Institutional Racism - Essay Example

In fact, just as the individual can act out of racism, so can an institution. The term "institution" can refer to a broad range of groups, such as the workplace, government and educational system. Institutional racism can have major effects on minorities, resulting in poorer education and medical assistance. First of all, many forms of racism still exist in today's schools and classrooms, affecting the education of ethnic groups. Institutional forms of racism are of major importance in education because they are built into the system and operate largely.

For instance, the fact that most teachers are Caucasian causes schools to be run according to the values and beliefs of white society (Hickling-Hudson and Roberta 1). When this happens, black students are forced to feel that some of their behaviour is wrong, yet in fact it is only different by culture (Hickling-Hudson and Roberta 1). Unfortunately, the common school practice of standardized testing is an example of institutional racism. This is the way it occurs: children from all kinds of cultures come to school and are tested.

Nevertheless, the tests mostly measure the degree to which children have attained the goals of the school according to a white society standard. Since minorities like lower class black children are the most socially distant from the school's goals, they show the lowest achievement on these tests (Jacobson, Olsen, King Rice, Sweetland and Ralph 34). Nevertheless, they may even be dismissed from schools. As . Alladin states, "In spite of the attempts to equalize educational opportunity for all groups, research on immigrant children's successful integration into the education system shows that there is a high drop-out rate among these students (15).

Consequently, they are placed in homogenous groups, such as all ethnic groups being perceived as having the same learning characteristics, which are always ignored by teachers, as when learning differences are treated as a 'cultural' predisposition to not seek achievement (Jones 6). As highlighted in the racist discourse research of Maykel Verkuyten and colleagues: "[The] more liberal notion of equality stresses the idea that a society needs to assure that everybody has the opportunity to develop and improve him-or herself.

Inequality then becomes a matter of not making the most of one's opportunities. The consequences of this principle is that the arrears of specificgroups can be blamed on the groups themselves, rather thanbe a product of discrimination (441). Hence, students in ethnic groups then face then face a lot of pressure in the way they study, and that is how educational racism plays a role in our schools. In addition to education, the institutional racism in society has a great impact on the overall health of ethnic groups.

The institutional racism that exists in many hospitals and clinics occurs in a number of ways, including the administration of policies that restrict admission of minorities, who are considered as unwanted patients (Randall 6). Many hospitals or clinics discriminate by telling minorities to look for a doctor. Discriminatory admission practices include, requiring pre-payment as a condition of obtaining medical care and refusing to obtain help by financing care for low-income patients, especially minorities (Randall 6).

Such practices may have a destructive