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Instructor Resource Manual and Test Bank for Race, Class and Gender: An Anthology, 9th
edition by Andersen/Hill-Collins
PART III: THE STRUCTURE OF SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS
Margaret Andersen and Patricia Hill Collins
31. “Seeing in 3D,” Margaret L. Andersen
Margaret L. Andersen argues that the economy is not a neutral force, as it is portrayed in the
media. Economic downturns do not hit all citizens equally. Specific groups experience economic
change in different ways. Asking, “what would we see differently were we to view the economic
recession with women and people of color in mind,” Andersen demonstrates the varying effects
on economic standing influenced by the intersections of race, class and gender.
Multiple Choice Questions:
1. Black women earning double an area’s median income were nearly five times more likely to
receive subprime mortgages than were _______________with similar earnings.
a. White women
b. White men
c. Black men
d. Asian men
2. There is a general absence of _______________in most of the reports being issued on the
impact of the recent recession.
a. women
b. White men
c. men
d. white collar workers
3. Which group is most likely to hold subprime mortgages?
a. Black men
b. White married couples
c. White men
d. Women of color
4. For most women _______________, not discrimination, is the depressor of wages.
a. part-time work
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b. time off to care for family members
c. job segregation
d. prejudice
5. As the national unemployment rate rose to 10%, it reached a level that has been characteristic
of Black unemployment for the past _______________ years.
a. 10
b. 60
c. 25
d. 100
6. According to Andersen, the decline in unemployment has been less than that for men because
women are less likely to be employed in the _______________ sector of the labor market
where there was more job growth.
a. private
b. service
c. industrial
d. public
7. Women’s wages are more _______________ than men’s wages:
a. steady
b. necessary
c. volatile
d. expendable
8. Compared to men, women have slightly higher:
a. credit scores
b. incomes
c. absentee rates
d. positions in the private labor market
9. The passage of the Lily Ledbetter act protects women against:
a. subprime mortgages
b. unemployment
c. sexual harassment
d. discrimination
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10. According to Andersen, headlines incorrectly suggest that the economy is a
_______________ force.
a. negative
b. neutral
c. positive
d. gendered
Essay and Discussion Questions:
1. Why is it important to recognize the general absence of women in reports on the impact of
the recession?
2. Discuss how the rise to a national unemployment rate of 10% relates to Andersen’s question,
“what would we see differently were we to view the economic recession with women and
people of color in mind.”
3. How do gender and race work together to make economic standing, according to Andersen?
What does Andersen mean when she says that “a dominant narrative remains anchored in a
race, gender and class-blind perspective”?
4. What is the difference between what Andersen refers to as a one dimensional as opposed to a
three dimensional view of inequalities?
5. Identify two possible policy solutions that might decrease inequalities, according to
Andersen.
1. How might this report help us to ‘see things differently’ than the way we are encouraged to
see things by typical headlines about the recession?
1. How might the material available on this site help us to ‘see things differently’ than the way
32. “Inequality and the Growth of Bad Jobs”, Matt Vidal
Vidal takes a more nuanced look at the shifting inequality in America, specifically how the job
market perpetuates it. He points out that more than a quarter of employed Americans work in a
low-wage job, and that this segment of the jobs market has increased faster in recent years when
compared to other, higher paying ones. Comparatively, low-skill jobs have decreased, meaning
that more skilled jobs are paying less money. Due to the fact that large corporate entities have
focused on outsourcing as a way to cut costs, the job market for low skilled employees is not
expanding, with increasing poverty due to a lack of a living wage.
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1. According to Matt Vidal, low-skill jobs account for about which percentage of employment?
a. 20%
b. 35%
c. 40%
d. 43%
2. The declining wage share in American economics is closely correlated to
a. increase in education
b. deunionization
c. further industrialization
d. technological growth
ANS: B
Essay and Discussion Questions:
1. According to Vidal, what is often prescribed as the cure for economic inequality by
economists? Why is this not effective?
