Some Racial and Ethnic Groups Have Inherited Personality Traits That Will Stop The

Majority of Them From Achieving

Introduction
Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never
been loosened or fertilized by education: they grow there, firm as weeds among stone. So said
Charlotte Bronte in 1847, and it would appear that those words are still very true. To believe that
ones ethnic or racial group are deciding factors in achievement can only speak to deep-rooted
prejudice. Every population in the world has their own set of negatives and positives. Yet, it
would appear that majority populations are never demonized for their negatives, and minorities
are never credited for their positives. The problems often arises when majority populations try,
unsuccessfully, to make sense of these differences, this often turns into justifications for their
own behaviours, and blame for others. Rarely is pathology in majority populations examined in
the way that it is in minority one; and often this is done with different yardsticks, which then
results in inaccurate information. Privilege offers majority populations the luxury of having their
bad apples seen as anomalies; but those same bad apples in a minority population are used to
colour that entire population. It is a much more plausible argument to say that every group
possess traits that may hinder achievement, but if that is the case then what other factors might
be responsible for the obvious differences in achievement between various groups. Many of the
factors that contribute to stunt achievement are, in fact, not internal but are actually external and
can be changed. These include the place in the world where one is born and raised; whether or
not that person was raised in poverty; and factors such as incarceration, that may interfere with
progress.

Geography

The place of ones birth has been known to have significant and lasting impact on life thereafter.
One does not choose where they are born or the circumstances of said birth. As such, it is also
safe to say that we cannot predict how these circumstances change us, or to what extent. While
there are always exceptions to every rule, they do not always speak for the majority. Malcolm
Gladwell, in his book, Outlier, points to the way that the English number system, compared to
the Chinese system stunts childrens achievement very early on. Four-year-old Chinese children
can count up to forty, and American children at that age can only count to fifteen American
children are already a year behind their Asian counterparts in the most fundamental math skills.
America, as an example in this case, could very well be any under-developed English-speaking
nation. For American children with the means and opportunity, there is still the possibility to
make some headway and to catch up as they get older. A minority individual in another country
is not so fortunate; catching up will never be an option because circumstances simply do not
allow it. A study by the Pew Research Center confirms that in 2011, 87% of the worlds high
income people lived in North America and Europe. This then leaves a paltry 13% for the entire
rest of the world to share.
Poverty
In that 13% would be the vast majority of the worlds minority populations. In such a climate, it
would seem to be highly irresponsible to use personality traits as a factor in getting ahead. While
those numbers do not necessarily speak to overall disenfranchisement as a whole, they do speak
to a broader issue regarding poverty and wealth distribution. To put those figures into
perspective, the report listed the figures for poor or low income in Africa in 2011 as 92%. How
does an African child with a dream, a will, and a strong work ethic set about defeating those
odds? That is, of course, an insurmountable task, and a hurdle that is rarely overcome. It has

never been proven that, other than wealth, people in developed countries possess any other
achievement trait or ability to propel them further. The main factors and, it would seem, the only
important ones, are resources and means. The Hunger Project website, a United Nations partner,
states that 1.4 billion people in developing countries live on $1.25 a day; and 22,000 children
die every day due to poverty. Until we can safely level the playing fields for all, then we cannot
fully know what the potential of the poor is.
Incarceration
One major factor that affects the achievement of youth in the United States is the issue of mass
incarceration. Due to the doubling of incarceration rate in the Seventies and Eighties, the United
States now accounts for less than 5 percent of the worlds inhabitantsand about 25 percent of
its incarcerated inhabitants. In 2000, one in 10 black males between the ages of 20 and 40 was
incarcerated10 times the rate of their white peers. (Coates, 2015). In the US, the
criminalization of Black youth begins as early as elementary school where test scores are used to
project for future prison cells. And if every encounter with the justice system could be seen as a
prison in itself, then it is one from which an individual never become fully free. After slavery
was abolished many jurisdictions made slaves into criminals by prohibiting them from
pursuing a wide range of activities that whites were typically free to pursue. Among these
activities were: learning to read, leaving their masters property without a proper pass, engaging
in unbecoming conduct in the presence of a white female, assembling to worship outside the
supervisory presence of a white person, neglecting to step out of the way when a white person
approached on a walkway, smoking in public, walking with a cane, making loud noises, or
defending themselves from assaults. (Coates, 2015). With such a list it is safe to assume that for
a black person, just being meant that one was automatically a criminal. Based on reports, it

would appear that these policies have not been eliminated but have grown and changed with the
times. Articles 27 and 37 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child states that
you have the right to an education, and to not be punished in a cruel and hurtful way; yet
according to a study conducted by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, there are at
least 2,225 child offenders serving life without parole sentences in U.S prisons for crimes
committed before they were age 18, with an estimated 59 percent sentenced to life without parole
for their first-ever criminal conviction. The insinuation here is that harsh sentences will deter
crime, a belief that has never been proven; also that there is no recourse or need for
rehabilitation. Why must a minority child pay with his life for delinquent adolescent acts? These
children do not or cannot fully grasp the gravity of their actions not dissimilar to any child of
that age. These figures would also suggest that minority children are, somehow, more violent
than any other group. But if other groups are not treated in the same dehumanizing way then
there cannot really be a proper comparison. The fact is that, combined with poverty (which plays
a significant part in who ends up in prison), and compromised environments, these factors all
culminate to make a bad situation much worse. Once a child is entered into the justice system,
every act thereafter becomes suspect, and reason for another charge and conviction. This creates
a Ferris wheel of criminality that becomes impossible to disembark from. The end result of this
process is that that child will have lost all opportunities to get an education, and to positively
contribute to society. In many ways, whether he knows it or not, the lack of respect for his rights
as a child created for him a life of crime and the inability to reach his full potential.

Conclusion

Judging a race or ethnicity based on perceived traits is not only foolish, but highly disingenuous.
The circumstances that we all deal with are not the same and will never be, as such there is no
way to know how a change in these factors will affect outcome. It is also safe to assume that the
very people who are convinced that personality traits determine achievements for minorities, will
not volunteer to give up their wealth and resources to put those theories to the test.

References
Bront, Charlotte. Chapter 29. Jane Eyre (Signet Classics). New York: Signet Classics, 1997. N.
pag. Print.
Coates, Ta-Nehisi. The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration. The Atlantic. Atlantic
Media Company, 14 Sept. 2015. Web. 30 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/10/the-black-family-in-the-age-of-massincarceration/403246/#Chapter%20VIII>.
Convention on the Rights of the Child. United Nations Human Rights. United Nations, 2 Sept.
1990. Web. 30 Oct. 2015. <http://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx>.
Know Your World: Facts About World Hunger & Poverty. The Hunger Project Know Your World
Facts About Hunger and Poverty Comments. The Hunger Project, n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.thp.org/knowledge-center/know-your-world-facts-about-hunger-poverty/>.
Numbers, Facts And Trends Shaping The World. A Global Middle Class Is More Promise than
Reality." A Global Middle Class Is More Promise than Reality (n.d.): n. pag.
Http://www.pewglobal.org/. Pew Research Center, 8 July 2015. Web. 30 Oct. 2015.
Rice Paddies and Math Tests. Outliers. New York: Little Brown, 2008. N. pag. Malcolm
Gladwell. Web. 04 Nov. 2015.
United States: Thousands of Children Sentenced to Life without Parole. Human Rights Watch.
N.p., 11 Oct. 2005. Web. 30 Oct. 2015. <https://www.hrw.org/news/2005/10/11/united-statesthousands-children-sentenced-life-without-parole>.