RACISM AND STEREOTYPING AGAINST ABORIGINAL STUDENTS.

Running head: RACISM AND STEREOTYPING AGAINST ABORIGINAL STUDENTS
RACISM AND STEREOTYPING AGAINST ABORIGINAL STUDENTS
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RACISM AND STEREOTYPING AGAINST ABORIGINAL STUDENTS1
Discrimination against people refers to putting people in a disadvantageous position than
others due to some specific attributes of that individual and these attributes may include- race,
culture, religion, language and other similar attributes. Racism and stereotyping in Australia can
be traced back to historical racist attitude of community and it still exist in some parts knowingly
or unknowingly in the contemporary Australia (Bodkin-Andrews et al., 2017). Aboriginal
Australians are discriminated in different fields such as in health care setting, in workplace and
also in schools. Schools are the smaller representation of the community and many times
discrimination is carried out in schools due to various stereotypes and also based on the race of
the aboriginal people (Service.nsw.gov.au., 2020). The main aim of the paper is to discuss about
the way discrimination against the students at school affects their educational outcomes. The
paper will discuss about the racism and stereotypes practices in schools against the aboriginal
students, the way these types of discrimination affects the student outcomes, and the strategies
used by the teachers for developing a more inclusive and diversified class room environment.
It has been found out from various studies that, racial discrimination against the
aboriginal students is a common practice as the schools are a smaller representation of the
society. Moreover from a research it has also been found out that one in every three students of
the Australian schools have experienced racial discrimination by their peers. About 20% of the
aboriginal students reported being faced racial discrimination by their teachers as well.
Moreover, it was found that such stereotyping and racial discrimination at school have some
serious mental impacts on the students who are the victims of the same. It was further identified
that the aboriginal students were called out by different names, they had been threatened at
school by their peers, had been left out of group activities, violently attacked due to their race
and certain stereotypes against them (Denson et al., 2017).

RACISM AND STEREOTYPING AGAINST ABORIGINAL STUDENTS2
One of the major link between past experiences of aboriginal children with racial
discrimination and stereotyping and the impact on their education includes- the decision of the
children to either change their schools or drop out permanently. Therefore children take a major
decision of their lives because of racial bullying at school and stereotyping practices against
them. The aboriginal children may be alienated at school due to their race and certain stereotypes
against them and their families. As a result the aboriginal children feel that they do not belong to
the classrooms where the non-aboriginal students go. Stereotyping and racial discrimination also
causes barriers against the aboriginal students education due to the fact that they start skipping
their classes as a result of their experiences (Brown et al., 2017). Therefore the aboriginal skip
school to avoid racial discrimination and bullying. According to a study, it was found that racism
and stereotyping experiences had a major impact on the educational outcome as their scores in
mathematics and spelling were hampered due to lack of self-esteem. Moreover it was found that
increased experiences of the students with racism caused them to feel disengaged with academics
and led to poor scores in mathematics, spelling and also science (Somerville, 2016). One of the
major reasons influencing the students engagement into education was the impact of the
experiences on their psychology which led the aboriginal students to feel confused about their
personal identity and the place that they occupy in the society. Further there are a number of
other factors that also affects the aboriginal students educational outcome- their economic and
social disadvantage often causes an educational disadvantage, the aboriginal parents lag proper
knowledge and awareness or are afraid to send their children to school due to their past
experiences. There is also a close relationship between health of the students and their education
(Markwick et al., 2019).