2. What are the four job types described in Vidal’s article? Define and give examples.
3. According to Vidal, what are the causes of reduced wages in the present day United States?
4. What solutions does Vidal suggest to combat the growing issue of low wages and related
poverty?
Internet Sites and Questions for Further Discussion:
33. “Are Emily and Greg More Employable Than Lakisha and Jamal?” Marianne
Bertrand and Sendhil Mullainathan
Recognizing that all measures of economic success show racial inequalities in the United States
labor market, these authors designed and conducted a study to determine whether perceptions of
race connected with an applicant’s name might influence whether the applicant got called for an
interview. They created fictitious job applicants and assigned names suggestive of different
races to identical resumes. This article reports their findings.
Multiple Choice Questions:
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1. Bertrand and Mullainathan found that applicants in their study given White sounding names
needed to send out 10 resumes to get a callback. They found that applicants with African-
American sounding names needed to send out:
a. 15
b. 10
c. 29
d. 3
2. Bertrand and Mullainathan found that a White name yielded as many more callbacks as an
additional _______________ years of experience on a resume.
a. 3
b. 8
c. 5
d. 2
3. Bertrand and Mullainathan found that the gap between Whites and African-Americans in
callback rates _______________with the quality of the resume.
a. narrowed
b. stayed the same
c. widened
d. doubled
4. Bertrand and Mullainathan experimentally manipulated the perception of race by the
_______________ of the applicant.
a. resume quality
b. name
c. education
d. occupation
5. One of the factors Bertrand and Mullainathan tested for to learn its effect on callback rates
was:
a. level of education
b. state of residence
c. resume quality
d. number of previous jobs held by applicants
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6. Bertrand and Mullainathan found _______________ racial differences in callback rates.
a. small but significant
b. no
c. insignificant
d. large
7. Bertrand and Mullainathan conclude that job training programs _______________ to
alleviate the racial gap in labor market outcomes.
a. are unnecessary
b. may not be enough
c. are the only thing needed
d. are the one thing missing from social programs
Essay and Discussion Questions:
1. What effect do the authors think their findings might have in influencing African-Americans’
participation in work training programs?
2. What solutions do you think there might be to the problem identified in the study conducted
by Bertrand and Mullainathan?
3. What is the significance of the findings in this study that the racial gap in callbacks widens
when the quality of resumes increases?
Internet Sites and Questions for Further Discussion:
1. How does this British study compare to the one conducted in the U.S.?
2. What names are more/less likely to be called in Britain?
3. Might this information influence you in choosing the names of your children?
4. If your name is/was one that might attract fewer callbacks, what would you do?
1. In this report issued during the recent recession, how much did race matter to one’s
34. “Racism in Toyland,” Christine Williams
Williams examines the social organization of shopping and uncovers labor, advertising and other
practices that perpetuate racial (as well as gender and class) injustice and inequality. She
identifies problems in retail policies such as selective advertising; opposition to public bus
service to malls; job segregation; and racial profiling by clerks and security guards. Williams
views the raising of awareness as a first step in creating a better alternative.
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Multiple Choice Questions:
1. Racial inequality is perpetuated in the social organization of shopping by:
a. job segregation
b. opposition to public bus service to malls
c. racial profiling by clerks and security guards
d. all of these answers are correct
2. The history of suburban malls is a history of:
a. intentional racial segregation
b. the creation of egalitarian space where all shoppers are equal
c. intentional racial integration
d. unintentional racial segregation
3. The racism of shopping is reflected in:
a. labor practices
b. guidelines for relationships between clerks and customers
c. store organization
d. all of these answers are correct
4. In Austin Texas local malls opposed public bus service on the grounds that:
a. it would create traffic jams
b. it would encourage undesirable (nonwhite) patrons
c. there were no bus stops available
d. it would create overcrowding
5. According to Williams, middle-class Whites do not recognize the privileges they get while
shopping because:
a. it rarely happens
b. any privileges barely cancel out all the disadvantages
c. it is so customary
d. they are too busy to notice
6. The purchase Williams finally made was from a store that supported:
a. racial exclusion
b. gender segregation
c. class distinctions
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d. all of these answers are correct
7. Williams argues that racial inequality influences:
a. where we choose to shop, what we buy and how we shop
b. where we choose to shop but not what we buy
c. what we buy but not where she shop
d. who shops but not where we shop or what we buy
Essay Questions:
