education

The Acts of Exclusion in Greek Life

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Greek life has been under a microscopic eye, especially this summer and fall. Sorority Instagram pages are flooded with pictures of members and captions saying, “I found my girl gang!” What about everything that’s going on in the world? The protests, the murders, the systemic racism absolutely has to be acknowledged. We have to acknowledge that Greek life as a whole is predominantly white. I think many people have a fear of joining Greek life because they look different (size, …

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You Can’t Ignore Your Whiteness

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We have to discuss white fragility.  Psychologist Robin DiAngelo defines white fragility as: “a state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive moves. These moves include the outward display of emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and behaviors such as argumentation, silence, and leaving the stress-inducing situation.” Whiteness is something that we continue to allow people and especially white people to avoid and it must stop. Robin DiAngelo speaks from …

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Ever heard of Afrocentric Psychology?

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Throughout the time as an undergraduate psychology major, students are taught about this idea of Psychology and all of the findings that psychologists have gathered since psychology’s start. What is hidden from these students is the fact that what they are learning is only applicable to one subset of the population of the world. In fact, they may not learn a single thing about other populations. This fact is a blaring one. There are entirely different psychologies for everyone that …

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Do Racists Literally Just Have to Die Off?

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I find myself always being the one asking the loaded questions about racism. I always want answers to the big questions and it’s something that doesn’t really have a straightforward answer. For so long, before I decided to educate myself, the questions I would ask would be about how to end racism. Because there was no clear cut answer, I just figured there was no way to end racism because there were too many racists and it was impossible because …

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Teachers Still Need to Be Taught

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When it comes to the school system, there are many white teachers who stray away from talking about race in the classroom. The dynamics of the classroom matter so much more than people may originally anticipate. Students need to feel comfortable when it comes to someone who is instructing them. Not only are teachers someone that students see often, but they are available to talk to about other topics if needed. When it comes to race in the classroom, teachers …

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White “Suffering”

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The Dangerous Belief that White People are Under Attack (2017), by Dr. Clara Wilkins, reminds me of a conversation that I had with my extended family a few years ago. My aunt, (and old, white, wealthy, surprisingly liberal woman) was talking about how her alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania was using affirmative action when looking at applications. My aunt was expressing her frustration about how white students are now being “discriminated against” because students of color now have a …

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Psychology’s in Trouble

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Psychology has a character flaw that it does want to acknowledge or do anything about. When it comes to psychology research, majority of the population does not include people of minority groups. Psychology is very aware of this issue due to most studies focusing on a particularly small population. Another thing is that due to the lack of diversity in these psychological studies, certain populations are technically not able to be looked at because statistically there were not enough participants …

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