented etc. We all just need to feel comfortable in our own skin regardless and deal with it .
Peace,
Arlesia
Period 4
Want more? Check out http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/02/opinion/schwartz-attractiveness-teens/index.html?iid=article_sidebar
we profile people all the time based on their looks, even if we never notice it. it's not really something anyone can prevent themselves from doing, but we can recognize it and try hard to treat everyone equally
ReplyDeleteI never really thought about it this way, but this makes a lot of sense. I agree with Leslie, that even though teachers may not realize they are doing it, it happens. It sucks, but it is a big part of life. I hope teachers can work on recognizing this habit and put a stop to it.
ReplyDeleteI dealt with this so much in elementary school. I watched as countless 'pretty' girls in my class became teacher's pets/head of the class. None of this is new, unfortunately.
ReplyDelete