1. How does racial inequality influence our shopping, according to Williams?
2. Why did malls in Austin, Texas oppose public bus service?
3. Discuss the ways that racial hostility is shown by stores.
4. How do hiring practices contribute to racial inequality and injustice?
5. Discuss the author’s claim that her purchase supported a store organized around racial
exclusion, gender segregation and class distinction. Now consider a purchase you have
recently made. What kind of store did you support? What are the alternatives to supporting
stores organized like the one where Williams made her purchase?
Internet Sites and Questions for Further Discussion:
35. “Gender Matters. So Do Race And Class: Experiences of Gendered Racism on the Wal-
Mart Shop Floor,” Sandra E. Weissinger
Sandra Weissinger examined complaints made in the Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. class action
lawsuit to understand the specific ways that individuals who are targeted for mistreatment
experience mistreatment in raced, classed and gendered ways. She documents the unequal
treatment that women receive in comparison to men, but shows that some women hold
contradictory positions. A given woman who is targeted for her gender may be given some
privilege linked to her race, thus yielding different outcomes for different women. She argues
that discrimination based on sex alone does not explain the variation in women’s experiences.
She concludes that discriminatory work atmospheres are maintained in multiple and complex
ways, contributing to the persistence of “a web of intersecting and relational inequalities.”
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Multiple Choice Questions:
1. Across geographic boundaries, women working for Wal-Mart were found to earn less than:
a. minimum wage
b. management had agreed to pay them when they were hired
c. male employees in the same positions.
d. their maids and nannies
2. Women were found to have been promoted at Wal-Mart at _______________rates than/as
male employees.
a. lower and slower
b. higher and faster
c. better wage
d. the same
3. White women can be marginalized due to their _______________ but experience certain
benefits because of their _______________.
a. appearance/gender
b. gender and class/race
c. race/gender
d. class and race/gender
4. Joking can be a subtle medium through which people of color experience belittlement and
struggles for _______________.
a. dominance
b. fair wages
c. better working conditions
d. attention
5. Ms. Gina Espinoza-Price provided an example of how a White man used joking to force
others to acknowledge the labels he had created for them and to show _______________.
a. how ‘cool’ he could be
b. his kind nature
c. dominance
d. that his sense of humor meant that he was not ‘really’ racist.
6. Uma Jean Minor noted that her Wal-Mart wages were not sufficient to:
a. purchase a home
b. pay for higher education
c. lift her out of poverty
d. pay her legal fees
7. Ms. Gina Espinoza-Price was _______________six weeks after complaining about sexual
harassment.
a. given a promotion
b. given a raise
c. sued for libel by the manager she accused
d. terminated from her job at Wal-Mart
8. To succeed at Wal-Mart White women were socialized to _______________ discrimination
against people of color.
a. identify and eliminate
b. accept and replicate
c. reject and report
d. ignore and deny
9. According to Weissinger, “insiders who hold beliefs that make them outsiders need support
so they will continue to believe that the long-term benefits of their actions will outweigh the
short-term punishments they endure for failing to _______________ discriminatory
practices.”
a. report
b. identify
c. replicate
d. oppose
Essay and Discussion Questions:
1. What does Weissenger mean when she refers to “insiders who hold beliefs that make them
outsiders?”
2. What is it that “insiders who hold beliefs that make them outsiders” fail to do that leads to the
punishments they endure at Wal-Mart, according to Weissenger?
