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Valeria Abad

Melissa Wilson

English II Honors

December 14, 2019

Problem Solution Essay

Discrimination of black, hispanic youth is a problem due to the fact that white adults and some

students make negative stereotypes about black or hispanics teens inside and outside of school

make some of them feel bad about themselves. Discrimination might have a negative impact on

teens such as students feeling threatened by others, or teens feeling embarrassed about their

ethnicity and culture, teens having low self confidence, anxiety and/or depression. It’s important

to solve this problem that’s going on because if nothing is done about discrimination then the

problem will continue to happen and eventually will get worse.

Some issues associated with discrimination are making negative stereotypes about black

and Hispanics, people feeling threatened by others because of it, and teens having low

self-esteem. “Adolescents indicate that stereotypes are pervasive, as evidenced in media,

anti-immigrant comments, and insults from peers” (Romero), inside of school people make this

negative stereotypes which impact Black and Hispanic teens in a negative way, peers make

anti-immigrant comments and insult them which makes them feel bad about themselves.

“Results indicate high proportions of adults who work or volunteer with children endorsed

negative stereotypes towards Blacks and other ethnic minorities” (Priest). In spite of the fact that
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people make these stereotypes about black and Hispanics, many tend to believe them and

separate themselves from other ethnic minorities. Because other students and teachers believe

these negative comments or stereotypes about Black and Hispanics they start to feel bad about

themselves which can make lead to teens having anxiety, depression and/or low self-esteem.

Some solutions to end discrimination in school could be developing efficacious programs

to improve teen health (Romero), take actions when you see students being bullied by others,

invite them to sit together in lunch, seek advices and/or mix classes with all ethnicities. The

outcome of these solutions could be that even though you mix all classes, students will still

separate into race because they will feel more welcome with people who look like them or act

like them, sometimes those groups might not be a good influence for teens but they rather stay

with them just because they look alike, or they speak the same language. Students and teachers

should take action when they see others discriminating Black and/or Hispanics. Teens have to

take the right action so the problem can be resolved because if they make the wrong choice it

could get egregious. On the other hand, if we make these programs to improve teens health then

maybe they won’t have such a low self- esteem. And if they seek advice then they will know

what they should do when they feel threatened by their peers.

In conclusion, people use stereotypes to define Black and Hispanics instead of actually

getting to know them. Due to the fact that others make negative stereotypes Black and Hispanics

tend to have low self-esteem, anxiety and/or depression. But we can solve this problem of

discrimination in school if we help these teens, by giving them advises so they know what they
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should do when they feel threatened and make the right choice. Another thing people should start

doing is learning about their culture and putting themselves in their shoes for a moment, what

this means is to try to look at the situation from their point of view you would understand why

they feel and/or act the way they do. At this point in time schools still face discrimination against

Black and Hispanics.

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Works Cited

​Priest, Naomi, et al. “Stereotyping across Intersections of Race and Age: Racial Stereotyping

among White Adults Working with Children.”

Romero, Andrea, et al. “Qualitative Exploration of Adolescent Discrimination: Experiences and

Responses of Mexican-American Parents and Teens.” Journal of Child & Family Studies, vol.

24, no. 6, June 2015, pp. 1531–1543. EBSCOhost