Race and ethnicity: Personal socialization and educational experiences

Personal Socialization Project

The objective of this work is to take the discussion about race and apply them in the life of the researcher of this project. This work will address the question if "what is race" and "what purpose does the concept of race serve in contemporary society?" Further, this work will relate what the researcher learned about race and ethnicity and from whom was this learned and in what manner were these instructions given? The experiential knowledge of the researcher relating to educational institutions will be related and finally the consequences of having held this particular view will be related.

"Measuring Race and Ethnicity: Why and How?" states the fact: "Race and ethnicity are constantly evolving concepts, deceptively easy to measure and used ubiquitously in the biomedical literature, yet slippery to pinpoint as definitive individual characteristics. A current dictionary definition of race is 'a family, tribe, people, or nation belonging to the same common stock, or a class or kind of people unified by shared interests, habits, or characteristics." (Winker, 2004) it is interesting to note that in 1850 in the United States there was the default race of white and places to mark with a check by those who were either black or mulatto. In 1860, the category of Indian was added and "since 1960 individuals have been able to specify their own race and ethnicity, and by 2000 the census enumerated 126 racial and ethnic categories." (National Institutes of Health. 2004; as cited in Winker, 2004)

I. WHAT IS RACE/ETHNICITY?

The work of Dennis O'Neil (2006) states that human 'races' are "primarily cultural creations, not biological realities. The commonly held belief in the existence of human biological races is based on the false assumption that anatomical traits such as skin color and specific facial characteristics, cluster together in single distinct groups of people. They do not. There are no clearly distinct 'black, 'white', or other races." While this is a wonderful view, and is a factual view, this still is not the view that the world-at-large holds. The writer of this work is of the Japanese race and was taught about race and ethnicity by the parents of the writer who explained that the world was a very large place full of countries such as Japan with many different kinds of people that talked different, looked different, and had different beliefs that were held in the country of Japan.

II. EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS and RACE/ETHNICITY

The work of Jonathan Kozol (2005) entitled: "Still Separate, Still Unequal" published in Harper's Magazine relates "Many Americans who live far from our major cities and who have no firsthand knowledge of the realities to be found in urban public schools seem to have the rather vague and general impression that the great extremes of racial isolation that were matters of grave national significance some thirty-five or forty years ago have gradually but steadily diminished in recent years." The truth is that this trend has completely reversed over the past ten years and schools that were deeply segregated two or three decades ago are "no less segregated now, while thousands of other schools around the country that had been integrated either voluntarily or by the force of law have since been re-segregating." (Kozol, 2005) as a Japanese student, attending an international school the writer of this work has not really felt any race/ethnic issues in terms of negative ones presented as challenges or barriers except the one area of speaking English in front of many people, which does cause anxiety. The greatest anxiety experienced has been the $5,000 per semester tuition as compared to the $2,000 for U.S. citizens to attend the university.

IV. ROLE of COLONIZATION in RACE/ETHNICITY HIERARCHAL STRUCTURE

The work of Buck entitled: "Worked to the Bone, Race, Class, Power, and Privilege in Kentucky" published in the Monthly Review Press states: "The dominant history says Native Americans described Kentucky as a 'dark and bloody' ground due to the battles fought in the wars in the push to colonize the American Indians which also resulted in obtaining control over the ownership of the land as well of these different systems of culture within these tribes of Indians. Among this culture it is not so much what the individual owns but what the contributions the individual brinks to the group that is important as each has their own function for the good of the whole. However, in today's economic society individuals are severely divided by race/ethnicity. One example of this is in the country of India where the caste system is so strictly adhered to by those who hold the Hindu beliefs. Race/ethnicity is a categorization term it is a term used to approximate value or worth, level of education, income-level, and has other variables of genetics, physical likenesses, religious persuasion, environment and personal choices. While among the most advanced minds of today, race/ethnicity is simply not an issue if endeavoring closely on common goals there still remain, the 'hidden' race/ethnicity problems existing and these should certainly be addressed. At the same time categorization is something that the human race cannot in reality completely do away with for every race/ethnicity wants to be counted among those present.

SUMMARY & CONCLUSION

Cultural categorization of different race/ethnicities is natural to some degree unless something is negatively denoted by the race or culture through its' categorization and yet unfair and unfit use of such has and does still occur in today's world. The writer of this work is fortunate to have been instructed wisely as to race/ethnicity values.