3. Discuss “how the multiple features of each plaintiff’s biography influence and shape the
stories they tell about work life at Wal-Mart.”
4. Discuss the ways joking is used to express dominance in the workplace.
5. Why does Weissenger believe that biological sex differences alone fail to explain the range
of plaintiff’s experiences?
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1. Discuss the Supreme Court decision in the case.
2. What ‘hurdle’ must now be surmounted by women, according to this site?
1. What is the Paycheck Fairness Act?
2. How might the Paycheck Fairness Act help the women at Wal-Mart?
3. Given the intersections elaborated by Weissenger, do you think that, if passed, the Paycheck
36. “Our Mothers’ Grief: Racial-Ethnic Women and the Maintenance of Families,” Bonnie
Thornton Dill
Bonnie Thornton Dill broadens the dominant perspective of American families through this
historical analysis of racial-ethnic women and their families. She demonstrates how the
establishment of the “modern American family” ideal and expectations of racial and ethnic
groups as sources of cheap labor created distinct familial experiences among women of various
racial-ethnic groups in early America
Multiple Choice Questions:
1. According to Bonnie Thornton Dill, the dominant ideology of family structure dictated:
a. separate spheres for men and women, and women remaining outside of the paid labor force.
b. the involvement of all family members in the paid labor force.
c. the entry of women into service occupations.
d. the wages for housework campaign.
2. According to Bonnie Thornton Dill, a White woman working outside the home indicated:
a. high social standing of the family.
b. an egalitarian relationship between husband and wife.
c. insufficient wage earnings of her husband.
d. the birth of feminism.
3. Dill tells us that African American, Chinese American, and Chicano women had which of the
following in common during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries?
a. They, like White middle class women, worked only in the private sphere of the home.
b. They all worked as migrant laborers.
c. They all had to work outside the home for wages, as well as inside the home raising children
and caring for husbands.
d. They all worked as maids and nannies in White people’s homes.
4. According to Dill, which of the following is true with regard to African American families of
the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries?
a. Slave owners controlled the cohesion of slave families.
b. After emancipation, African American women were expected to take their position within the
private sphere of the home.
c. Slave labor mirrored labor divisions among White men and women.
d. all of these answers are correct
5. According to Dill, which of the following was true with regard to Chinese American families
of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries?
a. Immigration restrictions prevented the formation of families within this group.
b. Many Chinese sojourners sent wages to their families in China.
c. A split-household form characterized Chinese American families.
d. all of these answers are correct
6. Mexican American families have been negatively affected by:
a. colonization.
b. the loss of Mexican-owned land through the inability to document ownership.
c. the transient jobs in which they were employed.
d. all of these answers are correct
7. According to Bonnie Thornton Dill which of the following reflects the double bind
experienced by racial-ethnic women of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries?
a. Their required participation in the labor force denied them the status of socially acceptable
women, wives, and mothers.
b. Their equal status in the labor force did not result in egalitarian relationships with their
husbands.
c. The sacrifice they made by participating in the labor force was looked upon as admirable by
dominant society.
d. Because they worked in the paid labor force they had to hire other women to care for their
own homes and children.
Essay and Discussion Questions:
1. What is the “modern American family” and what led to its development?
2. What is “reproductive labor”?
3. Compare enslaved and free women’s reproductive labor? How was each controlled?
4. Identify differences in African, Chinese, and Chicana experiences of family life.
5. What does Dill mean by “our mothers’ grief”?
Internet Sites and Questions for Further Study:
Women on the Net:
http://members.aol.com/aawon1/welcome.htm
1. How does the mission of this group address what Dill calls “our mothers’ grief”?
1. In what way did suffragists depict the virtues of motherhood? How and why was this
depiction politicized?
