Prompt: "Stereotyped beliefs have the power to become self-fulfilling prophesies for behavior."
Note-The tone appears a little less personal/stern in this essay, but I purposely did this because my common app essays are about humanitarian efforts and my music ( A flowery essay)
Stereotypes reflect the innate human tendency to conveniently group objects based on certain arbitrary characteristics. By constructing prototypes of different ethnicities, humans attempt to neatly organize their world into proper and improper, accepted and unacceptable, intelligent and idiotic, and a host of other groups. In reality, the complex variances between individuals are far too subtle and diverse to accommodate a stereotype.
I view stereotypes as disrespectful not only to stereotyped groups, but also to society as a whole. A stereotype destroys an individual's true characteristics and replaces them with an inaccurate set of beliefs constructed by other individuals. Unfortunately, viewing a group from a biased perspective may actually elicit the stereotyped response, causing a self-fulfilled prophesy which pours fuel into the fire.
From a global perspective, the saddest part about stereotypes is that they mar the beautiful diversity of the human canvas. Social diversity allows people to explore, grow, and mature by examining the beliefs and characteristics of other individuals and groups. Regrettably, stereotypes have stymied individuals from truly understanding each other, and the extraordinary qualities of many individuals have gone unnoticed under the crushing weight of the stereotype. Once people believe that a certain group can accurately be characterized through a stereotype, they no longer have any incentive to learn what differentiates the members of that group. The stereotype, which destroys singularity under a suffocating blanket of vague, inaccurate generalizations, promotes a distorted view of reality that is hard to erase from society.
I firmly believe that breaking stereotypes requires a liberal and open mind. Approaching people without preconceptions will ensure that their true selves show through without the hindrance of the self-fulfilling prophesy. Thus, I always strive to maintain a broad, unassuming mindset because it allows me to understand and appreciate diversity and not the stereotypes that permeate society.
Hei Srihari! :D
Your English is so beautiful!!! I feel ashamed about my underdeveloped vocabulary now, haha. But other than that, great essay. I do agree with you that prejudice leads people to be narrow minded and ignore the true selves of other. However, that is not the intention of the stereotype. Initially, they were used to describe the basic characteristics of people holding different positions in a society in tales and fables and such, but I think behind all that there lies a more absolute truth. It is, I suppose, irrefutable that at core every human being has the same needs and the same wishes. [For example, take every Hollywood movie and see what the characters say: "I just want to be happy."] However, it turns out that placed in different situations each individual will react differently trying to adapt himself to his given set of circumstances and still follow his interest. What I am trying to say is, stereotypes are made by people and show us how we can change others around us, by giving them power, by hurting them. This goes pretty well with that saying: "Man is born pure, society corrupts him." But, gah, I'm babbling, don't listen to me.
Again, great job with the essay and good luck! :)
... acceptable and unacceptable,
I view stereotyping as disrespectful ...
This is a really great start. You may want to consider coming up with more of a grabber, something to really catch the reader's attention before you launch into your main idea about stereotypes. Other than that, it seems very intelligently written. Good luck! :)
