How Race Affects Childhood Development Focusing on African Americans - Research Paper Example

For example the African Americans are very well aware of the common belief that their race usually do not perform good in the standardized test and this biased opinion affected them and their results greatly. Hence, racism is a very crucial issue and it can heavily affect child development. (“Awareness of Racism Affects How Children Do Socially and Academically”) Racism is one of America’s most critical issues. The major issue is not that how many people face racism but the main questions are that how do people react to it?

Are children well aware of racism? If yes, then how does it affect their behavior, psychology and their personalities? Though many parents are quite sure that their children are not aware of racial discrimination but in reality from the age of 5 children start discriminating among themselves and those who are different from them. According to Howard Fishbein, (researcher at the University of Cincinnati), human beings have a natural tendency to observe differences and this ability helped the ancient people to keep a watch at the people who were different from them and who could have harmed them.

Researches proved that from the age of three children build up an ability to observe differences and this ability may lead towards their biased behavior with those who are not of their race. (“Theories of Cognitive Development: Lev Vygotsky”) In England it is observed that white students are preferred over black and black students have a very minimum chance of appearing on the list of talented and commendable students because according to a white hall report the teachers of England are unintentionally biased against black students.

This racial discrimination is mainly caused by poor administration of schools. According to a research black students are deprived of getting high quality education and the comfortable life that goes with it just because of racism. This prejudiced discrimination may lead towards the feelings of enmity and hatred. According to a research 714 African American of about 10 to 12 twelve year were interviewed and it was evaluated through the interviews that the children were depressed and they also found them inclined towards anti social activities.

The children and their mothers were also interviewed about their school behavior. The researchers observed that the children who experienced racism in schools were very depressed. They also suffered from lack of sleep and appetite. Moreover the boys were more likely to get indulged in anti social activities such as fighting. The non cooperative behavior of friends, fellow students and teachers greatly effects the childhood development of young kids. Lev Vygotsky in his theory stated that a child goes through two major steps of development one is present level of development and the other is potential level of development.

The present level of development shows what a child can do on his own and the potential level shows that what a child can achieve with the help of others. According to a survey the potential level of development of white children is a way too higher than that of African American children because of racial discrimination. The children lose their self confidence if they have to tolerate race based insults. If they are being called names and are considered different from others then this discrimination gives way to the feelings of depression, lack of confidence and sometimes