2. Were African American, Chinese, or Chicana women represented in this movement?
37. “Exploring the Intersections of Race, Ethnicity, and Class on Maternity Leave
Decisions: Implications for Public Policy,” Tiffany Manuel and Ruth Enid Zambrana
Manuel and Zambrana examine the accessibility of maternity leave in the United States. They
point out the fact that of most similar industrialized nations have significantly more security
regarding maternity leave, wage replacement, and even paternity leave. Major federal
legislation, including the Equal Pay Act, the Civil Rights Act, and Pregnancy Discrimination act
are outlined. Greater focus is placed on the Family Medical Leave Act of 1993, which mandates
that large employers must provide eligible employees 12 weeks of unpaid, job protected
maternity leave (or other health related needs). Turning their focus to low-income mothers, it
was found that they took shorter periods of maternity leave than other groups. Race, ethnicity,
and social class are found to be heavily related to amount of maternity leave taken, and that
flexible leave benefits are best, as they can be better shaped to fit a heterogeneous population.
Multiple Choice Questions:
1. Why is it theorized by Manuel and Zambrana that family leave policies have grown in the
past 30 years?
a. Economic prosperity
b. Liberal corporate executives
c. Gender shift in the workforce
d. Policies have changed little in the past thirty years
2. What percentage of mothers are employed in America?
a. 30%
b. 57%
c. 72%
d. 90%
3. What law made it unlawful for employers to terminate women because they were pregnant?
a. Equal Pay Act (1963)
b. Civil Rights Act (1964)
c. Pregnancy Discrimination Act (1978)
d. Family and Medical Leave Act (1993)
4. What requires that eligible employees receive up to 12 weeks of unpaid protected leave to
care for children?
a. Equal Pay Act (1963)
b. Civil Rights Act (1964)
c. Pregnancy Discrimination Act (1978)
d. Family and Medical Leave Act (1993)
5. Between 1991 and 1995, roughly how many women quit their jobs upon becoming pregnant?
a. 30%
b. 35%
c. 40%
d. 60%
6. Existing research shows the period around childbirth is closely correlated with:
a. increased economic vulnerability
b. likelihood of being in poverty
c. public assistance use
d. all of these choices are correct
7. Which group takes the least amount of maternity leave during pregnancy and childbirth?
a. Low-income mothers with less than one year on the job
b. Low-income mothers with one to two years on the job
c. High-income mothers with three or more years at their job
d. Low-income mothers with three or more years at their job
Essay Questions:
1. What are the shortcomings of American maternity and paternity leave as discussed by
Manuel and Zambrana?
2. List and discuss the three major pieces of federal legislation that has shaped policy regarding
pregnancy and employment.
3. What brought about change to the way in which workplaces treated employees and
pregnancy?
4. In what ways has policy for medical leave for new mothers not benefitted low-income
mothers?
5. How especially do low-income mothers suffer with having a child while employed?
Internet Sites and Questions for Further Discussion:
Visit this website, which is an article on the shortcomings of maternity leave in the United States,
with experiences dealing with the issues related. Do you feel the author makes a strong case?
While the author of the following article focus largely on Japan, the rest of the world is also
discussed regarding paternity leave. Do you feel they make a strong enough case, economically,
for the availability of paternity leave?
38. “Straight is to Gay as Family is to No Family,” Kath Weston
This essay presents a distinct dichotomy that depicts the establishment and maintenance of
family and extended kin in the gay and straight world. Weston delineates a path of rejection,
isolation and loneliness from straight families as gay persons attempt to establish individual
identities. In addressing misperceptions surrounding gay life, this essay also introduces
alternative approaches to the establishment and cultivation of family life.
Multiple Choice Questions:
1. According to Weston, a lesbian or gay identity has been portrayed as a rejection of:
a. the family and a departure from kinship.
b. dominant society values.
c. the community.
d. freedom.
2. According to Weston, two assumptions surround the divide between gay life and family:
a. the absence of children or lasting relationships and alienation of adoptive and blood kin.
b. too many children and poor relationships.
c. numerous children and only one biological parent.
d. family acceptance and lasting relationships.
