Is_White_Not_Right_

Campos 1 Adan Campos Professor Daniels English 100 August 29th, 2010 Is White Not Right' When it comes to academics in today’s society it is still a lot like it was ten years ago: white students do the best in school, while the blacks and Hispanics are still struggling. But has anyone really stopped to think about the minority students that do well in school and why they are doing so well' Some people might say that the answer to that is simple; it’s because they “act white.” In order to find out why certain minorities “act white” at school, one has to take a look at his/her friends, families, and their school teachers. A students biggest influence at school is their friends, whether they are just starting out in kindergarten or almost done with high school. Most people are made up by the people they are surrounded by; and for the most part that does ring true, so one has to wonder are the students that act white surrounded by other students that act white' Usually that is not the case because students that act white wind up losing their friends. If one is a minority and reading this paper right now, can he or she think back to a time when their friends gave you a hard time for something silly that they did, do they remember how big of a deal they made it, now imagine how bad it would be if they were giving them a hard time for acting white. They would probably say that these people are changing into something they are not and that their friends don’t like it. Students that act white are always likely to lose their friends but in return they do get better Campos 2 grades. A great example of this is a student by the name of Ixavion Wright a black student that graduated the top of his class in 2006 as the valedictorian with a 4.0 plus GPA he states “As I’ve gone through my school career, people have called me white because I’ve made good grades and didn’t conform to the stereotype. My whole take on it was. I didn’t really care. I chose to be different. I just went to school and did what I had to do to make good grades.” When a student is at school they aren’t always with their friends though, they are in class for the most part and during that time their teacher can have an impact on how they act. If a student is doing very well in the class usually the teacher will let that student know and the student will feel better about him or herself and about that class so naturally they are going to want to do better for that teacher and for themselves. This also leads to the topic of this discussion, acting white. Now if the student is not doing good in his or her class the teacher would talk to that student one on one and tell them to get their act together and the student will feel patronized as well. After a failing student hears that they usually just give up hope and wind up not caring about the class or that teacher anymore and they will continue to let their grade slip further into the abyss. After school lets out and all the students have left the school, they all for the most part, go home to be with their families. A student’s parents have always had the greatest impact on their children since the day they were born. One must think though, for the minority students that act white, do their parents act white as well or did their parents want them to act white' Usually when a person acts or behaves a certain way it’s because their parents acted the same way. That would mean it wouldn’t be too uncommon if the African American or Hispanic student that acts Campos 3 white is only that way because his or her parents act the same way. But what if this student that acts white comes from parents that act like the stereotypical African American or Hispanic people. The student could be this way for one of two reasons, either they act white because they don’t want to wind up like their parents or maybe their parents push them to act that way because they want their children to have a better education than they did. In the end of this entire discussion people should really stop, take a few steps back, and take a look at the entire picture. For the longest time in this country people were discriminated for being/acting African American or Hispanic and now in the year 2010 people are still being discriminated for who they are and it’s just because they act white. This society should really stop using the term “acting white” when it comes to colored students that get good grades because it makes it sound as if only white students were or will ever be the only people that get good grades or good lives. Why can’t a colored student that gets good grades at school just be called that, a good student'