I apologize for the gap between entries.

We discussed "How Real is Race" in class today. I am intrigued by this article because it presents an issue that I never really considered before. However, as we discussed in class, it wasn't really surprising to me that race does not exist biologically. It seems to me that race is a scapegoat for people to convince themselves that they are different from people they consider to be "inferior." For instance, white Europeans justified their exploitation and mistreatment of African slaves by race and religion. They believed that white skin made a person more superior, and that the catholic religion was superior to the mysticism of Africa. I thought the article did a good job of providing useful information about the topic of race as a socially constructed idea as opposed to a veritable biological trait.

My question is this: How do we disillusion students and parents? And, how do we do it without risking harsh criticism or even loss of a job? The evidence is there but it is not being taught, and schools do not seem to be striving to correct this view. Schools do not necessarily teach the similarities between people. I think it's important to thighlight the similarities we all have early on so that children are not completely jaded by the idea of race as a truly biological difference. Children should learn the scientific reasons for why skin colors are different, even if the facts are watered down for their understanding. In my opinion this should all be incorporated into an Elementary curriculum because that is when children are the most impressionable. I think the authors put it best when they said "Educators, in their role oas transmitters of official culture, are particularly well poised to be active change agents..." When children are young they are more likely to take to heart the things that teachers tell them. Of course, this poses a huge responsibility to teachers, especially those dealing with elementary students, and teachers must be careful not to take advantage of students naivete.

One question that I had while reading this was about whether or not it would be beneficial to society to remove the idea of race completely. Race distinctions provide groups of people with something to identify with, especially minorities. Regradless of whether there is truly a biological difference between people of different skin colors, people still gravitate towards persons with similar external characteristics: skin color, hair color, personal style. It seems like one of the reasons race has existed as if there were truly biological differences between people is that it helps to think that you're made of "different stuff" than people who don't accept you as part of their group. The exclusivity that race provides is very attractive to people.

I liked some of the suggestions for implementing this idea into the classroom provided in the article. Most of all I appreciated the idea to have students come up with lists of observable and nonobservable differences and consider these groups in different ways, looking for what classifications can be made based on these features. Also, I liked the idea of discussing political correctness, though this would be better suited for a classroom with older students.