3. According to Weston, to assert that straight people naturally have access to family, while gay
people are destined to move toward a life of solitude and loneliness, is to:
a. tie kinship closely to procreation.
b. tie destiny closely to procreation and to treat gay and lesbians as heterosexuals.
c. believe that gays and lesbians are enemies of the family, especially children.
d. ignore the fact that gay couples can procreate
4. Weston believes assumptions about gays and lesbians are but a short step from placing them
somewhere beyond the family, unencumbered by relations of kinship, responsibility, or
affection to portraying them:
a. as timely destroyers.
b. as a menace to family and society.
c. as assets to family and society.
d. as beneficial to family and society
5. According to Weston, a long sociological tradition in the United States of studying the
family under siege or in various states of dissolution lent credibility to charges that this
institution required protection from:
a. destructive forces.
b. societal ills.
c. the homosexual threat.
d. a lesbian threat.
6. Weston argues the characterization of lesbians and gay men as non-reproductive beings links
their supposed attacks on the family to:
a. attacks on everyday citizenry.
b. attacks on society in the broadest sense.
c. attacks on heterosexuals.
d. jealousy of heterosexuals
7. Based on Weston’s research, some lesbians and gay men have embraced the popular equation
of their sexual identities with the:
a. hope for a better future.
b. renunciation of access to kinship.
c. renunciation of fear.
d. remnants of power and success.
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8. According to Weston, people who equated their adoption of a lesbian or gay identity with a
renunciation of family did so in the double-sided sense of:
a. fearing rejection by the families in which they had grown up, and not expecting to marry
or have children as adults.
b. fearing acceptance by the families in which they had grown up and choosing not to have
children.
c. fearing rejection by co-workers and not having a family to rely upon.
d. fearing a life of loneliness and wanting acceptance from the family.
9. Weston reveals that gay or chosen families might incorporate:
a. co-workers, extended family, friends.
b. biological family, extended family, neighbors.
c. friends, lovers or children.
d. co-workers, supervisors, friends.
10. Weston believes gay, or chosen, families cannot be understood apart from the families
lesbians and gay men call:
a. biological, blood or straight.
b. friends and neighbors.
c. offspring and friends.
d. normal.
Essay and Discussion Questions:
1. Based on Weston’s essay, what are some of the inherent concerns with family among
lesbians and gays?
2. What threats to the institution of family do family scholars view as inherent in the
homosexual lifestyle?
3. What are some assumptions that heterosexuals make about the homosexual lifestyle?
4. What are some assumptions that homosexuals make about the homosexual lifestyle?
5. Why is it necessary to understand one’s biological family before grasping the meaning of
one’s homosexual family?
Internet Sites and Questions for Further Study:
The National Journal of Sexual Orientation Law explores gay parenting and child custody and
presents recent studies on gay families.
1. What are the contemporary challenges of gay and lesbian families, legally and culturally?
2. How are the rights of gay and lesbian families protected by law?
Statewide Pennsylvania Rights Coalition: This coalition works for legal equality for sexual
minorities. This advocacy group offers news about its primary issues, including gay family
law.
1. Explore the topic of legal equality for sexual minorities.
2. What are the legal challenges?
39. “Navigating Interracial Borders: Black–White Couples and their Social Worlds,” Erica
Chito Childs
Erica Chito Childs examines the experiences and challenges that Black/White couples face
within their families and communities. Although interracial relationships and marriages are
often viewed as a sign of improving race relations, she argues that these relationships are often
met with opposition from both White and Black communities. She examines the discourse that
families use when discussing their feelings and beliefs about interracial relationships. She finds,
for example, that White families often pose their opposition to Black/White marriage in non-
racial terms and stress that they are “concerned” for how difficult society would make life for the
child who is involved interracially. In contrast to White families, Black families emphasize the
importance of “marrying Black” to their children and explicitly identify race as an issue. Her
conclusion is that because interracial couples exist in, what she terms, a “borderland” between
Black and White, her examination of interracial couples offers much to our understanding
contemporary race relations. The beliefs expressed by the both the Black and White families
illustrate the centrality of race in constructing families and identities and, particularly, the social
construction of race.
Multiple Choice Questions:
1. Using herself as an example, Childs argues that there is a racial ideology or dominant
discourse underlying responses to interracial couples that views interracial couples and
interracial relationships as:
a. normal
b. natural
c. deviant
d. common
2. According to Childs, interracial couples exist on the color-line in society or what she calls the
_______________ between Black and White.
a. “transgression zone”
b. “borderland”
c. “common ground”
d. “neutral zone”
3. When Childs asked White respondents why their families would oppose them being involved
in an interracial relationship, many of the participants cited _______________ as the reason
why they and/or their family personally would prefer that their family not become involved
interracially.
a. “opposition of the larger society”
b. “personal prejudices”
c. “previous personal experience”
d. “mistrust”
4. Unlike White communities, Black college students and Black community respondents:
a. expressed “concern” for the family member involved in an interracial relationship
b. discussed other families that they knew rather than their own views
c. explicitly identified race as an issue and stressed the importance of marrying Black
d. all of these answers are correct.
5. According to Childs, White families discourage their family members from engaging in
interracial relationships to maintain _______________. Black families discourage interracial
unions to maintain _______________.
a. solidarity; privilege
b. opposition; assimilation
c. family heritage; societal acceptance
d. White privilege; strength and solidarity of Black communities
Essay and Discussion Questions:
1. What is the significance of Childs’ reference to the miner’s canary?
2. In addition to conducting interviews with interracial couples, Childs researched Black and
White communities about their ideas, beliefs, and views on interracial sexuality and
marriage. What was the significance of doing so?
3. With regard to interracial couples, what does Childs mean by the statement “we name what is
different?”
4. Compare White and Black families responses to members dating or marrying interracially.
5. What are the implications of the White families’ discussions about their opposition to
interracial relationships in non-racial terms? What are the implications of the Black families’
clearly identifying race as an issue with regard to interracial relationships?
1. What are some similarities and differences between the findings of this study and the study
conducted by Childs?
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2. Provide some reasons why the rate of interracial relationships declines with age.
Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky)
1. How is the media treating the topic on interracial relationships? Would Childs say this
approach is positive or negative? Please explain your answer.
2. Do you think that showing more interracial couples on popular television programs will
improve race relations in the US? Why or why not?
40. “Affirming Identity in an Era of School Desegregation,” Beverly Tatum
Tatum examines the unintended side effects of school desegregation in the United States, with an
emphasis on the differences in identity between Black students and White teachers. With the
growth of affirmative action programs, Black college students saw the education field as
dwindling in opportunities and began to focus more on business administration programs,
resulting in a low number of Black school teachers. The effect is most pronounced in urban
schools, with White female teachers comprising between 65 and 76 percent, while students of
color total around 76 percent. Tatum expresses concern at the disconnect between the two
groups, and fears that resentment and mistrust between them severely undermines both education
and allowing students to maintain their identity. At the same time, Tatum discusses that White
children with largely White teachers are unable to gain a deeper understanding of students of
color. Besides a more diverse workforce, she suggests better training to develop a richer
understanding of the students of color they will work with.
Multiple Choice Questions:
1. Of the teachers in the United States, how many are African American?
a. 7.5%
b. 10.2%
c. 15.6%
d. 17.2%
2. The most significant cultural mismatch between students and teachers is in _________
school districts
a. suburban
b. rural
c. urban
d. both rural and urban
3. According to Kohl’s quote in the text, learning from a stranger that does not respect a
student’s integrity results in a loss of
a. educational merit
b. self
c. interest
d. rapport